Vectober Day #7
Main Theme: Everyday Tools Turn into a Monster
Henry J. Waternoose (a.k.a. “Mr. Waternoose” and simply “Waternoose”) is one of the two main antagonists in Monsters, Inc., alongside Randall Boggs. He is an overweight gray crab-like monster wearing a business suit with six legs, two six-fingered claws, and five eyes.
In the first film, Mr. Waternoose is the CEO of Monsters, Inc.He is one of three owners, all cast down from lineage. He inherited the factory from his father when he was 142 years old, and turned it into the modern energy factory that appears at the beginning at the movie.
He is first shown at the very beginning of the film, warning Thaddeus Bile and the trainees about the dangers of a human child after Thaddeus has unsuccessfully attempted to frighten a simulation child in bed.
Although Waternoose is an antagonist in this movie, he has a gentle, fatherly facade and is only driven to villainy out of desperation to keep Monsters, Inc. afloat in the midst of the energy crisis. He becomes more villainous as this drive and desperation strips away his morals and he is determined to not let anything stop what he thinks will be the best way for the company to keep going, never taking into account looking for other energy resources.
Although Waternoose ended up becoming involved in abducting Boo despite his claims of children being toxic to monsters, it is never made clear whether he knew children were not toxic, and thus lied about their danger to the monsters, or if he did truly believe they were toxic, but felt saving the company from bankruptcy was worth the risk of being poisoned by a child and potentially killed. Given that he holds Boo at one point in the movie, the former is most likely correct.
Though Waternoose states that the company had been in his family for three generations, any attempt to name him as “Henry J. Waternoose III” is an assumption that his name was passed down from grandfather to father to son. His father’s and his grandfather’s names are never stated and could have easily been unique names for each one.
Vanquire 