Mythology of Teen Wolf

The mythology of the MTV supernatural action drama series Teen Wolf follows a teenager named Scott McCall (Tyler Posey), who is bitten by an Alpha werewolf and must cope with how it affects his life and the lives of those closest to him and Dylan O'Brien as "Stiles" Stilinski, Scott's best friend. Most mythological elements in Teen Wolf relate to supernatural creatures and draws heavily from Greek mythology, Norse mythology, Japanese mythology, Aztec mythology, Native American beliefs and Celtic herbalism. The show has created its own unique mythos centered around shapeshifters and their connections to one-another throughout the world.

Banshees

Banshees are human females that access the supernatural to predict the deaths of others. They are also known as the 'Wailing Woman'. They are harbingers of death: they can hear noises, voices in their heads that indicate, and are able to sense impending death. They are often lead to sights associated with death, murder scenes, graves, tombs. They sometimes write or draw messages from the voices subconsciously.

Banshees are not supernatural as in the manner as a shapeshifter. Chris and Gerard Argent explain in "Maid of Gevaudan" that banshees have a connection to the supernatural, they are able to access it but are not controlled by it. For example, Lydia can cross Mountain Ash barriers which no supernatural creature on the show can cross. Also because of this rule, they are immune to the supernatural phenomenon as Lydia was unaffected by kanima venom and the bite of an Alpha werewolf.

The known Banshees in the series are Lydia Martin, Meredith Walker, and Lorraine Martin.

Abilities

Lydia is also able to communicate with a fellow Banshee, Meredith Walker, to tell Stiles that she doesn't want to be found (see Insatiable). In Season 5, Meredith says they can use their scream as an offensive weapon as well. The scream is seen as a strong sound wave capable of throwing people and objects short distances. According to Dr. Valack, in "The Last Chimera", she could shatter a human skull with her voice as well. This is evidenced in Lie Ability as Valack, himself, meets this fate.

The Ghost Riders

Abilities

Berserkers

Berserkers are men who wear the skins/bones of bears within the Teen Wolf Universe. According to Chris Argent, Berserkers don't just wear the bear parts to channel the animal's ferocity, they actually become animals themselves. Argent says their human side doesn't last long because they are not tempered by the moon.

Based on the two Berserker deaths shown: the body turns to dust at the moment of death suggesting they were no longer human.

Abilities

Berserkers are super strong, able to tear the human body apart. Their physical strength far surpasses that of the average werewolf. Characters who've encountered them say Berserkers are very fast, as demonstrated the first time we see one on screen and it is able to immediately catch up to two werewolves who had a head start.

The first reported Berserker death took hundreds of rounds of ammunition. Point-blank range explosions are also capable of killing Berserkers. Additionally, using his evolved power, Derek Hale was capable of killing a Berserker by ripping apart its skull mask.

The Berserkers also have a connection with werejaguars.

The Werejaguar Kate Argent is able to control and create Berserkers. Theo Raeken explains that werejaguars and Berserkers are connected to each other. This bond allows the werejaguar to sense berserkers and was demonstrated by Hayden Romero who was a chimera with werejaguar DNA.

Druid

Druids act as advisors, emissaries, to the werewolf packs. This connection formed in ancient Greece after King Lycaon and his sons were turned into wolves by the God Zeus. The Druids had shapeshifting abilities and, while they could not undo the curse, they taught Lycaon how to shift back and forth between human and wolf.

Darach

Whereas Druid means "Wise Oak" and indicates a dedication to philosophy and religion, Darach means "Dark Oak" and denotes a perversion of the Druid's beliefs.

Abilities

In addition to the standard abilities of a druid - including their power over mountain ash as well as their medicinal knowledge and herbalist lore - darachs possess stronger and more potent abilities from tapping into the laws of nature and living animal or human sacrifices which make them immensely strong and allows some degree of control over both their own appearance as well as access to overpowering strength and the ability to let off psychic blasts or influence the minds of others. Their powers are fueled by sacrificing lives to Nemetons in a specific order; warriors, philosophers, guardians, healers and virgins.

Werewolf

Werewolves are a species of shapeshifter and are the primary protagonists within the Teen Wolf universe as well as the occasional antagonists. Generally, werewolves are a prominent species of shifters spiritually descended from the Ancient Greek cannibal Lycaon and his sons after they were transformed into wolves by the god Zeus. They draw their power from the Full Moon and possess both the intelligence of men as well as the senses and strength of a wolf combined with the power and vitality afforded by Lycaon's curse or the power of rainwater drunken from the paw print of a wolf in earth.

Characteristics

A werewolf can be born to werewolf parents through genetic lycanthropy, or former humans turned into new werewolves by an Alpha's bite. Another confirmed method is drinking rain water from the paw print of a wolf (Sebastien Valet). Werewolves live in packs, following an Alpha, not only because of strength in numbers, but because they become more powerful, more mature, "better in every way". A pack can also be composed only of Alphas. Werewolves are bound to the full moon, it makes them want to transform and transform more easily. A werewolf's power is at its peak during the full moon. Newly bitten werewolves are at the mercy of the full moon, and under its sway, they can easily lose control and their homicidal tendencies increase. Born werewolves generally have an easier time controlling themselves simply because it is part of their nature. Werewolves lose all their power during the lunar eclipse.

Shapeshifting

They usually appear in human form and can shift to varying degrees into a bipedal wolf-like creature with increased body hair, fangs and glowing eyes. Jeff Davis has said there's a progression in the werewolf's transformation.

The most commonly seen werewolf transformation is a near-human shape that includes eye colour change, claws, elongated fangs, heightened brow, an alteration of facial hair including sideburns on their cheeks and a lengthening, sharpening of the ears.

When he was an Alpha, Peter Hale could transform into a large, grotesque wolf-beast that could stand upright, but ran on all fours. Deucalion, the Alpha Pack leader, could transform into a Wolf-Man with dark blue-gray skin and with more demonic-humanoid than wolf-like features.

Talia, Laura and Derek Hale could transform into normal looking wolves. This level of shapeshifting is rare amongst werewolves.

During Season 4, Scott began to undergo small changes to his werewolf transformation: first, his fangs became larger; then he gained more fangs along his bottom row of teeth, resulting in his upper canine fangs taking on a bisected appearance to make room for the lower fangs. Second, his claws became slightly longer and more curved, resembling the claws of Deucalion. The most shocking changes came near the end of Season 4, during a battle with a group of werewolf hunters. During the battle, Scott demonstrated an even greater endurance and stamina than any Alpha's previously seen, taking several gunshots to his body, seemingly, without pain. Then, as he began to violently attack one if the hunters, his werewolf form began to change, taking on an appearance that almost resembled the classic Wolf Man's shape, except Scott's facial hair remained the same as his normal werewolf shape, the whites of his eyes became pure black, and his facial features became pronounced to the point of his entire nose and mouth resembling the muzzle of a canine. However, when Scott saw the look of fear on the face of the hunter he was attacking, he hesitated from killing the hunter, causing the change to revert back to his normal werewolf form.

Abilities

Types of Werewolves

There are three known types of werewolves in the Teen Wolf mythology.

Special Abilities

Lycaon

Lycaon was a Greek citizen who not only refused to honor the gods of Olympus, he challenged them. He invited Zeus to a banquet where he tried to serve him the flesh of a human being. Angered, Zeus blew the place apart with his lightning bolts and then punished Lycaon and his sons by turning them into wolves.

In the world and mythology of Teen Wolf, Lycaon and his offspring became the first werewolves.

Beast of Gevaudan

The Beast of Gevaudan, known as Sebastien Valet is unlike any other werewolf seen on the show so far. It is larger than even Peter Hale's monstrous form from Season 1 and, instead of shapeshifting, the Beast creates a body composed of what appears to be black smoke or shadows around itself.

Sebastien became a werewolf after drinking rainwater from the paw print of a wolf. While this piece of werewolf lore has been mentioned on the show before, this is the only example of it working.

According to Teen Wolf creator Jeff Davis, his Beast form and transformation comes from how evil, how psychopathic he already was before he became a werewolf. The beast does not fit into any of the previously known categories of werewolf and was extremely powerful without the benefit of a pack or Alpha Werewolf status.

Hellhound

Hellhounds are described as harbingers of death and guardians of the supernatural who accompany the Wild Hunt. Believed to be black spectral dogs with fiery glowing eyes, Hellhounds have shows to inhabit human bodies and live human lives with only a vague subconscious comprehension of what they truly are. Thus far, the only Hellhound seen in the series is Deputy Jordan Parrish. Hellhounds are drawn to Nemetons like all supernatural creatures and they tend to collect the bodies of supernatural dead - including pseudo-supernatural chimeras - to bury them at the roots of Nemetons to restore and strengthen the trees' power.

Characteristics

Hellhounds are humanoid in appearance when manifesting within a human body. They only reveal their true nature when exposed to direct fire; manifesting in elongated and sharper teeth including the upper and lower canines similar to those of a werewolf but with the lower canine teeth being noticeably more pronounced. It's fingernails elongate into blackened claws similar to those of a werewolf. It's eyes glow a fiery red-orange and fire erupts from it's body; leaving it unharmed by fire and capable of burning through mountain ash barriers or melting steel. Hellhounds are instinctively driven to guard the supernatural world.

Abilities

Kitsune

Abilities

Types of Kitsune

Oni

Characteristics

The Oni are shadowy samurai warriors who serve the Kitsune. Their purpose is to hunt and slay any rogue Nogitsune. The Oni draw their power from magical fireflies within their chests and manifest through shadows and smoke. If the firefly is crushed or if the Oni is injured with a silver weapon, the Oni is vanquished. If the Kitsune which the Oni serve sacrifices their tail-swords, the Oni will gradually grow physically stronger and more aggressive. Oni are silent as they are creatures of pure shadow and absolute darkness and are thus invulnerable to any earthly weapons or injury.

Abilities

References

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