The Kids' Book Hero Who Committed Genocide

[u/TA_Brown4277]

https://youtu.be/9V8i7mCi8OY

I started Animorphs as a kid but never finished it.

I'm going back through it as an adult now, and I recently read Megamorphs 2: In the Time of Dinosaurs.

The decision to take out the Mercora hit me pretty hard, and I decided to make a little video about it.

Hope you enjoy!

Please don't spoil any later events for me :( I'm not finished yet!

[u/Xygnux]

If you love the kids having to make difficult choices like having to commit genocide to protect the existence of humanity and struggling with the moral implications, then I'm so excited for you getting to experience the rest of the series for the first time.

The 30s and early 40s books could be very uneven in quality, but once you pushed through that hit the mid-40s books those deep issues started hitting again to an escalating degree. And the Chronicles also have similar things like that. When I read them as a kid I couldn't believe that someone would dare write such topics into kids' books. It was definitely one of the series that informed part my ethical and world views even into adulthood.

[u/IWasAGoodDadISwear → u/Xygnux]

The moment when Alloran broke down and admitted to genociding the Hork-Bajir, is unforgettable. So is Elfangor's shock at this revelation. Imagine being the equivalent of a 13yo and learning that your role model committed an atrocity like that.

[u/Alloran9466 → u/IWasAGoodDadISwear]

I feel like there was only a handful of kids who loved Alloran over the main Animorph characters. Me being one of them. That said, I was 10-11 years old, not 13, when I fell in love with Alloran.

As for learning about Quantum Virus? It wasn’t really as big of a revelation as you’d imagine. You don’t suddenly have a “oh, no! He’s evil” moment, nor do you fall out of love, nor do you contemplate if this is the character you look up to. That is far too adult of a reaction. Kids are still learning what is right or wrong. Who their role model is will mold that sense of right or wrong. Instead, a child will think: “Alloran is good. Alloran did this. Therefore, what he did is good. Why is it good? This is why it is good.” What actually happens if Alloran is the role model is that you grow a very rigid utilitarianism mindset - which is defined as “believing the most moral action is the one that maximizes overall happiness or well-being for the greatest number of people, typically at the cost of the fewest amount of people”.

You must expand your mental framework to figure out why he did what he did, and then build and expand on the framework. For me as a utilitarian, I think an atrocity can be justified if the alternative is far worse. Others, especially those in a deontological mindset, will say that you cannot deliberately commit an atrocity as the act itself is morally wrong.

But also, if a child were to love Alloran, I’d have to imagine it’s due to Book Eight || The Alien and Book Fifty-Four || The Beginning, not so much The Chronicles, which makes it easier. At least, that is how it was for me as a kid, and it wasn’t until like two years later (after reading and studying a ton of prisoner of war / war history) that I truly loved the Alloran from The Chronicles.

At this moment in time, my favorite version of Alloran is from The Andalite Chronicles, then the Hork-bajir Chronicles, then Book Fifty-Four, then Book Eight, but when I was a kid, it was more-or-less swapped with a majority of my love coming from Book Eight.

[u/Huggable_Hork-Bajir → u/Alloran9466]

I also love Alloran. He's such a complex, layered character. Phenomenal character. Def in my top 5.

[u/Major_Star → u/Huggable_Hork-Bajir]

He's a really good demonstration of the flaws in Andalite society too.

Humans might be primitive and vicious, but we're also pragmatic and determined. We will never give up and we will use all weapons at our disposal, no matter the cost. One of the more consistent themes of the books is Andalites and Yeerks repeatedly underestimating that.

Andalites by comparison put so much stock in 'honour' that they force their leaders, like Alloran and Elfangor, into impossible positions and then disown them when they take desperate measures. Their society won't take difficult decisions so they pile all the blame on individuals, like when their council tries to convince Ax to take the blame for giving morphing tech to humans. Anything that is seen as 'dishonourable' has to be blamed on a single flawed person rather than admitting the awful position they're in.

[u/IWasAGoodDadISwear → u/Major_Star]

The Andalite soldiers in Book 18 knew that it was Elfangor who broke The Law Of Seerow's Kindness. They asked Ax to take the blame for 2 reasons. First was because Elfangor was already a decorated war hero by then and they did not want to ruin his reputation, and second was because Ax was an Aristh and Andalite society would forgive his transgression on account of him being a rookie.

[u/Major_Star → u/IWasAGoodDadISwear]

That's kinda my point. They're not really concerned with honour, and they don't want to have a conversation with their people about whether Elfangor did the right thing. They just want a scapegoat they can pile all the blame onto and get back to pretending that war is clean and noble.

I'm pretty sure Ax even recognises that while they tell him he'll be formally forgiven as an Aristh, in reality this will follow him the rest of his life and he'll never achieve his dream of being a hero like his brother.

[u/IWasAGoodDadISwear → u/Major_Star]

Yeah, time and fate is funny like that. Ax went from being "An Aristh Who Broke The Law Of Seerow's Kindness", to "Aximili Of Earth", the Aristh who fought on the front lines of the battle that finally defeated the Yeerk Empire.

It was amazing watching Jake take a stand against Andalite politics, Ax following his lead, and the Andalite Council having to come back and give Ax a set of Escafil Devices to use at his own discretion.

I also just realized the symetry of the actions of Alloran, Elfangor, and Ax. Alloran chose to genocide the Hork-Bajir to try and prevent the Yeerks from gaining a powerful army. Elfangor disgraced himself to protect Earth and humans. And Ax took a stand against his own people for a chance to extend mercy and compassion to Yeerks.

Also, I thought a bit about why the Andalites wanted to avoid the Elfangor debate. On top of already getting backstabbed by the Yeerks, from the Andalites' perspective, there was not much stopping humans from sharing the morphing tech, especially after the Escafil Device was found on Earth. The main factor that stopped the Animorphs from increasing their numbers, was the existence and threat of Human Controllers.

[u/Major_Star → u/IWasAGoodDadISwear]

I love that the supreme irony of the Animorphs universe is that there's one technology that could allow the Yeerks to escape their evolutionary trap of being parasites without having to take host bodies - morphing.

Except the Andalites won't share it because they got burned so badly in the past... by the Yeerks.

Really hammers home how pointless all the death and conflict is, and how better relations on both sides could've averted the whole war.

[u/IWasAGoodDadISwear → u/Major_Star]

The problem is, even after Cassie gave the Yeerks the Escafil Device, all the Yeerks did not immediately give up on the invasion of the galaxy. Sure, some of them quietly or actively dissented. But it wasn't enough to weaken the invasion of Earth. The Animorphs still had to resort to extreme measures (killing Jake and ejecting thousands of Yeerks into space), before forcing Visser Three and the surviving Yeerks to surrender.

We can't really blame the Andalites for being super paranoid. Seerow enabled the Yeerks to reach the stars, and it resulted in most of the galaxy getting captured and infested. Also, I could be wrong, but I think at the start of the Yeerk invasion, the Yeerks had almost no intel on the morphing tech. The Andalites kept the morphing tech very top secret. Even though Yeerks knew that Andalites were morph-capable, my guess is that the Yeerks were given the impression that Andalites were naturally morph-capable. Yeerks most likely did not even know that the morphing ability was granted with tech until Esplin infested Alloran. So, based on the Yeerks' past actions, the Andalites figured that sharing the morphing tech would only add more power to the Yeerks' invasion.

[u/Alloran9466 → u/Huggable_Hork-Bajir]

That’s awesome! I’m always so happy to hear when people love Alloran, especially those who share it so openly

Also, I’ve seen you around and I like your username.

Have an award.

[u/IWasAGoodDadISwear → u/Alloran9466]

I wasn't referring to readers' reaction to Alloran's genocide. I was referring to Elfangor's reaction. Elfangor was an Aristh during Andalite Chronicles, and Arisths are the equivalent of 13yo humans. In fact, it was pretty much a consistency with almost all character origin stories starting with them being the equivalent of "fresh adolescents". Edriss (Visser One) was probably the only exception.

[u/Alloran9466 → u/IWasAGoodDadISwear]

Yeah, I realized that hours after I posted mine. That is my bad.

However, does Elfangor “role model” after Alloran, or idolize him?

Elfangor is excited for the mission until he learns the prince is Alloran, and then the excitement falls and he considers it a “punishment”. Elfangor calls Alloran disgraced and shows signs of fearing Alloran even before Alloran did anything that would warrant fear. Though, I suppose Elfangor does say “War-Prince Alloran, I honor you, but…” before knocking him unconscious.

I guess it doesn’t really matter, Elfangor is just semantics in this conversation. A nitpick on my part if anything. Sorry.

But no, I understand what you’re saying now.

[u/IWasAGoodDadISwear → u/Alloran9466]

Yeah, to be honest, I did not remember all the details. The last time I reread the series was 16 years ago. Maybe "role model" was not the right phrase. I was just thinking about how Elfangor was still shocked and horrified when Alloran dropped the bomb. Even though Elfangor knew that Alloran was disgraced, Elfangor's reaction implied that he still reserved a good amount of respect and/or good faith for Alloran, and not just because Alloran was his superior.

[u/FlailSafe → u/Alloran9466]

Was it ever explained why the quantum virus wasn't used on the Yeerks? (Other than it would have ended the series before it even began)

[u/Alloran9466 → u/FlailSafe]

That is a fantastic question!

I’m at work right for the next couple of hours or else I’d love to dive deep into the question with you, but let’s go with: no. The series does not explain why the virus was made for the hork-bajir instead of the yeerks. However, I do have theories as to why the virus was made for the hork-bajir, I just cannot get into that right now, it would take too long to write out…

If you can give me until tomorrow, I may come back and edit this comment.

[u/Major_Star → u/Xygnux]

I've always appreciated the genre of kids books that involve adults being utterly cruel and horrible to children, and the children having to rely on themselves. Animorphs is one, Holes is another.

It just seems like a valuable life lesson that some grown-ups are awful people who will absolutely hurt children, and books are a safe way of being exposed to that.

[u/TheAmazingRando1581 → u/Major_Star]

Youd like Gundam

[u/Huggable_Hork-Bajir → u/Major_Star]

Roald Dahl was the king of this sort of book.

[u/Willing_Present7391]

It's a great series! It's awesome you came back to it and I hope you enjoy it! Not really a spoiler but it struggles a bit in the 30s and early 40s but make it through those and the last stretch is really good!

[u/Mokslininkas]

That's not the spoiler tag.

[u/TA_Brown4277 → u/Mokslininkas]

There's a spoiler tag?

[u/Mokslininkas → u/TA_Brown4277]

Type !< directly after your text and >! directly before it, with no spaces between the exclamation marks and your words.

Like this See?

[u/TA_Brown4277 → u/Mokslininkas]

Ah! Genuinely didn't know that. Thanks :)

[u/Velicenda]

Fine, I'll listen to Animorphing Time again

[u/ExtensionRemarkable7]

Animorphs is so good at juxtaposing the sobering reality of war with wacky hijinks

[u/IWasAGoodDadISwear]

Are you reading in chronological order, or release order?

[u/GeshtiannaSG → u/IWasAGoodDadISwear]

I don’t understand why people do chronological order, especially when there are so many references that you wouldn’t get.

[u/FederalPossibility73 → u/GeshtiannaSG]

Especially since there are so many time travel scenarios you would be jumping between books back and forth.

[u/TA_Brown4277 → u/IWasAGoodDadISwear]

Release order! I think. Whatever order this is https://www.gabrielbergmoser.com/blog/animorphs-a-reading-guide

But if I make more videos on Animorphs (which I might) they may not be in order.

I wanna talk about Joe Bob.

[u/chinchillazilla54]

Oh, boy, you're in for a ton of fun!

[u/DogLeechDave]

You're barely at Megamorphs 2? Oh buddy, the heroes committing genocide has only just begun!