Favorite and Least Favorite supporting characters

[Snakie]

I was just wondering what peoples views are on the various "non-Animorph" major characters.  I've always felt like one of the strengths of this series was the great depth in the number of interesting characters we see throughout the books.

Outside of the Animorphs and Ax, which characters did you enjoy the most, and which did you dislike?

For me.

Liked:

1) Aftran.  This character is the first one that I can recall clearly that really challenged me.  The dialog between her and Cassie in #19 did so much to flesh out and explain what it is like to be a Yeerk, and genuinely made me wonder if I would be willing/able to choose a life of immobile darkness in a pool, which is what the Yeerks have to do if they don't want to infest anyone.  This character did what any great supporting character should: it made me change the way I look at the entire series.

2) Dak Hamee and Toby.  Obviously they are grouped together because they are the two seers of the story, and seeing the development of these two individuals, exceptional among their species, and the leadership roles they would take was one of the most interesting things in the entire series.

3) The Ellimist.  This character could have easily become the most insufferable in the entire series if he became overused as a plot convenience.  Thankfully, KA was able to be moderate and careful about how she used him, and he was only brought in at times when he added something to the story.  I still don't find him as interesting as the two above.

Disliked:

1) Erek and the Chee.  They were selfish.  They could have defeated the Yeerks easily but they willfully chose to risk the freedom of a sentient species they had lived amongst for generations so they could protect their own consciences.  They liked the human race and yet would have stood by and let them all become slaves to the Yeerks even though the possessed the means to fight them off.  I had little to no sympathy for Erek when he was used at the end of the series.

2) Visser Three.  He was a little too one dimensional for my tastes.  I felt like we got some depth to him eventually in the Hork Bajir Chronicles, but the revelations about him (that he admired Andalites and was actually very studious once) never came into play in the main line series.  For the primary antagonist in the series, I really, really felt like KA missed a HUGE opportunity to develop him properly, seeing as we have 2 Chronicles books which prominently feature him. Despite this, the character we're left with in the main line series was basically a one note character who became even more obtuse and blood thirsty as the series waged on.

3) Aldrea.  Honestly, I never really got why this character resonated with so many people.  She was very arrogant and patronizing and fought the Yeerks out of vengeance rather than a desire to save Dak's people.  You never really got the sense that she saw Dak as an equal and only resolved to stay with him forever when there were no other options left.

[Adam]

Liked:

Visser Three. Controversial here, I know, but in a series as grey and complicated as Animorphs, it needed something purely black or white to give the reader at least SOMEONE to hate, given the age-group the books are aimed at.

Toby Hamee. Hardly used enough. Given the popularity of DAK in HBC, Toby should have been given a much more prominent role, incuding a few narrations. I would go so far as to give her a minor 7th Animorphs role in a way similar to Ax. Really good character seriously underused.

Disliked:

The Chee. Agree with Snakie on this one.

[Snakie]

^I think you can hate Visser One despite the fact that "she" had depth and complication.

A villain being complex doesn't mean they can't be hated.

And I'm not even asking for Visser Three to have a good component to him.  I just would have liked him to have a back story that informs his actions in the present, and I'd have also liked to see him a little more cunning.  His character had no subtlety.  The books even make it a point to highlight that fact.

[Adam]

You gotta blame the guys who gave him any sort of rank in the first place  Whoever hired him as Visser was not the greatest tactician!

[RYTX]

Okay, I'll try and rein myself in, but boy there are a few in each category

Like:
Jara Hamee: I loved that mofo. Toby's cool, but I just loved Jara

The Drode: You know, he only shows up in 4 books, but that guy was a laugh. A psycho, but I always enjoyed it when he had face time. Maybe because he was always getting foiled.

Erek: while I agree that the chee kinda sucked for not doing what they could have, on the personal level, I like Erek. The one liners about how so many important things are, well, his doing, I liked.


Dislike:
Aldrea: seriously, she sucked. A lot.

Visser One: I didn't like Edriss, I didn't like Visser, and while the plot device to ensnare Marco was good, I didn't like the character. Found her annoying, hardly superior to V3, and saw no reason she should be top Visser.

Ellimist: I did like him for a while, but with MM4 and TEC I just said *** it, this dude is horrible, manipulative demi-god/fate thing. Hate

Taylor: Do I need to explain

Ambivalent: I swing back and forth on how I feel on these guys

Chapman: #2, great set up, TAC, great history, rest of series toadie, and it sucked.

Tom: The brother and the Yeerk(s): Throughout the introductory arc it felt like he was being built to play a big part, but then he falls off till end when, bam, massivest part of all.

V3/Alloran: sometimes I like how blunt V3 is, sometimes the near slapstick sickens me. Alloran same thing, in the chronicles he just is already so out there, then in 8 it's like, wait there's more to it, but then we don't hear back from him till the end. Obvious reasons, but I sway on them sometimes.

[Snakie]

The other thing that really bothered me about the Chee was the baffling inconsistency in their moral code.

They were always opposed to direct violence, but in many cases were shown to have no problem with inaction leading to the death or harm of others.

A few strategic strikes could have crippled the Yeerk invasion of earth.  It might not have even required wholesale slaughter.  The THREAT of violence from the Chee as warriors might have been enough to dissuade the Yeerks from further action, and it would have spared the galaxy of an incredible amount of pain and suffering, not the least of which ultimately occurred on Earth.

This could be a topic in and of itself as I'm sure opinions vary on this matter, but the Chee always really, really bothered me.

[TobiasMasonPark]

     Sure, the Chee COULD have stopped the invasion had they changed their programming. But that doesn't make for a good story, does it? Not very compelling if it went something like: "And then Erek blew **** up. The end."

     Visser Three/One could be an example of how great minds/generals lose their touch and go mad with power. Empires and Emperors slip with time. Mussolini and Hitler helped out their countries at a time where the people were in a huff and on the verge of uprising. Then, bam, Second World war and we have two maniacs. The Bolshevik revolution was intended to be the first step towards a glorious World Communist utopia, but kind of got messy with Stalin taking power and going crazy--and yea, he WAS crazy. Even Napoleon got a little sloppy with age--especially during his excursion in Russia. I think Visser Three's actions post-HBC are rather interesting. 

[Snakie]

     Sure, the Chee COULD have stopped the invasion had they changed their programming. But that doesn't make for a good story, does it? Not very compelling if it went something like: "And then Erek blew **** up. The end."

Sure.

From a storytelling perspective the story benefited from them acting the way they did.

That doesn't mean you have to LIKE the character or respect the reasons they did what they did within the confines of the story.

With the Chee, I'm not necessarily trying to say that they were poorly written or mishandled (though I do have issues with the apparent moral inconsistency I mentioned above).  I'm just saying I didn't like them very much and thought their actions were very selfish, particularly given they claimed to like and value the human race yet still refused to make any sacrifices to help them.

[TobiasMasonPark]

     But it's not the Chee's war, though. The Pemalites were wiped out by Howlers, so there would be no reason for the Chee to want to take on the Yeerks out of a desire for revenge or anything like that. There's nothing wrong with staying neutral in time of war--Belgium did it in WW1.

[Cookie]

"And then Erek blew **** up. The end."

Not contributing here (yet!) but I found that ****ing hilarious.

[Snakie]

     But it's not the Chee's war, though. The Pemalites were wiped out by Howlers, so there would be no reason for the Chee to want to take on the Yeerks out of a desire for revenge or anything like that. There's nothing wrong with staying neutral in time of war--Belgium did it in WW1.

They lived among the human race for thousands of years and claimed a great connection to them.  Also, they know the pain of seeing their own parent species get brutally destroyed, and they willfully chose to sit by and do nothing.

I don't necessarily buy the "its not my fight" business.  There were sound moral reasons for MAKING it their fight.