Final Quest #12

Sifra wrote:

I'm also wondering if Cutter will really be assimilated into Timmain again after his death. Even if it is possible to slit a soul, that doesn't mean you can glue them back together again... As he is a part of that soul just like Timmain is, wouldn't he have a say in the matter as well?

But if they were truly split, she wouldn't be able to see, hear and feel the things that he does. She wouldn't know what Skywise had said to Cutter about her. So, either she's pulling some Winnowill-level wool over people's eyes (which I would rather welcome) or Cutter's days are more numbered than even a human's.

Shadowpath: I would certainly be worried about it. I just wondered what it would be like once Cutters days are really over. I think at this point, Cutter is just in shock about the whole thing. I wonder if Timmain and he will gradually blend with each other, so they both feel it's right to become one again at some point, or if Timmain will just take him over, or if there will be a fight of some sort. (Hoping for the last option...)

manga: you have a good point. If she knows his thoughts, they can't be completely split. And if she feels the time is right to tell him now, there's a good chance his days are numbered.

judging by Futurequest(canon or not anymore, dunno), it's possible Cutter dies and becomes reabsorbed into Timmain's body, but remains a largely seperate entity. due to missing his physical body, and since Timmain really dun care what shape she takes, they opt to have Cutter's previous body and fly the ship together, High One and Chief.

....sounds extraordinarily sappy but hey, possibility. OH SHIT, IT'S THE CANON VERSION OF KITFIRE IN ALTERNAVERSE!! bwahahahaha. elfmom and elfpop are stealing Wingthing's ideas! :p

Sifra wrote:

Shadowpath: I would certainly be worried about it. I just wondered what it would be like once Cutters days are really over. I think at this point, Cutter is just in shock about the whole thing. I wonder if Timmain and he will gradually blend with each other, so they both feel it's right to become one again at some point, or if Timmain will just take him over, or if there will be a fight of some sort. (Hoping for the last option...)

I agree with you.
I just wonder, how much of a person is Cutter to Timmain? Does she understand he feels he's his own person?

Timmain seems awfully convinced that she is going to live forever, although we've seen that immortal doesn't mean invincible with the other high ones. So, if Timmain dies, will Cutter be in the same situation as Rayek, except with a little more cooperative co-habitant? Or will they just rejoin with Cutter having full access to what was Timmain?

And I'm sorry, I'm really smitten with a dark Timmain with sinister motives. I like to think now that she was just distracting him, and his abruptly being pulled out of the frame is the palace monster that was quietly growing out of the floor eating him. (I do love Little Shop of Horrors. Supper time!)

Then Timmain in Cutter guise rushes out of the palace to stand clinging to the bushes. Leetah runs up, looking back at the palace in confusion, and that's the teaser image.

Sorry, can't help my imagination from running away with this!

Shadowpath wrote:

Sifra wrote:

Shadowpath: I would certainly be worried about it. I just wondered what it would be like once Cutters days are really over. I think at this point, Cutter is just in shock about the whole thing. I wonder if Timmain and he will gradually blend with each other, so they both feel it's right to become one again at some point, or if Timmain will just take him over, or if there will be a fight of some sort. (Hoping for the last option...)

I agree with you.
I just wonder, how much of a person is Cutter to Timmain? Does she understand he feels he's his own person?

It doesn't seem like she does understand, does it? Her utter lack of empathy is positively chilling - and yet completely in character! For all that she claims to care about her "children" she never seems to actually relate to any of them as individuals - except Skywise and Sunstream - and its always on her terms, not theirs.

She might turn out to be the Big Bad, but she's solidifying her position as "Terrible Selfish God-figure Utterly Undeserving of Worship" with each new ish.

...I think I'm gonna start calling her Zeus from now on. Changing form to seduce mortals, absentee parent to demi-god offspring, complacent and self-absorbed leader liable to go feral and spectacularly maim enemies - its all verrry familiar!

But at least Zeus is fun at parties!

Outlier wrote:

Then Timmain in Cutter guise rushes out of the palace to stand clinging to the bushes. Leetah runs up, looking back at the palace in confusion, and that's the teaser image.

And he looks a little mad there because of the "door" that just opened in in mind. He's full of Timmain now. Poor, poor Cutter...

wingthing wrote:

Heh, so if the Wolfrider don't use "sound" names but "word" names, would his Wolfrider name be Rockboy? Stonechild?

I'd go for Rocker. ^^

wingthing wrote:

Shadowpath wrote:

Sifra wrote:

Shadowpath: I would certainly be worried about it. I just wondered what it would be like once Cutters days are really over. I think at this point, Cutter is just in shock about the whole thing. I wonder if Timmain and he will gradually blend with each other, so they both feel it's right to become one again at some point, or if Timmain will just take him over, or if there will be a fight of some sort. (Hoping for the last option...)

I agree with you.
I just wonder, how much of a person is Cutter to Timmain? Does she understand he feels he's his own person?

It doesn't seem like she does understand, does it? Her utter lack of empathy is positively chilling - and yet completely in character! For all that she claims to care about her "children" she never seems to actually relate to any of them as individuals - except Skywise and Sunstream - and its always on her terms, not theirs.

She might turn out to be the Big Bad, but she's solidifying her position as "Terrible Selfish God-figure Utterly Undeserving of Worship" with each new ish.

I wonder if that's sort of the point, though. I mean-- the Wolfriders and other elves sort of treat her like a diety... but Timmain isn't a god. She's just an alien that travelled for eons with her people, and finally crashed on a strange planet while looking for others of her kind. She's different, yes-- but she's not an omniscient being who knows all, has infinite wisdom, and can't make mistakes. She seems to have made any number of mistakes throughout her long, long life... while doing her best to survive and help others survive.

My favorite glimpses of Timmain are in the story about Timmorn deciding to give up his elf-mind and be fully wolf. He is running around, tormented by his half elf memories-- and stumbles across his mother. Or, maybe she seeks him out. She is understanding and empathetic-- and seems to recognize the value in allowing him to be fully wolf-- so that he can live in the moment and give up the struggle to try to be more. You sense, as the reader, that she is vastly more aware than he is, vastly more knowledgable, yet never condescending or dictatorial toward him. She only wants to help him be who and what he wants to be. There's no judgement-- just difference.

That was a very loving, protective, motherly, yet still remote Timmain who let her child make his own decisions and then disappear into the future he chose.

To me, that is the best of her character. I think we are seeing her here from a Wolfrider perspective-- not the perspective of her son, but of characters who have revered her from a distance and through myth. She is strange to them, intimidating and superior. If we were to see her through Skywise's eyes, though, I'm sure she would come across very differently.

But yeah-- I think she's not necessarily someone to worship.

wingthing wrote:

Shadowpath wrote:

Sifra wrote:

Shadowpath: I would certainly be worried about it. I just wondered what it would be like once Cutters days are really over. I think at this point, Cutter is just in shock about the whole thing. I wonder if Timmain and he will gradually blend with each other, so they both feel it's right to become one again at some point, or if Timmain will just take him over, or if there will be a fight of some sort. (Hoping for the last option...)

I agree with you.
I just wonder, how much of a person is Cutter to Timmain? Does she understand he feels he's his own person?

It doesn't seem like she does understand, does it? Her utter lack of empathy is positively chilling - and yet completely in character! For all that she claims to care about her "children" she never seems to actually relate to any of them as individuals - except Skywise and Sunstream - and its always on her terms, not theirs.

Exactly what I've been thinking!

See, now I'm wondering about his/her relationship with Skywise. Remember Leetah's words in Hearts Way? "I think it possible their souls were mated even before they walked this world"...in light of recent disclosures it makes you think maybe he's someone she knew long ago...Timtam says the split soul thing is unique, but maybe Skywise is a reincarnation? He did know Cutter's soul name from the time Cutter was born, which was...odd. There was a strong connection there even before their recognition. And Skywise was always an anomaly among the Wolfriders with his longing for the stars and his curiosity.

That's an interesting supposition. I'm inclined to believe that Wendy is playing this completely straight as the author-- and that when Timmain says that she and Cutter are unique in the world, she is correct. But it's also possible that Timmain is not an all-knowing character, that she's fallible, and that she just thinks this is true but maybe doesn't actually know.

You're probably right Luna, and I'm stretching. But Wendy keeps saying there's foreshadowing in earlier stuff, and she used a couple of earlier scenes even in the preview. And Leetah's comment seems very pertinent now.

Maybe my personal theory, that Skywise is the reincarnation of Timmain's soul-bond, Adya, is right after all.

But Timmain sort of sounds like Tam. Fahr sounds like it could be related to Sefra... but I'm not sure how it relates to Adya..?

Stargazer wrote:

You're probably right Luna, and I'm stretching. But Wendy keeps saying there's foreshadowing in earlier stuff, and she used a couple of earlier scenes even in the preview. And Leetah's comment seems very pertinent now.

I actually really hope you and Manga are right. It wouldn't be a bad direction to take the story at this point.

I don't really see her foreshadowing in early issues. I think there is a lot of going back and trying to make it fit.

Lunakat wrote:

But Timmain sort of sounds like Tam. Fahr sounds like it could be related to Sefra... but I'm not sure how it relates to Adya..?

I don't see that their soul names necessarily have to have anything to do with the name they had in another life.

Rayek was born six hundred years before Cutter. He's not a lost soul.

kathleen3.0 wrote:

Rayek was born six hundred years before Cutter. He's not a lost soul.

I think you missed the part about the displaced soul bouncing around in time, since it seems time means nothing to the elf spirits. I'm actually not clear if Timmain's spirit isn't supposed to have been temporally displaced at the time of Bearclaw and Joyleaf's Recognition.

Well, here's something about FQ12 I can praise: I think the oft-repeated tagline "the most game-changing issue of Elfquest ever!" is finally actually true.

When is 12 coming out anyway?

Looks like the preview page says November 25th.

Doh! Didn't notice that! Thanks!

manga wrote:

Lunakat wrote:

But Timmain sort of sounds like Tam. Fahr sounds like it could be related to Sefra... but I'm not sure how it relates to Adya..?

I don't see that their soul names necessarily have to have anything to do with the name they had in another life.

I agree with Manga, especially if he's a reincarnation rather than a split soul.

Unless you're timtam/tatter, then your soul name and your previous name are going to have a connection... :/