Forced Morphing?

[DinosaurNothlit]

Just a few moments ago, I realized something interesting about morphing.  Something which opens up a very interesting possibility that I'm pretty sure has never been explored before.

I'm sure everyone here is familiar with how the morphing technology works, right?  You call to mind an image of an animal, focus on that image, and this triggers the transformation.  Pretty elementary stuff.

It is also true, of course, that thought-speak can be used to project images.  The main example is found in book #1, where Elfangor uses it to show the Animorphs what the Yeerks look like, but it was also used by the Leerans (who, granted, employ a different form of 'thought-speak'), and it was mentioned by Aldrea in HBC that thought-speak itself is based on pictures as well as words.

Does anyone see what I'm getting at here?  It should be possible, using this picture-based form of thought-speak, to project an image into a morpher's mind, and if projected forcefully enough and for a long enough duration, the receiver of the image would have a very difficult time not focusing on it.  It's like trying not to think about the Game*, only much more so.

Plus, if the person projecting their thought-speak knew the true form of the morpher, this could effectively function as an AMR minus the R.  Of course, this itself might be the reason that none of this ever showed up in Animorphs, because the only Animorph that Visser Three initially knew the true form of almost always showed up demorphed anyway.

More likely, though, is just that the possibility never even occurred to anyone.  Most of the Andalites never made good use of the morphing technology in the first place, Visser Three doesn't do strategy, and most of the Animorphs don't know that much about how thought-speak works.  Ax was the only person in the entire series who would have been likely to put 2 and 2 together and try to do this, but he had his mind on other things like being homesick and cinnamon buns and mouth-sounds.

So, any thoughts on this?  Should someone somewhere in the series have tried to do this?  What would the series have been like if they did?  On the other hand, would it even have worked?  Can the projection of images via thought-speak really work like I think it could?  Or, perhaps, did the Andalites who invented morphing create some sort of safe-guard within the morphing technology to guard against any outside images triggering a morph?  The last one seems unlikely given that they didn't think to make the technology species-specific to Andalites, but you never know.

Discuss.

_{*MUAHAHAHAHA!}

[ko ko]

the thought and emotion projection like in the first book was never really used again in the entire series. it was one of those things that was thrown out there then sorta dumped - pardon my bluntness

but, if it wasn't dumped and was possible, then i would say it would be virtually impossible to do. the individual projecting would have to be very patient and focused themselves. morphing requires a lot of concentration but it seems you have to also think about being that creature and clear your mind of other things. if someone else is forcing thoughts, my mind would immediately jump to wondering why. i would question everything that wasn't of my own origin. hmm, sounds a lot like that inception movie

[Andalite_Shorm]

could work. bet someone would use it on Visser 3 just to have a laugh, i know i would 
But would that not mean the morpher would be able to detect who was sending the image?? 

[Aquilai]

No I like DN's idea. From what we can tell the Andalites have had this ability as part of their evolutionary development. It's never mentioned but presumably just like any skill there would be users of telepathy that would be better than others. For example glancingly touched on was Cassie's ability to morph better than others, Ax says there were those that specialised morphing to art form. I would assume telepathy would also be a skill that could be honed to a very high level. It's hard to imagine that everyone has the same constant level of skill. These skilled morphers may actually be easier to force morph since the ability is natural so there'd be less resistance to willing a morph.

Given that it's possible to have varying levels of telepathy (Leerans being higher levelled than Andalites as an example) it's plausible that an intelligent enough mind could manipulate someone to morph/demorph. Essentially though the story/circumstance would have to clearly state that the individual wanting to force others to morph/demorph is highly adept at mental manipulation. That or you just say you use a machine which essentially would be the same as a (A)MR but possibly omnidirectional.

Using machines is also an interesting topic (imo), in my mind a machine would not be as flexible as an intelligent being but of course that depends on programming. A machine might just blast out a not-so-subtle image forcing everyone to picture an image regardless of ability to thoughtspeak. An intelligent mind would adapt to the morpher/victim's mind to subtly convince them to demorph. Perhaps alter their perception to also manipulate the rate of morphing such as making the victim feel they are in a desperate situation so they should morph out as quickly as possible etc Not to mention an intelligent mind would also be more selective (if they had the focus). I wouldn't want to be the Yeerk that made the omni-(A)M-machine that forced Visser 3 to accidentally morph something when Visser 3 is about to capture the "Andalite Bandits".

[DinosaurNothlit]

That is true, ko ko, that the idea was mostly just thrown away.  And in fact I've wondered if the level of image/emotion projection that Elfangor used in The Invasion was a KASU, like so much else in that book.  But, nothing ever happened to directly contradict it, so in the end I figured there's no real reason not to accept it as canon.

As far as how much concentration it takes to morph, I had been under the impression that it does take some, but not all that much.  In Megamorphs #1, Rachel was able to morph without even having any memory of her ability to morph, basically just by wondering if she was really human.  Not to mention the numerous times that they have morphed despite being very nearly unconscious (or completely unconscious, as seen in book #6).  It would probably take a good deal more concentration to project images into someone's head than to morph on your own, of course, but I don't think the level of concentration needed would necessarily be impossible to attain.

Andalite_Shorm, that had not occurred to me, but I would assume that it would be possible to realize who was projecting the image, yes.  Thought-speak can be identified, after all, despite the fact that it's not really a 'voice' that would necessarily sound like the spoken voice of whoever was projecting it.  If projected thoughts can be identified, it's reasonable to assume that projected images could, too.  Interesting point.

Aquilai, you bring up some very interesting ideas.  Not only is it likely that some individuals might be better at projecting their thoughts than others, there's actually even some evidence for that being the case in canon.  Gafinilan and Mertil, whose thought-speak could be heard around the world?  Heh, Mertil could have had some fun with Gafinilan, and of course he would also be immune to any retribution on Gafinilan's part (maybe that's what really happened to Mertil's tail ).

Anyway, I also like your idea of programming a machine to project these images, basically a functional AMR.  We know that this isn't how the actual AMR in the books worked, because Tobias never mentioned seeing a mental picture of an Andalite (or a hawk, if the machine could somehow also read minds and derive the natural form of a morpher), which is kind of a shame.  But if a machine could be programmed with the images of morphers' true forms, it could work to target certain individuals without necessarily being aimed at them.  Of course, it would have some drawbacks, like being unable to deal with a morpher whose true form is unknown or not programmed into the machine.

WAIT.  Oh, man.  [spoiler=Book #49]Remember in book #49, when the Yeerks were collecting blood samples and comparing them against animal DNA to look for humans who had morphs floating around in their blood?  This proves that even morph-DNA can be detected from a blood sample.  And the other blood samples, the ones 'drawn' in battle from their morphed forms, prove that they can tell which DNA is from the base form, as well.  All the Yeerks would need would be a blood sample from a morpher, and BAM, they have a complete inventory of their natural form plus all of their morphs.[/spoiler]

[Blazing Angel]

wouldn't have worked very effectively on visser three unless you could convince him that pigs are the most dangerous animals on earth.

[ko ko]

the inconsistency with the invasion and the rest of the series bugs me. they often demorph while they are so exhausted they can barely move or while on the verge of death (i've never been there, but being in pain is really tiring when the adrenaline is worn off). all of them, even marco who is considered one of the worst morphers, always manage to morph or demorph to save their life. but elfangor doesn't have enough energy to morph away the fatal wounds he received while on his ship but he has enough energy to do all sorts of other stuff. based on the rest of the series, he should have had plenty of energy to do escape and give the gift of morphing.

about the blood sample: i'm not sure about how that would work if you got the sample from the morphed person. if you can't acquire dna from someone in morph, then there must be something different about the dna

perhaps telepathy specialists would be as hard to find as those people that know how to manipulate other people's minds. i'm talking terms of hypnosis and that kind of stuff. idk how to describe what i'm trying to say.

[MoppingBear]

dont think it would work.  rachel is probably constantly thinking about being a grizzly bear in various human situations, reliving battles and such.  cassie mentioned in the australia book how much she thought about the hork bajir she killed, and doesnt accidentally morph him.  tobias doesnt randomly fall out of the sky thinking about being human and being with rachel.  cassie doesnt accidentally morph rachel when she thinks she is dead.  etc.  you might be able to project an image with enough force to mess someone up midmorph, but overall it seems to take some form of concious decision besides just thinking about the morph.

[NateSean]

I would like to point out one angle that no one mentioned yet. It backs up DN's theory.

1: In The Encounter, the Animorphs are very nearly trapped in wolf morph. They clearly struggle with the morph as Tobias wills them on, desperately hoping they will become human. So in his mind, he sees them all human. He concentrates on Marco, maybe unconciously projecting a human image onto him, giving them all the extra push they need to demorph.

2: In #36: The Mutation, Jake is severely injured in Orca morph. Cassie talks him through it, trying to get him to morph just right as she's guiding him to the surface. Since Cassie is a skilled morpher, could she be also guiding his morph, projecting the image of how she wants him to pull it off even as she's speaking to him?

I do believe there are dozens of examples like this peppered throughout the series such as the dreaded Buffahuman incident. Granted, it's a fanbased theory and may or may not have been intended by KA or the ghost writers, but it again backs up DN's theory.

[DinosaurNothlit]

Yeah, ko ko, Elfangor's seeming inability to morph out of his injuries always bugged me too.  I've always tried to explain it away by saying that the Ellimist simply didn't give him his powers back when he gave him his body back, to make sure he didn't try to trap himself in human morph again.  Either that or he was sacrificing himself intentionally as a diversion so that the Animorphs could escape.  Because him being 'too tired to morph' was just plain silly.

As for getting DNA from a morphed blood sample, that's exactly what the Yeerks did in #49, when the Animorphs were bleeding all over their facility.  My guess is that the DNA is stored in the bloodstream, where it cannot be acquired, but it still shows up in a blood test.  It has to be somewhere, after all, or else how could your body know the blueprints for your own body in order to demorph?

perhaps telepathy specialists would be as hard to find as those people that know how to manipulate other people's minds. i'm talking terms of hypnosis and that kind of stuff. idk how to describe what i'm trying to say.

Hypnotists?  I think that's the word.  And yeah, I would imagine it's basically the same kind of talent.

That's a good point, Russianspy.  Although, I think it would be the difference between thinking of something at the edge of your mind, versus allowing it to occupy the entirety of your thoughts.  When you're just thinking about something, you don't tend to picture it in any great level of detail.  I can think about a cat, and when I'm not focusing on it I will just see a generalized four-legged vaguely catlike furry creature in my mind.  It takes a good deal more focus to bring that mental image into detail, to picture whiskers and claws and a tail and a pink nose and the triangle ears, all at the same time.  It's not something that you can do by accident, I think.

NateSean, I like the way you think!  +1!  This even makes me wonder if KA actually thought of this idea herself.

Hmm, but then there was that instance in #20, where Cassie was 'helping' Marco demorph from flea morph, when Cassie was not actually in morph.  And that was probably the most obvious example of one person helping another's morph in the entire series, too.  Wonder what that was all about?

[ko ko]

hypnotists... lol i never said i was smart

i think i need to reread 49 cuz i really don't remember it at all.

wouldn't the fear of being trapped be really distracting? if you are really close to the time limit and feel like demorphing through molasses or something, then your thoughts might switch to the creature you could be stuck as, like the flea. by coaching and telling you to focus on your human self, you can help push out the fearful thoughts and help to keep the mind clear.

i think for your theory to work, you would need a very talented hypnotist and perhaps a gullible subject. morphing isn't an exact science and it all depends on the individuals

[Blazing Angel]

Actually hypnosis can be done by anyone, as long as they don't resist. If you dont want to be hypnotized you wont be. But obviously someone who doesnt want to be trapped in morph will be very willing to succumb to it. The key is to stay calm which was what Cassie and Tobias were focusing on at the time.

[Unknown User]

Hmm, I'm skeptical about the feasibility of a project like that. To subtly trick someone like that you have to have a very very controlled environment or constant reinforcement. Neither of which could really be done by anything less than mass advertisement or culture bias or something all inclusive like that.

A very neat idea though, +1

[NateSean]

i think for your theory to work, you would need a very talented hypnotist and perhaps a gullible subject. morphing isn't an exact science and it all depends on the individuals

Being susceptible to hypnosis doesn't make a person gullible. There are varying levels of suggestiveness and even the most intuitive person can be put under if the hypnotist knows his stuff.

[Blazing Angel]

Yeah my mother has hypnotist training.It's not really complicated. If a patient has a problem hypnosis can relax them