a few of my favourite things

Newt being the one to get infected and killed was heartbreaking but at the same time, it was absolutely necessary for the plot.

Newt was a relatively stable character. He was calm and collected, and more often than not, the voice of reason. He was the quite literally the glue of the group (not WICKED's meaning). It had to be him who got infected, so readers could visualise what the Flare does to people. You could be the most level-headed person to exist, but the disease is so deadly that it would turn you into an unrecognisable monster. For example, if Dashner had chosen to write Minho as the one who got infected, the drastic effect the disease has on personality wouldn't have come through, since he's already hot-headed.

Up until Newt gets infected, we see the Cranks as vile, zombie-like monsters. Newt turning into one of them humanises them. It allows us to view them as people who had loving families and a life before the Flare, because we built an attachment to Newt over the trilogy, only for it to be ripped away. This allows us to visualise and empathise with the "Cranks".

I feel like anyone who hates Teresa has severely missed the essence of the biggest sub-themes of the book.

ANYONE is susceptible to propaganda (yes, even you).

The Maze Runner series is told from Thomas' perspective, so naturally, the reader is inclined to dislike Teresa.

But on a deeper level, they were kids upon whose shoulders lay the fate of the world. It was an impossible situation with limited information.

She was (for the most part) raised in this government facility, where it was drilled into her head that she and Thomas were doing the right thing for "the greater good".

No one is born with distrust; it's something that is learned over time. Who could Teresa have trusted if not for the people who "raised" her?

It's also so easy to forget that she was a teenager, a phase where everything is tumultuous. It's a phase where you're discovering who you are (Now add a worldwide catastrophe to that). It's an incredibly isolating experience, and one in which you feel like the world is against you, and in Teresa's case, the world was literally against her.

The whole moral aspect of the series is set in grayscale. It's basically the Trolley Problem on a larger scale.

I noticed in Season 2 that the colour scheme and overall cinematography for the "comedy" scenes became far less saturated, but also less '90s/2000s grainy sitcom' (more akin to that of Young Sheldon). I think it's to represent how Kevin's world is slowly unravelling, first with Allison actually standing up to him and then with Neil finally realising what a bad friend he actually is. So it's a way of blending the two worlds together as opposed to the overly saturated, campy colour palette they used for Kevin's scenes in season 1.

The age-old debate between fandoms is absolutely insane and should not exist, in my opinion. If you think Percy wouldn't absolutely body Harry, you're absolutely delusional and should perhaps develop a better literary understanding.

Percy is the son of a literal God who is one of the most powerful beings in Greek mythology. He is literally part God. Harry is nothing more than a wizard who probably wouldn't have made it past the first book without Hermione.

Percy went up against THE GOD OF WAR at only 12 and won. Not to mention, he was just beginning to tap into his powers at this point.

Even if we take their powers completely out of the equation, Percy would still trounce Harry. Sure, Harry was athletic and probably fast (especially after having to outrun Duddley for so many years). Percy trained at a camp that focused on improving his battle skills.

It's cannon that Percy "I wanted to see how much misery Misery could take" Jackson could control the water content in someone's body and ideally make it work against them.

Hypothetically, if the fight were to take place away from any body of water to even the playing field, Percy could still make hurricanes and earthquakes, which are enough to take out armies, much less one wizard.

"But Harry would just use *insert spell*." Harry's power is pretty much limited to a stick, that's notoriously not very durable. All it takes is one stream of water or sheer brute force from Percy to disarm him.

Karen and Dan

Deb and Dan

Hayley and Nathan

I truly believe Ariel from 'The Little Mermaid' and Arthur Weasley would get on like a house on fire.