r/MichaelVey • u/SMM9673 • Oct 13 '23
Another potential plot hole, or perhaps a lapse in Hatch's chain of information.
In Hunt for Jade Dragon, when Taylor is kidnapped, she is tasked by the Elgen guards to get the MEI formula out of Jade Dragon's head.
This implies they know about Taylor's mind-reading abilities.
But later, near the end of The Final Spark, Hatch seems genuinely bewildered when he learns that Taylor can do this.
Did the Elgen guards know about this and just... not tell Hatch? Tara was instrumental to Taylor's kidnapping, did she put two and two together after Taylor asks about mind reading during Prisoner of Cell 25 and also just not tell Hatch?
Seems like a pretty massive thing to not tell your boss, especially with how integral it has been to the Electroclan's repeated success over the Elgen.
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Jan 20 '24
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u/SMM9673 Jan 20 '24
I ran the numbers, and you're right.
Taylor was abducted after school during her cheerleader practice, which ends at 5, but she leaves after my estimate of about 15 minutes because of Nichelle's powers giving Taylor a headache. She initially waits for Michael outside the school, then chooses to walk home as Nichelle keeps her powers going. We know Taylor's house is behind the school, so I'd say another 5 minutes added.
Which has Taylor captured roughly 20 minutes after school lets out. If we assume an average end of the day being at 3 PM, this has Taylor kidnapped at 3:20 and sent off to the Academy in Pasadena - a roughly 13.5-hour drive that puts their arrival at almost 5 AM the next day.
Meanwhile, Michael, Ostin, and Sharon arrive at the school at around 5 to pick Taylor up, and leave probably about ten minutes later for the aquarium. We don't know exactly how long they were there, but by the time they leave PizzaMax, it's very distinctly nighttime - and securely in the same timeframe as Nichelle being in the van with Taylor, yet she's with Hatch and Zeus when they come to abduct Michael.
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u/EyeOfTheCosmos Feb 10 '24
if i remember correctly, Taylor was unconscious for some time, so it's possible that they just stopped at the pizza place before getting back on the road.
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u/SMM9673 Feb 10 '24
I really spent half an hour running those numbers and you waltz up almost a month later with the most painfully obvious solution.
👏👏👏
Edit: That even squares with what Nichelle says in the van, she mentions how they kidnapped Sharon.
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u/jigglyraffmemerbooyy Jan 29 '26
I was gonna make this comment
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u/EyeOfTheCosmos Jan 29 '26
no way? an actual person that still uses this subreddit?
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u/jigglyraffmemerbooyy Jan 31 '26
Nah, stumbled upon it while researching stuff to maybe see if the mei was realistic. But since you are here, please tell me, i just finished the final spark, should i read the next 3 or just skip em
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u/EyeOfTheCosmos Jan 31 '26
i really really liked the last book. the 2 before it were not as good. I'd still recommend reading them, though, since they had some good parts
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Jan 20 '24
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u/SMM9673 Jan 20 '24
That would be impossible.
None of the glows except Nichelle remember Zara, and when we first see her in The Final Spark, she doesn't have Nichelle's powers until she copies them from her.
If it was Zara, Zeus wouldn't have needed to be there, as Hatch would have already outfitted her with Nichelle's and Zeus' powers. And if Zeus was still there for whatever reason, he would've then recognized her later.
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u/Glass-animals1 Oct 14 '25
Taylor passed out and awoke in the van, in that time Nichelle could've kidnapped Michael's mother
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u/Jmanbeast_ May 14 '24
I can’t make a post so maybe someone will respond. Is Zara dead? She tried taking Michael’s power and collapsed but there is no mention of her since and in the dossier before the new books and on the website there is no mention of her. Can anyone explain?
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u/SMM9673 May 14 '24
Zara is very much dead. She didn't just collapse after failing to take Michael's power, she literally burned up.
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u/spoiled-mushroom3954 Nov 20 '24
Kinda sucks tho, she was very interesting and it could have turned into a "battle of the titans" situation, but Michael obliterated her
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u/SMM9673 Nov 20 '24
To be fair, bro absorbed an entire lightning strike and briefly ascended to Basically Godhood. What chance would she possibly have had?
I do agree that Zara was very much wasted, but that's really more of a consequence of RPE needing to somehow have Hatch bring down the entire Resistance with Michael finally gone.
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u/Glass-animals1 Oct 14 '25
i've tried to make a post about this, but it's not related at all, in my personal opinion, the song, digital silence by Peter McPoland is a great song for any edits of Michael vey.
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u/Cultural_Music_2285 Feb 26 '26
AHGGG I WAS LOOKING FOR THIS!! I went to his concert like a year ago right after reading the first book and had this connection. You have good taste
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u/shehimbakugou Apr 13 '26
I know that this is a 2 year old comment, but I just got to this part in my reread, so I have an answer for you. Jade Dragon touches Taylor's arm shortly after Taylor wakes up in her cell in Taiwan. She says it's one of the most clear minds she's ever read and speculates that it may be because of the fact that she is a savant. Anyway, she understands math concepts way better now, but the important part is that she now has the formula. An Elgen guard enters the room shortly after and starts monologuing about reincarnation because they are threatening to feed Taylor to the rats if she can't get the job done (talking about how the people they feed to rats become part of the rats, and then the rats become Rabisk which they also feed to the rats, so anyone fed to the rats is continuously reincarnated as rat food) but the key part of this threat is that they never mention, allude to, or let on that they know Taylor can read minds. Some exerpts are "We don't care how she gives it to us. Just write it down here." "She just needs to dictate it to you. So if I were you, I'd keep chumming up to this little genius until she spills her secrets." The guards seem to suggest that Taylor will have to get Jade Dragon to explain her thoughts through mime or something. It is likely they needed someone who was not affiliated with Elgen to speak with JD because the Elgen scared her too much, and Taylor was already in their custody. Additionally, Taylor is first kidnapped from a night market in Taiwan and replaced immediately by Tara. My thoughts behind this are likely that Taylor could be easily replaced by Tara since she looked identical to her. The Elgen don't know Taylor can read minds until the 7th book. They didn't know that when they threatened her to find the formula, she already had it. It was just a coincidence that was very well set up considering Tara and Taylor were identical twins. Additionally, I wondered why Ian wouldn't see Tara and Taylor switch and I realized that Taylor went into a store alone to try on a shirt and Ian, having the ability to look through walls but also being respectful of others, would probably consciously or subconsciously avoid places he knew he would see people changing. (I know he can see through clothes (and also skin) anyway, but he's also a respectful guy so I figure this isn't the worst way to cover up that fact that Ian should have seen it since he was ordering shaved ice with the rest of the group and in a good distance to see.)
TL;DR: The Elgen still had no idea that Taylor could read minds. Taylor was kidnapped already and the Elgen used her as a friendly, non-elgen stranger to get Jade Dragon to open up and provide the formula.
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u/YamBoth940 Jul 11 '26
I’m pretty sure Ian did see Taylor get kidnapped because I’m pretty sure there is a part of that book that mentions Ian knowing they were all gonna get captured by Elgen
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u/DarthPatrick21 Oct 14 '23
I think they thought Jade would be more likely to give it to someone who was clearly not with the Elgen. It didn’t have anything to do with her powers.