Chosen Eight
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The Chosen Eight are members of a fictional tribe of elves on the World of Two Moons in the comic book Elfquest, created by Wendy and Richard Pini.
The Chosen Eight, as their name implies, are the hunters specially selected to provide sustenance for the rest of their tribe, the Gliders. The Gliders are typically taller than the other tribes of elves on the World of Two Moons. They are also magic users who choose to reside within Blue Mountain, a refuge that they shaped to mimic the Palace of the High Ones. The High Ones are the first elves (actually a race of aliens) to arrive on the World of Two Moons during what’s assumed to be this world’s prehistoric period. (Elfquest, Fire and Flight, volume one)
In order to avoid murder by the native humans, who were threatened by these strange beings, some of these High Ones escaped into the hills and took up residence within Blue Mountain. The Gliders developed and maintained the use of their magical powers within the mountain’s confines under the rigid control of Winnowill, their manipulative leader.
[edit] Characteristics:
The Chosen Eight, like the other tribes of elves, possess the power to communicate telepathically, called sending. They can also levitate themselves and use this power to lift objects and propel themselves in flight. Among their rank, a Glider named Tyldak has the most advanced power of flight due to a pair of batlike wings that Winnowill formed from his arms with her healing and flesh-sculpting abilities.
The Chosen Eight wear uniforms modeled after the plumage of birds. They ally themselves with large hawklike birds, which they ride while hunting for prey. Weapons that they typically use include small knives and spears. While they have a close bond with their birds, the Chosen Eight do not seem to have the kind of spiritual link with these birds that the Wolfriders have with their mounts.
The Chosen Eight, like the rest of the Gliders, are pure-blooded elves. Their blood is not mingled with that of wolves like the Wolfriders. This makes the Chosen Eight immortal.
The High Ones are also referred to as the Firstcomers. Winnowill initially claimed that the Gliders were the High Ones; this was a deception on her part, as Lord Voll later disclosed that his parents remembered fleeing the palace, and that he remembered seeing it as a boy. Winnowill and Voll are actually "second generation" elves descended from the High Ones. (Captives of Blue Mountain; reprints Elfquest issues 6-10)
[edit] History:
The Wolfriders first encountered the Chosen Eight (prior to the introduction of the rest of the Gliders or Blue Mountain) in the story arc/graphic novel The Forbidden Grove. Strongbow, a Wolfrider, shot down a large bird making its fledgeling flight, despite warnings not to from Suntop. This turned out to be the “bond-bird” of Kureel, one of the Chosen Eight, later revealed in Captives at Blue Mountain.
The Chosen Eight then took the fleeing Wolfriders captive; Suntop, Cutter's son, was among those who escaped capture. The Wolfriders were then forced into indentured servitude to the Chosen Eight as penance for slaying the bond-bird. Strongbow was tortured mercilessly by Winnowill and trapped in a thorny cage of shaped rock.
Cutter, the Wolfrider's chief, attempted to rescue his captive tribe members with help from his lifemate (wife), Leetah, and his best friend, Skywise. They made it into the mountain's walls and were astonished to find strange new elves, and they were particularly perturbed at the hostile way that they treated the Wolfriders. Suntop's "magic feeling" alerted him to the fact that Winnowill was the "evil presence" that Savah warned him about when the Wolfriders left the village of Sorrow's End.
During the resulting skirmish within the mountain, Winnowill dissuaded the Wolfriders from fighting as she announced "We are the High Ones!" The Wolfriders were divided in their reactions to this news. Strongbow, still traumatized by his torture at Winnowill's hand, chose to refuse Voll's offer of hospitality within Blue Mountain and left. Moonshade, his lifemate, soon followed.
During the Captives of Blue Mountain story arc, Leetah discovered from Winnowill that her healing gifts were actually a form of flesh-shaping, not unlike the rock or tree-shaping powers demonstrated by very few Wolfriders in the past.
Aroree and Skywise became better acquainted; Skywise went riding on Aroree's bond-bird with her, marking the first time he had ever flown. While they made their flight, Aroree soared over a camp of humans and tossed them a new spear. The Gliders, in their arrogance had convinced the humans that they were gods.
The Gliders and the Wolfriders formed an uneasy alliance for a while, until Winnowill attempted to kidnap Suntop and ordered the Chosen Eight to attack the Wolfriders again. Her motive was to force them out of Blue Mountain before Lord Voll could lead the Gliders from the mountain to the High Ones' Palace, feeling that Cutter's quest would awaken that urge within Voll. Leetah eventually defeated Winnowill when she was injured by Strongbow's arrow; Leetah healed her injury, only to have Winnowill slip from her grasp and step off of a ledge, seemingly to her death. Lord Voll ordered the Chosen Eight to transport the Wolfriders over the snow-capped mountains to the High Ones' Palace, but his bond-bird was shot down by a troll long spear; Voll and his mount were both killed.
The Chosen Eight recoiled, reviling the Wolfriders and ending their association with them in the wake of their leader's death. They abandoned the Wolfriders to the trolls attack, under the command of King Guttlekraw (Elfquest: Quest's End, Vol. 4).
The Chosen Eight and the Wolfriders would not meet again until after the Wolfriders and the Go-Backs, another snow-dwelling tribe of elves, discovered the lost Palace. Aroree fled into the Forbidden Grove, where the Wolfriders had built their new Holt. Winnowill had sent her on a search for Preservers, the winged, web-spinning sprites that the High Ones used to preserve their bodies during their original journey to the World of Two Moons. Skywise confronted Aroree, accosting her when she came within the Holt. Skywise unwittingly trusted Aroree, influenced by their previous bond as lovemates, and came to regret it when she kidnapped Dewshine's cub, Windkin. Windkin was fathered by Tyldak through Recognition, and as a result, he was a Glider, as well. Aroree offered Windkin to Winnowill in her place in order to leave the Chosen Eight. (Siege at Blue Mountain)
Kureel eventually sought to sway Aroree back into the Gliders' fold, attempting to stop her. Aroree stabbed him during the resulting confrontation.
The Wolfriders outwitted the Chosen Eight when they sent two of their human friends into Blue Mountain, posing as Winnowill's worshippers and offering themselves as servants to the Chosen Eight. They were distracted with wine and then trapped in preserver coccoons while Cutter and Skywise rescued Dewshine and Windkin. They also freed Tyldak, whom had been bound and tortured in chains by Winnowill.
The Gliders and most of the Chosen Eight were killed when Blue Mountain collapsed under the weight of a multilayered structure known as the Egg. Aroree and Tyldak were the only members of the Eight who escaped this fate.
The members of the Chosen Eight who were killed eventually found a temporary home within Rayek; Rayek bonded with them telepathically as Winnowill assumed control of his floating powers, using him to help construct the Egg. Due to this bond with the Chosen Eight, their souls were drawn into him, increasing his own powers. (Siege at Blue Mountain, Secret of Two-Edge) The presence of the Chosen Eight's souls within his psyche drove Rayek slightly mad with power. Luckily, the souls of the Chosen Eight and the rest of the fallen Gliders found their way back to the Palace and restored the crumbling structure to its original grandeur.
[edit] Original Members of the Chosen Eight:
- Tyldak – male, alive; birdlike Glider with full-size wings and taloned feet
- Kureel – male, deceased; killed by Strongbow, which is ironic, since Strongbow killed Kureel's bond-bird, initially. This was the first time in Wolfrider history that an elf killed another elf.
- Aroree - female, alive. Aroree bargained for her freedom from Winnowill’s control by kidnapping Dewshine’s cub, Windkin, fathered by Tyldak (see Siege at Blue Mountain, volume 5)
- Reevol (male, deceased) - Reevol delivered Dewshine astride his bond-bird from Blue Mountain when the Wolfriders wanted to exchange her and Windkin for the Preservers. Reevol did not carry Windkin from the mountain, as Winnowill still held him captive.
- Eresir - male, deceased; perished during the destruction of Blue Mountain (Secret of Two-Edge, volume 6)
- Talno - male, deceased; perished during the destruction of Blue Mountain (Secret of Two-Edge, volume 6)
- Oroleed - male, deceased; perished during the destruction of Blue Mountain (Secret of Two-Edge, volume 6)
- Hoykar - male, deceased; perished during the destruction of Blue Mountain (Secret of Two-Edge, volume 6)
- Yeyeen (female, deceased)
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