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| “ | I think of it as a bucket of piss to drown rats in. That's all. Anybody doesn't like it? Hmm? You can kiss my ass. | „ |
| ~ Percy expressing his sadistic nature |
| “ | Well, I might just stick around for good, make me a career of this... boss. | „ |
| ~ Percy making his proposal of leading Del's execution |
Officer Percy Wetmore is the secondary antagonist of the 1996 novel The Green Mile by Stephen King and its film adaptation.
He is a corrupt prison guard from the Cold Mountain Penitentiary who enjoys in witnessing several of its inmates in enduring their punishments, especially via death penalty. He could also not be seriously challenged by others, even his fellow prison workers, out of nepotism. Despite his brutality, he is also shown to be a coward, as proven whenever someone else like William "Wild Bill" Wharton threatens him.
He was portrayed by Doug Hutchison, who also portrayed Pete Willard in A Time to Kill, Eugene Tooms in The X-Files, Humphrey Becker in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and James Russoti in Punisher: War Zone.
Biography
Percy is a sadistic prison guard who enjoys aggravating the prisoners, particularly Eduard "Del" Delacroix. Although the other guards share a dislike of him, they have to be nice towards him because he is the governor's nephew. When a mouse makes its appearance shortly after John Coffey's arrival, Percy Wetmore meets the mouse and wants to stomp on it (the mouse still managed to escape its dangerous enemy). Later, a new prisoner, Wild Bill, proves particularly dangerous by slyly pouncing on Dean Stanton to strangle him. While Percy could overpower William Wharton, he does nothing, obviously paralyzed by his cowardice.
One day, Wild Bill grabs Percy, taking advantage of his passing too close to the bars of his cell, and threatens him with rape. Percy is so afraid that he wets his pants under the stunned gaze of his colleagues. Paul intervenes to protect Percy. Percy then threatens to have them all fired thanks to his connections, if they spread the news, to which Paul assures him they won’t tell anyone. Percy takes advantage of another day to stomp on the mouse named Mr. Jingles by Delacroix. But John revives the animal, demonstrating his supernatural powers a second time. When he is offered a job as a secretary at Briar Ridge Mental Hospital, Paul Edgecomb, the main character, thinks that they finally don't have to deal with Percy anymore. However, Percy refuses to leave unless he is allowed to supervise an execution, so Paul reluctantly allows him to run Del's. Percy sabotages the execution by deliberately not soaking the sponge before putting it on Del's head while Del is in the electric chair. Del suffers an agonizing death by literally frying in the chair (John Coffey feels the pain too). Percy is pushed to go to his new post as soon as possible, with a punch in the face by Brutal, Paul's fellow colleague, shortly after Delacroix's execution.
When Paul and the other guards plan to take John Coffey, the other main character who heals people by sucking diseases out of them and regurgitating them, to the warden's cancerous wife, they put Percy in a straitjacket, tape his mouth shut and lock him in the block padded cell (both to keep him out of the way and as punishment for sabotaging Del's execution). After returning, John Coffey grabs Percy through his cell bars. Despite the guards trying to stop him in spite of their contempt for Percy, John Coffey regurgitates the disease he takes from Melinda Moores and the bladder infection from Paul into Percy. Being controlled by John Coffey and/or willingly out of disgust for Wild Bill’s crimes, Percy proceeds to shoot Wild Bill to death before going into a permanent catatonic state. He is then committed to Briar Ridge Mental Hospital not as an employee, as expected after Del's execution, but as a patient, ultimately being punished for his sadistic actions. In the book, it is mentioned that he later died. In the movie, however, his later fate is never revealed.
Personality
Percy is a sleazy, seedy, and sadistic prison guard who enjoys seeing death row inmates get executed via electric chair. As the nephew of Louisiana's governor, Percy is very conceited about his position, and thinks himself as superior to his colleagues. Unlike the other guards, Percy is abusive of his power and has nothing redeeming about him. He relishes in tormenting inmates, specifically Eduard "Del" Delacroix, and wishes to cause them the greatest amount of agony before their deaths.
Percy is shown to be petty, narrow-minded, and spiteful. This is demonstrated when he causes turmoil by attempting to chase a field mouse that would eventually become Del's pet mouse Mr. Jingles. This is further evident when Del makes fun of him for wetting his pants (considering that Percy had continually tormented him before by breaking his fingers, stepping on his pet mouse, and causing him to slip and fall), to which Percy deliberately botches Del's execution to ensure he suffers an extremely painful end.
In spite of this, Percy is also extremely craven. As aforementioned, he cried and wet his pants after Wild Bill had groped him, showing his cowardly nature despite his perceived authority over the inmates. Also, when Percy sabotages Del's execution, it becomes so terrifying that even Percy becomes horrified at the sight of Del burning alive (though he ultimately shows no remorse).
Also, despite taking pride in his position, Percy does not seem to hold any genuine interest in being a prison guard. It is implied that Percy is disinterested in spearheading executions when being taught to do so, given that the sole reason why he wanted to do it was to get revenge on Del. Percy also enjoys reading pornographic comics instead of patrolling the inmates, further proving that he wants to be a prison guard merely to satiate his sadism. Although, he was crying before he shot Wild Bill to death, implying John showed him Wild Bill’s crimes and Percy killed him out of disgust for it.
Quotes
| “ | Dead man! Dead man walking! We got a dead man walking, here! | „ |
| ~ Percy's first words while bringing John Coffey into the mile |
| “ | I wiped that grin off your s...poke face, didn't l? | „ |
| ~ Percy after breaking three of Del's fingers |
| “ | Percy: AAAAAAHH!! (*throws his nightstick at mouse*) Goddamn! Aargh, you little scurvy! Harry: Percy, are you crazy, you little son of a b....? Percy! Percy: I'm gonna kill you! (*throws trash can to the floor*) Harry: Percy! Percy: You little vermin! I'm gonna stomp your life out! Del: It's just a little mouse, dumb merde! Percy: You ugly little piece of sh- (*mouse runs under door*) Harry: Are you listening to me? Percy: F-CK! Harry: Percy! Percy: (*while grabbing keys to the padded room*) I'm gonna rip your diseased head off, you little piece of s..t! |
„ |
| ~ Percy chasing a mouse |
| “ | Adios, chief. Drop us a card from Hell. Let us know if it's hot enough. | „ |
| ~ Percy mocking Arlen Bitterbuck's corpse |
| “ | Percy: Well, that's just aces. Isn't that something? You done good, old-timer! We're happy for you! Yeah, we are. (*Percy laughs, while Del stares at him dubiously. Afterwards, Del laughs along with Percy*) Boo! (*Del slips and falls*) Brute: Percy, you s..t! (*helps Del up*) Del, get up! Percy: Del, you numb-wit! I didn't mean nothing bad, I was just playing! Come on now, I was just having- (*gets grabbed by Wild Bill*) Aah, aaah, aah! |
„ |
| ~ Percy deliberately causing Del to slip and fall shortly before he gets groped by Wild Bill |
| “ | Yeah. You keep laughing, you French-fried ******! You just keep on laughing! | „ |
| ~ Percy after Del mocks him for wetting his pants |
| “ | Del: Don't forgot about Mouseville. Percy: Hey. There's no such place. That's just a fairytale these guys told you to keep you quiet. Just thought you should know... ******. |
„ |
| ~ Percy confronting Del during his execution |
| “ | I didn't know the sponge was supposed to be wet. | „ |
| ~ Percy claiming he "forgot" to wet the sponge as an attempt to get away with sabotaging Del's execution |
| “ | Percy: Please, Paul. Please don't put me in with Wild Bill. Please don't. Paul: You would think that. (*guards drag Percy to the padded room*) Percy: No, no, no, you can't do this to me! You can't do this to me! (*Brute stuffs a cloth inside Percy's mouth*) You can't! |
„ |
| ~ Percy begging the guards not to lock him in the padded room |
| “ | Paul: Think it over, Percy. Percy: Oh, I intend to. I intend to think it over very hard. Starting right now. |
„ |
| ~ Percy's last words before John Coffey disgorges Paul's bladder infection and Melinda's brain tumor into him |
Trivia
- He can be seen as the opposite of Paul Edgecomb, as both men are prison guards who were looking after prisoners in the from the Cold Mountain Penitentiary and see who is deemed worthy of punishment. The main difference between them, however, is that while Paul is handling his job carefully and professionally, Percy instead uses such position of his for him to enjoy in seeing prisoners get punished. Also, Paul can connect with prisoners when needed, while Percy has no such ability in doing so out of his sadism.
- While he does get pleased in seeing prisoners get their punishments, ironically, when he shot Will Bill to death, Percy himself never really got to enjoy it.
