Thoughts on the ending

[Aluminator (Kit)]

I just finished my reread about a week ago, so I actually feel I can talk about the ending now.

I still did not like it, but I'm finding it easier to accept than the first time. At least it's not going to turn me off to the concept of Animorphs for nine years this time around. It didn't feel right, but I'm not so sure anymore what exactly it was that didn't feel right. I think it might just be related to the ghostwriters' smashing of the characters to one dimension. In the last two books, for example, Rachel almost started to seem like Rachel again- brave, brutal and dark, but still human, possibly with an actual three-dimensional character hiding somewhere in there... and then, it's all snatched away... after all the chaos and the inconsistent characterizations and the uninteresting books... I'm given one more taste of why I fell in love with the series, just as everything goes to hell and everyone gets screwed over...

I don't agree with you guys who are saying it was a remarkably fitting ending. It really sounds like you're just grasping for patterns. It was a bit of a messy ending, and it was supposed to be. Well done, in my opinion, all things considered. I'd still prefer an ending that's more in line with the somewhat unrealistic "survival and hope" message of the rest of the series, but as long as that was being dropped, the Aniending was actually quite good.

As for the post-plot with The One and The Search For Ax... I was actually fairly indifferent. It's no longer the adventure I'd been reading about for the last 64 books, so there's this disconnect there. I liked that the series ends with the beginning of a new adventure... and a world of possibilities...

Side note; does anybody realize that Erek's draining of the Pool Ship's weapons was one of the most illogical things he could have done, based on his programming? Did he know Jake's plan to pit the Pool Ship against the Blade Ship? If he did, he'd realize that a Pool Ship being blown to smithereens would result in a few more casualties than a Blade Ship, even if he believed Jake would vaporize the Blade Ship. Even if he didn't know the Yeerk-against-Yeerk part of the plan, he still knew that the overall plan was for Jake to take control of the ship- would he honestly believe strongly enough that Jake would go around frying every Yeerk on the planet that he'd put the effort into draining the weapons? Even if Jake did fry all the Yeerks, wouldn't that save a far greater number of humans (and dogs), especially now that open war's broken out? Erek's actions sound like he was being resentful and immature, but his programming shouldn't allow that...

[estrid]

no,  the erek thing is just another sloppy storyline KA threw into the ending

[niknik]

...Even if Jake did fry all the Yeerks, wouldn't that save a far greater number of humans (and dogs), especially now that open war's broken out?...

LMAO, we're all so cynical when it comes to Erek aren't we? 

aaaanyway

After reading the posts on this thread, obviously everyone has their own opinions on whether the ending was right, and whether any of the Ani's should have died - and if so, who?

While I've seen a lot of opinion on who should have died, it seems to always boil down to:  Rachel, Jake, Tobias or Cassie. 

So: why not Marco or Ax?  What in particular is it about these characters that results in no-one thinking it plausible to kill them off?  (and I don't just mean sending them in Rachel's place - most re-writes with different story lines also seem to have these two guys surviving)

[A ghost you know]

The Erek thing was totally ridiculous. I don't think it's much of a stretch to say that he was indirectly responsible for Rachel's death, Ax's death (remember, had the Blade ship been gunned down, The One alien wouldn't have been able to take over the ship, so Ax wouldn't have gone to investigate the ship and been killed), the likely deaths of Jake, Marco, and Tobias (I doubt they could have survived a ship-to-ship collision), and perhaps the deaths of some Controllers. There would probably have been fewer lives lost had the Pool ship successfully destroyed the Blade ship. Quite ironic, given that the Chee were hardwired to be nonviolent.


One other thing that occurred to me was a twist in Rachel's last mission. Her mission was almost guaranteed to be suicide; there was only one way out, and the odds couldn't have been worse for that.
* The Pool ship fires on and hits the Blade ship - Rachel dies in the explosion. She wouldn't have had time to morph to eagle or roach.
* The Pool ship misses the Blade ship - Rachel is called on to destroy Tom. Given his ability - and his allies' ability - to morph, Rachel was guaranteed to die.
* The Pool ship misses the Blade ship, Rachel decides to leave Tom alive - when the Blade ship went into space, Rachel would have eventually A. died from starvation or B. been caught and killed.

The only way out for Rachel would have been Tom's surrender, and, given Tom's perceived combat advantage, I doubt he would have surrendered unless the entire Andalite fleet suddenly showed up.

[Chad32]

I think I had the idea at one time where Alloran pulls the bladeship into the pool ship with the tractor beam.  The Yeerks onboard agree to surrender and exchange all hosts for their lives. That's one way for Rachel and Tom to survive. Also Rachel and maybe a few auxilaries could commandeer the bridge of the ship and keep the enemy at bay until the Pool ship moves in to capture the bladeship.

Of course these ideas hinge on the Yeerks not just killing rachel out of spite, but then Rachel shouldn't have even been on the ship anyway. I understand that jake didn't want Tom to be the next Eva, but if so he should have rescued Tom when he had the chances. And I do say chances, because there were multiple.

[arzwlf]

The Erek thing was totally ridiculous. I don't think it's much of a stretch to say that he was indirectly responsible for Rachel's death, Ax's death (remember, had the Blade ship been gunned down, The One alien wouldn't have been able to take over the ship, so Ax wouldn't have gone to investigate the ship and been killed), the likely deaths of Jake, Marco, and Tobias (I doubt they could have survived a ship-to-ship collision), and perhaps the deaths of some Controllers. There would probably have been fewer lives lost had the Pool ship successfully destroyed the Blade ship. Quite ironic, given that the Chee were hardwired to be nonviolent.


One other thing that occurred to me was a twist in Rachel's last mission. Her mission was almost guaranteed to be suicide; there was only one way out, and the odds couldn't have been worse for that.
* The Pool ship fires on and hits the Blade ship - Rachel dies in the explosion. She wouldn't have had time to morph to eagle or roach.
* The Pool ship misses the Blade ship - Rachel is called on to destroy Tom. Given his ability - and his allies' ability - to morph, Rachel was guaranteed to die.
* The Pool ship misses the Blade ship, Rachel decides to leave Tom alive - when the Blade ship went into space, Rachel would have eventually A. died from starvation or B. been caught and killed.

The only way out for Rachel would have been Tom's surrender, and, given Tom's perceived combat advantage, I doubt he would have surrendered unless the entire Andalite fleet suddenly showed up.

i agree on the erek thing, he is by far the 2nd most annoying character in the series (behind only cassie) also on the rachel thing it was a suicide mission and i believe at various points in the story both jake and rachel acknowledge this. they knew what was going to happen. thats why her decision to do it was very powerful, actively deciding to die for your friends

on chads post, remember the important part of her mission on the blade ship wasnt to kill tom, she had to destroy the weapons console so that the blade ship didnt kill the pool ship and everyone else. thats why the blade ship fled, because it was defenseless. had her mission just been killing, she may have actually had a chance by killing most of them in mid morph.

i think ax dying would have been an ok end, but she wanted the cost to be human so she had to kill one of the kids off. Jake sacrificing himself would have been another fitting end. the captain going down with his ship so to speak.

[Ecafil]

The fact that everyone's so affected that Rachel died means that this was a good ending.
C'mon, if Cassie died, everyone would just shrug it off. FAIL.

With Rachel dying, everyone is now a war casualty. A "Andalite-Human-Animorph-Yeerk war" casualty. Yeah, even YOU. That's what makes the ending so good. It affects us so much.

[CounterInstinct]

^
Definitely. I guess the reason majority of people don't like the ending is the same as the reason they hate Cassie. All action and glory without the morality and reality stuff.

[A ghost you know]

The fact that everyone's so affected that Rachel died means that this was a good ending.
C'mon, if Cassie died, everyone would just shrug it off. FAIL.

With Rachel dying, everyone is now a war casualty. A "Andalite-Human-Animorph-Yeerk war" casualty. Yeah, even YOU. That's what makes the ending so good. It affects us so much.

Dead on.
I just finished reading a Neomorphs book where Cassie died in battle; her battle was as hopeless as Rachel's, her fight was as brave as Rachel's, and she received a final tribute similar to Rachel's (Guraff 427, the Yeerk who killed Cassie, said "You aren't a warrior, yet you died like one" as she was dying), yet I didn't feel badly at all when she died. Rachel's death, on the other hand, sent me into a deep depression I'm still not entirely out of. I also shed a few tears while I was reading #54 - a very unusual occurrence.

I don't know if Rachel's death makes everyone a war casualty, but I reckon it might make everyone an indirect war casualty, much like family members react when one of them dies in a war. I think we all got emotionally attached to Rachel during the series, especially since her internal battle against her dark side is something we can all relate to. I don't think that kind of attachment formed with Cassie, which explains why our heartstrings get yanked when Rachel dies but not when Cassie does.
Post Merged: May 22, 2010, 11:38:56 PMOne more thing just occurred to me.
Why the heck was Rachel the only Animorph on that Blade ship???
Seriously.
It wasn't numbers (e.g. "The other Animorphs all had places they absolutely had to be"), because some of the auxiliaries could have gone. It's not like they were doing anything particularly helpful anyway; they were all doomed to die. I'm sure a couple of them would have jumped at the chance to live, regardless of how small that chance would be. Even Loren could have gone (and would probably have been happy to do so).
The odds of a victory become significantly (even exponentially?) greater when more good guys pile in, and Jake must have known that. Send 4-5 people instead of 1, and a suicide mission suddenly becomes an even battle. If Rachel alone had a chance (she did, during the first few moments of the battle), 4-5 people could absolutely have kicked Yeerk butt.
Sending Rachel alone was absolutely idiotic.

[goom]

Why the heck was Rachel the only Animorph on that Blade ship???
Seriously.
It wasn't numbers (e.g. "The other Animorphs all had places they absolutely had to be"), because some of the auxiliaries could have gone. It's not like they were doing anything particularly helpful anyway; they were all doomed to die. I'm sure a couple of them would have jumped at the chance to live, regardless of how small that chance would be. Even Loren could have gone (and would probably have been happy to do so).
The odds of a victory become significantly (even exponentially?) greater when more good guys pile in, and Jake must have known that. Send 4-5 people instead of 1, and a suicide mission suddenly becomes an even battle. If Rachel alone had a chance (she did, during the first few moments of the battle), 4-5 people could absolutely have kicked Yeerk butt.
Sending Rachel alone was absolutely idiotic.

K.A. needed somebody to die at the end, and i guess that was the easiest way to do it.

my thoughts, as i've echoed before, are:

• if she was going for realism, more would have died (and be replaced?) gradually throughout the series
• since she apparently wasn't, why kill one off at the very end? too cliche for my liking.

it was stupid to send all of the auxiliary etc. out to die.
i sure know jake was kicking himself for that -.-

even ignoring this all of the other rushed parts, the biggest slap in the face (to me) was in her final letter. (see: http://animorphsforum.com/forum/index.php/topic,4664)

[A ghost you know]

K.A. needed somebody to die at the end, and i guess that was the easiest way to do it.

<grumbling>
I know, it's a plot device, but she picked the wrong person to kill in the wrong situation, in the wrong place, and at the wrong time. For crying out loud, Rachel fought the hardest. If K.A. was going to kill her, the middle of the series would have worked just fine. There was even a "good" situation: a battle in which Jake had to leave her and Marco. The timing would have been good, and the series flow natural. Killing her at the end of the series was just wrong...
</grumbling>

my thoughts, as i've echoed before, are:

• if she was going for realism, more would have died (and be replaced?) gradually throughout the series
• since she apparently wasn't, why kill one off at the very end? too cliche for my liking.

Agreed.

it was stupid to send all of the auxiliary etc. out to die.
i sure know jake was kicking himself for that -.-

I'm sure he was. That was probably worse than Rachel in his mind, because at least she had a fighting chance. The auxiliaries never even got to fight for their lives.

even ignoring this all of the other rushed parts, the biggest slap in the face (to me) was in her final letter. (see: http://animorphsforum.com/forum/index.php/topic,4664)

Totally agree with the OP there.

[CounterInstinct]

For one thing I didn't like Neomorphs because it became too Star Trekky. It deviated from the point that "kids in POV of animals" that was the point of the book.

Why the heck was Rachel the only Animorph on that Blade ship???
Seriously.
It wasn't numbers (e.g. "The other Animorphs all had places they absolutely had to be"), because some of the auxiliaries could have gone. It's not like they were doing anything particularly helpful anyway; they were all doomed to die. I'm sure a couple of them would have jumped at the chance to live, regardless of how small that chance would be. Even Loren could have gone (and would probably have been happy to do so).
The odds of a victory become significantly (even exponentially?) greater when more good guys pile in, and Jake must have known that. Send 4-5 people instead of 1, and a suicide mission suddenly becomes an even battle. If Rachel alone had a chance (she did, during the first few moments of the battle), 4-5 people could absolutely have kicked Yeerk butt.
Sending Rachel alone was absolutely idiotic.

K.A. needed somebody to die at the end, and i guess that was the easiest way to do it.

my thoughts, as i've echoed before, are:

• if she was going for realism, more would have died (and be replaced?) gradually throughout the series

• since she apparently wasn't, why kill one off at the very end? too cliche for my liking.

[/b]
[/list]

it was stupid to send all of the auxiliary etc. out to die.
i sure know jake was kicking himself for that -.-

even ignoring this all of the other rushed parts, the biggest slap in the face (to me) was in her final letter. (see: http://animorphsforum.com/forum/index.php/topic,4664)

Well, everyone living at the end and having a cup of tea would be more of a cliche to me.

Even "The Simpsons" did a joke on Harry Potter ending being "what ending do you like, little girl?".

About Jake's decisions, not sending anyone with Rachel was one of the reasons Jake was killing himself at the ending.

Jake knew he made a lot of stupid decisions (sleeping on it, letting Rachel go alone, flushing the yeerks) and yeah, I guess it's pretty self explanatory.

Plus, I know everyone's expecting a sorta reward for the Animorphs' bravery, but I guess, even if you look outside, those who deserve that medal just don't get it.

Hey, again, it's the same reason you probably hate Cassie books too.

[KrazyTrumpeter05]

I know, it's a plot device, but she picked the wrong person to kill in the wrong situation, in the wrong place, and at the wrong time. For crying out loud, Rachel fought the hardest. If K.A. was going to kill her, the middle of the series would have worked just fine. There was even a "good" situation: a battle in which Jake had to leave her and Marco. The timing would have been good, and the series flow natural. Killing her at the end of the series was just wrong...

I very much disagree.  It was better to have everyone get super attached to Rachel (let's face it, she was the most interesting character, the easiest one to feel for) and rip out everyone's hearts at the very end of the series.  Killing her in the middle of the series would not have been "just fine", it would have been about the most "meh" thing that could have happened.  

Also, I've seen some other posts about it making more sense to kill off and replace people throughout the series...but how would that have made sense?  The entire series is about following this one group of kids, with their struggles and emotions.  It makes for a much deeper story than would have otherwise been possible if you're replacing people every couple of books.

[Chad32]

What we're trying to say is that if she wanted to go for realism, she should have killed off people from the start. The books aren't about these five kids and their alien friend, it's about Animorphs. Kids turning into animals to fight Yeerks. Even if the series ended with completely different characters than it started out with, it would still be Animorphs. It would still be a story about people turning into animals to fight an alien invasion. The premise would be the same.

Having it established that none of them will die because the big guy Ellemist always makes sure there's a way out, then killing off Rachel and saying it was for realism because KA and others think the ending would either be on one extreme or the other on the sliding scale of idealism and cynicism is just wrong.

Killing Rachel at the end is actually less realistic given the universe they are in. It isn't consistent with the universe, and consistency is what all fictional universes need. This isn't a realistic book series, and it doesn't have to be, but it should always be consistent. If it isn't, it shatters our willing suspension of disbelief and you get fan backlash.

[CounterInstinct]

What we're trying to say is that if she wanted to go for realism, she should have killed off people from the start. The books aren't about these five kids and their alien friend, it's about Animorphs. Kids turning into animals to fight Yeerks. Even if the series ended with completely different characters than it started out with, it would still be Animorphs. It would still be a story about people turning into animals to fight an alien invasion. The premise would be the same.

Having it established that none of them will die because the big guy Ellemist always makes sure there's a way out, then killing off Rachel and saying it was for realism because KA and others think the ending would either be on one extreme or the other on the sliding scale of idealism and cynicism is just wrong.

Killing Rachel at the end is actually less realistic given the universe they are in. It isn't consistent with the universe, and consistency is what all fictional universes need. This isn't a realistic book series, and it doesn't have to be, but it should always be consistent. If it isn't, it shatters our willing suspension of disbelief and you get fan backlash.

The book is BOTH realistic and non-realistic. If it was completely realistic, let's face it, it would be more boring than University Physics by Freedman. Yeah, it would.

It's not completely for the sake of realism, but THAT is what the characters would have done.

The ending was what the message of the author was. Wars just plain suck. And us kids, the good guys, should learn from it and avoid it. Without a death, it wouldn't seem possible.

Plus, from your post, i can see that you are really affected by the ending. An ending that affects and changes us, last time i checked, was good.