Do you think David is actually dead?

[Ss112]

I don't know if it's been discussed before (it probably has, it's kind of inevitable after reading the book), but I just read #48, and I'm really stumped. There are so many feelings in that book that Rachel, and David, go through, until, of course, you get to the end, and she's sitting there in the alley staring at David, the rat. And he's begging him to kill her, and she cries, and then she says she wants to do the right thing, but doesn't know what that is, and the end just leaves you hanging. So what are your thoughts? Do you think she actually did the 'right thing' (according to David, at least) and put him out of his misery? I personally believe she would have, although it would have come with immense guilt, (which she, in a sense, already had) as I personally don't see her going back to the rock outpost and depositing David back there... I'd even venture to say it'd be a worse fate than death.

[musicman88]

Hooray shameless fanfiction plugs!

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3516180/1/Animorphs_The_Prey

Don't worry, it's short and on topic.

[Chad32]

I think she would have killed him. It is the right thing to do. trapping him as a rat like that was just wrong. I don't care how bad david was, it was just not better than ending him quickly.

[Blaise Zebrataur]

Personally..I think she took him back to the rock.What he did...turning on the Animorphs and such..I..think Rachel took him back and choose to let him life his life out as a rat..it might not have been the right"choice"but I think it was a way for David to suffer for what he did/was going to do.


I might sound abit...mean but I never liked David.

[Alic]

i hope he's dead
i would do the deed myself

[Agent 128]

It might have been a bad idea to keep him alive. He may look harmless as a nothlit, but don't forget that he was still armed with thought speak. He could have been able to tell anyone that visited the island. I'm thinking that he might be dead because if they let him live, He could have told the Yeerks several secrets about the Animorphs, such as their tactics or plans and they could have very easily lost the war.

[RYTX]

I think yes he was probably dead before the end, but I can't say rachel did it.
Can't think of a substantial reason for her not to, but I really don't think she did

[Vanish]

I don't know, I think she is crying at the end because she knows what she had to do which was to kill him.

[itw2009]

if they let him live, He could have told the Yeerks several secrets about the Animorphs, such as their tactics or plans and they could have very easily lost the war.

true, that. huge, huge problem.

i need to reread 48. i would, however, like to think that rachel was spared from having to kill the guy- not a pretty decision. could she have done it? i think so. but i thank god i've never had to make a call like that, myself. =| when i was younger, i'm pretty sure i told myself that i could have done it. no sweat. but now...

[dolphin4077]

 In 48 David threatened to tell random controllers about the Animorphs.  Then in the next book the Yeerks start to look for humans.  If Rachel did spare him, it makes sense --timing wise --David was the reason their cover was blown. 

[itw2009]

ho, snap. nice point.

i wonder if kat-mike (see, these interviews are blowing my mind in unprecedented ways. now i can't just say "KA", i have to somehow include Michael) actually had that in mind. sometimes, i think, these things just "fall into place" without rhyme or reason.

that would make an interesting little side story, too. (conspicuous nudging of RAFanfiction writers)

[Essam 293]

In 48 David threatened to tell random controllers about the Animorphs.  Then in the next book the Yeerks start to look for humans.  If Rachel did spare him, it makes sense --timing wise --David was the reason their cover was blown.  

This is a good theory, however, many random controllers (including Chapman) had already speculated that the 'Andalite Bandits' were really humans all the way back in #4. They just weren't going to go around throwing speculations at Visser Three, without proof, only to get their heads cut off. The timing of their discovery does match with #48, but the real reason their cover was blown was because the Yeerks had actively begun looking for humans with animal DNA in them. The blood samples and the DNA that the Animorphs left lying around after their battles confirmed this for the Yeerks. Also, this Yeerk operation could have easily been started because one of Animorphs slipped up and got caught on one of the hundreds of missions they had been on before. The 'Andalite Bandit' cover wasn't a long-term solution anyway. It was only a matter of time before it was blown, and the rumors were proven true, especially if they had been started by the Yeerks all the way in the start of the series.

Personally, I believe that Rachel did kill David at the end of #48. Just a gut feeling on this, especially as how she suddenly became more violent and bloodthirsty in the last few books, and became far less reluctant to taking lives. The one scene in particular that makes me think of this is in #52, when she goes to kill a controller even when he is trying to escape the war and trap himself in a bird morph. That's an awfully big change, going from stopping the Yeerks, to simply killing them all. Something very personal must have happened to her to push her into that kind of state.

[itw2009]

well, realize also that controllers would probably not just get "hey, the 'andalite bandits' are human" out of the talking rat, but also "there's this guy, marco ___, and these three other dweebs...", etc. out of him.

still.
i feel as though that tied together nicely.

in actuality, i believe the change in 48 occurred because katmike had decided it was time to drop the landing gear, so to speak. i doubt that they deliberately came up with a reason (saves them time, although they love the excuse "lets the reader decide"). either way, i liked dolphin's theory because, well... it's great when, in hindsight, story elements unintentionally fall into place. it's a good feeling. =)

[Chad32]

That would be sad if killing David was what sent Rachel over the edge. That means she went over the edge because of what Cassie did to David. Putting him through a fate worse than death.

But it really isn't the first Human that died because of them, and I'm not sure why killing a Human would effect any of them so badly, except in a case like with Jake and Tom. But then this is KA's series, and things will happen the way she wants them to whether they make sense or not.

[SuperBlue]

I also think she killed him for numerous reasons.

1. it seemed like the right thing to do

2. he knew WAY too much about them, he could blab to human that passes him and odds are that human would be a controller(which is why I always wandered why they never killed him in "The Solution". Did they forget nothlits are capable of thought speak? plus it would have been awesome to see them all go battle morph and whoop his lion ass )

3. After all David put them through, he deserves to die. I know that's kind of mean but if he had asked me to kill him, I would have done it right away. Not cuz I felt sorry for him, not cuz he could snitch to the controllers, but becuase he was a jackass and after everything he put me and my teammates through, nothing would have made me happier than to end him...wow...that was rather morbid