Did Elfangor die too easily?

[Fwahm]

As we know, he was injured and dying when he came to Earth.  However, all the injury was, was a large burn on his side, something that the Animorphs have healed far worse than.

After he landed, he had about 5-10 minutes before Visser Three showed up, which was plenty of time to tell the Animorphs the bare bones of the invasion, and have them get the hell out of there and hide him.

It's not like Visser Three's grudge against him would matter much.  Past the middle of the books, the "Andalite bandits" were just as much of a hated enemy of his as Elfangor was, and he still couldn't find them or Ax in the woods until the endgame of the series.

Do you think he died just so the plot could advance in the way KA wanted?

[Chad32]

This has been brought up so so many times. It was just a plot device in the first book. when she decided to flesh out his character, she had to think of something. It's kind of a plothole when she states in the beginning of TAC that every Andalite has at least one morph, so it's possible Elfangor could have morphed something.

It's just a plothole created by trying to flesh out a character that merely served as a plot device in the first book.

[Phoenix004]

It's generally considered to be a plot device like Chad said, although it's easily possible that he simply felt that his time had come, as his POV in The Andalite Chronicles shows that he is at peace with his fate.

There's also the possibility that he didn't try to get away because he thought his death would protect the kids. If he had escaped, the Yeerks would never have stopped searching for him and if they did they would find the Animorphs to. I realise that this is a moot point since the "Andalite Bandits" are discovered in #1 but Elfangor didn't know that would happen.

[goom]

elfangor dies?

his time had come, as they said.
he probably could have escaped if he really wanted to. i've always willed him on when i re-read book 1.

[DinosaurNothlit]

Well, I always like to try to come up with sensible explanations for all the big plot-holes in Animorphs, and I've got one for this one, too.  *pulls a strip from a roll of duct tape*

See, when the Ellimist fixed Elfangor's messed-up time-line . . . who says that he also gave Elfangor's morphing powers back?

Please notice, Elfangor never actually morphed again after that.

And it makes some sense, since the Ellimist had to prevent Elfangor from simply returning to earth and being with Loren again, which is what he very well might have done otherwise.  So, I figure that maybe Elfangor didn't morph because he couldn't.  There's always a catch, with the Ellimist, isn't there?

[anijen21]

Elfangor's excuse was that he was too weak to morph his injuries.

So, he at least thought he could.

[adeon222]

Well, I always like to try to come up with sensible explanations for all the big plot-holes in Animorphs, and I've got one for this one, too.  *pulls a strip from a roll of duct tape*

See, when the Ellimist fixed Elfangor's messed-up time-line . . . who says that he also gave Elfangor's morphing powers back?

Please notice, Elfangor never actually morphed again after that.

And it makes some sense, since the Ellimist had to prevent Elfangor from simply returning to earth and being with Loren again, which is what he very well might have done otherwise.  So, I figure that maybe Elfangor didn't morph because he couldn't.  There's always a catch, with the Ellimist, isn't there?

Very nice explanation, D... If only the authors had thought of that one... *sigh*

I think that when she wrote book one, KA had not even begun to fully flesh out the possiblilities of morphing... She needed him to die, sort of as an incentive to the Animorphs, and he died... I don't think any possiblility of him surviving ever entered her mind, because she just didn't forsee all of the ramifications...

Might be a little simplistic for most of you guys, but those are my thoughts... 

[Shark Akhrrana]

I love the he couldn't morph idea. which is what i would like to believe happened. However I'm willing to accept that  his death was a plot device to get the story going. But we can dream .

[captain Qball]

Hi, first post here, just wanted to share my thoughts on the subject.

Elfangor was headed for that spot looking for the time matrix, and then his ship was shot down, or vise-versa.  He knew there would be Yeerks on him shortly, and if they didn't find him, they would just keep looking.   

Maybe he embraced his fate so the Yeerks wouldn't a) search around alot and perhaps find the time matrix, or b) kill every living thing within a mile or two to make sure they got him.

[anijen21]

you know to be honest I never understood how everyone in sci-fi gets burned when their ships are damaged

how do people who fly jets die? Do control panels randomly burst into sparks and flames so that everyone within a three-foot radius dies from first degree burns? That seems unlikely. And his ship didn't even crash, he landed it! How did he get burned? UGH IDK I've just gotten really sick of all the red shirts in every Star Trek episode ever made dying when they shove their face right into an exploding control panel. It's like, THE SHIP IS SPINNING OUT OF CONTROL AND EVERYONE DIES THIS WAY, you think they'd learn by now.

And I just wanted to show off my new tricked out AVATAR

[Chad32]

Kudos to the tricked out avatar. I assume his ship got burned when a bugfighter attacked it. If he got burned it's either because the bugfighter penetrated his ship and got him, or because of some sort of [psychic link Andalites seem to have with their ships.

He had to be incapacitated somehow, though even that seems implausable if he had morphing power. Which he was not guarunteed to have.

[Tim Bruening]

As we know, he was injured and dying when he came to Earth.  However, all the injury was, was a large burn on his side, something that the Animorphs have healed far worse than.

The Animorphs Demorph.  Elfangor would have had to Morph!  I bet that morphing is harder than demorphing.

After he landed, he had about 5-10 minutes before Visser Three showed up, which was plenty of time to tell the Animorphs the bare bones of the invasion, and have them get the hell out of there and hide him.

It's not like Visser Three's grudge against him would matter much.  Past the middle of the books, the "Andalite bandits" were just as much of a hated enemy of his as Elfangor was, and he still couldn't find them or Ax in the woods until the endgame of the series.

During Elfangor's confrontation with Visser 3, he directs the tail of his ship to open fire and disintegrate a Bug Fighter.  Why didn't Elfangor have his ship's tail fire directly on Visser 3?