The Animorphs Vortex || Character Bios :: Aximilli

Aximilli:
The Alien

Aximilli-Esgarrouth-Isthill. He is one of the most unique members of the Animorphs, considered by many to actually not be one. He came after the original five, found in the dome part of the crashed Andalite ship. Most of the Animorphs have mixed feelings about him: at first the Andalites, to them, were like legends, heroes from the sky who would come to vanquish the enemy and save the Earth.

Though Aximilli wasn't exactly the commander they had hoped for. In fact, he was a simple warrior-cadet: " . . .not allowed to fight by the laws of my people." And when he got a human morph, he seemed to some annoying.

But he turned out to be the greatest asset the Animorphs could have, as well as a great warrior despite his lack of training and his youth. He sometimes acts as a living encyclopedia of alien things, and seems regretful when he has to say <That is not a species I recognize, Prince Jake,> once or twice. He has pretty good general technical knowledge, and always seems to have mastered Yeerk technology -- it's only a poor excuse for Andalites', after all -- and human technology . . . well, he tries to be polite, though Marco got on to him for saying "primitive" too much. And he's downright deadly with that tail. The Animorphs would have long ago been exposed if it were not for him.

Character Quirks:
Ax is the most unique of the Animorphs. Of course, being an alien will do that to you, and Ax has done pretty well adapting to life on Earth, but Andalites aren't exactly the best at accepting new things and adapting to new situations. His first book was all about his relations with humans and dealing with being an alien on a strange planet, then his second book was about dealing with humans versus his own people, and just when you think he's over it, his third book, besides the mission they're on, contains the main thought of living in a human world. Come on, Ax! Another thing is that he appears to be entirely dense and unable to comprehend humor, but actually he isn't familiar with all the conventions that all humans in the Western world take for granted, and has a very dry wit.

Aximilli, the pitiful shadow of his dead brother? If only you'd insisted on going with Elfangor, maybe he'd have lived. Too bad.

-- the Drode

Enemy Opinion:
Aximilli is the only Andalite bandit Visser Three had seen on Earth in his natural form. Of course, there's a very good reason for this, namely that he is the only Andalite alive on Earth. But Visser Three doesn't know that, and often wondered why it was almost always the young aristh who spoke or appeared in his regular form. He probably has a good idea that Ax is Elfangor's brother and has the burden of vengeance on him, even though he never actually came out and said it. Crayak has little use for him because of his rigid ideals and Andalite laws.

Relationship to the Group:
Often referred to with such ephitets as "our resident alien," Ax seems . . . well, alienated. He often provides information about alien stuff that the Animorphs would otherwise have no clue about, and is an excellent fighter as well as showing himself to be really smart, not to mention good to have around when you want to scare some information out of someone, but he doesn't seem to have much backbone. Probably a result of Andalite military training, he never argues with anyone, especially Jake, unless it has to do with Andalites or technology, where he has his Andalite pride driving him.

Jake:
One of the first things Ax asked when he first met the Animorphs was, more or less <Take me to your leader.> Okay, that's too cliched, but when he found that Jake was the leader of the fighters on Earth, he declared that he must serve a prince, and since he was separated from his people, Jake would be his prince. And he meant it. He gives Jake his utmost respect and always agrees with him in arguments. When there's a vote to be taken, it's <I go with Prince Jake.> Though lately it seems as if this bond is getting stretched.

Rachel:
Rachel and Ax, if you take away the "a little overzealous fighter" thing on Rachel's part and the "alien" thing from Ax, are pretty much alike personality-wise. But they don't get along too well. Rachel gets put off by Ax's <Yes, Prince Jake> attitude and his superiority complex (though it's for his race, not his ego) while Ax doesn't care for Rachel's almost ruthless approach to battle and her arguments with Jake and the others. He admires her, though, often saying <Rachel is a great warrior,> when talking about her. As an aristh, he admires that, but he seems to think its a little strange that Rachel is such a warrior and a female. In fact, I think it was #18 when he had his blade at her throat for something she said about the Andalites. Though I'd bet that if he went back to his homeworld, he'd be surprised how much he's become accustomed to the idea.

Tobias:
Tobias and Ax are shorm; most trusted friends, in the words of Ax, <You trust them so much they could hold their tail blades against your throat and you would not be afraid.> He feels that the two of them are in much the same situation; shut off from their own people, different from everyone else. They often talk with each other over certain things, and they tell each other about their respective homeworlds and related stuff. Ax also feels that it's signifigant that Tobias, who has Andalite heritage (in spirit, if not by actual genetics), also carries Andalite DNA. At the time Tobias was going to aquire him, Ax offered to teach him about Andalite culture.

Cassie:
Cassie and Ax get on pretty well. Ax admires Cassie for her respect for all life, and Cassie respects Ax just as another person -- she has the least problem of the five human Animorphs, of accepting him despite his bizarre appearance. She often helps him out with various problems that he has. He also seemed to really like coming over to her house for dinner when he morphed Jake. ^_^

Marco:
Marco and and Ax are somewhat distanced. Marco makes fun of Ax's awkward state when he's in human morph, and Ax often makes dry yet cutting remarks about human technology and culture. He also doesn't understand Marco's jokes and sarcasm, especially since most of them make pop culture references. However they have an odd friendship of sorts, and as one person said, "Between the two of them they could hack into any computer system on Earth."

Fan Opinions:
Everyone's opinion of Ax can probably be neatly divided into two categories: either they like him or he gets on their nerves. From what I've read, the people who like him seem to be in a majority (at least all the mailing lists I'm in . . .). I happen to be one of those, though sometimes I can see how the other people feel.

TV Ax:
For one thing, he's totally excluded as an Animorph. In AniTV, he really is the "resident alien." It's strange though, because TV Ax seems perfectly fine with his human morph (which not only isn't like they described it in the book, it doesn't resemble the people he acquired it from) yet he hardly ever appears with the Animorphs in public. And when he does he makes a total fool of himself. Of course, the Ax from the books does too, but . . . I don't know, maybe it's the lack of narration, where Ax can tell what's going on in his mind. And, though I refuse to start bashing the actors, Paulo is *not* a good choice for Ax. Besides, whenever they showed him, all I could think of was Skreech from Saved By the Bell. And in his Andalite form, all I can think of is that it looks weird with his eyes blue (Visser Three's eyes aren't supposed to be red, either, but he at least has the justification of being evil) and I wish they would give his suit or whatever a haircut.

Personal Bias:
Right now Ax is somewhere in the middle range of the lower triad, with Jake somewhere above and Marco somewhere below. His books are really neat to read; he has a very interesting, fresh outlook on the whole 'Earth' thing. You can also see, as the books go on, he is developing something of a backbone. Go Ax! Some of his books can be a little tedious, though.

Latest Character Development:
There wasn't much in #28, where they mainly went around trying to thwart a scheme to eliminate human free will which they didn't even learn about until the last few pages of the book. He did have lots of musings about how "ruthless" Earth and thus humans were, but it didn't really come to much of a conclusion. He did, though, think a lot about it when in the middle of several brutal wars (most notably WWII and the Revolution) about humans. He wondered how the same race that produced the Animorphs could spawn such evil, which he actually admitted "not even a Yeerk would sink to." Now when Aximilli admits a Yeerk wouldn't do something or other, you know he's upset. He did see, though, their good sides as friends and strangers died for each other on the battlefield.

In #29 his Andalite pride got the best of him. He had been sick, dying because his Tria gland was about to explode and kill him, and Aftran entered into his head just so Cassie could do brain surgery and remove the aforementioned gland -- Ax either didn't know or was too delirious to tell anyone. So when Ax comes to, his first reaction is <Ye gods, there's a Yeerk in my head.> Or something like that. He goes screaming at Aftran and wants to kill himself with his own blade. Now if I were Aftran I would have given some kind of cutting answer and given him a good scare, but Aftran was very polite and quickly left Ax. Cassie calmly explained the necessity of Aftran being there, but all Ax could think about was that Cassie had betrayed him, "defiling" him with Yeerk scum. So, even through all he has learned from humans, the things he has been taught since --do Andalites have toddlerhood?-- still stick with him. He shows not the slightest gratitude toward Aftran, and it's a miracle he allows Aftran to be exposed to the Escafil device -- though I bet it was by the orders of "Prince Jake."

There is also a very small but significant segment of #31, in which, after kidnapping Chapman to distract the Yeerks, Ax has to play the part of a brutal interrogator for a while, and then leave a broken window for him to escape out of. He seems somewhat scarred by terrorizing Chapman for that time, and grows slightly bitter toward Jake, who ordered him to do it. He remarks with regret that his name will become part of Yeerk history, not as a scourge or his people's hero, but as inept, brutal and cowardly.