Who Gave the Most to the War?

[perseusjackson16]

It's def. Jake. Not only did he lose both parents, was the only one actually infested at one point, but he pretty much took everything that was thrown at him and yet was till forced to bear through it all.  He was forced to make every single decision and after every fight he was teh one who had to receive the blame. Can you imagine how any of the other Animorphs woulda taken it if they had been the ones who had to make the decision to send someone on a suicide mission? He pretty much accepted that Tobias and Rachel's parents would hate him. And I'm pretty sure after that it was an emotional death for Jake. His like was basically meaningless after that(to him). What did he do afterwards? The war pretty much ruined him. Tobias got to sulk by himself, Ax became a hotshot pilot, Marco's king of Hollywood, and Cassie's just happy she didn't have to do anything top ruin her precious morality. And even though Elfangor died, he had a full life. He had a wife and a son. None of that for Jake. Also a guilt ridden life is much worse than death. Rachel died a hero. Jake(if he did die) was seen as the ruthless commander.

[Noelle]

I chose Elfangor.

In my mind, I really can't think of a more tragic hero than Elfangor, in all of literature.  First he gave up his family and ran away to Earth out of guilt and shame, and learned to live a happy life there, falling in love with Loren.

Then he was taken away and THEN he found out he had a child.  In the book you really could feel just how guilty he felt in that moment, and he was even able to tell that Tobias had a lonely life ahead of him.

Then he had to live with that.  For 13 years.  And when he finally got the chance to fight the war, he got completely owned, and on his deathbed saw his son.  (Which was a good thing, but how terrible would it be to finally see your son and realize that you have two minutes with him, and that's it.)

Then he got nommed.

I think that significantly qualifies him to be the Universe's official chew toy.  (Or the ellimist's at least.)  And he unfortunately passed his bad luck down to his kid.

[Darth Zakryn]

Tobias. Let's see, he gets trapped in the body of the hawk, although some would argue his life was infinitely better as a hawk, learns Elfangor is his father, gets tortured, and then has to watch his love die. Yes, I'd say even if he didn't give as much as some others, he still gave everything, if not his whole life like Rachel.

[perseusjackson16]

I think that Tobias is a close second to Jake. His life pretty much sucked the entire book. Finding out that Elfangor was his father was more of a pro than  a con  in my opinion just because he used to have no idea who his dad was. Then, he found out he was like the most influential person he had ever met. Jake had pretty much everything he cared about ripped away from him at one point or another. Also Crayak and the Drode were screwin with him every night in his dreams.

[yunyun]

Yeah, that's a good point. Jake was like the target for the Ellimist, and mostly the Crayak. I don't remember it mentioning the Crayak in anyone else's dream.

[Blazing Angel]

Jake. Brother killed cousin killed. And a kind of guilt nobody else had. As the leader any failiures could be blamed on him. I imagine him after the war just sitting alone, imagining new scenarios that could have saved everyone.

[Pippi]

I chose Rachel, and not because she's my favorite character. Point of fact Tobias has that honor and always will. But let me clarify my points here the war ......Finally there's Rachel. She was headstrong, yeah. I don't penalize her for that. But you have to admit that Jake did put her on the frontlines quite a bit, especially when something dirty had to get done. She was the one that sat there with Ax while David slowly became trapped as a rat. She was the one that risked her life to trick him into the cage.

Jake was never as much of a pawn of Crayak as Rachel was. He was in Rachel's face all too often, trying to lure her into killing Jake. Willing to grant her power beyond belief if she became his slave.

She went through all of the media pressure after going through hereth illint. The worse thing to happen to Jake in the days before the Chee decided to make themselves useful was being grounded. Oh, I feel for you Jake. Rachel had to deal with the media pointing a camera at her and having to put up with the pricks at school running their mouths on top of it. Sure, she landed in a hotel and got to veg out on her dad's credit card, but it's not like she's the kind of kid who expects that sort of thing.

Anyhow, in the end, what's Rachel's big pay off? Dead. If Jake hadn't sent her to infilitrate the Bladeship, Tom's Yeerk would most definitely have destroyed and crippled the pool ship and taken off with the morphing cube and a loyal army of Yeerks to do god knows what to an unsuspecting population elsewhere in the galaxy.

In order to ensure that it didn't happen, Jake sent the only Animorph who could pull it off. The only one who could shed the blood of her own family and not let the fact cause her to hesitate. (Although, give props to Marco for at least having the stones to attempt to kill V1 while she was in his mom)

Rachel died. So, all of the psychological damage that happened to her never had the chance to heal. Jake at least had Marco and Cassie to try and help him recover and Rachel got a really nice funeral. Booya.

Yeah, Jake, Marco and Tobias died finally, but that was years after the fact. And unlike when they first "died" Rachel didn't get the magical out of an Ellemist/Crayak interference.

I chose Rachel as well and I couldn't have said it any better. I believe the Animorphs wouldn't have won the war without Rachel, not with everybody reluctant to do this and do that, they needed somone who could go all out. The highest point of her sacrifice to the war was in The Return when she decided she had to be the one to do the dirty work for the team... But I didn't like how she thought she was a bad person and had to live with the fact....it was heartbreaking for me to read, she saw herself that way because of how other people viewed her but in my opinion she wasn't really that bad. I don't think I can completely explain my thoughts about Rachel's sacrifice but I think you guys understand what I mean. All that psychological damage and she didn't have the opportunity to heal. I'm just glad the Ellimist was able to put her mind to rest before she died.

I would have chosen Jake because he was willing to give, he did give but in his case I felt like the sacrifices were forced on him. There was too much pressure and it was almost like he didn't have a choice. I mean that scene around the camp fire where every one was urging him to be the leader was too much seriously, GIVE THE GUY A BREAK. Whereas Rachel was willing to give anything to save the Human race. To bad she was constantly criticized for trying her best.

PS- did anyone else get goosebumps when her final thoughts were cutoff in mid-sentence or am I the only one?

[XtheoniongirlX]

PS- did anyone else get goosebumps when her final thoughts were cutoff in mid-sentence or am I the only one?

Oh yeah, me too! Mostly because that extended conversation with The Ellimist lulled me into a false sense of security thinking that he might offer her a chance to join him in his quest, mirroring what Crayak tried to do but in this case waiting until her life was played out before giving her the choice to. I thought it would be a bit of a cop-out, but I wouldn't mind too much since I enjoyed Rachel tremendously as a character and this is one way to keep her in the game while taking her out too. And since this was actually before I read The Ellimist Chronicles, I figured that book would be a continuation of Rachel agreeing to The Ellimist's proposition to join him.

Then she was cut-off mid-sentence and I felt stupid for thinking Applegate would pull any punches in the grand finale.

[Tobichel]

I agree with NateSean. Rachel did give the most during the war. Let me just include the fact that she got a lot of unfair opinions from her team mates(minus Tobias) about her being a blood thirsty war freak when all she ever wanted was for the Yeerks to be defeated period! She got to be the one to do all their dirty jobs when they were busy critisizing her and being hypocritic. They all knew what had to be done but neither of them had enough bravery to do it. Rachel rocks!

[Blazing Angel]

Um, would you mind typing in proper type. It's a stab to the grammar natzi inside me.

[Tobichel]

Done that.

[Blazing Angel]

Thank you.

[SitsInCorner1!]

I think that either Rachel or Jake gave the most.

In a way they all had roles and Rachel's was that of the one who would do the dirty work and not really get scared. I think her taking that role sort of led to her mental instability so that in a way she did give it up to the war. Also, in the David arc she overwatched trapping him so that the others wouldn't have to. Also Rachel sacrificed her life.

On the other hand, Jake accepted the responsibility of leader. He had to make the tough decisions, so I guess he gave the animorphs the direction and strength to win. He also had to accept the toll this took on his mental health. By the end he was prepared to almost give anything to win the war, sacrificing his cousin and brother, despite how his parents and Tobias might feel about him.

[Canicula]

That's really difficult to say, but I think Rachel gave the most to the war, because she gave everything. She gave herself to the war, because in some parts she lost herself. She did what she had to, no matter how bad it was, you can see it with David: She was the one (with Ax) who stayed with him 'till the end and she sent the others away to save them. But it was not like it didn't bother her, no, in fact it was horrible for her but she did it. In the end she gave her life willingly for the sake of the war although she was scared and she didn't wanted to. She hid the truth of the plan from everyone just to save the plan and so she gave up the chance to really say goodbye to everyone. She was so brave that it touched me everytime I read the last two books.
She gave everything and the others thought she was crazy and bloodthirsty, but she did what she had to do although they thought so.

[XtheoniongirlX]

Was there ever actually a scene in the books where Tobias comforted her/reassured her about the whole issue with everyone seeing her in an unflattering light? The only scene I can remember is him just mentioning that they were all wary of her. I don't remember him adding anything to that, though. Felt kind of off-character to me... they have one of the strongest relationships in the entire series, but Rachel was pretty much on her own in the final arc.