The Yeerk Invasion of Gotham City

Terminology and Summaries

The wiki’s devoted to the Animorphs are criminally underdeveloped and vague to the point that TvTrope’s Animorph entry provides considerably more information, so I will provide a brief description of notable terms/characters for those unfamiliar.

  • Yeerks: The Yeerks are a parasitic alien race resembling slugs. In their natural state they are blind, deaf, and completely helpless against anyone who’d like to ruin their day. They can, however, burrow through another creature’s ear canal and into their skull, where they envelope and fuse with the brain. In doing so, they gain complete control of their host, as well as total access to their memories. A Yeerk in control of another creature is called a Controller. While extremely strong willed hosts can resist the Yeerk’s control, the results are universally unimpressive. The most extreme case of resistance was two human parents (the Chapmans) managing to get their hands to their own throats before being suppressed. A host managing to twitch their own fingers is extremely unusual, in part because outside tenacity and a willingness to keep trying, willpower has actually very little to do with it. The Yeerk’s method of control is purely biological, fusing with the host’s brain and overriding their neural inputs. The Yeerk’s control and memory access is so complete that in the Animorph books, the alien invasion goes on completely unnoticed. Despite the horrific fate in store for their hosts, the Yeerks are not evil (most of them, anyways). They are merely profoundly aware of their own status as parasites and view their conquests as fulfilling their biological imperative. Is a human evil for killing and eating a pig?
  • The curious case of Oatmeal: When ingested by a human Controller, oatmeal causes a Yeerk to lose its dependence on Kandrona rays, but also gradually drives the Yeerk insane. Though unquestionably canon, this exists in a weird place in the Animorphverse. It is the plot point of a single book and never mentioned again.
  • Kandrona Rays: On their homeworld, Yeerks “feed” by absorbing a unique radiation from their sun called Kandrona Rays. A Yeerk must exit its host every three days and enter into a Yeerk Pool to feed. During this time its host must be restrained by other Controllers.

  • Vissers: Vissers are the “field marshals” of the Yeerk Empire, typically commanding the invasion or defense of a single solar system. Vissers are ranked relative to each other, designated by descending numerical order (Visser One outranks Visser Two, and so forth). A Visser’s rank is always spelled out and never written numerically.

  • Sub Vissers: Sub-Vissers occupy a broad spectrum of ranks depending on their numerical designation, from squad level commanders to “generals” or higher (As Sub-Visser Seven, Esplin 9466 was in charge of planetary defense of the entire Taxon Homeworld).

  • Visser Three: Esplin 9466. The only Yeerk to ever infest an Andalite, mortal enemies of the Yeerks. Though he would much prefer an open invasion, Visser Three presides over the Yeerk infiltration of Earth started by his predecessor, Visser One. As an Andalite Controller, Visser Three has access to Morphing technology, allowing him to transform into anything he can touch (by absorbing its DNA). The Visser is in possession of a staggering number of Battle Morphs, titanic alien monstrosities of varying powers and abilities, and tends to be very hands on in battle. Even more dangerous is that fact that since Morphing essentially causes the user to “grow” into the animal in question from a complete DNA sequence, Visser Three can completely heal himself of all injuries by transforming. Even in his Andalite form, Visser Three is many times more dangerous than your average human. He is able to gallop at horse like speed, see in 360 degrees, and his Andalite tail blade is FTE and strong enough to casually send fifty pound manhole covers flying through air. While he is a tactical genius against the Andalites (the objects of his fascination and jealousy), he doesn’t really seem particularly interested in humans or in the slow infiltration of their society. As such, he tends to solve all his problems with the tact of a sledgehammer. He is also a complete psychopath who will decapitate underling or foe at the slightest provocation, and not at all liked or respected by those working under him. Feared? Yes. Very much so.

  • Note on Visser Three’s Morphing speed: Morphing generally takes about a full minute to complete, but Visser Three is depicted as being unusually quick at it. In a later installment, Crayak (essentially an alien god of evil) offers Rachel the ability to instantly morph into any creature she can imagine in exchange for Jake’s life. To demonstrate this power, he teleports an unsuspecting Visser Three into a gladiator arena with her and tells them both to have at it. Despite being extremely outclassed, the Visser is still able to nearly kill Rachel with his plethora of morphs and quick transformations before being eventually overpowered.
  • Visser One: The highest ranking Yeerk officer underneath the Council of Thirteen, Visser One is responsible for the discovery and invasion of Earth. Whereas Visser Three only really shines when he’s (A) in battle or (B) dealing with Andalites, Visser One is a cold, calculating tactician and more than willing to play patiently if it gets her what she wants. Don’t be mistaken into thinking that she’s not utterly ruthless and an asskicker – there is simply much more rationale behind the viciousness. Though Visser Three can literally transform into a giant monster and eat them, the Animorphs universally consider Visser One to be the more dangerous of the two.

  • Yeerk Tech: Pool Ships are colossal capital ships housing artificial Yeerk Pools and Bug Fighter Squadrons. Their weapon systems can devastate planet’s surface from orbit, though they are slow, cumbersome things. Blade Ships are smaller capital ships that serve as command vessels for individual Vissers. Bug Fighters are short range fighter craft capable of jumping into Z-space (Animorph hyperspace) and shuttling between orbit and planetside. The primary weapon of all these craft is the Dracon Beam, an energy weapon capable of inducing atomic level disintegration. The Pool Ship’s Dracon Beams are sufficiently powerful to ignite Earth’s atmosphere. Handheld versions are commonly used by foot soldiers, and can vary their power settings from stun to “wall-melting.”

  • Yeerk Forces:

  • Hork Bajir: Hork Bajir are seven foot tall badasses covered in razor blades. Naturally dimwitted but peaceful, they use their blades to scale and eat bark. Infested with a Yeerk, they’re elite shock troops for the empire. They are classified as Type 3 hosts: they are an ideal species for enslavement, but exist in few numbers and reproduce slowly. While not conducive to stealthy operations, Hork Bajir controllers will serve as internal security for any Yeerk facility of importance.

  • Taxons: The Taxons willingly submitted themselves to Yeerk enslavement hoping that the parasites could subdue their horror hunger (TvTropes warning). It didn’t work. Despite their voracious appetites, Taxons have excellent motor-sensory functions and (fittingly) pilot the Empire’s Bug Fighters. They are classified as Type 2 hosts, easy to infest and in plentiful numbers, but possessing extreme physical/psychological drawbacks.

  • Gedds: Gedds are barely sentient symbionts that evolved alongside the Yeerks. They aren’t so much individual creatures so much as they’re bodies with interchangeable brains (the Yeerks). They have poor senses and motor skills, and are Type 2 hosts alongside Taxons (for just kinda sucking).

/r/whowouldwin Thread