12 November 2017 12:47
Final Quest #22
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nonesensedWe're nearing the end of this comic series and my patience. Let's see which runs out first!
I'm basically going to speed-run this issue because I am so done. We start the comic with winter having ended and Yun having learned to pilot the Palace Pod. She and Skywise fly to High Winds Holt and are greeted by her human son Khorbasi and three other humans. I'm sure they're supposed to be those horse people children all grown up since they're named (Tingeh, Molli & Urlgan) but I honestly don't care who of them is who this close to the series' end.
The humans have been minding the human part of High Winds Holt, taking in another human who's been making a pilgrimage to the place. Apparently they're expecting more such people to come up. Sure. Whatever. Fine.
We cut to Moonshade and Venka on the Palace's balcony, admiring the green spring forest around them and talking about how the Palace will leave before fall starts, plus reminds us all that Venka is pregnant. Inside, Timmain is receiving the trolls, bowing to them and apologizing. She even makes Old Maggoty shed tears of joy because Timmain knows her as having been one of the first trolls born on the World of Two Moons. Yeah. really. That really is canon now. Old Maggoty, of all trolls, getting weepy over a High One knowing who she is. Yup. Oh, and trolls are leaving in the Palace too. Sure.
Sunstream, meanwhile, is all angsty over his lifemate Brill not having made up her mind if she wants to go with the Palace or not. Krill, Korafay & other Wavedancers try to help Brill figure herself out. There's a brief interlude where more Djunslanders sail by and the Wavedancers sink their ships (with Reef in his Lovecraft!ScroogeMcDuck form) and put most of the humans on land, telling them to piss off. Oh, and Salt and Spray got helped to the Palace by Dre-Ahn. And Brill asks Yun to fly her to the Palace. All this while two DEEPLY TRAUMATIZED elves are being unwrapped from wrapstuff after High Ones know how long. So the whole “must make it to the Palace on your own”-schtick is apparently only for elves who don't know any main characters :/
Right. Whatever. Savah makes Leetah the new Mother of Memory. Which would have been nice if I had any emotion invested in all this. Ahdri is staying on the World of Two Moons too, having hooked up with Two-Edge which she seems happy about. Not that we get to see any of that relationship; developing new relationships is not in fashion any more apparently. The preservers are going with the Palace, except for Petalwing, who is staying with the Wolfriders (to Cutter's annoyance).
Skywise is give a new headgear thing made of Palace crystal from Timmain. He flirts with her during this brief ceremony which Yun thinks is typical of him. Yun gets his old headgear and his compass stone. Cutter and Timmain then have some sort of weird cut-your-hands-and-touching-your-bloody-palms-together moment. This apparently gives Timmain the ability to...I'll just quote her:
“I take into me the gift I gave my wolf children, the magic of endings and new beginnings! In time to come there will be High Ones who choose to taste of age and death. For them, evermore, shall I be the keeper and bestower of this gift. For only within the full turn of life's seasons can true love of all life be found.”
...so she can give people wolf-blood now? Or just make them mortal? Either way, this means Skywise could have become mortal again! And it also sounds like Timmain is saying that only by being mortal can people stay connected to life around them (i.e. remain sane). At least that's the way I choose to interpret it. Man, Elfquest is really trying to have their cake and eat it too with this whole Immortal Elves Traveling In The Palace thing :/
Venka gives birth to a daughter she calls Satreeka, who Venka promises will never know fear, cruelty or bloodshed as long as she as her mother draws breath. Yeah. I'm down for no bloodshed or cruelty, but you can't promise a kid no fear, Venka. Children have nightmares you know.
Leetah and Cutter leave the Palace and go up a nearby hill to speak with Rayek and Ekuar about Rayek's new grandchild. Ekuar goes to see said child while Rayek stays outside, afraid of what could happen if Winnowill goes inside the Palace, because of last time...
Uhm. I think the Pinis might mean to refer to the time Winnowill tried to take over the Palace, which was bad. But the actual last time Rayek went into the Palace with Winnowill there were healers around, ready to help her, except he stopped them. Is he worried she'll be offered another healing??? I am so lost when it comes to Rayek's sub-plot. So lost.
Cutter and Leetah comment (in a very sappy way, if you ask me) about how Rayek now “protects” instead of “gratifying his own desires” (which is a comment that makes no sense if we think he's trying to avoid a healing of Winnowill – something that previous comment from him makes it seem like). Meh.
Cutter decides to believe that Rayek really has changed his ways. He goes to sit with him, to talk. Rayek says Ekuar should go with the Palace, which Cutter says won't happen. Then Rayek explains that Winnowill's priorities have changed. Freedom is now her second goal, her first being to prove to him that his love for her is pointless. His goal is to prove to her without a doubt that his love for her his real, so she can trust him. Then it'll be safe to die. Cutter calls Rayek a hero and Rayek breaks down crying.
So yeah. That happened.
Now, the Palace is leaving. Sunstream and Ember embrace, Sunstream reassuring Ember that no amount of distance can truly separate them. Venka, Ekuar, Rayek and Venka's newborn daughter say goodbye, as does Moonshade and her family. There are many tears.
At last, the Palace is about to leave. Strongbow says (yes, says) he can let Moonshade go, but that he can't watch the Palace leave. He goes for a hunt. Out on said hunt he stumbles right into an armed group of Djunland deserters and gets surrounded. He's about to get shot when Moonshade materializes in front of him. The bullet goes straight through her, into him. Moonshade dies in Strongbow's arms, saying she came to him because she wanted one last touch.
Strongbow, grieving, calls for Yun and the Palace Pod. She picks them up and brings them to the rest of the Wolfriders, who mourn her. Her spirit isn't in the Palace yet, but despite her living on as a spirit no one will ever get to touch her again or share in the beautiful things she used to make. It's a genuinely touching moment. Wish we'd gotten better build-up to it.
Timmain takes Moonshade's body into the Palace and Strongbow collapses due to the bullet lodged in his shoulder. Leetah and Mender tend to him, Strongbow reassuring them that he wants to live because that was Moonshade's last wish. As a side note, all Go-Backs leave the Father Tree Holt to go make war on the humans.
Cutter and Skywise also have a touching goodbye. Skywise promises to return to show Cutter what wonders of the universe they can find and Cutter says he looks forward to that as long as Skywise doesn't scare him with freaky space-travel again. Timmain and Leetah join them, and Cutter asks to see Skywise in his High Ones form. Skywise obliges.
The two couples separate and we get a vague picture of Skywise and Timmain immediately having sex as the Palace flies away, because of course. The comments on this we get are:
Leetah: **Swept into the arms of Recognition with her at last! Now will Skywise realize?**
Cutter: **Who knows? For him a “he” must always be a he and a “she” a she. It's enough that Timmain's arms will hold him and comfort him when these are dust!**
Uhm, I call bullshit on this. For one, Elfquest hasn't shown any example of non-binary or non-cis elves, so why should Skywise be singled out as the only elves who doesn't “get” gender-fluidity? Weren't the original High Ones gender-fluid, or is that just me confusing fanon with canon? Either way, weird that Skywise has a hard time getting something that no one else is showing having trouble understanding (not that it's been discussed all that much...)
Second, Timmain and Cutter are clearly two different entities. Sure, they might have been the same soul once that split in two, but the same could be said for anything that has the same origins but different life experiences, like a clone or a monozygotic pair of twins. Also, what happens with Cutter's soul when his body dies? Will he be absorbed into Timmain? Roam the Palace as a spirit? Cease to exist? AAAAAAH!
Ehem, moving on.
In the Father Tree Holt, the Wolfriders have all gathered to say goodbye Teir is quite horrified that the Palace took no animals with it, because what is a world without animals? (...why wouldn't the worlds they visit have animals of their own???). Ember comments that she thinks Moonshade's spirit will tend to that. Somehow. What kind of powers do the High Ones have? Are they frikkin' gods at this point, able to create life?
Oh well, the Palace leaves, truly leaves. Our last shots are of Rayek floating in the night sky, thinking his farewell, as well as Strongbow and his wolf-friend Bearbaiter howling a goodbye as well as cry of grief at the sky.
Just. That's what we got people. All of that. Two issues left, I think? Yeah. Yeah...
I'm basically going to speed-run this issue because I am so done. We start the comic with winter having ended and Yun having learned to pilot the Palace Pod. She and Skywise fly to High Winds Holt and are greeted by her human son Khorbasi and three other humans. I'm sure they're supposed to be those horse people children all grown up since they're named (Tingeh, Molli & Urlgan) but I honestly don't care who of them is who this close to the series' end.
The humans have been minding the human part of High Winds Holt, taking in another human who's been making a pilgrimage to the place. Apparently they're expecting more such people to come up. Sure. Whatever. Fine.
We cut to Moonshade and Venka on the Palace's balcony, admiring the green spring forest around them and talking about how the Palace will leave before fall starts, plus reminds us all that Venka is pregnant. Inside, Timmain is receiving the trolls, bowing to them and apologizing. She even makes Old Maggoty shed tears of joy because Timmain knows her as having been one of the first trolls born on the World of Two Moons. Yeah. really. That really is canon now. Old Maggoty, of all trolls, getting weepy over a High One knowing who she is. Yup. Oh, and trolls are leaving in the Palace too. Sure.
Sunstream, meanwhile, is all angsty over his lifemate Brill not having made up her mind if she wants to go with the Palace or not. Krill, Korafay & other Wavedancers try to help Brill figure herself out. There's a brief interlude where more Djunslanders sail by and the Wavedancers sink their ships (with Reef in his Lovecraft!ScroogeMcDuck form) and put most of the humans on land, telling them to piss off. Oh, and Salt and Spray got helped to the Palace by Dre-Ahn. And Brill asks Yun to fly her to the Palace. All this while two DEEPLY TRAUMATIZED elves are being unwrapped from wrapstuff after High Ones know how long. So the whole “must make it to the Palace on your own”-schtick is apparently only for elves who don't know any main characters :/
Right. Whatever. Savah makes Leetah the new Mother of Memory. Which would have been nice if I had any emotion invested in all this. Ahdri is staying on the World of Two Moons too, having hooked up with Two-Edge which she seems happy about. Not that we get to see any of that relationship; developing new relationships is not in fashion any more apparently. The preservers are going with the Palace, except for Petalwing, who is staying with the Wolfriders (to Cutter's annoyance).
Skywise is give a new headgear thing made of Palace crystal from Timmain. He flirts with her during this brief ceremony which Yun thinks is typical of him. Yun gets his old headgear and his compass stone. Cutter and Timmain then have some sort of weird cut-your-hands-and-touching-your-bloody-palms-together moment. This apparently gives Timmain the ability to...I'll just quote her:
“I take into me the gift I gave my wolf children, the magic of endings and new beginnings! In time to come there will be High Ones who choose to taste of age and death. For them, evermore, shall I be the keeper and bestower of this gift. For only within the full turn of life's seasons can true love of all life be found.”
...so she can give people wolf-blood now? Or just make them mortal? Either way, this means Skywise could have become mortal again! And it also sounds like Timmain is saying that only by being mortal can people stay connected to life around them (i.e. remain sane). At least that's the way I choose to interpret it. Man, Elfquest is really trying to have their cake and eat it too with this whole Immortal Elves Traveling In The Palace thing :/
Venka gives birth to a daughter she calls Satreeka, who Venka promises will never know fear, cruelty or bloodshed as long as she as her mother draws breath. Yeah. I'm down for no bloodshed or cruelty, but you can't promise a kid no fear, Venka. Children have nightmares you know.
Leetah and Cutter leave the Palace and go up a nearby hill to speak with Rayek and Ekuar about Rayek's new grandchild. Ekuar goes to see said child while Rayek stays outside, afraid of what could happen if Winnowill goes inside the Palace, because of last time...
Uhm. I think the Pinis might mean to refer to the time Winnowill tried to take over the Palace, which was bad. But the actual last time Rayek went into the Palace with Winnowill there were healers around, ready to help her, except he stopped them. Is he worried she'll be offered another healing??? I am so lost when it comes to Rayek's sub-plot. So lost.
Cutter and Leetah comment (in a very sappy way, if you ask me) about how Rayek now “protects” instead of “gratifying his own desires” (which is a comment that makes no sense if we think he's trying to avoid a healing of Winnowill – something that previous comment from him makes it seem like). Meh.
Cutter decides to believe that Rayek really has changed his ways. He goes to sit with him, to talk. Rayek says Ekuar should go with the Palace, which Cutter says won't happen. Then Rayek explains that Winnowill's priorities have changed. Freedom is now her second goal, her first being to prove to him that his love for her is pointless. His goal is to prove to her without a doubt that his love for her his real, so she can trust him. Then it'll be safe to die. Cutter calls Rayek a hero and Rayek breaks down crying.
So yeah. That happened.
Now, the Palace is leaving. Sunstream and Ember embrace, Sunstream reassuring Ember that no amount of distance can truly separate them. Venka, Ekuar, Rayek and Venka's newborn daughter say goodbye, as does Moonshade and her family. There are many tears.
At last, the Palace is about to leave. Strongbow says (yes, says) he can let Moonshade go, but that he can't watch the Palace leave. He goes for a hunt. Out on said hunt he stumbles right into an armed group of Djunland deserters and gets surrounded. He's about to get shot when Moonshade materializes in front of him. The bullet goes straight through her, into him. Moonshade dies in Strongbow's arms, saying she came to him because she wanted one last touch.
Strongbow, grieving, calls for Yun and the Palace Pod. She picks them up and brings them to the rest of the Wolfriders, who mourn her. Her spirit isn't in the Palace yet, but despite her living on as a spirit no one will ever get to touch her again or share in the beautiful things she used to make. It's a genuinely touching moment. Wish we'd gotten better build-up to it.
Timmain takes Moonshade's body into the Palace and Strongbow collapses due to the bullet lodged in his shoulder. Leetah and Mender tend to him, Strongbow reassuring them that he wants to live because that was Moonshade's last wish. As a side note, all Go-Backs leave the Father Tree Holt to go make war on the humans.
Cutter and Skywise also have a touching goodbye. Skywise promises to return to show Cutter what wonders of the universe they can find and Cutter says he looks forward to that as long as Skywise doesn't scare him with freaky space-travel again. Timmain and Leetah join them, and Cutter asks to see Skywise in his High Ones form. Skywise obliges.
The two couples separate and we get a vague picture of Skywise and Timmain immediately having sex as the Palace flies away, because of course. The comments on this we get are:
Leetah: **Swept into the arms of Recognition with her at last! Now will Skywise realize?**
Cutter: **Who knows? For him a “he” must always be a he and a “she” a she. It's enough that Timmain's arms will hold him and comfort him when these are dust!**
Uhm, I call bullshit on this. For one, Elfquest hasn't shown any example of non-binary or non-cis elves, so why should Skywise be singled out as the only elves who doesn't “get” gender-fluidity? Weren't the original High Ones gender-fluid, or is that just me confusing fanon with canon? Either way, weird that Skywise has a hard time getting something that no one else is showing having trouble understanding (not that it's been discussed all that much...)
Second, Timmain and Cutter are clearly two different entities. Sure, they might have been the same soul once that split in two, but the same could be said for anything that has the same origins but different life experiences, like a clone or a monozygotic pair of twins. Also, what happens with Cutter's soul when his body dies? Will he be absorbed into Timmain? Roam the Palace as a spirit? Cease to exist? AAAAAAH!
Ehem, moving on.
In the Father Tree Holt, the Wolfriders have all gathered to say goodbye Teir is quite horrified that the Palace took no animals with it, because what is a world without animals? (...why wouldn't the worlds they visit have animals of their own???). Ember comments that she thinks Moonshade's spirit will tend to that. Somehow. What kind of powers do the High Ones have? Are they frikkin' gods at this point, able to create life?
Oh well, the Palace leaves, truly leaves. Our last shots are of Rayek floating in the night sky, thinking his farewell, as well as Strongbow and his wolf-friend Bearbaiter howling a goodbye as well as cry of grief at the sky.
Just. That's what we got people. All of that. Two issues left, I think? Yeah. Yeah...
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no subject
So really, I guess I just need to make a choice of where the Elfquest I liked ended. Maybe before Kings of the Broken Wheel?
This is... really a weird way to end things and I just can't convince myself that this was always where the story was going because it's so jarring. :\
no subject
It really doesn't feel like Final Quest is based on the rest of the comics. From the small things like the Wolfriders claiming Cutter was playing in the troll tunnels as a cub and could find his way around there blindfolded, to the bigger things like the rushed timelines, stilted dialogue, and strange character choices.
I mean...just, Moonshade's whole plot here has been so weird and the Timmain-is-Cutter-is-Timmain was so out of it that I still can't wrap my mind around it.
Luckily we only have two issues left to go, in January and February. Soon the pain will end ;_;