Thoughts on the ending

[Chad32]

The ending made you uneasy.... that doesn't mean it was bad.
Anyway, it was a science fiction book, but look at how detailed it was! I mean, there was Pepsi, Cinnabon, The Gap! The reason why we love the Animorphs because it was set in our world. OUR world. Unlike other science fictions where it takes place on some phony fairy land. That's why it HAS to be realistic. We love Animorphs because it's realistic.

And the ending, That is why the Ending is called "The Beginning". It is the beginning of something new, something unknown. If the book was named "The End" and ended as open, I would complain. But it was named the Beginning. You don't name something "the Beginning" for nothing.

Personally, I like the ending, unlike what most people say about it. I don't exactly enjoy Cinderella endings.... it's just to perfect, not how reality is supposed to be.

Dear Animorphs Readers:

Quite a number of people seem to be annoyed by the final chapter in the Animorphs story. There are a lot of complaints that I let Rachel die. That I let Visser Three/One live. That Cassie and Jake broke up. That Tobias seems to have been reduced to unexpressed grief. That there was no grand, final fight-to-end-all-fights. That there was no happy celebration. And everyone is mad about the cliffhanger ending.

So I thought I'd respond.

Animorphs was always a war story. Wars don't end happily. Not ever. Often relationships that were central during war, dissolve during peace. Some people who were brave and fearless in war are unable to handle peace, feel disconnected and confused. Other times people in war make the move to peace very easily. Always people die in wars. And always people are left shattered by the loss of loved ones.

That's what happens, so that's what I wrote. Jake and Cassie were in love during the war, and end up going their seperate ways afterward. Jake, who was so brave and capable during the war is adrift during the peace. Marco and Ax, on the other hand, move easily past the war and even manage to use their experience to good effect. Rachel dies, and Tobias will never get over it. That doesn't by any means cover everything that happens in a war, but it's a start.

Here's what doesn't happen in war: there are no wondrous, climactic battles that leave the good guys standing tall and the bad guys lying in the dirt. Life isn't a World Wrestling Federation Smackdown. Even the people who win a war, who survive and come out the other side with the conviction that they have done something brave and necessary, don't do a lot of celebrating. There's very little chanting of 'we're number one' among people who've personally experienced war.

I'm just a writer, and my main goal was always to entertain. But I've never let Animorphs turn into just another painless video game version of war, and I wasn't going to do it at the end. I've spent 60 books telling a strange, fanciful war story, sometimes very seriously, sometimes more tongue-in-cheek. I've written a lot of action and a lot of humor and a lot of sheer nonsense. But I have also, again and again, challenged readers to think about what they were reading. To think about the right and wrong, not just the who-beat-who. And to tell you the truth I'm a little shocked that so many readers seemed to believe I'd wrap it all up with a lot of high-fiving and backslapping. Wars very often end, sad to say, just as ours did: with a nearly seamless transition to another war.

So, you don't like the way our little fictional war came out? You don't like Rachel dead and Tobias shattered and Jake guilt-ridden? You don't like that one war simply led to another? Fine. Pretty soon you'll all be of voting age, and of draft age. So when someone proposes a war, remember that even the most necessary wars, even the rare wars where the lines of good and evil are clear and clean, end with a lot of people dead, a lot of people crippled, and a lot of orphans, widows and grieving parents.

If you're mad at me because that's what you have to take away from Animorphs, too bad. I couldn't have written it any other way and remained true to the respect I have always felt for Animorphs readers.

K.A. Applegate

I don't really care about all that. I don't care if more realistic endings don't always end on a solid note. I just feel that when a person has control over how something ends, then it should be a more or less cinderella ending.

I never thought of it as a war story. Maybe if some animorphs started dying off earlier in the series, then I'd be ok. It sets that precedent.

I've read her note to the fanbase. If she wanted to end her series that way, then she should have written the other books differently. That way everyone would have expected a more traumatic ending. I also wouldn't mind her putting the Kelbrid and One in there, if I thought she'd start something else.

But she won't. She moved on to something else and decided to let the fans try to figure out what is going on with the mess she left us.

She built up Rachel as a two sided person, but in the end treated her like a one demensional character. She also made it out like Tobias lost everything when he lost Rachel, when he obviously didn't.

It makes me question the level of respect she really has for fans, even though she says she gave us that ending because she respects us.

[Myitt]

I never thought of it as a war story.

Erm...you're entitled to think that, but uh.....why?!  It's a war story from the beginning, when a bunch of kids start turning into animals and ripping throats out of aliens in guerilla attacks... o.O;  They become a part of an intergalactic war.

[Chad32]

I never thought of it as a war story.

Erm...you're entitled to think that, but uh.....why?!  It's a war story from the beginning, when a bunch of kids start turning into animals and ripping throats out of aliens in guerilla attacks... o.O;  They become a part of an intergalactic war.

It's kind of like when I watch Batman or Superman or something. They're fighting criminals, but I don't see it as like a war. Or like X-Men fighting humans.

Just your average people with superpowers fighting evil kind of thing.

[morfowt]

right...when was the last time anyone died in Batman or Superman?

[Chad32]

right...when was the last time anyone died in Batman or Superman?

EXACTLY!!

No animorph ever died in the series until Rachel. Random enemies perhaps, but no one really cares about those. Not in some book series, anyway.

[morfowt]

I wasn't asking just the heroes...I was asking since when did villians die?

[Chad32]

I wasn't asking just the heroes...I was asking since when did villians die?

I'm not sure. I guess animorphs is a tad more realistic than batman and superman. However, my point still stands. I don't recall any main character ever dying in animorphs before the last book.

[morfowt]

what about jake in MM#3? rachel died in that book too.

[Chad32]

what about jake in MM#3? rachel died in that book too.

Yeah, but they were brought back. They didn't stay dead.

[morfowt]

when did batman die and come back to life?

[Chad32]

when did batman die and come back to life?

That one episode where his allies used a time machine to go into the past and make it so he never died in the first place.

[morfowt]

ok...then i'm stumped. maybe someone else has something to argue with.

[EscafilDevice]

I don't really care about all that. I don't care if more realistic endings don't always end on a solid note. I just feel that when a person has control over how something ends, then it should be a more or less cinderella ending.

I never thought of it as a war story. Maybe if some animorphs started dying off earlier in the series, then I'd be ok. It sets that precedent.

I've read her note to the fanbase. If she wanted to end her series that way, then she should have written the other books differently. That way everyone would have expected a more traumatic ending. I also wouldn't mind her putting the Kelbrid and One in there, if I thought she'd start something else.

But she won't. She moved on to something else and decided to let the fans try to figure out what is going on with the mess she left us.

She built up Rachel as a two sided person, but in the end treated her like a one demensional character. She also made it out like Tobias lost everything when he lost Rachel, when he obviously didn't.

It makes me question the level of respect she really has for fans, even though she says she gave us that ending because she respects us.

I agree.

Some of the books were serious, but there were significantly more light-hearted and humorous moments. I don't think it was written like a war series at all - if it were, not as many kids would have read it. The violent themes certainly weren't graphic. I don't know if anyone else picked up on this, but I noticed that the subject of the Animorphs killing their enemies isn't mentioned very often until the final story arc - it just says that they fought them.

It was inconsistent and I know this is a bit harsh, but I think it was a colossal dick move to end the story that way. Sad stories are supposed to be sad, not just piss people off. I finished the Animorphs series feeling pissed off.

Who else was disappointed by the lack of a big Ax/Visser Three showdown? He talked about having to avenge his brother's death in like every single one of his narratives but it's like KA forgot about it when she wrote the finale. The worse part was that I was expecting it. I actually had never read #53 so I was satisfied with the plotline with Tom, but I really would have preferred if he had lived. That was just personal preference - I do think Jake being depressed over Tom's death is much more realistic than every single one of them except Marco being a huge Debbie Downer.

And what was up with Cassie's new boyfriend? That really stuck it to every J/C fan out there.

I would've ended it with Rachel surviving and finding a way to handle her problem, Ax killing Visser One/Three and killing Alloran out of mercy, and Jake feeling guilty about flushing the Pool Ship. I also would've worked in Ellimist and Crayak somehow to tie it into #41 better - possibly ending the story with Crayak conceding defeat over that portion of the game and them planning the next portion of their game.

What bothered me the most about this ending was that it was my favorite book series by an author I thought was really talented, even though she was a bit disorganized. I would've been able to forget a crappy ending by any other author.

[Chad32]

I never really thought much about the lack of an Ax vs. Visser One battle. Might have been kind of cool to work one in right after they reentered the bridge.

Let's say the gang is heading back to the bridge. Ax just happens to get through the door first, and V1 charges in a blind rage. He doesn't try to morph anything, but just attacks.

It ends with Ax cutting off his tail blade and knocking him out. Allaron lives to help vouch for Ax when he challenges the other Andalite later.

It would have made a nice climactic battle, with Elfangor being avenged.

[morfowt]

uh...I'd be more please if he went to jail. sounds...ironic, I guess is the word. after all the evil he did, everyone expects him to die. no, he just ends up seving time in prison.