Thought-pictures

[Fwahm]

In book 1, Elfangor transmitted a few thought-pictures to the Animorphs during the "briefing".  However, this was never mentioned again, even in situations where that would be extremely helpful.

KASU?

[Chad32]

Leeran speech is done through mental pictures. But Elfangor doing may have been something she thought of, but decided mot to do anymore. Like using thought speech when in Human form. That would have been useful.

[Stephquiem]

Hmm.. well, I don't know. That business in #33 when Tobias experiences some of Elfangor's memories is kind of similar. The memories are transmitted through Elfangor's tail blade.

It could be that it requires exceptional circumstances (and perhaps a close tie between the people, as in father-son here). Elfangor was about to die when he transmitted in #1, and Tobias was close to death in #33.

But, yeah, in general, thought speak is much more practical.

[Phoenix004]

Either a KASU or it's just never really needed in the series. Or perhaps it's a skill only posessed by some older and more experienced Andalites? Sending images sounds harder than sending words to me, so maybe Ax couldn't do it. Then again, we never really figured out how exactly his distress call in #4 worked...

If you recall the two Andalites in #40 who were able to communicate on a very basic level over incredible distance. This is attributed to the strong bond they share with each other, which has somehow developed into a telepathic bond of sorts. Again, we don't know how this worked, but it may have involved images as well as words.

[DinosaurNothlit]

Well, Aldrea explains in the Hork-Bajir Chronicles that thought-speak works not only in words but also in pictures and symbols anyway.  That's the main reason why everyone can understand it.

The way I figure, the author just transcribes thought-speak into words because that's the only way that it can make sense to the readers.  And maybe the Animorphs' minds automatically put the thought-speak into words, perhaps without even realizing it, so that they didn't see it as a series of pictures except when they run into things (like when Elfangor sent them pictures of Yeerks) that don't have associated words at the time.  It's also possible that Elfangor would 'think' in English (due to his time spent previously on earth), which is why that one picture in particular stood out.

As for 'thinking' in pictures having practical purposes, I can't think of a time in the books when they would have really been able to use that.  Maybe in #49, when they were trying to guide Loren around?  I can't think of anything else.

And it may also be true, as some have already pointed out, that young Andalites and humans can't send detailed pictures like that.

Anyway, in summary, I don't think it was a KASU at all.

[morfowt]

it doesn't say in later books that you can't do it. if it doesn't contradict something else in the books, I wouldn't classify it as a KASU.

[Chad32]

Actually, Ax did send Cassie and Tobias images. So he can do it. He just doesn't do it often.

[adeon222]

It's probably just something that they wouldn't have thought about all that often... I mean, I probably wouldn't... If I were "thought-speaking" I would probably use words and stuff to actually communicate... So, even if I was describing something to someone else, I probably would never even think of sending them a thought picture... *shrugs*

[Phoenix004]

Ax's distress call in #4 might not count as sending images like normal thought speech, because we have no idea how he did it. Surely if it was as simple as thought speech he'd do it all the time? And I doubt it is like thought speech because thought speech has a limited range but his call came from at least 30 kilometres away.

The fact that only Andalites are supposed to receive the call suggests that there is a link to the morphing ability, and the "dreams" might indicate that REM sleep (or another type of brain activity that happens when we sleep) allows some humans to receive these messages. For all we know, other humans may have received the dreams too and simply ignored/forgotten them. Tobias is technically part Andalite (and trapped in morph), where as Cassie is an estreen (highly talented morpher) and is also some kind of cosmic anomaly (according to Megamorphs#4) which might have contributed to her receiving the dreams.

This is mostly just random guesswork, but I'm sticking with the theory that sending thought pictures is possible (albeit potentially difficult) but simply wasn't necessary for Ax to use. I also don't think that his distress call was directly related to ordinary thought speech; it may even have required some kind of technology that was aboard the Dome Ship in order to work.

[Homiegee]

I always believed that thought-speak contained both images and words, which is why other species are able to understand it.

In that sense, thought-speak would work like thought itself does, only transmitted from one person to another.

Let's say you think about a word as you're reading it or are hearing it spoken aloud. You associate the word itself with whatever it is describing. For instance if I said "tree" you'd think about not only the word itself but also an image of a tree. Or whatever.

The reason that Elfangor was seen as "transmitting" images of the Yeerks etc. was because the Animorphs hadn't seen it before so the image rather than the word associated with it is what would have stuck out.

My idea is that Andalites always transmit images as well as thoughts, just like if you're reading this sentence you are seeing the words themselves but also understanding their meaning. It's not either/or, it's both/and.

Does that make sense?

[Dameg]

About Ax in #4, I wondered if he didn't help himself with a computer who were in the Dome...
But about Elfangor,  I don't know. Maybe the Andalites need too much energy to do it often?

[Chad32]

It's possible there was a computer in the dome. If the dome can be detached periodically, it would be best to have some controls at both ends.