What were the boys getting stung by in the Maze Runner? They say multiple times that,

"No one has seen Griever and lived to tell about it."

If that's the case then what's is stinging them? Also when Thomas and Minho return from a night in the maze, one of the boys says,

"Did you see a griever?" and Minho responds, "Not only did we see one, Thomas killed it."

Implying two major events.

  1. Someone has seen a Griever and lived
  2. Someone has killed one of them
  • It makes no sense if the Grevers come out during the night where do they go to make them go away during the day also they never say what it is just seen them the greeters do have stingers but it never explains what is that still name cuz no one seen as see the griever except for Thomas and no at the middle of the movie what is it that Sting cuz if its tongue in broad daylight and how come to runners have never seen one before I loved the movie but it didn't explain enough for you to know what's reallu going on im expecting a sequel – user18411 Jan 26 '15 at 1:41
  • Essentially answered in the source material. The movie glossed over it, likely for time. – cde Sep 20 '15 at 8:33
  • This guy really needs to make someone's answer a correct answer. – natural Aug 24 '17 at 2:21

Early in the film, they tell Thomas that their biggest rule is only Runners enter the maze, no one else.

The best way to get people new to an area to do what you tell them to do? Tell them there's something out there that will hurt them. Now, there is actually something out there that will kill you, but it's clearly shown to not take an immediate effect.

As such, Newt telling Thomas that, "No one has seen a Griever and lived to tell about it," is more than likely his attempt to persuade Thomas to stay within the Glade and to quell his curiosity, or at least give him something to be afraid of to the point of not wishing to pursue his curiosity further.

They weren't counting on Thomas' level of curiosity, since none of them knew what he was capable of due to their memories being wiped. When Thomas learned that the sting isn't a cause of immediate death, and that others HAVE seen Grievers and lived to tell about it, he decides to venture out into the maze himself.

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  • So all upper level management are in cahoots and keeping things from everyone else? I'm not sure I agree with that just because there's no solid evidence to back it up. Most all made it seem that no one has seen a Griever but why say that if people are getting stung by them? – pt18cher Sep 29 '14 at 14:19
  • If by, "upper level management," you mean the leaders of the Gladers, why wouldn't they be in cahoots? They would have every reason to ensure that some people at least survive and can carry on, and one of those would be telling people who aren't in charge and who don't run the maze that there's something big and scary out there that will kill them. We have no evidence of anyone who's been stung actually making it back to camp until the boy Thomas encounters in the woods, or Alby. – MattD Sep 29 '14 at 14:36
  • Also, no evidence of anyone in charge withholding information or lying? You seem to forget about the Runners having a secret base in the woods with a full map of the maze itself, that apparently no one else was aware of. I can't even remember if they let Alby know they'd already mapped the entire maze. – MattD Sep 29 '14 at 14:40
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    How can you say "We have no evidence of anyone who's been stung actually making it back to camp until the boy Thomas encounters in the woods, or Alby"? The village obviously has a protocol for these people as seen when they banish the kid into the maze. Unless they just figured out "Hey these Grievers have stingers and this kids sick so the hell with it, lets banish him," right after the kid was stung and not tell the audience, then that doesn't hold up – pt18cher Sep 29 '14 at 14:43
  • Right, but you said there was no evidence of anyone in charge keeping things from people, when clearly there was: they had a map of the entire maze, but only a few people knew it was actually in there. I'm merely refuting your argument. If anything this entire discussion has show that the line in question was simply a poor choice in dialog. – MattD Sep 29 '14 at 14:45

They have seen them, for example from the window.
By that quote they meant that no one has spend the night with them outside the Glade, and then come back in the morning.

Newt broke out in a laugh, but quickly cut it off. “I like you, Greenie. Now shut it and let me show ya somethin’.” Newt stepped forward and dug his hands into the thick ivy, spreading several vines away from the wall to reveal a dust-frosted window, a square about two feet wide. It was dark at the moment, as if it had been painted black. [...]

“Out there’s the Maze,” Newt whispered, eyes wide as if in a trance. [...] And we want to show ya why it’s not to be messed with. Show ya why them buggin’ walls close shut every night. Show ya why you should never, never find your butt out there.” Newt stepped back, still holding on to the ivy vines. He gestured for Thomas to take his place and look through the window. Thomas did, leaning forward until his nose touched the cool surface of the glass. It took a second for his eyes to focus on the moving object on the other side, to look past the grime and dust and see what Newt wanted him to see. And when he did, he felt his breath catch in his throat, like an icy wind had blown down there and frozen the air solid.

A large, bulbous creature the size of a cow but with no distinct shape twisted and seethed along the ground in the corridor outside. It climbed the opposite wall, then leaped at the thick-glassed window with a loud thump. Thomas shrieked before he could stop himself, jerked away from the window—but the thing bounced backward, leaving the glass undamaged...

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  • What window are you referring? And when explaining them to Thomas, Newt specifically says, "No one has seen a griever and lived to tell about it." Also when Thomas and Minho return from a night in the maze, one of the boys says, "Did you see a griever?" and Minho responds, "Not only did we see one, Thomas killed it." – pt18cher Sep 29 '14 at 13:01
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    Reread the Chapter 6, then you'll know the window I was referring. pastebin.com/hBbpTZL8 – Rick Sanchez Sep 29 '14 at 17:16
  • I agree with Rick Sanchez, reread pages 38-39 of chapter 6 and you will know of the window, maybe the other Gladers don't know of the window and the leaders are keeping it secret? Which is probably why Newt shows Thomas the window BEFORE the wake up comes because Newt doesn''t want anyone knowing about it, this is probably where the line "no-one has ever seen a Griever befroe or has not lived to tell about one'. This is probably why. And for the fact that it is hidden behind Ivy it kind of makes sense. – natural Nov 18 '16 at 3:11

They get stung and then they are shoved out to the maze to die, without being able to tell anyone else exactely what happened (as they go a little crazy). So when they say that no-one has seen a griever and lived, that is 100% true. There is no evidence to suggest any of the runners have seen one (prior to Thomas) while out on their runs.

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  • The reason they can't is becuase of what happened to Alby in the book when he tries to tell Thomas in the medical room, he strangles himself almost to death but could not control himself, he was being controlled by somebody. They claim that if you remember, you just want to stay in the maze for longer. They don't get stung and shoved in the maze to die that is only if they go crazy and start attacking people that they get the banishing, Gally was stung and he stayed. – natural Nov 21 '16 at 0:44

"Grievers come out in the night",

"No one has lived a night in the maze",

Yet people have been stung "in broad daylight" and the entire community banishes them, saying it's a ritual.

This means that people have been stung and have therefore seen Grievers and made it out of the maze, morning or night, before.

This is the plot hole.

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  • If people have made it out of the maze before, the lab would have either killed them or used them for other experients, there would not have been a single Glader that got out alive, especially when they have been stung they would not be able to survive the venom without the medicine. And considering the lab is the ONLY way out and there is no way around it. – natural Nov 18 '16 at 3:17

The monsters patrolling the maze at night, the boys coming out delirious about being stung after the serum has taken action and after the changing, the venom from the monsters, it is all part of the story.

The creatures that were doing the stinging in the maze occurred at day AND night. Bio-Tech creatures, created by WICKED (World In Catastrophe Killzone Experiment Department) were used, they were made by as their scientific name 'Bio-Tech' suggests, part machine and part organism.

These creatures looked like a bulbous creature:

'It looked bulbous and as big as a cow'

as Thomas (who's real name is Stephen but manipulated to believe hs name was Thomas) describes in the book, and the fact that it was like blubber and fat all piled into one. To support what I am saying, this is the link of what they looked like:


People here are confirming that they only come out at night, but Gally was stung on the otherside of the scale. He broke the Glade rules by stepping out of the Glade at day into the maze just to get the feel of it and out of nowhere, a Griever comes out of nowhere and rolls all over him, he is found soon after.

The griever is known to come out at night but because boys have been stung in broad daylight suggests otherwise because Alby was stung the same way the Gally was, only not in the same spot and the Griever was laying around like a dead stuffed toy and motionless until touched by Alby, there the Griever rolled all over him and he was thus...stung, and because of this, they get shut out in the maze at night.

This is what has been doing the stinging in the maze at night AND day.

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The grieved was doing the stinging in the film. If was almost like paralysis when if stung so ye character would struggle to get away and live to tell the story of seeing the griever and being stung. In that situation Thomas was smart and managed to kill the Greiver and help his friend.

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In my understanding:


simply mean that, the returned-runners have not seen the Griever until Thomas and Minho return. Those who have met the griever were dead.

The statement could be more clear if it was:

"No one lived to tell about a Griever."

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  • Though it is explained in the movie that Gally was stung and he lived, so did Ben who was banished from the Glade because he remembered Thomas and thus wanted to kill him but in the movie Newt stopped it and Ben was shoved out in the maze to die. Of course Gladers have been stung and lived to go through the changing which is delivered with a syringe of the 'Serum' which brings back your memories but you lose them soon after and if you try to tell about them, you'll strangle yourself. Your understanding on this question unfortunately is incorrect as kids have lived to tell of their stories. – natural Mar 26 '17 at 0:52

I am just going to say that I don't think grievers are what are stinging them in the day, grievers tend to kill the boys as well as sting them, if it stings them at day them they wouldn't have survived. I could just be some weird traps or something

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  • If you read the book, it said that sometimes grievers were found laying around in the maze, when tapped with a body part or something, they suddenly come back to life, roll all over their victim in a supposed attempt to escape in panic to get to the griever hole, they are bio-tech creatures created by WICKED so they can be controlled to do just that. – natural Dec 13 '16 at 22:55
  • I would also like to say there were no weird traps at all in the maze, other than the Beetle Blades spying, there were no traps that were mentioned at all throughout the maze. – natural Mar 8 '17 at 2:07

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