Character Analysis
Never Trusted Again
Remember Teresa? Like, one of the protagonists back in The Maze Runner? Yeah, she's barely even in The Death Cure. Sure, she has her moments, but her role is reduced astronomically in this third book. The reason is that she betrayed Thomas back in the Scorch—to save his life, may we add?—and he's never going to forgive her for it.
We can't help but feel for Teresa. Sure, she betrayed Thomas. She's super suspicious throughout this whole series, especially when she keeps saying that WICKED is good. (Does anyone not think that WICKED is terrible?) But, hey, she's just trying to survive—just like the rest of the Gladers. She does try to explain herself to Thomas late in the book:
"Yes, I know I did things in the Scorch, but you also know why I did them—to save you in the long run. I didn't know it was all about Variables and patterns then. How about giving me a little credit? Talk to me like a regular person." (44.6)
Ignoring Teresa and reducing her role to pretty much nothing is sort of unfair for Thomas to do. She tried to warn him back in the Scorch that things would get bad, but still, he's so emotionally hurt from her mock betrayal that he can't even let her help anymore.
In reality, Teresa is one of the most viable Candidates for WICKED. She's important and powerful, and she tries to remind Thomas that she's not the bad guy:
"If you had just gotten your memories back like you were supposed to, you'd see that I'm the same Teresa I've always been. I did what I did in the Scorch to save you, and I've been trying to make up for it ever since" (44.14).
It's odd to see such a vital character in the first two books turn into such a small factor in the third book. Teresa has all she needs to be a major force in the Gladers' quest for freedom, and yet her character is hindered from really doing anything because of the one "mistake" she made back in the Scorch.
So what have we learned from Teresa? Don't mess with the protagonist. The author will forget about you and then gleefully kill you off.