Snowpiercer

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Revision as of 16:36, 9 December 2022 by >Thossadharm (→‎Engineering Department)
This article is about Snowpiercer in the TV Series. You may be looking for Snowpiercer from the Movie.
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Snowpiercer is a large train manufactured and run by Wilford Industries. It continually circles the globe with the remains of human civilization following the global freezing extinction event several years prior.

The train is comprised of "classes" towards the front of the train, with those without tickets at the back of the train — these are known as "Tailies".

In the TNT television series, the train is initially one-thousand-one carriages long and has been in operation for seven years.[1] As of the episode The Original Sinners, Snowpiercer has lost over 12 cars. 7 during the First Snowpiercer War, the Aquarium Car during the Season 2 finale, 4 during the events of The First Blow and part of Ag-Sec during the events of The Original Sinners.

History

Originally a one-thousand-and-one carriage train, Snowpiercer was envisioned by Joseph Wilford as a luxury train, taking passengers around the world in style, the Wilford Industries Global Express. This earned the train the nickname "Wilford's Dreamliner". When scientists tried to cool down the Earth to reverse global warming, Mr. Wilford foresaw that they will instead freeze Earth completely. He then converted Snowpiercer into a 1001-cars-long Ark, which is destined to continually circle the originally exotic railway around the Earth.

Snowpiercer departs Chicago.

However, according to Melanie Cavill, one of the engineers who designed Snowpiercer, the truth is she built the Engine and the train while Mr. Wilford was a fraud who "sold tickets." Mr. Wilford's true intention in building Snowpiercer was not to save humanity but to spend his remaining days in luxury. As a result, Melanie abandoned Mr. Wilford to die at boarding in Chicago while she assumed his identity to maintain order on the train.

"Around and around the Earth we circle. We can never stop."

Snowpiercer circles the globe 2.7 times a year, and every "revolution" is about 133 days. 6 years and 10 months after it left Chicago, Snowpiercer already made 18 revolutions and was about to begin its 19th in episode 994 Cars Long.

Its track length is 318,000 km, much more than the circumference of the Earth, as it travels across every continent, originally conceived as a tourist train that would visit hundreds of cities around the world.

According to the intro, Snowpiercer would visit, among other cities:

Wilford Industries Global Express map.
  • Day 001 - Chicago, Illinois
  • Day 002 - Montreal, Québec
  • Day 005 - Iqaluit, Nunavut
  • Day 024 - Moscow, Russia
  • Day 025 - Minsk, Belarus
  • Day 026 - Berlin, Germany
  • Day 027 - Paris, France
  • Day 028 - Monaco City, Monaco
  • Day 030 - Madrid, Spain
  • Day 031 - Rabat, Morocco
  • Day 035 - Abuja, Nigeria
  • Day 039 - Cape Town, South Africa
  • Day 041 - Johannesburg, South Africa
  • Day 044 - Nairobi, Kenya
  • Day 048 - Jerusalem, Palestine
  • Day 050 - Tehran, Iran
  • Day 051 - Mashhad, Iran
  • Day 052 - Islamabad, Pakistan
  • Day 053 - New Dehli, India
  • Day 055 - Kathmandu, Nepal
  • Day 057 - Dhaka, Bangladesh
  • Day 058 - Mandalay, Birmania
  • Day 059 - Bangkok, Thailand
  • Day 060 - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  • Day 061 - Singapore, Singapore
  • Day 063 - Jakarta, Indonesia
  • Day 067 - Darwin, Australia
  • Day 069 - Perth, Australia
  • Day 070 - Adelaide, Australia
  • Day 071 - Melbourne, Australia
  • Day 072 - Sydney, Australia
  • Day 073 - Brisbane, Australia
  • Day 075 - Darwin, Australia
  • Day 079 - Jakarta, Indonesia
  • Day 080 - Singapore, Singapore
  • Day 081 - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  • Day 082 - Bangkok, Thailand
  • Day 083 - Hanoi, Vietnam
  • Day 085 - Beijing, China
  • Day 093 - Wales, Alaska
  • Day 094 - Anchorage, Alaska
  • Day 096 - Vancouver, British Columbia
  • Day 100 - Mexico City, Mexico
  • Day 101 - Guatemala City, Guatemala
  • Day 102 - San Jose, Costa Rica
  • Day 103 - Panama City, Panama
  • Day 104 - Bogota, Colombia
  • Day XXX - La Paz, Bolivia
  • Day XXX - Buenos Aires, Argentina
  • Day XXX - Brasilia, Brasil
  • Day 127 - Panama City, Panama
  • Day 128 - San Jose, Costa Rica
  • Day 129 - Guatemala City, Guatemala
  • Day 130 - Houston, Texas
  • Day 131 - Atlanta, Georgia
  • Day 132 - Washington, D.C.,
  • Day 132 - Indianapolis, Indiana
  • Day 133 - Chicago, Illinois


Season 1

When the first season begins, the train just left Alaska and entered the mountainous region of the Yukon Territory in former Canada, moving south along the western coast of North America. This stretch of tracks becomes more and more unstable after each revolution, with avalanches occurring as the train approaches. A few days later, after crossing the Rocky Mountains, the train is seen zooming through the Grand Canyon in Arizona towards former Mexico. After her climbing the Sierra Madre, the train crossed Central America and the Andes mountains before reaching the frozen rainforests of the Amazon on her way back to Northern America at the end of her revolution.

Season 2

In season two, Snowpiercer/Big Alice heads west across the test track, over the Rocky Mountains called Neckbreaker, back on to the Main line, heads west to the Himalaya roundabout, turns around, heads east and back over Neckbreaker, creates the Pirate train and then the Pirate train heads west over Neckbreaker (after first stoping at the Breslauer Weather Station).

Season 3

In season three, Snowpiercer/Big Alice is in Northeast China, while the Pirate train is in North Korea. The pirate train then reconnects to Snowpiercer/Big Alice in a Rail yard, in China and heads west, to Southeast Asia, near Thailand, moving 3 cars from Big Alice out of the way, bypassing the Oceania Loop, to the Ottoman Spur, through a volcanic cloud and north to Hungary, to pick up Melanie Cavill, around the Black Sea, to Cairo, Egypt, drops Wilford off and then Big Alice with some of Ag-Sec, separates and heads for the Horn of Africa, while Snowpiercer stays on the main line.

Timeline of Major Events

Conflicts, particularly rebellions, were a common occurrence aboard Snowpiercer due to the drastic difference in treatment from that of Third Class and the Tailies.

Year Two Rebellion

The Year Two Rebellion occurred two years after Snowpiercer departed Chicago. According to Pike, the Jackboots managed to lock the rebels out of the rest of the subtrain, but the rebels were able to compromise the door hinges (locks) and managed to open them. While stopping Wilford's EMP weapon, Pike, Lights and Strong Boy were able to use this to throw it off of the train.

Year Three Rebellion

The Year Three Rebellion occurred three years after Snowpiercer departed Chicago. According to Andre Layton, the Tailies fought like an army but had no idea what was in each car as they proceeded uptrain, as they had never been that far. It is unknown how successful this revolt was or how far exactly they made it uptrain, but they seem to know about the battery cars and sanitation due to sanitation duties and previous revolts. During this revolution, the Tailies used fertilizer bombs created by Lights. Only the Tailie War Council knew of the existence of Lights' cookbook containing recipes for bombs and other such weapons.

Failed Insurrection

After Old Ivan hangs himself, Pike and several other Tailies lead a small insurrection, using the excuse of the dead body of Old Ivan to get the Jackboots to open the doors. The Tailies only made it one car, due to the jackboots responding to the situation quickly. The insurrection ended with Andre Layton talking down Pike and his fellow Tailies, with Pike as well as two other Tailies being put in the Drawers.

First Snowpiercer War

Following Pike's failed insurrection, Andre Layton began planning another one using his access as the new Train Detective to recruit others to their cause and gain access to other parts of the train. Layton was able to unite the Tailies and Third Class to overthrow Melanie Cavill's rule. The War exploded into a multifronted civil war when First Class's frustration with the disasters led to the discovery that Mr. Wilford was, in fact, a myth. Cavill was arrested and sentenced to death by lung of ice while the Jackboots, under the leadership of Commander Grey, Robert Folger and Lilah Folger worked to take full control of Snowpiercer for themselves.

The rebels, led by Layton infiltrated various sections of Snowpiercer for their weaknesses and managed to plant three of their own in the drawers to be resuscitated when the time was right while young Miles was in the Engine itself as an Engineer Apprentice. In this role, Miles helped to trigger the civil war by revealing the truth about Mr. Wilford's absence to LJ Folger. The Brakemen, under the command of Roche, chose to remain neutral and get out of the way of the rebel army when confronted with Layton and Bess Till, a Brakeman who had chosen to side with Layton fully.

The first battle of the War in the Nightcar turned into a stalemate with both sides taking heavy losses and being forced to retreat. Pike was removed from the Drawers by Commander Grey and the Folgers and suggested that with enough pressure, Layton would fold which came in the form of a threat that Grey and the Folgers would kill everyone if they didn't surrender. After learning that Zarah was pregnant with his baby, Layton decided to surrender.

The War came to a head when Melanie managed to escape execution with the help of the Notary, Jinju Seong and Javier De La Torre. Melanie then defected to Layton's side, knowing that the train wouldn't survive in the hands of the Folgers and believing that Layton might do a better job of leading the survivors of humanity than she ever did. Melanie presented the rebel army with a plan: as the Jackboot army was all in one place, separating part of the train would send them all to die in the Freeze. However, the plan required two safety switches to be flipped, one on each side of the separation, while Miles and Bennett Knox would handle the rest from the Engine. Melanie would be able to handle the switch downtrain while Layton agreed to go behind enemy lines in order to get the other switch. Martin Colvin, not wanting the Folgers to be in power, secretly supplied Miss Gillies with a gun which she managed to hide in the subtrain. Till then recruited Roche to help Layton get behind enemy lines by taking him to the Folgers under the guise of a surrender.

In the Classroom car, the Folgers held a ceremony where Layton officially surrendered to them before Roche, Grey and two Jackboots took him towards First to broadcast his surrender over the train's PA system. As they left, the Folgers made it clear to Grey that they were going to be in charge once the War was over. Once in the subtrain, Roche locked the door and confronted the Jackboots with the gun smuggled in by Miss Giles. At the same time, Melanie pulled the safety switch and Miles detached the rear half of the train from the seven cars. Seeing this, the Folgers realized that Third had never been the rebel army's target. In the subtrain, a fight broke out between Roche, Layton and the three Jackboots, but the two rebels were overpowered and Roche was knocked unconscious. Before Grey could execute Layton, the Last Australian arrived with Strong Boy and Z-Wreck whom he had rescued from the Drawers. The three overpowered Grey and his men, but Layton had them leave the Jackboots unconscious and flee with Roche uptrain for safety.

Emerging on the other side of the seven cars, Layton discovered that the last car in the seven held the revolution prisoners. Layton attempted to free his friends, but couldn't in time and was forced to abandon them to die with the Jackboot army. After Layton pulled the safety switch, Miles disconnected the seven cars and Bennett send them away onto a switch track, leaving the Folgers, minus LJ who had remained in First, Grey and the Jackboot army to freeze to death. Miles and Bennett then reconnected the rest of the train.

In the aftermath of the Jackboot defeat, Melanie officially handed over control of Snowpiercer to Andre Layton, ending the war. Melanie subsequently made a train wide announcement of the handover of power and Layton began planning for a new democratic government. Free of the Tail, the Tailies began running wild enjoying their new freedom with the Brakemen struggling to maintain some semblance of order. The War left 147 people dead in the detached section of the train, a number of others dead from the Nightcar battle and over a hundred wounded. Snowpiercer itself also suffered damage from the separation which left 37 Battery Cars offline even after the train was reconnected. The only known survivors on First's side were LJ Folger, Ruth Wardell and at least a dozen Jackboots who were in First when the Jackboot army was eliminated. After the fall of their leaders, the surviving Jackboots were no longer a problem and were disbanded by Layton.

The Tailies victory in the War and the overthrow of the old government was short-lived due to the arrival of Big Alice and the real Mr. Wilford shortly thereafter.

SnowpiercerBig Alice War

It's gonna be a long, cold war.
— Layton at the beginning of the war

Shortly after the victory in the First Snowpiercer War, the supply train Big Alice arrived while Snowpiercer approached its starting point of Chicago. Believing that they desperately needed the supplies on Big Alice, Bennett Knox hid its arrival from Melanie Cavill who knew that the train likely contained the real Mr. Wilford who would want Snowpiercer back. Despite an attempt to outrun Big Alice, the other train latched onto Snowpiercer hacked into its systems and began bringing it to a stop. Melanie headed outside in an effort to break Wilford's control over Snowpiercer, but was thrown from the train when Wilford shut down its systems and brought it to a halt in the middle of Chicago.

Cutting into the tail of Snowpiercer, Alexandra "Alex" Cavill, Melanie's believed-dead daughter, emerged to demand Snowpiercer's surrender on Wilford's behalf. The passengers reluctantly provided Big Alice with a list of items demanded by Wilford while Melanie, after recovering from her fall, used a small axe to cut Wilford's uplink into Snowpiercer's systems, restoring system control to the Engine. However, Melanie had drained Snowpiercer's batteries too much trying to outrun Big Alice, meaning that Snowpiercer could never move on its own again. Melanie planted a bomb on the connecting mechanism of Big Alice and before boarding the other train, noticed that it was snowing outside despite the planet being too cold for snow.

Onboard Big Alice, Wilford demanded that Melanie surrender Snowpiercer to him, but she refused as it was now Andre Layton's train. On Snowpiercer, Layton had the rebel army set up a border in the Tail and reluctantly declared martial law. Layton authorized Ruth Wardell to work on diplomacy, but later led a failed incursion into Big Alice to rescue Melanie, capturing Kevin as a hostage. In retaliation, Wilford stopped the trains and attempted to disconnect from Snowpiercer, leave the passengers to die and then return to retrieve the train afterwards. However, the bomb that Melanie had planted earlier destroyed Big Alice's connecting mechanism as Wilford had overbuilt it, something that Melanie had warned him about before. As a result, Snowpiercer and Big Alice were left permanently connected. With no other choice, Wilford reluctantly started the trains moving again.

Wilford warned Melanie that even with the trains still linked, they could slow down and choke off Snowpiercer's power supply and ecosystems which Melanie pointed out will also negatively effect Big Alice. Wilford explained that Big Alice had been through some tough times and the crew was used to living below zero so they would survive, but Melanie is undeterred. On Snowpiercer, Layton and Roche interrogated Kevin using the promise of fresh food and learn from him that there was around a hundred people on Big Alice and that they were hungry, having no fresh food, just canned stuff. Wilford later traded Melanie for Kevin and subsequently compelled Kevin into committing suicide for betraying information about him.

At the same time, Bess Till, promoted to Train Detective by Layton, investigated an attack on Lights in which two of her fingers were brutally amputated with an axe. Till later realized that Lights' fingers were severed in such a way as to mimic the W for Wilford that Wilford and his supporters flashed as a salute. Till and Roche came to believe that the Breachmen, fiercely loyal to Wilford, were responsible. However, Bojan Boscovic insisted that he at least had nothing to do with it despite his loyalty to Wilford.

Upon her return to Snowpiercer, Melanie revealed her discovery, although Alex had destroyed her snow sample. Melanie believed that it meant that CW-7 was breaking up in the atmosphere and falling to Earth, meaning that the planet was warming and could potentially be recolonized in their lifetime rather than in a thousand years as all of their previous climate models had predicted. Javi launched a weather balloon into the upper atmosphere which proved that temperatures were rising. Needing supplies from Big Alice, Melanie and Layton invited Wilford to a scientific summit in First Class Dining where Melanie revealed to the population of both trains their discovery. Wilford's scientists, the Headwoods, confirmed that Melanie's theory was in fact possible and she proposed a plan to use a research station in the Rocky Mountains to study the climate change and hopefully find a place that they could recolonize. This would require Melanie going for a month to man the station and in exchange, Wilford agreed to cease hostilities between the two trains. As he left, Wilford called off Alex's planned assassination attempt on Layton.

After the summit, the two trains began negotiating and trading with Layton offering food in exchange for the much-needed supplies to repair Snowpiercer. After a harrowing journey on the stretch of track known as Neckbreaker, Melanie departed for the research station, having bonded somewhat with Alex and reassured her that if Alex chose, she had people on Snowpiercer that she could rely on. During this time, Wilford had the Headwoods work on lowering the temperature that Icy Bob could survive at, warning them to expect to have maybe half of the month to succeed in his request.

Three days after Melanie's departure, Wilford offered to have the Headwoods treat Snowpiercer's frostbite patients, of which there were 14, including Josie, the rest being from the failed incursion into Big Alice. Layton became suspicious of the nature of the offer due to Josie's condition and suspected that Wilford had someone passing him that information. Layton ultimately accepted the offer and in turn invited Wilford and some of his crew to a night out on Snowpiercer. However, Josie's condition was such that the Headwoods determined that she needed a more dedicated treatment on Big Alice which Josie accepted, both because it was her only chance of recovery and in the hopes of finding out some useful information while on the other train. Wilford, Sykes, Alex, Oiler Bob, Emilia and another passenger enjoyed a night out in the Nightcar while Wilford reconnected with Miss Audrey, his former paramour. Emilia bonded with Murray, both having previously believed themselves to be the last Australian while Alex and LJ Folger bonded. Snowpiercer launched the first of its weather balloons and after a tense moment when it reached the correct height, Melanie made contact, proving that she had in fact survived her journey to the research station. However, the crew lost contact with Melanie after launching the last balloon, leading to fears that she had perished.

As time went on, the situation on Snowpiercer began to spiral out of control due to the actions of Wilford loyalists. Things got worse when Miss Audrey defected completely to Wilford's side and the Breachmen, aside from Bojan Boscovic, were assassinated by Wilford loyalists which looked to the rest of the train like retaliation for the attack on Lights. At the same time, Layton had Terence assassinated by Pike for threatening Josie. Till managed to identify Eugenia as the murderer of Cherry Sherry and Pastor Logan as the mastermind behind the attacks, but Pastor Logan committed suicide after getting caught. People all throughout the train signaled to Wilford using red lanterns and Wilford had Icy Bob prepared.

On Wilford's orders, Icy Bob sabotaged Snowpiercer's port intakes, but the cold proved to be too much for even Icy Bob to survive unprotected. Healed of her injuries, Josie discovered that she had developed a cold resistance similar to Icy Bob as a result of the Headwoods treatment while rumors surfaced that the surviving Jackboots had rebuilt a command. After removing a railroad spike from the water intake, Boki realized that Wilford was in fact responsible for the events and switched sides completely to Layton. Due to damage to Snowpiercer's God module from the sabotage, Layton was forced to allow Wilford back onboard in order to fix the problem, but Melanie's modifications forced him to allow Wilford to orchestrate a manual restart of the Engine in order to fix the problem. With Snowpiercer now on Wilford's side, Layton lost control of the train and was arrested by the once again active Jackboots while Roche and his family were put into the Drawers on Big Alice.

After taking control of Snowpiercer, Wilford had a census performed which Alex, now completely disillusioned from Wilford, revealed was intended to help him cull the train's population in order to save on resources as Wilford had done with half of the crew on Big Alice following the Freeze. Wilford opened a carnival on Snowpiercer while Layton was forced to work in Compost on Big Alice and Josie's new abilities were tested by the Headwoods. Having learned that Snowpiercer had lost contact with Melanie, Wilford used it as an excuse not to go back for her. After Ruth refused to announce this to the trains, Wilford had her sent to Compost with Layton. However, Javi, now working under guard in Big Alice's Engine, received a radio message from Melanie that he hid from Wilford and managed to send a note letting Layton and Ruth know.

Working together, Layton and Ruth were able to kill their guard and escape and found Alex who directed them to a secret entrance into Big Alice's Engine. As Alex distracted Wilford, Layton and Ruth killed two Jackboots and helped Javi take control of the Engine and coordinate with Bennett to go back for Melanie. Bennett was able to overpower and capture Sykes while Layton and Ruth were smuggled back aboard Snowpiercer. However, LJ Folger saw through Alex's deception and warned Wilford. Wilford and the Jackboots managed to break into Big Alice's Engine and Javi was mauled by Jupiter. Wilford overpowered Bennett's efforts to stop the train, leaving Melanie behind at the side of the tracks. Wounding Wilford, Alex managed to escape to Snowpiercer through the subtrain.

Linking up with Layton and Boki, Alex proposed separating the first ten cars of Snowpiercer at The Aquarium, in effect creating a separate pirate train, in order to go after Melanie and her data and resist Wilford outside of his influence. Boki confirmed that Big Alice would be able to handle powering all of the remaining cars, but it would hobble Wilford while leaving Layton's crew with a smaller, faster train to evade him with. Having captured Miss Audrey, Layton decided to take her along as a hostage due to her importance to Wilford while Zarah chose to remain behind due to the danger to her and Layton's baby. Wilford sent Josie to breach Snowpiercer's Engine so that he could retake control of the train completely, but Bennett made radio contact with Josie and redirected her to the Aquarium. An attempt by Boki to disconnect the cars was interrupted by a Jackboot attack while Wilford realized what Layton was up to. On Bennett's orders, Josie breached the Aquarium, destroying the entire car and apparently killing Boki and the Jackboots still in the subtrain but separating the first ten cars of Snowpiercer from the rest of the train. However, Ruth was left behind after being delayed from reaching the others in time by Kevin and leaving Layton with Bennett, Josie, Till, Alex and the captive Audrey and Sykes as his crew.

Pirate Train

The pirate train returned to the research station for Melanie, but Layton and Alex only found her drives containing Melanie's data and a letter explaining that Melanie had sacrificed the last of her power to protect the drives and their vital data while she walked out into the Freeze to die after running out of resources. Melanie's data revealed several warm areas around the globe and Layton ordered his new crew to go and get their people back.

Over the next six months, Layton and his crew searched for a habitable location without success, eventually finding a survivor, Asha, in a power plant in North Korea. Sykes became a member of the crew, claiming that she was simply doing her part as a prisoner of war, but showing a possible wavering loyalty to Wilford. It's also revealed that Martin Colvin had become an accidental stowaway on the pirate train. During this time, Big Alice and Snowpiercer became a "rolling gulag" under Wilford's rule, with First Class decommissioned for the time being and everyone forced to work. Due to Big Alice powering the two trains alone, the passengers were forced to live in freezing temperatures with low power. However, Wilford chose not to go through with a culling due to Layton having Miss Audrey as a hostage. In Layton's absence, a secret resistance against Wilford continued to operate, now under the leadership of Ruth Wardell who foiled a plot by Wilford to use an EMP weapon to disable the pirate train upon its return.

After detecting the detonation of the EMP weapon, the pirate train returned and lured Wilford's train into a game of cat and mouse in a railyard where the maze of tracks gave the smaller and nimbler pirate train the advantage. However, Wilford managed to damage the pirate train with a harpoon, forcing Alex and Bennett to disconnect the last four cars in order to prevent a derailment while Kevin captured several revolutionaries and tortured Strong Boy in the Night Car. After Wilford managed to avoid detection by going dark, an imprisoned Ruth had Pike set off Snowpiercer's fireworks from Hospitality as a signal, causing Wilford to make a run for it. However, Big Alice lacked the power to get out and was cut off by the pirate train and brought to a stop. After a failed attempt to negotiate Wilford's surrender, Wilford cut power to his train and threatened to let everyone freeze if they didn't reconnect. Bennett agreed and Wilford dispatched a Jackboot boarding party to retake the pirate train. However, Layton and Josie snuck off of the pirate train during the negotiations while Wilford was distracted with Miss Audrey and Bennett discreetly signaled Javi who secretly opened an airlock in Big Alice's Engine. As the pirate train came around from the other direction to reconnect, Josie created a distraction by pretending to breach Big Alice's Engine, giving Layton the chance to sneak aboard and overpower Wilford. Layton forced Wilford to call off the boarding party and publicly surrender the train to him. With both trains now under Layton's control, the pirate train reconnected, restoring full power to Big Alice and Snowpiercer. With Kevin having tortured Strong Boy to death, LJ Folger killed him for his crime so that she and Oz would be seen as being on the right side of the revolution in history.

Heading to New Eden

In the aftermath, Wilford was imprisoned aboard Big Alice, although he expressed confidence to Josie that Layton's leadership would eventually fail once again. Till and Doctor Pelton rescued Sam Roche and his family from the Drawers, but they discovered that Anne Roche had died at some point while locked up in them. Sykes, now trusted by Layton after her help on the pirate train, exiled Miss Audrey to Third Class and banned her from the Night Car on Layton's orders, stating that Miss Audrey had chosen the wrong side. Layton decided to hold a vote on going to the Horn of Africa which, according to Ruth, had possibly the worst stretch of track in the network. However, he had Asha lie that he had found her in New Eden to help get people to vote for going. With a nearly two-to-one vote in favor, Layton's council agreed with the plan and Snowpiercer and Big Alice set out for the Horn of Africa.

Wilford later enlists Alex's help with performing some calculations before revealing that he has created a map of the Pirate train's course and Big Alice's hunt for it. Wilford explains that about three months into the search, he had thought that he'd caught a break, a track switch signal near Marseilles that Big Alice had followed and found no sign of them. However, Alex points out that the Pirate train was on a different continent at the time which means it wasn't them. While Alex thinks that it could have been a malfunction, Wilford believes that it was Melanie and that she is still alive out there somewhere.

By checking out the power of various track switches, Bennett and Alex find a trail leading back to Neckbreaker where Melanie was last seen. The two theorize that Melanie could've reached a hanger on Neckbreaker and taken one of the automated vehicles stored there. However, they can't be sure that she's still alive as the vehicles are bare-bones and not equipped with supplies to support life. Snowpiercer is diverted to follow the course of Melanie's vehicle and, after passing through a toxic cloud of gas with Asha's sacrificing herself, Bennett and Alex pick up the vehicle's signal nearby. Melanie is eventually rescued

Three days after being rescued, Melanie awakens with Alex by her side. Melanie is happily reunited with her friends and especially Bennett. However, Melanie becomes concerned as she goes over the data on the Horn of Africa and consults with Wilford who reminds Melanie that the data doesn't support Layton's belief in New Eden and the track going there was unsafe eight years ago and will only have gotten worse over time. Layton dismisses Melanie's concerns and she observes the party as the trains pass the Pyramids of Giza. Returning to Hospitality, Melanie makes an announcement to the train, praising the unity that she has seen for the first time that was created by the dream of New Eden. However, Melanie betrays Layton and reveals the truth about his lie to the train. With the help of an enraged Javi, Melanie seizes First and the Engine, locking Layton and Bennett out.

As tensions rise with only twenty-four hours until the turn to the Horn of Africa, Melanie is confronted with the reality of her decisions and how far she is willing to go, especially with Alex angry at her and Ruth ultimately siding with Layton. Melanie makes a deal with Wilford, believing that a united front between their factions will force Layton to back down, but she remains uneasy with it. Layton later calls Melanie and together the two recognize that they no longer want the train to be ruled by fear or bloodshed which only plays right into Wilford's hands. Instead, Melanie pretends to accept Wilford's offer to use Liana to force Layton to surrender in order to lure him into a trap. Together, Melanie and Layton exile Wilford on the Track scaler with a supply of the suspension drug and stimulants, placing Wilford in the same position that Melanie was left in for six months.

Splitting in Two

Melanie and Layton subsequently make a joint announcement to the trains, offering everyone a choice: stay on Snowpiercer under Melanie or leave on Big Alice for New Eden. Melanie promises to no longer lead by fear but through science and truth. As everyone makes their choice, Bennett predicts that the train has a decade or two at most left and agrees to join Melanie when she promises to give him her all. The train was divided in Ag-Sec, Some cars of Snowpiercer went to New Eden with Big Alice. While Snowpiercer continue circling around the world in the main track.

Population and social structure

Snowpiercer provides shelter, heat and food to about 3,000 "sparks". It is, by design, a heterogeneous environment with well delimited social classes and several formal and informal professions, each a distinct group with its own levels of influence and expectations. Snowpiercer's social structure is organized in two main categories, based on both physical placement on Snowpiercer (from front to tail) and social status.

While they only represent about 30% of her occupants (about nine hundred people), about half of the length of the train is dedicated to First and Second Class Passengers. The second half of the train houses both technical and agriculture cars, Third Class and Tail-Section. The last few cars of the train once housed about 400 stowaways who boarded right before Snowpiercer left Chicago.

Ticketed Passengers

First Class Passengers

First Class Passengers are the few cosmopolites and privileged mega-rich guests who bought an exclusive one-way ticket from Wilford Industries or invested early in the project. Among them are the world's richest and most influential, some of whom were industrial tycoons responsible for global warming before the Freeze.

This select category of ticketed passengers had the highest social status aboard Snowpiercer :

  • They enjoyed a mostly limitless variety of daily calories and rare products such as alcohol.
  • They had access to most of the train sections without limitation.
  • They live up-train, close to the Engine Car, in spacious accommodations with luxurious amenities, and each family has its own double-decker carriage.
  • Some of them enjoy the company of their pets.
  • Some brought along their help, mostly armed bodyguards.
  • They also had unlimited reproductive rights.

Many First Class Passengers attempted to live as if there was no significant change in the world's environment.[1] A feature of that alienated lifestyle was their tendency to make complaints and demands to Hospitality, arguably in outright denial of how autocratic the governance of Snowpiercer ultimately was.[1]

Ironically enough, the First Class Dining Car can fit a bit more than 32 guests, which represents about 1% of Snowpiercer's population. The First Class population might yet be more important.

Notable First Class Passengers include:

  • Lilah Folger, a former lawyer, her husband Robert, daughter Lilah Jr and their bodyguard Erik Sotto. Aside from LJ, the Folgers were killed in the First Snowpiercer War. A year later, LJ choked to death.
  • Rajiv Sharma, Chairman of the First Class Committee, his wife, and son (and daughter?).
  • Members of a Scandinavian Royal Family.
  • Martin Colvin, his Cantonese husband York Lam, and their two sons Gavin and Murray. Martin was later an accidental stowaway on the Pirate train.
  • Early investor Eugenia. Executed for her role in the murders of the Breachmen.
  • Edith Gusterfeld (#1097).
  • The Schwartzes, a chic couple in their eighties who take cyanide the morning that the Tallies took the train. Mr. Schwartz was an international architect before the Freeze.
  • Andre Layton and Zarah Ferami who were moved to First Class by Ruth Wardell after Zarah got pregnant.
  • Stu Whiggins, who is forced to work as a Jackboot when First Class is temporarily decommissioned by Mr. Wilford. He spends most of time drinking in the Night Car.

In The Train Demanded Blood, Robert and Lilah Folger and 8 other First Class passengers are sent to their deaths when seven cars of the train are disconnected by Melanie, Layton, Bennett, and Miles.

Second Class Passengers

Second Class is for highly skilled and specialized workers, management, and their families.

This category had a medium social status aboard Snowpiercer :

  • They enjoyed a diverse yet fixed amount of daily calories (rations included dessert every night).
  • They had access to most of the train as part of their position.
  • They live middle train in spacious compartments with comfortable amenities. Family compartments might be bigger than single passenger compartments.
  • They might have either enjoyed free reproductive rights or have been subjected to a Baby Lottery.

Notable Second Class Passengers include :

Third Class Passengers

Third Class is for low skillset workers and their families.

Thirdies were passengers with a well defined social role but not much privilege or authority as they did not pay for their tickets :

  • They enjoyed a limited amount of calories
  • They had limited access to the train outside of their work shift.
  • They live in smaller accommodation down-train. While some Third Class Passengers live in shared quarters in the Chains Car(s), it is implied it is not the case for all Third Class Passengers. Third Class compartments might be similar in size and equipment to the Engineers compartment in the Engine Car: a shared compartment for up to four passengers, equipped with a sink, a kitchenette and light furnitures. Bathroom amenities might be shared.
  • Their reproductive rights were limited to a Baby Lottery.

Notable Third Class Passengers include :

  • Zarah Ferami, Bartender. Moved to First Class by Ruth Wardell after getting pregnant.
  • Astrid, Food Processing Worker.
  • Clay, Bartender. Froze to death in detached section of the train.
  • Walter Flemming, Papermaker. Executed during the First Snowpiercer War
  • Miss Audrey, Manager of the Nightcar.
  • Sean Wise, Agriculture Worker. Murdered by LJ and Eric Sotto.
  • Terence, Head Janitor. Assassinated by Pike on Layton's orders.
  • Nikki Genêt, Nightcar Worker. Murdered by Eric Sotto.
  • Pastor Logan, Pastor of the Tea Room. Committed suicide after being discovered as Wilford's spy.

Jackboots, Brakemen, Agriculture and Sanitation workers, Craftsmen, Janitors, Breachmen and Tunnelmen are all considered Third Class Passengers despite their essential role in maintaining Snowpiercer. The Train Rules however state that Third Class has the right to petition Wilford in labor disputes and matters of jurisprudence.

Lead Brakeman Sam Roche and daughter Carly share a couchette in the residential section in Third Class.

Stowaways

Tailies were apparently not an intentional part of Snowpiercer's society. Until the Civil War, they were not considered as passengers and were kept prisoners in the last few cars of the tail section. As such, they did not have any rights. They had no permission to visit other cars except on rare occasions, and when specifically given notarized authorization. According to Andre Layton, most hadn’t seen the sun since first boarding the train seven years before.

Group commitment among Tailies is strong, yet they were often tempted to find some way of entering a higher status group. The original Tailies were the survivors of a desperate group of stowaways who entered Snowpiercer by force of numbers after a violent conflict with the authorized passengers (mainly Jackboots). At some point, an uneasy understanding was reached, and once 400 people strong, the Tail Section had very limited rights and survived on rations given unilaterally by Snowpiercer's management, to considerable distress of all involved. Tailies are easily the most tightly knit of all four social classes aboard Snowpiercer, to the point of often decreeing their commitment to the tail as a whole and feeling duty-bound to the group even after years of distance and sparse contact.[2]

Class upgrade and social mobility

Third Class Passengers and Tail section survivors represent 70% of the once 3,000 souls onboard Snowpiercer (approximately 2,100 persons).

There was a small measure of social mobility in Snowpiercer. While the Tail Section was apparently given compulsory contraceptives, what few children existed among the Tailies were sometimes recruited for an apprenticeship when a position needed to be filled, in skilled or unskilled labor, which is implied to open access to at least Third Class. After the death of Electrical Engineer Di Marco, Miles was promoted to an Engineering apprenticeship in the Engine Car, after attending Miss Gillies' Class and tutoring lessons by Melanie Cavill. He and several other Tailie children had previously been selected to move up train in what is suggested to be a once somewhat routine occasion where talented Tailie children were given the chance of a better lifestyle in exchange for their skills. The fact that Miles, a Tailie, was given such personal attention even before the revolution suggests that at least with the children, the train's staff didn’t discriminate in cultivating their gifts.

Third Class Passengers once could apply to regular Fightnights which, while brutal, were nonetheless a means of progressing from Third to Second Class.

While once frowned upon by Thirdies, stable relationship between Third and Second Class passengers could lead to some sort of civil union and Class upgrade.

Under unknown circumstances, some Tailies have been able to move up train such as Zarah Ferami and Astrid. ---Astrid won an apprenticeship early in the journey. Zarah accepted an opening in the night car.

On rare occasions, Tailies had been known to be moved up train for special reasons: Old Ivan often recounted stories of a time when he was briefly brought forward to tune a piano, though he was later returned to the Tail. Andre Layton was offered a deal to become a Third Class passenger in exchange for his skills as a homicide detective, something that was lacking in the train's staff or other passengers.

Snowpiercer Crew

Several department heads.

The train is manned by a diverse crew, consisting of several departments and a strict hierarchy. Most originally worked for Wilford Industries before the freeze and were given either second or third class tickets.

Engineering Department