#disclaimer: yes it is also technically possible the brain switched after the jet crashed but before raz wakes up strapped to a chair

[2hoothoots]

a high-roller shell game; or, How'd That Dang Brain Swap Work Out, Anyway?

there's a bit of a fun sleight-of-hand trick in the events of the Rhombus of Ruin, and i hardly ever see people talking about it so i wanted to make a quick post about it. pop quiz: when does Truman's brain get swapped out for Nick's?

here's what we know about the kidnapping timeline:

so Truman's brain is switched out some time after he's kidnapped, but before Raz & co arrive at the Rhombus.

but we can actually do a lot better than that, because it's possible to pinpoint exactly when the switch happens. it happens... during this loading transition.

(screenshots show the transition in Rhombus of Ruin between Raz losing consciousness while looking through Truman's eyes via clairvoyance, and waking up back in the jet. screencaps taken from WishingTikal's no commentary walkthrough!)

the first part of RoR involves Raz using the music box to make a clairvoyant link with Truman. when we do so, we see the room in which Truman's body is being held - and at this point, his brain must still be in there, too. it's established in the series that clairvoyance makes a link with a person's mind (see also how Nick-as-Truman sees Raz as an unkempt peasant, whereas Actual-Truman in the postgame sees him as a suitor in a prom suit - which, aww, isn't that sweet?). we use the music box to hone in on Truman's psychic signature, and it's his brain, not his body, that we hop into.

the very next scene is the plane crash-landing, and from when Raz wakes up in the Rhombus onwards, he's there in the room with Truman's body. he does a lot of brain-hopping so he's not exactly keeping a sharp eye on Truman, but given that it only takes about a half hour to round up the gang, i think it's safe to say that by this point the brain swap has already happened. when Truman is loaded up into the jet, Nick's brain is already in his head (and Truman's brain is in the case chained to his wrist).

and that's the fun part, for me; because even though Raz making a link with Truman and then waking back up in the jet happen back-to-back in-game, in universe there's a time span of several hours that pass. when the clairvoyant link goes down, Raz passes out from the strain; and since we're seeing things through his perspective, the time he spends sleeping - the time in which the brain swap happens - is invisible to us as players.

and therein lies the sleight of hand. it's like a shell game. we think we only take our eyes off Truman for a few minutes - we see him via clairvoyance, and then the jet crash-lands and there he is in the room that Raz wakes up. but in the game world, he's been out of our sight for much longer; long enough for his kidnappers to swap the brains, and put Truman right back where he was, with nobody any the wiser. you think you're following the ball, but it got switched right out from under your nose.