Elves (Elfquest) - Magic

Magic

Many elves have some magic, or psi powers. These include the following abilities, most of which are never given a name within the comic itself. Many of these are rare talents:

• Animal-bonding - the ability to develop an empathic or telepathic connection with an animal. All Wolfriders are able to bond with wolves, and have a particularly close connection with them thanks to their wolf blood, but the power exists among other tribes, such as the Gliders, who bond with giant birds.
  • Animal control - Teir's skills with animals go considerably further, allowing him to be considered part of any pack of animals.
• Astral projection - the ability to 'go out' and communicate with other magic-users in a bodiless psychic plane.
  • Mind-snare - the ability, possessed by strong astral projectors, to 'trap' other projectors in the astral plane, preventing their return to their bodies.
• Fire-starting - the ability to start and control fires. This ability is very rare; Among the Wolfriders, the last known possessor who was able to control this magic was Zarhan Fastfire, in the time of the Wolfriders' second chief. It may have been a failed firestarting attempt by him that created the bad magic pool that spawned Madcoil. Per the novelizations, both Savah and Winnowill also have this ability, but Winnowill has never been shown using it in the comic itself. Savah has only rarely done so, as when she magically lights the lanterns for the Sun Village's annual festival.
• Freezing stare - the ability to paralyze an animal or intelligent being with a stare; a kind of hypnosis.
• Force Shield - the power to create a magical barrier capable of holding back magical attacks or physical objects. This is most effectively demonstrated by Zhantee of the SunFolk in the Forbidden Grove when he shields Krim and Skot from a falling branch and again when he keeps the Djun's tower from crushing the others as they escaped.
• Gliding - the ability to 'fly' or self-levitate, allowing an elf to glide with the winds or with an initial kick-off. Strong gliders use the power more fully for self propulsion, at high speed and maneuverability. Tyldak of the Gliders had Winnowill reshape his body into a bat-like structure so to be able to truly fly with his own propulsion. Gliding is a very deeply innate ability - the Glider elves of Blue Mountain are shown to glide while unconscious, sleeping, or having sex. (Note that the magic-user Rayek doesn't actually glide - rather, he uses powerful telekinesis to move himself, somewhat lacking in finesse.)
• Healing - the ability to heal injury or disease. Unscrupulous healers can invert the power by violently stimulating pain nerves to make the target experience agonizing pain. Conversely, the pleasure nerves can also be stimulated with equal strength, producing intensely pleasurable sensations that can dramatically enhance sexual experiences. Healers can also induce Recognition, with varying degrees of success. Go-backs stigmatize healers, believing they make warriors soft and careless. It is possible for an elf to heal a non-elf (such as a human) but this is significantly more difficult as their bodies are much less malleable.
  • Flesh-shaping - the ability, possessed by sophisticated healers, to manipulate flesh to shape it to their desires. This can be done on a large scale, such as Winnowill's reshaping of Tyldak into a birdlike being, or on a very subtle level, such as the removal of 'wolf blood' from Wolfriders.
  • Shielding - the ability to protect another from magical attack using one's own healing power.
• Levitation - the ability to telekinetically manipulate objects
• Magic feeling - the ability to detect past and present use of other psi powers.
• Rock-shaping - the ability to sculpt and mold solid rock, but generally this power cannot affect refined metal. This ability is most notably used by the Gliders Egg and Door, as well as firstborn to the High Ones Ekuar.
• Sending - the ability to exchange thoughts and feelings by telepathy. All elves appear to have the capacity for sending, but some tribes use it more often than others; the Wolfriders send frequently, whereas the Go-Backs send very rarely and the Sun Folk hardly at all. Wolfriders can send to their wolves, but the wolves communicate in images more than words.
  • Black-sending - the ability to send in such a way as to cause psychic pain. Winnowill is adept at black-sending. This attack can be blocked by a healer in physical contact with a victim to counter the induced pain.
  • Power sending - Strongbow's sending is significantly stronger than most, allowing him to reach large distances, or impose his will over weaker minds.
  • Send-shielding - the ability to block or protect against the sendings of others. Venka displayed this power at a very young age.
• Shapeshifting - the ability to assume the form of other living creatures (even humans in some cases). Experienced healers can flesh-shape themselves to (for instance) grow gills, but the process is notoriously slower.
• Tree-shaping - the ability to grow and shape plants. Specially skilled is the wolfrider Redlance.

There are also certain abilities that the elves attribute to their family bonds:

• Cutter, Leetah, and the twins (Suntop and Ember) have shown increased strength (in resisting Winnowill's attacks, and using sending to overpower her) through being together and acting as a unit (in Siege at Blue Mountain. They attributed this specifically to their being a family.
• The twins have a connection that defies any distance, and they attribute it specifically to their being twins. In what appears to be sending but might have an astral projection component, they can communicate even when on opposite sides of the planet, and Suntop has sensed Ember's emotional turmoil without any physical communication attempt on her part.

Furthermore, the knowledge of an elf's soulname gives the person who knows said soulname power over that elf, in a notably similar manner as True Names in Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea series. While the Wolfriders were at Blue Mountain, Winnowill was able to prevent Dewshine from leaving the mountain by using her soulname as a form of mind control. She had discovered it by spying on Tyldak, who had recently Recognized Dewshine.

The soulname is known from conception to the child's parents, and it is forgotten by all involved at birth, later revealed only to the child in a spirit quest. It is often only revealed in Recognition to the Recognized lifemate, unless the elf decides to divulge the name willingly to another. However, this is rarely done; two notable occurrences are Dewshine, Tyleet and Scouter, and Nightfall and Redlance, before the fight for the palace with the Go-Backs. Generally, only Wolfriders had soulnames: According to Leetah in the very first album, the Sun Folk have either forgotten how to send or do so rarely, which eliminates the need to protect the inner self with a secret name. Gliders, on the other hand, are capable senders and have no soulnames either, and Go-Backs have no soulnames as well, with Kahvi being a possible exception.