I had the weirdest thought about Animorphs the other day. Specifically, about book #16.
What if Esplin 9466 (the lesser), had actually died? Like, when Visser Three tried to starve him, he actually just . . . starved? We know from Visser that a dying Yeerk can leave part of itself attached to its host's brain, and the host brain firing through the dead Yeerk tissue causes some personality traits to carry over. So, Esplin dies, and part of him is left with Joe Bob Fenestre (maybe it was the part that was self-aware?), who then gets confused and doesn't really know who he is anymore. He then crafts this elaborate story, believing that he is still Esplin, about how he survived by eating other Yeerks.
It explains why Visser Three never just nuked his house from orbit (after all, since when has Visser Three ever been like, "well, I tried to kill that guy, but it didn't work, so I guess I'll just let him live *shrugs*"?). It explains how he was able to 'figure out' how to survive within the three-day time limit (he didn't).
This theory makes me sad and I'm not even sure why.