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.
[1] Thousands of years before the time of the Elfquest story, in order to avoid murder by the native humans, who were threatened by these strange beings, some of the High Ones escaped into the hills and took up residence within Blue Mountain.
These elves became the Gliders, and they developed and maintained the use of their magical powers within the mountain's confines under the rigid control of Winnowill, their manipulative leader.
[2] The Wolfriders first encounter 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, shoots down a large bird making its fledgling flight, despite warnings not to from Suntop, son of Cutter the wolf chief, a young boy elf who senses magic.
Cutter, the Wolfriders' chief, attempts to rescue his captive tribe members with help from his lifemate, Leetah, and his best friend, Skywise.
Suntop's "magic feeling" alerts him to the fact that Winnowill is the "evil presence" that his mentor, Savah, warned him about when the Wolfriders left the village of Sorrow's End.
During the Captives of Blue Mountain story arc, Leetah discovers from Winnowill that her healing gifts are actually a form of flesh-shaping, not unlike rock-shaping or tree shaping, powers demonstrated by a few elves at various times in elfin history.
The Eight are distracted with wine and then trapped in preserver cocoons while Cutter and Skywise rescue Dewshine and baby Windkin.
The Gliders (except for a handful) and all of the Chosen Eight but Aroree are killed when Blue Mountain collapses under the weight of a multilayered structure known as the Egg.
[5] The presence of the souls of the Gliders within his psyche drives Rayek mad with power, and in a rage, he destroys the home of another tribe of elves, the Go-Backs.