Thomas (Maze Runner)

"We don't belong here this place isn't our home. We were put here we were trapped here at least, out there we have a choice we can make it out here I know that"

- Thomas to the Gladers.

Thomas is the main protagonist of the Maze Runner series.

He is portrayed by Dylan O'Brien, who is known for portraying Stiles Stilinski in Teen Wolf, Mitch Rapp in American Assassin, and voiced Bumblebee in the 2018 titular film.

The Maze Runner
In the beginning of the movie, Thomas wakes up in a underground service elevator with no memory. Thomas sees a group of males around him. Gally opens the underground service elevator doors and throws him onto the ground, Thomas runs away from the group of males but falls on the ground. He gets put into the pen. Alby introduces himself to Thomas and shows him around the Glade and the stuff they do, asks Thomas what his name is, and tells him that he'll get it back by two days or so. Alby tells Thomas the three rules of the Glade. Thomas learns that the Maze is the only way out of the Glade. Alby calls out a boy named Chuck and tells him to show Thomas around the Glade, Thomas asks him why no one told him why he can't go into the Maze. Chuck tells Thomas that they can't go in there. While Chuck is still talking about the off limits of the Maze. Thomas sees two boys running out of the Maze and starts to walk towards the Maze but was stopped by Gally.

Scorch Trials
The film begins with Thomas being taken in by Ava Paige and troops from the organization WCKD, alongside other abandoned children, after being dropped off by his mother for his own safety. Years later, shortly after being rescued from the maze, Thomas and the remaining Gladers – Newt, Minho, Teresa Agnes, Frypan, Winston, Tim, and Jack are taken to a facility run by Mr. Janson. He explains that the facility is a safe haven, protecting them from WCKD, the Flare virus and the Cranks, and provides them clothes, food, and sanitation, where other survivors of multiple mazes are also present. Thomas becomes curious about their activities and manages to find out what is really happening behind the closed doors. With help from Aris Jones, the first maze survivor to end up in the facility, it is revealed that WCKD's leader, Ava, is still alive and that Mr. Janson is working for WCKD, as they discuss about the experiment on the Immunes and that Janson has yet to find The Right Arm, a resistance group located at the mountains. The group, including Aris, but without Tim escapes the facility, as Janson orders his WCKD troops to track them down, where they find themselves in the deserted outside world - the Scorch. The group arrive at an abandoned marketplace, where they first encounter the Cranks, humans zombified by the Flare virus. In the process, Winston gets infected by one of them, and Jack is killed by another. When morning comes, they find the remains of the city in ruins and that WCKD is still searching for them. Winston's infection gets worse, forcing the rest of the group to leave him alone to die by shooting himself, preventing his transformation. The group continues to venture the desert until one night, while sleeping, Thomas wakes to discover a civilization off in the distance. As a thunderstorm emerges, they run to an abandoned facility to take shelter. Minho gets struck by the lightning on the way but survives. They manage to enter the place, only to find out that the facility was filled with chained Cranks. The group meets Brenda and Jorge, who lead a dangerous band of survivors and have used the Cranks as their own guard dogs. When the two find that the group had come from WCKD and is looking for the Right Arm, the two agree to take them to the Right Arm, abandoning their group of survivors. Moments later, WCKD, led by Janson, storms the place, only for the facility to be destroyed by Jorge's explosives, however, Thomas and Brenda are left behind as the rest have escaped with Jorge. Thomas and Brenda manage to escape the Cranks, only for Brenda to get infected by a Crank in the process. Thomas experiences a flashback of when he and Teresa were working for WCKD, in which Thomas tries to warn Teresa of WCKD's plans, only for the two to be separated by WCKD's troops. As Thomas and Brenda reunite with the rest of the group, Jorge interrogates Marcus, a survivor who secretly works for WCKD, into revealing the whereabouts of The Right Arm. The group eventually arrive at The Right Arm's relief camps, where other innocent survivors are present, and are greeted by Vince, who leads the Right Arm and is in charge of deciding whether they can stay or not. As Brenda's infection gets worse, Vince threatens to shoot Brenda, only to be stopped by Mary Cooper, a former WCKD scientist who reveals that Thomas was their informant. As Mary halts Brenda's infection using an enzyme cure, Mary explains that the enzyme can only be harvested from an Immune's body, not manufactured, and that arguments over the methods of manufacturing the cure with Ava lead Mary's departure from WCKD. That evening, Teresa calls WCKD of her location, believing that WCKD's motivations are good, leading to an ambush by WCKD. Ava and Janson arrive and confront the Right Arm before WCKD troops captures survivors for experimentation, including Minho, while Janson shoots Mary dead. After Thomas and the Right Arm fend the WCKD troops off, Ava, Janson and Teresa retreat with their captured survivors. With only a fraction of survivors left at the site, Thomas plans an infiltration into WCKD and is determined to take them down to save his friends and save civilization, Thomas threatens to kill Ava Paige and Janson as his friends and the Right Arm agree to help and prepare to fight back.

Death Cure
Thomas, Newt, and Frypan are the last of the "Gladers" immune to the Flare virus that infected the world's population. Against the orders of The Right Arm resistance led by the newly sworn Vince, the three leave their camp base to rescue their immune friend Minho, who is being tested by the organization WCKD for a Flare cure, heading for the "Last City" where WCKD's headquarters is located. The group make their way through a tunnel, only to be attacked by Cranks, humans zombified by the Flare. However, they are saved by Jorge and newcomer Brenda, who journey with them to the Last City. The group make it to the edge of the wall of the Last City, which surrounds and protects the city from Cranks. Outside the wall, the group walks among Flare-infected people who are rallying in protest to be let into the city. However, WCKD's troop patrol opens fire at the protesters, who retreat. In the commotion, Thomas, Newt, Frypan, Brenda and Jorge are captured by a group of masked men and are taken to a hideout, where one of the masked men is revealed to be Gally, who has survived being killed by the spear Minho threw into his heart, Thomas punches Gally for killing Chuck, Gally takes them to see Lawrence, a rebellion leader for the infected, who grants them permission to enter the Last City through a secret entrance. Spotting Teresa, Gally tells Thomas that she can get them in, and Thomas gets Teresa to follow him through an ally, where Gally captures her. The group take her to an abandoned church where she agrees to help them, as long as they need to use her fingerprint to get inside WCKD. Teresa also removes the Gladers' trackers that WCKD put in them before they entered the Maze. Thomas, Newt, and Gally escort Teresa inside WCKD and toward the location of the Immunes. They are caught and chased by a vengeful Janson, who leads WCKD's troops, intent on killing Thomas. Teresa lets them escape to find Minho, before running off to do a blood test on Thomas' blood she got from removing his tracker, after it's revealed to her that Brenda was cured by Thomas' blood after she was previously infected. Thomas makes his way to WCKD and confronts Ava, who stresses that WCKD's intentions are only for the good of the world. However, she is killed by Janson, who is turning into a Crank. Janson knocks out Thomas and drags him to a medical room where Teresa is ready to extract his blood. However, he reveals that he and WCKD are only truly interested in curing those whom they please, which results in Teresa turning on him. After a fight, Janson is killed, allowing Thomas and Teresa kiss and escape to the rooftop where a helicopter piloted by Brenda and Jorge is. Thomas makes it aboard, but, to his horror, Teresa falls to her death as the WCKD building collapses from explosions brought on by Lawrence's army. Thomas, Minho, Frypan, Gally, Brenda, and Jorge reunite with Vince and the rest of the Immunes and The Right Arm, escaping to a safe haven that was revealed by Ava. There, Thomas discovers that the necklace Newt gave to him had a note concealed in it from him to Thomas. Still traumatized by Teresa's death, he reads the note, in which Newt tells him to look after himself and everyone, before thanking Thomas for being his friend.

Physical Appearance and Personality
In The Maze Runner, he was described by Chuck as being around five foot nine and "ugly as fried liver on a stick". In The Kill Order, he is described as having sandy brown hair. In the movie, he is played by actor Dylan O'Brien, known for his role in the TV series Teen Wolf.

Thomas had always been a curious person, before and after being sent to the Maze. He has a habit of becoming frustrated when answers are kept from him, something he experiences on a regular basis. In The Maze Runner, Thomas starts off as timid and somewhat aloof, but steadily grows more bold and sociable throughout the series.

Powers and Skills

 * Disease Immunity: Thomas was born immune to the effects of the deadly Flare virus. In Maze Runner, he stung himself with a Griever’s tail and was injected with the last syringe used to help Alby, then had shown to not have lost control over his humanity then in Scorch Trials, Dr. Mary Cooper ordered her men to spare Brenda for she knew that harvesting some of his blood would stop her infection from spreading further. Then in the Death Cure, When Ava Paige informed to the people in The Last City that the virus was airborne they would need to wear mouth masks, but when Thomas was starring at Teresa waiting for her to follow him he’d shown no effects of breathing naturally. After leading Teresa to a trap he insisted on her removing the swipe out of his neck, then she brought it with her for a sample of his DNA to examine it in the lab to discover how Brenda was no longer sick since from when they last met, and realized that it was capable of destroying the effects of the Flare virus, then she announced to Thomas that his blood had held the key to a cure for the infected to be saved from the Flare completely as it did for Brenda.  


 * Intelligence: Thomas is curious and a quick-thinker, able to solve puzzles and problems and improvise his way out of sticky situations where possible, anyway. He's the one who figured out how to find the code for the Maze, for example, and he was able to talk his way out of several dangerous moments.


 * Bravery: He's willing to do things he's reluctant to, even things that downright terrify him, for the sake of his friends, and if he feels that it's the right thing to do. For example, he runs out into the Maze just as the doors are about to close, even though he knows how dangerous it is, and he does it because he recognizes that Minho and Alby two people he still barely knows, one of whom has been nothing but rude to him so far need help.


 * Compassion/Empathy:  He shows both traits many times throughout all the books, from his relationship with Chuck, to his guilt over having worked with WCKD and helping them design the Maze, to the way he could still empathize with Ben even though the other boy had tried to kill him, even back to his going out into the Maze to help Alby and Minho. He wants to do the right thing and he cares very much about all of the friends he makes, sometimes more than he realizes.


 * Charisma:  Thomas is shown to be a natural leader, particularly in the last book and especially in the movies, and people have a tendency to listen and follow him and do as he says, despite how young he is.


 * Determination: This can also be read as a weakness, as stubbornness can often get people into trouble and Thomas is definitely not exempt from this, but his determination gets him through a lot. From the Maze to the Scorch to WICKED and Denver and beyond, his determination to survive and help his friends do the same keeps him alive and sane through some pretty horrible and life-threatening situations.


 * Determined/Peak Human Strength: Thomas is shown to be an athletically strong muscular teenager both physically and mentally. His determination had shown to be at top peak capacity, that it assist him to throw and exert immense force on opponents who are near and above his own height and size, including capable of carrying someone who roughly weights more pounds than him, and the advantages of breaking though harden objects with great force of effort and without the need of any assistance. In Maze Runner, when going in a match against Gally he pushed him to the ground while being dragged by him, in Scorch Trials, after outrunning a group of Cranks in a broken building with Brenda, Thomas attempted to rescue her from a Crank trying to kill her by pulling out a Rebar, used it to break the glass window with ease causing that Crank to fall several stories to the surface, and Thomas held Brenda with his arms saving her from falling. In Death Cure, Newt almost becoming a Crank used his knife trying to stab him but Thomas managed to keep it off with a tight grip before it could cut deeper in his arm, then as Teresa was knocked down by Janson, Thomas in rage ran towards him to pick him off his feet through glass to the floor and threw punches strong enough that blew him up against the wall which caused a brief concussion with ease. Afterward when Teresa was being held at gunpoint by Janson, Thomas was able to use all his willpower to throw a microscope towards the glass container hard enough to allow the two Cranks held inside of it to set them both free to kill Janson and saved Teresa even with his injury of being shot.


 * Peak Human Speed: He was shown to be able to run with above average speed faster throughout the maze runner trilogy. In the first film, when Minho was carrying Alby who was stunned Thomas sprinted his way into the Maze as the doors began closing in on him, and makes it through. On the night inside of the Maze, Thomas was being chased by a Griever he jumped towards the edge of the wall onto the vines, then lead it to a trap where the wall nearly closes on him but made it back alive into the Glade the next morning along with Minho and Alby, and the other Gladers watches and came to support them. The day after Thomas goes back into the Maze with Minho to find the way out but as the section changed, they ran their way back to Glade though deadly obstacle courses avoided being crushed or trapped just in time. In second film when Thomas and the others escape from the WCKD compound Janson contacted the security to shut the main vault door, but just as it started to close but he was able to slide under it before it did, then outside of the Scorch he was able to outrun a group of Cranks. When following Brenda to head for the exit of the warehouse, the WICKED soldiers chased after them but he walked on the edge of a reel quickly with great balance and made it through. Then In the Death Cure, when arriving near the gate of the WCKD base headquarters known as The Last City, Janson had ordered the guards to activate to the remote gun turrets and fired them at everyone in site. But Thomas was able to run with his group to move towards a safe corner surviving from the shootout. Then in a deleted scene, Thomas outran a speeding train in tunnels just in time to make it to the secret entrance of the city.


 * Peak Human Reflexes: As being over the age of 16, his reaction speed is at the peak potential granting him greater reflexes over many incoming attacks around him. In Maze runner, when a Griever got caught in vines it pulled out its stinger which almost impaled Thomas but moved his head away, then in Scorch Trials, after him and Brenda hopped down the basement after the warehouse was exploded he saw rubble pieces about to fall on them but got out of the area just in time. In Death Cure, when Newt was changing into a Crank, he brought out his combat knife to use use against Thomas however he was able to maneuver his body from all strikes which didn’t cut him, and upon getting into a duel with Janson, he had dared Thomas to take another strike on him, and his body’s quickness was incredible that he performed fast enough paste to reemerge off the floor to hit him across the face that Janson wasn’t able to anticipate it.


 * Physical & Mental Resilience/Peak Human Durability: Thomas was able to remember everything about his life of childhood, his parents, being taken in by WCKD, and working for them through dreams which were fragments of his memories regrowing back slowly due to the device known as the swipe that WCKD had implanted in his mind. Thomas's mind and determination had been shown to possess a remarkable resilience for his pain tolerance to allow his muscles and bones to withstand worst hits and great impacts without giving out any signs of weakening towards his agendas. In Maze Runner, when Gally in anger came over he punched him in the left side of his face but got back up stabled with a bruise, in Scorch Trials he hit a WCKD soldier who was wearing a helmet in the face with his elbow, attack Barkley by head butting him in the face, and has even taken punches in the stomach and right side of the face by Janson but he still showed no complaint to neither one. The Death Cure, when escaping from the WCKD building with both his friends Newt and Minho the three of them attempted to jump out of the window of the 20th floor from Janson and his armed men, they immediately leaped off the floor and landed safely in a pool feeling no limps or cripples. When defending himself against Newt infected, he was slightly punctured in the shoulder but was still able to move his arm, then after getting in a fight against Janson he gets punched in his face, kicked in the stomach but gets back up punching him back, and is then shot through the right side of his lower back. But he was durable enough to carry his own weight before the need of having support from Teresa to carry him up the rooftop. Then upon waking up to the Safe Haven his wound was fully healed and he showed endurance to the pain without any permanent injury.


 * Skilled Martial Artist: Thomas seemed to know a few basic self defensive skills with the use of his strength, resilience, and intuition in close quarter combat. In Maze Runner, he was able to shove Gally to the ground, pushed a Griever down off the edge with some assistance from his friends along with another swarm approaching them, in Scorch Trials when a Crank cames in front of him he kicked it off the escalator to the ground on its back, then another one off his friend Newt to fall below the platform, then when being held at gunpoint by Barkly he held the gun away from him and headbutted his face which caused him to back away with a brief concussion while bleeding through the nose. Then when WCKD ambushed the Right Arm headquarters and started loading up all the immunes, he hit the WCKD soldier behind him with his elbow. In Death Cure, he’s spent 6 months alongside of the Right arm who are heavily trained in CQC which confirms he learned a few proficient skills of Defendu from them. He demonstrated (jujutsu), when Newt was going through the changing and he tried to attack Thomas with his combat knife, however Thomas was able to defend himself by using dodge and counter technique skills from every strike he was swung at from him. Then when Janson in outrage attempted to take the serum from Teresa, Thomas with effort charged towards him though glass starting a battle against him. After he was punched by Janson, he used techniques of (boxing) on him by punching him back twice, was put in a chokehold, and then was pushed to the floor the second hit, but he managed to lean Janson to the back of the wall escaping the choke, then emerged back up quickly striking him in the right and left side of his face and gut with quick reflexes and heavy blows of brute strength. 


 * Peak Human Accuracy and Weapon Proficiency: He was shown to know his way to be proficient at using spears, explosives, and projectile weaponry with great feats and benefits in far to close ranged combat. In the Scorch Trials, he grabbed a Kel-Tec KSG (Launcher) and shot an incoming guard down to the floor stunned, and then aimed off scope to fire the last few rounds of the ammo left directly at Janson but misses. In the third film, he showed excellent aiming skills with using the P226 pistol at far range distances while being on the train fending off against the WCKD soldiers in the Scorch. He managed to shoot one soldier through the left side to the chest near his heart killing him and shot another in the left side of his shoulder while standing on the platform of the cargo container leaving him wounded while being carried by the Berg. Then while infiltrating the WCKD lab in disguise he shoots many enemies with a Launcher tasing them to their knees, and before taking cover with Newt, he used some of the ammo he had left in his pistol to fire at a couple more of the guards in the heart and the next in the neck killing both personnels. When wounded from Janson’s firearm, he used all his full strength to aim a microscope at him to have it dodged and hit against the containment cell holding the two Cranks, but seemly succeeded for it caused cracks for the Cranks to set free at rampaging on Janson saving both himself and Teresa.
 * Explosive Proficiency: In the Scorch Trials, Thomas was shown to be incredibly skilled using a lethal explosive bomb/grenade as well as preventing it from going off while carrying it. When being ambushed by snipers Jorge had informed to him how his grenade can be used, then later when WCKD attempted to capture the immunes he hides the device in his pocket, pulls it out, and threatened to use it on them or him and the Gladers would commit suicide. However he managed to throw it towards many WCKD soldiers, moved to a safe distance before detonating it on them.
 * Spear Proficiency: In his time in the Maze he looked to be skilled with using a spear as a melee weapon in far to close distance combat. In Maze Runner, as Gally ordered the two boys to tie him up he faked being unconscious to then surprisingly hit and snatched the staff from the boy and attacked the other in the face with it. As he leads the others out of the Maze he threw his spear as a javelin at a Griever just in time for it to be crushed by the closed wall.


 * Peak Human Senses/Danger Intuition: Before and After the Maze, Thomas’s curiosity possessed sharp senses mostly of (sighting and hearing) as well as extrasensory perception (ESP) over many things in life and he's been able to perceive the feeling of when something was wrong or wasn't in place the way he claimed it to be. During the first movie he knew that a Griever was approaching his position and hid himself to cover before it could spot him, in the second after his arrival to the base compound he felt that the people who said they were sent to rescue them and were enemies against WCKD was keeping important information from him and knew they were WCKD themselves, then discovered the truth that his group never escaped. Then when traveling in the Scorch, he was able to hear the incoming WCKD aircrafts and hid under a bunker before they could spot him and his friends. In the Death Cure, after going through a shootout against WCKD security guards he and Newt ran around the floor searching for Minho while being chased and Thomas had known to wait for the soldiers to approach near their position where they had stopped to fire back at them. Then when walking with Teresa to the exit he quickly turned around and saw Janson about to fire his pistol at her but moved out of the way to headed the medical room just before it could hit them for safety.


 * Peak Human Thievery: During Scorch Trials, Thomas was very professional at stealing valuable items without getting caught, he drew attention to himself after Jason’s announcement for the selected subjects who were called up to the restricted door. Once he approached it the security guards ordered him to return to his seat but he ended up attempting to forcibly sprint pass but was pushed and held back by his friends then Janson ordered to have them taken to their room. Upon their escort, the others were staring at Thomas about the move he made and comments if he thought they were going to let him through but he replied no for he snatched one of the security guard’s keycard ID to grant him access to the door with Aris Jones.

Equipment

 * Back Pack: In Scorch Trials, Thomas used a back pack in order to carry supplies which includes food, flashlight, and knife strap.


 * Chuck's Relic: In Maze Runner, before the death of his young friend Chuck, he had given Thomas a crafted item he made from wood and told him to keep it before dying in his arms and now he carried it as a reminder of him.


 * Kel-Tec KSG (Launcher): In the Scorch Trials, Thomas temporarily used this weapon of WCKD property to fight him and friends out to escape. It was shown in the Death Cure, that he had once again wield it against WICKED opponents.


 * SIG Sauer P226: In the Death Cure, he was shown to be carrying this small firearm to use as equipment against WCKD enemies.


 * Hand Grenade: In the Scorch Trials, he discovered that Jorge left behind his bag that had the one grenade inside of it and temporarily used it on WCKD soldiers.


 * Winchester Model 70: In the Scorch Trials, It is unknown if he ever used this weapon but he prepared it for combat against WICKED at end of the film.