List of Maximum Ride characters

This article is about the histories of characters in the book series Maximum Ride. For the upcoming film, see Maximum Ride (film).

The Flock

Maximum Ride (Max)

Max is short for Maximum (Maximum Ride). She chose her own name upon her escape from "The School" (see below). It is unknown why she chose 'Maximum' although it is speculated that it relates to her need to do everything to the best of her abilities. Her last name 'Ride' comes from Sally Ride, the astronaut. This shows her connection to her lean towards feminism. She is the protagonist of the series. Max is humorous and has a sharp tongue. She is fourteen years old at the start of Book One: the oldest of the avian-human hybrids and the leader of the Flock. She is the half sister of Ari, daughter of Jeb and Dr. Valencia Martinez and the half-sister of Ella. She has brown eyes and blond hair (though it is debatable because in the first 3 books and the blog her hair is described as blond, but in the fourth book it is described as brown, as well as the fact that when the Maximum Ride Manga was released, Max made a comment about them making her very blonde so there is no way to be sure), is 5'8" with a few freckles and wings that are 13ft wide and are tan with white and black streaks and light brown spots, and is a skilled fighter. She has the ability to fly at speeds of around 200-280mph-warp drive (her newly found super-speed, which she uses to 'get away from it all' sometimes) the ability to track scent (although she has only used this once to track her flock, and mentioned that it might have been because they were smellier than usual), can temporarily shut down her organs to "play dead", and has a seemingly omniscient "Voice" (which she thinks is Jeb but it really isn't) in her head which she believes is caused by a tracer chip in her arm which she tried to remove unsuccessfully in School's Out Forever by cutting it out. She eventually had the chip taken out by Dr. Martinez, but she lost the use of her arm for a while and the Voice didn't go away. She has been told repeatedly that her destiny is to save the world (mainly by Jeb).

Max is also very nurturing and acts as a maternal figure to the younger children of the flock; she's very protective of everyone. She is in love with her fellow flock member, Fang.She became very sick when Fang kissed a girl named Lissa in the second book.When she sees Iggy with a girl, she hopes that the girl is nice (and not an Eraser). However, when she sees Fang with a girl (Lissa) she is extremely annoyed. When Fang kisses her in the third book, her mind "shorted out" but runs off confused and overwhelmed the second time he tries to kiss her.' and that she 'doesn't know what she'd do without him', because Fang always protected the "Flock". She says she loves him when she's getting her chip taken out of her arm, and when she receives a message from Fang in the 3rd book in Germany, she says i twas "one of the happiest moments of her life" She seems to like it when Fang kisses her in the 4th book, thinking to herself that "she loved it" and "she loved him", then changes her mind and flies away again, though she really just wants to be with him, and never separate again.

In The Final Warning, Fang is still very protective of Max, covering her when a bomb goes off in their safe house, and saving her from falling into a crevasse in Antarctica. Dr. Martinez also seems to suspect something going on between them. When questioned about this, Max blushes and denies it. Her mom then tells her that "There are other kinds of pain besides physical."

The idea that Max is the daughter of Jeb Batchelder and the sister of Ari is discussed in both books, mainly after Max accidentally kills Ari and Jeb yells "You killed your own brother!". In the first book, Max meets a kind woman named Dr. Martinez and her daughter Ella, who she saves from a few school bullies. Max wishes she could keep in touch with them, even though she knows she cannot. She wishes sometimes she could be normal and live with them, like they were her mother and sister. It is then revealed at the end of Maximum Ride three that Maximum is the sister of Ella and the daughter of Dr. Martinez. It is also revealed she is indeed Jeb's daughter, and the "voice" in inside her head was Jeb as well.

Max's leadership skills keep the Flock together, and she cares for her friends as she would her own family. She makes a point of trying not to cry in front of them: "They need me to be strong. Invincible Max." Max is often overwhelmed by all of the cryptic mysteries of her life, but tries to deal with it for the sake of her Flock.

Amongst other comical but endearing qualities Max possesses is her great fondness for chocolate-chip cookies, especially homemade. This began in Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment, when Max was recovering from a bullet wound with Ella & Valencia Martinez, when Dr. Martinez made chocolate-chip cookies.

Despite Max's tough-as-nails personality, she does have a few fears. One of them is claustrophobia, which is also shared by the rest of the Flock as well, especially in elevators and in tight, enclosed spaces; which is believed to originate when they lived at the School in cramped dog cages. Another is a fear of snakes, observed when she was escaping from Itex Headquarters after being imprisoned in Maximum Ride: School's Out--Forever, when high-tech holograms of snakes appeared crawling all over her, making her scream. She also Fears crowds of "normal" humans, as show in all the books.

Max has exceeded two hundred miles an hour straight on and upward of two hundred and sixty miles an hour in a steep dive. Max has been documented of flying at altitudes of approximately thirty-one thousand feet for short periods of time but her normal cruising altitude is usually between fifteen thousand feet and twenty-two thousand feet. Max like the rest of the flock can carry up to four-fifths of her own body weight for periods of up to an hour and one-half of her body weight almost indefinitely. Max and the rest of the flock have normal swimming abilities but with greatly increased endurance. Max and the rest of the flocks body fat is extremely low and most of their body weight is made of muscle. And Max and the rest of the flock's bones are extremely light and are filled with tiny air pockets also in addition to their lungs they have peripheral air sacs along each side , Marian Janssen found out all of these facts about the flock from the chip in Max's arm.

Fang

I looked at Fang's eyes, the only dark things visible in the endless, swirling whiteness. Wait, he seemed to say. Wait, and when we see a chance, we'll take it.

Second-in-command, Fang is fourteen years old and black-winged, although his wings give off a purplish glow in the light. Fang is the most solitary of the flock members and he is described as dark and silent, around 6 ft tall. Biologically, he appears to be either Mediterranean, Spanish, Filipino, Greek, Italian, or Middle Eastern, or any combination of the six, due to his dark hair, dark eyes, and olive/dark skin. Fang is a bit stronger and a little more physically tougher than the rest of the flock, frequently taking near-fatal wounds and coming back again alive but not completely fine. His power is to camouflage, as he can blend into the near complete darkness when he stands still, as shown in the fourth book The Final Warning.

Fang has an online blog which is [1] linked prominently from the Maximum Ride website, which appears as if written primarily by Fang, with occasional entries from Max, Nudge and Iggy. The name of the blog is Fly On. By the third book, it has become a phenomenon Fang uses to help Max save the world.

His wing color, under the right conditions, can be used to scare people, such as in School's Out-Forever when he uses them to make himself look like, according to Max, "The angel of death". The people that he uses it on are two crackheads that find Max and Fang when they are searching a house. When they see Max, they intended to rape her, being hinted by the fact that they pulled out a knife and then said that they didn't care whose chick she was, because for the next hour, she was their chick. Upon seeing Fang and Max's wings, the two men run screaming and fall down the stairs.

Fang also obviously dislikes Ari more than the rest of the flock appears to. One reason, Ari nearly killed him twice, at the end of the first book and at the beginning of the second one, not to mention the time in Tipisco where they fought. They also fight in Virginia in the second book in which Fang took his first victory against Ari. In the third book, he dislikes Ari so much that when Max asks Ari to come with the flock, he left for California with Gazzy and Iggy, leaving Max to cope on her own. His dislike for Ari could also be related to the fact that its hinted Ari is attracted to Max, and that threatens Fang's relationship with Max.

Fang acts very tough, is witty and can stay calm and impassive in the most stressful of times and sometimes seems he is the most logical member of the Flock. He can be defiant at times, and rather aloof though, like Max, he loves the Flock.

Fang is also hinted to be in love with Maximum Ride, proven in all four books. In the third book, he kisses her to help her "change her mind". He then suggests that they go somewhere safe with the rest of the flock and be together. Max likes this idea, but when he tries to kiss her again she flies away, confused, even though all she wanted to do was be with him. After she leaves, he punches the cave wall in anger, and remembers the way she looks at him, the times they kissed, and wishes she were there so he could at least hear her breathing. He also showed jealousy when Max dated a guy named Sam (who attended the school the flock was going to in Virginia), he did not react when Max told him that she had a date. Usually it seems, he would start laughing. He also calls Sam a wiener in the third book, and sounds slightly jealous when she comes home from the date, saying rather grimly that since she had fun, he didn't have to kill Sam. There is also a part in The Angel Experiment when Max kisses him after his fight with Ari because she really wants him to be okay, and she just realized that he would be. On the other hand, Fang seems to like red-headed girls, as shown in Schools Out-Forever when he is kissed by Lissa and in Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports when he is staring at a red-headed cheerleader. Also, in his blog when he first meets Lissa, he simply blogs that he thinks he really likes the color red, as in red hair.

In the fourth book, he comes to Max's hotel room during the night and they fly to an abandoned dock. There, he asks her what she wants from him. They talk about the time back in Virginia when they didn't like seeing each other with other people. He tells her she's "Such a pain", then kisses her before she can retort. Once again, Max flies away, overwhelmed and confused. When they travel to Antarctica, Fang appears to get along a little too well with Dr. Brigid Dwyer, who Max is very jealous of, despite the scientist being seven years older than Fang. Every time Max sees the two of them together, she gets a twisting angry feeling in her stomach. Fang senses she's angry at him, and when he tells her to talk to him, she replies "About what? You and me? There is no you and me." He then tells her she's wrong, "There's a you and me, all right. There will always be a you and me."

Fang is possibly one of the most mysterious members of the Flock. The mystery of his power was unknown until the fourth book, since all of the Flock except him possess a "super-power" besides wings. Though some people refer to his endurance, taking life threatening wounds and bouncing back, as his power, that may be just because of their ability to heal quickly. In Maximum Ride: Saving the World & Other Extreme Sports, Dr. ter Borcht, one of the evil scientists, asks Fang what his power is. Max replies saying he is a snappy dresser and he says he plays a mean harmonica, which lightens the mood of the interrogation considerably. Another theory is present in Maximum Ride: School's Out--Forever, when Max gives some of her blood to Fang. Fang, after the transfusion of blood, says he feels hot and brings up the possibility that Max's blood might cause change to his system. It is unsure if this will come in to play in the future.

Fang's power is eventually revealed as 'blending into the background'. He doesn't exactly turn invisible, but if he stays very still he fades away from view until he moves again.

In short, he can be described as "the strong, silent type" or "silent, dark, nonconformist avian guy".

Iggy

Soon Iggy, tall and pale, slouched into the kitchen. Eyes closed, he fell onto our beat-up couch with perfect aim. The only time he has trouble being blind is when one of us forgets and moves furniture or something. "Hey, Ig, rise and shine," I said. "Bite me," he mumbled sleepily.

Iggy is fourteen and the third oldest member of the flock; his blindness, caused by a failed attempt to surgically enhance his night vision when he was younger, is one of his defining traits. He is very talented at building and using bombs, which he makes in cooperation with his best friend, the Gasman (Gazzy). He is also skilled at picking locks as Max mentions in the first book. Since he became blind, his other senses have been greatly heightened (e.g.. identifying members of the flock by the feel of their skin or feathers, a quasi-echolocation, telling when someone is coming through vibrations in the floor, identifying others by the feel of their fingerprints, feeling the color of an object, seeing things that have a white background, and discovering a man's ATM password through the musical tones created by the keypad), and he uses them to compensate for his inability to see. Although he is blind, Iggy is the only one in the flock who can cook well.

Iggy's real name is James Griffiths. He is the first member of the flock who has located his biological parents, but he left their custody to rejoin the Flock when they attempted to sell his life story to eight different magazines, much to his disappointment in his mother and father. His name in the flock "Iggy" could be derived from the Latin "Ignis" meaning "Fire" which would suit the pyromaniac nicely.

Iggy is also very tall (in fact the tallest member of the flock) at around 6'3, hence naturally attracting attention in public, whether good or bad. He became friends with a girl named Tess when the flock enrolls in private school, although briefly, because soon after they find that their high school is actually run by The School, and obviously have to leave. Iggy has strawberry blond hair, (sightless) blue eyes, and is very pale. His wing color is unknown to us, though they are at least 14' long, as hinted in School's Out - Forever.

His fear is not known, other than claustrophobia with the other flock members. He is one of the only ones who has never shown his worst fear. Iggy always either asks the obvious, or comes up with the most ludicrous statements. Like the suggestion to push the flock's things out the window in book one when left behind with the Gasman. He is also a "sexist pig" as Max calls him a few times, namely in book three when he asks for a French girl. Iggy seems to be very fond of girls, as he begs Fang to describe the Californian beach bunnies to him during the third book.

Nudge

I love Nudge, Nudge is a great kid, but that motormouth of hers could have turned Mother Teresa into an ax murderer.

An African-American Avian-American, Nudge is 11 years old, and very talkative, a "regular motormouth", as Max would say. She can start one conversation and go somewhere completely different with it in a second, like in The Angel Experiment, she talks about getting lost in a cloud (Pg 40). Her wings are brown with russet streaks and streaked with white on the underside. She has curly brown hair (with blond high-lights as well that were given to her during a makeover in Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment). She is a skilled computer hacker, and develops tenuous psychometric powers within the course of the first book. This has its disadvantages, as she appears to start crying whenever she touches something that has generated great sadness or if many people have touched it. This proved itself when she went to the Vietnam Memorial on a field trip in the second book when she seemed to recive a kind of shock. In the fourth book in chapter 5 , Nudge develops the ability to attract metal when she wants to. Her real name may be Monique. Her name is probably derived from the letters in her code number at The School N88034gnh (the letters spelling out Ngnh), or possibly from the IM nudge, which is used to both annoy people and make them enter conversation - suitable for someone who suffers from "Word Spew". It may also be a reference to the slang phrase "nudge", meaning someone who is annoying or incessant.

Of all the Flock members, Nudge is the one most determined to find her biological parents, forcing Fang to go down to Tipisco, Arizona, to try and locate her parents, in the first book, The Angel Experiment, though it didn't work out so well. She did find a picture of her mother, with red ink written on it saying "Terminated", implying that her parents were killed. In the first book Nudge ate the most out of all the flock, although this role seems to have been taken over by the Gasman.

Nudge is also slightly girly: in the first book, she says that she wants to walk on Fifth Avenue in NYC. Various other things suggest that she cares for her appearance and other things a girl would care about, although in the second book it is revealed that she is an expert with cars. Also in the second book, while in Fang's hospital room, Gazzy states that the girls could have the bed and the guys slept on the floor. The idea was dismissed by Max, and Nudge stated, "Yeah... Like, I'm too much of a cream puff to sleep on the floor?" (page 49 of Maximum Ride: School's Out--Forever)

She is revealed to be frightened of rats.

The Gasman/Gazzy

He'd been the Gasman ever since he was a baby. What can I say? The child has something funky with his digestive system.

The Gasman is eight years old. He earned his name from the fact that he frequently passes gas, although he is often called Gazzy, Gazzer, or Gasser instead. He also has the ability to mimic any sound or voice, an ability which he uses to play pranks. In the fourth book The Final Warning he gets the ability to release a gas that is yellow greenish.

The Gasman is a blond-haired kid with blue eyes, and is tall for his age like the rest of the flock. His wing color, like Iggy's, is unknown, and so is the wing size.

The Gasman and Iggy are best friends, and often work together to build explosives, pull pranks, or do tasks for the Flock. Gasman has assumed the names of Captain Terror (incorrectly spelled as Captin Teror when he was asked to spell it) when he was interrogated, and Zephyr, which is the name of the Roman god of the west wind. His number at The School was F28246eff

The Gasman is the biological older brother of Angel and they are the only members of the Flock who are actually related. Gazzy is constantly throwing his voice, and in the Second book, Max suspects he has thrown his voice to make it seem as if Total is talking, as well as in the first book when he assumes Iggy's voice to make Max mad. He can also copy the voice of any person, opening the possibility that he has parrot DNA.

He is revealed to be afraid of spiders.

Angel

I'd never told the others, but I just loved, loved, loved Angel. Maybe because I'd been taking care of her practically since she was a baby. Maybe because she was just so incredibly sweet and loving herself.

Though biologically related only to Gazzy, Angel is the 'baby sister' of the entire Flock, and like a daughter to Max. She is six years old, with curly blond hair and 8-foot-wide, pure white wings that together give her an "angelic" appearance. This causes her to immediately fall in love with the stuffed bear she calls Celeste, who is dressed up as an angel, and causes her to do strange things in the first book. She also owns a small, appearingly black Cairn Terrier dog, named Total, stolen from the Institute for Higher Living. He is a mutant as well, and has the ability to jump very high, speak, and grows wings in the 4th book. (Although he has only been able to get his front paws off of the ground.)

Angel is a very powerful telepath; one time she 'influenced' a woman through her mind to buy her a stuffed animal in a toy store (which would be Celeste). Also she 'influenced' a police officer in 'School's Out-Forever' that 'she is in a hurry and that she should just let them go this time' after Fang is caught driving without a license. She can read minds, control them, breathe underwater, and talk to fish. Generally sweet-tempered, Angel exhibits a vicious streak when using her mind-control abilities. At one point she forced an Eraser to fall out of the sky and on another occasion made one run into a tree repeatedly. Although it seems her power may not work on Max, it is possible that she just is unwilling to mentally control Max. It does however, seem possible to block her mind control. In The Angel Experiment, Angel notices that Jeb is somehow able to block her mind-reading abilities, "as if he were dead". In Saving the World and other Extreme Sports, she tries to play mind tricks on ter Borcht and some Chinese scientists, but tells Max that she can't get into their heads (although she does seem capable of reading their minds). By Saving the World and other Extreme Sports Angel has become quite effective at using her telepathy in combat. Even though uneducated, she is extremely smart for a six-year-old. In the fourth book she develops the ability to change her appearance, she can even grow feathers all over her body and make herself look like a large bird.

In the second book, Angel once expressed a disturbing desire to take over Max's job as leader of the Flock and that information is used in a plot created by Max in Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports.

Angel was also kidnapped at the very beginning of The Angel Experiment and is known as Subject Eleven to the whitecoats. It is believed that Angel will become omnipotent later in life and will turn on the Flock. She seems sweet but she doesn't understand what the difference is between good and bad. There is also the possibility that whitecoats turned her against the Flock in The Angel Experiment and is having her wait to kill them. Angel is the first one to figure out that Max II is a fake (though perhaps after Fang, who later says to the real Max he figured it out when Max II "offered to make breakfast," a task the real Max usually leaves to Iggy), due to her telepathic abilities.

In Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports, she eventually betrays the Flock over to Itex. However, this was just a plan Max and Angel came up with in case something bad happened so that Angel would be on the inside and could get the flock out of trouble. Of course this does happen, and Angel has to come to the rescue of the flock when they are stuck in a cage in the middle of the field waiting to be "retired" by the whitecoats.

Angel is very mature and tall for her age, but succumbs easily to the joys of places like Disney World and the beach, as shown in the second book.

In Schools Out Forever, everyone lives their fears.

Total

Did I want a dog? No. Did I need a dog? Also no. We were six kids running for our lives, not knowing where our next meal was coming from. Could we afford to feed a dog? Wait for it — no.

Total is a black Cairn Terrier that joined the Flock after their visit to The Institute of Higher Living. He also can talk, which is revealed in Maximum Ride: School's Out Forever. Besides talking, he can also jump an incredible height: about 30 feet.

He is very sensitive about being a dog, and doesn't want to be treated any differently than the rest of the flock. In the second book, Total mentions that he wishes that he had wings after nearly dying when Gasman rammed into Iggy, which caused him to drop Total while flying. At the end of the third book, Total is extremely outraged when Dr. Martinez assumes he is a normal dog and gives him scraps in a bowl on the floor.

Total seems to know more about recent history than the Flock does, as he is able to identify Brad Pitt in Madame Tussauds and mentions that he thinks that there were two shooters in the JFK assassination. He is also very cultured, expressing disgust when Max refuses to stop and enjoy the sights of Paris.

He is also very close to Angel, telling the Flock that he will go where she goes. She never leaves him behind, and, in the second book, they even went back to Anne's house to get him despite the fact that it was swarming with Erasers. This dedication is possibly due to the fact that it was Angel that rescued Total from the Institute of Higher Living and convinced the rest of the Flock to keep him.

Total is deathly afraid of generic dog food as shown in Maximum Ride Schools out Forever.

In the fourth book, he falls in love with a white Malamute named Akila, who nearly dies in a hurricane. When he discovers she survived, he licks her face, and she seems to like it. However, Akila is a normal dog, so she can't understand him when he tries to talk to her.

Also in The Final Warning, Nudge and Max find small wings growing from Total's back, but are too weak to let him fly with them yet.

Other Characters

Jeb Batchelder

She knew who he was. She had been only four years old the last time she'd seen him, but still, she knew his face, his smile. She remembered Jeb tying her shoes, playing Old Maid with her, making popcorn. She remembered hurting herself and Jeb picking her up to hold her tight. Max had filled in for her how good Jeb had been, how he'd saved them from the bad people at the School. How he'd disappeared and they thought he was dead.

Jeb Batchelder is a scientist from the 'School'. (A place were scientists conduct genetic experiments on humans.) He is Ari's father, although this did not stop the 'School' from turning Ari into an Eraser. Later Max learns that Jeb is her father too (in the second book).
Jeb helped the flock escape the first time and lived with them for two years, suddenly and inexplicably disappearing afterwards, making the flock presume his death for another two years. He later reappeared at the 'School' when the flock returned, driving Max to hate him with a passion. Seemingly, the scientists did something to him when he returned so Angel can no longer read his mind (though it's possible he possesses some sort of mental telepathy of his own that blocks Angel's). Throughout the series, he keeps insisting that he is still a friend of the flock and wants to help them. Every time he and the flock meet, he reminds Max that everything is a test. Jeb was the person that first informed Max that it was her destiny to save the world. In the third book Max thought that Jeb is the Voice inside her head that she has had throughout the series (in the fourth book she finds out that he isn't).

Ari Batchelder

After the pain of having huge wings retrofitted onto his shoulders, this was child's play. He grinned at that thought. Technically, anything he did was child's play: He was only seven years old. Eight next April. Not that it mattered. He wouldn't get presents or a cake. His dad probably wouldn't even remember.

Ari is the son of Jeb Batchelder, one of the top scientists at the School, and half brother of Maximum Ride. Unlike the other hybrids, Ari spent his early life as a non-mutant human. When he was three years old, Jeb disappeared along with the Flock, leaving Ari at the tender mercies of the School's genetic scientists. The geneticists used Ari as an experiment, splicing his DNA with that of a wolf in order to create a new breed of Eraser that could live longer than the previous versions (those whose DNA had been spliced in the womb). But Ari has his downsides too. When his claws and fierce canines come out they burn his hand and gums. He also has feelings for Maximum Ride, even though he wants to personally see to it that the light is drained from her eyes. Ari is willing to do anything to kill the entire group, especially Fang. Since he has feelings for Max he seemingly doesn't want Fang moving in on her. He even allowed whitecoats to put wings on him so he could ambush Fang in mid-air.

Ari is the most 'wolfy-looking' of the Erasers, always in a partially morphed state, never quite human, never quite wolf. One time, he was mistaken for the X-men character Wolverine by a young boy at Disney World. While he was talking to the kid, the kid asks for his autograph and he signs "wolverine with a flourish", but later in the series he can't write his own name.

During the climactic fight scene in "The Angel Experiment", Ari fought with, and had his neck broken by, Max. He was killed, but came back from the dead in order to kill Max, because of the School realigning his spine. However, the broken spine may have even been a blessing in disguise for him, as it allowed the School's scientists to graft a full pair of wings on his back. Ari is now a Flying Eraser.

Ari and Max share many similarities, the most obvious being that they are both mutants and both hear "their Voice" in their heads. In The Angel Experiment, the possibility that Ari and Max are siblings is discussed.

In School's Out - Forever it is revealed that Ari has a strong (but reluctant) admiration for Max. He even comes up with a plan to steal Max away, so she could 'read to him and play games with him'. However his wolfish-seven-year-old self shows through when he adds that he planned to cut off her wings.

Ari's greatest desire is to have his father be proud of him, and is extremely and horribly jealous of how his father dotes on Max. He one time expresses a desire to choke his father until Jeb realizes he ought to pay more attention to him. His father is proud of him in School's Out - Forever when Ari tells him of his plan to steal Max.

Ari may appear to be an adult in many ways because of his genetic engineering. In the second book, you discover Ari's feelings and thoughts are often like those of his seven-year-old self. This is best shown when he goes to BestMart in the second book. He steals a Game Boy and is disgusted by a woman holding a bra in public.

Ari also exhibits slight masochistic tendencies, as illustrated when he bites himself several times in School's Out - Forever, because the pain 'felt better.'

Ari joined up with Max's half of the flock in Saving the World and other Extreme Sports. While the other Erasers were "retired" (killed), the whitecoats allowed Ari to continue to live, as his expiration date had recently appeared on the back of his neck, indicating that he'd die on his own anyway. After learning that his death is approaching, Ari becomes extremely depressed and seems to lose his hatred of Max and the Flock. When the Flock is held captive in the School, he shows Max some of the experiments and tells her of the whitecoats' plans for Re-Evolution, saying that even though he knows he will die soon, he hopes that the Flock can still escape and stop it. He helps Angel find Total (who the whitecoats took from the Flock) and breaks open a cage that they're trapped in. Realizing that the whitecoats will probably kill him for helping them escape, Max asks Ari to join them, much to the displeasure of the rest of the Flock (except, perhaps, for Angel). Ari is very grateful to Max for taking him in and promises to keep her safe. He joins Max's "mini-flock" when the Flock splits and goes with her, Angel, Nudge, and Total to Europe. During this time, Max notes that he doesn't talk much, as if he didn't think he had a right to an opinion. It is revealed that, because Jeb is Max's father, Ari is her half-brother. Ari tries to back up Max during her tests against Omega and later, when a mutant riot breaks out, uses his strength to literally "toss smaller mutants into the mosh pit of death". In the midst of the fight, he suddenly collapses. Max tries to find where he was hurt, but he wasn't injured. His time has run out and he suddenly expires, looking frightened and calling to Max.

The first appearance of the Flock and Jeb is at Ari's make-shift funeral. Each of the flock drops dirt onto the casket, and most say a few words. Most of the Flock - primarily Max, Nudge, Total and Angel - break down and cry.

Ari also had a Voice similar to Max's, as shown in School's Out-Forever.

Max II

I swallowed my anger. Who did she think she was, her and her stupid dog? I gave a concerned smile. "But Angel," I said, sincerity dripping from my voice, "how can you say that? You know who I am." "I think I'm Angel," she said. "And my dog isn't stupid. You're the stupid one, to think that you could fool us. I can read minds, you idiot."

Max II is a clone of the original Maximum Ride and Max II is trying to destroy the flock. Basically, she wants to kill Maximum Ride (the original one). At the end of School's Out -Forever Max asks Fang how they knew that the other Max (version 2.0) wasn't her (Original Max). Fang replies, "She offered to cook breakfast" and they both start laughing. It is also noticeable when she wondered "why is the blind guy cooking?". At the end of School’s Out - Forever she fought with, and was defeated by, the original Max. However, the difference between her and the original Max are that while Max 2 was willing to kill Max in their fight, Max had the chance to kill Max 2 but did not take it, saying that if she killed Max 2 she would be sinking to the level of the whitecoats. The whereabouts of Max 2 were unknown, until the 3rd book when they found her at the headquarters of Itex, with other mutants preparing for termination. She warns the original Max about how fast Itex is killing the mutants while they are being "exercised" in a courtyard. It is uncertain what happens to her at the end of the third book. She was also exposed by not knowing many things about the flock, such as Angel being able to read minds.

She is known to hang around with Ari in suspicious ways, on rooftops and other places. As told in The Maximum Ride Blog, 6 kids, 12 wings, 1 blog (see External Links). Ari enjoys her company since she bothers Jeb and since she is identical to the original Max. Max 2 is convinced that the original Max is full of herself, however in the second book she seems to understand that Max feels alone, no matter how many people are with her.

Unlike the original, Max 2 seems oblivious to some the talents of the Flock and seems to dislike them all. She makes several mistakes the first morning she replaced Max, offering to cook breakfast, wondering why Iggy was cooking breakfast when he was blind, offering to fix Nudge's hair, and ordering Total off of the bed. When they left to break into an Itex building, she found it bizarre that they were bringing Total (who she didn't know had the human intelligence and the ability to talk) with them and mentally commented "Okaaaay, I'm beginning to put my finger on why you're slated for termination". She is annoyed by Nudge's constant talking, although she is aware of Nudge's skills with computers (although she does seem to underestimate them). Max 2 is also annoyed by the Gasman and finds Angel "creepy", apparently unaware of the fact that Angel can read minds.

Anne Walker

She reached her hand across the table for me to shake. "My name is Anne Walker," she said. "And yes, I'm one of Them. I'm the one they call in when everything goes kablooey."

Anne is an FBI agent that the flock meets during an incident when Fang has to be taken to the hospital. She offers them protection in exchange for a chance to study them in nonpainful, noninvasive ways. She takes them to her country chateau, and the flock is happy there. Anne treats them with kindness and generosity, almost like a parent, that is totally alien to them. Anne also enrolls them in a school without asking, and acts inappropriately when Iggy and Gazzy set off bombs in their new environment. After this event, she gave them hot chocolate and cookies. She is unused to any domestic activities, and struggles valiantly to make the best possible meals and other comforts for her new guests. The greatest success she has is the flock's very first Thanksgiving meal, and it is at this point in time that she makes her offer to adopt them all. However, all throughout their stay, Max cannot settle down as the others, and is jealous, because she thinks that Anne is taking care of her flock. Very soon after Thanksgiving, Max is cornered by the headmaster and several whitecoat plants (pretending to be teachers), convincing her that it was definitely time to leave. The flock escapes from the whitecoats and Erasers in the school, returning to the house to collect Total. Erasers have arrived at Anne's house and Anne seems to be giving them no resistance to their search, even yelling at Ari and poking him in the chest. After securing Total, Max flies down to talk to Jeb, Ari, and Anne, and Jeb reveals that Anne is his boss. The heartbroken flock then leaves in a hurry.

Anne is seen later in Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports when the Flock is captured and taken back to the School. According to Max, she acts "in an un-adopted Mom way" and tries to convince the Flock that they had dreamed all of their adventure away from the School. When the Flock is in a cage, to be terminated, she tells them "You know what's really sad?...We gave you every chance", leading Max to angrily point out that they only gave them some chances and that giving them every chance would include letting them out of the cage.

William Pruitt

<2>Dubbed "the headhunter" by Max,

The headmaster, William Pruitt, according to a gold plaque on his desk, did not look happy to see us. In fact, he looked like he was about to blow his top.

William Pruitt is the principal of the school Max and the flock attend. He is hateful, and loathes children; this makes Max question his career choice. He has a shiny bald head, nose hair aplenty and wet-looking, round dark pink lips. He speaks with a British accent. He is not a whitecoat but is definitely associated with the School in some way or form. While spying at recess, Iggy and Gazzy come across a file room with a file that says that the school used to be an insane asylum. One of their more interesting ideas about this is that Pruitt was a patient who killed everyone else and started the school. When the two escape from the private school that Anne enrolled them in, they take the insane asylum idea into consideration. When the Flock realizes his connection to the School, Pruitt threatens Max unsuccessfully with a taser and tries to catch them. As they escape, he yells that they are "mistakes".

Roland Ter Borcht

Nudge sniffled and clicked back to the form. At the bottom were signatures of Monique's parents, authorizing someone named Roland ter Borcht to "treat" their baby.

Ter Borcht is a brilliant, albeit controversial, geneticist who was known for sinister experiments he performed on humans. He is one of the leading scientists at the School. Ter Borcht is first mentioned in School's Out - Forever, when Max finds his name in some documents she stole from Itex and finds out more about him through an online search engine. Later, when the Flock (with Max 2 replacing the Original Max) breaks into an Itex plant for information, they notice that Nudge's parents supposedly signed a document allowing Ter Borcht to "treat" their baby (although Max 2 notices that the parents' signatures look like Jeb's, indicating that the signatures were forged).

Ter Borcht meets the Flock in person in Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports. He tries to examine the Flock when they are re-captured and brought back to the School, in an attempt to find out their strengths to see if they are worth saving (as only the useful life forms are spared from "retirement"). Instead, the Flock becomes angry at the way he treats them and are rude and refuse to cooperate. Later, Ter Borcht gases them and moves them into a cage to have them executed, as he said that they gave no reason as to why they should be spared. He is knocked unconscious with a lead pipe by Angel, who was acting as a spy for the Flock. Max, Nudge, Angel, Ari, and Total run into him again in Europe, when he tries to get them to answer the questions of Chinese scientists who are interested in buying the Flock as weapons.

The entire time, Ter Borcht seems firmly against allowing the Flock to live. He is described as having a heavy accent, like Arnold Schwarzenegger's. He is also described as fat, leading Max to suggest to him that he "lay off the fried foods".He also seems to be out of shape and a real class nerd referring to when the Gasman said he had X-ray vision and when Max said he was voted most unpopular.

Marian Janssen

“My name is Marian Janssen,” she said calmly. “I’m the Director of Itex, and its research and development companies.” I kept my face very still. This was the Director? The Director was a woman? Oddly, it was disappointing that the person behind all of this destruction was a woman.

Also known as the Director, she is the one who pulls all of the strings for the School and Itex, and also one of the few successful Itex species combinations, being part Galapagos Tortoise. She is mentioned several times in previous books, however she plays a very important part in Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports, as she is the one who plans the Re-Evolution and By-Half Plans.

Max, Nudge, Angel, Total, and Ari meet the Director in the Itex headquarters in Europe. They are caught by Flyboys and brought to her. Shortly before meeting her, Max vows to take her apart "using only [her] teeth if necessary". When the Director first appears, Max is surprised to find that she is female, since Max seems to associate mass killings with men. The Director further shocks the mini-Flock by announcing that she is actually Max's mother. Because they look and act very similarly, everyone assumes this to be the case, much to Max's horror. Although she claims to be her mother, the Director seems to think that Max is only a part of the "bigger picture" and has no problem with retiring her or submitting her to horrible "tests". She also urges Max to work for the Chinese as a weapon, saying it's her only chance to survive, causing Max to angrily question the Director's morals and ethics.

Later in the book, Jeb questions why Max hates the Director so much, since she will one day be the most powerful person in the world, giving Max almost unlimited power as well. Max tells Jeb that if she had so much power, she would have the Director and everyone else involved in the plans arrested, as well as providing health care and schooling to everyone for free and other helpful ideas. Jeb tells Max that she passed the test of being uncorruptable by power and tells Max that the Director is not actually Max's mother. She only oversaw the developtment of Max as an embryo, which Jeb comments "to her, that must feel like motherhood".

Shortly after learning this, Max is called up to a gathering by the Director and is instructed to take part in three tests and a battle to the death against Itex's best creation, a boy named Omega, something of an irony, as omega is the last letter in the Greek alphabet. Although Max wins the first test (a race), the Director disqualifies her because Max flew and it was "a race on the ground". Max then loses the other tests, however the Director ignores her protests that the tests are a waste of time and have nothing to do with being able to survive. Shortly before the fight to the death, Angel causes a massive mutant riot and the Director calls for the Flyboys to break up the fighting. After the riot ends and the Flyboys are destroyed, Max and Nudge capture the Director and take her into the sky, demanding to know who Max's real mother is. The Director answers all of the questions and Max drops her, intending to let her die in the fall. Jeb, as the Voice, manages to convince her otherwise however, and Max ends up catching the Director before she hits the ground. Her fate at the end of the third book is unknown, however it is possible that she is arrested. Being a hybrid of human and Galapagos tortoise,she has extremely long life (she is actually 107 years old, Born 1900). She is also revealed to be the reason Max had a chip in her arm. The chip recorded Max's flight speeds and heights, giving the Director information to give the Chinese scientists.

Omega

“Omega here is our pinnacle achievement,” said the Director, “the result of more than six decades of research. He is an unqualified success and far surpasses any hybrid made before.”

Omega is considered the most successful experiment created. He is slightly shorter than Max and has silvery eyes. Nudge jokes that he got the "cute" gene.

Omega appears in Saving the World and other Extreme Sports. He is introduced in the gathering headed by the Director. After announcing Omega's many talents, she tells the crowd that he will demonstrate by defeating an "obsolete but somewhat successful avian-human hybrid" (Max). During the foot race, he takes the lead by several feet, however he is bested when Max flies instead of runs to the finish. He is declared the winner however, as the Director insists that Max cheated by flying. He then bests Max in the contest of strength, pulling the weights a foot for her inch. During the contest of intelligence, while Max argues that the question asked was irrelevant to survival, Omega answers it quickly (they were supposed to mathematically figure out how many tons of stone were in the castle walls). Shortly before the fight to the death Angel causes a massive mutant riot, which the Flyboys quickly join in to (to try to control the crowd). During the fight, Omega finds Max and insists that they must fight. Max points out that he can choose to not fight and he looks confused, saying "I don't know how to...not". He almost defeats Max during the fight, however she is told by Jeb that Omega cannot track things fast with his eyes. When she pretends to hit him from many different directions at once, he stops to concentrate, almost against his will. Max knocks him out but refuses to kill him, although she knew he'd kill her since he knew no better. It is uncertain what happens to him afterwards, although Max tells the Director "who knows? Some day you might make him a real boy."

As one of the latest experiments, Omega appears to have no soul. Because of this, he unquestionably follows orders and is unable to choose to disobey. The Director favors Omega and continually insists that he is superior, even after Max defeats him. Omega seems to require time to process information, from questions he is asked to Max's sarcastic comments.

Lissa

Lissa is an ever-hovering redhead girl who Max finds kissing Fang in an empty hallway. Max does not like her, which is why she dubbed her 'the Red-Haired Wonder', but Lissa is unaware of this. There is the possibility she knows of this jealous hatred, but she believes that Max is "F-Nick"'s sister, so she would perceive the dislike differently. She does like Fang a lot, however, telling him that she is glad he's in her class. When Fang asks her why, Lissa merely replies, "Why do you think?" According to Max she was 'stuck to Fang like glue'.

Sam

Sam is the boy Max goes on a date with in School's Out forever. Max finds him attractive, describing his tortoiseshell eyes and his chestnut hair that "kind of fell across his forehead." He initially flirts with her in the library of their school, asking her questions when she wants to use the computer. Max is confused, and wonders at the time whether she would ever understand humans.

As Max took a disliking to Lissa, Fang also takes a disliking to Sam. Although Sam doesn't seem to realize this jealousy between Fang and him.

Despite all this, Max's date with Sam goes pretty well, and she kisses him after the date is over, and Max thoroughly enjoys the experience. Later, when the Flock is escaping from Pruitt, Sam yells to Max to hide with him in an empty classroom. She is in an extremely paranoid mood, however, and instead plows him over, saying that she "can't trust anyone." also thinking he looked a bit like an Eraser.

Ella Martinez

Ella is the daughter of Dr. Martinez and the half sister of Max. She is 12 or 13 years old, and "secretly" in love with a boy from her class by the name of Shaw Akers. Max first meets her when Ella was about to be beat up (by three boys, one armed with a shotgun). Max stopped this from happening and is then shot by one of the bullies. Max asks for help and spends two days recuperating at Ella's house. Ella appears twice in the third book, once when Max asks for Dr. Martinez and the second time at the end of the book. Throughout the series, Ella wishes that Max is her sister and is thrilled at the end of the third book to find out that Max is her half sister. She seems somewhat in awe of the rest of the Flock. She appears to think that Fang is cute and finds Iggy's ability to react to his environment without seeing is "amazing," opening the window that Ella could be attracted to Iggy.

Ella is only mentioned and does not appear in the fourth book, although she is present at the ribbon cutting of the new school intended for the flock.

Dr. Valencia Martinez

Dr. Martinez is the mother of Max and the mother of Ella and gets on very well with both. She appears six times in the series. The first time after Max had been shot, the second time when Max needed help removing a chip stuck in her arm and the third time at the end of the third book. In the four book she is at the first meeting with the flock and the government, she introduces the Flock to Dr. Brigid Dwye, and lastly at the ribbon cutting for the new school intended for the flock. She is also a vet, which Max believes is very ironic. According to Jeb, he and Dr. Martinez decided to be a part of Max's heritage (Max's Mom) , even though they had no personal relationship. After the project was stable, however, the director locked Dr. Martinez out of it, leaving her to return to Arizona, brokenhearted. Dr. Martinez seems immune to Erasers in the first book, angrily asking them to leave when they try to convince her to give them Max's location.

Fang meets Dr. Martinez on Max's second visit. He finds a book on birds and another book on DNA combinants, with a picture of Gasman as a baby wedged between them, the same one he had found while searching for the flock's parents in the second book and seems wary of her at first. The rest of the Flock visits during the third time. They all seem to love Dr. Martinez, even Total, whom she briefly offends by laying a bowl of scraps for him on the back porch, as she gives them food and showers and is very nice to them. According to Max, Dr. Martinez makes the world's best chocolate chip cookies.

Dr. Brigid Dwyer

Dr. Dwyer is 21 years old and works in Antarctica, where the flock are to 'save the world'. She also escorts them there in a small research boat. Max is jealous of her because she and Fang get along very well, and are only 7 years apart. Also Fang seems to ignore Max for a period of time while he is hanging around Brigid. Brigid herself is clueless of this tension.

Gozen

Gozen is a robot who serves the Uber Director, and has is own military army. He was hired to capture the flock and bring them to his master. He later successes in capturing the flock, only for them to escape in the middling of bidding when the building the flock is held in is heavily damaged in a hurricane. Although Gozen is a robot, it would seem indeed had one facial expressions just like The UD, "Gozen spun away , falling heavily downward, his face assuming the only expression he was capable of: horror." Gozen believes in violence and completion. although in his last moments, in the end of The Final Warning while in a deadly hurricane, he asks Max (A real person) to help him, almost pleading. In response she kicks his arm, making him let go of The UD. He is said to have died in the hurricane.

The Uber Director

Also referred to as the UD. He is the 'criminal mastermind', who captured the flock and put them for sale in an auction. He is made up of glass cases that sit in a wheelchair-type contraption. He does have facial expressions. In the end of The Final Warning he says "I control more than you realize, I can make you rich beyond your wildest dreams. I can protect you for the rest of your life. Just save me now." to Max. In response she says "You need to not be in this world.", letting go of him. Making his bio-mechanical body falling apart in the harsh winds. He is also said to have died in the hurricane.

External links

• The Maximum Ride Blog, 6 kids, 12 wings, 1 blog