Author Topic: Alloran  (Read 5259 times)

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Offline wotw2112

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Alloran
« on: August 27, 2008, 09:43:49 PM »
I was just wondering what others' thoughts on Alloran (Visser 3's host) were.

Just for thought:

Did he deserve what he got (bio-weapon used on the Hork-Bajir and willingness to wipe out numerous Yeerks over Elfangor's objection just as Jake ironically ended up doing)?

Does anyone feel sorry for him?

Would anyone liked to have heard more about what happened to him after he was freed from Esplin 9466?

Any other thoughts?
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Offline Phoenix004

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Re: Alloran
« Reply #1 on: August 27, 2008, 10:01:33 PM »
It would have been nice to see more of him after he was freed in #54 but what we did see of him proved that he has changed for the better. He stood up for Ax and supported his challenge against the Andalite military.

It would also have been nice to see flashbacks to his early days before he became a great warrior. In the Andalite Chronicles it is said that Alloran was once a less serious person with a great sense of humour; before the war corrupted him.

Yes he committed terrible crimes, but nobody deserved the fate of being infested by Esplin 9466 (Visser Three).
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Offline wotw2112

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Re: Alloran
« Reply #2 on: August 27, 2008, 10:05:27 PM »
It would have been nice to see more of him after he was freed in #54 but what we did see of him proved that he has changed for the better. He stood up for Ax and supported his challenge against the Andalite military.

It would also have been nice to see flashbacks to his early days before he became a great warrior. In the Andalite Chronicles it is said that Alloran was once a less serious person with a great sense of humour; before the war corrupted him.

My sentiments as well.  I think he's actually one of the most...interesting (if not exactly likeable) characters in the entire series.  He's always sooooo central to everything but we know almost nothing about him.
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Offline XenomorphLV426

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Re: Alloran
« Reply #3 on: August 28, 2008, 12:11:51 AM »
I'll go as far as saying the quantum/bio bomb he used was justifiable.  Not pleasant, perhaps not ethical, but you can definitely argue in favor of it.  I'm not sure what the population of the Hork-Bajir pre-quantum bomb was (or the Yeerk's population for that matter), but the  fact they lost of as many bodies to the Yeerks as they did was a MAJOR blow.  If the Yeerks had enslaved the race as a mass grouping, in full numbers, the Andalites may not have lasted half as long as they did.

It's the same deal as the melting Earth from orbit thing, the quarantine toward the end of the series.  Moral?  Gray area.  Can you make arguments towards its cold logical necessity?  Most definitely.

Alloran was awesome, as that embittered yet practical veteran type of guy.
« Last Edit: August 28, 2008, 07:55:29 PM by XenomorphLV426 »

Offline wotw2112

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Re: Alloran
« Reply #4 on: August 28, 2008, 09:34:22 AM »
Alloran was awesome, as that embittered yet practical veteran type of guy.

I agree.

I guess you make a strong point.  Maybe the blame for the bio-bomb lays with the andalites as a whole as they didn't give Alloran the needed resources to protect the planet the way he should have...

That's kind of the way I saw it too, he did what he had to cause he had no other options.  Of course maybe we'd (or at least I'd) feel differently if it was done to humans...
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Offline Chad32

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Re: Alloran
« Reply #5 on: August 28, 2008, 11:25:00 AM »
I think maybe he did deserve the fate he got, after releasing the quantum virus. He of all people should have taken it more seriously when Aldrea contacted them about the Yeerks. He was afraid something like that may happen, but he didn't bring enough troops to battle when Adrea talked about the invasion of the HB homeworld.

I never liked the guy, but he seems to have improved. I am glad he was finally rescued.

I wish we were told what happened to him after he was freed, but it's just one of those loose ends KA didn't feel like tying up in the "end".


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Offline Gaz

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Re: Alloran
« Reply #6 on: August 28, 2008, 07:14:35 PM »
It would have been great to find out what happened to him after he was freed. I mean, didn't he have a family? I thought I recalled in book 8 that he asked Ax to send a message to his wife.

The question in my head is what would the family reunion have been like? Is Alloran's wife the sort who could stick with her husband after he was the most notorious controller? Or would she be scared off by all the attention he would probably get?

Offline XenomorphLV426

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Re: Alloran
« Reply #7 on: August 28, 2008, 08:03:37 PM »
Daphnes, wouldn't that just mean he did what he had to do, once the Yeerks started winning?  Aldrea and Dak kind of seemed to be sabotaging something that would have worked.

Now I'm not saying what Alloran did was "right", but nothing in war is right.  The Hork-Bajir were as physically dangerous as the Andalites themselves, allowing the Yeerks to expand and take more species.

From a certain point of view, committing genocide on the Hork-Bajir would have saved more lives overall than it took, from a variety of races.

Plus, just throwing this out here (fully expecting a backlash, I know), that the Hork-Bajir weren't exactly a "natural" race, anyway.  Experiments of the Arn, somewhat of a gray area in itself as to whether or not they should even exist.  Although I can't remember if Alloran knew of their origins at the time, haven't read the book in a while.

But, all being said, if Alloran's ruthless decision had just been supported from the start, he was right, more good would have come of it than bad.  The Andalite High Council didn't have anything to do with it, remember.  He broke the law, but for a pretty damn good reason.

And it seemed the Council learned of their mistakes by the time of Earth, their quarantine plan seeming to hint that they finally realized just how cold and harsh and extreme things sometimes have to be, that perhaps Alloran was right all along.

The Andalites couldn't lose the humans to the Yeerks, simply couldn't, just as they probably shouldn't have let themselves lose the Hork-Bajir.  Without the Hork-Bajir, the Yeerks would have been relatively easily overrun and defeated.  The Andalite unwillingness to exterminate them fueled the war for however many decades it lasted.  Alloran knew this, and was persecuted for it.
« Last Edit: August 28, 2008, 08:06:22 PM by XenomorphLV426 »

Offline morfowt

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Re: Alloran
« Reply #8 on: August 28, 2008, 08:21:18 PM »
Although I can't remember if Alloran knew of their origins at the time, haven't read the book in a while.
I think he did. the quantum virus was made with combination of arn and andalite technology. If he needed like something to make it target hork-bajir, and talked to the arn about it, I think the arn would tell...does that make sense? it made a lot more sense in my head.

Offline RYTX

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Re: Alloran
« Reply #9 on: August 28, 2008, 08:40:55 PM »
even though I agree with a bit of what you said Xeno, I'm gonna nit pick just cuz i'm bored.
Of course there are moral right and wrongs in war. Humanity has reached a point were a number of conflicts can be "resolved" without a person on the power side setting foot on land. The reason we don't go and blast whole nations off that map is cuz people with morals (self not included) are unwilling to comprise them with what must be done for an immediate win
And as for the unnatural thing, kinda agree there too.  But at still you think about all the things people do that is not natural; folk breaks a leg in his apartment and calls out, is he supposed to be saved, healed and allowed to live and reproduce? In society yes, but in the "natural" would, he's food. Still we don't find it appropriate to round them up and shoot em in the hospitals just cuz they're not fit. (Yet we do horses, how odd...)
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Offline Chad32

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Re: Alloran
« Reply #10 on: August 28, 2008, 08:54:46 PM »
War does a lot more bad than good. I understand that. However, genocide is a horrible act. That's why we hate Hitler so much, and Hitler has nothing on what Alloran tried to do.

Maybe the quantum virus was the only way at the time, but only because they weren't taking the Yeerks as serious as they should have. Just because they botched up a good opportunity, does not justify the quantum virus.

If the Hork-Bajir died, the whole planet would die. They were created because they were needed to sustain the planet. It's just not the kind of thing I would ever approve of.

It's true that if the Yeerks had taken as many Hork-Bajir as they could have, then they would have likely won the war by the time they found Earth. As justifiable as it may seem, it only came down to that because they botched things up. They didn't go there in full force when Aldrea contacted them.

Destroying a planet is just not the kind of thing I'd ever called justified.

Edit: Actually, I'm not so sure the planet would die if all the Hork-Bajir died. If so, then the Arn would be less willing to help Alloran kill them off. But who knows?
« Last Edit: August 28, 2008, 09:21:07 PM by Daphnes »


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Offline XenomorphLV426

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Re: Alloran
« Reply #11 on: August 28, 2008, 09:20:08 PM »
I guess what I'm getting at is, Hitler was culling a race out of ignorance and prejudice.  That's evil.

Alloran was going to cut the losses and actually save more people than he hurt, based on something that you could reasonably call logic.  It wasn't an emotional hateful thing, it was actual military strategy.  And a military strategy that would have worked.

It's more like the dropping of the bombs on Japan than the genocide in Europe of the 20th century.  Much more in common with the former.

Offline wotw2112

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Re: Alloran
« Reply #12 on: August 28, 2008, 10:04:56 PM »
Alloran does have a whole universe to consider...as Xeno said, he was probably thinking of the innumerable lives he would be saving for just one planet among many thousands if not millions.  To him, the choice was obvious.  I'm not sure I wouldn't have done the same even though I consider myself a moral person.  Sometimes it's a choice between bad and worse. (also, better death or life as a controller?)

Of course the right choice was to go in with enough strength to take the Yeerks out.  Life has taught me that if you're going in, given the chance, always go in with overwhelming force.  But by the time Alloran made the call, this was moot.  What was done, was done.  He took the one option he saw.

And the andalites ironically did come around to his way of thinking in the end (not that that fact makes it right).
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Offline XenomorphLV426

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Re: Alloran
« Reply #13 on: August 28, 2008, 10:26:11 PM »
It kind of does make it right.  They couldn't count on the Animorphs to win Earth, six youths with a bunch of animal morphs: not exactly formidable.  How many humans are on this planet?  Six billion?  Seven?  They couldn't have the Yeerks take Earth.  Simply couldn't.

Better to blow the everloving crap out of the six billion humans, than doom another countless number of species to slavery.  The War Council wasn't really morally wrong about that, either.  The only difference between the two was Alloran acted alone in a rogue manner, the captain guy in #54 was fully sanctioned.  Just as I guess Jake was sanctioned to do whatever he had to do in the final story arc of the series.  The military probably didn't know he was sending 100 auxiliary kids to their certain death, but they probably would have grimly given approval anyway, if they knew.  We're talking the planet here.

Alloran was more or less just the total hardass, taking on the responsibility himself and throwing away his reputation, burdening himself rather than anyone else.  Seems pretty noble to me.  He was just like this grim gruff Vietnam vet kind of dude, frustrated by idealistic fresh-faced youth like Elfangor who at that stage really had no idea what they were talking about.  His d1cky personality was understandable.

Offline Yorick Brown

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Re: Alloran
« Reply #14 on: August 29, 2008, 12:23:01 AM »
I'd feel sorry for anyone who was torn away from his family to become a prisoner of their own body, watching it do horrible things.

Although the use of the bioweapon on the Hork-Bajir was very unethical.
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