Shipping Confessions: Cassie/Rachel (Animorphs)

And yet again we find ourselves back in the Animorphs series. I must admit that I should've given myself a little more time before talking about this ship. While I remember some good parts, there is the fact that it isn't as fresh in my mind as it should be. Especially since both characters grow and change throughout the series.

This is a ship where opposites attract. Hell, before the series started they were both good friends already.

The ship is Cassie and Rachel.

Cassie is one of those characters that is hated by the majority of the fandom and I don't understand why. She is the moral center of the group and commits some heinous acts, but that makes her realistically flawed and not someone that shouldn't be in the series.

Cassie is the one to discover the Yeerk Peace Movement (YPM) and helps the YPM Leader (Aftran) escape from being killed. She is the one to ask the others about their actions and so makes it so that the surviving Animorphs aren't so badly scarred at the end of the war. It's really only herself, Marco, and Ax that fare the best despite her best efforts.

Cassie is the one to help provide morphs and information on animals to the group. Without her it wouldn't be as easy to get morphs or figure out what morphs they should use. Yes, she did make mistakes like the ant morph, but she usually helps the group very well.

Cassie is a very plain looking girl and doesn't think too highly about her appearance. She is also a POC (specifically African American) and the books that she narrates clearly show her skin color on the covers.

Rachel is the opposite of Cassie. She turns into the weapon that the other Animorphs use as she will do what is necessary to win. This makes her a very bloody character and people often only see that side of her.

Throughout the series she questions how she is changing. She thinks about how she loves the war. So it isn't like she is a ruthless fighter without a conscience. She knows that she's a violent character and even reflects on how the others use her.

Rachel is the one to die and it actually makes sense. She is the one that lived for the war so her not living seems to be the better option. Of course her death affects Tobias so much that he ends up living in the wilderness after the war.

Rachel is always described as a model and so that helps to hide the fact that she is very vicious.

Rachel and Cassie were friends prior to them entering into the war. While they are opposites they very much fit one another.

Even though they have their fights during the series, including Rachel pointing out the fact that Cassie is afraid to become like her, they are always there for each other. No matter how far they get from each other, emotionally, they will always care about each other.

Cassie and Rachel are the opposite of each other and yet they care for each other deeply. From risking their lives for each other to simple things like recording shows.

It's always funny to see Rachel and Cassie talk about clothing. Rachel is one of those people that is very sophisticated when it comes to shopping while Cassie doesn't really know or care about fashion. So it's good that Cassie has a friend like Rachel who can help her with the more mundane things like dressing herself.

If Rachel had survived the war, Cassie could help her emotionally. Cassie could be there to remind her that she is a good person and that she'll always be there for her. I don't think Rachel would ever fully recover, but with a person like Cassie she could at least have a chance at enjoying life.

What will I talk about next Shipping Confessions? One ship that is so canon that it should be canon. A cannibal and an empathetic man from the tv series Hannibal.

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