The Animorphs (written by K. A. Applegate, who had her first book in the franchise published in 1996) is a sublime work of fantasy literature targeting young readers all over the world. In addition to brilliant storytelling, the series also contains some of the most terrific characters, especially the alien races involved; good, bad, and ugly alike. It also inspired a television show that aired on Nickelodeon, that certainly didn’t live up to the books (but that’s an entirely different topic). Either way, you’ve definitely come across Animorphs at some point in your life, and likely grew up with the series.
With a series that centers around the lives of five teenagers who are witness to a potential alien incursion on Earth, and who are gifted the ability to transform into any animal they touch, you can certainly expect thrills, chills, and kills. Add to this the fact that the worm-like ‘baddies,’ or Yeerks, are a race known to enslave others by crawling into ear canals and taking control of their hosts’ brains, and you are looking at a fun read that is equal parts outstanding and dark.
This ‘darkness’ is what we’re going to explore in our list of top-28 shockers that you probably didn’t pay attention to growing up. Reading is all well and good, Animorphs fans, but reading between the lines is even better. These books have what it takes to put Stranger Things (the show) to shame.
28 A Messy Fleshy Case Of Antsy Ants
If you have been bitten by an ant even once, then you will have some clue about what poor Rachel might have been going through when she faced the prospect of being eaten by a horde of angry ants in The Forgotten. In their attempts to expose the Yeerks to the world, the Animorphs gang goes “jungling” to find a Bug Fighter craft that belongs to this alien race. Whilst in the skin of a bear, a shape-shifted Rachel is assaulted by one of the Hork-Bajir and she falls on – you’d have guessed it – an anthill. Her flesh is actually being devoured when Jake does the unthinkable, tears some of it off, deposits it at another nearby ant colony, and waits until Rachel is stoic enough to awake and de-morph (i.e., transform back). Rather ‘Hannibal’ of Jake, to say nothing of how diabolical those ants must have been to give a bear a run for its honey.
27 A Pest Problem
Marco has not always been a proficient shape-shifter, even after several so-so attempts. In The Threat, for example, he makes the change into a flea only to end up realizing that his morph is as big as a dog. Cassie helps talk him through it all, bringing him back to normal, eventually. However, there must have been some problem at the morphing and life-size stages that left an emotional scar in Marco, because he comes out of this horrendous transformation-gone-wrong only to burst into tears. And Marco is, supposedly, the funny wisecracker in the group. This incident majorly hints at how the kids are playing with otherworldly fire and being burned by it in more ways than one.
26 The Writer’s ‘Anti-War’ Propaganda Message
Fans of the series will deplore the fact that The Beginning was left unfulfilled, and on a cliffhanger to boot. I’m talking about the scene where the surviving Animorphs and Jake collide their ship into ‘The One’, leaving several fates (including Ax’s) undecided (more on this later). Applegate has gone on record to testify that she wrote Animorphs with a distinct anti-war theme in mind. Her letter delineates the gory, heartbreaking, and certainly mind-destroying ability, that war in the real world brings to everyone’s life. This perspective seems more than enough to mollify her dark and jaw-dropping take on the lives and activities of our favorite Animorphers. The books impart the right message, but with a twist of alien horror, a dash of literary charm, and a slew of breathtaking (in the craziest sense) plot-elements. Think, Emo post-war fan fiction, and you won’t be far from the truth.
25 Belly Blindness
By this time, you’re probably already wondering at the oddities and peculiarities in a series of novels written for young adults. Keep that stove burning, because in The Journey something truly weird happens. The location is Marco’s nose (yes, you read it right) where our Animorphers find themselves after being shrunk by a race of tiny aliens. It isn’t as laughable as all that because the kids end up facing horrible circumstances after Marco swallows, sending them on a plummeting trip to his belly where gastric acids rule supreme. No protective shells or capsules for our heroes, Rachel even gets a face full of the ‘icky’ and is blinded while her friends are being digested. Rachel does something bizarre by shape-shifting into a bat so she can ‘see’ her way around. Talk about ‘stranger things’. Here’s an ‘episode’ you might have found both disgusting and weird.
24 The Concern With Animorphs
We can’t stress this enough, the books are splendid, splendidly dark. Think about it, Animorph-fans… A guerrilla war begins between five kids and a brain-wrapping worm-race called the Yeerks; from outer space. Our Animorpher’s adventures have them performing espionage and killing (repeatedly so) to safeguard the ones they love against a possible alien invasion. During this time, they’re aided by a ‘master-race’ called the Andalites, one of whom is Ax, a centaur-like being who communicates psychically. Ax only knows what it probably learned from each of the kid’s minds. Several so-called ‘good aliens’ seem to prefer ignoring the human plight instead of stepping in to lend a limb. They much prefer to close the file through an intergalactic nuclear-level destruction event as opposed to simpler means.
23 No Wonder Atlantis Sank
In The Mutation, our morphing band of heroes happens upon Atlantis. They also discover that the inhabitants are essentially inbred mutants who have a tendency to paralyze humans instead of playing the noble card. In fact, they don’t stop there. The Atlanteans and their heightened curiosity encourage them to dissect the children alive so they can learn how their ‘terrestrial’ organs function. Scenes have revealed that they have indeed experimented on humans before. They seem to possess stuffed corpses that double as museum displays, probably to initiate their fishy kids in the Atlantean way. Even the mythical lost city is out to destroy our protagonists. They live in a truly terrifying world.
22 The Android Within
In The Android, a peaceful robot belonging to the race of Chee soon gets acquainted with the gang via Marco. This peaceful mecha is in human form and calls itself Erek. When it learns of the darkness at play on Earth, Erek chooses to remove his violent-response inhibitions so he can better help with the war effort. By this time, the Yeerks controlled vast numbers of people, wrapping themselves onto their brains. Erek, almost robotically, goes on to kill several innocent people without first attempting to coax the Yeerks out of them. In fact, his ‘technique’ was so mind-bogglingly gruesome that our Annimorphers preferred to sweep the whole event under the proverbial carpet. The book itself reveals very little, which makes readers wonder just how bad that scene might have been (and this in a series known for smashed skulls and hanging entrails).
21 Is That Your Colon, Or Are You Just Happy To See Me?
Speaking of intestines, some of the books provide much-unneeded gory detail particularly in reference to a scene where one of our Animorphers shape-shifts into varied animals only to have forgotten (seemingly) that one’s intestines go inside the body not hang grotesquely like a poor excuse for a wrap-around towel. In the spirit of deviating (just a bit) from all these spoiler-reveals, we’d like to keep this character veiled. Let’s just say a polar bear girl with her intestines dangling out seems like an entity that even the undead polar bear in the latest Game of Thrones season might avoid. For a young adult novel series, Animorphs definitely had some intense imagery.
20 Game Of Games, Toddler-Vasion Style
A super-aggressive alien race comes onto the Animorphs stage and proves itself devastatingly strong. However, they are mere toddlers who seem to be mentally disabled. In accordance with their highly extremist tendencies, these alien bundles of joy go on to perform as per their breeding and play one game after the next, none of which are pleasant. To add insult to injury, these particular alien kiddies are also promptly culled when they attain the age of three – primarily so they themselves do not learn the truth of their actions. Seems a bit weird, macabre, and disjointed, right? We decided to leave this point off the spoiler-table as well; just to spice things up.
19 The Ant With A Soul That Screams Bloody-Mary
The Animorph-kids have had close brushes with insects before (think, Taxxons and termite hive-minds) but do you remember reading about the time when an insect (in this case, an ant) crossed paths with the blue Andalite box and transformed into a human? Once the Blue Box grants the unwitting ant this singular ability (in the book The Hidden) its first macabre metamorphosis happens when it touches Cassie. It then starts shape-shifting into a horrifying combo-creeper, emitting a heart-wrenching scream and not stopping for a while. Imagine being able to realize the ‘self’ and not be able to make one whit of sense about it. Imagine learning where you’ve been and what you’ve done and just how insignificant the world is, and you will have gleaned a tiny peek into this unfortunate ant’s soul as it sees the world through human eyes. Cassie, of course, goes on to put it out of its misery.
18 The Island Of Dr. Animorph-eau
With The Solution being the final book in a sub-plot that is as dark as David deserves, readers got a good dose of crazy-strange concerning the Animorphs’ sixth and newest group member. He accidentally found the Blue Box and gained the power to morph. Not in Mighty Morphin’ Power Ranger style, apparently, because he soon turns feral and uses his newfound powers against the group when they do not see things his way. Instead of a hair-raising fight to the death, the team takes a page out of the cunning-cookbook and outwits David, somehow convincing him to morph into a rat. Following this, Rachel finds a way to lure him onto an island, where she cages him. Being unable to de-morph, the rule of permanence applies, and David is doomed to remain a rat until death does him part. He is screeching in agony, realizing his turn of fate, but the kids wait to ensure that he is going to be as ratty as he was batty, and they abandon him on said island.
17 Tobias Meets The Torturer
Our dear Tobias is in for an agonizing time in The Illusion, where he is traumatized under the auspices of a human-controller (i.e., Yeerk-controlled person). He could very well have developed conditioned responses to blue and red lights (let’s just leave it at that). The poor Animorpher found himself in quite the bind, even including the fact that he proved capable of transforming into a full-fledged Andalite, in this installment. Thankfully, Toby merely crawls into a shell and turns a bit melancholic/brooding/introspective. No damage done. Well, at least not a ton of damage done. We’d imagine these kids stone walls by now.
16 The Taxxons Are Taxing Us
A gluttonous, near-insatiable need to eat everything in sight has rendered this powerful alien race truly evil, especially by human standards. They are actually driven to do this because back in their home-world they faced no food shortages until a famine came along and made these hungry-hippos self-tortured forever-starving entities. Much like a spoiled brat who wants more and more, the Taxxons behave as though they have the right to chomp and swallow anything that breathes. And they have Team Animorph in their sights. After seeing all of the creepy bugs and worm-like creatures scattered throughout the series, we aren’t so sure we want to be Animorphs anymore. We used to dream about shapeshifting into animals, but not if this is the trade-off!
15 I Want My Mama
Several ‘comic relief’ moments in the books are initiated by Marco, who is renowned for his promptness in using humor to veil feelings of tragedy and whatnot. This is best exemplified by the fact that a while before the team gets started on their shape-shifting ventures, Marco lost his mom (lost as in dead, just to be clear). Throwing salt on the wound is another plot-twist (as mentioned in The Predator) where mommy dearest did not perish from a supposed boating accident but is very much alive and unwell. She’s under the control of a Yeerk, part of the vanguard of a possible alien invading race. Oddly enough, the Yeerk controlling Marco’s mom leads that phase of the invasion. Conflicting sentiments of ‘how to kill your mother’ aside, Marco ends up squashing the Yeerk from her brain when it makes a ‘run’ for it.
14 ‘Flying’ Into Danger, Again
One of the kids morphs into a fly. Nothing unusual there, it happens a bunch of times in the series. After all, come to think of it, a fly can be a very handy shape to shift into. But not when it comes to accidents (no book-name spoilers revealed). One of the friends gets smeared on the ceiling whilst in fly form. The other Animorphers buzz to his rescue (they’re also flies at this time) and actually peel his form off the ceiling. Following this, they hasten to take him elsewhere so he can safely transform into a person again before his insect mind dies, taking him with it. Talk about close calls, this character is probably never going to swat a fly again for as long as they live.
13 Calm Down, Rachel
The characters in Animorphs change by series’ end, and often for the worse. Whether it’s a form of PTSD or repressed emotions coming to the surface like Yeerks from an alien incubation pool, the kids have each shown remarkably odd differences from when they started out on their adventures together. Rachel still holds the cup when it comes to aggression and violence. Little wonder why her friends sometimes call her Xena, Warrior Princess. Her moral stand on things is often tested and she has proven to ‘lose it’ at the best of times. Take The Separation, for instance, where two parts of her split from the original, leaving her aggressive-self predominantly stronger. On more than one occasion, Rachel has demonstrated her love for fighting. Jake, the team leader, has noticeably used his cousin and friend’s ‘problem’ to help further the group’s cause.
12 Tentacle Grotesquerie
It’s not what you’re thinking, it’s worse. Imagine one of the characters in this popular book series (and we’ll even go so far as to share that it’s an alien entity) actually spends centuries hanging on a rather un-symbiotic tentacle belonging to another larger alien creature. This extraterrestrial is in turn situated in a bloody mess of a place where decomposing bodies are the main décor theme, and which the giant alien’s gigantic tentacles are attached to. Now, there’s an image that can bring up what you had for dinner and inspire you to go on a ritual fast. Our good alien is in truth fighting this mega-beast mentally (fans are probably thinking Ax the Andalite right about now), until one of them completely integrates (dissolves and absorbs) the other. Sounds like a fun read.
11 What Is Love? Baby, Don’t Hurt Me
There has been a steady stream of growing tension between Jake and Cassie throughout the series. She dislikes a lot of things that Jake has done, not least of which is when he heartlessly flushed the Yeerks down their incubation pool when Cassie felt there was a better way to approach the situation. Their relationship has received mixed praise from fans of the series, but most of them will concur that their break-up was something of a sore point. Hints that Cassie wanted out include her handing the Blue Box to Tom while ‘courting’ a rather war-oriented Jake. She even left the final ‘status’ decision to Jake knowing full well that he was not going to be able to maintain the bond. She didn’t even try to look for him after the final battle. As opposed to what Rachel and Tobias had going for them, Cassie and Jake were a train wreck just waiting to go off-rail.
10 Why So Sad, Toby?
Most fans would beg to differ, but there seem to be overwhelming proof-points in the books that point a finger at Tobias and his stint with the cruel thorns of Depression. While many a person goes through a down-phase in their lives, it felt somewhat disappointing to see Toby suffer for so long in the grip of melancholy. Keen readers were probably expecting to come across his dead body and a note left on the bedside table. But Applegate (like all good writers) enjoys making her characters suffer sans release. It just goes to show that even those surrounded by friends can undergo some seriously dark times.
9 So Young, Yet So Dark
From PTSD and cruel break-ups to career activities that include work in the military, environment, and entertainment sectors, our darling Animorphers are doing their own thing near the end of the series. There is a brief reunion, which is where the main cliffhanger resides. The return of the Blade Ship encourages a rescue mission involving Jake, Marco, Tobias, Ax, Santorelli, and Jean. Rachel is ‘indisposed’ and Cassie has long since ‘broken up’ with Jake and, by extension, the gang. What fans really hate about the ending is that the ‘new’ gang is off on a fresh and rather sinister-sounding mission when an all-absorbent alien stands in their way, Jake devises a plan to defeat it, and…don’t hold your breath, the series is over, the fat lady has sung, and the curtains have lowered. If this isn’t the mother of all dark cliffhangers in the Young-Adult reader base, we don’t know what is.
