the entire ripley fight is SO good and there's too many good moments to talk about them all but vox machina collectively joining forces to kill ripley truly is the most insane scene of the episode and 1 of the best vox machina moments ever in MY humble opinion.
like "everyone gather around her. we are gonna fucking kill her together. everyone ready? for percy." but ALSO "this is percy killing you. not us." yeahhh honoring percy's death by finishing off the person who killed him but also recognizing that it SHOULD be percy to kill her. and the fact that he is not is wrong and horrifying. and she needs to know that this IS percy. that their shared combined anger and cruelty comes together to honor percy's will. they wield the weapons but percy is the true final executioner.
and i'm just continuously fascinated by how fucking CRUEL they were... the way they all just take and carve out pieces of her. the way they are not content with simply killing her: they have to watch her suffer. together. the way they are not satisfied with merely one of them dealing the finishing blow. they all have to all participate in this bloodshed. together. because she took percival from them. and that is unforgivable.
the fact that percival, knowing that this might be his end and being ready to finally face the consequences of his actions, grants her his forgiveness. and he recognizes that ultimately he's not killing her for satisfaction. he's not doing this to avenge his family and scratch the itch inside his bones that always seems to want to take more. not this time.
he's not the same percival he was when he faced the briarwoods... he's no longer consumed by that soul crushing anger and grief and he has a new family now (one that he loves and that loves him back). and he's a different man. perhaps not a better one yet. but different. or at the very least he WANTS to be. so he forgives her. because he knows that is the only way forward.
he's no longer doing this for himself. he's doing this because he knows this is what's best for the world. because he knows she's far too danger to walk freely (as he's far too danger to walk freely) so he has to end this. and mostly he's doing this for all the innocent people that she has hurt and all the innocent people she will certainly continue to hurt if she lives. he makes the noble choice, the righteous choice this time.
but vox machina? oh no. vox machina are doing this entirely for percy. she took percy away from them, so now she has to suffer. she took percival away from them, so now they'll take little pieces of her as retribution. they will watch as she squirms in pain and chokes on her own blood.
and in that final moment ripley dies, not because of who she is and the danger she poses, but because she killed their friend. she dies, not because this is the right thing to do, but because vox machina love percy. and they have lost him. and they are all so consumed by this soul crushing anger and grief. they no longer care about doing the right thing, only about making her pay.
vax sinks his daggers into her shoulder and rips her fake arm off her body with all of his hatred, scanlan viciously carves the "de rolo" crest in her forehead with all the calculated cruelty of a friend in mourning, grog swings his axe to cut her in half with all his mighty anger as keyleth weaponizes the nature that she loves so very dearly to choke ripley with a grasping vine, and vex, broken and in love, shoots her through the heart in one devastating poetic final blow and watches as ripley chokes in her own blood and silent screams.
they watch the life drain from her body and the light fade from her piercing eyes as they tear her apart, little by little, slow bit by slow painful bit, and with every blow, every stab, every wound they say: "we love you percy and this is for you."
this is vox machina's love letter to percival. and it is covered in blood.
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