I agree with most of what you're saying here marco, but there are a couple of points I want to make.
Crayak and Ellimist. The relationship between them is really interesting. Crayak first appeared in animorphs # 26 the attack. In introducing Crayak, even the Ellimist noted that he was powerful. Now why would good see evil as powerful.
When Ellimist says "Powerful" he never says
More Powerful. Ellimist is just as powerful as Crayak, and just the other way around.
If Crayak was more powerful than the Ellimist why was he still fighting him. More importantly, if Crayak was so powerful why was in the form of an eye. That probably signified that though Crayak seemed all powerful he was bound.
If you ever had read The Ellimist Chronicles, you'd know what his original form was (before he became like Ellimist). Here's a quote from the book:
"Then [Crayak] showed himself to me. I saw with a shock that he was like me: As much machine as
bio-logical. But his biology was entirely different. He was evolved for the surface, or perhaps
even for a subterranean life. No wings would ever lift those massive, muscled limbs. And no
creature with that single, dominating red eye could ever navigate easily in three dimensions."
I mean why should Ellimist come in the form of a full living creature and Crayak come as simply an eye? The truth was that the Ellimist wasn't afraid of Crayak and Crayak was not more powerful than the Ellimist.
Exactly.
It was according to the rules of the game. When Ellimist said Crayak was all powerful he meant that he seemed more powerful than the Ellimist. But wasn't. Crayak was a destroyer, an illusionist and a pretender. He told Rachel that only his powers were sincere all others were fake, which rhetorically included the Ellimist. If Crayak was so powerful he should have been able to build things instead of destroy. The Ellimist only seemed powerless because the game favoured Crayak's use of power more than the Ellimist. Crayak could not manipulate time.
If Crayak couln't manipulate time, then neither could Ellimist, and we already know that Ellimist can manipulate time AND space (Andalite Chronicles, Time Matrix, Book #7, etc.). Ellimist and Crayak were equal in the end. (it says this as well in the Ellimist Chronicles.) Quote:
"You can try, Crayak. But in the end you are a fool. Do you not see that everything you do I
can undo? You can slaughter and I can reverse time itself to restore life. But I tell you this: If
we carry on our war inside the bowels of space-time itself we will end by collapsing this
universe and killing ourselves as well as every thing in it."
The howlers were not a species he created. It's possible he might have found them erased their memories and replaced them with others.
We have no record of the Crayak's Howlers, at least not extensively, so we don't know the exact backstory of the Howlers. your theory sounds very likely, though, as we know that Crayak does not seem the type to actually
create species (he destroys more often). We also do not know if he used them before his arrival to the space-time anomaly.
Crayak was a liar. He hid the truth from the howlers, never made them know when they had lost so that he could use them.In number #41 The other, it was Crayak's voice Jake heard. All he saw was an illusion. Crayak also lied to Rachel in #46 to get her to kill Jake. The Ellimist was worried because Crayak could fill them or make himself seem like an illusion of power. Not making them realize that he actually needed them to become powerful.
Crayak maybe wanted to become more powerful, but he knew that he couldn't. He MAY become more powerful in the sense of 'the more people he controls, the more powerful he becomes', but we already know this.
That's probably why he grew when Visser One(Formally Visser Three) Showed his arrogance toward Crayak. He needed them all, the yeerks, the howlers, the animorphs , to achieve his goal. He wanted war and violence, species fighting species, race fighting race. Survival of the fittest.The Drode had probably fell the illusion of power and David too. He thought he could get to Rachel just as he had to the Drode. David called Rachel a fool because just like Crayak and the Drode he had wanted power. Crayak wasn't all powerful and though he used David he was unsuccessful. If he really where all powerful he would have changed David back. Think about that.
Ok, Maybe Crayak wasn't powerful enough to change David back. We don't know EXACTLY where the morphing technology came from (for all we know, Ellimist could have given the power to the Andalites (be that his small change, if they are playing by the classic Ketran rules). The power for morphing does seem a little too powerful for the Andalites to have created (but they could have, I don't know. I don't think the event of the invention was ever documented into the book.).
But also, Crayak could have seen David as being useless now. I don't know what book you've read up to, but Crayak DID change him back in another book (i forget which one it is, but its the one where Rachel morphs into Wolverine on the front I think), and if I recall correctly he changed him back just for Rachel to kill him (make her a killer). I may be wrong, haven't read the book in a while. The Animorphs had defeated David twice, so obviously he was weaker and not as strong or smart as the Animorphs.