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

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

i always thought that elfangor did something else after being found by the andalite fleet at the end of TAC because it seemed like the andalites revered elfangor for much more than being mysteriously alive. he must have been a good warrior.

That would make a good fanfic, too. This thread is giving me too many plot bunnies...

[samantha-lowe.livejournal.com]

First of all, please do write those fics, and please do let me know when you're done!

Second of all, I've come up with a better retort regarding Elfangor's skill level than calling you a blasphemer ^_^ Here it is: in Visser, Edriss said that Elfangor's name was a curse because no single Andalite had done the Yeerks more damage than he. In book #1, Visser Three says "You're a legend. You shreded seven of our fighters, or was it eight by the time the battle ended?" Saying that he shreded seven or eight right after "you're a legend" implies that seven or eight is really, really impressive. It's possible that Elfangor's image was blown out of proportion by word-of mouth (so to speak) on the Andalite home world, but I think that Yeerk generals would be far less sesceptable to Andalite gossip.

Remember that in Elfangor's first battle with the Taxxons, he went into a trance and fought so well that he actually scared Arbron and Alloran. Finally, Prince Samilin, who worked with Elfangor personally, told Aximili "by the galaxy, your brother could fight!"

... so my point is, at least in canon, Elfangor is legitamately kick-ass. So there.

Also, write those fics!!!

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

Good point. Like I said, I'm working from memory here and it's been a while. But I then counter with the point that the ability to kick-ass doesn't necissarily mean that he's immune to emotional or mental abuse.

I'd be happy to write those fics. Tho it may take some time. Got any more canon references to what Elfangor did in those nether-years?

[samantha-lowe.livejournal.com]

He is, indeed, prone to mental and emotional abuse. However, Elfangor is kind of my personal archetype for most things awesome, so I felt the need to defend him :)
As to the nether years: he wasn't around when Ax was born, but he came to visit sometimes, they went running, and he treated Ax like an adult, which is why Ax started idolizing him. According to Samilin, Elfangor was a his captain and a war-prince (though I think KA confused herself over how Andalite ranking works)and the two were friends. In TAC, Elfangor mentioned that a z-space rift opened up between Earth and the busy centers of the galaxy, so that Earth was months instead of days away. In #33, he fights some sort of alien we don't encounter anywhere else with a figure-eight-shaped ship, crashes into it, and goes spinning through space Darth Vader-style. He angsts over Loren and Tobias a bit. And of course at some point the Ellimist accosts him to have him write that letter for DeGroot. Also, he once told Ax "it's a leader's job to be lucky". That's all that comes to mind now. Dear lord, I'm lame (because so much DID come to mind).
Anyway, please, please write those stories!!!