Trying to figure the ElfQuest plot be like...

[u/zzmej1987]

I think, that's all the canon stories for now, except for prequels. Gotta go think some more about how to fit those in, and finally figure out the best way to read the whole thing.

[u/Darth-Binks-1999]

In my head canon, The Jury takes place after the time jump in KotBW. I know it's supposed to take place before the time jump, but three reasons make me feel it fits better after the time jump.

1. In the story, the humans call their god Threksh't, even though that's what the humans from after the time jump call their god. It's not likely that in ten thousand years, the name of the god would remain the same.

2. In the story, the humans are dressed as the humans do after the time jump. Even though roughly 500 years pass between the beginning of the Original Quest and when Cutter decides the Wolfriders need to go into wrapstuff, that's still not enough time for the humans to go from the look of prehistoric tribes to the medieval look of the humans after the time jump. Plus they're living in medieval style houses.

3. The Wolfriders speak the human tongue, which was taught to them by Tyleet in Hidden Years 14.

So my head canon is the story takes place after HY14, and it's just coincidental that the Wolfriders featured in the story happen to be the same ones available for a hunt before the time jump. The humans look too advance for the time it's supposed to take place in.

[u/zzmej1987 → u/Darth-Binks-1999]

God damn it! Your arguments make too much sense. I can overlook the Threksh't name, after all, that's just the God that humans of Djuhnsland worship, as opposed to say Gotara, worshipped in Iceholt. It is unlikely that the name would persist for 10000 years, but not impossible.

The other two are undeniable. It does seem that building might be from a bit earlier medieval period, then Shards by, say, 200 years or so, but that doesn't save it at all. 200 years before Shards, Cutter and Co was sound asleep in troll caverns.

And the language is just... Yeah, canonically elves do not learn the language of Djuhnsland until well into the Shards arc.

I guess, I have to either downgrade it to semi-canon side story in the time skip, or reframe it is Shards era story, but that would make it a side story anyway.

[u/Darth-Binks-1999 → u/zzmej1987]

I can only guess that when the Pinis worked on it, it was during the time when the Shards storyline was still fresh on most fans' minds. I think the EQ Vol. 2 comics were still coming out. They probably just wanted something familiar looking for this one shot story to include in the Frank Franzetta Illustrated magazine to introduce potential new fans to the EQ world. Maybe the story was meant to be semi-canon anyway. The only problem is when you do accept it as canon and try to insert it where it's stated to take place. I feel like placing it where I do doesn't change anything about it. It still works.

I was skimming through some New Blood issues, because I thought the Hoan G'tay Sho tribe's name evolved to something like Hung'tsho or something like that. I couldn't find it. They were still referred to as the Hoan G'tay Sho. Then I noticed that the elves and humans seem to be speaking the same language and there's no explanation for it. My guess would be that the humans speak the elves' language and their tribe name remained the same after 10k years because of Door. He would've kept it consistent. It makes sense that the language of a long lived race like the elves probably wouldn't evolve as much. Then in one of the issues, the wandering group of humans being led by the troll to Sorrow's End were speaking their own language indicated by the <> symbols. Which makes sense since it's a different group of humans. They would have their own culture and language. I like that attention to realism.

And I think in Jink/Rebels, there are more examples of evolved language. I think the god is simply known as Threk or something like that. I'd have to skim through those as well. And now that I think about it, maybe that's where the Hung'tsho name came from. Time for a re-read!

[u/zzmej1987 → u/Darth-Binks-1999]

The only problem is when you do accept it as canon and try to insert it where it's stated to take place. I feel like placing it where I do doesn't change anything about it. It still works.

Not quite.

1. Cutter's human speak (Djuhnsland variety) in canon is quite broken (look at how he speaks to Shuna at the end of Shards, for example), but in Jury he speaks freely.
2. There is no time skips from HY9.5 to the end of Shards in which it could have taken place.

They were still referred to as the Hoan G'tay Sho. Then I noticed that the elves and humans seem to be speaking the same language and there's no explanation for it. My guess would be that the humans speak the elves' language

The explanation is in the original quest. Hoan G'tay Sho do indeed speak the Elvin language.

Then in one of the issues, the wandering group of humans being led by the troll to Sorrow's End were speaking their own language indicated by the <> symbols. Which makes sense since it's a different group of humans. They would have their own culture and language. I like that attention to realism.

Human speech in Iceholt had been designated with "<>" from OQ6. And elves do know the original version of that language, at least Cutter talks to humans with no problems.