Silly Questions that Go Unanswered

Shenshen got a hangover from dreamberry wine.

Dreamberries are posionous to humans, who call them "bearberries" or something like that.

I'm pretty sure the Wolfrider Druid harvests mistletoe with a golden sickle. He uses it to make the magic potion, which he doles out to all of the tribe's warriors, except for the one who fell in the cauldron when he was a baby.

Do Tree Elves get mistletoe, oak gall, and other such parasites?

Trollbabe wrote:

Shenshen got a hangover from dreamberry wine.

Dreamberries are posionous to humans, who call them "bearberries" or something like that.

I'm pretty sure the Wolfrider Druid harvests mistletoe with a golden sickle.  He uses it to make the magic potion, which he doles out to all of the tribe's warriors, except for the one who fell in the cauldron when he was a baby.

You mean Treestump?

(Serious mode) seems to me the preservers got hangovers from dreamberry wine/brew when Grutch shared with them, but that may have been from the alcohol content more than the berries themselves (or because they arent elves).

(Silly mode broken for the night. Have no silly questions to add).

Didn't get quite wobbly when Someone - I think it was - stuffed one single dreamberry into its mouth?
But of course we didn't see if it got a hangover afterwards.

Miss Gillespie - yes, I suppose Treestump could be the Elfquest equivalent of the druid Getafix/Readymix (name depends upon which English translation of "Asterix the Gaul" is read.)


Next silly question:  Winnowill had a bathtub.  Ahnshen and the Holt Trolls wove fabric. Ahdri worked metal before she could rockshape.  Why does it take so long for different tribes to borrow indoor plumbing, textiles, metalworking and other modern skills from new acquaintances?  Yet as soon as they discover each other, they waste no time giving each other offspring.  Priorities, I tell you...

I think the very non-silly answer to that question is:
It's not like they've got much of a choice!

LOL - Yeah, I guess when the Go-Backs throw a party, there's no turning it down! Especially for Skywise.

Next silly question: The humans encounter the High Ones, who have just squashed part of the landscape with their shiny-shiny Palace. Ignorant and terrified, they kill some of the High Ones, and drive away the others, who die wondering if they should have arrived in the form of armadillos or porcupines to avoid destruction. The proto-Trolls take to the ground like sensible people.

Some time passes before one of the High Ones returns to the Palace to exact his vengeance. Meanwhile, even if they couldn't get much further than the entry hall, wasn't there a single human who thought the Palace would be an excellent alternative to a damp, drafty cave as a hangout? Imagine the main hall of the Palace strung with clotheslines for leather laundry, moss and fur beds in the corners, discarded bones tossed into a campfire, and maybe a few bison painted on the walls?

Because...

Extremist tree-huggers that would exact a life for a life revenge for landscape destruction would reject that which causes destruction of their landscape. When was the last time you saw someone who chains themselves to trees or other extreme behaviour take over the dwellings of loggers or housing developers after driving them off?

Trollbabe wrote:

LOL - Yeah, I guess when the Go-Backs throw a party, there's no turning it down! Especially for Skywise.

I suppose a rather appropriate silly question would be How come we've only seen one confirmed result of that dance?

I guess they don't keep track of inventory in the Go-Back nursery. There had to be more, because the battle depleted their numbers so much.


I know it sounds sexist, but if females got pregnant during the dance before the battle, why not keep them at home? It made little sense to send Dewshine into battle when they knew she was pregnant.

Finally, why go into battle with a hangover?

The proper question is who wants to go into battle sober?

Elf metabolisms are different. They dont get the hangover until 48-96 hours later. Until then they are still drunk. After that they cant tel the difference between hangover and battle-bruises... or dont care anyway cause they're dead.

Usually when we see Bearclaw let drink get the better of him its after weeks of binge drinking with the Trolls.

Speaking of high turnover rates... if the Palace seemed to get more or less "restored" with the dozen or so glider spirits brought there by Rayak (went from near ruins to bright and shiny), why didnt it have quite a bigger charge than it seemed to, what with the near endless supply of go-back spirits to fuel it?

Or is thr Palace itself as purist and ageist as Rayak, and doesnt feel like its had its coffee unless the spirit it adds to its collection has aged at least a few millennia?

I think they just needed everybody -- and if enough people got preggers and a few died-- there would still be enough babies come baby time. Besides, they probably didn't even know who was or wasn't knocked up at that point... Except for Dewshine. And Dewshine was still useful and barely pregnant. Why should she stay behind?

Lunakat wrote:

And Dewshine was still useful and barely pregnant. Why should she stay behind?

Because she was definitely unquestionably pregnant? With a child that the tribe sort of pressured her to get knocked up with because "there are too few of us as it is"? If they needed every single warm body they should have taken Redlance as well, and if they could afford to leave a babysitter behind Dewshine would have been the smarter choice.

With the small exception that Dewshine is FAR more aggressive than Redlance (when he has a choice. When he doesnt and is backed into a corner, look out!)

Which reminds me: in theory Redlance makes some or all of the Wolfrider's bows, drawn straight out of trees, perfect grain, very exacting. After seeing the crossbows of the Trolls, why couldnt he grow/treeshape crossbows for the wolfriders?

In retrospect, it makes no sense for her to have been there, especially considering the Wolfriders were never the prolific breeders that Go-Backs are, and Wolfriders relied heavily on recognition to add to their number. I mean, she's supposed to answer recognition and she and Tyldak resist to the point of near-illness, then finally give in, and then...she's off to war?! It doesn't add up. But I think it's also been shown than Dewshine isn't good with sitting around either (none of the Wolfriders are) and has a history with doing some risky stuff despite her petite frame.

Dunno if personal aggressiveness is a good reason to risk an unborn baby in war, but maybe Cutter thinks it is.

Speaking of unborn Windkin, it seems some babies show evidence of their power potential before they are born. Leetah made Toorah feel spry, despite her age.

What if a non-Glider were pregnant with an unusually powerful floater? Would she occasionally wake up on the ceiling?

While I agree that from a human point of view, risking a pregnancy (mother/baby, baby, or any combination you wish to put in there) is not worthwhile, especially if its a rare occurance (in seriousness, I should know: it took 4 years for the first boy, and the second wasnt here for another 6).

But Dewshine isnt american, human, or even elf. She's a wolfrider. Seems to me wolves dont take 60 days off and just tell the rest of the pack "Im gonna have pups eventually, all y'all go hunt and fight and defend and all that, Im gonna sit here and do nothing". Right or wrong, its not really in wolfrider nature to take a back seat to what is happening "now", nor worry about how current actions will affect the "future" (which is a bad word in wolfrider vocabulary). Same thing happened with the zwoots in Sun Village. In either case, it could be said that taking action is in good interest as well, since if no action is taken there is the chance there wont be a tomorrow for a child to be born to (something we take for granted in our larger numbers, secure environment, and hired/elected protection service personnel).

Not that it wouldnt have been prudent for her to have taken the bench during the battle, Im not knocking what you're saying, but within the context of the story, it makes sense to me.

Trollbabe wrote:

Speaking of unborn Windkin, it seems some babies show evidence of their power potential before they are born.  Leetah made Toorah feel spry, despite her age.

What if a non-Glider were pregnant with an unusually powerful floater?  Would she occasionally wake up on the ceiling?

Or an unusually powerful water-shaper, where non-wavedancer mommy wakes up in a puddle every night thinking she wet herself...?

Of course we must also ask the question of whether Winnowil found herself sleepwalking from time to time, the ringing of a hammer in her hand against an anvil waking her from her sleep?

Or if Leetah found herself howling at the moon and panting from time to time while carrying Ember, or "going out" due to Suntop?

Did Kahvi feel the need to get aggressive and/or take the palace for herself while... oh, nevermind...

It's certainly clear that Wolfriders don't believe pregnancy should interfere with hunting, howling and living free. I just wish EQ were more consistent with the perspective on "lifebearers", though. In the novelization of Book 1, Clearbrook explains to one of the younger maidens (might even have been Dewshine, I don't remember) that all the WR females have to stay in hiding while the males go and raid the Sun Village because the tribe is so small and they are potential mothers. She says that even she, who has "felt a stillness within (her) since Scouter was born", could possibly have another child and therefore they owe it to the tribe to protect themselves. I know the novelization is dubious canon compared to the comics, but that seems like a totally contradictory attitude to the one that would send preggo Dewshine into a pitched battle with a greatsword she shouldn't realistically be able to lift much less swing at trolls. And the elves weren't even fighting for survival in that war, they were fighting for the Palace. If they didn't win the Palace, there would still have been a tomorrow for Windkin to be born into.

I mean, Redlance stayed behind.... it's because mainly he wasn't a warrior type or whatever. But that doesn't mean he doesn't know how to fight either. He's a damn Wolfrider. So...I dunno.
It stands to reason that if Redlance stayed behind, then Dewshine had even more of one. But I didn't think too much of it at the time. In retrospect, it's a bit inconsistent. But in general, maybe Dewshine has some weird PTSD from hooking up with Tyldak and was like WHATEVER DUDE, I JUST WANT TO KICK SOME ASS. And the other wolfriders went, Well, who are we to stop her?

of course it doesn't make sense, that the skinniest Wolfrider, who even happens to be pregnant at this time, goes into battle. And hey, that's what a non-democratic system is for, ordering people without asking for consent. Cutter should have ordered her to stay back no matter her own opinion.

And again, the depiction of her in an armour is just plain silly

Uhmm... I don't think anyone would want to tell Dewshine that she couldn't go.

Well, if Cutter can't control his tribesmen, he maybe is bad at leading.

Maybe they simply didn't want to threat Dewshine like a cub.
However, I think Cutter later realised how stupid it was to let her get along, and made sure to mentally link with her during the battle.

Of course; it's not certain she would've fared must better if she'd stayed at the Lodge, considering what happened there.

Speaking of... Attacking the home base while the warriors are away is like... War 101. They have all those kids - the future of the tribe and all that... maybe they deserve more than Redlance and like 1 other guy to defend the homefront. (I know Vaya was apparently supposed to be staying home too... though gotta say I never got that from the comic, and its never good when you need to be ntold something by the character bio.)

Given how fast Dewshine is she would have been way better used OUT of armor defending the home front. But let's face it, the Palace War was a tactical nightmare - the more you think about it, the more you wonder how ANY of them survived!