We all know that Tobias had an unhappy life, and that he found an escape as a red-tailed hawk. We also know that, despite his desire for freedom, he was disturbed by his being trapped in morph; the eternal struggle involved in overcomming the hawk's instincts, the disgust he felt after making his first kill, etc. And, of course, we know that Tobias eventually becomes comfortable with his life as a hawk, and even starts to consider himself as being more hawk than human (let's not even start with the whole Andalite thing).
Now, here's a question that has probably surfaced on this board already: did Tobias willingly trap himself as a hawk, or was it an accident?
This is one of those, "maybe he did, maybe he didn't", pure speculation sort of questions, where Animorph fans of all shapes and sizes debate over Tobias' ultimate decision. And there are sound arguments for both sides.
You could look to such examples as the Encounter and the Change--the first two books narrated by Tobias-- and say that he "accidentally" trapped himself in morph. We notice in book one that Tobias has little interest in keeping track of time when in hawk morph, but he also tries to kill himself in the third book, and is greatly disturbed when the Ellimist "tricks" him in book thirteen. And he constantly refers to himself as being jealous of his friends being able to lead normal lives, and their abilities to morph.
You could also look to the later books, where Tobias becomes more comfortable with his new life as a hawk. You could say that Tobias was so unhappy with his life that he preferred the life of an animal to his own life. The whole argument raised in the first book would support the theory that Tobias purposely trapped himself in morph to escape. Tobias never gives us his recount of the first invasion of the Yeerk Pool, so we don't really know whether or not he just lost track of time. And it's also made very clear early on in the books that Rachel was Tobias' only link to humanity. After Rachel died, Tobias completely succumbed to the life of a red-tailed hawk.
But there's that nagging exchange between Ellimist and Tobias in the thirteenth book. It's implied that Tobias only wanted his morphing powers back, and the ability to morph back to his human body for two hours at a time. It's implied that Tobias was keeping this little fact hidden from himself, based on the Ellimist's response. And, based on the events of this book, we're to assume that Tobias trapped himself intentionally.
I think that Tobias did trap himself intentionally, but he didn't exactly know what he was bargaining for. Sure, the allure of trapping oneself as a hawk--being able to fly and the freedom that comes with flying--sounds appealing enough, but Tobias obviously didn't consider the fact that he'd have to LIVE as a bird permanently. He would only spend two hours in a hawk body at any given time before being trapped, so the hawk's instincts were pretty easy to overcome, theoretically. He was so unhappy with his life that he sort of took things like going to school, eating,and human contact for granted.
But that's just one person's opinion. What do you people think?
