Afterlife?

[Darth Zakryn]

Is there an afterlife in the Animorphs series? This is not strictly for religious people only. If I remember correctly, in The Ellimist Chronicles there's three things that seem to indicate (to the Ellimist at least) that there is no afterlife, or at least nothing after death.

I think the first one involves him with the Andalites, whose death rituals (at least the ancient ones) strengthens the grass or something like that... the second is when he becomes fused with space-time and says something along the lines of "was I dead? Was I in some sort of afterlife? No, the dead do not see. The dead do not hear" which seems to indicate to me that he doesn't believe there is anything after death. The third is when [spoiler]RACHEL[/spoiler] dies, the Ellimist sees her space-time signature "coiling into nothingness," implying that her entire essence is disintegrated and giving support to the Ellimist's view.

Also with the ability to time travel and simply wipe out people from existence, what do you think that means for spirits, souls, etc? I know Cassie says (in book 4 I think) that she believes in souls.

So... thoughts?

EDIT: Can anyone help me with the spoiler tag? I'm not entirely satisfied with the way it came out...

[MoppingBear]

the elimmist asks if he is in some sort of afterlife, and then says dead do not see or here, which to me implies that he believes there is an afterlife, but that spirits do not see or hear in the traditional sense

whatever a soul is, it would very likely have to be removed from space/time and as such the elimmist would be unable to see it.

most likely, wiping someone from existence would be the same as killing them from the souls point of view, but it does bring up weird paradoxes with killing people/bringing them back to life.  time travel is weird enough without having to worry about souls.

[NateSean]

Well, the scientific application of the Afterlife has always been this, for me at least: Energy doesn't die. It simply changes form. So if we're biological beings with some inner consciousness, powered by a battery made of gray matter, then what does that energy change into after our bodies cease to function.

The bottom line is, we don't know for sure until we die. [spoiler]Maybe Rachel is living in a kind of paradise that the Ellimist and Crayak just aren't able to comprehend.[/spoiler]