I love the character trope of the obnoxiously perfect and competent lawful good guy. It's so obnoxious that it's not even irritating anymore, just funny. He's so cool. I love paladins.
"I am a paladin. I am so lawful good that cities spontaneously burst into flames when I walk by." - me roleplaying an overly process driven oath of vengeance paladin. There are many ways of playing this trope. On one end of the spectrum, there is Cervantes (the ingenious Captain Shinguard from Iowa*). On the other, there is the modern interpretation of Lancelot in "The ill made knight" and many of GRRM's knightly characters, where they represent a chivalric ideal but find that this code is incompatible with the grey world they live in. *this is translating Cervantes' most famous work into modern American cultural equivalents
Theres a bunch of gaming channels where people who play paladins in their games tried to also play a paladin in BG3, and they end up breaking their oath in like 5 minutes because they actually have no idea how to play a paladin from the alignment perspective lol. Lawful Good is actually quite difficult when you have to actually stick to the law and your promises in a D&D setting. You can't even infiltrate the goblins and then sneak kill them for example.
@@ItalianoYMexicanoa commendably meticulous and lucid explanation! In the real world, there are relatively few polysynthetic languages. Many of them are the dialects of indigenous peoples in the Americas, Japan (e.g. Ainu), parts of Russia, and Oceania, so making an imaginary language polysynthetic is an easy way to make it sound extra esoteric or exotic.
@@taoping6451 probably holy sword also he must be like max lvl 30epic paladin cause he was able to use epic skill check on concentration ( near 50 roll ) to "Extraordinarily violent motion " checks when he felt evil presence nearby
I didn't even realise it in the cinema, but how hilariously good the choreography is in this fight! No needless cuts, astounding moves, perfectly synched music
The whole movie was like that and it's usually understated. This is a far better marvel than most marvel, this was like a medieval GotG but with a ton of love given to the universe it's coming from.
I love it cause its not just a duel, its a fight to the death. You can feel every swing is aimed at center mass, every strike is poised to kill if the other person doesn't block or dodge in time. I love fights like this, where it really feels like one mistake is the difference between life and a sword in your sternum
This movie was hilariously good in general. Such a shame that it flopped. Must be because there was next to no advertisement thus very few people were even aware of it during its cinema run. No sequel (((
Something I really liked is how in 0:21 Xenk _smelt_ the Thayans This directly references the flavour text for Divine Sense in D&D 5e, which says "good" registers as a pleasant sound and "evil" as a foul smell
@jlmaldonado21 D&D 5e, Paladin 1st level feature Divine Sense description, taken directly from the player handbook: "The presence of strong evil registers on your senses like a noxious odor, and powerful good rings like heavenly music in your ears. As an action, you can open your awareness to detect such forces. Until the end of your next turn, you know the location of any celestial, fiend, or undead within 60 feet of you that is not behind total cover..."
My favorite part of the fight sequence is they didn't cut to the rest of the group mid-fight for some quip or comedic reaction. The action is played out full and you can get invested start to finish.
You could really feel the personal history and antipathy between Xenk and Dralas. The others present were irrelevant, this was between the two of them.
I think this is a more general part of how the entire style of cinematography subtly changes while Xenk is on screen. If this had been any of the main party fighting, that absolutely would've happened, but because Xenk is a character from a tonally different campaign, the cinematography is different.
@@VexWerewolf I believe his actor Rene-Jean Page did say he saw Xenk as a character from a more serious movie, but now wandering into a somewhat more lighter story
@@deathbykonami5487 DMPCs don't have to to be either antagonists or long-lasting. They're any character the DM role plays and rolls for, instead of the players.
Something amazing I just noticed, Xenk fight the assassins on Basalt rock columns these are a volcanic feature famous for their hexagon shape and what are a lot of D&D battle maps shaped with? Hexagons just another amazing detail that shows everyone did there homework
The movie was written by gaming nerds that actually had game rules experts on set to help them with details. (Anything they seem to get 'wrong,' like Edgin never casting spells despite being a bard, is an intentional liberty taken for storytelling's sake.) They even ran a massive one-shot tabletop session with the actors playing their characters so everyone had a feel for what sort of story they were portraying. So yes, they did their homework.
I see a lot of battle maps using grid squares. Maybe I'm just not using 5e maps. I just figured a lot of people used Heroscape pieces for their table sets.
I love how despite how easy Xenk makes the fight look, the lead Thayan does come close to getting a hit in. The Thayans have to get lucky one time. Xenk has to bring his A game Every. Single. Time.
This is one of my favorite things about undead baddies. The idea that a mutual defeat is their win, because THEY will just pull themselves back together again afterwards. My favorite quotes are always along the lines of: "Yes yes, they will kill each other, and then
@@deathbykonami5487 Potato, potahto. For practical purposes there's no distinction. But if you do want to deal with word choices, please note that I wrote, "animated corpses," not "reanimated." 🙂
Ive always enjoyed paladins, never understood why they get such a bad rap. If they are boring to people then that just means they are played badly by players who dont know how to make characters nuanced and compelling.
@@Pro_Butcher_Amateur_Human This is lawful good played in a competent manner. The average doofus playing lawful good on the table dosent even know what it means.
0:22 Is so funny because in context he's just like "I sense evil!" as if those guys weren't just standing right in front of them in formation. But from a mechanics stand point... it's fully the Paladin's Divine Sense going off and the DM placing tokens for the enemies on the battlemap.
At the time Xenk said it, the Thayans weren't standing right in front of them. They were above them some distance away, and not where any of our protagonists were looking.
That's what I was thinking too. I thgought it was so funny how they're standing right there in plain view. But I started thinking that they just walked there as Xenk turned his head.
even as a DMPC, he used this feature as a plot point to show the party that fighting constantly is futile against these enemies. If anything, he wasn't showing off Xenk, he was using a valid reason to stop the party from wasting too much time with these creatures and focus on getting out and running. amazing plot hook.
Though, one thing that kinda annoys me about this same scene is... SURELY they might stay down a bit longer if he actually.. Yknow, Used his paladin class features like Divine Smite.
As a paladin main, I appreciate that his approach is without hesitation. It is your compulsion to judge quickly and act in full force, and not be reliant on just one weapon. Essentially, be proficient enough to give yourself time to make your judgement, and act right away. It would be so easy to write the LG Pally as someone who's willing to sacrifice himself or give mercy to the enemy. No! That's wrong! You are a warrior of your god, regardless of your standing. The enemy is there. Make them regret crossing paths with you, and let the gods decide where their souls go.
Depends on your oath, and your interpretation of a paladin. This definitely works for an oath of devotion, vengeance, conquest, etc, but for an oath of redemption or oath of ancients this would be harder to match.
I’m a fighter main we move the battlefield like it’s our playground give us a weapon and we hit with sheer force and be fast to adapt to the enemies in the field. We may not sling spells but don’t let that blindside you on the fact we can fight all day and move the enemies like chess
This is actually very well choreographed. Wide shots, not too many close ups, you can see what's happening. Actually, the whole movie is well directed. It took me by surprise.
I love how it's not afraid to be a bit cheesy but just runs with it and makes it awesome. Absolutely yes, flourish your sword so it shines before you fight!
@@umjackd It definitely is a flourish, but I got the impression Xenk was casting a spell on it or evoking an innate enchantment of the sword, to counter the magic fire of Dralas's blade.
@@joratenshi7673 that particular one might have been Thunderous Smite due to it pushing the enemy significantly farther than just being hit by a sword.
This was my favorite part of the movie. The sword fighting was intense with back and forth action, they actually made you think that Xenk could possibly lose and was choreographed really well. It was better than the final fight in my opinion as we all knew the main characters would win. In this scene we didn't know who would.
1:21 is what inspirited me all the way to the top and back. The chant, the music, the glow on the sword 😱 When I saw that and when I still see that, my inspiration is overwhelming. Funny how something so short can inspire me so much
Xenk manages to be hilarious by being this strict paladin who would totally be in place in a more serious fantasy movie getting undermined by the party’s shenanigans.
This is a movie made with love of the source material and it shows. It wasn't a hit in the box office, but it seems to be really growing in popularity after it's box office release.
Oh man, that one scene, the echoing voice, the music, the way his sword lights up as the perspective changes, I could almost turn for that guy right then.
@@DarthKieduss it's 100% Sacred Weapon (the channel divinity for devotion-pallys). It turned off when he dropped the sword, but NOT when he received damage. "As an action, you can imbue one weapon that you are holding with positive energy, using your Channel Divinity. For 1 minute, you add your Charisma modifier to attack rolls made with that weapon (with a minimum bonus of +1). The weapon also emits bright light in a 20-foot radius and dim light 20 feet beyond that. If the weapon is not already magical, it becomes magical for the duration. You can end this effect on your turn as part of any other action. If you are no longer holding or carrying this weapon, or if you fall unconscious, this effect ends."
I'm of two minds for the meta of this scene: One, most likely, is the DMPC taking over a fight in a way that's often described in RPGHorrorStories But my personal headcanon, is that the session was running long, and the DM wanted to get the Themberchaud quicker, so he handwaved the fight with the thayans saying "just imagine the sickest fight sequence you've ever seen, now you're running."
As pointed by someone above, my guess is it's a narrated fight scene with little if any rolls, existing to trigger the chase like you said. If the DM actually rolled for the combat then yeah it would drag on and be pretty boring, but my assumption would be it was rather concise.
If this were a scene in a game I was running, it'd be a narrated fight that's going on in the background when the rest of the characters are supposed to be running ahead... but the players insisted on having their characters stay and watch anyways.
I thought they were gonna do that stupid movie trope where a guy looks like a badass and gets absolutely washed in a fight. But no they gave us this instead. Awesome movie, loved it as someone who hasn't played D&D.
I’m a huge Tolkien, Jordan, and Sanderson fanatic so I’m very much of the opinion that “flawless” characters in fantasy are amazing if written well. I loved Xenk so much, a perfect balance to the more modern fantasy main characters.
What, you didn't like it when Asgard was destroyed in Thor Ragnarok and the mood is all "well, that just happened lol"? But in all seriousness, I think a lot of modern fantasy fails to balance comedy with seriousness. Depending on the setting, you might not want to be too serious, but if you must ere, it's better to ere on the side of seriousness.
I'm so sorry I didn't watch this in the theaters, I just assumed it'd be awful. If they make a sequel I'll def watch it a couple of times in the theaters.
I think what makes this a truly magnificent DMPC scene is that not only does Xenk wipe out all the bad guys on his own in an epic fight scene that the "players" just watch, but all the bad guys just IMMEDIATELY GET BACK UP, thus making the scene completely *pointless* and a waste of time (but in the best way possible)
I love how when Xenk gets disarmed, his sword stops glowing the second it leaves his hand. A small reference to the Sacred Weapon Channel Divinity (the thing that made his sword glow in the first place) ending if you put your weapon down.
I thought the same thing. Even both having a dagger inside the sword blade. Except the SatS one had three blades, as opposed to one recoverable blade here (which seems more practical). The late Roger Ebert said the SatS sword was like designed by Q from the James Bond films. 😉
Mindflayers? You fool -- keep them off the big screen. They are dangerous af. I went thru a lot of trouble killing their dungeon in Shadows of Amn. I haaaaate Mindflayers. How about vamps. We can do some vampies.
I'm so happy that the DnD movie turned out good. I was expecting the same corporate slop that Disney churns out but it was such a refreshing experience even if it wasn't extraordinary. Clearly made by DnD players for everyone to enjoy. They nailed it, such a good show.
"So what's this guy's stats?" "Oh, he's got like max in every single stat." "WHAT?!" "And he rolled max HP on every single one of his level-ups too. For real."
@@Zaxares oh and he has an AC of like 40 so don't try to just kill him to take the helm I strongly suggest you do his challenge I got the map and everything ready to go
Honor can only go so far, if the god require the paladin to be severely handicapped while fighting a clearly superior foe, they derserve no worshipper nor a grave in astral sea
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023) is a true gem and a future classic. You will be watching this movie at the holidays with your children, and someday with your grandchildren. it is wonderful, it is hilarious, it is well written, well directed, well acted, wonderfully shot, and the special effects put other modern movies to shame.
how lucky are we paladin mains to be able to witness such a well crafted scene. paladin class was NOT done dirty at all. this movie did a great job with xenk
From start to finish, This film had everything like the Cartoon show. Great fun, Great Characters and great landscape. Plus the Going back to the characters, They are a great Ensemble.
I love how all the characters in this movie have no or very little fighting skills or at least little showcase of them except this one scene just goes crazy.
1:28 "Does a 19 hit?" "No. I roll a dirty 20 for a weapon attack." "No. 18 doesnt hit. Your turn." "Another dirty 20." "Okay. Does a dirty 20 hit?" "No."
I love the character trope of the obnoxiously perfect and competent lawful good guy. It's so obnoxious that it's not even irritating anymore, just funny. He's so cool. I love paladins.
Xenk is a rare example of that trope done right.
He's obnoxious, but he has the skill to back it up
"I am a paladin. I am so lawful good that cities spontaneously burst into flames when I walk by."
- me roleplaying an overly process driven oath of vengeance paladin.
There are many ways of playing this trope. On one end of the spectrum, there is Cervantes (the ingenious Captain Shinguard from Iowa*). On the other, there is the modern interpretation of Lancelot in "The ill made knight" and many of GRRM's knightly characters, where they represent a chivalric ideal but find that this code is incompatible with the grey world they live in.
*this is translating Cervantes' most famous work into modern American cultural equivalents
So well said. He's so perfect he always walks straight even when a big rock is in the way.
Theres a bunch of gaming channels where people who play paladins in their games tried to also play a paladin in BG3, and they end up breaking their oath in like 5 minutes because they actually have no idea how to play a paladin from the alignment perspective lol. Lawful Good is actually quite difficult when you have to actually stick to the law and your promises in a D&D setting. You can't even infiltrate the goblins and then sneak kill them for example.
"Neither virtue nor blade shall break" is written in Celestial on his blade.
nat 20 roll on reading the inscription om his blade.
Wait, celestial is a real language!?
@@Water-ez2cy people make elf language in tolkien into real language too. So is GOT valyrian. It’s common.
@@brian9829 The difference being that Tolkien's elvish was made real by him in person XD.
@@ItalianoYMexicanoa commendably meticulous and lucid explanation!
In the real world, there are relatively few polysynthetic languages. Many of them are the dialects of indigenous peoples in the Americas, Japan (e.g. Ainu), parts of Russia, and Oceania, so making an imaginary language polysynthetic is an easy way to make it sound extra esoteric or exotic.
"It is no simple feat to kill that which is already dead....also I used all of my spell slots."
All he did was divine favor, right?
@@taoping6451 probably holy sword also he must be like max lvl 30epic paladin cause he was able to use epic skill check on concentration ( near 50 roll ) to "Extraordinarily violent motion " checks when he felt evil presence nearby
@@taoping6451 most probably only magic weapon.
@@NotTheAbhi Magic weapon doesn't deal radiant damage.
@@ThePhilosopher470 Bruh he playing 5E wtf you talking about LMFAO all he did was Diving Sense and Branding Smite
I didn't even realise it in the cinema, but how hilariously good the choreography is in this fight! No needless cuts, astounding moves, perfectly synched music
All the fights in this movie were great. No overly shaken camera, no needless cuts before each punch, just a pure art, haha.
The whole movie was like that and it's usually understated. This is a far better marvel than most marvel, this was like a medieval GotG but with a ton of love given to the universe it's coming from.
I love it cause its not just a duel, its a fight to the death. You can feel every swing is aimed at center mass, every strike is poised to kill if the other person doesn't block or dodge in time. I love fights like this, where it really feels like one mistake is the difference between life and a sword in your sternum
This movie was hilariously good in general.
Such a shame that it flopped.
Must be because there was next to no advertisement thus very few people were even aware of it during its cinema run.
No sequel (((
Has it should be and no one should ever forget it, no matter how low the current day self-proclaimet writers want to push the bar.
Something I really liked is how in 0:21 Xenk _smelt_ the Thayans
This directly references the flavour text for Divine Sense in D&D 5e, which says "good" registers as a pleasant sound and "evil" as a foul smell
Ooh I didn't even notice
Pally is one of my favorite classes and I loved that bit too.
no he just simply has detect evil
@jlmaldonado21 D&D 5e, Paladin 1st level feature Divine Sense description, taken directly from the player handbook:
"The presence of strong evil registers on your senses like a noxious odor, and powerful good rings like heavenly music in your ears. As an action, you can open your awareness to detect such forces. Until the end of your next turn, you know the location of any celestial, fiend, or undead within 60 feet of you that is not behind total cover..."
@@Konpekikaminari ya detect undead
My favorite part of the fight sequence is they didn't cut to the rest of the group mid-fight for some quip or comedic reaction. The action is played out full and you can get invested start to finish.
You could really feel the personal history and antipathy between Xenk and Dralas. The others present were irrelevant, this was between the two of them.
Ohh Disney Marvel and now Warner Bros as well would be so desperate to insert a quick comedic scene to it
I think this is a more general part of how the entire style of cinematography subtly changes while Xenk is on screen. If this had been any of the main party fighting, that absolutely would've happened, but because Xenk is a character from a tonally different campaign, the cinematography is different.
“Well * THAT * just happened 😅”
@@VexWerewolf
I believe his actor Rene-Jean Page did say he saw Xenk as a character from a more serious movie, but now wandering into a somewhat more lighter story
1:18 I love this little detail, Greenflame Blade vs Oath of Devotions Channel Divinity!
I love the way the camera move really efficiently shows the power is coming from “Above”
Xenk swore the Oath of Ancients, so that's more likely the Divine Favor spell.
Green Flame!!!
and i love the music too!
@@connerphillips2643 he swore an oath of devotion to help the innocent I thought? It’s on forgotten realms wiki
The party looks on while the DMPC beats all the enemies single handedly. It really is like real D&D
Guest PC since he's only with the party briefly.
@@deathbykonami5487 DMPC because he's run by the DM
@@sammiller6631 No because he's on the party's side and he's only there temporarily, so he's a guest. Dralas, Sofina, and Forge are the DMPCs.
@@deathbykonami5487 DMPCs don't have to to be either antagonists or long-lasting. They're any character the DM role plays and rolls for, instead of the players.
@@danieldickson8591 @deathbykonami5487 Could be either really, Could be guestPC, could be DMPC. There's no way to really know
Something amazing I just noticed, Xenk fight the assassins on Basalt rock columns these are a volcanic feature famous for their hexagon shape and what are a lot of D&D battle maps shaped with? Hexagons just another amazing detail that shows everyone did there homework
The movie was written by gaming nerds that actually had game rules experts on set to help them with details. (Anything they seem to get 'wrong,' like Edgin never casting spells despite being a bard, is an intentional liberty taken for storytelling's sake.) They even ran a massive one-shot tabletop session with the actors playing their characters so everyone had a feel for what sort of story they were portraying.
So yes, they did their homework.
I see a lot of battle maps using grid squares. Maybe I'm just not using 5e maps. I just figured a lot of people used Heroscape pieces for their table sets.
‘Cause hexagons are the bestagons
@@MythicFox Maybe theyre sword bard who is just really deep into that "but what if i need this spell slot later" way of thinking
I love how despite how easy Xenk makes the fight look, the lead Thayan does come close to getting a hit in. The Thayans have to get lucky one time. Xenk has to bring his A game Every. Single. Time.
This is one of my favorite things about undead baddies. The idea that a mutual defeat is their win, because THEY will just pull themselves back together again afterwards.
My favorite quotes are always along the lines of: "Yes yes, they will kill each other, and then
I was fully expecting Xenk to be a fraud but i'm so happy they played it straight.
The fight choreography didn’t have to be this good but it was anyway.
And so few cuts, and those that were there made sense! The camera crew and editors on this movie were amazing as well
@@JaneXemylixa also I'm pretty sure the actor did it too, which is why its shot closely since you don't have to hide his face since its not a double.
@@crimsoneclipse0618 You're correct! They mostly did their own stunts and enjoyed themselves a lot (from behind the scenes videos)
i just imagine it as turn based and just pause the fighting, add the sound of a dice roll and then start it again.
Holga's fights are my favorite in this entire movie
I'm surprised that no one has commented that as animated corpses, the Thayans when they're cut, bleed dust. I love that detail.
Hollow ones, not reanimated corpses.
@@deathbykonami5487 Potato, potahto. For practical purposes there's no distinction. But if you do want to deal with word choices, please note that I wrote, "animated corpses," not "reanimated." 🙂
@@danieldickson8591 For practical purposes there is a distinction. You can't just say "Trust me bro" and hand wave it away.
@@sammiller6631What's the distinction?
@@_stupidbro You can't just blast them with turn undead or healing magic
Xenk was the character I hoped they did justice most (Paladin is my main class) and I was *not* disappointed. Easily stole the movie for me.
Did nothing
The lawful good character ironically stole the movie.
@@Pro_Butcher_Amateur_Humangood thing he’s post 4E paladin, he would’ve lost his class entirely otherwise
Ive always enjoyed paladins, never understood why they get such a bad rap. If they are boring to people then that just means they are played badly by players who dont know how to make characters nuanced and compelling.
@@Pro_Butcher_Amateur_Human This is lawful good played in a competent manner. The average doofus playing lawful good on the table dosent even know what it means.
0:22 Is so funny because in context he's just like "I sense evil!" as if those guys weren't just standing right in front of them in formation.
But from a mechanics stand point... it's fully the Paladin's Divine Sense going off and the DM placing tokens for the enemies on the battlemap.
At the time Xenk said it, the Thayans weren't standing right in front of them. They were above them some distance away, and not where any of our protagonists were looking.
@@danieldickson8591 In the dm's drawer :)
@@CrazyCaleo Roll initiative.
Nah man, noticed the sniffing? it’s the faint body odor of those dudes, they’re standing around lava, of course they’re gonna have sweaty armpits
That's what I was thinking too. I thgought it was so funny how they're standing right there in plain view. But I started thinking that they just walked there as Xenk turned his head.
even as a DMPC, he used this feature as a plot point to show the party that fighting constantly is futile against these enemies.
If anything, he wasn't showing off Xenk, he was using a valid reason to stop the party from wasting too much time with these creatures and focus on getting out and running.
amazing plot hook.
He's a guest PC, not a DMPC. Dralas and his assassins are the DM characters.
@@deathbykonami5487 He's a DMPC, not a guest PC. The DM is running both the Paladin as an Expy DMPC and Dralas.
@@sammiller6631 Could be either really, Could be guestPC, could be DMPC. There's no way to really know
Though, one thing that kinda annoys me about this same scene is... SURELY they might stay down a bit longer if he actually.. Yknow, Used his paladin class features like Divine Smite.
My guess would be the dm isn't even rolling for the fight to keep it short, it's likely just a series of narration.
"There is evil here" Divine Sense👌
He sniffs right before saying it too. 10/10
I did not expect the fighting to be this good.
Actually no one did.
A welcome surprise. @@algomez8563
Incredible... an uncut swordfight dynamic with a wonderful choregraphy.
I've not seen this since... Return of the King ?
As a paladin main, I appreciate that his approach is without hesitation. It is your compulsion to judge quickly and act in full force, and not be reliant on just one weapon. Essentially, be proficient enough to give yourself time to make your judgement, and act right away. It would be so easy to write the LG Pally as someone who's willing to sacrifice himself or give mercy to the enemy. No! That's wrong! You are a warrior of your god, regardless of your standing. The enemy is there. Make them regret crossing paths with you, and let the gods decide where their souls go.
Plus these guys made their choice when they turned their nation into one of living corpses.
Depends on your oath, and your interpretation of a paladin. This definitely works for an oath of devotion, vengeance, conquest, etc, but for an oath of redemption or oath of ancients this would be harder to match.
I’m a fighter main we move the battlefield like it’s our playground give us a weapon and we hit with sheer force and be fast to adapt to the enemies in the field. We may not sling spells but don’t let that blindside you on the fact we can fight all day and move the enemies like chess
Loved the Green Flame Blade on Dralas's scimitar and then Xenk counters with the Divine Favor on his longsword. So sick!!!
It's Sacred Weapon, the channel divinity for devotion-paladins!
One could call Dralas’s sword embed with searing smite also
This is actually very well choreographed. Wide shots, not too many close ups, you can see what's happening. Actually, the whole movie is well directed. It took me by surprise.
You gotta admit, this sword fighting is awesome
Some people won't admit it, but I will.
I love how it's not afraid to be a bit cheesy but just runs with it and makes it awesome.
Absolutely yes, flourish your sword so it shines before you fight!
@@umjackd It definitely is a flourish, but I got the impression Xenk was casting a spell on it or evoking an innate enchantment of the sword, to counter the magic fire of Dralas's blade.
@@danieldickson8591 That was probably a Divine Smite, or some of the flavours of smite the paladin has
@@joratenshi7673 that particular one might have been Thunderous Smite due to it pushing the enemy significantly farther than just being hit by a sword.
This was my favorite part of the movie. The sword fighting was intense with back and forth action, they actually made you think that Xenk could possibly lose and was choreographed really well. It was better than the final fight in my opinion as we all knew the main characters would win. In this scene we didn't know who would.
In the final fight we all knew the main characters would win. We didn't know if they would all survive. In a way, not all of them did.
@@danieldickson8591 But did the main characters from the animated D&D series all survive?
@@sammiller6631 We'll probably never know. They were just an Easter egg for long-time fans.
@@sammiller6631 either Srongheart or Warduke get them first, either option would free them anyway
@@sammiller6631 yeah they all got back home at the finish of the series. But it was not easy.
1:21 is what inspirited me all the way to the top and back. The chant, the music, the glow on the sword 😱 When I saw that and when I still see that, my inspiration is overwhelming. Funny how something so short can inspire me so much
Xenk manages to be hilarious by being this strict paladin who would totally be in place in a more serious fantasy movie getting undermined by the party’s shenanigans.
Which makes him fit the party better
@@castbet9183 Yes, the contrast.
This is a movie made with love of the source material and it shows. It wasn't a hit in the box office, but it seems to be really growing in popularity after it's box office release.
The music in the fight is called "The Ruckus." It is so amazingly hypnotic, I can't stop listening! Perfect fight scene music!
God bless you and your family, kind man, thnx a lot for the name of duel ost
Oh man, that one scene, the echoing voice, the music, the way his sword lights up as the perspective changes, I could almost turn for that guy right then.
I love the synths when Xenk powers up his sword
Me too! It plays when he’s describing the gnome trap bridge too lol
1:20
that single moment made me want to play a paladin
Dralas casts Green-Flame Blade, Xenk imbues his sword with Radiant Energy. Loved it!
@@danielstephens1185Divine Favor specificly
@@DarthKiedussHaven't played one, but that makes sense. The crescendo as he casts it is so fitting too!
@@DarthKieduss it's 100% Sacred Weapon (the channel divinity for devotion-pallys).
It turned off when he dropped the sword, but NOT when he received damage.
"As an action, you can imbue one weapon that you are holding with positive energy, using your Channel Divinity. For 1 minute, you add your Charisma modifier to attack rolls made with that weapon (with a minimum bonus of +1). The weapon also emits bright light in a 20-foot radius and dim light 20 feet beyond that. If the weapon is not already magical, it becomes magical for the duration.
You can end this effect on your turn as part of any other action. If you are no longer holding or carrying this weapon, or if you fall unconscious, this effect ends."
For Dralas I thought it was Searing smite & Xenk used his channel divinity to imbue his sword with radiant damage
I'm of two minds for the meta of this scene:
One, most likely, is the DMPC taking over a fight in a way that's often described in RPGHorrorStories
But my personal headcanon, is that the session was running long, and the DM wanted to get the Themberchaud quicker, so he handwaved the fight with the thayans saying "just imagine the sickest fight sequence you've ever seen, now you're running."
As pointed by someone above, my guess is it's a narrated fight scene with little if any rolls, existing to trigger the chase like you said. If the DM actually rolled for the combat then yeah it would drag on and be pretty boring, but my assumption would be it was rather concise.
If this were a scene in a game I was running, it'd be a narrated fight that's going on in the background when the rest of the characters are supposed to be running ahead... but the players insisted on having their characters stay and watch anyways.
It's also a great way for the DM to demonstrate that it's not worth spending too much time fighting Thayans, if they just get back up instantly.
This movie is so much fun. I hope they make a sequel!
I thought they were gonna do that stupid movie trope where a guy looks like a badass and gets absolutely washed in a fight. But no they gave us this instead. Awesome movie, loved it as someone who hasn't played D&D.
Greetings. My name is Xenk Yendar. You lot scared the сrар out of me a hundred years ago. Prepare to take a 15-minute nap.
I’m a huge Tolkien, Jordan, and Sanderson fanatic so I’m very much of the opinion that “flawless” characters in fantasy are amazing if written well. I loved Xenk so much, a perfect balance to the more modern fantasy main characters.
Well Jordan's characters are far from flawless.
What, you didn't like it when Asgard was destroyed in Thor Ragnarok and the mood is all "well, that just happened lol"?
But in all seriousness, I think a lot of modern fantasy fails to balance comedy with seriousness. Depending on the setting, you might not want to be too serious, but if you must ere, it's better to ere on the side of seriousness.
I'm so sorry I didn't watch this in the theaters, I just assumed it'd be awful. If they make a sequel I'll def watch it a couple of times in the theaters.
You missed out so hard!
I was 50/50 but goad my wife wanted a movie night
I watched it on an airplane, still loved it
Finally a lawful good Thayan character done right.
Xenk is my favorite character in the movie
In addition to just being a fun movie, the fight choreography and cinematography of the action was pretty damn solid.
Like how paladins are able to fight like Ninjas.
The fight scenes in this movie are CLEAN!
I think what makes this a truly magnificent DMPC scene is that not only does Xenk wipe out all the bad guys on his own in an epic fight scene that the "players" just watch, but all the bad guys just IMMEDIATELY GET BACK UP, thus making the scene completely *pointless* and a waste of time (but in the best way possible)
It's a shame this movie didn't perform well, it's way better than I expected it to be.
It's the kind of film that if got a sequel it would be huge but I don't think it should.
I love how when Xenk gets disarmed, his sword stops glowing the second it leaves his hand. A small reference to the Sacred Weapon Channel Divinity (the thing that made his sword glow in the first place) ending if you put your weapon down.
Shooting the swordblade into a foe made me think of that cheesy 80s movie 'The Sword and the Sorcerer'
I thought the same thing. Even both having a dagger inside the sword blade. Except the SatS one had three blades, as opposed to one recoverable blade here (which seems more practical). The late Roger Ebert said the SatS sword was like designed by Q from the James Bond films. 😉
@@danieldickson8591 I'm glad I'm not the only onethat thought of that cheesy film!
I swear to Xenk is Wyll in Baldurs Gate 3.
*nothing would convince me otherwise*
Too bad Minthara is a paladin, he would be one instead otherwise
I love the arrogance of a bunch of rogues trying to fight a paladin straight up, without surprise.
Now we need a sequel where they search in the demogorgon’s lair to find something to kill Venca and his army of mind flayers
Maybe they'll find the Head of Vecna?
Mindflayers? You fool -- keep them off the big screen. They are dangerous af. I went thru a lot of trouble killing their dungeon in Shadows of Amn. I haaaaate Mindflayers.
How about vamps. We can do some vampies.
Vecna doesn't really engage with Mindflayers in lore. Illithids mostly serve Elder Brains
@@zarander mindflayers because I was talking about the monsters from stranger things
@@zarander How about vampiric mind flayers? ;)
I greatly enjoyed this movie, but I do wish we had more Xenk
Xenk was so op to this party of loosers, they'll fade to his glory.
"sniff - there is evil here."
*looks into the camera*
The fight is epic as hell.
Protect it with your very life.
I will... hold this 😂
Named my Baldurs Gate 3 character after this man
ngl the synth near 1:21 goes crazy
This movie had no right being that good, I hope they make more. (Also more owl bear please)
This movie, genuinly, slapped. I hope they make a sequel.
He's like a level 15 character in a level 5 party.
I'm so happy that the DnD movie turned out good. I was expecting the same corporate slop that Disney churns out but it was such a refreshing experience even if it wasn't extraordinary. Clearly made by DnD players for everyone to enjoy. They nailed it, such a good show.
Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley are amazing
I love how the Thayans all "bleed" dust, because of their inherent necromancy.
This is such solid battle choreography! Better than in some high budget movies. Amazing and I want a sequel)
Regé-Jean Page was soooo good in this role. I've never seen him before, but I'm gonna be on the lookout from now on. Also Xenk is so pretty?!
I love how they didn't make the Paladin character a joke.
More reasons why Paladin is my favourite class.
This guy was perfect as a paladin…
This movie was so refreshingly amazing.
We need more D&D movies. Preferably rated R.
Not gonna lie, this scene was the best one in that movie. I’m glad to have seen it!
true
Playing BG 3 then re-watching this scene/movie gives an entirely different sensation
That version of d n d looks really awesome
The Paladin bro understood the assignment :D loved his character and this fight.
I didn't expect to see a jedi and a sith fighting in this movie XD
They all draw from the same movie traditions, though. Samurai, swashbucklers, kung fu, sword-and-sorcery.
Its nice to see a paladin being broken as usual.
"There is evil here."
We're in the Underdark, could you be more specific?
he's such a DMPC and I love it lol
"So what's this guy's stats?"
"Oh, he's got like max in every single stat."
"WHAT?!"
"And he rolled max HP on every single one of his level-ups too. For real."
@@Zaxares oh and he has an AC of like 40 so don't try to just kill him to take the helm I strongly suggest you do his challenge I got the map and everything ready to go
40 AC 😱
Xenk, Capitan Holt and Okoye are the holy trinity of great lawful good characters
This sword fighting scene was on point.
They had a DM PC, that literally made the party stand aside while he did the fighting for them....
Yup, the party was sucking and the DM needed to get the ball rolling on the session's plot, so he had someone come in and help out
This movie was a pleasant surprise. I didn’t expect much from it, but it was very entertaining.
I never expected a paladin to fight with that style
Honor can only go so far, if the god require the paladin to be severely handicapped while fighting a clearly superior foe, they derserve no worshipper nor a grave in astral sea
I love that sword fight scene those are like Lightsabers from the Star Wars franchise.
When Xenk picks up a helmet we see it lying in some weird black dust. It could be lead sand to block Locate Object.
Protect it with your very life.
I will. Hold it!
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023) is a true gem and a future classic. You will be watching this movie at the holidays with your children, and someday with your grandchildren. it is wonderful, it is hilarious, it is well written, well directed, well acted, wonderfully shot, and the special effects put other modern movies to shame.
I do have to admit the line "Ready for the next bout, Yendar?" after coming back from the dead is pretty hilarious
Just saw this movie on Netflix... It's actually REALLY good.
This movie deserved better at the box office.
And this is why I love paladins. Never was there a better lawn mower for enemies.
how lucky are we paladin mains to be able to witness such a well crafted scene.
paladin class was NOT done dirty at all. this movie did a great job with xenk
I would have liked to see a smite or two from the paladin.
These fights were sick for a fantasy settings
2:22 damn, props to that stuntman.
This movie was so awesome, I loved it
bro got that mythical armor and sword
From start to finish, This film had everything like the Cartoon show. Great fun, Great Characters and great landscape. Plus the Going back to the characters, They are a great Ensemble.
I love how all the characters in this movie have no or very little fighting skills or at least little showcase of them except this one scene just goes crazy.
1:28
"Does a 19 hit?"
"No. I roll a dirty 20 for a weapon attack."
"No. 18 doesnt hit. Your turn."
"Another dirty 20."
"Okay. Does a dirty 20 hit?"
"No."
01:21 When I got phalar aluve as paladin
I wish he was in the film more. He was the coolest character.
The perfect presentation of paladins😊