maybe this has bothered you too...

[captaincommiex.livejournal.com]

i'm home for the summer, and i just started to reread the invasion. this must be the tenth time rereading this particular book, but it just occurred to me: why didn't elfangor morph into another form to save himself from dying, and then demorph to heal his andalite body of the wounds? from what i've gathered, ax (or estrid, or maybe it was aldrea, i don't remember which of the andalites) had a kafit bird morph from the andalite home world, which he had to acquire to practice morphing. he said that young andalites often acquire a kafit bird and had to pass a morphing test or something. it stands to reason that elfangor, even before his convoluted trip as described in the andalite chronicles, had at least acquired a kafit bird, if not any other animal. why didn't elfangor give the animorphs the morphing power first, then morph into a kafit bird to heal his andalite body, then in his kafit bird morph, lead the animorphs to safety away from the approaching yeerks?

Comments

[rem-sama.livejournal.com]

I've always considered that pure plothole. I mean, how many times have the Animorphs managed to morph while exhausted or greviously injured? The only reason I can possibly think of is that Elfangor was afraid the morphing would frighten them off and then where would he be? Still, that doesn't sound very plausible, so hence: plothole.

Having him survive would make for a great - if painfully epic - fanfiction.

[captaincommiex.livejournal.com]

that would make for potentially awesome fanfiction, and i wonder if kaa had done that in #1, what plots would have changed. the rescue of ax would have been much different, and with elfangor as the lead, the kids, who would be armed with morphing power too, would have a greater tactical advantage in terms of fighting styles and information about the way the yeerks work.

i'm looking up at my collection of animorphs books and wondering how each one would be different of elfangor had survived. the possibilities thrill me, as lame as that sounds.

[ex-ellimist.livejournal.com]

"awesome fanfiction"

Oxymoron.

[captaincommiex.livejournal.com]

ha! i've never read any fanfiction, so i guess that was optimistic of me. but in my defense, the keyword was "potentially."

[http://users.livejournal.com/_thelady_/]

I'm doing the same thing...but without the books. *sad*

Only, I'm thinking a bit of the other way. Elfangor would have been in the lead, not Jake, and let's face it: Elfangor isn't a ground-pounder. There are no ships with giant shredders to command in an insurgency. (Okay, I know there's a better word than insurgency to decribe their fighting style...what was it... ... damn.) They would have been much better informed, but Jakes instincts counted for so much. Would he speak up in the face of an established leader? He did want to hand over the mantle to Ax in #4. Would Elfangor even take him seriously if he did? (No offence to Elfangor, even I wouldn't give much weight to a FNG.)

Would Elfangor have been able to convince the Andalite fleet to show up sooner, where Ax had failed to do so in #8? How would that have changed things?

[captaincommiex.livejournal.com]

ah! i forgot about #8. i think elfangor would have been able to convince the andalites to come quicker, and the andalites may not have gone to the whole let's-destroy-the-planet-a-la-hork-bajir-homeworld plan since the concentration of yeerks on earth was not that great.

was the word you were looking for (instead of insurgents) guerillas?

[http://users.livejournal.com/_thelady_/]

Yes. That was it. I woke up this morning and randomly remembered the word but forgot why I was trying to think of it. *sigh* Maybe I'm getting old?

[captaincommiex.livejournal.com]

heh heh. ditto.

[frameacloud]

Not morphing because he might scare the kids off... I dunno, letting them see him get eaten alive by Visser Three was way more traumatic.

Although I doubt being eaten alive was really on his to-do list for saving the world.