Why The Legend of Vox Machina season 3's shock death needed to happen

While bittersweet and initially frustrating, the fight's conclusion falls right in line with Percy's arc enough to make his journey come full circle - proving why that huge loss was actually needed.

After tricking Orthax and Ripley into a black powder explosion which leaves the latter vulnerable to an easy one-shot kill, it's the opportunity Percy had always wanted since season 1.

Plus, Ripley knows it, after she was instrumental in the coup of Whitestone and the massacre of his family.

Giving almost a proud smile, Ripley says: "Always clever, Percival, and now revenge is yours. You can watch me burn."

As she's alluding to, Percy followed the same path as her when her own father was killed, as shown in the flashback at the beginning of the episode.

But Percy shows empathy to Ripley. With Ripley's actions throughout the events in all of the show's seasons up to this point ruining so many more lives beyond Percy's, it wouldn't be fair to take vengeance just for himself when real justice can be served.

That, however, ends up being his undoing, with Ripley taking her the chance to shoot Percy instead, and the rest of the group later finding his body at episode 7's conclusion - the most devastating episode ending we've seen so far.

While Percy's demise at the hands of Ripley is heartbreaking, given it could have been avoided if he had just taken the kill shot and rid Exandria of her at last, the circumstances around it are a testament to how far he's come since season 1; following up on the chance to kill her first would have undone the character development he had gone through until now.

This falls in line with what we were told by Percy's voice actor, Taliesin Jaffe, back when we sat down with the cast of The Legend of Vox Machina, as he talked about the character's journey for season 3 - which we asked about after seeing shots of the Whispered One in the title sequence, knowing its ties to Whitestone.

"The opening title shot of Percy is an awful lot about moving forward. It's what his mission is at this point, to start healing, and to start becoming the person he was supposed to be if all of these terrible things had never happened," Jaffe told RadioTimes.com.

"Talking about grief and letting go, that is [the] grief of both what happened to him, who he lost - and even losing himself is his byline for the entire campaign."

"A lot of this is just him trying to become the steward of the city [Whitestone], better to his friends, better to himself, and better to the people he loves and cares about."

Jaffe's words ring true about why Percy tried to spare Ripley's life, help her be freed from Orthax, and try to have her answer for her crimes the proper way, instead of just taking revenge for himself.

If he took the chance to kill her point blank, Ripley being seemingly unarmed, it would have been a step back into Percy's mindset of where he was in season 1: taking vengeance just for himself and no one else, only pleasing Orthax as the demon exacerbated the hatred in his heart.

That's because when The Legend of Vox Machina started, the Whitestone arc to fight the Briarwoods, Percy was all alone in his personal mission.

But up to this episode, his fight against Ripley, and now Orthax, has become bigger than himself. It's for his friends, the people of his home in Whitestone, and the whole of Exandria, who all needed to see Ripley answer for her crimes, not just him.

Altogether, wanting to spare Ripley's life was the result of Percy finally becoming the person he would have if he'd never gone through the trauma of losing his family and the torture that followed: a ruler, one worthy to lead Whitestone, with his new relationship and admitted love for Vex being the pinnacle of him wanting a life beyond his initial hunt for retribution.

As a consequence, though, Ripley took the opening that character development made, eliminating Percy as the obstacle in her way. In a moment of irony, Ripley and her own arc is a demonstration of what Percy could have become if he had given into his quest for evening the score with those who wronged him.

Starting from the massacre of her village and her father's death, her mission to arm the weak of Exandria with Pepperboxes is her ultimate solution to take revenge on the powerful who ruined her own life, even if it creates complete chaos throughout the land.

So, while Percy's final moments in The Legend of Vox Machina episode 7 were a beautiful testament to how far our favourite inventor had come, it became a tragedy, because while they both started in the same place, the two taking opposite paths meant he stood in Ripley's way.

Whether she'll get her comeuppance during the remainder of season 3's events - or whether Percy himself could be revived - remains to be seen.

The Legend of Vox Machina is now streaming on Prime Video.

Check out more of our Fantasy coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what’s on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.