The Final Quest

Elwing wrote:

I was going to talk about chihuahuas and great Danes but I decided against it.

Bwahahahahahaha!!!

I love your humor, Elwing!

My first thought was the reason why I sold my kitchen table. Enough said.

Embala wrote:

And there it is again ... this odd feeling ...

In the beginning, during the OQ - Siege - Kings story arc, I had the impression that Cutter would "go full circle". That we will see his death in the end.

Then I noticed how often it was mentioned that Leetah would outlive him. That she would see him die.
And Skywise let remove his wolf blood - because he was afraid to die?
And Cutter's promise - that he would "fly with Skywise" after his death.
Last not least the rumor, the "teaser picture" of Cutter as Master of the Palace in Futurequest ...

All this gave me another idea - a twist to turn things upside down. What IF ... mortal Cutter would survive - and his immortal soulmates would die? That's a possible future that sticks for years now.
With a variation - that Timmain will die as well. Maybe together with Skywise, her recignized mate ... after she gave birth to Jink.

Just thoughts, mind games ... schemes as good and bad as others.

Yes, I have been thinking about that myself. I haven't read that story myself, just seen some pics from it, and Wendy didn't do it, right? Buuuut...they wouldn't publish it if it was just nonsense and never gonna happen and such? And they have said ( about the stories they didn't do themselves ) that if not proven else, they are canon?

The whole thought about seeing Cutter die gives me a sad feeling, but seeing Cutter loose Leetah and Skywise is almost worse.

Well, that story about Cutter as Master of the Palace (only seen from the back though, chief's lock and fur shoulder vest as well as the bracelet things do strongly suggest Cutter but we've never seen the face).... it's in the future.

So, as far as I'm concerned... that story is one what-if, and we'll have to wait and see what happens in the Final Quest to find out what really happens...
In my mind at least, it doesn't become (non)canon until the main storyline has passed that moment in the timeline.

If Cutter dies, it won't be until the very end - he's the hero and main character and I can't see them killing him off until the very last FQ issue...if they do at all. I strongly suspect though that it will be Skywise and/or Leetah that die/s instead, as someone already pointed out, it would give Cutter motivation to leave the planet in the palace. I really hope that's not what happens though, because I'd be absolutely gutted to see Skywise or Leetah die.

I seem to recall WP saying something like FQ is the end of the main characters story arc, and any later stories will deal with other elves. If I've remembered that correctly, then if the Future Palace Master is Cutter the events of Future Quest must happen in Final Quest.

Wendy said, on facebook, to reread "Troll Games and Soul Names"- so I guess that Skywise is about to recognize- and it will affect Cutter. Otherwise- what was the point of revisiting that story?

So... why didn't Cutter Recognizing Leetah affect Skywise?

Final Quest #9 preview is up. SPOILER!

http://www.comicbookresources.com/comic-previews/elfquest-the-final-quest-9-dark-horse-comics-2015

manga wrote:

So... why didn't Cutter Recognizing Leetah affect Skywise?

Um... because Skywise isn't the main character?
I don't know.

Maybe Cutter doesn't like or isn't comfortable with something about the character Skywise falls for? What wasn't to like about Leetah? Besides her initial prickliness...

Oh yes- just read the preview. It's brilliant! It gives away nothing.

ooooh preview!

i think it'll be interesting to see skywise finally recognize and finally get some solid happiness of his own!...that or there'll be an epic twist of her dying shortly before/after recognition...

ooooh! maybe that's it! he recognizes, but doesn't have the chance to consumate it, and Starchild dies, and that's why cutter is so freaked out, because SKYWISE is so freaked out!

Nah... they have to make Jink.

Hmm. Maybe Skywise catches a glimpse of the Djun's fleet when he flits about in his egg-pod-- and sends that image to Cutter? Maybe the Djun has finally figured out how a gun works? Ten years is long enough time for his stupid engineers to figure out how to make a gun when they have a perfectly good example sitting right in front of them.

I can't believe they can build gigantic ships but can't replicate a gun. Standard human beings on earth invented guns without any help from alien trolls. What is wrong with these people?

Maybe that's what upsets Cutter- and the recognition is just a side thing?

Preview Spoiler





I do like how freaked out Skywise is over Sunstream's state in the preview.

It does seem that if you are going to open your mind to everyone of your species on the planet- you are going to be in a fairy abnormal brain state while doing it. I hope he gets himself back.

Maybe that's what his training was all about? Not losing his mind while doing this.

Preview to FQ 9

(For people like me who said "Preview, what preview, there's nothing on the Dark Horse page?!")

@Lunakat, also at that time Cutter and Skywise had only been together for 5, maybe 10 years.  Perhaps they hadn't yet developed the depth of bond that allows this "feeling what the other feels" thing we've seen trotted out a few times.

Or the writer had a better idea.  In the "JtSE" novelization, there's a bit about Cutter and Nightfall being so close they had come close to one another's soul names and pretty much the whole tribe expected them to Recognize eventually.  But then we get get "Troll Games and Soul Names" with Nightfall pushing Cutter away, so clearly something changed somewhere.

And I'm with you, Redhead Ember. Some things take time and there's no way around it. He certainly looks buff, though, for someone who's health is supposed to be precarious.

My biggest complaint about the Final Quest is this...

We get a long, detailed account of what happened to Kahvi. Ember spent so many panels tied to a chair, it's a wonder she didn't wet her leathers.

But, unless I missed it, we've only seen one panel of Trolls.

Don't worry. Issue 9 is all about Venka vs. the Misfit Trolls.

As for Ember wetting herself; she wasn't really captured that long (a day and a night, or something like that), holding yourself (is that even the prober term for not peeing even if you need to?) would be uncomfortable, but possible. Especially since we don't know when she last had something to eat/drink.
That being said, how do we know she didn't wet herself?

She didn't start dripping when they strung her up like a piñata. I thought that was kind of silly.

The thing that's always kind of bugged me about the whole 'feeling what the other feels' thing is, it only seems to work one way. When Skywise was suffocating in Blue Mountain, Cutter didn't have a freaking clue until Leetah told him. When he got knocked out by Thief's slingshot at the Deathwater, again Cutter didn't seem to know until he turned around and saw Skywise lying on the ground. He'd have been on his guard a fraction sooner if he'd actually felt it. Cutter seems aware of Leetah's feelings, but not Skywises.

The elves are in inaccessible mountain heights, and the Djun is building a fleet of warships?

Do they fly?

THIS is explainable ... he told Ember the "Seademons" his half-brother brabbled about should be the first he'll extinguish.

Redhead Ember wrote:

Don't worry. Issue 9 is all about Venka vs. the Misfit Trolls.

This makes me think of the island of misfit toys in Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer.

I'm imagining a Rankin-Bass stop-motion EQ.

LOL - so I am not the only one who thinks of the Misfit Toys!! Half the characters in EQ are misfits.

Are the "misfit" and "misshapen" Trolls the same group?

Stargazer wrote:

The thing that's always kind of bugged me about the whole 'feeling what the other feels' thing is, it only seems to work one way. When Skywise was suffocating in Blue Mountain, Cutter didn't have a freaking clue until Leetah told him. When he got knocked out by Thief's slingshot at the Deathwater, again Cutter didn't seem to know until he turned around and saw Skywise lying on the ground. He'd have been on his guard a fraction sooner if he'd actually felt it. Cutter seems aware of Leetah's feelings, but not Skywises.

That's kind of a good point. I just assumed Cutter turned around because he did feel something on the cliff- and that, later on in Blue Mountain, he couldn't tell Skywise was suffocating because he himself was under duress- and also Leetah was there. I figured her presence maybe confused him with the whole "my lifemate is nearby and in some distress" business. Because Leetah was fighting Winnowil.

But yeah- Skywise totally felt Cutter's discomfort several times. So you'd think it would work in the reverse...

On the other hand... Skywise does have a much more consistent history of paying attention to Cutter and how he feels than Cutter does paying attention to Skywise. I always took that scene in Book 2, when they run through the Forbidden Grove as an example of that. Think about it-- Skywise nearly gets killed (in a really scary way- by falling off a freakin cliff) in a situation that's very reminiscent of how his parents died. A situation he only walked into because Cutter made him do it. He then (presumably) spends the last few days hiking while injured. And how does the dynamic play out? The whole scene in that valley is about him being worried about how Cutter feels.

Cutter's down in the dumps because his friend almost died- so his friend cheers him up. Seriously, Cutter? Seriously?

Cutter doesn't even consider that his friend might need to rest and recoup until Skywise pretty much collapses by that log. And then... does he stand guard while Skywise naps? No. He walks off to explore. Heck- it's peaceful enough- what could go wrong?

Ask yourself this. Would you leave your injured, best friend alone and unconscious in a strange, dark forest? A forest you just determined was likely inhabited by some mysterious meat-eating creatures? I probably wouldn't. How much time are you wasting to sit by someone while he takes a nap? Seriously, Cutter- what the heck!

It's all about Cutter. The universe literally revolves around him.