Villains Wiki

Hi. This is Thesecret1070. I am an admin of this site. Edit as much as you wish, but one little thing... If you are going to edit a lot, then make yourself a user and login. Other than that, enjoy Villains Wiki!!!

READ MORE

Villains Wiki
Villains Wiki
Advertisement

When the sea goes down, there will come from the mainland boats and men. And they will find ten dead bodies and an unsolved problem on Indian Island.
~ Lawrence Wargrave's last message at the end of his final letter.
I had the power to condemn men and women to death for their crimes. With great power comes great responsibility. I believe that to look away as that power is exercised is both irresponsible and cowardly.
~ Lawrence Wargrave in 2015 miniseries.

Justice Lawrence John Wargrave is the main antagonist of Agatha Christie's mystery novel And Then There Were None.

Wargrave is a retired judge, who over a long, extensive career has developed the reputation as a hanging judge. Initially presented as anti-hero/protagonist, Wargrave alongside nine other people, was "invited" to Soldier Island off the Devon Coast by the mysterious U.N. Owen. There, he and the others were accused of contributing to the deaths of other people, in a way that the law could not prove or punish them for. One by one, each of the guests were subsequently murdered in scenes of escalating violence.

However, at the very end of the novel Wargrave was revealed to be U.N. Owen. Having been fascinated with death ever since he was a child, Wargrave, following a terminal diagnosis, decided to fulfill his long held ambition to commit a murder. However, since he also possesses a strong sense of justice, Wargrave only ever targeted the guilty, which eventually compelled him to take his own life.

Outside of the original novel, Wargrave has appeared in a number of film and television adaptations. His role in these productions varies, but for the 1945 and 2015 mini-series, he retained his role as the main antagonist. In the 1945 film, Wargrave was portrayed by the late Barry Fitzgerald. In the 2015 BBC miniseries, he was played by Sir Charles Dance, who also portrayed the Master Vampire in Dracula Untold and Tywin Lannister in Game of Thrones.

History[]

Early life[]

Lawrence Wargrave was born at some point in the mid to late 1800's. His personal life (as with most of the other characters) is rarely touched upon. It is not known where he lived or came from and Wargrave never provides any indication that he has a wife or family.

Intelligent and perceptive, from an early age Wargrave recognized that he had an unnatural passion for death. He was a big fan of detective stories and as a youngster would experiment upon wasps and other garden pests, which is a typical sign of a psychopath. At the same time however, Wargrave, rather ironically, also possessed a very strong sense of justice. Despite his sadist mindset, he vehemently believed that no innocent creature (whether human or animal) should be made to suffer for something they did not do.

These opinions, coupled with his great intelligence, influenced Wargrave's choice of career, inspiring him to become a judge. Using his career as a loophole, Lawrence Wargrave was able to use the judicial system to satisfy most of his desires and thirst for blood. From within the court setting, he could use hard evidence provided by both the police and the prosecution to lawfully condemn criminals to their deaths, whom he would watch hang afterwards.

Although he would develop a reputation as a hanging judge, Wargrave was nevertheless very good at his job. Owing to his unique perspective on criminal psychology, he was able to make accurate assessments of a persons guilt and always stuck to his morals. In his confession letter (in the books epilogue) Wargrave noted that during his career there were a few occasions where the people brought on the trial were completely innocent of the accusations against them. In each of these cases, Wargrave made sure that the jury acquitted them and only ever sent guilty people to the gallows.

Despite his successful career and good track record, Wargrave reflected that his job was not able to completely satisfy all of his cravings. Deep within his heart, the sadistic Judge yearned to commit a murder of his own. He did not wish to simply kill somebody however, he wanted to carry out a theatrical one, a murder on such a grant scale, it would baffle the detectives for years to come. Yet every time he felt this desire, Wargrave was restrained by his sense of justice and the reminder of what would happen to him, if he carried out such an act.

The Trial of Edward Seton[]

Lawrence John Wargrave, that upon the 10th day of June 1930, you were guilty of the murder of Edward Seton.
~ U.N. Owen's accusation, And Then There Were None, Chapter 3.

During his career, Wargrave presided over many high profile trials. However, his most famous and controversial case took place in 1930. It revolved around a young man called Edward Seton, who was accused of killing his elderly landlady. By Wargrave's own admission, Seton's defense lawyers did a first class job. Not only did Seton himself manage to give off an amicable impression, but his defense team did a masterful job in presenting their clients supposed innocence. Whilst the prosecuting attorneys over exerted themselves, the defense handled the evidence carefully and the witnesses methodically. By the time of the closing speeches, it was estimated that nine out of ten people believed in Edward Seton's innocence. As a result of this, the general public were convinced that Seton would be acquitted and walk away a free man.

One man would change all of that; Lawrence Wargrave. Unlike the general public, Wargrave did not believe in Edward Seton's innocence. On the contrary, having followed the trial from the very beginning, listened to all of the witnesses accounts, studied all of the evidence, coupled with his own killer mindset, the old judge was completely convinced that Seton had murdered that helpless, old woman and was now playing the public for fools. Seeing the way that things were going, Wargrave made one last effort to ensure Edward Seton's conviction. Before the jury retired to deliberate, Wargrave, who also knew how to manipulate people to get what he wanted, presented his own opinions during his own summing up.

Wargrave's gamble ultimately paid off. In one move, he single-handedly did what the prosecution had failed to accomplish. He turned all of the evidence against Edward Seton, highlighting the key facts which, in his opinion, verified the young mans guilt. The jury was swayed by these arguments and to the shock of Seton, his defense team and the general public, they found Edward Seton guilty of murder. With the verdict in, Wargrave donned the black cap, before sentencing the condemned man to death via hanging.

Seton's lawyer's launched an immediate appeal. Unfortunately for their client it fell through and on 10th June 1930, Edward Seton went to the gallows and was hanged as a murderer. Since many people still believed in Seton's innocence, his execution was initially met with a great public outcry. A good number of people were convinced that Wargrave, whose reputation preceded him, had deliberately manipulated the jury just to see another person hang. In the end though, Wargrave's assumptions were proven correct and his reputation was saved by the police investigators. Shortly after the execution, the police force, who were still investigating the crime publicly announced that they had uncovered new evidence. Whilst the exact nature of their discovery is not described in the book, it is stated that the material in question proved beyond any doubt that Edward Seton had committed the murder he was accused of. As a result of this, Wargrave was vindicated and the hubbub quickly died down.

"Ten Little Soldier Boys"[]

Ten Little Soldier boys went out to dine; One choked his little self and then there were nine.
Nine Little Soldier boys sat up late; One overslept himself and then there were eight.
Eight Little Soldier boys travelling in Devon; One said he'd stay there and then there were seven.
Seven Little Soldier boys chopping up sticks; One chopped himself in halves and then there were six.
Six Little Soldier boys playing with a hive; A bumblebee stung one and then there were five.
Five Little Soldier boys going in for law; One got into Chancery and then there were four.
Four Little Soldier boys going out to sea; A red herring swallowed one and then there were three.
Three Little Soldier boys walking in the zoo; A big bear hugged one and then there were two.
Two Little Soldier boys sitting in the sun; One got frizzled up and then there was one.
One Little Soldier boy left all alone; He went out and hanged himself and then there were none.
~ The Tale of the Ten Little Soldier Boy's nursery rhyme.

Eventually, following a long and distinguished career, Wargrave retired from the judicial system. Although never stated, it is implied he left due to a combination of old age and health issues. Indeed, shortly after giving up work, Wargrave underwent an operation to remove a cancerous tumour. The operation appeared successful but the recovery process was long and arduous. Initially, Wargrave took things easy and did his best to enjoy his new found retirement. As with all cancer survivors, however, Wargrave had to undergo routine check ups to monitor his condition.

It was during one of these sessions that Wargrave's doctor made an innocent comment, which would alter the former judge's destiny and culminate in the carnage on Soldier Island. Fascinated by Wargrave's career, the GP expressed his belief that for every murderer convicted there must surely be another who got away. He even provided an example from his own personal experience, which indirectly gave Wargrave the names of two of his future victims, Thomas and Ethel Rogers.

Upon hearing these words, Wargrave realised that this was the solution to his life long dilemma. At long last, he had found a way to achieve his ultimate ambition without violating his sense of justice. He could find and kill a person/people responsible for causing the death of another human being. Since his victims would be criminals who had escaped prosecution, Wargrave would, from his own warped perspective, merely be giving these people their rightfully deserved punishment, rather than just killing them in cold blood.

Although he had found the solution, Wargrave, as previously stated, did not simply wish to kill these people outright. He wanted his victims to suffer for what they had done, whilst he created an unsolvable mystery that would baffle the detectives for many years to come. After careful contemplation, Wargrave turned to a nursery rhyme from his childhood "The Tale of the Ten Little Soldier Boys" for inspiration. The poem was a dark narrative whose characters, across ten verses, were gradually killed off in scenes of escalating brutality. Wargrave decided to use this as the basis for his future murders.

With his plan in motion, Wargrave's next task was to find his victims. He gathered the names of hundreds, if not thousands of suspected criminals. Each of the accused was either known or believed to have killed one or more people but escaped justice either through a coverup, bribery or committing their crime in a way that the law either could not prove their involvement or punish them for it. Wargrave carefully scrutinized each case, studying all of the available evidence of the alleged crimes.

Finally, after years of pain stacking work, Wargrave whittled down his list to nine individuals, whose crimes he found particularly deplorable. In addition to the Roger's, the cases that stood out were:-

  • A police report concerning a reckless young man, who ran over two children, John and Lucy Combes, yet distinguished himself with his amoral behaviour and complete lack of responsibility.
  • An anti-alcoholic nursing sister, who fanatically lectured Wargrave on the evils of drink, reciting her own experience with a doctor who killed a patient, Louise Cleese, through his inebriation.
  • Two old military gossips in Wargrave's local club told him their suspicions about one of their former colleagues, whom they believed had murdered his friend, Arthur Richmond, by deliberately sending Richmond to his death.
  • On a holiday in India, an indigent woman ranted about how an elderly spinster had driven her young maid, Beatrice Taylor to suicide.
  • During a meeting with some of his former colleagues, Wargrave tricked them into discussing a recent case, where it was believed that one of the key witnesses, a police officer turned detective had lied under oath resulting in the conviction and death of an innocent man, James Landor.
  • A traveller from South Africa told Wargrave about a soldier of fortune, who abandoned 21 men, his guides from a local tribe, leaving them to die in the jungle.
  • During a cruise, Wargrave spoke to an unhappy and drunken youth, named Hugo Hamilton, who told him a most harrowing tale. Hamilton was convinced that his late nephew, Cyril Hamilton's governess, who was also Hugo's lover at the time, had deliberately caused Cyril's death, so that he, Hugo could inherit the family's fortune.

Deciding that these were the nine people who deserved to die, Wargrave matched each of them to a verse from The Little Soldier Boys poem. For this, Wargrave factored in a number of variables. Although all of his intended victims were killers, some of them had committed their crimes unintentionally or due to emotional distress, whereas the others had done it intentionally and callously. For these reasons, Wargrave determined a level of guilt for each of his victims and set things up, so that the more innocent killers would die less painfully than the more evil murderers. To avoid suspicion, Wargrave also matched himself to one of the verses.

Having gathered all of the information he needed, all that Wargrave needed now was the setting. Using his vast wealth and resources, Wargrave purchased a small island off of the Devon coast, called Soldier Island. He used the alias U.N. Owen (an acronym for the word "Unknown") through a third party, Issac Morris. Letters of invitation were then dispatched to each of the ten victims, including himself, inviting them to the Island, under various (false) pretences.

On the day before his departure to Soldier Island, Wargrave gave Issac Morris a "medicine" capsule. During their meetings, Morris had frequently complained to him about stomach pains and Wargrave, having gone through a similar experience, said that the capsule would work wonders. In reality, the drug was poison but Wargrave didn't simply kill Morris to cover his tracks. Issac Morris was a shady drug dealer who, in addition to helping criminals cover their tracks, had previously seduced the daughter of one of Wargrave's friends into becoming an addict. The girl had eventually died from an overdose, leaving her family devastated. Thus, Wargrave took revenge for them and committed his first murder.

When the big day finally came, Wargrave set off for the train station, knowing full well that he would never return to his home ever again. This was because, in addition to his plans, the old judge was harbouring a great secret. Some time earlier, whilst still fine-tuning his plans, Wargrave had become seriously ill again. A second examination confirmed that Wargrave's cancer had returned and, despite some initial reluctance, the doctors eventually admitted that this new tumour was inoperable and Wargrave was given a terminal diagnosis. As his GP's offered their condolences and offered to do everything possible to ease his suffering, Wargrave put on a devastated façade, requesting that his diagnosis be kept a secret from both his friends and relatives.

In reality, however, Wargrave was not the least bit troubled or concerned by this development. In fact, it suited him perfectly. Wargrave had always known that in the event he actually managed to carry out a murder, he would be compelled to take his own life. To him, justice must always prevail, no matter how justified the crime. The knowledge that he was now dying anyway, just made it all the more easier. As Wargrave stated (in his confession letter) upon receiving the diagnosis, he had two choices. He could either carry out his life long dream and kill himself afterwards or give it all up and live longer, whilst suffering a long protracted death from his cancer. Unsurprisingly, Wargrave chose the first option.

Thus he left home, intending for the events on Soldier Island to be his last great spectacle. Wargrave would serve those people their long overdue justice and when it was all over, he would follow it up with a quick, relatively painless suicide, thereby granting himself a mercy killing.

The Ten Soldier Boys[]

Wargrave's plan worked. For various reason, each of his victims accepted their invitation and went unknowingly to their doom. Eight of them (including Wargrave himself) arrive at the Devon Coast, before travelling on the boat to the island. There, the group was greeted by the manservant and maid, Mr and Mrs. Rogers who had arrived months earlier under employment for Mr and Mrs Owen.

As they settled into their new accommodation, each of the guests found a copy of the Ten Little Soldier's nursery rhyme hanging on the wall of their room. Likewise, when they settled down to dinner, the center piece contained ten china figures, one to represent each soldier boy. The group enjoyed an elaborate dinner and were just settling down for after dinner drinks, when suddenly hidden gramophone played a recorded message. Instead of music, each person present was openly accused of murder.

The following is a list of all of the people mentioned in the gramophone's recording, as well as the crimes they are accused of. Although U.N. Owen judged them all to be guilty, he also took outside factors into consideration. Thus, he killed his victims in a particular order, with ever increasing levels of brutality. This way, his more innocent victims died not only early but in less stressful manners, whilst those of greater guilt were forced to endure hours and days of trauma.

Wargrave's Victims
Name Crime Soldier Boy
Anthony James Marston A dangerous driver, Marston ran over and killed two children, John and Lucy Combes, who were playing in the Cambridgeshire countryside at night. Hailing from a wealthy family, Marston's influential friends saved him from prosecution. Anthony himself feels no remorse for the incident as he lacks any kind of moral responsibility. He represents the first Soldier Boy because his crime was reckless rather than intentional.
Ethel Rogers The Soldier Island maid and Thomas Rogers' wife. She helped her husband to kill a former employer, Jennifer Brady, by withholding the elderly woman's heart medicine. Although haunted by the experience, she never the less helped to conceal their crime from the authorities. She represents the second Soldier Boy because Wargrave determined that Thomas was the true mastermind, who used Ethel as his unwilling accomplice.
John Gordon Macarthur A retired World War I General and former hero, MacArthur sent his friend, Arthur Richmond to his death after discovering that the latter was having an extra-marital affair with John's wife, Leslie. He did this by sending Richmond on a suicidal mission that was doomed to fail from the very beginning. He was chosen as the third Soldier Boy because, unlike most of Wargrave's other victims, MacArthur had demonstrated sincere remorse for his crime.
Thomas Rogers The Soldier Island butler and Ethel Rogers' husband. Killed a former employer, Jennifer Brady, by withholding her heart medicine, after learning that the old spinster had left a portion of her wealth to him and Ethel. He then covered up his crimes, by rushing off to fetch help in the middle of a storm, despite knowing full well it was too late. He forced his wife to be his accomplice and subsequently lie to the authorities. He represents the fourth Soldier Boy due to his greed and willingness to not only kill his employer but also force his wife, Ethel, into assisting him/keeping quiet.
Emily Brent An elderly spinster and devout Christian, Emily dismissed her maid, Beatrice Taylor, from her service after discovering that the younger woman was pregnant out of wedlock. After being disowned by her parents, which Emily may have played a role in, Beatrice committed suicide by throwing herself into the local river. Emily has never demonstrated any sense of remorse or guilt. She represents the fifth Soldier Boy due to her inability to show compassion, remorse or empathy for others.
Wargrave took on the role of the sixth Soldier Boy to make it look as if he too was on U.N. Owen's hit list. He used the case of Edward Seton as his alleged crime since some people still suspected that he had manipulated the jury into convicting Seton.
Edward Armstrong A Harley Street surgeon and recovering alcoholic, Edward caused the death of a patient, Lousie Cleese, by operating on her whilst drunk. He only escaped prosecution because the hospital management covered for him and the sister who helped him did not rat him out. He represents the seventh Soldier Boy because Wargrave found it particularly offensive that somebody who took a Hippocratic oath would willingly endanger their patient.
William Blore A corrupt police inspector turned private investigator, Blore provided false testimony, which saw an innocent man called James Landor, sentenced to life imprisonment for a crime he did not commit. Blore did this in the hopes of getting a promotion. Landor died in prison one year later. He represents the eighth Soldier Boy because Wargrave was furious that a man who swore to uphold the law and defend the innocent allowed a blameless party to suffer and die for his own benefit.
Philip Lombard A soldier of fortune, who travelled the globe, Lombard killed 21 members of an African tribe after they got lost in the forest. By his own admission, he stole all of their remaining food and supplies one night, before making his escape, thus leaving them all to die of starvation and dehydration. He represents the ninth Soldier Boy, not only due to the large number of victims but his complete lack of remorse.
Vera Claythorne A young sports mistress, who also takes on secretarial jobs, Vera is an ex-governess, who lost her job following the death of her charge Cyril Hamilton. Whilst on holiday with the Hamilton family, Vera allowed the young boy to swim out to sea, knowing that he would not survive due to his poor health and lack of strength. She did this so that Cyril's uncle, Hugo, who was Vera's lover, could inherit the family fortune and marry her. The plan backfired when Hugo realized what she had done and left her. She represents the tenth Soldier Boy, i.e. the one Wargrave wanted to suffer the most. This was probably due to her betraying so many people in a selfish bid to advance her own station, resulting in an innocent child's death.
In addition to the nine victims on Soldier Island, Wargrave also killed Isaac Morris, the shady man who helped him to purchase Soldier Island. Aside from using his skills to cover his client's tracks, Morris was a drug peddler, who had, unbeknownst to him, driven the daughter of a family Wargrave was acquainted with to suicide. Wargrave kept this association a secret from Morris. Then, once all of the necessary arrangements had been made, he killed the man with a poisoned tablet, claiming it was stomach medicine that would help the sickly man. Chronologically, Isaac Morris was the first person to die at U.N. Owen's hands. He also stands in for the sixth Soldier Boy.

The Murders[]

Just after the gramophone record plays, each of the guests acknowledged their awareness and association with the persons mentioned in the recording. However, most of them deny any wrongdoing or fault in the death of the alleged victims, including Wargrave. Miss Brent says nothing, but Philip Lombard and Anthony Marston both freely admit that they are guilty, whilst also making it clear that they feel no remorse for what they have done. In the aftermath, Justice Wargrave seems to take automatic control, leading the group with his thoughts. Secretly, however, he analyzed each of his "co-accused" reactions. As a result of his long experience in dealing with the law, Wargrave knew immediately, with absolute certainty, that each and every one of them was guilty. With this clarification in mind, the Judge began to enact his plan!

First to die is Anthony Marston, whose drink is later found to be laced with cyanide (one choked his little self). That night, Thomas Rogers notices that one soldier figurine is missing from the dining table. The next morning, Mrs. Rogers fails to wake up and is assumed to have received a fatal overdose of sleeping draught (one overslept himself). At lunchtime, General MacArthur, who had predicted that he and the others would never leave the island alive, is found dead from a blow to the back of his head when Dr. Armstrong calls him to lunch (one said he'd stay there).

In growing panic, the survivors search the island for the murderer or possible hiding places, but find nothing. Lawrence Wargrave establishes himself as the decisive leader of the group. As storm clouds gather overhead, Wargrave "chances upon" an unsettling discovery. He asserts that U.N. Owen is an alias, an acronym for unknown and concludes that the killer, who is playing a sadistic game, is in fact one of them. This revelation only serves to make the already uneasy atmosphere even more tense.

The next morning, Mr. Rogers is attending to his duties and the guests notice that one of the little soldier figurines is also missing. Thomas Rogers is soon found, dead in the woodshed, having been struck in the head with a large axe (one chopped himself in halves). Later that day, while the others are in the drawing room, Emily Brent stays in the dining room and she dies from an injection of potassium cyanide—the injection mark on her neck is an allusion to a bee sting (a bumblebee stung one). The hypodermic needle is found outside, thrown from the window along with a smashed china soldier figurine.

The five survivors—Dr. Armstrong, Justice Wargrave, Philip Lombard, Vera Claythorne, and Ex-Inspector Blore—become increasingly frightened. In a bid to "put everyone at ease", Wargrave declares that anything on the island that can be used as a weapon should be locked away. This includes Wargrave's own sleeping pills and Dr. Armstrong's medical equipment. It is here that Lombard admits to bringing a revolver to the island, but more importantly it has gone missing.

The group decide to sit in the drawing room, with only one leaving at any one time. Theoretically, this should mean that they are all safe. Vera goes up to her room and discovers a strand of seaweed planted there. Her screams attract the attention of Blore, Lombard, and Armstrong, who rush to her aid ... however Wargave is not with them. Returning to the drawing room, they find Wargrave lying slumped in his chair. He has been dressed in a crudely mad judge's wig and gown, the former made from a ball of wool that had gone missing from Ms. Brent's knitting basket. Armstrong confirms his death, stating that Wargrave was killed by a single gunshot wound to the forehead (one got into Chancery).

That night, Blore hears someone sneaking out of the house. He and Lombard search the remaining rooms and discover that Dr. Armstrong is missing. Concluding that he must be the killer, they stay up and search for him throughout the night but are unable to find him. Afterwards, Vera, Blore, and Lombard, whose revolver has been mysteriously returned to him, decide that it is best to go outside when morning arrives. They plan to stick together from that point onwards, so that the killer cannot target them. Unfortunately, when Blore's hunger gets the best of him, he goes back to the house by his lonesome and does not return. When Vera and Phillip search for him, they discover Blore's body on the front lawn, his head crushed by Vera's marble, bear-shaped clock (a big bear hugged one).

The pair assume that Armstrong has committed the murder and leave to walk along the shore. There they find Armstrong's drowned body along the cliffs (a red herring swallowed one). Realizing that he has been dead for some time, the pair realize that they are the only two people left on Soldier island. Even though neither could possibly have killed the Inspector, their mutual suspicion has driven them to the breaking point and each of them assumes the other to be the murderer. As such, when they lift Armstrong's body out of reach of the water, Vera swipes Lombard's revolver and shoots him dead on the beach (out in the sun).

"Victorious" and thinking that she is now safe, Vera returns to her room. In her state, she momentarily thinking the last rhyme of the poem was 'Got married and then there was none' because of her need for Hugo. Upon entering the room however, Claythorne finds a noose hanging suggestively from the ceiling above her and a chair underneath it. Having been driven mad (or "hypnotically suggestible") by her experience, Vera hangs herself, kicking the chair out from under herself and fulfilling the final verse of the rhyme (hanged himself and then there were none).

Confession and Epilogue[]

The epilogue of the book consists of a conversation between Inspector Maine, the man in charge of the unsolved case and the Assistant Commissioner at Scotland Yard. Maine points out that the investigation is at a dead end for several reasons.

  • Isaac Morris, the shady dealer known for efficiently covering his tracks made all the arrangements for U.N. Owen's purchase of the island. However, he cannot tell them anything because he died of a drug overdose the day the party set sail.
  • Secondly, during the period when the killings took place and immediately after, nobody could have got on or off the island due to poor weather, ruling out the possibility that "Mr. Owen" was some unidentified person who committed the murders while evading detection from the guests.
  • Whilst the police have concluded from forensic evidence and the various characters' diaries that Armstrong, Blore, Lombard, and Vera were definitely the last to die (in that order), evidence from the scene shows that none of them could have been "U.N. Owen".
    • Blore could not have been the last to die, The clock was dropped onto him from above and there was no way for him to set it up in such a way for it would later fall on him. Plus, the investigators both know that Blore was corrupt. He was therefore not likely to have worked in the name of justice, let alone kill himself in such a brutal manner.
    • Likewise, Dr. Armstrong could not have been the killer. His body was found to have been dragged above the high-tide mark and neatly laid out by somebody else.
    • For similiar reasons, it could not have been Philip Lombard. He was found shot on the beach, but the revolver that killed him was recovered inside the house, outside Wargrave's room.
    • This leaves Vera Claythorne. Her fingerprints are on Lombard's pistol and it was from her window that the clock was dropped onto Blore. However, the chair that she had kicked away upon hanging herself was found (drenched in seaweed) propped up against the wall, out of reach from where she would have had to stand on it.

In the end, although one of the guests must have been the killer, none of them could have been, leaving the two inspectors baffled. Oddly nobody notices the rhyme hanging in each of the guest's bedroom

Days later, a fishing trawler, the Emma Jane, finds a letter in a bottle floating just off the Devon coast and sends it to Scotland Yard, who recognize it as a confession letter penned by the late Justice Wargrave. In his narrative, Wargrave gives a detailed account about his sociopathy, why he became a judge and of the joy he felt in condemning guilty people through the death penalty. He then explains how he set up the events on Soldier Island and how through careful study he acquired his victims. The account reveals how he reveled in the mental torture each survivor experienced as their own fate approached.

The letter also explains what happened to Dr Armstrong, as well as how Wargrave met his own end. After disposing of the first five guests, Wargrave persuaded Armstrong to help him fake Wargrave's own death, under the pretext that it would rattle the "real murderer" and allow Wargrave to search for new evidence as to this persons identity. Armstrong later sneaked out of the house in the middle of the night in order to meet with Wargrave. Meeting him by the cliff edge, Wargrave pretended to spot something then pushed the doctor into the sea, enabling him to orchestrate the rest of the killings without suspicion.

Going back to the house, Wargrave returned Lombard's revolver and waited. When the final victim, Vera, hanged herself, Wargrave secretly watched from the bedroom closet. Afterwards, he replaced the chair, before writing out his confession. Once it was complete, Wargrave placed the letter in a bottle and cast it into the sea, leaving it up to chance whether or not it would be discovered. Wargrave finishes his letter by stating that he plans to shoot himself, but that he craves posthumous recognition of his brilliant scheme. He argues that even if his letter is not found, there are a few clues that should help to point to him as the killer:

  1. Wargrave was the only guest who did not wrongfully cause the death of another person before coming to the island. The police will know that Edward Seton was guilty. Therefore, paradoxically Wargrave is the unknown killer.
  2. The "red herring" line in the poem suggests that Armstrong was tricked into his death. Logically, the respectable Justice Wargrave is the only one of the remaining house guests in whom Armstrong would have been likely to confide.
  3. Once Wargrave shoots himself, the bullet will leave a red mark in his forehead similar to the mark of Cain, the first murderer described in the Biblical Old Testament.
  4. The location of Vera's chair would indicate that somebody else was alive after her death. If so, then who amongst the guests would have the craftiness to fake their deaths.

As to his own demise, Wargrave will loop an elastic cord through the gun, before tying one end of the cord to his eyeglasses. The other end will be looped around the doorknob of his open bedroom door. Wargrave, once again dressed up as a judge, will then sit on the bed so that, after shooting himself, his body will seem as if he had been lying there all along. To prevent himself from giving the game away, he will pull the trigger with a handkerchief wrapped round the gun so as not to leave any fingerprints. Once this is done, the recoil will snap the gun towards the doorknob. The gun will strike the doorknob, detaching the elastic, which will snap back (closing the door in the process) and lie dangling innocuously from his eyeglasses. The gun will be found in the corridor outside the closed door and a dead body on the bed. Thus the police will find ten dead bodies and an unsolvable mystery on Soldier Island.

The 1945 Film[]

In the film version, titled 'And Then There Were None,' Wargrave is changed considerably. He is renamed Francis J. Quincannon, an Irish judge, and played by Irish actor Barry Fitzgerald. Instead of tricking Vera Claythorne into hanging herself, he reveals that he is alive to her at the end, and urges her to do it rather than be accused of the other murders, as he is about to take cyanide and kill himself. Unknown to him, Claythorne and Lombard have guessed his involvement, and Lombard has faked his death. Lombard walks in to join Claythorne as he finishes his confession. The Judge dies a moment later muttering 'Never trust a woman.'.

2015 Mini-Series[]

Vera: No. No! You don't mean any of this. You are a good man. Moral.
Wargrave: Moral? (
he thinks for a moment) Maybe there's something in that. There are differences between Seton and myself. All his victims were innocent. You are all guilty.
~ Wargrave and Vera, shortly before their deaths. And Then There Were None, BBC Miniseries, Ep 3.

The mini-series, is arguably Wargrave's most accurate portrayal to date. His role across the three episodes is largely unchanged when compared to his novel counterpart, with only a few deviations from the original source material:

  • Greater emphasis is put upon the death of Edward Seton. This was done so that when Wargrave reveals himself to be U.N. Owen, he simultaneously reveals that Seton had figured out that the Judge was, to uses Wargrave's own words, "a kindred spirit".
  • This version of Wargrave seems to be more interested in creating an unsolvable mystery than being remembered as the killer. Shortly before his death, he gloatingly refers to himself as "the unimpeachable judge".
  • Wargrave does not write out a confession letter. Instead he has a final conversation with Vera Claythorne, in which he admits to his guilt.

The biggest deviation to the book, however, was the manner of Wargrave's death. In the show, Wargrave revealed himself just as Vera is about to hang herself. The shock caused Vera to lose her balance and accidently knock over the chair. Ignoring her predicament, Wargrave casually sits across from Vera and revealed how he faked his death with Armstrong's help (using liver and kidneys), that he is dying and is a secret psychopath. He then gloatingly informs her about how they will both soon be dead and that when the police arrive, they will find an unsolvable mystery.

Spotting a chink in his armour, Vera informs Wargrave that she emptied the gun when she killed Lombard. She then offers to cover up his crime, stating that they can blame it all upon Lombard. Wargrave lets her think that she has him beaten for a few moments, but after letting Vera believe that he is going to help her, proceeds to swipe the chair out from under her feet, causing Vera to slowly choke to death. Placing the chair against the wall, Wargrave stops in the doorway and reveals that self preservation was the last thing on his mind. He had in fact taken a bullet out of the gun, the bullet that was supposedly used to kill him.

Picking up the revolver Vera had dropped, Wargrave went downstairs to the dining room. There he set up an elaborate, but much more simpler form of suicide. He pours two glasses of wine, one for himself, one for "somebody else", closes the door and opens the window. This will make it look as though Wargrave survived the original attempt on his life, but was subsequently captured by Mr. Owen, who forced him at gunpoint to pour the drinks, close the door and open the window, which he used to make his escape once the deed was done.

With everything set, Wargrave sits down and loads the last remaining bullet into the gun, using a napkin to wipe his fingerprints off of the weapon. After a final drink and a triumphant look at the statues of the soldier boys, Wargrave shoots himself through the chin, using his death throw to launch the pistol across the table to the other side. Thus, to the authorities, it will look as if Wargrave had a final conversation and drink with U.N. Owen, who then marched over, shot the judge at close range, dropped the gun back down on the table and fled.

The series ends here and we do not see what happens afterwards. This implies that Wargrave's plan succeeded and the Judge's villainy was never realised.

Trivia[]

  • Although not as malevolent as some of Agatha Christie's other antagonists, Lawrence Wargrave is easily the darkest character she ever created. Through murder, manipulation and suicide, Wargrave holds the largest onscreen body count (direct or indirect) amongst any of the murderers in Agatha Christie's novels with a total of eleven people, including himself.
    • He is also one of the very few Agatha Christie villains to not only get away with his crime, but succeed in his objective.
  • Fans have questioned why Wargrave chose to confront Vera in the BBC Mini-Series, rather than just let her hang herself like he did in the book. The most widely accepted theory is that Wargrave needed to confirm that she was guilty of her crime, since Vera's was the only one to have any reasonable doubt behind it. This is demonstrated by the fact that Wargrave only acted out after Vera (in her desperate state) admitted that she did kill Cyril intentionally.
  • Wargrave's quote in the mini-series about "with great power comes great responsibility" is a reference to the Marvel Comics superhero Spider-Man.

External Links[]

Navigation[]

     
Agatha Christie's signature Villains
(Non-Poirot & Non-Marple)

Tommy and Tuppence Beresford
Conspiracy (Mr. Brown, Mr. Brown's decoy & Mr. Whittington) | Elise | Miss Bligh | Mrs. Lancaster | N & M | Russian spies (Captain Harker, Charles Bauer, Duke of Blairgowrie, Dymchurch & Number 16) | Sir Arthur Merivale | Sir Phillip Stark

And Then There Were None
Anthony James Marston | Mrs. Ethel Rogers | General John Gordon Macarthur | Mr. Thomas Rogers | Emily Caroline Brent | Justice Lawrence John Wargrave | Dr. Edward George Armstrong | William Henry Blore | Philip Lombard | Vera Elizabeth Claythorne | Isaac Morris | Edward Seton

Other Mystery Stories
The Wife of the Kenite (1923): Conrad Schaefer
The Red Signal (1924): Jack Trent
The Mystery of the Blue Jar (1924): Ambrose Lavington | Felise Marchaud
The Man in the Brown Suit (1924): Sir Eustace Pedler
The Witness for the Prosecution (1925): Leonard Vole | Romaine Heilger
The Fourth Man (1925): Annette Ravel
S.O.S. (1926): Mr. Dinsmead
Wireless (1926): Charles Ridgeway
The Last Séance (1927): Madame Exe
The Sittaford Mystery (1931): Major Burnaby
The Hound of Death (1933): Dr. Rose
The Strange Case of Arthur Carmichael (1933): Lady Carmichael
Philomel Cottage (1934): Charles Lemaitre
Why Didn't They Ask Evans? (1934): Roger Bassington-ffrench | Moira Nicholson
Murder is Easy (1939): Honoria Waynflete
Death Comes as the End (1944): Yahmose | Nofret | Satipy | Sobek | Ipy | Henet
Towards Zero (1944): Nevile Strange
Sparkling Cyanide (1945): Ruth Lessing
Crooked House (1949): Josephine Leonides
The Mousetrap (1952): TOP SECRET | Maureen Lyon | Mrs. Boyle
Destination Unknown (1954): Thomas Betterton
Ordeal by Innocence (1958): Jacko Argyle | Kirsten Lindholm | Rachel Argyle
The Pale Horse (1961): Zachariah Osborne
Endless Night (1967): Michael Rogers | Greta Andersen

Adaptational, Homage & Non-Canonical
Ordeal by Innocence (2018): Bellamy Gould | Leo Argyll
Other Adaptations: Leonard Waynflete

Advertisement