"I just ... feel like I need to save everyone. To redeem myself." — Thomas to Newt, The Maze Runner
Day One, Greenie. Rise and Shine.
Written in 2009 by James Dashner, The Maze Runner takes place in a world that has been absolutely decimated by an event known as 217 Solar Flares, also known as simply the Sun Flares; while in the movies the Flares happened in 2136, the novels simply list the date as 217 though it is widely agreed that the date was actually 2017, putting the events of The Maze Runner in a different timeline. Given the way the events are spoken about throughout the novels, which take place about 15 years after the Solar Flares, it is highly likely that humanity was caught off guard by the sudden flares. During this event, which happened in October of 217, a series of extremely powerful coronal mass ejections were released from the sun. The flares ravaged the planet and decimated most of the planet's population. When the flares hit the Earth, the area between the north and south equators were impacted directly; the devastation was so severe that it turned the region into a barren, desert-like wasteland - an area that would become known as The Scorch. Nearly 4.5 billion people died within the first 15 minutes of the catastrophic flares, and billions more died in the firestorms, extreme heat, and tsunamis that ravaged the planet in the weeks to come.
The catastrophic event drastically changed Earth's climate as well as its biosphere. The increase in radiation levels combined with the change in the planet's climate destroyed most agricultural crops; it can be assumed that countless other species of animals and plant life were also destroyed by this. Violent weather phenoms such as extreme lightning storms also became a common occurrence. Much like in The Hunger Games, the aftermath of the Flares caused the polar ice caps to rapidly melt. This led to a great increase in the planet's sea level, and as a result of this much of the world was overwhelmed and flooded. The remnants of the governments that remained joined together and pooled their resources in order to form the Post-Flares Coalition, also known as the PFC; the goal of the PFC was to devise solutions to the various problems that had been caused by the flares. Shortly after it's formation, the PFC discovered that there were only enough resources left to sustain about 70% of the remaining population. A plan was devised to release a controlled virus for the purpose of population control, though things went very wrong. Within months of the virus' dispersal, the disease had become a global pandemic - its airborne nature allowing it to quickly spread throughout the world - and because it was released within such a short time after the Sun Flares, people refer to the virus as The Flare; the fact that the virus is man-made is not something that is known by the general population.
Instead of peacefully killing the infected victims, like was initially intended, the virus twists the way that an infected person thinks and reacts, slowly turning people into 'Cranks'. Cranks who are 'past the gone', those who have lost their humanity and what sanity they once had, are extremely violent and tend to have a murderous rage; sometimes they have been known to begin clawing themselves when in isolation. More about Cranks, in general, are explored in the later novels, The Scorch Trials, The Death Cure, The Kill Order, and The Fever Code. In order to find a cure for The Flare, an organization was founded called the World in Catastrophe: Killzone Experiment Department, often abbreviated W.I.C.K.E.D. for short. Over time, W.I.C.K.E.D. discovered that there was a small percentage of the remaining population who were immune to the Flare virus. For the purpose of furthering their attempts to find a cure, they selected about a hundred teenagers - Immune and non-Immune control subjects - and put them through various trials in order to stimulate the 'Killzone' (the brain), and they recorded specific patterns from their trials. They planned to use these Killzone patterns to map out a cure for the Flare; they figured that all they were putting these children through would be worth it if they could discover why these subjects' brains could fight off the Flare.
The Gladers.
Each of the 'subjects' sent into the Trials are given new names when they first arrive at W.I.C.K.E.D., and later on we learn that they are essentially tortured until they come to accept their new name. Every single 'subject' was given a named based on a famous person who impacted history in one way or another, but most of their real names are unknown.
Thomas
Before he was taken by W.I.C.K.E.D., Thomas was known as Stephen; he was named after Thomas Edison. Thomas is the main protagonist of the entire series. When he arrives in the Glade, he has no knowledge of who he is or was; he doesn't even know his own age. When he first arrived, Chuck told him he looked to be about 5'9" and around 16 years old. In a later novel, he is also described as having sandy brown hair. Thomas is brave, loyal, and clever; he also has isolated telepathic powers, though that is not something he tells people about until the later novels. He has very limited memory of having previous knowledge of the Maze, but he instinctively feels that he should be a Runner. Soon after arriving in the Glade, Thomas makes friends and enemies among the boys, though he also quickly proves to be a good leader.
Alby
Aside from Thomas, Alby is one of the first characters we are introduced to; not much is known about his life before he was taken by W.I.C.K.E.D. around the age of eight or nine. He is named after Albert Einstein. He is short-tempered, but being one of the first Gladers he is also experienced. He took over after the previous leader had been abruptly killed. There are very a few Gladers - those who have been there the longest like Minho or Newt - who ever see fit to actually question Alby's decisions. After being stung by a Griever, Alby regains some of his memories of life before the Maze, and he became convinced that the Gladers should stay in the Glade; at one point, he even tries to sabotage their plans to escape.
Newt (a.k.a. Elena's favorite character)
It is unclear as to what Newt's name was before W.I.C.K.E.D. took him; what we do know is that he has a younger sister named Lizzy who was also taken by W.I.C.K.E.D. They renamed her Sonya. Newt was named after Sir Isaac Newton. He is described as a tall, muscular boy with shoulder-length blonde hair and a square jaw. Shortly after he first woke up in the Maze, Newt attempted to end his life and role in the Maze by jumping off one of the cliffs; he didn't succeed in his efforts, obviously, and he was left with a pronounced limp because of it. He also has a strong accent, though it's not clear what kind of accent it is; Dashner himself has said that he's either Scottish or British. Personality wise, Newt was usually a lot kinder than many of the other Gladers, but he was still strong-handed when he had to keep order.
Chuck
Chuck's name before W.I.C.K.E.D. isn't known, but he was named after evolutionist Charles Darwin. He is described as a chubby boy of about twelve or thirteen years old with long brown hair and blue eyes. There is not a lot known about his life previous to being taken by W.I.C.K.E.D., but it is known that he was only seven or eight years old, and he became close with Thomas before being sent into the Maze himself; interesting fact, it was Thomas who gave him the nickname Chuck. He is sort of an awkward kid, talkative, innocent and naive. Though he can be annoying sometimes, Thomas quickly begins to see Chuck as one of his best friends; he even begins to see the younger boy as a sort of younger brother. His character is a representation of childhood innocence.
Gally
Like many of the other characters, we're unaware of Gally's real name; he was named after the noted astronomer, physicist, engineer, philosopher, and mathematician Galileo Galilei. He was ten years old when he was first taken from his home and brought to the W.I.C.K.E.D. facilities. He's described as a fifteen-year-old who was tall and skinny; he has black hair, green eyes, and - according to Thomas - a nose the size of a small fist that resembled a deformed potato. He is an arrogant, confrontational guy with a bit of an anger problem; that anger problem being that he's virtually always on edge, always ready for a fight. When Thomas first arrives in the Glade, Gally immediately distrusts him, saying that he's seen Thomas before. This is largely due to the fact that Gally has gone through the Changing; after he had been in the Maze for a little while, he wandered just beyond one of the Doors in the Glade one day despite the rules that had already been put in place. A Griever immediately attacked and stung him, and he regained some memories from before the Maze following the Changing. Due to his general attitude towards people, Gally is not particularly popular amongst the Gladers, though he does look out for his fellow Gladers.
Minho
Minho was one of the first Gladers to enter the Trials, though not much is known about his life before being brought to W.I.C.K.E.D.'s facilities. He is described as an Asian boy who looks to be a little older than Thomas, with strong arms and short, black hair. He can sometimes be a bit brash, but he is also a dependable leader. He has an aggressive, but loyal, personality, and often tends to be heavily sarcastic; that being said, he's also said to have the best sense of humor of all the Gladers. Throughout the novels, it is sometimes mentioned that he has a habit of always needing to have the last word in any argument or debate. Interestingly, Minho is the only character whose name doesn’t have a famous person related to it. Dashner has said that “because the story is set pretty far in the future, I wanted to have at least one or two names that we don't know, so it's someone who doesn't exist yet.”
Teresa
Teresa is - as far as I know - the only character in the entire series whose life before W.I.C.K.E.D. is fairly detailed to the readers. Her real name was Deedee, but W.I.C.K.E.D. renamed her Teresa Agnes after Mother Teresa. She was only five when she first encountered members of the PFC for the first time after her village was attacked with the darts carrying the original Flare disease; nearly everyone in her village, including both of her parents and her brother, were killed by the virus, but she survived. This is how they discovered she was Immune to the disease. Much like Thomas, she was raised in the W.I.C.K.E.D. facilities, and met our main protagonist for the first time when she was only seven. She is the same age as Thomas. In the novel, she is described as looking younger than her age; despite being 17, she appears to be about 15 years old. Physically, she's described by Thomas as "thin, but not too small", "roughly five and a half feet" tall with "burning blue eyes" and skin that was "pale, white as pearls". She had "tar black hair" with "long legs" and "pink lips"; keep in mind this description is from a boy who is very much attracted to her and who has felt a connection to her in one way or another since she first arrived in the Glade. She is the only female character in almost the entire book, yet in this particular novel she serves little purpose except to catalyze plot and Thomas's character development; her role in the series becomes much more developed in the sequels.
There are a few jobs within the Glade that you should also need to be informed about; there will be a few minor characters discussed with these jobs in regard to the Keeper jobs. The Keepers of these jobs, combined with the first and second in command, make up the Glade's Council.
First-in-Command: The first-in-command is the leader in the Glade; this person was Alby when Thomas arrived in the Glade.
Second-in-Command: The second-in-command is just what he sounds like; he is the person who is in charge directly underneath the leader. When Thomas arrived in the Glade, Newt was Alby's second-in-command.
Runner: Runners are the only ones who are allowed to go out into The Maze. Defined as the strongest, fastest, and most trusted among the Gladers, they run the maze daily in an attempt to find a way out. They leave when the doors open in the morning and return right before the Doors close each night. This is both a physically and mentally exhausting job. Minho is the Keeper of the Runners.
Slopper: The sloppers are those Gladers who aren't particularly good at any of the other jobs around the Glade, so they help mostly by doing the tasks that other Gladers don't want to do; these tasks include cleaning up the Blood House, the kitchen, toilets, and showers. An unknown boy is the Keeper for the Sloppers.
Bricknick: Bricknicks and Builders are very similar in responsibilities, but the Bricknicks are mainly focused on repairing structures. An unknown boy is the Keeper for the Bricknicks.
Builder: Builders are those who build most of the structures around The Glade. They build things such as structures (like the Homestead or the Slammer) and other simple items that help with carrying and moving things around. They also upgrade the structures and buildings. Gally is the Keeper of the Builders.
Slicer: Slicers are the Gladers who feed and raise the livestock in the Glade - such as pigs, hogs, cows, sheep, chickens, and turkeys; all of these animals are kept in pens in the Blood House (slaughterhouse) area. They are the ones who prepare the livestock for the cooks. Slicers also clean, fix fences, and scrape up animal waste. Winston is the Keeper for the Slicers.
Bagger: Baggers are the Gladers who clean up the remains of those Gladers who are deceased. They also act as guards and police around the Glade. An unknown boy is the Keeper for the Baggers.
Med-jack: The Med-jacks are those Gladers who are specialized in medicine. They are the equivalent of doctors inside the Glade. Througout the first novel, the Med-jacks play a very important role. As far as we know, there were only two med-jacks in the Glade when Thomas arrives. Clint is the Keeper for the Med-jacks.
Track-hoe: Track-hoes do pretty much exactly what their job title sounds like. They are the Gladers who work and tend to the Gardens. They "do all the heavy stuff" in the Garden like weeding, trenching, pruning, planting seeds, and harvesting vegetables. While Newt is officially the second-in-command in the Glade, he spends a lot of time in the Gardens helping them out as well. Before he became the second-in-command, Newt was a track-hoe. Zart is the Keeper for the Track-hoes.
Cook: This job is exactly what it sounds like. The cooks prepare and cook the meals for the Gladers. That being said, a boy named Frypan is the only Cook in the Glade as far as we know. Frypan (Siggy) is the Keeper for the Cooks.
Map-Maker: Again, this job title is exactly how it sounds. The map-makers are the ones who make the maps of the Maze. Knowing that the Runners make maps of their portions of the Maze each day, this could be another name for the Runners. An unknown boy is the Keeper for the Map-Makers; if this is, indeed, another name for the Runners, then Minho would be the Keeper for them as well.
The Novelization:
Thomas wakes up in a dark, metal box with no memory of who he is. He only remembers his name. He can recall images of the world but cannot remember anyone in it. He cannot remember his parents’ faces or a single conversation he has ever had with anyone. The most troubling problem, though, is that he has no idea what is going on or why any of this is happening. He quickly realizes the room he woke up in is actually an elevator, and it’s ascending fast. When the elevator finally comes to a stop after what seems like quite a long time, he’s left in the dark for several more minutes. Doors open overhead, and he is soon introduced to a community of young boys all living in a farm-like area surrounded by very high walls; like Thomas, none of the other boys can remember anything of their life before being sent the Maze either. The boys call this place ‘The Glade’.
Beyond the Glade and the breathtakingly-high walls that surround it lies a massive Maze, populated with large, mechanical monsters known as Grievers. The Grievers were made by the creators, and are just one of the challenges the Gladers face throughout their Trials. They are described as large, bulbous, and dark creatures with various weapons for arms or legs, such as spikes, shears, and rods, and they are covered in hair and slime; they have no face, only a large, horrible mouth, and they move in a rolling motion that sounds like knives being dragged across the floor. If someone is stung by a Griever, they must be given a Griever serum that arrives with their supply every week or they will die. After being given the serum, those who are stung go through a process that the Gladers refer to as ‘the Changing’; the entire process is quite painful and fairly traumatic. “Inside the room, Newt and Alby crouched over someone lying on a bed.
Thomas leaned in closer to see what the fuss was all about, but when he got a clear look at the condition of the patient, his heart went cold. He had to fight the bile that surged up his throat.
The look was fast—only a few seconds—but it was enough to haunt him forever. A twisted, pale figure writhing in agony, chest bare and hideous. Tight, rigid cords of sickly green veins webbed across the boy’s body and limbs, like ropes under his skin. Purplish bruises covered the kid, red hives, bloody scratches. His bloodshot eyes bulged, darting back and forth. The image had already burned into Thomas’s mind before Alby jumped up, blocking the view but not the moans and screams, pushing Thomas out of the room, then slamming the door shut behind them.” (Ch. 3)
Though the process is a painful and traumatic one, those who go through the Changing receive some of their memories from their lives before they were sent into the Maze. Gladers like Alby and Gally (mentioned above) have both been through the changing (though Alby’s experience will be mentioned later), and in turn they have both had memories stirred of Thomas’ life before the Maze. While Grievers are quite terrifying, they only come out into the maze at night which allows the Runners to survey the Maze throughout the day. The first day in the Glade, Thomas spends some time getting to know his way around the Glade; after playing a trick on Gally with Chuck, Thomas also solidifies Gally’s disdain towards him though he’s no longer afraid of the boy like he had once been. During this time, Thomas also learns the rules of the Glade:
Everyone does their part. No slackers.
Never hurt another Glader. You have to trust each other.
Never go outside the Glade, unless you're a Runner.
Breaking any of these rules lands the Glader in violation in the ‘Slammer’, the Glader’s version of jail, for a variation of time, though only after being sentenced by the Council; the Council is comprised of a group of 10 Keepers and the two leaders.
The day after Thomas arrives in the Glade, the boys hear the elevator coming up again – something that never happens and stuns all of the boys – and when the doors open, the Gladers find a girl unconscious on the elevator floor. The presence of a girl in the Glade is a huge shock for the boys because she was the first female to ever be sent into the Maze. At first, the boys thought she was dead until she suddenly sat up. She sat straight up, stated clearly "Everything is going to change", and then she fell in to an unconscious state once more. She was clutching a brief message in her right fist from the Creators of the Maze. It read, "She's the last one. Ever."
After finding out that the Runners go into the Maze every day in an attempt to find a way out, Thomas becomes almost obsessed with the idea that he wants to be a Runner as well; he feels like it is what he is meant to do in the Maze. Shortly after coming to this decision, while exploring the Glade a little more, Thomas is attacked by a Runner named Ben; he had recently gone through the Changing after being stung by a Griever. He tells Thomas that he remembers him from before and knows who he really is. Then, he tries to kill Thomas. As punishment for trying to kill another Glader, Alby banishes Ben from the Glade; this means they physically forced Ben into the Maze just as the doors were closing, leaving him out in the Maze at night. Interestingly enough, no one is quite sure exactly how Ben was stung since he had been a Builder (not a Runner, where he could easily come into contact with a Griever). It was mentioned that he was on the border of the Maze, but James Dashner himself has said “In the book, I wanted it to be a sign of things changing. It was supposed to represent that a Griever had actually come inside the Glade for the first time, even if briefly. But no one knew for sure.” I think the idea that a Griever came into the Glade during the day is an incredibly appealing idea.
Not long after, Alby is stung by a Griever while he is exploring the Maze with Minho; Alby had gone into the Maze with Minho to inspect a supposedly ‘dead’ Griever, but things quickly went wrong. The Griever had managed to seemingly fake its death and stung Alby when he got close enough. Minho tries to get him back into the safety of the Glade before the walls close, but as the time passes quickly he realizes that they are not going to make it in time. Thomas sees Minho struggling with Alby – who is unconscious – and after seeing Minho stumble and fall, he races out into the Maze to try and help him, despite Newt’s adamant pleas that he stays put; this action breaks the cardinal rule of The Glade, and leaves Thomas stranded in the Maze overnight with Minho and Alby.
As stated above, the Maze is the most dangerous place to be in at night; that is when the Grievers are active, and they are ruthless. Despite being the most experienced of the two of them, having been one of the first Gladers and having run the Maze for over two years, Minho panics when they hear the Grievers approaching. He runs away, leaving Thomas and an unconscious Alby on their own. Thomas refuses to leave Alby’s side, and – thinking that Grievers cannot climb the walls – he strings Alby’s unconscious body up in the vines hanging from the walls in an attempt to keep him safe. When a Griever finally does appear, Thomas runs deeper into the Maze in order to lure the creature away from Alby. After a little while, he himself surrounded by several Grievers. He runs from them, and actually manages to leap over the one that had been chasing him before it can slow its momentum. He manages to meet up with Minho a short while later, and together they run from the Grievers. Minho tells Thomas that he has an idea based on what Thomas told him had happened earlier (the run-and-jump maneuver), and together they run towards the Cliff. The cliff is the only noticeable landmark in the Maze, and the path to the Cliff is the only route in the Maze that never changes (hint: there is a reason for this). The two boys stand at the edge of the Cliff, and when the Grievers come to charge them they jump out of the creatures’ paths, and the Grievers fall over the edge seemingly to their deaths (though, like any good dystopian novel, that’s just a bit too easy).
The two boys manages to survive the night in the Maze, and in the morning Thomas pulls Alby’s body down out of the vines; their leader is also still alive, though he’s not in good shape because of being stung. The fact that all three of them survived a night in the Maze makes Glade history. No other Glader has ever done it; they even found Ben’s clothes shredded to pieces before this, heavily suggesting he also died in the Maze. Following his night in the Maze, many of the boys see Thomas as a hero, though there are some who are suspicious of him. The following day, Thomas is tried for breaking the Glader’s cardinal rule, and he is sentenced to one day in the Slammer. After seeing what he did in the Maze, Minho fights for Thomas to become a Runner, even though he’s still a Greenie (newbie). Gally strongly objects to Thomas’s appointment to the role of Runner and his presence in the Glade in general. He loudly accuses Thomas of being a spy for the Creators, and Minho and Gally attack each other; eventually, Gally runs away from them and out into the Maze, vowing revenge.
During all this time, Alby has been given the Griever serum and is in recovery from the Changing. Thomas visits him after a short while, and Alby tries to explain to him what he saw during his Changing; he saw and believes that Thomas worked with the Creators before he came into the Maze and had also played some part in the design and/or building of the Maze. However, as he tries to tell him more, Alby begins to choke himself. Thomas panics a bit and calls for Newt to help (Alby had sent him out of the room before), and they manage get Alby to stop hurting himself. Alby strongly infers that he was being controlled by something, and he didn't help what he was doing; this is information that will become heavily important in the following two novels.
Thomas also visits the girl who came up in the elevator during this time, despite the fact that she’s still comatose. One day, she starts to communicate with him telepathically. This terrifies Thomas, and he runs away from her and into the Maze in an attempt to escape her voice. It doesn’t really work, though, and she tells him that they were involved in the implementation of the Maze. She also tells him her name. Teresa. Shortly after his night in the Slammer, Thomas begins training with Minho to be a Runner. Minho teaches him how the Runners map the Maze and how they look for patterns when the walls move each night. They never find anything new. That night, Teresa tells Thomas that her arrival in the Glade has triggered “the Ending”. The next day, the sun disappears from the sky and is replaced with just a dull gray sky; it is then that Thomas comes to the realization that the Glade and the Maze itself is a fabricated place. The sky has never been real;in the later books, it is revealed that the Maze is actually underground. Teresa also tells Thomas that the Maze itself is a code. She regains consciousness, and the two of them meet for the first time in a forest-like area in the Glade. The two seem to share a history, and the attraction between them is palpable, but Alby and Newt are both suspicious of her.
That night the doors to the Maze do not close. Highly suspicious of Teresa, Alby and Newt imprison her in the Slammer, much to Thomas's disapproval. They all work to fortify the Homestead, a large house in one section of the Glade, by boarding up the windows and reinforcing the walls while they wait for the Grievers enter the Glade and attack. Surprisingly, Gally makes an unexpected return to the Glade. He warns the Gladers that the Creators are going to kill them, and the Grievers were going to take one of them every night before willingly throwing himself onto one of the Grievers and being carried off into the Maze. After the first attack, the Gladers also discover that all the maps of the Maze the Gladers worked hard on over the years had been burned. Together Thomas, Teresa, Minho, and Newt determine a different way to analyze the information about the Maze. It is soon discovered that the maps that had been burned were decoys, and Thomas is able to study the real maps with Teresa's help. They manage to find a series of letters hidden in the maps which spell out words. The words have no relation to each other, though, and in an act of desperation to get some of his memories back and figure out how to get out of the Maze, Thomas allows himself to be stung by the Grievers. After recovering from the Changing, Thomas explains that he and Teresa did help the Creators design the Maze. He also learned that the way out of the Maze is over the Cliff. In reality, the cliff is actually just an illusion used to trick them; there is a hole just over the Cliff, and it is where the Grievers enter and exit the Maze. If they can follow the Grievers down into the hole, they can get out. The forty-something remaining Gladers follow Thomas into the Maze, and end up coming face-to-face with a small army of Grievers; they are no longer sticking to just roaming the Maze at night.
Alby was among the group who followed Thomas into the Maze, but he was terrified of returning to the real world. Before the fight actually started, he threw himself on one of the Grievers, sacrificing himself for the other Gladers; it was possible that he believed the death of one Glader would be sufficient enough to satisfy the Grievers -- he was wrong. A massive fight between the Gladers and the Grievers follows this action, and the fight allows Thomas, Teresa, and Chuck to make their way down the Griever hole. Teresa punches the code they figured out into a computer, and the Maze (and the Grievers) shuts down entirely. Only 21 of the 40-something Gladers survive the fight with the Grievers, but they soon make their way down through the Griever hole, and through a door that had opened nearby. They soon find themselves in a large underground bunker where they come face to face with the Creators; most of them appear to be thin, pale, and joyless adults taking numerous amounts of notes while they observe the Gladers from behind some glass. A woman emerges from the group (her name is later revealed to be Ava Paige), and she informs them that they had passed the Maze Trials. There was just one Variable in the Trial left. However, unlike the last lesson, I’m not going to reveal exactly what this last Variable was. This is something you’re just going to have to spoil for yourself or read the book to see what happens. ;D
Suddenly, after the last Variable, a group of rescuers storm into the room and shoot the woman. They help get the Gladers out of the facility and take outside into a pouring rain; there, a large bus awaits them. While boarding the bus, a sore-riddled woman grabs Thomas. She tells him that his purpose here is to save everyone from the Flare. Thomas is pulled onto the bus, and the driver runs over the woman. One of the Rescuers explains to the Gladers their reason for being in the Maze. She explains what happened to the Earth after the Solar Flares ravaged the Earth; she also explains that the physical effects caused by the Flare, such as the sores Thomas saw on the woman, are caused by something else, but the Flare resides in their brains. It causes those infected to slowly go crazy, finally consuming them altogether, and eventually is causes them to lose their humanity. Everything the Creators put the Gladers through was a test; their reactions to everything they went through in the Maze from the very first day was recorded, all in an attempt at finding a way to cure the Flare.
After two hours of driving, the bus stops at a dormitory-like building. The Gladers find bunk beds, blankets, bathrooms, and food inside the building. At last, for the first time (in years, for some of them), the Gladers finally feel safe. Thomas drifts off to sleep with a small ounce of hope for the future. The next book begins the following day.
The novels ends with a memorandum from Chancellor Ava Paige to all of her associates. The memo reveals that everything (including the murder of the Creators and the Rescuers in general) has been part of the plan for the Gladers. Instead, they were simply moving on to the next stage of their trials. The goal of the experiment (possibly the only truthful thing the Rescuers told the Gladers) is to find those children who are intelligent and resourceful enough to find a way to defeat the Flare and save humanity. The memo also reveals (!!!!) that there is a second group of children in another Maze who were also being put through the same experiment. Unlike the Gladers, though, the second group is comprised entirely of girls with just one boy near the end. Their Maze is in a snowy, forested area that the girls call "the Spring"; they refer to themselves as “Icers” because the walls of the Maze are made of ice instead of stone. Instead of Grievers, the girls of Group B have giant, flying, bat-like creatures that they call 'Shades'. Unlike the Grievers, the Shades don't seem to care what time of day it is. Also unlike the boys, it seems like the girls all share their duties equally as there are less of them in number; for example, instead of having Runners, all the girls map out the Maze in ice skates. When they reach the outer areas of their Maze, the maze course itself becomes vertical, which requires the Icers to climb the ice to fully map it out. Also another significant detail -- during their Trial, the girls of Group B escaped from the Maze 3 days faster than the boys did, and they lost fewer people, hinting at the fact that they are significantly more capable than the Gladers.
The Films.
The film was directed by Wes Ball and distributed by 20th Century Fox. Development on the film began in January 2011, and the film itself was released on September 19, 2014. The film stars Dylan O'Brien as Thomas, Ki Hong Lee as Minho, Thomas Brodie-Sangster as Newt, Kaya Scodelario as Teresa, Will Poulter as Gally, Aml Ameen as Alby, and Blake Cooper as Chuck. Critics are noted to consider it to be better than most young adult book-to-film adaptations. The film topped the box-office during its opening weekend with a $32.5 million debut, making it the seventh-highest grossing debut in September. The film earned over $348 million worldwide at the box-office, against its budget of $34 million.
Out of all of the Maze Runner adaptations, this film was the closest to the novel; some things were changed, but for the most part Ball stays fairly close to the novel's adaptation. The other films anger me a bit in terms of their novel counterpart, and we're just gonna ignore those films. In terms of the differences from the Maze Runner novel to film, a full list of those differences can be found here.