Were they keeping a Journal? What is the explanation for the start of books?

[Tim Bruening]

Redtailednothlit link=topic=6359.msg880214#msg880214 date=1439119046]

^exactly the question I was about to ask. How would Tobias write anything pre-13? And why would he, post-23, knowing Visser Three was suspicious of him?

We know that Ax keeps an Earth diary though. I would have liked to have read more of that!

Tobias only wrote ONE book pre-13 (book 3, The Encounter).  It could be that Applegate postponed the next Tobias book because she realized that he was having trouble writing in his bird form!

Might the books be tyhe result of the type of device Elfangor was using to record his story just before he died (The Andalite Chronicles)?

To be fair, he also contributed to MM1, which took place before #13. Plus, assuming they write as they go along, Tobias would have written most of #13 as a hawk as he didn't acquire his human self until near the end of the book.

How the heck do you write and fight at the same time?

[spoiler]How the heck does Rachel narrate her own death in the last book?  [/spoiler]

[Redtailednothlit]

Nothing saying they don't write in their journals every night.

[Phoenix004]

I once had a theory that the books were actually reports written post-war, possibly something they were forced to do to account for their actions during the war years. Sadly there are too many flaws in this theory. Rachel's POV would be impossible to write post-war of course, plus there are things in the reports that I'm sure the Animorphs wouldn't willingly divulge, such as the existence of the Chee and Ellimist/Crayak.

I suppose their thoughts and memories could have been downloaded using technology similar to that used by the Iskoort in #26 to record and purchase memories. Everything before #26 was already recorded by the Iskoort anyway, and it's possible the Chee could have recreated a similar technology to use later. Assuming said technology still works on dead people, they could have extracted Rachel's memories when her body was recovered.

[Tim Bruening]

I once had a theory that the books were actually reports written post-war, possibly something they were forced to do to account for their actions during the war years. Sadly there are too many flaws in this theory. Rachel's POV would be impossible to write post-war of course, plus there are things in the reports that I'm sure the Animorphs wouldn't willingly divulge, such as the existence of the Chee and Ellimist/Crayak.

I suppose their thoughts and memories could have been downloaded using technology similar to that used by the Iskoort in #26 to record and purchase memories. Everything before #26 was already recorded by the Iskoort anyway, and it's possible the Chee could have recreated a similar technology to use later. Assuming said technology still works on dead people, they could have extracted Rachel's memories when her body was recovered.

Or use the recording technology Elfangor used to record his life story in "The Andalite Chronicles"!