#nesk

The Nesk are definitely hostile to the Animorphs and the mecora, but I would hesitate to call them bad guys - and not just because "bad guys" is too simplistic for Animorphs.

All evidence shows that the Nesk operate on a different value system. While they are hostile to other intelligent life, they're introduced by protecting the Earth's native species from Rachel and Tobias.

Their weapons have a stun setting, which they use to knock out the spinosaurus to stop the fight. Instead of stunning the Animorphs, they end the fight by stopping the dinosaur and leave them aware to answer their questions. They even give Rachel and Tobias the option to demorph rather than fight and it's Rachel that escalates the confrontation.

They're certainly less chill than the mecora, but I wouldn't call them aggressive.

But these same Nesk later on redirect the comet to strike Earth and destroy not only the mecora and their civilization but also kill all the dinosaurs they'd previously protected.

Is it a rapid change of heart or just the Nesks' different values coming into play?

The Nesk's first line sums up their worldview.

"You may not kill those creatures. There are very few left. They are ours. All creatures are ours. All things are ours. What are you?" it asked in a rough, raspy, buzzing voice.

The Nesk divide the world into "ours" and "not ours" and act accordingly. While they lay claim to Earth, dinosaurs are theirs. They will defend them from those who would take them or kill them.

They also understand other sapient life to fall into the "not ours" category (which is a step up from the yeerks!). They don't hate the mecora, it's just that the mecora are in Our Territory and need to leave or die. They wouldn't pursue them elsewhere if they left. Humans are also encroaching into the Territory and need to be ousted.

But then the Animorphs and mecora work together and show that they're not a Them the Nesk can just force to leave.

<The Nesk! They cannot accept their defeat. They have decided if they cannot have this planet, then neither can we.>

Earth has become definitively "not ours" and so have the dinosaurs. Nesk don't care about protecting them because they can no longer claim them.

NESK. SCORE21. (RSH Crew). 2016.