Known Yeerks

Here is a small list of most of the known Yeerks mentioned in the Animorphs books. They are listed by rank and/or numerical designation, but there may be slight contradictions of what the order should be, since the number is sometimes, but not always, an indicator of position.


Council of Thirteen:

This is a group of thirteen Yeerks, the ruling body of the Empire. It has existed as long as the Yeerks can remember, before Seerow came, before they had hosts. The Emperor is one of the Councilors, but his/her identity is kept secret due to fear of assassination. It is presumed that a Councilor would have a title, like Visser, except they are not likely numbered, since One would suggest that that individual was the Emperor.

Visser One:
Name: Unknown
Host: Laura [No surname given], Marco's mother
Appears in: Animorphs #5: The Predator, #15: The Escape, #30: The Reunion

The current most powerful warlord in the Yeerk hierarchy. She was one of the first to take a human host, and thus gained valuable information about their new target. This human host happened to be Marco's mother, who was apparently involved in the space program in some way. After living a while on Earth she was promoted and staged her own death so that she could go off in space on more important missions. She returned to Earth only for certain projects, such as creating special Controllers for shock troops on Leera.

Visser Three
Name: Esplin 9466-prime
Host: Alloran-Semitur-Corass
Appears in: Almost all books, narrates part of Hork-Bajir Chronicles

Visser Three is one of the most feared warlords, if not the greatest in military power. He is the only Yeerk ever to capture an Andalite for a host. Through much the same circumstances as he gained his host, he also discovered humans and their homeworld Earth. Put in charge of the Earth invasion, he set up tactics to most effectively enslave humans as well as eliminating those he assumed were Andalite renegades. The Animorphs discovered that he is extremely ruthless and more than willing to sacrifice hundreds of his own people for personal gain, as well as taking his anger out than more than a few unlucky subordinates.


Name: Esplin 9466-secondary
Host: "Joe Bob Fenestre"
Appears in: Animorphs #16: The Warning

Esplin 9466 is a set of twins: a primary and a secondary. Visser Three's twin had the same ambitions as his primary, but since he himself was secondary, he was given glass-ceiling jobs and insignificant hosts under Visser Three's influence. But eventually this was not enough to keep him down, and Visser Three shut his secondary counterpart off from the Pool. Faced with starvation, Esplin found another way to obtain Kandrona nutrients: by processing and consuming as food the raw products that were the Yeerks' natural slug bodies. In short, he became a cannibal. He used his position as CEO of Web Access America, an AOL-ish Internet service, to lure Controllers to meet with him, thinking he was an ally. He would then kill their human host and process the Yeerk as food. Guess nastiness runs in the family.

Name: Temrash 114
Host: Tom, died as Jake
Appears in: Animorphs #6: The Capture

Temrash was a particularly ambitious Yeerk who was given the involuntary host of Tom, who had snuck in on a meeting of the Controllers of the Sharing. Never knowing that the boy he played brother to was one of his greatest enemies, he experienced a rapid series of promotions and was being transported to take as a host the governor, who was running for president. His transport pool, though, became superheated, and the only way for him to survive was to enter the person being plunged into the small pool -- Jake. He was not able to carry the masquerade of an Animorphs as well as that of a regular human, though and was held captive by the rest of the Animorphs for the required three days. During this time, both he and Jake learned several significant things about their respective sides. However, Temrash died after the three day limit. His death gave Jake a brief glimpse Beyond, letting him see the Crayak.

Name: Iniss 226
Host: Hendrick Chapman
Appears in: Primarily Animorphs #2: The Visitor

Iniss is in a very important position on Earth, as head of The Sharing and vice-principal of the Animorphs' school. Both Chapman and his wife are voluntary Controllers, except Chapman did it solely for the safety of his daughter. It could be that Iniss has some sympathy for his host and his love for his family, or maybe just fear of failure caused by Chapman's rebellion which caused him to stand up to Visser Three and refuse for his host's daughter to be taken as a Controller regardless of any interference she may cause.

Name: Derane 344
Host: Unknown
Mentioned in: Animorphs #8: The Alien

Derane was only mentioned in #8, never shown, because she had recently died, probably between #7 and #8. Derane and Eslin were partners and aficionados. Because the land-based Kandrona on Earth had been destroyed, there was a famine. Controllers were transported to the pool ships in space, but it became too expensive and inconvenient. She was "expendable," thus she became one of those who were cut off from the supply, starving her to death.

Name: Eslin 359
Host: Gary Kozlar
Appears in: Animorphs #8: The Alien

Eslin was a semi-loyal Yeerk who probably worked in security. He had a special bond with Derane 344, "the one creature in all the galaxy that I cared about," which did not exactly qualify as love, but was more than comradeship. He was enraged when Derane was killed because Visser Three starved her, not considering her important enough for the trouble of letting her be transported to the pool ship. He sabotaged the shuttles, in effort to get revenge on the Visser's favorites. But what he really wanted was personal revenge on Visser Three. Not having any way to exact it without getting killed himself, he found Ax, and learned of his geas to kill the Abomination. Eslin gave him the location of Visser Three's feeding ground to have him killed in that way.

Name: Aftran 942
Host: Karen, Cassie
Appears in: Animorphs #19: The Departure, #29: The Sickness

The famed "peace-loving Yeerk," actually Aftran was unsure about where she stood. She went on an unauthorized mission to follow one of the Andalite bandits and discovered that one of them was apparently the girl Cassie. The two of them saved each other's lives, but were stranded in the forest. Having to look out for each other, the two enemies exchanged views about their opposing sides. After an impulsive choice to let Aftran stay in her so Karen, her host, could go free, Cassie found that Aftran was not all that she seemed. The two of them made a deal: Aftran would leave Karen and remain in the Yeerk pool, blind, deaf and mute to the world, but only if Cassie were willing to undertake a similar fate by trapping herself in caterpillar morph. Again acting impulsively, Cassie morphed a caterpillar and remained in it for the required two hours. Aftran regretted the deal, but after talking with the other Animorphs, she gave Cassie over to Jake and the others and returned to the Pool to set Karen free.

Yeerk Information
Animorphs Encyclopedia
The Vortex