The Hypnotists

The final section of the novel sees the story reaching its climax and resolving all major character arcs. This section marks the culmination of Jax's journey, as he confronts Mako and uses his powers to take control of his life and defy manipulation. Throughout the novel, Jax has transitioned from a passive and vulnerable tween to a principled and self-assured hypnotist who harnesses his power for good. Braintree’s philosophy of hypnosis as a temptation to avoid wins out over Mako’s philosophy that power should be abused for personal gain, establishing a resolution to Morality in the Face of Temptation.

Leading up to the final confrontation, Jax must overcome hardship on both physical and emotional levels. He must physically withstand all the blowback which emphasizes how control and abuse of power can have physical consequences. He also feels emotionally distraught over the threat to his parents and the way he has been complicit in manipulating them. The novel shows how manipulation warps a person’s worldview, as Jax feels responsible for the stolen election and the erosion of trust between him and his parents.

This section also brings together the novel’s exploration of trust. Jax has seen how hypnosis erodes trust in Sentia and how it threatens his relationship with his father. When he reaches out to Axel Braintree, he must also reclaim his ability to trust. Braintree’s honesty about his principles and the many times he has given into temptation makes him more trustworthy than Dr. Mako, who hides behind a veneer of institutional legitimacy. Braintree poses a solution that requires even more trust, as Jax must face his fears and put his parents in danger to rescue them from Mako’s influence. Korman dramatizes how escaping from controlling manipulation is a process that often requires one to trust in friends and a community to help.

Jax enters the final part of the novel feeling stronger and more self-assured, with his family and a new community of sandmen there to support him. He will counteract Mako’s worldview and his own “chosen one” role by using his powers to counteract Mako’s hypnosis and return Douglas to a place of making his own decisions, displaying Heroism Against Destructive Forces. Korman places the climax at a crowded public campaign event featuring a national broadcast, emphasizing the high stakes the situation poses for the community. As Jax’s eyes function as a way to connect to peoples’ minds, the cameras symbolize his ability to connect his point of view and power to an entire community.

Ultimately, Korman subverts the “chosen one” trope again by emphasizing the power of community over the individual hero. The sandmen both help Jax literally and emotionally. They physically help him protect his parents and infiltrate the campaign event, but they also provide an emotional outlet for his experience and a sense of comradery and commiseration. Unlike Mako, who sees Jax in transactional terms and extracts labor from him, Braintree values personal growth and community good, offering to help Jax without expecting anything in return.

Ironically, the other sandmen give into temptation, stealing from innocent civilians as they collaborate on this larger effort to respect the autonomy of those very civilians. Korman offers a nuanced statement about Morality in the Face of Temptation here; rather than portray morality as strict adherence to a code requiring total purity, he shows how the sandmen can be fundamentally good even if they make mistakes and commit petty crimes. Ultimately, the sandmen show Jax that community trust is the antidote to Dr. Mako’s malignant selfishness. When Jax isn’t strong enough to withstand Mako’s direct hypnosis, the sandmen successfully bring the community together to catch him.

Jax's final decision to hypnotize Tommy into forgetting him ends their close friendship, underscoring the cost of Jax's newfound autonomy. By erasing himself from Tommy's memory, Jax ensures his friend's safety but also sacrifices the one genuine relationship he had formed—further demonstrating Heroism Against Destructive Forces. Korman ends the book this way to emphasize the isolation that Jax must now endure, a consequence of his unique abilities and the danger they pose to those around him. This ending concludes Jax’s arc, showing how his empathy and sense of duty to his community have prevailed over temptation, coercion, and abuse of power, despite Dr. Mako’s best efforts.