The Final Quest

Keeping with the "NOW" we need a thread for the final quest. I couldn't find one on here. If this is a repeat then OOPS. If not....
Have you read it? What are your thoughts? Opinions? Where is this going? Is it really "the end" ? Discuss.

Um... I haven't read more than the prologue when it was being posted and to be honest there wasn't a single thing I liked about it so...

I have read the spoilers tho, and I'm afraid from what I've read, I don't wish to read anything more about it

Believe me, as an avid fan of over 30 years I do feel a weight of guilt for how I feel about Final Quest and not liking it, but I'm not going to lie about my opinion just to please other fans either. So for the time being I am simply going to savor my old collection of OQ beautiful comics and graphic novels that continue to bring me joy

I'm at work and on my phone at the moment so that's all I'll say for now =)

There is a couple things I really liked, the costume changes, the feeling of "My god it's hamlet and NO one is safe." Adds that edge of the seat feeling to the read.

SPOILERS:

There is also a lot I don't like. While I love the costumes, and the colors they are insanely bright. REALLY REALLY bright.

EVEN MORE SPOILERS:

I do like that the cannon elves height is starting to change, could that be a hint they are going back to the stars? A foreshadowing they will be like the High Ones? What if they ARE the high Ones? What if they throw themselves back in time and then thousands of years later crash land? Wouldn't that be different.

Also I get that the tribe has to grown and flourish but man in that prologue there was a helluva lot of flourishing.

I am also happy that Moonshade's character is developing so much. She has always just kind of voiced a second to what Strongbow had to say. I feel like she is finding a voice that is very much her own.

I have enjoyed what I have seen so far. As for me the coloring is very nice, but to each there own I always heard.

I guess my only quibble is Who's going to die in the next issue  

I have to agree with Kindred, from what I've seen and read of the FQ there is only one word to describe it...'not for me'...

And of course, this is just my opinion.  I neither influence or am influenced by another's opinion or review...

Soreyes it does have a very Hamlet vibe. The cast of Game of Thrones is safer then the elf tribes.

I have also been noting the talk on the EQ forums about why Ember gave her self up. There are some good thoughts over there but I just like to keep it simple. Suntop got the brains and Ember is not just a little, but a lot Dumb.  

I suppose she was trying to distract the humans?

ok... I've read, I've caught up, and all can I say is HUH!?  Has so much of the OQ already been forgotten? Or is this a game of grasping for straws and hit and miss for the sake of having some sort of story plot?  I'm not going to dive into details, but I'll post my input on Ember's decision since it was brought up. (Beware, I may veer off from the Ember aspect here and there, tho))


I wouldn't say what Ember did was so much as dumb, as it was reckless.  But I'm sure she had the protection of the rest of the tribe in mind. Yes, her heart is in the right place.... just not her intelligence. Yes, the art shows both of her parents' physical traits, but I'm not seeing either Cutter's or Leetah's qualities yet.


What baffles me is this whole "Don't help, or save me!" rule she has going on when Cutter and the others have the Palace to at least rescue the tribe that's on the run.  If her reason for her actions are for the sake of the tribe's safety, then let her brother and father help. Even Cutter had to seek the help of the Trolls in Fire and Flight to save his tribe.  I'm sure back then, that was quite a blow to the "Way", but it was done to save lives.


Ember has the luxury of the Palace in all it's magical flying glory.  It's not meant JUST as a pretty trinket to look at and wear pretty clothes in. She also has the luxury of a brother she can send to for help WAY beyond ANY sending range.  AND she has a brilliant father/chief who has already lead a band of various elves to kick Djun ass successfully to regain the Palace.  


So I can't fathom any of her reasoning being to protect Cutter's group, or protecting the Palace either. For one, they can use "a piece" of the Palace to save her tribe. Second, the damn thing flies. Humans don't. HUGE advantage there.

Swallow your damn pride when the lives of the tribe are at stake. She succeeded in buying her tribe time to flee. Take advantage of that.


If it's all about "preserving the Way", I call BS. Especially after Cutter and the Wolfriders, and every other elf and tribe for that matter on the Abode, had to change ALL of their "Ways" due to humans and the changes in the Abode.  For thousands and thousands of years.  The moral of EQ when bringing all of the tribes together was to bend the "way" of things for the sake of unity.


It was to be embraced and celebrated. Even by those most stubborn about it saw and accepted the need and advantages for it.


But when a whole tribe of lives are at stake, they're NOW all stepping back thousands of years of progress and adhering to Ember's wishes in order to preserve the "Way"?? That makes no sense either.


Now, I completely understood Cutter's reasons for separating the tribes when he did. They had no idea what they were up against, and he wanted to preserve a tribe and the "Way" should things have gone terribly wrong when leading the attack to regain the shards of the Palace.  But I could never understand the reasons for keeping the tribes split ((for "cleaning up Winnowill's terrible things"))when they regained the Palace, and were safely hidden away in another part of the world away from the human threat. Both tribes could have "cleaned up" whatever with twice as much ease and speed and been done with it.


But back to the point in question...

Now if I were Ember? I would have given the Djunn dude a deadpan look of boredom after he shot off that gun and found some way for my sending to get through his dense human head of his with ONE solitary image.

Rayek


And that day when he blasted the shit out that mountain with just ONE blow of his magic, creating a MASSIVE ravine that separated the Go Backs from the Palace. Imagine the damage he can do with TWO blasts... THREE.  And that was back in the day when he was far younger and still discovering the depth of his powers.

Makes me think of the Walking Dead memes going around between "The Governor", "I got a tank!!" and "Rick" *deadpan look* We got Daryl... ((for those who don't know the show... Daryl "the redneck archer" DID take out the tank all on his own too))

I'll admit, I wasn't a Rayek fan in the beginning, but after he learned some very hard life lessons, (especially swallowing his pride, Miss Ember), he became the better for it, and by far, much more stronger.

But wait, Kindred! You're not taking the fact that he's caught up still holding Winnowill's spirit in check!"

Oh hogwash on that too.
Here we have the Palace of the HIGH ONES. An alien structure full of magic AND other spirits of the past, AND a living High One AND MANY other powerful "living" magic users.  But I'm expected to believe that none of that can help ease that burden off of him? Sure, Winni broke free once before, but look how long it took her to do it.  

Slap her cranky ass in another crystal cell.  Give Rayek 10 minutes to blast Djun asshole to one of the 2 moons, move Ember and her tribe to another woodland sanctuary, Pass go and collect $200.

THEN find a way using the Palace, the spirits, and all the marvelous elfin magic to give Winni a nice long nap of eternity.


But seriously.... none of this makes sense to me.  They have an ally that can blast the entire human city to smithereens, and Ember is freaking out over a gun and what it can do?  And they can find Rayek if they want to with Sunstream's oh so wondrous "elfin GPS" ability....


So with all this various forms of elfin magic, the Palace, and an elf who can practically shoot fire canons out of his hands and split a mountain,.... the elves are all like "Oh my gosh the humans are more dangerous with a boomboom stick!!!"

  


I'm not writing all of this to diss' Final Quest... But I'm looking at the big picture here as a whole and I'm just left shaking my head and completely befuddled.  


Now before anyone dives on me with a jackhammer...

I KNOW we're only 3 issues into the story.

I KNOW there's much more of the story none of us know yet.

But with all the time jumps done so far, and all the scene splitting in this current storyline, ((The story is jumping all over the place, so the flow is rather difficult to follow)) and keeping in mind what all the elves have endured  in the past THOUSANDS of years, and ALL of the amazing powerful advantages they have over any human threat.... I'm really struggling to keep interest, or make sense of any of the elves reasoning for doing things as they are right now.  


Just my two acorns.  Let the beatings and tomato throwing now commence...

In short Ember has lost it. lol. Remind me but aren't Ember and Suntop the first elf twins ever? She very much lost out on brains and logic.

I think Owl and Graywolf were twins, as well as Brill and Krill (??)

I do try to keep in mind that Ember probably feels A LOT of pressure on her shoulders having Cutter as a father and trying to live up to that. 

She's still considered *young*, and still coming into her "chieftain-ism" in many ways.  

She's also had a TOTALLY different upbringing than any other chief in Wolfrider history... (born into no human threat/the knowledge of other tribes/still discovering new tribes/Palace of the High Ones influence)

But I would think.... with all the added worldly knowledge, and experiences, and lessons she's endured up to this point, her line of thinking when dealing with the human threat would branch  out beyond what limited options her grandsire had when Bearclaw was chief.

I have more and more the feeling Wendy wants to HURRY the plot towards a specific direction.
Even if it means sacrificing the very essence of Elfquest.

Ember's scared reaction simply reveals more surprise and shock than real fear.

And it should be obvious, by now, that the elves we have come to love do not know the eighth of what's needed to be known about humans, and that they will pay dearly for allowing the "Now of wolf thought" to maintain themselves in such ignorance.

This whole "Final Quest" sounds more like a BEGINNING, to me, and it smells like a HUGE catastrophic chain of events is coming.

The more I read and re-read the first three issues, the more some specific scene pops back in my mind : the scene from the "Metamorphosis" special issue, with an older Cutter and Strongbow at his side.

I'm very much afraid there could be VERY good reasons for the FEW SURVIVORS among the elves we've come to love to escape the world of two moons. Pretty soon.


Elfquest is becoming colder and grimmer, and it saddens me.

Kinderdsoul I think you have pointed out very well what I have been wondering about the final quest so far HUH!!!

PCoquelin again I have to agree with the thought that the elves are about to get a real big wake up call. The elves have been going along thinking that there magic will protect them from the humans. Well the humans and there technology are about to punch the elves right in the face.

Soreyes : But the most horrendous thought is that maybe some humans will realise far too late why some elves are considered as "deities", on this world of two moons.. And I do not mean the elves we've come to love for years. Cover of FQ#5 : Torturing an elf is a major offense.

PC it does seem as though they are rather in a hurry. Could it be the set deadline of bi monthly comic again? Or maybe the story has been stewing in her head so long it is about to boil over if she doesn't write it fast. Or maybe there is something huge around the corner that requires more attention.
   But considering they have drug storylines out for decades at a time in the past this new run of stories does feel rushed and not at all as fleshed out at the original quest.

FQ has been interesting so far. Ember should have held on a bit longer then she could have enjoyed recognition. It reminds me of something I read in one of the novels. That some elves can deny the call of recognition.

As for the conclusion. Who knows. Why rush it after waiting so long to start it.

I wonder if the whole "cost" of getting what you ask for is going to apply to Sunstream as well. I mean- that's got the be all consuming, having everyone's consciousness in your head and all. What does it take to be the elf internet?

BTW, speaking of costs, if anyone wants access to final quest but can't (or doesn't want) to pay for it, let me know by PM.

PCoquelin wrote:

I have more and more the feeling Wendy wants to HURRY the plot towards a specific direction.
Even if it means sacrificing the very essence of Elfquest.

Elfquest is becoming colder and grimmer, and it saddens me.

Thought came to me that in the whole of the storyline of EQ, there are two different ways to look at it:

A) We started with Cutter and his tribe, and found the rest of the world to integrate with, a story of Cutter and his kin and little else, so we would end with little else.

B) There's so much back story and side story of tribesmates and whatnot that it makes Cutter and his peers stick out like a sore thumb in storytelling. Mantricker and Two-Spear and the first-comers, the wanderers... there's so much story there that ended in tragedy, but it's glossed over compared to the 'main story'... Perhaps there is a HUGE amount of new story coming in with a whole new cast that would get tangled up tripping over the old characters.

To a degree, I could hope for a whole new world of storytelling. I love a story, and can't get enough of it, always looking to see what happens next and what the end will be....

I'm just hoping it won't be some sort of soapbox artistic interpretation of some hot topic or something and remain good old storytelling.

@Trollhammer- I think it's a combination. The main story is about Cutter and his tribe. The backstories you mention were about filling in the world that the Wolfriders came from and in which they live. But those were never the main tales.

However, I agree that a lot got glossed over- and it was a little jarring sometimes. For me, this started during book 8- Kings of the Broken Wheel. I was shocked that no characters seemed to really react to what happened to the Go Backs- and then, they were only barely followed up on. The whole WaveDancer story arc, when Sunstream fell in love with Brill, seemed very rushed and superficial. Some moments were really nice, and others had me scratching my head going 'wtf just happened? Really?" It had some great art. But it also had, in certain panels, some of the crappiest art Wendy ever drew.

As for Final Quest- I have no problem with the pace of it, personally. But I think the artwork is really suffering. Wendy does not create the same fluid lines, the same natural poses and expressions, the intimate or dynamic scenes, when she uses a cintiq. It trips her up. It's not terrible anymore (and since we are not on the forum, let me be honest now and say that her early Photoshop work was not good. It fell somewhere in between remedial and average). But it's not great. And it's lost a lot of the flair and feel that made her work stand out in the first place. Basically, it's okay. Not terrible, not great. Sonny's coloring is better than Wendy's. It's also okay.

And regarding the most recent issue... Spoilers.\

Who would have guessed? Wendy made Ents.

Wow! Not being on the official forum- where you know there's a chance Wendy or Richard will read your comments- is remarkably freeing!

So... Some elves decided that BEING trees was safer than hiding in them?

Only when Rayek's around....

Just to get on his nerves

Good to see you manga

I wasn't sure I was going to sign up. Honestly, I've been wondering if it's time to let "Elfquest" go. But I just couldn't resist making that comment about the Ents!

Also, there are a ton of people here I remember from the original SoC. Timmain, would I know you under another name? (Or is my Rayek obsession just THAT infamous? )

manga wrote:

I wasn't sure I was going to sign up. Honestly, I've been wondering if it's time to let "Elfquest" go. But I just couldn't resist making that comment about the Ents!

I can understand your point there. I struggled with the same decision for a long time.

But then I couldn't do it because the original EQ was such a huge impact on me for so many years. And the reasons I was going to let it go just didn't justify the depth of that impact.

It's different for everyone. I know that. But I also know how it was a huge impact on you with all the passionate discussions you had for so long in regards to Rayek alone.

But again, the decision is different for everyone.

And now I can't resist a pun of my own.....

Please do not......




.

.

.

,

as for who I am....

.

.

.

.

.



Oh the FUN disputes you and I had over these two
*hugs* Kindredsoul