Hauntology in Teen Wolf

Haunted Images, Deadness, and Impossible Mourning by Matt Foley / The Hauntology/Narratology of the Neo-Victorian Ghost Story by Brenda Ayres / “Penelope Was Not a Phantom”: Everyday Hauntology in Alice Munro and Margaret Atwood by Joakim Wrethed / “What She Had Seen Was Final”: Everyday Hauntology, the Threat of Male Violence and the Power of Fiction in Alice Munro’s “Free Radicals”, “Runaway” and “Passion” by Joakim Wrethed

the terror you long to look at

Written for @teenwolf-meta’s Meta May Monday theme: Ties. 

Despite my frustration with the show’s handling of the anuk-ite’s mythology, I really liked the idea that, in the finale, it lures people into looking at it by becoming someone they long to see--but, at the same time, because the anuk-ite is a fear monster, someone they’re terrified of. I was frustrated, however, by the fact that the shape it took was either never explicit, or depended on who was doing a cameo for the finale. Here would be my picks for what the anuk-ite would look like, for the people who had to face it, if casting and time weren’t an issue:

Peter Hale would see Laura Hale. I didn’t dislike that the monster took the form of Malia, for Peter. She’s definitely someone he longs to see, and I’d interpret the fear aspect as either shame for when he’d hurt her or her loved ones, or simply fear of the fact that she sees through him. I think it would have meant a lot, however, if they’d shown explicitly that he misses Laura, and is afraid to face the fact that he murdered her even as he longs to see her. His murder of her starts the entire story, and it would have been an interesting way to incorporate it into the show’s finale.

Malia Tate would see Kylie Tate. We don’t actually know what form the anuk-ite took for her, which makes me mad, because it would have been such a good time to explore her grief for Kylie. One of the first things we learn about Malia is that she’s haunted by her sister’s death most of all, and is still, in some way, looking out for her. No matter how much time passes, she’s always going to.

Jackson Whittemore would see Matt Daehler. This one’s a little shaky because s2 ends with Jackson very clearly growing out of the headspace that made him a kanima, and literally growing away from it. But 1) they made him part-kanima again in the finale so I’ve decided that means he’s still got Baggage and 2) even if he moved on from being the kanima in general, Jackson never got to confront Matt specifically. Matt--this guy he had this intense and toxic relationship with, who represented everything the deepest part of him wanted--just disappeared from his life, only to be found dead in water Jackson could have saved him from. I think Jackson is terrified of somehow running into Matt again. I think he’s even more terrified of the idea that, on some level, he’d be happy to see him.

Ethan would see Aiden. How could he not? Of course he longs to see his brother, his literal other half and the one who felt what he felt all his life, whose life Ethan felt in turn. At the same time, we see in both 3a and 3b that Aiden’s passion for violence disquiets Ethan, even though he knows he’s protected by it, and in Motel California, Aiden also represents everything Ethan most fears, what he’d kill himself to escape. 

Derek Hale would see Paige Krasikeva. I loved that we got a cameo from Haley Webb, but I maintain that Jennifer was the weakest choice for Derek. It’s not that I don’t think memories of her haunt him, but Derek already confronted Jennifer—multiple times, and in ways that literally had to do with “seeing” her. I definitely don’t think he longs to see her the way he’d long to see Paige, the girl he was manipulated into forcing the bite on—a mistake we know still haunts him. He was rattled to lose even the blue eyes that represent his guilt about her death. I think that even now, his longing to see her would frighten him, since his desire for her once led to her death.

Scott McCall would see his own murdered body. Ok, stay with me on this one! I loved that they did a cameo with the nogitsune wearing Stiles’ body, and I think that ranks near the top of Scott’s fears, but I don’t think he’d be tempted to look at him. Conversely, I think he’d long to look at Allison, but I don’t think that desire would terrify him.

I think the desire that most terrifies Scott is the one for his own death. Scott has struggled with suicidal urges since at least 3a, and Tyler Posey has discussed how, by the time Scott’s murdered in s5, he was “ready to die.” Scott’s death is the end of the relentless struggle his life has been since he was bitten, freedom from all of his perceived failures that haunt him--like the nogitsune taking Stiles’ body, like Allison’s death. It would be so fitting for him to confront that in the library, where he was originally murdered--where his murdered body once lay on the ground, the one part of himself he’ll never be able to see. Unless he looks now. 

It would also fit really well with @daughterofluthien’s excellent meta about the meaning of Scott’s self-blinding in the finale. If the anuk-ite represents Scott’s desire to die, then the mutilation represents, ironically, his rejection of that desire, and would foreshadow his similar rejection of the lure of death in the movie, when he growls at the nogitsune: “I’m not ready to die.”

watching Teen Wolf Season 3B again. Skipped the movie because it looked bad (no Kira?), but I did feel some nostalgia for the better parts of the series.

The first two episodes are painful for me

As someone whose health has decreased the past two years, I empathised a lot with Scott, Stiles, and Allison. They can’t perform the responsibilities they’ve built their identities around. 

There’s a lot of activities I can’t do, places I can’t go.  And it was horrifying at the start, though I’ve done a lot of acceptance since then. 

Scott is constantly worried he’ll lose control and not be able to transform back. Stiles can’t read, and is having difficulty telling reality from his dreams. Allision can’t use her bow and arrow anymore, her signature skill.

But people still need their skill sets, so they have to try anyway. There’s no time to be anyone else.

Meta May Mondays is back! Throughout the month of May, we’re encouraging people to post meta. We have some themes suggested for each Monday in May below, but all meta that fits our guidelines is welcome! Generally, we are looking for canon-compliant meta based on good faith analysis of the show, of at least 100 words.

If you’d like to play, remember to tag your post with #twmetamay or mention us @teenwolf-meta​ so we can reblog your work!

Suggested Themes:

May 1: Ties. 

"When I got here, I found the Berserkers waiting for me. They helped me survive." 

Friendship, found family, anchors, alpha and emissary, the bonds of a wolf pack. 

The tether between a nagual and the berserker she controls, an alpha and the beta he's forcing to commit murder, the master and his kanima. 

 The show is full of ties both good and bad--which do you want to explore?

May 8: Transformation. 

"Sometimes the shape you take reflects the person you are." 

Characters transform in so many different ways in this show. What shapeshifter interests you the most? What arc changed a character the most? What moment in canon transformed your understanding of a character?

May 15: Trauma. 

"And it doesn't matter who forgets--I won't." 

Our faves all suffer a lot. This week is about exploring the impact and aftermath of the horrors.

May 22: Teenagers. 

"Can't I be strong and go to prom?" 

They're not just werewolves, they're teen wolves! We want your thoughts on what lacrosse means for everyone, what it means that werewolves can't get drunk, or anything else you'd like to explore about the human lives the characters lead.

May 29: Tells. 

"You have a tell. You touch your eyebrow, right here." 

This week is for the tiny moments you've noticed in the characters: the way they give themselves away, the way their actors craft them onscreen, and the props or clothes or mise-en-scène that define these characters. 

Do you ship scalia or is it just something that you don’t mind seeing?

I ship scalia in a vacuum. I think it's a sweet dynamic with a lot of potential. Shelley and Tyler do have a lot of chemistry, so I can see why the writers wanted to explore that pairing. They have a very similar awkwardness/cluelessness that feeds into each other well (I think the same can be said about stira, which is a ship I like in a similar way, actually even more because of the tricksters/kitsune angle in their dynamic, and I also think there's some sciles meta in there about how they both got girlfriends that are so similar to the other lol) and I'm happy with how they really utilised that during their scenes in 6B. I've only seen the season once, so I can't even recall what the scene was about, but I remember the scene that sold them the most to me as a couple was that Malia face palm one lol. Where Malia is trying to communicate something but they're both just totally clueless.

This one:

The problem is the circumstances of when this pairing was explored. The messy way stalia broke up, the unfair way Malia's feelings about st/ydia was completely disregarded. Granted, this makes a part of me go "Stiles unfairly dumped you and got with Lydia without asking how you'd feel about it? Fuck yeah you should get with his best friend! Give him a taste of his own medicine! Fair is fair!" but that's more about me being a Malia stan than having to do with any ships lol. When viewing the show as a whole, it's just impossible NOT to compare scalia and stalia, and when you do, scalia so obviously comes in short.

Like, every single argument I can come up with for scalia potentially working better is disproven by what stalia was in canon. Like, "oh maybe Scott could help her with her werecoyote struggles and do it better because as a werewolf he knows what it feels like" but we literally saw Stiles help Malia with that and he did it perfectly! After hammering in for 2 and a half seasons that Stiles is Malia's anchor I can't see anyone buying how Scott could just replace him in that aspect. Also "Scott is so good and anti violence that he could help Malia get over her kill first ask questions never coyote thing in a way Stiles can't because he's very similar to Malia in that regard" doesn't work for me either. We saw throughout their relationship that Stiles and Malia felt the best about their violent tendencies and trust issues with each other because the other one could understand. They could tell each other "You're still a good person" and the other could actually believe it for once. They opened up to each other and told the other aspects of their trauma that they never discussed with anyone else! "But when I came through it, I learned something else... Control is overrated." "I said, 'I wish you were all dead.'"

Then there's the scira of it all too! I'm not gonna go too much into it since I'm mainly a stalia stan lol, but the way Kira was pushed out of the show is honestly so horrible, and the fact that scira was so huge and how Tyler and Arden kept talking about how in love they were AND the fact that the writers said that they didn't actually break up and Scott was gonna wait for her... it's all very frustrating. Add the fact that Shelley is a white woman and Arden isn't and, yeah... it's all very bad.

Plus the way season 6 not only sucked in general, but also how the writing was really bad at actually selling st/ydia and scalia. I really like what @bericas said in the tags of this post: #like on a real level#i just don’t understand what they wrote it like this#like#why would you do this#6a outside of the narrative telling us stydia showed stalia and scydia like crazy#and it’s so weird#if you’re gonna lie to me at least do it well. If they really wanted to make the endgames make sense, they really needed more time to do it. You can’t just decide to completely change your character dynamics for the last season of the show. Don’t know what the writers were on during that decision. 

TLDR: I think they’re a nice ship in theory but they just don’t work in canon. 

Meta Monday: Power

for @teenwolf-meta​​​’s meta may monday event: mccall

Power—what it is, who deserves it, and what it’s for—is one of Teen Wolf’s central themes. It’s what Peter killed Laura in order to gain (1x01), what Allison desires in the place of feeling weak (1x09), what Derek says pack and his Alpha status are for (2x03), what Matt (2x10), Gerard (2x12), Deucalion (3x04), and Jennifer (3x10) are seeking. While it’s always in the wings of these storylines, 3a is when it really hits center stage with the parallels between Derek, Deucalion, Scott, and Jennifer.

It’s often assumed that Deucalion represents what Scott could become, but I think Deucalion is actually a darker version of Derek. In Visionary, Deucalion’s and Derek’s fatal mistakes are paralleled. They both desire humans and werewolves to get along (the hunters for Deucalion, Paige for Derek), so they organize a meeting only to be betrayed (Gerard, Ennis/Peter), and ultimately their loved ones die (pack, Paige). Both of them even experience a permanent change to their eyes. 

In Unleashed, Deucalion spells out his motives to Derek: “The reason I’m always invested in new talent is simple. We all know a pack is strongest due to its individual parts: the stronger the individual parts, the stronger the whole. ... I took the individual parts and became a greater individual whole” (3x04). Deucalion sees pack primarily as an extension of personal power. Deucalion’s perspective is more extreme, but still similar to Derek’s. Derek tells Scott that “we’re stronger in numbers. A pack makes the individual more powerful” (1x05), and later when Scott argues that he’s making betas for his own personal power, Derek says “it’s true. It is about power” (2x03). Peter also recognizes what Derek’s doing, as he pointedly asks Isaac, “Why do you think Derek was in such a hurry to build his pack? So eager to strengthen his power and his number?” (2x12), which Isaac will hit upon later: “Why’d you do this to us, Derek? Was it all about the power?” (3x11).

While they both take a certain pleasure from their pursuit of power, it’s also about safety. Deucalion was betrayed by his pack (Marco) and so consumed his betas, taking the pack’s power so no one could hurt him again (3x08). Derek was betrayed by his pack (Peter) and so created his betas, making the pack’s power his own so no one could hurt him again (2x03, 2x12). Deucalion’s version is just an escalated, more direct way of using betas for safety/his own personal gain. In the end, Boyd and Erica die for their place in Derek’s pack, just as Deucalion’s betas die for their place in his.

But Derek’s story doesn’t end the same way Deucalion’s does. After Deucalion is forced to kill Marco, he just keeps going (Ennis, for example, in 3x05). After Derek is forced to kill Boyd, something different happens. Instead of consuming more betas for power, Derek instead chooses to give his power up. Peter explains his Alpha spark can save Cora, and Derek replies without hesitation: “I don’t care about power. Not anymore” (3x11). Even when Peter makes explicit that Derek might need that power just “to fight back,” Derek’s resolve doesn’t waver. He’s choosing to give up power, even in the name of safety, to protect someone else.

Scott, meanwhile, is operating on a different axis entirely. While Derek and Deucalion went out of their way to form packs for personal power, Scott did the opposite: not only did he not create or join a pack for protection, he chose to be an omega—something he knew would mean a drop in power (2x01). Much to Derek’s shock, Scott starts to gain pack and power not in spite of this decision, but because of it (2x05). Scott consistently uses his power and pack to protect others rather than for personal gain. As Derek will later tell the twins, “Scott doesn’t care about power. He cares about people” (3x16). 

This makes Jennifer the dark mirror to Scott: Jennifer tries to claim that her desire for power is just “a necessary evil” (3x09), but as Derek says, she’s still killing “innocent people” (3x10). While Jennifer sacrifices other people for herself, Scott sacrifices himself for other people—literally. Each time Scott’s eyes start to turn in 3a, it’s the direct result of trying to protect others. He attacks Ennis to save Isaac (3x05), strains against mountain ash to save Deaton (3x07), and finally breaks through Jennifer’s barrier to save the parents (3x12). None of these acts are about trying to gain power. For the most part, in fact, they’re about losing it. Scott says the attempt in Lunar Ellipse “nearly killed him” (5x04), and the original script described the process as “the flesh literally tearing from his cheeks” (3x07, Green Draft).

This is what leads to Scott’s rise to True Alpha: it’s not about just “not killing,” but specifically about not killing for power. Scott doesn’t steal his power from his own pack (Deucalion), from another Alpha (Derek, the twins), or through sacrificing others (Jennifer), but from the strength of his desire to protect others.

While “absolute power corrupts absolutely” is probably the most famous axiom on power, I think Robert Caro’s take is more apt: “Power doesn’t always corrupt. Power can cleanse. What I believe is always true about power is that power always reveals: when you have enough power to do what you always wanted to do, then you see what the guy always wanted to do.”

Theo engineering becoming murder buddies with Stiles was one of his most ingenious moves in s5. He knew sending Donovan after Stiles would either result in a) stiles killing him, or b) Theo intervening and killing him for stiles. Either one would’ve resulted in them keeping a secret from Scott, even option B since Stiles would’ve felt that Theo killed for him and given the sciles tension already, he just would not have told/ or delayed telling Scott. Anyways Theo manufacturing the whole Donovan thing already created a forced, reluctant, hated, form of trust on Stiles behalf in regards to Theo (which was evident by stiles telling Theo he liked killing Donovan in the car) but what CEMENTED it was Theo killing Josh in front of Stiles.

Look, I love some steo. But I refuse to believe that Theo “lost control” and killed Josh because he saw Stiles getting hurt. It was simply an opportunity to strengthen that forming relationship between stiles and him because, here’s the thing, Theo wants this to be a two-way street. He wants Stiles to have dirt on him, like he has dirt on Stiles, because he knows it’ll strengthen this illicit, murder-bound forged alliance between them. He knows it’ll encourage Stiles to confide in him, in how he felt killing Donovan etc. His master plan with Stiles was literally just to get the damn guy to trust him. And even when he didn’t, even after Theo revealed his true intentions and made his move, Theo was still trying to convince Stiles that he never needed Scott, that he was never his best-friend (ref: staircase, good lighting scene). He still wanted Stiles, even after dismissing Liam, shooting Malia, and sending Lydia into comatose.

Anyways this wasn’t meant to spiral into a Steo post but rather just a garnered appreciation for how Theo played every event that happened to break the pack apart, and take the ones he wanted, which ended up being Just Stiles (still failed tho, lol)

Posey’s acting does a phenomenal job of communicating Scott’s despair in 5A, but I really love the almost childlike uncertainty he brings to the table in this scene from Status Asthmaticus.

Hayden’s dying, he’s fallen out with Stiles, Malia’s in the wind and Kira’s been gone for days, and he’s just seen the first glimpse of havoc the Beast is about to unleash, thanks to the busted school sign taking up half a halfway. And then Lydia texts him—a spot of hope!—so he goes to the library and can’t find her but when he calls her, he hears the phone.

But there’s no Lydia.

He’s already uncertain—there’s been a lot of steeling breaths and half-glazed eyes, and the almost dissociative way he spoke with Theo at the beginning of the episode—but there’s just something about the acting choice of holding the phone with both hands here that feels so small. Like a child clutching to a favourite animal in the dark, or a drowning man to a single piece of driftwood. He knows it isn’t going to help, not in any way that matters, but it’s literally all he has left to hold on to. 

Scott’s arc in s5 is really dependent on Posey’s ability to portray a lot of his emotional state through his body language and line delivery, and it’s little moments like this that really sell the performance.

Forever mad that the show never explored Malia and Derek’s relationship. It was so focused on Peter being Malia’s dad that no one ever even acknowledged that she and Derek were also cousins! 

Now, I am all for the Malia’s canon choice of being a Tate instead of a Hale. Henry is her real father! Biology be damned! But it could’ve also been so good if after deciding that she doesn’t want Peter in her life, she realizes that she can still connect with her biological family through Derek. And Derek, who’s lost more family than he can count, welcoming her with open arms. 

– They grow to care for each other really quickly but they are both TERRIBLE at expressing it. 

– Just a bunch of awkward silences and nods, and LOADS of awkward shoulder pats from Derek. 

– She goes to him for advice and he tries his best to help her even though he does not feel qualified AT ALL. 

– Malia is already basically besties with Braeden in canon, they can have family dinners together! They just sit there silently eating food and it’s their absolute favourite time of the week. 

– Stiles gets invited one time but he can not shut up so he's never invited again. 

– And OMG, Derek and Malia working through their trauma together because they both feel responsible for their family’s death!!! Why did we not get this instead of Peter’s stupid dad arc????

hello yes this is your daily reminder that when kidney transplants are performed, the new kidney is often connected to the rest of the body without the other two being removed. This means after Hayden got the bite and full ✨werewolf healing✨ kicked in, she very well might have had three working kidneys. 

how would this have effected her?? does she metabolize toxins even better than a standard werewolf?? These are the answers I need tw!!

I’m (re)watching teen wolf and in season 4, Peter isn’t on the deadpool : I know it’s because Meredith listened to his thoughts and created the deadpool based on how he wanted to create a new population of BH supernaturals to his image, but then the Mute attacking him doesn’t like any sense. Why would he try to kill him if he wasn’t on the deadpool ? Did he just do it for fun ? (and for free ? the guy is an assassin, he’s not usually killing people for fun) Perhaps Meredith told him to hurt him a little so he would be off the list of suspects ?

Water Symbolism in Teen Wolf

The Symbolic Function of Water by Timothy Iles / Water Imagery in Seize the Day by Clinton W. Trowbridge / Water as a symbol of Transcendence and Renewal in Medieval Poetry by Virginia L. Morell

Liam’s Anchor

I was rewatching 5x01 for fanfic reasons, and it just struck me how Scott’s second plan for Liam, after supervising him closely for hours, is to leave him at the hospital.

He knows Liam is still having trouble with control, which to me would suggest that he’d need to keep Liam close, even if Liam has managed really well so far. But instead he takes Liam to the hospital, where they talk about the fact that Dr. Geyer is there. That suggests to me that Scott--and Liam--are pretty confident that Dr. Geyer’s presence will help keep Liam grounded, even while he’s in surgery.

Which suggests to me that Dr. Geyer is Liam’s anchor at the beginning of the season, which I love so much.

Our fourth suggested theme for Meta May Mondays is: Teenagers.

"Can't I be strong and go to prom?"

They're not just werewolves, they're teen wolves! We want your thoughts on what lacrosse means for everyone, what it means that werewolves can't get drunk, or anything else you'd like to explore about the human lives the characters lead.

Our guidelines for meta can be found here, and remember to to tag your post with #twmetamay or mention us @teenwolf-meta​ so we can more easily find your work!

We don’t talk about how Stalia started out enough. And I don’t mean 3x20, no, I’m talking 3x13–3x14. Because rewatching them through the lens of Stiles and Malia later getting together truly makes those episodes something else. What a fantastic start to their arc. 

The Tate car crash was the first case Stiles’ dad worked after he was appointed sheriff, and now he’s revisiting it with his newfound knowledge of the supernatural because something about it always felt off. To help him, Stiles and Scott break into her house and go through her stuff so that Scott can try and catch her scent. We get Stiles saying, “I hate coyotes. So much.” (That, my folks, is what we in the business call dramatic irony.) Then he finds her coyote den and they invade that, too. Like, come on guys. 

“Coyotes tip-toe?” “They tip-toe.” “Wow.” 

And as Henry decides to go after the coyote, not knowing that it’s really his daughter, Stiles is adamant that he needs to be stopped, and convinces his dad that there really is a girl in that coyote and that she needs to be saved. “Dad, try not to forget there's a girl in there, one that you’ll be killing.” / “Now, are you 100% sure that this is a girl and not an animal?” “Yes.”

And my favourite: as they’re out there trying to turn her back, with Henry hot on her tail, Stiles is boggled by the fact that Malia keeps coming back for the doll, and when Lydia points out that the doll belonged to Malia’s little sister, not her, he flashes back to the episode before, when he bought flowers for his mom’s grave. “You know, the last time we brought one of these to her grave it was stolen the same day. Hundred bucks, down the drain.” That’s exactly what Malia is doing. Her sister’s doll is the flowers and the crash sight is the grave, and you can hear the guilt in his voice as he says, “Malia left it at the car for her sister. It's like bringing flowers to a grave. Okay, and we stole the flowers.” 

Malia has just been introduced, we haven’t even seen her in her human form yet, and there’s already parallels drawn between her and Stiles. Already, before even meeting her, Stiles can relate to her. Already, we can see how they’d be compatible. 

Then, of course, comes the classic scene: Stiles is watching Malia reunite with her dad and suddenly he can read again, because she anchors him too. Not only is the anchor thing mutual with them, but we see Malia anchoring Stiles (3x14 and 3x22) before we see Stiles anchor Malia for the first time (4x01). 

Also, Allison shot Malia’s dad with a tranquilliser dart. That has nothing to do with Stalia but I think it’s funny. 

Meta Monday: Moon Tolerance

for @teenwolf-meta​’s meta may monday event, week 1

I’ve always found it curious that when Peter talks about Boyd and Erica (Cora) going feral in Chaos Rising, he says that Deucalion keeping them locked away has diminished “their tolerance” to the moon (3x02). Tolerance refers to the ability to withstand something, and especially in the context of a drug, is something you usually get better at ignoring the more you’re exposed to it. A daily coffee drinker, for example, is less affected by a 12oz drink than someone who’s never had a single sip. Peter’s use of the word in 3a implies that part of getting better at resisting the moon’s influence is simply by experiencing it more often.

I think this is interesting to consider in relation to born vs bitten wolves. Derek tells Scott it will take longer to teach him because he was bitten (1x06), and Noshiko says that bitten wolves have “a harder time suppressing their anger” (3x21). If resisting the moon is in part just about building up a tolerance, born wolves have a built-in advantage: they’ve been used to the moon affecting them, to some extent or another, for their entire lives. A bitten wolf, in the meantime, has no reference for the moon’s influence—like the newbie coffee drinker, the first moon is a complete shock to their system.

The longer a person has been a were, the more tolerance they will have built up—though this likely caps at a certain level of exposure, meaning born and bitten wolves can reach the same level of “natural” tolerance with enough time. Personality, force of will, and anchors obviously speed up or slow down this process, but time is still an important component for a wolf’s ability to control its own shift.