Is ‘Riverdale’ Setting up an Epic, ‘Lord of the Rings’ Style Final Battle?

Spoilers for Riverdale “Chapter Fifty-Two: The Raid” past this point.

If you’ve been watching Riverdale Season 3, you’re probably aware that the denizens of the town of Riverdale have become obsessed with a role-playing game called Gryphons & Gargoyles. Not only that, but as of this week’s (March 27) episode “The Raid,” the creature at the head of the game, The Gargoyle King, has once again reared his ugly head. But it’s other developments in the episode that help buoy a theory I’ve been batting around for a while, that this season is rushing its way towards an epic, Lord of the Rings style final battle.

Or more specifically, a “Dungeons & Dragons” style final battle, as Riverdale has been slowly building two opposing armies themed roughly on D&D playing classes all season long.

On one side is the masked Gargoyle Gang, devotees of The Gargoyle King who do drugs, play games and look totally strung out. Right now, they’re led by Kurtz (Jonathan Whitesell) a crazed teen who has it out for Jughead Jones (Cole Sprouse) while working as a cook for Gladys Jones’s (Gina Gershon) Fizzle Rocks operation. Fizzle Rocks, by the way, are the drug-laced Pop Rocks that cause hallucinations and fuel all night G&G games. Normal stuff.

On the other side is… Well, there’s not specifically a cohesive other side yet, but it does seem like what we’re heading towards. There are the Southside Serpents, a gang led by Jughead. Then there are the Pretty Poisons, an all-girl gang who are led by Toni Topaz (Vanessa Morgan). And as of this episode, Archie Andrews (KJ Apa) has a bunch of ex-cons from the Leopold and Loeb Juvenile Detention Facility holed up in his boxing gym. By the way, yes, Archie owns a boxing gym now which, as he says several times in the episode, is a long story.

The key to understanding what’s happening here (or I assume is happening here) is that unlike most role-playing games, Gryphons & Gargoyles is played in the “real” world as well as on a game board. Quests like “Kill The Red Paladin” lead to marathon boxing matches with Archie. Or this week, “Defang a Wolf Cub” leads to Archie’s friend Baby Teeth (Connor Paton) having his teeth taken out. The town of Riverdale itself is the game board G&G is played on, so it’s logical to think that the final boss battle against the Gargoyle Gang and the Gargoyle King will play out in real life, too.

So let’s take a look at the, if not Lawful Good, at least Chaotic Neutral gangs on the side of our heroes. The Pretty Poisons are easy to identify, as Cheryl Blossom (Madelaine Petsch) trained them in archery. In Lord of the Rings style, they’re the elf archers. Then there’s Archie’s boxers at the El Royale gym who are pretty obviously fighters, led by a paladin (that’s Archie).

The Southside Serpents are a little harder to identify as they aren’t rogues (a.k.a. thieves) necessarily. They’ve also recently become deputies of FP Jones (Skeet Ulrich), the new sheriff in Riverdale, which bumps them up a bit on the lawful/neutral scale. Technically they’re probably fighters as well (if we’re going with “Dungeons & Dragons” classification), but since they are sneaky and literally went rogue this past episode, maybe we stick with that.

There’s a class that’s missing here, and that’s magic users. It’s possible that place could be filled with the kids Betty (Lili Reinhart) rescued from the Sisters of Quiet Mercy a few episodes back — she filled the magical role of the heroic Gryphon Queen — but they’re over with the cult The Farm as of now. Heck, maybe defectees from The Farm will fill that niche by the season finale, and perhaps that’s the reason Cheryl Blossom (Madelaine Petsch) joined them, because I’m having trouble seeing a world where the strong-willed Cheryl blindly follows a cult instead of casually taking it over for herself.

Regardless, the pieces are all on the board, and it’s clear the season is building to some sort of confrontation. Last year the penultimate episode found Riverdale burning in the middle of a gang war and riot. No reason they can’t top it this year.

Hey, remember when this was a show somewhat about a dude who wanted to play his guitar and was in love with two girls? Good times.

Riverdale airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on The CW

Where to stream Riverdale