Favorite and Least Favorite Elf: Which ones grew on you the most: Why and why not

I think the ridiculously long title says it all, so here I go.

Tyleet: I love everything about her, from her fluffy, reddish-gold, Christmas tree hair, to her bubbly and teasing personality as a child, to her loving and wise inner strength. She's just that damn great.

Dart grew on me the most.
I never thought much about him untill my penpal (with whom I did a lot of roleplaying) told me she wanted to do an Elfquest roleplay and she wanted to be Strongbow. I wanted to pick a character that was close to Strongbow, so they would have a good reason to interact a lot, and who (at that time) did not have much of a personality or background so I could let my creativity flow. Dart seemed the best choice. When I found out more about him (because he got more storytime in later issues) he helped me get through some dark times.

lol @ Christmas tree hair... ok, I can't un-see that now!
I think Tyleet is awesome, she's sweet and calm, but also a risk taker! I love that about her.
I have a few character I always liked so I'm not going to bother with that...

The character that grew on me the most was Mender. He started out being like an overly ambitious do-gooder, but then became all messed up and weird and like he never took anything but his own emotions too seriously. I seriously think he's bipolar, but I think he's been the most surprising ones to really get into. I don't like his paring with Dart, I think it's too calculating a pair up.
The next on my list who grew on me is Shenshen. She was always kind of just bubbly and outgoing but not too much depth. I thought her being a midwife in EQ was lame. I mean, kids are rare and elves don't really even seem to have a lot of pain during delivery, so it made no sense. But I started paying more attention to her in Dream Time and then I really liked how she chose to be a human in FQ. That was the last part of FQ which I liked, because it made a lot of sense in terms of character development. I like that Shenshen came into her own and made a drastic decision. I like that she's happy doing something very challenging that isn't really safe, but that she feels is her calling. I love how she took a chance to do it, risking the ire of everyone. Shenshen is awesome

My least favorite character who should've grown on me but never did is Skywise. I think the storyline is working itself into a pretzel knot to make him happy. He doesn't think of what he wants to do and does it - he's completely passive and comes off as opportunistic, waiting for the external world to shape itself to his wishes. He's emotionally demanding yet passive aggressive, and codependent. He's had his fair share of tragedy in terms of love mates but he has never come off as attached to anything or anyone but an ideal, and that annoys me. He's loyal to Cutter and Timmain and thinks all about his own emotional comfort, and what makes him feel good, and that's it. I think he's just naturally very selfish and I don't think he's changed much at all, but the story has changed FOR him, which pisses me off, because it almost always turns ultimately in his favor. Skywise gets to see love mates die or he leaves them, but the times he gets control wrangled out of his hands, he starts to whine and bitch and claim ISSUES. He's the only one allowed to do this. I want to feel bad for him but don't. He lost family and gained the support of an entire tribe and it's still not enough, because *abandonment issues* and *sidekick*.

Like:
Which character I like most is rather obvious I guess. "jaRf" stands for "just another Rayek fan" and I took this at a time where I just needed some nick to fill in quickly. It stuck til today.
So why Rayek? Sadly it doesn't seem to be obvious to all people.
It's a multitude of reasons: Most character development (final quest doesn't count). Not the plain hero. Well meaning*. Striving for the higher goal. Sometimes a bit head in the clouds. Would have been such a good father. Thoughtful, sometimes brooding. Often serious about life and elfkind. Though he's got also some radiant, cheerful moments. And then: The poor thing! (You just gotta care for him. Loss after loss.) He's got humor (doesn't show that often, but he has: Ember-brat -> Snowball down her jacket). And can be very selfless. He's got nice hair. He's got a lof of "faces", sides and aspects to him. And I discovered over time that we have (quite) a few things in common. And there are probably more reasons.
(*Yes I know, well meaning is not always also task well executed. But good intentions are the first step.)

But there are a lot of other characters I like: Venka (still waters are deep), Clearbrook (also one of these strong-silent-types), Ekuar (father figure with a long life full of changes, gentle (mostly), usually thinks before he acts), Redlance (nice and kind), sometimes Leetah (only sometimes! there's some ambivalence, the same is with Kahvi and Ember), Teir (somewhat silent, mysterious, and also the-poor-thing-effect on him), Sunstream (he does somehow understand Rayek, interesting contrast with his "wild" sister), Vaya maybe and there are probably many more to name.


Dislike:
Hardly anyone.
There are characters I have less connection to, maybe. And some, I do not really embrace, but they are (important?) parts of the story.
I have little connection to super-side-characters, that are only shown in 3 panels split over 2 pages in one sideline of EQ. Some seem to be less worked out in personality, so at least I can't judge if I "should" like them or not. I need a "feeling" for a character. (Esp. also before I draw her/him.) But dislike?
Cutter is the bland, plain hero. Blue eyed, blonde hair, gets the girl (not entirely fair). Wolfish aggression potential. Can be stubborn (not even so different from Rayek sometimes in that regard). But I do not dis-like him.
I don't embrace Winnowill, but without her something would be missing from the whole thing, right? There is a certain dislike to a lot of her or Djun's actions, though.



And thanks for giving the world a term to that hairstyle: Christmas tree hair.

@jaRf
I love Vaya. At this point, I would have rather she lived than Kahvi. But then again, it's possible that she might have been ruined later on just like her mother.

I think she (Vaya) was of a different kind than her mother. Maybe raised by her, but still different character. So who knows what would have been...

I'd possibly change Rogue's Curse (and the little story in Frank Franzetta's comic book). The whole thing is just... it does explain some of Ekuar's and Winnowill's background and gives a short conclusion of Rayek's BG and history. That's okay.
But the whole thing at all just screams "I want to draw some slightly hispanic looking pistolero antihero madman-loner with a sidekick travelling through the wild west and having adventures"-fandom-crossover-mix.
And now they make Rayek do silly things in FQ so they can justify the existence of Rogue's Curse. Sucks.
It's really karaktermoord (character murder).

I'm with you on Rayek in his middle period. He was interesting and made a lot of sense. I really disregard Final Quest at this point...

I love Vaya too. I always thought she was a badass but also thought early on that she was really interesting and wish she could've survived. Kahvi was great until the Kahvi series (save for Aurek's storyliine which was really cool) but I always thought Vaya was was killed off way too early, and it would've been interesting to see how she & Kahvi would've gotten along (or not). Plus, I liked her chemistry with Pike, even if it was in that one brief orgy scene (they just seemed really well-matched). But even if they didn't hook up later it still would've been cool to see Vaya adventures

She does survive in Wingthing's alternaverse and has a very interesting story and lifemating (and offspring)

Zadzi wrote:

Plus, I liked her chemistry with Pike, even if it was in that one brief orgy scene (they just seemed really well-matched). But even if they didn't hook up later it still would've been cool to see Vaya adventures

I swear, had she survived, she and Pink would have recognized. I could feel the strong chemistry between them even in the short amount of times we see them together.