The Legend of Vox Machina continues to expand the world of Exandria with Critical Role bringing in new elements of the story including pieces of the popular EXU: Calamity. The third season saw the heroes face off against the remnants of the Chroma Conclave. This mission led to half the party journeying into the Hells in search of a vestige that would help in their fight against Thordak.

While in the Hells, Pike was forced to face off against Zerxus Ilerez who was a familiar face for many Critical Role fans. One of the members of the Ring of Brass, was a group of high-ranking individuals who used their influence to hold power in the city of Avalir during the Age of Arcanum. They played a part in the Calamity, a cataclysmic event that wiped out the majority of Exandria’s population. During this disaster, Zerxus lost his way and made a deal that would land him in the Hells.

Luis Carazo portrayed Zerxus in EXU: Calamity and reprised his role in the third season of The Legend of Vox Machina. Travis Willingham, who stars and executive produces The Legend of Vox Machina, co-wrote the fourth episode of season three which introduced Zerxus to Vox Machina. Willingham was also one of the players in EXU: Calamity giving him the perfect insight to bring Zerxus to life with the help of Carazo in animation.

Luis Carazo Reveals How Travis Willingham Brought Zerxus Into The Legend Of Vox Machina

Carazo reveals how Willingham initially reached out to him with questions about where Zerxus could be during the era of Vox Machina after the events of Calamity. Which eventually led to him reprising his role as the Paladin in the new season of The Legend of Vox Machina.

Luis Carazo: At first Travis was texting me with just some questions, kind of feeling out, wanting to dig a little bit more deeply into Zerxus and what kind of runs him. I also think that there’s some questions about what his state of mind might be in present day Exandria. So of course a part of me was like, Hmm, what’s this about? And then shortly after that he told me that it looks like there’s an opportunity to fold Zerxus into the animated series.

I was at the grocery store, I think, when that exchange happened. I just remember stopping and being like, Wait, what? Hell yeah! So it was just really exciting. Another part of the excitement is kind of wondering, Okay, well what does that mean? How does he fit in? What does that mean for where the kind of person that he is now? So, my mind just started going rapid fire with wondering about this person that I felt like I knew so well, but now wondering, whoa, where is he now? And that was pretty cool. So it was at Ralph’s.

Carazo also explains the collaboration process working with Willingham to bring Zerxus to life in this new format. While Carazo was an integral part of determining how Zerxus evolved after being in the Hells for a thousand years it was ultimately Willingham who took the reigns in telling his story in The Legend of Vox Machina.

Luis Carazo: I gave just a little bit of feedback about him and those text messages and phone calls and the rest of it was all Travis. I keep thinking about how awesome it is to see someone else capture the character you created with so many layers and so much happening. So it was a real treat to be able to see how he took that and had his own understanding of the character and how the character fits in the Vox Machina world. And to see that so much of the heart was absolutely, the heart was there. It was cool. Nice job, Travis. I appreciate you.

Zerxus Has Always Been A Collaborative Character With Luis Carazo At The Heart

However, letting another creative influence the trajectory of Zerxus wasn’t a new experience for Carazo. TTRPGs are collaborative storytelling which means that Zerxus’ story was inherently impacted by the decisions made by the other players at the table. Carazo had also been contemplating what Zerxus’s trajectory may have looked like over the centuries.

Luis Carazo: That is something I actually thought a lot about. I have already, before even this was on the table, I couldn’t help myself but wonder what Zerxus’ fate could have been. So I think I had already primed myself to imagine a lot of different possible realities for his trajectory. A version of this already existed in my mind in one of those avenues. Yeah, I mean it’s heartbreaking because there’s so many parallel roads and some of them has him going down so many different paths that are less heartbreaking. But this was absolutely one of them.

To the other part of what you were talking about creating, this is a really interesting thing because it is such a collaboration and I know that I created Zerxus, his backstory, his key relationships, but the second I presented them to Brennan [Lee Mulligan], and the second that started to get woven into the story of the Ring of Brass in the Calamity miniseries, pieces of him became so influenced by other people’s contributions.

Brennan’s contributions, the way Brennan played, Evandrin and Elias, the key NPCs for Zerxus. I keep going back to a specific encounter and Calamity between myself and Lou [Wilson’s] Nydas that I feel like altered Zerxus’ trajectory. Their fingerprints are all over him already from the evolution of the Calamity campaign that it doesn’t feel like I’m a stranger to that part of the collaboration to then see how he’s interpreted through Travis’s writing.

It’s just another layer and another creative’s fingerprints that are on this character, and it’s actually really cool. It’s very cool to see. It’s kind of like how I imagine a writer handing the script that they’ve written to an actor and seeing how the actor then interprets it and lives it. It’s sort of this reverse engineered, I created the character and then in this particular trajectory, that character was handed to Travis who then wrote his existence in Vox Machina, and then that gets handed back to me to interpret again. It’s really weird and really awesome.

While Carazo is a prolific actor, voice acting is not something he is as familiar with. He discusses how Willingham and Sam Riegel helped him more deeply understand the performance style. Carazo also shares his approach to portraying this version of Zerxus including why his voice is lower.

Luis Carazo: I mean, a lot of it was encountering how Travis wrote him and noticing the changes that have happened and then me being able to understand this is a particular evolution of his point of view. With that comes the possibility of changes in cadence, changes and pattern, and how the person is different. They’ve had a thousand years to change. What kind of started to happen in the booth was I felt like my register got, I kind of sat in it a little bit deeper.

And the attitude behind it was different. I can feel a different kind of resentment and bitterness just in him. That comes out, to me behind somebody’s eyes. And one of the things that I learned in the booth, I don’t consider myself a voice actor. I’ve done some voice acting as a part of on-camera projects and other things, but this is really my VO animation debut.

What I learned is fully embodying what’s happening to the character in the booth. The more it’s in your body, the more it’s behind your eyes, the more it’s going to translate to the texture of your voice. It just felt right for it to be different. Because he’s different. It was cool to explore. I got to say Travis and Sam were awesome at helping guide me into a comfortable place where I can step into that kind of more full expression of him.

It was intimidating, I got to say. I was like, Oh man, kudos to you voice actors because this is not an easy job. I definitely learned a different level of respect for them after having done that.

Zerxus Hope That His Family Would Come For Him May Be The Key To His Resentment In The Legend Of Vox Machina

Resentment has clearly built within Zerxus over the centuries as his memories of the Calamity seem a bit skewed. However, the most devastating indication of this is the revelation that he wishes his family was with him in the Hells, a secret even he could not face. This resentment, and perhaps selfishness, has grown within Zerxus, becoming a key aspect of the character for Carazo to touch on in his performance.

Luis Carazo: It’s interesting. I don’t think, I don’t necessarily feel like I arrived at like, Oh, he’s selfish and I’m going to lean into that. I feel like it was more just imagining his family so far out of reach and forgetting him and withering through age. That just brings up so much, it brings up things that I guess live in a sense of resentment. And maybe this sort of, I guess, I don’t know, selfish seems like too tiny a box, but what I can say is that it definitely activates something and it’s kind of grief in a way.

Yeah, it’s hard to describe, but it’s sitting and thinking about what you were striving for and hoping for and waiting for. I do think that there was a part of Zerxus that held onto, in the miniseries, Brennan as Evandrin basically saying, I will find you and I won’t forget you. And then, how long do you hold onto that as the decades as the centuries pass. And what that does to the spirit of a person is impossible for me to find an answer to, but it’s in that inability to find the answer that I feel like a lot of the juice is. The unanswerable questions have a lot of fuel.

Zerxus’ Impact On Pike In The Legend of Vox Machina Changes Her Relationship With The Everlight

One of the most exciting aspects of Zerxus’ appearance in The Legend of Vox Machina was his dynamic with Pike. As she struggles with her faith and the horrors that surround her in the world, Pike is forced to grapple with questions about the Gods posed by Zerxus. Carazo digs into why Zerxus is drawn to Pike in the first place.

Luis Carazo: Yeah, I feel like that’s very obvious in a sense why. I mean, she’s an intact version of a part of who he used to be, and when you look at someone who’s still embodying that belief that redemption is possible for everybody, it’s like a magnet and it’s a complicated magnet. I wonder if Zerxus has been watching Pike for a while or aware of Pike for a while. The moment with her and the kind of spirit ghoul that Pike tries to redeem, that moment captures so much of what draws Zerxus to Pike.

The Zerxus story in Calamity was built around redemption. However, his desire to find redemption for another in order to prove he deserved redemption as well. This ended in tragedy when it was revealed the deity that Zerxus hoped to help had no desire for redemption. Pike’s own story is tied to the idea of redemption with her God the Everlight being a Goddess of Redemption. Could this be the start of Zerxus potentially finally finding his own redemption after a thousand years?

Luis Carazo: I love scenes that as an actor I imagine, Wow, what would go down if you put this person and this person in a room together with this as the conflict? A scene that is absolutely exciting to me as an actor. As Zerxus, I just kind of imagining confronting Pike and challenging that or seeing how she then challenges him back. Where is there redemption for Zerxus in that, if there is any? It’s very enticing. I don’t know where it would go, but again, the not knowing is what’s exciting to me as an actor. You just play to find out. Yeah, that would be super cool. I would love to explore all of that.

The Everlight cautioned Pike against going to the Hells stating that redemption was impossible there. Zerxus being trapped in a corrupted environment where redemption is impossible and he is surrounded by only pain and death seems to have had an unquestioning impact on his very being in The Legend of Vox Machina.

Luis Carazo: I think it is impossible for Zerxus to not have been affected by the environment that he has been in for a thousand years. One of the things that I included in his psyche for Calamity was that I was interested in having him sort of experience a kind of isolation from Avalir. Because I am interested in how the environment affects a person and may erode or build up of themselves. There’s no way he has not been affected by being in the Hells, and that is absolutely a possibility of how that kind of erosion, that’s definitely on the table.

Luis Carazo On Why Zerxus’s Memory Of Calamity Is Different In The Legend of Vox Machina

In Zerxus’ recollection of the events of Calamity he had nothing to do with the disaster that destroyed his city and kicked off the apocalyptic event. He portrayed it as, I wasn’t paying enough attention to my friends and they caused this. However, people who have watched Calamity know that’s not entirely true.

Luis Carazo: Denial is a powerful thing, and here’s what I do know. I also have a degree in psychology on top of all this other stuff that I do. I know that our memories are full of false narratives and it doesn’t compromise how much we hold onto them and believe them to be the utter truth. We do, as life goes on, we kind of have a hand in rewriting and reinterpreting the way certain events went down.

Sometimes it’s because it’s really hard to fully look at yourself in the mirror and admit that something went wrong or admit that you had a part in something. I’m not surprised that he would start to rewrite his part. I don’t even know while it was happening, if he was fully aware of what he was doing. I do think he was trying to strike a deal and choose the lesser of many evils with very little time during the Calamity.

But after so many years, seeing what it all has cost him and the Hells that he’s been through. That’s going to change the way that he sees things out of survival. It might be the very thing that’s keeping his mind from breaking.

Zerxus’ dynamic with Asmodeus in Calamity was such a sticking point for everyone in the Ring of Brass. It slowly became clear to everyone that they left him alone for too long. Alone in grief, Zerxus began communicating with one of the betrayer Gods which was a key part of his own downfall. However, in The Legend of Vox Machina Asmodeus was merely one part of his story. Their relationship in the present remaining a mystery. Carazo reflects on what that dynamic could look like in the Hells over the centuries.

Luis Carazo: I almost feel like that’s an impossible question, but gosh, there’s a part of me that wonders. Has [Zerxus’ relationship with Asmodeus] changed or has it just continued to be again and again and again, another version of itself? Like a broken record. I do think that Zerxus has it in him to just stay the course and not relent.

Because with this relentless Redemption Paladin, there is a kind of narrow sided, just never giving up on the thing that you believe. So I see that there’s a version of it going around and around and around, but then each time the circle repeats itself, it’s more like a corkscrew. So it’s a deeper, deeper experience of this thing that we keep revisiting.

I kind of feel like that seems to feel right, but there is a possibility where, at some point maybe he finally went off course and went down another direction, which seems like he’s looking for that. His interest in Pike is a deviation from that trajectory, that endless circle or endless corkscrew. Especially with so many years, I feel like there’s enough time for all of it to be possible at some point. So that’s my non answer.

Luis Carazo Breaks Down Why Zerxus Distrusts The Gods

Zerxus inherently distrusts the Gods. This could be a combination of his dealings with Asmodeums and being alive during the era before the Calamity when the Gods walked among people. It could also be tied to his loss of hope having lived in the Hells for so long. It seems that to Zerxus there is no difference between the prime and betrayer Gods with the Paladin seeing them all as selfish.

Luis Carazo: I think it lives a little bit in that. It’s definitely influenced from the time that he lived in because the Matron of Ravens had ascended shortly before the Calamity. So, that was within reach and they were walking amongst us and they operate like we do in so many ways, with agendas. That absolutely has a lot to do with, and then also being witness for a thousand years.

There are very few things that have been around as long as Zerxus and he remembers the Calamity. His memory is still intact, even if it has shifted and been twisted. He still remembers things very clearly and probably recounts that over and over again in his mind. And at the same time has had a thousand years of witnessing what the Gods will do and what they won’t do.

I mean, all of that absolutely has an interplay why he’s aware of the Everlight not being present for Pike. Why are you leaving this person that has been in service to you nonstop? You were able to turn your back on them without explanation. There are things I think that they can be held to account for, and that absolutely is with him for sure, I would say.

This perspective is especially relevant to the storyline in Critical Role’s current campaign. Questions about the Gods have sparked as some hope to destroy the deities while others are trying to save them. The band of heroes, Bells Hells, have communicated with a few Gods at this point, but Zerxus could be a unique opinion to bring into play for the adventurers.

Luis Carazo: He’s always understood that [the Gods are] powerful, but there’s also things that he is willing to confront them on, and question them on, and challenge them on. That would be interesting to see how that plays out where he is now. To be honest, it seems exciting and daunting and equal parts. I don’t even know how to interpret that or how I might embody that, but the idea of giving it a go is really exciting.

The Legend Of Vox Machina Teases Potential Ties Between Zerxus & The Whispered One

The Whispered One has been set up as the next major threat for Vox Machina to face. It also seems that Zerxus could play a part. In his final moments, fans picked up on Zerxus reciting a phrase and holding a symbol tied to the Whispered One similar to follower, Delilah Briarwood. Although Carazo remains tightlipped he did share his thoughts when he first read that portion of the script.

Luis Carazo: I think that’s kind of as far as I was able to go is, Ah, yeah, interesting. In my mind, I’m already starting to imagine different possibilities so that if ever the time comes and I need to step into one trajectory or another, I’ve already started to kind of plant the seeds for whatever that road might be. But it was definitely intriguing, very curious to see what might be on the other side of that.

Luis Carazo Wants To Explore More Of Zerxus Past & Potential Redemption

Carazo shares what elements of Zerxus’s story he hopes to explore in the future. This includes pieces of the fallen Paladin’s past as well as how his story could play out in the future.

Luis Carazo: Yeah, I mean, there’s a lot, and selfishly, if I can just let things be all about him for a moment, I would love to see a bit about Evandrin and Elias trying to get to him. How close they may have gotten and what stopped that from happening. I’m really curious about that part of the story. Yeah, and of course, I always wonder, is there redemption for him? And I just don’t know.

During his game with Pike, Zerxus was forced to confront a horrifying truth lurking within himself. A dark part of him yearned for his family to be with him in the Hells. Even with the full knowledge of the eternal torment they would endure. Carazo delves into the possible roots of this shocking desire. Particularly in the aftermath of Zerxus’ self-sacrifice to ensure their survival.

Luis Carazo: Oh, I love messy characters. They’re so fun. I mean, how do you live with yourself? And he has to live with himself for eternity with this loss, with this grief. He believed that he made this decision and this sacrifice to give them a chance, and they did. They got to go on in some way, shape or form. Elias definitely went on and Evandrin continued to exist, in maybe the astral plane, and found his way back to the material plane.

I do think that they at least attempted to fulfill their promise to find their way back to Zerxus and to get him out of the Hells. But for it to not work out, and for him to have them constantly out of reach. Never out of sight, never out of mind, but only out of reach. Regret is so messed up because it requires you to really believe in this alternate reality that if this happened or if this didn’t happen, then this would be the reality that is better than the one that I’m in.

That has to become so real that the cost of that is… I mean, I can’t fathom it because I will never exist for a thousand years to see what it’s like for that kind of thing to bake into your being so fully. It’s cool to play pretended though.

Additionally, Carazo shares how seeing Zerxus brought to life in The Legend of Vox Machina. Including how the portrayal of the Ring of Brass through stained glass-inspired animation impacted him.

Luis Carazo: The first time I saw that in its entirety was when I sat down to watch it myself in my living room. When I saw that montage happen with the full music and the full animation and stained glass, I mean, I cried a little bit. It just hit me so hard. And just seeing the Ring of Brass light up one at a time, whoa. It was like, I don’t know. There was a nostalgia thing that happened and it was so beautiful and a little heartbreaking. I know how they met their end. I know the one that got away and at what expense. They were able to capture that in a montage, this entire whirlwind of stuff. Oh, yeah. That hit me. For sure.

Furthermore, Carazo has a ton of exciting projects coming up that fans can check out. Carazo is a regular in the second season of Cast Party an actual play Dungeons & Dragons podcast. He will also be in the upcoming Prime Video series, Butterfly, which will debut next year. Carazo takes the helm, steering the next Narrative Telephone with an original tale destined for hilarious distortion.

About The Legend of Vox Machina

Vox Machina will once again have the fate of Exandria on their shoulders as they attempt to save the world from the threat of the Chroma Conclave. These heroes will travel through the Hells and back to defeat these dragons. Facing devastating losses along the way as they do whatever it takes to save the ones they love and the world at large.

The entire third season of The Legend of Vox Machina is available on Prime Video now.