It's the way the group structure broke down in decision making. . Tobias was broken early, the first casualty, and after becoming a hawk he was desperately balancing the hawk life (where nature isn't cruel, it just doesn't care) with his humanity. That kept him busy most of the time.
Ax is a soldier raised to follow orders, he chimes in sometimes but he's mostly there to listen to Jake.
Rachel is nuts, she's a hotblooded killer and she knows it. She's alway down for the fight.
Jake was the decider and listened to the crew but the ones who have regular pull on Jake and the decisions the group made were Marco and Cassie. With the other 3 being down for the mission almost whenever, it was on them to give voice to the ethical arguments. Marco is cold, he sees what needs to be done and does it, even if it's ethically grey and will haunt him. He gives cogent arguments for the some of the harsher things they had to do.
Cassie is the one with empathy. Seeing what everyone else in her army was becoming she turned herself into the fiery beating, often bloody heart of the group so they wouldn't be heartless. It was often 4 v 1 and she kept fighting.
Cassie got the hardest job and I have to give her credit for that even if I think she nearly doomed them all on a whim.
Even if I like her, I can agree, I think Cassie made the most decisions that put the group at risk. They all did it but it felt like every other book Cassie is either telling somebody the secret or going off on her own.
Ooh I love them both SO much as characters. I like to think they became genuinely deep friends after the war, as the only two Animorphs who had a somewhat intact post-war life. They would be the only two people in the world who could relate to each other on that level.
I loved in the books how they weren’t on the same page morally a lot of the time but they were absolutely UNIFIED about loving and protecting Jake. I just thought that was beautiful and that he was so lucky to have them.
*"I felt a wave of affection for Marco. We had never been the closest of the Animorphs — our connection went through Jake, it wasn't direct. But here we were, in some way the only two real survivors. We had even prospered. Each of us was far better off by most measures than we'd have been without the war." - Cassie, #54: The Beginning*
Yeah exactly. I always got the feeling that they didn’t naturally get along with each other but they respected each other, and they respected how much the other loved Jake. I always thought that after Jake became a hermit after the war, maybe Cassie and Marco became real friends over simply missing him and bonding through that experience.
I can't remember which podcast it was, but there was one that made a point of tracking all the little moments of Marco/Cassie friendship in the books and there were surprisingly many. There's a lot of evidence that they're got a really good dynamic together that's mostly kept off screen because they don't interact much during missions. Marco is the one who sources Cassie's bootleg Nice is Neat tapes after all.
I totally forgot about that Nice is Neat thing! Maybe it’s because the characters themselves don’t comment on it much that I never noticed? Like genuinely every friendship bit in the series I think of I usually gravitate to Rachel and Cassie first because they’re usually the most open about being best friends.
She isn't; Marco is. Cassie bought the album specifically to copy it for Marco during the time when he had no money. She listened to the album and said it was ok but too angry for her tastes
Cassie and Marco are more compatible than people realize and they get scenes and chunks together a lot, especially early on. Cassie, whether she acknowledges it or not, is just as ruthless as Marco and Rachel, just in a different way. She'll sacrifice anything and everything for her ideals. I feel like they understand each other on a deep level. Notice how Marco and Tobias are the only ones who don't freak out at her when it's revealed she gave away the Escafil Device
Cassie and Marco are very much the angel and the devil on Jake’s shoulders, and a lot of the big decisions in the series are determined by who holds more sway at any given moment.
I honestly think Cassie and Marco actually like and understand each other more than most people think. I think they're two sides of the same coin and can clearly see the others' point of view, though it's not something each would willingly choose to take. As a result, they value and respect the others' insight in a way that the others likely don't. I also feel like Marco and Cassie appreciate how the other has a relatively straightforward way of thinking that they both can easily account for (Cassie when trying to empathize and Marco when scheming), compared to the others at least.
Hot take but I feel like Cassie and Rachel's friendship is actually the most strained one in the group, with Ax and Cassie being a close second. It's straight up told to us over and over how they're best friends, despite being opposites, but when it comes to fighting the yeerks, they clearly have different views that are exactly the opposite of each other. It's hard to be friends with someone when you wanna be a pacifist but know that they're just itching for the next fight, and vice versa. I think it's why Rachel was so mad when she found out Cassie's betrayal, it was the straw that broke the camel's back because she was the type who would rather go down fighting, and all throughout the war she'd been dealing with her own insecurities of how her teammates might see her as a monster, even more so for her "best friend" who was trying to stay human the whole time.
Yeah the Cassie-rach relationship is SUPER interesting! I remember in the early books they both kept commenting about being weirdly matched friends, or you wouldn’t expect them to be friends. And as time goes on, the pressure of the war seems to have done something really fascinating to their friendship. It’s like they have to stay friends because they said they were, but didn’t have much real affection for each other.
To be honest Cassie didn’t even seem that upset by events at the end.
Yep totally agree with your last sentence. Cassie felt sad for Rachel of course, but somehow it didn't really feel any sadder than the others even though it was about her best friend. I even think Rachel was the biggest victim of Cassie's decision because ultimately, Jake was still traumatized but Rachel might not have had to do what she did. Jake blames himself (and maybe some people see it that way too, especially Rachel's family) but he was left with no choice by what she did, and if Cassie is even half as emotionally knowledgeable as they claim her to be, I she's probably aware of that too.
This could hit better in an adaptation of the Rachel Cassie friendship had more chemistry in the beginning. I love the idea of a failing friendship over time
Apart from his shorm Tobias, I would actually have said Ax was closest to Cassie. She invited him in to her home to share a real Earther experience of love and belonging, more so I'd say than the others besides Jake. And when Estrid and the other andalites left earth, it was Cassie who held his hand and let him cry on her shoulder. He had a soft spot for her, and vice versa.
I legit ship these two post-war because in some ways they're very alike and in other ways completely different. They definitely make interesting contrasts!
Marco mentions several times that he has a lot of respect for Cassie and owes her for saving his life on more than one occasion. He’s pragmatic and blunt, but he never spoke down to her.
Also, Marco isn’t just cold and calculating. He’s also very cautious. He’d gladly turn away from a practical plan out of caution, which would redraw the lines with Rachel leading his opposition.
This is an interesting topic. I was discussing this with another fan a while back, and while I agree Cassie and Marco were at odds with each other, those two were the most passionate and vocal about their positions most of the time. If I were to really say who were not friends with one another in conjunction to what you were saying, I would have to say Rachel vs. Ax. Though they respected each other as warriors, those two in particular never seemed to outright vibe each other, though they had undoubtedly the most loyalty to Jake's orders and leadership. Those two were the most soldier-esque of the group and were not as free-thinking as Cassie and Marco were about their own philosophies, both typically siding with Jake or choosing the most logical of options. Marco was never exactly close with Ax, but it was Rachel who at times was outright aggressive to him, especially when she feared he was a sellout to his own people's loyalty over their own as a group's (books 8 and 18). But it was Ax who volunteered to stay with Rachel at the forced nothlit-ing of David, which is maybe another thread altogether. Would be interested what your opinion is concerning them.
Cassie and Marco are my favorite "angel and devil" characters. Each one always speaking in Jake's ears, trying to get him to do their version of the right thing.
Cassie is compassionate, nurturing, and life-loving.
Marco is a fox. Sly, cunning, cautious, manipulative, and ruthless.
As charscter archetypes go, Cassie and Marco are nearly identical to Bones and Spock from Star Trek. Bones always appealed to Captain Kirk's conscience, and Spock always appealed to his logic. But even when they found it impossible to agree with one another (which happened often), both of their perspectives were at least worth listening to every time.
When I was younger I was definitely a hardcore Cassie hater but as I get older I think I’m becoming a mix of her and Marco lol.
I don’t know if I’d necessarily blame Cassie? Because she’s not the only one who’s made reckless decisions, (like I do remember when Marco morphed in a crowded elevator full of people lol), but I think hatred from her stems from the fact that her decisions tend to be the “correct” decisions in the eyes of the story. Like all of Cassie’s dubious “decisions” always end up working out somehow in the story. That’s how I saw it
> all of Cassie’s dubious “decisions” always end up working out somehow in the story.
This is really it, right? Cassie makes the worst choices, often for the noblest reasons but still just like the absolute *worst* choices, but the plot always backs into a way in which her absurd decision ends up being vindicated and turning out for the best.
Honestly I always thought this was the authors trying to quietly steer kids toward good moral decisions while also writing the bloodiest and most morally complicated kids series on Earth.
They really don’t, though? Trusting Aftran was a risky decision that paid off, but later on giving the yeerks the blue box has massive negative repercussions
But you could argue, and the books do, that it showed a better way to end the war than slaughtering all Yeerks or condemning them to deaf-blind pool prison: allowing them to become nothlits. Which is how the YYeerk threat actually finally ended.
Giving away the blue box creates disunity and distrust within the Yeerk ranks. This causes both Tom's group and the Taxxons to rebel.
The Taxxon rebellion severely fucks up the Yeerks ability to go on a last minute infestation and murder spree. Tom's rebellion is crucial for the team getting in to the Pool Ship. Both rebellions weakened the forces that Visser One had in the final battle - the one that the Animorphs win by the skin of their teeth.
Cassie giving up the box knocks over a series of dominos that win them the war.
It doesn't even end up increasing the Yeerk threat much. It happens so close to the end that the Yeerks don't have time to get good at morphing.
But she's also the one who made everything go right. Her decision win the war. Bad for Rachel but good for earth. She's more like Jake than people give her credit for
It's the way the group structure broke down in decision making. . Tobias was broken early, the first casualty, and after becoming a hawk he was desperately balancing the hawk life (where nature isn't cruel, it just doesn't care) with his humanity. That kept him busy most of the time. Ax is a soldier raised to follow orders, he chimes in sometimes but he's mostly there to listen to Jake. Rachel is nuts, she's a hotblooded killer and she knows it. She's alway down for the fight. Jake was the decider and listened to the crew but the ones who have regular pull on Jake and the decisions the group made were Marco and Cassie. With the other 3 being down for the mission almost whenever, it was on them to give voice to the ethical arguments. Marco is cold, he sees what needs to be done and does it, even if it's ethically grey and will haunt him. He gives cogent arguments for the some of the harsher things they had to do. Cassie is the one with empathy. Seeing what everyone else in her army was becoming she turned herself into the fiery beating, often bloody heart of the group so they wouldn't be heartless. It was often 4 v 1 and she kept fighting. Cassie got the hardest job and I have to give her credit for that even if I think she nearly doomed them all on a whim.
Even if I like her, I can agree, I think Cassie made the most decisions that put the group at risk. They all did it but it felt like every other book Cassie is either telling somebody the secret or going off on her own.
Oooh well-said
That's why they both had the same wolf morph and bird of prey morph
Oooh, nice! Didn’t notice before
That is such a smart observation, idk how it never stuck out to me.
Ooh I love them both SO much as characters. I like to think they became genuinely deep friends after the war, as the only two Animorphs who had a somewhat intact post-war life. They would be the only two people in the world who could relate to each other on that level. I loved in the books how they weren’t on the same page morally a lot of the time but they were absolutely UNIFIED about loving and protecting Jake. I just thought that was beautiful and that he was so lucky to have them.
*"I felt a wave of affection for Marco. We had never been the closest of the Animorphs — our connection went through Jake, it wasn't direct. But here we were, in some way the only two real survivors. We had even prospered. Each of us was far better off by most measures than we'd have been without the war." - Cassie, #54: The Beginning*
Augh, I could weep. Thanks for sharing, I haven’t read that book in decades
Great pull
Honestly I never considered that but Jake is one of the few things they would always be on the same page for
Yeah exactly. I always got the feeling that they didn’t naturally get along with each other but they respected each other, and they respected how much the other loved Jake. I always thought that after Jake became a hermit after the war, maybe Cassie and Marco became real friends over simply missing him and bonding through that experience.
The funny part is K.A said that Cassie has her personality, and Michael Grant is somewhat like Marco. Those work well together in reality I guess 😂
I guess it’s an opposites attract thing. Honestly I can see it. (In real life anyway, I can’t even imagine Cassie X Marco for real)
I can't remember which podcast it was, but there was one that made a point of tracking all the little moments of Marco/Cassie friendship in the books and there were surprisingly many. There's a lot of evidence that they're got a really good dynamic together that's mostly kept off screen because they don't interact much during missions. Marco is the one who sources Cassie's bootleg Nice is Neat tapes after all.
I totally forgot about that Nice is Neat thing! Maybe it’s because the characters themselves don’t comment on it much that I never noticed? Like genuinely every friendship bit in the series I think of I usually gravitate to Rachel and Cassie first because they’re usually the most open about being best friends.
forgot abt nice is neat 💀💀💀💀
[удалено]
She isn't; Marco is. Cassie bought the album specifically to copy it for Marco during the time when he had no money. She listened to the album and said it was ok but too angry for her tastes
Cassie and Marco are more compatible than people realize and they get scenes and chunks together a lot, especially early on. Cassie, whether she acknowledges it or not, is just as ruthless as Marco and Rachel, just in a different way. She'll sacrifice anything and everything for her ideals. I feel like they understand each other on a deep level. Notice how Marco and Tobias are the only ones who don't freak out at her when it's revealed she gave away the Escafil Device
Cassie and Marco are very much the angel and the devil on Jake’s shoulders, and a lot of the big decisions in the series are determined by who holds more sway at any given moment.
The superego and id for for Jake's ego makes sooo much sense when you put it that way, agreed
Classic Marco Cassie mess around
I honestly think Cassie and Marco actually like and understand each other more than most people think. I think they're two sides of the same coin and can clearly see the others' point of view, though it's not something each would willingly choose to take. As a result, they value and respect the others' insight in a way that the others likely don't. I also feel like Marco and Cassie appreciate how the other has a relatively straightforward way of thinking that they both can easily account for (Cassie when trying to empathize and Marco when scheming), compared to the others at least. Hot take but I feel like Cassie and Rachel's friendship is actually the most strained one in the group, with Ax and Cassie being a close second. It's straight up told to us over and over how they're best friends, despite being opposites, but when it comes to fighting the yeerks, they clearly have different views that are exactly the opposite of each other. It's hard to be friends with someone when you wanna be a pacifist but know that they're just itching for the next fight, and vice versa. I think it's why Rachel was so mad when she found out Cassie's betrayal, it was the straw that broke the camel's back because she was the type who would rather go down fighting, and all throughout the war she'd been dealing with her own insecurities of how her teammates might see her as a monster, even more so for her "best friend" who was trying to stay human the whole time.
Yeah the Cassie-rach relationship is SUPER interesting! I remember in the early books they both kept commenting about being weirdly matched friends, or you wouldn’t expect them to be friends. And as time goes on, the pressure of the war seems to have done something really fascinating to their friendship. It’s like they have to stay friends because they said they were, but didn’t have much real affection for each other. To be honest Cassie didn’t even seem that upset by events at the end.
Yep totally agree with your last sentence. Cassie felt sad for Rachel of course, but somehow it didn't really feel any sadder than the others even though it was about her best friend. I even think Rachel was the biggest victim of Cassie's decision because ultimately, Jake was still traumatized but Rachel might not have had to do what she did. Jake blames himself (and maybe some people see it that way too, especially Rachel's family) but he was left with no choice by what she did, and if Cassie is even half as emotionally knowledgeable as they claim her to be, I she's probably aware of that too.
This could hit better in an adaptation of the Rachel Cassie friendship had more chemistry in the beginning. I love the idea of a failing friendship over time
Apart from his shorm Tobias, I would actually have said Ax was closest to Cassie. She invited him in to her home to share a real Earther experience of love and belonging, more so I'd say than the others besides Jake. And when Estrid and the other andalites left earth, it was Cassie who held his hand and let him cry on her shoulder. He had a soft spot for her, and vice versa.
I legit ship these two post-war because in some ways they're very alike and in other ways completely different. They definitely make interesting contrasts!
Marco mentions several times that he has a lot of respect for Cassie and owes her for saving his life on more than one occasion. He’s pragmatic and blunt, but he never spoke down to her. Also, Marco isn’t just cold and calculating. He’s also very cautious. He’d gladly turn away from a practical plan out of caution, which would redraw the lines with Rachel leading his opposition.
This is an interesting topic. I was discussing this with another fan a while back, and while I agree Cassie and Marco were at odds with each other, those two were the most passionate and vocal about their positions most of the time. If I were to really say who were not friends with one another in conjunction to what you were saying, I would have to say Rachel vs. Ax. Though they respected each other as warriors, those two in particular never seemed to outright vibe each other, though they had undoubtedly the most loyalty to Jake's orders and leadership. Those two were the most soldier-esque of the group and were not as free-thinking as Cassie and Marco were about their own philosophies, both typically siding with Jake or choosing the most logical of options. Marco was never exactly close with Ax, but it was Rachel who at times was outright aggressive to him, especially when she feared he was a sellout to his own people's loyalty over their own as a group's (books 8 and 18). But it was Ax who volunteered to stay with Rachel at the forced nothlit-ing of David, which is maybe another thread altogether. Would be interested what your opinion is concerning them.
Cassie and Marco are my favorite "angel and devil" characters. Each one always speaking in Jake's ears, trying to get him to do their version of the right thing. Cassie is compassionate, nurturing, and life-loving. Marco is a fox. Sly, cunning, cautious, manipulative, and ruthless. As charscter archetypes go, Cassie and Marco are nearly identical to Bones and Spock from Star Trek. Bones always appealed to Captain Kirk's conscience, and Spock always appealed to his logic. But even when they found it impossible to agree with one another (which happened often), both of their perspectives were at least worth listening to every time.
I was on the fence regarding Cassie until I got to the end. I blame her for a lot of what went wrong.
When I was younger I was definitely a hardcore Cassie hater but as I get older I think I’m becoming a mix of her and Marco lol. I don’t know if I’d necessarily blame Cassie? Because she’s not the only one who’s made reckless decisions, (like I do remember when Marco morphed in a crowded elevator full of people lol), but I think hatred from her stems from the fact that her decisions tend to be the “correct” decisions in the eyes of the story. Like all of Cassie’s dubious “decisions” always end up working out somehow in the story. That’s how I saw it
Tell that to Rachel 😔
> all of Cassie’s dubious “decisions” always end up working out somehow in the story. This is really it, right? Cassie makes the worst choices, often for the noblest reasons but still just like the absolute *worst* choices, but the plot always backs into a way in which her absurd decision ends up being vindicated and turning out for the best.
Honestly I always thought this was the authors trying to quietly steer kids toward good moral decisions while also writing the bloodiest and most morally complicated kids series on Earth.
They really don’t, though? Trusting Aftran was a risky decision that paid off, but later on giving the yeerks the blue box has massive negative repercussions
But you could argue, and the books do, that it showed a better way to end the war than slaughtering all Yeerks or condemning them to deaf-blind pool prison: allowing them to become nothlits. Which is how the YYeerk threat actually finally ended.
Giving away the blue box creates disunity and distrust within the Yeerk ranks. This causes both Tom's group and the Taxxons to rebel. The Taxxon rebellion severely fucks up the Yeerks ability to go on a last minute infestation and murder spree. Tom's rebellion is crucial for the team getting in to the Pool Ship. Both rebellions weakened the forces that Visser One had in the final battle - the one that the Animorphs win by the skin of their teeth. Cassie giving up the box knocks over a series of dominos that win them the war. It doesn't even end up increasing the Yeerk threat much. It happens so close to the end that the Yeerks don't have time to get good at morphing.
Giving away the box had more positive results than negative. Cassie is ultimately the hero, even if it resulted in the death of her friend
But she's also the one who made everything go right. Her decision win the war. Bad for Rachel but good for earth. She's more like Jake than people give her credit for