Species discussion: Yeerks

[buffyangellvr23.livejournal.com]

I like the Yeerk concept, a species that's helpless on its own, but can take the body of another creature to move about, see, hear, ect. They like to call Andalites arrogant, but there's a lot of Yeerk arrogance too, especially around Andalites. They like to compare themselves to humans eating meat, even though they're enslaving rather than killing outright. (though obviously some humans haven't let the idea of slavery go,even today.)

And as we know, the Yeerks are only a threat because of Seerow's attempt to be kind, which got him betrayed.

However, there is a possibility of the Yeerks evolving to become a symbiont with other species, as evidenced by the Iskoort. Do we think they're true Yeerks or just a case of paralell evolution? We do already have the YPM moving in a cooperative direction, maybe that's where it all begins.

Comments

[rena-librarian.livejournal.com]

The other weird thing is the problem could've been solved by giving each Yeerk the morphing power. They could've had any body they wanted at any time, or chosen one and become a nothlit. The only real problem is the loss of Yeerk culture, and like you said, Yeerks are arrogant. I'm not sure they would've accepted the help.

[ferahgo.livejournal.com]

But it's not just the loss of Yeerk culture, it's the loss of an entire sentient species. If every Yeerk is given the morphing power to become a nothlit, the "only real problem" is that the species utterly ceases to exist after a generation. It would effectively amount to passive genocide. It's hard to imagine that any sentient people would want that for themselves as a whole, regardless of how temporarily "free" it made them.

[rena-librarian.livejournal.com]

But if every single member of the species actively chooses it for themselves (not that they necessarily would, but I don't think it's entirely implausible either), then where does that leave you?

[ferahgo.livejournal.com]

I'm only saying that I don't think they realistically would. I don't think that every member of any sentient species would ever willingly choose that.

[acts_of_tekla]

Word. I have this whole Animorphs future fic concept which entirely centers on what they did with the Yeerks who refused to become nothlits. (Alas, I have no plot to go with it; I don't know nearly enough about politics to write a political thriller, and that's what the setup calls for.)