Could [SPOILER] come back from the dead in The Legend of Vox Machina season 3? All the theories and clues

With the group's remaining heroes and the fans themselves left reeling watching Percival's final moments, his funeral, and Vox Machina trying to take on the Chroma Conclave without him, there has already been plenty of speculation on if and how the character could come back to life.

Unlike other fantasy shows which are also adept at dealing out hard-hitting deaths, The Legend of Vox Machina's world has numerous ways of bringing back the dead already, although each has their own physical/arcane laws to follow.

Even with the deviations the show has made from its original campaign on Critical Role, there are some interesting clues we've confirmed after rewatching the episodes and deep-diving into the thoughts of the Vox Machina community.

Could Percy come back from the dead in The Legend of Vox Machina season 3? All the clues and theories

The absence of the Matron of Ravens

The biggest hint of a potential revival for Percy in the Legend of Vox Machina season 3 is that the Matron of Ravens does not appear to guide his soul through the transition from life to death, as is her role.

It's easy to not make a note of this until a comparison can be made in episode 9, when Kashaw Vesh is killed by Thordak in the huge fight against the dragon and his army. After being crushed to death during a valiant effort against the head of the Chroma Conclave, we see the spirit of Kash rise to look over his dead body, who can only be seen by Vax amongst his allies due to his position as the Matron of Raven's champion.

As the Matron herself appears behind Kash's soul, he soon walks over to her and fully transitions into death, confirming his demise as permanent with zero chance of being reversed.

Back in episode 7, we saw none of this for Percy. While it could be argued she appeared through a different perspective from that of the particular scene in the show since Vax wasn't present, there wasn't even a reaction from him noticing any sign of Percy's soul or the Matron's presence once he arrived on the scene later.

With that, one can conclude Percy's soul must still be in the mortal plain in some way, even if it was only in a small way that couldn't be sufficient enough for his revival. However, there's another clue indicating just where his soul might be.

Orthax may have taken Percy's soul

The whole point of Anna Ripley's alliance with Orthax was for the doctor to be lent its power to ultimately create an army's worth of Pepperboxes, which in exchange would feed the demon any of the souls of anyone said weapons would kill, including those Anna herself is wielding.

After Ripley shoots Percy with the smaller gun hidden in her wrist, right before we hear "Vex..." as his last word, we see a close-up of Percy and Anna's main firearm start to glow, as does any weapon inhibited by Orthax's power, like the other Pepperboxes in the factory plus Percy's in season 1. As she picks up the larger Pepperbox, Orthax's black ghostly body envelops the shot of Percy and covers up the screen.

At first glance, this can be perceived as a sinisterly clever way to cut to the next scene where Vex and co finally arrive at the destroyed factory. On the other hand, this moment could have also been Orthax literally claiming Percy's soul to inhabit Anna's Pepperbox.

While Percy was technically killed by Ripley's smaller weapon, it's not absurd to assume Orthax can claim a soul through whatever vessel it wishes, especially if it's via Ripley, Orthax's current host.

As Pike, Vex, Keyleth, Grog, and Vax arrived later to find his body, this theory can explain why there was no sign of the latter seeing Percy's soul cross over to the matron, because it had been taken elsewhere.

The potential of Pike's new powers

While Percy was fighting Ripley in the factory, we also saw the result of Pike's character development during her time in hell, now using her new blood magic abilities to save the others from hallucinating, being far more effective than the Everlight abilities which were failing her.

Stemming from Zerxus Ilerez egging her on to believe in herself rather than the Everlight, the blood magic seems much more potent, instantly healing the others from the hallucinogenic gas with a single touch.

This does line up slightly with the Critical Role lore around blood magic, saying that blood wizards benefit more from healing magic, but that seems to only apply to themselves rather than allies. So, it seems like Pike's new abilities in the Vox Machina show are ones that are truly her own without precedent.

With that, we haven't seen just how capable she is yet. Up until now, the maximum potential of her healing abilities with the Everlight is helping those who are still living - unable to do anything about those already dead.

Whether this new blood magic could make her a powerful enough cleric to use necromancer abilities remains to be seen. Nevertheless, we'll be excited to see where this goes.

The big difference from the Critical Role campaign

Warning: This section contains big spoilers from similar events in the Critical Role campaign.

The final big clue we've found for Percy getting revived in The Legend of Vox Machina season 3, is the fact it happened in the equivalent section of the Critical Role campaign. Percy dies not once but twice: Ripley first kills him to be brought back to life by a necklace Pike gave to him, then is slain once again by Ripley after Orthax gets the drop on him.

However, not only was Percy resurrected properly, but rather quickly. After the rest of the Vox Machina party killed Ripley, they took his body to the temple of Sarenrae, located in Whitestone.

With the most notably combined efforts of Pike, Keyleth, and Vax, the group pulled off a resurrection ritual that successfully brought Percy back to life.

On the other hand, the reason we're not completely convinced of this one just yet is because episode 8 already saw the group return to Whitestone with Percy's body, but to bury him instead, making his death appear pretty final at the time.

Be that as it may, the other clues we've pointed out may just mean that the show is making another deviation from the Critical Role campaign that will come to the same conclusion over a longer stretch of time. Rather than reviving Percy right away, letting his death linger for a few more episodes – or even a season potentially – leaves a much bigger impact when translated to the television medium.

If, for example, the group later realise Percy's soul is still in the living realm but claimed by Orthax, following a tough path to freeing and hopefully resurrecting him will be far more satisfying.

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