- Narrator: Tobias
While flying with Rachel, Tobias sees a pair of Hork-Bajir escaping the Yeerks.
Tropes:
- Adam and Eve Plot: As the only two free Hork-Bajir in existence, Jara and Ket's plan to have a child is directly compared to this. Marco jokingly names their hidden valley the Garden of Eden.
- A Form You Are Comfortable With: Instead of the elfin old man that the Ellimist appeared as in book 7, he appears to Tobias as a winged bird-human form.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Played with. Tobias wants "payment" for helping the Hork-Bajir, but won't tell the Ellimist what he wants, only saying that the Ellimist already knows. He assumes his great desire is to be human again, and he spends a lot of time daydreaming about a comfortable human life while aware that his human life was never like that. The Ellimist instead grants him his ability to morph in his hawk form, revealing that Tobias' true desire was to be able to help his friends and be able to visit his human body, while not giving up his hawk freedom or returning to his miserable old life. He could trap himself in his regained human form, but he'd no longer be able to help his friends.
- Bring My Brown Pants: After Jara Hamee cuts his skull open to show he doesn't have a Yeerk, Tobias asks Ax if that scared the pee out of him too. Ax responds that he is "as peeless as you".
- Contrived Coincidence: It doesn't take Tobias long to figure out how convenient it was for him to see the Hork-Bajir escape and know of a valley where they could live. The Ellimist appears to him to confirm that yes, this was his doing.
- Demorphing Denouement: Subverted. The Ellimist has seemingly promised to undo the Shapeshifter Mode Lock that's left Tobias trapped in hawk morph since the end of the first book... but instead, he gives Tobias the ability to morph again, meaning that his Shapeshifter Default Form is still a hawk. At the very end, he sends Tobias back in time to acquire his human body, so Tobias can at least morph his old self.
- Exact Words: Tobias wants payment for helping the Hork-Bajir, and the Ellimist asks what he wants. Tobias says "You know what I want. You know" and refuses to elaborate, though he assumes the Ellimist will make him human again.
- Faking the Dead: The Animorphs set up a scenario where "Jara" and "Ket" (Rachel and Tobias in Hork-Bajir morph) jump off a cliff to their "deaths," only to get snagged by Marco in gorilla morph on the way down and pulled into a cave. Meanwhile, the actual Jara and Ket play dead at the bottom and get chewed on by wolves (Cassie and Jake in wolf morph) in full view of the Yeerks. Visser Three buys it, and labels Jara and Ket as examples of what happens to those who try and escape the Yeerks.
- Healing Factor: Hork-Bajir turn out to be pretty hardy. Jara cuts into his skull and pries it apart to show that there is no Yeerk in his head. When he presses his skull back together it soon knits into a raised scar. Later he and Ket shrug off being gnawed on by wolves.
- I Die Free: Jara and Ket say it's better to be dead than a slave to the Yeerks, and are willing to die if there's no other way out.
- Rascally Raccoon: An ordinary raccoon nearly kills Tobias when he breaks his wing. Luckily, he's given the power to morph again then and there, allowing him to acquire and morph the raccoon to escape.
- Stable Time Loop: The Ellimist brings Tobias back to his room on the night before the day Elfangor landed, and Tobias tells his past self to follow Jake the next day, ensuring he becomes an Animorph. He then takes the opportunity to re-acquire his human DNA, before snapping back to the present.
- Swallowed Whole: Happens to an unfortunate bobcat that runs afoul of a Taxxon.
- Unnaturally Looping Location: Tobias and Rachel are flying over the forest when they realize they keep flying over the same patch of forest. Eventually, they spot what they're supposed to spot (two Hork-Bajir escaping the Yeerks) and help them. It turns out to be the Ellimist's doing, who later gives Tobias his morphing ability back... but his base form is now a red-tailed hawk. He does let Tobias acquire his old human self though.
- Wants Versus Needs: The Ellimist grants Tobias the ability to morph as payment. Tobias is initially outraged, thinking that what he'd wanted was to be human again, but later the Ellimist also allows him to acquire his old human self to use as a morph and Tobias reflects that he'd hated his old life. Unlike the other four original Animorphs, he didn't have anyone to come back to. Being able to visit human form, and fully participate in Animorphs activities, is his true desire; the Ellimist asks "HAVE I KEPT MY PROMISE?" and Tobias says "Yes."
- Wham Episode: The free Hork-Bajir are established, and the Ellimist gives Tobias the ability to morph from his hawk form.
- You No Take Candle: Hork-Bajir speak like this, with a few untranslated words sprinkled in. Interestingly, Hork-Bajir Controllers use a lot more words from other languages while Jara and Ket mostly speak English.