Tobias

From Seerowpedia

Tobias
Biographical information
Gender	Male
Eye color	Yellow (hawk)
Hair color	--
Family	Father: Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul, Mother: Loren, Uncle: Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill, Grandparents: Noorlin-Sirinial-Cooraf, Forlay Esgarrouth Maheen, Unknown Aunt and Uncle
Occupation	None
Affiliation	Animorph, Yeerk (Infested in the alternate timeline in Back to Before)
Behind the scenes
First appearance	The Invasion
Last appearance	The Beginning
Cause	End Of Series

Tobias, as portrayed by David B. Mattingly, morphing from his red-tailed hawk body into his old human form.

Tobias is the quiet and thoughtful loner of the Animorphs. He is a nothlit, trapped in the body of a red-tailed hawk after he passed the 2-hour time limit in morph.

Before the war, Tobias was a shy dreamer who always seemed somewhat detached from the world. He was kind and gentle, but not very popular at school and a bully magnet. He lived with his uncle who was not very fond of him and he often got thrown between her and his uncaring aunt on the other coast. Not very happy with his life, Tobias found meaning in the war. For the first time he felt like he had something worth fighting for, and he was particularly motivated by Elfangor's death. Tobias also found freedom in the power to morph. He became enraptured with the hawk morph, where he could just fly away from his human problems.The other Animorphs recognized Tobias atachment to the hawk morph, and Jake warned him of the time limit. However, at the end of The Invasion Tobias is forced to remain in morph for over two hours during a mission. The other Animorphs sometimes speculate if Tobias trapped himself on purpose, as an excuse to escape his terrible life as a human.

Because of Tobias' dual existence as both a hawk and a human, his friends sometimes call him "bird-boy". Tobias' narrations contain many thoughts on his internal conflict between his human and hawk sides. A common issue that arises is his need to hunt and kill to survive. The ruthless nature of the hawk contrasts with the more caring nature of human Tobias. Tobias sometimes wonders if he is losing his humanity because of this.

In the book The Change the Ellimist restores his power to morph. However, as the Ellimist does not also restore Tobias' human form as his normal body, Tobias' normal form remains that of the hawk, from which he is able to morph to any other animal, including his original human form. The Ellimist makes the human morph 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 occurs at the end of The Change. The Ellimist's intervention gives Tobias the chance to return to life as a human, but he chooses to continue living as a morph-capable hawk, explained by the others as a need to stay in the fight. However, as the series progresses, it becomes apparent that in many ways Tobias prefers his life as a hawk to his life as a human.

Among the group, Tobias is closest to Rachel and Ax. After becoming a nothlit, he lives in the forest as a hawk along with Ax. He has a crush on Rachel during the early books and they become romantically involved later in the series.

Before he became a nothlit, Tobias lived variously with an uncle in the other Animorphs' home town and 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". His parents were believed to be dead, but towards 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, the Andalite who gave the Animorphs their powers. Elfangor was on Earth as a human nothlit hiding under the name Alan Fangor, which was shortened to Al Fangor. Because the Ellimist had wiped out all evidence of Elfangor's time on Earth, Tobias and the Animorphs were unaware of Tobias' lineage, until Visser Three got his hands on Elfangor's will. Loren and Tobias were reunited towards the end of the series, 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 had his mother's maiden name instead, due to the Ellimist altering the timeline to remove Elfangor from Earth.

In Megamorphs #4: Back to Before, an alternate reality scenario, Tobias' low self-esteem leads to him joining The Sharing and becoming a Controller. Besides the fact that The Sharing stops him from being bullied, one of his main reasons for doing so was the fact that 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 the war, Tobias completely withdraws from the rest of the world, distraught by Rachel's death and unable to forgive Jake for his role in her death. He only rejoins the other Animorphs (minus Cassie) after finding out about Ax's capture by The One.

[edit] Relationships to the other Animorphs

• Jake: Tobias and Jake are casual acquaintances before the series began, after Jake saved Tobias from a group of bullies. Tobias has a deep respect for Jake and rarely challenges his decisions or leadership during the series. However, Tobias is never able to forgive Jake for sacrificing Rachel in the final battle.
• Rachel: It is implied that Rachel and Tobias were acquainted before the start of the series, although they don't really know each other. Tobias has a crush on Rachel right from the beginning, and their romance develops into a strong relationship over the course of the series. Rachel's death drives Tobias into depression and seclusion.
• Cassie: Tobias and Cassie are similar in their kind natures. Although they don't interact often, they are friends.
• Marco: Initially Marco and Tobias seem largely indifferent or opposed to each other, with Marco making a few jibes at Tobias, but they develop a bond over the course of the series.
• Ax: Ax and Tobias share a close bond, though interestingly, this is emphasized more in Ax's narrations than Tobias'. Ax regards Tobias as his shorm (best friend), and Ax is revealed to be Tobias' uncle mid-way through the series.

[edit] Tobias's morphs

According to the Anibase, which can be downloaded here, Tobias has a total 33 morphs in the series.

[edit] Tobias' books

Books narrated solely by Tobias include:

• The Encounter
• The Change
• The Pretender
• The Illusion
• The Test
• The Diversion

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.