Murdering the Time

You can go from this

To this

Or from this

To this

407 “The Ghosts of Whitestone”

Maybe my favorite of the batch this week.

Helluva way to kick off the episode

Laudna appearance was my bingo card. Marisha hinted at it a few times. However, I expected to see her more close to the age Vex is now. Fun, either way.

Cassandra was there for like 10 seconds and I appreciated it.

The Vaxleth/Briarwood comparisons. I get it. But IDK. It feels so heavy handed.

Their “family portrait” was absolute fan service. Sure, fine. But even showing a glimpse of their happy future where Keyleth has her found family and leading her people would’ve worked as well.

The fight sequences were great.

408 “Bard’s Lament”

All the words were there. None of the emotion was. An under half hour episode isn’t enough time to flesh out that drama. Also, I would’ve thought Percy could handle spice/fantasy weed since he had a smoke demon in him.

The Pikelan end moment was nice. But also foreshadowing with the subtlety of a sledgehammer for next episode.

409 “The Temple of Truth”

Love the Science Bros nerding out.

Enjoyed seeing VM working as a genuine team — not just with their romantic partners

I remembered what the orb did. But to be fair, I wasn’t expecting that plot point until season 5.

4x07 - The Ghost of Whitestone

4x08 - The Bard's Lament

4x09 - The Temple of Truth

At long last I finally get it! Since Season 4 started, I've been trying to understand the true power of the spinning orb of death that's been under Whitestone since Season 1 and as of tonight I've finally cracked it! I finally and completely understand the orb's power.

In Season 1, Delilah Briarwood was trying to summon the Whispered One, but thanks to Vox Machina, the ritual failed and the Orb had been left instead. For those of us who haven't seen the original campaign, the orb remained a mystery, but now with the Whispered One's debut finally underway, the Orb's true powers and origins have been revealed. It's supposed power appeared to neutralize magic, but it turns out there's a lot more to it than we knew!

The Orb was created by the chosen Champions of the Four Gods; Matron of Ravens, The Everlight, the Dawnfather and the Knowing Mistress to fight against the Whispered One. The Orb's original purpose was to absorb his magic and send him away to his prison world: Thar Amphala aka The Shadowfell!

However, in the 5 years Delilah Briarwood spent preparing for his summoning, she somehow managed to reverse the Orb's original power from sucking away magic to feeding him magic. By reversing it's power, The Whispered One gradually regained his strength by magic or whatever materials were sucked in closeby! (That explains the difference in what we've seen of the orb so far to what was revealed in Pike's vision!)

And finally with the combined efforts of Percy and Taryon, they've managed to make progress on shutting the orb down. In ep 6, the Orb has now shrunk, no longer absorbs magic and has turned white. That seems all well in good, but it turns out (like always) there's a catch they don't know yet... the Orb is no longer a power vacuum for the Whispered One, but it's now an open doorway for any mortal to pass through to the Shadowfell!