[First off, hello to all and sundry. I'm delighted to find this forum and hope to become a frequent contributor because OMG I LOVE TEH ANIMORPHS yes.]
Animorphs was my first love, but I had later fandoms too, all of which had one unifying element (besides lots of nerdiness): an ensemble cast, with multiple characters of depth and defined personalities. This is one of the things I find most appealing about the books, and so I did some research on the nature of ensemble cast narrations for a literary project.
I found one particular (now old and unused) theory that reads fellowship stories as an attempt to make a superhuman out of a human cast by combining different characters who can all be classified by body part. [Note: I use the term 'ubermensch' here with it's looser connotations, not as a reference to racial power or any of that balderdash. As a related side note, I first found out about Animorphs from a suggested reading list for Jewish preteens. Anyone else remember this?]
It's a fairly interesting theory, and I thought I'd bring it up as a new way of reading our favorite characters - and just a general way of making introductions.
I give below first a general description of each body part, with examples. Then I give a list of which person I think best fits the label, though of course I encourage disagreement or new ideas. Part of the application process is finding tension: where one crucial body part is lacking, or where two compete, chaos will naturally ensue. I think Jake's absence and the fight for control would be a good example of the latter, the lack of the seer when Cassie temporarily left the former.
Apologies if this is tl;dr.
Head - the leader, this person is a source of focus and/or inspiration. (e.g. Buffy)
Mind - the intellectual, this person is a source of logic and knowledge. (e.g. Spock)
Brow - the distressed, this person needs to be saved and usually served that sole purpose (e.g. every Damsel in Distress ever)
Eye - the seer, this person percieves the truth in others and may be clairvoyant. (e.g. Troi)
Nose - the adventurer, this person is a source of discovery. (e.g. Indiana Jones)
Mouth - the wise one, this person is a source of wisdom (duh) and knowledge gained from experience. (e.g. Gandalf)
Chest - the naïve one, this person is child-like, silly, and a source of joy or hope. (e.g. Sasami)
Heart - the compassionate, this person is a source of empathy and love (e.g. Susan from Narnia)
Spirit - the sacifice, the source of the need to continue the battle to avenge the loss (e.g. Sirius)
Stomach - the pleasure-seeker, this person is a source of passion. (e.g. Puck)
Arm - the betrayer, this person is a source of abandonment or betrayal (duh again). (e.g. Peter, rat-boy)
Hand - the fighter, this person is a source of strength and/or violene (e.g. Xena)
Genitalia - (apologies if this is inappropriate) the dark pleasure-seeker, this person is a source of perverted or uncontrollable sexual passion. (e.g. Humbert Humbert from Lolita)
Leg - the journeyer, this person is a source of travel and lonelyness; this person can also be cynical and cut off (e.g. Strider, for the second, Manny from Ice Age.)
Foot - the eager, this person is a seaker of anything new, and is often child-like, silly, or foolish (e.g. Ron)
There are three others - the id, ego, and superego. These are often portions of a character that fits another classification (e.g., someone who works as an ego but who is also the Eye) but can be their own character.
Id - the cunning, this person is a sharp stragiest and will often sacrifice anything for the end goal (e.g. Machavelli)
Superego - the rule-follower, this person is a literalist and will not bend even for those rules that should be broken (e.g. the doctor in K-PAX)
Ego - the balancer, one who acts to assuage the id and superego for the best possible plan. (this one is the most likely to be a portion of another character form). (e.g. Jake)
Did we all get that far? Then here is your reward:
Head - Jake
Mind - Ax
Brow - Tom, the human
Eye – Cassie
Nose - Estrid
Mouth - Elfangor
Chest - Derek
Heart - Cassie
Spirit - Tobias
Stomach -Rachel
Arm - David
Hand - Rachel
Genitalia - Visser 3
Leg - Arborn
Foot - Toomin
Id - Marco
Superego - Menno
Ego - Jake
What do we all think? Are there better fits; is this an insight or all nonsense?
