Did anyone dislike Jake's orders? (regarding Rachel)

[Duff]

lol like lots, tons of times, a bountiful amount of butt saves

[wotw2112]

Ah!  But didn't we say it wasn't supposed to be a suicide mission?  So he wouldn't be heading out to his death necessarily.  But that's beside the point.

Jake wasn't thinking of anything but winning at any cost (that much is clear) so I doubt he cared about any promise he might have made.

I still think if he had conferred with the others they could have come up with a much better plan.  They all knew the stakes so I don't buy that they wouldn't have bought into a horrifying plan.  Jake always needed them before when making decisions (to pick up what he missed).  Why did that suddenly change?

[Duff]

cassie betrayed him and the team was generally falling apart, ax was double dealing with the andalites, in those last few books the team was completely a wreck, and war counsels as they began to be called (which i absolutely loved lol) just werent getting anywhere, he had his plan and in reality it was quite a masterpiece

[wotw2112]

I disagree with the masterpiece part.

Jake was the leader because he was capable of and willing to making decisions.  But he always needed help and guidance.  His final plan was flawed (questionable disposition of forces, certain dangers he overlooked, among other things) as a result of a lack of just such guidance.

[Duff]

i agree it was still flawed, i mean alot of people had to die and get screwed over, but in the end he played everyone against eachother and managed to do the impossible of commandiering a yeerk pool ship effectively ending the war, thats a tall order lol

[wotw2112]

That much is undeniably true.  I haven't tried it personally but I'd assume. 

[Starsword]

Originally I liked the idea of sending Rachel to a semi suicide mission because she is the most reckless and fearless of them and would never stop. But I am starting to think Marco would have been the better choice, he was far better and making decisions, longterm and short term, and he was willing to kill his mom so that he could reach some end, so I don't think Jake's brother would have been a problem.

[Liz]

Well, I think Jake was still needed and that sending him to the Blade ship would have been a bad choice.  I know a lot of us think that the rest of the Animorphs could have handled the mission without him, but Jake thought he needed to be there, he felt it was his responsibility and that going in place of Rachel would have been the wrong decision.  He said:

Couldn't die. I was in charge. It was my plan.  No time for gestures. Win, that was all I had to do: Win.

I think he didn't ask the others for help or guidance because as he said, he didn't want Cassie to have to wonder later on if she could have stopped Rachel's death.  And he wouldn't have wanted to burden the others with that decision either.

[Starsword]

Jake was also consistently filled with self doubt. If I was sent into a battle to kill a family member, I would probably hesitate before acting, which would be rediculous and compromise the mission, let alone living with the self doubt that Jake had to deal with.

[wotw2112]

A valid point.  But Jake was also known as a decision-maker.  He acted when he needed to.  I think he would have been able to do it if it came right down to it. 

[Relight]

Sorry, but none of it made sense. Wasn't entirely well thought out, now was it. But hey, even writers make mistakes. It happens.

I'm sorry for bumping this topic but I just have to point this out...

It wasn't a mistake. It was war. A main motif of the story, war is not pretty and you do what you have to in order to ensure a victory. Didn't you listen to Jake's speech before the plan was in place? He said half of them would die and that's okay, because the end more then justifies the means. It was a war, it was either the Yeerks or the Humans, Jake's species, Rachel's species, the Original animorph's species, the Auxiliary Animorph's species, Jake knew what he was getting them into and he accepted it.  Rachel was more then accepting to sacrifice her life for the greater good, as long as it meant the end of the war. After she stated that the polar bear had raised it's paw and killed her with one swipe, the Ellimist appeared, all Rachel wanted to know was if her life and death mattered and it did. That's that.

Did she have to die? No, not exactly but she did and that's what happened.

It was also kind of symbolic, considering everyone had wondered at one point or another what she would really do once the war was over. Even Tobias. Well, we never found out and maybe that's a good thing.

[Serraph105]

I always personally felt that he could have sent three or four auxillary morphs to have done the job because what did those guys really accomplish in the final battle anyways? That could have given them purpose.

[MoppingBear]

why would sending the auxileries have been better? because they arent main characters? they were inexperienced, and even 3 or 4 of them might not have been able to accomplish what rachel had, and they still would have died.  tobias wasnt as strong as rachel, cassie would not have done it. marco? probably could have, but really not much better than rachel, and wasnt marco vital on the pool ship? ax? the only andalite on their team?  rachel was the best choice. yeah it was cruel, but as jake said, he was seeing the clear line and nothing else.

[Serraph105]

because sending one person in to take out an entire ship on their own isnt a smart move. especially when you consider it nearly took all of them to take the poolship. Sending in a small team or people makes a lot more sense than sending in a mad bomber to do as much damage as possible.

[Kitulean]

The fact that all those auxiliary animorphs died in that suicidal battle was ridiculous. They could have solved the issue by sending a few of them with Rachel so that she had some kind of back-up. If she'd had back-up, there's a much better chance that she (and they) would have lived.

It's not like Jake was new at this. It's not like he didn't know they had reinforcements he could use. It was sloppy.