Justice Lawrence John Wargrave is the main antagonist of Agatha Christie's mystery novel And Then There Were None.
He’s a retired judge that lures nine people who were responsible but unpunished for murder using the identity of U.N. Owen.
What Makes Him Magnificent?[]
- He comes up with a rather interesting plan to kill 9 people. This plan works and no one (both the characters and the audience) suspects him until a note containing his confession is found in the sea. Also, to accomplish this, he uses the case of a criminal who was favored by the jury. This case could be passed off as an unproven murder (like the crimes that all his victims committed).
- He has a sense of honor as he gives his victims a chance to redeem themselves and die quickly and easily. For example, his third victim was a military leader who sent his subordinate to death only because the wife of this military leader cheated on him with that subordinate. Subsequently, this military leader began to feel guilty for what he had done and Wargrave killed him third. Most likely, Wargrave planned to kill the butler as the third. This is indicated by a number of factors. Firstly, the butler committed his crime together with his wife, and the butler's wife became Wargrave's second victim, and secondly, Wargrave killed the butler immediately after he killed the military leader. He also killed the culprit of the car accident first, since he sincerely did not understand his guilt and was not capable of redemption. Also, he arranged his victims in ascending order of their guilt (more precisely, whom he considered the most guilty he killed last).
- He also has sense of justice, as he only kills criminals and not innocent people. Also, after the massacre he commits, he commits suicide, not only because of his terminal illness, but also because after that massacre he also became a murderer, who is needed to be punished.
- He is an anti-villain and a morally gray character, since all his victims are criminals like him, with some of them having unlikable characteristics he doesn’t have (like Lombard’s racism and Brent’s fanaticism).
- He manipulates people quite skilfully. For example, he forces a drug dealer (whom he later kills) to purchase an island in his name, so that he can then commit lynching on this island against the named nine people. He also manipulates Dr. Armstrong into helping him fake his death in order to avoid being a suspect. He subsequently kills the doctor.
- Although Philip Lombard is killed not by Wargrave, but by Vera, and Vera herself commits suicide, this is also part of Wargrave’s plans. So one way or another, Wargrave also manipulated Vera and Lombard.
- Even before the events of the book, he used this skill during his judicial career to make sure that juries would always convict the guilty (allowing him to execute them) and release the innocent.
What Makes Him A Baddie?[]
- He became a judge solely because he wanted the ability to condemn murderers to death.
- While Seton was truly guilty and Wargrave knew it, it’s implied that he condemned him without the right proofs.
- He killed 9 people on-screen and another one off-screen. While they were all criminals, with Lombard and Mr. Rogers not showing many redeeming qualities, planning to kill them is not justified, especially since some of them did show some form of remorse, with MacArthur in particular feeling very bad about what he did. This makes debatable whether they all deserved to die.
- He psychologically tortures Vera Claythorne until she is driven to the brink of insanity and commits suicide. Although she was herself a murderer this comes across as especially cruel.
External Links[]
- Lawrence Wargrave at the Villains wiki
- Lawrence Wargrave at the Inconsistently Heinous wiki