Richard's Animorphs Forum
Animorphs Section => Animorphs Forum Classic => Topic started by: Jadedkoi on August 02, 2009, 12:22:35 PM
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This is crossposted from my elljay.
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So I have a theory that Yeerks are not as resilient as they think to the cries of a host and/or the emotions and adrenal system of a higher-functioning species. Visser Three (Or Esplin 9466, The Prime) is the only andalite-controller, and even though a dedicated and well-read Animorphs fan knows he's a brilliant strategist and planner, he's also evidently quite stupid in times of action and genuinely insane all of the time.
I think that KAA planted enough hints in Visser that this is a valid interpretation. Edriss muses on the fact that she became so addicted to the emotions of humanity that it affected her perception and judgement. Enough so that she was hauled before the Council and charged with Treason.
In book 26 when the Anis are transported to the Iskoort planet, Ax is the most heavily affected of any of them by the howler's roar. It is explained that this is because of Andalite's higher cognative abilities. I wonder, if just being in a Human is enough to drive Yeerks loopy, what would having an Andalite host do? Amplify the Yeerk's own arrogance, perhaps? Make him stew in his own bitterness, rage, and anger because he cannot separate himself from his host?
These are guesses, but I think that sub-visser Taylor gives readers a much-needed bridge that completes this theory. The Yeerk who took Taylor quickly began to lose it, wrapped up in Taylor's teenage angstfest of pain and rage from going from rich and worshipped at school to scarred and mangled in a house fire. It was unable to separate itself from her personality, warped and distorted as it was with narcissism and black, tarrish anger.
In book 6, Jake is taken as a host. The Anis have to hold him for three days to starve out the yeerk. During this time the readers and Jake both learn that Yeerks imprint a part of the Host's personality onto themselves and carry it with them forever after, like a living sponge.
THIS IS VERY ****ING IMPORTANT INFORMATION. It tells us that the yeerks as a species have no choice but to absorb traits of their hosts as they sift through memories and thoughts. This also means that just as memories and emotions are retained as an imprint and used as part of the yeerk's own mind, so are the host's own logical inconsistencies and personality defects.
If the host is a paranoid schizophrenic with Grand Mal delusions, I wonder: how would the Yeerk react to auditory or visual stimuli with no grounding in reality, i.e, hallucinations? How would it deal with the constant dread of They're watching me, always watching when for the yeerk this is a real threat in the chain of command? I think the mental deterioration of both host and yeerk would be slow, but genuine. And
permanent.
I also wonder: What is the effect on the mental health of the Yeerk once the Host has been broken and no longer believes rescue is possible? That is definite mental and psychological trauma, and it's probably not present in taxxons (because they are allies and mostly driven by hunger) and gedds (because they're barely sentient) and only minorly there in Hork-bajir (who are not very bright crayons in a box of neon colors). If the host believes he/she is truly always doomed to be a captive you're either going to get a stockholm syndrome effect (one reason I have for voluntary controllers is that after seeing how hopeless it is, the host eventually turns voluntary just to get some control back once their yeerk is feeding) or they'll start developing signs of cabin fever that further exacerbates into true mental instability. Day after day, hour after hour, being able to not cry out to a loved one only a few feet away? To not be able to move your eyes? To hear the malicious laughter and threats and horrors your captor heaps upon you to keep you downtrodden? A normal, healthy person would start to lose their grip within weeks.
Thoughts?
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I agree that hosts have an influence on Yeerks. They adopt traits and such from their hosts.
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I agree that hosts have an influence on Yeerks. They adopt traits and such from their hosts.
That's definitely true, but no more so than a child would learn from their parents. Sometimes this has a profound effect on the child, and sometimes it doesn't. In the end, it's still all about personal choice and free will.
Having said that, I had a theory a while back that perhaps the Yeerks have grown smarter so fast is because they can simply absorb the knowledge of several host's lifetimes. This could even be how they first achieved sentience as a race.
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I was wondering if a host had multiple personality disorder would the yeerk dominate the splinter personalities or just the core personality?
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I honestly don't know enough about how mental disorders work to know how they might affect a Yeerk or the Yeerk's control of the host. However, it seems to be kind of a moot considering that the Yeerks wouldn't bother to infest such a host. The Yeerks automatically ignored physically and mentally handicapped people as potential hosts.
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Just because someone is mentally handicapped in some way doesn't mean that they will lick doorknobs and streak through the mall. There's people out there who definitely have severe personality or mental disorders, but you wouldn't know by looking at them. Someone with say, acute paranoia can still live with society, they would just be more of a loner and have a hard time making friends or trusting people. That doesn't mean they can't have a good job.
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Well in the unlikely event that the Yeerks infested someone who had a severe mental disorder, they may simply decide to eliminate the host.
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Well in the unlikely event that the Yeerks infested someone who had a severe mental disorder, they may simply decide to eliminate the host.
Okay, then explain Taylor.
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Well in the unlikely event that the Yeerks infested someone who had a severe mental disorder, they may simply decide to eliminate the host.
Okay, then explain Taylor.
I think it's safe to say that the Yeerks have a different definition of mentally unbalanced. If Taylor was a threat to Yeerk security she'd have been removed, but being a sadistic psychopath just makes her ideal for interrogating prisoners, lol.
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you know I'm kind of working this out in my latest fic.
my assumption is that the Yeerks not only inhabit and control the mind they infest, but they utilize it. Yeerks are blind in their natural state, for instance. They are unable to interpret color, shape, depth, or anything like that. They have no visual cortex. So when they infest something that CAN see, they would have to utilize the parts of the brain that interpret visual information in the eye. Why should this just be limited to sight, though? There are hundreds of uses of the human brain, some to cope with sight, hearing, taste, touch, but also pain. Also humiliation. Also rage and other intense emotions. So if a Yeerk inhabited a host that couldn't see very well, he'd still need to wear glasses. So why WOULDN'T a Yeerk who inhabits a host with OCD or ADD or any other defect not be vulnerable to it as well?
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Good point
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As for the multiple-personality question (technically it's called Dissociative Identity Disorder, btw), I think that the Yeerk would effectively control the most dominant persona. I think that the personalities themselves, since they are extensions of the hosts psyche would (depending on the severity of the disorder) manifest themselves in several ways.
1) The host would have delusions in which he/she thinks that the other personalities are taking over. The Yeerk is aware of this happening, but it does not really affect how it controls the host (a mild case of the disorder).
2) The Yeerk would retain control over the host, but also experience the delusions along with the host, quite probably driving the Yeerk mad as well (more severe case).
I think that regardless, the Yeerk maintains control, because there is only one physical brain present. Regardless of which persona is dominant, the brain doesn't change.
Also, keep in mind that DID presents itself in varying amounts of intensity. For example, you don't act the same around your parents as you do around your friends. That's not only personality control, but an extremely (read: extremely) diluted version of a multiple personality. Technically, rpgers have many personalities. Where it becomes a disorder is when the personalities become distinctly different from the main persona. Sometimes the afflicted person is aware, sometimes they are not.
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Wow, you know a lot about that stuff. :]
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i was thinking that the other personalities would gang up on the Yeerk and drive it out lol
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I don't think they go insane but their personalities get intensified, more so if the yeerk and host have a common ground to work with.
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It would be funny if one of the personalities was voluntary, and the other was involuntary. I also agree that they might interpret the Yeerk as simply another personality that's active while another is also active.
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Wow, you know a lot about that stuff. :]
One of the novels I was working on for a time had a character with DID. :) I had to do a lot of research. Plus I was a psychology major for a time in college
It would be funny if one of the personalities was voluntary, and the other was involuntary. I also agree that they might interpret the Yeerk as simply another personality that's active while another is also active.
That's an interesting thought, Chad. I wonder what it would do to the Yeerk's sanity if it had to bounce between a voluntary and involuntary state of awareness constantly.
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It should be nervewracking at the very least. Yeerks with resistant hosts have to keep their guards up all the time, lest the host break free for a second. Yeerks with voluntary hosts wouldn't have to do much more than keep a leisurely eye on the host in case it goes through an involuntary phase.
This Yeerk would have to go back and forth between trying to keep the involuntary in line, while making efforts not to act like an *** in front of the voluntary side to keep them voluntary.
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Good point
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Hmm, seems like it would be like having to control two hosts in the same mind and body.
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Ah, good points. I have a question. What if a Yeerk tries t take over somone, or something that has a very chaotic brain? Someone that only thinks of death and destruction and has a very uncontrollable spirit.
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that would be cool then the Yeerk would get all depressed lol
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Ah, good points. I have a question. What if a Yeerk tries to take over somone, or something that has a very chaotic brain? Someone that only thinks of death and destruction and has a very uncontrollable spirit.
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Double post much?
I imagine quite a few voluntaries have that sort of mindset. After all, the target audience of The Sharing is people who are essentially train wrecks, depressed, druggies, loners, etc. I'm sure the Yeerks are briefed on the possible mental conditions of the host. Nonetheless, experiencing it is probably a bit different.
I imagine it depends on the Yeerk. Most Yeerks probably would be able to ignore a host like that. However, if the host has a physical condition based on chemical imbalances and whatnot (such as chronic depression, ADD) that may affect the Yeerk as well.
Haha. Imagine a Yeerk with ADHD? Oh dear.
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I wonder since yeerks (assumably) act by overriding the chemical message things in the brain whether the yeerk would simply be able override and ignore mental illnesses quite easily, a very clever yeerk might be able to control what chemicals are released and cure mental illness.
Conversely it is certainly true that Yeerk are affected by their hosts personality.