"When you say 'killed,'" he asked quietly, "you mean 'killed' as in 'stunned' or 'captured,' right?" "Unfortunately, Mr. Carpenter, I mean killed as in dead."
One of those iconic Animorphs lines.
As a kid I thought Richard was a fool. As an adult rereading this it hits home more how Richard's mindset could allow him to avoid thinking of the real danger for so long.
They're told of the war by children who, when asking for help, bring along a group of "thirteen campers, ten kids and three adults" to fight alongside the Hork-Bajir instead of insisting that only the adults come along.
To the Animorphs this makes sense: They are kids fighting this war. They know if they only invite the adults then the adults are going to end up thinking they know better than the Animorphs. Even if they haven't realized this potential issue yet they also just don't really see the difference in letting the kids fight or not because everyone on Earth is a target anyway.
To a kid reader this makes sense: you've seen the Animorphs fight despite their age. You could project yourself onto any of the unnamed campers and imagine the Animorphs asking for your help in the war.
To an adult reader? I can see why not making the distinction lulls Richard into an entirely unintentional false sense of security. Adults underestimate kids as is, but he's a year 2000 American adult who can't fathom a war actually happening. Even less so if kids are the ones bringing him this news. Last book made a point about how Americans don't really understand a war coming to them and it holds just as true in this one (heck, it holds just as true when we bomb overseas countries. It's a war but it's not at home so it's abstract.)
The idea that he's still unaware after warning after warning from Jake makes sense. He's seen the fantastical side of the war. He's seen a kid turn into a tiger and another kid turn into a bird and met friendly aliens.
Okay, bear with me but I'm about to make a convoluted comparison to a meme in a way that was never intended.
You know that fairy or walrus thing? The question of whether you'd be more surprised to open the door to find a fairy or a walrus had rung the bell, and most people in the poll said they'd be more surprised by the walrus? It's kind of like that. A walrus - a war - is a real thing that can happen but it's so unexpected and improbable in the mind of the door opener/Richard that it would be harder to believe than the fairy/shapeshifting children. A fairy pops up and you just rewrite your brain to accept that what you knew of reality is not applicable and start going with the new flow. A kid turns up and turns into a tiger and introduces you to aliens? You think you've become the main character of your favorite show. Your living the dream.
But then the dream wears off when you see the hork-bajir next to you preparing deadly weapons has already lost an arm in the fight. The tension of the battle of Helm's Deep is setting in among all of the aliens and kids and you snap out of the "I'm living an episode of Star Trek" feeling and realize a very large walrus with very large tusks is actually right there at your door and it isn't friendly.
And it's too late to close the door.
