You see what he is trying to do, right? First he breaks our rules and then he tries to convince us to abandon them totally. The rules are the only thing that have ever held us together. Why now are we questioning that? If Alby was here, you know he’d agree with me. This shank needs to be punished.” – Gally
It wasn’t the Grievers or the ever-changing walls that truly divided the glade, but the escalating feud and deep-seated clash between Thomas and Gally. From the moment Thomas was thrown into the Glade, he gained an enemy – the hostile and suspicious Gally, who became our first antagonist. The relationship between Thomas and Gally through the film series has symbolized the struggle between hope and fear.
The Initial Spark (Mutual Distrust)
In the first movie of the series, “The Mazer Runner” Thomas’s rough arrival sets the stage for conflict and confrontation. As the last male Glader, he entered the glade with no memory and a raw sense of fear. Initially, he was in a weakened position, intimidated and taunted by Gally who stood above him surrounded by other Gladers. This dynamic flipped as, Thomas gained fragments of his memory back after his first confrontation with Gally in the pit. This strikes his curiosity about the connection between his memories of the facility, the Maze, and the Gladers.
As he senses Gally’s hostility and aggression towards his curiosity and intention of entering the maze, we immediately learn how impulsive, defiant and quick to action Thomas is, as he plans to enter the unknown in the maze and find a way out. It is then clear to the audience and the Gladers that Thomas possessed a courage that none of the Gladers who have lived there for years possessed. His quick transition from fear to courage proved to the Gladers that he possessed the willingness to take risks.
This scared and threatened Gally. Before Thomas had showed up, Gally had been in this position of power as the Keeper of builders, enforcing rules and maintaining order. Thomas’s arrival not only challenged Gally’s authority but created fear that Thomas would eventually ruin the fragile system they built.
The Ideological Divide (Fear vs. Hope)
Thomas’s actions of breaking the rules and entering the maze could be seen as a bold move for a newcomer that just became apart of the glade. He was the first to come into confrontation with a Griever and to kill it, returning with new information for a exit strategy. His defiance inspired hope for the Gladers that there was a real hope of escaping. However, Gally and his supporters saw this as reckless and as a threat to the order they established and their safety inviting death and chaos that shouldn’t go unpunished.
This created a divide and a rivalry in the battle for the future of the glade, forcing the community to choose between the opposing path of staying safe inside the walls of the glade or gaining freedom and clarity outside the walls and escaping. With the arrival of Teresa, it gave Thomas the validation and belief that his actions were necessary, which confirmed Gally’s deepest fears that the newcomer would bring death and chaos.
The Break
Gally’s decision to break from the group and to violently reject a compromise symbolized his deep-rooted fear of taking action and facing the unknown. For years, the glade represented a sanctuary of certainty for Gally despite its dangers. The glade was his world where he had authority and helped to enforce a brutal system to maintain safety. The glade was a known danger, and compared to beyond the walls, the promise of freedom was a terrifying, deadly risk. Thomas shattered this illusion that Gally had about the only life he remembered. During his last attempt, Gally desperately tried to hold onto the safe and predictable danger of the glade even if that meant sacrificing people that he originally aimed to protect.
This rivalry between Gally and Thomas forced the Gladers to immediately pick a side. The faction of change for Thomas’s side was because the group was driven by hope, desperation and the need for action. The group consisted of mostly runners who were exhausted of the state of the constantly changing maze and saw Thomas as a leader who was willing to take extreme risks to get to freedom. In the faction of order for Gally’s side, some of the Gladers stayed because they were motivated by fear, tradition, and the need for certainty. They viewed Thomas’s actions as reckless and the reason for the Grievers invading the glade. They believed holding onto known danger was safer than the possibility of facing unknown death during the promise of escape.
In conclusion, Gally’s hatred and aggression towards Thomas was less about personal character but more about his deep rooted fear in taking action in the unknown. However, Thomas’s actions tended to lack realism and strategy. Both of their opposing approaches led to the divide of the Gladers and the underestimated danger of internal conflict which led to fatal conflict that defined their escape.