The Final Quest

I beg your pardon?

kathleen3.0 wrote:

I beg your pardon?

That's why I only do one show a night people, just one. Try the veal I hear its delicious!

*poof*

Kindredsoul wrote:

[..] He’s fighting to keep that. Because he’s lost everything else he knows already. [..]

Not intending to play the "old gloomer" too much, but I fear it's far deeper and sadder than that, dear Kin.

Those two shared a dream...

These vegetation hands... I wonder if the ent elves have something to do with this somehow?

Remember Wendy is VERY good at symbolic elements.

I guess..

Those spirit hands have five fingers once they're fully formed. Just sayin'.

I really shouldn't tell, but...


First a forest that brings the couple joy and into wolf form.

Then they see themselves surrounded by four-fingered greedy hands, and they howl for help.

Afterwards, a multitude of five-fingered hands close on them and take away...

Kindredsoul wrote:

Strongbow is not acting like he’s trying to “control” Moonshade.

I agree. I don't think Strongbow has ever really tried to control Moonshade, nor is he doing so now. He has let her live in the Palace; there is no sign of his insisting that she den with him. And yes, it probably does feel like he's losing her.

On the other hand, she has always pretty much let him take the lead in the relationship: probably because they both preferred it that way, and not because there was any obligation laid on them to do so. Their wants and desires have largely dovetailed anyway-- until now. This is indeed a test of their relationship. I still believe their lifemating can stand this test.

We had a foreshadowing that Moonshade wasn't happy in the Special's conversation between her and Freetouch:

"Mother...why do you weave? Why is such decoration important?"

"It isn't.. .really. Nothing I do is so fine as preserver's web of a wavedancer's fin. I'm just in the habit of doing things as well as I can."

"But.. do you love what you do?"

"*sigh* I used to."

It's easy to overlook here, but that feeling of "going through the motions" doesn't always end with just one aspect of someone's life.

There was also the panel of Moonshade when Shukopek was born, and her thoughtful, sad expression. Though what Wendy intended it to mean hasn't been explained and fannish speculation has run the gauntlet, it's another piece of Moonshade's puzzle.

What I see is Moonshade wanting something different, something to get rid of her feeling that life has became just going through the motions because she's always done it. When fans talk about intelligence and curiosity among the EQ cast, Skywise and Rayek are often the first names that come to mind -- not Moonshade.

Going to toss out a prediction here: Moonshade doesn't survive; Strongbow leaves with the Palace to honor her dreams.

KR Wordgazer wrote:

Kindredsoul wrote:

Strongbow is not acting like he’s trying to “control” Moonshade.

I agree.  I don't think Strongbow has ever really tried to control Moonshade, nor is he doing so now. He has let her live in the Palace; there is no sign of his insisting that she den with him.  And yes, it probably does feel like he's losing her.

I actually think he has tried to control her. He has given her ultimatums. Remember in Blue Mountain? "Moonshade- are you with them, or with me?" She didn't agree with him and she didn't want to leave her tribe- but she chose him because she always chose him. She left with him because he put her in a position where she was pressured to choose between him and everyone else. That's actually a controlling move. And later, he did insist she den with him. He tried to chastise and then emotionally blackmail her into coming back.He basically told her that she was abandoning her children by doing this. The difference is, she didn't let him get away with that this time.

I think Moonshade really used to believe what she told Leetah in Book 2: That her place was by her mate's side. She was always the "stand by your man" type. And Strongbow always expected her to do that. But she's been dong it for hundreds of years now. Give the girl a break.

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On the other hand, she has always pretty much let him take the lead in the relationship: probably because they both preferred it that way, and not because there was any obligation laid on them to do so.  Their wants and desires have largely dovetailed anyway-- until now. This is indeed a test of their relationship.  I still believe their lifemating can stand this test.

Yes, I totally agree!

Davrille wrote:

We had a foreshadowing that Moonshade wasn't happy in the Special's conversation between her and Freetouch:

"Mother...why do you weave? Why is such decoration important?"

"It isn't.. .really. Nothing I do is so fine as preserver's web of a wavedancer's fin. I'm just in the habit of doing things as well as I can."

"But.. do you love what you do?"

"*sigh* I used to."

It's easy to overlook here, but that feeling of "going through the motions" doesn't always end with just one aspect of someone's life. 

I think that moment is the crux of Moonshade's issue. The life she used to lead is not fulfilling to her anymore- and what used to be an art and creative outlet, yet also useful, has lost it's meaning for her. It's no small thing.

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What I see is Moonshade wanting something different, something to get rid of her feeling that life has became just going through the motions because she's always done it. When fans talk about  intelligence and curiosity among the EQ cast, Skywise and Rayek are often the first names that come to mind -- not Moonshade.

Yes! I completely agree!

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Going to toss out a prediction here: Moonshade doesn't survive; Strongbow leaves with the Palace to honor her dream

i bet you are right!

Lunakat, I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that you find Strongbow's behaviour to be so controlling because your natures are so different. But Moonshade and Strongbow have, until recently anyway, been of one accord. I don't think control enters into it, not in the "capitol C" kind of way, anyway.

Do you guys think it's possible Moonshade could be dying? I mean, she is mortal and I seem to recall somewhere that she's older than Strongbow. Is it possible that her body is just giving way and her brain is responding naturally to that by finding a nice peaceful place to rest and relax(my cat is the equivalent to ninety-two and pretty much never does anything anymore) before she goes?

THAT is a very good thought, Kathleen! She's not showing signs of age - no grey hair (unless she's dyeing more than the leathers ) or wrinkles but then I don't think it's really been proven that that's how the Wolfriders age, so that may not mean anything.

I find that a weirdly peaceful idea. That all this is a "change of life" and not an unconquerable rift in my favorite, most dependable lifemating.


(I've been wondering why she doesn't get Leetah to extend her life, not remove her wolfblood, and just wait until Strongbow is in the Palace for good.)

Well, the only visible sign of age so far has been beards. I mean, Bearclaw was the oldest wolfrider of the tribe at the time of his death, and he looked like he was basically in his twenties to thirties. Picture Treestump without the beard, and he would look much younger.

Maybe they don't SHOW age. The only old looking elves we've seen so far seem to have been aged due to stressors in their environments, and none of them were wolfriders. But they're still mortal. So maybe her cells deteriorated in a different way and her body is just silently shutting down.

And since all wolfriders are basically dying, Leetqh might not pick it up, since it's part of a natural process, instead of an injury or illness.

Lunakat wrote:

I actually think he has tried to control her. He has given her ultimatums. Remember in Blue Mountain? "Moonshade- are you with them, or with me?" She didn't agree with him and she didn't want to leave her tribe- but she chose him because she always chose him. She left with him because he put her in a position where she was pressured to choose between him and everyone else. That's actually a controlling move. And later, he did insist she den with him. He tried to chastise and then emotionally blackmail her into coming back.He basically told her that she was abandoning her children by doing this. The difference is, she didn't let him get away with that this time.

Yes, I see your point, and I do agree that both these were controlling moves.  However, I think Strongbow has learned quite a bit since that early scene at Blue Mountain, and the scene you mention in Final Quest was followed by a sincere apology-- yes, Moonshade didn't let him get away with it that time, but the apology is evidence that he knew he was out of line.  In other words, there may be occasional controlling moves (which I agree with Kindredsoul arise mostly out of desperation) on Strongbow's part, but that is a very different thing from having a controlling relationship.  A controlling relationship is one characterized by one person controlling the other.  I don't think that has ever been what this relationship has been about-- occasional controlling moves notwithstanding.

I guess that when I said "Strongbow has never really tried to control her," I was thinking more in terms of that being the characteristic of their relationship-- not the occasional problem.

Maybe there is genuine fear of losing Moonshade completely that is causing Strongbow to behave in a manner that he normally wouldn't.

Not entirely dissimilar to Rayek's behavior in "JtSE." You got figure in both cases that what has gone before has been worth it to her (Moonshade, Leetah) or she wouldn't have been in a long-standing relationship with him (Strongbow, Rayek) to begin with.

Oh, and thank you for posting that panel from "Dream time," Kindred. I loved their chapter the best, though their dream worried (worries?) me. It felt like, at least for a bit, someone really got where those of us on the more conservative end of the spectrum are coming from.

And now they're blowing it to shrapnel. Bah.

Kojiyumi wrote:

Those spirit hands have five fingers once they're fully formed.  Just sayin'.

Some do and some don't, which is confusing for me.

So,

Same sex couple?
It's a shame that none of these Go-Backs get names or backstories, by the way- it's like they are being set up to be used as red shirts later on...

No Go-Back love here?

Lot's of go-back love ^^ saw at least 5 new character I'd like to know more about there ^^

The Go Backs have always been red shirts. That was the whole point of them in the Original Quest- we couldn't have Cutter and Co fighting a war by themselves and win- or not lose numerous lives... but with so many unidentified Go Backs jumping in with them, that could happen! That's why I never really felt that bad about losing One Eye. Sure he died- but that entire pile of bodies was from Kahvi's tribe. Cutter's tribe got off nearly skot free!

I do like Venka's new Go Backs a lot. She seems to really appreciate them too. I like her appreciation of them.

Having reread Final Quest in it's entirety- I do like it. I think it reads better all together than broken up. It's fast paced, but has good moments of breather space. A lot happens - yet it's plausible- and it moves quickly toward getting things going.

I also think that a lot of the problems that Wendy had with PhotoShop have cleared up. She's still using standard pattern brushes in the Prologue, but I like a lot of her color choices better. When she hands the coloring over to Sonny, the drawings become a lot more fluid- like they used to be. His colors are pretty decent. I don't like how he handles shadows. It's too dark for a printed page. He needs more contrast. The image is getting lost. One thing I really liked about how the Original Quest was colored was how shadows were handled- they were handled in colors that offered enough contrast that the image still stood out agains the background. Not just a lot of desaturated darks that have similar values. That might be more realistic- but it makes it kind of hard to see what's happening on the page. But overall, not bad.