Critical Role Just Teased a Major Backstory Reveal

Critical Role may soon be returning to one character's backstory, based on the events of last week's episode. [Spoilers for Episode 105 follows.] In last night's episode of Critical Role, the Mighty Nein were besieged by the vision of a living city moving through the Astral Sea shortly after they defeated Vokodo, the empowered morkoth who lived inside the volcano of Rumblecusp. This strange, alien entity was powerful enough to cause Vokodo an immense amount of fear and caused him to break through the various barriers separating the Astral Plane and the Material Plane to escape it. DM Matt Mercer didn't directly name this strange living city, but Mercer at one point referred to the "Eyes of Nine" as the collective mind of the city.

While this strange city will likely be a focus of Critical Role's next storyarc, fans are already speculating what this "Eyes of Nine" could be. Several fans have already pointed out that this city could be tied to the backstory of Mollymauk Tealeaf, the PC played by Taliesin Jaffe who died nearly 100 episodes ago. Mollymauk had a strange backstory - the character was originally a charismatic leader of a faction called the Tomb Taker named Lucien. Lucien, who also called himself the Nonagon, supposedly died when a ritual to reach a mysterious "City" went horrifically wrong, but he came back with no memories of his past self and eventually adopted the name Mollymauk. Notably, Mollymauk awoke with nine eye symbols on various parts of his body, none of which could be hidden with tattoo ink.

Mercer has long said that Mollymauk's backstory would be revealed, despite the fact that Mollymauk was dead and buried. It seems that we'll finally be learning more about this enigmatic character and what connection he has to the other mysteries still lurking in the background of the Mighty Nein's adventures.

Although it's likely that this living city is a new creature conceived by Mercer, it's possible that it's his take on one of several classic D&D pieces of lore. The Spelljammer, for instance, is a sentient living city-sized ship that charms its residents into wanting to protect it and further the ship's own goals. There's also Tu'narath, the capital city of the Githyanki, which exists on the Astral Plane and is built on the corpse of a dead god.

We'll likely learn more about this strange city in the coming weeks. Let us know what you think the city is in the comment section or find me on Twitter at @CHofferCBus to chat all things Critical Role!