- "I was as much human as Yeerk. But how to survive? And much more important, how to rule? Because as much as I enjoyed my life on Earth, I still burned with ambition to be a visser, to command and control the only Class-Five species we knew. I simply wanted to shape the invasion of Earth to allow me to maintain control over the tactics and the strategy. We could enslave the people of Earth gradually. They would never need to know that we were there among them. Until we were them, and they us, and all under my power."
- ―Edriss 562
Edriss 562 was a Yeerk who held the rank of Visser One and used Marco's mother Eva as her host. As Visser One, she was the highest ranking Yeerk military officer, answerable only to the Council of Thirteen. She is also responsible for creating The Sharing and was the third human-Controller in history. She was the wife of Essam 293 and Hildy Gervais, and the mother of Darwin and Madra.
History
Early Life
Edriss 562 was born prior to 1966[1] on the Sulp Niar pool on the Yeerk homeworld.[2] In 1966, many of the Yeerks in the Sulp Niar pool were loaded onto a stolen Andalite ship by a small army of Yeerks who wished to expand to the cosmos and conquer other species and territories,[3] with Edriss being one of the Yeerks who joined the exodus. Edriss 562 then joined the Yeerk Empire.[1]
Searching for Class Five
- "Members of the Council, I had a choice. I could follow my orders, consign myself to the Taxxon home world where my death could be easily arranged by the very person who had arranged my transfer... I could abandon the only Class-Five race known to exist... or, I could violate my orders and go in search of the species that could make us supreme throughout the galaxy. It was no choice at all. As a loyal Yeerk, I had to defy my treasonous orders. And so I did. I enlisted a subordinate, Essam-Two-Nine-Three, a fellow Hork-Bajir-Controller, and took a scout ship and set off alone through Zero-space in search of Earth."
- ―Edriss 562
While stationed at a low-ranking base station, Edriss received holographic reports of two humans on the Taxxon homeworld (Loren and Chapman), who were said to be Class-Five species. At the time, she was Sub-Visser Four-Hundred-Nine with a Hork-Bajir body. The Yeerks were looking for a Class Five species, reasonably intelligent but defenseless and numerous. The Hork-Bajir had been good shock troops, but the Andalites killed most of the population in an effort to deny the Yeerks hosts. Edriss believes that humans are the ideal Class Five species, but her superiors refused to listen to her, and instead demoted her down to a Taxxon. In defiance of this order, she hijacked a ship and brought along a subordinate, Essam 293, to pilot it.[2]
Landing on Earth
- "We landed on the dark side of the planet. We had no knowledge of human physical capabilities. But the fact that they used artificial lighting made it logical that they were night-blind. We headed for an empty area, an arid zone far from the large, bright clusters of human cities. The nearest major human habitation was more than a hundred miles away, to the northeast. Down we went, down through the darkness of Earth's night. I felt my excitement building. It was a momentous occasion. A historic occasion. If I was right, if these were Class-Five aliens, my future was assured. I would be the most respected, and soon thereafter the most feared, Yeerk in the Empire."
- ―Edriss 562
They traveled to the planet Earth, first landing in a desert in the Middle East during Operation Desert Storm, in 1991, when the United States and its allies were fighting in the Gulf War. It was here that Edriss infested the first human host on Earth, an unnamed Middle Eastern soldier. She eventually disposed of the host and returned to her Hork-Bajir host. Edriss watched the battle for a few minutes and saw the clear superiority of the U.S. forces. Essam stated that it would be easiest to infest the losing side, but Edriss said that it would be a waste of time, believing that infesting the most powerful nation, the United States, would be more worthwhile. They flew up and began searching for a place to land.
They landed in Hollywood, based on the fact that it was the community mentioned the most in all the transmissions they pick up (along with "Washington DeeCee", New York and "Ellay"). This time, both Edriss and Essam infested human hosts, and destroyed their original Hork-Bajir hosts. Edriss acquired a host named Jenny Lines, an unemployed actor and drug addict, while Essam acquired a host named Lowenstein, a TV producer.[2]
Human Life
They began to learn about the human culture. Later, at a pool party Edriss encountered Allison Kim, a scientist. Deciding that she is a better host, she took her down into the deep end and pulled her underwater. She transferred hosts and drowned Jenny Lines. Essam also took another host, named Hildy Gervais, taking all of Lowenstein's money before vaporizing him. They were at this point cut off from the Yeerk Empire, living as humans. It was at this point that Edriss, Essam and their two hosts all fell in love with each other, and they had twin children whom they named Darwin and Madra. Eventually their ship's Kandrona generator began to wear out and they knew that they can never be accepted back into the Empire having had human children. In order to placate her superiors Edriss 562 reported her findings and states that she has found an ideal Class Five species with a population of five billion people.
Edriss began leaving Allison Kim periodically to infest a man named Lore David Altman who she chose for his charisma. She created The Sharing, a front organization for a slow infiltration of Earth with Lore as its founder and leader. A man named Richard became the first voluntary Controller, and Edriss and Essam send the video tape to prove that a slow infiltration could and would work.
Shortly after the success of The Sharing, Edriss informed Essam that she will kill Allison and take on the body of Lore David Altman full-time. However, Essam refuses to comply and tells Edriss that he has chosen to die rather than carry out the rest of the mission, which he calls despicable. Essam then willingly died from Kandrona starvation, and at the point of death the Yeerk began to crawl out of Gervais's ear and Edriss pulled it out the rest of the way – this caused bits of Essam's body to remain stuck to some of Hildy's nerves, rendering him insane. Darwin and Madra were at a hospital at the time, sick with a fever; Edriss decides to abandon them there so they'll be adopted. Allison Kim manages to escape, but Edriss knew she'd try to come to the hospital for the children, and so she killed Allison. Edriss then killed Altman so that he would be revered as the founder of The Sharing.[2]
Faking Eva's Death
- "In an hour or so, once I was out of sight of land, I would lower my sails and wait for a Bug fighter to come lift me off the deck. The engine backwash of the Bug fighter would capsize the boat. Or I might put the Taxxon pilot to the test and see if he could ram the low-slung boat. That would puzzle the humans. Either way, my body would never be found. The husband, the son who belonged to the voice inside my head, they would think I had died. The human woman named Eva, the husk, the human shell I lived in, would cease to exist as far as any human knew. I would be given the inevitable superstitious send-off. A ceremony, but there'd be no body to put in the grave."
- ―Edriss 562
She infested her last host, a woman named Eva (Marco's mother), and faked her own death so that she can finally leave Earth and rejoin the Empire.[2]
Leader of the Invasion
As Visser One, Edriss had her private army consist of mostly human host bodies. While some of her army consisted of Hork-Bajir host bodies, they were noted to unusually large specimens. Edriss also ensured that the Yeerks under her direct command were well-educated, which included fluency in the English language. This education requirement also extended to the Hork-Bajir-Controllers in her army, who did not speak in the guttural mismatch of English and native Hork-Bajir language like the Hork-Bajir-Controllers who were under Visser Three's command.[4]
By 1997,[5] the spearheading of the secret invasion of Earth was transferred from Edriss 562 to Esplin 9466, who held the rank of Visser Three.[2]
Encountering the Animorphs
Freeing the Andalite Bandits
- "It is called a gorilla. If you are going to be in charge of Earth, Visser Three, you should at least learn something about the planet."
"And take a human host body, like you did? No, I think not. Human bodies are weak. I much prefer this Andalite host."
"I took a human host and learned about the planet and the humans. And because of that I was able to begin the invasion that you have now endangered with your criminal incompetence! [...] You want to be Visser One? You think you can take my title? We shall see. The Council of Thirteen does not like Vissers who make mistakes. And you have made mistakes. Be careful of your own ambition." - ―Edriss 562 and Esplin 9466
Not too long after Esplin 9466 took over the invasion of Earth, Edriss 562 made a visit to the Pool ship. She was then informed that Esplin had captured the "Andalite bandits" which had been causing the Yeerk Empire trouble[4] in the city in California[6], and that Esplin wished to show them to her. As Visser Three's Blade ship landed, Esplin paraded the bandits to her, with the majority of them in morph. When the Andalite bandit in gorilla morph suddenly fell down, Esplin derisively stated that that the "humanoid one" seemed to be afraid of her. Edriss informed Esplin that it was called a gorilla and that he should have learned about Earth if he was going to be in charge of it. Esplin then scoffed at the notion of taking a human host body like she did, to which Edriss retorted that her taking of a human host allowed to learn about Earth and humans; she added that she was able to use this knowledge to start the secret invasion of Earth and called him criminally incompetent and responsible for having put their invasion in jeopardy.
Angered, Esplin raised his tail blade, but Edriss' Hork-Bajir guards quickly moved their hands to their weapons. Esplin then lowered his tail and called out Edriss for trying to provoke him, but added that he crushed the Andalite forces around Earth, including having destroyed a Dome ship and personally having killed Prince Elfangor, and that he has now delivered six new Andalites. Edriss warned Esplin that if he wanted her title of "Visser One", he would have to be careful of his own ambition, and reminded him that the Council of Thirteen did not like Vissers who made mistakes. She then snapped her fingers and walked away, followed by her guards. Worried that Esplin's capture and delivery of six Andalite host bodies to the Yeerk Empire might cause Esplin to be promoted to Visser One, which would lead to her demotion, Edriss decided to sabotage him. She assigned the Hork-Bajir-Controllers in her command to take out Esplin's Hork-Bajir-Controllers, who were guarding the Andalite bandits who were being imprisoned on the Pool ship, and then to help the Andalite bandits escape from the Pool ship using an escape pod. Edriss' Hork-Bajir-Controllers followed her wishes, and the Andalite bandits successfull escaped and returned[4] to California.[6]
Royan Island Mission
Marco in roach morph on a nightstand as Eva/Visser One looks into a mirror.
Her next appearance was in The Escape, where she commands an underwater facility to infest hammerhead sharks so that she can more effectively invade the Leeran home world. Her project fails when both Visser Three and the Animorphs thwart her plans. A Leeran-Controller tries to tell her that Marco, in gorilla morph, is human, but she misunderstands, thinking the Leeran is saying that the animal is human. After she explains that it's only a similar animal to a human, the Leeran attempts to clarify, but is knocked unconscious by Marco before he can explain.
Animorphs Alliance
One of Edriss 562's most prominent appearances was in The Reunion, who at that time had been demoted to Sub-Visser rank due to her failure in the project destined to create shark-Controllers for use on planet Leera. She makes a deal with the Animorphs in order to eliminate her rival Visser Three once and for all. The Animorphs, posing as ruthless Andalites, have offered to expose the free Hork-Bajir colony in order to discredit Visser Three. The Animorphs trick both her and Visser Three by leading them to a massive hologram (projected by Erek King) portraying dying Hork-Bajir. The Vissers then turn on each other. Visser One, after learning that her host's son was one of the "bandits", appears to fall to her death.
Trial
Testimonies
- "There are more than a hundred death penalty or exile offenses. In the course of acting as a loyal Yeerk Visser I had probably violated a third of them. And, of course, Visser Three had violated still more, beginning with summary execution of subordinates. Visser Three had slaughtered subordinates by the poolful. And, of course, no Yeerk had risen to the Council without breaking the very laws they promulgated. I locked eyes with my foe. We were two experienced, expert killers. Two leaders of Yeerks. Two generals. Only one of us would survive this trial."
- ―Edriss 562
Edriss is placed on trial for treason by several means, including incompetence, sympathy with a subject species, and needless killing of hosts. The book chronicles her explanation to the Council of Thirteen how she began her invasion of Earth and why she believes a slow infiltration of Earth would be more desirable to open war. It is revealed that part of the reason she would not prefer to risk open war is due to the presence on Earth of two children, born of her host Allison Kim and conceived during her control of Allison.
Saved by the Animorphs
- "Four of them: two Hork-Bajir, the tiger, the bear. Four. No, that was wrong. There were at least six, not four. Where were the other two? Most of all, in virtually every record we had of the bandits, one of them had usually appeared as an Andalite. There were all sorts of theories to explain this: This one Andalite did not possess the morphing power, or else the Andalites felt they needed to keep one of their people in true form as a way to "show the flag." I knew, or at least guessed the truth: The always-visible Andalite was a deception to keep us from realizing that at least some of the six were humans. Where was the Andalite as Andalite? Where were the other two?"
- ―Edriss 562
Desperate to protect her children, she calls Marco and asks for the Animorphs to save her. After being abducted by the Animorphs, she is forced to abandon her host, Eva, although Eva asks Marco to allow Edriss to reinfest her in order to prevent Visser Three's open warfare on Earth, therefore keeping Edriss's children safe.
Sentencing
Both she and Visser Three are condemned to death by Kandrona starvation; however, both sentences are suspended on the condition that they solidify the Yeerks' power on a planet. Visser Three is charged with Earth, while Visser One is charged with defending the Anati homeworld from the Andalites.[2]
Death
- "I slammed my foot on the still-wriggling worm. And it was clear... ...it was clear that Visser One's journey had ended."
- ―Marco
After failing to secure the Anati homeworld for the Yeerks, she returned to Earth in The Revelation to be questioned and executed. She frantically escapes from Eva's body during the Animorphs' attempt to rescue her. Eva fails to crush the slug, but it is eventually stomped on by Marco, ending Visser One's life. As a result, Visser Three takes over as Visser One, and begins to wage open war on the humans.
Personality
- "Their lives were mine, never mind the new regulations against killing subordinates. If they displeased me, they would die, law or no law. But I was not unreasonable. As I had the power to kill, so I had the power to give life. That's the subtlety so many Yeerks miss. Threats are very useful. But for the more subtle, and thus complete control over your subordinates, you need the helping hand as well as the killing blade."
- ―Edriss 562
To be added
Appearances
In chronological order:
- VISSER
- The Predator
- The Capture (mentioned)
- The Android (mentioned)
- The Escape
- The Warning (mentioned)
- The Decision (mentioned)
- The Departure (mentioned)
- The Reunion
- The Proposal
- VISSER
- The Revelation (death)
- The Deception (mentioned)
- The Diversion (mentioned)
- The Ultimate (mentioned)
- The Diversion (mentioned)
- The Sacrifice (mentioned)
Gallery
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"Someone took a picture of me? Not cool. Do you see what I'm wearing? I'm Spandex-boy. Totally not cool."
The image gallery for Edriss 562 may be viewed here |
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Edriss 562 states she lived in the Sulp Niar pool on the Yeerk homeworld. As a Yeerk Empire officer who was born on the homeworld, she would have been part of the 1966 Yeerk exodus.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 VISSER
- ↑ The Hork-Bajir Chronicles
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 The Predator
- ↑ The Andalite Chronicles is said to take place 10 years after the 1966 Yeerk exodus of The Hork-Bajir Chronicles and 21 years before Elfangor met the Animorphs. This places it in 1976, meaning the Animorphs met Elfangor in 1997.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 The Beginning
| Vissers in the Yeerk Empire | ||
|---|---|---|
| Visser One | Visser One | Visser One | |
| Visser Two | Visser Two | |
| Visser Three | Visser Three | |
| Visser Four | Visser Four | |
| Visser Thirty-two | Visser Thirty-two | |