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"Mature Content Warning!" |
| “ | I wanted to do that for longer than you can imagine. | „ |
| ~ Anders after slitting Cassandra's throat. |
| “ | Pay attention De Rolo. I want you to know how you died, and who did it to you. Your friends. | „ |
| ~ Anders to Percy as he brainwashes his friends into nearly killing him. |
| “ | Nice try De Rolo, but flattery will not prolong your life. | „ |
| ~ Anders last words before he gets shot by Percy. |
Professor Byron Anders is a major antagonist in the first season of The Legend of Vox Machina.
He was once Percival and Cassandra de Rolo's teacher, but after their parents found his experiment dangerous, they shut it down. Anders, who found his project valuable, was angered by this, and exacted revenge and joined the Briarwoods in murdering the de Rolo family, making him one of Percival's targets for revenge.
He was voiced by Stephen Root.
His Evil Ranking[]
What Makes Him Close To Pure Evil?[]
- Even before he betrayed the de Rolos, Anders was already an indecent and spiteful person who emotionally abused Percival, and in one of their classes, he had Cassandra make two pieces of residuum touch one another, uncaring over the potentially hurting the young girl, even smiling as it happened.
- On the night of the Briarwood's massacre of the de Rolo family, he sold out Percy and Cassandra, his loyal pupils whose safety he had been charged with and imprisoned them in the dungeons with no remorse out of spite towards the family for denying his ambitions. This led to the 2 teens being tortured for weeks by the Briarwoods and Anna Ripley for information neither of them had, traumatizing both of them for life.
- Because of this, Percy was manipulated into a vengeance pact with Orthax to create the Pepper Box to kill the Briarwoods and their followers, Anders included, out of a desire for revenge, leading Percy down a dark path that lead to him nearly having his soul consumed by the demon. Cassandra, who Percy believed to have been killed in a failed escape attempt, was placed under a mind control charm to serve as the Briarwoods puppet to help enforce their rule over Whitestone, while also being tricked into believing that Percy had left for dead and being driven to nearly kill him year later.
- Anders betrayal left such a deep impact on Percy that he associates the professor with his loss of innocence, always seeing his face whenever he felt the urge to kill someone.
- Because of this, Percy was manipulated into a vengeance pact with Orthax to create the Pepper Box to kill the Briarwoods and their followers, Anders included, out of a desire for revenge, leading Percy down a dark path that lead to him nearly having his soul consumed by the demon. Cassandra, who Percy believed to have been killed in a failed escape attempt, was placed under a mind control charm to serve as the Briarwoods puppet to help enforce their rule over Whitestone, while also being tricked into believing that Percy had left for dead and being driven to nearly kill him year later.
- Aided the Briarwoods in their oppression of Whitestone and helped in the reconstruction of the Ziggurat beneath the palace by augmenting the structure with Residuum of his own design, which lead to Whitestones natural environment, the Sun Tree in particular, being drained of its energy and decaying into a nearly inhospitable wasteland.
- He tried to have Ripley assassinated in order to deal with the construction of the Ziggurat by himself, although this didn't work.
- When Percy came to rescue Cassandra from him, he slit her throat in front of Percy out of sadism and spite. He then watches Percy, Vax, and Keyleth's desperate attempts to save the girls life with remorseless satisfaction, quipping how he'd wanted to do that for a long time and making a mocking toast to Cassandra's painful demise. He then mocks Percy’s mother when he attacks him in retaliation.
- Reanimates suits of armor with his silver tongue to kill Percy, all the while taunting him about how much he hated tutoring him.
- Brainwashes Grog into attacking and nearly killing his friends.
- Brainwashes all of Vox Machina except Percy, who he keeps free and conscious because he wants him to be aware of how his friends are going to kill him before having the group attack him.
- Even though he claims that the De Rolo's were unappreciative of him and looked down on him in spite of his intellect, this is only because they refused to fund his unnecessary Residuum experiments, which seemed more to satisfy his own personal ambitions and ego than to benefit Whitestone. Even if he was sincerely insecure about his relationship with the family, it doesn't excuse his despicable actions and betrayal of the entire family, especially the children.
- Despite serving the Briarwoods in good faith, there's little to suggest he has any real loyalty to them and admits that he enjoys the rewards of his service to the couple, such as the silver tongue.
- Unlike the Briarwoods, who genuinely love and care for each other, Anders has no redeeming qualities and is just a spiteful egomaniac.
- While his death, which involved underestimating Percy’s tactical mind, getting his jaw blown off and his head blasted apart by Percy, was extremely brutal, he's given no sympathy by the characters or the narrative, and he ultimately got what he deserved.
- The reveal that his soul was trapped in Orthax's realm for eternity to suffer, while terrifying, isn't given much sympathy either, and Vax barely acknowledges him before going on to find Percy's soul.
What Prevents Him From Being Pure Evil[]
- His knowledge of the Briarwoods Ziggurat ritual, the resurrection of the Whispered One and the end of the world, isn't elaborated on with nothing suggesting he was aware of the apocalyptic outcome of the ritual, something even Ripley was unaware of despite also working on the Ziggurat. For this reason, he fails the high heinous standard to Ripley, who did far worse than him with lower resources.
External Links[]
- Professor Anders on the Villains Wiki.
- Professor Anders on the Hate Sink Wiki.
- Byron Anders on the Critical Role Wiki.
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 Near Pure Evils
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