Richard's Animorphs Forum
Animorphs Section => Animorphs Forum Classic => Topic started by: Blazing Angel on April 10, 2012, 10:56:32 PM
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This is kind of a thread for filling little facts that were never brough up in the main series.
What is the diet of Gedds made up of?
How do andalite trees talk?
Does cheese taste green?
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Good questions!
Apparently Gedds are monkey-like and almost blind, so I figure there might be some small trees or maybe bushes with brightly coloured leaves they could eat.
Andalite trees... I think they recognise emotions and can broadcast them, though some can form very basic thought speech.
Well, I think for the third answer it could come down to synaesthesia.
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Gedds might also eat kandrona...? Like they have plently on the homeworld, and if yeerks eat it, why not gedds?
I always thought that it's more of a phykic thing, where you just know what' they're saying
And maybe it's like you relate a certain colour to a certain food...
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Gedds might also eat kandrona...? Like they have plently on the homeworld, and if yeerks eat it, why not gedds?
The Yeerks don't "eat" Kandrona. They absorb it along with other nutrients via osmosis.
The first generation of Gedds that were taken from the homeworld probably do need regular exposure to Kandrona which is why you never see them on Earth. But they may have gotten those rays through regular exposure the way you or I get Vitamin D by walking under the sun. They may eat vegetation, or whatever prey animals they can catch, or both.
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I imagine Gedds might eat some ungerground plants, like forms of plums beets or potatoes.
Feel free to invent your own questions.
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Gedds might also eat kandrona...? Like they have plently on the homeworld, and if yeerks eat it, why not gedds?
I think this is brillant.
They may not need it to the same extent as the Yeerks, not as regularly or prolonged, but still need it, and if we imagine the Kandrona has to be absorbed from pools, it's a good stepping to how the Yeerks even got the chance to take them as host
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Osmosis refers to the movement of WATER.
Kandrona are light rays, they aren't matter than can be diffused. They are absorbed by yeerks the same way plants absorb sunlight.
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Osmosis refers to the movement of WATER.
Kandrona are light rays, they aren't matter than can be diffused. They are absorbed by yeerks the same way plants absorb sunlight.
Well, I guess it is possible that some alien animals can do photosynthesis like plants.
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Kandrona are light rays.... They are absorbed by yeerks the same way plants absorb sunlight.
I've my doubts on that because: we know that the Kandrona need not be exposed to the pool. The pool is x distance away and underground. Plants that need light need at least some direct exposure. How could you focus light that distance without annihilating whatever it goes through, especially something biological.
Plus you can eat them (book 16) You can't eat sunlight
There, new question: what exactly are Kandrona Rays, and how do they get to the pool, into the Yeerk, and what is their specific biological function?
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We always pictured it as being something like phytoplankton. There are microorganisms in the water which synthesize from the Kandrona rays, and perhaps the specific wavelength of the rays isn't interrupted by standard building materials. Solid objects are typically still transparent to some light, just not necessarily visible light.
The Yeerks would then ingest the microorganisms and get energy from them, instead of directly from the Kandrona rays themselves.
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I think Kadrona is a very weak form of radiation, that over thousands of years, is imbedded into the soil itself.
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Sorta like UV rays? Well, I'm not exactly sure what in the sun give us vitamine D, but if it's UV rays or something like that, then it would make lots more sense if yeerks can absorb kandrona without a pool. And can vitamin D be absorbed in water?
Kandrona are light rays.... They are absorbed by yeerks the same way plants absorb sunlight.
I've my doubts on that because: we know that the Kandrona need not be exposed to the pool. The pool is x distance away and underground. Plants that need light need at least some direct exposure. How could you focus light that distance without annihilating whatever it goes through, especially something biological.
Plus you can eat them (book 16) You can't eat sunlight
There, new question: what exactly are Kandrona Rays, and how do they get to the pool, into the Yeerk, and what is their specific biological function?
But doesn't Erek have a yeerk in his head? I always thought that he didn't have the sludgy thing in yeerks pools in his head.
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True, Erek generates his own Kandrona rays, which may hurt the micro-oragnism idea, lest they are in the creatures themselves
Vitamin D isn't obtained from sunlight per se, it's made when a chemical in the body reacts with sunlight, making a new chemical from the old.
So you could make Vit. D in water, probably, so long as you were in shallow enough water to be exposed to light.
I'm still having trouble with this, because low energy- infrared shouldn't be able to propagate through yards of dirt and concerte without some relay points. I figure that to get light through that much interfernce it'd have to be high energy, very high (X ray or higher)-too high not to damage the biology.
This circles back still to the Kandrona- the "Yeerk sun" So that is to say this sun, this star, is emitting a unique type of radiation that no one else's sun-cept maybe iskoort, is doing. Curious indeed
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Q: Why, in the context of the Animorphs universe, are humans and Earth so special? Humans have an enormous population and Earth is reputed to be an exceptionally beautiful planet. Why should this be the case?
My A: Humans and Earth actually aren't that special; it's just a massive coincidence that we encounter interstellar society at this point in our history. It is known that right now, humans are depleting our planet's resources and destroying biodiversity at a dangerous rate. It is known that in general, an organism that gains a sudden, enormous advantage in its environment will tend to overpopulate and deplete it's environment until it suffers a die-back. It is known that in the distant past, Andalites built massive cities until they "realized something was wrong" and "returned to nature" or something (Andalite Chronicles). I would postulate that many intelligent species in the Animorphs universe follow this pattern: when they reach an industrial age, their populations expand uncontrollably until they nearly destroy their own planet, and have to "start over" with an impoverished planet and a well-learned lesson about controlling population growth and resource consumption, and in most cases, this all happens before they develop z-space travel and contact other species.
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In the Ellimist Chronicles, it's stated pretty clearly that Crayak selected the Earth solar system as their last chessboard / battlefield, partly because it was just where they ended up next in the universal geography, and partly because Earth had a superficial resemblance to another (fictitious) planet that Ellimist had defended in the games back on Ket. Everything that happens in the series, from Elfangor's crash-landing, to the Time Matrix business, to the current Animorphs, was orchestrated by either Ellimist, Crayak, or to some extent both, with each having an ulterior motive for some move they agreed on making.
Ellimist himself stated that he valued Earth and found it beautiful because of its sheer biodiversity and geographic diversity. The Yeerk, Hork-Bajir, and Andalite homeworlds all have much lower biodiversity and, for the most part, all three are limited to a single habitable ecosystem. Considering both the Hork-Bajir and Andalite worlds were engineered respectively by the Arn and Ellimist himself to be what they are at the time of the story, and considering the Ellimist never lays claim to having started any new life forms on Earth, beyond encouraging human development and being the 'great-great-grandfather' of domestic dogs, through the Pemalites and Chee, it could be argued that Ellimist simply finds it interesting just how varied life became on a planet where sentient life and biodiversity did not have to be engineered into existence.
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But life has been shown to grow without interference literally thousands of other times. The Ellemist Chronicles proves that.
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This isn't the thread for this, and I've tried squashing this elsewhere, but it seems the only thing I can do is jump it wherever it appears:
What is it in the context of this series that makes you think the Ellimist did anything relevant to developing the ENTIRE andalite world?
He joined a tribe. He thought-spoke by accident once, and then went to using signs. He used his beam weapon on two occasions when the the tribe-enter tribe, not species- encounter a "monster"
And I quote
I lived with them, and refused to teach, refused to interfere. -TEC page 176.
Beyond putting Elfangor back, we know nothing of him willfully modifying the Andalite world.
Now, in the context of the story, for humans it may just be our time- but given what little we are, I'd maintain Earth is something special.
A million and more species currently deck the planet, and it's been on the rise for eons. And what's constituted it has changed a great extent in that time- radiations of reptiles, birds, mammals, types of plants.
The Yeerks only have an interest in the humans. If we are winding our way to a dieback, only time will will tell.
Though I must point out, a dieback is almost certainly not the case for Yeerks, who it seems may not, or would just barely be saturated with 6 billion host
That leads me to reflect on how Earth remains a great source of diversity and has for eons, something that may not be the case on other worlds (Kets acid surface, Iskoort swamps, acid rain on the Yeerk world the Arn's change in atmosphere). It may be there entire world has only been suited for a particular way of live all this time
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I think the real development that the ellemist caused were that his children carried his ability of biological telepathy, and through the process of natural selection eventually the entire population had it.
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Let me put it this way: there have been several mass-extinction events in the history of the Earth, and we are in the middle of one right now, and have been since the dawn of human history. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocene_extinction)
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I thought it was said he did leave some kind of legacy behind, I just can't recall what. I like NewBlazingAngel's comment though.
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I'm not saying extinctions haven't happened, but I'm saying Earth has never suffered a permanent one, an unrecoverable one, one where diversity drops and then stays low
The permian extinction may have cut the the numbers of different things on earth immensely, but overall it recovered. Certain groups never did, but over all divergence began again and exceeds what it was before the extinction. And even following extinctions, the absolute number of species is still more than a few.
What nBA said did give me pause. I can't support it, nor can I shot it down entirely
The thoughspeak thing, pg 174 went "I could sense quite clearly their emotional states. It wasn't just the body language. They seemed capable of projecting a sort of basic emotional language by some means I could not discern.
<I'm not an enemy,> I said. I said it without thinking, automatically accessing my communications system — a system that was part of my other body, no part of this form.
And yet, I saw a subtle relaxation on the part of the creatures. They had "heard" me. Or had at least heard the emotional tone.
I tried again. <I wish to be a friend. I am here to . . .> I was about to say that I was there to help. But no, that wasn't it anymore. <I am here to learn from you.>"
The way this is written the "emotional language" seems like a primitive thought-speak they already have.
What the Ellimist does he says he does through his other body, not the Andalite one, which is confusing. Is it then biological? Because if it's not through his andalite body, and not biological, then his kids couldn't get it.
And depending on how prolific his children where, it's a mute point. We get no indication it's genetic, nor that his kids use it; no indication it's adaptive. No way to deny that, but no way to confirm either.
The only undeniable legacy he leaves the Andalites is the name
So, new questions, where does thought speak come from and how does it really work?
Ellimist-Andalites aside, we also it used by, at least, iskoort, mercorra, helmacron, and understood enough be used/detected by Pemalites, and Nesk (or something) presumably all independently
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Well since they project emotion, I would assume that their is something in the andalite brain that is similar to a radio reciever and transmitter. I again bring up the point of natural selection. The andalites who's transmitters and recievers were naturally stronger, could communicate better, and were more likely to survive.
Imagine that giant tree monster was attacking a single andalite, and he tries to call for help. Instead of the others simply knowing that somebody is scared out of their mind, the one being attacked can say. "I am north of the village."
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cha-ha,
I meant the mechanisms-the chemistry, biology and physics selection has to act upon. How does your radio function? Is it the same for each species?
How do you project emotion to another without a visual, chemical or mechanical stimulus?
I've no real world comparisons
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Real world comparison: Twin telepathy. twins are connected in someway that allows weak links like emotions or feelings of pain to come through. My personal theory is that in some way, they have the same brain so when a twins brain lets out a signal, his twin who has an identical brain is the only one who is capable of hearing it since he's on the right "frequency."
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I would imagine the Gedds might eat underground plants or bugs as someone said above... After all, we know the Gedds can't see well, but who said they can't smell or hear well? :3
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Real world comparison: Twin telepathy. twins are connected in someway that allows weak links like emotions or feelings of pain to come through. My personal theory is that in some way, they have the same brain so when a twins brain lets out a signal, his twin who has an identical brain is the only one who is capable of hearing it since he's on the right "frequency."
But some people don't believe in twin telepathy. And also, with 7 billion people, shouldn't there be more of that then? Or is there like an infinite number of your 'frequencies'?
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In theory, yes.
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I loved the Ellimist at the time of reading them, but looking back I really don't see why the whole Animorphs storyline had to be placed in the larger context of a "game" between two very powerful beings.
Isn't fighting for the survival of the human race and freedom for the galaxy high enough stakes? What was the point, really, from a storytelling perspective, to add that whole additional level to it?
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Has someone somewhere already done a hypothesis on the morphing process in itself...?
I've always wondered about some of its factors;
Was there a limit to the amount of morphs?
Since there was a power limit, it's safe to assume that there was also a number limit to the morphs relative to the subject.
HOW does morphing INCLUDE foreign-genetic material (ref. to a yeerk within the subject's skull), as well as non-genetic material (ref. skin-tight clothing, or even loose wear)?
Furthermore, I can fill in the gap for things such as age, hormones and such during the morphing process, but what about things such as proteins, body fat, water, which are all relative to environmental factors of the subject to start with? (Take Marco morph the overweight office dude..)
I can't remember whether the morphing technology was developed DURING the war, or prior to it. The scientists could have done it for military or medical purposes, but the truth is, it was new around the time the Yeerks invaded the Hork-Bajir planet, which was shortly after Prince Seerow had done his 'kindness', when the war began.
HOW would the Andalites have come across + developed this technology?
I suspect the Andalites were thinking of morphing BEFORE the Yeerk X Andalite war. At that stage, they were already exploring the galaxy, its planets and meeting other sentient alien species. I imagine that they would have felt like studying/researching any/all of those species, too.
They may well have been inspired by a species that metamorphs during its lifecycle, much like the good old caterpillar here on Earth, and emulated the process to beat some of the limitations they had in their exploration of the galaxy.
The Andalites don't have much for wear, and they would have come across extreme landscapes of, say, heavy-gravity or low-temperatures. To beat this, I reckon their scientists would have gone beyond just protective suits and wear... The thought of 'becoming a local' in order to more closely interact with the planet, seems more in tune with them, then conjuring some outer gear.
The technology wouldn't have been further refined until the military demand.
I think Kadrona is a very weak form of radiation, that over thousands of years, is imbedded into the soil itself.
Whoa! I like this hypothesizing.
Real world comparison: Twin telepathy. twins are connected in someway that allows weak links like emotions or feelings of pain to come through. My personal theory is that in some way, they have the same brain so when a twins brain lets out a signal, his twin who has an identical brain is the only one who is capable of hearing it since he's on the right "frequency."
The Andalites have a natural understanding and advanced handle of these telepathic things, beyond the human capacity.
Since the Anis got the thought-speech ability when they received the morphing power, I’m guessing it’s as simple as an Andalite genetic attribute, one of which has been technologically copied by their scientists. Much like the internal sense of time and direction the military also whipped up.
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I loved the Ellimist at the time of reading them, but looking back I really don't see why the whole Animorphs storyline had to be placed in the larger context of a "game" between two very powerful beings.
Isn't fighting for the survival of the human race and freedom for the galaxy high enough stakes? What was the point, really, from a storytelling perspective, to add that whole additional level to it?
I think it's appropriate from a story telling perspective, actually. The themes of free will and determinism/fate are prevalent in the Animorphs universe, and even the Ellimist and, presumably, Crayak are subject to what we would call fate or a higher power. Are the Animorphs free in their decision making when they have two quasi-omnipotent powers casually pulling the strings--no matter how small a move? From day one--the Invasion-- the Animorphs haven't REALLY made a choice in fighting the Yeerks, did they? We see in Back to Before that, even if they "chose" to not pass through the construction site, they would have been involved in the war anyway. Why? Because, like it or not, the Ellimist "stacked the deck."*
Back to the topic, though. I don't know if I have much else to add to the questions posed by Gafrash--nice ones, by the way-- so I'll keep this going by posing some more.
1) How does Andalite language work?
I get that there's something about an Andalite's emotions that factors in to it all, but the Andalites DO have a language. Humans have many languages. We also have mouths. These diverse languages have dialects, and require certain pronunciations, inflections, and working your throat and such to say a certain word properly.** How does this work for a species that a) doesn't have--as far as we know-- dialects or other languages, or b) mouths to make noises at all. Body language can say a lot, but could the Andalites convey a whole lot in their body movements and still be as "advanced" as they claim?
Let's take the word Hirac Delest. I always imagined that it sounded like the "rac" would come from the throat. But could they make that noise without having the mouth parts to do it? I don't know. I have a limited--non-existent-- knowledge on mouths and languages; other than the fact that I have one and use the other...or both...
2) Why are the Taxxons so darn hungry?
This is what I got from the wiki page for Taxxons:***
"Taxxon hunger comes from a built-in eating disorder; when morphing a Taxxon, Tobias notes that its hunger instinct is exaggerated by its sentience. The Taxxons are literally mad with hunger, out of an irrational fear of starvation. This may be because their planet, while apparently host to very large bodies of water (hence their mobility in aquatic environments - see below) is largely devoid of life; this may have resulted in the Taxxon hunger developing as an evolutionary advantage, taking the opportunity of any and all food the moment it becomes available."
I read a fic--most likely called Taxxon Chronicles-- where the author states that the Taxxon planet was once lush with life, but a comet drove it to its present state. I can buy that--or something like it. But as I'm not well versed enough in biology and evolution, I can't really speculate.
3) Do the Gedds have names?
They're said to be "barely" sentient, and their mobility and capability of speech is limited. So maybe they don't.
4) Where are the other species the Yeerks apparently have infested/conquered?
Yea, there's already a thread talking about this, but I'd really like to hear everyone's thoughts on that. I have a few theory as to where the Mak, Sstram, and Nahara are:
Their bodies are not able to leave their home planets for what ever reason (maybe they can't breath the stuff other atmospheres are made of; that sounds pretty logical to me) or are only capable of carrying on the most basic of tasks (like Gedds and Taxxons); essentially they're a class two species.
Or, their bodies are decent enough, but would be better suited on the other worlds they're supposedly invading?
Or, when Temrash said "conquered" he meant, wiped out?
Or, as some believe, Temrash either lied or exaggerated when he bragged to Jake?****
5) What was done with the now morph capable former hosts?
6) Was the morphing technology offered to the sick and disabled?
7) What do you think happened to Esplin 9466 lesser?
8) What effects would the nothlit Yeerks on Earth have on the ecosystem?
Especially the ones that morphed animals? I mean, there were a lot of Yeerks on earth--in California alone. Throw in the Taxxons in the Amazon and you have a significantly larger number of Animals that may have been endangered at one point--or even Animals that were in no danger of extinction at all!
* Except for poor Rachel, and maybe David.
** Look at me, pretending like I know what the hell I'm talking about :P
*** Yea, I know--not the greatest source. But it's speculative, so no harm, no foul.
**** The Capture
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1) How does Andalite language work?
I get that there's something about an Andalite's emotions that factors in to it all, but the Andalites DO have a language. Humans have many languages. We also have mouths. These diverse languages have dialects, and require certain pronunciations, inflections, and working your throat and such to say a certain word properly.** How does this work for a species that a) doesn't have--as far as we know-- dialects or other languages, or b) mouths to make noises at all. Body language can say a lot, but could the Andalites convey a whole lot in their body movements and still be as "advanced" as they claim?
Let's take the word Hirac Delest. I always imagined that it sounded like the "rac" would come from the throat. But could they make that noise without having the mouth parts to do it? I don't know. I have a limited--non-existent-- knowledge on mouths and languages; other than the fact that I have one and use the other...or both...
Using body movements to communicate doesn't mean Andalites cannot be advanced. For example, sign languages used by deaf people are real proper languages with their own grammar and even poetry.
That aside, I too always wondered about Andalite language and how it translates into words that can be said and heard. Andalites seem uncapable of producing a larger range of noises, apart from snorting or something like that, and they communicate mainly in thoughtspeak.
Maybe they associate sounds made by other things (animals hissing or leafs rustling, I don't know) with notions they talk about. Maybe tose associations come from the time Andalites still used mainly body language, and they pretended to be, say, a tree, if they meant "beautiful", and now the Andalite word for "beautiful" sounds like a tree swaying in the wind :huh: Yeah, that is not contrived at all.
Still, linguists have no idea how human languages came into being, so it's no big deal we don't know the origins of an alien one...
4) Where are the other species the Yeerks apparently have infested/conquered? [...]
Or, as some believe, Temrash either lied or exaggerated when he bragged to Jake?****
That's it, I think. Temrash was a jerk.
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It seems strange that the Ellimist would make a time ship, even though he can bend time as often as he likes (with regards to the rules of his game with Crayak. I think he built it for his chess pieces to use. It got Elfangor on Earth, after all, and that resulted in the conception and birth of one of his most important warriors. Maybe he hoped the Animorphs would stumble upon it on their own.
Of course, that doesn't make much sense now that I think about it: he wouldn't just let them use the Time Matrix all willy-nilly. That would have been a big win for the Ellimist-- and something tells me Crayak wouldn't like that.
So maybe the Ellimist is unable to retrieve his time ship himself? Maybe the rules of the game prevent him from moving it from the construction site? Then, after the Animorphs defeated Visser Four, the Ellimist was able to take it back?
Again, WHY he would want to build a time machine when he can time travel already is something I just can't wrap my head around...
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Suppose, maybe, that the Time Matrix was somehow some weird side effect of the (equally weird) process of Ellimist/Crayak's creation? They go through the black hole into the other side of reality, and at the same time this random little white sphere pops back out, on our side? One of those 'conservation of matter/energy' things. 'Conservation of reality,' maybe, might be a better term, since conservation of matter/energy don't really apply to the Ellimist or Crayak.
Anyway, I see it as sort of an anchor or something. A thing cannot exist, with no connection to reality at all, right? So, maybe, the Time Matrix is simply that root, that holds Crayak and the Ellimist to this universe. Or, perhaps, another apt comparison might be the morphed matter that goes into z-space when someone morphs a smaller creature. It's just something that's there, because it needs to be.
It can time-travel and create new realities, quite simply, because the Ellimist and Crayak can. It's of the same reality-non-reality as they are, but it doesn't have sentience of its own (why should it, when it's just a random blob of wibbly-wobbly-timey-wimey stuff sorry couldn't resist), which opens it up for anybody to take control of it. And it can't be destroyed, so, basically, the Ellimist and Crayak are just stuck with this stupid little thing that neither of them wants to exist but does anyway.
It all still fits with canon, of course, because technically they would still have 'created' it, by virtue of their own existence.
But this opens up a startling possibility. Since the Ellimist and Crayak each came into their own plane of existence separately . . . it is then entirely possible, according to my theory, that there are two Time Matrices out there. Can't really prove otherwise, can you? Certainly an intriguing thought, that there could be another one out there somewhere.
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^Or an orb that does something else, perhaps.
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What if the elimmist created it while he was powerful, but before he got blackholeafied into being all powerfull?
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I don't think that the Ellimist created the time matrix for his pawns because as stated in megamorphs 3 it could endanger Crayak or the Ellimist's existence
"In other words, this Time Matrix could endanger Crayak himself," Marco
translated.
To which the Drode responded "Don't be a fool. Nothing threatens great Crayak. However. .
. one doesn't want mere baboons blundering about with Time Matrices, does one?
Who knows what harm they might do? Oh, sure, it's all fun and games when they
end up starting genocidal wars or engendering race hatred - but who knows what other damage a fool with such power may do"
Sounds much more like Crayak doesn't want it in the hands of anyone else that might just *** up his game
What if the elimmist created it while he was powerful, but before he got blackholeafied into being all powerfull?
While I'm most fond of this theory, as it makes the most sense (since demigod Ellimist doesn't need it) we don't really KNOW the Ellimist made it.
Elfangor said he did. Andalite lore seems to think so, but you think that'd be tapped on in TEC. All we know is in Aniverse he's aware of it and tries to keep it out of play, because that's how he roles. But really, that he made it is almost nonsensical, and very poorly documented
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7) What do you think happened to Esplin 9466 lesser?
:yeerk: He became host to Joe Bob Fenestre (and appears in The Hork-Bajir Chronicles :hork: and The Warning. Have you read either of those?
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Major question here:
1) Why, after infesting Alloran and 'sharing' the Time Matrix with Loren/Elfangor, why did Esplin 9466/Visser Three attempt to send the trio to the Yeerk home world?
It is stated very clearly in Visser that when Edriss touched down on Earth for the first time, that she would use the endless supply of humans to overwhelm the Andalites and "take back the pools that spawned us". She goes on to say there was a massive Andalite fleet in orbit over the Yeerk homeworld. And since she states Elfangor was [already] their most hated enemy, that must mean he had returned from his human-nothlit form and been active for years.
So, since the Andalite chronicles predates his years on Earth, that means the sub-Visser Esplin tried to transport the three into Andalite controlled space. Can't wrap my head around that one.
(And no, I can't see the sub-Visser just convincing the Andalites in orbit to give him a ship which he would attempt to steal, dash for Yeerk space, and hope he doesn't get obliterated by some dimwitted patrol. Alloran was a war criminal and was specifically sent on a "meaningless" task because he wasn't trusted.)
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1) Why, after infesting Alloran and 'sharing' the Time Matrix with Loren/Elfangor, why did Esplin 9466/Visser Three attempt to send the trio to the Yeerk home world?
My immediate response to this was that we know where Esplin 9466 intended to go, but not when.
It's possible he wanted to use the Time matrix to travel to just before the Andalites came to the Yeerk homeworld in order to get the jump on the first landing party. Scouting party lands on Yeerk homeworld, returns as controllers, and begins the secret invasion of the Andalite race without the Andalites ever even knowing what a Yeerk is or what to look out for.
With the Andalites as the first infested race, the rest would just be a domino effect.
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I don't think that the Ellimist created the time matrix for his pawns because as stated in megamorphs 3 it could endanger Crayak or the Ellimist's existence
"In other words, this Time Matrix could endanger Crayak himself," Marco
translated.
To which the Drode responded "Don't be a fool. Nothing threatens great Crayak. However. .
. one doesn't want mere baboons blundering about with Time Matrices, does one?
Who knows what harm they might do? Oh, sure, it's all fun and games when they
end up starting genocidal wars or engendering race hatred - but who knows what other damage a fool with such power may do"
Sounds much more like Crayak doesn't want it in the hands of anyone else that might just *** up his game
Time travel kills everything. It can kill plot holes or even entire books. Grab the Time Matrix, travel back to when...
[spoiler]Ellimist was still a Ketran or before Crayak had a 'world ship' thing at his disposal...[/spoiler]
...Kill them, they no longer exist, just like everything else. The only thing that can protect you from time travel is if you time travel first.
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Time travel kills everything. It can kill plot holes or even entire books. Grab the Time Matrix, travel back to when...
[spoiler]Ellimist was still a Ketran or before Crayak had a 'world ship' thing at his disposal...[/spoiler]
...Kill them, they no longer exist, just like everything else. The only thing that can protect you from time travel is if you time travel first.
I don't think it's that simple, since both the Ellimist and Crayak reached a point "beyond time" where they could change things at will. At best, a "baboon" with the Time Matrix would be able to deeply interfere with their well-laid "Chess match." The problem is, even though a sentient being with the TM would be a speck of dust compared to E/C, it would require direct intervention for one of them to eliminate the meddler which would violate the "rules of the game".
Hence a mutual agreement to use the Animorphs as a proxy.
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1) Why, after infesting Alloran and 'sharing' the Time Matrix with Loren/Elfangor, why did Esplin 9466/Visser Three attempt to send the trio to the Yeerk home world?
My immediate response to this was that we know where Esplin 9466 intended to go, but not when.
It's possible he wanted to use the Time matrix to travel to just before the Andalites came to the Yeerk homeworld in order to get the jump on the first landing party. Scouting party lands on Yeerk homeworld, returns as controllers, and begins the secret invasion of the Andalite race without the Andalites ever even knowing what a Yeerk is or what to look out for.
With the Andalites as the first infested race, the rest would just be a domino effect.
A pretty reasonable explanation and one I (duh) didn't think too hard about. But then there's a whole other issue when it comes to attempting a secret invasion of andalites. Specifically, under what conditions would the sub-Visser be able to leave Alloran to feed for the first time, without Alloran thought-screaming about the threat? Unlike a human, being bound would be inadequate. It would be incredibly difficult starting from 1 andalite to successfully infiltrate others, because every single time an andalite-Controller feeds, ever, they would have the potential to alarm their compatriots. They would have to be knocked out or drugged, which is probably not a viable plan for the sub-Visser if he arrived immediately prior to "Seerow's Kindness".
Not to mention that if he got the date wrong, he would end up stranded there for 3+ days, and we can only speculate how that would turn out.
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1) Why, after infesting Alloran and 'sharing' the Time Matrix with Loren/Elfangor, why did Esplin 9466/Visser Three attempt to send the trio to the Yeerk home world?
My immediate response to this was that we know where Esplin 9466 intended to go, but not when.
It's possible he wanted to use the Time matrix to travel to just before the Andalites came to the Yeerk homeworld in order to get the jump on the first landing party. Scouting party lands on Yeerk homeworld, returns as controllers, and begins the secret invasion of the Andalite race without the Andalites ever even knowing what a Yeerk is or what to look out for.
With the Andalites as the first infested race, the rest would just be a domino effect.
A pretty reasonable explanation and one I (duh) didn't think too hard about. But then there's a whole other issue when it comes to attempting a secret invasion of andalites. Specifically, under what conditions would the sub-Visser be able to leave Alloran to feed for the first time, without Alloran thought-screaming about the threat? Unlike a human, being bound would be inadequate. It would be incredibly difficult starting from 1 andalite to successfully infiltrate others, because every single time an andalite-Controller feeds, ever, they would have the potential to alarm their compatriots. They would have to be knocked out or drugged, which is probably not a viable plan for the sub-Visser if he arrived immediately prior to "Seerow's Kindness".
My headcanon (described in more detail in my fic Primary: the rise of Esplin 9466) is that the Yeerks briefly retook the home world between the Hork-Bajir Chronicles and the Andalite Chronicles, but the Andalites eventually wrested it back from them.
So Esplin was trying to go back in time, but to avert the recapture of the Andalite home world. Which would be long after Seerow.
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1) Why, after infesting Alloran and 'sharing' the Time Matrix with Loren/Elfangor, why did Esplin 9466/Visser Three attempt to send the trio to the Yeerk home world?
My immediate response to this was that we know where Esplin 9466 intended to go, but not when.
It's possible he wanted to use the Time matrix to travel to just before the Andalites came to the Yeerk homeworld in order to get the jump on the first landing party. Scouting party lands on Yeerk homeworld, returns as controllers, and begins the secret invasion of the Andalite race without the Andalites ever even knowing what a Yeerk is or what to look out for.
With the Andalites as the first infested race, the rest would just be a domino effect.
A pretty reasonable explanation and one I (duh) didn't think too hard about. But then there's a whole other issue when it comes to attempting a secret invasion of andalites. Specifically, under what conditions would the sub-Visser be able to leave Alloran to feed for the first time, without Alloran thought-screaming about the threat? Unlike a human, being bound would be inadequate. It would be incredibly difficult starting from 1 andalite to successfully infiltrate others, because every single time an andalite-Controller feeds, ever, they would have the potential to alarm their compatriots. They would have to be knocked out or drugged, which is probably not a viable plan for the sub-Visser if he arrived immediately prior to "Seerow's Kindness".
My headcanon (described in more detail in my fic Primary: the rise of Esplin 9466) is that the Yeerks briefly retook the home world between the Hork-Bajir Chronicles and the Andalite Chronicles, but the Andalites eventually wrested it back from them.
So Esplin was trying to go back in time, but to avert the recapture of the Andalite home world. Which would be long after Seerow.
Seems like a reasonable possibility (out of the few that seem plausible) although it would raise the question of why the Andalites would throw a fleet at a non-strategic target (the Yeerk home world) when the real bottleneck was the Yeerk host availability. In other words, why drop the HB homeworld and go after the Yeerk world instead?
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Keep in mind that we don't know the Gedd population on the Yeerk homeworld, and the Yeerks have proven them to be at least passable hosts. For all we know, letting the Yeerks have their own homeworld would be equivalent to letting ten thousand or a hundred thousand or a million hosted Yeerks loose on the galaxy at once. Considering that the Yeerk Empire was grown from just a handful of Gedd-hosted Yeerks originally, I'd think that would essentially spell the end for the Andalites.
The only thing that can protect you from time travel is if you time travel first.
I find this funny ;D
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Keep in mind that we don't know the Gedd population on the Yeerk homeworld, and the Yeerks have proven them to be at least passable hosts. For all we know, letting the Yeerks have their own homeworld would be equivalent to letting ten thousand or a hundred thousand or a million hosted Yeerks loose on the galaxy at once. Considering that the Yeerk Empire was grown from just a handful of Gedd-hosted Yeerks originally, I'd think that would essentially spell the end for the Andalites.
Strong possibility. Those dastardly Gedds, always threatening intergalactic empires and such! ;D
Again, one can only speculate how a million Gedds would invite an overpowering Andalite fleet but 5 billion physically superior humans? <Meh.>
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1) Why, after infesting Alloran and 'sharing' the Time Matrix with Loren/Elfangor, why did Esplin 9466/Visser Three attempt to send the trio to the Yeerk home world?
My immediate response to this was that we know where Esplin 9466 intended to go, but not when.
It's possible he wanted to use the Time matrix to travel to just before the Andalites came to the Yeerk homeworld in order to get the jump on the first landing party. Scouting party lands on Yeerk homeworld, returns as controllers, and begins the secret invasion of the Andalite race without the Andalites ever even knowing what a Yeerk is or what to look out for.
With the Andalites as the first infested race, the rest would just be a domino effect.
A pretty reasonable explanation and one I (duh) didn't think too hard about. But then there's a whole other issue when it comes to attempting a secret invasion of andalites. Specifically, under what conditions would the sub-Visser be able to leave Alloran to feed for the first time, without Alloran thought-screaming about the threat? Unlike a human, being bound would be inadequate. It would be incredibly difficult starting from 1 andalite to successfully infiltrate others, because every single time an andalite-Controller feeds, ever, they would have the potential to alarm their compatriots. They would have to be knocked out or drugged, which is probably not a viable plan for the sub-Visser if he arrived immediately prior to "Seerow's Kindness".
My headcanon (described in more detail in my fic Primary: the rise of Esplin 9466) is that the Yeerks briefly retook the home world between the Hork-Bajir Chronicles and the Andalite Chronicles, but the Andalites eventually wrested it back from them.
So Esplin was trying to go back in time, but to avert the recapture of the Andalite home world. Which would be long after Seerow.
Seems like a reasonable possibility (out of the few that seem plausible) although it would raise the question of why the Andalites would throw a fleet at a non-strategic target (the Yeerk home world) when the real bottleneck was the Yeerk host availability. In other words, why drop the HB homeworld and go after the Yeerk world instead?
Because by that point the Andalites had already used the Quantum virus on the Hork-Bajir world. Not many available hosts there anymore.
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True, Erek generates his own Kandrona rays, which may hurt the micro-oragnism idea, lest they are in the creatures themselves
If Erek generates his own Kandrona rays, then he could have fed Tom's Yeerk during "The Conspiracy", when Tom had to go to a funeral for 4 days!
Does Erek feed dissident Yeerks?