Question about Aging

[sparklegem]

This is a question that has been bothering me for a while, and I personally can't remember any part of the series that answered this, so I was hoping I could rely on other Ani fans to tell me if there was a canon answer to this or not.

My question is this: do morphs age? So when Tobias is trapped in the form of a hawk, does the hawk age like normal meaning that his life span as a nothlit is only 20 years if he's lucky? If that's true, then were they essentially giving David only a year or two to live by trapping him as a rat? What about when Tobias regains the ability to morph back to his human form--since his human form is now a morph, is he always going to look like a teenage boy or does his human morph age over time?

Thanks in advance!

[Essam293]

Hi sparklegem,

Yes, everything you have said is correct. The original body of the morpher is the one that ages, not the morphs he or she acquires. i.e Tobias as a nothlit hawk will age as a normal hawk and his human morph will always remain 13, because that's the age that Tobias (as a hawk) acquired him. The only way his human morph will age is if he traps himself as a human like he did with the hawk. I believe this is referenced in the final book #54.

And yeah, I guess David really only did have a year or two, didn't he? His return in #48 probably was at least 1 year from his last appearance in 'Animorphs time'.

[sparklegem]

Thanks for the quick reply Essam. I really appreciate it!

[sparklegem]

Hey again!

I ran across a few more questions about the Animorphs universe that I'm not sure if there is a canon answer for or not. Can anyone help me out?

1) When a Yeerk resides in the host, does it have the option to not be the one in control? When I reread 'The Sickness' it seemed like the answer was no, since Cassie as a Yeerk drove her host to the Yeerk pool instead of just letting him drive. I forget what The Departure has to say on this issue, however. Is there any instance of a Yeerk letting its host talk, for example, when we know for sure that it is actually the host and not the Yeerk pretending to be the host?

2) When a morph-capable person's true form is injured, is their injury healed if they morph into something and morph back? Megamorphs #2 seems to imply that when Tobias is surprised that his wing isn't healing and the writer has to come up with some out-of-the-blue excuse how the altered time is to blame. But I don't know if this is just a canon snafu and was wondering if there are other instances in the series than indicate one way or another?

Thank you in advance for your time!

[Essam293]

Hi sparklegem, nice to see you again!

1) Yes, a Yeerk can give control to its host if it wishes. Chapman is given the control to talk for himself in #2, but I think the best example is in Visser, when Eva was given control over one of her eyes for a long period of time, to see what she'd do. So not only can a Yeerk give control, but they can also give control to specific parts of the host back to them as well.

I'm sure there are other examples, but I can't think of any that don't involve a fight for control between the host and Yeerk. Mr. Tidwell (#29) is a good example because their relationship is almost symbiotic in a way, though we don't know how much control the real Tidwell really gets on a day-to-day basis when Illim (his Yeerk) is in.

As for Cassie as a Yeerk, it could simply be that it was a new morph and couldn't fight against the controlling instinct of a Yeerk, and wasn't able to give any control away due inexperience.

2) There is a lot of debate over this amongst fans, as the series is pretty inconsistent at times. Officially though, the rules are that all injuries are healed with morphing, even the morpher's original body. The Megamorphs #2 bit with Tobias's broken wing is a known KASU, because K.A forgot her own rule and tried to solve it by coming up with a time traveling glitch (I believe it's listed in the book pages under 'Missions' up top).

Hope that helped!

[sparklegem]

Thanks you, Essam! I really appreciate it and all the effort you put into this site. What would Animorph fans do without you?

I'm trying to write a Glee/Animorphs crossover story, and these canon issues came up. It's been a long, long time since I read the series, and while I've been trying to look things up to the best of my ability if I can figure out what books might be relevant, I really appreciate the help.

You're right, that instance with Visser One and Eva is definitely the best example to illustrate the point. Besides Cassie's continuous control of Tidwell in The Sickness, however, which I agree can be explained my her inexperience in the morph, the other part of that book that seemed to contradict a Yeerk's ability to cede control was the 2nd conversation between Cassie and Tidwell/Illim, where Cassie talks with Illim for a while, and then when Tidwell wants to speak, Illim tells Cassie "And now Mr. Tidwell has something to say. I am repeating his thoughts as I hear them." Why would Illim have to repeat Tidwell's thoughts for him if it could just allow Tidwell to have control of his body? Unless it takes some time for the Yeerk to release control and it is just a matter of convenience.

Thanks again!

[Essam293]

No problem. Anytime.

As for Illim talking for Mr. Tidwell: it could just be that there wouldn't have been any way to prove so otherwise. It's not like saying "It's me, Tidwell, speaking now. Illim has given me control to say this" would have convinced Cassie anyway, so Illim simply said it. Tidwell would sound like Tidwell either way, and there would be no way of knowing so otherwise without the removal of Illim.