Rachel (Animorphs) - Biography

Biography

Before the war, Rachel was very involved in gymnastics and had a lingering obsession with fashion. She was also a model student and she manages to maintain excellent grades throughout most of the war. Her parents are divorced. Rachel's father is Dan, a news anchor on television; Rachel is Jewish on her father's side. Her mother is Naomi, a lawyer. She has two younger sisters, Jordan and Sara. Her mother and sisters are later told the truth about the invasion and are relocated to the Hork-Bajir colony during the end of the war, largely against Naomi's will (she attempts to escape a few times with her two other daughters, angering Rachel—her relationship with Rachel is very strained during the end of the war and she becomes increasingly wary of Rachel's dark side). Jake and his brother Tom are her cousins.

Marco often sardonically calls her "Xena, Warrior Princess" or "Ms. Fashion", and Jake has referred to her (in his thoughts) as "the war goddess". She is best friends with Cassie, though this relationship is often strained throughout the series due to Cassie's more pacifist attitude, contrasting with Rachel's warrior side. Rachel also has feelings for Tobias and the two start dating near the middle of the series. In the beginning, Melissa Chapman (daughter of the Human-Controller Chapman) is one of her best friends, but their friendship decays over time and Melissa is only mentioned a few times in the series.

Although Marco occasionally jokingly flirts with her, Rachel's main relationship throughout the series is with Tobias, despite the difficulties involved. On one occasion, Rachel is asked out by another boy at school. Although tempted by the idea of a more normal relationship, she turns him down, recalling the lengths Tobias had gone to in the past to help her and the depth of feelings between them.

Rachel's recklessness develops into disturbing, violent, degenerative, sometimes sadistic (or even sociopathic), tendencies during the series. She is frequently described as something of an adrenaline junkie, being "addicted" to the "rush" of the war and the feeling of battle and conquering her enemies. Rachel is brought face-to-face with the dark part of her tortured personality in The Solution, The Separation, and in The Return. She is also shown to be claustrophobic and short-sighted.

Rachel is frequently bothered by her violent nature, and towards the end of the series, tortured and despaired because of it. Her dark side is both criticised and indirectly (sometimes directly) used by the rest of the Animorphs, with the exception of Tobias. Rachel herself acknowledges her role in the group and sacrifices her mental wellbeing to protect the other Animorphs, as seen in The Solution. Towards the end of the series, along with her sacrifice on the Blade Ship, K.A. Applegate turns Rachel into a martyr.

In the last book, Rachel unquestioningly accepts a proposal made in secret by Jake (who cannot commit himself given that he is needed to direct the consummation of a parallel objective) to be sent off in a suicide mission to kill his brother, Tom—a mission that, if accomplished in conjunction with the parallel mission, would guarantee victory to the human race. In the Blade Ship that Tom's Yeerk borrowed from Visser One and whom he consequently betrays, after he morphs into a snake form and bites her while she is in her grizzly bear form, she succeeds by biting down and killing him (both the real Tom and his Yeerk). After Rachel demorphs from her grizzly bear morph, she is killed with a single blow by another Yeerk Human-controller in a polar bear morph.

Right at the moment before Rachel dies, the Ellimist—once considered the "puppet master" by Rachel—freezes time and temporarily heals her. From this act the Ellimist wished to maintain a degree of humanity—a trait he feared was disappearing due to the impersonality that was forced upon him by the malevolent and seemingly irrational Crayak. At that moment, the Ellimist was truly sad for Rachel, considering the roles that both he and the Crayak played in the events leading up to Rachel's death, especially the psychological torture she endured at the hands of the Crayak. Although helpless, the Ellimist wished to do something to "soothe" Rachel right before she died, given that souls do not exist in their universe (as implied in The Ellimist Chronicles).

Whilst in the frozen time, the Ellimist recounts the story of his life (as detailed in The Ellimist Chronicles), so as to try and explain to a weeping and raging Rachel whether her life, characterized and engulfed by despair and the violating corruption she had to endure, along with her death—had made a difference, and whether it was all worth it. He finishes his story, and Rachel expresses her understanding of his actions and forgives him—the two things which the Ellimist has most desired. He ends by saying that she had not only been brave and strong, but that she was good and that she mattered; however, being shackled, he cannot save her and has to let her die. She was 16 years old at the time of her death.