Richard's Animorphs Forum

Animorphs Section => Animorphs Forum Classic => Topic started by: CounterInstinct on June 24, 2008, 08:02:39 AM

Title: Why do some people misunderstand Jake at the End?
Post by: CounterInstinct on June 24, 2008, 08:02:39 AM
I mean at the Beginning, book 54.... or whatever.

I mean, some people don't understand why Jake felt much guilt after the war. Heck these all happened:

Extinction of a species called Howlers.
The unfortunate Destiny of a kid called David.
Death of thousands of humans, Hork-Bajir, Taxxons, and Yeerks at the Yeerk Pool.
Death of the soldiers who fought as distraction.
Slaughter of the Auxilliary Animorphs.
17,000 Yeerks, flushed without warning.
Tom's death.
Rachel's death.
Plus the death of thousands more.


Plus...
Plus.


All in Jake's command. Who wouldn't feel guilty about that?
Title: Re: Why do some people misunderstand Jake at the End?
Post by: Chad32 on June 24, 2008, 08:25:39 AM
I understand why he would feel guilty. Some things I would blame him for, like flushing the Yeerks, but some things I don't. Like David.
Title: Re: Why do some people misunderstand Jake at the End?
Post by: morfowt on June 24, 2008, 08:32:56 AM
I mean at the Beginning, book 54.... or whatever.

I mean, some people don't understand why Jake felt much guilt after the war. Heck these all happened:

Extinction of a species called Howlers.
The unfortunate Destiny of a kid called David.
Death of thousands of humans, Hork-Bajir, Taxxons, and Yeerks at the Yeerk Pool.
Death of the soldiers who fought as distraction.
Slaughter of the Auxilliary Animorphs.
17,000 Yeerks, flushed without warning.
Tom's death.
Rachel's death.
Plus the death of thousands more.


Plus...
Plus.


All in Jake's command. Who wouldn't feel guilty about that?
I honestly have no clue why. I don't blame him for anything...well except for maybe not feeling guilty about blackmailing Erek. he could've at least said sorry.
Title: Re: Why do some people misunderstand Jake at the End?
Post by: Duff on June 24, 2008, 10:56:32 AM
i didnt even know people misunderstood him, do you mean like marco and cassie or fans?
its just the way jake is, weight of the world on his shoulders and all that, cant help it
Title: Re: Why do some people misunderstand Jake at the End?
Post by: SuperBlue on June 24, 2008, 11:52:05 AM
Jake shouldn't feel bad about David. He did what he had to do and there was no other way to stop him without killing him. The Howlers weren't exactly his fault either. What Jake should feel bad about is everything else. All of those things could've been avoided especially Rachel and Tom's death. All Jake had to do was have another Animorph go with Rachel, he could've even gone with her, and with the extra help. she probably could've survived.

PS

I'm a little confused as to what happened with Erek could someone fill me in(I haven't read any of the books that lead up to the end)
Title: Re: Why do some people misunderstand Jake at the End?
Post by: Duff on June 24, 2008, 12:04:38 PM
SPOILERS
Eric refuses to help the animorphs so Jake captures Chapman and threatens to kill him unless Eric helps, forcing his programming. Erics job is to disable the pool ship so it can't move, but once he does that he also starts draining the weapons power so that it can't fire on the blade ship, which prevents them from saving Rachel.

Just because they were the right choices (david and howlers) doesnt mean that jake isnt responsible for making those choices
Title: Re: Why do some people misunderstand Jake at the End?
Post by: Chad32 on June 24, 2008, 12:07:03 PM
Jake shouldn't feel bad about David. He did what he had to do and there was no other way to stop him without killing him. The Howlers weren't exactly his fault either. What Jake should feel bad about is everything else. All of those things could've been avoided especially Rachel and Tom's death. All Jake had to do was have another Animorph go with Rachel, he could've even gone with her, and with the extra help. she probably could've survived.

PS

I'm a little confused as to what happened with Erek could someone fill me in(I haven't read any of the books that lead up to the end)
None of the other Animorphs would have been willing to do what Jake was asking rachel to do. Maybe one of the Auxilary Animorphs.

The Chee weren't explained. I assume they went back into hiding.

I partly blame eric for Rachel's death. If the Bladeship had been shot down, Rachel may have been able to escape. At the very least, part of the point of her going was to keep the Blade Ship from getting away. Unfortunately it did, and that was because of Eric.

As far as the Howlers go, there's really nothing to blame Jake for. The species didn't die. Crayak didn't kill off the entire species. They just learned to kiss instead of kill. As for the six Howlers, well the whole point of the Animorphs being sent to the Iskoort world was to kill them. That's not his fault.
Title: Re: Why do some people misunderstand Jake at the End?
Post by: Phoenix004 on June 24, 2008, 03:54:50 PM
At first, I was mad at Erek for disabling the weapons system, but when you think about it you really can't blame him. He was forced to go along on the mission due to emotional blackmail, which his programming forced him to comply with. Also, his programming forbids him from harming any living thing, so we can assume it works like the First Law of Robotics (see the book/movie I, Robot for details) in that he wasn't allowed to let humans be harmed through inaction (such as letting people get blown to pieces by the ship's weapons).
Title: Re: Why do some people misunderstand Jake at the End?
Post by: esplin on June 24, 2008, 04:35:27 PM
I feel that Jake was awesome at the end of the series, hes much stronger then I could have been.  I mean who wouldnt end up like him? Idk I dont think I misunderstood him.
Title: Re: Why do some people misunderstand Jake at the End?
Post by: AniDragon on June 24, 2008, 05:11:16 PM
At first, I was mad at Erek for disabling the weapons system, but when you think about it you really can't blame him. He was forced to go along on the mission due to emotional blackmail, which his programming forced him to comply with. Also, his programming forbids him from harming any living thing, so we can assume it works like the First Law of Robotics (see the book/movie I, Robot for details) in that he wasn't allowed to let humans be harmed through inaction (such as letting people get blown to pieces by the ship's weapons).

I agree. People can blame Erek all they want, but he was following his programming. He absolutely could not let the Pool Ship use it's weapons if he had a way of stopping it.
Title: Re: Why do some people misunderstand Jake at the End?
Post by: SuperBlue on June 24, 2008, 07:52:27 PM

Just because they were the right choices (david and howlers) doesnt mean that jake isnt responsible for making those choices

Yea but he shouldn't feel bad about those choices especially since Cassie's the one who suggested what happened to David. He could've said no to Cassie's plan and instead, order everyone to go into their battle morphs and kill David(He should feel bad if that were the case) But instead he chose the more civilized option.
Title: Re: Why do some people misunderstand Jake at the End?
Post by: morfowt on June 25, 2008, 01:37:12 AM
civilized? In my opinion killing him would be way better than leaving him trapped as a rat. Either way, your life is over, but if you're dead you don't have to live it. If you're trapped as a rat, you still have to live your life, which is over.
Title: Re: Why do some people misunderstand Jake at the End?
Post by: CounterInstinct on June 25, 2008, 05:46:06 AM
Ummm.... About the howler thing? I think Crayak annihilated the whole species, because of no use to him anymore. That's why Crayak refers to them as "destroyed my Howlers" because he forced Crayak's hand to destroy his species.

And yeah, making him a nothlit is even a fate worse than death. I bet as he was trapped in that bottle, he was begging Rachel to kill him instead.

Plus, no one would go with Rachel if he asked the other Animorphs about it. It was suicide no matter how many Animorphs he would send to the blade ship. I think it would take at least 5 morph capable warriors to make it a success. But the only remaining Animorph that Jake could spare is Marco. He already had asked too much of the auxillaries, since they didn't want to fight the last mission in the first place. Which in fact, they died in.
Title: Re: Why do some people misunderstand Jake at the End?
Post by: morfowt on June 25, 2008, 06:30:41 AM
And yeah, making him a nothlit is even a fate worse than death. I bet as he was trapped in that bottle, he was begging Rachel to kill him instead.

actually he was trapped in a metal box. the animorphs were trapped in the bottle as roaches.
Title: Re: Why do some people misunderstand Jake at the End?
Post by: goom on October 23, 2008, 06:51:54 PM
...not to mention Jake got the Chee, who had never harmed another being, to break their clean-streak.
that's something worth noting.

but yeah, good points. i'd have felt similar.
Title: Re: Why do some people misunderstand Jake at the End?
Post by: Champion on October 28, 2008, 02:46:21 PM
The only thing Im mad at Jake for was ramming the blade ship. He didnt even ask anyone else if they cared, he was just like, ram it.
Everything else he was forced to do. He knew that the last battle was going to be the one to deside all others, and he knew that sacrifices were going to have to be made. I cant blame him for being so depressed. He asked the auxillary animorphs to join the war, and do watch them die like that...
Title: Re: Why do some people misunderstand Jake at the End?
Post by: zaprowsdower on October 28, 2008, 03:56:35 PM
He did after they all made a quick, unspoken agreement.
Ya know, the one where all they have to do is look at each other to know what everyone's thinking?
That kinda thing.
Title: Re: Why do some people misunderstand Jake at the End?
Post by: Champion on October 29, 2008, 02:00:27 PM
oh. i didnt remember that.
Title: Re: Why do some people misunderstand Jake at the End?
Post by: V2113 on October 31, 2008, 03:00:45 PM
The only thing Im mad at Jake for was ramming the blade ship. He didnt even ask anyone else if they cared, he was just like, ram it.

Marco said for Jake to trust his gut instinct. Obviously, that was his gut instinct. He knew they couldn't go back because they'd be killed. He knew they couldn't run away because they'd be killed. So the only thing to do was to go forward. As Marco said (not exactly like this but pretty close), "You can't think things through. You have to trust your instincts and make the right choice. Just don't think about it, like you did when we were kids. When you started to doubt yourself you nearly got us all killed, so trust your gut instinct." Well, something like that anyway.
Don't blame Jake. Don't blame anyone.
Title: Re: Why do some people misunderstand Jake at the End?
Post by: sherrilina on November 07, 2008, 06:02:04 PM
I know what you mean, I think he's misunderstood by a lot of people at the end as well--myself included initially.  I remember the first time I read the last few books being horrified by the way Jake's character turned out in the end (especially the shots he was calling), but now that I'm older I can see the tragedy of it, and see where he was coming from.  And I love him all the more for it....he always was, and still is my favorite character fo the series, and I can understand why he did what he did at the end.  But on the other hand I can also see perhaps where people would have been annoyed at his choices--but really, he had few choices, and the fact that they won the way they did was pretty amazing.