Where “The Legend of Vox Machina” introduced their titular adventuring party as an established group, “The Mighty Nein” is taking a different route. Each member of the Mighty Nein will be introduced individually. This not only establishes who they are beyond the group but can bring them together organically. Many of the Mighty Nein have tragic and traumatic backstories.
They are often searching for answers and keeping secrets about their pasts. However, one member has no such inclination. Mollymauk Tealeaf is played by Taliesin Jaffe and is perhaps the least curious about his origins. Jaffe has even said that Mollymauk specifically runs from his mysterious past at every opportunity.
However, it seems that won’t be an option for long. In an exclusive interview with Temple of Geek, Jaffe teases how Mollymauk’s past won’t stay buried. Where in the campaign there was time to continuously avoid it, animation doesn’t allow that freedom. Instead it seems Mollymauk may be faced with answers he is actively trying to avoid.
Mollymauk Won’t Be Able To Avoid His Past In The Mighty Nein
Taliesin Jaffe
“Well, obviously when you’re sitting at the table, you think “I’m gonna have all the time in the world to get to this. So, you might as well take your time.” It’s really nice. It actually was really freeing to have the, “We have a season, get to it.” Because you want to lay the seeds of what’s to come, and you want to make sure that people get a sense of danger that we will see further down the line. And so, God, I wouldn’t even call it curiosity. I would almost call it, that it’s decided to rear its ugly head far sooner. Which God, I appreciate. It’s so much fun to really turn the heat up on that poor boy immediately.”
Mollymauk’s past is something that, like many of the other protagonists, will likely play a larger role in the story. The animated series is focusing more heavily on elements of the world that were not thoroughly explored in Campaign 2. This could mean that members of the Mighty Nein, their backstory, connections, and motivations are more interwoven with it as well.
Jaffe also shared one of the things that stood out to him in the series. Many storylines that weren’t explored in the campaign are prevalent in the animated series. However, there are also elements from the original campaign that are more thoroughly explored that are directly tied to the heroes without tying into the larger story. One such piece is the carnival that Mollymauk is a part of: ““It was nice to flesh out the carnival for what might’ve been longer in the animated series than it was around in the actual game.”
The first three episodes of “The Mighty Nein” premiere on Prime Video November 19.
