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The Pretender (Animorphs)
Encyclopedia
The Pretender is the twenty-third book in the Animorphs
series, written by K.A. Applegate. It is narrated by Tobias
.
He stops by at Rachel's house. She tells him that a lawyer and a long-lost cousin, Aria, has been searching for him. Chapman, too, is interested in his whereabouts. Tobias suspects a trap. Tobias meets his father's lawyer, DeGroot. The lawyer tells him the father he knew may not have been his real father, and his real father's will is meant to be read on his next birthday. Tobias is puzzled. He also tells him that Aria wants to meet him at the Hyatt
hotel. Tobias left the practice, and found himself being followed by a Yeerk agent. Rather than meeting with the Animorphs at the barn, he flies to the Hork-Bajir colony.
There, Toby Hamee
, Jara Hamee and Ket Halpak's seer daughter, tells Tobias that a child Hork-Bajir, Bek, is missing. It is then that a disbelieving Tobias discovers that the Hork-Bajir regularly leave the valley (led by Toby) to free more of their kind. Back at the barn, Tobias must deal with his friends' thinly-veiled pity for him, and the group splits up to both try to find Bek and investigate Aria. While Rachel and Tobias are watching her hotel, Aria leaves in a cab, and stops over at Frank's Safari Land and Putt-Putt Golf, a dodgy roadside zoo-slash-amusement park. It's there that they find Bek, locked in a miserable cage alongside a bunch of very depressed animals. They find Aria talking to the owner, Frank, who wants to make money off his "alien freak".
Tobias and the others storm the place and try to take Bek, tearing down the place in the process. But the Controllers were ready for them, and Tobias encounters Visser Three in a hideous Kaftid morph, who thinks Tobias is Ket Halpak. The Visser assails Tobias with an acid attack, forcing him to release Bek in pain. The rescue fails, and the Animorphs and the Yeerks withdraw, with Bek in Yeerk custody now.
Tobias constantly wonders if he could ever live life as a human - with Aria. He wonders if she's a Controller. He and Ax return to the Hyatt, and witness her saving a little girl. Tobias assumes this means she's not a Controller, but Ax is doubtful. Tobias swings by Rachel's house that night, and they engage in a hot debate about Tobias's humanity, with Rachel expressing sadness about the fact that she and Tobias can never be close due to his hawk body. The next day, the Animorphs and the Hork-Bajir plan their attack on the new Yeerk Dracon cannon facility out of town.
The Animorphs and the free Hork-Bajir allow themselves to be captured. Tobias, in flea morph, jumps out of the cage, demorphs, morphs a Hork-Bajir, and opens the cage. A quick fight between the Hork-Bajir-Controllers and the freedom fighters results in the latter's victory. As they climb up to the Yeerk Dracon cannon, Tobias spots Aria in a helicopter. Only then does he make the connection that Aria is actually Visser Three in a morph. Enraged, horrified, and hating himself, he falls to the ground, unable to will himself to join the fight. He is later rescued by Toby after a terrible fight ensues. The facility is destroyed, and Bek is saved.
Aware now that he is walking into a trap, Tobias must engage Aria on his own. He goes to the testament-reading, and discovers that his father was in fact Elfangor, the Andalite prince. Tobias gives nothing away, instead jeering that he was left no money and accusing Aria of merely seeking his inheritance. Only after he returns to his hiding spot does he break down, and decides that he can't give up his morphing powers because he must continue to fight for his people, just like his father did. Later that night, he flies to Rachel's where she lights him a candle on a birthday cake.
The next day, Tobias kills and eats the mother rabbit, morphs her, and brings the baby rabbits under his protection from the rival hawk.
Goof:
In the 13th book, Visser Three believes that Ket Halpak, a Hork-Bajir, is dead. In the 23rd book, he recognizes her and is not at all surprised to see someone who he watched get killed.
Animorphs
Animorphs is an English language science fiction series of young adult books written by K. A. Applegate and published by Scholastic. Five humans, Jake, Marco, Cassie, Rachel, and Tobias, and one alien, Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill , obtain the ability to morph into any animal they touch. They name...
series, written by K.A. Applegate. It is narrated by Tobias
Tobias (Animorphs)
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...
.
Plot summary
Tobias has been having bad luck on his hunts. Every time he'd dive on the rabbit litter to pick off a hapless youngster, he'd suddenly envision himself as the prey with the shadow of death swooping at him. To make his situation worse, another red-tailed hawk is aggressively moving in on his territory. He doesn't have the will to deal with the threat once and for all. So he resorts to picking dead carcasses off the road once, while eating a half-squashed raccoon he was seen by Rachel.He stops by at Rachel's house. She tells him that a lawyer and a long-lost cousin, Aria, has been searching for him. Chapman, too, is interested in his whereabouts. Tobias suspects a trap. Tobias meets his father's lawyer, DeGroot. The lawyer tells him the father he knew may not have been his real father, and his real father's will is meant to be read on his next birthday. Tobias is puzzled. He also tells him that Aria wants to meet him at the Hyatt
Hyatt
Hyatt Hotels Corporation , is an international operator of hotels.Hyatt Center is the headquarters for Hyatt corporation...
hotel. Tobias left the practice, and found himself being followed by a Yeerk agent. Rather than meeting with the Animorphs at the barn, he flies to the Hork-Bajir colony.
There, Toby Hamee
Toby Hamee
Toby Hamee is a fictional character in the Animorphs books by K. A. Applegate.Toby Hamee is a Hork-Bajir seer, the daughter of Jara Hamee and Ket Halpak. She is the first free Hork-Bajir born in the free Hork-Bajir colony...
, Jara Hamee and Ket Halpak's seer daughter, tells Tobias that a child Hork-Bajir, Bek, is missing. It is then that a disbelieving Tobias discovers that the Hork-Bajir regularly leave the valley (led by Toby) to free more of their kind. Back at the barn, Tobias must deal with his friends' thinly-veiled pity for him, and the group splits up to both try to find Bek and investigate Aria. While Rachel and Tobias are watching her hotel, Aria leaves in a cab, and stops over at Frank's Safari Land and Putt-Putt Golf, a dodgy roadside zoo-slash-amusement park. It's there that they find Bek, locked in a miserable cage alongside a bunch of very depressed animals. They find Aria talking to the owner, Frank, who wants to make money off his "alien freak".
Tobias and the others storm the place and try to take Bek, tearing down the place in the process. But the Controllers were ready for them, and Tobias encounters Visser Three in a hideous Kaftid morph, who thinks Tobias is Ket Halpak. The Visser assails Tobias with an acid attack, forcing him to release Bek in pain. The rescue fails, and the Animorphs and the Yeerks withdraw, with Bek in Yeerk custody now.
Tobias constantly wonders if he could ever live life as a human - with Aria. He wonders if she's a Controller. He and Ax return to the Hyatt, and witness her saving a little girl. Tobias assumes this means she's not a Controller, but Ax is doubtful. Tobias swings by Rachel's house that night, and they engage in a hot debate about Tobias's humanity, with Rachel expressing sadness about the fact that she and Tobias can never be close due to his hawk body. The next day, the Animorphs and the Hork-Bajir plan their attack on the new Yeerk Dracon cannon facility out of town.
The Animorphs and the free Hork-Bajir allow themselves to be captured. Tobias, in flea morph, jumps out of the cage, demorphs, morphs a Hork-Bajir, and opens the cage. A quick fight between the Hork-Bajir-Controllers and the freedom fighters results in the latter's victory. As they climb up to the Yeerk Dracon cannon, Tobias spots Aria in a helicopter. Only then does he make the connection that Aria is actually Visser Three in a morph. Enraged, horrified, and hating himself, he falls to the ground, unable to will himself to join the fight. He is later rescued by Toby after a terrible fight ensues. The facility is destroyed, and Bek is saved.
Aware now that he is walking into a trap, Tobias must engage Aria on his own. He goes to the testament-reading, and discovers that his father was in fact Elfangor, the Andalite prince. Tobias gives nothing away, instead jeering that he was left no money and accusing Aria of merely seeking his inheritance. Only after he returns to his hiding spot does he break down, and decides that he can't give up his morphing powers because he must continue to fight for his people, just like his father did. Later that night, he flies to Rachel's where she lights him a candle on a birthday cake.
The next day, Tobias kills and eats the mother rabbit, morphs her, and brings the baby rabbits under his protection from the rival hawk.
Contributions to the Series' Story Arc
- Tobias discovers that Elfangor was his biological father.
- Chapman is no longer suspicious of the lost boy who lives on the street.
- Toby HameeToby HameeToby Hamee is a fictional character in the Animorphs books by K. A. Applegate.Toby Hamee is a Hork-Bajir seer, the daughter of Jara Hamee and Ket Halpak. She is the first free Hork-Bajir born in the free Hork-Bajir colony...
makes her first speaking appearance (excepting the last page of The Hork-Bajir ChroniclesThe Hork-Bajir ChroniclesThe Hork-Bajir Chronicles is the second companion book to the Animorphs series, written by K. A. Applegate. With respect to continuity within the series, it takes place before book #23, The Pretender, although the events told in the story occur between the time of The Ellimist Chronicles and The...
).
Goof:
In the 13th book, Visser Three believes that Ket Halpak, a Hork-Bajir, is dead. In the 23rd book, he recognizes her and is not at all surprised to see someone who he watched get killed.
Morphs
| Morpher | Morphs Acquired | Morphs Used |
|---|---|---|
| Jake Jake Berenson Jake Berenson is a fictional character and one of the main protagonists from the science-fiction book series Animorphs, written by K. A. Applegate. Until the penultimate book of the series, his last name was never revealed, and he was known only as Jake... |
Siberian Tiger | |
| Rachel Rachel (Animorphs) Rachel is a fictional character from the sci-fi book series Animorphs. Her full name is never explicitly mentioned in the books, but her relation to her cousin Jake Berenson through their fathers makes it most likely to be Rachel Berenson, if it was never changed or hyphenated.-Biography:Before the... |
Bald Eagle Bald Eagle The Bald Eagle is a bird of prey found in North America. It is the national bird and symbol of the United States of America. This sea eagle has two known sub-species and forms a species pair with the White-tailed Eagle... , African Elephant, Grizzly Bear Grizzly Bear The grizzly bear , also known as the silvertip bear, the grizzly, or the North American brown bear, is a subspecies of brown bear that generally lives in the uplands of western North America... |
|
| Tobias Tobias (Animorphs) 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... |
Rabbit Rabbit Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae of the order Lagomorpha, found in several parts of the world... |
Hork-Bajir Hork-Bajir The Hork-Bajir are a race of aliens in the Animorphs novels.The Hork-Bajir are fictional aliens that are usually about seven feet tall. They are a dark shade of green and have three-toed theropod feet. Their necks are long and they have a mouth that resembles a falcon's beak with teeth. Their legs... (Ket Helpak), Human Human Humans are the only living species in the Homo genus... , Flea Flea Flea is the common name for insects of the order Siphonaptera which are wingless insects with mouthparts adapted for piercing skin and sucking blood... , Rabbit Rabbit Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae of the order Lagomorpha, found in several parts of the world... |
| Cassie Cassie (Animorphs) Cassie is a fictional character from the sci-fi book series Animorphs, written by K. A. Applegate. Her last name is never mentioned, although she referred to it as being "nice" in The Secret.-Biography:... |
Wolf | |
| Marco Marco (Animorphs) Marco is a fictional character from the sci-fi book series, Animorphs, written by K. A. Applegate. His last name is never mentioned.-Biography:... |
Gorilla Gorilla Gorillas are the largest extant species of primates. They are ground-dwelling, predominantly herbivorous apes that inhabit the forests of central Africa. Gorillas are divided into two species and either four or five subspecies... , Wolf Spider Wolf spider Wolf spiders are members of the family Lycosidae, from the Ancient Greek word "" meaning "wolf". They are robust and agile hunters with good eyesight. They live mostly solitary lives and hunt alone. Some are opportunistic hunters pouncing upon prey as they find it or even chasing it over short... |
|
| Ax Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill is a fictional character from the sci-fi book series Animorphs.-Biography:Aximili is a young Andalite who becomes stranded on Earth when the Andalite Dome Ship GalaxyTree is shot down by Yeerk fighters... |
Human Human Humans are the only living species in the Homo genus... , Northern Harrier |
|
| Visser Three Visser Three Visser Three, born as Esplin 9466 Primary and later known as Visser One, is a fictional character and the main antagonist of the sci-fi book series Animorphs, written by K.A. Applegate. He is the leader of the Yeerk forces on Earth, having inherited the planet from Edriss 562, who was Visser One at... |
Human Human Humans are the only living species in the Homo genus... (Aria), Kaftid |