Inconsistency at the end (Spoilers)

[Terisen he/him]

Something that didn't quite add up for me at the end right before and during the final conflict with Steelheart.  Just before Steelheart shows up, David sees what is implied to be Megan (the gold flash of light).  So she's in the stadium beforehand.  A short while later, Steelheart flies into the stadium with Nightwielder and Firefight.

 

When Megan/Firefight shows up during the battle with Nightwielder, she shows that she is still disoriented and doesn't quite remember much (she hadn't yet watched the video of her latest death yet) to the point that she struggles to remember David's name.

 

The question is: if she was so confused to the point of not remembering David, how would she be able to know to cast the illusion of the Firefight figure that flew in with Steelheart.  Am I missing something here?

[Swimmingly he/him]

She's presumably been doing Firefight for several lifetimes now, and I bet it comes easily to her.

[Terisen he/him]

Sure, I don't doubt that she'd know how to be Firefight.  I'm more curious as to how she knew to cast the illusion to make it look like she was flying in.  How did she know Steelheart would be flying in to a fight (and that she should therefore cast an accompanying illusion) if she couldn't remember recent events?

[Lightsworn Panda he/him]

She does have those memory banks. Maybe that's how. Or maybe it's just a plot hole. Even the best authors have them.

[king of nowhere]

when she reincarnates, she keeps most of her memories. it's only the more recent memories that are confused. so she remembered perfectly being firefight. she didn't remember much of david.

at least that's the way i understood it.

[Pathfinder]

I'm with King of Nowhere, it is kind of like short term memory loss. Watch the movie "Momento" some time. Excellent movie, and illustrates it wonderfully

[dreamingofcheese he/him]

My thought is she is suffering from the return of the Fireflight personality. This personality would not want her to remember a potential chance of it's death. The concept of absolute power corrupting absolutely is taking to the extreme. You get to see this in the actions of the Professor. Maybe it is a form of P.T.S.D. or short term memory loss. But I think the powers personality is another type of antagonist. One that fights the character inside their own mind.