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IN CHARACTER

Name: Teresa
Canon: The Maze Runner
Age: 16( ish )
Timeline: near the beginning of book 2; The Scorch Trials )

Background: The Maze Runner: books 1, 2 & ( Teresa's wiki, The Kill Order, a prequel that tells part of the story of Teresa's childhood )

Personality: ❝ WICKED is good. ❞
Just to get all the cliche descriptors out of the way, Teresa Agnes is tough, fiery, snarky, takes-no-shit, and fiercely loyal to those she cares about. Yeah, I think that covers the basics of why she's, in a few ways, a Typical Strong Female Character. Luckily, there's a lot more to her beyond that.

Teresa isn't a soldier, or an agent, but in a lot of ways she was raised like one. Brought in by WICKED at the age of four after the outbreak of the Flare, she was basically trained to trust and believe in everything the organization stood for. It turns out they were really only using her as a means to an end, once they found out she was immune to the virus, but that's not important. What's important is how being brought up in that environment shaped everything that Teresa turned out to be. WICKED was a scientific research group dedicated to doing whatever it took to find a cure for the Flare. Whatever it took. And she, in turn, was raised to believe that the sacrifices they made were justified because it was for the greater good. She never had any reason to doubt them because, unlike her family, they took her in and weren't afraid of her because she didn't get sick. She grew up thinking they saved her, so of course she trusts what they stand for. Or what she thinks they stand for, at least.

❝ Judge me all you want, I'm just doing what feels right. ❞
It's this "greater good" that drives Teresa's actions throughout the series. It's, in every way, why she makes every choice she does, and why she sticks to them no matter what the cost. She's steadfast in her decisions, never doubting herself once her plans have been put into motion. That said, she is always willing to discuss things first - more often than not she brainstorms with the people she trusts before making any hard decisions, which I think is another trait she picked up from WICKED. The tests they ran thrived on trying to map out the brain functions of those who were immune, thinking that that was the key to finding a cure. So she definitely picked up her brainstorming and critical thinking skills from living, and working, in that environment. We don't know much about what any of their lives were like while they trained and helped build WICKED into what it became once the book series starts, but considering how ruthless they can be about human life and how they decide to use it towards their goals tells us that Teresa was valuable to them, possibly because they knew how strong her loyalty to them was, and also because of her intelligence.

❝ You think I’m the most evil person to ever walk the earth, don’t you? 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. ❞
The only flaw in this was that while she was training and doing her part in helping WICKED find their cure, she met a boy named Thomas who was also brought in to help with the efforts, and who very quickly grew to be her best friend. It's this relationship that rocks her "WICKED is good" mentality more than anything else once they're brought together in the Maze, even if it never manages to fully sway her one way or the other until it's kiiind of too late. However, it's that friendship that shows us that she isn't completely like the cold scientists who raised her, she isn't willing to go against that friendship until she has to, until she's told that Thomas' life depends on it. His friendship, essentially, helped her keep her sense of humanity.

Even though she follows every single one of WICKED's orders without much question, her motivations become clear pretty quickly - she isn't just in this to find the cure, she's in it to try and help people, to try and save the world. It's about the people, not the science. It's why, by the end of the series, she's changed her ways completely. Once she has her memories back, she doesn't end up being more confident in what they were working on in those labs all this time, it makes her see how corrupt and awful the project really is. While her intentions are good, she finally realizes after seeing all the destruction WICKED has caused, that she might be the only one that feels that way anymore. The only one that's trying to save humanity, not just trying to solve a puzzle using people's lives as the leverage and collateral. That's what makes her different from the original Creators, and those that run the labs.

We find out fairly early on that Teresa was one of the people that helped create the Maze, which ultimately ended up being the large scale test to try and map the brain functions of a group of subjects selected by WICKED. A test that was designed to try and decide which immune kid's brain they would use to dissect and complete the tests needed to help find a cure. Which is really, really messed up, yes, but it also shows us how smart Teresa was, as stated before. She ended up being one of the final people who helped run the tests after the first group of head scientists had to be eliminated ( after they were infected by the Flare. not everybody was immune, after all, and they knew the risks ), and was almost the number one "subject" for the final test. Looking past how insane the whole project was ( somehow, please, try and look past it just for a second ), the fact that she was one of the people in charge of the operation, in a way, makes it clear how intelligent she really is.

❝ All I can tell you is that I’m torn up inside. Ripped apart. I did believe that a cure could happen, and I knew they needed you to do it. It’s different now. Even with my memories back I can’t think the same way I did before. I can see now that things will never end. ❞
It also shows us why, by the end, she's so, so full of guilt over everything. Teresa might be confident in her choices, she might make them and stick to them without wavering, but damn does she carry a huge amount of guilt for it. Her subject codename ended up being The Betrayer, and for good reason considering the part she was told to play in order to help the test move along. She went through with her orders despite knowing it might ruin her friendship with Thomas because she thought it was the only way WICKED would let him live. She didn't know she was being manipulated, but that's probably the biggest moment where you see her struggle between wanting to follow orders, and wanting to take care of someone she's close to. Then again, it's also the biggest moment before she got her memories back that probably pushed her towards starting to question WICKED. Too little too late, woops.

Over all, I think Teresa could be seen as a typical "strong" female character, and she is! Strong, I mean. She's justifiably predictable in a lot of ways, in that young adult novel character way. But her differences are what make her stand out to me, and make her interesting to play - she isn't a martyr, she's just doing what she believes is the right thing to do, she's following her gut instincts. She trusts with all her heart, whether it comes to causes or people, and she trusts herself too, which is and important part of her. She's confident in who she is, and what she does, without being cocky about it. ..Although she can be a snarky brat sometimes, it just happens. That's her sense of humor. Which, oh yes! she does have, by the way. Despite all the insane things the kids go through throughout the series, Teresa still finds reasons to laugh, and smile. She's a realist, as vague as that sounds, in that she isn't completely an "always look on the bright side" kind of person, but she's not a cynic, either. She's confident in her abilities, and in those she trusts, and is more often than not the person to just keep saying "we can do this" or "we can figure this out". She's the kind of girl you want on your side, though she won't bend and cry if you're not willing to see things her way, either. She can get along just fine with the people she does have, she's confident in that more than anything else.

Powers: she has a telepathy chip! or at least, a chip that allows her to communicate with Thomas telepathically. that's it though. just Thomas. I'd be up for nerfing her range, though, and/or her control over it!
Do you want a power wipe? no thanks!
Suitcase:
- another outfit or two similar to this.
- a set of her creepy white WICKED scrubs, maybe? she doesn't own many clothes or things woops
Surprise? yes!