4: Thingguy had intended that the Thingguys are reunited while finding Jonna. Since that opportunity is lost and since we have yet to exploit the situation of two Thingguys the best way we can, I think we should delay that for the ending of the book. I think that thedude let Thingguy and Talmid go, so that they would lead them to other Knights and allies. That's what happens in my chapter where they let the Knights go, but attack the ones they leave behind. Whether he is microchipped or not I'm not sure, but I can see Talmid-Thingguy getting confused by some emerging memories and still admitting to Talmid that he's the impostor by the end of the story.
Edit: Also, about the poisoning. We need to decide what we do with Marty and Joe, as they could be poisoners, too.
An established fact is that thedude does have or did have / had cloning tech, since a number of thedude clones appear in Talmid Show. Then there's the Talmid clone in Charcoal & Embers. I intended at the time to get a cloning facility in the story in case one or more of the Thingguys would be evil clones.
Although that's really unlikely since all of thedude's cloning facilities get destroyed before Thingguy's capture. So I have no qualms using Thingguy's grammar-sword-induced dimensional splitting reason.