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Sick Boy is both the deuteragonist and secondary antagonist of Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting franchise.
He appears as the secondary antagonist of the first book and film both entitled Trainspotting, the main protagonist of the sequel novel Porno and the deuteragonist of both its film adaptation T2:Trainspotting as well the prequel novel Skagboys.
While undoubtedly an affable protagonist villain in the novels in the films he geniunely becomes a heroic character (albeit a very flawed one). He is the narcissistic and extravagant best friend of Mark Renton.
He was portrayed by Johnny Lee Miller.
History[]
Trainspotting[]
After stealing a large amount of DVDs to gain opium from them he, Renton and Spud are fleeing from the police, although the former two get caught Sick Boy evades capture by jumping into a flat doorway to hide. His next appearance comes when he and Renton are in the park looking for passer bys to shoot with a BB gun while Sick Boy begins discussing his theory of life before getting Renton to shoot a dog in the posterior causing it to attack it's master much to their amusement. He later appears in the pub when Begbie is telling everyone the story about a game of pool he had with Tommy (in which the truth was twisted to make Begbie seem like he actually won the game), after Begbie throws his pint over the balcony causing it to hit a girl in the head, Begbie ends up causing a massive pub brawl after kicking a man in the testicles, with the others including Sick Boy watching from above. He later appeared in a few other scenes and after seeing his own child starved to death Sick Boy was devastated and filled with grief.
Soon later he appeared after Spud was arrested and everyone was at the pub with Renton who was going to get his act together and stop taking heroin, rightfully he and Begbie predicted this wouldn't last long. Over the next few months after Renton has became a real estate agent and moved to London saw Sick Boy as a self made pimp and drug dealer. In an attempt to evade the police he and Begbie move into Renton's flat much to his annoyance as they constantly make a mess and do things such as pawn his TV for money. Later Sick Boy attends Tommy's funeral after the latter died from HIV related Toxoplasmosis and isn't phased. After the funeral Sick Boy and Begbie tell Renton and Spud their heroin deal plan and Renton (after being convinced by Spud) reluctantly agrees to help.
After succeeding in their scheme they go to a pub to celebrate however the celebration is cut short after Begbie causes yet another fight after a man accidentally bumped into him making him spill his drink all over his suit, Spud attempts to intervene only for his hand to get sliced open by Begbie's knife, Sick Boy demands they leave before the police arrive which they do after Renton gives Begbie a cigarette. The next day Renton steals the drug money and leaves leading to Begbie having a mental breakdown by destroying everything in the hotel room in a fit of rage. Once the police arrive Spud and Sick Boy flee the scene quickly, with the latter being burned and fueled by nothing but fury over his best friend's betrayal.
T2[]
During the second movie Sick Boy has been a "relationship" with the much younger Veronika Kovach of whom he uses in constant blackmail schemes against important individuals by recording videos of her having sex with them in the Erskine Bridge Hotel before threatening to expose them should they not meet his money demands. After Renton's return to Edinburgh Sick Boy still furious at him for his betrayal fights him inside of his aunt's pub and very nearly kills him after whacking him multiple times with a bell before ramming him head first into a pool table, thankfully however Veronika saved Renton. Soon after this the police arrive at Sick Boy's door and he phones Renton asking for a lawyer to which he complies by meeting with Diane Coulston.
He later behind Renton's back talks with Begbie (who broke out of prison) about revenge and tricks him into thinking Renton is still in Amsterdam and that they will go after him together. He later fully redeems himself during the film's climax after saving Renton from certain death after Begbie hung him with elevator cables. Begbie is about to shoot the two before Spud knocks him unconscious with a toilet bowl. The three then lock Begbie in the boot of Sick Boy's car and park it outside of HMP Edinburgh for the police to discover. In his final scene he and Renton are discussing Spud's idea of writing the stories of their experiences into books and Sick Boy is baffled by the idea.
Trivia[]
- Sick Boy is a massive film buff and a huge fan of the 007 franchise.
- Unlike Renton or Spud Sick Boy is physically strong and although nowhere near the level of Begbie is still able to hold his own in combat.