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I love the way Quentyns faith is such a natural part of his life - he doesn't wear it like a chip on his shoulder yet he is not ashamed of it either.

He thinks he has screwed up yet he is properly prepared - God has given him everything he needs - faith, courage, love and hope. And God took away his lux powered sword and gave him a mundane one when he needed it.

Nope, he hasn't screwed up at all - he is where he should be, when he should be, how he should be.

Seriously good comic, Ralph. 8)


Quentin is going to look moth eaten when he heals unless good healing magics are available to the Rac'conan.

Of course, if you decided to end Tales of the Questor with the March 13th strip, that'd be a pretty impressive climax to end the series with.

Generic Avatar wrote:Seriously good comic, Ralph. 8)


Quentin is going to look moth eaten when he heals unless good healing magics are available to the Rac'conan.

Of course, if you decided to end Tales of the Questor with the March 13th strip, that'd be a pretty impressive climax to end the series with.

The legend of Quentyn the Questor is just begining.

Really great writing, i dont think this is the end of the ToTQ as there are to meany great storys to be writen and to much stuff left undone like for example what happen to the swamp chiftens kit, and so on.

Hmmm i think i know what is going to happen sorry if its a spoiler if i guess right, but a page or so back quinten said that he could hear rats coming from the entrence as well as from the rat king so he did what he could to stop the rat wrights even if it cost him his life well i think it was not rats coming but the wizards and guards coming after him, and if you want to know why the rat wrights diden't go for this masive amunt of lux its because there controled by the rat king who ordered them to attack quinton as he is a danger to it there and then and not go for food. and remember the wrights that ran past quinton when he got to the door ignoring him must have had a resion to do so i.e. wizards and guards following him.

It would be nice if at the time of this comic when quinten rushes the wrights and kills the rat king is also the time when the wizards and guards rush through the entrence seeing his act of heroism as an audience is always nice when explaining what happened later.

Btw i would also just like to point out that from my view quinten is a true hero as he has fufilled all 3 terms to be called one. The three terms to be called a true hero are One: any unselfish act or desision for someone/s else. Two: any act or decision that could or will result in serious harm or death. Three: any act or decision that even though knowing the act or decision will result in serious harm or death is still done.

So anyone else think that is what a true hero is and that quintens one?

Anyhow it doent matter if he is one or not that was stil cool heh just hope the little guys all right.

-Jayson

EvilJayson wrote:Anyhow it doent matter if he is one or not that was stil cool heh just hope the little guys all right.

I do not note any rats depicted in the last two frames. This could simply be because our focus is supposed to be on Quentin and so clutter was omited, but I wonder if a sufficient shock was sent along whatever means the Rat King used to control them that it destroyed them, or at least caused them to scatter in confusion.

BTW, if the rats can bite Quentin, why couldn't they chew through the door to feed the Rat King? Did the biomancer use stone or metal clad doors?

DracoDei wrote: I do not note any rats depicted in the last two frames. This could simply be because our focus is supposed to be on Quentin and so clutter was omited, but I wonder if a sufficient shock was sent along whatever means the Rat King used to control them that it destroyed them, or at least caused them to scatter in confusion.

BTW, if the rats can bite Quentin, why couldn't they chew through the door to feed the Rat King? Did the biomancer use stone or metal clad doors?

I suspect that all of the rats drew their existance from the rat king, and once the rat king's tail was severed, the king died, and all shadows returned to shadow.

I also suspect that they were able to feed the rat king. It's just that to get more rats to do that, they had to draw on the energy from the crystal, and the energy in the crystal, until recently, was almost nothing. So, it barely subsisted.

maxgoof wrote: I also suspect that they were able to feed the rat king. It's just that to get more rats to do that, they had to draw on the energy from the crystal, and the energy in the crystal, until recently, was almost nothing. So, it barely subsisted.

That makes more sense. Colin had been having night terrors for a while.

Rampant speculation designed mostly to raise the suspense level follows:
I will also note that, BY NO MEANS would Quentin's death mean the end of this series... heroes leave legacies you see...

Colin already knows how to use a sling, and has fought with Quentin (even if he did have to resort to a pillow).

Nessie, if she is denied his hand in marriage, may instead decide to settle for his spirit (no necromacy... just a standard to live up to).

Consider also the sword: Quentin's mother might not want the memories, and his father might feel that 'Our boy would not have wanted it to just hang over some mantle-peice.' Thus the bard and the artificer could inherit the sword (since they had a hand in making it and have half a chance of eventually 'decoding' it). Assuming it goes mostly dormant after Quentin's death (rather than say... exploding in a rain of molten metal). They could jointly do their equivalent of Doctorial dissertations on it and succeed in at least cracking the bonding so they can 'hotwire' it to accept a new owner (more than one?).

Yeshua works in mysterious ways, and Quentin may have well earned his 'good and faithful servant' to come earlier rather than later.

The point is that just because Ralph probably needs the income from
"Tales of the Questor" doesn't mean that he couldn't do a slight title change (compared to what he did with UTLT -> GH, this just needs an "s" on the end... even if someone did beat him to that with a FanFic (the flash animation)), Ralph could skip time forward a few years (after establishing the effects of the death on those most concerned) and continue the story.

As I previously stated, this is probably wrong... but it does keep the suspense up...

Narnian wrote:And God took away his lux powered sword and gave him a mundane one when he needed it.

Ummm... last I checked, a bunch of scientists took away his lux powered sword...

Which could be interpreted as being influenced intentionally by Yeshua, in which case the statement would still be true.

Really? then in that case the Rac-Conans don't have free will, if the chess set is set up that far in advance.

That's always the problem. Omniscience, omnipotence, and omnibenevolence don't seem to make a coherent structure when you try to put them all in the same place, and omniscience and free-will don't make a good match either. I've heard the handwaving about it, and it's just not logically coherent.

Gildedtongue wrote:Really? then in that case the Rac-Conans don't have free will, if the chess set is set up that far in advance.

You are thinking too black and white.

I prefer to look at it as freedom versus free will. We really don't have free will in that we can't do anything we want - we are limited by our nature as well as the laws of nature - gravity keeps me from flying, but not from moving. I have freedom within the limits dictated by gravity.

God doesn't make us do anything that is against our own nature. In this case scientists did what scientists do, study something unknown to them - and it works in Gods plan for Quentyn as well.

Concerning what happened to the rat wights...

http://npc.keenspace.com/d/20050217.html

"...wights are always bound to something material... destroy the object and the wight is destroyed."

So, if the wights were bound to the rat king, then they are now nothing more than those wisps of smoke we see rising around the exausted Qestor.

TinklePit wrote:Concerning what happened to the rat wights...

http://npc.keenspace.com/d/20050217.html

"...wights are always bound to something material... destroy the object and the wight is destroyed."

So, if the wights were bound to the rat king, then they are now nothing more than those wisps of smoke we see rising around the exausted Qestor.

Yeah they are gone

I think you're personally giving a Deity far too much credit and leave nothing for the beings on the playing feild.

You're saying that these persons were imbued with the interest in sciences and thus took a liking to the sword, which means that their whole lives up to this point was solely for that purpose of taking away the sword from Quentyn.

Narnian wrote:God doesn't make us do anything that is against our own nature. In this case scientists did what scientists do, study something unknown to them - and it works in Gods plan for Quentyn as well.

But if the Supreme Being created Nature, and put this Nature in these peoples, then yes, there's manipulation. We can freely move anywhere in our square on the chess table, but an unseen force drives us to a certain locale.

You mention gravity keeping us down, however, we've obviously overcome that little dilemma, haven't we? You say we have this restriction to our free will, but then you're saying in the grand scheme of things, our actions are purely meaningless, just dominos in a line. Sure, we could choose toast rather than oatmeal one morning. but, well, maybe it was God's plan for you to be out of oatmeal that morning. Or maybe you didn't have oatmeal that morning because you didn't choose to buy it.

Like I said, you just aren't giving enough credit to the people on the Earth.

Now, if you mean God as R.H. Junior? Then, yeah... actually everything is in God's plan.

Yup. Between that and the "mage SWAT team" rumbling in behind him, he'll make it. Wouldn't be surprised if the next scene shows him all bandaged up in bed.

Rescue will take longer if Squidge boogies out completely, but probably not by that much. Quentin didn't have to go too far to find this place, it was all centered around that house to start with.

The other thing is, even with no witnesses it'll be obvious he made it to hell and back. What's left of the rat-king will be obvious, and the mages will be able to figure out what was up just as quickly as Quentin did even if they don't do a "lux-powered crime scene analysis".

Heh. This was what I'd call a "Quentin Tarantino Moment". Been there just once. Four homicidal lunatics didn't like the fact that I'd grabbed their victim away and was between them and him. Out came their claw hammers, one dripping blood. They didn't like seeing my hand on a decent knife though...got pretty damned "iffy" there. They backed down. Good. They didn't know about my gun, which was prolly the only reason I still looked determined enough to back 'em down.

Anyways. This isn't a good ending point, it's really a beginning. Quentin now knows that even stripped of his cool toys, allies, drained of even his last bit of lux, he can still push on. He *needed* that. Look at the aftermath from the swamp incident - he chalked his performance up to "luck and toys and bad judgement". He wasn't completely correct but there was enough "germ of truth" to throw his confidence off.

Now he's got it. Or enough, anyhow, he also knows he's mortal but that didn't stop him this time and it won't the next.

Gildedtongue wrote:I think you're personally giving a Deity far too much credit and leave nothing for the beings on the playing feild.

Like I said you are making this black and white, either/or, when it can be both.

Gildedtongue wrote:You're saying that these persons were imbued with the interest in sciences and thus took a liking to the sword, which means that their whole lives up to this point was solely for that purpose of taking away the sword from Quentyn.

Nope, didn't say that. This is one element is their whole life, not the sole purpose. And it happens to intersect with Quentyn here and now.

Narnian wrote:God doesn't make us do anything that is against our own nature. In this case scientists did what scientists do, study something unknown to them - and it works in Gods plan for Quentyn as well.

Gildedtongue wrote:But if the Supreme Being created Nature, and put this Nature in these peoples, then yes, there's manipulation. We can freely move anywhere in our square on the chess table, but an unseen force drives us to a certain locale.

Man was created in Gods image, with the ability the make his own decisions. But you forget the Fall, where man made a choice that corrupted his nature. And if you don't believe in the Fall, and original sin just have a couple of kids to see what pristine human nature is like.

Gildedtongue wrote:You mention gravity keeping us down, however, we've obviously overcome that little dilemma, haven't we?

Not without help. I can't fly around the room by myself last time I looked.

Gildedtongue wrote: You say we have this restriction to our free will, but then you're saying in the grand scheme of things, our actions are purely meaningless, just dominos in a line. Sure, we could choose toast rather than oatmeal one morning. but, well, maybe it was God's plan for you to be out of oatmeal that morning. Or maybe you didn't have oatmeal that morning because you didn't choose to buy it.

Didn't say that, you are putting words in my mouth - and stop thinking either/or! Basically are you are saying if God exists we can't have any independent thinking?

Gildedtongue wrote:Like I said, you just aren't giving enough credit to the people on the Earth.

They get plenty of credit - great art, music, charity, etc. And great depravity - 100 million dead in the 20th century with WWI, WWII, gulags, concentration camps, communism, killing fields, etc.

bigdude wrote:This was what I'd call a "Quentin Tarantino Moment".

<GROAN>
This is so bad I wish I had though of it ...

I don't remember reading anywhere in this thread that if God exists we can't have free will. What he's saying is that if God meddles in our affairs, it kinda cheapens free will. We're not really making these decisions ourselves, God is moving us around like pawns on a chess board.

I used to think God was like that, that things happened only because He willed it.

If this is so, then that would mean our fall into sin was by His design. Quite a contradiction with God's nature, huh?

If God directs all our actions, free will does not exist. This doesn't mean that to have free will there must be no God; it simply means He has to step back and let us do as we please. And He has, barring a few instances back in the times of the Old Testament.

As one person told it to me, he thinks God is trying to prove a point. Look at the Old Testament. What is the continual complaint of the masses? "God, you don't provide for us!" It's the attitude that, given a roof over its head and reasonably well fed, begs for a penthouse and a gourmet chef. Unfortunately, God got involved with the dealings of mankind, on both ends. He not only provided but also made demands on matters of worship and law. They weren't counting on that.

Later on, the cry became, "You're meddling too much! Get out of our lives and leave us be!" So, once again, God complied, and despite that small break in the clouds known as Jesus, He has remained pretty much silent. Any natural disaster here on earth is the result of natural forces, not "God's Will". To suggest good fortune comes about only by the will of God is to inevitably accuse him of bad fortune as well.

And the cry has changed again. Now the people want Him back into their lives. They accuse Him of abandoning mankind to a broken and decaying world, and yet should you even joke about Him going back to "Old Testament Mode", they backpedal faster than a duck in the jaws of an alligator. They want quick solutions, not a standard for their lives.

We cannot have free will if God directs our lives to the smallest degree. It's that simple. God can exist, but for free will to also exist, he must not try to direct our choices without our consent. Such is manipulation and tyranny.

To sum it up, I just don't see God as the "micro-management" type. Strikes me as opposite his nature.

Gildedtongue wrote:I think you're personally giving a Deity far too much credit and leave nothing for the beings on the playing feild.

Narnian wrote:Like I said you are making this black and white, either/or, when it can be both.

A plan is a set timeline of events from getting to point A to B. By saying there is a plan, there has to be predestined events.

Gildedtongue wrote:You're saying that these persons were imbued with the interest in sciences and thus took a liking to the sword, which means that their whole lives up to this point was solely for that purpose of taking away the sword from Quentyn.

Narnian wrote:Nope, didn't say that. This is one element is their whole life, not the sole purpose.

Whole life, isn't their sole purpose? You're contradicting yourself. If there is a Plan in effect, then in order for Quentyn to be in his current situation, those people have to be there. Quentyn's sword is more or less a hunk of iron that seems to be blasting heavy amounts of lux whenever it's swung, which would mean it isn't locked down for precise motions, and its randomness is due to the over load of previous mages using it to focus their power. It's more or less a chunk of lux uranium casting off all the radiation it has gathered.

But, that's besides the point, you're continuing to try to have your cake and eat it too. You're saying that it is God's Plan that event X happens, and if God's Plan, a Plan devised by something that knows the past, present, and future intimently, is to be followed through, then all of these pawns have to meet at that location.

Narnian wrote:God doesn't make us do anything that is against our own nature. In this case scientists did what scientists do, study something unknown to them - and it works in Gods plan for Quentyn as well.

Gildedtongue wrote:But if the Supreme Being created Nature, and put this Nature in these peoples, then yes, there's manipulation. We can freely move anywhere in our square on the chess table, but an unseen force drives us to a certain locale.

Narnian wrote:Man was created in Gods image, with the ability the make his own decisions. But you forget the Fall, where man made a choice that corrupted his nature. And if you don't believe in the Fall, and original sin just have a couple of kids to see what pristine human nature is like.

I've seen the 'innocence' of youth, and I'm trying to avoid creating more spawnlings altogether. And no, I do not forget the exhile from Eden. If you say that God's Plan was to have the people remain in Eden, then Mankind had actually changed the course of history and thus God could not claim omnipotence. Or, prehaps it was in God's Plan to let Lucifer send his His spies upon the Garden.

Gildedtongue wrote:You mention gravity keeping us down, however, we've obviously overcome that little dilemma, haven't we?

Narnian wrote:Not without help. I can't fly around the room by myself last time I looked.

But you define that as a boundry, one that has obviously been overcome. Prehaps with a bit of ingenuity we can completely collapse the Plan, if it exists.

Gildedtongue wrote: You say we have this restriction to our free will, but then you're saying in the grand scheme of things, our actions are purely meaningless, just dominos in a line. Sure, we could choose toast rather than oatmeal one morning. but, well, maybe it was God's plan for you to be out of oatmeal that morning. Or maybe you didn't have oatmeal that morning because you didn't choose to buy it.

Narnian wrote:Didn't say that, you are putting words in my mouth - and stop thinking either/or! Basically are you are saying if God exists we can't have any independent thinking?

God can certainly exist with independant thought and reasoning. However I truely doubt that the being takes that much time to organize everything. God isn't dead or unexisting, but rather looking at the effects of what She's created. Like a child admiring a small obsticle course set up infront of a line of ants. The Clockmaker theory seems to be the best course. A little nudge here and there, but the overall events are purely that of the residents.

Gildedtongue wrote:Like I said, you just aren't giving enough credit to the people on the Earth.

Narnian wrote:They get plenty of credit - great art, music, charity, etc. And great depravity - 100 million dead in the 20th century with WWI, WWII, gulags, concentration camps, communism, killing fields, etc.

Ahh, and you mention the great evils of Men without mentioning the ones God did, such as, The Spanish Flu that wiped out 70 million people during that time. Also AIDS, Ebola Zaire, and shark attacks. You're quick to mention "All things Bright and Beautiful" but not "All Things Dull and Ugly"