Rachels assassination mission, did it really change anything?

[cenovia]

So, this topic has probably been discussed to death, but having just finished the series and not wanting to necro a thread, I'm making a new one...

Do you guys think that Rachel killing Tom really changed anything?

It really confused me in the end that Jake would send Rachel to kill Tom. It seems to me it ultimately solved nothing. The blade ship still got away, they still had the cube, and with 100 hard-core yeerk politicos on board wanting to rebuild the empire, it hardly seems like the loss of Tom would stop anything.

It didn't even stop the blade ship from destroying the pool ship in the end. They just decided not to, for whatever reason. Although, I suspect it was seeing 17 thousand of their kind as space popsicles that made them realize the war was over and firing would only needlessly kill more of their own.

So Jake's decision to kill Tom seemed like it had no tactical benefit at all. The only motivation I can think of is that Jake wanted so badly to free his brother before the end of the war, thinking that this was the Animorph's last battle, that even death would be an acceptable escape now. Or could Jake really think Tom was that much of a threat to him, after all he knew about him? What do you think?

Anyway, so that's why I feel Rachel's death was a complete waste. I didn't even like her towards the end, she was so one-dimensional and crazy. I don't know whether the war just drove her nuts or whether the ghost writers never really understood her, but if it was the former then I wish they would have explored Rachel's breaking point more. Even though she was nuts, I still didn't want her to die, and yeah, that whole part of the book really just pissed me off.

[Phoenix004]

Oh yeah, stopping Tom's Yeerk and a hundred other Controllers with access to the morphing technology and a fully operational Blade Ship was a total waste! 

[cenovia]

But she doesn't stop the Blade ship or keep them from having morphing technology. Read line 5 and onwards.

[AniDragon]

It would have made a bigger difference if Erek hadn't screwed them over by powering down the weapons.

[Phoenix004]

But she doesn't stop the Blade ship or keep them from having morphing technology. Read line 5 and onwards.

No, but that was what she attempted to do. Besides, she did kill a bunch of Controllers, including Tom who was their leader.

It would have made a bigger difference if Erek hadn't screwed them over by powering down the weapons.

Exactly, they would have been able to destroy, or at least disable the Blade Ship if the weapons hadn't been disabled. Not that I entirely blame Erek, he was blackmailed into helping and his programming forced him to stop further violence.

[cenovia]

It would have made a bigger difference if Erek hadn't screwed them over by powering down the weapons.

I don't see how Rachel being on board the blade ship would've helped. I can't see how Jake would want to use Rachel as a backup plan for destroying the blade ship. Destroying Tom? Yes. Entire blade ship? No. Rachel did not have the tactical chops to bring down an entire ship by herself, and yes she was fierce but she certainly didn't have enough brute force by herself. I would think that if Jake wanted someone on there to destroy the blade ship and/or stop it from escaping, he'd send Ax to sabotage the ships engines, or even Marco.

[AniDragon]

Ax was needed on the pool ship, and I seem to recall that he'd considered Marco, but in the end decided on Rachel.

[cenovia]

Ax was needed on the pool ship, and I seem to recall that he'd considered Marco, but in the end decided on Rachel.

You're right about that, but I think he considered Marco because Marco almost took out his own mom, not because he ever wanted him to take out the Blade ship.

[XenomorphLV426]

Please read the book again before making crazy threads.

[Hylian Dan]

Tom was the wild card because he had his own twisted motivations separate from the other Yeerks aboard the Blade Ship. Jake and Visser One had utterly screwed him over, Jake by slipping under Tom's radar the whole time, Visser One by limiting Tom's future promotions because of that, and Tom was going to have his revenge on them. Tom wanted Visser One and the Animorphs dead, the other Yeerks with him only cared about escaping.

[Kitulean]

Please read the book again before making crazy threads.

Please don't be rude, Xeno. His question has plenty of merit, because I've wondered the same thing plenty of times.

[XenomorphLV426]

The book illustrates the situation pretty clearly.  Rachel and Jake weren't entirely successful in their scheme, no, but the mission was to infiltrate, kill Tom, and hopefully in doing so confuse and destroy morale among his followers, with the intention of forcing their hand into surrendering with the majority of the others.

So, she killed Tom, and they got away anyway.  Not as planned.  But they had a moral obligation to go in there and do whatever they could to stop Tom.  So yes, Rachel going aboard the ship changed things, in that the Blade Ship would have been more dangerous with a competent leader aboard, and their actions went at least some way to preventing the threat.

Rude?  Probably.  My explanation obvious?  Definitely.

[Kitulean]

It's obvious to you, that doesn't mean everyone agrees. Many people see Rachel's death as pointless, a way of having one of the animorphs die in the end without a clear reason for it beyond the 'it's the last book so we need something dramatic!' thing.

[XenomorphLV426]

Many people see Rachel's death as pointless,

Well then, they'd be put into that big broad brightly-lit "wrong" category.

[Kitulean]

That is, AGAIN, your opinion. The point is that the Original Poster disagrees with you. That doesn't make him wrong, and it doesn't make you wrong either. It's an opinion. Don't be rude just because he thinks differently than you.