'The Legend of Vox Machina' Is Actually a Queer Haven

Spoiler alert: This article contains minor spoilers up to Season 2, Episode 3 of The Legend of Vox Machina.

The Legend of Vox Machina’s second season is finally here, and so are our questions about how Vox Machina’s story continues. Season 2 of Prime Video’s animated series follows our ragtag group of mercenaries as they try to save the world of Exandria from the threat of the Chroma Conclave — a dangerous alliance of dragons set on ruling (and destroying) the world.

One of those mercenaries is Vax’ildan, one half of the half-elven pair of twins, Vax and Vex. Portrayed by Liam O’Brien, Vax and Vex’s relationship is central to the first three episodes of the new season. But beyond that, Vax’s relationship with sorcerer merchant Shaun Gilmore also seems to have some romantic undertones. So is Vax gay?

One of the best parts of The Legend of Vox Machina and its origin story coming from Critical Role is that its creators are all about queer culture. In fact, very few of the characters from the original Vox Machina campaign are “straight” according to the creators. So when it comes to Vax, he has his own queer identity.

Throughout the first few episodes of Season 2, Vax makes several comments to the sorcerer merchant, Shaun Gilmore, that were pretty flirtatious. When Gilmore’s face is almost destroyed in the Chroma Conclave destruction, Vax is relieved because that’s his “most important feature.” And then Gilmore suggestively says, “Well it’s not the most important,” insinuating that that’s actually his penis.

At the beginning of Vox Machina’s journey, even the group talks about Gilmore and Vax’s relationship, overtly suggesting that their relationship is a sexual one without directly saying it. If viewers picked up on this, it’s because Vax is actually bisexual according to the creators behind him. In Critical Role, which is what The Legend of Vox Machina is based on, Vax has relationships with people of all genders.

By the end of the campaign, Vax and Keyleth do get together, but until then, he has relationships with a girl named Cyriel in his teenage years, then with a man named Thorn, and then of course with Gilmore. When he masquerades as Scanlan in Vasselheim, he openly states his attraction to both men and women. Liam O’Brien, who created and plays Vax in the series, said in a Q&A that Vax is “aggressively bisexual” and a three on the Kinsey scale.

In fact, Vax’s twin, Vex is also bisexual according to Laura Bailey, who plays her. Laura tweeted, “All these #CriticalRole ships... Vex needs to find herself a man. Or a woman.” In addition, Sam Riegel, who plays Scanlan, has said multiple times that Scanlan is not quite heterosexual. “I don't know what you call it. But whatever he is, it's not 100% heterosexual,” he tweeted.

There are several other queer characters in the world of Vox Machina, and we’re eager to see how their relationships unfold throughout the rest of the series.

New episodes of The Legend of Vox Machina drop every Friday on Prime Video.