animorphs

"Over time, the Gedds evolved. They were a sort of... like a monkey, I suppose. We were in the Gedds till the Andalites first came. Some of our people still have nothing better than Gedds for hosts."
―Temrash 114 to Jake[src]

Gedds are blue ape-like creatures native to the Yeerk homeworld and were the first species the Yeerks infested.

History

Gedds have yellow eyes, three-fingered hands, and webbed toes. They are known to have poor vision and poor motor skills. Although they have two legs, one leg is longer than the other, so they are unable to balance them and must keep one or both hands on the ground to steady themselves. Their mouths are hard to control, and any Gedd-Controller will have problems speaking effectively.

Because they are slow and inefficient, the Gedds formed a symbiotic relationship with the Yeerks, who helped them survive in exchange for being hosts. However, after the unfortunate incident of Seerow's Kindness, the Yeerks became greedy and the Gedds became just one of their enslaved races. They are used by the Yeerks not as shocktroops, but as host-bodies for young/low-ranking Yeerks, and offer a Yeerk the ability to experience vision and other senses.

Gedds and Yeerks evolved together naturally, and at some point, Gedds became the species Yeerks first learned to control as hosts. When the first Andalites arrived on the planet they were aware of the Yeerks' use of Gedds, but Prince Seerow, leader of the mission, felt this symbiotic relationship was understandable considering the Yeerks' weak natural forms. Gedds are easily intelligent enough to speak Galard, although they find this physically difficult, and often lengthen (or even add in) Rs to their speech.

Gedd-Controllers were used in the founding days of the Yeerk Empire, when, armed with knives, clubs, and a single Andalite handheld Shredder they slaughtered two dozen Andalite warriors and seized the Andalite ships stationed on the Yeerk homeworld to fly into the night. In these early days, any Yeerk considered important enough to have a Gedd host was considered very fortunate, but by the time the main events of the series took place, Gedd-Controllers were very low-level, as better hosts, such as Hork-Bajir and humans, were available.

Appearances

In chronological order:

Trivia

Gallery

References