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* "It doesn't matter. Any of it. Because the people we were before the Maze, they don't even exist anymore. These Creators took care of that. But what does matter is who we are now, and what we do right now. You went into the Maze and you found a way out. ''[[The Maze Runner (film)]]''
 
* "It doesn't matter. Any of it. Because the people we were before the Maze, they don't even exist anymore. These Creators took care of that. But what does matter is who we are now, and what we do right now. You went into the Maze and you found a way out. ''[[The Maze Runner (film)]]''
   
*"Great, we're all bloody inspired." ''[[The Maze Runner (Book)]]''
+
* "Great, we're all bloody inspired." ''[[The Maze Runner (Book)]]''
   
* "Thomas, listen to me. I've known Minho for... well, as long as I can remember. So if there is any way we could help him, trust me, I would be up there standing next to you. This, what you're talking about, is impossible." ''[[Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials|Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (film)]]''
+
* "Thomas, listen to me. I've known Minho for... well, as long as I can remember. So if there is any way we could help him, trust me, I would be up there standing next to you. This, what you're talking about, is impossible." ''[[Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials]]''
   
 
* "Well, you'll need all the help you can get then, won't you? Well, we started this together, may as well end it that way, too." ''[[Maze Runner: The Death Cure]]''
 
* "Well, you'll need all the help you can get then, won't you? Well, we started this together, may as well end it that way, too." ''[[Maze Runner: The Death Cure]]''

Revision as of 17:52, 28 September 2020

Spoiler Alert!
This page contains details about the plot which may lower your enjoyment of the books and/or movies. Discretion is advised.



"Great, we're all bloody inspired."
The Maze Runner



Newt is the Second-in-Command of the Gladers. He has blond hair and a heavy limp from attempting suicide when he was a Runner. He was taller than Alby, despite the one year age difference. Newt was named after Isaac Newton. He is described as having an "odd accent," and Dashner has said he thought of him as being either English or Scottish.

Biography

The Fever Code

In the prologue of The Fever Code, a young Newt is shown living in a basement with his parents and younger sister, Lizzy. Suddenly, WICKED agents force their way in and demand to be able to take Lizzy away for testing, as they know she is Immune. Newt's father grabs a gun and fires two shots, both miss. One agent shoots him and his wife dead. They decide to also take Newt as a non-Immune control subject, and both he and his sister are taken away.

Newt is separated from his sister and placed with other Group A members. He is aware of the fact that he is not Immune. Sometime later, he and the other kids are given a brain implant that will allow WICKED to monitor their brain activity. At some point, he befriends Minho and Alby, and they start sneaking out of their rooms at night to goof off together. They even find a way outside, but as there is no reasonable hope of surviving in the wild, they stay put. Newt also manages to sneak peeks of Lizzy now and then, but he is not allowed to see her.

Newt and his friends meet Thomas and Teresa, but he is often separated from them for years at a time. With Thomas's help, Newt manages to visit Lizzy a short time before the beginning of the Maze Trials. Lizzy has to comfort Newt, but Newt feels awful about this. He feels as if it's his job to comfort his little sister. When the Mazes are finally up and running, Newt, Minho, and Alby find out that Thomas and Teresa are not entering the Maze with them, contrary to what they thought. They feel betrayed.

Without any prior warning on WICKED's part, Newt and the other subjects' minds are wiped and they are placed in the Maze. Newt loses all memory of his little sister. A boy named Nick takes charge of the Gladers at some point during the following months, though Alby and Newt seem to have a frictional relationship with him and argue a lot. A little over a year after the beginning of the Trials, Newt is in despair over all the deaths he could not prevent and the fact that there is seemingly no way out of the Maze, and he attempts suicide by jumping off a Maze wall. He survives, but his leg is injured, giving him a limp for the rest of his life.

The Maze Runner

In The Maze Runner, Newt was first introduced as being Second-in-Command to Alby. He and Thomas formed a friendship. After Alby went through the Changing, Newt became the unofficial leader of the Glade, doing his best to keep order. He called a Gathering to decide what to do with Thomas, who has entered the Maze ignoring Rule No. 1. Newt has a quite unique way to lead through the Gathering, clearly disliking the formal part of it. After hearing every Keeper about the matter and a harsh confrontation between Minho and Gally, Newt decides that Thomas will be sentenced to one day in the Slammer, but at the same time appoints him as a Runner. He also speaks up for Thomas's plan to escape the Maze through the Griever Hole, managing to convince the other Keepers. About forty Gladers finally leave the Glade for good, fight a great number of Grievers to give Thomas, Teresa, and Chuck time to punch in the code to shut the Grievers down and escape. Newt, Minho, and about twenty others make it alive, finding themselves in a WICKED control center.

Dr. Ava Paige appears with Gally, who seems to be not himself. After she explains about the Flare, Gally throws a knife at Thomas. but Chuck throws himself in the way. After his death, Thomas goes berserk, beating Gally up until he shows no sign of life anymore. Suddenly the building is stormed by unknown people who take the Gladers away and in a bus. They claim that they rescued them and bring them to a safe place.

The Scorch Trials

In The Scorch Trials, Newt and the other Gladers in the dormitory were awoken by sounds of groaning and banging. An insane group of humans infected by the Flare, known as Cranks, attacked in vain at the barred windows of the dormitory.

While Thomas wandered the building in search of Teresa, Newt waited with the other Gladers in the dorm that were sleeping in. When Thomas discovered a new boy in the dormitory Teresa had stayed in, Newt decided to interrogate the boy. During the interrogation, the boy introduced himself as Aris, and revealed that he was part of a group of female Gladers called Group B, much to the shock of Newt and his fellow Gladers.

At 5:00, the Gladers awoke and waited for the Flat Trans. The Flat Trans arrived an hour later, and Minho told Thomas to enter the Flat Trans last to make sure Newt and the other Gladers followed. Thomas complied, and the Gladers entered the Flat Trans and were taken underground. Later, Newt and the other Gladers emerged to the surface and found themselves in the wasteland called the Scorch, where Thomas noticed an abandoned city a far distance away. Newt and the other Gladers trekked towards the abandoned city in hopes of finding food and water there.

After hearing a scream from the shack, Minho and Newt instructed Thomas to investigate. When he returned, he reported seeing Teresa. Minho and Newt immediately questioned why Thomas did not return with her, but Thomas told them she told him to part from her.

Once inside the shelter they used to hide from the storm, Newt discussed with Thomas and the other Gladers their next course of action. Their conversation was interrupted by the Hispanic leader of the Cranks named Jorge, who questioned the Gladers of their purpose in the Scorch.

After lunch with Jorge, Newt and the Gladers heard a crash coming from the lower floor of the tower, and they and the Cranks rushed to evacuate. Newt, Jorge, and the other Gladers escaped the tower, but were separated from Thomas and Brenda during the evacuation. Afterwards, Jorge led Newt and the Gladers through the abandoned city and eventually constructed a camp near the outskirts. Newt and the other Gladers spread out to look for Thomas and Brenda after making the tent. During the search, Frypan reported seeing Thomas and Brenda taken prisoner by a small group of Cranks in an alley. The reported sighting angered Newt and the others, and Minho immediately began planning out an ambush. Newt participated in the ambush and fought the Cranks with the others while Minho freed Thomas and Brenda. Eventually, Newt and the other Gladers succeeded in defeating the Cranks and left.

Newt and the group watched as a berg brought Thomas aboard to remove the bullet wound he received from the Crank, Blondie. Thomas was then dropped back off to his group and they continued to the safe haven.

When Group B took Thomas, hostage, they warned Newt and the other Gladers that if they followed the girls to their camp in the mountains to rescue Thomas, they would open fire on them with bows and arrows.

After finally reaching the safe haven in a snowy valley, Newt and the other Gladers made an alliance with Group B to confront WICKED. A moment later, the Gladers were reunited with Thomas, Aris, and Teresa, now free of WICKED's corruption. Afterwards, several canisters emerged from the ground and strange monsters emerged from them and attacked the Gladers and Group B. Eventually, Newt, with help from the other Gladers and Group B, destroyed the monsters. Shortly afterwards, a berg arrived, and Newt, along with the rest of the Gladers, Group B, and Jorge and Brenda, climbed aboard and escaped. Onboard the Berg, Newt and the other Gladers celebrated their success.

The Death Cure

In The Death Cure, the Rat Man announced the list of immune subjects and those who had the Flare. Newt was not immune, which was a shock to Thomas, but Newt took the news calmly. He was quieter than normal throughout the book, because of how sad he actually felt inside. He got more edgy and irritable by the hour, and Newt and Minho once fought because of Newt's short temper, brought on by the Flare. He was aware that he was slowly losing his sanity, but he tried his best to keep it all together. Newt wrote a small note for Thomas to read "when the time is right".

Newt, Thomas, and Minho, along with Brenda and Jorge, managed to take a berg to Denver, the place where the Immunes were kept safely. Cranks were not allowed to even walk in the city. When they arrived there, Newt had to stay in the berg while Thomas, Minho, Brenda, and Jorge went into the city to find out about things.

While they were in the city, Newt was alone in the berg. Somehow, some Red Shirts got in and took Newt with them. They said they were going to take Newt to a place where he belonged, The Crank Palace, and Newt had to obey. He felt helpless. When the others came back, Minho found a note from Newt saying that he went with the Red Shirts. The note said: "They got inside somehow. They're taking me to live with the other Cranks. It's for the best. Thanks for being my friends. Goodbye."

They, especially Thomas and Minho, didn't want to leave Newt like that. He needed to talk to Newt, to take him back with the other Gladers to find a cure. So they went to find The Crank Palace. When they found it and got inside, they found Newt, but he was angry. In a clear moment, he could even appreciate that they came for him, but he didn't want them to see him like this. He begged them to go and leave him to his fate with the other Cranks. As his friends were still reluctant to go without him, he aimed a Launcher at them. With full force, he told them to leave immediately.

When Thomas was out driving with the Right Arm, they met a group of Cranks that came at them. Thomas found a familiar face in one of the Cranks, which was Newt's. He got out of the van and ran straight to Newt. Newt was suddenly begging for him to shoot him in the head, which was what Newt wanted based on the note that he gave Thomas, reading "Kill me. If you've ever been my friend, kill me." Thomas didn't want to, but Newt kept asking him helplessly. He said he didn't want to end up losing his sanity and eat people. He told Thomas how he got his limp, jumping off a Maze wall. He tells Thomas that it was all his fault that Newt tried to kill himself and asks him to kill him to make up for all the pain he caused Newt. 

Newt's last words were "Please, Tommy. please." With a heavy heart, Thomas knew it was Newt's last wish, so he pulled the trigger and shot Newt in the head, killing him instantly. Thomas was shown to be deeply affected by his death, as he was described as having a numbing sadness in his body that is equivalent to the sadness he felt when Chuck was killed. Newt wrote a letter to Thomas.

Film

The Maze Runner

In the Maze Runner film, Newt is first seen when Thomas first arrives in the Maze. He is among the many boys laughing at him until Thomas starts running towards the Maze, almost convincing Newt that he had what it takes to be a Runner, until Thomas trips and falls.

Newt is later properly introduced to Thomas where he is mentioned to be in charge when Alby wasn't around. When Gally stops Thomas from walking into the Maze, Newt and the Gladers join Gally in stopping Thomas from walking into the Maze. At the bonfire, Newt talks and explains a lot about the Maze, the shifting walls, Grievers, and Runners to Thomas. Thomas wrestles with Gally before Gally sends him down to the ground, causing him to remember his name. The next morning, while working in the garden, it is Newt who does the explaining.

After Alby got stung by a Griever, Newt is officially in charge. He has to call a Gathering in order to decide what to do with Thomas, who broke Rule No. 1 and ran into the Maze without being a Runner, but who also survived a night in the Maze what had never been done before, killed a Griever (likewise), and saved Alby's life. After hearing the opinions of the Keepers, he sentences Thomas to one night in the Pit and appoints him as a Runner.

In the night of the Griever attack, Thomas gets himself stung by a Griever in order to remember. He wakes up in the Pit, observed by Newt, Teresa, and Chuck. He confesses that he really has been a member of WCKD and the one who set up the Maze, along with Teresa. He has done all this to his new friends. Newt considers this and finally tells him that nothing of the past matters anymore. ("What matters is who we are now, and what we do right now.")

Meanwhile, Gally has taken command over the Gladers. But when he attempts to offer Thomas and Teresa to the Grievers in order to restore peace to the Glade, Thomas breaks free and demands to leave the Glade and to try to escape the Maze. Most of the other Gladers join him, Newt, Teresa, Minho, Frypan, Chuck, Winston, Jeff, Jack, and many more.

They make it to the Griever Hole, and while Newt and the others fight off the Grievers (many losses), Teresa and Chuck enter the code and open the door.

The surviving Gladers find themselves in a corridor. They explore the building and find a room full of presumably dead scientists, a lot of screens showing them and their fellow Gladers and a video message by Dr. Ava Paige who tells them about the Flare before shooting herself. They are still stunned by these pieces of information when suddenly, Gally, who has been stung by a Griever. turns up, telling them that they will never be free, he aims a gun at Thomas. At the moment Gally fires it, Chuck takes the bullet in the chest, saving Thomas' life, while Minho throws a spear into Gally's chest, killing him. All the remaining Gladers cry for Chuck, who dies in Thomas' arms. Suddenly, uniformed people enter the place, pulling them out and into a waiting helicopter. They tell them that they are safe now.

The Scorch Trials

In the Scorch Trials film, The Gladers are brought to a big WCKD building, welcomed by Janson, who lets them have a shower and gives them food and real beds. Like most of the other Gladers, Newt is rather pleased by this new comfort in their life and questions Thomas, who, restless and suspicious, investigates with Aris, the boy from Group B. Even so, Newt and the other Gladers follow Thomas when Thomas and Aris discover that WCKD harvests the immune teenagers, even before he is able to explain their immediate escape. They rescue Teresa and fight their way out of the building. Still, Newt is upset with Thomas for making them escape from WCKD without even having a plan where to go. Under his pressure, Thomas remembers having heard someone talking about the Right Arm, some rebels living in the mountains. Newt is not really satisfied by this answer but follows Thomas anyway. ("People in the mountains. Mountain people. And that's the plan.")

After escaping, they find shelter in an abandoned mall where they split up to find supplies to go through the Scorch. Here, they have their first real contact with Cranks, who hunt them; but they manage to escape again. One or two Gladers get killed (Jack), but no one seems to be very concerned about them. Winston got hurt by a Crank and is helped on and finally transported through the desert by the others. He gets worse quickly, finally coughing black blood, telling the others that he won't make it. He asks them for help: he does not want to become one of the crazy Cranks. Newt understands and puts a gun in his hands. They all take their leave from Winston and go on. After a while, they hear a gunshot, Winston has killed himself.

A thunderstorm surprises them one night, and they can barely make it to the next city. None of the Gladers is killed in this storm, but Minho gets struck by a lightning. They find themselves in a warehouse, surrounded by chained Cranks. Brenda appears and brings them to Jorge, who runs this camp (of not-yet-infected Cranks). When WCKD forces surround and take over the place, Jorge escapes with the Gladers via zipline. Newt makes it with Jorge and the other Gladers, but it's too late for Thomas and Brenda. They have to find another way out.

They are reunited at the house of Marcus, who had forced Thomas and Brenda to join his party and had them drugged in order to sell them to WCKD, Jorge forces Marcus to tell them where to find the Right Arm and to give them his car "Bertha".

In the mountains, they find their road blocked. Unseen people shoot at them. It's an ambush. Two heavily armed girls with their faces hidden with scarfs threaten them, but then they recognize Aris and immediately drop weapons and veils. They are Sonya and Harriet, the two leading girls from Group B, who now belong to the Right Arm. They bring the group to their camp and introduce them to Vince, the leader of the Right Arm.

Brenda suddenly collapses. Vince discovers that she had been bitten in the leg by a Crank. He immediately aims a gun at her in order to put her out of her misery, but Jorge and Thomas intervene. Mary Cooper, a doctor, is able to help Brenda. Minho, Newt, Thomas, and Frypan share a moment of peace, but Teresa gives their position away to WCKD. In a disastrous battle, WCKD destroys the camp. They take Minho with them. In the very last, hopeless scene, Vince says that he will make a new start somewhere else and build the Right Arm up again. Newt and Frypan are without a plan and without much hope. But Thomas announces that he will find and rescue Minho, and fight and possibly destroy WCKD, All of the others look up to him, accepting his leadership.

The Death Cure

In the Death Cure film, Newt partakes in the train chase by helping break the train car free with a welding tool. The Gladers escape WCKD by being lifted away on top of the train car by a berg flown by Jorge. When they land, they discover that Minho was not on this one, but Aris, Sonya, and the others were.

Later, when Thomas tries to leave the camp, Newt and Frypan stop him, saying that they want to go as well. However, Thomas does not want them to go with him, for he is concerned about their fate if they choose to follow him. Newt insists that they go with Thomas.

Newt is later seen with Thomas and Frypan when they enter a sewer in a car. They spot one Crank. Thomas assures the others that it is just one Crank. Before they can continue on their path, a terrified woman starts banging on the car window, pleading for them to let her in. However, before Thomas can open the window, multiple Cranks lunge on the woman and start devouring her. Thomas instructs Frypan to drive out of the sewers, but they eventually crash. Although they all get out safe, multiple Cranks start to chase them. Frypan shoots at them with a shotgun, but soon runs out of ammo. Brenda and Jorge come to the rescue and they are able to escape. Thomas tells Brenda that he didn't want to put anyone in danger and Frypan thanks Brenda and Jorge for saving them.

Newt, Thomas, Frypan, Brenda, and Jorge eventually make it to the Last City. Upon arrival, Thomas is scanned at the gate, and the WCKD guards recognize him. They run for it, and eventually arrive at a dead end moments before the whole place is bombed killing many people. Before they can be killed, however, a group of mysterious masked soldiers take them to shelter. The leader reveals himself to be Gally, who Newt, Thomas, and Frypan thought was dead. When Thomas punches Gally in the face for killing Chuck, Newt stops Thomas and calms him down.

Gally introduces them to Lawrence, a rebellion leader for the infected, who grants Newt, Thomas, and Gally permission to enter the Last City through a secret entrance while Frypan, Brenda, and Jorge stay behind. Gally leads Newt and Thomas through the city and then uses a telescope to spy on the WCKD headquarters. Spotting Teresa, Gally tells Thomas that she can get them in, but Thomas is reluctant to use her and endanger her. Newt reacts with uncommon aggressiveness to this, tackling Thomas and shouting at him. After this outburst, he immediately apologizes, obviously ashamed and shocked about himself. Later, Newt reveals to Thomas that he has been infected by the Flare, showing dark veins on his right arm. But he insists that all their efforts should have only one goal: rescue Minho.

Thomas gets Teresa to follow him into an alley where Gally captures her. Thomas and Gally take Teresa to an abandoned church where she agrees to help them and Newt, as long as they need to use her fingerprint to get inside WCKD. Teresa also removes the Gladers' trackers that WCKD put in them before they entered the Maze. Disguised as WCKD soldiers, Newt, Thomas, and Gally escort Teresa inside WCKD and toward the location of the Immunes. Gally looks after the Immune children and goes to find the serum for the rebellion, while Newt, Thomas, and Teresa go to find Minho.

They are caught and chased by a vengeful Janson, who leads WCKD's troops, intent on killing Thomas. Thomas and Newt make their way to where Minho is being kept in the medical wing, where they reunite. They are chased by Janson before jumping out of a window into a pool to escape.

Outside the headquarters, Gally finds Newt, who has apparently been infected, Thomas, who has given Janson the middle finger, and Minho, who is shocked to see that Gally is alive. Thomas sends Minho and Gally ahead before Newt gives him a necklace with a silver cylinder on the end, before passing out. Teresa transmits her voice throughout the city, telling Thomas that his blood can save Newt and all that he needs to do is to return to WCKD.

However, Newt, almost fully Crank, regains consciousness and attacks Thomas, begging for him to kill him during a moment of clarity. After Thomas prevents Newt from shooting himself in the head with a gun, he attacks Thomas with a knife. However, Thomas takes the knife and stabs Newt in the chest with it when he tries to attack him again. Upon dying, Newt appears to regain clarity for a brief moment. Minho, Gally, Frypan, and Brenda gather around Newt while Thomas walks off back to WCKD. Later, at the Safe Haven, while Minho carves Newt's name on the memorial rock, Thomas discovers that the necklace Newt gave to him had a note concealed in it from him to Thomas. Still traumatized by Teresa's death, he reads the note, in which Newt tells him to look after himself and everyone, before thanking Thomas for being his friend.

Physical Appearance and Personality

Newt was generally kinder than many other Gladers, though he could still be rough when he had to keep order. He always tried to look out for his friends and seemed the most upset by the deaths during The Scorch Trials. Newt had a strong accent (either English or Scottish, according to Dashner) and frequently used British curses, most notably "bloody".

Newt was described as being rather tall and muscular, with blond hair that came down over his shoulders and a square jaw. He had a limp from his attempted suicide, during which he climbed one of the walls in the Maze and leaped off it. In the books, Newt is often "the older boy", hinting that he's at least older than Thomas.

In the films, Newt is played by Thomas Brodie-Sangster, who portrayed him with short hair and a distinctly English accent.

Reception

Newt's character has received overwhelmingly positive reception from fans and is often considered the best character in the series. He is praised for being one of the most likable characters, as well as one of the most human and complex. Newt's backstory has also received acclaim from readers for its emotional depth. On TheTopTens, Newt is ranked #1 on the site's list of Best Maze Runner Characters, as well as #1 on Movie Characters We Didn't Want to Die and #27 on Best Young Adult Book Characters.

Thomas Brodie-Sangster's portrayal of Newt has received a significant amount of attention from fans, particularly in the final film, for his charm and earnestness in the role, as well as for bringing a lot of emotional complexity in the final film. Audiences have noted his dedication to the role, putting a rock in his shoe to master his character's limp and writing several of his lines himself. He also wrote the note that Newt gave Thomas for the movie. Character and actor have also received generally positive reception from critics, with critics often calling him one of the better characters. Newt's character arc in the final film received praise, with many noting that it gave Thomas Brodie-Sangster more meaty material to work with.

Trivia

  • Thomas Brodie-Sangster admitted that when he played Newt, he knew nothing about him except that he was a nice guy, had an English accent, and that he has a partial limp.
  • Thomas Brodie-Sangster also says that Newt hangs out in the garden mostly, doing his own thing.
  • According to a Twitter short written by James Dashner, Newt had a sister, a dog, and a best friend, before he was taken by WICKED.
  • Thomas Brodie-Sangster put a pebble in his shoe to remind himself that his character had a limp.
  • In the Death Cure film, there is a deleted scene where Newt tells Thomas about his suicide attempt in the Maze.

Quotes

  • "Alright, it's like you've heard, yeah? Every month, the Box sends up a new arrival. But someone had to be first, right? Someone had to have spent a whole month in the Glade alone. That was Alby. I mean, it can't have been easy. But when those other boys started coming up, one after the other, he saw the truth. And he learned that the most important thing is that we all have each other. Because we're all in this together." The Maze Runner (film)
  • "It doesn't matter. Any of it. Because the people we were before the Maze, they don't even exist anymore. These Creators took care of that. But what does matter is who we are now, and what we do right now. You went into the Maze and you found a way out. The Maze Runner (film)
  • "Thomas, listen to me. I've known Minho for... well, as long as I can remember. So if there is any way we could help him, trust me, I would be up there standing next to you. This, what you're talking about, is impossible." Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials
  • "Well, you'll need all the help you can get then, won't you? Well, we started this together, may as well end it that way, too." Maze Runner: The Death Cure

Gallery