#elfangor's secret

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

in your opinion, what was the most messed up moment in animorphs? either most shocking, weird, gross, horrific....however you want to answer

The scene I've always found most viscerally disturbing is Ax and Marco on the Normandy beach on D-Day (MM3). It's the soldiers rushing the beach in waves, "Like cattle going down the chute to the slaughtering floor. But, of course, cattle don't know what's corning. Humans do... And they still came." It's the way Marco sees every murdered soldier "Like Jake. Cassie and I had sworn to protect him. But there'd never even been a chance." It's Ax being awed by the simple act of the medic being killed "while trying to save a man he must have known was doomed."

The two coldest and most aloof Animorphs are reduced to "crying, sobbing" and "digging in the sand" at their inability to make sense of the battle. It's Ax desperately wanting this to be Visser Four's fault, because surely this can't be the way history is supposed to happen. By the time Rachel is dropping grenades, we understand her sheer desperation to make it stop, regardless of the cost.

That said, maybe I find that one so impactful because it's a real event. My grandfather fought in that war, my distant cousins died in that war. I don't have the same visceral fear of turning into a spider that I get from "Bullets entered organs by neat, round holes and came out in a shredded mess... One second they were scared and brave and alive. The next second they were dead."

Anyway, everyone's mileage may vary, and if someone else has a different contender then toss it out there.

[chiropteracupola]

[sneaking back to animorphs to read another of the auxiliary books now]

WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE ANIMORPHS WENT TO THE BATTLE OF AGINCOURT, WHY DID NOBODY TELL ME THAT THE ANIMORPHS WENT TO THE BATTLE OF AGINCOURT

[confused-stars]

i’m making my way through all the Animorphs books and The Andalite Chronicles has left me so shaken.

then the very next book, Ax is like >Why would the Hork-Bajir hate us? We tried to save them! Sure, we failed, but we tried!< and you’re just sitting there like “sweet boy. it’s because of the war crimes.”

[rays-animorphs]

We’re probably never going to find out how the US got from race-based slavery to disability-based slavery (or…never had race based slavery in the first place, but still has a fair number of black people and a lot of racism?) but hey, I’m buying it, doesn’t seem like it would take that many changes.

I can just see the class intersections. Wealthy people bribing doctors to lie about their children’s IQ assessment. How having English as a second language artificially lowers kids’ scores. Some parents completely hiding the existence of a child with unmistakable disabilities. While others just smoothly transition into treating their disabled kids as not really people.

Oh man the extra punch of birth defects caused by environmental factors or eg thalidomide, when birth defects = slavery.

How does such a society handle disabilities that happen later in life? I’m guessing there’s a Nazi-like component to it, birth defects are bad because they might be hereditary, which wouldn’t necessarily apply to injury-based disability. But also a society where it’s normal for disabled people to be enslaved is not going to be good to any disabled people. Also you just know that anyone who’s not functional enough to be a slave just gets killed. Even if they never spell that out that’s just how a society like that is going to be.

[cluelessrebel1988]

If I Ran The Zoo (or how I would plot out an Animorphs TV/streaming series if I had the time/ability/resources)

So this is something I've been kicking around in my head on-again, off-again for a couple years now, and I thought I'd put it out there, just for the lols (do people still say that?)

My thought process is for a 5 season arc, with each season being somewhere in the neighborhood of 13-15 episodes long, give or take. There would be a few changes with the order of things, and a few minor characters would play a bigger role. I'm not going to go episode by episode, but just sort of outline the big arcs for each season. I'm not in any way suggesting that this is the best way to do it, just that this is how I would do it.

Season 1

This season obviously would start the events of The Invasion and would primarily incorporate events/plot points from the first 10 books, including finding Ax in his crashed ship (though I would move that to either take place in the first episode, or in the second half of the two-part premiere), Tobais getting stuck in his hawk form (and getting an episode or two dedicated to him coming to terms with that), and introducing Erik and the Chee (Erik would be introduced as a friend of Marco's early in the season, with his identity as a Chee being revealed in the second half of the season).

The only major plot point from that run of the series I wouldn't put into play just yet is the reveal of Marco's mother as Visser One (although I would be very much establishing her through flashbacks, dreams, etc., so people will recognize her when Visser One does show up).

The main arc of the season would involve the Kandrona Ray and the events of The Stranger, with the team meeting the Ellimist and learning about the ray and its significance and plotting to take it down to try to end/expose the invasion. Erik and Ax tagteam providing info about the ray and its use, but it's the vision from the Ellimist that gives Rachel the final clue, again, as in the book, with that occuring at the end of the penultimate episode. The season finale is solely focused on devising and executing the plan to destroy the ray. The plan would succeed, which would prompt Visser One's return, revealing her host to be Marco's mother as the cliffhanger for the season.

Obviously, we would be exploring the kid's home lives more, with the relationship with their families and friends and the whole 'work-life balance' thing that comes with fighting a guerilla war against an alien invasion. Not to the point where they're having to fake illnesses to skip school every episode, but enough to show that it's putting a strain on their relationships. I would also explore Rachel's relationship with Melissa Chapman more and have Melissa be a bigger supporting character in the show. We'd also introduce Karen and Aftran in this season, revealing her to be a controller early on, but something that Cassie doesn't find out until the end of the season

Season 2

Season 2 would pick up a few weeks after season 1, as The Alien did with The Stranger. The kids learn that their hope that the invasion would reveal itself with the Kandrona ray destroyed were in vain and that Ax knew that. The premiere would largely follow the plot of that book, with the Animorphs attempting to integrate Ax into society and attempting to take the fight to Visser Three with the help of a Yeerk traitor, and Ax telling the others about the Law of Seerow's Kindness. Ax would get a lot of development this season, with the events of The Deception coming into play.

Tobias would help free the Hork-Bajir as in The Change and get his human form back as a morph, and the reveal that he is Elfangor's son would be included in this season as well (Obviously we're tapping into the Andalite Chronicles for flashbacks in at least one episode this season to help set that up).

Marco's main character arc would revolve around learning that his mother is Visser One, keeping it a secret, only to have the others find out later, thus incorporating The Predator and The Escape. Also Visser One is the big bad for the season, delving more into her conflict with Visser Three. The season would end with her supposed death following the Animorphs' thwarting of her plans

For Cassie, we cover the utilize adapted versions of The Departure and set up for The Sickness, with Karen/Aftran and Cassie perhaps getting trapped somewhere and forced to work together to get out of it, laying the groundwork for Aftran to be captured by Visser Three. The season finale would also center around the efforts to rescue Aftran.

Jake and Rachel will have arcs and roles to play in each of these stories as they each start to fall into their respective roles as leader and fighter, respectively. If they get their own arc, it would be around trying to save Tom specifically.

Additionally, Melissa is still around in her expanded role, but with a new friend: David, who would be introduced fairly early in the season in a recurring role (Melissa is also recurring at this point). She and David will have a B-plot where they become friends and are together when David finds the morphing cube, the discovery of which also occurs in the finale.

Season 3

Obviously, the primary source for the main arc of season 3 is the David Trilogy, with The Discovery in particular serving as the source for the season premiere. It plays out mostly the same, with the Animorphs learning that David and Melissa have the cube and plans to sell it online. They try to retrieve the cube before the two of them can attract the attention of the Yeerks, but ultimately fail, leading to the battle at David's house. They manage to get Melissa and David out of the house before they can be captured, and are forced to reveal themselves and tell them what's happening, essentially recruiting them into the Animorphs.

The events of the rest of the trilogy, with the threat to the UN summit or some similar event involving world leaders as a target that they have to keep the Yeerks from taking advantage of -- as well as with David and Melissa's reactions to being Animorphs -- would take up the majority of the plot this season. Obviously Melissa becoming an Animorph opens up some new potential for her arc, especially around her relationship with her dad and trying to come to terms with him being a controller (and the fact that Rachel has been keeping this a secret all along). She and David would have similar arcs around their parents being controllers, but while David ultimately turns against the Animorphs, Melissa does not (although David tries to convince her to). The season ends with the gang trapping David in a rat morph, as the books do.

One of Melissa's major character traits is her interest in technology, something she used to bond with her father over (working together to take things apart and then put them back together before be became a Controller to try to keep her safe) and I imagine her and Ax developing something of an awkward friendship as she tries to ask him about the morphing technology and other Andalite technology, with him being reluctant to share due to the Law of Seerow's Kindness. But, as he's grown closer with the Animorphs, he would eventually acquiesce and they would begin to bond. The two big relationships (Rachel and Tobias, and Cassie and Jake) also take major steps this season

The other major arc for the season involves other Andalites, incorporating The Arrival and The Other, with the reveal that other Andalites are on earth and some are there to help...or are they? The season would also end with Tobias getting captured by the Yeerks to begin the laying of the groundwork for the discovery that the Animorphs are not, in fact, Andalite bandits.

Season 4

The events of The Illusion and The Test would be adapted for the season premiere, including the introduction of the Yeerk resistance (led in this series by Karen/Aftran) and Tobias's capture and torture, with the main difference being that it is Tom (who has largely been a secondary or tertiary villain thus far) being the one who conducts the torture. During the interrogation, Tobias lets something slip that most of the controllers in the room don't pick up on, but Tom does, leading him to investigate and setting up for the finale, which would be largely and adaptation of The Diversion, with the race against time to save their families taking up the majority of the episode. Melissa is able to save her parents, her father proving to be an asset in the final season with his knowledge of how Yeerk technology works.

This season as a whole would focus on escalating the war between the Animorphs and the Yeerks. The stakes become higher, as are tensions following David's betrayal. Visser One returns, learning that Marco is one of the Animorphs and we incorporate the events of Visser, seeing the Animorphs rescue her.

Following Tobias's capture and torture, Rachel becomes more angry and vengeful, setting up for her arc over the final season (we've seen hints of her violent streak over the series up to this point, but it gets more intense this season).

Season 5

With their secret out, the Animorphs regroup in the Hork-Bajir valley and try to figure out their next move. The final arc of the series would play out largely how it does over the course of the final books, with the team recruiting more Animorphs to help them with their mission, and even trying to recruit government and military officials to aid in the fight. Tom gets the morphing cube, adding controllers with the ability to morph (other than the newly appointed Visser One) to the threat against the Animorphs. The final battle would be a multi-pronged attack, with the bombing of the Yeerk Pool being part of the final assault and not a separate battle.

Rachel gets aboard the blade ship and kills Tom before being killed herself. In an effort to make up for the harm he caused, Hedrick Chapman sacrifices himself to both ensure the Yeerk Pool bomb goes off and to save Melissa one final time (the pair of them were in charge of building/detonating it, along with Ax), and Jake orders the flushing of the Yeerk Pool on the the Pool ship, alienating Erek and the rest of the Chee going forward. All of this is in the penultimate episode.

The series finale follows the aftermath of the war in The Beginning, and, as the books did, the series would end with Jake, Tobias, and Marco (and probably Melissa) being recruited to help save Ax from an as-yet unknown threat.

And there you have it, my outline for how an Animorphs series could/should play out. As I said at the start, this is just my idea and others might have different thoughts about what order the arcs should go in and what significant changes (if any) would be made. Please be kind with any criticisms, and if you'd like to share your thoughts with me, my inbox is open. I also did a fancast for the series a few years ago if anyone's curious about who would play who

[thekinglemingle]

Megamorphs 3: Elfangor's Secret

[kooldewd123]

why did elfangor even have the morphing cube on his ship in the first place. I mean obviously it's just there for story convenience but it seems super impractical from an in-universe perspective. like, who was he gonna use it on? surely andalite soldiers are given the morphing ability in military school or something. why would you even need one on hand like that. it wasn't even locked up or anything! it was just lying around in plain sight! if elfangor hadn't pawned it off on some random kids he just met, then the yeerks would have found it when they raided his ship and that's it, game over, they're morph-capable now. this just has to be a major breach of protocol on elfangor's part, right? sure, the andalites are cocky, but they're not careless, especially when it come to the law of seerow's kindness. it seems super uncharacteristic of them let a prince be so nonchalant with their most top-secret military weapon. it's like if jake just brought the box home and told tom it was a paperweight. elfangor, buddy, what were you doing.

[commander-diomika]

Reblog appreciated, feel free to tell me in the tags why you were Such a Rachel etc

[mnjohn]

Animorphs was the series that got me into reading as a kid. I wanted to read it again as an adult because I was never able to finish it when I was a kid (too hard to find all the volumes!) I have been slowly making my way through the series and recently finished "#18 The Decision". Read below for my opinions on what I have read so far but beware of spoilers.

"#1 The Invasion" - A good introduction to the series. Jake is a little bland, but I enjoy the drama of his relationship with his brother Tom.

"#2 The Visitor" - I absolutely love Rachel. She was my hero as a kid. Despite that, I also found this one to be a bit bland but I do admit that the shrew morph was pretty freaky.

"#3 The Encounter" - Explores some surprisingly dark themes. I always thought that it was a shame that Tobias and Ax have the least books, because their perspective is the most interesting. I mean, the boy IS A BIRD!

"#4 The Message" - I think that I found Cassie to be a bit boring as a child, but as an adult, I absolutely love her! She just cares about everyone and everything and is just so lovely! This book also introduces Ax, another one of my favourites!

"#5 The Predator" - I don't remember this too well, but I know that I enjoyed reading Marco's perspective. His character has some real depth. The twist was juicy. And I loved Ax's stupid silly interactions with Marco's dad.

"#6 The Capture" - Darkest book so far. Probably the best in the series. Jake's experience with the yerk is absolutely horrifying.

"#7 The Stranger" - While I enjoyed Rachel's family dynamics and her struggles, I really hate time travel plots in fiction. I suppose that it could have been worse. And at least Rachel is amazing.

"Megamorphs #1 The Andalite's Gift" - This was not very good, but it was very fun! Rachel gets amnesia, a plot straight out of a soap opera. And Marco drives a pick up truck! I enjoyed the multi-perspective book, but I thought that some of the action scenes went on too long.

"#8 The Alien" - AX! This one is my absolute favourite! This book has the perfect balance of silly humor and weightier plot. Ax's loneliness and identity struggles really resonated with me.

"#9 The Secret" - I do not remember this one too well, but I do remember that I liked the focus on ecological issues. This is the sort of book that made me really love the series as a child, because I was obsessed with animals.

"#10 The Android" - This was weird, but in a good way. Nice to meet new alien allies. The action scene towards the end was really intense!

"#11 The Forgotten" - This is the worst. My absolute least favourite. As I mentioned before, that time travel in fiction is a really bad idea. And this book this is a great example of why. The ending just made me feel like, what was the point? Why did I spend time reading this?

"#12 The Reaction" - Hilarious! There was much good humour in this one! I particulary enjoyed when Rachel accidentally morphed into an elephant and destroyed her own house! It also explored some darker aspects of humanity, with the selfishness of the teen idol. Good stuff.

"#13 The Change" - I know that some important plot things happen with Tobias, but I do not really remember this book too well. I think that I was vaguely disappointed with how the kids treated the Hork Bajir. I have the impression that they thought that the Hork Bajir were lesser creatures, which seemed very unfair to me.

"The Andalite Chronicles" - I enjoyed the first two parts, but the third got a bit too weird. Learning about Andalite culture was great, and I enjoyed Elfangor's fascination with the car and the image of an Andalite driving.

"#14 The Unknown" - This was the funniest book so far! I mean, the yerks in the horses using sticks to dial a payphone, was possibly the most beautiful imagery that this series has ever put into my brain. And the fact that the US government was guarding an old model of Andalite toilet, was the perfect cherry on top! This was probably my second favourite book so far.

"#15 The Escape" - It seems that Marco books just have the best action scenes. I don't if it is because he gets lucky with having more exciting plots, or if his narration style just suits action scenes better than the other characters do, but for some reason I found all the action in this book to be really engaging.

"#16 The Warning" - The best part about this one was the 90s computer technology. Ax was laughing at their internet speed. So was I. Also, I do not think that chat rooms ever worked like that? It seemed like the text was being shared before the person had finished typing it? But I was very small back then and never used a chatroom, so what would I know?

"#17 The Underground" - I was really surprised by the attitudes towards mental health displayed in this book. Like, I knew that things were not very good for the mentally ill when I was a kid, but I was surprised by how brutally critical these kids were! Thankfully things have changed for the better.

"#18 The Decision" - This one was pretty crazy. From the begining where Ax is terrorizing a food court, to the part where the kids get sucked into Z-space and join the Andalites fighting in Leera. A very exciting book! Ax's emotions are so complicated and this book just solidified that he is my current favourite!

So there you go. These are my opinions on the books so far. It seems that while I started reading this series because of the way it explores complex issues and the effect of war on children, the scenes that I enjoy the most are the silliest. I think that is kind of unfair on my part because the series really does a good job of exploring serious topics, but I am having heaps of fun! I hope that you enjoyed reading my opinions and I plan on sharing more as I read more books.

[breakaway71]

ANIJATP PLEASE

aaaaaaaahhhh I love this fic SO MUCH but I uuuuhhhh legitimately sort of forgot it existed until like a week ago when I found it on my flashdrive and was like DID I WRITE THIS IN A FEVER DREAM OR SOMETHING?? So this is my JATP/Animorphs crossover, which is mostly canon-compliant for both universes, except the Yeerk war ended more quietly than in the books, so they were still secret at the end. Essentially, Reggie was also an Animorph, getting caught up in it by virtue of being Marco's older cousin, who was visiting when Elfangor crashed in the construction site. The war ended, and a couple months later Reggie ate a bad hot dog and died anyway. (Yup I managed to make hot dog death even more ironic and tragic.) The story picks up post-S1, and Reggie is struggling because his friends still don't know his secret, and he also misses his other team and wants to know that they made it, that they're okay, that they recovered from the war and losing Rachel everything else that happened to them. Also I accidentally made it Marco/Ax :D snippet:

“Reg?” he hears from far away. “Dude, what’s wrong?”

“I…” Reggie shakes his head, coming back to himself all at once to find that he’s shaking all over, jaw clenched around a scream. “No, I’m, um. I’m fine.”

“You don’t look fine,” Alex says, and Reggie turns to find him hovering at his other shoulder, looking worried.

“Bad dream,” Reggie mumbles, and can’t miss the look Luke and Alex exchange. Because, yeah, they’ve seen him zone out before, but it doesn’t happen to them. He doesn’t know if it’s a trauma thing or just a himthing, and honestly doesn’t want to know. “Look, it’s fine. I’m all good.” He tries for a smile and knows it falls short when Luke crowds in closer, reaching out to grab Reggie’s shoulders.

“Hey,” he says. “You know you can talk to us, right?”

Reggie just barely stops himself from snorting. Yeah, he can talk to them. He can tell them all his wartime trauma stories, and then wave goodbye as they cart him off to a rubber room for ghosts. Sounds fun.

“I…”

“Whatever stupid thing you’re about to say,” Alex says, “don’t.” He nudges Reggie’s side. “Come on, you think we didn’t notice all those times you disappeared on us? We knew something was going on. You don’t have to tell us what it was, but it’s obviously still bugging you, dude. We’re your best friends. We’ll listen if you want us to. You know that, right?”

Reggie shakes his head, not because he doesn’t know, and not because he doesn’t want to talk to them, but because he promised. Because even if he could tell them everything (and he can, he knows he can, they’re ghosts now and even if the Yeerks were still on Earth, his friends would be safe by default because they don’t have bodies to infest), he wouldn’t know where to start.

Once upon a time, I was visiting my cousin, and he and his best friend and a few other kids dragged me through this construction site on our way home from the mall. A dying alien crash landed his ship right in front of us, and suddenly playing bass with you guys wasn’t the most important thing in my world, no matter how much I still wanted it to be.

“I can’t…I…” Reggie swallows. In a much smaller voice, he says, “I promised. A long time ago.” It’s the only excuse he has. “I’m sorry.”

Another look is exchanged, but then Luke and Alex are hugging him, one on either side, and for a little while, that’s the only thing that matters.

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

Sorry if you've been asked this before but I have a minor lore question. So I think that In-universe the books were written and sent out during the time they were still fighting a guerrilla war, that's why there was the whole thing with not telling you their last names, but wouldn't the mere existence of the books allow the yeerks to learn a lot about where they are and what they are doing if they got their hands on one? Or do I have something wrong?

So. It's canon the books just aren't published during the war. They don't come out until after everyone knows about the yeerks. As to why the books are written as if during the war...

There's a single line in #53: "that fact, like so many facts, has been deliberately obscured in the secret accounts we've kept." Since I actively HATE the idea of the Animorphs all journaling during the war -- it's a huge security risk, it's too much effort, it's utterly unlike all of them except maybe Ax -- I pretend that the continuity-breaking single-line reference to secret accounts doesn't exist.

My preferred headcanon is that all 6 of the Animorphs recorded hirac dilests just before the final battle, using tech that Ax and Marco's parents put together. Those can happen instantaneously -- Elfangor records his for Tobias in a matter of seconds -- and can take down years' worth of memories in exquisite detail. It's canon Jake publishes a memoir that's described as being about all 6 of them, simply titled Animorph, in #54. So by this theory, that book is just him having transcribed and edited the 6 hirac dilests into a single story. Thus, the Animorphs series is that single story, broken into 60-odd volumes. Each narrator has the perspective of not knowing how the war will end and needing to keep secrets because the memories were recorded real-time as they happened, but the books' explanation for their own existence is that the war has ended by the time anyone is reading this story.

[theidiotabides]

My own hawk eyes returned, so superior to the Hork-Bajir vision. I turned my gaze on Visser Four. The head moved. He was still alive. Then I saw a smaller movement. I fluttered my wings and hopped over. I darted my beak down and snapped up the gray slug that was crawling down the doomed man’s cheek. <The Yeerk,> I said. The others came over. Cassie was human. Rachel mostly so. Marco as well. Just kids now, in a ditch, behind a burning tank, surrounded by bodies. <What should I do with him?> I asked. Marco held out his hand. He took the Yeerk. “We can’t let him get a new host. Can’t take him back to our own time. He knows now that we’re humans. We leave him here, he dies slowly of Kandrona starvation.” “They say it’s a horrible way to die,” Cassie said. Marco held the Yeerk out to Ax. <No,> the Andalite said. <I have enough to answer for.> Ax looked at Rachel, then looked away. “No,” Rachel said as Marco offered the Yeerk to her. <Not me, either,> I said. “I see,” Marco said, nodding slightly. “No one’s anxious to add another stain on their conscience? Everyone’s had enough?” He flipped the Yeerk almost casually through the air. Threw it into the flaming hulk of the tank. “Starve or burn,” Marco said, trying in vain to sound tough and indifferent. “His only choices. This is quicker.” -Megamorphs 3: Elfangor's Secret

Crying, screaming, throwing up, etc.

[fanonical]

other middle grade book series want what animorphs had. or more specifically what megamorphs 3: elfangor’s secret had. cassie mauls racists, tobias kills hitler, jake dies...what more can you want?

[audiomorphscast]

Click here to listen to Animorphs Megamorphs 3 - Elfangor's Secret

[godtiermageofspace]

You know what Worm crossover I just realized I really want to see?

Post-GM Taylor shows up in the middle of the construction site where Elfangor is giving the Animorphs their morphing powers.

She shows up, she's eighteen, traumatized, powerless, still recovering from two headshots and missing her arm. And now she's got another earth that needs rescue from another secret alien invasion.

She is already dialed up to the eleven mark of the "for the greater good" mentality that the Animorphs would be getting into in their own series. But she's not an Animorph. She can't risk morphing and potentially healing her corona. And she can give all the advice she thinks the Animorphs will need, but they're like, fourteen and she's an outsider that they don't really trust. And besides, does she really want them to become like her?

Meanwhile, her presence really fucks up all the character arcs that the Animorphs are set on. There's no way Jake willingly takes up the mantle of leader when there's at least one other person, older than them and with some sort of experience, that he can pass off the responsibility to, even if they have no way of knowing how trustworthy she is. Marco, conversely, is smart enough that he could reasonably take her advice into consideration, but that also means he is incredibly suspicious of her presence. Cassie simultaneously pities Taylor and is afraid that she is a portent of what they might become, which drastically increases all her (reasonable) moral issues with their actions. And if there's any way at all to help it given the short time-frame, Taylor is absolutely not going to let Tobias nothlit himself to run away from humanity entirely when he could just, you know, run away normally without giving up the massive tactical advantage of his powers.

The only one I'm not sure of is Rachel. I can't shake the impression that Rachel is basically just Vicky if she weren't in a world where superheroes were real.

[died-but-not-dead-propaganda]

Animorphs Propaganda

In Megamorphs #3: Elfangor's Secret, an antagonist has found the Time Matrix, which among other things gives him access to any point in history. He has used this to change the past and give his side a major advantage in the war for Earth. The godlike Ellimist who is reputed to have created the Time Matrix, and his antagonistic counterpart, have agreed that letting this mortal have access to the course of time is not great, so they work out a deal: the Animorphs will follow him whenever he goes, and may do their best to stop him; but in return, one of them must die. It turns out that the terms are that *only* one of them dies, so when others are, e.g., ripped in half by cannon fire, they pop back to life shortly thereafter. (I don't recall off the top of my head who-all this occurs to, but I know there were at least two.) Then they manage to prevent the whole thing from ever having happened, so the death that did happen was undone. (Still not sure how that counts as not breaking the deal...)