Rachel (Animorphs)

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Rachel, as portrayed by David B. Mattingly, morphing into a cheetah.

Rachel is a fictional character from the sci-fi book series Animorphs. Her full name is never explicitly mentioned in the books, but her relation to her cousin Jake Berenson through their fathers makes it most likely to be Rachel Berenson, if it was never changed or hyphenated.^[1]

[edit] Biography

Before the war, Rachel was very involved in gymnastics and had a lingering obsession with fashion. Her parents were divorced. Rachel's father is Dan, a news anchor on television; Rachel is Jewish on her father's side.^[2] Her mother is Naomi, a lawyer. She has two sisters, Jordan and Sara, both younger than she is. 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). 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 when contrasted to Rachel's warrior side. Rachel also has feelings for Tobias and the two started dating near the middle of the series. In the beginning, Melissa Chapman (daughter of the Controller Chapman) is one of her best friends, but the relationship decayed and Melissa is only mentioned a few times in the series.

Rachel's recklessness develops into disturbing, violent, sometimes sadistic (or even sociopathic), tendencies during the series. She is frequently described as "addicted" to the "rush" of the war -- the feeling of battle and conquering her enemies -- more or less, an adrenaline junkie. Rachel is brought face-to-face with this dark part of her personality in The Solution, The Separation, and in The Return. She struggles with it through the rest of the series, never quite getting back to becoming a "normal girl." She also suffers from problems such as recklessness, claustrophobia, and shortsightedness.

Although Marco occasionally flirted with her in a non-serious manner, Rachel's main relationship throughout the series was with Tobias, despite the difficulties involved. On one occasion, Rachel was asked out by another boy at school, but, although tempted by the idea of a more normal relationship, she turned him down, recalling the lengths Tobias had gone to in the past to help her.

In the last book, Rachel is sent to kill Tom. She succeeds by biting down on Tom while he is in snake form and she in grizzly bear form. After Rachel demorphs from her grizzly bear, she is killed by another Yeerk in a polar bear morph with a single blow. When Jake, Marco, and Tobias set off to go save Ax, they name the cruiser-class ship they board The Rachel in her honor. Before Rachel dies, the Ellimist recounts the story of his life as detailed in the The Ellimist Chronicles. She dies at the age of 16.

[edit] Rachel's morphs

Like David, Rachel favored an aggressive style of fighting. Her battle morphs were the grizzly bear and African elephant, both massive and strong creatures.

Rachel's transportation morphs were slightly different from the others. Her preferred transportation morph was the bald eagle. Like the others, she also had the flea, housefly, seagull, and cockroach. However, she also acquired a great horned owl.

She suffered through some morphing problems. The first was an allergy to the crocodile DNA, causing her to randomly morph when she experienced heightened emotions, which she had to eject. She also acquired a starfish to retrieve an earring that she had dropped. A young kid sliced Rachel when she was morphed, which split her into a "Mean Rachel" and a "Nice Rachel". Ax and Erek managed to put her two halves back together by having the two Rachels acquire and morph each other simultaneously, causing them to re-combine.

Specific missions called for some single-purpose morphs. She acquired Melissa Chapman's cat, Fluffer McKitty, to try to infiltrate the Chapman house. She also acquired a sperm whale to find a squid to restore the Pemalite ship's programming. During the battle for the Hork-Bajir valley, she acquired a beaver to build a dam.

However, the following contains all her morphs:

• African Elephant (first morph)
• Bald Eagle (preferred aerial morph)
• Shrew
• Cat (Fluffer McKitty)
• Wolf
• Trout
• Dolphin
• Seagull
• Ant
• Cockroach
• Housefly
• Grizzly Bear (preferred battle morph)
• Rat (Courtney)
• Termite
• Skunk
• Great Horned Owl
• Bat
• Spider Monkey (can't use, Sario Rip morph)
• Jaguar (can't use, Sario Rip morph)
• Crocodile (can't use - expelled due to allergy)
• Hork-Bajir (Jara Hamee)
• Flea
• Racehorse
• Parrot
• Hammerhead Shark
• Mole
• Mosquito
• Deinonychus (Can't use, Sario Rip morph)
• Anteater
• Seal
• Polar Bear (Nanook)
• Sperm Whale
• Chimpanzee
• Eel
• Squirrel
• Cockatiel
• Cheetah
• Honeybee
• Human (Female Fighter Pilot)
• Giant Squid
• Orca
• Beaver
• Starfish

[edit] Family

Immediate:

• Father Dan is a news anchor. He is divorced and lives by himself. In #7, when he was moving out, he offered Rachel the opportunity to stay with him and fly back every weekend to see her mother and sisters, but Rachel declined.
• Mother Naomi is a lawyer and is extremely headstrong and contentious. When she is forced to hide in the Hork-Bajir valley, she tries to escape a few times. Not popular among the Hork-Bajir, despite helping them draft a constitution and was in the process of teaching them to read and write.
• Sister Jordan is two years younger than Rachel, and was implied on some occasions to have a crush on Marco.
• Sister Sara is younger than Jordan.

Jake's family

• Uncle Steve Berenson (brother of Dan) worked as a pediatrician, and became a Controller late in the series.
• Aunt by marriage Jean Berenson worked as an author, and became a Controller late in the series.
• Cousin Jake Berenson is the leader of the Animorphs.
• Cousin Tom Berenson is a Controller from the beginning of the series.

Other family

• Cousin Saddler (by an unknown sibling of Dan and Steve, either his mother Ellen or his father George). Received life-threatening injuries in Book 21. David acquired and morphed the wounded Saddler, briefly masquerading as him and allowing his family to believe he'd miraculously recovered. The family would have suffered further grief when David became trapped in a rat morph as a nothlit, causing 'Saddler' to disappear without explanation. The real Saddler has never been seen again and is presumed dead.
• Cousins Justin, Brooke, and Forrest are siblings of Saddler.

[edit] Toys

In 1999, two different Transformers toys of Rachel were made. The larger one sold in stores turned into a (male) lion, and the smaller one (part of a Taco Bell children's meal promotion) turned into a fly.

[edit] Footnotes