Yeerk solution?

[senter.pat]

Why didnt the andalites just give the yeerks to become nothlits in the beginning? Just thought that would be a solution to the whole problem.. except that some yeerks would have to stay in order to keep breeding and stuff..

[goom]

the morphing power?
i guess they didn't trust them.

[DinosaurNothlit]

Well, I suppose that, considering that giving the Yeerks new technology was what started the whole problem in the first place, the Andalites were reluctant to do the same thing again.

Keep in mind that making the Yeerks all into nothlits would not make them harmless.  They still have the same 'kill and conquer' mentality, the same technology, only now they would be free from their biggest weaknesses; the 3-day limit and the need for bodies.  Perhaps even worse, if forced to become nothlits against their will (which some of them probably would be) they would be cut off from their culture and their identity, which would make them even more desperate to hold onto whatever traits made them 'Yeerks' in the first place.

If it sounds like I've given this a lot of thought, it's because I have.  The idea of Yeerks becoming nothlits and then continuing to wage war anyway is the subject of a fic I'm writing.

[Phoenix004]

Excellent point DN, but it's also worth pointing out that morphing technology was completely new when the Andalites first met the Yeerks.

[Chad32]

Excellent point DN, but it's also worth pointing out that morphing technology was completely new when the Andalites first met the Yeerks.

Yeah. Morphing tech was a new and experimental thing. At first, Andalites weren't even sure if it would help all that much in the war. Making them nothlits would not be the answer. And you can't keep a species from going to war. The best you can do is help keep them from enslaving sentient life through parasitism.

Which is why the Iskoort plan is the best. They could still wage war if they wanted to, and they could even enslave people. But you can't stop that. They started the war partly because they wanted better hosts. People like the Arn could have given it to them, and changed it so the new hosts were the only ones they'd be compatable with.

[Terenia]

Not only that, but creating a race of nothlits is closely akin to genocide. Think about it: if all of the Yeerks become nothlits, then their offspring will be members of whatever race they are trapped into. They won't have Yeerk minds. And if you keep Yeerks in their natural form for breeding purposes then you haven't really solved the problem, have you?

[senter.pat]

Excellent point DN, but it's also worth pointing out that morphing technology was completely new when the Andalites first met the Yeerks.

Yeah. Morphing tech was a new and experimental thing. At first, Andalites weren't even sure if it would help all that much in the war. Making them nothlits would not be the answer. And you can't keep a species from going to war. The best you can do is help keep them from enslaving sentient life through parasitism.

Speaking of using the morphing tech for war, i wonder why the andalites never seemed to use it much. The visser seems to have all these sick morphs, that if the andalites had a trained army of, they would be unstoppable.

[AniDragon]

Morphs aren't very useful in space battles, which is where a lot of the fighting takes place between the Andalites and Yeerks.

[DinosaurNothlit]

Morphs aren't very useful in space battles, which is where a lot of the fighting takes place between the Andalites and Yeerks.

Hmm . . . not necessarily true.

[spoiler]Remember those energy-eating, spaceship-crushing asteroids from AC?[/spoiler]

Those would have rocked in a space battle, if anyone could actually acquire those things.  Which . . . come to think of it, would probably be a strong point against that idea.

[senter.pat]

Morphs aren't very useful in space battles, which is where a lot of the fighting takes place between the Andalites and Yeerks.

not all of the important stuff is space battles. controlling land matters too. what about the time the on the leeran homeworld where the andalites would have lost control of the planet because they had insufficient land forces. except for the bomb that saved them. but had all the andalite warriors morphed some crazy powerful alien then they wouldnt have had to use that. ah-ha! 

[morfowt]

Morphs aren't very useful in space battles, which is where a lot of the fighting takes place between the Andalites and Yeerks.

Hmm . . . not necessarily true.

[spoiler]Remember those energy-eating, spaceship-crushing asteroids from AC?[/spoiler]

Those would have rocked in a space battle, if anyone could actually acquire those things.  Which . . . come to think of it, would probably be a strong point against that idea.

well are they organic? cuz if they're just asteroids and don't have DNA, then its useless...

[anijen21]

seerow's kindness was a law

[Gafrash]

Why didnt the andalites just give the yeerks to become nothlits in the beginning? Just thought that would be a solution to the whole problem.. except that some yeerks would have to stay in order to keep breeding and stuff..

The Andalites had their whole pride thing going on...
But this idea, that THE ONLY LONG-TERM SOLUTION was to have the Yeerks be free of their parasitic form, took me a while to get used to as the series concluded. I understand what was at stake and the circumstances of that stage in the Animorphs' war, but in truth, I don't actually accept it as THE ONLY solution.
I was always surprised why Cassie, the nature philosopher, would be the one pushing for this option. If we apply this lesson to real life, who were they to change the natural order of things?!
Personally, I would ask them (Jake or the Andalites) WHY they didn't just re-locate the captured Yeerk prisioners to their Homeworld, which is meant to be under Andalite control anyway. Wouldn't this be the most appropriate solution?!?!?!?!?!

...Speaking of using the morphing tech for war, i wonder why the andalites never seemed to use it much. The visser seems to have all these sick morphs, that if the andalites had a trained army of, they would be unstoppable.

Yeah, Ax himself stated that Morphing was not meant to be used for war situations, mostly spy assignments.
It was the Visser first, as the Abomination, who began treating the technology differently and for evil purposes. Then the Animorphs, showing how it's REALLY done in a range of different ways.

[Tim Bruening]

Why didnt the andalites just give the yeerks to become nothlits in the beginning? Just thought that would be a solution to the whole problem.. except that some yeerks would have to stay in order to keep breeding and stuff..

I believe that the Andalites might not yet have developed morphing into a reliable technology at the time of the Yeerk uprising.  If they had, I bet that Seerow would have given the Yeerks morphing tech!