Can Recognition occur between two elves of the same sex?
Do ElfQuest elves kiss?
No, ElfQuest elves do not kiss. They are very affectionate, and they cuddle and nuzzle, and nibble on ears and noses, and certainly mouths must come into contact with mouths from time to time. To which we say “True.” But they don’t kiss. Because kissing, as a “thing,” at least in certain Earthly cultures, has come to contain particular notions about relationship, emotion, affection, and so on. Kissing has a very definite social, even mythical “cultural spell” about it. Why is there such a big deal in story and art about love’s first kiss? Why is it a big deal when someone works up the nerve to steal a kiss? Why can a fairy tale kiss bring someone back from seeming death? We did not want to invest ElfQuest with those human, culture-specific significances. So the elves may take sensual pleasure from lips meeting lips – but it is not kissing.
For much the same reasons, ElfQuest elves do not “marry” and become “husbands and wives,” they do not “have sex” (or any other more colorful terms), nor do they experience “love at first sight” – as those are all human-culture based notions. Our elves do however become lifemates and lovemates, they do join, and some of them even Recognize each other.
Are the Preservers male or female or both or neither?
And how do they reproduce?
The answer to the first question is “neither.” The Preservers are the many-times removed, shapeshifted descendants of insect-like creatures that the original High Ones carried along on their long-ago journey from the dying Homeworld. They are sexless and immortal, which provides the answer to the second question: They don’t reproduce. All the Preservers that are, are all there will ever be. They are tough, nearly indestructable little bugs, though – look at all Petalwing’s been through just in the story of the quest so far. So don’t worry about them going extinct. They’ll be around for a long, long time.
Did the Sun Folk get lighter in skin color over time?
The Sun Folks’ pigmentation is an adaptation to living on the World of Two Moons. Those who dwelled in the Palace and now the Starhome have chosen to keep their skin coloring out of love for the world they left. Sometimes, when Sonny and Wendy depict scenes in the Palace or Starhome, they imagine it filled with a constant, hazy, pearly glow. So all the colors are filtered through that. That is why the Sun Folk look a little lighter. Ember, Venka, Mender, Kimo, etc. all retain the varying shades of their acquired (whether by heredity or exposure) tans, but they were never as dark as the “native” Sun Folk to begin with. However, some – like Leetah – are as beautifully dark as they ever were.
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Can the Wolfrider wolves send?
When we first met Cutter, his wolf-friend Nightrunner warned him of danger via a crude sending. At that point in the story, only one or two of the Wolfrider wolves retained a trace of elf-blood from the time of Timmain and Timmorn, many thousands of years earlier, to be able to send. Now, in the time of Final Quest that “blood” (and ability) has been completely diluted – bred out, actually – to the point where the Wolfriders’ lupine friends are effectively 100 percent wolf. So no, they can no longer send.
How long do Wolfrider wolves live?
The average life span of a wolf in the wilds of Earth is 4-5 years. Life is very tough for them. Wolfrider wolves can live twenty years or more, not because they have elf blood (see below) but because they are bonded with their elf friends. They look out for each other, take care of each other, hunt for each other, protect each other in a way that doesn’t happen for an earthly wolf pack. Wolfriders accept their wolf-friends’ mortality; it is the elves’ friendship and care that prolongs the wolves’ lives.
Do ElfQuest wolves live longer because they may have a trace of immortal elf blood in their veins? No. Long long ago, in the time or Timmorn, some elf blood may have been introduced into the wolves of that time. But in the thousands of years that have passed since then, those wolves have wandered all over the world. They have mated with other, pure wolves, generation after generation, diluting the elf influence to the vanishing point. Is it possible that certain wolves may still have a “touch of magic” in some way? Possible, yes, but the probability is very very small.
What’s the difference between lovemates, lifemates, and soulmates –
and where does Recognition fit in (if at all)?
Lovemates (can be two or more elves) join for pleasure. In today’s terms, they’d be friends with benefits, no strings attached. Lifemates (can also be two or more) make the choice to form a family group (for want of a better term) that is long lasting, though not necessarily carved in stone. Soulmates are those elves who, for one of two reasons, have gone to the deepest level of sharing, and exchanged soul names. This is a very committed bond. Soulmates are often lifemates, though lifemates don’t have to be soulmates. Soul names can be exchanged by choice (Redlance and Nightfall), or by Recognition (Cutter and Leetah). Because Recognition exists only to ensure reproduction, a Recognized male and a female elf may know each other’s soul name, but once a child has been conceived, there is no rule stating the two must remain together, or even stay friends (Dewshine and Tyldak).
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What, then, is Recognition?
In simplest terms, Recognition is a primal, nearly irresistible mating urge between two elves. On a deep and subconscious level, even if they don’t or can’t consciously “send”, all elves are telepathic. So every elf, unconsciously, knows every other elf’s innermost (genetic) makeup. When a female and a male get within range of each other (“eyes meet eyes”) and the mix of qualities is right for a cub that will benefit the tribe (or the entire elf race), an instinctual command to mate bursts powerfully into each elf’s awareness (“soul meets soul”). Instantly, each elf knows the entire secret inner self of the other. The urge is so strong that if it is denied, the afflicted pair will feel dire physical effects. Recognition is not love at first sight; love has nothing to do with it. In time, the Recognized couple may come to love each other (as Leetah and Cutter did), but there’s no guarantee.
So where did the concept of Recognition come from? All Elfquest elves are descendants of alien shape-shifters (the High Ones) who had various telekinetic, energy manipulation powers. These powers are often called “magic” by the elves now (but that’s just a name). All elves are born with some latent version of these powers. But on the World of Two Moons, whose lower spiritual vibration limits what elves can fully do, these powers don’t show up in some.
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Recognition began as an evolutionary adaptation to stimulate the emergence of these “old powers” in the offspring it produces. The very nature of Recognition began to change (thanks to Cutter) as the scattered elf tribes discovered and interacted with each other. Originally a biological imperative followed most seriously by the endangered, mortal Wolfriders, the advent of more frequent interbreeding of different elf tribes has softened the intensity of the imperative. Thus, even outside of Recognition, more children are born on the WoTM with traits of the original High Ones.
Can Recognition occur between two elves of the same sex?
Only in the sense that the pair can voluntarily exchange soul names, and forge for themselves a deep bond. It is sometimes said they have “taken Recognition for themselves.” But it is not Recognition in the truest definition of the word, which is purely biological and procreative.
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