Andalites (and autism stuff)

[primeideal]

So I saw some interesting prompts for autism-related speculation but it was also easily derailed. I'd previously seen someone else's opinion that Andalite Chronicles is one of the worst books of the Animorphs series and doesn't add anything new, which, um, no.

It's not hard (for me anyway, but also other writers) to see Tobias as autistic, and Elfangor and/or Ax as having autistic-type traits. I don't want to project specific human diagnoses onto other species who we wouldn't expect to think or act like us anyway. We also know that they're not the only examples of Andalites out there (Alloran, Arbron, etc.) But I like to interpreting Elfangor+Ax as examples of more "typically developing" people relative to Andalite culture/having traits that their society values. So with that in mind, here are some of the worldbuilding tidbits we learn about Andalites and what we can extrapolate from them. Not all will be autism-related, and not all will be consistent with each other/the series. (There are lots of examples of KASUs: the one-child policy stuff and its implications are a big example, but I also find it really interesting to speculate about.) And I recognize that they're not one-dimensional good guys. Still interesting!

• -Lots of rituals in culture: morning ritual, death ritual, wishflower ritual. Importance of following the rules and doing things the same way over and over again.
• -Elfangor and Ax are both overwhelmed by taste/sensory issues when in human morph (as is Estrid).
• -Elfangor prides himself on his ability to overcome the Taxxon hunger instinct in TAC, and that gets him separated from Arbron and Alloran and kickstarts another episode of the plot. I think it's significant that inner strength/resistance is the first characteristic that distinguishes "our" hero from the other guys.
• -Elfangor is surprised to learn that Alloran had a strong sense of humor in his youth (much like Arbron).
• -Elfangor tells Loren that Andalites tried to live in cities for a while but preferred the smaller-scale social structures of scoops, with a few spaceports (say that five times fast). Preference for not too much socializing?
• -Names, how do they work? Elfangor and Ax's family is the only detailed example we see: parents Noorlin-Sirinial-Cooraf and Forlay-Esgarrouth-Maheen, sons Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul and Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill. So presumably it's the middle names that get inherited. Noorlin passes down his name to his son at a time when (because of the one-child policy) they might only expect to have one child? So maybe children typically inherit from the same-gender parent? But then when Ax came along they would get to keep Forlay's name in the family too.
• -Ax mentions that "all human fathers are male." ?? My headcanon is that this has something to do with who gets to pass down their name in same-sex couples (more on this later).
• -Ax has the ability to time exactly two Earth hours in his head, which is obviously necessary to the plot; we don't see any other Andalites doing anything like that. Do different people have different weird skills?
• -Noorlin served in the military in peacetime. Is this common? Maybe a couple years after people (men) complete their studies?
• -Seerow's Kindness was probably one of the first times Andalites shared technology with another species, otherwise it wouldn't have been such a crushing blow. How many other species outside the Yeerks and the Kelbrid do they know and consider roughly tech equals? There are a couple others namedropped ("only us and the other guys fight the Yeerks...") but never expanded upon.
• -Humans are considered a relatively quickly-developing species technology-wise. The Andalites in some form are ancient (Ellimist Chronicles) but developed spaceflight, Z-space tech relatively slowly. (The great tragedy of the series is that the Escafil device came along so shortly after Seerow's Kindness--if only the Yeerks had gotten that first!) This however leads to some consistency issues, see the #40 discussion.
• -Utzum is mostly considered a myth, like the Ellimists. Related to religion? ("the captain is like one of the ancient gods...") Or belief in an afterlife?
• -Why the prohibition/discouraging of women in the military?
• -The Quantum Virus/biowarfare stuff. Indicative of a disconnect between the military and the rest of society (led by the Electorate) that's developed by that point: even Elfangor as an aristh is shocked to learn the cause of Alloran's disgrace, and the crew from #38 are presumed dead to everyone. So we see the tension of both general society's principles of honor and the recognition that not everybody lives up to that. I suspect some of the military guys see it as a hyper-utilitarian "greatest good for the greatest number" along with "well the Hork-Bajir are kinda dumb, so who cares about them."
• -Gafinilan & or / Mertil. Were they a ship? I don't think they canonically are, and so it's a little frustrating to see them described as "oh it's definitely gay, 100% gay, anyone who disagrees is wrong." But I also don't think it's necessary to assume that Andalite society is homophobic. If anything, I think the population growth concerns (again, ignored by several other books) would make society fairly accepting of same-sex marriage--"you two go adopt kids and argue about who passes down the name, no need to make new babies."
• -Where does prejudice against vecols stem from? Maybe some nonverbal individuals preferred to really become recluses and that led to a societal taboo? Ax mentions being surprised that someone like Mertil, who wasn't compatible with the morphing power, would be let in the military--which doesn't make a lot of sense when you think about the timescale, the morphing technology is a relatively new innovation. (And Andalites tend to only use it for espionage stuff or rapid healing, since they think their natural bodies are so great that why would anyone need another form to fight in?)
• -How does symbolic language develop in a society with telepathy??? Skimming Ellimist Chronicles, it looks like they develop signed language first, and then that gets associated to more formal thought-speech? Elfangor can project warmth and courage in book 1--is that just something he can do, an individual quirk like Ax's timing, or more general?
• -Lots of implications for how this plays into autism-type traits. I can see it leading to emotional overload if people go around "dumping" emotion on each other too often--so society prizes stoicism, etc, and people prefer to live on their own in the scoops rather than crowded cities. Or "why would we need words to talk about how we're feeling if we can just, like, share it."
• -IDK, I just have a lot of thoughts, and better in my own space than disappearing into the void, I guess!