If she lived...

[Horsefan1023 (Seal)]

Yeah, you might need more when you're a hawk.  I think he feels lonely.  Rachel really loved him, and his lonliness returned when she died.

[Azguard]

poor guy. i think he would have died pathetically

[KOFSoldier]

Yeah, once Rachel died, she basically doomed him to a life of misery. GOD it's so depressing, I remember I was torn up about it for like a month when I first read it.

The main reason being that I think I identify with Tobias the most. While I'm lucky enough to have a few friends and family, I was never the cool guy at school (like Marco and Jake seem to be), and I never had a girlfriend back then. So when Tobias nabbed Rachel, it was like a victory for all the quiet guys out there, lol.

[Azguard]

I KNOW! THESE THINGS MAKE ME DEPRESSED!

yeah, victory for tobias...but epic fail at the end. >.<

[Horsefan1023 (Seal)]

It's like, "Someone who cares!"  Then, "No, person who cares dies. 

[Azguard]

oh my gosh. you know what song fits?

home by vanessa carlton, the song makes me sad!!

[AniJen]

It looks like most ppl feel that Rachel would have either run off with her man.. err.. bird, or find crazy things to do as an adrenaline junkie. Do you guys think she would have had a happy life with any option? I just kind of see her character as tragic even if she lived or died by the way her character  was written in the last few books. Even her mother thought she was lost at one point (when Rachel tried to run over the army guys by stepping on her mom's foot on the pedal). She realized how far Rachel was willing to go. I would have liked to have Rachel's dad there at the end in the valley somehow too.

[KOFSoldier]

It looks like most ppl feel that Rachel would have either run off with her man.. err.. bird, or find crazy things to do as an adrenaline junkie. Do you guys think she would have had a happy life with any option? I just kind of see her character as tragic even if she lived or died by the way her character  was written in the last few books. Even her mother thought she was lost at one point (when Rachel tried to run over the army guys by stepping on her mom's foot on the pedal). She realized how far Rachel was willing to go. I would have liked to have Rachel's dad there at the end in the valley somehow too.

Or at least SOME mention of him would've been nice. They basically said "I brought my mom and sister's to the valley, there wasn't enough time to go get my dad", and that was the last we heard about him. Ah, well.......

But yeah, I also think here character was tragic. Also, I hate to say it, but after thinking it through, I think Rachel and Tobias' relationship was doomed. I TRULY couldn't see Tobias giving up being a hawk forever and without the war as a excuse reason, I'm sure Rachel would put the pressure on him to do so.

She'd probably wait it out for him to do it for a while, but after so long, I think she'd get tired of it and leave him.

Just like Rachel was a tragic character, Tobias was equally (if not more so) tragic. Much as it pains me to say it, he was bound to have a sad ending. But at least if she was alive, he'd have been able to face society.

[SuperBlue]

I actually always thought Rachel would be able to manage fine without the war. She's been known to easily adapt to situations(Look how nicely she adapted to the war so it wouldn't be too hard for her to get used to the Yeerks being gone) Plus it's not like she wouldn't be able to fight or have fun anymore. She could join the military and train morph-capable soldiers or she could be an adrenalin junkie and do some extreme sports, either way she'd have a happy life with Tobias. I actually think if Rachel and Tom didnt die, there'd be a much happier ending. Jake wouldn't be as depressed, Tobias wouldn't be a stupid emo, Jake and Cassie might've still had a chance, and maybe if Ax saw how happy things were on earth, he'd decide to stay instead of going back to his homeworld and being eaten by "the one", thus preventing the deaths of Jake, Marco, and Tobias.

[Chad32]

Thank you! Someone agrees with me. The war seemed to take a bigger toll on Cassie than most of the others because she hated it all, but she drifted seemlessly between war and peace.

[Essam 293]

I'm gonna go with option #2. Just cause the war is over, doesn't mean that the government would be any less paranoid in the aftermath. If fact, they'd likely over react, hoping to want help and get as much of an edge they can over this whole new enemy that came out of no where.  Even with the Andalites coming to aid Earth, it wouldn't ease the situation any further. The Andalites weren't saints, and unlike the Animorphs learning of this the hard way, I doubt that the government would be as trusting as them in the first place. Suspicions would arise of the Andalites visiting Earth afterwards.

Afterall, the planet just got invaded by an nearly invisible enemy, do you really think it seems logical that they would automatically trust the next alien species that came along? The government would try to list the help of the Animorphs (covert ops, gathering information,.. whatever), and I don't see Rachel turning down an offer like that either. In fact, I can see Tobias joining her also.

[Cloak]

*nods at Lazy Reaper*

And give a Tobias another excuse not be a human nothlit.

[AniJen]

As long as Rachel had a goal and it involved action and violence, she would be ok. But for how long? Tobias loved her but how long did he really want to fight. But I agree with the fact that Tobias would use it as an excuse to stay hawk.

I also think the way he left his mom and Ax was wrong. He went to hide as a hawk then face humanity again; to drown in self pity. He was all his mother had. He's doing what he did when he was tortured; hiding in the hawk mind so he doesn't have to face anything himself (which was protection then, but selfish now i think). Not the best ending for the son of Elfangor...

[KOFSoldier]

I wonder whatever happened to Loren, anyway?

I imagine she didnt go back to her ****hole of a home.....

Also, I think if Rachel and Tom had both lived, Jake definetly wouldn't have been as depressed. I'm sure he'd have problems, but nothing I think he couldn't overcome. He and Cassie would've gotten married for sure.

[SuperBlue]

Thank you! Someone agrees with me. The war seemed to take a bigger toll on Cassie than most of the others because she hated it all, but she drifted seemlessly between war and peace.

I don't even think Cassie took a huge toll. I'd say Jake and Tobias were the ones that changed the most because of the war.

Tobias went from bully magnet, to actually being a pretty cool character,to empty shell of his former self, to Elfangor's son, then back to that empty shell after Rachel died.

Jake went from normal kid without a care in the world, then to the leader of the Animorphs, to a abnormal kid with weight of the world on his shoulders, then to a child who's gone though things that most adults will never go through, and finally, to a man who was, like Tobias, an empty and depressed shell of his former self