CONTENT COVERED: Teen Wolf (MTV) (2011 – 2017)/CHARACTER: Theo Raeken
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Theo Raeken (Cody Christian) is a character from MTV’s Teen Wolf show who appeared in seasons five and six.
Theo is one of my favourites from the series; my other favourites being Stiles Stilinski and Jordan Parrish. To be honest, there is probably so many more, anyway!
Theo returns to Beacon Hills after many years of being away. He returns saying he was turned into a werewolf and wants to be in Scott’s Pack. He makes this believable by saying that the Alpha who bit him was killed by two of his own Betas. Due to that, Theo has ended up as an Omega. Scott and Stiles believe him as the story of his Alpha’s is a story that they know happened; through twins Ethan and Aiden. The twins became Alphas by killing their Alpha and joining Deucalion’s Alpha Pack, before Scott’s Pack and allies put a stop to them. It is later discovered that Theo Raeken is a Chimera (Werewolf/Werecoyote). The first successful Chimera that the Dread Doctors made according to himself.
Theo’s story is one I found conflicting at first. When Theo was first introduced, I fell in line with Stiles. One because Stiles is my favourite and comfort character, and two, because Stiles has been right with nearly everything so far. Like, literally. He had such a good gut instinct that he figured out that Matt was the one controlling Jackson in Season Two. So, yeah, I trust him.
In Season Five, Theo was so interesting. He was able to turn Scott’s whole pack against each other. However, in the second half of the season, they were forced to half trust him. It was such an interesting dynamic.
Then, there was his end.
Season Five was the season that was both his introduction and character development. What I mean is we got to see a wide range of Theo’s emotions. Throughout the entire season, Theo’s goal was to have a pack. This always raised a question in my mind; did he want a pack for just power or was this to make up for the loss of his family?
Within a few episodes, we learn that Theo’s older sister Tara died when he was nine years old. After her death, Theo and his parent presumably left Beacon Hills. However, once Theo returns to Beacon Hills, it’s not with his birth parents. Rather a man and a woman, who are being forced (by Theo) to pretend to be his parents. Theo is seen to physically abuse them. An example; breaking the man’s hand at one point for not being able to forge his birth-fathers signature perfectly. In this same scene, it is seen that the woman turns on the man. This suggests that they didn’t know each other at all or well prior to Theo taking them. Or they just want to survive and to hell with the other one.
Knowing that this couple aren’t his real parents leads to the question of, where are his parents? There are a few possibilities I’ve thought of throughout the years, none of which are happy thoughts.
The first one is that his parents died or were killed. This could be through their grief, the Dread Doctors or Theo turning and losing control. If him turning for the first time is similar to Scott; lack of control.
The Chimeras don’t seem to be subjected to the same pull of the moon that the non-chimaeras suffer with.
My second idea is that Theo left them behind. A common trope for characters like Theo is that anything that will slow them down isn’t worth keeping around. So, there is potential that Theo simply left his parents behind. Either ran away or told them he was leaving to stay with others.
Another could be that his parents found out the truth about Theo and Tara. After finding out they subsequently kicked Theo out or abandoned him. At the end of the day, he did kill his sister and not in a fast or kind way. He left her to freeze to death in a small stream of water as he watched before letting the Dread Doctors have her to make him a Genetic Chimera. Like, it is a bad situation, so his parents might have cast him out for what he did.
Finally, the Dread Doctors could have simply kept him. Later in season five, during the time where The Beast of Gevaudan was beginning to cause havoc in Beacon Hills, the Dread Doctors explained that he was originally meant to be the Beasts host. So, maybe they kept him close to watch him grow and then try to merge him with the beast before realising he wasn’t going to work.
Regardless of what Theo had done throughout season five, there were moments where you could hear the scared boy underneath it. This tended to only show itself when Theo would be talking to the Dread Doctors. Like when he was telling them how they said he could have a pack. All he wanted was friends, a family. I think at this point, he’s realised that this isn’t what his sister wanted and that she’s died for nothing. And, worst of all, it is his fault.
At least that is what I believe happened to him. Plus, I am always drawn towards the bad and morally grey guys.
Looking at this, I feel bad for Theo, to an extent. He was tricked by the Dread Doctors into doing awful things; let’s face it, at nine how much do you really know?
I kind of understood death at nine. But that was only because I had been watching the show Charmed (1998) for a few years at the point and had learned what that meant then; plus the secret viewing of CSI and NCIS by nine too. So, for me, death was something I sort of understood. At least, I understood the finality of death; in the sense that there is no going back, once your dead, your dead. However, I can’t say whether that is something that Theo Raeken (or any nine year old) would have an understanding of.
So, not only, has Theo grown up to understand the consequences of his actions, he’s also lost his parents and now become a failure in the Doctor’s eyes. Who does he have? There doesn’t seem to be any other Chimeras around the Dread Doctors, just him.
In Season Six is where Theo is seen to find himself. Mainly, in my opinion, due to Liam Dunbar. Even though Liam keeps Theo at a distance for most of the season, easing up after their time in the hospital with the Wild Hunt, he is the only person to listen to Theo. He is the one to think about bringing Theo back! From the moment we meet Theo to now Liam is the only person that Theo truly gets close to.
I do think that Liam is a major factor in Theo’s redemption in Season Six. Theo hurt Liam so much but Liam still convinced Scott to keep Theo in this realm, instead of sending him back, to help find Stiles.
Liam is the bridge between Scott and Theo, and Theo actually learns from Liam.
When they enter the hospital running from the Wild Hunt, Liam flicks on an Ambulance siren to attract them and Theo loses it. Liam explains that they can’t do anything useful other than keeping the Hunt away from Scott and Lydia; while they figure out how to get Stiles and the rest of Beacon Hills back. Not long after this moment, Theo gets Liam out of harm’s way, using himself as bait for the same reason. Theo knows he can’t do much except keep Liam alive to help Scott and Lydia save everyone.
Then finally, in the end, Theo learns from the pact how to be human and supernatural but in a beneficial and good way. I feel this is shown when he takes away a dying hunter’s pain; something he couldn’t do a few episodes before.
Ultimately, not a lot is known about his family and childhood history so it can be theorised that some degree of neglect or “loose” parenting could have contributed to his action as a child. Say if his parents didn’t really pay much attention to him, so he became independent then got caught up when someone (The Dread Doctors) started to take an interest in him and, in his eyes, care about him.
I think that if Teen Wolf had more seasons we would have seen Theo grow into a kinder and more honest person, while still carrying the tips and tricks he learned from the Dread Doctors; like lying, manipulation and bargaining, but is beneficial to the pack.
Hopefully, Theo makes a return in the Jeff Davis and Paramount+ Production of the Teen Wolf Movie. As of right now, IMDB has him credited are being rumoured to join the cast, but I’m hoping to see more of him. His character was really just starting his journey and it would be brilliant to see more.
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