Final Quest #11

You know what I like about this issue? We finally got a profound moment again. I've been feeling, up until now, that the story has been continually trying to be profound and missing the mark. But the moment Skywise had with Timmain when she said 'accept what has always been yours'... Well that line just struck me as very profound. I've been thinking about it all day.

You are right about the wings (*see everyone else's comments!). The most they can do is act as a slight parachute if he jumps or create some wind resistance to impede his flight. Why he would want that, I cannot imagine. Winnowil's design was infinitely better. But both are Wendy's designs-- so what gives? Did she suddenly forget how flight works?

Can't the healers just do whatever they want now? If the Wavedancers can have all sorts of fins coming out of them everywhere, why couldn't they give Windkin proper wings that came out of his back? They have the magic of the Palace at their disposal but instead they give him skin flaps...just weird. I think maybe as Wendy's gotten older, she's become less concerned with funtionality and groundedness. Think of Kimo transforming and his tunic, headband, sandals, and belt become a scarf around his wolf-neck. She never pulled cheap stuff like that in the OQ.

* edit: Kimo could just go around naked and Wendy could cover him up creatively like she does with Timmain, or even better, Shuna could just carry his clothes for him in a bag. He'd have to get undressed before becoming a wolf but so what? At least that would make sense.

Does anyone else feel like the different generations of eleves are sort of like 1960s/70s vs 1980s/1990s vs 2000s?

Like Cutter was all real and down to earth with his bell bottoms and elf civil rights. And his generation just fought for it and did a lot. Dart and company are aware of this and trying to live up to their predecessor's values-- even if they don't wear bell bottoms-- and carry on the (now somewhat more abstract) fight. Yet they sort of accomplish nothing along the way, short of acquiring personal angst and wondering what's real. While Korafaye and company just have big eyes and would spend their time playing on iphones and ipads and making digital apps and acting like cosplay is a huge statement under only slightly different circumstances? While taking all their elf civil rights for magical granted.

...Am I a jerk? I would fall into the 90s camp.

True that, parenthopus. But Wendy was a lot younger then. Drawing is hard work. Maybe she just doesn't have the energy anymore to include all the details and hopes the audience will just figure it out without it being spelled out. Like, maybe we are supposed to co next our own dots and let some stuff go.

Hi, everyone - I'm new to posting, but not to lurking.  I've been reading both this board and the old one for some time now.  I hope you don't mind if I jump right into the topic of this new issue!  I decided I need other fans to talk (rant) to about Final Quest, ha.  I think EQ in general has suffered and declined as a story since KotBW and a few of the decent Hidden Years stories/Dreamtime, etc.  Final Quest has left me quite disappointed, but like many of you, I'm a completionist when it comes to my favorite stories and characters, so I keep chugging along to the ending.  

This is one of the better issues so far, I feel.  One thing in general that I know has irked me for a while in FQ is some of the dialogue that seems forced or filled with exposition.  I realize the *whys* about that, but sometimes it's just so clunky.  A big example here is the panel with Leetah near the end where she mentions 'the skyfire that struck Ruffel'.  You'd think she'd just say, "Pounding as if struck by skyfire!"  I felt like the equivalent of that done in a similar style would be if she'd said, "Your heart feels as broken as the time I fell through that roof and broke my leg!"

Speaking of Leetah, I would've liked to see a little bit more of Strongbow getting confrontational with her for removing Moonshade's wolf blood. Not because I think it's what she deserved, but because I thought it could have more potential for drama, since Wendy is the one who said Strongbow 'idolizes' Leetah.  As it was, he was mad at her and then just sort of disappeared from the page after Cutter spoke.  In general though, no, I don't care much about Strongbow's angst, either.  He's had just as much time to think about it and he just didn't want to budge at all.  I would be unhappy if the two of them are split as a couple, but maybe it's just inevitable.

I'm not a Skywise fan, and seeing him finally consummating his 'relationship' with Timmain is something I was dreading for a long time, even though we all pretty much knew that was coming (those hints in the past had all the subtlety of a sledgehammer to the face).  I cringed when she called him 'beloved'.  I never understood this idea that Skywise is someone 'longing' for something, at least a love bond of this nature.  Sure, he did long for the stars; we know he always had a deep-seated desire to leave Abode, but that was always just assumed to be related to his curiosity about what was out there or a desire for knowledge.  He's stuck to Cutter like co-dependent glue, has had countless lovemates, never even wanted Recognition, he's now immortal, has a kid he can be friends with as an adult instead of having to raise her, has access to a magical vessel limitless in its capacity for space-time travel, is never truly 'alone', but he's somehow lacking for something?  Skywise's reaction to Timmain's term of endearment made me laugh.  I think if he heard it from any other maiden, he'd run for the hills and that would be that, but she's the 'fascinating' and seemingly untouchable High One (he still doesn't even always have enough confidence to call her by her name!), so now he's all on board.  I just don't buy that it took joining with Timmain to somehow fix this 'aching emptiness' he had.  It's kind of bizarre to me and generally felt more like a conquest over time.  Sometimes I think it's a case of Skywise needing a woman capable of talking 'down' to him.
Did he even really Recognize her?  Is that what he was lacking, the one thing he never had any interest in?  Was it having issues with not feeling like he had a place because he chose immortality?  Is it because he never knew his mom and Timmain is fulfilling that somehow?  Ugh.  By this point I just sum up their relationship as 'they both have white/silvery hair'.  I guess that's as good a reason as any.....

Lunakat, I couldn't agree more with what you said about Windkin's wings.  I find myself really trying to explain some of this stuff away to myself in order to make it easier for me to digest the absurdity at times.  I could even imagine wind running through these things and I started laughing thinking of the sound these big 'butterfly' flaps would make.  Maybe he just....wants to look pretty?

Ugh, the Wavedancers....just dive deep, stay there.  Problem solved.  Either way I'd just rather not see them for a while (they're the tribe that pushed EQ into 'corny' territory for me).  I am so glad I'm not the only one who wouldn't even care if they just disappeared permanently.

I liked the discussion between Mender and Dart - Mender's tears were touching.  I always felt sorry for Dart that he lost Shushen - though his perpetual angst gets on my nerves.  I guess this means the fandom no longer has to feel we are lacking an 'obviously gay canon couple'.  

Now, as to the big 'twist' at the end with Cutter and Timmain: the first time I read it, I saw it as Timmain referencing the hive mind/single-consciousness of the High Ones.  Sort of that metaphysical idea related to the idea of the universe being one single consciousness experiencing itself subjectively.  It reminded me of the time she tried to send to Strongbow and was confused when he closed himself off to her.  The Coneheads seemed of one mind and the experience of bodies and the material world were something 'they' all shared with each other, everything open, nothing withheld.  But then I read it again and realized - no, maybe that's not it at all.  She seems to clearly be referencing the fact that they're the same being.  What, do all of the elves that exist now have a High One counterpart they share souls with?  I agree that even though it's a strange turn of events, at least it seems like an *interesting* reveal.  So, what - can regular Cutter stay and Timmain-Cutter just shape herself to look like regular Cutter whenever Skywise is in space and takes a hankering to missing him?  I just don't know.  It could end up being an absolutely awful twist/turn of events, but at least it's finally one I'm legitimately curious about and can't figure out to save my life.  At least it has a *feel* of some profundity again.
I do agree with the person who said the idea of Skywise and Cutter as recognized lifemates was an earlier retcon - it only got referenced in a spin-off story, it was never something that made a lot of sense to begin with.

Whoo - sorry that was so long!!

(btw, Lunakat - your elf generations post cracked me up! )

I'm so glad that my post wasn't offensive! Welcome Tenderleaf. I like your thoughts.

Heck-- maybe Timmain does mean that she and cutter are one because all elves are one-- and I think he end will have a collective consciousness? Maybe that's their natural state?

Regarding Skywise-- I disagree. I think he always has been depicted as missing something. It was just a generally vague thing.

Th Cutter/Skywise as life mates thing has been around for a while -- long enough that I do t find it a retcon anymore. I think it is well incorporated into the story that they are joined at the hip and Skywise would dump any girl for Cutter (except Timmain I guess) and that they have sex and also sleep (literally sleep) together.

Lunacat: your post about the elf generations makes sense!

Paranthropus: I was a bit dissapointed, too, with the Kimo thing. I would have liked for that to be a little more logical, especially if it gets a bit inconvenient.
About the Windkin thing... I could just see those things growing out of his back and harden like you said... What a great idea!
They seem to be more of a fashion statement to me... Windkin never had much taste.

Lunakat wrote:

What's he going to do with that? Parachute?

I LOL because it's true. XD

*spoilers*

Lunakat wrote:

You know what I like about this issue? We finally got a profound moment again. I've been feeling, up until now, that the story has been continually trying to be profound and missing the mark. But the moment Skywise had with Timmain when she said 'accept what has always been yours'... Well that line just struck me as very profound. I've been thinking about it all day.

I agree, Lunakat. And this issue's final page seriously gave me chills. I don't know what it means yet and am kind of pulling my hair at the knowledge that we'll have to wait another two months to find out (or even just get a few more inklings), but it genuinely was a "wow" moment for me. Right now I'm liking the idea but am full of questions -- what does it really mean, how does it even work that they're the same person (or is it in some mystical sense), is this the case with other Wolfriders as well and how does THAT work, etc. It may be that eventually this twist won't work for me or feel forced in light of what comes after, but right now I am very, very intrigued and champing at the bit to see what comes next.

Also, yay for a more forthright portrayal of male/male desire than we've seen in most of Elfquest. I mean, the elves' pansexuality has always been there, but a lot of times it feels weirdly theoretical, and this doesn't. Loved the beautifully drawn panels of Shushen, too.

In general, I feel like there was a lot of emotional payoff in this issue after several that I enjoyed well enough but seemed to be spinning their wheels. For me at least the buildup has turned out to be worth it (so far).

Just a small vent about the art, though I know others have made it before: I so wish Wendy would stop reusing the same portraits again and again in crowd scenes throughout Final Quest (and sometimes even held over from The Discovery). I swear there's one of Teir she reused like three times this issue, only changing the eyes, and it sticks out even more because his hair is colored so differently from everybody else in the scene, except in one case Reef, whose portrait is also recycled. It never looks organic when she draws everybody separately and then Photoshops them in on different layers, and when she grabs the pieces from other scenes entirely it makes it even worse. She'd been doing better about that, I thought, but with so many crowd scenes this issue it's back in full force.

First, a big thank you to Embala for linking me to a digital copy of this issue.

I'm standing here stunned. I don't know what to make of so much of this. I'm happy Dart and Mender are giving each other a chance (I think they are, anyway). I'm glad Skywise got what he wanted, and I admire his wish to not leave any elves behind, but as Venka once said, "One can't choose for many without their consent."

I'm pleased Moonshade has found a way of life that agrees with her, but I'm still so sad she seems to be proving there is no middle ground between the Palace and the Way, and she lost one joy in finding another. I'm sorry for Strongbow; I understand he feels betrayed and is beginning to grieve the loss of the woman Moonshade used to be. (I've had the feeling he and Moonshade were headed for the Wolfrider equivalent of a divorce for weeks now.) And what Timmain is telling Cutter.... that, I don't understand at all, and now we all have to wait two more months to get any form of explanation.

I also don't believe this was all planned from the beginning. I believe the story has changed over all these decades. And I really, really wish I trusted that the Pinis know what they're doing, but I dunno if I can.

This issue is an echo of what's happening in reality. We as humans all need to change, move on, find a new level of spirituality and enlightenment, and let go of past prejudices and other things that hurt ourselves and others. But we also need to keep alive traditions that benefit us and make us happy, because forgetting the past makes us lose sight of how the future could be so much better.

But right now, in the story and on Earth, there's a lot of pain to get through first.

I think the colours are ok in Future Quest, sure, there is better digital colouring but there is also much worse. The colouring of the later Shards issues in Germany were awful. I have more problems with the lineart.

Windkin's wings, yeah... but I can ignore them; Timmain's eyebrows? I can't.
I really like the Dart/ Mender pages, even if I don't get why sharing the pain about Shushen makes them lifemates. Dart's very own parents (used to) share everything with whoever cares to know. Also, Shushen, seducingly eating a raw eggplant in a flashback XD

Aroree looks like a dominatrix in her new clothes and Egg like the victim of some vicious cult (the face and posture in that panel where Cutter talks to Timmain!)

So is Timmain implying, that when Cutter dies, his soul will merge with Timmain? Why did neither Skywise nor Leetah ever recognise (sic!) that Timmain is a Cutter complete? Did a part of her soul brake off or what? Is this something unique or are there more fragmented souls? For now Final Quest finally got interesting. Maybe these new developments will turn out well, or just more train-wrecky but for now

On a side note, nice how Skywise states, that Timmain gave a completely useless gift. One doesn't need to have wolfblood to survive (all the other tribes didn't) and in the end you have to get rid of it anyhow.

Multi-Facets wrote:

I also don't believe this was all planned from the beginning. I believe the story has changed over all these decades. And I really, really wish I trusted that the Pinis know what they're doing, but I dunno if I can.

Me neither. Heck, a story that's been in the telling for 30-some years very nearly HAS to change and develop or the tellers are going to get bored with it. And sometimes that's taken Elfquest to some super dubious retcons, so part of me is wary, but this development is sufficiently shocking that I'm actually pretty excited to see where it goes.

Hours later (and awake from a restless sleep), I'm still scratching my head over the happenings in this latest issue. It's either the start of something awesome, or complete and total pants -- I can't decide which.

Greetings, Tenderleaf -- I'm quite new here as well!

Tenderleaf wrote:

Speaking of Leetah, I would've liked to see a little bit more of Strongbow getting confrontational with her for removing Moonshade's wolf blood. Not because I think it's what she deserved, but because I thought it could have more potential for drama, since Wendy is the one who said Strongbow 'idolizes' Leetah.  As it was, he was mad at her and then just sort of disappeared from the page after Cutter spoke.

I'm really hoping we get more of this next issue, because it's pretty juicy. Strongbow's not remotely in the right in all this, and everybody is so very right when they point out he's had like 20 years to see this coming, but I feel bad for him anyway. (That closeup of his moment of realization with the sketchy linework that emphasizes his horror is so powerful.) I wonder if his story is ultimately going to be a tragic one -- the story of someone who breaks before he'll bend. Not that I think he should go and get his wolfblood removed. He's always been the dealer of swift death, very caught up in the rhythms of this world (though not, I think the "Now" as kathleen3.0 points out) and I don't think he's ready to stop being that. But he's also always been very "everybody else's way can't hold a candle to The Way", and he seems utterly unwilling to even attempt to comprehend what Moonshade is getting out of all this. For all these years they've both been hoping the other will forget all this nonsense, sticking their head in the sand instead of trying to find common ground (Moonshade's done better than Strongbow on that front), and I find that inexpressably sad. And maybe if the elves without wolfblood are going to the stars right now, no matter what, it basically wouldn't have mattered if they could have somehow met in the middle, because long term there is not going to be a middle. :-(

Did not know that about Wendy saying Strongbow idolizes Leetah. Huh. I can't say I would've gotten that from the comic itself. Mostly I remember Strongbow and Moonshade's early antagonism toward her, but that was very, very early, and they have certainly been on much better terms subsequently. Actually, thinking about my recent read of the Captives of Blue Mountain novelization, I do recall Strongbow being impressed by Leetah's willingness to roll with the Wolfrider lifestyle, perhaps in contrast to what he thinks of most of the Sun Villagers.

Oh... this issue.... especially Timmain, Cutter and Skywise. So many developments.... so many feels... how to best express what my inner thoughts?



... yeah, that should do it.

But hey, props to Moonshade for finally getting herself cured! That mortality is a vicious disease, man.

I need to go through and read up on the thread (hopefully Im not rehashing), but for my part there were some improvements in the flow of this issue. Still needs work (there were still some abrupt cutscenes that were jarring), but a few parts actually flowed.

As far as the actual story,it feels like it went somewhere (even though they didnt actually MOVE in any direction... had a little character dev, a few mindf***s, some Trolls... a bit of fun, especially with this scene:

Cutter: You're so awesome, and Im so worthless, can I live in your outhouse?

Timmain: Go *bleep* yourself...

Cutter: Say whaaaa?

Timmain: No really, go *bleep* yourself... let me help....


Im mean, I was pretty jazzed about the whole thing, even getting some insight (finally) into Timmain's mind, and sure, I have no problem with what she's saying, its a good development, but showing off a shapechange into Cutter... well to a degree that kinda underlines Cutter's point, that his flesh is useless, especially if another can replicate it so easily.

There is another subtle point to be made, though: effectively Mender reversed some of the effects of aging with Picknose and Oddbit. To a degree, and to a flesh-shaper, wouldnt molding a few wrinkles back where they belong be basically the same as reversing other aging effects? Isnt aging basically the accumulation of scar tissue, cells that fail to replicate EXACTLY the way they are supposed to? Couldnt Leetah just roll back the clock on Cutter's body without removing his wolfblood every few thousand years?

So do we have a pool going on what's going on next? Some of the Morbid Quest predictions could still come true...!

Mender is a plastic surgeon. No one said he wasn't shallow.

Yeah i guess Leetah could. I like to imagine she's been doing it all along.

I can't stand Timmain. I just can't. She makes my blood boil. She's creepy as hell in that hollow yet stubbornly insidious new age way. And it's like Skywise's drunk the bong juice and he also sounds like a complete new age fruitcake now. Like a fruitcake with a vengeance.
I actually feel sorry for Strongbow. For the way he's being written. He's not been into 'the way' for a long time. Now he just seems like a hardline conservative who isn't really enjoying anything. And to be honest, I think he's going to pull a Go-Back suicide stunt. I get that Moondshade wants to do her own thing, I really do. I just find something extremely disturbing with the whole pushy 'love and light' immortal zombie love thing, because it's so forced. It's increasing more and more with every issue. It's like, Oh yeah you're all free to make your choice, BUT THIS IS THE WAY THINGS ARE WHICH IS OBVIOUSLY THE BEST, but really life is all about living and having these options BUT YOU'RE IGNORING THE OBVIOUS GRAND WISDOM IF YOU DON'T CHOOSE THIS, and so on, and so on.

On the Facebook page, people are suggesting that Cutter just recognized Timmain. Two handfuls of water and all that. Maybe she was just giving me Skywise a chance to get there first befor she had to hook up with Cutter-- so he wouldn't be too disappointed.

That would be really sad. For this guy:

Well, maybe they are ignoring the obvious grand wisdom!

Cracked out theory: could the entirety of Elfquest be even more of a time loop than "Kings of the Broken Wheel" revealed? What if the elves that leave Abode in the palace slowly become shape-changing coneheads over the course of millennia, and Timmain is Cutter's "mature" form? The coneheads settle on the "star-home" so long that they forget they'd been anywhere else, and eventually, after they outlive their world and strike out into the wild winds of space and time, their eye is caught by a small, two-mooned planet...

The result: Cutter is his own grandma.

Please forgive me, it's late and I'm punchy.

Omigod-- yes!!