- "He's bad, he's bad, he's bad..."
- — Ben referring to Thomas, The Maze Runner
Ben was a semi-minor character in The Maze Runner who went through The Changing, and was later banished for attempting to kill Thomas.
Biography
Prior to being taken by WICKED, Ben lived in Denver with his parents, safe from the catastrophic conditions that plagued the world outside. He was about to board the train one day that would take him to his school, but was stopped by a man that had come out of an airborne cop machine, surprising Ben long enough for the train to leave without him. The man tells Ben to come with him, adding that he has Ben's parents' permission and that the conditions of the city would not protect him from the outside world. Ben and the man leave in the hovering cop car, the man planning to see Ben's parents first.
In The Fever Code, a disheartened Ben meets Thomas at WICKED's complex, where he explains his background to the boy, and how he was taken despite his parents being immune to the Flare. At some point after, Ben is sent into the Glade, his memories having been wiped.
Ben was first introduced in The Maze Runner, as he was going through The Changing, when Thomas walked in on it. During The Changing, he regained memories of Thomas, and according to Ben, it was enough to make him want Thomas dead.
After recovering from The Changing, Ben goes insane and attempts to murder Thomas after he wandered off into the Deadheads. Despite Ben repeatedly stating that Thomas is evil, Alby tells him to stand down, but Ben disobeys, and makes one more attempt to murder Thomas, this time with a knife. Alby prevented the murder by shooting him with a bow. The arrow lands in his cheek, and Thomas assumes that the boy was dead. This is later proved to be false, as Chuck later tells Thomas that the arrow missed Ben's brain, and he has been healed by the Med-jacks. Ben begs for mercy and blames it on The Changing, which apparently was still controlling him. He was most likely killed anyway, as shortly afterwards, Ben is banished to the Maze, with the use of a metal pole with a rope that was tied around his neck collar, where the Grievers most likely killed him, though it's never mentioned what happened to him. Thomas and Minho later found remains of Ben's clothing near the Blades.Film
In the film adaptation, Ben attacks Thomas in the forest but Thomas hits Ben with a skull and flees. Everyone comes over to help pry Ben off Thomas. Ben, similarly to the book, was Banished soon after.
Physical Appearance and Personality
In The Fever Code, Ben is described as being a touch taller than Thomas, having blond hair and wide eyes. During the Changing, Ben is very pale, and has rope-like veins coming out of his skin. As a result of the Changing, he also is shown to be much more violent and less sane, as seen during his attempt to kill Thomas.
