While you can survive on the ground, you can't even begin to comprehend things that occur in the sky. As a snake you don't seem to have any part of the war and so you live your peaceful snake life. That is until the crows find a use for you and suddenly you're fighting a war you don't understand. A war you just want to leave but you can't.
That is what the Hork-Bajir face in the Animorphs series. They aren't as intelligent as the Andalites or Yeerks. They are pacifists that didn't think of killing before the Yeerks invaded their home planet. Their lack of comprehending their situation is the ultimate tragedy of their species.
Yet so many Animorphs fans want to believe the Hork-Bajir are smarter than they are in an attempt to look like they support the disabled.
Ableism sounds like just another made up thing from tumblr that has infested the real world. The site has done a disservice to the word as Social Justice Warriors (SJW) will call any tiny infraction ableist. Such as any metaphor that uses a disability as something that should never be said in a polite society.
The term ableism refers to the prejudices against the disabled. Even when everyone should know better, ableism still exists.
In the real world people look down upon the disabled both intentionally and unintentionally. Some people do mean the best and say some ableist things which helps makes the lives of disabled people harder. Such as many not understanding that depression is just as deadly getting your limbs cut off. So the misinformed people blame us for not being happy and even look down on those who take medically prescribed pills.
Other times people are unaware of what the disabled truly go through and hate them. This means the disabled do have trouble getting jobs because employers see a disabled person and assume they won't be a good worker. Even if that person is overqualified for the position.
Anyways...because I have Asperger's Syndrome places would not hire me. I know this because I had figured out all the twists and turns of job interviews but would never get hired. This went on for years before I gave up searching anymore.
A few of you might be asking how that can be legal as there are laws in place for people like me. Well if the employers don't say why they didn't hire me, there is no proof that they had broken any law. The most I got as a reply from the stores were automatic messages.
I understand if this still sounds like I'm blaming someone else for my own troubles, but I have heard of other instances of this happening. Employers really do hear 'disabled' and then think people like me are incapable of holding a job.
At the time I was job hunting, I was also living with my dad. Since it seemed I would never have a job, I decided to find a way to ease up on the financial burden I was placing on him. So I decided to get Supplemental Security Income (SSI).
The process of getting SSI took me years and it was only because of revrezner's help that I was able to get it at all. It took such a drain on me that now I get panic attacks whenever I receive letters from Social Security. Because, guess what, even if you get SSI the government will still try to take it away from you.
There were three things that made it harder than normal for me to get SSI. The first was that I have mental health issues. The second was that I was in my mid-twenties which meant I was young and I guess young people can't be disabled? The third was that I have a college degree which Social Security most likely used as a sign I wasn't that disabled if I could get through college. Never mind that I had to use special services because of my learning disabilities.
So if I make a mistake know that it isn't intentional. If you do want to correct a mistake, please voice your concerns nicely as I am not being intentionally ableist if I do make a mistake or two.
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The Arn are a species that are mentioned only a few times in the Animorphs series. The race is most known for their great grasp on biotechnology. It was with that great gift of their race they tried to escape the terror that was the Yeerk Empire. But their demise is a story for another day.
The Arn, with their interest in biotechnology, didn't care much for exploring the cosmos. Why would they with their ability to manipulate DNA to the point of making new species at will? As most of their species was on their home world, the asteroid that hit caused untold damage. Those that survived were forced to find a solution.
It would be more than easy to find another planet but that was not their way. They would not flee the only home they knew if there was even a chance of finding a way to survive on their home world.
They weren't like humans who would never have a chance at knowing why they were created as the Arn had only a single goal for them: tend to the trees.
To make sure the Hork-Bajir didn't accidentally discover the Arn and ruin the chances of the planet's survival, they made monsters to keep out anyone that would dare venture so far from home. Besides the monsters, myths and legends were created to give the Hork-Bajir even more reason to leave the Arn alone.
The Arn did not need the Hork-Bajir to be very intelligent at all. They were created to be tree herders and nothing beyond that. To herd trees you don't need to know physics or understand what a simple painting means. You just need to make sure the trees continue to grow correctly so that the planet survives.
If the Hork-Bajir were too smart they could stop doing their jobs and seek to explore the vast cosmos. So their intelligence was kept low. They would never understand what the stars in the sky meant or develop philosophies to dive into their own psyche.
The only exception to the Hork-Bajir's low intelligence are the seers. Seers are genetic anomalies that have intelligence on par with Yeerks and Andalites. Even the Arn don't understand how seers keep being born.
To figure out that the Hork-Bajir aren't smart, I used two measurements: the creation of the Hork-Bajir and a scene from The Hork-Bajir Chronicles.
The first measurement clearly points out how having a smart Hork-Bajir doesn't make any sense. The Arn wanted workers who were just smart enough that they could do their jobs but not so smart that they would think of changing their society.
The second measurement is a little more nuanced. Dak Hamee, a seer, drew a picture for his friend. The picture was his friend but his friend couldn't understand the simple painting. Pictures are, in essence, symbols. A simple drawing of a person is a symbol, or representation, of that person.
As normal Hork-Bajir can't understand a simple picture, it is safe to say that symbols aren't a thing they are capable of understanding. Or, at least, are a thing that they struggle with. This would make them on the same level as a small child.
I don't put any stock in Intelligence Quotient (IQ) as it is more like a fad that was taken much too seriously. So I won't be talking about IQ during this post. Intelligence itself is an extremely complicated matter that can't be confined to one test and one number.
I was given one short IQ test and scored slightly below one hundred. Know why? Because I am horrible at math. But just because numbers are like a dead language to me doesn't mean I lack intelligence. It just means numbers are not my thing.
Once you get past a Hork-Bajir's physical appearance, you can't help but see them as a purely pacifistic race. They are up there with the Pemalites in doing no harm to others. It is no wonder, then, that later on the Ellimist seeks for this race to be freed.
Not being technological advanced means they have no weapons or other forms of technology to steal. This should mean that they would play no great part in any conflict as they don't have anything for other races to be jealous of. Their homeworld is dying with their tree herding abilities being the only thing that is keeping the atmosphere in check.
Yet even though they are not suited to war and have no technology to steal, that didn't stop them from being involved in a war that they couldn't fully comprehend.
So the Yeerks decided the Hork-Bajir would be perfect for such a purpose. The Yeerks didn't care about the detailed history of the species nor cared for them as equals, they just wanted to use their bodies to wage a galactic war.
It wasn't until Aldrea-Iskillion-Falan was able to contact the Andalite fleet, that her race was alerted to what the Yeerks were up to. Because they cared about their enemies getting deadly hosts, they decided to fight against the Yeerk invasion of the Hork-Bajir homeworld. While the Andalites begin the series as the paragon of goodness, that myth is dispelled not even half-way through the series.
But this is not a post to bash the majority of Andalite society and culture. So I'll save that rant for a different day.
While fighting against the Yeerks on the Hork-Bajir homeworld, the Andalites found allies in Aldrea, Dak Hamee, and the Arn. Though the centaur-like race did not truly respect their allies.
The simple explanation of what a Q-Virus does is kill all of a specific species. So Alloran's solution was to commit genocide on the Hork-Bajir. Aldrea and Dak tried unsuccessfully to destroy the virus before it could harm countless innocents. This did not work and the pair ended up fighting for Hork-Bajir liberation until their deaths.
The pair's fighting did not work and soon enough there were no longer any free Hork-Bajir. They were either dead or hosts to the Yeerks.
The Yeerks did find the Hork-Bajir to be excellent shock troops. With the species' extensive blades the Yeerks had found a host to go head to head with Andalites if need be. One big problem the parasitic slugs found about their shock troops was their limited diet.
The Arn had made Hork-Bajir feel compelled to harvest trees because that's what their diet was. That worked well on their homeworld, not so much when they were in spaceships traveling the depths of space.
It wasn't until the Ellimist decided to free some Hork-Bajir, that there were any not under the control of a Yeerk. Since he couldn't interfere himself, as that would go against the rules, he manipulated Tobias into going along with his plan.
The plan was for Tobias and the other Animorphs to get Jara Hamee and Ket Halpak to a hidden valley. It was a place that the Ellimist created to be extremely hard to find. Since the whole plan relied on manipulation, Tobias asked for payment without naming a price. So instead of him becoming human again, he was given back his ability to morph.
Because of Tobias' part in freeing the Hork-Bajir, the species was forever grateful to him. Jara and Ket even named their daughter Toby after him.
Toby's main goal always remained freeing as many of her kind as she could. This meant that, for the most part, she left the Animorphs to fight their own battles. However, every now and again she would work with the team to accomplish a goal. Such as in Animorphs #23 The Pretender she helped the Animorphs when a child Hork-Bajir escaped from the Valley.
Near the end of the war the Animorphs were identified by the Yeerks. This caused the teenagers to have to flee their homes so they could continue their fight. Toby welcomed them with open arms to use the Free Hork-Bajir Valley to hide in.
The Animorphs also brought any non-infested family members with them. This ended up causing tensions as some wanted to flee and others complained. On the bright side some family members ended up being a boon to the Hork-Bajir.
Animorphs is a series made up of fifty-four main books and eight books outside the main series. In other words it's extremely expansive with world building, plots, and sub-plots. Due to K.A.Applegate and Micheal Grant having to release a book every month, it's more than understandable that some plot points would be dropped. That's really the case with any long running series.
For the final Animorphs book the important plot points were given conclusions. Such as the romance between Jake and Cassie as well as what life Tobias chose for himself after the war. Other plot points weren't covered in the final book due to the limited space.
The Hork-Bajir were given a conclusion, though it wasn't one that was explained in great detail. Like many other Post War things, I would've liked for it to have been expanded on more. But, again, the length of the final book wouldn't have ever allowed for every plot point to be covered.
The few things we know are that the Hork-Bajir moved to Yellowstone with Cassie and Toby Hamee integrating the species into humanity. Cassie got the title "Undersecretary for the Interior of Resident Aliens" and it makes sense she does, out of all of the Animorphs she has been the peace keeper.
So did Tobias have any important part to play to the species he meant so much to? Due to the final battle he was broken and lived his life fully as a hawk. Sometimes the strongest people are broken beyond repair due to war.
The Hork-Bajir had endured being brought into a war they couldn't fully comprehend and a child was their leader, yet the end of the war was not the end of their troubles. They still had to endure the ire of humans until they found their place on Earth.
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The Animorphs series has a lot of messages that people of all ages should learn. Being an anti-war war series it shows readers why war is necessary but is not a glorious thing. It shows how war can change even the best people into something else. As is fitting for a series about morphing animals, it also focuses on how intelligence is really not the most important thing and how intelligence is a very complicated matter.
This is shown as early as Animorphs #4 The Message and the observation was made by none other than Cassie. Which makes sense as she is extremely good at seeing from another's point of view.
At the start of the series the Animorphs think the Hork-Bajir are violent predators that had been enslaved by the Yeerks. That all changes when Tobias is tasked by the Ellimist to free Jara Hamee and Ket Halpak. Upon learning what the species actually is, the Animorphs pity the Hork-Bajir. Not once do they think the species is worth less because of their intelligence.
If the Animorphs series does not cast judgement on the Hork-Bajir because of their intelligence, then why do Fanimorphs (Animorphs Fans) do everything they can to make the species appear smarter than they actually are?
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However, some of the Animorphs fandom believes that those who think the Hork-Bajir are stupid are ableist. That those who say such things are announcing they don't care about the disabled community. For the Fanimorphs that believe such things, the way to show they are different is to argue intensely that the Hork-Bajir are more intelligent than they are.
The ironic thing about how these Fanimorphs are trying to not be ableist is that they're being very ableist. By arguing for the intelligence of the Hork-Bajir they are placing importance on that aspect. They are making it appear as if when someone isn't intelligent that it is a fault. If they were to argue, instead, that the Hork-Bajir's intelligence doesn't matter they wouldn't appear ableist.
It's like how in the real world people will point to those with Asperger's Syndrome who have gained great social standing so they can talk about how having Autism doesn't mean you can't do anything. And that argument poses a problem: What about those with Asperger's Syndrome who don't achieve anything of note? What about those below average achievers with Asperger's Syndrome? Why should people with Asperger's Syndrome have to achieve anything to be thought of as people? Why did my Mom get me a book and tell me by reading it she finally understood those with Asperger's Syndrome?
Wow...that got a little more personal than intended...
Remember you can submit ideas for future posts HERE. I also talk about other fandoms, so don't feel that you have to only submit ideas for Animorphs posts.
As a fanimorph with asperger's too: HNNNNGH THIS. It's... when your good view of them NEEDS them to be more intelligent than they are, that's a problem, folks!
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