Auxiliary Animorphs

The Auxiliary Animorphs are a team of fictional characters from the "Animorphs" series by K. A. Applegate. All of them were physically disabled in some form.

Plot

After their identities were exposed in #49 (they sustained injuries in a blood bank and realized that the Yeerks could simply identify who they really were), the Animorphs promptly evacuated their families and relocated to the free Hork-Bajir valley. In #50, they decided to recruit more kids onto the team so that the new kids could continue to resist the Yeerks if the original five were captured or killed. The Animorphs chose to recruit physically disabled kids because they believed that the Yeerks would be uninterested in infesting them and to expedite the recruiting process (instead of waiting three days to guarantee a clean person). They also believed that giving them morphing abilities would heal their physical disabilities.

In all, there were 17 new Animorphs, who were dubbed the Auxiliary Animorphs. The recruitment was done in three stages, initially taking three people on the first run and gradually turning more people into Animorphs. The first three (Colette, James, and Timmy/Tuan) acquired a pigeon morph. The other two sessions were done at night, sneaking around The Gardens to acquire various morphs. The Auxiliary Animorphs were only used in emergency situations when the original ones needed more assistance. Cassie remarked that they adapted easily to the acquiring process, having little trouble adjusting to and controlling the animals' natural instincts. Most likely this was because, being incapable of as much physical activity, they had developed sharper minds to balance.

However, when they were attempting to recruit kids from a school for the blind, Tom discovered them and seized the blue box. Just as Jake was about to kill his brother, Cassie stopped him. Jake was furious and the act was considered to be traitorous. Later in the books, however, Tom's seizure of the blue box led to the downfall of the Yeerk Empire. It was Tom's betrayal of Visser Three that allowed the Animorphs to sneak into and seize the Pool Ship to end the war.

An Auxiliary Animorph named Ray was instantly killed by Dracon fire during one battle. Most of the other Auxiliary Animorphs died in "The Answer" (#53) as they attempted to assist Sam Doubleday's distractionary . ground force as the five original Animorphs invaded the Pool Ship. Jake hears the promoted Visser One gleefully order the Pool Ship's gunners to kill any animals in the fight below, until the gunners report none are left. Thus it is implied, and Jake later admits identical suspicions, that all the Auxiliary Animorphs are dead. Further evidence for this is that after the war, no mention of them is made, and the original Animorphs (minus Rachel) are said to be to the only surviving Animorphs.

Characters

*Collette: claimed to have been injured in a skiing accident, although in reality she was born a paraplegic. She had to live in the hospital because her father and stepmother could not provide sufficient care for her due of restrictions at the military base where they lived. She appears to be close to James, as she was able to tell the Animorphs about his accident and family situation. Her dominant morph was a crocodile.

*Craig: He was one of the three people healed by the morphing process and became one of James' lieutenants his dominant morph is a black panther.

*Elena: A blind girl that Rachel acquired and relocated to the Hork-Bajir Valley. She is not considered to be one of the auxiliaries and was the only person that the Animorphs were able to reach in the school for the blind; shortly after Elena received the morphing power, Tom took the morphing cube.

*Erica: She was one of the three people healed by the morphing process and became one of James' lieutenants.

*James: The leader of the Auxiliary Animorphs. He is in a wheelchair from a car accident until he is given the morphing power by the Animorphs, which healed his paralysis. According to Collette, he was abandoned by his mother and left in the hospital after the accident. His dominant morph was a lion.

*Jessie

*Judy

*Julio

*Kelly: a cynical, sarcastic girl with cystic fibrosis. Her dominant morph was a bull.

*Liam

*Pedro: James' roommate. He has been lying down on his back for the past 14 years or so; the nature of his injuries was not disclosed. James agreed to lead the Auxiliary Animorphs on the stipulation that Pedro be given a morph and allowed to be free.

*Ray: The first death out of the Auxiliary Animorphs. He lost his life during the battle on the site of the new Yeerk Pool. The other children took comfort in the fact that he was instantly killed and had not suffered much. His dominant morph was a leopard.

*Timmy/Tuan [The character was originally named Tuan; however, Applegate changed it to Timmy before #50 was published. Due to an editorial oversight, the name Tuan appears in #52. (Source: Animorph Database)] : He used a wheelchair and had cerebral palsy, which impaired his movement and gave him a speech impediment. He called it "hell on earth" that he had such extensive vocabulary and encyclopedic knowledge of musical theatre but could not say it. His dominant morph was a lynx.

*Tricia

Controversy

The idea of Auxiliary Animorphs was controversial within the Animorphs themselves. Ax mainly objected on the grounds that these kids were "vecols" (disabled) and thus useless when not in morph; however, the other Animorphs said that they needed anybody possible to fight and that the auxiliaries wouldn't be that much more helpless in midmorph than they themselves had been at times, and the fact that they were disabled meant there was a extremely low risk that they would be Yeerk hosts. The animorphs also agreed that it was the Auxiliaries' planet too and so they should be at least be given the chance to defend it. Cassie's dad was appalled when he found out that they were using such children for war, but apparently did not tell the others, as nobody else stepped up to talk about it with Jake or the other Animorphs.

References