Why didn't they make a rule against killing Hork-Bajir?

[Chad32]

They have a rule against killing Humans, but not Horks. Is it because Horks are too dangerous. A mere swipe of the paw could knock out a Human, but Horks are quite tough. Do you think after they freed Jara and Ket, they should have tried to not kill Hork-Bajir? Let's talk about that for a bit.

[morfowt]

maybe they didn't make a rule because they thought they didn't have to, because they're tougher than humans?

[Galladerotom]

Psycologically I think they found it much harder to kill humans because they felt more connected to them. Maybe that is the same reson why people find it easier to kill animals... some people.

[UEDfleet]

i think its just because a unarmed human is vulnerable while a hork Bajir is always dangerous until it gets maimed.

[goom]

i think, as galladerotom (that's a mouthful) said, it's because the feel connected, since it's the same species.

exactly why we test some things on other mammals, but not humans.

[Nateosaurus]

That is a bit sad really that they didn't have this rule..

But still, wars are terrible things and sometimes you have to do terrible things to win

[Essam 293]

I think the quote from #30 adds to what pretty much everyone has already said:

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"I can deal with Visser Three."

<Can you? We have tried many times. And yet, he still lives.>

"Humility? From an Andalite?"

<Realism from an Andalite,> Cassie said.

Visser One barked out a laugh. "You're afraid of him."

<Tell her, "yes,"> I said privately to Cassie. <Tell her he's killed a lot of us.>

<Yes. We were far more numerous, once. Many of us have died fighting Visser Three.>

A lie, of course. But it sounded real enough. Visser One would latch on to the information. She would think we were fools for revealing it.

We wanted her to think us fools.

"Do you imagine I will be more gentle when I am in power, again?"

I started to tell Cassie what to say. But she was already there, ahead of me.

<No. We simply think you will be weaker,> Cassie said. <The disruption of command will work to our benefit. And in direct battle you will be easier to kill than Visser Three. Humans, Controllers or not, die easily.>

Again, it had the feel of honesty. The insult would make it seem honest.

And it had the added benefit of focusing my mother. . . Visser One... on the danger of Visser Three. We were reminding her just how deadly Visser Three could be.

"And yet..." Visser One mused. "And yet, the casualty reports from Earth are always weighted heavily toward Hork-Bajir and Taxxons. In fact. . . I am trying to recall when I have ever seen a report listing a human-Controller casualty."

My guts were ice.

We had made a mistake. We had made a terrible mistake.

<What do I say?> Cassie demanded.

<l . . . I . . .> My brain wouldn't work. The thoughts wouldn't form into any sort of order.

Visser One had just put her finger on our greatest secret.

<Say something!> Rachel yelled.

<No, too late,> Jake interrupted. <Too late. Let it go. No choice.>

"Well, well, well," Visser One said.

She knew.

There was only one reason why a group of Andalite guerrilla fighters would inflict more casualties on Hork-Bajir than on humans: The Andalite guerillas weren't Andalites.

A human would spare a human life.

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[AcreLorraine]

Think about it, throughout all the first books, they killed hork bajir, as far as they knew, they were as willing hosts as much as the taxxons seemed to be.  As always, when you look at a hork, you don't think tree bark eater, you think living chainsaw.  Once you get into a mindset, it's hard to get out. 

[Phoenix004]

I think these reasons have already been mentioned, but in my opinion these are the two main reasons why they didn't refuse to kill Hork-Bajir even after meeting the free Hork-Bajir:

1) Even knowing that the Hork-Bajir are peaceful at heart, in the middle of a fight all they saw was a big scary bladed monster trying to kill them.

2) Hork-Bajir are far more dangerous than Humans even without weapons and are also more resistant to pain and damage (like when Jara cut his own head open to prove he wasn't a Controller). Therefore, Hork-Bajir were almost impossible to disable without inflicting serious injuries.

[Toc']

2) Hork-Bajir are far more dangerous than Humans even without weapons and are also more resistant to pain and damage (like when Jara cut his own head open to prove he wasn't a Controller). Therefore, Hork-Bajir were almost impossible to disable without inflicting serious injuries.

Yep^^ while humans carried arms Hork-Bajirs were their own weapons. "Living weapons".

[Azguard]

yeah, plus, the animorphs were trying to defend humans and the prevention of the enslavement of Earth...not necessarily freeing others.

[Phoenix004]

Also, the free Hork-Bajir we met all made it clear that they would rather be dead than a Controller, which might not be the case for all the human controllers.

[Terenia]

It's all about priorities and sentiment. As has already been stated:

1) This was a war for the preservation of the human race, not the Hork-Bajir race. Although that did come into it at times, the ultimate goal was to save humanity.
2) The Hork-Bajir, in combat, are a direct threat and the easiest way to dispatch of them is killing. A human just needs to be disarmed.
3) Humans automatically feel more sentimental towards humans. Ax wouldn't have had a problem killing a human, and there's a few passages that evident this fact (where Ax only doesn't do damage because it may have been someone close to the morphers).

[Phoenix004]

True, although I think even Ax would have been more likely to kill a Hork-Bajir than a human, due to the fact that humans aren't walking razor blades.

[Azguard]

i think despite everyone being good hearted, aliens are still aliens....kinda like the lesson in ender's series. ^^