The Five. *topic contains spoilers*

[WeLeadTheLost]

I was rereading "The Extreme"  the other day and found Ax's little story about the Venbar very interesting.

Apparently the Venbar were wiped out by a race called known simply as The Five when they discovered that melted Venbar bodies could be used to enhance their computers. Ax then reveils that soon after the Venbar were wiped out The Five also vanished, adding mysteriously that <Andalites of that time are not the Andalites of today>  possibly implying (to me at least) that the Andalites retaliated against The Five's cruelty and killed them off.  I found this little backstory very intriguing.
Then I remembered that in the final book when Jake and the group finally hunt down the Blade ship they are met with a deformed Ax who claims to be known as "The One" this seems like more then a coincidence. Has there ever been any light shed on on The Five/One? I'm sure they are related somehow.

[Chad32]

You'd think there might be some relation, but I believe KAA stated she made up The One out of thin air just so the story wouldn't really end.

[Cloak]

I think it would not be too farfetched to assume they were, somehow, related. Perhaps the Five eventually descended into the One, having survived the (possible) Andalite retaliation? I really don't know, but it may lead to intriguing speculation.

[Chad32]

Either one of them survived, or The One's ability to assimilate implies that they combined into one being. I'd probably go with the second guess. Presumably they were weaker when the Andalites banished them. Maybe they fled into Kelbrid space, and the Kelbrids didn't like seeing the Andalite military flying through their territory. That could also explain why the Andalites and Kelbrids have a no trespassing treaty.

[Cloak]

Hmmmm . . . I never considered that, but there is a logic to it that I like. It could very well be that the One didn't even name themselves until they met up with the Five, assuming any survived, of course.

. . .

Wait, didn't Ax say that no one really knows what happened to the Five? Could it be possible that the Andalites just ran them off instead of just slaughtering them? Or am I neglecting to recollect a fact or two?

[Chad32]

I forget if he said no one knows what happened, but that doesn't mean much. What exactly happened may just be confidential. It's just one of those things that adds to the universe, but doesn't effect the main story directly.

Given the fact that the Vebnar melt when exposed to heat, I wonder if they were a crated species like the hork-Bajir, or just lived on a frozen planet that didn't have temperate climates.

[Cloak]

That a good point about the Venber, but I always assumed that their homeworld was like Hoth. Although if they were an artificial species . . . wouldn't that make it easier for the Yeerks to make their programmable Venber much later on?

I wonder why the Five just decided to wipe them out instead of you know harvesting thme like humans do with cattle and other livestock. Granted, the Venber were sentient (it was stated that they were, right?) but that doesn't change the possibility that they could have subjugated the Venber instead of wiping them out . . .not that slavery is all thst better than death (hell, I'd say death is kinder in a lot of ways).

[Chad32]

I'm not sure why they decided to harvest the Venbar all at once. I forget if they're actually sentient, but I doubt the Andalites would react so strongly if they weren't. Was it just greed on the Five's part? Were the Venbar all that dangerous, despite their total intolerance to heat? Did The Five have some big reason that they needed a huge quantity of fuel in a short time? It raises a lot of questions that won't get any canon answers.

[Cloak]

True, though speculation can be enjoyable at times. *shrug*

My guess is that the Five were having rather big economic problems or in the middle of a large-scale war where the discovery of the Venber was a godsend.

[Bootlebat]

I always figured the Andalites were so disgusted by what the Five did to the Venber that they wiped them out also. I think Ax's quote meant that Andalites don't do that anymore.

[Cloak]

Or believed they did. And clearly they do still do it, though, only by "quarantining" planets, if you catch my drift.

[RYTX]

I always figured the Andalites were so disgusted by what the Five did to the Venber that they wiped them out also. I think Ax's quote meant that Andalites don't do that anymore.

Hmm. I always took it as the early Andalite space goers where just d***s. I never thought they were avenging the venber or stopping the cruelty of the five, they took down a primitive race they didn't understand. Maybe for fuel themselves.
Different ways of looking at things.


I have a head canon of the One being descended from the five, and the five being descended from the 333's mention in TEC; that this was some ancient species that began at some large number and counted down the generations rather than up, but that's just what I told myself to give those races some kind of explanation

[NothingFromSomething]

It seems like more just a coincidence with the names rather than being related, it's an interesting theory though.

Am I the only one who doesn't hate the whole The One concept, though?  It was a pretty awesome way to just illustrate that even though the Earth War was won, the fight still goes on and someone as unfortunate as Jake is probably always going to spend his whole life fighting some alien menace or another.  Sure, it came out of nowhere, that seemed to be the whole point though, sending Jake and everyone else tagging along out of a sense of obligation/responsibility out in a blaze of glory.

[Chad32]

The concept of The One by itsself isn't bad. The idea that this whole thing came up at the end of the last book, just to provide needless conflict is bad. Why start a new adventure that's not going to be continued? What's wrong with just closing out a series by tying up loose ends? I don't want to start up the whole ending controversy here, but I have never and will never like how Animorphs ended.

[NothingFromSomething]

It's not a new adventure, though.  It's just a way to kill them all off heroically, send them out fighting while doing something noble like searching for Ax.  There aren't any "loose ends" if all the miserable characters go out doing what they do best, and the only semi-happy one Cassie gets to live out her life.

All 100% in-character, for both the protagonists and the tone of the series.