Theory on 48 The Return

[Dylan]

It didn't seem like there was ever any explanation as to how the Yeerks suddenly knew, other than some speculation about them always leaving blood behind at battles. When Rachel scares off the two thugs working for David, she's concerned that they'll tell their story where a Controller will hear, and the Yeerks will find David and get information from him. This is why she decides that she has to do something about David (what this something is, of course, is left ambiguous). However, she doesn't seem to do anything about, or even mention, the fact that their story also includes a girl who can turn into a rat and a bear, with nary a mention of freaky blue centaurs. Also, while she says there's no threat of Visser One recognizing Super-Rachel as one of the Andalite bandits, it's possible that his encounter with her could make him more open to the possibility that the bandits are human, at least subconsciously.  Also, I posted this before, but Rachel unintentionally took Crayak's deal."If you ever find yourself desperate, Rachel. At an end. In need. Remember this: Your cousin's life is your passport to salvation in Crayak.[spoiler]Rachel killed Tom.[/spoiler]


Note: This is something I found on TV Troupes. It isn't my own theory, but I liked it and wanted to share it

[Nar Klawip]

After a lot of speculation, I finally decided those two thugs were probably what tipped off the yeerks (more than anything else at least).

As soon as those guys ran off, Rachel knew they were a security risk, that they would blab to anyone and everyone about what they'd seen. People turning into animals. But Rachel had to deal with another threat. David. So what did she do? She sent Cassie after them. Sweet, kind, pacifist Cassie.

Knowing Cassie, she probably didn't kill them. She probably just threatened them or something. (if she even did that) I dont think its a coincidence that right after that the yeerks figured out they were human. There are plenty of other plausible explanations for how the yeerks finally put two and two together, but for me the timing on this one is a pretty glaring factor.

And no I don't really think that Rachel accepted Dad's Crayak's Offer. As I said once a long time ago,

For me, the beauty of Rachel was always her humanness. It was seeing her being constantly weighed down by guilt and anger and hatred, and still fighting. She never really gave up, never surrendered, nshe never stopped giving all she had, even if it was her own life, to protect the world and those she loved, and I know that in her death she at last found an escape from the inner darkness that had for so long overshadowed her inner brightness.

To have truly accepted Crayak's offer Rachel would have had to embrace her hatred and anger. She would have to become the type of person who would murder Jake. She would have had to let her inner demons consume her till thats all she was. And it's something Rachel never let happen. The deal was never really about murdering Jake. It was about embracing Crayak and all he stood for. And at the end... At the very end? Rachel did just the opposite.

[Dylan]

After a lot of speculation, I finally decided those two thugs were probably what tipped off the yeerks (more than anything else at least).

As soon as those guys ran off, Rachel knew they were a security risk, that they would blab to anyone and everyone about what they'd seen. People turning into animals. But Rachel had to deal with another threat. David. So what did she do? She sent Cassie after them. Sweet, kind, pacifist Cassie.

Knowing Cassie, she probably didn't kill them. She probably just threatened them or something. (if she even did that) I dont think its a coincidence that right after that the yeerks figured out they were human. There are plenty of other plausible explanations for how the yeerks finally put two and two together, but for me the timing on this one is a pretty glaring factor.

I was thinking about this theory and I also realized It's been suggested that the Hork-Bajir captured by the Yeerks in #47 also led to the big revelation of #49.

[Nar Klawip]

Yep. Or it could have been that kid who took a picture of them mid-morph. Even if they got that camera back (did they?)that kid still saw what he did, and if he told someone about it or got infested later on... Personally I don't think it was any one thing. It was the culmination of a lot of hints and clues that the yeerks finally started to pick up on.

[RYTX]

I always attribute it to those brats who insisted on getting involved in 47.

Cause I hate those guys

[Nar Klawip]

Thats why I like my two thugs in #48 theory. It's another reason to hate Cassie. As if there weren't enough.

[Chad32]

I never really thought about that. Rachel expected her to handle the two guys that might blow their secret, then in the next book the Yeerks are seriously thinking the Anis migth be Human. So what happened/ was it just because of that, or was it a culmination of things? We may never know.

[Dylan]

Yep. Or it could have been that kid who took a picture of them mid-morph. Even if they got that camera back (did they?)that kid still saw what he did, and if he told someone about it or got infested later on... Personally I don't think it was any one thing. It was the culmination of a lot of hints and clues that the yeerks finally started to pick up on.

Hmmmmmmm, That makes a lot of since . We know the yeerks have suspected Tobias with being involved with the andalite bandits going as far back as 23! That proably of started the suspicion leading up to the events 49. Just left behind clues.....
I still like my theory though....

[Chad32]

Yeah, it was a gradual process. Those two guys in 48 may have contributed to it, but they weren't the sole problem.

[Dylan]

I wonder if Rachel actually let David go, and (speculation) David told the yeerks/visser 1.  The fact they are hearing all this from a nothlit, it sements the fact to the yeerks that the andalite bandits are indeed human.

[Nar Klawip]

I think she killed him, although we'll never know. I mean that was not a simple  black and white decision...

This was David we were talking about. David the traitor, David the nothlit, who pleads for death and tells her that if she didn't kill him, he'd come back to threaten Rachel and the Animorphs again and again.

She either kills a rat with a human mind and soul, kills someone begging for death, someone who's hurt her, someone who tried to kill her and her closest friends, someone that she trapped in the body of a rat,someone who's without a doubt, the most pathetic thing she's ever seen...or spares his life, allowing him to attack again, forcing him to continue living this wretched mockery of a normal life that she damned him to, to suffer… as a rat.

Sometimes its best not to know.

[Dylan]

It's weird. While most people dislike this book, I have a soft spot for it. I like the ambiguity at the end.

[Chad32]

I actually like this book, mostly because rachel doesn't need outside help to figure out Crayak's offer is bad. She figures it out herself, showing that there's still some humanity in her. There always was. That's the kind of strength of character that would have seen someone through a time of peace, though KA didn't seem to think so.

[Nar Klawip]

I liked that book, not because of the actual story,which was pretty crazy and kindof felt like a badly written david returns fanfic, as someone once said.

I loved it because it showed everyone else what I had always known. That Rachel was still Rachel. Sure she was a little messed up, but she wasn't lost. That she still knew where the line was.

Some people have the viewpoint that Rachel had deteriorated into a violence junkie and was irredeemable by the time the last story arc came about. That used to bother me, but I started to realize how their views pretty much reflected the way the other Animorphs (save Tobias) saw her by the end. If you look at the kind of lines she has during the series when the story is narrated by someone other than herself or Tobias, she does come off as a simple knucklehead looking for mayhem.

She could be bloodthirsty, yeah. But she was also sweet. And scared. And in love. I find it more than a little unfair how some people claimed her death was necessary because she would never have been able to live with peace. She would have had difficulty adjusting, but I doubt she would have nearly as much trouble as Jake had (who, much as I love him, never really did adjust.

And man, that final scene, When Rachel's on her knees gazing through tear-filled eyes at David, Struggling to do the right thing ...it's an beautiful, unforgettably haunting moment of Rachel fighting with herself. It was one of the most heartbreaking and poignant things ive ever read.

[Dylan]

I kind of like the dream-ish parts of the books. I just realized something pretty odd about 48, out of the Animorphs, only Rachel and Cassie appear in any real-time events. Jake, Tobias, Marco, and Ax only appear in Rachel's dreams, but are otherwise absent.