Tobias (Animorphs)
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Tobias is a fictional character from the sci-fi book series Animorphs, written by K.A. Applegate. His surname is never mentioned, but had the Ellimist not altered time in order to take his father, Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul back to his old life, his full name would have been Tobias Fangor, the family name adopted by Elfangor when he assumed a human identity on Earth.
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[edit] Biography
Tobias is one of the first five Animorphs. Tobias was a red-tailed hawk nothlit (nothlit meaning a creature trapped in morph because they stayed morphed for longer than two hours) from the end of the first book until the Ellimist restored his power to morph in The Change. However, instead of resuming Tobias' human form as his normal body it remained as the Red-tailed hawk and Tobias has the ability to morph from hawk to any other animal, including his original human form (The Ellimist made this possible by sending Tobias, still in his Red-Tailed Hawk form, into an illusion in which he encountered his human form the day before the Animorphs gained their morphing ability. This occurred at the end of The Change). His friends sometimes call him "Bird-boy" because of this. Tobias is close friends with Rachel and Ax. He had a crush on Rachel during the early books and they became involved later in the series. He has a pet cat named Dude, which was his first morph and the first morph of the Animorphs. His parents were believed to be dead, but near the end of the series it was revealed that Tobias's mother, Loren, was still alive and blind. Tobias's true father was Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul, an Andalite who gave the Animorphs' their powers. Because the Ellimist wiped out all evidence of Elfangor's time on Earth, Tobias was unaware of that until Visser Three got his hands on Elfangor's will. Loren and Tobias are reunited, though Loren never quite remembered her son or Elfangor, due to a case of amnesia. Tobias' surname is often assumed by fans to be Fangor, but it's quite likely that he has his mother's maiden name instead, due to the Ellimist altering the timeline to remove Elfangor from Earth.
Before he was a nothlit, Tobias lived sometimes with an uncle in the other Animorphs' home town and sometimes with an aunt on the other coast. Neither ever really cared about the boy -- often not paying attention to him or just using him as free labor -- and they never tried to find him after his "disappearance" (thanks to becoming a nothlit). Before the war, Tobias was a "loser" without any friends, and often a bully magnet. He had some hero-worship towards Jake because Jake stopped some bullies from beating him up. In Megamorphs #4: Back to Before this lifestyle causes Tobias to join The Sharing and become a Controller in an alternate reality, because some people from The Sharing helped him with his bully problems, and because he saw Jake attending a meeting at Tom's insistence and figured that if they both got involved in The Sharing then he could become a "winner" like Jake.
After becoming a nothlit he lived in the forest as a hawk along with Ax. Many fans believe, and on top of that the other Animorphs suspected, that Tobias trapped himself as a hawk on purpose. In the first book, he makes no effort to keep track of time while in morph and seemingly does not care about the two hour limit, only demorphing when pressured to by the other Animorphs. After being trapped, Tobias reflected on his situation, at one time debating how and what he felt when he realized he was trapped. Even after being given the option to return to a life as a human, Tobias chose to continue living as he was, explained by the others earlier on as a need to stay in the fight. However, as the series progressed, it was revealed that it wasn't so much of a selfless sacrifice; Tobias preferred his life as a hawk to his life as a human, a fact he eventually came to accept.
After the war, Tobias seems to withdraw from the rest of the world, distraught by Rachel's death and angry at Jake. He only joins with the other Animorphs after finding out about Ax's capture by The One.
[edit] Family
- Father Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul, an Andalite who deliberately became a human nothlit to escape the war and live with Loren on Earth and his son Tobias. The Ellimist interfered with his timeline, leaving his memories intact but restoring his Andalite body and his position in the war effort. Loren and the young Tobias remained on Earth.
- Mother Loren Rescued from the Skrit Na by Elfangor, she later married him. A car crash somewhere in Tobias' early life left her blind and destroyed her long-term memories prior to that point. She chose not to continue caring for Tobias, believing she wasn't suitable to take care of him due to the amnesia, though she remained living a short distance from him. She performed volunteer work at a crisis hotline. Later on in the series, she is found by Tobias and given the morphing power, which restored her sight. She then went to live in the Hork-Bajir valley.
- Uncle Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill, Elfangor's younger brother, who joined the Animorphs after a battle which claimed the lives of all the other Andalites on his ship. Ax once mentions that he is Tobias' uncle "by human standards," implying that in Andalite culture this relationship may not be important (though in The Andalite's Gift, Ax claims that his "uncles" will come for him when captured by the veleek). The two were very close friends (or shorms in Andalite culture) even before discovering their relationship, in part because both are, in a way, "outsiders" among the Animorphs.
- Unknown Aunt and Uncle: Became Tobias' legal guardians after Loren's incapacitation. Each had little affection for him and would frequently try to pass responsibility for him onto the other. Neither has looked for Tobias since his disappearance, apparently content with the assumption that the other is minding him. Loren mentions the aunt as her sister, though she doesn't really remember her; the uncle's relationship to the family is unknown.
- Grandparents Noorlin-Sirinial-Cooraf and Forlay-Esgarrouth-Maheen, Elfangor's parents, whom Tobias has never met.
[edit] Tobias's morphs
- Cat ("Dude", first morph, may be unusable, as DNA was acquired before his nothlit condition)
- Red-tailed Hawk (nothlit morph, new 'original form', preferred aerial 'morph')
- Raccoon
- Hork-Bajir ("Ket Halpak")
- Human (Tobias, his old human form; acquired when the Ellimist sent him back in time to encourage his younger self to go to the construction site)
- Horse (Racehorse)
- Dolphin
- Hammerhead Shark
- Housefly
- Mole
- Bat
- Mosquito
- Deinonychus (cannot be used: Sario Rip morph)
- Seagull
- Flea
- African Elephant
- Rabbit
- Anteater
- Seal
- Polar Bear ("Nanook")
- Sperm Whale
- Giant Squid
- Chimpanzee
- Bull
- Mountain Goat
- Andalite (Ax, acquired when he went on a mission to destroy the Anti-Morphing Ray; since he was naturally a hawk, the ray wouldn't affect him, but he would need to morph into Ax to complete the illusion of being an actual Andalite)
- Orca ("Swoosh")
- Nartec
- Honeybee
- Human ("Taylor", the first cross-gender human morph in the series)
- Taxxon
- Human (Navy Sailor)
- Beaver
- German Shepherd ("Champ")
- Mallard
- Cockroach
- Cheetah
- Human (Rachel)
[edit] Tobias' books
Books narrated solely by Tobias include:
Tobias also takes part in the narration of:
- The Andalite's Gift
- In the Time of Dinosaurs
- Elfangor's Secret
- Back to Before
- The Hork-Bajir Chronicles
- The Beginning
[edit] Toys
In 1999, three different Transformers toys of Tobias were made. Two of the larger ones that were sold in stores turned into a Hawk and a much larger "Mega Hawk", while the third was one was a smaller transformer was part of a Taco Bell children's meal promotion and was a clear white hawk with a yellow human "soul" trapped inside. KFC Also ran a promotion in which a hawk-shaped glider and a watch clutched by a shape that was roughly half human hand, half hawk talon.[1]
[edit] References
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