Adelaide Wilson is the protagonist of the 2019 psychological horror film Us written and directed by Jordan Peele. While the film initially presents Adelaide as the victim of the home invasion, the ending reveals that she herself is actually a Tethered, created by the United States Government and having switched places with her counterpart Red, thus making her indirectly responsible for the events of the film.
She was portrayed by Lupita Nyong'o who also portrayed Red in the same film.
Biography[]
In 1986, Adelaide Thomas and her parents arrive at Santa Cruz, California, to attend the festivities. After separating from her father who was drunkenly playing Whack-A-Mole, Adelaide discovers an attraction housing a hall of mirrors. When the power is knocked out by a storm, Adelaide starts whispering to calm her nerves only to then hear someone else whistling in unison to her. Walking aimlessly through the hall of mirrors, Adelaide discovers her Tethered, Red, who immediately chokes her into unconsciousness. Upon coming to, Adelaide finds herself chained to a bed and her doppelganger taking her Thriller t-shirt and abandoning her to the hands of the Tethered. Adelaide's parents find her moments later and take her home, believing she is their daughter and that she had merely gotten lost.
When the doppelganger stops talking, the Thomas's take her to a psychiatrist, who encourages them to let her speak through dance and performance. The doppelganger has a happy, normal childhood, while Adelaide suffers a miserable existence with the Tethered, eventually going insane and developing a raspy, choked voice as a result of years of not talking. By now, it would appear that the doppelganger had forgotten about what she did to Adelaide, believing that the traumatic experience happened to her instead of the other way around.
The doppelganger marries Gabe Wilson, and has two children, Zora and Jason, as a result Adelaide is forcibly paired with Gabe's Tethered, Abraham, and gives birth to Umbrae and Pluto, the Wilson children's monstrous doubles. Adelaide decides to punish Red - and the rest of the world - by leading an uprising of the Tethered, going out into the world and killing their doubles. She spends years planning the uprising down to the last detail, and becomes the de facto leader of the Tethered.
One day, Red goes with her family on a vacation to Santa Cruz. Even though she is hesitant to go due to her trauma, she is convinced to travel to the beach with them. That night, the Tethered versions of the Wilsons invade the house, and Red is made to confront her double. When Red initiates the "untethering", the doppelganger and her family manage to kill their Tethered as well as the Tethered of their white friends, the Tyler's.
With Pluto's death as a result of Jason forcing him to walk into the fires of the flaming car, Adelaide kidnaps the real Jason and takes him to one of the facilities. Arriving in an abandoned classroom, Adelaide and Red get into a brawl that ends with Red stabbing Adelaide and breaking her neck, killing her. She then finds Jason and they go back to the car, to join Gabe and Zora. The rest of the Tethered, deprived of their leader, become still and harmless.
As the family drives home, Red remembers what really happened between her and Red all those years ago, and realizes that she is, in fact, a Tethered. She appears to accept it, and exchanges a knowing look with Jason.
External Links[]
- Adelaide Wilson on the Us 2019 film Wiki