Tobias*

Age – 12-17**

Family –
Loren (mother)
Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul (father***)
unknown man (presumed father***)
Aximili (uncle***)
various aunts and uncles

Appearance – messy blond or dirty-blond hair****

Personality –
Tobias has the most character development throughout the series, sometimes making his character in the first books seem completely different from those in the later books. Before the war, Tobias was a painfully shy kid who attracted bullies and spent most of his time daydreaming or drawing. He was quiet and introverted, but not exactly bitter, despite a difficult home life. He had an interest in ‘unusual’ things, but was awkward in ‘normal’ situations.

After becoming an Animorph Tobias was excited by the idea of turning into animals and from the very beginning seemed a bit too eager to morph. As if he preferred being animal to being human. He was the first to morph and in the first attack on the Yeerk Pool he became a nothlit, stuck in his red-tailed hawk morph. Shortly after this he became depressed and retreated to the woods to ‘find himself,’ trying to find the balance between being human and being hawk. He never completely came to terms with his identity issues, but he quickly became accustomed to his nothlit situation, and even seemed more comfortable as a hawk. He developed a healthy sense of confidence in his soul-searching and became more open with the other Animorphs, often offering his opinion in discussions or delivering come-backs to Marco’s bad jokes. He developed an ‘I don’t have to take your crap’ kind of attitude and actually seemed comfortable with his situation, even to the point where he could, and did, make jokes about it. Within the group, he’s ‘morally neutral’ and will offer a more unbiased, detached perspective. He’s thoughtful and insightful, as thinking and watching people are pretty much the only hobbies he can have as a hawk. He also works most of the surveillance missions due to his capacity for such work and lack of other responsibilities, like school.

Relations –
Jake – Jake saved Tobias from bullies just before they met Elfangor, so at the beginning Tobias kind of looked up to Jake. Later, when Tobias became a nothlit and grew more confident, that changed to a comfortable friendship. Tobias supported Jake as a leader and Jake valued his input and used his position as a nothlit hawk to the best advantage possible. However, after the war Tobias blamed Jake for Rachel’s death and resented him, but still respected his ability as a leader on the mission to rescue Ax.

Rachel – Rachel and Tobias like each other. I’ll even give in and say something I almost never say for teens: they love each other. However, that love is desperate kind of love. They view each other as their last life-line to humanity. Rachel reminds Tobias that he is human when he gets lost in being a hawk and Tobias acts as a stabilizer to Rachel’s reckless, sometimes volatile nature. They support each other when debates arise in the group, but also have a tendency to try and protect each other. The later is more true for Tobias than Rachel.

Cassie – Tobias lives in the woods behind Cassie’s house, but they aren’t the closest of friends. Like many other relationships within the Animrophs, they are friends because of the war, but not necessarily because of personal choice. They usually agree on issues and have very little friction, but nothing to really connect them. They simply co-exist.

Marco – Marco and Tobias have an uneasy friendship. They mostly get along, teasing each other and trading jokes in a good-natured way. Sometimes Marco will go too far with a joke and get on Tobias’ nerves. Marco sees Tobias as a constant reminder of what could happen for staying in a morph too long, and it scares him. Tobias knows this and is offended by it. Marco will also see Tobias’ relationship with Rachel and alternately be scared and a jealous of it. Tobias sometimes becomes jealous of Marco when he flirts with Rachel. They don’t bring these issues up, but they cause some friction in the relationship.

Ax – Ax calls Tobias his shorm, a friend trusted completely. They spend most of their time together living the same woods and Ax is generally the first person Tobias goes to when he wants to talk about something and visa-versa. They both share a feeling of alienation and loneliness, and in a sense that draws them together more than anything else and in spite of severe cultural differences.

Quotes:
"The boy not really so trapped as a bird, but too gutless to resume life as a human."
-the Drode

“Tobias was actually grinning, but that’s Tobias for you. He’s never scared of the weird stuff. It’s the normal stuff he can’t stand.”
-Jake

*no last name given
**only Jake gives his age, saying that he was 13 when the war started and 16 when it ended, meaning he was in 7th or 8th grade when it stared and 10th or 11th grade at the end. Assuming that all the Animorphs were in the same grade, and depending on what grade they were in, ages could range from 12-14 at the beginning, and 15-17 at the end.
***Elfangor was a human nothlit when he married Loren and she became pregnant. When the Ellimist returned the timeline to ‘normal’ and erased Elfangor’s stay on Earth, he didn’t erase Tobias. Tobias was ‘raised as another man’s child’ according to the Ellimist. Tobias shares no genetic connection to Elfangor, but rather to the humans he morphed to become nothlit.
****Tobias had blond hair in the first book, but later it was described as ‘dirty blond’ because the model hired to pose for the cover pictures had dyed his hair brown.