Every Animorphs Character, Ranked From Worst To Best

Animorphs cow morph

Animorphs is a fantastic series – one I desperately want more of – and part of the reason for its excellence is its strong character work. Each book is written from the perspective of one of the main cast, the Animorphs, and getting to see events play out alongside the thoughts of the people living them is a compelling angle.

But of all the Animorphs, which one is the best? That’s what we’re here to answer today. After ranking every Power Ranger and every TMNT character, I’ve had a good look through all the Animorphs books and come up with the definitive ranking of every main character in Animorphs. Unlike previous lists, we won’t be listing villains — there’s really only two of them, and both of them are technically just brain slugs.

Without further ado, here’s every Animorphs character, ranked from worst to best.

Jake

Jake is the de facto leader of the Animorphs, and that means he’s responsible, fearless, and boring as heck. Jake’s primary battle morph was a Tiger, which is pretty neat honestly, but that’s about all he’s got going for him. He does have a few interesting stories throughout the series, but what places him at the bottom of the list is his decision to have the auxiliary Animorphs – a group of 17 disabled kids given morphing powers to provide backup – create a diversion in the final battle, resulting in all of their deaths. Extremely not cool.

Rachel

Rachel is Jake’s cousin, and she is honestly a heck of a lot more interesting than Jake is. She takes charge when necessary, she takes a lot of hits, and comes out stronger than ever before. One of my strongest memories with Animorphs is reading about how Rachel, in her bear form, had one of her legs torn off, only to morph back and find that she was still okay. It was visceral, disturbing, and far beyond what you’d expect from a children’s book. She’s low on the list solely because there’s not a lot of good stories for Rachel throughout the series, and she often plays second fiddle to Jake, which is a bit boring at times. She’s still great though.

Marco

The key strategist of the Animorphs team, Marco is intelligent, motivated, and one of the team’s strongest assets. Marco acts as a bit of comic relief at times, a little like Mikey from TMNT, but when the going gets tough, Marco gets serious. Partway into the series, he’s burdened with the knowledge that his own mother is the big bad of the Yeerk world, Visser One. It’s an incredible twist, and one that bears heavy on Marco. It’s a compelling story told very well, and Marco’s inner turmoil and outer cool is what makes him such a great character to read.

Cassie

Cassie is cool as heck. She’s a farm girl with a strong affinity for animals, meaning she’s pretty much the only reason the Animorphs get half the animal morphs they do. She’s also sensitive, caring, and fiercely protective of her friends and family. She’s also the group’s philosopher, asking and often answering difficult questions about the morality of war and the user of their powers. She was a pacifist, sure, but it’s that pacifist nature that ultimately ended the war. When she did fight, she fought with ferocity, as only a pacifist could, knowing that the only reason there was to fight was when all other hope was lost.

Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill

Ax is the last member to join the Animorphs, but also by far the most useful. As an Andalite, he possesses a gigantic pool of knowledge about the universe at large, the morphing powers all Animorphs use, and the enemy aliens, the Yeerks. What makes Ax so compelling as a character is the classic fish-out-of-water trope — he’s new to Earth, he still has so much to learn, but he delights in the brief opportunities to explore new experiences in the midst of the war. Ax learning about, and subsequently eating, cotton candy is one of the standout moments of the series, it was adorable and delightful, just like Ax himself.

Tobias

Tobias got trapped in a hawk morph pretty early on in the series, and stayed that way for quite some time. It’s devastating to read from his perspective, seeing himself as trapped in this form forever, but also grappling with the idea that there’s very little left waiting for him as a human. He does eventually regain the ability to morph, and even manages to get his own human form as a morph, but chooses to stay in his hawk form, for himself and for the greater cause. Tobias has a strong affinity for the Hork-Bajir, the once-peaceful race that was largely enslaved by the Yeerks, eventually freeing what few of the race survived. He also used the form of a Hork-Bajir to kill Hitler, which was pretty cool of him honestly.