Final Quest #20

I have no problem with this recognition, I liked - LOVED - the sequence with Leetah and Cutter together. I thought it was gorgeously done, and really conveyed the intimacy beautifully. In terms of timing, it makes sense that it hits now, considering he was sort of lost to her - to himself... and his return to himself is like some kind of trigger for recognition.
The only thing which bothered me with it is that is was a bit confusing when he asked, Are you sure? It made me doubt whether it was actually happening or not. Granted, we've not actually WITNESSED a second recognition before. The only time we saw one creeping in was, funny enough, Moonshade and Strongbow, in Searcher and Sword- and they seemed VERY 'busy' and plugged into each other. Next thing you know, Crescent shows up and then Moonshade is preggers.
But we've never witnessed the moment of 2nd recognition "on-camera" before, I don't think. And I sort of find it hard to believe that if it's so intense, one of them would say, Are you sure?
I was like WTF? It took me right out of the moment. I thought with recognition you were both equally zapped and speechless and totally connected... in some weird way, this felt like Cutter could go either way. I mean, is this to reinforce something with Ember's 'choice' somehow, to delay her own recognition? I just didn't like it - it felt imbalanced ... one thing recognition always seemed to do was strike both parties to such an extent to where they were mutually equal in feeling and utterly connected , without any kind of hesitation. Even Leetah with her healers senses initially also felt suffering but also hunger while she staved off recognition, and admitted it.
And while the 'pay off' for this 2nd recognition was SO GORGEOUS, I can't help but think, Jeez, Cutter seems like he can take it or leave it, you know? That sort of confused me, threw me off. I understand why, maybe, but the way recognition as been talked about in the past, it is supposed to be so amazing and special, it draws elves completely different in temperament / shape/ background together - fuses them so completely - to procreate. And yet it's been really challenged during FQ by Ember, and in general by other pairings ... to the extent to where I am wondering if its actually happening at all. And thats kind of annoying.

PS - this is kinda silly , but does anyone wonder if Venka's kid, who some of us keep saying is Anahvi, is also Strongbow's? I know it's likely this will never be figured out, but I have nagging thoughts of a brooding, lonely, sad Strongbow who is randomly comforted by Venka one day/night LOL.

I forgot to mention I got the odd notion that Cutter kinda struck me as going 'You're not listening to me' at some point in those after the fact panels.

Zadzi wrote:

PS - this is kinda silly  , but does anyone wonder if Venka's kid, who some of us keep saying is Anahvi, is also Strongbow's? I know it's likely this will never be figured out, but I have nagging thoughts of a brooding, lonely, sad Strongbow who is randomly comforted by Venka one day/night  LOL.

Honestly. I think it's Mirff's child. Much to Rayek's chagrin.

Zadzi wrote:

And while the 'pay off' for this 2nd recognition was SO GORGEOUS, I can't help but think, Jeez, Cutter seems like he can take it or leave it, you know?  

Shadowpath wrote:

I forgot to mention I got the odd notion that Cutter kinda struck me as going 'You're not listening to me' at some point in those after the fact panels.

After my last post, I went back to reread that scene to figure out why it rubbed me the wrong way, and I think this explains it. They are talking about how much they love each other and seem to be re-affirming thier connection, but when Cutter starts to talk about Timmain, Leetah just kind of shuts him down. I guess that what seems weird to me.

He'd obviously been through some major trauma, and I can see giving him some time and space to deal with it, but once he was ready to talk, I don't see why she would not want to listed to him.

Uhm, she didn't listen, because they were having steaming sex? I would be pretty pissed, if the guy in the middle of the process would start to talk cryptic with me. Having an earnest discussion and having sex doesn't mix.

Ekuar is the father of Venka's child Rayek will have to stay on Abode and when Ekuar decides, that he will stay with Rayek, Rayek will be like "but you won't see your child growing up" and Ekuar will be like "I know the kid is in good hands, but you need me" and it's going to be a powerful moment. Hey, Ekuar deserves some lovin' too

My problem with all the upcoming children is, I hate time-jumps. And we are going to see yet unborn children, as sexy adults, of course. Time-jumps are bad storytelling, even if we will see the children only in some epilogue.
Well, Wendy never adhered the principle of "killing of her darlings", so Leetah is probably save (makes me wonder if Skywise might be in no danger as well).

BTW, we will most likely never see those exhausted elves in wrapstuff, they are loose ends

Zadzi wrote:

PS - this is kinda silly  , but does anyone wonder if Venka's kid, who some of us keep saying is Anahvi, is also Strongbow's? I know it's likely this will never be figured out, but I have nagging thoughts of a brooding, lonely, sad Strongbow who is randomly comforted by Venka one day/night  LOL.

Ever since I saw Anahvi I've been speculating who his parents could be, and due to Kahvis name and him having similar powers to Rayek, I've always assumed he'd be Venkas kid so that would be absolutely no surprise.

But I been speculating that he might be from Strongbow-stock since he almost always sends. The only exceptions are when he swears in the beginning and when he has to talk to the trolls. Even when M'ren or the master of the palace talks out loud to him he sends back. I mostly thought maybe he'd be Darts son tho, because of the hair... (other theories include Rayek with Freetouch or, again mostly because of hair, Korafay and I am very glad I was probably wrong about those particular guesses. Ick.)

Either way, I'm actually kind of glad we don't know the father. It doesn't have to be important so it's nice to have that perspective represented as well. And honestly, any of my thought up pairings, including strongbow, would be really weird to included right now considering everything else that's going on. Still fun to speculate tho

Umm, at least I though this issue was a little "clearer" than some of the previous ones. 2nd recognition with the same person... oh, well, whatever. I thought once is enough for all life. But then, maybe it is due to not being fully the same person. So like an update and following a confirmation "yes, I still want".

No real pregnancy signs on Venka and I'm glad everyone here also seems clueless, so I haven't missed out on the fathership. Nobody seems to be really upset about it, so I guess it's nothing "special" with the fathership. *shrugs*
And decisions, decisions.

Well, let's see what comes next. All these issues often open more questions than answering it, and sometimes the answers are quite short or leave something open or are possibly unsatisfying.

At least there was Rayek in it, and he didn't do stupid things so that's already quite okay for me.

jaRf, there have always been second, and occasionally even third recognitions. Rainsong and Woodlock had three, as have Strongbow and Moonshade. There was mention that for Bearclaw and Joyleaf it was the 'last recognition for each of them, implying there had been others. Clearbrook apparently had more than just one as there is mention of a daughter who died long ago. Cutter and Leetah recognising for a second time is in line with previously established world rules.

I thought Cutter's question was a call back to this idea that Recognition can now be refused or postponed.

Same here, manga. And Cutter also seemed to be keeping in mind Leetah might want to go to the Palace herself, but hopefully now she's made it clear she's there for life, even after he passes away.

Miss Gillespie wrote:

Uhm, she didn't listen, because they were having steaming sex? I would be pretty pissed, if the guy in the middle of the process would start to talk cryptic with me. Having an earnest discussion and having sex doesn't mix.

Yeah, i can see that it's not the best timing on Cutter's part. No good post-coital chit-chat ever starts with "You probably should know...."

Speaking of which, is it wolves or black widows they're related to? All the women seem to get the same expression.



Which makes me think of Timmain's comment that she and Skywise would have children if HE wishes it. Now that Cutter is tied into Timmain's higher mind, maybe he is no longer slave to the imperative of Recognition.

*Shudders* Oh. That's what that panel reminded me of. No wonder I thought Leetah suddenly look vaguely sinister. They even have the same facial markings.
Ew.

And now I can't unsee the fact Timmain and Skywise are seemingly not coloured in that panel.

maybe that's supposed to look voluptuous?

Soooooo, TimTam is a thing, right? Shouldn't Timmain feel some "recognition urge" towards Leetah? Shouldn't Leetah want to procreate with Timmain?

Luckily elven labour is no labour at all, imagine how it might affect Cutter (feeling like he's pushing a baby through his penis? XD )

Woah, that's creepy...go away Timmain....

What an interesting concept, that cutter might be able to tap into some of Timmain' s strange powers, if he wanted to.

Miss Gillespie wrote:

Luckily elven labour is no labour at all, imagine how it might affect Cutter (feeling like he's pushing a baby through his penis? XD )

Thank you for that lovely thought miss Gillespie. XD

The coloring is at least partially because it's a night scene.

As for what Cutter would feel while Timmain was in labor, well he'd probably feel it as "phantom parts." His brain would get input for parts he doesn't have. Deeply weird but not necessarily that painful.

Timmain and the palace have ruined this entire series for me. The more these two elements have come into focus, the further they've eclipsed central characters, swallowed so much sacred elements (to me anyway), and sucked up/drained the subplot and storyline, to the extent that I don't know wtf I am reading anymore. I have stopped caring and its a kind of grim determination to see it though now on my end .

I feel the same way Zadzi. I'm just reading because I've loved Elfquest so much in the past and I want to see how it ends. But not because I care about the FQ storyline because I don't. Really if they would decide to end the series now it would be fine with me.

I think a few of us feel like that. I'm just following now for the sake of completion. After 35 years I feel like I have to grit my teeth and see it through to the end.

I'm still holding out hope that in some way the next four issues will make some of all this make sense.

Zadzi, Sifra, Stargazer...

Outlier-- for the sake of the series, I hope you're right, but I've stopped holding my breath. There've been too many "CAN'T-MISS" issues that turned out to be nothingburgers.

I had a weird thought. What if the reason the final quest seems so disjointed is that Wendy is trying to make it like the scroll of colors, where if you follow a certain color, you get a different story. Kind of like the old "choose you own" stories that were popular 20-30 years ago. (If this happens, go to page x...)

That might explain the weird coloring, too, and why characters standing right next to each other can be different colors.

that's an interesting thought, but I don't really see where I can choose a threat that I like to follow

I've been thinking. What with all the talk about how full blooded elves are bound to the Palace after death and counting elves who died on the journey as having made it, shouldn't the Fun-guys be saying "maybe hello," not "maybe goodbye?"

Do you remember this cryptic "to the palace and beyond" babble from (Kahvi? Krim?)? If that isn't dropped, than maybe it's going to be revealed, that the old planet of the elves is somehow restored?

What happens to an immortal elf who dies while the palace is away? Does his or her soul get drawn intergalactilcally to the palace? Does it have to be the palace, or could it be another spaceship from the old planet as well if it happened to be closer?

They all become absorbed by an invisible force which booms out new age-y babble at the most inopportune times.