| We say that the hour of death cannot be forecast. But when we say this, we imagine that the hour is placed in an obscure and distant future. It never occurs to us that it has any connection with the day already begun, or that Death could arrive this same afternoon - this afternoon which is so certain, and which has every hour filled in advance.
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Tod Waggner is a main character in Final Destination. He is a Mt. Abraham High School student and a survivor of the Volée Airlines Flight 180 explosion. He is also best friends with Alex Browning.
Biography
Tod was born and lives in Mt. Abraham, New York, with his parents, Jerry and Linda Waggner, and older brother, George. He and George have been friends with Alex since childhood, and have also been his classmates since then. He was shown to be gullible and barely phlegmatic. Tod attends Mt. Abraham High School and was one of the students qualified for the school's annual field trip to Paris.
Final Destination
Tod on the plane.
Tod, along with George and Alex, is driven to John F. Kennedy Airport by Jerry. Jerry gives George some money as a surprise, and he doesn't share it with Tod, which sparks a small fight that's quickly broken up by Valerie Lewton. Later, Tod asks Alex if he could go with him to the restroom. Alex asks him why, and he tells him about his plan to hook up with Christa Marsh and Blake Dreyer on the plane. Alex agrees, and they go to the bathroom, where Alex hears Rocky Mountain High playing on the speakers. Later, Tod boards Flight 180 with Alex and pushes him along several times, because Alex repeatedly stops after having a feeling that something bad was going to happen. He stares at Alex in anger when he sits next to him, because now he can't initiate his plan with the girls. After Alex has a premonition that the plane will explode, and causes a fight that gets him and a few others kicked off, George instructs Tod to go check on him, and Tod witnesses the plane explode shortly afterwards. After the fight between Alex and Carter Horton, Agents Weine and Schreck interrogate the survivors. Tod nearly cries when he realizes George died. Then his parents come and pick him up. The Waggners blame Alex for George's death, and Tod's friendship with Alex becomes distant.
Tod with Alex at the memorial.
A month after the incident, he gives a farewell speech at the memorial service for the Flight 180 victims, where he also makes plans to go on a trip with Alex after his father has gotten over George's death.
Tod is the first survivor of Flight 180 to die.
Death
Tod, trying to free himself
Later that night, while Tod is in his bathroom, his toilet leaks. When he finishes, the water flows across the floor and almost makes him slip several times. While Tod takes the clothes off a clothesline over the bathtub, he slips on the puddle from the toilet leak, causing him to fall forward and rip the clothesline from the wall, which coils around his neck. He tries to regain his balance, but he knocks over some shampoo and conditioner, and he tumbles into the tub.
Tod, shortly after his death.
Tod struggles to get up due to the shampoo and conditioner spilling into the tub as the wire begins to tighten around his neck and slowly begins to suffocate him. He desperately attempts to reach for a pair of scissors on top of the sink. When he is unable to reach them, Tod attempts to untie the wire but dies from asphyxiation soon after. After his body goes limp, the water slides back across the floor and under the toilet, covering Death's tracks.
When his death is ruled a suicide, the Waggners blame Alex, believing that Tod killed himself because of his guilt over George's death.
Tod Waggner Death Scene - Final Destination (Premonição) HD
Signs/Clues
- A skeleton figurine hanging in a noose is among the toys scattered around Alex's room.
- Tod mentions that Death could come for anyone at any moment during his speech at the Flight 180 memorial.
- While Tod is in the bathroom, a gust of wind breezes through the window and brushes past him.
- When Tod plugs in his radio, the song that plays is "Rocky Mountain High" by John Denver, who died in a plane crash.
- Tod sees a rippling shadow in his bathroom mirror.
- While Alex is sitting in his bedroom reading a porn magazine, an owl lands on a tree branch outside the window. In many cultures, owls are viewed as omens of death.
- On the plane, Tod performs a gesture saying he'd kill himself if Alex changed seats with Blake and Christa; specifically, he makes a cutting and hanging gesture on his neck. He cuts himself on his neck while shaving and is strangled by the clothesline.
- Right before Tod's death, Alex picks up a shred of a magazine that reads "Tod".
- Ironically, Tod's name is German for Death.
- During his strangulation, Tod looks out into the bathroom and notices the dolls on the shelf seem to be smiling, as though they're pleased at the fact that he's dying.
- Tod died at 10:39 PM, 39 days after the crash of Flight 180.
- In Alex's premonition, Tod is knocked out by a radio before he dies. Tod uses a radio similar to the one in Alex's vision.
Final Destination 2
| About a year ago, my mom and I were at the mall. I was supposed to meet her outside, but I got caught up watching this news report about some kid that committed suicide. I kept thinking, "How can you strangle yourself in the bathtub? That's... That's stupid." I don't know, it felt wrong. And yet... I heard, um, some gunshots and I ran outside. Some kids were trying to steal my mom's car. She tried to fight them off, she was a fighter, and they killed her. After the funeral, I kept thinking that it should have been me. I guess everyone must think that but I guess I was right.
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Tod was mentioned in Final Destination 2 by Kimberly Corman, a survivor of the Route 23 pileup. She reveals that one day she went to a mall with her mother and was following her to the parking lot, but got distracted by a news report on Tod's death. Meanwhile, her mother was shot by thugs who attempted to steal her car, and had Kimberly stayed with her, she most likely would've been killed as well.
Final Destination 5
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Oh Excuse me, Um... Those passengers who got off the plane earlier, What was that all about? Passenger, explaining to the Flight Attendant. A kid had a panic attack and wanted off the plane. Said he had some kind of vision. Flight Attendant, in reply. |
Tod is seen in the events of Final Destination 5.
Tod is seen briefly in Final Destination 5 being kicked off Flight 180.
Appearances
- Final Destination (portrayed by Chad Donella)
- Final Destination (novel)
- Final Destination 2 (in a photo) (portrayed by Chad Donella)
- Final Destination 2 (novel) (in a photo)
- The Final Destination (opening credits) (CGI image, not actor)
- Final Destination 5 (archive footage) (portrayed by Chad Donella)
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Tod's strangulation in the skeletal version credits of The Final Destination.
Trivia
- Tod is the first survivor of the series to die in terms of theatrical release.
- Tod's death is among those showcased in a montage shown at the beginning of The Final Destination.
- Tod's death is referenced in the opening of Final Destination 5 by showing a pair of scissors breaking through the screen.
- Prior to the release of Final Destination 5, Tod was, chronologically, the first survivor to die in the entire series. After that point, however, Candice Hooper now holds this title. However, Tod will forever be the first survivor to die in the entire series theatrically.
- His death is the only one in the franchise when Death tries to cover the tracks after its intervention.
- His death is the only one in the franchise that is considered a suicide, due to the water cleaning up its tracks (although it probably changed after the report of the pathologist).
- Tod's name means "Death" in German.