The Least Popular Name

https://archiveofourown.org/works/89642731/chapters/238122171

Since it's a "Tom survived the war" story, I naturally have to give inspirational credit to Eleutherophobia, the Archetypal "Tom survived the war" story written by the amazing @thejakeformerlyknownasprince

I made a conscious effort not to steal/copy anything too specific. But I don't deny Eleutherophobia was a massive influence overall. It's the fanfic that made Tom my favorite Animorphs character in the first place.

That was because Ax never understood the request. Because Ax WASN'T calling him "Prince", he was calling him "Prince Jake".

"Ohhhhh!! Thats a cute idea. I figured the reason was because of the culturally ingrained respect to superiors andalites have, or that Ax actually does have a sense of humor and he thinks this is funny, but i like this idea too :D"

Then, jump forward a few hours and im reading #16 at work

[rachel's POV]

Rachel. He'd sent Rachel.

Smart kid, my brother was. Rachel was the only one that would understand what had to happen. She'd understand what she needed to do. She'd always been the most blunt and practical one at the kid's table, after all. 'Tough' was the only kind of love she knew.

I was proud of both of them, in a way. My only regret is that I never got to thank them, never got to ruffle their hair and call them names for the last time. (I couldn't regret my helplessness. If I did, I'd have driven myself mad a long time ago.)

Iniss never paid much mind to Rachel at family gatherings, so she looked older than I remembered. The weight of the world was visible on her shoulders, and she carried it like pauldrons. I didn't want to think about how she got that way.

I had been keeping all my strength in reserve, concealing my intentions from my captor, saving it for a moment when it really mattered. And this mattered. I'd help my cousin in the only way I could.

Rachel lunged, her jaws snapping an inch from cobra muscle. The long, cylindrical body twisted to dodge her. The sensation was distant and strange. Iniss was piloting a body I'd never known, and all I could do was watch. And feel.

The battle surged. She defended herself with unsettling ease. I waited with practiced patience. Then -- a chance! She was close, and he was about to dodge again, but--

Now!

I used all my willpower to try and wrest control of the body. I couldn't do it, of course. Iniss was experienced with unruly hosts, and I didn't know how to work this thing, anyway.

But it was a distraction. A moment's lapse in his total, utter control of me.

Just enough.

Grizzly fangs pierced our skin, nearly cleaving us in two. The pain was blinding. The injury was fatal.

Controversial opinion incoming: I don't like the end of this book.

Like, this post really sums it up:

Animorphs is not that bad. Cassie's not related to anyone important, at least, and Jake's tie to Tom is mostly just inconvenient. HOWEVER. It's still canon that the Ellimist "stacked the deck" by recruiting Animorphs who are relatives of people like Eva and Elfangor and Tom, and the implication about ~*~superior genes~*~ is still in there.

To me, the reveal about Tobias being related to Elfangor:

Cheapens the message about these being ordinary kids — dumb jocks, bully magnets, screw-ups — who are literally in the wrong place at the wrong time when superheroism gets thrust upon them. Jake is my favorite because he cuts against type for SF heroes: he's not an outsider nerd, he's not talented; he's just some dumb jock who is also kind and brave and optimistic. Giving Tobias the classic SF backstory makes him less relatable, in my book.

Undercuts Tobias's friendship with Ax. Along with the backlash to "they're such good friends they must be in love", I'd like to start a backlash against "they're such good friends they must be related." Because it's still implying that some types of love are more valid than others. The shorms are family before they find out they share genes; do we really need that added element?

Undercuts Tobias's own call to action in the first book. Tobias makes this instant connection with a stranger from another species, in a way that Jake notes only Tobias could ever do, and it ends up pulling all five human kids into the war. There's heartbreaking power to the idea that Tobias is this overflowing with empathy and also naïveté. But whoops, nope, turns out it was a genetic connection all along!

Straight up doesn't make sense? It's a rare case where Animorphs' otherwise pretty good continuity slips up big time — Loren's three husbands, Chapman's contagious amnesia, both Tobias's parents going from "dead" to "missing", Ax's childhood suddenly being illogical. There are so many ret-con gymnastics going on that this twist doesn't feel worth it.

Loses the realism. Animorphs has my love forever for details like Marco not being able to afford admission to the Gardens and Ax fighting tears at the thought of disappointing his dad and Rachel having to be the second parent to her sisters. Tobias having a dogshit home life, just because, and using morphing as a desperate escape hatch — that's realism. That feels perfectly in line with the themes of the series. It feels like things I saw as a kid that no adult, and no other kids' book series, would talk about. Tobias having a dogshit home life because his dad's an alien prince who got time-warped off to fight a cosmic war while his mom was attacked by his dad's ancient enemies and given fantasy!amnesia because of her former role as the first human ever to be mind-controlled... Fuck off. If I wanted fantasy escapism, I'd read a different book.

Like, "Tobias is Elfangors son" feels like a twist that could be done in Animorphs (honestly, they couldve just had him leave either by choice or Andalites coming to Earth to bring him back and Lorens memory just erased by Andalite tech, thus hitting on those themes of war and duty and the Andalites kinds sucking.) But him being Elfanors son doesn't really change anything. Tobias's stories are still more about him being a hawk or being with Rachel. Even his relationship with Ax feels like it should....change more considering Tobias is his nephew. Heck, maybe it'd even be cool to see what the Andalite's as whole think on that. Like, what ARE the Andalite rules for interapecies breeding while in morph? Feels like something that should come up. Hell, how does Tobias feel about Elfangor now, since he has to ASSUME his father abandoned him and his mom to go fight the Yeerks? Resentful? Angry? Hurt? Tobias being Elfangor's son isn't really something that changes anything like it should. I'd even argue Marco's mom being Visser one has more effect because it drastically changes how Marco considers his mission in the war and his motivation.

And yes, all the other family connections pretty much get a pass from me as well. Tom's role is mostly 'surprise, kid; you thought you could ignore the war but it turns out there's already a yeerk living inside your home." And even when that yeerk does become important for the war effort, it becomes important because of Jake -- it steals the morphing cube and gets a giant promotion by holding Jake's family hostage against him. So that connection isn't coincidence. Ax is similar -- he was the only aristh on his Dome ship because he's Elfangor's little brother, not out of luck.

As you said, Eva and Marco feels more coincidental, but even then you can argue that Marco is an Animorph because of Eva. And it's a major plot point that Marco wants Visser One in particular dead. Just like it's a major plot point that Visser Seventeen* wants Jake in particular dead, just like it's a major plot point that Elfangor's death requires Ax to kill Visser Three.