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For the Neo-Nazi version, see Jake Berenson
For the Jake from Back to Before, see Jake Berenson

"I'm a sixteen-year-old kid named Jake Berenson, and I am the leader of the Animorphs. In the past it's been hard for me to say that, to take on the title of leader. In the past I've questioned myself. Wondered whether I was right, wondered whether what I did was good, wondered whether I had any right to make life-and-death decisions. [...] And I was, for better or worse, the only leader we had."
―Jake Berenson[src]

Jake Berenson was the leader of the Animorphs, an author and a morphing professor for the United States Department of Defense. Revered as a global and national hero, he is heralded as the individual responsible for ending the decades-long Andalite-Yeerk War.

Biography

Early Life

Jake Berenson was born in 1984[6] to Jean and Steve Berenson.[8] The younger brother of Tom, the brothers were close and they often played basketball together.[5] His father was a pediatrician[9] and his mother was a writer,[5] and they lived in a well-off neighborhood[10] in Southern California.[4] Jake was raised Jewish, with dinners as a family involving prayers[11] and no television.[5] He was also close to his maternal great-grandfather, Grandpa G, a World War II veteran whom Jake admired.[9]

While he was quite young, Jake met Marco, a boy who lived in the same neighborhood and attended the same school as him, and the pair became best friends. Jake spent time at Marco's house and met Marco's parents.[10] Jake and Marco often played video games and had comic book superhero debates. In 1993,[12] when they were nine, they had a blueberry pie-eating contest that ended with Jake throwing up.[13] Jake occasionally went to The Gardens, an amusement park-zoo with rollercoasters[5] with a very expensive admission fee.[14]

Jake also had a paternal cousin[15][9] named Rachel, who was the daughter of his father's brother, Dan. Despite knowing of one another all their lives,[16] even being the same age and attending the same school, Jake and Rachel were not close,[17] and their families did not often interact. Rachel's mother Naomi eventual divorce from his Uncle Dan also led to Jake not interacting much with Rachel's younger sisters. Jake also had another paternal cousin named Saddler who lived in another town, whom Jake did not like as Saddler was the type to break stuff and blame the destruction on Jake.[15]

Pre-Animorph Life

"Do you think he's okay with me being African-American and all?"
"Cassie, I've known Jake all my life. Believe me, he doesn't know you're black. That's how little he would care. Jake is the one guy out of a thousand who really does care about who you are, not what you look like."
Cassie and Rachel[src]

While in school, Jake once scored twenty-four points in a single basketball game, leading him to name his online chat ID as "Bball24."[1] In 1995,[18] Jake was there for his friend when Marco's mother Eva was reported to have died in a boating accident.[10]

Jake was quite tall and well-built for his age, and was described as having broad shoulders and looking two years older.[16] Although he was tall, Tom nicknamed him "midget" as he was still shorter than him.[3] Jake soon developed a crush on a girl named Cassie,[5] and while he occasionally sat next to her on the bus as well as during classes and assemblies,[16] he never revealed his feelings to her.[5] In 1996, when they were twelve,[19] their friendship was strong enough that he was invited to her family's Thanksgiving, where her great-grandmother spoke to him about their family's Civil War history.[2] As Rachel was Cassie's best friend, Jake and Rachel began to see more of each other. Jake found Rachel to be very pretty, although he did not like entertaining that train of thought as she was his cousin.[5]

13 year old Jake

Jake in 1997 (aged 13)

Around the time he started junior high, also known as middle school, Jake found his relationship with Tom waning, with Tom spending more time at a club called The Sharing. Jake decided to try out for his school's basketball team in an attempt to mend that relationship as well as follow in Tom's footsteps, as Tom had been a basketball legend at their middle school. One day, Jake walked into the bathroom and saw two bullies tormenting a boy named Tobias by hoisting him above a toilet and giving him a swirlie. Jake told the two bullies to stop, which they complied with. Tobias then began to see Jake as his friend and followed him around.[5]

Becoming an Animorph

Night at the Mall

"My life used to be pretty normal. Normal, that is, until one Friday night at the mall. I was there with Marco, my best friend. We were playing video games and hanging out at this cool store that sells comic books and stuff. The usual. [...] Sometimes I think about that one, last moment when we were still just normal kids. It's like it was a million years ago, like it was some totally different group of kids. You know what I was afraid of right then? I was afraid of admitting to Tom that I hadn't made the team. That was as scary as life got back then. Five minutes later, life got a lot scarier."
―Jake[src]

One Friday in 1997,[20] when he was thirteen,[21] Jake was informed that he had not made his junior high school's basketball team. As his older brother Tom had been star player in the junior high team and currently in his high school team, Jake was dismayed that he could not live up to Tom and worried what Tom might think of him. After school, he went with Marco to the mall, where they played video games at the arcade and spent time at a comic book store. After running out of quarters and noticing that it was nighttime, Jake and Marco decided to walk back home. Jake then encountered Tobias, who asked to walk home alongside them, to which Jake agreed. As the three boys reached the mall's exit, they ran into Rachel and Cassie.

Jake deemed that the quickest way home was through an abandoned construction site, which his parents had forbid him from entering, although he and Marco often walked through it during the day. Jake asked Rachel if she and Cassie had planned to walk home through it, informing them that they should avoid it since they were girls and it was dangerous. Jake immediately regretted verbalizing his thought, as Rachel mockingly asked him if he was "a big, strong man" who would protect them. Cassie then interrupted to state that she was indeed scared to walk home and appreciated the boys walking with them. The five thirteen year olds then left the mall and headed towards the construction site.[5]

Gaining Morphing Powers

"We were five kids taking a shortcut home from the mall at night. There was a ship. There was an alien. There was the destructive worm of knowledge: You are not alone. You are not safe. Nothing is what it seems. No one is who they seem to be. The knowledge of betrayal and terror. [...] But it was the power that turned fear into obligation, that laid the weight on our unready shoulders. We could become any animal we touched, the Andalite told us. 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."
Jake[src]

While walking through the abandoned construction site fearing for any murderers or criminals that might be lurking, Jake noticed that Tobias had stopped walking and was looking at up. Jake looked up as well and saw what he and Tobias both recognized as an alien spaceship. As the ship approached, Jake mused that the tail section of the ship looked to be a weapon, which Marco agreed with. Marco remarked that the ship seemed to have noticed them, to which Jake replied that they might get zapped with phasers on full power if they tried to run from it. When Tobias approached the ship to try and communicate with the alien on board, Jake pondered whether they would know English, only to hear a voice speaking English in his head.

Animorphs 1999 Calendar Crop

Jake meeting Elfangor

Jake witnessed as a blue alien walked out of the ship and greeted them. Smiling, Jake was also surprised to find tears running down his face, feeling like the alien was someone he'd known and hadn't seen in a long time. Suddenly, the alien collapsed onto the ground, and Jake noticed a massive burn on the right side of the alien's body. Cassie told Jake to take his shirt off so they could bandage the wound, although the alien replied that it was pointless since his wound was fatal.

Upset at the thought of the alien dying, Jake exclaimed that the blue alien could not die since he was the first alien to come to Earth. The alien then responded that he was not the first alien to come to Earth, and that many other aliens, who were not like him, had already come to Earth to destroy humans. The alien explained that the other aliens were known as Yeerks and transmitted an image of a green-gray slug into their minds. He explained that the Yeerks were a parasitic species that take over bodies to use as hosts, after which they become known as Controllers. Jake remarked that they were just kids and that this information should be told to the authorities instead. The alien, revealing himself to be a member of a species called an Andalite, added that it would take a year if not more for the Andalite forces to come to Earth, and urged the teenagers to warn humanity of the Yeerk threat. Jake then looked at Marco, who lamented that no one would ever believe them.

Suddenly, the Andalite exclaimed that they should go into his ship and retrieve a blue box. Looking around at each other, Jake felt that everyone seemed to think he should be the one to do it. Although he was scared to enter an alien ship, Cassie smiled at him and told him that he should go since he wasn't scared. Not wanting to back out in front of her, Jake agreed and entered the ship. Noticing the interior and a picture of an Andalite family, Jake retrieved the blue box and returned back to the Andalite. The Andalite informed them that he could use the box to grant them the ability to morph — by touching an animal and concentrating, they could acquire that creature's DNA and transform their bodies into that of the animal's. As the Andalite asked if they wished to accept this power, Rachel noticed something in the sky and wondered what it was, to which the Andalite replied that those were the Yeerks.

The Andalite urged them to decide quickly, and Cassie asked Jake what he thought. Looking around at his friends, Tobias told them that they had to accept, and Jake agreed, citing they had no choice. All five of them pressed their hands against the box, and Jake felt a tingle run through him as he received the morphing ability. The Andalite warned them that they should not stay in morph for more than two hours or else they would be trapped before yelling at them to run since Visser Three was coming.

Hiding behind a low wall, Jake witnessed as the Blade ship and Bug fighters landed next to Elfangor. The five teenagers watched as tall, bladed creatures emerged from the Blade ship, and Jake quickly clamped his hand over Cassie's mouth as she screamed. The dying Andalite used his thought-speak to mentally communicate with them, informing them that these were Hork-Bajir-Controllers and that the giant centipede-like creatures that were also emerging were known as Taxxons. The five kids then tried to remain silent as one of the Hork-Bajir-Controllers positioned himself near their hiding spot. They then noticed an Andalite emerging from the Blade ship, which the dying Andalite explained was Visser Three — the only Andalite-Controller to exist.

Jake watched as Visser Three greeted the Andalite as Prince Elfangor and silently cheered when Elfangor attacked the Visser. As the Visser ordered his forces to destroy Elfangor's fighter, Jake noticed a group of humans among the Yeerks. The kids continued to observe as Visser Three morphed into a monstrous creature with multiple ringed teeth. As the Visser used one of his arms to lift Elfangor, Jake picked up a pipe and tried to jump into action, although he was restrained by Marco and Tobias as Rachel covered his mouth with her hand, with Cassie him that Elfangor was dying for them and that he wouldn't want Jake to die for him. Jake then watched with tears streaming down his face as the Visser ate Elfangor and heard Elfangor's mental screams as he was being ripped apart before he died.

Jake quickly heard human laughter emanting from the Yeerks' celebration of Elfangor's death, noting that one of the voices sounded familiar. Marco then threw up, prompting the nearby Hork-Bajir-Controller to look in their direction. The five teenagers then bolted as the Yeerks began chasing them. Jake and Rachel both noted that Marco and Cassie were struggling to flee as they were short while Tobias was out of shape, so the two athletic cousins served as a distraction to ensure the other three escaped. Jake then tripped, but yelled at Rachel to run when she tried to come back for him.

Jake then overheard another familiar human voice inform the Hork-Bajir-Controller that they were allowed to kill the fleeing witnesses, so long as they retained the heads for identification. Pursued by the Hork-Bajir with a flashlight, Jake ran into one of the half-constructed buildings that he had explored before with Marco, believing that his knowledge of the layout would be to his benefit. Running through the darkness, he accidentally kicked a sleeping homeless man. As the man yelled at him to get his own space, the Hork-Bajir entered the room and shone his flashlight at the homeless man. Jake fled, using the man's death as a distraction to successfully escape from the construction site and return home. He then contacted the others to ensure they returned home safely before going to bed.[5]

Testing Morphing Powers

"I can't make plans and tell people what to do. I'm not the leader. You are."
"I'm not the leader of anything."
"Yes, Jake,
you are our leader. You are the one who can bring us all together and help us defeat the Controllers."
Tobias and Jake[src]

The next day, a Saturday morning, Jake was suddenly awakened by his mother knocking on his door, informing him that Tobias was here. Jake was surprised, as Tobias had never visited his house before. As Tobias asked if he could come in, Jake agreed and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes as Tobias disclosed that he had successfully morphed into Dude, his pet tabby cat. Jake refused to believe him until Tobias morphed into Dude in front of him before demorphing back to human. Tobias was embarassed to find himself nude and stated that perhaps they could learn to morph clothing in the future. Jake was hesitant to accept that he could morph, to which Tobias replied that they could all morph and that they needed Jake the most, as he was their leader. Jake responded that he was not, but begrudgingly accepted when Tobias convinced him that he was the one who could bring them together as a team to help defeat the Yeerks.

Jake then brought Homer, his pet golden retriever, into his room and acquired him. He then put Homer in the backyard and tried to concentrate on Homer. Believing it did not work, he laughed only for Tobias to redirect his attention to his hands, which had fur. Although Jake panicked, Tobias led him through the rest of the morphing process. Now fully a golden retriever, Jake found the happy dog mind enjoyable and began barking when his dog mind noticed another dog in his backyard, which Tobias reminded him was the real Homer. Tom then entered the room, wanting to tell Jake to silence Homer as their mother was on the phone, only to be stunned to see Tobias, who explained that he was Jake's friend and that Jake was elsewhere in the house. Tom then left the room, but not before telling "Homer" that he was a bad dog. While Jake was upset that his brother thought he was a "bad dog" he suddenly felt like his brother's voice reminded him as being one of the human laughter he had heard at the abandoned construction site after Elfangor died.

Jake then demorphed and got dressed before using the phone to call the others and ask them to have a meeting at Cassie's farm. As Tobias left, Jake was on the phone with Cassie when Tom walked in. Jake recalled that Tom would usually be the first person he shared stuff with, but refrained as he felt an urge to not share what he witnessed the previous night with Tom. Instead, Jake apologized to Tom that he did not make the junior high basketball team. To his shock, Tom merely shrugged and admitted that he did not care for basketball and had even dropped out of his high school team, adding that he had more important things to do with The Sharing.[5]

Investigating the Yeerks

"I told myself that Tom was a Human-Controller. Some slimy, snotty slug from another planet was in his brain controlling him. When he talked to me it wasn't even Tom, not really. It was a Yeerk... My brother... one of them. Chapman... one of them. They were everywhere. Everywhere! How were we going to stop them? How could we even try? If they could take my own brother from me, if they could take Tom, then how was I going to be able to stop them?"
―Jake[src]

After finishing his chores, Jake got on his bike and headed towards Cassie's farm, where he spotted Tobias, Rachel and Marco. Rachel and Marco gave Jake a newspaper to read, which stated that residents near the abandoned construction site had called the police about seeing spaceships and explosions. However, the police claimed they had investigated the matter and concluded there were no spaceships and that the explosions were just teenagers using fireworks, whom they were now looking for. Jake wondered why the police investigating would lie, prompting Marco and Rachel to respond that the police officers, along with the media, were Controllers. As they sat in silence, Marco told them that they should just forget what they've learned and move on with their lives. Jake noticed that Rachel and Tobias both looked at him expecting him to say something. Before Jake could finish his retort, Marco yelled that they could all get killed if they get involved, adding that if something happened to him, his father would stop deciding to continue living.

Rachel then stated that Cassie was headed their way, and Jake watched as a horse approached them and began to demorph. Jake decided to look away as he remembered that he and Tobias had both been nude, but quickly noticed that Cassie was not and that she had incorporated a skintight outfit. He watched in admiration as Cassie demonstrated an ability to control the process, making herself equally half-human and half-horse. However, before Cassie could finish demorphing, a police cruiser suddenly pulled into the farm. Jake then commanded everyone to shield Cassie while telling Cassie to finish turning back into human. The police officer then approached them and asked if they had information about kids being at the abandoned construction site the night before. Jake quickly realized that the man was a Controller and responded that they did not know anything. The officer then remarked that Jake looked similar to Tom, and when Jake replied that Tom was his brother, the officer left, although not before inviting him to join The Sharing.

Jake then listened to the others argue about what they should do, supporting Cassie's belief that they wait before finalizing a decision. Jake told the others that they should not say anything to anyone and go back to normal life before the group disbanded, with Jake heading back to his house with Marco. As they played in Jake's room, they were interrupted by Tom, who asked if he play with them. After a while, Tom gave the controls back to Marco and asked Jake if he knew anything about the children who were at the construction site. Jake informed him that he did not every time Tom pressed. Tom then left, although not before suggesting that he join The Sharing, citing that it would be a way for him and Jake to be close again.

Shortly after Tom exited the room, Marco told Jake that Tom was a Controller, prompting Jake to punch Marco in the head. Marco managed to subdue Jake, promising to let him go if he stopped attacking. The duo were then interrupted by a red-tailed hawk outside Jake's window, who quickly revealed itself to be Tobias in morph. Tobias explained that he had acquired the hawk at Cassie's farm and that he had been looking for a Yeerk Pool. When Jake and Marco looked on in confusion, Tobias explained that Elfangor had given him visions and knowledge, including the fact that every three days a Yeerk must go into the Yeerk pool to absorb Kandrona rays.

Jake was then reminded by Marco that both Tom and the police-Controller had urged him to join The Sharing, suggesting that it might be a front organization for the Yeerks. Swayed by Tobias' declaration of wanting to fight the Yeerks in honor of the fallen Andalite, Jake announced that he could not choose inaction. When Marco retorted that Jake might end up taking out Tom if he joined the fight, thus losing a family member, Jake realized that he had not suffered familial loss the way Marco and Tobias had. Jake then decided that he wanted to investigate The Sharing before making any decisions, to which Marco and Tobias were in agreement. Jake then spoke to Tom, informing him that he and his friends wanted to attend a meeting. Enthusiastic, Tom replied that they were having a beach bonfire and that they could join. Jake then called Rachel and Cassie and invited them to join, having informed them of his plan.

Jake and the others walked from his house to the beach, where they had Tobias hide behind a dune and assume his hawk morph in order to spy from above. Arriving at the meeting, Jake played night volleyball with Tom on his team against the other members while also enjoying some barbecue, coming to believe that The Sharing could not be Yeerks. As the bonfire winded down, Jake sat next to Tom, who informed him that while the activities were fun, there was more to The Sharing once he became a full member. However, when Jake asked Tom how he could become a full member, he noticed one side of Tom's face dropping as well as a change of expression in Tom's eyes. Jake quickly realized that Tom was indeed under Yeerk control and that he had tried to gain control of his body to warn his younger brother.

Jake spies on Sharing beach meeting

Jake spies on The Sharing

As "Tom" excused himself and left to attend a private meeting for the full members, the others rallied towards him. Jake notified them that he wished to spy on their meeting in Homer morph, citing that they wouldn't pay much mind to a stray dog on the beach. Jake then flagged Tobias down from the sky and asked him where the meeting was held before ordering Tobias to demorph. Using his golden retriever morph, Jake walked up to the private meeting and witnessed as his assistant principal, Chapman, warned the others that Visser Three wanted the kids from the construction site found. Jake was then aghast to hear "Tom" reply that he suspected Jake might be one of those kids and they could have Jake infested or killed that night. Jake listened as Chapman responded that there was to be no killing at a Sharing event and that they could no go around killing the children they might suspect as the public would notice their deaths. Jake felt despair at the confirmation that his older brother had been taken by the Yeerks, although the dog's instincts prevented him from succumbing to its effects. Continuing to loiter at the meeting, Jake overheard "Tom" telling another Controller that he would be returning to the Yeerk pool on Monday to feed.

Jake then heard Cassie's voice speaking with another familiar voice and headed towards her, where he noticed her speaking with the police-Controller from earlier that day. He watched as Cassie was admonishged for entering the private meeting grounds and walked next to her as she retreated back towards the beach. Regrouping with his friends, Jake informed them that both Tom and Chapman were Controllers. When Marco stated that they should forget everything and continue their normal lives, Jake replied that he could not let Tom remain a Controller and that he would fight, with Rachel, Tobias and Cassie agreeing to join him. The group then decided to disband for the night and head home, but as they walked Jake pulled Cassie aside and asked her if she had any useful animals at the clinic as he intended to spy on Chapman. Cassie notified him that there was a green anole lizard who could be suitable, so Jake went back with Cassie to her barn to acquire it.

Animorphs 1 the invasion inside cover only high res

Jake morphed as a green anole lizard inside of his school locker

On Monday, Jake went to school and waited for the first bell to ring. After all the other students left the hallway to attend their first classes of the day, Jake entered his locker and began to morph the green anole lizard. Successfully morphing and escaping through the locker's ventilation slits, Jake tried to locate Chapman, planning to hide out in his office all day to learn any news on the Yeerks. However, much to his horror, his lizard brain spotted a spider and chased after it. Despite Jake's attempts to resist, his lizard mind commanded the body to swallow the spider whole, with Jake feeling the still alive spider kicking inside his stomach. He was then stepped on by Chapman, who did not notice, and was able to escape, albeit losing his tail. Jake followed Chapman and was surprised to find out that he was heading to the janitor's closet instead of his own office. Jake witnessed as Chapman turned a combination of knobs to cause the wall of the closet to reveal a hidden passageway, which emanated a weird smell. He heard the faint sounds of human screams and realized that the passageway was the entrance to the Yeerk pool.[5]

First Mission

"We hadn't exactly destroyed Visser Three, but we had come out of it alive, we Animorphs. [...] Tom was not freed. I was lying in my own bed, shaking and shivering and crying from the aftereffects of terror, when I heard him come home later that night. He never knew that I was the tiger. He never knew how close I had come to freeing him. He was a Controller again. The Yeerk was in his head once more."
―Jake[src]

Jake escaped and demorphed, although he did not attend some of his remaining classes. He met up with the others after school at the mall, where he purchased nachos out of a desire to consume lots of junk food to forget the spider incident. There, he informed the others of his discovery and that he intended to go to the Yeerk pool to rescue Tom. Tobias, Rachel and Cassie voiced their support to join him, with Marco reluctantly agreeing as well, citing he was doing it only to save Tom and that he was done after that. The newly-formed team discussed that their current morphs were not strong enough to combat the Yeerks and decided to head to The Gardens to acquire more dangerous morphs. The five kids, dubbed the Animorphs by Marco[5] as a portmanteau for "animal morphers"[17] then left the mall and took a bus straight to The Gardens, where Jake took the opportunity to catch up on his homework. Arriving at The Gardens, the five pooled their cash to afford the admission, with Cassie able to get them an employee discount.

Cassie then led them to the employees' hallway, with doors connected to each of the animal enclosures. They first approached the enclosure of Big Jim, a Silverback gorilla, which Jake convinced Marco to acquire. Finding themselves at a crossroads, Marco decided to head in the direction of more dangerous animals while Rachel elected to go towards the dolphins. A security guard then noticed them and gave chase, prompting the group to split up, with Jake running after Marco while the other three went another away. The guard chose to follow the two boys, although they were to avoid him by stealing an electric golf cart. They were quickly spotted by two other employees, prompting the two boys to enter one of the doors. Both Jake and Marco then realized they were in a dangerous animal's enclosure when they noticed that the guards chose not to follow them through the doors.

Tiger Jake GN

Jake looks at a Siberian tiger

Attempting to sit down, Jake partially sat on a male Siberian tiger. Terrified, Jake decided to acquire him to place him in a trance, noting how the tiger's strength was being absorbed into him. As the tiger fell into a trance, Jake and Marco ran to the ladder on the other side in order to escape, only to be chased by one of the other tigers in the enclosure. Narrowly escaping, the two managed to return back to the public space, although the two guards were there. Noticing a crowd, Jake advised Marco that they should head into the crowd and hunch in order to blend in. Successfully avoiding the guards, the two boys managed to return back to the main entrance and found the other three waiting for them. They then took the bus back to their respective homes.

Jake returned home, where his parents and brother were about to sit down for family dinner. As they were eating chicken cacciatore, Jake's parents asked him where he was, and he replied that he had been with Marco. Still holding out hope that perhaps Tom may not be a host, despite having evidence otherwise, Jake asked "Tom" if they could play basketball, and when Tom declined citing other plans, asked Tom what those plans were. Tom brushed him off before leaving the house after dinner had concluded. Retreating upstairs, Jake called the others to inform them that Tom had left the house and that it was time to meet up across the school. However, when he called Cassie's house, her mother Michelle picked up, informing him that Cassie had not come home yet and that she was worried.

Jake then biked to the school and met up with Rachel and Marco, and was infuriated when he saw that Tobias had already started his time limit as he had morphed into a hawk and was flying above. As Tobias descended, Jake was surprised to see him land on Rachel's shoulder as she then nuzzled him. Putting his observation aside, he informed them that Cassie was missing before the group entered the school through an unlocked window Marco knew of. Finding themselves in a classroom, Jake peeked out the doorway and saw a group of Controllers enter the janitor's closet. To his horror, Jake witnessed the police-Controller from earlier dragging Cassie into the closet and called upon Tobias to use his hawk eyes to confirm. After sharing this update with the others, they collectively headed towards the janitor's closet, where Jake input the combinations he had seen Chapman use. The four Animorphs then entered through the open passageway.

As they began descending the many stairs, they were stunned to discover that the passageway in the janitor's closet was not the sole entrance and that were multiple access points, as the Yeerk pool was revealed to be a gigantic subterranean cavern that was situated under half of their city. Jake noticed Cassie being dragged by the cop-Controller and wished to morph, although Marco prevented him from doing so. The group watched in horror as the Controllers re-entered the pool on one pier, with their screaming hosts thrown into cages, after which they would be brought to the reinfestation pier. Jake noticed a group of Controllers laughing as they watched television, which Tobias explained were voluntary Controllers. Jake asked if Tom was a voluntary Controller and was relieved when Tobias informed him that Tom was in the cages yelling at his Yeerk captors, finding comfort in the fact that Tom had been taken against his will. Tobias also disclosed that Cassie was on the infestation pier and that they had mere minutes to save her.

Jake, Rachel and Marci walked away from the stairs and ducked behind a shed; there, Marco pulled Jake to the side, telling him that while he was okay with the fact that he might get killed, he wanted Jake to ensure that he wouldn't allow him to become infested. Their conversation was then interrupted by a human-Controller, who found them to be suspicious and ordered his accompanying Hork-Bajir-Controller and Taxxon-Controller to take them. Rachel, who hadn't been noticed, stealthily manuevered herself behind the three Controllers and morphed into an African elephant. Rejoicing that she had successfully morphed, she popped the Taxxon and flung the human-Controller away. Jake then yelled at Marco to morph before transforming into a Siberian tiger, relishing in the power he felt surging within him. Roaring at the Hork-Bajir-Controllers headed their way, Jake lunged at slashed at them while avoiding their blows before scaring them off with another roar.

Along with Rachel and Marco, the latter of whom had successfully morphed into Big Jim, the trio ran towards the cages, defeating the Controllers who attempt to impede them with ease. Jake watched as Marco used the gorilla's dexterity to rip off the locks of the cages, freeing the imprisoned hosts. Finding himself face to face with Tom, Jake was about to use thought-speak to reveal his identity and powers to his older brother when Rachel interrupted by screaming that Cassie was about to be infested. Jake then ran towards the infestation pier as two Hork-Bajir-Controllers brought a screaming Cassie to the pier's edge. Although he was not fast enough to reach them in time, Tobias came hurtling down in a power dive and gouged out both eyes of the first Hork-Bajir, allowing Cassie to escape. Jake was then able to reach the pier and took out the second Hork-Bajir before urging Cassie to morph.

Using the fleeing prisoners as cover, Cassie was able to morph into a horse and the pair sailed over Taxxon-Controllers while leading the freed prisoners towards the stairs. However, their escape path was blocked by Visser Three, who believed them to be Andalites in morph. Turning into a giant fire-breathing monster with eight heads, Visser Three spat out numerous fireballs, burning and incinerating many of the fleeing prisoners. Jake ordered everyone to run up the stairs and told Rachel to start demorphing when her elephant body was struggling to do so.

Jake vs

Jake attacks Visser Three

Ascending the many stairs, more and more fleeing hosts were burned by the visser. Jake eventually found their path blocked by fire, with Visser Three slowly catching up to them from behind. To Jake's horror, Tom lunged at Visser Three and watched in horror as the visser swatted Tom away, causing him to fall off the stairs. Aghast, Jake launched himself at Visser Three, using his tiger's agility to twist around the visser's body and bite one of his eight necks. As the visser screamed and shot a fireball at the tiger's flank, Jake disengaged himself and managed to run back up the stairs and through the fire.

The four Animorphs, minus Tobias, successfully escaped from the Yeerk Pool and returned to their school's hallway along with just one freed prisoner, a woman who had ridden on Cassie's back. Jake then returned home and went to bed, where he silently struggled with the bad memories and trauma of that night's terror as he cried and shivered. Jake then listened as "Tom" returned home some time later, and lamented how he had failed to save his brother and how Tom had never known he was the tiger before falling asleep.

Jake was awakened in the early hours of the morning by the sound of wings outside his window. Opening the window, he realized it was Tobias and expressed relief that he had managed to escape. Jake then told Tobias to demorph and offered to let him sleep on the bed while he slept on the floor. Tobias notified him that he had to hide out in the Yeerk Pool for over two hours in order to safely escape and thus was now trapped as a red-tailed hawk. This revelation caused Jake to start crying as he registered the fact that the hawk in front of him was how Tobias would look from now on. Jake looked up at the sky and mused that one of the stars up there was the Andalite homeworld which he believed represented hope. Tobias responded that one day the Andalites would come, but until then, the Animorphs would have to continue fighting the Yeerks.[5]

Early Missions

Jake then allowed Tobias to live in the attic of his house, placing blankets in a drawer; he would also give him Tupperware consisting of his dinner or leftovers, unaware that Tobias' hawk body could not digest most of it. Tobias also had Jake write and send two letters on his behalf, one each to be sent to his uncle and aunt claiming that he was now living with other permanently.[22]

Rescuing Ax

To be added[2]

Infested by a Yeerk

"Get out of my head! No! No!"
"Oh, I don't think I want to do that, Jake. Why would I abandon such an interesting host? So you are the one who has driven Visser Three half-mad with rage. A kid. The midget."
―Jake and Temrash 114[src]

During a mission to stop a plot involving a Yeerk-controlled hospital, Jake falls into a Yeerk pool and becomes infested by Temrash 114. The other Animorphs manage to get him out of the hospital, but Ax soon realizes what Jake is and convinces the other Animorphs on what they need to do.

Tying him up, the Animorphs hold Temrash in an abandoned shed for three days until he dies of Kandrona starvation. Temrash tries to escape, going through multiple attempts using Jake’s morphs, but he dies inside Jake’s head. As he dies, Jake witnesses his pain and catches a glimpse of a "bloodred eye".[3]

Meeting the Ellimist

Return to the Yeerk Pool

To be added

Visit to Alternate Future

To be added

Battle at the EGS Tower

To be added

Trouble with Ax

To be added

Leader of the Animorphs

"The others like to act as if I'm in charge. I don't think of myself that way, not really. But you know, whatever. If it makes them feel better to think I'm the leader, fine. It's just that when people treat you like a leader, you start acting like a leader. And like I said, that means making decisions. Even when you're just guessing."
―Jake[src]

To be added

Embracing Leadership

"I'm the unofficial leader of the Animorphs. I send us into battle. When things go wrong, when we get hurt or have to run for our lives, that's on me, too. I'm not complaining. Has to be done. You know? Someone has to make the calls. A good leader has to make tough, informed decisions. Recognize his soldiers' special strengths and use them accordingly. Fight to win with the knowledge that he may die trying. But most important, a leader won't ask anyone to do anything he wouldn't do himself."
―Jake[src]

As the battle with the Yeerks went on, Jake was forced into situations that tested his leadership skills and made him start to make some tough decisions like deciding on how to deal with Tom on one occasion attempting to take out his father and teaming up with Visser Three to escape an underwater civilization.

He even once found himself in a possible future where the Yeerks won the war, which had taken a toll on all of the Animorphs, especially Cassie, who became more brutal and calculating than her original pacifist nature.

Losing his Family

"This was not your fault, Prince Jake. You could not have known what Tom was planning. You could not have stopped him."
"Yeah, Ax. I could have. What's wrong with me? Why didn't I get them out last night? When I need to wait, plan, gather more information, what do I do? Charge in. Go for the surprise. Screw things up permanently. But when I need to charge in, to save the people I love most, I wait. I say, "Go home. Get some rest. Sleep on it." Great plan. I get sleep. My parents get Yeerks."
Ax and Jake[src]

When the Animorphs realize that the Yeerks finally realize that the “Andalite bandits” are actually humans, the Animorphs plan to run away and take their individual families to the hidden Hork-Bajir valley for safety. Although Rachel’s and Cassie’s families are taken to safety, Tom’s Yeerk manages to infest both of his parents beforehand and set up a trap for Jake. Before escaping, Jake morphs into falcon in front of the Yeerks, wanting to show that he has been fighting all along to inspire fear in the Yeerks and hope in his family that he will rescue them.

Endgame

"Look, if we lose this battle it's over, you understand me?! If we lose it's over. This is the battle. This is the last stand. We lose and here's what happens: The Yeerk fleet fights the Andalite fleet. If the Yeerks win they'll be free to enslave every living human being and kill the ones they don't want. If the Andalites win there's a very good chance they'll sterilize Earth: kill everything in order to end the Yeerk menace once and for all. So, you don't like me telling you what to do, you don't like your job, you don't like me, period? I don't really care. Before this night is over the casualties will be piled high and some of you standing here right now will be dead and I don't care because we are going to win. Is that clear? We're taking that Pool ship and before this night is over we'll have Visser One right here."
―Jake to James and the other Animorphs[src]

Having romantic feelings throughout the series, Jake proposed to Cassie before the final battle against the Yeerks, although she suggests that he ask her again a year after the war ends, unsure of whether Jake can live a normal life post-war, should they survive.

During the final days of the Yeerk War, Tom’s Yeerk gives Jake a deal: allowing Tom’s Yeerk, along with a hundred of other Controllers, to take the Blade Ship and an Escafil device to make war on another species in exchange for giving Jake and the other Animorphs a way to enter the Pool Ship, control it, and defeat the Yeerks once and for all as well as promising the freedom of Jake’s parents and Tom. However, Jake is aware that Tom's Yeerk is planning to betray them and concocts a countermeasure, doing his own version of the plan while secretly ordering Rachel to follow Tom’s Yeerk.

Jake’s plan succeeds and ultimately ends the war with the Yeerks, but not without a cost. Not only were seventeen thousands of Yeerks killed in the Pool Ship’s central pool, but Rachel was forced to kill Tom, shortly before she, herself, is killed.

Post-War

2000

"We Animorphs and the newly minted Prince Aximili, with our prisoner, landed Ax's official liaison ship, a sleek Fast-Courier, right in the middle of the Mall in Washington. Not a mall, the Mall, a sort of open green space with the Capitol Building at one end, the Smithsonian Institution and various government buildings on both sides, and the obelisk of the Washington Monument at the far end. We called ahead, not wanting to terrify anyone. There were roughly a thousand cops and twice that many newspeople waiting for us. It was, as Marco said, a "shiver-my-spine moment." A sea of microphones and video cameras and flashbulbs. Ax and Jake, and to a lesser extent Marco and I, gave a sort of brief explanation of what had been happening, and where things stood now. Needless to say, it was kind of a big news day."
Cassie[src]

To be added

2001

"Jake was on his way to becoming this icon, this national hero figure. He had that whole tragic-hero thing going on. People knew about him sending his cousin to take out his brother and they ate it up. I am not kidding when I say that some congressperson actually suggested carving his face onto Mount Rushmore. [...] Of course this just made him into the strong and silent type and he always was a big, good-looking guy, so he got marriage proposals (and other proposals) from girls as young as twelve and women old enough to be his grandmother. [...] If he'd been old enough he could have run for president as the candidate of Democrats and Republicans both. Jake was the biggest hero the world had ever seen because he was a hero for all humans, not one nation. He had saved the lives and freedom of the entire human race. I mean, he could have snapped his fingers and had anything he wanted. The problem was, he didn't want anything. Except for Tobias to come back. For Rachel and Tom to be alive. For the chance to unlive one fateful moment when he gave the order that doomed seventeen thousand defenseless Yeerks."
Marco[src]

After the war, Jake is idolized as a national hero and is coveted by various colleges, brand deals and government institutions, although Jake refuses, become withdrawn and depressed, living with his parents, who are now freed, and visiting Rachel's memorial at night, sitting there for hours and hoping for Tobias to show up. Additionally, he and Cassie are no longer together.

Trial of Visser One
"Your honor, this witness should himself be under indictment as a war criminal. If the alleged war crimes of the Yeerk military officer, Visser One, are to be tried in this court, it must be in the pursuit of impartial justice. Truly impartial justice cannot be applied only against one side in a conflict. If my client is to be tried for his actions in the human-Yeerk war, then so must the actions of this witness. With all due respect to this court, this witness is a mass murderer. A war criminal."
―Visser One's Lawyer[src]

Jake, along with Marco, Cassie, and Ax, are called to testify against Visser One. During Jake's testimony, Esplin's lawyer dubs Jake a war criminal for his actions during the war, which bothers Jake. The other three Animorphs knock Jake unconscious and dump him into the ocean, forcing Jake to morph into dolphin, hoping that the dolphin's natural joy would override Jake's depression, although it fails. As Jake rages, he explains that being branded a war criminal bothers him, and reveals that he relished flushing the 17,000 Yeerks into space, which, while understandable to Marco and Ax, causes Cassie to become further distant with him.

2003

"I needed a job. I needed to do something useful. And I was the reigning expert on using animal morphs for infiltration, surveillance, and combat. They called me Professor. A joke, obviously, I still hadn't formally graduated from high school. [...] I lived in Santa Barbara, now. After the trial of Visser One, and endless nagging from Marco (and his agent and manager and assorted Hollywood friends), I finally wrote a book. It was an autobiography, of course. I hated doing it. But it was a way for me to tell people more about Rachel and Tobias, the Forgotten Animorphs, as people called them. The book made way more money than I needed. I bought a house for my folks and finally moved out on my own. [...] The Defense Department was my official employer and they flew me in a private military jet from Santa Barbara to Twenty-nine every day of class. Flew me back in the evening. [...] They drove me back and forth in a Humvee with all kinds of security — a courtesy befitting my status as an official hero. I had been given the Presidential Medal of Freedom and a similarly exalted medal from pretty much every nation on Earth."
―Jake[src]

Realizing it was time to move on with his life, that none of his action wouldn’t bring back Tom or Rachel, Jake got a job for the Department of Defense, working as a morphing professor. He also wrote his own biography about the Yeerk War, telling people more about Rachel and Tobias. Using the money from those sales, he bought a house for his parents and moved to a house closer to Marco, where they started hanging out again.

A New Mission

"Look, for better or worse, this is what I do. This is what I am, not what you are."
"I'm still pretty good in a fight."
"Pretty good? Cassie, you're a one-woman army. But you're the soldier who has fought her war and moved on. That's good. It's not me, though. Come on, Cassie, we both know this is a lifeline for me."
―Jake and Cassie[src]

Jake developed a personality similar to Rachel by this point, becoming reckless, ruthless and enjoying war and the subsequent violence, a trait noticed by both Cassie and Marco. When Jake discovers that Ax has been kidnapped, Jake relishes the idea of entering another war, citing it as a lifeline for him, with Cassie surprised that she did not notice how much Jake's demeanor resembles Rachel's. After more than six months captaining the Rachel, a state-of-the-art Yeerk ship named by Tobias, Jake encounters a Blade ship—one containing the last fugitives from the Yeerk empire. Ax's captor, a monstrous being of unknown origin known only as "The One", makes its unsettling appearance through a communication channel between the Blade ship and the Rachel. Undaunted, Jake gives his final order, instructing the pilot to power up their engines and ram the larger ship.

Personality

"He was a good guy, my dad. Not just because he was my dad. Because he was a good person. Because he did his work as well as he knew how and wasn't a jerk to the people around him. That doesn't make you a saint or anything, but I guess when I think about it, that's what I hope I'll do when I’m older: treat my family right, do my job well, not be a jerk to the people I meet. Maybe that's not a huge, ambitious goal, but it would be enough for me. I've done the hero thing. You can have the hero thing. Me, I wanted a day when all I'd have to do was be a decent human being."
―Jake[src]

At the beginning of the Animorphs series, Tobias announces to the team that he thinks that Jake should be their leader. The other Animorphs quickly agree, and Jake reluctantly accepts the position. Few would disagree that he is naturally fit for the job, as he is brave, responsible, cool under pressure, and able to take charge during a crisis. He is described by his cousin Rachel as a person who can give orders without sounding overly bossy. At first, Jake doesn't view himself as a leader, and thus isn't willing to accept the role, but when he learns that his older brother Tom is a Controller, his desire to save his brother serves as the fuel to his unyielding determination in his fight against the Yeerks.

In the first book, Jake is the only character with pre-existing ties to each of the other Animorphs; Rachel is his cousin; there was a mutual attraction between him and CassieMarco is his best friend; Tobias was rescued by him from bullies sometime before the series began and had a mild case of hero-worship towards Jake. While Ax didn't appear until the fourth volume, The Message, Ax quickly accepts Jake as his "Prince" ("Prince" being a rank in the Andalite military hierarchy) and is deeply loyal to him. Jake's status as Ax's Prince led to a recurring joke between them:

One of Jake's more harrowing experiences occurs when he is infested by a Yeerk, Temrash 114. Fortunately Ax realizes something was wrong (because Jake's face momentarily twists into an expression of disgust when he sees Ax), and the Animorphs tie Jake up for three days until Temrash dies of Kandrona starvation. Jake gets his first glimpse of Crayak when Temrash died. He is also left with partial memory imprints of Temrash and his former hosts: a Gedd, a Hork-Bajir, and his brother Tom (who is now host to another Yeerk).

As the leader of the small band of guerrilla warriors, his leadership, his choices and mistakes, and the responsibility he assumes are recurring themes in the Animorphs series. Despite his best efforts, Jake never attains his main goal for joining the fight: saving his brother from Yeerk infestation. After he fails to save Tom from the Yeerks, he is left emotionally damaged and unable to lead. Before the final battle, Cassie manages to lift him out of it, but her success is short-lived. Eventually, Jake's personality becomes very much like his cousin Rachel's, to the point where he employs ruthless and reckless decisions and smiles amidst the carnage, unable to live without a war, with the similarity noted by both Cassie and Marco.

Relationships with the other Animorphs

Marco

"Marco is one of those people who jumps right to the conclusion, without a lot of wondering and guessing. You could say he's smart. Or efficient. Or I guess you could say he's ruthless. He's not mean or cruel. He just gets from point A to point Z faster than most people."
Jake[src]

Jake and Marco had been best friends for years before the war, and generally maintained a close relationship throughout the series, despite several tests of their friendship. Towards the end of the war, Jake and Marco's friendship suffers. In the post-war period, Marco is concerned for his friend and makes a plan with Cassie to try to get through to him.

Cassie

"You know I love you."
"I love you, too, Jake."
"I guess if we win, if we survive, maybe we should, you know, get married and all. I mean, eventually. I know we're young, but man, we've been through enough that it should count for a few extra years, shouldn't it? [...] Look, Cassie, when this is over I'll be done with it forever. I'll go back to school, get an education, go to basketball games, get a driver's license, go to college, figure out what it is I really want to do. And be with you. You and me."
―Jake and Cassie[src]

Jake and Cassie were attracted to each other ever since the start of the series, and their relationship kept growing as the series progressed. They end up kissing in The Attack, and admit the depth of their feelings for each other. After they kiss, Rachel remarks, "It's about time.". However, they grow apart towards the end of the series due to Jake's depression and his distrust of Cassie after she allows Tom to escape with the Escafil device. They make up before the very end of the series, and Jake even asks Cassie to marry him in The Answer, but she declines, saying she would marry him "a year after this is all over." At the time, Cassie correctly suspected that Jake had been changed by the war, and after it's over, he becomes too entrenched in depression and guilt to be able to pursue a romantic relationship.

Rachel

"I worry about you, Rachel. More than any of the others except Tobias. I feel like this war is to you like booze is to an alcoholic. Like I don't know what will happen to you if it all ends someday."
―Jake to Rachel[src]

Despite being cousins, Jake and Rachel weren't particularly close until they became Animorphs, with both of them eventually loving the other. As the series progressed, Jake became worried about Rachel's violent nature, and Rachel occasionally found herself wishing to challenge Jake's leadership, despite respecting him as her leader. Overall though, the two got along very well and were mostly on the same side of arguments. After Rachel's death, Jake mourned her passing deeply, often visiting her grave late at night and spending hours there in silence. He eventually came to adopt Rachel's demeanor, craving war and employing reckless tactics.

Tobias

"Tobias is one of us. A friend. More than a friend. He's risked his life for me many times."
―Jake[src]

Before Jake became an Animorph, he helped Tobias escape from bullies, and because of this, Tobias looks up to Jake and has a deep respect for him, almost never questioning his decisions. But after the end of the series, Tobias is unable to forgive Jake for his part in Rachel's death, although they make amends, Tobias realizing he cannot muster the rage he believes he should harbor towards Jake and putting aside feelings of animosity in order to save Ax.

Ax

"Sometimes I'm secretly proud when Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill, the Andalite cadet who joined us not long after we encountered his older brother Elfangor, calls me "Prince" Jake. Mostly embarrassed, but there are times when it feels okay."
―Jake[src]

Ax deeply respects Jake, and calls him his "prince." This is a running joke between the two, as Jake is biologically younger than Ax, and holds no real rank. However, Ax does respect Jake's position as leader, and at times, Jake uses his "rank" to overrule Ax's objections. While Jake keeps a certain distance from Ax, as he is Ax's commander, there is a strong bond between the two. Jake is protective of Ax, believing him to be a soldier under his command, and therefore Jake's responsibility (when Ax is kidnapped in the final book, Jake describes him as "one of mine").

David

"I'd gone into lots of battles against Hork-Bajir, Taxxons, Visser Three himself. I'd always gone in hoping to win. But I'd never gone in consciously hoping to kill. This was different. I didn't want to escape. I wanted to destroy David. I wanted revenge."
―Jake[src]

To be added

Morphs

Book Morphs

Morph Book Acquired
Golden Retriever (Homer) The Invasion
Green Anole Lizard
Siberian Tiger
Peregrine Falcon The Visitor
Flea
Wolf The Encounter
Trout
Bottlenose Dolphin The Message
Seagull
American Lobster The Predator
Black Garden Ant
Cockroach The Capture
Housefly
Termite (acquired but never used) The Secret
Great Horned Owl
Skunk
Brown Bat The Android
Spider Monkey (unusable; Sario Rip morph) The Forgotten
Jaguar (unusable; Sario Rip morph)
Racehorse The Unknown
Parrot (white) The Escape
Hammerhead Shark
Rhinoceros The Warning
Mole The Underground
Mosquito The Decision
Leeran
Tyrannosaurs Rex (unusable; Sario Rip morph) In the Time of Dinosaurs
Dragonfly The Threat
Human (adult male Controller)
Giant Anteater The Suspicion
Baby Ringed Seal The Extreme
Polar Bear (Nanook)
Howler The Attack
Giant Squid The Exposed
Chimpanzee The Experiment
Eel The Sickness
War Horse (unusable; timeline erased) Elfangor's Secret
Hork-Bajir The Prophecy
Squirrel The Proposal
Cockatiel
Orca (Swoosh) The Mutation
North American Beaver The Resistance
Anaconda The Answer


Television Show Morphs

Morph Episode Acquired
Golden Retriever (Homer) My Name is Jake, Part 1
Skink The Underground
White Tiger
Iguana On the Run
Butterfly The Message
Cockroach The Escape
Ferret
Horse (off-screen) The Leader, Part 1
Dog The Release
Human (Tom) Face Off, Part 2
Mouse My Name is Erek
White-headed Capuchin Changes, Part 1
Gecko Changes, Part 2
Hawk (off-screen) The Front
Bat

Books Narrated by Jake

Trivia

  • Jake's real WAA username is close to being Bball24. It is a reference to his best basketball game, where he scored 24 points.
  • In The Answer, Jake finally breaks the "I can't tell you my last name or where I live" tradition, and reveals that his last name is Berenson and that the Animorphs have been fighting the Yeerks in California for a total of 3 years. Marco reveals that Jake is 16, meaning that the Animorphs began the war at the age of 13.
  • In the original idea for the series, Jake's name was going to be Matt and he was going to have a little brother named Joseph.
  • Jake narrates a small portion of Cassie's book (The Departure) because Cassie was stuck in a chrysalis in butterfly morph.
  • Jake has the most books in the series. He gets a part in narrating 17 books in total.
  • A running gag between him and Ax involves Ax calling him "Prince," and him objecting to the title. Amusingly inverted in the beginning in Elfangor's Secret, where he objects to Ax calling him "Prince" to instead demand he be called "Supreme Leader."
  • In the Anibase, K.A. Applegate had this to say about a very memorable scene in The Attack:
    • "The Jake and Cassie kiss was not only something Ani-Fans had wanted for a long time, it was our small homage to the first interracial kiss on TV, the famous Captain Kirk, Lieutenant Uhura moment. That long-ago kiss ignited a storm of angry response. For us, we always got lots of fan mail, and not a single letter that we ever saw complained about the kiss between a black character and a white character. Mostly what readers said was, 'It's about time!'"

Gallery

Elfangor eye closeup andalite chron "Someone took a picture of me? Not cool. Do you see what I'm wearing? I'm Spandex-boy. Totally not cool."

The image gallery for Jake Berenson may be viewed here


References

  1. 1.0 1.1 The Warning
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 The Message
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 The Capture
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 The Beginning
  5. 5.00 5.01 5.02 5.03 5.04 5.05 5.06 5.07 5.08 5.09 5.10 5.11 5.12 5.13 5.14 The Invasion
  6. 6.0 6.1 The Andalite Chronicles is said to take place in 1976 and states it is 21 years before Elfangor met the Animorphs, meaning the Animorphs met Elfangor in 1997. In #53, Jake states they were 13 when they met Elfangor, placing their year of birth c.1984
  7. Killed by a headshot after time-traveling back to 1776, although he was resurrected when the timeline changes were undone.
  8. The Diversion
  9. 9.0 9.1 9.2 The Conspiracy
  10. 10.0 10.1 10.2 The Predator
  11. The Alien
  12. Jake was 13 in 1997, placing the events of him being nine in 1993.
  13. The Extreme
  14. The Reunion
  15. 15.0 15.1 The Threat
  16. 16.0 16.1 16.2 Back to Before
  17. 17.0 17.1 The Stranger
  18. Eva disappeared two years prior to Jake becoming an Animorph in 1997, placing Eva's disappearance in 1995.
  19. In #4, Jake refers to having attended Cassie's Thanksgiving "last year." They became Animorphs at the age of 13 in 1997, placing the Thanksgiving dinner in 1996 when he was 12.
  20. The Andalite Chronicles is said to take place 10 years after the 1966 Yeerk exodus of The Hork-Bajir Chronicles and 21 years before Elfangor met the Animorphs. This places it in 1976, meaning the Animorphs met Elfangor in 1997.
  21. The Answer
  22. The Encounter
Animorphs
Animorphs Jake | Rachel | Tobias | Cassie | Marco | Ax | David
Auxiliary Animorphs James | Collette | Timmy | Kelly | Craig | Erica | Julio | Liam | Tricia | Jessie | Judy | Ray
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