Let's Read Animorphs! The Whole Series! Ch-ch-ch-chaaanges

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Skypie: Sep 28, 2008

It's incredibly funny as an adult that the Yeerk that manages to get out of the boiling pool and infest Jake is also astoundingly incompetent at being stealthy

# ? Jul 29, 2020 00:49

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# ? May 23, 2024 19:37

Fritzler: Sep 5, 2007

Jake is dumb to be surprised the Yeerk can morph. But all of the animorphs are dumb at one time or another.

The Yeerk showing Jake Tom's mind is the most disturbing thing in this series to me so far. He loved Tom and looked up to him so much. Also makes me rethink Tom throughout the entire series.

# ? Jul 29, 2020 00:53

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Fritzler posted:

The Yeerk showing Jake Tom's mind is the most disturbing thing in this series to me so far. He loved Tom and looked up to him so much. Also makes me rethink Tom throughout the entire series.

How so?

# ? Jul 29, 2020 01:05

Skypie: Sep 28, 2008

I actually did not remember the yeerk showing Tom's memories. To me, that's equally horrifying - that this parasite can retain your memories and thoughts then play them back to a different host later. It can really just show you a string of broken people to break you

# ? Jul 29, 2020 01:08

Kazzah: Jul 15, 2011; Formerly known as
Krazyface; Hair Elf

There's a handful of times in the series where we get to see what it's like to be on the receiving end of the animorphs, and it's always terrifying

# ? Jul 29, 2020 01:15

Radio Free Kobold: Aug 11, 2012; "Federal regulations mandate that at least 30% of our content must promote Reptilian or Draconic culture. This is DJ Scratch N' Sniff with the latest mermaid screeching on KBLD..."

jesus christ that tom segment :stonk:

# ? Jul 29, 2020 02:00

PetraCore: Jul 20, 2017; 👁️🔥👁️👁️👁️BE NOT👄AFRAID👁️👁️👁️🔥👁️

This does sort of make me rethink Rachel killing Tom. I mean, obviously the ideal is to rescue long-term Controllers, but when you know your older brother has spent every day for over a year praying for death as things escalate around him, that might factor into making the call.

EDIT: Definitely feel less bad about boiling those defenseless yeerks now, though! It's really hard to be a 'noncombatant' when your participation at all involves doing that to people.

# ? Jul 29, 2020 02:24

Fritzler: Sep 5, 2007

Epicurius posted:

How so?

Just Tom is a whimpering mess, didn�t want to go through spoilers but makes me feel a lot worse for him throughout the series as he is forced to do worse and worse stuff to other people, his brother and then he is eventually relieved and thankful for Rachel

# ? Jul 29, 2020 03:30

Daikloktos: Jan 1, 2020; by Cyrano4747

Skypie posted:

I actually did not remember the yeerk showing Tom's memories. To me, that's equally horrifying - that this parasite can retain your memories and thoughts then play them back to a different host later. It can really just show you a string of broken people to break you

Yeah I remembered the entire rest of this book except that Yeerks retained memories.

It shows the potential for Yeerk symbiosis though, in teaching and therapy and...

# ? Jul 29, 2020 05:02

PetraCore: Jul 20, 2017; 👁️🔥👁️👁️👁️BE NOT👄AFRAID👁️👁️👁️🔥👁️

Daikloktos posted:

Yeah I remembered the entire rest of this book except that Yeerks retained memories.

It shows the potential for Yeerk symbiosis though, in teaching and therapy and...

The most frustrating thing is Yeerks could do a lot of cool, consensual, beneficial things but instead they do this.

Like okay maybe it'd get boring for the Yeerks but then there's a lot of people that'd be willing to trade part time usage of their body, too, so...

# ? Jul 29, 2020 05:39

nine-gear crow: Aug 10, 2013

PetraCore posted:

The most frustrating thing is Yeerks could do a lot of cool, consensual, beneficial things but instead they do this.

Like okay maybe it'd get boring for the Yeerks but then there's a lot of people that'd be willing to trade part time usage of their body, too, so...

As I mentioned earlier, a LOT of people have tweaked to ideas like this and there's a full spate of Symbiotic Yeerk and/or Good Yeerk fan fiction out there that tries to explore these concepts.

# ? Jul 29, 2020 05:51

Daikloktos: Jan 1, 2020; by Cyrano4747

I bet it would be really fascinating to see the different ways different people absorb different concepts from the inside, on a neurological level, and how the framework of their perceptions colours the way the integrate they same information etc. But those aren't the kinds of interests you develop waiting in a mudhole for some thirsty monkeys to wander by.

# ? Jul 29, 2020 05:52

nine-gear crow: Aug 10, 2013

Also Temrash being able to watch and comment on Jake's dreams seems to suggest that the Yeerks are a continuous consciousness, or don't seem to sleep or fall unconscious like other animals do. Meaning they're basically trapped in their immobilized host bodies with nothing to do or no way of exerting control over them for however long it takes for them to complete a sleep cycle.

That'd probably drive anyone nuts night after night. No wonder most Yeerks we meet are completely brainbroke.

# ? Jul 29, 2020 05:57

Daikloktos: Jan 1, 2020; by Cyrano4747

Also can Yeerks communicate in the pool

# ? Jul 29, 2020 11:51

Comrade Blyatlov: Aug 4, 2007; should have picked four fingers

I still want to know how a Yeerk in the pool knows which head being jammed into the pool is theirs

# ? Jul 29, 2020 12:01

Cythereal: Nov 8, 2009; I love the potoo,
and the potoo loves you.

Also worth noting, I feel, is that the Animorphs are being genuinely smart and clever in this part of the book. Yes, they're teenagers and do a lot of dumb teenager things, but they are not stupid and this bit is a good example of it.

# ? Jul 29, 2020 14:32

Terror Sweat: Mar 15, 2009

Sleeping next to a yeerk infested tiger is probably pretty dumb

# ? Jul 29, 2020 20:40

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

The Capture-Chapter 19

quote:

I could feel the Yeerk opening my memory like a book again. He was checking through the list of all the morphs I had ever done.

Dog. Fish. Flea. Seagull. Dolphin. Ant. Wolf.

I knew what he must be thinking. Which could he use to evade the watchful owl in the tree above us? The owl who saw through the night like it was day, and heard the sounds no human could hear.

<She can't stay in owl morph forever,> the Yeerk said. <She has a two-hour time limit. Just as I do.>

<But of course there's Rachel and Marco and Ax. You don't know how many of them are here. You don't know where they are or what they are.>

<Can the owl watch a flea? I doubt it. Or an ant?> The Yeerk smirked.

<True. But how far can a flea travel in the two-hour time limit? Twenty yards? Thirty? Then you have to demorph and my friends will have no trouble finding you.>

<Shut up!> he yelled, losing patience.

I reveled in his anger. It meant he was scared. It also meant something else. I could not control my arms or legs. I could not even keep my mind closed from him. But he could not stop my thoughts. He could not stop me from talking to him.

And I had the power to annoy him. To distract him when he should be focused on escaping.

<You think you can harass me?> he said, reading my thoughts as soon as I had them. <You overestimate yourself.>

<You underestimate us, Yeerk. You thought you'd just morph and walk away. You guessed wrong. And your three days is less than two and a half already. Tick tock, Yeerk. Tick tock.>

<Let's see whether your owl friend can handle a wolf as easily as she handled the falcon.>

He began morphing. The wolf form was one I had enjoyed. Wolves are not subject to much fear. And their instincts are easily manipulated. Not like ants. Or the lizard that was one of my earliest morphs.

I watched as my body sprouted gray fur. As my face bulged out to become a long snout. As my ears slid up the side of my head to rest on top.

 the Yeerk said. <l thought as much.>

He set out at a fast trot. Unlike tigers, wolves are long-distance travelers. They can cover amazing distances at a run. And worse, the wolf brain seemed to have some interior sense of direction. It knew which way was deeper into woods, and which way led to the city.

We ran through woods, through a night as dark as night can be. Clouds hung low over the forest, allowing only the palest glow from the moon.

<A quick jog back to what passes for civilization on this planet, demorph to human, and your friends will be powerless to stop me,> the Yeerk said.

I wondered who he was trying to convince. Me, or himself?

<You're an arrogant bunch, aren't you? You Yeerks, I mean.>

<Arrogant? Why wouldn't we be? We are the most powerful race in the galaxy. Overlords of the Taxxons. Conquerors of the Hork-Bajir and the Ssstram and the Mak. Soon to be conquerors of the humans.>

Two new races here who have been taken over by the Yeerk....the Ssstram and Mak who we'll never hear about again. I think they were forgotten about.

quote:

<Don't count the humans just yet,> I said. <And there are still the Andalites.>

<We'll save the Andalites for last,> he hissed.

He stopped moving and pricked up his wolf's ears. There came a distinct howling sound. Loud and not very far away, it rose and warbled and rose again before dying away.

A second wolf voice howled.

<Another wolf. Two,> the Yeerk said. I felt him contact the wolf's own submerged instinctive mind. What was the meaning of the howling?

A notice. A warning to any other wolves that we are here. Don't come around, unless you want to risk a fight.

Suddenly I realized what it meant. I laughed.

<This is an area we were in before,> I said. <As wolves. We discovered - >

<Silence! I know what you found. When will you figure out that I can read your memory as well as you can?>

<We found another pack of wolves. They think this is their territory,> I went on, enjoying the fact that I was bothering him. <Those howls you hear? Those are my friends. They're calling to the other wolf pack. Better run faster, Yeerk. That big male who runs the other pack is tough.>

The Yeerk began running all out, pushing the wolf body for all the speed and endurance it had.

The dark tree trunks were a blur as we ran through the night, followed by the howls of wolves who were not wolves.

Then, a smell on the wind. The smell of an other wolf. A male wolf.

 I said, laughing.

The Yeerk stopped running.

Ahead, through the trees, a pair of glittering yellow eyes glared at us. Other eyes appeared. Five wolves - five real wolves - waited for us to try to move forward.

<Go ahead?> I taunted the Yeerk. <Go kick his butt. Of course, that's a real wolf there. An alpha male. Leader of his pack, which means he's probably been in a dozen fights and won them all. Go on, Yeerk. Tell him how the Yeerks are masters of the galaxy. I'm sure he'll be veryimpressed.>

I could sense the Yeerk's hesitation. His uncertainty.

<So many species on this planet,> he said to himself. <So many balances and connections. Everything preying on everything else. Every power is checked by some other power. Every advantage is canceled by some disadvantage.>

<Yeah. Earth. It's a tough neighborhood.>

<When we take this planet, we will eliminate these species. We will simplify. Things should be simpler. Yes, much simpler.>

It must be hard for the Yeerks, who, as I think was mentioned, come from a world with so much less genetic diversity, to deal with the sheer variety of life on the planet....a planet they don't really understand, with life they don't really understand

quote:

Just then, a human voice. "So. You about done playing games? Ready to come back to the shack?"

It was Marco. He was shoeless and wearing his morphing outfit. He had been one of the wolves who'd led us straight into the enemy pack.

Marco shivered. "Look, Mr. Yeerk, it's cold and I'm freezing. I always knew this situation with the morphing outfits was going to be trouble some day. So come on. Let's go back to the shack."

For a moment the Yeerk was so enraged he was ready to leap at Marco and tear out his throat.

But then, lumbering up behind Marco came Rachel. The very large version of Rachel with the trunk, the big leathery ears, and the two huge tusks.

Marco seemed to guess what had gone through the Yeerk's mind. "Go ahead. Try some thing. A wolf pack ahead. A very large, surprisingly fast African elephant behind you. And more surprises in the woods all around you. Oh, and one more thing . . . Cassie is nestled down in your
fur. Sucking your blood, I imagine. She did the flea thing."

I realized then that there is a very basic difference between Yeerks and humans.

A human will fight even when he knows he can't win. Maybe our species is just a little crazy.

But human history is full of cases where a handful of guys would fight an entire army. They'd get
stomped, but they'd fight anyway.

That's not the way it is for Yeerks. They are ruthless. They will do anything, absolutely anything
to win. But when the situation is impossible, totally impossible, they stop fighting. They figure
that other Yeerks will carry on the fight for them.

Different ways of looking at your world.

<You are fools,> the Yeerk said, having read my thoughts. <It is madness to fight when you cannot win.>

<Yes, it is foolish. It is crazy,> I agreed. <And it's why we will win.>

The Yeerk demorphed and returned to human form. My human form.

Marco walked away into the woods. Rachel rumbled off. And a few minutes later, an owl appeared to lead the way back to the shack.

So that's a pretty big psychological difference between Yeerks and people there.

The Capture-Chapter 20

quote:

The next morning, when it seemed like no one was watching, the Yeerk tried again. He morphed into an ant. He got three feet before running into a group of ants from a different colony. About forty of them attacked. They were ripping the ant body apart when the Yeerk demorphed and returned to human form.

<This is a savage planet,> he said. <We will tame this world, when we take it over.> But I don't think even he believed it anymore.

It was around nine in the morning on Saturday that the Yeerk first took over my body and brain.

By Monday evening, when the sun went down, he was growing distracted, unable to concentrate clearly.

By the time the moon rose in a newly clear, starry sky, he was weak with hunger. His slug body cried out for Kandrona rays the way a human would cry for food or water.

I could feel his arrogance evaporate. I could feel his despair.

He still had fantasies of being rescued. But he couldn't make those fantasies end very well. Even if he was rescued, he would no longer be the big hero who had destroyed the Animorphs.

He would try to think of clever ways to outwit my friends, but he could never be sure who was in the woods around us. Or what form they might have taken.

He tried to take on a bird shape again, reforming the peregrine falcon. The DNA had not been affected by the injuries Cassie had caused to the earlier morph, of course. The falcon was fine.

But it was daylight this time, and Tobias landed while the falcon was still half-morphed. He grabbed the falcon head in his talon and simply explained that if the Yeerk did not demorph, he would be killed.

For the first time, the Yeerk broke his silence with the others and spoke as a Yeerk.

<If you kill me, you'll kill your friend, as well,> he warned.

<Yes,> Tobias said. 

<You won't do it>

<Right from the start we have all said the same thing - better to die than be a Controller.> Tobias said. <But in any case, I don't need to kill you. I can simply put your eyes out. A blind falcon doesn't fly far.>

Tobias is cold.

quote:

The Yeerk surrendered and demorphed.

We waited, as the minutes and hours of the night ticked away. He still hoped for a miracle to save him. But his hunger was a terrible thing, growing with every second.

<You think you'll win,> he sneered at me. <You won't win. Your people are blind to what is happening. And the Andalites will not return in time.>

<Maybe. But you won't be there to see it,> I said. <It must be four in the morning. Five hours left. Ticktock.>

<You're a cruel little human, aren't you?>



<You know I am dying and you laugh at me.>

<What do you expect? Pity?>

He laughed. <No. We don't offer pity. And we don't expect pity. We are the masters of the galaxy. Conquerors of the Hork-Bajir and - >

<Yeah, yeah, I know. The mighty Yeerk empire.>

After that he said nothing to me for a while. It was impossible to sleep. He sat with my eyes open. He was too hungry to rest. The hunger infiltrated his mind. It twisted his thoughts.

<The Yeerk home world is a simpler place than this planet. Simple and elegant. No more than a hundred animal species. What do you have on Earth? A million species? More? What does a planet need with a million species?>

I didn't answer. His time was running out. Let him talk.

<We Yeerks evolved as parasites, not predators. Unlike you humans, we did not kill to eat. We were peaceful. We took many different species as our hosts. And as they evolved, so did we. Over time, the Gedds evolved. They were a sort of ... like a monkey, I suppose. We were in the Gedds till the Andalites first came. Some of our people still have nothing better than Gedds for hosts.>

So this is a little bit more about the Yeerk homeworld here, and their history pre-empire.

quote:

<What about the Andalites?> I asked. <What happened when they came to your world?>

<Of course. The Andalite has not told you their story, has he? What a pity. It's such a fine story. Ask your pet Andalite Ax sometime. Ask him about the story of the Andalites and the Yeerks.>

<Maybe I will,> I said. I hoped the Yeerk would keep talking, but he fell silent.

The hours passed. An owl left and was replaced by another. The moon went down. Dawn was coming. I could feel it.

<Yes,> the Yeerk said, having read my thoughts. <Dawn. Just a few hours left. Ahhhh!> He cried out in silent pain. <The fugue. It begins.>

<The fugue?>

<The final hours. You will not enjoy it, although you may learn a great deal, human. You may learn more than you want to - aaaahhh!>

I was watching his pain from far away. I was an observer. Close enough to know what he was feeling, but feeling none of it myself.

At first it was wave after wave of pain. Starvation and death by thirst. All rolled into one agony.

The sun came up. Cassie stepped into the shack from the woods outside. She looked at me and nodded. "It's happening, isn't it?"

I wanted to answer, but even now, my voice was not my own.

Cassie came and sat down beside me. Beside us.

"Ax says this part is pretty rough. Just remember, when it's all over, I'll be here."

She slipped her hand into my hand. I could feel it. So could the Yeerk. But he did not reject this small bit of comfort, even though it was intended for me and not him.

His mind was deteriorating. His thoughts were becoming more visible to me. Like a movie that kept drifting in and out of focus.

I saw images from a strange place, as seen through strange eyes. Liquid all around. Shapes, like squids, shooting through the liquid. Yeerks. Swimming in the Yeerk pool. Soaking up Kandrona rays.

And there were images of the first host. A Gedd. So, I thought - that's what a Gedd looks like. I had seen a few aboard the Yeerk mother ship but had not known what they were. They were humanoid, short and stooped, with webbed feet and three clumsy fingers.

I saw the world as the Yeerk had seen it, through Gedd eyes. The vision was dim. The hearing was better. The Yeerk had been excited at getting his first host. He had subdued the Gedd mind with ruthless ease, crushing it with his superior intelligence and will.

The memory made me sick. The Gedd's bewilderment. His fear. And the Yeerk's fierce arrogance.

I turned my attention away from the memory and back to the world around me. To my surprise, I noticed that my arms were shaking. My legs were shaking.

Cassie had put her arm around my shoulders.

"Jake, if you can hear me, it's almost eight. One hour to go. Jake ... the Yeerk in your head is dying."

"Yes," I wanted to say. "He is."

Honestly, bastard as he is, I can't help but feel sorry for the Yeerk these past two chapters. He's totally and completely outclassed, and just ultimately pitiful. He's desperately trying to avoid death, but is countered in everything he tries, and is ultimately doomed. Much as he deserves it, I feel bad.

# ? Jul 30, 2020 00:42

OctaviusBeaver: Apr 30, 2009; Say what now?

quote:

I saw images from a strange place, as seen through strange eyes. Liquid all around. Shapes, like squids, shooting through the liquid. Yeerks. Swimming in the Yeerk pool. Soaking up Kandrona rays.

Ax said Yeerks are blind. Maybe he was taking a dip in the Yeerk pool as a Gedd or something.

Also it's too late now but I think Fly would have been his best bet. 4 mph for 2 hours puts you 8 miles out in any direction, then go bird and fly home.

# ? Jul 30, 2020 01:34

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

OctaviusBeaver posted:

Ax said Yeerks are blind. Maybe he was taking a dip in the Yeerk pool as a Gedd or something.

Also it's too late now but I think Fly would have been his best bet. 4 mph for 2 hours puts you 8 miles out in any direction, then go bird and fly home.

True, but Ax could be wrong or oversimplfying. Ax has never been a Yeerk. And they may have bad enough vision that they're functionally blind.

# ? Jul 30, 2020 01:47

freebooter: Jul 7, 2009

OctaviusBeaver posted:

Also it's too late now but I think Fly would have been his best bet. 4 mph for 2 hours puts you 8 miles out in any direction, then go bird and fly home.

Yeah even as a kid I thought this was the obvious choice, to the point where Applegate should've had them stick with roaches and not have the fly morph available at all.

# ? Jul 30, 2020 01:50

Radio Free Kobold: Aug 11, 2012; "Federal regulations mandate that at least 30% of our content must promote Reptilian or Draconic culture. This is DJ Scratch N' Sniff with the latest mermaid screeching on KBLD..."

"I realized then that there is a very basic difference between Yeerks and humans. A human will fight even when he knows he can't win. Maybe our species is just a little crazy. But human history is full of cases where a handful of guys would fight an entire army. They'd get stomped, but they'd fight anyway. That's not the way it is for Yeerks. They are ruthless. They will do anything, absolutely anything to win. But when the situation is impossible, totally impossible, they stop fighting. They figure that other Yeerks will carry on the fight for them. Different ways of looking at your world."

Hunh. You know, I've read variations on this theme a lot over the years. Never realized that I would've first seen it in Animorphs of all places.

# ? Jul 30, 2020 02:38

nine-gear crow: Aug 10, 2013

Radio Free Kobold posted:

"I realized then that there is a very basic difference between Yeerks and humans. A human will fight even when he knows he can't win. Maybe our species is just a little crazy. But human history is full of cases where a handful of guys would fight an entire army. They'd get stomped, but they'd fight anyway. That's not the way it is for Yeerks. They are ruthless. They will do anything, absolutely anything to win. But when the situation is impossible, totally impossible, they stop fighting. They figure that other Yeerks will carry on the fight for them. Different ways of looking at your world."

Hunh. You know, I've read variations on this theme a lot over the years. Never realized that I would've first seen it in Animorphs of all places.

Again, god them if they ever encounter a Yeerk that's crazy or determined enough to not surrender...

# ? Jul 30, 2020 02:48

Cythereal: Nov 8, 2009; I love the potoo,
and the potoo loves you.

Epicurius posted:

True, but Ax could be wrong or oversimplfying. Ax has never been a Yeerk. And they may have bad enough vision that they're functionally blind.

My guess is that Yeerks have other senses don't correspond to any human or Andalite senses, and Jake's mind is filtering the Yeerk's memories of its native sensory apparatus as sight.

# ? Jul 30, 2020 03:21

Shinjobi: Jul 10, 2008; Gravy Boat 2k

Aw flip i need to join in on this. Yall just got to my all time favorite book in the series

# ? Jul 30, 2020 03:46

Silver2195: Apr 4, 2012

Radio Free Kobold posted:

"I realized then that there is a very basic difference between Yeerks and humans. A human will fight even when he knows he can't win. Maybe our species is just a little crazy. But human history is full of cases where a handful of guys would fight an entire army. They'd get stomped, but they'd fight anyway. That's not the way it is for Yeerks. They are ruthless. They will do anything, absolutely anything to win. But when the situation is impossible, totally impossible, they stop fighting. They figure that other Yeerks will carry on the fight for them. Different ways of looking at your world."

Hunh. You know, I've read variations on this theme a lot over the years. Never realized that I would've first seen it in Animorphs of all places.

It's kind of a weird trope when you think about it, because while humans are capable of struggling against all odds, they're also capable of giving in to despair and giving up, which animals, I believe, generally never do. So the idea only makes sense in a fictional setting with intelligent nonhumans who are more prone to giving up than humans are. And yet the way the trope is used (maybe not so much in Animorphs, but in other stories, e.g., Fullmetal Alchemist) often implies that writers see it as a profound observation about real life, rather than something that happens to be true in the setting they've created.

Edit: It's something that occurred to me when reading Graham Greene's The Power and the Glory, in which the whiskey priest, encountering a starving animal, reflects that �Unlike him, she retained a kind of hope. Hope was an instinct only the reasoning human mind could kill. An animal never knew despair.� And yet when the subjects of hope and the uniqueness of humans come up in genre fiction, it's usually framed the other way around!

Silver2195 fucked around with this message at 04:19 on Jul 30, 2020

# ? Jul 30, 2020 04:08

ENEMIES EVERYWHERE: Oct 27, 2006; ]; Pillbug

Silver2195 posted:

It's kind of a weird trope when you think about it, because while humans are capable of struggling against all odds, they're also capable of giving in to despair and giving up, which animals, I believe, generally never do. So the idea only makes sense in a fictional setting with intelligent nonhumans who are more prone to giving up than humans are. And yet the way the trope is used (maybe not so much in Animorphs, but in other stories, e.g., Fullmetal Alchemist) often implies that writers see it as a profound observation about real life, rather than something that happens to be true in the setting they've created.

100%. "gently caress yeah human determination" is a trope that feels good, but the reality on earth is that humans love to give up. We give up all the time. We give up by leading "lives of quiet desperation" instead of doing what we really truly desire, or we commit suicide, or we quietly withdraw from our own minds and bodies and leave a hollow shell behind: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/04/03/the-trauma-of-facing-deportation

I'm now approaching the end of the series as a first-time reader (thanks thread for the inspiration!), and while there are plenty of examples of human grit & nevergiveup-ness etc. in the text, there is also a really compelling & nuanced counter-example in Tobias. He maybe-probably trapped himself in hawk morph to escape his human life, he definitely tries to commit suicide to escape his hawk life, and in book 33 where Taylor tortures him for 50% of the pagecount, he tries to escape into the hawk brain to deal with the physical torture, because animals only focus on the immediate present, and even a shrieking, uncomprehending present of PAIN PAIN PAIN is preferable to seeing an eternity full of neverending PAIN PAIN PAIN stretching out before you. If you can't perceive the future, you can't fall into despair.

of course then she starts pushing the big button labeled "psychological torture" instead, so that strategy stops working for him, but I thought it was a cool reinforcement of your point about animals vs. humans and despair.

I remember book 6 being a big "drat these books don't pull their punches" moment for me as I was getting started with the series. now I'm on 50 and it's kind of sad how much younger and more free the kids seem here compared to their counterparts later on.

yeerk jacuuzi? w/e, flip that bad boy on and let's grab some mcdonalds on the way home

# ? Jul 30, 2020 04:44

freebooter: Jul 7, 2009

Yeah I re-read the series when I was like 19 or 20 I think, and definitely noticed a marked difference between the sort of optimistic cheerfulness and hope of the early books, then around the middle there's a tone of how wearying this constant guerilla war of attrition has become for them, and by the final third - even as it becomes clear they're probably going to win the war, they know that no matter what they're going to be personally traumatised by everything that happened, forever.

# ? Jul 30, 2020 05:49

Avalerion: Oct 19, 2012

It's a shame that due to single view points per book we won't actually get to see Ax Jake doing his thing.

# ? Jul 30, 2020 09:18

Tree Bucket: Apr 1, 2016; R.I.P.idura leucophrys

Having last read these at the age of eleven, I vaguely remembered Ax being kind of a wiener. Maybe I was hoping for another Elfangor?
But on the re-read... Ax is kind of awesome! He's doing great, especially for a more-or-less orphaned kid stranded among aliens in the middle of a warzone.

# ? Jul 30, 2020 12:19

Mazerunner: Apr 22, 2010; Good Hunter, what... what is this post?

huh, my childhood memories only have Jake being infested and like nothing else from this book. like the capture/starving being pretty much the whole book, but its really just a small portion isn't it?

# ? Jul 30, 2020 14:23

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Mazerunner posted:

huh, my childhood memories only have Jake being infested and like nothing else from this book. like the capture/starving being pretty much the whole book, but its really just a small portion isn't it?

It's the last third of the book, but it does loom a lot larger in the mind. I think it's because it's the intense, unique part, while things like "Jake practicing morphing, the kids infiltrating a Sharing meeting/discussing how to stop a Yeerk plot" is sort of routine and not surprising at this point.

# ? Jul 30, 2020 14:46

Cythereal: Nov 8, 2009; I love the potoo,
and the potoo loves you.

Epicurius posted:

It's the last third of the book, but it does loom a lot larger in the mind. I think it's because it's the intense, unique part, while things like "Jake practicing morphing, the kids infiltrating a Sharing meeting/discussing how to stop a Yeerk plot" is sort of routine and not surprising at this point.

It's not every book where a group of teenagers not only consciously decides to imprison a sentient being until it starves to death, literally the only alternative would get them all killed or enslaved and with them probably doom humanity.

Probably would have been too on the nose for the Yeerk to ask them to give him a quick death and voluntarily leave Jake rather than die the slow, agonizing death of starvation.

# ? Jul 30, 2020 17:44

feetnotes: Jan 29, 2008

If the yeerk accepts that it�s going to die, why not morph into a fish and take Jake down with it? I guess maybe the fugue mind state means it�s not thinking clearly, but the idea must have occurred to it at some point.

# ? Jul 30, 2020 17:47

OctaviusBeaver: Apr 30, 2009; Say what now?

I got the feeling that Yeerk admired Jake to some degree. Yeah he would make him a host if he could, but if not I think he wouldn't want to destroy such a unique body for no reason. Like a naturalist wouldn't want to see an endangered lion put down even if it mauled him, or a jockey wouldn't want to see a good horse neglected even if he could never ride it.

Plus Jake did mention that he had fantasies of being rescued right up until the end, and he wouldn't want to be stuck as a roach if that happened.

OctaviusBeaver fucked around with this message at 18:08 on Jul 30, 2020

# ? Jul 30, 2020 18:04

disaster pastor: May 1, 2007

feetnotes posted:

If the yeerk accepts that it�s going to die, why not morph into a fish and take Jake down with it? I guess maybe the fugue mind state means it�s not thinking clearly, but the idea must have occurred to it at some point.

It's just not a thing a Yeerk would do. Regardless of the accuracy of "humans don't give up ever," the books are pretty consistent that Yeerks do. If they can't win, they don't bother fighting until/unless that changes, even if they could get a taking-you-with-me out of it; they'll sit and wait for the ever-decreasing chance of rescue instead.

# ? Jul 30, 2020 18:11

Cythereal: Nov 8, 2009; I love the potoo,
and the potoo loves you.

disaster pastor posted:

It's just not a thing a Yeerk would do. Regardless of the accuracy of "humans don't give up ever," the books are pretty consistent that Yeerks do. If they can't win, they don't bother fighting until/unless that changes, even if they could get a taking-you-with-me out of it; they'll sit and wait for the ever-decreasing chance of rescue instead.

Personally, I wonder if that's due to how helpless Yeerks are in their native form. If a Yeerk is in trouble outside a host, it's screwed, end of story. There's no biological impetus to fight on even when survival is improbable because Yeerks are that helpless unless they're in a host.

# ? Jul 30, 2020 18:14

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Silver2195 posted:

It's kind of a weird trope when you think about it, because while humans are capable of struggling against all odds, they're also capable of giving in to despair and giving up, which animals, I believe, generally never do. So the idea only makes sense in a fictional setting with intelligent nonhumans who are more prone to giving up than humans are. And yet the way the trope is used (maybe not so much in Animorphs, but in other stories, e.g., Fullmetal Alchemist) often implies that writers see it as a profound observation about real life, rather than something that happens to be true in the setting they've created.

I'm wondering how much it is that this world is just so much more dangerous than the Yeerk homeworld? Maybe earth life itself is just more competitive and more driven than Yeerk planet life.

# ? Jul 30, 2020 18:15

Khizan: Jul 30, 2013

Cythereal posted:

Personally, I wonder if that's due to how helpless Yeerks are in their native form. If a Yeerk is in trouble outside a host, it's screwed, end of story. There's no biological impetus to fight on even when survival is improbable because Yeerks are that helpless unless they're in a host.

I look at it as more of extreme selfishness, as befits a parasitic species.

Why would I care about killing an enemy if it means I die in the process? That doesn't benefit me at all. Way better to sit it out and hope that the situation changes.

# ? Jul 30, 2020 21:30

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# ? May 23, 2024 19:37

ANOTHER SCORCHER: Aug 12, 2018

While humans can definitely give in to mental despair and hopelessness, we�re also the best endurance runners on Earth. Hunter-gatherers will chase antelopes until the latter literally collapse from exhaustion. Horses and some dogs come close, but we�ve selected them for those traits and have a deep kinship with both. It isn�t that extreme to suggest that high endurance is a uniquely human trait. Better than making humans the average yardstick against which other species are balanced by having more strength but less dexterity and so forth.

# ? Jul 30, 2020 21:35

The Something Awful Forums > Archives > Comedy Goldmine > Let's Read Animorphs! The Whole Series! Ch-ch-ch-chaaanges

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