Final Quest #24

Kojiyumi wrote:

The entire quest was the dying dream of a young Cutter who never survived the Madcoil attack.  He lives a full, wild life in his own mind before his spirit rejoins the ether.  

As much as I hate the "it was all a dream" ending, I think It's my current favorite of how this could have ended with some dignity.

Where did the spirits go when the giggest part of the Palace was fused with the StarHome?

Did they cram into the BigPod?
Soar in the "spirit sphere" around the BigPod?
Or was the majority of them fed to the StarHome?

Ending still sucked, especially with a new cub on the way. What a waste.

Okay, I've finally mustered to courage to read the last 3. So my 2 cents- Surely I can do without spoilers at this point?
I didn't mind Cutter's accidental death, just like I didn't mind Ruffel's death. The capricious nature of fate and the consequence of death is a thing the Elves who stayed on the world of Two Moons accepted, and those who left it rejected. He could have died bravely in battle, but somehow it seems more fitting that this old warrior fell victim to the million little things that the vast majority of us die of.
I liked that Rayek was there, and trying to save his life in an act of genuine love and respect, while Winnowill remained an unrepentant misery to the end. Rayek has made a selfish choice and is not innocent in this, and seems to realize it. He is in a truly awful situation. And while he insists he is forgiven, Cutter tells him "I don't love you for that, but we're even". It's not exactly brotherly love, and it makes sense for them to be like that right to the end. There is a truce, there is respect, even love, but simply too much has happened.
Things came full circle, and I can live with this solution.
What I hate is Skywise coming right back in full Ziggy Stardust costume(Only Bowie could have pulled off an outfit like that!) to bawl. Didn't you just leave dude, and wasn't most of the whole thing about who stays and who leaves? Making returning this easy renders the whole thing pointless.
At least Leetah got Cutlet. Will we ever learn more? Do we even want to? I don't know...

As far as I'm concerned,the best parts of Final Quest were Korafey's birth and Freetouch being Freetouch. We never got to know the Spooky Fungus(Rootless Ones) or Dre'Ahn. Not like we did the Gliders,GoBacks,Sun Folk,Wavedancers or even Teir. I'm ignoring the whole TimTam bullshit,Ember defying Recognition and the rest of it. Much better for sanity.

that's a lot of holes you sum up there. It's like the story is left mostly open ended. Well, time will tell...

Just read the final issue. Felt the story was a big mess, with too many unanswered questions. Cutter's death felt like a waste and I didn't like that we never saw what happened to his spirit after he died. I would have liked a big Welcome to the Afterlife panel with him being reunited with his parents and some of the other characters who've died over the course of the story.

Instead, he just dies, and that's just...it. So we can imagine that his spirit was reabsorbed into Timmain's soul and ceased to exist on its own.

It was interesting that the last panel with Shuna mirrored the first panel in the first comic with the old Shaman invoking Gotara. That was a nice touch.

sueb wrote:

Cutter's death felt like a waste and I didn't like that we never saw what happened to his spirit after he died. I would have liked a big Welcome to the Afterlife panel with him being reunited with his parents and some of the other characters who've died over the course of the story.

Yes, that would probably have been a more rounded, comforting end to the story. Well, his material part is a basement for the next big tree now...

> too many unanswered questions

Yes. If one considers FQ to be a "Cutter's final quest" then... maybe. But I guess the majority of the audience wasn't only focused on him and it leaves a feeling of too many open threads, to many loose ends.

I think you hit the nail on the head at something there, jarf. While I love Cutter and understand that the series is, at it’s core, about him, the unanswered questions I had in the series were not about Cutter at all. They were about Rayek, Venka’s quests, Chot’s quests, what happened to Dodia and Jethel, how Chitter would become ... not Cutter.

And when there was a wrap up on other questions it seemed like there were too many to tie properly, so they decided to not do it, like with Dre-Ahn.

In other words Wendy&Richard half-assed Final Quest and put style over substance.

I would agree with that but they full assed the style too.

I had a terrible dream last night that Wendy and Richard released a "bonus" issue of FQ ("Just kidding, this one is ACTUALLY the last issue, haha!") and it explained that the Palace was originally from Earth in the distant future and the Coneheads (or at least some of them) were actually future humans. My dream-self's biggest argument with that was "then why the hell couldn't they crossbreed with Abode's humans? Are they different species!?" and some rather more incoherent comments.

I much prefer the crossover dream I had years ago where the few Sojourners who stayed on Abode into Rebels/FutureQuest times (or came back) interbred with the Abodean humans, developed their combined mental abilities further, and eventually renamed the planet Gallifrey and themselves Gallifreyans.

Wow those are some pretty interesting dreams... I dreamed I was Dart the other night, but I don't remember anything more than that...

Elfquest dreams...interesting. I once dreamed I was in the world of Elfquest. Met Rayek, Cutter, some other elves. Then I went to a rocky landscape..
suddenly there was empty space and a voice told me: 'Well, here is where Wendy's imagination about the landscape stopped'. -.-

I read Final Quest over and over again. Cutter was my elf hero. The best chief. Brave. Open minded. Kind. He always put his family first. Put his heart into everything he did. What a great, complex, epic fictional character...

*MOURNING OVER CUTTER*

*crying*

You know, in our world, if we have a leader who always puts his (or her) family first, we call that nepotism...

Oh yeah, well...thank you.

Anyway, let's cry more fantears...*howwwwls for the love of CUTTER*

I think I found this latest series.. underwhelming. it just felt.. rushed. Too much going on too fast, to get to some kind of point. Even Cutters death (which I didn't care for alas), felt rushed...

A weird, random thought came to mind as I was reading Cutters comments about a place with no time, just all time.. and the high ones sending the star into the dead star home's heart, with a mention of the 'wheel' being mended.

it's been indicated in some episode I read that time was... practically meaningless to the high ones, they could move through it like they could move though space, with a thought.

So.. what if this is some weird.. indication that they went back and seeded the original.. no..wait that doesn't work, the comic I'm thinking of had shown us primitive conehead life, so that couldn't be...

Eh.. i dunno.. I'm.. just disappointed

I totally agree The Final Quest feeling rushed.

Cutter's last thoughts were weird indeed with all of a sudden philosocal wheel-being-mended- eureka-thoughts. It would have been more Cutter-like if he tried finding ways to survive... for his family, his unborn cub, his tribe...it felt like a waste and like his survival instincts were being wiped out. He seemed to fond of death.

Well, finished reading FQ today. So...! What to say? Everybody else has already covered it pretty well on this board. I was feeling a little sad at Cutter's death, but mostly confused. The whole last part was confusing and rushed. Yeah, I agree with others who said Wendy just seemed to throw out everything that was canon through the whole series, and just wrote an entirely different character profile for Cutter. This was the most forward thinking elf, one who thought outside the box! And he freaked out because there was a duality to his true being? An elf who grew so confident over the entire series is suddenly not sure who he really is? Nope! Wasn't buying it!

Felt so sorry for Rayek! Having to live with that B inside you for the rest of eternity? Gad! I admire his heartfelt belief that eventually Winnowill will come around and be free of her insanity and hatred.

That last panel did not give me enough closure. A little moment between Leetah and her "Cutlet" would have been nice.

I read the whole series online, but not sure I will purchase it. I have everything up through "Hidden Years", and the Khavi series, and I think I'll leave it at that.

Oh,I'll buy the last 2 volumes of Final Quest if only for completion. But I doubt that I'll follow Stargazer's Hunt. To me,the best parts of Elfquest were the original 4 graphic novels.......................................
Siege at Blue Mountain was muddy with rougher art,Kings of the Broken Wheel confusing,Hidden Years started off great with excellent art/coloring,than they introduced new artists who were not at the same level as Wendy,Dreamtime I felt was beginning to show some same-body that was missing beforehand,Searcher and the Sword felt like a Feminist tract rather than a story and The Discovery was way too digitalized,Wolfrider was disappointing in the character assassination of Bearclaw. Still, I willingly bought any new graphic novel that had Wendy's art. Final Quest was a huge disappointment in forced pairings,unrealistic characterizations and under-use of new characters. Sonny Strait has decent art,but the attention span of a chipmunk on meth and I doubt his ability to follow thru,especially given that he has yet to complete any of his own series and left them all on hiatus at critical moments.

" the attention span of a chipmunk on meth"

Final was a complete disappointment.

Dear packmates, I admit that I have not kept up with Final Quest at all. Life just got in the way.

I recall Ember being strung up like a piñata and then rescued, her group rescuing human children and then moving high up a mountain, Khavi's death story revealed, Ruffel getting toasted, and maybe something about the Trolls.

From fan spoilers I have gathered that Cutter sires one more offspring before he dies, and that Moonshade dies as well.

I'd like to read the whole thing as either a single graphic novel, or as a series of bound installments.

Does anyone know when FQ will be released as a book, or at least as the first of a series of books?

Here you go, Trollbabe: https://elfquest.com/elfquest-final-quest-to-be-collected-in-omnibus-volume/

A 4 issue collection of the FQ is already available and a complete book is announced for February.