[identity profile] yunie1281.livejournal.com posting in [community profile] animorphslj
One of the many, many things that 54 never got into was what really happened to the Yeerks at the end of the war.

We know that those on Earth have the opportunity to become nothlits but I can't imagine that all of them wanted to. And what happened to them?

Were they forced to leave Earth? Were little Yeerk pools built to accomodate them? Were they allowed to take voluntary hosts?

Personally, I always imagined that they became nothlits or were booted off the planet. Once the war is over they aren't really in a position to force their presence anymore and I can easily see Congress or the President or the Supreme Court (or all of them) outlawing Controllers and then none of the other countries really wanting to be the one to accept Yeerks after what happened and given that they had an alternative.

America is a country where the government can tell you you're not allowed to ingest certain products, you must wear a seat belt, you are not allowed to sleep with or marry certain people, you are not allowed to have contact with certain people, you must attend school until a certain age, you must give some of your money to the government...It doesn't feel like I live in a very controlling country but then sometimes it occurs to me that if I wanted to take my life in my hands and not wear a seat belt then it really shouldn't be anybody else's business.

Would a country that forces you to wear a seat belt (at least in certain states) really allow people to share their bodies? Even if it isn't the governments business, they will make it their business and take a stance.

And I can't even find myself disagreeing with them. On the hand, people should have the right to do what they want as long as it isn't hurting others but on the other...the idea just freaks me out. I don't think I'd be able to handle talking to somebody if I knew they were a voluntary Controller. If they just switched in a conversation...creepy. And even if it would only be a few people at the start, it seems like in a few generations *everybody* would be doing it. It would be as if the Animorphs lost the war and over time the Yeerk Peace Movement spread across the Empire.

And then there's the huge potential for abuse. Sure the Yeerk is *supposed* to not control you when you don't want to be controlled but at the end of the day it's the one with the power and is allowing the time-share. If you two disagree, who wins? The Yeerk...unless it lets you win. What if it wants you to do something "for your own good"? Even if it really is for your own good, that still seems too much. Or  maybe it's going to force you to do something horrible and there's nothing you can do.

Sure at that point when you went in for a feeding you could complain and get rid of the Yeerk but the damage is still done. And what if they find a way to access a Kandrona at a non-approved place and you don't get the chance? There could be secret involuntary Controllers around. And given enough time...who knows? It may be unlikely but just that possibility is too much for me. Plus it's not like infesting others is their only choice anymore and if they'd miss their hosts then there's nothing stopping them from spending all of their time with their former hosts once they become nothlits.

I just don't really see constant companionship as a plus and all of the other so-called benefits don't seem to outweigh the risks.



So that's my take on what happens after the war ends and I've yet to find someone who agrees with it but that's okay. I'm used to having strange opinions.

Other thoughts on the future of the Yeerks?

Date: 2012-05-02 02:22 am (UTC)
ext_442164: Colourful balloons (SPN - "I'm the one who gripped you tight)
From: [identity profile] with-rainfall.livejournal.com
I haven't even read 54, but I doubt the Andalites would take the chance of allowing Yeerks access to Kandrona rays/hosts on Earth and risking another invasion. I think it more likely they were all forced to become nothlits whether they wanted to or not. Maybe those who didn't want to were allowed to return to the Yeerk homeworld (since I think the Andalites had cordoned it off by this point) and the Yeerk pool?

Date: 2012-05-02 08:42 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] famine.livejournal.com
Firstly, America isn't the whole world, so there are many other cultures to consider. I don't imagine anyone would really want brain-controlling alien slugs around, but it's something to think about.

Secondly, not wearing your seatbelt actually does endanger others. ;)

Date: 2012-05-02 07:38 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] joking.livejournal.com
I actually read this interesting Inception/Animorphs crossover fic set post-54 in which there was a system through which voluntary hosts would "contract out" Yeerks for their own advantage, which if you think about it makes sense. A Yeerk can control functions that are involuntary in humans, like breathing and heartbeat. A cooperative Yeerk could double your thought-processing power, because both the host's and the Yeerk's brains could be put to the same problem at the same time. So if you're, say, a point man for dream heists, or a soldier or something, you might want to hire a Yeerk, as long as the Yeerk is held accountable for its compliance with the contract every time it goes back for feeding.

EDIT: Here it is (http://cthonical.livejournal.com/97227.html?thread=1362379#t1362379).
Edited Date: 2012-05-02 07:41 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] nyxelestia.livejournal.com
Not wearing a seatbelt actually does endanger others. It has to do with the speed the car goes. A lot of other countries get away with not having seatbelt laws either because a.) there are so many other causes of car-related deaths that seatbelts don't statistically register, or b.) it's rare for people to drive at such speeds where not wearing a seatbelt becomes a problem. But in the U.S. we go up to those speeds all the time, so it would be a huge problem for us if we collectively didn't wear seatbelts.

Also, while I don't think you were meaning anything by it, the way you phrased your issues with Yeerks is kind of similar to a lot of the arguments used for homophobia and gender discrimination. Like, okay, a Yeerk/Controller freaks you out, but why does that give you the right to decide for someone whether or not to allow them to take on a Yeerk/become a Controller? A lot of people are freaked out by gays and homosexuality, but that doesn't really give them the right to decide if someone else should have a gay marriage or not.

If someone is voluntarily becoming a Controller, presumably they already know that the Yeerk in their head is going to have ultimate power, at least for three days. Humans already (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master/slave_%28BDSM%29#Total_power_exchange) voluntarily enter these kinds of relationships with each other. I can see some people wanting to voluntarily become a host. There is a lot of room for abuse in this system, but there's a lot of room for abuse in any system, and we put in measures to overcome that (whether they work or not is another story).

If they just switched in a conversation...creepy.

I had so much fun with people like you during my mischievous/prankster days. ;) No, seriously, I did this sort of thing quite a bit as a kid...

Anyway!

Remember, even a Yeerk's ultimate power over a Host is limited - they still have to feed every three days. If a human is have problems with their Yeerk, in three days they will be free and can either not become a Host again or try another Yeerk. Yes, obviously, there's a lot of damage that's possible in just three days - but at the systemic level, how likely is it? And what are they going to do? Realistically, Yeerks need to invade and take over other species because they need hosts/bodies, but if they can get it without invasion, will they (again, systemically) really have much reason to be evil? Most likely they will just want to live their relative lives out normally. In the short run, yeah, taking control over your human sounds great instead of sharing the body with them, but in the long run it would be beneficial for Yeerks to just agree to a timeshare with the body and be done with it, or wait until they get a person who's willing to give up their bodies entirely.

Another thing to consider, actually: what if Yeerks morphed and became Nothlits...and in turn became hosts themselves? It would create a type of symbiotic species system, much like the Iskoort.

Date: 2012-05-03 12:27 am (UTC)
blue_rampion: A blue rose in the rain (Rose in the rain)
From: [personal profile] blue_rampion
I remember reading an interesting thread by a few other members of the comm a while back - unfortunately I can't remember where, otherwise I'd link it - but if I'm remembering right, they were arguing that in some kinda of situations there could be benefits to being a voluntary controller. I think the examples used where on the issue of mental illness, and how having a Yeerk could help someone who was incapable of controlling their own behaviour. I wish I could remember where that thread was, because the people in it were discussing this much better than I could.

I also imagine they could also be highly useful for diagnostics, much like Aftran was in The Sickness. And also just for research, in understanding how the brain works and functions.

Of course, as a few people have pointed out, there's a lot of issues surrounding the possibility of abuse, not to mention societal attitudes. There'd need to be strict regulations in place, like perhaps whenever the Yeerk feeds the host has to go through a process to make sure that they haven't been mistreated and that they still really want this. I also imagine that if becoming a voluntary controller were permitted, there would be a lot of stigma surrounding it.

Canon-wise, I think the most likely scenario is that all Yeerks either had to choose to become a nothlit or return to the pools forever (and most likely only the pools on their home world). Purely because they were the aggressors in a war they had just lost. There's not going to be much public sympathy for them, either from humans or the Andalites. That's not to say that any other scenario is impossible though, because history can take strange turns sometimes. But, if there's going to be any kind of voluntary co-operation or infestation between Yeerks and other species, it'd probably happen further down the line when the war is no longer an immediate memory and the species involved have had a chance to make reparations.

Date: 2012-05-06 08:36 am (UTC)
ext_442164: Colourful balloons (Default)
From: [identity profile] with-rainfall.livejournal.com
Sorry to keep spamming this thread, but there's another discussion here (http://animorphs.livejournal.com/639468.html#comments).
It's going over the same stuff we've been discussing here, but I thought I'd include it just for interest's sake. :)

Date: 2012-05-10 06:46 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ehyde.livejournal.com
One thing I've been thinking about, for a fic I may or may not eventually write, is--okay, so we've had first contact, we've had an interstellar war, but there's still plenty of conflict here on Earth. Surrendered Yeerks, working for the US gov't, seem ... very useful. I would not be at all surprised to see Yeerks used to "interrogate" prisoners, and for various other intelligence work in the war on terror. This wouldn't be widely known though, as I doubt the general public would approve. But on the other hand we have give support to all sorts of things in the name of national security. Of course, given that first contact is a few months pre-9/11 the war on terror might take an entirely different route in the animorphs universe.

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