Richard's Animorphs Forum
Animorphs Section => Animorphs Forum Classic => Topic started by: Toby on June 16, 2008, 06:43:33 PM
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Among readers, Rachel seems to be a popular favorite character. Most people like to like her. But at the same time, most people aren't like her. Hmm, not sure if I said that right... I guess what I'm trying to say is that I've never met anyone with her personality. She is loyal, brave, headstrong, and sometimes seemingly fearless. But at times she is also harsh, reckless, and dark. Her character is very bold, hardly ever backing down or faltering from a desicion she decides to make... But I'm sure you guys already know this. ;)
MY OPPINION
I don't know, out of all the people I know, no one fits her personality perferctly. And yet she is my favorite Animorph character. I like her because she is brave and steady, and also defensive of people close to her(When Taylor hurts Tobias and when David threatens her family). I think her overall personality may have came from taking care of her sisters, hypothetically of course. Before her parents split up, they might have fought each other alot before coming to the conclusion that they wanted a divorce. Rachel may have seen alot of fighting and arguing as a kid, and since she was the oldest, she might of felt she needed to protect her sisters from that unpleasantness, just as she protects the Animorphs from some unpleasant jobs. (Just a theory ;D) She tries to protect and watch over Tobias as well. She likes to protect the weak or injured, ect. And overtime, after having to fight and defend so many times, I think she grew to enjoy it.
And I don't have specific quotes, but whenever Marco wants to save his mom, or Jake his Dad, or any other Animorphs' family members, she is always the first one to say 'let's do it' whereas some of the other Animorphs are more concerned about jepordizing their secrecy.
What I want to hear from you guys is what do you think makes her character so darn admirable?
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She proves that girls can be tough and kick butt.
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She proves that girls can be tough and kick butt.
Heh, like we didn't already know that. I have sisters too... :)
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She proves that girls can be tough and kick butt.
Heh, like we didn't already know that. I have sisters too... :)
LOL! :D
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I love Rachel, because she is the kick-butt girl. I think that a lot of people admire her boldness and steadfastness, and even her slight craziness. Just look at the "If the invasion were real..." thread. How many people said that they would go in guns a-blazin' Rachel style? Her bravery is admirable, and her dark side is intriguing.
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She is the foil to Cassie, I guess. That's as simple as I can put it. Two girls with very different personalities.
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You know Toby, you're right..I've never met anyone like her either.
I can't actually imagine anyone being like her. But I suppose there's no one who has been put in her position..
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The way Rachel refused to back down from a fight no matter how bad the odds were. She was extremely loyal to her friends, and always stood up for Cassie whenever Marco flamed her for her beliefs, even when Cassie's opinions were totally different from hers. She helped the other group members be brave whenever they were up against a mission that seemed impossible.
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Honestly I don't know why...
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I really liked her strength and her compassion. She would always stand up for her beliefs and be unafraid to take action. She managed to present a very tough image of her to the world but at the same time she was a very caring and compassionate person. Right from the beginning she respected Tobias for his desire to fight in honor of Elfangor, even though to the rest of the group he still seemed like the poor bully magnet, and Rachel would always be offering Tobias her support to help him overcome his troubles. Rachel completely won me over in book 3. We see this same caring side of her in book 2 with Melissa, and when she tries to be there in a way for Marco after his dealings with Visser One. She also had plenty of her own insecurities that she struggled with, but in spite of them she always managed to be strong. I admire her, and I do know a few people who are pretty similar to her.
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Rachel is indeed a unique character. I can agree that I've never met anyone like her. She is loyal, as you all say. Brave. And then there's that reckless dark nature of hers. And to top it all off, she's absolutely gorgeous. What kind of girl is that? A girl that's a total babe and isn't shallow? AND a blond, and still smart. (I still say Rachel was a dumb blond, the way she jumped to action on impulse. But it only seemed that way during the ghostrwritten books, when her voice was "lost". They turned her into this one dimensional killing machine.
The best parts I enjoyed when reading about Rachel was she seeing her vulnerability. The girl behind the front whose sole reason for being so "lets do it" was to motivate her teammates. To protect them. That was the most intriguing part of her and I wish I could have seen more.
The Weakness was a terrible book in Rachel's story. Because it not only made her a bit one-dimensional, but it made her look really really DUMB. As I read the through the lines in her thought process I could see why she was frustrated half the time. That's because half her own thoughts didn't make any sense!
The Rachel i liked to read about was violent in battle, raging, an adrenaline junkie. But she did it coolly. Not some wild flowery war child who acted 5 yrs old. She wasnt a Howler who got off of rush of just killing people, as so horribly implied near the end of MM4 Back to Before.
She was one of my favorite Animorphs. Her, Marco, Cassie, and Ax. Well, jake and Tobias too. I enjoyed them all i guess. Long Live Rachel
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Rachel was my first crush when I was a kid. Straight up, when I was that young I wasnt all that intrested in girls, but Rachel was definatly hot. But after I grew up I realized that the animorphs couldnt have done what they did without her, she had the guts that only a few can have and she did what had to be done. If they didnt have someone like that who knows what would have happended?
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I bawled like a baby for three days following the final book, so you know how I feel about her as a person.
Rachel was a symbol of all the extremes within the human conscience, as well as the human capacity for courage and self-sacrifice. She was everything dark inside the human soul, and everything that could be redeemed from the darkness.
She was everything good and worthy in a warrior, as well as everything that could be viewed as wrong and immoral, given certain circumstances.
It is difficult NOT to see a certain part of one's own character inside her persona, and it makes her a very seductive personality to adopt when reading the books. It is easy to feel what she is feeling, when she is the narrator.
It's more difficult, for instance, to empathise with Ax, an alien mind, or Marco and Cassie, who are morally and logically opposite.
Tobias is distant; even as a narrator he pulls away from the reader. Jake behaves similarly, trying too hard to justify his actions to himself, his inner turmoil pushes the reader away from his consciousness.
Only Rachel has the absolute capacity to draw empathy from virtually any reader, based on what I've observed.
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^^^^^^Wow. I love that analysis. Nicely put
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Rachel and Marco were always my favorite characters, even when the books first came out. (Though my idolization of Marco increased later on). I think it is because they were the most developed of the characters. Cassie was very one sided, always compassionate and caring, Jake, although he had the occasional faltering, always lead. Tobias was there mostly to offer intelligent advice, he was generally silent, with a sad side. Ax was awesome and funny, but I think Rachel and Marco were the most developed emotionally and the most easily connected with.
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I agree with Starsword, Marco and Rachel's personality were probably the most um, dynamic I guess is the word.
And Estelore, I guess your right, there are parts of Rachel's personality and behavior that an average person can identify with more than the others.
I agree with filmstu2005, too. I didn't think the Weakness was at all a good portrayal of her character.
It's cool getting so many well-thought out views and ideas. :)
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She has the looks of a supermodel, and yet she tried to save the world. See, Rachel just seems to have everything: brains, bravery, looks...but she still gave up her nomal life to stop an invasion that seemed totally unreal to most people.
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i never really liked racheal
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i never really liked racheal
I like all of the Animorphs for different reasons, but Rachel is the most like myself. She's probably my favorite.
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rachel was my faverite when i was a kid, but i think i like elfangor and marco now
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I didn't realise she was so likeable, I personally didn't much care for her
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I didn't realise she was so likeable, I personally didn't much care for her
Me neither actually! I mean, I like her well enough--I love all of the Animorphs really!--but she was never a favorite character of mine, especially as she became more and more bloodthirsty and reckless (which may not have just been the ghostwriters--I get the feeling she was deteriorating as the war went on, as so many others were)--she just annoyed me most of the time by the end with her attitude.....though she could be very funny, such as in her bantering with Marco and her exasperation with Cassie's shyness/lack of fashion sense, and I did like her character then. And I do like that she's such an untypical blonde bombshell--yay girl power! But overall I identified much more with Cassie.....
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I disagree, Rachel is not so rare, real life Armies are full of men like her.
It seems that people who identify more with Cassie dislike her slightly...
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Me and Rachel have a lot in common. We should live.
Long live us reckless ****es!
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I liked the fact that she was beautiful, intelligent, kind (to Tobias), honourable, brave and fashion conscious, so often in media the heroine talks about how she doesn't care about her looks and views other women who do care about clothes or make up as being shallow. Rachel almost deconstructs that trope...
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RealWomenNeverWearDresses?from=Main.RealWomenWearDresses
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What really attracted me to her character was the hidden darkness she had deep down for so long and just waiting for it to come out. I remember even from The Stranger just feeling intrigued by what was to come.
I am a bit tipsy tonight so I hope this post makes some kind of sense. :/
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Wow, old thread.
She's cool because she's pretty AND smart.
Do we need any more reasons?
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You know the whole Rachel is the only random member of the group (every one else was specially selected by ellimist) well it sort of fits because she explempifies humanity: reckless, violent and slightly insecure but still playful, intelligent and honourable.
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You know the whole Rachel is the only random member of the group (every one else was specially selected by ellimist) well it sort of fits because she explempifies humanity: reckless, violent and slightly insecure but still playful, intelligent and honourable.
You know, that makes fantastic sense.
Personally though, I see why a lot of people liked Rachel, but I found her a tad annoying, for one reason: predictability. "Let's do it" gets old after a while in my opinion, and stupidly saying "let's go for it" when everyone, herself included, knows whatever they are planning is hopeless or presents unnecessary risk.
I will agree that her dark side is very intriguing, but the general premise of her up front character is not very deep. Still, that doesn't mean that she's my least favorite character.
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I just had a cool thought: in the alternative reality where Earth was a dodgy fascist place (megamorphs 3) instead of Rachel they had Melissa.
If Rachel is sort of the earth"s choice as they only random member of the group and exempleis human characteristics. then Melissa in this alternative timeline was the only random member of the group represents the human characteristics of that alternative world: she was shy and submissive and feminine... exemplifying all the values that police states seek in their citizens especially women.
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That makes sense to me.
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Being the hardcore R/T shipper that I am, it was Rachel's loyalty to Tobias that made me like her. The others thought she was so hardened, but when she was alone with Tobias a much softer side of her came forward. Had she not died I really think their relationship would have lasted for the long term.
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I think so to, in fact I think she would've thrived. I think the only reason she died was because warriors are politically incorrect these days.
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What do you mean by politically incorrect?
Yeah, Rachel and Tobias' relationship was strong. Which made me understand even less when KA talked about Jake and Cassie's relationship not working because relationships that start during wartime can't last during peacetime.
So that's two contradictions. One where I can't see why Tobais and Rachel, whose relationship didn't start until after the war started, would fall apart. Another where Jake and Cassie were together before the war started, and had little development, but then fell apart because they changed over time. Of course change happens to people, whether they get caught up in a war or not.
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Well we can guess the views (from interviews and subtextual reading of her books) of KA Applegates and they are almost the essence of political correctness. (an ideology that is generally anti war if the west does it, morally libertine, mildly socialist in economics i think someone else discussed the themes of animorphs) KA is very anti-war which is why Cassie and Jake's relationship falls apart...
Rachel, despite being KA own creation, was still offensive to the authors world view: she was violent, materialistic, vain, rude... to my own world view i would describe rachel as: brave, stylish, proud, and honest... Rachel, like Jake and Cassie's relationship, died of theme. Cassie, who epomitises politically correct values was the only one allowed to survive the war.
Ironically I could be quite wrong... long before i thought that Rachel died of theme, I had a strong impression that Naomi was a social conscience left leaning/PC lawyer (this is California after all so those values are quite likely for her)...
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Rachel is one of my favorite Animorphs. For someone her age, she's the most self-sacrificing, loyal and of course, brave teenager in the series. The way she always supports Tobias and is there for Cassie, and even Marco is very admirable.
I hated how the books changed Rachel's character later. Here was this strong, intelligent (why did the writers dumb her down? She was incredibly smart!), caring, and beautiful girl who was not a hypocrite like Cassie, nor an arrogant, ethnocentrist(?) like Ax(love him anyways), or totally cold/ruthless person like Marco. What's not to like? :)
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The authors own sentiments affect how they portray certain archetypes and character types, Rachels character just offended KA...
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Good question, I have sometimes thought in this way. (No one have to agree with me): I think that if Cassie had died instead of Rachel it would have been the opposite. I mean, Rachel is both beautiful, intelligent, brave... before I found this site and was able to read more books than the few ones translated into Swedish I was very annoyed with Rachel.
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maybe I said this on the literary archetypes, but how the audience receives Ax, Rachel, Cassie etc is affected by their own background and values. For instance Riza San an Australian subconsciously portrays Ax unsympathetically. Perhaps in politically correct Sweden (like France and many English) looks upon warriors unsympathetically and much prefers Cassie...?? I mean western Europe has certainly lost her warrior/imperialistic sparkle. Any Victorian (the period not the state) would read the Animorphs, and after they got over Rachel's gender, would be like "Go Rachel! Go Ax! Die Tobias! Die Cassie" (and not because of the latter's race either)
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I find it hard to imagine Ax being unsympathetic. The worst thing about him is that he's not always loyal to the group over his own people, and that's perfectly justified. But you're right. It's all about the individual, and their personal opinions. Rachel and Ax were the two most soldier-like members, and they ended up dead and assimilated. Tobias, whose only purpose in life was trying to save the world and use the war to become important, wound up a self-exiled hermit. Cassie and Marco wanted to be in the war the least, and they ended up better than anyone else.
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Riza San portrayed Ax unsympathetically as did Korean Pearl.
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What i loved about Rachel was exactly the things you said. She was strong and loyal, protective, and able to love someone so different along with everyone else.
Out of the whole group she was the strongest, which makes it ironic that she died. She gave her all.
If they ever bring back the series i hope they clone her or something. Have a storyline where Tobias has to deal with the clone being her but not being her.
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For me it's the character development. They all had it, but especially her. She started off as a little mad and aggressive, and grew into a person who lived for war and nothing else. She even became a bit of a bee iy tee cee h at the end of it, as I recall. If she had lived past the war, she'd have gone mad not having something to fight. I think she changed the most out of all the characters.
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I don't think she ever got to the point where the war was all she lived for. And she wouldn't have gone mad, because she'd have had anti alien terrorists to fight.
But that's just alternate character interpretation.
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If they ever bring back the series i hope they clone her or something. Have a storyline where Tobias has to deal with the clone being her but not being her.
Not to toot my own horn or anything, but it sounds like you might like my fanfiction. (http://animorphsforum.com/forum/index.php/topic,2208.0.html)
[spoiler]Technically, not a clone, though. I used her ixcila + a hereth illinted body. Which leads to all kinds of psychological fun times![/spoiler]
And anyway, I agree that Rachel wouldn't have been the same after the war. She would have been as broken as Jake was, if not more so. I mean, she's committed at least as many terrible sins as he has.
Well, maybe not quite. But certainly close.
And letting her live wouldn't have done Tobias any favors, either. It's suggested that, had she survived the war, he would have 'gone human' for her. And then he would have endured the same shock that Cassie got from Jake. Rachel would not have been the same wild reckless person that Tobias fell in love with. It could not have worked out between them, I don't think. And then where would that leave Tobias? Trapped, without his wings, and utterly miserable. Seems he was just doomed to suffer, either way.
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And letting her live wouldn't have done Tobias any favors, either. It's suggested that, had she survived the war, he would have 'gone human' for her. And then he would have endured the same shock that Cassie got from Jake. Rachel would not have been the same wild reckless person that Tobias fell in love with. It could not have worked out between them, I don't think. And then where would that leave Tobias? Trapped, without his wings, and utterly miserable. Seems he was just doomed to suffer, either way.
I don't agree. The Rachel of book 1 and the Rachel of book 54 were two wildly different people and Tobias still loved her even as the girl he initially fell in love with changed quite radically over the three years. While I'm sure the transition period immediately following the war would be rocky for both of them I do think they would have come out of it all with their relationship intact.
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I really don't get why people think she's some kind of Bloodknight, when her last narrated book had her refusing to becoem Super Rachel, and crying over whether or not to kill David. That happened during the final arc.
I know a lot of people didn't like 48, saying it doesn't show her character well, but I don't think it's because they expected her to gleefully accept Super Rachel powers, and crush David like a bug. Did they?
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I really don't get why people think she's some kind of Bloodknight, when her last narrated book had her refusing to becoem Super Rachel, and crying over whether or not to kill David. That happened during the final arc.
I know a lot of people didn't like 48, saying it doesn't show her character well, but I don't think it's because they expected her to gleefully accept Super Rachel powers, and crush David like a bug. Did they?
Very true, and I think that it is telling of Rachel's character that she didn't accept Crayak's offer. But I also think that it is just as telling that she even considered it. I believe that Rachel is the only one of the Animorphs who would have taken as long as she did to decline the offer.
Cassie, of course, would have instantly seen it for what it was, and refused from the start.
Jake might have briefly considered it, but I don't think he would have been as swayed by the raw power as Rachel was. If he would have considered it, it would have been purely from a rational standpoint, that it would help the Animorphs win the war faster.
Marco probably would have considered it almost as long as Rachel did, to be honest. But his motivations would have been extremely different. He wouldn't have been addicted to the power. Like Jake, he would have seen the rational side of it. He's the one who is willing to take any morally-ambiguous risk in order to win, after all. But I think that, in the end, even Marco would have declined, too, because he would have seen Crayak's side of the deal and what he was getting from it, weighed the options from that standpoint, and realized that this was not a good choice.
Tobias would have refused it almost as fast as Cassie did, I think. He would have seen what Crayak was trying to do, and would have taken any way out of that deal, even if it meant the risk of being stuck as a rat.
Ax wouldn't have gone for it, either. Granted, on the one hand, he's pretty dedicated to winning the war. So he probably would have, very briefly, considered the offer. But he would have seen it as a heavily dishonorable decision, and would have pretty quickly refused. Then again . . . he's done other things that could be considered very dishonorable, in the effort to win the war. So I don't really know what he would do. Maybe he would have thought it over like Rachel did. But I'm certain that he would have decided against it in the end.
The point is, in any case, that NONE of the Animorphs would have taken Crayak's offer, so that's not really a very valid point in Rachel's favor.
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Rachel is a good person for people to model themselves on, that's it. But all of them is!
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I just had a cool thought: in the alternative reality where Earth was a dodgy fascist place (megamorphs 3) instead of Rachel they had Melissa.
If Rachel is sort of the earth"s choice as they only random member of the group and exempleis human characteristics. then Melissa in this alternative timeline was the only random member of the group represents the human characteristics of that alternative world: she was shy and submissive and feminine... exemplifying all the values that police states seek in their citizens especially women.
Chic. You Rock. Awesome analysis
Btw, I totally think Jake has all the characteristcs of a war veteran that ends up committing suicide. The guy was a total mental case after the war. Maybe the "Ram the blade ship!" scene was a metaphor for him committing suicide. I don't know.
DinosaurNothlit made some very well-put points. I love ANIMORPHS!!! Haha...
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Dinosaur, i will definately read your fanfic. Thanks for bringing it to my attention :)
I think Tobias would have kept Rachel grounded. I don't think she would ever get to the point where she couldn't live without war if he was around. But i do think she would continue to toe the line. Now that i think about it, that would have been such an interesting story in itself, Tobias being the loved one left at home while Rachel is constantly going out and saving the world. How he deals with constantly being worried that one mission she won't come home.
Ahh the things that might have been
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And letting her live wouldn't have done Tobias any favors, either. It's suggested that, had she survived the war, he would have 'gone human' for her. And then he would have endured the same shock that Cassie got from Jake. Rachel would not have been the same wild reckless person that Tobias fell in love with. It could not have worked out between them, I don't think. And then where would that leave Tobias? Trapped, without his wings, and utterly miserable. Seems he was just doomed to suffer, either way.
I don't agree. The Rachel of book 1 and the Rachel of book 54 were two wildly different people and Tobias still loved her even as the girl he initially fell in love with changed quite radically over the three years. While I'm sure the transition period immediately following the war would be rocky for both of them I do think they would have come out of it all with their relationship intact.
I agree. The politically correct opinion these days is that if you serve in a war, and enjoy doing something morally questionable (regardless of what the result of that action is) you WILL fall apart afterwards and be a wreck for the rest of your life. I've known a large number of soldiers and at one point considered enlisting myself, so I have a somewhat more valid perspective of war than people who have only ever seen it through the eyes of strangers and hollywood. The reason Jake fell apart after the war was because he was the one who made the final call on a lot of questionable actions. Rachel was a soldier, and she followed the orders of a superior, and she was also very confident and self-assured. You have to remember that Jake, the only Animorph whose situation is due to his inability to cope with the post-war society, was never as self-assured as Rachel was. All throughout the series, he questioned each decision as he made it, constantly second guessing himself.
I believe that Rachel and Tobias would have coped as well as Cassie, once they'd gotten used to the transition from war to peace. And the 'what would Rachel have done with herself after the war' argument is a joke, she could have enlisted in the counter-terrorist forces that were mentioned in the book, she could have been an instructor like Jake, or she could have become a model/actress like Marco. If Cassie was getting offered a million dollars for a Wal-mart advertising endorsement, I'm fairly sure Rachel would have been able to land similar deals.
In the end, the only reason that we have for the circumstances that each of the Animorphs find themselves in, with the possible exception of Jake, is that K.A. is trying to beat us over the head with the message that 'War Is Bad'. Tobias and Rachel, the two original members who were willing to battle the Yeerks from the beginning, were left destroyed by the war (literally with Rachel). Marco and Cassie, the two original members who were reluctant to fight, both prospered. Jake, the member who was originally unsure, but later warmed up big time to the war effort, was also a wreck following the victory, though not quite so much as Tobias or Rachel.
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I agree very much. The military is all voluntary these days, and if war was really as bad as this then how would the military ever get people in voluntarily? I really think a lot of this is KA just pushing her views. I see absolutely no reason for Rachel not being able to find something constructive to do after the war.
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i don't know if anybody mentioned this yet....but because rachel is pretty.
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Referring to the point that no one is quite like Rachel - for what it's worth, and to any and all Battlestar fans here... Starbuck totally puts me in mind of Rachel, and I think perhaps this is why I love Starbuck so damn much :-]
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Rachel is my heroine. I really admire her strength and bravery. She's very caring and stands up 4 her friends. She was loyal to Tobias and saw him for who he really was, not some random nothlit. I was really depressed after her death and angry at K.A for ending the series dat way.