Headscratchers / Foundation (2021)

• Did the Resistance really think their switcheroo plan through? It was doomed to fail even if Cleon XII hadn't tracked them down, and even if he hadn't learned that XIV was a modified clone. Their replacement clone would have revealed the ruse the moment he was found not to know something the original Cleon XIV knew, such as passwords or memories of times together with the older Emperors, or to have some observable physical differences like fingerprints.
  • The Resistance clone wouldn't have just infiltrated the Imperial throne, most likely he would have immediately begun sabotaging the authority of the Genetic Dynasty through any means available, from attempting to murder his elders to making public announcements about evils of the system to the people of the Imperium. He would have probably not survived in the role for long, but he could have done irreparable damage to the Cleons' authority before dying.
  • The real question is how the Resistance clone would have gotten to live past the fact that Dusk knows that Dawn was color blind. Dawn didn't get the chance to tell the Resistance the reason for why he had to leave a day earlier than they planned. And, even if the Imperium didn't follow the feed to Azura's place, there's no indication since Dawn arrived that he told Azura what happened. So, even if the planned switch had succeeded, how was the Resistance clone going to stay alive from Dusk's clear attempts on exterminating Dawn, whom the Resistance clone was replacing? Even if Day had decided to bend, like he had with the real Dawn, Dusk wouldn't have had it that way and more than likely would have exterminated the Resistance clone, unaware that it was the Resistance clone. Dusk had clear evidence that Dawn was colorblind, and the Resistance clone couldn't lie saying that he wasn't when Dusk knew for a fact Dawn was. He would have died in the very same short timeframe as Dawn had were it not for the Imperium tracking the feed from the dragonfly drone. Not only that, there's no way the Resistance could have compensated for the possibility of Dawn's colorblindness being discovered by Day or Dusk.