Mythology of Teen Wolf

The mythology of Teen Wolf, follows a teenager named Scott McCall (Tyler Posey), who is bitten by a 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 mystical/supernatural creatures, plants and objects.

Banshees

Banshees on Teen Wolf can hear voices in their heads. Often this leads them, subconsciously, to murder scenes. They sometimes write or draw messages from the voices subconsciously. While they get early indications that someone is going to die, their ability lacks precision and the banshees seen on show to date don't seem to be in complete control of their abilities.

Banshees on Teen Wolf do not appear to be supernatural. Chris Argent explains in "Maid of Gevaudan" that banshees have a connection to the supernatural but are not controlled by it. For example, Lydia can cross Mountain Ash barriers which no supernatural creature on the show can cross, and she remains 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

Peter says Lydia's scream is a means to an end, drowning out all other sounds so that she can focus on the voices only she can hear. It appears that she is connected to some supernatural network that broadcasts messages about death and dying. According to Teen Wolf Creator Jeff Davis it is "the whispers of other banshees."

This was seen in "Motel California" when she heard the voices of the people killed at the motel, in Riddled as she heard Stiles' voice coming from a speaker and other whispers when she plucked the strings in his bedroom.

Peter uses Lydia to listen to the whispers from his sister's claws in "Letharia Vulpina" and learns he has a child.

The Nogitsune kidnaps Lydia to use her power so that he will know when the Oni are close enough to kill him. 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 a 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.

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. While we've yet to see it on screen, characters who've encountered them say Berserkers are very fast.

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.

Werewolf

Werewolves are a species of shape-shifter and are the primary protagonists within the Teen Wolf Universe.

Rules

A werewolf can be born to werewolf parents through genetic lycanthropy. Or, they can be formerly 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, and "better in every way". Packs 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 strongest 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.

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 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 with more demonic than wolf-like features.

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

Abilities

• Enhanced Senses: Werewolves can see, hear and smell far more effectively than humans.
  • Their sense of smell allows a werewolf to track people similar to a bloodhound.
  • Derek Hale explains that a werewolf can pick up chemo signals, chemical signals that give off emotion, to know what a person's emotional state is.
• Accelerated Healing: A werewolf can heal much faster than humans.
• Enhanced Strength: A werewolf is physically much stronger than humans.
• Enhanced Agility: A werewolf can run faster, jump higher and react much more quickly than a human.
• Pain Transference: Werewolves can absorb and alleviate pain from others.
  • In exceptional instances, this talent can allow a werewolf to fully heal an individual.
• Memory Transference: Werewolves can transfer memories with others by inserting their claws into another's neck.
  • This ability can establish mind-to-mind communication and, with skill, allow for mind manipulation or memory erasure.

Types of Werewolves

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

• Omega: an Omega is the “lone wolf”; living without a pack and without an Alpha. They have all the werewolf abilities mentioned above but are considered weaker than others because they are not part of a pack. Werewolves can become Omegas by choice or be forced out of a pack by the Alpha or by circumstance.

• Beta: Betas are members of a pack and, because of this association, they are stronger, more mature than Omegas.

• Alpha: an Alpha is the leader of a pack of werewolves. Alphas wield a spark of power that supplements their supernatural abilities. It is the most powerful, strongest and so far the most lethal variety of werewolf.
  • A Beta or Omega can become an Alpha by killing an existing Alpha.
  • A werewolf can also become an Alpha by inheriting the power when the previous Alpha dies.

• True Alpha: a Beta can become an Alpha through strength of character or sheer force of will alone. These are called “True Alphas” and are very rare.
  • Only a Beta of a True Alpha's own making can take the power of his True Alpha sire.

Special Abilities

• An Alpha’s bite can transform a human into a werewolf. The bite usually only has two outcomes - transformation or death although there are exceptions (Lydia Martin).
  • A scratch from an Alpha, if it goes deep enough, can sometimes be transformative (Kate Argent).
• Alphas have limited telepathy and mental control over the betas that they create and some other shapeshifters (Werecoyote).
• Bites, scratches and other wounds inflicted by an Alpha will not heal as quickly as other injuries.
• Alphas have additional vision capabilities over other werewolves. They are able to see infrared.
• Alphas can heal the extremely ill with their pain transference ability but they give up part of the "spark" that makes them an Alpha. This can result in a loss of Alpha status.
• Alphas can, by killing their own betas, become stronger.

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

Beast of Gevaudan

The Beast of Gevaudan 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 Valet 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 actually working.

According to Teen Wolf creator Jeff Davis, his form and transformation comes from how evil he already was when 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 status.

References