Hork-Bajir Homeworld Post-Series

[TobiasMasonPark]

     I recently read the Hork-Bajir Chronicles (because it's one of my personal favourites) and the Prophecy (because I read the latter), and as I don't do much else with my time lately but think about Animorphs, I've been wondering what happened to the Hork-Bajir Homeworld both after the events of Animorphs 34, and the end of the earth invasion. Since we don't get much information about the Empire's remaining holdings--two of which are confirmed to have been conquered (Hork-Bajir and Taxxon) and those planets Ax and Temrash 114 claimed were conquered, like that of the Nahara (Animorphs 8: the Alien), Mak, and Ssstram home worlds--because not a whole lot of great things can be taken from the finale, we're left to speculate. Yay.

     So, last we hear of the Hork-Bajir home world, the Yeerk Pool is destroyed, and possibly thousands of Yeerks are killed. The last of the arn--whose name I won't bother copy and pasting--grew some new Hork-Bajir which will be armed to stage an uprising to take the planet back from the Yeerks. Then...meh. The Hork-Bajir on earth are set up at Yellowstone (or somewhere like it) and Toby gets a non-voting seat in the House of Representatives. Toby seemed especially dedicated to the idea of helping free the planet back in Animorphs 34, but supposedly she doesn't. I don't know, maybe she changes her views on war once Jara Hamee is killed, but given her attitudes to war and freeing her people, I doubt it.

     What do you think became of the rebellion? Were the Yeerks really hurt by the destruction of the Yeerk pool, or was that just one of many (perhaps one in each of the fourteen Hork-Bajir valleys, or whatever the number was) pools they had and the Yeerks just shrugged it off? Who was in charge? Were they reprimanded for their failiures? Given the damage already done to the planet, partly by the Yeerks, partly due to the initial asteroid event which created the Hork-Bajir-Bajir valleys millions of years before the events of the series, was the planet even worth saving? Would these newly created Hork-Bajir be able to maintain the planet if they defeat the Yeerks? They were bred and possibly trained specifically to fight, whereas the original Hork-Bajir were made for stripping and eating bark. Mayhaps that's why it wasn't mentioned, the planet was beyond saving. But I'd still like to know what happened there.

     I like to think that this would have been mentioned had the series continued. I imagine Toby and the Animorphs going back to the planet, mayhaps with some first generation Hork-Bajir, and check out the situation there, probably with a lot more security after the travesty that was the battle in Animorphs 34. Mayhaps the Toby and her group would stay behind and show the Hork-Bajir how to strip bark or something.

     I don't know. Thoughts?

[TheWolfEmperor]

Some of the Yeerks might have taken the chance to morph Hork-Bajir. They could have gone back to rehabilitate the Homeworld, or maintain the new population on Earth.

Is it worth rehabilitating? That is a good question. It's possible the Hork-Bajir, with the exception of the Seers, wouldn't know one way or the other if it was worth it or not. If nothing else, they're in no danger of being poached or hunted like the ones on Earth are.

[Adam]

I imagine it was left out of the series because of ghost writers and a possibly rushed ending. This isn't Game of Thrones we're talking about =P I would assume, though, that the Yeerk empire would be dissolved soon after they were defeated around Earth and, to avoid another Yeerk uprising, the Hork-Bajir planet would be "de-Yeerked". Maybe the freed Hork-Bajir would be taken to Earth or left there to aid with fixing the planet.

Don't think Humans would have much to do with the planet, but the Andalites would probably get involved with it. Not sure how much they would dedicate to rebuilding a planet that wasn't their own. On the other hand, Human governments wouldn't want the Hork-Bajir in a national park (Yellowstone) forever - maybe for as long as tourism gives them substantial profit -  and would probably put some political pressure on the Andalites to fix the HB planet so the Earth Horks can return. Maybe they would bribe the Andalites with McDonalds?

[NothingFromSomething]

You'd kinda figure the Yeerks would probably hold it for a couple of years, a decade afterwards, or some such.

They deployed too much stuff to Earth and the Empire had its back broken, but it wasn't eradicated.  They probably still had a substantial investment in the Hork-Bajir world, and knowing the Andalites it's not like liberating them is going to be some top priority.   They're probably trying to clean up the Earth mess and focusing on keeping Andalite & Yeerk tech out of the lowly human's hands.

Once all of that's stable (which, knowing us, it probably wouldn't be for a while, mass in-fighting and clamoring to get an advantage over each other through the new tech), they might send a liberation force to help out the Hork-Bajir.

Still not lookin' really good if you happen to be a Hork-Bajir, though.  Yeerk world aside (which if I remember right had already had a huge Andalite blockade around it for quite some time), the Hork-Bajir world was probably their major foothold in the universe, even after losing Earth they're not going to give it up easily.  It could be taken from them, but the Andalites seem to have bigger fish to fry at the time.

[TobiasMasonPark]

   

You'd kinda figure the Yeerks would probably hold it for a couple of years, a decade afterwards, or some such.

They deployed too much stuff to Earth and the Empire had its back broken, but it wasn't eradicated.  They probably still had a substantial investment in the Hork-Bajir world, and knowing the Andalites it's not like liberating them is going to be some top priority.   They're probably trying to clean up the Earth mess and focusing on keeping Andalite & Yeerk tech out of the lowly human's hands.

Once all of that's stable (which, knowing us, it probably wouldn't be for a while, mass in-fighting and clamoring to get an advantage over each other through the new tech), they might send a liberation force to help out the Hork-Bajir.

Still not lookin' really good if you happen to be a Hork-Bajir, though.  Yeerk world aside (which if I remember right had already had a huge Andalite blockade around it for quite some time), the Hork-Bajir world was probably their major foothold in the universe, even after losing Earth they're not going to give it up easily.  It could be taken from them, but the Andalites seem to have bigger fish to fry at the time.

     I agree with them having a foothold on the planet still, and with the Andalites not making it their top priority. Considering the fact that they took three years to take a stake in Earth that wasn't carpet bombing the planet, they probably wrote it off as a lost cause.

     Then there's things like the Taxxon home world. With the Taxxons on Earth becoming nothlits, and a rebellion taking place presumably on the planet, the Yeerks lost a bunch of their valuable resources. Who's gonna dig tunnels for them, or fly air craft, or sit in a pit for crazy Vissers to dump their hostages into?

     Then there's the escaped blade ship with Tom's rebels.

     The empire has quite the mess to sort out.

     I picture the Animorphs liberating the remaining Yeerk holdings, once the business with the One gets figured out, going on all sorts of Animorphy adventures. It's great.

[TheWolfEmperor]

Assuming they survived the whole ramming of the blade ship, that is.

[TobiasMasonPark]

     Elfangor survived.

[Adam]

Donald Trump will build a wall around the Hork planet to stop Yeerks getting back in.

Seriously though, with the amount of effort the Andalites put into resisting the Yeerks, you really think they'd just allow the Yeerks to hold any planets whatsoever? With the potential to rise again? I doubt it hugely, and the Andalites probably went out to various strongholds after the war to cease any possibilities that the Yeerks can retain some power. Particularly with Horks being so able-bodied, that was probably the one of the first planets they would clear the Yeerks out of.

[TobiasMasonPark]

     It's hard to say what the Andalites would do. Any action on their part came from terrorists (Animorphs 38: the Arrival) stressed warriors who just want the war to end as quickly as possible (Alloran) or just straight up neglect (the Electorate).

     Mayhaps they would send fleets to those areas they considered to be a priority.

[Adam]

Andalites are pretty summy, let's be honest =P

[NothingFromSomething]

Adam, what's to say the Andalites could even take the Hork world if they wanted to? 

It's likely, given how much Yeerk industrial stuff went down with the Earth fiasco, but that doesn't really mean it's going to be easy to take back a planet they'd held for, what, 30-35 years or so?  It's probably been majorly fortified, as prior to Earth it's sort of their main source of non-useless hosts.  If the Andalites could just go in there and win a victory, they would have done it years ago. 

Earth broke the Yeerk Empire's back, and yeah, eventually that loss would probably mean the end of them in terms of conquest around the galaxy, but it's not going to be immediate.

And yeah, besides Elfangor's noble talk about the "gentle Hork-Bajir made slaves" etc, the Andalites don't seem to give much of a crap.  Sure they'd get around to liberating them, but they'd be sorting out the whole Earth powerkeg first.  Which would take a while.

[Adam]

Do we reckon that Andalites and Humans would form an allegience of sorts?  If so, then Humans would probably twist Andalite arms on a few things. This, since Humans essentially won the war against the creatures that Andalites unleashed. I don't think that the Andalites are so arrogant that they wouldn't feel indebted/guilty. Human governments would demand the fix of damages on Earth of course.

But then there's Toby Hamee who was made a member of the HoR. Perhaps she'll have some good influence on Human opinions, because no doubt she would have a lot to say on the matter. By influencing Humans, that could then indirectly force the Andalites to take some action.

Of course, as you say, the Hork planet could be heavily fortified, but then if the backbone of the empire is broken, then surely Andalite could blockade the planet and ensure that Yeerks can't transport stuff to, say, build Kandrona equipment?

.... This would be a much easier discussion if the plot was followed up in the books after 34!

[NothingFromSomething]

The humans can't twist the Andalite's arm on anything.  The Andalites barely even acknowledge that the humans won the war, it's sort of very contentious.  Alloran and Ax aside, it's not like the Andalites just come around and decide to stop viewing us as primitive clueless monkeys.

As for human government demands, what would the Andalites even care about that? 

As for the blockade of the Hork-Bajir, well sure.  I don't mean that the Empire doesn't collapse and the Andalites win, just that it's not going to happen overnight.  Jake & the kids could be like 30 and the Yeerks still hold it.

[Adam]

Actually, I can't help but agree on Andalites not caring. I forgot my own previous mispelled statement that Andalites are scummy =P

[DinosaurNothlit]

Um . . . I really hate to be the one to point this out, because I'm a huge fan of the Hork-bajir, and their planet, and just everything to do with them . . . but . . . I honestly don't think the Hork-bajir homeworld is even still there at all.

We're talking about one of the last remaining Yeerk strongholds from which they might rebuild their empire, home to a 'backwards' species that the Andalites never really gave a high priority to saving, and at this point it might take years if not decades to painstakingly clear the Yeerks off that planet if the Hork-bajir are to be saved.  Give me one good reason why the Andalites wouldn't do to them what they were going to do to Earth towards the end of the series (had the Animorphs not been there).  You know, the whole 'quarantine-and-annihilate' thing?

 . . . Please.  Give me one good reason.  I don't want to believe that's what happened.  I just can't see it going any other way.