Michael Shelley was one of Gertrude Robinson's archival assistants. Shelley was eventually sacrificed by Robinson to stop The Spiral's ritual and became a part of The Distortion.
History
As a child, Michael Shelley saw his friend Ryan be taken by The Spiral and this eventually drove him to work for the Magnus Institute as a young man. He was hired to replace Fiona Law, one of Gertrude Robinson's assistants who had recently been lost.
He worked alongside her other assistants, Eric Delano and Emma Harvey. Emma, who was responsible for the loss of Fiona, decided to experiment on him by seeing how long she could keep him in the dark as to what was really going on. Gertrude, seeing the value in an ignorant assistant, allowed this to happen and Michael never discovered the truth.
Michael had gone on work trips for the Institute before and did not suspect anything when Gertrude brought him along for a trip to Sannikov Land. He trusted and cared for her, believing her to be a frail old woman. They travelled through Russia, eventually boarding the ship of Peter Lukas, but as they travelled further north, both Gertrude's demeanour and their surroundings grew cold and Michael began to be afraid.
Gertrude told him that he was going to help her fight a great evil and Michael believed her. They finally reached Sannikov Land and trekked through its jungles to the site of The Great Twisting.
Michael believed he had gone mad when he beheld The Spiral's ritual but Gertrude stood firm. She gave him an impossible map and directed him to walk through a door. Even in his panicked terror, Michael trusted her and followed her instructions. He shattered the right mirrors and opened the right doors until he merged with The Distortion.
Timeline
Michael's age and the date of his death are unknown as there are contradictory statements about both.
Michael was hired as a young man when he was "Far too young to have such a job". Eric mentions working with him in MAG 154, suggesting he was hired in the 1980s or 1990s at the latest. However, MAG 167 states that he was hired to replace Fiona Law, who officially passed away in 2003 from a failed transplant. In actuality, Fiona was taken by The Coffin but it is unclear if this happened during, before, or after 2003.
Michael's death seems to have occurred between October 2009 and 2011 as Gertrude had lost all her assistants by 2011 and according to MAG 126, The Great Twisting took place some time after October 2009. However, this is contradicted by the events detailed in MAG 167, which suggests he was part of the Distortion before the death of Agnes Montague, which occurred in 2006.
Episode Appearances
| Episode Appearances |
|---|
|
Trivia
- In reference to Michael's unclear age, Jonny Sims has stated that "the fandom has broadly interpreted Michael as younger than he was explicitly written", while also joking that Michael is canonically 92 at all points of the timeline.[1]
- Luke Booys, Michael's voice actor, has been shown to still have Michael's signature laugh while out of character in one of the blooper audios. (Whether he was still acting in character could be possible, however.)
- Michael’s last name is likely to have come from Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein.