History Characters / Animorphs

[[Characters/AnimorphsAnimorphs Character shee for the Animorphs themselves]]

[[index]]
[[Characters/AnimorphsAnimorphs Character shee for the Animorphs themselves]]
[[/index]]

%%F

[[folder:Animorphs]]
''My name is...''

!Tropes common to all the Animorphs:

* {{Badass}}: You have to be a badass to fight a Yeerk invasion for three years while you're in school.
** BadassCrew: All the kids can pull their weight in a fight, and they all have some seriously impressive moments under their belts.
** PopCulturedBadass: With the exception of Ax, who isn't from around these parts, all the kids make references to television shows, films, books, and comics of the 1990s. Marco and Jake are probably the two worst is this regard.
* BearsAreBadNews: All of the kids can morph to polar bear, which is regularly used as an all purpose power morph. It's Marco's cover morph in Book #25.
* ChildSoldier: The kids are in junior high when the story begins. They are somewhere in high school when the series ends two years later. They've been fighting a war the entire time.
* CreepyCockroach: They all have cockroach morphs, but Marco's the one who gets to have one as his cover morph in ''The Reunion''.
* EverythingsEvenWorseWithSharks: All of the kids can morph to hammerhead shark, following the mission in Book #15.
* FirstNameBasis: The kids do not reveal their last names (and as Marco notes, he won't even swear to you that "Marco" is his first name). In the last book, Jake (and possibly Rachel)'s last names are revealed.
* GiantSquid: The whole team morphs one, but Rachel gets it as her cover morph in ''The Exposed''.
* HeroicDolphin: The whole team (except for Ax) can morph dolphin, and tend to use it as their preferred water morph. It's also Cassie's first cover morph, seen in ''The Message''.
* IJustWantToBeNormal: Pretty much all of them with the exception of Rachel. And even she gets tired of the whole thing sometimes.
* PantheraAwesome: They all acquired jaguars in Book #11, only to lose them upon the end of the ''Sario Rip'' effect. It is Jake's cover morph in that book.
* RodentsOfUnusualSize: The team, morph beavers in ''The Resistance''. It's Jake's cover morph for that book.
* ShapeShifter: They can become any animal they have touched.
** VoluntaryShapeShifting: Not only in the process voluntary, but they all had to agree to accept Elfangor's gift of it in the first place.
* StrongAnts: The Animorphs turned into ants for the first time in ''The Predator'' to steal Yeerk tech for Ax. It was unpleasant then, and on pretty much every later occasion they tried to use the morph. (It's also Marco's cover morph on ''The Revelation''.)
* WakeUpGoToSchoolSaveTheWorld: Deconstructed. It stops being an issue after #25, when Erek gets the idea to have the Chee use their holograms to impersonate them at home and school whenever a mission looks like it'll take longer than their usual after school and weekend hours.
* WiseBeyondTheirYears: They are far more resourceful and intelligent then kids their age have any right to be. Particularly notable with Jake, who runs the whole war effort, and Cassie, who has performed brain surgery, but true for all of them.

!Jake
[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/anjake_3721.gif]]

->''Jake is one of those people who are natural leaders. If you were ever trapped in a burning building, you would turn to Jake and ask "What do we do?" And he would have an answer, too.''

"Big Jake, Fearless Leader" of the Animorphs; not because he wanted to be, but because his friends look to him for guidance. While saving the world is nice, what he really wants most is to save his brother Tom, [[PuppeteerParasite a Controller]]. Known as an open and friendly guy at the beginning of the series, the constant pressures of having to act as leader and manipulate his friends for strategic ends gradually cause him to become more ruthless.

* AchillesInHisTent: For a short time in ''The Ultimate'' [[spoiler:after failing to keep his parents from getting infested.]]
* TheAllAmericanBoy: At least at first.
* AlternateSelf: In the third Megamorphs book, an alternate Jake is seen having grown up in a totalitarian society. He's a junior Nazi and wannabe dictator.
* {{Animorphism}}: He prefers a tiger.
* BadassInCharge: Not at first, but over the course of the series he grows into one. [[spoiler:At one point it's stated he's only one Visser Three actually fears.]]
* BigBrotherWorship: Made explicit in the first book towards his older brother Tom. Naturally, the news that Tom's a Controller is what convinces Jake he has to fight.
* BigFriendlyDog: Jake's first morph is his pet golden retriever, Homer. Homer later appears as Jake's cover morph in ''The Threat''.
* CainAndAbel: Played with. Jake and his older brother Tom are enemies, but it's not Tom's fault.
* TheCallKnowsWhereYouLive: Jake didn't get really determined to fight the Yeerks until he found out about his brother being a Controller.
* CannotTellAJoke: Jake can snark with the best of them, but when it comes to telling outright jokes, he inevitably summons the crickets. Even Ax, at one point, gets a big laugh just by repeating a joke that Jake had told earlier. Nobody laughed the first time.
* TheChainsOfCommanding: Jake constantly feels the pressure of being in charge, and allows it to slowly consume his life.
* TheChessmaster: As the series reaches it's climax, Jake resorts to increasingly more amoral actions to win the war.
* ComesGreatResponsibility: "Power enough to win? No. Power enough to fight? Ah, yes. Just enough, little Jake, here is just enough power to imprison you in a cage of duty, to make you fight."
* DidYouJustScamCthulhu: Magnificently played out in ''The Attack''. [[spoiler:He manipulates the collective memory of the Howlers to force Crayak into eliminating them.]]
* DontCallMeSir / TheyCallMeMisterTibbs: A RunningGag between him and Ax.
* DontYouDarePityMe: Jake does not want your sympathy, just your loyalty.
* DreamingOfThingsToCome: In ''The Capture''.
%%* TheDutifulSon
* TheEveryman: During his first three books. ''The Warning'' was the first book to really flesh Jake out.
* [[spoiler:FallenHero]]: After the war, he [[spoiler:is clearly suffering from some flavor of PTSD]].
* FightingFromTheInside: In ''The Capture'' Jake becomes a Controller. He never stops fighting the Yeerk in his head.
* FlyCrazy: This is his cover morph in ''The Capture''. [[spoiler:In ''The Warning'' he almost dies after being swatted as one.]]
* FragileSpeedster: His flight morph, a peregrine falcon. It's not a BigBadassBirdOfPrey, but it's by far the fastest bird any of them have. It's his cover morph in ''The Conspiracy''.
* FutureBadass: In the BadFuture of ''The Familiar'', Jake is a huge [[spoiler:good]] guy who looks like he's worked out since adolescence.
* GeniusBruiser: A GuileHero and {{chessmaster}} who can become a Siberian tiger? That'll qualify you.
* GoodIsNotNice: Not after three years of leading a guerilla army, anyway.
* GotVolunteered: This is how he became TheLeader of the Animorphs.
* GuileHero: Jake runs an entire war against a vast alien empire using nothing more then his brains, and six kids (himself included) who can turn into animals
* TheHero: Jake is the only character with preexisting ties to each of the other Animorphs and since he is one of those people who are natural leaders it only made sense.
* HeroicBSOD: In ''The Ultimate''. Then post-war in ''The Beginning''; he goes through years of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
* HonorBeforeReason: In ''The Threat''.
* HumbleHero: Jake's opinion of himself does not match those of his companions.
* IHaveManyNames: A complete list of Jake's nicknames: [[AffectionateNickname Big Jake]], [[TheMagnificent Fearless Leader]], [[TheAdjectivalSuperhero Jake the Mighty]], [[RunningGag Prince Jake]], [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Jake the Yeerk-Killer]] (sometimes Big Jake the Yeerk-Killer, used mockingly), [[UnwittingPawn Jake the Ellimist's Tool]], and (in the alternate timeline from ''Megamorphs #03'') [[TheNeidermeyer Supreme Leader]]
* IJustWantToBeNormal: Perhaps even more than the other Animorphs other than Cassie; frankly, he just wants to go back to having a normal family life.
* InformedJudaism: Jake's father is identified at one point as Jewish, but it never figures into the overall story.
* ItsAllMyFault: As the team's leader, Jake blames himself often.
* TheJuggernaut: Not as frequently as Rachel, but Jake's rhinoceros morph is horrifyingly impossible to stop once it gets going. In Book #16, Jake uses it to ruin an entire armed compound, brushing off shotgun pellets, handgun rounds, electric fences, steel-reinforced doors, and entire walls as nothing.
%%* TheKirk
* TheLeader: Type II meets Type IV. Jake was put in charge because he is the best choice, but can and will use his charisma to force others into seeing things his way.
* LargeAndInCharge: A minor example. According to most characters and artwork Jake is tall and has a football player's stocky build. [[spoiler:In ''The Familiar'', adult Jake is stated to have a Schwarzenegger-esque build and a body a Yeerk would 'give three ranks for'.]]
* LovableJock: Like Tom he seems quite enthusiastic about basketball, though he apparently wasn't good enough to make the team.
* LightningBruiser: His tiger and orca whale morphs.
* LivingWithTheVillain: His brother is infested by a high-ranking Yeerk.
%%* [[spoiler:MyGodWhatHaveIDone]]
* ManipulativeBastard: Not at first, but as the series goes on Jake slowly evolves into one.
* MilitaryBrat: Neither of Jake's parents are military, but his great-grandfather fought in WorldWarII and he has a relative who fought in the [[TheAmericanCivilWar Civil War]].
* MyGreatestFailure: He feels this way about the David incident [[spoiler:and [[SuicideMission sending Rachel to die]].]]
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Jake makes some pretty epic screw-ups in ''The Threat''.
* [[spoiler:OutOfCharacterAlert: Jake gets his head dunked in a yeerk tank in one book, and the rest of the Animorphs worry that he might have become infested (he is). The yeerk is able to emulate his speech patterns and mannerisms perfectly, which terrifies Jake. But when the others suggest isolating and watching him for 3 days to be sure, he tries to talk them out of it. They realize that if Jake were himself, he'd have no problem with taking this measure.]]
* PantheraAwesome: Siberian tiger, his favorite morph.
* RecurringDreams: At the end of ''The Capture'' Jake sees a distubing vision of a big red eye that gives him nightmares for the next ''twenty books''. It's finally revealed in ''The Attack'' that the Big Red Eye is in fact [[spoiler:Crayak, the Ellimist's opposite number]].
%%* ReluctantRuler
* ReptilesAreAbhorrent: One of Jake's first morphs was a green anole lizard. The experience he had with it seems to have scared him off reptile morphs in general. The only other reptiles he ever morphs are the Tyrannosaurus Rex in ''Megamorphs #02'' and an anaconda in ''The Answer''
* ReunionKiss: After twenty-six books, Jake's first kiss with Cassie ends up being this.
* RhinoRampage: His secondary battle morph is a rhinoceros, which he acquired in ''The Warning'' (where it's the cover morph) and uses for breaking down walls.
* RimeOfTheAncientMariner: Marco draws this analogy in the final Animorphs book, comparing Jake's survivor guilt to "the Ancient Mariner and his albatross"
* ScaledUp: His final book, ''The Answer'', sees him morphing an anaconda on the cover. [[spoiler:He uses it to convince the Taxxons to turn on their Yeerk overlord and go nothlit.]]
* [[spoiler:ShellShockedVeteran]]: In the final book especially, but even before that.
* [[SignatureMove Signature Morph]]: Siberian Tiger. His standard bird morph is the Peregrine Falcon.
* SnubByOmission: Done to Cassie accidentally in ''The Answer''. Perhaps justified, given her recent actions.
%%* [[spoiler:SurvivorGuilt]]
%%* TeamDad
* ThatsAnOrder: Jake doesn't assert his authority often over the others, but when he does they ''know'' it's time to listen.
%%* [[spoiler:TragicHero]]
* [[spoiler:VeteranInstructor: After the war ends, Jake works training a squadron of morphers for the US military.]]
* VetinariJobSecurity: In ''The Weakness'' Jake goes out of town for a week and [[BloodKnight Rachel]] becomes leader in his absence. The consequences aren't pretty.
* WarriorPrince: Sort of. Though not a prince in the royal sense, Ax considers Jake to be his prince and by the end even other Andalites acknowledge Jake by that rank.
* TheWorfEffect: [[spoiler:David]] subjects him to this in ''The Threat''.
* WorthyOpponent: Visser Three eventually came to regard him this way, complimenting his tiger morph on more than one occasion.
%%* YoungAndInCharge
%%* YoungConqueror


!Rachel
[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/anrachel_1627.gif]]

->''I should have never suggested to Rachel that she's weak or helpless. Rachel may look like Little Miss Teen Model or whatever, but she thinks she's Storm from the ComicBook/{{X-men}}.''

The beautiful and bold cousin of Jake. She looks like a teen fashion model, but is no [[DumbBlonde ditz]]. Don't make the mistake of calling her one, either. She would love an excuse to send you flying through a wall. Unlike the others, Rachel loves the thrill and adrenaline surge of combat, and she becomes more and more unstable as the series progresses. Not helping is the fact that her friends, particularly Jake, implicitly encourage this by using her for her "unique talents".

* ActionFashionista: Obsessed with fashion, and looking good. Will clobber you nevertheless.
* ActionGirl: Awesomely so. Has some character traits of the DarkActionGirl, but not to a serious degree.
** ActionGirlfriend: To Tobias.
* {{Animorphism}}: She uses an elephant at first, then switches to a grizzly bear after a few books.
* AttackAttackAttack: Unsurprisingly, this is her battle strategy when she temporarily becomes leader of the Animorphs in ''The Weakness''
* {{Badass}}
** BadassNormal: In Megamorphs #04; even without morphing powers, Rachel still kicks ass.
** BadassBoast: From the last book, no less. Counts as Rachel's most triumphant moment for many fans of the series, and perfectly captures the [[ActionGirl best]] and [[SociopathicSoldier worst]] of what she's become in a single moment.
--> < Well? > I said.
--> No one moved.
--> < Scared? > I asked.
--> No answer.
--> < You should be, > I said, almost laughing.
* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: Outside of battle, according to the others. Averted in battle -- she is just as likely to get hurt as the guys.
* BearsAreBadNews: Grizzly bear is her signature morph. She's so attached to it that the suggestion polar bears are tougher personally offends her.
* TheBerserker: Rachel becomes absolutely ballistic in combat. This becomes more and more of a problem as the series progresses.
* BigBadassBirdOfPrey: Her avian morph is a bald eagle. It's the second-largest bird any of them have.
* TheBigGuy: Jake: "I think in a bad fight, I'd rather have you with me than anyone else." Both Rachel's morphs of choice, and her brutality make her well-suited to this role. As the series goes on, she starts trending more and more towards becoming TheBrute.
* [[BlondesAreEvil Blondes Are Violent]]: She does grow to enjoy the fighting way too much.
* BloodKnight: Tries not to fall into this, but fails more and more as the series goes on, ending in [[spoiler:HeroicSacrifice]].
%%* BulletProofFashionPlate
* CatchPhrase: "Let's do it!" [[LampshadedTrope Lampshaded]] by Marco rather frequently.
* ChallengingTheChief: Her and Jake butt heads a few times. Crayak uses this to try to persuade her to kill Jake, [[spoiler:without success.]]
* CombatPragmatist: [[LampshadedTrope Lampshaded]]: In one of the early books Marco challenges her to an arm-wrestling match. She promptly kicks him under the table and laughs.
* CoolCat: Her first cover morph is Fluffer Mckitty, her best friend Melissa's pet cat.
* CuteBruiser: Blonde beauty in her regular form. Elephant or grizzly bear when fighting.
* DirtForcefield: This is a bit of a RunningGag between her and Cassie.
%%* [[spoiler:DoNotGoGentle]]
%%* [[spoiler:DyingMomentOfAwesome]]:
* EnemyWithin: The crocodile morph in ''The Reunion'' which takes over her thinking at the most inconvenient times.
* EnemyWithout: The crocodile in ''The Reunion'' becomes this after being expelled from her body. In ''The Separation'' Rachel is split between good and evil leading to...
* EvilMeScaresMe: Nice Rachel of Mean Rachel, and it sticks with Rachel in general long after that book.
%%* TheFashionista
* FragileSpeedster: In ''The Weakness'' her and the rest of the team morph cheetahs. It's her cover morph for that book.
* {{Futureshadowing}}: [[spoiler:In ''The Familiar'' Rachel is crippled, horribly scarred, and unable to morph. It's implied Jake is responsible.]]
* GirlyBruiser: She's by far the most dangerous of the human Animorphs, yet she loves nice clothes and wears a lot of pink.
* GoodGirlGoneBad: From straight a student to SociopathicSoldier.
* GrievousHarmWithABody: She's been known to use her ''own severed limbs'' as weapons in battle if need be.
* HairTriggerTemper: She's implied to have one even before the series began but truly develops a rather violent one over the course of the war.
%%* InHarmsWay
%%* HelplessGoodSide: Nice Rachel from ''The Separation''.
%%* HeroWithAnFInGood
* InformedJudaism: Rachel, like Jake, is Jewish (or at least her father is), but it doesn't play into her story much either.
* TheJuggernaut: Rachel's elephant morph is generally described in these terms, plowing over anybody and anything that tries to get in her way. While all of the others also do either elephant or rhinoceros, Rachel is the only one who regularly uses it, to the point where it's her secondary battlemorph. In ''The Reaction'' her crocodile morph is described in similar terms, and the real crocodile, once turned loose, lives up to it, taking down Rachel's grizzly bear and most of a TV station before being stopped by Ax.
* JumpedAtTheCall: It's often said that she is the only one in the group that actually enjoys fighting the Yeerks. However, in rare moments even Rachel has expressed her desire to be a just [[IJustWantToBeNormal a regular girl]] rather than [[BloodKnight the warrior]] her friends see her as. The difference is that while the others want to be normal because war sucks, ''Rachel'' wants to be normal because she ''enjoys'' fighting in the war too much and recognizes that that isn't good.
* KickTheDog: In ''The Sacrifice'', Rachel tries [[spoiler:running down the mild-mannered Captain Olston with a convoy. Fortunately, she's stopped by Ax, but it's a close thing, and a chilling reminder of [[SociopathicSoldier what she's become]].]]
* LaserGuidedAmnesia: She suffers from this in the first Megamorphs book.
* LifeOrLimbDecision: Forced to make one in ''The Solution''. [[spoiler:She chews through her own tail to escape being locked in the cage with David.]]
* LightningBruiser: As many Yeerks have discovered, an African elephant can ''move''. So can her bald eagle. Ditto for the sperm whale and orca.
* LovableAlphaBitch: Althought there are times when the lovable part could be questioned. [[spoiler:Ask David.]]
* TheMagnificent: "XenaWarriorPrincess."
* MightyGlacier: Rachel's grizzly bear is this, at least when compared to Jake's tiger or Cassie's wolf. In actuality it's still fast, just not ''that'' fast. The crocodile is described as such both physically and mentally. "The crocodile mind didn't rush at you. It was slow. So slow. But slow in the way that a supertanker may be moving slowly, but still be impossible to stop."
* MoreDeadlyThanTheMale: Rachel is the single most physically dangerous member of the team by a long stretch, and ties with Marco for ruthlessness.
* MyFutureSelfAndMe: In ''The Stranger'' Rachel meets her counterpart from a BadFuture. [[spoiler:She's a Controller.]]
* NearRapeExperience: In her very first narrated book, no less. Naturally, the creep ends up running for his life.
* NeverSayDie: Pointedly averted in ''The Solution''.
* NeverSmileAtACrocodile: Rachel morphs one in ''The Reaction'', and develops a severe allergic reaction to it, which causes her to lose control of her morphing. [[spoiler:Half the team ends up having to fight the thing at the end after she expels the fully grown, twenty foot killing machine from her body.]]
* OneOfTheBoys: Her father tells her mother in ''The Stranger'' that Rachel is as good as a son because she's a tough as a boy. They go hiking, watch ball games and go to gymnastic events together. [[DoubleSubversion Double subverted]], though, since Rachel is ''also'' characterized as TheFashionista who insists on hiding outfits (not clothes, ''outfits'') in Cassie's barn just because she wants to look immaculate at all times.
* OneManArmy: All the kids can do this, but Rachel is a special case, especially in the later books.
* PsychoSidekick: Arguably to Jake
* RecurringDreams: Like Jake, she's afflicted with recurring dreams, though in her case they're [[spoiler:nightmares of rats brought on from what she had to do during the David Trilogy]].
* SheFu: Pulled off in ''The Solution'' and ''Megamorphs #04''. Justified, since she's a gymnast.
* [[SignatureMove Signature Morph]]: Rachel has two of them, African Elephant and Grizzly Bear, depending on the situation. Her standard bird morph is the Bald Eagle.
* SmarterThanYouLook: Rachel looks like a DumbBlonde, but is a straight A student.
* [[spoiler:SociopathicSoldier]]: Type II meets IV, courtesy of shell shock and an adrenaline addiction.
%%* StarfishCharacter: In ''The Separation''.
* StrangerInAFamiliarLand: In her last book, Rachel notes that she feels like a stranger in her own school.
* SuperpoweredEvilSide: It's her cover morph in ''The Return''.
** Mean Rachel from ''The Separation'' also qualifies.
* SuperPowerMeltdown: In ''The Reaction''. Her [[spoiler:crocodile allergy starts causing her to morph any time she's under emotional pressure]].
* ThroughTheEyesOfMadness: In her final book, ''The Return''.
* TokenEvilTeammate: She admits as much herself: "They needed me to be the bad guy. And I needed them to be the good guys."
* [[spoiler: VasquezAlwaysDies]]
* ViolentlyProtectiveGirlFriend: As Taylor finds out the hard way.
* [[WarElephants War Elephant]]: Her first morph is an elephant and it sees regular use in battle until she swaps it in favor of the grizzly bear. Even then, she still uses it when the situation requires, in her words "truck style power."
%%* {{Xenafication}}: In-universe!
* YouDirtyRat: A heroic example. She and Cassie morph rats in ''The Secret'' and it's her cover morph in ''The Solution''.

!Tobias
[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/antobias_7266.gif]]

->''He was a sweet, poetic kind of guy. The kind bullies love to pick on. He used to have messy, out-of-control hair and dreamy eyes that always seemed to be looking at something no one else could see. Used to... Now he has fierce, angry eyes that look through you like laser beams.''

The quiet and thoughtful loner. Neglected at home and bullied at school, the morphing ability provided him with an escape. Finding freedom as a red-tailed hawk, he soon broke the two hour limit and trapped himself in the bird body for keeps (he later regains his morphing ability, but with the hawk as his normal form). As you'd expect, flying aside, living as a hawk is not always fun, and the harsh realities of living as a part of nature (such as starving when hunting is bad and having to fight for territory) are piled on top of Tobias' increasing inability to function as a human ''and'' the fact that he's a major component of Earth's defense.

* AirborneAircraftCarrier: Interestingly, he serves as a living version of this on more than one occasion, carrying the rest of the team to and from missions when they're in bug morph.

* BadassBookworm: It's mentioned that he spends some of his time reading books over people's shoulders.
* BigBadassBirdOfPrey: Red-tailed hawk, the morph he is stuck in.
* BigCreepyCrawlies: Taxxons. Invoked because Tobias has dubious honor of morphing one in ''The Test''
* BodyDouble: In ''The Illusion'' Tobias acquires and morphs Ax to convince the Yeerks he's an Andalite.
* BullyHunter: Seen most notably in ''The Android'', where he's more than happy to give a few bullies chasing Erek a talon haircut.
* ButterflyOfDoom: [[spoiler:Tobias killed the dinosaurs. No, ''really''.]]
%%* ChangelingFantasy
* TheChick: A lot of debate on this one.
%%* [[spoiler:DaddyHadAGoodReasonForAbandoningYou]]
* DarkAndTroubledPast: While nobody really talks about it in-universe, there's some question about whether on some unconscious level he allowed himself to be trapped in morph on purpose because his life was so miserable. Reliving that moment while plugged into a Yeerk torture device, Tobias admits that even he isn't sure.
* DeathFromAbove: To small mammals and Yeerks.
* DrivesLikeCrazy: He's an even worse driver than Marco. This is to be expected, though.
* DogWalksYou: Unintentionally evoked by Tobias in his last book, ''The Diversion''. He has to morph Champ, his mother's seeing-eye dog, to rescue her.
* DoubleConsciousness: As a ''nothlit'', he is permanently stuck with the minds of a boy and a hawk in his head.
* FanNickname: Emohawk
* FantasticRacism: Tobias does ''not'' like Golden Eagles. He also refers to seagulls and pigeons as "rats with wings".
** He actually gets called out on this by David of all people. Cassie is quick to point out that "racist" doesn't really apply in this situation... but to be fair, David just said what most of the readers we're probably thinking.
* FlowersForAlgernonSyndrome: [[spoiler:Subverted in that he kept his new ability, but still chose to remain a hawk most of the time.]]
%%* FriendlessBackground
* FutureBadass: In ''The Familiar'', Tobias has trapped himself in Ax's morph permanently and is ten years older, giving him the appearance of the second coming of Elfangor. He is also the hidden mastermind behind the EF.
* [[spoiler:GenocideDilemma: In the climax of Megamorphs #02.]]
* GoForTheEye: Seeing as how he fights most battles in his hawk form, this is one of his favored tactics.
* HairRaisingHare: Tobias morphs a rabbit in ''The Pretender'' to experience what it feels like to be prey.
* HalfHumanHybrid: [[spoiler:In more ways than one.]]
* {{Herald}}: In two senses. He's the one who pushes Jake into accepting what they saw was real, and he's also the Ellimist's favored Animorph.
* HeroicSafeMode: He resorts to this in ''The Illusion'' to keep from going insane from being tortured.
%%* [[spoiler:HumanMomNonHumanDad]]
* TheHeart: He shares this role with Cassie.
* IDidWhatIHadToDo: He hauls this one out in the second Megamorphs book after [[spoiler:arranging the extinction of the dinosaurs.]]
* IJustWantToBeNormal: Complicated by the fact that there is much evidence that Tobias prefers being a hawk. This doesn't stop the angst though. [[spoiler: In ''The Change'', after spending an extended time trapped as a hawk, he finds himself wishing to be human again. Yet when he gets his morphing ability back, he chooses to remain a hawk rather than to become human and lose the ability to morph.]]
* ItsPersonal: With Taylor after she captures and tortures him.
* JumpedAtTheCall: Even more so than Rachel. He was the first of the Animorphs to try morphing, and pretty much dragooned Jake into admitting it was real.
* LukeIAmYourFather: [[spoiler: He is Elfangor's son.]]
* TheMessiah: The free Hork-Bajir see him as one.
* MyFutureSelfAndMe: Exploited by the Ellimist to [[spoiler:allow Tobias to acquire his human self as a morph]].
* NonHumanSidekick: Sort of. He ended up playing this role in the games straight, though.
* NonSequiturThud: In ''The Discovery'' Tobias accidentally knocks himself silly against David's window and starts rambling about ''Clue''.
* NumberTwo: Jake appoints him leader of the Marco/Tobias/Ax sub-team, which ended up carrying the end of the war.
* [[spoiler:OmnicidalManiac: In Megamorphs #02, as seen below. Probably the weirdest example of that trope in history.]]
* OutOfCharacterMoment: Infamously done in ''Megamorphs #02'', to the point of most fans treating that book as FanonDiscontinuity.
* [[spoiler:NotQuiteBackToNormal]]
* ParentalAbandonment: His real parents ditched him when he was young and he ended up having to live with in-laws, shuttled between an aunt and an uncle, neither of whom really wanted him.
** Leading to DaddyHadAGoodReasonForAbandoningYou in later books.
* PredatorsAreMean: Subverted - Tobias regularly kills and eats small animals to survive, but he's actually one of the kinder, gentler members of the team.
* TheQuietOne: Only talks when he thinks it is important.
* RedPillBluePill: In ''The Change'', the Ellimist gives Tobias the chance to turn back into a human, but only if he gives up his morphing power and abandons the fight against the Yeerks.
* ShapeshifterDefaultForm: [[spoiler: The red-tailed hawk became his natural form after he regained the morphing ability.]]
* ShapeshifterModeLock: Tobias is trapped as a hawk from books 1-13.
* TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou: Tobias feels this way when it comes to [[TortureTechnician Taylor]]. In ''The Test'' he's obsessed with proving that he is stronger than her, and refuses to allow anyone else to kill or restrain her.
* TheSmartGuy: Jake's "go-to" guy, as his "personal Air Force," who acts as the team scout before they go out on a mission will know what they can expect.
* TheSneakyGuy: He's the guy that scouts areas from above, tracks people down etc. For awhile, it was because [[ModeLock that was all he could do]] but even after ''The Change'' this still remains his primary role.
* TheStoic: Not really, but in his human form he comes across as such. He's been a hawk so long he forgets to make facial expressions, you see.
* [[SignatureMove Signature Morph]]: Red-Tailed Hawk, his default form. Which makes you wonder if the kid has a bit of a death wish sometimes, seeing as how he takes on hordes of deadly enemies armed with ray guns as nothing but a bird.
* StockholmSyndrome: Courtesy of Taylor. See below for more on her.
* SuperSenses: As a hawk he has amazing sight and hearing.
* TheChosenOne: The Ellimist flat-out tells him as such in ''The Change''. [[spoiler:Strangely, it never really seems to go anywhere.]]
* UnableToCry: And it ends up ''saving his life''. Definitely a case of BlessedWithSuck.
** [[spoiler: To elaborate: Tobias spent so long as a hawk that when he's human he forgets to make ''facial expressions'', let alone cry. This saved him when he learns in human form that Elfangor is his father. He was able to keep a blank face and pretend that he thinks it's all bullshit from a crazy man.]]
* WarElephants: Acquires the same elephant morph as Rachel in Book #22.
* [[WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes Why Did It Have To Be Water?]]: He hates water missions. It's a bird thing.
* YankTheDogsChain: [[spoiler:In ''The Pretender'', the woman who was going to be Tobias's new family turns out to be Visser Three in a morph.]]

!Cassie
[[quoteright:257:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ancassie_6592.gif]]

->''If you want to picture Cassie, think of a short, cute girl with very short black hair, wearing overalls and big muddy boots and looking totally capable of giving a tetanus shot to an angry bear.''

The kind and compassionate member of the group, a young animal lover who helps her parents at their Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic. She often serves as the group's "moral compass". Initially a moral absolutist, the things she's forced to do cause her to re-evaluate her ethics.

* ActionGirl: Not to the degree [[BloodKnight Rachel]] is, but she's still a more than competent fighter.
* AllUpToYou: In ''The Sickness''.
* {{Animorphism}}: She's the best morpher in the series by a massive margin, and is capable of controlling the process when she needs to.
* BadLiar: It isn't that Cassie gives herself away when she tries to lie or fast talk, it's more that she just can't think of anything to say. (For example, when asked to give her phone number, she said it was 12345678.) This is usually played for laughs by stacking her up against Marco.
* BeatThemAtTheirOwnGame: In ''The Solution'' Cassie is the one who comes up with the plan to use manipulation and trickery to defeat [[spoiler:David]].
* BeautifulAllAlong: Invoked in one of her books. Rachel gets her to dress up in designer clothes and suddenly guys everywhere are noticing her.
* BewareTheNiceOnes: Cassie is the nicest person on the team, hands down. She's also a master manipulator, and can come up with plans every bit as brutal as those of Marco or Rachel if the situation calls for it.
* BigBadassWolf: Her main battle morph. It's her cover morph in ''The Secret''.
* BlackBestFriend: To Rachel at the beginning of the series.
* BodyHorror: Notably averted - Cassie is an ''estreen'', meaning that she can control the way she morphs. The only other character seen with this ability is the Andalite prodigy Estrid.
* BornWinner: Unlike the rest of the team, Cassie's contributions to the team are qualities she was born with rather than skills she had to learn. See SuperpowerLottery below.
* BourgeoisBohemian: She's very idealistic and comes from a decidedly upper middle class background.
* [[spoiler:CantStayNormal: She is a temporal anomaly - see the main page for a better description.]]
* ColorMeBlack: Inverted in ''Elfangor's Secret'' - confronted with a racist in 1934's Princeton University, Cassie opts to turn herself white. Namely, [[{{Animorphism}} into a polar bear]].
* TheFace: Neither fighting nor scouting etc is her speciality. Her domain is being TheEmpath.
** TheChick: arguably the most tradtionally feminine since Rachel is a BloodKnight.
** TheHeart: The "moral compass" of the group. [[DeconstructedTrope Deconstructed]] in later books -- her natural empathy may torture her, but her insight into the feelings and motivations of others allows her to become the most successfully [[ManipulativeBastard manipulative]] Animorph.
** TheConscience: Cassie is Rachel and Jake's conscience. Marco more or less ignores her.
* FarmersDaughter: Maybe. It's not clear if either of her parents were farmers before becoming vets, or if they still are, but she lives on a farm.
* ForgotICouldFly: Infamously done with her alternate counterpart in ''The Familiar''.
* FragileSpeedster: Cassie's wolf battlemorph is this when contrasted with Jake's [[LightningBruiser tiger]] and Rachel's [[MightyGlacier grizzly bear]].
* FriendToAllLivingThings: Including, in at least one case, a Yeerk.
* FutureBadass: Subverted - In ''The Familiar'' she's a capable and dangerous EF agent, but [[spoiler:it's not really her - she's been infested by a Yeerk.]]
%%* GambitRoulette
%%* GirlNextDoor
* [[spoiler:HappilyEverAfter: She's the only Animorph spared by the BolivianArmyEnding.]]
%%* HeroicBSOD: In ''The Departure''.
* HornAttack: In ''[[{{BizarroEpisode}} The Hidden]]'' Cassie morphs an African cape buffalo [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast aptly dubbed]] Aka the Widow-Maker. It's her cover morph for that book.
* HyperAwareness: This is presented as the ostensible explanation for her near-superhuman ability to predict what people will do.
* IdentityImpersonator: In ''The Reaction'' Cassie acquires and morphs Rachel to throw a suspicious Yeerk off her trail.
* IJustKnew: This is how she answers Jake when her ultimate GambitRoulette comes together.
%%* IJustWantToBeNormal
* IncorruptiblePurePureness: She's really the only main character who never changes or grows in any way.
* InHarmonyWithNature: Subverted in ''The Secret'' but played depressingly straight in ''The Message''.
* KangaroosRepresentAustralia: Presumably the reason why ''The Unexpected'' exists.
* LightningBruiser: Her Cape Buffalo morph. Like Rachel, Tobias, and Ax, she can also do African elephant, and she possesses the orca morph that the entire team can do.
* LivingWeapon: Cassie's plan to get rid of the Helmacrons in ''The Suspicion'' is to acquire and morph anteaters, the one animal in the world specially designed to see, attack, and destroy creatures like them. It works.
* ALoadOfBull: Her African Cape Buffalo morph.
* [[ManipulativeBastard Manipulative Bitch]]: She's the most compassionate, but she also gets people very well, which means that she can manipulate people if she feels like she has to--and given the circumstances she's put in, this naturally comes up. [[spoiler:Just ask David.]]
%%* TheMessiah
* MoralityPet: She becomes this to [[spoiler:Aftran]].
%%* NatureLover
* NuttySquirrel: Cassie's the first Animorph to acquire a squirrel, as seen in ''The Message''. Eventually the rest of the team follow in ''The Proposal''.
* OmniscientMoralityLicense: No matter what reckless action Cassie takes, no matter how badly she puts her friends in danger, the narrative ''always'' ends up proving her right. See ''The Departure'', ''The Experiment'', ''The Test'' and ''The Answer'' for the best examples.
%%* OutdoorsyGal
* TheOwlKnowingOne: Her last cover morph, seen in ''The Ultimate'', is a great horned owl. Ironically, she acquires this morph pretty early in the series.
* PrettyButterflies: Subverted in ''The Departure''. It's her cover morph for that book.
* PuppeteerParasite: In ''The Sickness'' Cassie becomes the only Animorph to ever morph a Yeerk.
%%* RealWomenDontWearDresses
%%* ReluctantWarrior
* [[spoiler:RippleEffectProofMemory: In ''Back to Before'', Cassie is explicitly stated to be a temporal anomaly who has this ability by default. She is vaguely aware of the true timeline via dreams and bad feelings in the ItsAWonderfulPlot alternate universe.]]
* TheSmartGuy: Her parents are both vets, so she knows a lot about animals.
* SapientCetaceans: She morphs one, a humpback whale, in ''The Andalite's Gift''. It sees fairly regular use in later books.
* SapientSteed: Her first morph is a horse. In ''The Unknown'', she becomes a literal sapient steed for a jockey thinking he's riding a famous racehorse.
* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: In ''The Departure''.
* SharingABody: With Aldrea in ''The Prophecy''.
* SkilledButNaive: Possibly the most professionally talented member of the group (see TeenGenius below) but her uncompromising sense of morality hinders her usefulness to the team.
* [[SignatureMove Signature Morph]]: Wolf, a morph she acquires early in the series with the rest of the team and keeps using long after she's acquired far more deadly animals. Her standard bird morph, like Marco's, is an Osprey.
* SmellySkunk: Obtains this morph in ''The Secret''. Visser Three finds out not to mess with one the hard way.
%%* SoapBoxSadie
* SuperpowerLottery: As if being an estreen wasn't enough, [[spoiler:''Back to Before'' comes along and suddenly Cassie's a temporal anomaly, a virtual superhero whose very presence undoes the [[RealityWarper meddling]] of [[WildCard The Drode]].]] Amusingly, the Drode himself lampshades this when he angrily accuses the Ellimist of '[[FixingTheGame stacking the deck]]' by including her on the team.
%%* TeamMom
%%* TechnicalPacifist
* TeenGenius: Perhaps the only teen in all of history to successfully perform ''brain surgery''.
* TermiteTrouble: Cassie's HeroicBSOD in ''The Secret'' happens because she's forced to kill a termite queen.
* TheExtremistWasRight: In the last few books, when she [[spoiler:allows Tom to escape with the morphing cube. Her rationale was a 'gut feeling' that experiencing the morphing power for themselves would cause the Yeerks to break ranks. Though she was ultimately proven right, her choice caused a few major hiccups in the war as well as severing her trust with Jake. It was also a major GambitRoulette, and if it hadn't worked Cassie would have single-handedly been responsible for losing the war.]]
* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: With Rachel, but which is which depends on the situation.
* UnresolvedSexualTension: With Jake at the start of the series.
* WarElephants: She, Ax, and Tobias acquire the same elephant morph as Rachel in Book #22.

!Marco
[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/anmarco_4572.gif]]

->''Marco thinks the whole world is just a setup for a joke. Marco will tell a joke while he's bleeding and terrified and in pain. But there are times when his eyes lose their skeptical expression and grow glittery and dangerous.''

Jake's best bud since infancy, the comedian of the group, as well as most cynical, ruthless and practical. He was against fighting the Yeerks at the beginning, but soon changed his resolve when it became personal. Described as a "paranoid nutcase" with a "Hamlet complex", Marco's knack for strategic and critical thinking was instrumental when it came to missions and the security for the group, but his tendency to hold efficiency and pragmatism above all else would cause him to have personal conflicts.

* AffectionateNickname: Often calls Rachel "''XenaWarriorPrincess.''"
* {{Animorphism}}: Generally goes with a gorilla. Also notable as the one who came up with the name "Animorph."
* BadassLonghair: Marco's hair hangs down to his shoulders in the first few books. He cuts it short in book #10.
* BearsAreBadNews: In the alternate timeline of ''Megamorphs #03'', Marco uses Rachel's grizzly bear as his favored battle morph. Like all the kids, he can do polar bear.
* BrilliantButLazy: Marco is frequently stated to make poor grades in school and barely scrape by, which is ironic given how he is arguably the most clever Animorph.
%%* CasanovaWannabe
%%* TheCallKnowsWhereYouLive
* CatchPhrase: "Are you insane!?" and variants thereof.
%%* ClassClown
* CommanderContrarian: For good reason. Marco deliberately points out flaws in plans so that they can be eliminated or at least acknowledged before they go into action, making the plan as good as is reasonably possible.
* TheConsigliere: Marco is too cautious to be a good leader, but seems to naturally step into the role of number two to whoever happens to be in charge at the moment, giving them a foil to bounce off of and work things out with. Jake and Tobias seem to take this pretty well. Rachel... not so much.
* ConsummateLiar: The best liar on the team, capable of fooling Visser One herself.
%%* CoolLoser
* TheCynic: Marco's view of life is jaded at best.
* DarkAndTroubledPast: Had an idyllic childhood until the sudden disappearance of his mother caused his family to break down, making him much more cynical and scornful of idealistic beliefs, regarding expedience and pragmatism as of prime importance.
%%* DeadpanSnarker
* DevilsAdvocate: Tends to present this view when the group debates something, acting as a foil for Cassie's more idealistic leanings.
%%* DontYouDarePityMe
* TheDragAlong: At first, until he has a reason to fight.
* DrivesLikeCrazy: A RunningGag.
--> '''Jake:''' Do you hate trash cans? Is that it? Do you just '''''HATE TRASH CANS?'''''
* EverythingsBetterWithLlamas: Invoked by him in ''The Reaction''.
* EverythingIsBetterWithMonkeys: Or, as Marco would probably specify, gorillas. He uses one as his preferred battlemorph.
* EverythingsWorseWithBees: It's his cover morph and hinted at in ''The Other''. [[spoiler:Surprisingly enough, it's averted.]]
* GoodIsNotNice: Marco is sarcastic, condescending, and a borderline SmugSnake at times. He's also firmly one of the good guys.
%%* GenreSavvy
* GlorySeeker: To some degree. He's always talking about how he'll be rich and famous after the war, [[spoiler:and once the wars ends he's quickly proven right.]]
* GuileHero: He is by far the most cerebral and calculating of the Animorphs. Read ''The Reunion'' for the most triumphant example.
* HeterosexualLifePartners: With Jake, later Tobias and Ax fall into this category as well.
* TheHyena: Ironically, he never actually morphs a hyena.
* IDidWhatIHadToDo: How he defends some of his more morally dubious actions.
* IfYouDieICallYourStuff: To Jake in ''The Answer''.
%%* IJustWantToBeNormal
* IKnowMortalKombat: He never said he knew how to drive, just that he had the high score on a driving game called [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wipeout_(video_game) Wipeout]].
* ImNotDoingThatAgain: Spoken word-for-word in ''The Reunion''.
* InsistentTerminology: He morphs a gorilla, not a monkey.
* KillerGorilla: His main battle morph. While he is a good guy, he's morally ambiguous enough to qualify for this trope, and the gorilla's brutal strength is what gets emphasised, as opposed to its peaceful nature.
* TheLancer: Jake's other go-to guy and best friend, for his strategic abilities. He's probably the closest to being a traditional Lancer: TheHero's best friend, has a contrasting personality, second-guesses all orders (albeit for good reason),etc, etc. Also plays this role consistently, automatically assuming the role of CommanderContrarian and second-in-command to whoever's giving orders, whether it's Jake, Rachel, or even Tobias.
* LukeIAmYourFather: [[spoiler:His mother is alive, the host of Visser One.]]
* ManipulativeBastard: Of the aggravating variety, as opposed to Cassie's more empathic one. She predicts emotional reactions; Marco screws with you to get the one he wants. Lampshaded in a few books, he's proud to be one.
%%* MetaGuy
%%* MissingMom
* MisterMuffykins: His dad's new beau, Nora, has a poodle named Euclid. He morphs it to harass the Yeerk self-help guru William Roger Tennant and it's his cover morph in ''The Proposal''.
* MommyIssues: His mother is [[spoiler:Visser One]]. The relationship is strained to say the least.
* MorallyAmbiguousDucktorate: His last book, ''The Absolute'', sees him morphing a mallard duck alongside Tobias and Ax.
* ObfuscatingStupidity: This is Marco's preferred way of [[ManipulativeBastard handling]] adults, as seen in ''The Reunion''.
--> '''Marco:''' I've found that if you act like a moron, adults tend to leave you alone. It's when they think you might be as smart as they are that they give you a hard time.
* [[PolarBearsAndPenguins Polar Bear]]: He, along with the rest of the team, gets a polar bear morph in ''The Extreme''. It's his cover morph for that book.
* PromotedToParent: In the early books, he was basically the responsible one compared to his father, who fell apart after Eva's disappearance. Fortunately, he eventually gets over this.
%%* ProperlyParanoid
* RefusalOfTheCall: He was the one most against fighting the Yeerks in the beginning.
* RhinoRampage: Acquires the same rhinoceros as Jake for a heavy-duty mission in Book #22.
* RunningGag: His inability to drive, "Are you INSANE?!"
* SadClown: He had psychological/emotional issues even before the series started, due to the disappearance of his mother. He often jokes to hide his fears and insecurities.
* ScaledUp: A rare heroic example. In ''The Discovery'' he morphs David's pet cobra Spawn. It's even {{lampshaded}} by Rachel.
--> '''Rachel:''' Kinda the perfect morph for Marco, when you thought about it.
* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: In ''The Predator''. He changes his mind after [[spoiler:learning his mother is still alive as Visser One's host.]]
* ShapeshifterIdentityCrisis: In ''The Proposal'', where stress over his dad's remarriage causes him to start blending morphs.
* ShapeshifterMashUp : ''The Proposal'' again. The polar bear/toy poodle cross ("I was a [[Franchise/WinnieThePooh poo-bear]]?") is especially memorable.
* [[SignatureMove Signature Morph]]: Silverback Gorilla. His standard bird morph, like Cassie's, is an Osprey.
* SillyRabbitIdealismIsForKids: Often tells Cassie this.
* SpidersAreScary: In ''The Android'', Marco has to morph a wolf spider. He really, really doesn't want to.
* TheSmartGuy: Strategy. "Sees the line" from point A to point B. Amusing in that his grades are alluded to be the worst before the series begins, but he's far, far smarter than he lets on.
* SmugSnake: Can approach being an antiheroic version of this, and it's certainly how [[BloodKnight Rachel]] and later [[SixthRanger David]] see him. He's very good at manipulating people, but his paranoia and arrogance can, and sometimes do, get in the way. And then there's the sarcastic personality, and the tendency towards smirking, and advocating the [[ShootTheDog Shooting of Dogs]]. Still a good guy, and high-functioning enough to be very useful.
* TheSneakyGuy: Along with Tobias. Marco values stealth over straight combat, so Jake often relies on him with he needs someone to spy or collect information...as opposed to someone like [[BloodKnight Rachel]].
* SourSupporter: Again, at first.
* StepfordSnarker: Marco's sarcasm covers up serious mommy issues, and intense hatred for the Yeerks.
* TheStrategist: Most of the Animorphs' plans (especially the nasty ones) are strongly influenced by Marco.
* SwallowedWhole: Marco (in spider morph) gets eaten by a bird in ''The Android''. Inverted in ''The Discovery'', when his new cobra morph swallows Ax (who, as it happens, is in spider morph).
* ThreateningShark: Marco ends up on the wrong end of one in ''The Message'' and is almost bitten in half for his trouble. Ironically, he ends up with a hammerhead shark as his cover morph in ''The Escape''.
* ThisIsGonnaSuck: It's pretty much his job to say this.
* WeakButSkilled: Marco's gorilla morph is probably the least deadly standard morph in the group and he's mostly depicted on covers as morphing various bugs. Yet that same weak gorilla morph is the only standard morph the team has that can use tools, and all those one-shot morphs lead to him eventually becoming the Animorph with the most morphs.
* WhatTheHellHero: Marco, along with half the team, calls Cassie out in #52 when it's finally revealed that she [[spoiler:allowed Tom to escape with the morphing cube.]]
* WouldHurtAChild: In Book 19 Cassie makes it very clear that Marco is willing to go through five year old Karen to get to Aftran, her Yeerk.


!Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill (Ax)
[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/anax_1303.gif]]

->''Ax is a soldier down deep inside. Smug and superior sometimes, loopy and silly other times, Ax is still an Andalite aristh, a warrior-in-training. And he's Elfangor's brother, which tells you a lot.''

Elfangor's younger brother, Aximili joined the group when he was rescued by the kids from the wreckage of Elfangor's Dome ship, which fell into the Pacific Ocean. Initially considering himself an outsider, Aximili, or "Ax" as he came to be known, retained many of the traits and values of his people (which ranged from loyalty and discipline to outright ruthlessness and xenophobia), and the distinctions led to both comedic and insightful critiques on Earth customs. As the series progressed, it became apparent that he and the kids were more alike than different, and as he adapted to life on Earth Ax was forced, like his Earth counterparts, to question the principles that he had hitherto taken for granted.

* AffectionateNickname: Aside from "Ax", the others sometimes call him Ax-man.
%%* AlienAmongUs
* AlienArtsAreAppreciated: Has a great appreciation for many human inventions. He even wonders why humans use computers when they have books. He considers the cinnamon bun to be our greatest achievement, however.
* AliensStealCable: He loves television.
* AlmightyJanitor: He is an ''aristh'', the equivalent of a cadet, and yet he manages to fight and hinder the Yeerks alongside five human teenagers. He gives Rachel a run for her money for the most dangerous member of the team when it comes to hand-to-hand combat; in fact, it's usually this guy that comes to the rescue of the other kids when they're down and out. On top of that he's got the widest skillset when it comes to alien biology, weaponry, strategy and computers. Yet despite this he spends the entirety of the series as the lowest-ranked member of the team because it squares better with his Andalite values of loyalty and service.
* AmbiguouslyBrown: His human morph is described this way, due to being a MixAndMatchMan.
* {{Animorphism}}: Not as much as the others, since his "battle morph" is just his default form, but he does have and use the ability.
* AwesomeMomentOfCrowning: He was an "''aristh''" (cadet) at the time he was marooned on Earth, [[spoiler:and promoted directly past "Warrior" to "Prince" within hours of the Andalite fleet arriving three years later]]. Even Elfangor hadn't accomplished that.
* BewareMyStingerTail: Like all andalites, he has a lightning-fast tail blade.
* BewareTheSillyOnes: Ax is frequently used as a comedic character due to his infatuation with taste and tendency to play with sounds, but when push comes to shove, he is ''the'' most dangerous member of the team. Rachel might be the team's BloodKnight but Ax has pulled off some truly insane feats, among them killing a rogue crocodile in ''The Reaction'' (after it beat half the team), defeating [[BigBad Visser Three]] in single combat as early as ''The Decision'' and even killing a Tyrannosaurus Rex in ''In the Time of Dinosaurs''. This is highlighted pretty effectively in ''The Separation'', when even [[SuperpoweredEvilSide Mean Rachel]] doesn't want to tangle with him.
* BigBadassBirdOfPrey: Not as big or as badass as the others, but Ax has a northern harrier morph. It's his cover morph in ''The Arrival''.
* BigEater / ExtremeOmnivore: Because Andalites don't have mouths, they [[BizarreAlienBiology eat through their hooves]]. When he becomes human, he experiences taste for the first time. HilarityEnsues, especially since he can't tell the difference between things that are edible and things like cigarette butts.
* BookDumb: By Andalite standards. It's implied more than once that Ax was a sub-par student who was more interested in sports and girls than his lessons. The main reason he comes across as smarter than the other kids is because he simply had more to learn. He has a wide general knowledge, because he did pay ''some'' attention, but he can't always remember how to apply his knowledge. It's also justified by the fact that, while he's considered a minor in his culture, he has finished his formal education and has been in military service, meaning he hasn't had to apply the finer aspects of his education in practical situations before. By human standards, however, he's a freakin' genius.
* BugBuzz: He, along with the rest of the team, morphs a mosquito in ''The Decision''. It's his cover morph for that book.
%%* BluntMetaphorsTrauma
* CatchPhrase: [[TwoOfYourEarthMinutes "We have x of your minutes left."]]
* ChildSoldier: Notable for being the only one of the Animorphs to begin the war as a soldier.
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Comes across as one when he's in human morph, between his imperfect grasp of human customs, his bizarre eating habits, and his VerbalTic of playing with the sounds of spoken English at every possible opportunity. On at least one occasion the other Animorphs passed him off as a FunnyForeigner.
%%* TheComicallySerious
* ConflictingLoyalty: Pretty much Ax's entire character arc is built on this. As an Andalite aristh, Ax is the only one of the kids with an existing affiliation, and it doesn't help that loyalty is very strongly ingrained in Andalite culture. And yet, as time goes on Ax begins to bond with his human friends, leading to plenty of situations where he is caught between his loyalty to the Andalites and to the Animorphs. This is probably the single reason why Ax is only acknowledged as an Animorph in-series towards the very end despite fandom preferring him as the SixthRanger - it's not until ''The Answer'', second-to-last book in the series, where Ax finally commits himself fully to the Animorphs.
* CrypticallyUnhelpfulAnswer: When Tobias asks him how he eats in ''The Alien''.
* DayTimeDramaQueen: Spends his free time watching human soap operas.
%%* DeliciousDistraction
* DoesNotUnderstandSarcasm: He gets better about it as the series progresses.
* EverythingsBetterWithCows: Decidedly not the case in ''The Experiment''. Not only is it Ax's worst-written book, but in the context of the narrative he and Tobias morph cows to infiltrate a slaughterhouse.
* ExactTimeToFailure: Has an amazing ability to keep time in his head. He acts as a timer during missions to make sure the group [[ShapeshifterModeLock doesn't spend more than two hours in morph]].
* ExtremeOmnivore: Ax has been known to eat everything from nachos to paper cups to cigarette butts.
%%* FantasticAnthropologist
%%* FirstKiss: Played with. He experiences his first ''human'' kiss with [[spoiler: Estrid while experimenting with their human forms.]]
%%* FishOutOfWater
%%* GoingNative
%%* HonorBeforeReason: At first. It's kind of an Andalite thing.
* {{Humanshifting}}: Ax is unique for morphing more humans than any other Animorph.
%%* HumanityEnsues
* HumansKillWantonly: He becomes disgusted with humans during the third Megamorhs book, when he sees the nature of human wars. He claims that though the Andalites had their own wars, they were never as pointless or sadistic as human wars were. He also claims that Andalites never deliberately killed children or committed genocide to other Andalites. He gets over it afterwards, though.
%%* HumansThroughAlienEyes
* [[HumorlessAliens Humorless Alien]]: At first, though he gets better as the series progresses.
%%* HughMann
%%* IJustLikeSayingTheWord
%%* KlingonsLoveShakespeare
* TheMagnificent: [[spoiler:After the war he becomes known as 'Aximili of Earth']].
* MixAndMatchMan: His human morph is made from Jake, Marco, Rachel and Cassie's DNA.
%%* MundaneObjectAmazement
* MyFriendsAndZoidberg: All of the blurbs on the back cover described the adventures of "X (the main character of that particular installment), the Animorphs, and Ax," with the subtle implication that, being an alien, Ax doesn't count as a true Animorph.
* NoMouth: He eats through his hooves instead.
* NoNudityTaboo: Since his species never wears clothes, he frequently wonders aloud why humans even bother with them. He also feels no embarrassment when the other team members morph nude in front of him.
* OurCentaursAreDifferent: Blue, four eyes, a tail, no mouth, and eats through his hooves.
* PrettyBoy: In human morph, which is attributed in part to having two girls' DNA.
%%* ProudWarriorRaceGuy
* RunningGag: Aside from his food obsession and bluntness, there's the way he always calls Jake "Prince Jake", only for Jake to say "Don't call me Prince", and repeats himself when in human morph. Morph. Mor-''phhh...'' As the series progresses, it evolves from a VerbalTic into playful team banter.
** It's eventually noted that if Jake ''doesn't say'' "Don't call me prince", it's a sign of how serious the situation is.
* RascallyRaccoon: His last book, ''The Sacrifice'', sees him morph a raccoon to [[spoiler:sneak off and report to the Andalite military.]]
* [[spoiler:RankUp: See AwesomeMomentOfCrowning above.]]
* ScaledUp: In ''The Alien'' he morphs a rattlesnake in an attempt to assassinate Visser Three.
* ScienceHero: As the team's resident alien, Ax fills this role.
* SenseFreak: See BigEater above.
* [[SignatureMove Signature Morph]]: As the only Animorph who goes into battle as himself, the morph that Ax uses most often is his combo-created human morph. His standard bird morph is the Northern Harrier.
** He also has a combat move he uses often, the ''torf'', where he knocks someone unconscious with the flat of his tail blade.
%%* SixthRanger
* TheSmartGuy: Knows about alien things. You know, being an alien and all.
* [[SomeCallMeTim Some Call Me Ax]]: Or occasionally, Phillip.
%%* SpockSpeak
* SwallowedWhole: In ''The Discovery'', in his wolf spider morph, by Marco (who had just become a cobra and hadn't yet gained control of it). Even worse, he's poisoned in the process. Luckily, he's able to escape and demorph, healing in the process.
%%* TokenNonhuman
%%* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Cinnabons
* TwoOfYourEarthMinutes: Very much a deliberate RunningGag on his part, practically serving as his CatchPhrase:
-->'''Ax''': We have seventeen minutes left.
-->'''Marco''': (after a pause) Seventeen *minutes*?
-->'''Ax''': (correcting himself) Seventeen of your Earth minutes.
* UndyingLoyalty: Raised by Andalite military customs to follow the orders of his superiors without question.
* VerbalTic: As an Andalite, he has no mouth and communicates with [[{{Telepathy}} thought-speak]]. Whenever he holds a conversation while morphed into a human, he can never go very long without repeating individual parts of words, often but not always drawing out their component sounds. SOU-nds. Sauw-nnnn-dss.
* WarElephants: Ax, Tobias, and Cassie acquire the same elephant as Rachel for a heavy-duty mission in Book #22.
* WhatTheHellHero?: Ax, along with half the team, calls Cassie out in #52 when it's finally revealed that she [[spoiler:allowed Tom to escape with the morphing cube.]]
%%* YouCantGoHomeAgain

!David

->''Smirking, pouting, easily offended David. David, who half the time seemed to be reckless, but other times had been cowardly and quickly panicked. David, the new Animorph.''

After finding the [[SuperEmpowering Morphing Cube]] and subsequently revealing its location, David became target number one for Yeerk forces who were searching to gain the morphing power. After a battle that destroyed his house, David's parents were taken by Yeerk forces. Frightened, alone and unable to trust anyone, David was given the morphing power by the others as part of an attempt to recruit him, but his growing resentment for them strained relationships within the group. [[spoiler:Feeling that his life was threatened not only by the enemies that took his parents but also by the new strangers that now surrounded him, he revealed a sociopathic side and turned against the Animorphs attempting to eliminate them one by one.]]

* AmbitionIsEvil: David's self-serving nature is played in stark contrast to his heroic and selfless teammates. [[spoiler:He progresses from wanting to use his powers to become a millionaire to plotting to create a [[PsychoRangers new group of Animorphs]].]]
* {{Animorphism}}
* ApologeticAttacker: To [[spoiler:Rachel]] in ''The Solution''.
-->'''David''': You're very good, [[spoiler:Rachel]]. You know, I wish I didn't have to do this.
* {{Archenemy}}: Fixates on [[spoiler:Rachel]] as his worst enemy, a sentimente she returns by the end of ''The Solution''.
* BadassBoast: In ''The Threat''.
-->[[spoiler:'''Jake''': If the Yeerks don't get you, we will.]]
-->[[spoiler:'''David''': Yeah, I know. But already there used to be six of you and now there are just five. Pretty soon, Jake, it'll be four.]]
* BetterLivingThroughEvil: He proposes using the morphing power to get rich. [[spoiler:Later he plots to put this plan into action.]]
* BigBadassBirdOfPrey: His first morph is a golden eagle ties Rachel's bald eagle as by far the largest raptor any of the Animorphs have morphed thus far.
* BlondGuysAreEvil: The only blond guy to ever be an Animorph. An evil little bastard.
* ChildSoldier: And an unwillingly recruited one at that. [[spoiler:Small wonder he rebels.]]
* ChooseYourOwnAdventure: In ''Alternamorphs #02'', the reader is cast as a thinly veiled {{Expy}} of David, to the point of paragraphs in the first three chapters being lifted verbatim from ''The Discovery''. It's the closest thing David gets to a narrated book.
* CoolPet: He has two - a tabby cat named Megadeth and a defanged Indian cobra named Spawn.
* CorneredRattlesnake: Both figuratively and literally in ''The Solution''.
* CowardlyLion: Both figuratively in #20 and ''literally'' in #21. [[spoiler:He largely gets over this after his FaceHeelTurn.]]
* [[spoiler:CreateYourOwnVillain: Arguably pushed over the edge into villainy by Jake's threat on his life and being forced to sleep in a barn, unable to go out in public as himself. He even justifies his actions with an IronicEcho of Tobias's own words.]]
* [[spoiler:DangerousDeserter: After going AWOL he becomes one of the team's worst enemies.]]
* [[spoiler:DealWithTheDevil: He makes one with Crayak to get off the hellish island the Animorphs left him on.]]
* [[spoiler:DeadPersonImpersonation: Disposes of Jake and Rachel's mortally wounded cousin and takes his place.]]
* [[spoiler:DeathSeeker: By the end, he's given up on revenge and begs Rachel to kill him, preferring death to going on trapped as a rat.]]
* DivideAndConquer: [[spoiler:His midnight plan to kill the Animorphs one by one. It almost works.]]
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: For all his faults, David seems to have genuinely loved his parents, going so far as planning to ransom the blue box in exchange for their safe return. He only abandons this plan when Cassie makes it clear it won't work.
* [[spoiler:EvenEvilHasStandards: Despite bluffing the Animorphs with the threat of it, David never attempts to go over to the Yeerks, and by all accounts hates them as much as the Anis do. He also shies away from hurting/killing humans, the only human he kills being fatally injured anyway. He's fine with killing the Animorphs while morphed though.]]
* FatalFlaw: David has to be in control at all times, has to dominate those around him (especially Rachel), and cannot conceive of somebody being smarter then he is.
* [[spoiler:FateWorseThanDeath: Trapped in rat morph for the rest of his life.]]
* FlawExploitation: He rivals Marco in how good he is at this. [[spoiler:When he turns on the Animorphs, he exploits Ax's ignorance of alarm clocks and Rachel's preconceptions about him to split them up and attack Rachel. He get a taste of his own medicine when the Animorphs subsequently exploit his ego and need to psychologically dominate Rachel to bring him down.]]
* [[spoiler:FromNobodyToNightmare: Just a dissaffected teenager who found the morphing cube. Nearly kills the entire team.]]
* GrailInTheGarbage: He was about to sell the morphing cube online before the Animorphs caught wind of it. Worse, he was about to unwittingly sell it to ''[[BigBad Visser Three]]''.
* {{Hallucinations}}: Blink and you'll miss it: [[spoiler:Jake hallucinates a terrified rat-David in the BadFuture of ''The Familiar''.]]
* HeKnowsTooMuch: David knows far too much about the team for the kids to let him walk.
* IdentityImpersonator: In ''The Threat'' he acquires and morphs a Controller briefly. [[spoiler:One book later, he's also acquired Marco and Saddler.]]
* [[spoiler:[[KarmicDeath Karmic Punishment]]: They trapped the SixthRangerTraitor in rat morph. There's no way that wasn't deliberate]].
* KidnappedByTheCall: Jake is not giving David any options, once he has seen the Yeerks and used the Cube.
* KickTheDog: Killing a random bird the instant he gets his golden eagle morph. He tries to pass it off as being taken over by the morph. Some of the Animorphs buy it, Marco does not.
* KingOfBeasts: His lion morph. [[spoiler:He defeats Jake's tiger in a one-on-one battle at the climax of ''The Threat'' (which is likely how it would go in real life too)]]
* KnightOfCerebus: The series' takes a decided turn for the darker after his introduction.
* [[spoiler:LeftHanging: His final fate.]]
* LightningBruiser: Definitely favors these. His battle morphs for land, sea, and air - lion, orca and golden eagle respectively - all count.
* ManipulativeBastard: Tries his best to screw with the team's dynamic.
* MilitaryBrat: His father was an NSA agent and he had to move around frequently throughout his life.
* [[spoiler:MistreatmentInducedBetrayal: One gets the feeling that if the Animorphs had just sent David to live with the Chee instead of making him sleep in Cassie's barn that things might have worked out. Leaving him out of the biggest mission they've ever done up to this point and not, you know, ''[[WhatTheHellHero threatening to kill him]]'' also would have helped.]]
* TheNewRockAndRoll: Invoked to some extent. It's supposed to be a warning sign that David likes heavy-metal bands like {{Megadeth}} and reads {{Spawn}} as opposed to more wholesome comic books like Jake and Marco do.
* NewTransferStudent: Transfers into the school only days before his life collapses.
* [[NobodyCallsMeChicken Nobody Calls Me Coward]]: One of his main character flaws. He does stupid things to show off and look good, and totally loses his cool when Rachel calls him a coward.
* NoSenseOfHumor: Pegged as such by Marco for not laughing at his jokes.
* PantheraAwesome: His main battle morph is a lion.
%%* PlugNPlayFriends: A deconstruction.
* PrematureEmpowerment: Was given his abilities long befor he was mature enough to handle them.
* RebelliousRebel: Does not want to follow Jake's orders in the slightest.
* RecklessGunUsage: To a certain degree in ''The Discovery''. When the Animorphs invade his house in bird morph he responds by whipping out a BB gun and chasing them off the premises.
* RecurringCharacter: [[spoiler: He was built up to the VillainOfTheWeek for his trilogy and later returned for one last hurrah near the end of the series]].
* ReptilesAreAbhorrent: Subverted from his perspective: He has a cobra for a pet and later morphs a rattlesnake.
** [[spoiler:Played straight from the perspective of the other Animorphs once he becomes a villain.]]
* RuleOfPool: His house has a pool and Marco is envious of his good fortune. The pool comes into play again a book later, when Ax tricks a trio of Hork-Bajir into throwing themselves into it.
* SanitySlippage: His mental health clearly deteriorates throughout the trilogy. Not surprising, given [[spoiler:he loses his whole life to the Yeerks, becomes a fugitive who can't even go out in public as himself, is recruited basically against his will into the Animorphs and has his life threatened when he tries taking a little control of his life back.]] Despite all this, he mostly holds it together throughout ''The Threat'' and even after [[spoiler:his betrayal]] he's focused on the goal of getting his parents back. It's only once that option's off the table that he ''really'' tailspins out of control. [[spoiler:And by ''The Return'' he's been driven insane completely due to the hellish experience of being trapped as a rat and the long isolation he was forced to endure.]]
* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: When he sees Jake morph a dragonfly in ''The Threat'' he says this, though he doesn't go anywhere.
* ScyllaAndCharybdis: This is how David sees the situation he's been thrown into: he's caught between the alien parasites that have enslaved his parents and a group of ChildSoldiers who insist on controlling his every move. Ultimately, he decides to TakeAThirdOption.
* ScaledUp: He morphs a rattlesnake in ''The Solution''.
* ScrewTheRulesIHaveSupernaturalPowers: David's unique among the Animorphs in that he sees nothing wrong with using his powers for selfish ends. [[IronicEcho Ironically]], he gets this idea from them in the first place.
* [[spoiler:ShapeshifterModeLock: Trappes as a rat by the Animorphs]]
* [[SignatureMove Signature Morph]]: African Lion. His standard bird morph is the Golden Eagle.
* [[spoiler:SixthRangerTraitor: Betrays the team within days of recruitment]]
* SmallNameBigEgo: Thinks he is more capable then the rest of the team put together.
* SmugSnake: David is thoroughly convinced of his own genius and brags about it at length, constantly puts others down, monologues his plans constantly, and creeps on Rachel in the shower. While far more high-functioning then say, Visser Three or Tom, he's still a SmallNameBigEgo who doesn't realise what he's up against, and whose belief in his own brilliance is his worst enemy.
* [[spoiler:SpotTheImpostor: David morphs Jake's cousin, who is badly injured after being hit by a car and expected to die in surgery, and takes his place. Jake figures it out almost instantly, when "Saddler's" injuries are miraculously healed. Everyone else not in on TheMasquerade fails miserably.]]
* SurroundedByIdiots: In ''The Return''. [[spoiler:He manages to recruit two henchmen, but they're both bumbling idiots who ultimately end up [[TheDogBitesBack turning on him]].]]
* TakingYouWithMe: To [[spoiler:Rachel]] in ''The Solution''.
* TechnicalPacifist: Like the other Animorphs, David draws the line at taking human life, but unlike them, [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman he's okay with killing animals]].
%%* TeensAreMonsters
* TakeAThirdOption: [[spoiler:Caught between the Animorphs and the Yeerks, neither of whom he trusts. He eventually turns on them both.]]
%%* [[spoiler:TrickingTheShapeshifter]]
* UngratefulBastard: He's not too thankful to the Animorphs for saving his life. Whether this is just straight-out ingratitude or bitterness that they left his parents behind is never made clear.
* TheUnchosenOne: Both literally and figuratively. [[spoiler:He eventually decides to fight on his own terms, declaring both the Animorphs and the Yeerks his enemies. In ''The Return'' he is literally the unchosen one, as Crayak sets him up to be his weapon only to reveal he's just a tool being used to persuade Rachel to join him.]]
* TheUnfavourite: An OOC example. [[spoiler:In an interview, Applegate referred to David as a selfish, weak human being. Yes, that's right. Even ''the author'' considered him a waste of space, which explains his treatment by the Animorphs. The trilogy was written as though the team knew he was evil from the start, but had to wait for him to actually do something evil so they could inevitably get rid him.]]
%%* [[UnnamedParent Unnamed Parents]]
* VerbalTic: David has a tendency to say the name of the person he's talking to [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment several times]] in a single conversation, usually when he's trying to be threatening. In one occasion in ''The Solution'', he says Rachel's name six times in one page.
* [[spoiler:WhatHappenedToTheMouse: A rare ''literal'' example.]]
* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: Unlike the other Animorphs, David thinks it's A-okay to kill animals, as seen in ''The Discovery'' where he kills a random crow just minutes after morphing for the first time, mostly just because he can. [[spoiler:When he betrays the kids, he's able to justify trying to kill them by saying that when they're morphed they're not human, and thus, fair game.]]
* [[spoiler:WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity: He goes from a relatively normal kid to an unflinching killer after gaining the morphing power.]]
* XanatosSpeedChess: [[spoiler:David plays a pretty mean game of it until he starts carrying the VillainBall, unless it's an IndyPloy - we never know for sure if he's had it all planned out or just making it up as he goes along.]]
%%* YouDirtyRat

!The Auxiliary Animorphs

->''We trusted them and they did us proud.''

When the Animorphs are finally uncovered and forced to go on the run, they decide to recruit some fresh blood in case they are killed. Rationalizing that the Yeerks would have no use for handicapped hosts, they do their recruiting at a children's hospital. Enter the Auxiliary Animorphs.

* ActionGirl: Collete, Kelly and Erica.

* TheBigGuy: James is explicitly stated to both taller and heavier than Jake, who is [[LargeAndInCharge by no means a small kid]].
%%* ChildSoldiers
* CoolCat: Timmy's battle morph is a bobcat.
* ContinuityDrift: One of them, Timmy, is referred to as Tuan in a later book, which was what the character was originally going to be called.
* CuteBruiser: Collete
* DisabilitySuperpower: They master their morphs' instincts a lot faster than the original kids did. Cassie theorizes this is because, while their bodies are weaker, their minds are stronger.
* ExoticWeaponSupremacy: Some of the morphs used by the auxiliaries fall under this. At one point one of them fights off Hork-Bajir as a ''walrus''.
* FirstNameBasis: Nearly all of them.
* FragileSpeedster: James, like Jake, has a peregrine falcon flight morph.
%%* HandicappedBadass
* TheLeader: James, like Jake, is a Type II personality with a Type IV style of leadership.
%%* MauveShirt
* NeverSmileAtACrocodile: Collete's battle morph is a crocodile.
* OptOut: Right before the final battle, a lot of the Auxiliary Animorphs decide that they want to sit it out, due to the fact that their friend Ray was recently killed. Jake doesn't really care and makes them go anyway. ("We didn't give them morphing power so they could have fun flying around. This is when we need them. All of them. You're their leader, James, so lead.") [[spoiler:They then all get killed.]]
* PantheraAwesome: James's battle morph is a lion.
* RecurringCharacter: They appear in ''The Ultimate'', ''The Absolute'', ''The Sacrifice'' and ''The Answer''.
* RecruitTeenagersWithAttitude: The Animorphs specifically recruited kids around their own age, figuring they would be both quicker to adapt to new realities and more likely to listen to them.
* SacrificialLion: [[spoiler:They get slaughtered]].
* [[SignatureMove Signature Morph]]: Various - crocodile (Collette), black panther (Craig), lioness (Erica), lion (James), wolf (Jessie), African elephant (Judy), grizzly bear (Julio), bull (Kelly), polar bear (Liam), leopard (Ray), bobcat (Timmy), rhinoceros (Tricia).
* [[spoiler:SuicideMission: Jake sends them on one to buy the Animorphs time to take over the Pool ship]].
* ThrowingOffTheDisability: James was injured in an accident, so he is healed by the morphing power, as are Erica and Craig. Most of the other auxiliaries aren't so lucky.
** Collette's case is particularly tragic in this regard, as she's been lying to everyone around who'd listen (more as a pitiful form of denial than anything) that she's only temporarily paralyzed due to a sporting accident and that she's actually a healthy, normal girl who loves extreme sports. Needless to say, morphing doesn't heal her, somewhat ironically forcing her to finally accept the fact that she's a cripple and always has been.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Yeerk Empire]]

!Visser Three (Esplin 9466 the primary), later, [[spoiler:Visser One]]

->''He looked so much like Ax. So much like Prince Elfangor. And yet, so totally different. The difference wasn't something you saw. It was something you felt. A shadow on your soul. A darkness that blotted out the light of the sun. Evil. Destruction. His body was an Andalite. He was the only Andalite-Controller in existence. The only Yeerk ever to infest an Andalite body. The only Yeerk with the Andalite power to morph. Visser Three.''

The only Yeerk to ever infest an Andalite, Esplin 9466 Primary, in his time as Visser Three, was put in charge of operations on Earth. Though he carried out the orders of his superiors and employed the strategy of infiltration and subversion suggested by his rival Visser One, his violent and impulsive personality lent itself more brutal tactics. A long-time proponent of a strategy of open war, his efforts to be promoted to Visser One were stymied by his inability to capture or kill what he believed to be "Andalite bandits", and his growing obsession with the Animorphs paved the way for his descent into insanity and paranoia.

* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: He is universally hated and feared among his fellow Yeerks. [[AsskickingEqualsAuthority Not that he needs their approval]].
%%* AliensAreBastards: Boy is he ever!
* {{Animorphism}}: Mostly using scary giant alien monsters.
* AsskickingEqualsAuthority // AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: One of the main reasons, if not ''the'' main reason, why he's still in power.
* AxCrazy: Viciously insane, with a HairTriggerTemper.
* {{Badass}}: The Visser may be a GeneralFailure, but in straight up combat he defeats the kids every time, due to his greater experience and arsenal of alien morphs.
* BadassArmFold: He apparently favors this pose, as seen on the cover of VISSER on the right.
* BadBoss: He could well be the TropeNamer. Not only does he sarcastically mock his subordinates, but he kills them for little-to-no reason. Didn't kill the Animorphs? Decapitated. Made a mistake? Decapitated. Interrupted the Visser? Decapitated. Closed a door too slowly? Decapitated. You can't win with this guy, to the point where Yeerks pass over promotions because it means having to work with Visser Three, and therefore probably being decapi-[[KilledMidSentence SLASH- *thud*]]. {{Lampshaded}}: Jake points out that Visser Three's tendencies to kill his subordinates make them hate and fear him, making him (and them) less effective. He also says that that gives the Animorphs an advantage over him.
* BigBad: Played with in that, while he is the primary antagonist of the series and is quite high up in the Yeerk hierarchy, there are still two Vissers and the Council of Thirteen above him. [[spoiler:However, he is ultimately promoted to Visser One. And in one BadFuture, he works his way up to TheEmperor.]]
* BigDamnVillains: In ''The Mutation''.
* BiggerIsBetter: A philosophy he subscribes to wholeheartedly. Subverted in ''The Arrival'', when he finally realizes bigger is not always better and morphs a small creature to avoid being assassinated.
* BlobMonster: One of his morphs in ''The Return''. Rachel aptly describes it as 'Killer Jell-O'.
* [[spoiler:BodyguardBetrayal: Tom sells him out to the Animorphs in the hopes of seizing his Blade ship and escaping before the Andalites move in.]]
* BondOneLiner: He gets a few good ones.
* BreathWeapon: His most powerful and only recurring morph, the eight-everythinged creature seen in ''The Invasion'' and ''The Resistance'', breathes [[PlayingWithFire fireballs]] from each of its eight heads.
* TheBrute: He only knows one tactic -- Hit the enemy with everything you've got until it's dead.
* CartoonishSupervillainy: At his lowest points.
* ChameleonCamouflage: The chameleon crab morph he uses in ''The Reunion'' has this as its gimmick.
* CombatTentacles: More than a few of his morphs feature them, most notably the Lerdethak from ''The Forgotten'' and the unnamed monster he morphs in ''The Ultimate''.
* [[spoiler:CruelMercy: After he's finally beaten, he's robbed of his prized Andalite body and forced to live out the rest of his natural life in his natural Yeerk state, blind and helpless. For Visser Three, who was in love with the sense of sight, this is very fitting]].
* CurbStompBattle: Most of his fights with the Animorphs end up like this, with him clobbering them.
* {{Cyclops}}: In ''The Sickness'' he morphs a creature that's basically a giant, tentacled eyeball.
* DishingOutDirt: In ''The Visitor'' he morphs a three-legged, twenty-foot tall creature that's strong enough to rip up chunks of cement from the ground and throw them.
* DragonInChief: Sort of; he is subserviant to the Council of Thirteen, but is much more "hands-on" and thus threatening. He's also in charge of the invasion of Earth, so he is the main enemy.
* TheDreaded: Feared by Andalite and Animorph both.
* EnemyMine: Teams up with the Animorphs to escape the Helmacrons in ''The Suspicion'' and the Nartec in ''The Mutation''.
* EvilGloating: He's a master of this. Read ''The Threat'' for the most triumphant example.
* EvilIsBigger: All of his morphs are ridiculously large.
%%* EvilOverlord
* EvilTastesGood: He has two morphs, the Anatarean Bogg and Vanarx, specifically devoted to this.
* [[spoiler:FateWorseThanDeath: His fate is being contained in a custom made prison without a body for the rest of his life, helpless and without sight. For a power hungry monster like Visser Three who was in love with the sense of sight, this is most certainly one of these.]]
* FeatheredFiend: In ''The Decision'' he attacks Ax as a kafit bird, a BigBadassBirdOfPrey from the Andalite home world.
* GiantEnemyCrab: In ''The Reunion'' he morphs an alien chameleon crab.
* GiantFlyer: He's got two known morphs that fall under this banner: the Bievilerd from ''The Revelation'' and an unnamed monster described as something like a [[MixAndMatchCritter giant winged porcupine pterodactyl]] in ''The Underground''.
* GiantSquid: The last morph he ever uses is one of these, seen in ''The Sacrifice''. He may have used it before in ''The Mutation''.
* GeneralFailure: When it comes to the "Andalite bandits", anyway. That said, don't attack him head on, as you will die a very painful and horrific death.
* [[spoiler:GracefulLoser: ''Very'' surprisingly done at the end. He surrenders to the Animorphs without a fight and leaves his host willingly.]]
* HeroKiller: Probably the most dangerous combatant in the series, and more then lives up to this reputation.
* HollywoodAcid: Two of his morphs have been known to use it: the Kaftid he morphs in ''The Pretender'' and an unnamed morph from ''The Return'' that's described as a [[MixAndMatchCritter giant alien alligator gorilla]].
* [[spoiler:HumiliationConga]]
* TheJuggernaut: In ''The Message'' he chases the kids as a giant, untiring SeaMonster called a Mardrut. They're only saved by the fortuitous arrival of [[FanNickname magic talking]] [[SapientCetaceans whales]].
** Most of the Visser's morphs trend towards this, due to their size, overwhelming power, and general unstoppability.
* KillItWithFire: He's fond of this. In the first book he morphs a monstrous, unnamed eight-headed creature and in ''The Mutation'' he morphs the Luminar, a blazing creature that can flash-fry its enemies by [[FingerPokeOfDoom pointing a finger]]. Hasbro must have caught on to it, because the first Visser Three toy transformed into a form never seen in the books dubbed the [[ExactlyWhatitSaysOnTheTin Inferno Beast]].
* [[spoiler:KnowWhenToFoldEm: See GracefulLoser above.]]
* LargeHam / ChewingTheScenery / NoIndoorVoice: Something of a RunningGag; every time it is explained that thought-speak can be sent to one person or a few, that's when the Visser ANNOUNCES HIS PRESENCE TO EVERY PERSON IN RANGE!
* TheLeader: Type III.
* MuckMonster: He's got two known morphs like this, one seen in ''The Weakness'' and the other in ''The Hidden''.
* MultiArmedAndDangerous: The unnamed creature he morphs in ''The Threat''. All we know about it is that it is 'dark and large and has more arms than it should'.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Among Andalites, he is known as 'The Abomination'.
* NoOneCouldSurviveThat: The actual Yeerk Esplin 9466 has made a shtick out of surviving against impossible odds. See ''The Andalite Chronicles'', ''The Hork-Bajir Chronicles'', and ''The Alien''. [[spoiler:He also survives the war, which is no mean feat when you consider how many people want him dead.]]
* OffWithHisHead: His preferred method of execution.
* OneWingedAngel: He has a menagerie of monstrous morphs he's acquired from across the galaxy.
* ThePeterPrinciple: He was quite a competent villain in the Chronicles prequels, but it's pretty clear that trying to run a stealthy infiltration campaign really doesn't fit his skillset, making him a GeneralFailure in the main series.
* PlantAliens: His [[WhenTreesAttack Lerdethak morph]] from ''The Forgotten''.
* PrehensileHair: In ''The Suspicion'' he morphs a {{Medusa}}-like creature with scythe-tentacles for hair.
* PuppeteerParasite: Esplin 9466 himself is just another Yeerk.
* SeaMonster: In ''The Escape'' he morphs a bright yellow alien sea serpent. His Lebtin Javelin Fish from ''The Reaction'' and and Mardrut from ''The Message'' also count.
* ShootTheMessenger: All the goddamn time.
* [[SignatureMove Signature Morph]]: Averted, since he has a penchant for hauling out a new alien monster morph every book. In a way, you could say his SignatureMove is being a permanent one-man MonsterOfTheWeek.
* SpikeShooter: In ''The Reaction'' he morphs a [[SeaMonster Lebtin Javelin Fish]], a kind of manta ray that fires spears from its mouth. His [[VertebrateWithExtraLimbs Dule Fansa]] also shoots spikes from its four arms.
* TheStarscream: To Visser One. [[spoiler:He succeeds eventually]].
* StartOfDarkness: ''The Hork-Bajir Chronicles'' probably counts, since aside from Dak and Alrea's story, about a third of the novel is spent exploring his own back story.
* StrongerSibling: Labeled as such at birth, hence his 'primary' designation.
* StupidEvil: It's only most of the way through the series when he even begins to ''suspect'' that the Animorphs are human.
* TortureTechnician: In ''The Extreme'' it's revealed that he collects torture devices from around the universe.
* VertebrateWithExtraLimbs: In ''The Discovery'' he morphs a purple four-armed beast called a Dule Fansa, variously described as an 'evil Series/{{Barney|AndFriends}}' and '[[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} Hitmonchan]] with traffic-cone arms'.
* VillainDecay: Suffers from it, due to being the main villain for the entire series. Even more extreme if you read the Hork-Bajir or Andalite Chronicles, in which we see his beginnings as a ''very'' capable ManipulativeBastard, and long before his degeneration into the GeneralFailure he is now. Despite this, fighting him head-on is still not a good idea.
* VillainousBreakdown: His repeated defeats and humiliations at the hands of the Animorphs take their toll.
* VillainousRescue: Without him those kids would have been ''screwed'' by the Nartec.
* WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity: And how!
** It's theorized by fans that this is the direct cause behind Visser Three's incompetence in the main series - in the Chronicles books he is patient, thoughtful and manipulative, nothing at all like the GeneralFailure seen in the main series. Then he gets himself an Andalite host, becomes the most physically powerful Controller in the Empire, and it's all downhill from there.
* YouHaveFailedMe: A ''lot.'' Visser One notes that he's executed subordinates "by the poolful," which basically means thousands or more. He does this so reliably that Marco's able to bluff his way out of a situation where three flunkies were expected by saying, "I think Visser Three killed them for doing something wrong". He chastises himself for this, calling it the worse lie he's ever told, only for it to be believed.
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: He has a form devoted to this, a Vanarx, which can suck the Yeerk out of its host and eat it.

!Visser One (Edriss-Five-Six-Two)

->''I took a human host and learned about the planet and humans, and because of that I was able to begin the invasion that you have now endangered with your criminal incompetence! ...You want to be Visser One? You want to take my title? We shall see.''

Cold and calculating, it was Edriss 562 who suggested the strategy of infiltration that defined the war for the majority of the series, after years of living amongst her enemies ([[spoiler:under the guise of Marco's mother Eva]]). Though she punished failure harshly, she also rewarded well for success, and her calm and collected tactical abilities made her a star in the eyes of the Council.

* {{Archenemy}}: To Marco, whose life's goal quickly becomes killing Visser One.
* [[spoiler:BecomingTheMask: Subverted in VISSER.]]
* BiggerBad: [[spoiler:At first, where she represents the Council of Thirteen and acts as Visser Three's boss.]]
* BodySurf: In a sense during VISSER. Over the course of the narrative she moves through seven different hosts.
* DangerouslyGenreSavvy: So much so that the Animorphs would [[BetterTheDevilYouKnow much rather Visser Three]] be in charge of the invasion rather than her.
* DeliverUsFromEvil: Ultimately subverted.
* DontYouDarePityMe: She hides the truth about her past from her host because she'd rather have Eva's hate than her pity.
* EnemyMine: [[spoiler:She aids the Animorphs for her own ends in ''The Predator'' and allies with them against Visser Three in ''Visser''.]]
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Her human children.
* EvilCannotComprehendGood: Seen at the end of VISSER. [[spoiler:She muses about finding Madra and how she'll love her when she does - and if Madra doesn't, she'll just infest her with a Yeerk and then she'll have to love her. The monologue proves that, in spite of everything she's seen and learned, Edriss doesn't understand the concept of love any more than she did before she experienced humanity.]]
* EvilMatriarch: Has [[spoiler:Marco's]] mother's body as her host.
* EvilOverlord: Definitely gives off this vibe, especially in ''The Predator'' and ''The Escape''.
* EvilVersusEvil: She is a heated rival of Visser Three.
* FakingTheDead: Faked Eva's death in order to get off planet.
* [[spoiler:FromNobodyToNightmare: Like Visser Three, she was a nobody who through a combination of skill and luck made it to the top in record time.]]
* GoingNative: [[spoiler:Played with, but ultimately subverted.]]
* HumanityIsInfectious: She and her assistant Essam were the first long-term Human-Controllers, and found the experience much more addicting than any other Yeerk host species.
* HiddenAgendaVillain: We learn early on that she's the one pushing for the steady infiltration strategy of the invasion, but we never really learn why until ''VISSER''.
* HotMom: Eva's quite attractive, though there's a hardness to her eyes that ruins it.
* HumansThroughAlienEyes: In ''VISSER'', where she narrates.
* IgnoredEpiphany: [[spoiler:She experiences humanity but turns her back on it.]]
* [[spoiler:ItDoesntMeanAnything: In VISSER, between her and Essam.]]
* TheLeader: Type I.
* [[spoiler:LoveIsAWeakness: She comes to feel this way.]]
* [[spoiler:MamaBear: She gives her children up for adoption but continues watching them from afar.]]
* MoralityPet: Darwin and Madra, her [[spoiler:children through a previous host. She made the decision to conceive them, so she considers them hers]].
* NeverFoundTheBody: In both the backstory, ''The Escape'' and ''The Reunion''
* NoOneCouldSurviveThat: In ''The Escape'' and ''The Reunion''.
* PathOfInspiration: She uses a charismatic host, Lore David Altman, to create this ideology in the form of The Sharing.
* PragmaticVillainy: Unlike Visser Three, Visser One only attempts to achieve realistic goals, and refrains from being a sadistic madwoman since it doesn't do anything for her, but make her underlings hate her.
* PsychoticSmirk: Her usual facial expression.
* PuppeteerParasite: Edriss
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: She presents herself as this to her underlings. She harshly punishes failure, but she also rewards well underlings who fulfill her expectations.
* SecretKeeper: [[spoiler:She eventually figures out the Animorphs are human but keeps the secret out of spite for Visser Three.]]
* SocialDarwinist: Believes the strong have an inherent right to prey on the weak.
* SuperiorSpecies: Sees the Yeerks as one.
* TakeAThirdOption: In VISSER she's presented with a SadisticChoice by Visser Three. [[spoiler:She finds a way out.]]
* [[spoiler:UnexpectedSuccessor: Before VISSER, Edriss held the lowly rank of Sub-Visser Four-hundred-nine.]]
* VillainEpisode: She (and Visser Three) have a starring role in VISSER.
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: In stark contrast to [[ZeroPercentApprovalRating Visser Three]].
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: With the odd exception of Eva, Edriss treats her hosts like paper cups - use them, then throw them away.

!Hedrick Chapman (Iniss-Two-Two-Six)

->''Sorry I skipped class, Mr. Chapman, but I've been in this lizard body, watching you because I know you're a Controller and part of a giant alien conspiracy to take over the earth.''

Assistant principal at the school attended by the Animorphs and a prominent Human-Controller, he and his wife became Controllers to protect his daughter Melissa from infestation. One of the more frequently-recurring antagonists, he has a prominent role in ''The Andalite Chronicles'' as a villain, contradicting everything about him learned up to that point.

* AssholeVictim: If you take ''The Andalite Chronicles'' as fact, it's really hard to feel sorry for Chapman in the main series.
* ButtMonkey: His later appearances in the series tended to consist of this.
%%* EvilTeacher
* FightingFromTheInside: He and his wife in ''The Visitor''. It's notable as the greatest act of resistance an infested human in the series ever puts up.
* HostageSituation: Twice the Animorphs make him victim of it, in ''The Conspiracy'' and ''The Answer''.
* LaserGuidedAmnesia: In ''The Andalite Chronicles'' Elfangor meets him on Earth and he remembers nothing of their encounters in space. This is revealed to be the Ellimist's doing.
%%* LastNameBasis
%%* MiddleManagementMook
%%* MookLieutenant
* NoOneCouldSurviveThat: Midway through ''The Andalite Chronicles'' he falls into a frigging ''black hole''. He shows up in the third arc none the worse for wear.
* OffWithHisHead: His introduction to the series has him ordering a Hork-Bajir to decapitate the kids and bring their heads back for identification.
** Though it may or may have been intentional, this becomes a [[HilariousInHindsight nice]] [[FridgeBrilliance touch]] when later books reveal how Chapman's boss [[BadBoss Visser Three]] prefers to deal with those who've earned his ire.
* OutOfCharacterMoment: The entirety of his role in ''The Andalite Chronicles''. It's so extreme that fans have suggested the Chapman seen there is actually [[NamesTheSame a different guy with the same name]].
* PapaWolf: "If you harm my daughter I will fight you. I will fight you forever."
* PuppeteerParasite: Iniss
%%* RecurringCharacter
* TheQuisling: In ''The Andalite Chronicles''.
* RewardedAsATraitorDeserves: When he tries to cut a deal with the Yeerks in ''The Andalite Chronicles''.
* StarterVillain: For the first five books the Animorphs encountered him pretty regularly and then he faded into the background as more formidable threats began to make themselves known.

!Joe Bob Fenestre ([[spoiler:Esplin 9466 the lesser]])

->''My brother, my twin, is the prime. To him go the best assignments, the best hosts, the rank, the power, the glory. And to me, only what I can take. Well, that wasn't good enough. I wanted more. And if I couldn't have it as a Yeerk, I'd have it as a human.''

The billionaire owner of Web Access America and mastermind behind a web site devoted to exposing Yeerks, the Animorphs seek him out to learn if he is friend or foe. It turns out he's a Controller, but no ordinary Controller - [[spoiler:he is in fact the twin brother of Visser Three, a lowly Yeerk who amassed a personal empire by allying with his host.]]

* BigFancyHouse: And it's virtually impregnable to boot! [[spoiler:The keyword here is 'virtually'.]]
* CainAndAbel: He and his twin hate each other.
* [[spoiler:CannibalismSuperpower: He can live without the life-giving Kandrona rays Yeerks need to survive, but only by consuming another Yeerk once every three days.]]
* CorruptCorporateExecutive
* DealWithTheDevil: The real Fenestre makes one with his Yeerk to get rich.
* [[spoiler:DiabolicalMastermind: Fits most of the items on the checklist.]]
* EccentricMillionaire: He's got extraordinary defenses around his mansion to keep any animal out and his guards see him as a paranoid eccentric in the vein of Howard Hughes. [[spoiler:It turns out he's just making sure his brother doesn't come pay him a house call.]]
* EvilGenius: In contrast to his more brutish twin
* [[spoiler:EvilVersusEvil: He's wiping out a hundred or so Yeerks a year, but he's doing it to survive, not out of any heroic leanings. He's also killing the hosts.]]
* FauxAffablyEvil: He takes a page out of Visser One's book. [[spoiler:Surprising, considering who he's related to.]]
* [[{{Fiction500}} Fiction 500]]: He's identified as the second wealthiest man in the world. Net worth? 24.9 billion dollars.
* FictionalCounterpart: Of Bill Gates. Interestingly, ''The Andalite Chronicles'' hints at the real Bill Gates being around in the Animorphs verse. He's also got shades of [[spoiler:Hannibal Lecter]] to him.
* FriendOrFoe: The kids spend most of the book trying to figure out which side he is on.
* [[spoiler:ImAHumanitarian: Cannibalises fellow Yeerks in order to live without Kandrona rays.]]
* LastNameBasis: Always addressed as Fenestre
* ManOfWealthAndTaste: Dresses according to his station.
* MeaningfulName: 'Fenestre' is the Latin word for 'window'.
* NonIdleRich: He secretly runs a website that gathers humans who suspect the truth about the Yeerk invasion.
* NouveauRiche: Joe Bob Fenestre was a lowly programmer working in the bowels of a telephone company before building Web Access America.
* PuppeteerParasite: He's a Yeerk
* RagsToRiches: Fenestre's backstory, which his company plays up for the public.
* ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney: He's able to circumvent a death sentence from the Yeerk Empire using his vast fortune.
* SelfMadeMan: Subverted - Fenestre allied with his Yeerk to transcend poverty and become what he is today.
* [[spoiler:SerialKiller: Kills Controllers so he can eat their Yeerks.]]
* TheSociopath: Esplin the Lesser is every bit as bad in this regard as his brother.
* TechnologyMarchesOn: His company, Web Access America, is a thinly-veiled take on America Online.
* VillainOfTheWeek: In ''The Warning''.

!Karen (Aftran-Nine-Four-Two)

->''You tell me what you think I should do. Andalites, humans, there's no difference: You're both smug, moralizing, superior races. You both live in beautiful worlds. You have hands and eyes and the freedom to move about wherever you like. And you hate us for wanting all those same things.''

A low-ranking Yeerk assigned to the daughter of a billionaire banker. By chance she observes Cassie leaving a battle and begins to follow her, convinced she has some connection to the Andalite bandits. Due to a series of unfortunate circumstances, they get stranded together in the woods and Aftran learns Cassie's secret, forcing Cassie to face the other side of the war head on.

* {{Animorphism}}: After she's rescued by the Animorphs, they give her the morphing power. She doesn't keep it very long though.
* CreepyChild: In her first few appearances, before Cassie figures out what she is.
%%* EvenMooksHaveLovedOnes
* FirstNameBasis: Karen's last name is never revealed.
%%* MinionWithAnFInEvil
%%* MookFaceTurn
%%* NotSoDifferent
%%* PunchClockVillain
* PuppeteerParasite: Aftran
* RecurringCharacter: Aftran appears in ''The Departure'' and ''The Sickness''.
%%* RedemptionEarnsLife
* SapientCetaceans: At the end of ''The Sickness'' she willingly becomes a humpback whale nothlit.
%%* SecretKeeper
%%* ShapeshifterModeLock
* SuperPersistentPredator: Throughout ''The Departure'' she is stalked by a leopard.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: She gives Cassie a few in ''The Departure''.

!John Berryman Jr. (Visser Four)

->''One doesn't want mere baboons blundering about with Time Matrices, does one? Who knows what damage a fool with such power may do?''

The commander of the Yeerk invasion of Leera, Visser Four is demoted and assigned lowly actor John Berryman as punishment after the Animorphs thwart his plans in ''The Decision''. While on Earth he finds the Time Matrix and attempts to use it to alter history in his favor. He's the main villain of ''Megamorphs #03: Elfangor's Secret''.

* BigBadWannabe: After getting the Time Matrix, his goal is to rewrite all of history to favor the Yeerks. In practice, what he achieves is decidedly less impressive. He screws up history and makes an annoyance of himself, but never really accomplishes anything. {{Lampshaded}} by the Drode, who refers to him disparagingly as a 'mere baboon' with no idea what he's doing.
%%* ButterflyOfDoom
* ConflictKiller: Visser Four is unique in being the only threat in the series that forces Crayak and the Ellimist to agree to a truce, however temporary.
* DirtyCoward: He spends the whole book basically running from the heroes and flees his host after he's crippled.
%%* DrunkOnTheDarkSide
* EarlyBirdCameo: He's first mentioned (though not seen) in ''The Decision''.
* EvilGloating: When Rachel's shot to pieces in front of him in the Battle of Trafalgar. It doesn't stick.
%%* GodwinsLawOfTimeTravel
%%* HitlersTimeTravelExemptionAct
* KillItWithFire: After the Yeerk crawls out of his crippled host, Marco grabs him and throws him into the wreckage of a burning tank, saying his only choices are to starve or burn.
* PowderTrail: He uses this to blow a hole in ''HMS Victory''.
* ThePowerOfActing: Aside from the PsychicStatic John Berryman uses it for, Visser Four uses his host's experience to more effectively disguise himself. He blends in well at Agincourt and Traflagar, but abandons disguise after that as the Animorphs already know what he looks like.
* PsychicStatic: John Berryman Jr. thinks Henry V at Visser Four so much so that the very first thing he does when he finds the Time Matrix is try to change the result of the Battle of Agincourt so that Shakespeare would never be inspired to write it.
* PuppeteerParasite: Visser Four.
* RetGone: John Berryman Jr's final fate.
* TimeMachine: The Time Matrix
%%* VillainOfTheWeek
* VillainousFriendship: The Andalite traitor in ''The Decision'' says Visser Four and Visser Three are 'such good friends'. If that's true, Esplin's influence wasn't enough to keep him from being demoted after losing Leera.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: When the Animorphs erase Berryman from history, Visser Four is spared - all that changes in ''his'' history is that Berryman never becomes his host and he never gets the Time Matrix. Despite this, he never appears again.

!Taylor (Sub-Visser Fifty-one)

->''Join me in my madness, Andalite.''

A sadistic Yeerk sub-visser responsible for capturing and torturing Tobias, Taylor is a horrific example of what happens when a host with a fractured psyche is infested by an already unstable Yeerk. Later gets the kids involved in a plot to murder Visser Three in revenge for her demotion. It [[spoiler:turns out to be a trap meant to eliminate both the Animorphs and the Yeerk Peace Faction]].

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: In-universe. Tobias sees her as a badly, badly BrokenBird, and feels a lot of pity for her, even empathising to a degree, despite being absolutely terrified of her. Rachel, on the other hand, sees the girl as deserving to burn for her choices. The [[JerkassWoobie truth is somewhere in the middle]].
* ArchEnemy: To Tobias.
* AgonyBeam: Uses one on Tobias.
* AlphaBitch: Comes across this way in her saner moments, what with her rants about her popularity and how important it is to her.
* AmbitionIsEvil: Even more than Visser Three.
* ArmCannon: Not quite, but her prosthetic arm does fire darts and emit gasses that are capable of paralysing the target. And she may have an actual cannon or grenade launcher in there; it's [[spoiler:unclear whether she used a handheld Dracon beam or an integral weapon to destroy the natural gas pipeline]].
* ArtificialLimbs: One of Taylor's arms is a prosthetic, as is one of her legs.
* AxeCrazy: In addition to being an obvious psychopath, the former Subvisser Fifty-one suffers from rapid mood swings, and is unable to differentiate between herself and her host, frequently confusing memories and events, and speaking of the two of them as one being. She's also absorbed the real Taylor's narcissism and obsessive need to be pretty, and added rampant paranoia and anger at all the people who betrayed her. It's a horribly unstable mix- she makes [[BigBad Visser Three]], [[EldritchAbomination Crayak]], and a whole host of alien monsters look stable by comparison.
* TheBaroness: Taylor may be pretty, but she's as cold and ruthless as any Rosa Klebb type.
* BecomingTheMask: Sub-Visser Fifty-one wasn't even supposed to keep Taylor as her host originally - she was a stepping stone to infest Taylor's mother, a chief of police and the Yeerks' true target. But the sub-visser ends up falling in love with Taylor's life and palms off her mother to a lower-ranked Yeerk so she can play out Taylor's life for herself. Ultimately, this ends with the sub-visser completely unable to distinguish herself from her host. By Book #43, she's more or less regained control of herself, and now has Taylor firmly under her thumb.
* BlondesAreEvil: [[AxeCrazy Are]] [[TortureTechnician they]] [[SociopathicSoldier ever]]!
* ColdBloodedTorture: Tortures Tobias.
* DarkActionGirl: Taylor would rather [[ManipulativeBastard manipulate]] than fight; she's nowhere near the BadAss that [[BloodKnight Rachel]] can become, and maybe not even at [[TheHeart Cassie's]] [[ActionGirl level]]. But the girl can still take and dish our far more damage than you would expect her to be able to, and seems to be one of the few Yeerks who didn't get her training at the ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy. In Book 43 [[spoiler:she's able to take out the entire team (minus Cassie and Tobias) when she catches them by surprise, and fights a Taxxon-morphed Tobias on a fairly even basis]]. Not bad for a (relatively) normal girl.
* DealWithTheDevil: Taylor the Girl made one with the Yeerks in order to be pretty again. It involved selling out herself and her mom. Taylor the Yeerk makes another one with [[spoiler:Visser Three following her demotion from sub-visser, becoming part of his plot against the Animorphs and the Peace Faction in return for promotion]]. And the Animorphs make one with her in order to try and assassinate Visser Three.
* DespairEventHorizon: Taylor the Girl crossed it when she lost everything in the fire.
* DidYouActuallyBelieve: To Tobias in ''The Test''.
* DontYouDarePityMe: Can verge on this, when she's not using her situation to her advantage.
* DoubleConsciousness: Literally, sort of; see HumanityIsInfectious below.
* TheDragon: To Visser Three, apparently.
* EvilCounterpart:
** Tobias sees her as his. Like him, she's a damaged person from a lousy background, who became involved in the war due to alien intervention in her life. Like him, she has a lot of insecurites that prevent her from dealing with life, and Tobias frequently compares her decision to become a Controller to his own entrapment in hawk morph. Tobias, of course, is still a hero, whereas Taylor...well just look at the list of tropes she's associated with.
** Also to Rachel, since both are blonde, immaculate-looking valley girl types who are capable of extraordinary violence and are associated with Tobias.
* EvilMakesYouUgly: Taylor's still very pretty, but since the subvisser can't manage to fake humanity convincingly, it doesn't matter at all--people still react to her as though she were hideous.
* FallenPrincess: Taylor the Girl was homecoming queen, tennis champion, and the envy of her school. After the fire she was left an insecure wreck, and now she's a TortureTechnician.
* FemmeFatale: Seems like she's going for this, but is too sick to fully achieve it. At one point, Tobias meets with her in morph as her (they're pretending to be identical twins), and notices that while he's getting a lot of male attention, nobody's attracted to Taylor, because she is so obviously dead inside. It's especially noticeable because Tobias hardly ever refers to himself as human, but does say that he's a lot more human than Taylor.
* FirstNameBasis: Taylor's last name is never revealed.
* HollywoodCyborg: She was healed by advanced alien technology.
* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler:Taylor the Yeerk fakes one in order to bring the kids in on her plot. Taylor the Human pulls one in Book 43, temporarily taking control of her body in order to warn Tobias out of trusting her master]].
* HumanityIsInfectious: Taylor's human and Yeerk personalities seem to be closer than in most Controllers, making Yeerk!Taylor somewhat unable to differentiate herself from her host. Whether this is the cause or effect of her insanity (or both) is hard to determine.
* IAmLegion: A fairly disturbing example; the union of an unstable girl with an unstable Yeerk has left Taylor with no idea of who or what she is. She manages to keep up a façade of sanity, but as Tobias gets into her head she starts referring to herself as Yeerk and girl at once, and eventually abandons the pretense of a dual identity altogether.
--> '''Taylor:''' I waited down in the pool, not knowing what host, I'd only ever been Hork-Bajir before. I allowed myself to be infested, she opened herself to me, willingly. Until that moment, until I was lying on my stomach, my head held over the surface of the pool, she hadn't known, of course, how could she? How could I?
* InferioritySuperiorityComplex: Subvisser Fifty-one's arrogant, icy facade is used to cover up the fact that she's internalized much of Taylor's self-loathing.
* MagicPlasticSurgery: Yeerk cybernetics were used in reconstructing her arm and face.
* ManipulativeBastard: Plays mindgames with Tobias, tricks the kids into helping her plot to attack the Yeerk pool, and generally manipulates everyone's emotions for kicks and profit. She's good at it too, to the point where Tobias cannot get her out of his head.
* MoodSwinger: Taylor can shift from cold and in control to wheedling to psychotic rage in a moment.
* {{Narcissist}}: The real Taylor can come off this way, due to having her thoughts filtered through the subvisser.
* NotSoDifferent: Claims she and Tobias aren't in order to screw with his mind. On some level, he seems to believe her.
** Specifically Tobias thinks about this in her first appearance, when it becomes clear that her perception of the human-Yeerk relationship is similar to Tobias' DoubleConsciousness about being a hawk.
* PsychoForHire: Or whatever the "gainfully employed by a megalomaniacal alien empire" equivalent is.
* PuppeteerParasite: Sub-Visser Fifty-one, who's actual Yeerk name is never revealed.
* TheQuisling: Taylor sold out her species for a chance to be pretty.
* RecurringCharacter: Appears in ''The Illusion'' and ''The Test''.
* TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilised: Subverted. She pretends to be a member of a Yeerk resistance movement in order to gain the kids' assistance in Book 43.
* RoboticTortureDevice: To which the AgonyBeam is attached.
* SanitySlippage: From the moment she's introduced in ''The Illusion'' there's a hint of something wrong about her - she refers to herself by her host name and insists others call her that as well, something ranking Yeerks almost never do. But she presents a powerful façade, and it's not until Tobias turns the tables on his interrogator that the first cracks begin to show. From that point the pretense of sanity crumbles in very short order.
* SelfMadeOrphan: Spiritually at least. Part of Taylor's deal with the Yeerks involved allowing not only her own infestation, but that of her mother as well.
* TheSociopath: Not Taylor the Girl, who is at worst a narcissist, but the Yeerk subvisser? Every bit as much as Visser Three.
* SociopathicSoldier: Even for a member of the Yeerk military she's a twisted bitch.
* StockholmSyndrome: Causes it in Tobias, who becomes uncomfortably attached to her.
* TeensAreMonsters: Taylor's somewhere in highschool, and was willing to betray the human race for a new face.
* TortureTechnician: Mentally, physically and emotionally.
* VillainOfTheWeek: [[RecurringCharacter Twice]], appearing in books #33 and #43.
* WeCanRuleTogether: Offers Tobias this deal in ''The Test''. He turns her down.
* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: Tobias almost [[HeroicBSOD shuts down]] when he runs into her again in ''The Test''.

!The Inspector

->''That's where this thing belonged. In a cartoon. Where the impossible is possible.''

A candidate member for The Council of Thirteen, sent to investigate Visser Three's progress on earth. Is hosted by a Garatron, one of the Yeerk's "Newest and most capable host species." A real problem in ''The Weakness''.

* BiggerBad: Represents one: The Council of Thirteen.
* CruelAndUnusualDeath: [[spoiler: Bitten by Marco's cobra morph and left to die by the Visser. Ouch]].
* CurbStompBattle: Any physical confrontation with the Inspector's ungodly fast host tends to end this way for the heroes.
* TheDogBitesBack: He spends the whole issue mocking and humiliating Visser Three. [[spoiler: When Marco poisons him, Visser Three lets him die, and lets them escape.]]
* EvilCounterpart: His host species, the Garatron, looks suspiciously like an Andalite.
* EvilerThanThou: With Visser Three, on a political, though not physical basis.
* {{Foil}}: See MonsterOfTheAesop below. He's a nice foil for that particular aspect of Rachel's personality.
* FragileSpeedster
* InsistentTerminology: "You will address me as Councillor Thirteen, Visser."
* JerkAss: Consistently.
** JerkAssDissonance: He's doing it to [[BigBad Visser]] [[AxeCrazy Three]] though, so really, who cares?
* KickTheSonOfABitch: He regularly mocks, taunts, threatens, and otherwise humiliates...[[ArchEnemy Visser Three]]. It's kind of fun to watch.
* LargeHam: On par with the Visser. When the two of them are together, it's like a pork convention.
* MonsterOfTheAesop: In a book about Rachel learning to deal with her own hubris, who should show up? A villain who's overconfidence enables his defeat.
* NoMouth: He looks like an Andalite, complete with no mouth.
* NotWorthKilling: The Animorphs. At least, not when he'd rather see them humiliate Visser Three.
* OurCentaursAreDifferent: Very similar build to Ax actually, albeit lighter.
* {{Pride}}: Even as Yeerks go, he's pretty stuck-up.
* PuppeteerParasite: He's a Yeerk.
* RequiredSecondaryPowers: Instant acceleration and deceleration.
* SmugSnake: Par for the course for most Yeerks, though The Inspector really pushes the envelope, being a sneering jackass to everyone, including Visser Three.
* SmugSuper: Jeez, a little overconfident, aren't we Inspector?
* SuperSpeed: To cartoon levels. He runs down several cheetahs with ease [[spoiler:but even he isn't faster than a cobra]]
* VillainOfTheWeek: And an extremely successful one. In the [[OneShotCharacter one book he appears in]] he nicely upstages [[BigBad Visser Three]] as the biggest threat to the cast.

!Tom Berenson (and his Yeerks)

->''I had to rein in a powerful desire to go after him. It's hard to conceive of the impotent rage you feel watching someone you love be reduced to a mindless puppet.''

The real Thomas Berenson was the eldest son of Jean and Steven Berenson, and Jake's brother. Although three years older, Tom is described as almost identical to Jake in looks, though different in temperament. Growing up, Jake and Tom were extremely close, but Tom became more distant due to his infestation (prior to Elfangor's crash). His status as a Controller caused Jake a great deal of emotional suffering, as the latter saw it as his duty to rescue him.

Though he may have been infested by several Yeerks, the reader only meets two. The first was an overly-ambitious low-level grunt (Temrash 114) who was starved to death by the group after managing to infest Jake. The second was a much more dangerous and capable enemy who rose to minor success by becoming one of Visser Three's most capable lieutenants. After Visser Three refused to promote him past the rank of chief of security (a position he achieved despite a stunning failure to notice what might be the single biggest security breach in the war for months) Tom's Yeerk became sick of taking orders from superiors he percieved to be incompetent failures, and began scheming for ways to amass greater power for himself.

* AscendedExtra: In the final five books.
* AmbitionIsEvil: Both Yeerks, though Tom's second Yeerk came a lot closer to realizing his aspirations.

* BastardUnderstudy: Tom's second Yeerk falls under this.
* BigBrotherWorship: Jake had this for Tom, until he learned he was a Yeerk.
* BondVillainStupidity: Tom's first Yeerk had this in ''spades''. For better or worse, his second Yeerk was much more cunning.
* BoundAndGagged: Tom's first Yeerk fantasizes about seeing the Animorphs like this on the floor of Visser Three's Blade Ship. It's a disturbing little image.
* CainAndAbel: With his, or more specifically his ''host's'', brother Jake.
* DirtyCoward: [[spoiler:He sells Visser Three out to the Animorphs in the hopes of stealing his Blade ship and escaping before the Andalites show up.]]
* TheDogBitesBack: Finally lashes out at the Visser for years of abuse.
* EvilGloating: He indulges in ''The Answer'' at the expense of the Visser.
%%* IfIWantedYouDead
* InformedAbility: He claims he's acquired the morphing power for his own Yeerk body. We never really learn if this is true or not.
* KickedUpstairs: Implied to be the reason why he's promoted to security chief in spite of his stunning failure to notice one of the 'Andalite bandits' living under his own roof.
* MookPromotion: Promoted from random mook to chief of security.
* NoNameGiven: Tom's second Yeerk. Even among fellow Yeerks, he is referred to simply as Tom.
* PantheraAwesome: He's acquired a jaguar battle morph, though we never get to see it.
* PoliteVillainsRudeHeroes: Deliberately invoked in ''The Answer'':
-->'''Tom''': Oh, you're a surly bunch, aren't you? No one talks to me. No one but Rachel, who told me to... well, you can guess what Rachel told me to do.
-->'''Jake''': Whatever she said goes for all of us.
-->'''Tom''': Surly ''and'' unpleasant. Oh well.
* PuppeteerParasite: He's a Yeerk. It's what they do.
* ReliableTraitor: [[spoiler:Ironically, Visser Three [[GenreBlindness never clicks to it]] until the end. [[GenreSavvy Jake does]].]]
* ReplacementGoldfish: His original Yeerk gets killed early in the series and a new Yeerk quickly infests him.
* RewardedAsATraitorDeserves: Jake has Rachel reward Tom's Yeerk for his assistance by [[spoiler:killing him]].
%%* ScaledUp
* SmugSnake: Both of Tom's Yeerks are classic examples: arrogant, sure of their own supremacy, and incapable of believing they could be outsmarted.
* TheStarscream: Believes he is more deserving of promotion then all his fellows, and turns on the Visser when he won't give it.
* StrangeBedfellows: In ''The Answer'' it's revealed that he's allied himself with [[spoiler:Arbron]].
* TreacherousAdvisor: To Visser Three/One, especially in the last book.
* TomTheDarkLord: Played with - Tom is hardly all-powerful, but he's more or less the final series antagonist and we never learn his Yeerk's name.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Andalites]]

!Prince Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul
[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/anelfangor_6039.gif]]

An Andalite general, military genius and war hero, Elfangor was made a household name for his contributions to the Andalite-Yeerk war effort. Though this was not generally known amongst his own people, he spent a great deal of time on Earth permanently morphed as a human: a sort of self-imposed exile after a miscalculation led to the infestation of his superior officer, Alloran. His longstanding and well-known subsequent rivalry with Visser Three ended with his death at the hands of the latter after a battle in Earth's orbit, though not before he was able to give the morphing power to Jake and his friends.

* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: From Ax's perspective.
* AloofBigBrother: Wasn't around for much of Ax's childhood, as he was making a name for himself in the war.

* BeenThereShapedHistory: In the third half of ''The Andalite Chronicles'' he mentions giving some programming tips to his human friends [[Film/PiratesOfSiliconValley Bill and Steve]].
* BewareMyStingerTail: Standard for Andalites.
* BrokenPedestal: Elfangor's reputation precedes him, even after death, and it's initially believed by everyone that Elfangor was the perfect warrior and, from Jake's perspective, the perfect leader, someone to emulate. It becomes apparent, though, that his reputation is the result of misplaced idolization and Andalite propaganda, and that, like the kids, he made mistakes while doing the best he could. He was however an exceptional {{Badass}} and a War Hero, Visser One later states that no other singular Andalite hurt the Yeerks as much as he did. His name has practically become a curse word to the Yeerks.
* [[spoiler:EatenAlive: By Visser Three's Antarean Bogg morph]]
* GoingNative: With humans in ''The Andalite Chronicles''.
* HeroicSacrifice: Gave up his human life to return to his people and save them from a Yeerk ambush.
%%* HonorBeforeReason: In ''The Andalite Chronicles''.
* HumansThroughAlienEyes: In the ''Andalite Chronicles''.
* IAmDyingPleaseTakeMyMacguffin: He starts off the series by handing the morphing cube to the kids.
* InterspeciesRomance: With Loren in the backstory.
* LukeIAmYourFather: [[spoiler:Tobias]] is actually his son.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Accidentally helped the then Subvisser Seven hijack Alloran's body.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: The Yeerks come to know him as 'Beast Elfangor'.
* NoMouth: As is standard for his species.
* OurCentaursAreDifferent
%%* PursuedProtagonist
* ShapeshifterModeLock: Eventually [[AWizardDidIt reversed by the Ellimist]].
* SueDonym: While on Earth, he takes the name of Alan Fangor.
* SuperEmpowering: He gave the Animorphs their powers.
* TelepathicSpacemen: Having no mouth, he has to do this.
* TakeUpMySword: Asks the kids to.
* WarriorPrince: ''Literally''. In Andalite culture, 'Prince' is a military rank and not a title.
* WideEyedIdealist: At the beginning of ''The Andalite Chronicles''.
* WorthyOpponent: It's revealed in ''The Pretender'' that Visser Three eventually came to regard him this way.

!Arbron

->''''Aristh''...I mean, ''Warrior'' Arbron is a casualty of war.''

One of Elfangor's fellow cadets from his days with Alloran. Gets trapped in Taxxon morph partway through ''The Andalite Chronicles''.

* AndIMustScream: Trapped in Taxxon morph.
* {{Animorphism}}: It doesn't end well for him.
* BackForTheFinale: First appears in ''The Andalite Chronicles'' (which is set before the series and was released early on in the series), then reappears in the second-to-last book, ''The Answer''.

* BigCreepyCrawlies: Trapped in Taxxon morph.
* DarkIsNotEvil: A pretty striking example. He's trapped as a giant, cannibalistic centipede. He's one of the good guys.
* DeadpanSnarker: A rarity among the Andalites.
* ExtremeOmnivore: Taxxons can eat and digest pretty much anything.
* FireForgedFriends: With Elfangor.
* FirstNameBasis: Arbron is the only Andalite character whose full name is never revealed.
* {{Foil}}: To Elfangor; he'll crack jokes and is pretty easy-going, in contrast to Elfangor's more serious nature.
* GoingNative: Although he retains his sense of morality.
* HiveMind: He joins forces with the Living Hive, a kind of Taxxon queen.
* HorrorHunger: When in Taxxon morph.
* LaResistance: Joins, of all things, the Taxxon resistance in order to get back at the Yeerks.
* NoMouth: Not until he gets trapped in Taxxon morph.
* NoOneGetsLeftBehind: Elfangor tries desperately to get him to come along with he and Alloran when they leave the Taxxon planet. Arbron refuses.

* PetTheDog: [[GeneralRipper Alloran]]'s promotion of him is pretty touching.
* ShapeshifterModeLock: Trapped as a Taxxon.
* StrangeBedfellows: In ''The Answer'' he returns, having allied himself with [[spoiler:Tom]] of all people.

* UnexpectedCharacter: Let's face, no one was really expecting him to return in the finale the way he did.

!War-Prince Alloran-Semitur-Corass
[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/anvisserthree_6172.gif]]

->''I will forever be Alloran, Butcher of the Hork-Bajir. Alloran, the only Andalite to ever be taken alive by Yeerks. But disgraced, even despised, for whatever I am worth, I am yours to command.''

Visser Three's host, and formerly Elfangor's commanding officer. Perhaps the best example of the ruthless mentality of the Andalite military, Alloran was infamous even before becoming the only Andalite to ever be taken by a Yeerk. Shunned and hated by even his own people, he becomes more humble and pacifistic during his time as Visser Three's slave.

* TheAtoner: After he's freed, the sheer melancholy as he flatly states that he'll have to live with what he's done and being forever known as the only Andalite ever taken as a Controller makes it very likely he'll become one of these.
* {{Animorphism}}: Alloran has a whole host of horrific morphs at his command thanks to the Visser.
* BewareMyStingerTail: He's an Andalite. Comes with the territory.
* CynicalMentor: To Elfangor and Arbron in ''The Andalite Chronicles''.
* DeathSeeker: In ''The Alien'' he begs Ax to kill him.
* DestructiveSavior: Aldrea [[{{Lampshaded}} lampshades]] it. "Will you save the Hork-Bajir by destroying them?"
* FateWorseThanDeath: He's a Controller. Even worse, he's got Visser Three controlling him, one of the most evil Yeerks of them all.
* GeneralRipper: In ''The Hork-Bajir Chronicles''. He tried to wipe out the Hork-Bajir once he realized they couldn't be saved from the Yeerks.
* HeelFaceTurn: When [[spoiler:the Andalites threaten to destroy Earth in order to contain the Yeerks, and Ax is told he is too low-ranking to challenge the officer's decision, the recently freed Alloran takes up the challenge for him. The Andalite officers promptly reconsider, thus sparing earth.]] Not bad for an ex-GeneralRipper.
* ICallItVera: He calls his beautifully-designed personal ship the ''Jahar,'' [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming after his wife]].
* ICannotSelfTerminate: See DeathSeeker above.
* MotiveRant: He gives Elfangor one in ''The Andalite Chronicles''.
* NoMouth: As is standard for his species
* OneManArmy: He still has [[OneWingedAngel all of the morphs]] he acquired while infested by Visser Three. You want to throw down with him? Be our guest.
* OurCentaursAreDifferent: Four hooved legs, scorpion tail, thin upper body, four eyed face, no mouth.
* PetTheDog: With Arbron and Loren at various points.
* ProudWarriorRaceGuy: Though he's more vicious about it then many.
* SyntheticPlague: In ''The Hork-Bajir Chronicles'' this is his secret weapon.
* TelepathicSpacemen: Having no mouth he has to be.
* UsedToBeASweetKid: No, really. From the short description he sounded almost like Arbron or Marco.
* WarriorPrince: ''Literally''. In Andalite culture, 'Prince' is a military rank and not a title.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: Thought that exterminating the Hork-Bajir was the only way to save the galaxy from the Yeerks. The worst part is, he might have been right.

!Aldrea-Iskillion-Falan

->''No, I won't help you to understand. But I will help you kill Yeerks. That, I will do. I will help you kill them. And kill them. And kill them! And kill them all!''

The daughter of the infamous Prince Seerow and heroine of ''the Hork-Bajir Chronicles''. She makes a guest reappearance in ''The Prophecy''.

%%* ActionGirl
%%* {{Animorphism}}
* BackFromTheDead: In ''The Prophecy''.
* BreakTheCutie: In the first fifty pages of ''The Hork-Bajir Chronicles'' she loses her pride, her home, and her entire family.
* BrattyTeenageDaughter: At first.
* BewareMyStingerTail: Subverted - Andalite females have shorter, blunter tail blades than Andalite males.
%%* DeadManWriting
* EmbarrassingNickname: Her peers on the Andalite world nickname her 'Seerow's Unkindness'.
* EntitledBitch: She comes across like this in her treatment of [[RebelLeader Dak Hamee]].
* ExtraordinarilyEmpoweredGirl: She's a morpher at the time when the morphing technology was still brand new.
* GoingNative: A major theme of ''The Hork-Bajir Chronicles''. During ''The Prophecy'' she demands to be referred to as a Hork-Bajir.
* GuestStarPartyMember: In ''The Prophecy''.
* IdentityImpersonator: She acquires and impersonates Alloran to get access to his database.

%%* RevengeBeforeReason
%%* RoaringRampageOfRevenge
* ShapeshifterModeLock: At the end of ''The Hork-Bajir Chronicles'' she willingly allows herself to be trapped in Hork-Bajir morph.
* SharingABody: With Cassie in ''The Prophecy''.

!Estrid-Corill-Darrath

->''Estrid, you are beautiful, you are brilliant. But I really do not think I like you very much.''

A young Andalite prodigy and member of Unit 0, Estrid is presented as one of the first female ''arisths''. She is assigned to the unit by Arbat and maintains a close relationship with him. In truth she is his student, the mastermind behind a deadly new weapon. She briefly serves as Ax's love interest.

* TheAce: [[DeconstructedTrope Deconstructed]] - Estrid has many of the traits of a classical MarySue, being a brilliant and beautiful prodigy who's also an expert tail fighter and one of the only two ''estreen'' in the series. She is presented as one of the first female ''arisths'' in a culture where women are typically shoehorned into supporting roles and does basically whatever she pleases. Yet in spite of all this, the book slowly reveals her gaping character flaws - she's impulsive, undisciplined, self-centered and arrogant, with many of the same traits Ax had when he first joined the Animorphs. This is reflected in Ax's view of her - while he is initially smitten by her beauty, as he comes to know her his passion cools, and in the Yeerk Pool he ultimately rejects her altogether. This is a huge turning point in his character and it wouldn't be possible without Estrid there to personify his former values.
%%* {{Animorphism}}
* BadassFamily: Presented to explain her more blatant MarySue traits. Her mother is a 'morph dancer' and her brother is Ajaht-Litsom-Esth, the highest scoring exhibition tail fighter on the Andalite planet.

* BodyHorror: Subverted - Estrid is an ''estreen'' like Cassie, except [[UpToEleven even more skilled]]. She is the only morphing character seen to morph real clothes rather than just spandex.
%%* ChildProdigy
%%* CommonMarySueTraits
* FeetOfClay: When she goes to the Yeerk Pool she quickly loses her composure and panics. This leads to the above quote from Ax.
* GeniusSweetTooth: She's as much of a BigEater as Ax.
* [[spoiler:HeelRealization: After Arbat reveals his plan, she has a change of heart and helps the Animorphs stop him.]]
%%* ImpossibleGenius
* IntelligenceEqualsIsolation: Her backstory, as briefly explained to Ax.
* [[MadScientistsBeautifulDaughter Mad Scientist's Beautiful Niece]]: At one point Ax believes her to be this to Arbat.

* NotSoAboveItAll: She scorns the Animorphs for their (staged) breakdown, but when she has to go to to the Yeerk Pool she freaks out.

%%* [[spoiler:RedemptionEarnsLife]]
%%* TheSquadette
* SyntheticPlague: She more or less accidentally creates Quantum Virus 2.0.

%%* [[spoiler:WellIntentionedExtremist]]

!Commander Gonrod-Isfall-Sonilli

->''I command here. Am I clear on that?''

The commander of the Andalite task force Unit 0, Gonrod is a counterpoint to the usual Andalite officer - while full of bluster and arrogance, he doesn't have a lot of competence to back it up. He's eventually revealed to be little more than an UnwittingPawn of his [[TheManBehindTheMan ostensible subordinate]] Arbat, recruited to serve as an [[WeHaveReserves expendable]] [[AcePilot pilot]].

* AcePilot: And how! Even Ax is forced to note that for all his failings as a commander, Gonrod is a truly excellent pilot.
* ATeamFiring: In contrast to the sharpshooters Aloth and Arbat, Gonrod is a mediocre marksman at best. The one time he's seen with a [[RayGun shredder]], he's firing wildly into a crowd of Hork-Bajir.

* BoxedCrook: He was serving a sentence in military prison for cowardice under fire. Taking this mission meant clearing his record.
%%* DecoyLeader
* DirtyCoward: He lies somewhere between this and LovableCoward. While clearly not a sympathetic character, Gonrod is far from a monster.
* MisfitMobilizationMoment: When he's relieved of command and confined to quarters by Arbat, Tobias finds him and talks him into flying their ship into the Yeerk Pool. It's without a doubt Gonrod's CrowningMomentOfAwesome.
* TheNeidermeyer: At first.
* NervousWreck: Ax notes that Gonrod is 'extraordinarily ill at ease for a commander'. It's the first real hint that he's not the one calling the shots.

* OneShotCharacter: Appears only in ''The Arrival''.
%%* PaperTiger
%%* [[spoiler:RedemptionEarnsLife]]

* TearsOfFear: The idea of attacking the Yeerk pool scares him so much his thought-speech is described as 'tearful'.

!Aloth-Attamil-Gahar

->''You want to know the secrets? You want to know who we are? I will tell you, little Aximili.''

An Andalite sniper and member of Unit 0. As the team's sharpshooter, Aloth is tasked with the assassination of Visser Three. Jaded and cynical, Aloth wears his grim position as an assassin lightly. Like Gonrod, he is an UnwittingPawn of Arbat, recruited to be little more than [[WeHaveReserves expendable]] [[CannonFodder muscle]]

* BadassNormal: There is no indication that Aloth has the ability to morph. It doesn't stop him from being incredibly effective.
%%* BewareMyStingerTail
* BoxedCrook: He was serving a life sentence in military prison for [[OrganTheft selling the organs]] of his fallen comrades.
* TheBrute: A curious example - while Aloth's experienced and definitely intelligent, his main role on the team is sheer muscle, and Ax even refers to him once as 'a thug'.
* ColdSniper: He lies somewhere between this and FriendlySniper. While definitely ruthless, Aloth is largely open and amicable to his teammates.
%%* CombatPragmatist
* DeadpanSnarker: He gets quite a few choice lines. The guy's almost like an Andalite Marco.
%%* TheGunslinger
* HiddenDepths: Despite being considered little more than dumb muscle, Aloth has a few moments of surprising insight, and while his opinion of the Andalite military is jaded, his observations are pretty much spot-on.
* ImprobableAimingSkills: Estrid notes that Aloth is a top sniper who scored the highest target impact rate in the history of the academy.
%%* JadedWashout
%%* LockAndLoadMontage
%%* NoMouth
* OneShotCharacter: Appears only in ''The Arrival''.
* OrganTheft: While on the front lines, Aloth harvested the organs of his fallen comrades and sold them on the black market.
%%* OurCentaursAreDifferent
* [[spoiler:PrettyLittleHeadshots: When he is killed, he's shot 'cleanly through the head'. Justified, since shredders are [[RayGun ray guns]].]]
* ProfessionalKiller: Played with - he's the designated assassin of Visser Three, but he was never meant to succeed in his mission.
* TheQuietOne: He present this façade to outsiders, but around comrades he shows his true colors as a DeadpanSnarker.
%%* SociopathicSoldier
%%* TelepathicSpacemen
* WhyDontYouJustShootHim: Magnificently averted. He is one of the few characters to try just shooting Visser Three - and if not for Arbat's sabotage, he'd have succeeded too.

!Intelligence Advisor Arbat-Elivat-Estoni

->''The people must be led by the few who are willing to make the very hard choices. The people are happy in their ignorance. But we in the Apex Level cannot allow ourselves to be sentimental.''

An Apex Level Intelligence Advisor and the biological brother of Alloran-Semitur-Corass. Veteran of over twenty conflicts, Arbat is assigned to the Andalite task force Unit 0, ostensibly tasked with the assassination of Visser Three. The true mission of Unit 0, known only to Arbat himself, is to unleash a deadly new biological weapon against the Yeerks. He appears only in ''The Arrival''.

* {{Animorphism}}: Though he mostly uses it to become human.
* [[{{AntiVillain}} Anti-Villain]]: His goal could potentially save Earth...
* BadassBookworm: It turns out he was a professor, not a warrior.
%%* BewareMyStingerTail
%%* ChekhovsGunman
%%* BrokenPedestal: To Estrid.
* CainAndAbel: Him and Alloran. He's the Abel, Alloran's the Cain.
* CruelAndUnusualDeath. [[LeftHanging Maybe]].
* [[spoiler:EatenAlive: By Taxxons.]]
%%* TheChessmaster
* ImprobableAimingSkills: Not as much as Aloth, but Arbat is still an excellent shot. [[spoiler:When he wants to be.]]
* LeftHanging: He's last seen LeftForDead by the heroes, wounded and facing an army of Taxxons.
* KnightTemplar: Possibly as a result of his brother's enslavement.
* TheLeader: Type I, though he [[TheManBehindTheMan uses Gonrod as a decoy leader]].
* TheManBehindTheMan: Of Unit 0.
* MinoredInAsskicking: Despite being an aging professor, Arbat is a sharpshooter with the morphing power, putting him on par with the Animorphs.
* MotiveRant: He gives one to Ax after his scheme's uncovered. It's notable for making the normally-unflappable Ax want to tail whip him.
%%* NoMouth
* NotSoDifferent: Him and Alloran.
%%* OurCentaursAreDifferent
%%* TheProfessor
%%* RenaissanceMan
* TheStrategist: Apex Level Intelligence is the highest level of advisory to the Andalite War Council. They plot. They plan. And they know everything.
%%* TheStoic
* SyntheticPlague: He plans to wipe out the Yeerks using one. [[NotSoDifferent Sound familiar]]?
%%* TelepathicSpacemen

* BadBoss: He could well be the TropeNamer. Not only does he sarcastically mock his subordinates, but he kills them for little-to-no reason. Didn't kill the Animorphs? Decapitated. Made a mistake? Decapitated. Interrupted the Visser? Decapitated. Closed a door too slowly? De-fucking-capitated. You can't win with this guy, to the point where Yeerks pass over promotions because it means having to work with Visser Three, and therefore probably being decapi-[[KilledMidSentence SLASH- *thud*]]. {{Lampshaded}}: Jake points out that Visser Three's tendencies to kill his subordinates make them hate and fear him, making him (and them) less effective. He also says that that gives the Animorphs an advantage over him.

%%* [[spoiler:KilledOffForReal: All of them.]]

* [[spoiler:KilledOffForReal: Visser One finally meets her end in Book #45, killed by Eva as she tries to escape.]]

* [[spoiler:KilledOffForReal]]

* [[spoiler:KilledOffForReal]]

* [[spoiler:KilledOffForReal: He survives the war, only to be shot offscreen by a poacher in the epilogue.]]

* KilledOffForReal: Sometime after ''The Hork-Bajir Chronicles''.

%%* [[spoiler:KilledOffForReal]]

%% Zero Context Example entries are NOT allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Add context to the entries before uncommenting them. %%

%%

* JumpedAtTheCall: It's often said that she is the only one in the group that actually enjoys fighting the Yeerks. However, in rare moments even Rachel has expressed her desire to be a just [[IJustWantToBeNormal a regular girl]] rather than [[BloodKnight the warrior]] her friends see her as.

* WakeUpGoToSchoolSaveTheWorld: Deconstructed. The kids eventually drop out of school, leaving the Chee to attend in their place.

* BadassAbnormal: Taylor the Girl was a capable athlete (being her school tennis champion). Taylor the Yeerk had seen combat in a Hork-Bajir body, and could use Taylor's athletic skill to its fullest potential. Throw some cybernetics into the mix and you have this trope.

* DarkActionGirl: Taylor would rather [[ManipulativeBastard manipulate]] than fight; she's nowhere near the BadAss that [[BloodKnight Rachel]] can become, and maybe not even at [[TheHeart Cassie's]] [[ActionGirl level]]. But the girl can still take and dish our far more damage than you would expect her to be able to, and seems to be one of the few Yeerks who didn't get her training at the ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy. In Book 43 [[spoiler:she's able to take out the entire team (minus Cassie and Tobias) when she catches them by surprise, and fights a Taxxon-morphed Tobias on a fairly even basis]]. Not bad for a ([[BadassAbnormal relatively]]) normal girl.

* IJustWantToBeNormal: Pretty much all of them with the exception of Rachel. And even she gets tired of whole thing sometimes.

%%* {{Animorphism}}
%%* [[{{AntiVillain}} Anti-Villain]]
%%* BadassBookworm

%%* KnightTemplar

%%* WellIntentionedExtremist

%%* CosmicEntity

%%* GiantEyeOfDoom

%%* RealityWarper

%%* SufficientlyAdvancedAliens

%%* EvilHasABadSenseOfHumor

%%* RealityWarper

A GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere that shows up in the epilogue of the final book. He gathers the remnants of the shattered Yeerk Empire under his aegis and plots to [[TheAssimilator assimilate]] the Animorphs into his being. The book ends with the Animorphs ramming his ship and the outcome of the conflict is never revealed.

%%* AGodAmI
%%* TheAssimilator

%%* BolivianArmyEnding

%%* ForTheEvulz
%%* GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere

%%* PsychicPowers
%%** MindProbe
%%** {{Telepathy}}

%%* TheAgeless
%%* [[AlienAmongUs Android Among Us]]

%%* BewareTheNiceOnes

%%* DropInCharacter

%%* MoralityChip
%%* MyGodWhatHaveIDone

%%* OlderThanTheyLook

* RevengeBeforeReason: [[spoiler:Telling the kids everything he knew about the Howlers might have helped their chances. But he didn't, because he'd rathr see them kill the Howlers instead.]]

%%* RoboticReveal

%%* BrokenBird

%%* HostageSituation: In ''The Conspiracy''.
%%* MoralityPet: To her parents.

%%* HonorBeforeReason: In ''The Threat''.

%%* IJustWantToBeNormal

%%* LovableJock

%%* [[spoiler:ShellShockedVeteran]]

%%* ActionGirlfriend

%%* BalanceOfGoodAndEvil
%%* BigGood
%%* TheChessmaster
%%* CompleteImmortality
%%* CosmicEntity
%%* EldritchAbomination

%%* AFormYouAreComfortableWith

%%* RealityWarper

%%* SufficientlyAdvancedAliens
%%* TimeStandsStill

%%* WizardBeard
%%* YouCanNotGraspTheTrueForm

%%* ActionGirl

%%* FirstNameBasis
%%* LaserGuidedAmnesia: Averted, but not completely.
%%* LittleMissBadass
%%* [[spoiler:MamaBear: In ''The Diversion''.]]
%%* [[spoiler: MysteriousParent]]

%%* AChildShallLeadThem

%%* BladeBelowTheShoulder

%%* GeniusBruiser
%%* HerbivoresAreFriendly

%%* NobleSavage
%%* RebelLeader

* TheButcher: Marco dubs her "Queen Psycho".
%%* TheCaligula

%%* GreenRocks

* RoyalWe: Averted, surprisingly enough.
%%* RoyallyScrewedUp

%%* UnscaledMerfolk

%%* WickedCultured

* ShapeshifterMashUp : ''The Proposal'' again. The polar bear/toy poodle cross ("I was a [[WinnieThePooh poo-bear]]?") is especially memorable.

* TheSneakyGuy: He's the guy that scouts areas from above, tracks people down etc. For awhile, it was because [[ModeLock that was all he could do]] but even after he [[spoiler: regains his morphing ability]] this still remains his primary role.

* [[DeadLittleSister Dead Little Brother]]: Her pool-brother, Estril-Seven-Three-One. He's killed by Cassie at the beginning of ''The Departure''.

[[caption-width-right:325: Yes, that's right! [[ComicallyMisisngThePoint The Ellimist has been that little icon telling us to watch the TV series the entire time!]]]]

* AxeCrazy: Makes [[BigBad Visser Three]], [[EldritchAbomination Crayak]], and a whole host of alien monsters look stable by comparison.

* TheMentallyIll: In addition to being an obvious psychopath, the former Subvisser Fifty-one suffers from rapid mood swings, and is unable to differentiate between herself and her host, frequently confusing memories and events, and speaking of the two of them as one being. She's also absorbed the real Taylor's narcissism and obsessive need to be pretty, and added rampant paranoia and anger at all the people who betrayed her. It's a horribly unstable mix.

** He actually gets called out on this by [[David {{Jerkass}}]] of all people. Cassie is quick to point out that "racist" doesn't really apply in this situation... but to be fair, David just said what most of the readers we're probably thinking.

** He actually gets called out on this by [[David Jerkass]] of all people. Cassie is quick to point out that "racist" doesn't really apply in this situation... but to be fair, David just said what most of the readers we're probably thinking.

* RhinoRampage: His secondary battle morph is a rhinoceros, which he acquired in ''The Warning'' (where it's the cover morph).

* TheJuggernaut: Rachel's elephant morph is generally described in these terms, plowing over anybody and anything that tries to get in her way. While all of the others also do either elephant or rhinocerous, Rachel is the only one who regularly uses it, to the point where it's her secondary battlemorph. In ''The Reaction'' her crocodile morph is described in similar terms, and the real crocodile, once turned loose, lives up to it, taking down Rachel's grizzly bear and most of a TV station before being stopped by Ax.

* [[WarElephants War Elephant]]: Her first morph is an elephant and it sees regular use in battle until she swaps it in favor of the grizzly bear.