hirac delest - An Animorphs Final Statement

ANIBASE: K.A. on why she chose a red-tailed hawk morph for Tobias to be trapped in:

"Tobias' form was chosen because red-tails are among the most common hawks in the US. I liked thinking that kids driving with their folks across Kansas or wherever would daydream that they were seeing Tobias. Probably should have made him a turkey buzzard, they're so ubiquitous. I knew right from the start I would trap Tobias in morph, by the way, never a doubt. Had to be. I knew it would drive some readers crazy, but I also knew they'd want to know more."
ANIBASE: Orson Watch: You can find a picture of cover artist David B. Mattingly's beloved cat, Orson, on a shelf in the picture of Tobias's room, standing in for Tobias' own cat, Dude.

The re-gifting of Tobias's morphing power isn't openly discussed amongst the Animorphs in this book (or in any of the future books for that matter), aside from him letting the others know in battle that he can morph again. It is assumed that Tobias later filled the group on what happened with him and the Ellimist 'off-screen'.

This book marks the first time where the Hork-Bajir race is free from the Yeerks since their fall in The Hork-Bajir Chronicles. The events in this book leads to the free Hork-Bajir colony and the rebirth of their seer (Toby, in HBC's epilogue), as they live in a secret hidden valley in mountains, hidden from both the Yeerks and the Humans as they rebuild their race and way of life.

FAQ: Tobias receives his morphing power back from the Ellimist in this book and is able to acquire his former self the night before he left for the construction site in #1. One of the most asked questions by fans is that why didn't Tobias just trap himself into his human self and get the morphing power back once they got the Escafil Device in #20: The Discovery. This is a debatable topic, however, they are 2 likely answers:
1. The most common answer is that the Escafil Device just doesn't work that way. Once a morphing power is given, it can't be given again to the same person, even if they are trapped as a nothlit in another form. The fact that the Ellimist returned Tobias's morphing power is an anomaly in itself, and a one-time opportunity, which cannot be repeated again unless it's from the Ellimist or a higher being such as him.
2. Tobias did not wish to go back to being human because he had nothing to go back to. He never had a home his entire life, because he was always passed back and forth between his relatives. And although unconfirmed, it is highly likely that Tobias accidentally being trapped as a hawk wasn't an accident at all, but done on purpose as a means to escape his human life in the first place.
  
  It backs the reason as to why the Ellimist here gives Tobias what he wants the most: to be able to morph and join the Animorphs in the fight, not to permanently return being human, even though he still gives him the chance to discourage his past self, and another chance by letting him acquire his older self to permanently return as a human if he so wished.

Continuity Note / Reading Order: This book was published at the same time as The Andalite Chronicles, but both can be read before the other, without any harm in understanding the continuity. However, it is much preferable to read The Andalite Chronicles first, as it will give you a better idea of why the Ellimist takes a special interest to Tobias in this book and in the series, and how Tobias's situation here quite ironically also mirrors Elfangor's life when the Ellimist deals with him first.

The most specific thing being that both Elfangor and Tobias (father and son) took advantage of the morphing power's time limit as a means to permanently escape their original lives, and both times the Ellimist had to "not interfere" to give them a second chance, by putting them back into the fight.