Tobias and Nothlitism

[donut]

Yeah, but the yeerk pool was being expanded throughout the entire series.  It's possible it wasn't big enough at the time.

Hmmm

Pros:  Knowing more than any living human about thermals

Cons:  Annoying your friends by explaining thermals over and over again

[TobiasMasonPark]

     ^Oh man, the thermals. And the superior eye sight.

[Jdorsey314]

I believe that it was all an accident. in most of the first half of the series, thats what he syays. and what everyone else says. and I believe him. I think that once he adapted to his new life somewhat, it allowed applegate to add this doubt. as he was in the bigenning of the series, I don not think he would trap himself.

     and, in book 43, he looks DOWN and sees the place where he was trapped. not up. he wasn't way off the the side or up on a rafter, I think he was actually between some boxes a few feet from the pools edge or something. it is reasonable to say that there are places to be trapped in the pool complex, even when you're that small.

     of course, some things he says might be considered admitting to the fact that he did it on purpose, but I don't think that even THAT means it was. he was under pressure, he had heard the same story for a while, he could have been starting to accept something that wasn't true in the first place. he had time to think over those dozens of books. time to get it wrong. what he thought at the moment of the event, what he told others, is what he really thought, and what he really meant to say. and when he talks, I listen.

[NateSean]

Yes, but he was already losing himself in the ability to fly earlier in the book. He refused to take any other battle morphs because he was fixated on the hawk. Then he clinched it for himself by morphing before the entire team was even at the meeting point to go into the pool in the first place.

Of course he says it was an accident. Just like people who survive suicide attempts always say that they regretted doing it after they jumped. Of course you believe them, but it doesn't change the result for the people who succeed. It's a permanent solution to a temporary problem and in Tobias' case, he didn't have to become a nothlit to escape his aunt and uncle, or his situation at school.

[pallosalama]

It's a permanent solution to a temporary problem and in Tobias' case, he didn't have to become a nothlit to escape his aunt and uncle, or his situation at school.

I would like to hear your better solution to that problem instead of nothliting. I don't think living in forest like Ax later would have been good idea for him.

[NateSean]

He could have run. He could have told the school counselor how he was being treated at home. He could have been honest with Chapman about who was bullying him. It'd be one thing if the school wasn't making any attempt to help Tobias. But they were actually asking him and trying to help him and he was choosing not to say anything. Those are just the non-morphing solutions.

He could have started morphing and messing with them from a distance. Screw with the bullies, screw with his aunt and uncle. He had no problem attacking a bully as a hawk when they were messing with Eric, why not using his morphing ability to mess with people. He had the ultimate cheat code.

[pallosalama]

Does bullying create love? No. Altough it does sound possible option, I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have made his position better even if he bullied his bullies and/or Uncle+Aunt. And we all know what would be the first thing that Chapman would have suggested should he went to ask help from him 

[KingAlanI]

Maybe he considered doing it on purpose and circumstances of the Yeerk Pool raid led him to actually do so.

I imagine that there are a lot of people who feel uncomfortable in their own skins. If one of these people were to acquire the Escafil Device and become able to morph as a way to escape--like Tobias, Aldrea or any of the Auxiliary Animorphs-- I think they would probably intentionally trap themselves in a more preferable form; as opposed to living out an existence they're uncomfortable with.
I'm thinking about people like the disabled, homosexuals/transexuals, etc. In this case, you cant pity someone for wanting to live as a bird, or a lion, or a member of the opposite sex.

(snipped to quote to the parts I'm replying to)

I figured some people regenerate nongenetic injuries by morphing, though they could go nothlit to avoid proliferation issues. Either way, this seems particularly fitting for those injured in the Yeerk war.

I had thought of going nothlit as an alternative to sex changes, but for some reason I hadn't considered it as a cure for genetic disabilities.

[Jdorsey314]

don't know if I have posted here before... seems kind of familiar. but my opinion is a strong one, and might deserve a couple posts. what we will really try to find out here is weather its a valid opinion. as a bunch of you have  said, there is a boatload of evidence on either side.
my evidence is:
-everyone sees five lights in the end! if you think an implied confession is valid at the end of book 43, you must not have read book 33.
-second, he really wasn't happy at the end of book 1. Sounded like honest sadness to me.
-third, the ellimist is a #$%% stupid &%#$ idiot. you can't trust one &!%# word that comes out of his mouth. my proof is simply 13 and 54.
-finally, he is reasonable. he wouldn't make a stupid decision like that. and, I don't want to think that he did. that last one might not be scientific proof, but it's good enough. he is trustworthy.

[Tim Bruening]

I think he trapped himself on purpose. In "the Test" when he faced Taylor again, we had this monologue:

Was I different, or was I just like her? I'd trapped myself. Why? I hated Taylor because she knew. I was going to destroy her. I don't think Tobias is weak, despite his doubts but he did trap himself on purpose probably to free himself from his nightmarish human life

Taylor knew that Tobias was a HUMAN who had trapped himself into a hawk morph?  Why didn't she tell Visser 3 that the "Andalite bandits" are not Andalites?

[Tim Bruening]

Tim, you know that's a certain amount of dead posts you can bring back.

I don't see a rule specifically limiting how many "dead" threads I can revive.

[Tim Bruening]

Tim, you know that's a certain amount of dead posts you can bring back.

I don't see a rule specifically limiting how many "dead" threads I can revive.

IDK, just some of these posts are reaching a decade old!

The oldest posts I have seen were last responded to a little over 7 years ago.

[NateSean]

Tim, you know that's a certain amount of dead posts you can bring back.

I don't see a rule specifically limiting how many "dead" threads I can revive.

IDK, just some of these posts are reaching a decade old!

There is no rule about reviving old discussions.

[Dylan]

Tim, you know that's a certain amount of dead posts you can bring back.

I don't see a rule specifically limiting how many "dead" threads I can revive.

IDK, just some of these posts are reaching a decade old!

There is no rule about reviving old discussions.

Eh, I'm sorry. I remember someone telling me that a while ago.

I think he trapped himself on purpose. In "the Test" when he faced Taylor again, we had this monologue:

Was I different, or was I just like her? I'd trapped myself. Why? I hated Taylor because she knew. I was going to destroy her. I don't think Tobias is weak, despite his doubts but he did trap himself on purpose probably to free himself from his nightmarish human life

Taylor knew that Tobias was a HUMAN who had trapped himself into a hawk morph?  Why didn't she tell Visser 3 that the "Andalite bandits" are not Andalites?

And to answer the question, Taylor never found out that Tobias was a human and

[spoiler]Taylor died at the end of The Test.[/spoiler]