Minho (Maze Runner)

Minho is The former Keeper of the runners and best friend of Thomas and Newt in The Maze Runner trilogy

Maze Runner
In The Maze Runner film, Minho is first introduced when he returns from the Maze, running past Chuck and Thomas. He observes Thomas wrestling Gally at the bonfire before the former sends Gally to the ground and eventually remembers his name.

When Ben is banished, Minho leads him out from The Pit, cuts his bonds, and throws a pack with supplies into The Maze. He refuses to make eye contact with the former Runner as the other Keepers push Ben into The Maze.

Minho and Alby make a trip into The Maze the next morning with the hope to retrace Ben's steps. Later, he returns with an unconscious Alby, struggling to make it through the doors. Despite the other Gladers yelling at him to leave Alby behind, he continues to drag the older boy with him as the doors start to close. Before they close shut, Thomas slips through them in an attempt to help. Frustrated, Minho yells at Thomas for being stupid before starting to panic about the Grievers. Thomas points out that they need to help Alby in someway, before eyeing the walls of vines. Both start to pull Alby up one of the walls until Minho hears a Griever approaching. In a panic, he apologizes to Thomas before running in the opposite direction as the Griever enters their portion of The Maze.

After evading one Griever intent on following him, Thomas catches up with Minho who starts to lead him down a section of The Maze that is starting to change. He yells at Thomas to run while the latter taunts the Griever to come after him as the wall starts to close, crushing the Griever's body in between. The pair make it back to the Glade shortly after the doors open with Alby in tow. Chuck asks if they saw a Griever and Minho replies that Thomas didn't just see one, but killed it.

The Gladers hold a council over Thomas's act of running into The Maze despite their rules. Gally insists he needs to be punished while Newt addresses Minho, asking for his thoughts. Minho admits that no one's ever seen a Griever and lived to tell about it. He concludes that while he doesn't know whether Thomas acted bravely or stupidly for what he did, he says that they need more of it and suggests that Thomas become a Runner to the shock of the Keepers and Gladers alike. Before a decision can be made, The Box alarm sounds and Minho watches as Newt announces that the new arrival is a girl.

Minho accompanies Newt, Thomas, and the Med-Jacks to the medical hut as they put an unconscious Teresa on a bunk next to Alby. He runs after Thomas who is determined to go back into The Maze to examine the Griever corpse. Minho hesitates at the prospect of returning, especially since the other Runners quit on him earlier that morning. Eventually, he gathers up Zart, Winston, and Frypan to accompany him and Thomas back into the Maze.

Once the group locates the corpse, Thomas points out that he sees something, prompting the group to tug on a leg to break it from the body. Minho pulls out something with a blinking light and notes that it has a digital number in the window, along with a WCKD nameplate on the side. The group returns with their findings to the council hall and share the information with Newt and Gally. Newt concludes that Thomas will be sent to The Pit without food for a night and decides to make Thomas a Runner, despite Gally's protests.

Minho takes Thomas to the Map Room to show him the model of The Maze he and the other Runners built over 3 years. He admits that he's run every part of The Maze but they've been unsuccessful in finding a pattern. He notes that Section 7 was open last night, which is unusual, as it is not supposed to be open for another week. He and Thomas plan to go out and check out the Section the next morning, before Jeff and Clint come running, saying that Teresa is awake.

The next morning, Minho frees Thomas from The Pit, asking if the latter is having second thoughts. Thomas confirms that he's ready to go and Minho leads them to Section 7, which happens to be open. He spots a stained tank on the ground and concludes it was Ben's, meaning the former Runner had been here at one point. Thomas picks up on a beeping sound coming from the metal cylinder they ripped from the Griever's body and uses it to follow where the signal is strong. Eventually they are led to the back of Section 7 and the cylinder unlocks a hidden door. The boys enter and find another area, which they conclude is the Griever's entrance. Something scans them and walls start to close, prompting both boys to return to The Glade. They share their information with the Gladers before Teresa tells them that Alby is awake.

Minho watches as Thomas and Newt address Alby, the latter whom remembers his life before The Maze and that Thomas helped to put him in there. He breaks down and cries before a Glader tells the group that the doors aren't closing. Grievers charge through the open doors and Minho joins the others as they hide in the council hall. He is forced to witness Alby being taken by the Grievers after the leader protected Chuck from being stung.

Once the Grievers leave, Gally emerges from his hiding place and punches Thomas in the face. Minho and the remaining Keepers restrain Gally, telling him it isn't Thomas's fault. He rushes to Thomas's side as the other boy injects himself with the Griever's stinger to trigger his memories back. A few days later, Thomas wakes up in The Pit and Teresa reveals that Gally has taken over. Newt tells Thomas that he was onto something and that he needs to finish what he started.

Gally leads Teresa and Thomas out to the edge of The Glade near the doors, intending to use them as sacrifices to the Grievers. Newt and Minho stand off to the side, watching as Gally's friends try to tie up Thomas, who fights back and knocks them unconscious. Both join Thomas and Teresa, who plan to leave The Maze to see if they can find a new life outside.

Minho fights alongside the small group of Gladers who accompany them and is almost killed by Griever, until Jeff intervenes. Teresa punches in the Section numbers based on the patterns Minho discovered, which opens a door into a hallway. After locating the exit, they observe the fallen soldiers and mess left in the control room. Thomas pulls up a message left by Ava Paige and the group watches as she tries to explain why they conducted the Maze trials in the first place.

Once the message ends, the group begins to head out until Gally, who has been stung by a Griever, calls out to them, telling them they can't leave. Gally aims a gun at Thomas, but Minho throws a spear into Gally's heart, killing him, while Gally shoots a bullet into Chuck's heart, killing him. The group mourns Chuck before a group of soldiers enter the control room and lead them to a helicopter outside, claiming that they're safe.

Scorch Trials
In Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials, Minho yells Thomas's name, telling him to wake up as they have to exit the Berg. He and the other surviving Gladers are ushered inside a large warehouse-like building before being taken to a room with a table of food laid out for them.

Later, Janson visits the group after they've devoured the feast and shows them around the warehouse, claiming it is a Safe Haven from WCKD and the elements. Minho questions him about why they were saved and helped, to which Janson replies that the world is falling apart and that the Gladers are valuable after escaping. He directs the Gladers to the shower room before they're given physicals and tests are run on them. Minho is jogging on a treadmill when Thomas is pulled aside for questioning by Janson.

After the meeting, Thomas meets up with Minho and the other male Gladers in the dining room. Minho reveals that they weren't the only Maze experiment, leading him to a table where two boys from another Maze strike up a conversation with them. The other two boys note that they just arrived, versus Aris, who arrived a week ago. When Janson begins reading off names of various individuals, the group questions what just happened. They are told that these lucky few who were called are being taken to a Safe Haven, supposedly some kind of farm, but only a small number can be transported out at a time.

When shown to their room, Minho claims a top bunk and falls asleep, while Thomas is woken by Aris, who shows him a mysterious room where gurneys are wheeled in every night. Thomas expresses concerns about their location, while the others think he's being paranoid. Choosing to ignore Newt's advice, Thomas gets into a shoving match with one of the guards in an attempt to swipe his ID card. As punishment, the Group A boys are sent back to their dorm. Minho and the others express frustration over Thomas's reckless behavior until the latter reveals he swiped the ID card to access the mysterious room with Aris.

Moments later, Thomas and Aris return, warning the Group A guys that they need to get out of the base. Thomas reveals that WCKD rescued them and that they aren't safe. The group gathers their possessions and crawls out through the air vents. Aris and Winston split up to handle something and Thomas, Newt, Frypan, and Minho attempt to search for Teresa. They run into the female doctor tending to Teresa and hold her hostage as they search for her room. Eventually, guards find them thanks to the alarm that has sounded, and Minho, in anger and frustration, jumps and knocks out a guard, stealing his gun for protection.

The doctor takes them to the room where Teresa is being tested and Minho holds the gun while Newt ties up the other medical personnel. As guards struggle to get into Teresa's room, Minho fires at them while Newt and Thomas break the glass on the window to get out. Minho tosses over the gun to Thomas as he climbs out of the room and the group begin heading for the exit.

Thomas assumes possession of the gun as Minho and Newt struggle with scanning the ID card. Once they get the door open, they cross to the other side before Janson orders security to close the door. Thomas is forced to abandon the gun and run, barely making it before the door closes. Aris breaks the keypad on their end to prevent anyone from letting Janson out.

The group manage to unlock the large lock on the door and make their way into the Scorch. They seek refuge in an abandoned mall/warehouse and start gathering supplies for their journey into the mountains. Minho and Thomas check for a light source and stumble across a generator, that brings the power on for the majority of the warehouse. Minho yells at Thomas to look out as a deranged woman missing her eyes comes charging at him through a gate. Her cries alert more like her and the guys are forced to run, yelling at the others to run.

The group defends themselves as best as they can against their attackers, finding a door that leads out. Winston reveals a gun he grabbed from WCKD and tries to ward off the Cranks with bullets. The group gets the door open, only to have Cranks grab and scratch at Winston's stomach before he's pulled to safety. The Gladers hide in a basement level crawlspace from the Cranks, waiting for them to disappear.

The next morning, the group discovers they are alone and start heading into the ruins of the city. Thomas hears Bergs flying overhead and yells at the group to hide as they pass. They decide to head for the mountains to find The Right Arm, a resistance group who has been reportedly raiding WCKD bases and labs in search of Immunes to rescue.

As they travel on, Winston worsens and the guys take turns carrying him. While resting, Winston gets ahold of the gun and the others struggle, trying to get it away from him. The former reveals his injuries are getting worse and he doesn't want to become one of them. He begs the group to leave him so he can end his life.

Minho expresses sadness over losing Winston later that night. The others admit that they thought they were supposed to be Immune, while Teresa reveals that not all of them are. Newt says that they need to assume that they could also not be Immune as well.

The group begins to run out of supplies and continues to struggle against the harsh conditions in the Scorch. Thomas notices a building in the distance and encourages the group to run to it as a thunderstorm rages. Minho is hit by lightning, lying unconscious on the ground. Thomas and the others help Minho into the building and manage to revive him. They discover they're surrounded by chained up Cranks and huddle close until a young woman addresses their presence. She leads them to Jorge, who asks them three questions. Minho challenges the question about where they came from, stating that its their business. This prompts Jorge's men to hold down the Gladers while the young woman, named Brenda, scans Thomas's neck. She shows the result to Jorge, who notes that they came from WCKD, which makes them valuable.

The Gladers are strung upside over an open hole in the warehouse. Minho complains about Thomas agreeing to talk/listen to Jorge and the group notices that the lever to lower them is close to Teresa. Before they can initiate their plan, Jorge visits them and asks them what they know about The Right Arm. When Jorge is unconvinced by the small amount of information given, he drops the Gladers a short distance before Thomas reveals he only knows that they are supposedly in the mountains. This prompts Jorge to leave them hanging while he packs up his possessions, planning to take the Gladers and Brenda to The Right Arm with the hope that they'll be granted access to the Safe Haven too.

Once Teresa reaches the lever, she gets herself free and helps the rest of the group get loose. Before they can escape, a henchman of Jorge's returns, planning to sell them out to WCKD. Thomas tries to fight him, only to have the henchman point a gun at them. Brenda kills the henchman and leads the group to the zipline to escape. Minho slides after Jorge and escapes the warehouse before its blown up.

Minho, Newt, Frypan, Aris, Teresa, and Jorge travel to the city to find Marcus, a man who worked with The Right Arm to smuggle Immune kids to a Safe Haven. They find Marcus had lured and drugged Brenda and Thomas, planning to offer them with other drugged Immunes to WCKD. Jorge tortures Marcus for information while the group looks on. Eventually, Marcus reveals that they are in the mountains but it will take a week to get there. Jorge then reveals that he will be "borrowing" Bertha, Marcus's car.

The Gladers and Jorge journey to the base of the mountains where the road is blocked by abandoned cars, forcing the group to travel on foot. Before they walk any further, they are ambushed by bullets shot from above. Two girls confront Jorge and Thomas, ordering them to drop the grenade Jorge has in his hand. The Gladers are rounded up and ordered on their feet by the girls, who turn out to be Harriet and Sonya from Aris's Maze. The trio reunite and the girls reveal that they are working with The Right Arm.

They take the Gladers to their camp and reveal that they are planning to head to the Safe Haven tomorrow morning. The leader Vince wants to check all of the newcomers to see if they are Immune, which is interrupted by Brenda succumbing to her injuries from a Crank. Vince plans to shoot Brenda until Mary Cooper steps in, offering to help Brenda when she realizes that Thomas is with them.

The Gladers are given food and warm clothing for the night. They are relieved to be free from WCKD but Minho expresses his doubts about Aris, saying that he doesn't trust him. Thomas breaks away from the group to find Teresa, who reluctantly reveals that she called WCKD, saying that the group needs to help them find a cure. Minho tries to help Vince fight WCKD soldiers as the base is ambushed but is hit and is knocked to the ground.

WCKD soldiers arrange all of the Right Arm volunteers and Immunes into lines, scanning the tattoos at the back of their necks to check them in. WCKD reads off Minho as A4 before moving onto the next person. Thomas gives himself up, being forced into line beside Minho. Minho tells him he should have run but Thomas mutters he's done running.

When Teresa reveals to the group and The Right Arm that she shared their location, the Gladers express disbelief and are upset at her betrayal. She insists that they won't be harmed but they need to help WCKD find a cure for the world. Mary Cooper steps forward and announces to Ava Paige that at least she'll die with a conscience. Janson shoots her and Thomas pulls out the grenade from Jorge's bag, yelling that he would rather die than go with WCKD. Minho, Newt, and Frypan vote to die with him, despite Ava and Teresa's pleas. Before Thomas can detonate the grenade, Jorge charges at WCKD soldiers in a borrowed car. The Right Arm starts fighting back while some of the Immunes are loaded into the Berg.

Minho shoots at the soldiers while Vince fires his machine gun at the soldiers. He runs out of ammo and is hit by a stun gun. WCKD soldiers take him back to the Berg as Thomas yells his name.

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. In the WCKD headquarters, the serum created from Minho's blood is tested on a Flare-infected girl, which fails to the frustration of WCKD's scientists. 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. Gally looks after the Immune children and goes to find the serum for the rebellion, while Thomas, Newt, and Teresa go to find Minho. 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 and Newt make their way to where Minho is being kept in the medical wing, where they reunite. They are chased by Janson before jumping from a window into water to escape. Outside the headquarters, Gally finds Thomas, Minho, and Newt, who had apparently been infected. Sending Minho and Gally ahead, Newt gives Thomas a necklace with a silver cylinder on the end, before passing out. 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.

Physical Appearance and Personality
Minho is described by Thomas as an Asian with strong arms and short, black hair, who looked to be a little older than him. He is aggressive, but loyal, and tends to be sarcastic. Throughout the books, some characters mention his habit of always having the last word at any argument or debate. Also noted to have one of the best senses of humor amongst the Gladers. His name was mentioned in an interview with the author, James Dashner, and he said it is a reference to a possible future scientist.

Powers & Skills

 * Disease Immunity: Minho was told to be immune to the effects of the deadly Flare virus. In Death Cure, WICKED had harvested his blood to create a new serum to test it on a girl named Cheyanne which slowed down her infection, but in the end it made it spread even further causing her to change into a Crank.


 * Nigh-Peak Human Strength: Minho was shown to be a physical and mental athletic teenager nearly at his peak. As in the Maze Runner, when a Griver came from above him he kept it off of him before it could bite him by using his spear. In Scorch Trials, when escaping the WCKD headquarters, a WICKED guard armed with a Launcher comes up and then Minho knocked him up against the wall. When being chased by a swarm of Cranks with Thomas, he was able push a heavy inanimate object to the floor as a barricade with great immense effort without any assistance. In Death Cure, Minho’s aggressive attitude was able to activite his adrenal gland which was strong enough for him to grab a full grown WICKED guard and threw him off his feet through a glass window with ease, then he helped Thomas toss a gas tank to break a glass wall making a way out.


 * Nigh-Peak Human Speed: In his time inside the Maze, he used to be the Keeper of the runners and spent the last 3 years trying to figure a way out. As a runner, he was shown to possess near peak stamina in Maze Runner, he ran through the Maze with Thomas and when the section began changing he sprinted back to the Glade through deadly obstacles along with Thomas just in time before the doors and new pathway closed. Then in the Scorch Trials, he outran a group of Cranks with Thomas and the other Gladers to reach outside to safety and escaped. In the Death Cure, When being taken to a conference room in chains with Teresa, he whispered her name for her to get up physical contact so he could quickly grab her lab coat and shoved her against the table twice on the back of her noggin.


 * Physical & Mental Resilience/Nigh-Peak Human Durability: Minho's mind strength had shown to be remarkable allowing himself high pain tolerance for his muscles and bones to endure many methods of great impact forces without giving up on tasks. In Scorch Trials, he was shown to have survive being struck by a bolt of lightning and electrocuted from stunned weaponry/items stabled without giving away any complaints towards neither situation. Death Cure, when WICKED used a virtualization simulator on him his brain was strong enough to help him realize that the doctors were right in front of him working it for a minor short-time period while his blood was being extracted and at the end of the experiment he remained in well balanced condition. Then he jumped out of the window on the 20th floor with his friends to land safely in a pool water area with no signs of pain.


 * Eidetic Memory: Minho seemed to have great above average memory. During the last 3 years in the Maze, as his role of being the keeper of the runners he been mapping all the sections in order to puzzle when it change during the night and days including giving strategy to newfound runners. After following Thomas and the others to escape the Maze the door required 8 digit numbers to unlock it and he used his knowledge to memorize the sections as the code and succeeded at getting everyone out alive. In Scorch Trials, it was shown in a deleted scene where he and the group were escaping the WICKED compound and he remembered the pathway to the door which was where they first arrived there.


 * Skilled Thievery: In Death Cure, when being brought into a room to have conversation with Teresa, he pretended to be both paralyzed and silent in order for her to come towards him, so he could physically grab her onto the table and take a metal hair clip from her and sneaks it without being caught by the incoming security guards.


 * Peak Human Accuracy and Weapon Proficiency: When fighting against WCKD he had shown to be remarkably skilled with a few types of guns, spears, and daggers whiched allowed him to perform great feats and benefit in a far and close ranged in combat. In Scorch Trials, he seemed to have excellent bull-eyes aim with using a shotgun and rifle on his targets without the need of any assistance or practice. He quick scoped to shoot the last few WICKED soldiers directly in the face with his Winchester Model 70 with ease.
 * Dagger & Spear Proficiency:  In Maze Runner, he is shown to be able to use both instruments of a dagger and a staff as weapons against opponents. He used the dagger for defense against Gally who attempted to stop them from leaving the Maze, and later used the staff on the Grievers who approached him. Then before heading out to the exit of the lab, the group was stopped by Gally who has been stung by a Griever, which caused Minho to throw his staff as a spear through his chest.


 * Expert hand-to-hand Combatant: In the Scorch Trials, Minho had shown to fight lethality against opponents both offensive and defensively with his strength, speed, and intellect while using his bare hands. He knew to wait for the right moment to sprint toward an armed WCKD guard and then knocked him to the back of his noggin against the stone wall unconsciously bleeding, then out in the Scorch he punched an incoming Crank in the face with no harm done to him. In Death Cure, when the doctors and scientists were ordered to persuade at the experiment to drain Minho out of all his blood, he managed to use the element of surprise on them by stabbing one in the leg with the hair clip he stole from Teresa, kicked the guard a few inches away from him, grabbed the other doctor’s hand with a needle in it to inject it in his neck, then he quickly charged at the guard armed with a gun who fired it at him but somehow missed then gets knocked out, and given a black eye by Minho. Then after escaping out of the medical wing, he meant up with Thomas and Newt just in time to save them from a WCKD solider holding them at gunpoint by tackling him against the wall and tossed him through the tough glass window unconscious due to his immense strength.

Equipment

 * Back Pack: Minho carried a strapped knife, water bottle, and flashlight in/out of a back pack for both his friends and himself for supportive measures during the Scorch Trials.


 * Remington 870: In Scorch Trials, he is was temporarily given this weapon to fight against WCKD upon their ambush to the Right Arm base headquarters.


 * Winchester Model 70: He temporarily defends himself and his allies from the last few WCKD soldiers with this hunting rifle before running out of ammo and being captured in Scorch Trials.


 * Teresa’s Hair Clip: After being brought in the Medical wing, WICKED had been ordered to drain Minho out of his blood but, he used the Metal hair clip he swiped from Teresa to stab one of the doctors in the leg.