Your crazy Animorphs theories (inspired by Wild Mass Guessing)

[EscafilDevice]

I was thinking about KA's response to the fans where she said "you all should decide" and I was reading about some of the fan theories on Wild Mass Guessing.
I read one about how Chewbacca and R2-D2 were secretly Rebel agents and I think it actually makes the series better and fills in some of the gaps.
Honestly, I will only be happy with the re-release if they clean up the major plot holes and I only want 2.0 to happen if they redeem the last book. I don't want to read about the Yeerks attacking again or some new Animorphs or some Andalite politics.
My theory is that when Jake orders to ram the blade ship, they get absorbed into The One and their timelines get all mangled to the point where they get sent to a place like in the Andalite Chronicles (Loren/Elfangor/Visser Three's "planet") and they talk to the Ellimist. He explains to them that The One was so impressed with Jake (especially in #41) that he was willing to reconsider the Ellimist's plea to change the timeline.
Here's why:
-Rachel wasn't supposed to die and neither were Tom or the Auxilary Animorphs. This is because there are still Yeerk strongholds on The HB and Taxxon homeworlds in addition to a few other planets. The Andalite political situation isn't stable enough to handle fighting by themselves so the extra forces are needed
-The One is the being that banished Crayak from his old universe and quietly oversees their game. He rarely interferes except in the two
situations I listed.
-Visser Three still holds some political sway in the Yeerk empire and needs to be contained
All of these things are
preventing space-time from returning to normal and The One agrees to the Ellimist's request. The Animorphs agree to to return to an earlier time inthe final arc (possibly after they recruited the Auxiliary Aimorphs) on the condition that they will have no memory of the previous timelime (other than Cassie because she is "sub-temporally grounded". This is due to Crayak's request because it's still the Game, after all.

I'd write more but it's only letting me write so much. What are your thoughts on my theory and what theories do you have about Animorphs? This could be anything from Marco/Ax to someone secretly being a Yeerk to someone tipping off the Yeerks or anything as long as it makes some sort of sense within the context of the series.

[TobiasMasonPark]

     I'm surprised that more people haven't taken advantage of the "crazy...theories" bit! For me, this is an opportunity not only for serious speculation, but some clever and humorous speculation as well! Kinda like the fan theories you see on Cracked! This is fun for me because a lot of my posts have been based around silly mass guessing.

     1) The Yeerks and Taxxons (and their respective planets) are left overs/ results of Crayak and the Ellimist's previous games

     A.K.A Crayak screwed himself by not planning ahead

     We know Crayak well enough to know that he doesn't create life. He DID create the Howlers, and they ARE alive, but I think we can agree that that was just a big F.U to the Ellimist by destroying the peace loving Pemalites with very violent children who just didn't know any better. We know that the Ellimist was really big on helping alien species advance or gain sentience. All Crayak wanted to do was destroy.

     Well, the game has been going on for a while, hasn't it? Who's to say Crayak didn't just forget which pieces he used at one point? He couldn't forget the Howlers, because he uses them so often--up until Animorphs 26: the Attack-- but maybe he forgot about his other pieces?

     Maybe the Taxxons and the Yeerks are the remnants of the Ellimist's pieces that lost to Crayak? Maybe the Taxxon world was really beautiful, full of life, and had enough food for the animal population to live off of? The same goes for the Yeerks. Only, Crayak's pieces--through war or other means-- turned those planets into what eventually would become the Taxxon and Yeerk homeworlds? Maybe Crayak forgot about what these places once were--again, he just wants to beat the Ellimist and cause as much destruction as possible-- but the Ellimist--who we know is constantly fretting over the loss of life that he has witnessed-- didn't forget? Maybe he tricked Crayak into choosing the Yeerks?

     How would that help the Ellimist's cause?

     Well, his other main pieces, aside from the Animorphs, are the Andalites--and, hey, didn't they come up with that neat, body-altering technology? That would sure convince a species with biological drawbacks, hailing from a borderline barren home world, to switch sides, now wouldn't it?

     In short: Crayak screwed himself over.
     

[TobiasMasonPark]

     This one isn't funny. But I've been thinking about how most of the goings-on in the Animorphs universe are in some way linked to some other happenstance--i.e. Tobias telling his past self to go to the mall with Jake.

     So I came up with this:

     2) The accident that made Loren blind killed Tobias' stepfather, and crippled James:
     
     What do we know about these three characters?

     Loren: Was once a kick-ass Rachel-like character, who had a space adventure with Elfangor where they found a time machine, created a whole universe, and aged themselves past their awkward teen years. The Ellimist pretty much say "screw you! Only I can f*ck with the timeline!" And undoes all of the awesomeness done in the Andalite Chronicles. Loren marries someone else, they raise Tobias to the age of--what, three, maybe? According to Animorphs 49: the Diversion Loren got into "an automobile accident on June 12." From then on Loren lived the life of a blind amnesiac, and lost the badassery she had in the Andalite Chronicles.

     Tobias' Step-father: pretty much an enigma. All we know is that Elfangor was replaced by some other person who posed as Tobias father but died--somehow.

     James: Also the victim of an automobile accident. According to a line somewhere in Animorphs 50: the Ultimate, James was taken in for surgery at age 4 after the accident, was ditched by his mother, and left there to live out his childhood and teenaged years. Nothing is said about his age, but we can guess it's with in a year or two of the Animorphs.

     So, this is what I think happened--partly inspired by Capnnerefir's Neomorphs fic. Loren and Tobias' not-father go for a drive--maybe at night? Something happens--maybe Tobias' not-father wasn't paying attention to the road; maybe he was drunk; or maybe he got distracted whilst fighting with Loren about how Tobias looks nothing like him--the latter theory I sort of stole from another fanfiction that I can't remember the name of. Then, a split second of surprise, and their car collides with another--one driven by a single mother and her four year old son, James. The mother survives, James is crippled, Tobias' not-father dies, and Loren gets amnesia and is blinded.

     This, to me, would have maybe been set up by the Ellimist. It's a cruel thing to do, no doubt--but this is the guy who has a weird obsession with ruining Tobias' life, so why not? But I figure this way, James is set up to eventually become the leader of the Auxiliaries.

     Of course, my theory kind of falls flat when you consider that it was said that James was hit by a drunk driver. I always pictured Tobias' not-father to actually be a decent guy. So, if we go with that, then he couldn't have been the one who hit James.

     Then, of course, one has to wonder why James' mom didn't sue Loren for the crash. I mean, this is the woman who ditched her kid at a hospital. Wouldn't put it past her to sue a blind amnesiac for all she's worth.

     I had another theory about how Taylor's house caught fire, but I couldn't think of a situation that linked Taylor to the Animorphs. I tried to think of a battle the Animorphs took part in that set up a chain reaction that burned Taylor's house, but I couldn't come up with anything.

[TobiasMasonPark]

     So, in another thread I was thinking about the inception of the morphing technology and found it rather lucky that the Andalites were able to develop the technology at the time of the Yeerk war. It made me think about how little we know about the technology to begin with: why can't one stay in morph longer than two hours? How long did it take the Andalites to create the technology? Where does Z-Space fit in? What prevents a nothlit from re-acquiring the power to morph? Etc.

     I turned to Animorphs 8: the Alien and the Hork-Bajir Chronicles, and looked specifically for any mention of the morphing technology. Here's what I've got:

     

"Besides, with the very recent invention of morphing technology, we can fight using any number of physical bodies. And, many studies have shown that females are actually superior when it comes to morphing." Aldrea (11)

     

"The morphing technology is so new that there are even Andalites who doubt its safety or usefulness. Fortunately, I had a friend back on the home world whose mother was one of the designers of the Escafil Device. She had shown it to me. I'd used it." Aldrea (27)

     
     

"The morphing technology was still so new that most people didn't know how it worked. It never occurred to Alloran, as he felt the strange calm and lethargy steal over him, that I was acquiring his DNA." Aldrea (100)

     

"Our spies, even though they used top-secret Andalite morphing technology, were unable to penetrate Yeerk secrets." Elfangor (1)

     

"Morphing technology allows a person to absorb the DNA of any creature he touches. It takes concentration and focus, because the biotechnology of morphing is triggered by thought commands." Elfangor (81)

     

"Morphing power is a wonderful tool. It allows Andalites to pass among many different species. It makes us the greatest spies in the galaxy. But it has an awful drawback. You see, if you stay more than two hours in morph, you stay there forever. You become a nothlit. An Andalite living out his life in a different body." Elfangor  (94)

     We know that it's 1966 on Earth by the time of the Hork-Bajir chronicles. We know hat Elfangor's story takes places 21 years before he landed on Earth to give the Animorphs the morphing power, and "...five years our princes had fought the vissers of the Yeerk Empire." Elfangor (1). From the quotes above we know that the Andalites have used the morphing technology as a means of spying. I can think of two reasons as to why they'd use it for spying:

     1) The obvious: they use morphing power to spy on the Yeerks during the war.

     2) As a means of blending in on the planets the visit, so as to not frighten the planet's sentient population--if we are to assume that they had managed to develop the technology just as the Yeerks had begun the war.

     Of course, the second option wouldn't make too much sense. Seerow and his crew visited the Yeerk homeworld and hadn't morphed anything--as far as we know. And Aldrea and her family don't try morphing Hork-Bajir to blend in when they land on the Hork-Bajir world. So they would have no reason to morph as a means of spying prior to the war.

     We also know that there are "Estreens"--or "morph dancers" on the Andalite home world. But I doubt that a whole team of Andalite scientists would have developed this complex technology just for the purpose of employing women with jobs outside the field of science.
     
     Aldrea constantly mentions how new the technology is. She and her parents are sent away to the Hork-Bajir planet after the incident that shamed Seerow on the Yeerk Homeworld. She says that she knew a friend on the Andalite home world who was able to get her access to the technology and acquire the power to morph. So the technology was developed before the Yeerks stole the fleet of Andalite spacecrafts and left their planet.

     The Andalites aren't exactly war mongers. We know that they had an agreement with the Kelbrid that stated intrusion by one species on the other's space would result in war, and that the Andalites HAVE fought in wars before. But we can assume that the Andalites weren't planning on spying any other planets or waging any wars. So why, exactly, would they have come up with the technology?

     Here's my theory:

     The Morphing device was created to cure Vecols:

     In Animorphs 40: the Other, we learn that there are handicapped Andalites--or vecols. Vecols are deemed shameful by the prideful Andalite race, and are expected to live a quite life isolated from the healthy population. Mertil--one of the Andaites who appears in the Other-- lost his tail in the fight that brought Elfangor to Earth, and can't morph because he's...allergic to the technology? And his friend,Gafinilian, has "Soola's Disease", which is, I think, kind of like Parkinson's.

     I think that the mere mention of Vecols on the Andalite home world allows for the possibility that, maybe, the technology was used as a means of curing ailments and physical disabilities. I mean, if the Andaites REALLY wanted to fight a war, they wouldn't need morphing technology--that have space ships, shredders, and TAIL BLADES! Maybe Escafil--or one of his or her crew-- was a Vecol, or had a disease, or was otherwise dead-set on finding a cure? The morphing technology would mend the DNA of the Vecol once they morphed back to their natural state-- except for one inflicted with Soola's, which is a problem with an Andalite's DNA, specifically. Then the war came along and the Andalites figured, "Well, we could use this to our advantage."

     Of course, with all technology there are drawbacks. Maybe there wasn't enough time to work out the bugs that came with the morphing device--the two hour limit.

     Just a theory.

     
     
     

[Snakie]

^I think you may be overlooking the simpler explanation.

You said yourself that morphing is described as an art form.  Maybe morphing was created for recreational purposes?

If it was top secret military tech Aldrea's friend probably wouldn't have been able to hook her up with it.  Maybe they invented it simply because they thought it would be cool to be able to become birds and stuff?  We know that Andalites are artists and scientists at heart, and those are the things they love.

Maybe it was simply created for fun, and for the scientific achievements' sake.

[Aluminator (Kit)]

Maybe it was simply created for fun, and for the scientific achievements' sake.

Recreation is possible, definitely, but believing that depends on the kind of support you think the Andalites would have to have given the development of the morphing technology. If it was recreational, chances are that its original development would have been a much smaller private thing, possibly amateur- which is a pretty appealing theory to me, actually ^_^

     The Andalites aren't exactly war mongers. We know that they had an agreement with the Kelbrid that stated intrusion by one species on the other's space would result in war, and that the Andalites HAVE fought in wars before. But we can assume that the Andalites weren't planning on spying any other planets or waging any wars. So why, exactly, would they have come up with the technology?

Compare the Andalite empire to the modern-day United States. The US has no enemies that pose a real militant threat since the collapse of the Soviet Union, yet the US continues to pour billions upon billions of dollars into military R&D, creating technologies to combat a theoretical enemy in the future. Not that I see this as a bad thing- the advancements made lead to improvements in technology among all kinds of nonmilitary applications as well.

Anyway, if the Andalite military thinks anything like the US military, they don't need an active or potential war as incentive to develop new technologies, so I wouldn't discount the 'military application' theory quite so quickly.

     The Morphing device was created to cure Vecols:

     In Animorphs 40: the Other, we learn that there are handicapped Andalites--or vecols. Vecols are deemed shameful by the prideful Andalite race, and are expected to live a quite life isolated from the healthy population. Mertil--one of the Andaites who appears in the Other-- lost his tail in the fight that brought Elfangor to Earth, and can't morph because he's...allergic to the technology? And his friend,Gafinilian, has "Soola's Disease", which is, I think, kind of like Parkinson's.

     I think that the mere mention of Vecols on the Andalite home world allows for the possibility that, maybe, the technology was used as a means of curing ailments and physical disabilities. I mean, if the Andaites REALLY wanted to fight a war, they wouldn't need morphing technology--that have space ships, shredders, and TAIL BLADES! Maybe Escafil--or one of his or her crew-- was a Vecol, or had a disease, or was otherwise dead-set on finding a cure? The morphing technology would mend the DNA of the Vecol once they morphed back to their natural state-- except for one inflicted with Soola's, which is a problem with an Andalite's DNA, specifically. Then the war came along and the Andalites figured, "Well, we could use this to our advantage."

     Of course, with all technology there are drawbacks. Maybe there wasn't enough time to work out the bugs that came with the morphing device--the two hour limit.

     Just a theory.

I really like the theory of its development as a medical technology- but I don't think it makes a whole lot of sense for the morphing itself to be the original intention, if that's the case. If you want to cure an Andalite, why are you turning them into another species?

I could see the morphing coming about as the offshoot of a similar medical technology. The original technology would probably use the ability to allow an injured or disabled Andalite to "morph" a healthy version of themself. At some point, somebody (the military? someone looking for recreation?) would have realized that the transformation could be so much more... transformative, and tweaked the medical technology to become the morphing technology.

[TobiasMasonPark]

     Sort of a "mini-theory" if you will.

     "Visser" and "Sub-Visser" are borrowed terms from Galard:

     "There was talk of creating new ranks. Everyone said that if we were going to become a conquering army, we would need a hierarchy. The ancient Council of Thirteen would remain all-important. But beneath that would come something called 'vissers' and 'sub-vissers.'" Hork-Bajir Chronicles (41)

     I was thinking about the Yeerk language and terminology. I assumed that Visser was a Yeerk word, but this excerpt struck me as interesting. "...something called 'vissers and sub-vissers.'" You'd think maybe Esplin would have explained what this word meant--unless, of course, we're to assume that it really just means general. But we've gotten explanations for alien terms from Ax, as well as other aliens in the Chronicles books. So why not here?

     "It was Galard, the new language we had learned from the Ongachic hosts. It is the common inter-galactic language. The Yeerk language was impossible to speak with Gedd mouths. Even Galard came out distorted." Hork-Bajir Chronicles (34)

     I think that Visser is a borrowed term used in Galard. Esplin's description of the new hierarchy seems to imply that he had never heard of the word before declaring the Yeerk Empire. So, either the Yeerks invented it on the spot, or they got the word from their Ongachic hosts. Either could be a good explanation--I think--but I prefer the latter. After leaving their planet, the Yeerks drastically change their way of life--even Galard gets used predominantly by Yeerk hosts in the series. I do wonder if the Yeerks born into the war are taught Galard in the same manner as Canadians learn French and Americans learn Spanish--it's their secondary language.

     Just a theory.

     

[Gumby]

I'm sure it would have to from Galard, along with any 'Yeerk' word. I can't imagine how any language spoken by mute marine slugs could be spoken with an actual mouth.

[Aluminator (Kit)]

Hey, Goose, I was thinking about your 'morphing originally intended as a medical technology' thing, and I think it makes a lot of sense if it was sorta like this:

See, the Andalites, they tried to develop a medical technology that was capable of restoring a user's body to its original form via DNA, pulling mass from Z-space. It could cure even the worst of injuries. Unfortunately, the transformation became permanent after only two hours, and the user was unable to use the technology ever again. Or... maybe, based on our discussion of WHY nothlits can't regain the morphing ability, the user's mind was then anchored in Z-space, and attempted repeat uses of the technology would break the link and leave the user's new body braindead. In any case, it basically allowed a user to morph themself, but they were then nothlitized. As themself.

Because of this, the technology was deemed a failure, or a mostly-failure, only useful in the most extreme of circumstances, and development was halted and shelved. Eventually, someone else ran across the plans and realized that the transformation didn't have to be limited to only the user's self. A few gazillion man hours (Andalite hours?) later, they'd added the 'acquiring' ability and the ability to demorph, and thus the morphing tech was born. Interestingly enough, morphing and then demorphing wound up being far more effective medically than the original technology.

*shrug* Iunno. I thought it sounded neat.

[TobiasMasonPark]

     ^It was very neat, indeed. Kudos.

     I got to thinking: maybe the war was the only reason the technology was allowed to go into production? I mean, we see how badly vecols are treated in the series. Maybe the idea was rejected once Escafil brought it up for funding (or the Andalite-equivalent. It was only when the Yeerks became a possible threat that the higher ups gave the project the go-ahead.

[Tim Bruening]

1) The Yeerks and Taxxons (and their respective planets) are left overs/ results of Crayak and the Ellimist's previous games

     A.K.A Crayak screwed himself by not planning ahead

     We know Crayak well enough to know that he doesn't create life. He DID create the Howlers, and they ARE alive, but I think we can agree that that was just a big F.U to the Ellimist by destroying the peace loving Pemalites with very violent children who just didn't know any better. We know that the Ellimist was really big on helping alien species advance or gain sentience. All Crayak wanted to do was destroy.

     Well, the game has been going on for a while, hasn't it? Who's to say Crayak didn't just forget which pieces he used at one point? He couldn't forget the Howlers, because he uses them so often--up until Animorphs 26: the Attack-- but maybe he forgot about his other pieces?

     Maybe the Taxxons and the Yeerks are the remnants of the Ellimist's pieces that lost to Crayak? Maybe the Taxxon world was really beautiful, full of life, and had enough food for the animal population to live off of? The same goes for the Yeerks. Only, Crayak's pieces--through war or other means-- turned those planets into what eventually would become the Taxxon and Yeerk homeworlds? Maybe Crayak forgot about what these places once were--again, he just wants to beat the Ellimist and cause as much destruction as possible-- but the Ellimist--who we know is constantly fretting over the loss of life that he has witnessed-- didn't forget? Maybe he tricked Crayak into choosing the Yeerks?

     How would that help the Ellimist's cause?

     Well, his other main pieces, aside from the Animorphs, are the Andalites--and, hey, didn't they come up with that neat, body-altering technology? That would sure convince a species with biological drawbacks, hailing from a borderline barren home world, to switch sides, now wouldn't it?

     In short: Crayak screwed himself over.
   

So Prince Seerow's biggest mistake was not giving the Yeerks space travel, but in NOT giving the Yeerks morphing ability!

[SmartGirl333]

So many tropers! I should start a thread for Tropers Of RAF! I'll go do that now!

I just tl;dr'd the entire thread, but I have to agree with that last one

So Prince Seerow's biggest mistake was not giving the Yeerks space travel, but in NOT giving the Yeerks morphing ability!

Yes! If the Yeerks had morphing ability (and Aftran proves they can morph), there would be no infestations, hosts, etc.

[DinosaurNothlit]

Ooh, how did I not know there was a thread for crazy Ani-theories!?  I've got loads of 'em.

1. Mertil was originally female, but got fed up with Andalite sexism and went nothlit as male so that s/he could attend the Andalite military academy.  That's why s/he can't morph, and also explains the implied relationship between Mertil and Gafinilan.

2. Arbron could have demorphed, if he'd just lived long enough.  The Living Hive (from TAC) is probably the adult stage of the Taxxon life-cycle, and the reason there are so few Hives is because not many Taxxons are able to live that long without being cannibalized.  But, if that's true, then the natural metamorphosis process would have re-set Arbron's two-hour limit, allowing him to demorph.  Because, yanno, he wasn't a tragic enough character as it was.  :'(

3. The Iskoort homeworld is actually the same planet that was once called Ket, back in the Ellimist Chronicles.  Both were/are riddled with inhospitable sulfur swamps, forcing the natives to live high above the planet's actual surface (crystals for Ket, seuss-towers for the Iskoort).  The Ketrans were exterminated billions of years ago, but their planet was left intact, so it wouldn't be out of the question for another race to take up residence there.  Finally, this explains why the Ellimist took such an interest in saving the Iskoort when he knew that the Yeerks wouldn't meet them for at least a few thousand more years, if ever.  He wasn't saving the species, he was saving his old homeworld.

4. When you morph something larger than yourself, anti-matter is extruded into z-space.

5. The Time Matrix is actually a piece of whatever-dimension-the-Ellimist-lives-in, that had to be extruded when the Ellimist entered that dimension, as a way of preserving the law of conservation of mass.

6. Everything about the Helmacrons, from their apparent insanity to their utterly bizarre reactions towards the concept of death, can be explained by the fact that their consciousnesses are passed to other members of the species when they die (a passing remark made by Visser Three at the end of #24).  They've learned everything they know about this whole 'death' thing by trying to figure it out from other species, and they still just don't quite get it, since they themselves don't actually die.  Thus they kill and then revere their 'dead' leaders, make trivial decisions by murdering each other, and have no fear of death at the hands of much larger species.  Yet they change their opinions of people who are living ("Those cowardly scumbags!") vs. dead ("Those brave soldiers!") in a sort of exaggerated-mock-version of what we death-fearing species do.

Pretty sure I have more, but I can't think of them right now.

That's sad. This whole war would have been avoided if the yeerks got the morphing power

I wouldn't be so sure.  There's something to be said for preservation of identity and culture, and I don't think all Yeerks would have unanimously given that up, just because they could.

EDIT: Yep, thought of two more.

7. The Arn intended the Hork-bajir to eventually go extinct.  Based on the timeline of the books, I calculated a rough estimate for a Hork-bajir lifespan, and it works out to about fifteen to twenty years (thirty, at the absolute most).  However, as is mentioned several times throughout the series, Hork-bajir breed very slowly.  Short lifespans and slow reproduction seem like an odd combination of traits for an artificial race, until you realize that the Arn only needed the Hork-bajir to stick around until the tree populations were healthy again, and then the Arn wouldn't need them anymore.

8. Andalite skeletons are quartz-based.  For comparison, terrestrial animal bone is composed of a calcium-rich mineral called apatite, which is a 6 on the Mohs scale of hardness, where quartz is a 7.  This is why Andalite tail blades can slice through terrestrial bone.  Quartz is also slightly lighter than apatite, contributing to the Andalites' speed and agility.

[SmartGirl333]

The fem!mertil one is interesting, but requiring it in order to ship Gaf and him seems kind of homophobic

[DinosaurNothlit]

The fem!mertil one is interesting, but requiring it in order to ship Gaf and him seems kind of homophobic

Lol, I've never been accused of that before!  I'm a lesbian, for the record.

So, yeah, I wasn't at all meaning to say it was 'required.'  I was just meaning that straight relationships tend to be more common than my own preferred kind, thus making Mertil/Gafinilan make even more sense than it would otherwise.  Also, we don't really have any other evidence for Andalite homosexuality (we're still trying to figure out why human homosexuality is a thing, at least from an evolutionary standpoint).  That's all.