Teresa Agnes, played by Kaya Scodelario is one of the most enigmatic characters in Maze Runner. She is the only girl for a long time in the series and she arrives the day after the main character Thomas. Teresa is actually a member of WICKED, the organization behind the maze, the scorch and the initial solar flares that causes the flare disease that the entire world pivots around discovering a cure for.
Related: The Characters of the Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials
Who is Teresa in Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials?
Teresa seems to know more than the others from the start and despite suddenly and mysteriously falling into a coma shortly after she arrived in the maze. She reveals to Thomas that they can speak to each other telepathically which comes up frequently in the story. Teresa is on a journey and even though she believes WCKD is good (a doublespeak used often due to wicked propaganda) she discovers before her death that it is a diabolical force for evil.
Related: Is WCKD Good or Just Plain Wicked in Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials?
When Flare struck earth after a solar storm, Teresa was immune. Her family and friends came to believe she was a demon because of her immunity. She is an innocent through the series, it is even referenced that she is named for Mother Teresa. Her first words to the boys in the maze upon her arrival were, ‘everything is going to change’. The boys found a message clutched in her hand after she passed out again that read: she’s the last one. EVER.
Upon waking she wrote on her arm: WICKED is good. She has a telepathic link with Thomas and perhaps more importantly, she remembers him. In a world where usually people only remember their own first name this would seem to indicate a deep connection to each other. She tells Thomas that they were friends from before but really we don’t know what they were to each other. Were they lovers? Had Teresa betrayed him in the past?
Her role in the movie is that of the betrayer. No matter how much Thomas or the audience wants to believe that she is good is a bit too similar to WICKED. Everything about her seems to be a house of mirrors and as soon as we feel empathy for her she betrays us all again. Nevertheless, we want to like her because we all see some of our self in Teresa. She seems to be trying her best and to have a good heart but she let’s people down again and again.
She isn’t the star of the show, but her story is the vital one as she fights the powerful mind control of the scientists at WCKD. She is a victim of the system and a quester of truth. She more than Thomas is who we all identify with as we wander lost in the maze.
I love learning more about specific characters, and am intrigued by this one. Now I’m going to have to start watching!
It is interesting to see how they have made slight differences between the books and the films – interested to see what they do with Teresa. x