The Goblin Queen: What She Gets Out of Sela's Three Tasks

The Goblin Queen: What She Gets Out of Sela's Three Tasks The Goblin Queen's encounter with Sela runs through Grimm Fairy Tales #54–56, and I wanted to go through the whole encounter because the last part changes how the earlier scenes read. At first, she appears to be another obstacle between Sela and the person she's trying to save. By the end, we know she's working on something of her own, and Sela has helped her without understanding what she was collecting. Spoilers for those three issues, including the ending of “Death's Key.” Sela and Bolder meet her after Sela stops to free an injured wolf. The animal has been trapped and shot, and Sela cuts it loose rather than leaving it behind. The Queen considers that interference with her hunt. She's surrounded by goblins, calls them her pets, and threatens Sela and Bolder with a slow death. That's the situation they are in before either side starts discussing the Limbo Key. The key is the reason Sela has come this far. Morrigan, who we know as Death, has sent her to retrieve it under the promise of helping Erik. When she sees the Queen wearing it, the journey suddenly becomes more complicated. The person threatening to kill her also has the thing she needs. Sela is powerful enough to knock back large numbers of goblins, but she doesn't have consistent control over that power. She releases a much larger burst during the fight and then collapses. Bolder tries to protect her, only to be overwhelmed himself. The Queen sees the strength of the display and decides that killing Sela immediately would be a waste. Bolder tries another approach by explaining that they are on a mission from Morrigan. He suggests that helping them could earn her favor when Death returns to Limbo. She isn't impressed. She knows someone else holds its throne and doesn't believe Morrigan can defeat that power. At this point, she knows more about the situation than Sela does, and she has no reason to explain all of it to her. She also notices Sela's bracer and asks where it came from. When Sela says it was a gift from Death, the Queen warns her to be more careful about accepting gifts. That warning turns out to be useful, even though it comes from someone holding her captive. It's one of several moments in this story where knowing something true about another villain doesn't make the person speaking trustworthy. The Queen offers three tasks, with Bolder's life being used to make sure Sela cooperates. First, she has to collect one hundred pearls scattered through a field. Sela has no idea how she's supposed to find them all. Then the bees she rescued from the burning forest arrive and collect the pearls for her. That rescue happened before Sela knew there would be any benefit. She saw orcs destroying the hives and intervened, despite Bolder's concern about the danger. Now the bees are able to accomplish something that her strength and sword would do very little to solve. The Queen sees the completed task and praises Sela's power, but we have seen how it was actually accomplished. The second task is to recover a crown from the bottom of a lake. Sela tries diving for it herself and runs short of air before she can reach the bottom. One of the ducks she helped earlier then retrieves it. Again, the answer comes from an animal she stopped to help along the way. The comic is using the familiar fairy-tale idea of grateful animals, and it makes the earlier interruptions important to the main journey rather than treating them as unrelated adventures. Sela brings back the crown, and the Queen releases Bolder from his restraints. That briefly looks like progress toward keeping the agreement. But the third task is simply to escape the chamber alive while the goblins attack them. She has already received the objects she wanted, and she can now turn their attempt to survive into the final condition of their release. The next issue follows through on that fight. Sela can't call on her powers the way she did before. Bolder reminds her of Morrigan's bracelet, which produces a shield around them and keeps the goblins back. It's working, but Sela says she can't maintain it much longer. They are protected temporarily, not comfortably winning. Then the wolf returns with others. The pack attacks the goblins and gives Sela and Bolder a chance to fight back. The Queen loses control of the situation as her goblins begin fleeing. She calls them cowards, then goes after Sela herself. Her swordsmanship is a real threat here. She tells Sela that having power doesn't make her an equal with a blade, and the fight backs that up: she knocks Sela down and is ready to kill her. The wolf interrupts, disarms the Queen, and gives Sela the opportunity to demand the key. Sela doesn't defeat her through a sudden improvement in sword skill. She gets through the encounter because the animals she helped have returned that help at the moments she needs it. The Queen surrenders the key but escapes through an opening in the wall, promising they will meet again. Her defeat doesn't kill her or bring her plans to an end. After Sela leaves, we follow her deeper beneath the fortress, where she speaks through a mirror to a hooded mistress. She reports that Sela has the Limbo Key and will give it to Morrigan. She also warns that Sela might try to enter Limbo without it. The figures on the other side say they will be ready. The scene doesn't identify everyone for us, so I wouldn't attach names just because a silhouette might suggest someone. What it does establish is that the Queen has a connection to people watching this situation from the other side. She outwardly presents herself as a loyal servant, but her thoughts make that loyalty conditional on whether it benefits her. Then she takes out the pearls and puts on the crown. They glow, and she says the things Sela recovered are worth far more to her than the key. We aren't given a complete explanation of their abilities here. The important reveal is that the tasks secured objects she genuinely wanted. They weren't just arbitrary errands to make a prisoner suffer. This leaves her in an interesting position at the end of the encounter. She has lost the key and failed to kill Sela, but she has kept the treasures, retained her connection to the hidden mistress, and escaped. Sela has completed her immediate objective without knowing the value of what she handed over. The animals' help gets her through a trap, while the Queen still manages to take something useful out of a confrontation she didn't fully control. That unfinished business gives her more to work with than a simple promise to come back for revenge.