If david stayed...

[morfowt]

How do you think the series would be like if David didn't turn on the animorphs? One possibility, david could be rachel's backup during the battle in #54 and rachel might survive. Of course, a lot happens in between, so what do you think might happen?

[StormRider]

What if Tom wasn't a controller?  What if Visser Three wasn't insane-in-the-membrane?  What if Homer had rabies?

It iz what it iz, yo.

[morfowt]

so? I'm just asking what do you think the possibilities are?

[Essam 293]

I think David would've turned on them eventually either way. I always felt that his betrayal came too early in the series. His challenges against Jake's authority in the group should've been played out a bit more, and he should've felt like part of the family (like how Ax became) before he turned on them. It would've made a much bigger impact when his betrayal finally did come.

In fact, I probably would've held off on his betrayal as late as #49, when the Animorphs find out that the Yeerks know that they are human. Especially in the scene where Jake finds out his parents and Tom are controllers. It would've been a complete shocker if it turned out that all of a sudden David was an aid to the Yeerks in that plan (maybe he becomes a Yeerk-free double agent for Visser Three or something a few books back?)

It could've worked with the plot on David's misguided blaming of Jake and the Animorphs for the loss of his parents and his life for the Escafil Device, and getting even with Jake for that by taking his family away too (and attempting to take the families away from the rest of the Animorphs at the same time). Heck, I always felt that David had more of a potential of being Jake's arch nemesis than Rachel's.

Anyways, there are a lot of possibilities of where it would've ended up if David had stuck around a bit longer, either as a ally or an enemy. To me though, the way things turned out with him being exposed and his parents and his life being taken away in an instant, his character really only had two major options of where he would end up: Either he would've manned up and been more determined to take out the Yeerks, or he would've ended up like the whiny brat that he did and stab the Animorphs in the back, desperately trying to strike a deal to get his parents and his life back.

[StormRider]

I think David would've turned on them eventually either way.

Exactly.  Exactly.  If David wasn't a traitorous wretch, he'd no longer be David.  He'd be...Miguel, or Roger, or Kenji or something.

[morfowt]

I guess this just proves the thought in my head. Everybody else hates david. They can't see him as anything more than a traitor...

[StormRider]

That would be because he wasn't.  David was written as a kid with no redeeming qualities.  Sure, his situation sucked, but tell me Cassie or Jake or Rachel would have reacted the same way.

Sorry, man.

David was a sadist, right from the start.  Already.  When he met Marco, the kid had issues.

Poor Daaaavid, waaah.  Poor David!  *Triumph voice*

The kid just needed to grow a pair and stop being a treasonous girl-threatening animal-torturing asshat.

[CounterInstinct]

Well, what if you were in his place?

Look, without any warning, you suddenly get between a battle with a handful of Hork-Bajir, two Andalites, a Tiger, a snake, and a Grizzly bear. And suddenly. your humanity is taken away by 4 kids, a blue deer, and a hawk by explaining to him that the Yeerks are here and his parents are probably infested, and they force you to fight against these alien slugs.

Wouldn't you be shocked? Plus, the guy was already messed up from the start. Kids his age treat him the way bullies treat Tobias. Even worse. Unlike Bird-boy, the teachers don't like him and girls don't feel sorry for him. He doesn't had have any friends either since he was always moving. Add the Yeerk stuff and the guy would go insane. Jake, Cassie, and Rachel all had good environments to start with.

Sure, Marco and Tobias have been messed up too, but thanks to the other Animorphs, they have eventually coped up really well.

The weasel... ermm.. guy deserves a chance. It would also be great if, like Truth said earlier, if he had stayed longer and betrayed the Animorphs later in the series...

[Mongoose]

I think you guys are right about how things would play out. However this has made me think, if he had stayed around beyond his three part ark then maybe he could have been inserted into the rotation as a narrator. The first person native added depth to all of the characters so it might have been interesting to get under David's skin, to see what really made him tick.

[CounterInstinct]

My name is David.... hahahah... i wonder how that would sound. He would probably hate Jake, Rachel and Marco for the whole series.

[Terenia]

I'm a huge fan of David, but there is no way he would ever be anything but a traitor. Whether it happened after three books or after twenty, David is the type of person who looks out for themselves, period. He's kind of the darker side of Marco that way.

But yeah, you take someone with no friends, from an unstable militaristic home, throw his only ties to the world out the window (his parents, in this case) and tell him that he can never so much as talk to them again and oh, by the way, you have to be the "new kid" in an intergalactic war that is about 7 to 70 million slugs.

Uhhh...yeah, I can see where the kid would be a bit freaked. I think what he did was very human. The fact that the main Ani's stuck together and never quit (permanently) is the anomaly. Not the way David acted. Imagine if it was your parents, or siblings, or significant other. You haven't been to the Yeerk Pool, you don't fully understand the severity of the situation, or how complete the Yeerks control is. All you know is that the enemy is giving you a chance to see your [insert loved one here] again.

[ThermalRider]

Well, what if you were in his place?

Essentially, the other Animorphs were in his place. They were just walking home and BAM, the war is dropped at their feet and the responsibility of the world is dropped on their shoulders like a truck. Granted, they had each other, and to some extent their families but still.

You can tell right from when David is introduced that he isn't a real good guy. He's not one of those "for the team" kind of people.

But, as for what I think would have happened, I think that he definitely would have become a traitor at some point. I think one of the major problems would be that the Animorphs (just like the readers) would never really accept him because he came in late. He wasn't there from the beginning so there would always be that "well you weren't there when.." or "you don't have the experience" or something like that. The Animorphs wouldn't do it conciously but they would probably cold shoulder David and exclude him and/or his opinion from decisions. All that would eat away at David. Plus the no trust issue would grow and grow and even if he didn't become a traitor, I think it would cause a huge rift between the members of the group.

[AniDragon]

I actually had an idea for a little mini comic series about David. Kind of a "what if he'd showed up during a less stressfull time?" kind of thing.

One of the reasons he was so bitter is because the Animorphs didn't really have time to get him used to the whole thing because they were too busy thinking about the mission. David was an after-thought, even down to where he slept at night.

If they would have had time to think things through, they could have brought David to Erek's place, where he could have slept in a bed, had access to TV, and a giant dog park. Much better than Cassie's barn, and let's face it, the Chee would probably be a good influence on him, and they aren't bad company.

Actually, the first comic would have been something like:

*Animorphs arrive at Erek's house*

Jake: He needs someplace to stay where the Yeerks won't find him.

Erek: *looks at David* Do you like dogs?

David: Actually, I'm more of a cat per--

Marco: *stomps on David's foot* He LOVES dogs.

Erek: .....


That's not to say he wouldn't still turn bad eventually. But I think he would have stuck with them longer.

[RYTX]

Isn't that an alternamorphs thing???

For a moment giving him to the chee does seem like a good move, but then your remember how much he tried to get out of it at the start, if he'd made a break all the chee could do is hold him. And they couldn't do that forever. (not cuz they can't, but he'd die, or hurt himself on them eventually)

Even if david had stayed and wasn't a traitor, he'd be like cousin oliver. There, but no one, especially would want him. Who don't add new main characters to a tight group, Ax as an addition works since he got in early, think how weird it would be if 1/3 of the way into the series they said "hey we got us a new blue dude."
Eventually david would go the way of cousin oliver, they'd send him up stairs and he'd just never come back down.

[Duff]

well, it would have been cool if he had stuck around for a few more books, maybe have him narrate one book which would be like 21, going through his final resolution to turn traitor and then have the next book be where hes nothlited

but in reality, the kid was a twit who only looked out for himself, dont get me wrong i love the dude, hes def got his own redeeming qualities, but he would never have made it an entire rotation, he made the decision to turn traitor on the first battle that got rough