Animorphs 41 "The Familiar "-Jake

[esplin]

Nathan Fillion would be pretty much perfect for that.  Honestly, that isn't saying too much.  He would have been perfect for the role of Nighthawk in the Avengers as well.  What male role is he not good for?

[TobiasMasonPark]

     Peter Parker, Professor X, Magneto, Curt Connors, Harry Potter, Dumbledore, Gandalf, Ben Grimm, etc, etc

[The Spectre]

Well, I've always liked the explanation that it was a dream.  Whereas, most of the time, when the author pulls the 'it was all a dream' card it feels like a cop-out, in this case I think it's still an incredibly interesting story.

It gives you a glimpse into Jake's psyche, and shows you just how incredibly messed-up he is at this point in the war.  How much he desperately wants there to be an easy way out, but in the end, he knows there isn't one.

One of my favorite parts is when he's trying to explain to Tobias/Elfangor that he could win the war without making sacrifices, if only he just had the chance to do it all over again.  And Tobias says, <You know better than that.>

I think, interpreting that as Jake saying it to himself, it basically sums up his entire psyche in a nutshell.  He wants to fight a war without bloodshed, but, well, he knows better than that.

This post, I like it (smashes computer on the ground) ANOTHER!!

[NothingFromSomething]

Haha, like Nighthawk's ever going to be in an Avengers movie.   

Then again, they're making friggin' Guardians, so I guess anything's possible.

[Shenmue654]

I actually think it was a little bit of both, in #41. He was having a dream that was presented as nearly real by an alien Highest, and Jake was given full lucidity in it. Despite the fact that it was written by a ghostwriter, I was utterly fond of the "What if?" presented in that book. *Loves it when the bad guys win for a while, even in an alternate universe <3*

But anyway, the place was too utterly bizarre to be a true Yeerk-controlled future. The transparent messed-up aliens, the oddly specific transport system, Tobias as Elfangor and the school with the kids in it. It actually only makes sense as Jake trying to understand various things that were happening in his waking life: The changing personalities of his pressured friends, Tobias as Elfangor's son, Marco's terrifying ruthlessness, his own feelings of helplessness. I've actually had vivid story-like dreams that were nearly as psychological as #41. In my favorite I was asked to consider the real consequences of getting my heart's desire and which loved ones I might wound beyond repair in the process.

It's also intriguing that Jake is asked to make the choice, in context, between his own happiness and the world's future and it's not clear which one he chose. They leave that, seemingly, up to whatever the reader would choose for themselves.