Critical Role: Who is Garmelie, the Traveler?

In The Legend of Vox Machina season 2, the intrepid team of heroes gets splintered when a planar shifting spell goes awry. While half of the group remains in Tal’Dorei, the other half ends up in a capricious and colorful alternate dimension called the Feywilds.

Fantasy fans were delighted to hear a familiar iconic voice taking Vox Machina on their latest travels, but the name Garmelie means a lot more than just a little humorous detour for the legendary adventurers. Every campaign in Critical Role is connected in more ways than you might realize. Let’s take a closer look at our humble Traveler and just how his presence affects Vox Machina and even the Mighty Nein.

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Garmelie the Faun

As seen in The Legend of Vox Machina season 2 episode 7, “The Fey Realm,” Garmelie is a puckish and crass faun who prioritizes his own amusement over being forthright with the fractured party as they search for the Vestiges of Divergence and a way home. He is voiced by Billy Boyd of Lord of the Rings fame, perfectly lending his Scottish accent and playful tone to the role.

Garmelie is first caught by Vex’ahlia as the faun is hiding in the brush and drawing incredibly lewd caricatures of the party. His journal is filled with portraits exaggerating their physical features in a surreal and sexualized way (if this reminds you of a certain Mighty Nein member’s tendency to deface property with phallic imagery, you’d be correct — more on that shortly). He also teleports around chaotically, teases know-it-all Percival de Rolo who has excessively studied the unpredictable Feywilds, and rarely gives a straightforward answer to the team’s many questions.

When asked who he is, truly, he claims simply to be “a traveler,” a name which carries weight for Critters familiar with extended Exandrian lore (or the Vox Machina and Mighty Nein podcasts).

Finding Fenthras

Despite his offputting behavior, Garmelie actually does help lead Percy, Vax, Vex, and Keyleth to the Shademurk Bog in search of Saundor, the corrupted archfey guarding the Vestige known as Fenthras. After Vex lays claim to the legendary bow, the faun thanks the party for a genuinely entertaining experience. He then transports them back to Exandria, which lies on another plane of existence from the Fey Realm. Once they have departed, Garmelie the faun transforms and reveals his true fey self to the audience — but not to the party.

Garmelie has an extended role in the actual play podcast of Vox Machina’s adventures, traveling with the entire party and bargaining favors from them before helping them. He ultimately also reveals his true form to the heroes, introducing himself as Artagan, an archfey with exaggerated elfish features, vibrant red hair, and green eyes. Artagan and Vox Machina go on to have more dealings with one another as the archfey bargains for further amusing errands in exchange for his powerful magic.

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Artagan the Traveler

As hinted at in the end of “The Fey Realm,” Garmelie is Artagan the archfey, voiced by Critical Role‘s own Matt Mercer when his true form is revealed. In the Vox Machina podcast campaign, the overall adventure concludes by mentioning that a doorway has been built between the Feywild and Exandria, giving Artagan the opportunity to cross over at will.

The Mighty Nein’s adventures in Wildemount take place about 20 years after Vox Machina’s ultimate battle with the Whispered One, but Artagan’s time with the team members begins even sooner than that. As a child, Jester Lavorre exhibited a unique spark of creativity and chaotic tendencies that caught the fey’s attention. He appeared to her as the Traveler, a mysterious green-hooded figure, and formed a friendship with her.

“Have you ever heard of the Traveler?”

During this time, the blue devilkin was convinced the Traveler was actually some kind of god. Her childlike wonder and faith in him actually gave him new magical strength, so he in turn worked to be the deity she believed him to be. When Jester later grew in her magical discipline, she chose to specialize in illusion magic and trickery to bring herself closer to the Traveler’s own abilities.

Throughout her adventures, Jester uses her notebook to communicate with the Traveler, in which she is often drawing lewd and childish symbols. She has even defaced public property in his name, including drawing phalluses and other humorous symbols on boats, buildings, and maps. Wherever she goes, she inspires playful chaos in the name of the Traveler.

In the time since meeting Vox Machina in the Feywilds, Artagan also takes on the disguise of a tavern worker named Keelyn in Wildemount’s Shadycreek Run. Here, he meets heroes Beau, Nott, Caleb, Keg, and Nila on their way to meet crime boss Ophelia Mardoon. The archfey eventually reveals his true self to the party, owing his quasi-deific strength in Exandria to Jester’s own unconditional belief in him. The heroes of Wildemount additionally aid him on his quest to spread his ministry of mischief and joy to the masses.

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The Mighty Nein Animated Series

Even when he’s not physically there, the Traveler is an omnipresent part of the Mighty Nein’s adventures thanks to Jester’s worship and belief in his power. While we still have some time before the debut of the Mighty Nein animated series, there is no doubt we’ll see the Traveler again in his many forms throughout their journey. And of course, fans can look forward to the madness of Traveler Con at Rumblecusp, and Jester’s adventures with her crimson weasel Sprinkle.

Members of the Crown Keepers (before some of that group’s members would go on to form Bells Hells) even used the gate Vox Machina had built for Artagan to cross into the Fey Realm. From humble beginnings to an ever-deepening mythos, Artagan AKA Garmelie AKA Keelyn AKA Sprinkle AKA the Traveler has impacted every Critical Role campaign with his mischief and magic in some way. His animated appearance is only the beginning.

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To meet the Traveler for yourself, make sure to catch up on The Legend of Vox Machina season 2 on Prime Video, then join us as we eagerly await the already-confirmed TLOVM season 3 and the eventual premiere of the Mighty Nein’s series!

Be sure to search for all your favorite Exandrian loot in our Critical Role collection at side.show/criticalrole. Then, join your fellow Critters in the Let Your Geek Sideshow official Facebook group at side.show/geekgroup.