Thoughts on the ending

[Liz]

I got a little irritated with the way I saw people react to the ending of The Incredibles. As a refresher, the ending shows how the family of The Incredibles is getting along after the story's conflict, living out their everyday lives with renewed happiness and confidence. Then, a new villain known as the Underminer appears out of nowhere and delivers his monologue about how he's about to carry out some great evil plan. The Incredibles look at each other and grin as they put on their masks, and the movie ends.

And people seemed to be bothered by it, expecting that there had to be a sequel to resolve this ending. But that was an ending; it wasn't about what was going to happen next, it was about the tone that was being sent, emphasizing what the characters have been through and what they stand for.

Animorphs used the exact same ending format. The One is more or less the same as the Underminer, albeit with several more layers of meaning. The ending isn't about what's going to happen next, it's about who the characters are and what they stand for. Harry Potter got a softer ending because a major theme of that story was the significance of parenting, and the ending emphasized that theme. Animorphs was about "Live free or die." The ending was congruent with that.

K.A. gave Animorphs the ending that suited the series. Think about the experience of reading it: each chapter lasted only a few pages, and the vast majority of the chapters ended in a cliffhanger. Reading the books consisted of jumping from one cliffhanger to another. The dramatic cliffhanger was a staple of K.A.'s writing style. The ending was congruent with that.

The books were about the Animorphs being faced with some impossible situation, coming up with some insane plan, Rachel saying "Let's do it," and Marco saying "Are you INSANE?!!" The books end with the Animorphs aboard The Rachel, and Marco groaning as he recognizes Rachel's grin on Jake's face. The ending was congruent with the books that came before it.

easily one of the best posts ever...

All of Hylian Dan's posts are the best ever. <3

He just needs to POST MORE...

[Hylian Dan]

I don't know, I never felt like Incredibles had a cliff hanger ending, the Underminer didn't feel threatening, he seemed goofy, it'd be a waste to make a sequel on his account. Whereas The One had Ax, and could have been the set up for a great sequel.

And while you spend like an hour with the Incredible family (or . . . whatever their last names were, I forgot) before the end some people spent years with the Animorphs so you can't really blame them for being more emotional when Animorphs ended.

I agree. The ending of Animorphs was so much more intense, dramatic, meaningful, and emotional. Still, the format of the endings were the same: show how the characters handle the post-war/post-conflict period, then introduce a new threat and have the characters rise to the occasion. It's the same device, on a much, much grander scale.

The answer to the mystery of who/what The One is is that he's a literary device. The ending of Animorphs contains a lot of symbolism and allegory. Tom's voice is never heard, and his nameless, treacherous Yeerk dies in the form of a snake. Visser One, the slavemaster who worked to destroy freedom and free will, is left a blind, deaf slug in a small box. Cassie is freed from a life of war. Rachel never escapes the war. Ax, who called Jake "Prince" and tried to deny himself his vote, is assimilated - but with the potential of being freed by his friends. The renegade Yeerks, whose Empire had exploited the religious tendencies of humans, themselves become a disturbing cult. Their leader, The One, is described as every evil, every corruption. The nameless One is the anti-thesis of "Live free or die." The Animorphs, aboard The Rachel, are caught in an impossible situation, but instead of surrendering their selves, they pull a crazy, death-defying stunt.

The One and his capture of Ax is definitely a set up for a great sequel, much more so than the Underminer situation (which actually got its own video game, which might say something). That's because K.A. treated her readers like students, not consumers. She anticipated that a number of her readers had also developed an interest in writing. As thematically conclusive as the ending was, it was also a fan fiction prompt.

[ChimichangaChupacabra]

La la la The One wasn't a sequel set-up lala lality laaa...

[KOFSoldier]

I don't know, I never felt like Incredibles had a cliff hanger ending, the Underminer didn't feel threatening, he seemed goofy, it'd be a waste to make a sequel on his account. Whereas The One had Ax, and could have been the set up for a great sequel.

And while you spend like an hour with the Incredible family (or . . . whatever their last names were, I forgot) before the end some people spent years with the Animorphs so you can't really blame them for being more emotional when Animorphs ended.

I agree. The ending of Animorphs was so much more intense, dramatic, meaningful, and emotional. Still, the format of the endings were the same: show how the characters handle the post-war/post-conflict period, then introduce a new threat and have the characters rise to the occasion. It's the same device, on a much, much grander scale.

The answer to the mystery of who/what The One is is that he's a literary device. The ending of Animorphs contains a lot of symbolism and allegory. Tom's voice is never heard, and his nameless, treacherous Yeerk dies in the form of a snake. Visser One, the slavemaster who worked to destroy freedom and free will, is left a blind, deaf slug in a small box. Cassie is freed from a life of war. Rachel never escapes the war. Ax, who called Jake "Prince" and tried to deny himself his vote, is assimilated - but with the potential of being freed by his friends. The renegade Yeerks, whose Empire had exploited the religious tendencies of humans, themselves become a disturbing cult. Their leader, The One, is described as every evil, every corruption. The nameless One is the anti-thesis of "Live free or die." The Animorphs, aboard The Rachel, are caught in an impossible situation, but instead of surrendering their selves, they pull a crazy, death-defying stunt.

The One and his capture of Ax is definitely a set up for a great sequel, much more so than the Underminer situation (which actually got its own video game, which might say something). That's because K.A. treated her readers like students, not consumers. She anticipated that a number of her readers had also developed an interest in writing. As thematically conclusive as the ending was, it was also a fan fiction prompt.

Hm, that sounds about right. I mean, if she wasn't going to do a sequel, that was definitely her goal.

[Hylian Dan]

Dahjo799: Can you tell us more about The One at the end of 54? Is it the voice in 41?
KA Applegate: You know what? I'm counting on all the Fan Fiction writers out there to figure that out. I wrote the cliffhanger ending because I wanted to show that Jake could only really find himself again when he stumbled back into a war.
KA Applegate: I wanted to show that one war often leads seamlessly into the next. But a part of me was thinking, "here's for the fan fiction writers.'

http://remnants.jay-eff.com/index.php?info-kaachat

[Chad32]

I don't think she should have done that for fanfic writers, because a lot of us aren't fanfic writers. And how dependant are fanfic writers on loose ends and cliffhangers for ideas anyway?

[Starsword]

Dahjo799: Can you tell us more about The One at the end of 54? Is it the voice in 41?
KA Applegate: You know what? I'm counting on all the Fan Fiction writers out there to figure that out. I wrote the cliffhanger ending because I wanted to show that Jake could only really find himself again when he stumbled back into a war.
KA Applegate: I wanted to show that one war often leads seamlessly into the next. But a part of me was thinking, "here's for the fan fiction writers.'

http://remnants.jay-eff.com/index.php?info-kaachat

That actually makes the authors sound kind of lazy in a "Here, you write this" way.
I can appreciate wanting the readers to take an active role, because we own the series as much as anyone. But still, I read because I want to find out.

[Chad32]

Dahjo799: Can you tell us more about The One at the end of 54? Is it the voice in 41?
KA Applegate: You know what? I'm counting on all the Fan Fiction writers out there to figure that out. I wrote the cliffhanger ending because I wanted to show that Jake could only really find himself again when he stumbled back into a war.
KA Applegate: I wanted to show that one war often leads seamlessly into the next. But a part of me was thinking, "here's for the fan fiction writers.'

http://remnants.jay-eff.com/index.php?info-kaachat

That actually makes the authors sound kind of lazy in a "Here, you write this" way.

That made me laugh right there. Nobody wants to read fanfics when they can have the real thing, because fanfics are notoriously convulted anyway. Though the real thing didn't do justice to the characters in many an opinion.

[Liz]

I like some fanfics better than the real thing...although many of those are published and not crap (not that there aren't crap published fanfics).

And I don't think it's a lazy ending when it probably would have been easier to end #54 halfway through with "so the war ended and Marco got famous and Cassie saved the whales etc. etc."

[Starsword]

I agree, I do actually like the ending simply because the last character is irrelevant. Heck, to a certain extent the Yeerks were irrelevant, at least for me, it was all about the Animorphs. But I just think its strange with the whole "I'm done, your turn." type of deal. I don't necessarily dislike it, but being that involved in the series leaves a ton of questions. 

[KOFSoldier]

I don't know, it just didn't tie up enough loose ends for me, I thought a sequel was almost guaranteed at one point because of it.

One of the main things I used to think about was Rachel's family. I wonder how they made out afterwards? I imagine it'd be pretty hard for her mom to go back to being a lawyer with the amount of "fame" she would have for being the daughter of an Animorph. Who broke the news to her? How did Sarah and Jordan make out?

I think that would've been an excellent chance to show how war effects families as well.

I also always wondered what happened to Chapman. He played such a gigantic role for them throughout the season, I'd have at least liked to know what happened to him at the end.

[ChimichangaChupacabra]

end #54 halfway through with "so the war ended and Marco got famous and Cassie saved the whales etc. etc."

AWESOMEZ.

[Liz]

I don't know, it just didn't tie up enough loose ends for me, I thought a sequel was almost guaranteed at one point because of it.

One of the main things I used to think about was Rachel's family. I wonder how they made out afterwards? I imagine it'd be pretty hard for her mom to go back to being a lawyer with the amount of "fame" she would have for being the daughter of an Animorph. Who broke the news to her? How did Sarah and Jordan make out?

I think that would've been an excellent chance to show how war effects families as well.

I also always wondered what happened to Chapman. He played such a gigantic role for them throughout the season, I'd have at least liked to know what happened to him at the end.

At first that stuff bothered me too, but I've come to like that KA doesn't tell us exactly what happened to each and every character.  For characters that don't have a part in the story after the war ends, I don't think it's that important and that readers can decide for themselves.

The only exception for me would be Loren.  I think it's strange that Tobias would stay in contact with Cassie but not his mother.

[ChimichangaChupacabra]

He probably knew Cassie a lot better than his mother, all in all.  Plus I guess she was the last real remaining tie to Rachel.

Chapman was probably killed in the pool, no?  I don't think he would have made it to the climax with the Pool Ship stuff.  Either that, or he survived and the Yeerk surrendered himself with the others.  He's really not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, I don't think they'd try him specifically in a court along with the Visser.  V3 probably had a whole host of lieutenants, Chapman just being one.

[morfowt]

he did make sort of an appearence in book 53 I think...