Final Quest #20

Thank you, friends. I think I get the difference ... and I'm definitely not a drawing artist. It's puzzling to see Wendy Pini use a technique which makes me think "This looks strange ... seems not really fitting, why - ooh, it's a collage. Almost like I do ..."

Miss Gillespie wrote:

@Embala: Just like coffee and nicotine consumption will stain your teeth, so does dreamberry consumption. Especially after several centuries. Have we ever seen elves brush their teeth? I think not

That's it!

I keep trying to look at the characters more closely, but I keep getting distracted by those weird purple bubbles in the foreground.

What exactly are the elves celebrating with the lifemating of Dart and Mender? Do elves commit? What are they committing to?

I thought they were celebrating the natural course of life that's going to end brutally when a bunch of rapist, necrophiliac soldiers that they don't seem that worried about.

Or Venka's child coming.

I wanna say they might just be celebrating love, but my own hands are going to strangle myself if I do.

Preview's out! http://www.tfaw.com/First-Looks/ElfQuest:-The-Final-Quest-20___538658

I was just about to post that, you beat me to it!

I am completely confused about that last page. Does it make sense to anybody? Either it is really missing something or I am. Seems to be particularly lacking in context or meaning. I feel EQ really has gone someplace that I can't follow.

I mean, I don't think I need everything spelled out for me, but I think I need a little more than has been given to know what this whole exchange was about. Strongbow definately seems to have gotten something out of it that is blowing right past me.

Is there anyone here who can translate New Age? I don't understand what Skot and Krim said about the dream.

Is that what it is? Yeah, I guess I'm not well enough versed in New Age to make heads or tails of it.

I am sorry, but I keep thinking about this.

And I don't know how to do the spoiler thing, so if for some reason you can't read the preview and don't want a spoiler, stop reading.

I feel a little like this is like the Emporer's New Clothes, and the Pinis are doing an experiment about just how vague they can get and still have people saying they get it.

And another part of me is saying if this is Strongbow's big moment of epiphany and this is all he gets, I feel he really got shorted.

I'd like to take a moment and ask anyone who's about to come in here and sneer at Strongbow for refusing to send with his lifemate to just stop.

Stop and remember how intimate sending is, especially for Strongbow and Moonshade.

You can, and I have no doubt that some will, take that scene to be a selfish denial on his part.

But from where I'm standing it's a rational and considered choice. He's raw and confused and just a mess - he may be unable to send to her. I wouldn't be surprised if he felt the need for the extra distance to order his thoughts for communication at all. Like how after a fight with your S.O. you start by talking simply and about simple things.

I actually found Strongbow talking instead of sending to be the most emotional and relatable moment in the preview.

I like that hat Strongbow was finally able to acknowledge Moonshade's point of view

I agree with the others; I did not understand the New Age babble either. I am very surprised to learn that Skot and Krim were able to learn how to speak like that. When they were alive, they didn't seem to be the vague types.
I hope the Strongwhine and Moonbore storyline is finally over.
I liked seeing Teir and Venka bonding, and I liked seeing Kimo in there several times even if it was in wolf form.

Did Krim die just for that scene

Zinegirl wrote:

Did Krim die just for that scene

No. She died because she wanted to.
And for a chance to chop the balls off Angrif.

---

Several things I love about this:

The (unexpected) wisdom from Skot and Krim. Who'd have thought that they would end up being the ones to help Moonshade and Strongbow? Not the mentioned the fact that they referenced the dream! In "Dreamtime" I got the impression that Strongbow and Moonshade mostly shared the dream to shut up Skot and Krim, and that the Go-Back pair never really remembered it anyway. Now, 50 odd years later, it turns out they did.

The brother-sister relationship between Teir and Venka. Of course we've known for a while now that they're siblings, but I think this is the first time we've seen them actually act as siblings.

When Yun teases Skywise about Timmain waiting for him in the Palace, she doesn't come across as a daughter, but rather as a sister. Makes sense, considering that there's - with good reason - never been much of a father-daughter.

Daboi has the hots for Shenshen!
Though, this - once again - makes me wonder: Where are the other humans? Khorbasi, Tingeh, Molli and TOB*.

* The Orphan Boy

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Miss Gillespie wrote:

What exactly are the elves celebrating with the lifemating of Dart and Mender? Do elves commit? What are they committing to?

Bit late, but... yeah. I'd say they do.

I'm glad Rayek's clothes don't have these laser red stripes anymore Windkin's flappy wings are still disgusting. All in all, the first page looks nice, you almost don't realise, that the dancing elves are floating in the air...

Unless the Go Backs would start to breed stags like crazy, there is no way they would push the forest off balance. I don't think the Sami in our world are bad for the "balance of the forests".

Why should Teir get respect for being the son of a dead chieftess, a chieftess with whom he had close to zero interaction with?

That poor human probably never had sex, the other humans are all his family and his body has the wrong "hum". And he should've known better than to ask Shenshen, eh? But yay, hilarious comedy.

So even though Strongbow new the soul name of Moonshade, and they were supposed to be like really, really close, he never realised, that she was suffering from the constant need to survive? Apparently their relationship was shallow after all (imagine the same to happen between Cutter and Leetah).

"Living is Always" and "Love is Always" sounds like some phrases from a t-shirt or an inspirational postcard. Living is of course nor "always", because we die and then we are neither "living" nor "always". Love isn't always either, because it evolves and sometimes fades. Should these phrases only apply for a certain group of fictional characters in a comic book, then they are basically meaningless

Zinegirl wrote:

Did Krim die just for that scene

Yeah.

Miss Gillespie wrote:

Unless the Go Backs would start to breed stags like crazy, there is no way they would push the forest off balance. I don't think the Sami in our world are bad for the "balance of the forests".

I think it was more the having a lot of deer and a lot of wolves in the same spot thing that was the issue.

Miss Gillespie wrote:

Why should Teir get respect for being the son of a dead chieftess, a chieftess with whom he had close to zero interaction with?

I think it's been made pretty clear that Kahvi has basically legendary status among the Go-Back, so it goes to reason that they'd respect Teir simply because he has her blood.
But, as Venka said; also for his ability to talk with animals.

Miss Gillespie wrote:

That poor human probably never had sex, the other humans are all his family and his body has the wrong "hum". And he should've known better than to ask Shenshen, eh? But yay, hilarious comedy.

No, the other humans aren't his family. In fact, I kinda ship him with Molli, mainly because she was the one who objected when he left High Winds Holt. (And also because Tingeh seems quite happy with Khorbasi)

The Go Backs took Venka for their chieftess just because she was Kahvi's daughter. Why would they treat Tier differently? (Other than that he's a boy)

Lunakat wrote:

The Go Backs took Venka for their chieftess just because she was Kahvi's daughter. Why would they treat Tier differently? (Other than that he's a boy)

I would never deny, that choosing Venka, who never showed any interest (or capabilities) in being a chief, just because of her parentage makes zero no sense. Well, I've never been a fan of monarchies anyway

Venka did have a goal, though-- to find Kahvi. They kind of just followed her to do that, it seemed. And she ended up their leader just cus.

What I liked about Venka was how she respected and valued the Go Back
culture. Even though her basic personality wasn't exactly similar to
It.

Teir would probably also be a good leader , though I cannot really say how the whole thing with deer upsetting the forests' balance makes a whole lot of sense to me in the story. Considering elves themselves have kind of upset the balance of the planet they've been hanging out in lol (I am kidding, but it just sounded kind of dumb for Ember to say it).

I think the artwork looks gorgeous. I like the warmth of the fall tones in this, especially in Venka's complexion.

The Moonshade/Strongbow with Krim and Skot felt contrived with those New Age-y living always loving whatever slogans. It's like, Kahvi's personality sort of stayed the same after she died and showed up in the palace - maybe more at peace but still rough around the edges. Krim and Skot feel like they aren't even themselves when they talk with that kind of new agey way, it sounds really silly and nothing like them, they were always equally rough around the edges, like Kahvi. Like Go-Backs, basically! I understand how the Dreamtime scene can be brought around full circle, but why must Krim and Skot talk in such a vague, cliched, cryptic way? It's really unnecessary.

Also, the point about Strongbow never knowing how miserable Moonshade was before is a good point. Of course, Strongbow is stubborn and rigid and can be narrow... but with him being all omg I am sorry you were so miserable, it makes him sound really melodramatic.

Zadzi wrote:

Teir would probably also be a good leader , though I cannot really say how the whole thing with deer upsetting the forests' balance makes a whole lot of sense to me in the story.

Well, ecologically speaking, too many herbivores would not only strip out a lot of plant life, they'd bring in too many carnivores, and if the carnivores wipe out too many of the herbivores, suddenly everyone goes hungry.

Multi-Facets wrote:

Well, ecologically speaking, too many herbivores would not only strip out a lot of plant life, they'd bring in too many carnivores, and if the carnivores wipe out too many of the herbivores, suddenly everyone goes hungry.

I googled a bit. So numbers of individuals living in a herd depend on the different kind of cervidae. Some have only 3-4, some have 10-50. If the Go Backs raise a herd of, maybe 10 individuals, they would not influence the balance of the forest. It doesn't matter if in any given territory a herd of 10 animals live at point A or point B. It especially doesn't matter if the Go Backs would wander between different places (be nomadic). I'm assuming, the Go Backs will not rise 50 animals, when they only need 15.