WARNING: This article contains spoilers for The Zone of Adventure: Imbalance, Episode 1.
Fans were excited when the McElroy family announced they would be returning world of the first season of their hit Dungeons & Dragons podcast, The Adventure Zone: Balance. The mini-series, which also features Aabria Iyengar as Dungeon Master, is called The Zone of Adventure: Imbalance. The trailer included a quote from beloved Wizard Taako saying “Let’s just say you’re really lucky I don’t use magic anymore,” setting the internet ablaze with speculation about what could have happened to Taako and his magical powers. With the release of the first episode in the mini-series, fans got a peak into what exactly is going on with Taako’s magic.
Imbalance returns to the three main characters of the podcast about a decade after the dramatic events of the finale. Added to the group is once-DM Griffin McElroy, turning one of his NPCs into a PC. While the premiere focuses on the more mundane tasks that the players have settled into after the Day of Story and Song, it seems something magical and dangerous is creeping up on them. The vexing scene from the trailer, however, comes not from an epic moment in battle, but rather from Taako threatening his co-worker Susan, who has forgotten to moisten down a mutton dish.
An Adventure Zone without a magical Taako feels very different. The Zone of Adventure: Imbalance introduces Taako in the middle of a photo shoot for his lifestyle magazine, Make Your Own Magic. He claims that he’s done with magic because not everyone has access to arcane powers (this isn’t D&D Fourth Edition, after all). For those who can’t use Mage Hand to express dogs’ anal glands, Taako wants to provide options for creating a sense of magic through design, cooking, meditation and goal-setting.
The implication is that Taako could still use magic, but is choosing not to. When Magnus asks for Taako’s help in fixing a magic sword, Taako claims “I don’t do magic anymore” — saying “don’t” rather than “can’t.” This suggests that the lack of magic is a choice. This response makes it seem like there’s something more standing in the way of Taako using magic, perhaps a traumatic event or even the magical events of the original podcast that make it so he doesn’t want to tap into his arcane abilities.
The true test of Taako’s magical ability will likely come at the beginning of Episode 2. At the end of The Zone of Adventure: Imbalance premiere, Iyengar asked the family to roll for initiative, ensuring they’ll see combat soon. If Taako is committed to facing this mini-series without magic, seeing what he has to offer in battle is sure to be both interesting and rowdy. Regardless, it seems most likely that combat will provide Taako with an epic moment to reveal that he’s still the magical Wizard fans fell in love with.
New episodes of The Zone of Adventure: Imbalance release on November 17 and November 24 at 10:00 ET on YouTube.
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