Was just randomly thinking about the Animorphs ending, mostly because I've been debating just war with people over the course of the primaries so war was in my mind, but I think I figured out exactly how I would've liked for Animorphs to end.
Rachel shouldn't have died.
But everyone else should have.
I guess you could pick another to survive and close out the books as the final narrator, it'd actually be interesting to see alternate endings each showing a different person survive and reflect on the sacrifice of their friends to free the world, I picked Rachel for practical purposes because it wouldn't change the endgame scenario that much, you could have had her succeed on the Blade ship somehow, actually knock everyone out on the bridge and take control, but then the final act that Jake and the rest of them need to do to ensure the yeerk defeat ends up destroying the Pool ship and they all die. but I think that instead of having one person die and the rest of them live, they should have had one person live while the rest of them died, in the actual conflict that we'd all grown to know and love, rather than likely dying in a conflict we know nothing about (ram the blade ship). It would've been even more powerful of a message about war if KA wanted it not to be a rosy ending, actually.
For Rachel, I'd have had her succeed in freeing Tom. Tom would narrate a few chapters reflecting on his experience as a Yeerk and discovering his brother was his enemy, and reflecting on his brother's sacrifice. Then Rachel narrates the end, experiencing withdrawal from her bloodlust and difficulty adjusting to civilian life (good message about soldiers returning from war there).
The others would be interesting too. Jake, obviously, would be a perfect choice to close the book since he was the first narrator, he could be the last, and he would have all sorts of angst about how he's a big hero but he got all his friends killed. survivors guilt especially having been the leader and all that.
Tobias I would find interesting in a final narrative wherein after all that destruction, no one actually knows about the war... some big cover story goes on to explain it all, and Tobias withdraws into the life of a hawk, reflecting how his friends had sacrificed themselves to save the world and the world had no idea about it. or maybe that's too tragic... maybe he finds a letter Rachel left him at the Hork Bajir colony before she went off on a suicide mission that pulls at his heart strings and convinces him to morph human for good, but he has to go on in normal society as an unsung unknown hero.
Marco would be a whole ton of survivor guilt while he enjoyed the benefits of being a hero. Especially if you have him responsible for the plan that got everyone else killed with some sort of cold and ruthless point A to point B logic.
Cassie would be interesting too in her own right, with her moralizing and such, but I can't really think of what specific storyline I'd give her.
Ax would be able to epilogue it nicely as an alien outsider viewing his human friends who had sacrificed their lives for their own planet. I'd envision his final narration taking the form of a speech he would give to the Andalite world about the bravery of those humans and how sometimes you can trust other species, et cetera. It would be a great way to re-cap the whole series as he would use stories from his war days on earth to illustrate points and such.
anyway, what do you think? I know many would like to see them live happily ever after, but I kind of like this idea (especially a whole lot better than "ram the blade ship")... maybe I'll even write some fan fiction about it if I ever get the time.
