Critical Role: The Mighty Nein Origins: Fjord Stone

Critical Role: The Mighty Nein Origins

by Chris Wyatt (Contributor), Kevin Burke (Writer), Travis Willingham (Writer)

Kevin Burke and Chris "Doc" Wyatt, writers for the Amazon Original animated series Critical Role: The Legend of Vox Machina, join fan-favorite artist Selina Espiritu, colorist Diana Sousa, letterer Ariana Maher, and Matthew Mercer and Travis Willingham from the cast of Critical Role to bring Fjord's early years to life in this all-new hardcover graphic novel!

More than just an orcish face!

Growing up in an orphanage on the Menagerie Coast, Fjord Stone has never been comfortable with the assumptions people draw from his half-orc heritage. But his sweet, sensitive nature will do him no favors in Port Damali. Luckily, a chance encounter on the docks lands Fjord with a job, a mentor, and more adventure than he could ever dream of on the path that will eventually lead him to the rest of the Mighty Nein!

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Fantasy, Dungeons and Dragons, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics, Comic Book

56 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 13, 2022

About the author

Christopher Aaron Wyatt, sometimes credited as Chris "Doc" Wyatt is an American film producer, writer, and second unit director.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_W...

Reviews

[lucy · Rating 4 out of 5]

the illustrator was clearly down bad for Fjord and i respect it immensely. yes this is a tragic backstory about coming of age in traumatizing, lonely circumstances, but also it’s the story of a young man who practiced sweet-talking and sword-fighting so hard he had 18 charisma AND 18 constitution at level 1. of course he’s hot.

the art and writing here are def the best quality i’ve seen from the Mighty Nein Origins series so far. and it was so awesome to see the Nein together on-page!! seeing Beau Lionett for even a moment filled me with uncontainable joy; i cannot wait for her comic to come out next year.

[Thea Jacobsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable and super quick read. Not the most compelling story, but art that lands it four stars. Definetly only worth reading if you know the character.

[Alexandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

The artwork is ✨ STUNNING ✨ and I loved reading more about Fjord’s life before the events of C2! I only wish we got more clarity on Sabian’s whole motivation because even with 400+ hrs of gameplay and one comic book later, I’m still no closer to figuring it out lol

[Suz · Rating 4 out of 5]

My husband

[Helen West · Rating 5 out of 5]

More lore!! I mean, we pretty much knew the latter part of this story from the campaign but seeing how he was treated in the orphanage kinda makes me feel bad for Fjord :( Poor guy.

Loved the art and the story.

[edy · Rating 4 out of 5]

fjord my beloved

[Madeleine Knutsson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Got this book in a Humble Bundle deal.

I haven't finished Might Nein's story yet, so I don't know how any of their arcs wrap up, but I'm really excited to read this before continuing the show!

Fjord has always been one of my favorite characters, so learning about his backstory was really heartbreaking.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

From the ones in the series I have read, I like this one best.

[Kalliah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even if I didn't know anything about critical role I would love it, because I do it's even better. The feels for baby Fjord :')

[Amy Braun · Rating 5 out of 5]

This could quite possibly be my favourite of this origin story so far! Fjord has always been a mysterious character with great history, and it was fantastic to see more of his origin. He endured a great deal of hardship, but ultimately his path led him on the adventure of a lifetime.

I particularly enjoyed the interactions with Vandran and the animosity with Sabian. The writing is very good and the art style is gorgeous. I highly enjoyed this little novel and recommend it to all fans of Critical Role!

[Ashtyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

travis talking about fjords backstory: yeah he had a pretty shitty childhood so he just didn’t talk about it
the childhood: layers of childhood trauma that rivals caleb’s shit like oh my god

[Victoria Hawco · Rating 4 out of 5]

That’s Fjord Tough.

[Willemijn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love a good pirate story! I really liked Fjord (didn't finish watching the campaign though) so it was interesting to read more about his origin story.

I thought the atmosphere was excellent. The colours that were used and the scenes portrayed. It just worked really well! I also liked how Fjord narrated his own story. With another graphic novel in this series, I didn't really enjoy that, so this was a nice suprise!

[Dev · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received an ARC copy of this book from Edelweiss

A nice little graphic novel expanding on Fjord's backstory. Decent story and good artwork, really the only reason it gets 3 stars is because Fjord was never my favorite character from campaign two so I wasn't overly invested in the story. Definitely worth a read if you've been reading all the other Critical Role Origin comics though.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautifully illustrated look at Fjord's backstory, which I really appreciated since Fjord's story is one which I really wish had been explored more in Campaign 2. I think I have a new appreciation for Fjord as a character and his struggles, and I really enjoyed the integration of his warlock abilities at the end.

[Bryony · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm glad that Fjord's origin comic, similarly to Yasha's comic, was able to shed more light on Fjord's past and expand on what we already have seen in the show.

Once more I wish it was a tad longer, but overall I enjoyed reading it and it was beautifully drawn and coloured.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this art style ALOT. Was it because it showed buff Fjord in detail? No comment. I loved that Fjords story started and ended with the mighty nein, quite different to the others I have read. I also LOVED the scene with Vandran when he’s explaining the good behind ‘stone’, SLAY Vandran, slay.

[Caitlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super quick read. I don't know if non fans of the show would enjoy this because there wasn't a whole lot to it. The artwork was better than most in this set and it was fun to read about Fjord.

[Tamara Morrill · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great story on some of the background of Fjord
much of the story was hinted or mentioned during the critical role podcast. it was great to finally see how Fjord started to work as a sailor and his interactions with his mentor.

[dilelem]

More tragic than I thought.

[Sivert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great story! Beutiful art, love How it ties into the main story of thr campaign

[Dany Doncel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ok but like can Vandran be my mentor please??

[Sharlene Gerena · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5
I’m really happy to have read this (especially now that The Mighty Nein has been announced!!!) I thought this was really good, the art was great! I really liked getting to know Fjord some more and it left me wishing this was longer. Out of all of them this is my second favorite so far (after Caleb’s)

[bunnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

oh my little green man...kissies u on head

[Gerry Sacco · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good. Art was good, story was good. Much better than some of the others in the series.

Great work here.

[Caro · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think there isn't anything bad to say about this one. I loved the illustrations so far and those were stunning in Fjord's book as well. Tragic coming-of-age story, but well done by the writing staff.

[Madeline W · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been waiting for this installment of The Mighty Nein Origins to be uploaded to either Hoopla or OverDrive for ages, and tonight, my dream finally came true! I already read one novel today, so I suppose one more text was never going to hold me back.

I had decently high expectations for Fjord's story from the cover artwork alone, especially considering some of the more lackluster editions we have received with Yasha and Nott. Luckily for me, I actually felt like this short graphic novel fulfilled many of the areas that the others were missing, such as giving new lore and containing an independent narrative. That being said, I do wish it were a bit more detailed or fluid, but I don't have too much to complain about. I would say that this was probably my second favorite of the series after Caleb's, and I loved the line "ye ungrateful green bastard." For some reason, that was what resonated from the tale because I found it funny amidst the more unfortunate bullying. I'm really pleased to recommend this origin story after some of the other flops in the series.

[DaniLanglie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good one! I really liked the explanation of Fjord's character, that he's quite shy, but that through effort and intent, he can turn that natural sweet, quiet nature into something more reserved and intimidating, to suit his needs. I liked how Fjord thought of the sword as the source of his newfound magical abilities, but how those abilities also manifested out of the skills he was already learning before he made an unknowing pact with a sea monster. He had already learned how to blend in and escape detection, and how he has magic that literally lets him disguise himself. He'd already learned how to make people do what he wanted, and now he has actual compulsion abilities. It's cool to see those skills rooted naturally in his training, and then enhanced by magic.

There were a few kind of dumb things... I think my least favorite detail is that they added in this thing where Fjord's last name is "Stone" because his boss at the orphanage said he was "useless like a stone" and then Vandran has this whole bit about how stones are what build the streets and bridges and stuff... I don't know. It just feels really forced. Like in that dumb Han Solo movie, him picking the last name Solo because he's always alone. I believe in the campaign, it's briefly mentioned that "Stone" is just the placeholder last name given to orphans who don't have a surname, a la Jon Snow in A Song of Ice and Fire. I'm not really sure why they had to change that simple explanation!

In terms of the visuals, I loved the underwater scenes that frame the bulk of the story, the image of the sunken ship, and the Mighty Nein all together in their exploration of it. All the stuff on the ships, with the ropes and the rigging and the sales, looked so cool. And the creepy sword! Very cool design, really said a lot with a little.

This is one of the stronger ones, of these origin stories for the Mighty Nein. I really like it! I'm looking forward to getting Beau's and Cad's later this year.

[Enci · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fjord has always been one of my favorite characters in C2, what Travis has created with him is incredible and undoubtedly a masterclass in character-work, so it was really amazing to get a look into his past. It's so interesting because I think it's safe to say that Fjord had the strongest focus on his backstory over the course of campaign two, and I love how his story still didn't fully end, that there are still questions and I especially love that the CR crew didn't decide to just hand over those answers in a 56 page comic. The story was great, I am really enjoying the personal "voice-over" of these stories, that the characters tell their own backstories, and I really loved the loneliness and family vibes all through this story.

I also love how they choose differently for each character whether the others appear or not. Yasha didn't have anyone appear in her backstory anywhere, but this one opened with Fjord and the Might Nein in mid-adventure, and then it closed too, with the found-family shot, something that was extremely important with Fjord and his story. And I really loved the little snippet of Jester and Fjord right when they met.

Anyway, all in all, I really loved this.

[Amy Harteveld · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rep: POC scs

I recently started watching Critical Role. I started with the Mighty Nein campaign, and I’m currently on episode 38. I love it and all the characters so much. So naturally I was super excited to see there’s comics coming out showing parts of their backstories.

Fjord is one of my favorites of the gang, so I was really excited for his comic. I was not let down. I like that this started off with the whole gang, then went into his backstory. It’s cool learning about these characters in this format. I would love if these comics were even longer. Or even if they had full novels. I could read about them all day. I love them so much.

I don’t think you need to have watched the campaign to understand the comic. It could be a good way to introduce new people to the world of Critical Role and the Mighty Nein. And for people who are already familiar with it, it’s also great because we get to see more of his backstory in depth and spend more time with a beloved character.

Love art was very pretty and vibrant.

Overall, I loved this. Very pretty and well done.

Thank you to Edelweiss for providing me with an eARC of this book