This isn't even getting into how age is determined from DNA or things like haircuts and nail length are maintained.
Well, determining age from DNA isn't that farfetched. See, there's a long string of repetitive, meaningless DNA at the end of every chromosome which protects the important information from destruction when the DNA strand is replicated during mitosis... every time the DNA strand is replicated, a segment of DNA is lost in translation, and so every time the cell divides, its DNA is literally shorter. Thus, the cell's (and, through that, the organism's) age and age-limit are shown in their DNA...
But I always thought that was kind of a fasinating thing- how the actual appearance of the morph was determined by its DNA in the books. Marco's hairbut, Tidwell's weight, things determined by environment but apparently shown through when their body is reconstructed through DNA. But when Tobias morphs Taylor, he becomes someone he's never actually seen- Taylor before her accident.
Like, if someone acquired the DNA of a person who was anorexic, but who was genetically inclined towards obesity- what would their morph look like? It's never really stated. ;--;
1. The entire premise of this book is that the Yeerks are building a ground-based Kandrona strong enough to essentially turn any swimming pool into a Yeerk Pool. If they had succeeded, what consequences would have come about as a result? Would it have been game over?I don't think it would have been game over entirely. I mean, for one thing, it's stated a few times in the book that Kandrona isn't the only thing Yeerks absorb from the Yeerk Pool, so them forgoeing those other nutrients in favor of convenience might weaken them in the long run. Also, how big of an advantage that becomes depends, imo, on whether or not the Yeerks were ready to go ahead and declare full-on war. I can't imagine that having some neighbor come over to hold onto your screaming, crying host while you swim around in your backyard, and then forcing his head underwater while he flails about so you can reinfest him, would be that subtle or secretive. Not to mention that the aforementioned host is much more likely to be able to escape from his backyard than he was from the Yeerk Pool. It'd be a convenience for Yeerks whose hosts have jobs which require them to travel or somesuch, and I'm sure it'd make expanding the invasion much easier, but it wouldn't eliminate the Yeerks' main weakness entirely. The gameplan would change, but they wouldn't be untouchable.
2. The Yeerks recreate the Venber race by splicing Venber and human DNA. These Venber are fully programmable, like biological computers. Is this better or worse than what the Arn do? Why?The Arn were awesome. Arrogant, but they did what they needed to do to save their planet- and their keeping the Hork-Bajir a few tiers below their own people isn't that much better than what we do with dolphins- who we're all pretty sure are self-aware- or chimpanzees, which share 98% of our DNA. They tried to make sure Hork-Bajir remained ignorant to their existence and used them to care for their planet; we keep dolphins in big pools and make them jump for our amusement. *shrugs*
The thing with the Venber was, obviously, cruel. As were... the people-whose-species-I-forget, who eliminated the Venber in the first place, was worse- although, again, it's not something I could never imagine humans doin'.
3. Why does KA include the Eskimo kid in this book? Was it smart for the Ani's to let him go after he saw them morph?He was a plot device. *shrug* A few books later, I'm not so sure they
would've taken the risk of letting him go.
4. Everyone always makes Cassie out to be this over-indulgent moralizer, but in the last few books she's shone a different side. What do you think has changed?Cassie, bless her heart, IS an over-indulgent moralizer. <3 And I adore her for it. I don't think the whole let's-eat-dead-things is that big of a stretch- I mean, she's vegetarian, but the seals were already dead. They weren't born, raised in poor conditions, and killed at a predetermined time to be eaten, they'd been killed as a function of being part of nature. I don't think it was out of character for Cassie to say "Hey, let's do that thing where we DON'T die," and encourage her friends to eat something they didn't even have to hurt.
5. The Ani's eat in their wolf morphs to avoid starving. Does that food carry through when they demorph and remorph? Or do they go back to hungry?I find it fascinating to think about, an' I loved reading other people's answers to this. x3 Canon-wise, the books seem to flip-flop on the subject.
6. Anything else.I feel pretty strongly that this would have been the PERFECT book in which to introduce a walrus morph. But, once again, KAA neglects my favorite animals. (Elephants, sure! Rhinos, sure! But no hippos, that would delight Ember. D< Grizzlies, sure! Polar bears, sure! Raccoons, why not? But not hyenas, that would delight Ember. D< Seals, polar bears, but no walruses! Nyaaaa ;--;)
