Final Quest #17

So... the teaser text for issue 18 made me wonder? Does Cutter actually know why he suddenly decided that he wants Two-Edge? Because according to said teaser text the others on that quest - I'm gonna assume it's the Heartcircle, seems Cutter is about to just go off and find Two-Edge - only learn it by the time of issue 18. Or maybe they have just learned it be then, as in at the end of issue 17.
Of course those teaser texts aren't 100% deskriptive of what's gonna happen, the one for issue 10 spoke about how it's been ten years, which - at least to me - indicated that ten years passed between issue 9 and issue 10, rather than during issue 10.

Redhead Ember wrote:

Does Cutter actually know why he suddenly decided that he wants Two-Edge?

Good question. I also think only his heart circle is with him on this quest and I also understood the teaser text so that they don't know what they where questing for until they see the old armory. I'm also wondering about the Timmorn - Key connection/epiphany Cutter has in FQ16. Does a part of Timmain-Tams memory trigger this? Or does Cutter-Tam know/remember something from the war for the palace and the armory, the other don't? And if the heart circle doesn't know, why didn't he tell them why they are questing? Maybe he is on autopilot and they just trust him enough and/or make sure he isn't getting lost again (physically and mentally).

Okay- so a couple of questions. What could possibly be left in the armory? It can't still be full of armor-- because why would the elves bother to return their armor to a vault in the troll caverns. And even if they did-- why would the trolls keep it? I think Picknose was hiding in there when he was ousted from his throne. It didn't seem too stocked at the time. So whatever Cutter is after-- it has to be something that the elves wouldn't take and the trolls wouldn't touch. Second question- why is his hand all bloody? Did he have to fight his way in? Did someone get stabbed or something? Or was her performing triage on Two Edge?

It can't be that he remembers something through Timmain either-- unless she noticed it in wolf form. She wouldn't have seen that room-- except as a wolf during the war. Did she have the mental capacity then to notice things outside of a wolf's mentality? Or could she have seen something while her spirit was drifting?

I keep wondering how something Two-edge created be part of an ancient wrong going back to the High-ones coming, but maybe Two-Edge didn't create the armory. Maybe he found it. Taking the themes that we see of Timmain’s spirit being split and all the mentions about how the palace can be split but still be one, maybe there are TWO palaces - the one the elves have been living in that is crystalline and airy, and one hidden below the frozen mountains that the trolls were inhabiting that is more earthly.

I think it's more that Two-Edge is somehow the key to resolving the ancient wrong done to the trolls by the HighOnes and vice-versa.

And I just released that Timmorn and Two-Edge have in common that they are both (the first) "half-bloods" (to borrow a term from the Potterverse): Elf and Wolf, Elf and Troll. That may be the triggering connection between Timmorn and the Key in Cutters vision from FQ16...

That's a really good point

I've been thinking that too! Half-bloods have the answer... it could be because Tammain is now torn between elfy Timmain and wolfy Cutter and perhaps Timmorns spirit might be helpful but Two-Ede is the one who lives so seek him out.

But maybe there's something else too? Like, I wonder if it was something other than curiosity that made Winnowill create Two-Edge? And so many elves managed to survive on their own, so why exactly did Timmain make Timmorn? There seems to be so much about Winnowills motivation that is lacking and unexplained, yet so often paralell Timmain, I think/hope we're going to be explained exactly why she did what she did and ended up that way. I'm betting she had some kind of interesting plan before Smelt and Door ruined everything!

Outlier wrote:

I keep wondering how something Two-edge created be part of an ancient wrong going back to the High-ones coming, but maybe Two-Edge didn't create the armory. Maybe he found it. Taking the themes that we see of Timmain’s spirit being split and all the mentions about how the palace can be split but still be one, maybe there are TWO palaces - the one the elves have been living in that is crystalline and airy, and one hidden below the frozen mountains that the trolls were inhabiting that is more earthly.

Woah. That's an interesting new perspective, and totally plausible (especially with all the crazy turns EQ has been taking).

Speaking of the Palace being in parts: I wonder what's happened to the miniature Palace, the one that Ekuar made for Savah at the beginning of KotBW? Did Savah have the Palace reabsorb it when she moved in? And if not, will it turn out to be an element in FQ?

Preview's out for issue 17.

Thanks for the heradsup, Prism!

Here's the link to the FQ #17 preview.

Sounds like Cutter is beginning to come to terms and reassert his identity. I hope whatever he has planned will work to a beneficial end.

I really hope Daboi teams up with Shuna and company. It seems all he wants to do is use his skills as a surgeon to help people.
Then again... he does seem a bit too soft for the kind of life they probably lead.

Soo... Tyleet will maybe become a human-shape too? Dreams coming true! Maybe the rest of Embers tribe will join her and Pool will become human shapesd as well? And I wonder if this battle is where Shenshen will truly find where she shines, because I suspect she hasn't found it quite yet.

And I'm suddenly oddly worried about Leetah. I can easily fanwank about her not needing to know, I mean she's kept some pretty major secrets herself, but something about how her acceptance is written kinda makes me wary.

Reread Dreamtime for the 2000nd time I guess.

I'm curious how learning the language through Tyleet will somehow stop these murderous roving group of lunatics.... I mean, it's not like you can exactly reason with them. Is there some kind of negotiating of something they're alluding to?

To my great surprise- I like the colors. I hope the rest of the issue is as good as the preview.

That is all.

Sigh... that picture of Rayek on page 4... remember when you could clearly tell the difference between Cutter's 'roided up musculature and Rayek's more wiry physique? Yeah, I miss those days.

Thanks for the heads-up, Prism!

Looks like Leetah is finally accepting-- albeit with a touch of regret-- that Cutter will indeed retain his wolfblood-based place on Abode. (FutureQuest be damned-- stay with me here) While sitting by the creek after taking Moonshade's wolfblood, she did reflect that she's happy with staying planetside, next to her lifemate. We've seen a lot of physical and genetic altering going on since she got over her initial shock at Winnowill's flesh-shaping projects; I wonder if Leetah, in order to stay with her beloved mortal lifemate, will give herself wolfblood somehow?

You mean she's going to kill herself?

I can't see Leetah deliberately killing herself through wolfblood. I think her plan will be either to stay with Cutter until he dies (then... call for a pick up from Sunstream?) or else the narrative will really push the "CHOOSE NOW AND FOREVER!!!!" path (which makes no sense, but hey, when did logic ever factor into FQ?) and Leetah will come to realize that she has to leave with Skywise, and they'll have some... disturbing threeway with Timmain in the Palace.

Actually, I'm gonna throw down a prediction. Cutter will stay on WOTM, and Timmain will shape into "Cutter-form" in the Palace. Their growing mind-link will mean Tam-Cutter can keep in touch with Leetah and Skywise through their... .... relationship with Timmain-Cutter, while Timmain-Cutter keeps in touch with the Way and the WOTM through Tam-Cutter. This will be considered a happy ending by all and in no way a narrative cheat.

Anyone else really creeped out by Cutter's new "demi-god serenity"? He talks like Timmain now. Leetah sounds like she literally worships him as a High One. I hope to god this is just a mild blip on the road to reconciling their personalities. Because if this is the New Cutter... ugh. As much as I hate his original personality, at least he HAD one!

Shadowpath wrote:

You mean she's going to kill herself?

I know, my guess is out there. But here's the rationale:

- Like I'd said in my previous post, others have been altered as well. Not made mortal, true-- but altered to the degree the elves might (or might've in the past) see as on a par with "killing oneself".
+ Skywise had his wolfblood removed (before it was cool). He did it for the immortality, but didn't that act also permanently distance him, in the kin sense, from the tribe who raised him? Mortality aside, would Windkin feel as much of an outsider if his hadn't been removed as an infant?
+ Shenshen is now human-shaped. She's still immortal and did it for a specific purpose, but the elves are rather conscious of anyone with five-fingered hands in their vicinity, no matter how much love is there.
+ Don't want to turn this into a textwall, so I'll leave it at that.

- Leetah is the Big Damn Hero's closely-bonded, super in-love lifemate; the potential for her (as a character) to act in a next-level manner is almost inherent in a relationship like that.

- "Death is just another beginning", remember?
+ In the OQ, she saw it as The Enemy. But she was also gobsmacked-- more than once-- by the sight of flesh-shaping, and now does that with a calm little smile...

- Besides, she's already faced self-inflicted death once before. Sure, she got better that time, but she is willing to go there.

- This is Final Quest. Characters are pulling shenanigans right and left; question not the wiggy turns a pair of tired creators might take in the mad dash to get this one last project behind them...

That's actually kind of interesting, I honestly don't think it's going to happen, but i really like the idea.

wingthing wrote:

Anyone else really creeped out by Cutter's new "demi-god serenity"? He talks like Timmain now. Leetah sounds like she literally worships him as a High One. I hope to god this is just a mild blip on the road to reconciling their personalities. Because if this is the New Cutter... ugh. As much as I hate his original personality, at least he HAD one!

ITA! That stare at panel 4 really reminds me of the times I've found Timmain creepy as well! It's very much that look Cutter gives when he tells sunstrem it's time to summon, with Wolf!Timmain right beside him, and when he decides that Blue Mountain is best for the palace. I thought they were creepy before I knew what was going on, but couldn't put my finger on why, but not I know it's because he's just not Cutter in those specific moments.

...If it was intended to be enlightened Cutter and a good thing, then it's a big fail, but maybe if it was intended to be creepy I actually have to give Wendy her due for that! No prizes until the full story is told tho.

(I also agree with the lack of difference between bodies btw. I'va always appreciated the variations of male shapes in Elfquest, but that's been disappearing ever since OQ. The current fashion isn't doing the dude-elves any favours in diversity of shapes either, they've all got plastic-abs now and they show them off)

I doubt Timmain is intended to to be creepy. And I doubt Leetah will commit suicide. She probably just wants to stay with Cutter as long as he is alive. If she makes herself mortal-- she'll be tied to the world and unable to join the palace as a spirit. Or would she? I think I'm wrong-- I think it was the case that a mortal soul can go anywhere it chooses- right? When Cutter dies, though-- he will go to the palace. So she'd probably want to be there too. Maybe call it to come back and pick her up? Even if she doesn't know about Cutter and Timmain-- she knows Cutter's promise to fly with Skywise after he dies. She doesn't have to be mortal to be with him in life and death.

I do think Cutter and Rayek still look distinct. Rayek is noticably more slender than Cutter-- so is Skywise. I don't get Rayek's behavior-- it seems very erratic (Winnowil aside). I don't see why he won't just let her be taken into the Palace and healed. I guess he can't let go- even if he thinks he wants to? Because he doesn't really want to? Interesting.

I wonder if Cutter is going to explain to his friends and family what's up. It seems he should at least tell Leetah and Skywise... or Timmain should... or something.

Regarding collecting the elves-- I still don't understand why Skywise couldn't just pick them up. They would still have a choice. They could just say "no"-- or check it out and go home if they aren't into it. Why the arduous treck? Originally I thought maybe some of them might be dangerous-- and maybe Timmain didn't want him running off and accidentally encountering dangerous elves all by himself. That would make sense: it seems unlikely at this point-- since I don't think we have enough story left and the humans are already the bad guys-- but who knows? It would be nice to get some more concrete explanation there.

I rather hope the key has something to do with it. Speaking of-- I'm remembering that page, early on-- before Sunstream sends out the call-- when Cutter is sitting and looking at his key. That rather indicates (in retrospect) that he may have been picking up some thoughts from Timmain. I guess the implication now is that she's been shaping his steps all along-- since he intuitively knows what she knows on some unconscious level. Not sure how to feel about that- but there it is.

Bluetree wrote:

Shadowpath wrote:

You mean she's going to kill herself?

I know, my guess is out there.

Nah, not really. Sounds melodramatic enough.

Isn't it due today?