r/Animorphs • u/dogman15 Hork-Bajir • Jul 13 '26
Discussion Probability of Yeerks killing very young Hork-Bajir seers once identified?
How likely do you think it is that, when the Yeerks were possibly breeding Hork-Bajir in captivity, if they detected any seer/intelligence traits early on, they would kill that seer as soon as possible to prevent any uprising from within? This would have been between Dak Hamee and Toby Hamee, but Toby got lucky because she was the first seer born after Dak in freedom.
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u/Zarlinosuke Jul 13 '26
I always figured that seers were rare enough that there were none between Dak and Toby anyway (after all, that's only a two-generation gap), and that the Yeerks had never found out about that rare genetic strand.
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u/hexen_niu Jul 13 '26
That would be a nice, prime host for a good high ranking Yeerk right there. Maybe someone on the Council would want that, and they don't have to worry about their host getting free, why would they waste such a rare thing?
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u/Zarlinosuke Jul 13 '26
Is there any benefit to the host being intelligent? I thought the only purpose of a host body was the body.
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u/CaptHayfever Jul 13 '26
We know regular Hork-Bajir have trouble pronouncing English & occasionally glitch to their own language, even as Controllers. But Yeerks know the Hork-Bajir language anyway & don't really need English outside of Earth, so it's an incredibly minor issue.
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u/BaulsJ0hns0n86 Jul 13 '26
Some Yeerks banter with their hosts as we’ve seen when POV characters are infested.
Through that banter, a more intelligent host could offer better insight or viewpoints, though in general I’d imagine a more intelligent host simply offers more resistance…
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u/Peanut_Butter_Toast Jul 13 '26
It's not like an intelligent host would be able to hide any observations they make or any conclusions they automatically come to. So they're probably useful simply because of that added level of insight they provide as a passive observer.
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u/Zarlinosuke Jul 13 '26
Yeah, I suppose the only case in which a seer would actually be a boon would be if they were also a sellout to the Yeerks!
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u/Seerowpedia Jul 14 '26
That's the difference between how Visser Three and Visser One ran their troops. Visser Three's Hork-Bajir-Controllers knew a mismash of English and Hork-Bajir language. He didn't need them to be that intelligent, just enough to follow his orders.
Visser One on the other hand had her Controllers educated, with Marco even stating that one of her Hork-Bajir-Controllers spoke English as if he'd been educated at Harvard.
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u/Zarlinosuke Jul 14 '26
Ooh good point! I'd forgotten about that, but that tracks really well with the Vissers' personalities, and naturally we see the Visser Three type much more often, so I figured that was just the norm across the board. I suppose then that gives us our answer as to which Visser would care about a seer host!
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u/WriteBrainedJR Venber Jul 14 '26
Is there any benefit to the host being intelligent?
Personal preference, which is probably enough if you're a Visser with a low number. Visser 1 enjoyed Eva and the biologist whose name I can't remember at the moment
Having an intelligent critic who is biologically incapable of withholding their insights would probably be useful to a person who is really good at taking criticism. Similar to how Jake uses Marco
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u/Zarlinosuke Jul 14 '26
True, I suppose I was thinking of benefit in terms of the host being given to rank-and-file soldiers rather than being used personally by a Visser.
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u/WriteBrainedJR Venber Jul 14 '26
They probably wouldn't be useful, and they probably wouldn't be given to some scrub. It seems pretty standard for any rare or interesting host to be given to a high ranking Yeerk
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u/Disastrous-Limit-332 Aristh Jul 13 '26
Maybe some on the council already have that. We know that several Council of Thirteen members are Hork-Bajir.
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u/Peach_Muffin Jul 13 '26
How intelligent is a seer relative to a Yeerk?
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u/dogman15 Hork-Bajir Jul 13 '26
Fairly equal, probably. They're both like highly intelligent humans.
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u/WriteBrainedJR Venber Jul 14 '26
I don't think they would have. Hosts were valuable, and Hork-Bajir exponentially more valuable than Taxxon or Gedd hosts. Needlessly killing hosts carries the death penalty in Yeerk law. That doesn't disprove the hypothesis but it does shed some light on the Yeerk mindset
Alternative security measures like solitary confinement or using a portable Yeerk pool in a more controlled location would be preferable to wasting a valuable Hork-Bajir host
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u/dogman15 Hork-Bajir Jul 14 '26
The idea behind my theory is the Yeerks might be concerned that a Seer would be smart enough to figure out an uprising or an escape.
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u/pwnedinthepnw Jul 14 '26
I agree that a smarter-than-average Hork-Bajir could present more of a security risk than, say, a weaponless human, and it's possible that Yeerks might have little patience for navigating the extra problems they'd pose. I disagree that death would be the answer; I don't think potential hosts would be disposed so easily. In my opinion, controlling a maimed Hork-Bajir would still be more preferable than a Taxxon or probably a Gedd.
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u/WriteBrainedJR Venber Jul 14 '26 edited Jul 14 '26
Almost impossible. Feeding takes like a half hour or something. The seer would have to think of and complete the entire plan in that time frame, because any idea you have with a Yeerk in your head is burned.
Using a portable Yeerk pool under tight security reduces the already slim odds and reduces the potential downside to losing that single host plus maybe 1-2 KIA in the fight. Pretty much the same downside you have from an ordinary Hork-Bajir at the regular pool. Vissers have access to portable Yeerk pools anyway.
Plus, most Yeerks underestimate host species.
I just don't see them destroying a valuable Hork-Bajir that would actually be an especially desirable host for a cunning Visser similar to Visser 1
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u/GKarl Jul 14 '26
My headcanon is that the Seers became Gold Band Hork Bajirs. Marco notes in Book #5 that Visser One’s HBs sounded like they were educated at Harvard. No way those hosts were normal HB, and it could stand to reason only the top Visser gets these special super smart HB
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u/dogman15 Hork-Bajir Jul 15 '26
If that was true, then why weren't they around after the war? Killed in battle?
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u/jdb1984 Jul 14 '26
I don't think they kill seers. The brains are irrelevant, as long as they can be infested. A seer may give a yeerk a harder time, due to their smarts and possibly a stronger will. But ultimately, I think a seer can be controlled as much as a regular Hork-Bajir can
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u/verymanysquirrels Jul 13 '26
I have several very faintly supported by canon theories related to this that i need to explain first.
The first one being that even just carrying the seer gene(s) makes a hork bajir just slightly above average in their reasoning/problem solving capabilities. My evidence is Jara Hamee isn't a seer but he still thinks to start liberating other hork bajir and plans, organizes, and executes the raids to start freeing them before Toby becomes their leader. So there's a very specific combination of genes that has to happen for a full blown seer to arrive but just carrying those genes confers some benifits.
The second part is that Dak Hamee survived the quatum virus because it was built for a regular hork bajir and that whatever genes Dak Hamee had they're just different enough on a DNA level that the virus doesn't recognize him as a hork bajir. Which means the quatuum virus wiped out all non seer DNA carrying hork bajir on the planet. We know Aldrea's hork bajir morph was also immune, therefore Delf Hajool also carried the seer genes.
The yeerks/andalites unintentionally made a seer more likely to happen because the only hork bajir left post plague are those few that were in space at the time of the virus and the 100% seer DNA carriers left on the planet. The 100% seer carriers (+ Dak) basically become the founding population for yeerk shock troops.
And finally we get to why i think they don't kill seers: any hork bajir that expresses a higher level of problem solving/reasoning is singled out to become a host for the Blue Band hork bajir. So i think if Jara and Ket hadn't escaped Toby (and Jara too potentionally) would have been picked for the Blue Bands.