Body Mind and Soul (The Three Fallen Races)

[DinosaurNothlit]

This is something I've often thought about, and I've finally decided to bring it up on the forum and see what other people think.

Of the three most major 'fallen' races of the Animorphs series (I'd call them 'extinct' races, except that at least one of them is technically not), each one left behind one element of the classical 'body, mind, and soul' trio.

The Hork-Bajir.  Enslaved by the Yeerks, their minds and souls trapped inside them, and only their physical bodies remained.

The Ketrans.  When the last remnants of the species technically died at the hands of Father, Toomin described them as being shadows of their former selves, as though without souls, but with all their former memories and intelligence.  Their bodies, too, were destroyed, but the Ellimist still preserves their minds.

The Pemalites.  Wiped out by the Howlers, but their souls were preserved (minus their former intelligence) within the bodies of wolves, forming dogs.

Basically, I've just always thought that was sort of interesting, that there was this trichotomy that's totally a word for a dichotomy with three things in it right? of extinct/fallen species, all three of them fairly important within the series, that had this pattern where one kept only their bodies, one their minds, and one their souls.  Which is a pretty classic trio, you tend to see it quite a bit in literature and such.

Of course it isn't a perfect analogy.  The Hork-Bajir regained their minds (whatever was there to be regained, lol) and souls after the war, and technically there is one Ketran who kept his soul, and in a way the Pemalites may have partially kept their bodies because they were said to resemble dogs after all.

In any case, though, I'd like to hear some other opinions on all this.  Does anyone think this is intentional?  Or just a random coincidence?  Are there any other iterations of the 'body, mind, and soul' trio elsewhere in Animorphs?

[Ember Nickel]

I'm not sure how you define "fallen" (or, indeed, "major"; we only see the Ketrans for one long book). I feel like you could say that the Gedds are as important as the Ketrans or the Pemalites, overall, and by the end the Yeerks and Taxxons are comparably fallen. I wouldn't say that the Ketrans plural are all that important, it seems like Applegate really didn't know what she intended for the Ellimist when she started the series. So, with all due respect, I think you're just grasping.

But yes, "trichotomy" does mean "a dichotomy with three things in it"  Although I don't even see how this is a dichotomy per se, they're not really opposing each other or anything like that.

[DinosaurNothlit]

Well, I suppose I was using 'fallen' to mean 'might as well be extinct.'  Although the Hork-Bajir were not technically extinct, for all intents and purposes, at least until the free Hork-Bajir colony was founded, their culture, as a race, was dead and gone.  Heck, their culture at least might still be dead, considering that the free Hork-Bajir have a very different mindset than their original ancestors.  But I suppose that's neither here nor there.

Although, I do admit, that I may have been using 'major' to just mean the species that happened to be my favorites.    I didn't think about the Taxxons at all, but you're right, they could be considered 'extinct' in a sense.  I could probably try to shoe-horn them into the pattern by pointing out that they lost their bodies and part of their souls if you count their instincts as souls, but . . . you're probably right about me grasping, and I think the fact that I'm even trying to mentally make the Taxxons fit is proving that.  It is human nature to see patterns where there actually aren't any, I suppose.

Aaand I apparently also don't know what dichotomy means. 

[Noelle]

I think it might be just a coincidence, but I think it is a very interesting concept.  I don't think the three races were meant to offset each other in any way, but I think that it highlights an underlying theme that KAA seemed to like to play around with, which was loss of identity.  In the three different races she explored different ways of loosing the identity and examines the question of what does it take to lose your identity.  Or maybe, what can you preserve in order to keep that identity alive in the case of the Pemalites.

[RYTX]

I'd also say you're reaching, but if you really want to do it, I'd look to the three main races of the series (I think anyway):  Yeerks, Andalites, Humans.

Humans=Soul (really more spirit, but ) While it was human bodies that made them so valuable is a war resource, this series (like 98% of fiction) highlights the human spirit. Humans are repeatedly called physically awkward and technologically backward and in stereotype don't fit body and mind, but it is again again pointed out that human resolve, fighting against all odds blah blah blah, and it's what's makes them incredible.

Yeerk=Mind. Again, it's their bodies that allow them to do it, but on their own, yeerk bodies are unimpressive. With the traditional association of mind and brain though, it's not hard to make. They are intricately linked to the minds of host, the body controlled by another's mind, and along with the species unarguable intelligence, it's a decent fit.

Andalite=Body. I know, want to give them mind, cuz they so dang smart. But in this series, the Andalites are more or less the long arm of the law, the physical force of order. At the same time they are the ones getting beat, constrain by their physical (military) limitations. Andalites at least the organized military at large are also often the case for being swayed-they are much more corruptible than strong mind and resolute spirit, where a mind is willing, but the flesh is weak, so to speak. Finally I guess, their own bodies are some of the most formidable in the series.

It wouldn't be that any of these groups is without the other features of course, but there is one they represent more strongly than the others.


If you really want to stretch, you can do it in the Animorphs group itself and show duality in some of those features

Soul- Rachel & Cassie; passion and compassion, respectively
Mind- Ax and Marco; knowledge & strategy
Body-Tobias & Jake; Tobias as your sensory input, information acquisition, physical transit and in some respects flag (what yeerk on earth doesn't know a red-tailed hawk?) and Jake, the leader, the symbolic head that provides the other elements cohesion. (okay this one's a bit bigger stretch, and you arguably could shuffle Tobias, Ax and Jake around in mind/body)

They are more trinity than trichotomy, (if I know what trinity means ) but a statement of necessary interaction between parts to form a functioning whole: for the Animorphs, a team, for the story, an integrated plot.
Yeah, that makes sense

[DinosaurNothlit]

I think it might be just a coincidence, but I think it is a very interesting concept.  I don't think the three races were meant to offset each other in any way, but I think that it highlights an underlying theme that KAA seemed to like to play around with, which was loss of identity.  In the three different races she explored different ways of loosing the identity and examines the question of what does it take to lose your identity.  Or maybe, what can you preserve in order to keep that identity alive in the case of the Pemalites.

Wow, that's an interesting way of looking at it.  Yeah, the loss of identity is definitely a major theme throughout the Animorphs books, so it certainly makes sense that those races who have lost parts of their identities, would have each lost different parts, as a kind of an analysis of what it takes to really lose yourself.

RYTX, that's brilliant.  It's funny, because I had totally forgotten that I'd also, a while ago, thought about putting the Yeerks, Andalites, and humans into the body-mind-soul trio, and I came up with the exact same answers you did.  So there's gotta be something to that.  Although you managed to make a more convincing case for Andalites->Body than I did in my own brain, by pointing out that they're the 'physical force for order.'  I like that explanation.

It never occurred to me to try to group the Animorphs themselves.  But I'd agree with your groupings, for sure.  I'd say both Tobias and Jake are a stretch for Body, but they belong there more than the other categories for the reasons you stated, so it's all good.

Karma cookies for both of you!