The Animorphs created a psychopath then abandoned him on an island of rats. Yes, I just finished Animorphs books 20 thru 22, the David Trilogy.
See, the Animorphs meet a new kid named David (who, in my headcast, is tween Mark-Paul Gosselaar). This new kid is playing with a familiar blue cube – the very Andalite cube that gave the Animorphs their morphing powers! They attempt a stealth mission at David’s house to get the cube back, fearful the Yeerks will get their hands on it and have a deadly new weapon. Their mission not only horribly fails, but it leads the Yeerks right to David’s door. The battle destroys his home, puts his parents under Yeerk control, and now David is on the run. And he’s pissed.
The kids don’t know what to do. Do they make David an Animorph, protecting him and strengthening their team? Or is it dangerous to give a person they barely know such immense power? They decide to go for it.
Turns out it WAS dangerous to give a kid they barely know such an immense power – especially one who is furious that his life has been upended over a war he doesn’t care about. Once David gets the Animorphing powers, it is clear he won’t use them for good. He immediately (and gleefully) kills a crow in his golden eagle morph. He has grand plans to become a master jewel thief, but it’s the killing animals thing that is (to me) the true problem. Then David begins to morph PEOPLE to fuck with the Animorphs! He morphs Marco a few times to throw them off and trick them. Then, in a truly heinous act, he morphs Jake’s cousin, a tween who is in a coma in the ICU. He morphs him right before that kid DIES. (Did… did David kill him??) David’s reasoning is he can hide out from the Yeerks as this kid, morphing into his own form here and there to avoid the whole “two hour trap.”
This act is what makes the Animorphs decide he’s gone too far. They trick David into morphing into a rat, lead him right into a rat trap, let him stew there for the two-hour limit so he is permanently a rat boy, then dump him on an abandoned island where passersby can hear him crying “Noooooooo! Nooooooo!” in their heads. And the residents forever believed that island was haunted.
Like… what the hell were they supposed to do? I don’t know! This choice was BAD. Especially considering that the Animorphs began the whole thing by fucking up David’s life. That being said, it seems like he was a troubled kid even before his life was upended (at least I think the authors want us to think that, because he has a pet cobra and loves heavy metal – CLEAR INDICATIONS OF 1990S TROUBLED YOUTH). But does he deserve to die alone as a rat on an island of rats?
I thought a better solution would be sedate David when he was in the morph of that coma kid – then he’d be a powerless human and be raised by a nice family. But then someone pointed out he could go to the Yeerks and spill all the Animorphs secrets so… RAT ISLAND IT IS?!
Oh god, wait should the whole Saved by the Bell cast be The Animorphs?
RACHEL AND MARCO, ANYONE?!!?!?
This is a great trilogy. No easy answers, ethical shit I’d LOVE to discuss in a book club. At this point in the series, the kids are struggling with their roles in the Yeerk war. Rachel discovers the others think of her as a cold-hearted killer, and she’s horrified to realize they’re right. Jake is starting to manipulate his own friends as the unofficial leader of the group.
Oh yeah, and our incredible pop culture 90s/early 00s reference comes in the form of another absolutely wild Rachel narrative, in which she has a dream where she is an elephant and she crushes Kenny from South Park to Death.
Also I drew some fanart with my 90s headcast cuz… I’m a dork. (I traced the celebs. I’m not that good.)
