#or aiden

[andreal831]

The Depiction of the Werewolves in TO

Once again, I made a quick, I thought funny, tiktok, which has upset some people because of my, you could say, lack of sympathy for the wolves in TO. But don't blame me, blame the writers.

If you know anything about me, you know Hayley Marshall is a top favorite character for me. I love her growth and the journey she went on to find her family. Which is why, when she did find them (excluding the whole betraying Tyler thing), I was upset by how they treated her. You have Jackson telling her he was disappointed in their interaction, you have Oliver taking advantage of her hospitality and betraying her, and then the rest of her family doesn't even greet her/talk to her. She is supposed to be this "princess who is promised," and yet they can't even take a second to get to know her. I get, they have been cursed and are just trying to enjoy their human moments while they can, but it just didn't give me anything to bond with.

Except Eve. I loved Eve. She welcomed Hayley, not as some long lost royal, but as family. Eve is the first, and really only, werewolf/family that we, as the audience, get to see Hayley bond with. We see her helping Hayley prepare for her baby as well as teaching her about their culture. It's implied others are helping as well, but we never get to see it. It all happens off screen. I just know, if Eve had been alive, she would have been by Hayley's side after she "lost" Hope.

Which makes it so much worse when Oliver kills Eve. And all for power. This is where my dislike for the New Orleans werewolves comes in. Any other time we meet wolves, there is a strong sense of loyalty. You hear, Tyler and Jules and even Hayley talk about the packs they have been with and you see them working together to avoid/fight off Klaus. But then we get to the Crescent wolves and learn that they have been trying to kill each other for power. Not just in the past, we actively see Oliver get his own pack members killed and then kill Eve with zero consequences. Yes, Oliver does die, but not because of that. He is still given a proper burial, something we don't even get to see for Eve.

Now, an argument people use a lot with the wolves is that they are the oppressed. But this argument, to me, comes more from the historical portrayal of werewolves and less from the sources material we are discussing. Throughout much media, the wolves are meant to represent the oppressed -- the poor and downtrodden -- who have been taken advantage of by the blood-sucking aristocrats, the vampires. But in TO, Jackson tells us that the werewolves were at the top of the food chain until in-fighting got the better of them.

And we see this in flashbacks to 1919. Lana Lebonair is working with the Mikaelsons and they are able to create peace in the city with the witches. After the Mikaelsons flee, we don't know exactly what happened, but we know leading up to the 1990s there had been enough in-fighting that the Lebonairs and Kenners had set up an arranged marriage in hopes to quell the civil war that had broken out.

Unlike in other depictions of werewolves, the wolves were not inherently oppressed. The first werewolf we ever meet is Tyler Lockwood, who was by no means strapped for cash. In 1919, the Crescents were living in the Quarter, partying right alongside everyone else. It wasn't until their own members made power grabs did they have issues.

In hindsight, we are told these power grabs are due to the Hollow and someone implied that Marcel should have investigated the werewolves civil war before cursing all of them. First, I don't necessarily support Marcel in everything he does. To me, in Season 1, he was very much like Klaus and it was not my favorite version of him. Should he have cursed an entire pack for the actions of a handful, probably not. But the way Marcel talks about it, it was not just a handful, the entire pack was at war with itself. And the curse only applied to those who had triggered the curse or did trigger the curse, so no children. Again, was there a better solution, maybe, but was it up to Marcel to realize a ancient spirit had possessed one of their leaders when not even his wife had realized? That may be asking too much. Especially after he was watching them try to butcher a baby.

Due to this curse, the werewolves do end up isolated in the bayou. The curse lasts for about 20 years so many of the young members miss out on much of their early adulthood. This is something the show should have gone in on more. In my story, I try to explore this idea that, because of the curse, the werewolves are really disenfranchised. However, in the show, we don't get that. The only wolves we deal with are the leaders who are essentially using their pack as a power play. Aiden is the only leader who seems to be aware that these decisions are impacting the entire pack, and he gets reprimanded for speaking out. Aiden is so desperate to save his pack that he goes to his enemies (Elijah and Marcel) to protect the children from the decisions of his own pack members.

To me, the beauty of the werewolves comes from their loyalty, from how they work together and support each other. The depiction of the Crescent wolves flies in the face of everything I typically love about packs. The leaders abandon each other, have little respect for each other, and for some reason they have a monarchy. Hayley and Aiden are the only leaders we truly see fighting for the pack, and they are often disrespected by the very members they are trying to help.

In Season 1, Hayley is torn between the people who took her in and the pack that she always wanted to find. She ends up in the middle of the conflict and the pack (Oliver) often throws that in her face and uses her as a pawn to try and manipulate the Mikaelsons while also disrespecting her over and over again. But the thing is, they didn't need a pawn. They never tried to open discussions. Hayley marches into a faction meeting angry that the werewolves were not included in the discussion, but they had never asked to be included. As Elijah points out, the meeting was to divide up the Quarter and the wolves do not live in the Quarter. If you are familiar with New Orleans, you know the nearest bayou is about an hour drive away. But when Hayley asked (demanded) to be in the conversation, she was immediately included. She then signed a treaty saying the wolves would help create peace, only for her to go back to the bayou to discover Jackson and Oliver were both working behind her back to make a side deal with Klaus for more power. Instead of building peace, they were again lobbying for power. The very thing that got them cursed in the first place.

Someone argued, 'of course they are trying to get power, they don't want to be cursed again.' And sure, but even when they get their power from Hayley, it doesn't stop them from being cursed by Dahlia. But maybe if they had made friends with the witches, they would have been able to get help from Davina earlier than they did.

It's easy to look at each faction and point out how they've been wronged, but as Hayley points out, they've all harmed each other. If they all wanted reparations for that harm, it would never end. The wolves seem to get the short end of the stick a lot, because, as Jackson says, they were never unified. The witches were and the vampires were. It's not up to the other factions to cut them a break because they couldn't get it together. At the end of it all, they needed to move forward and worry about the future of their people. Which is what Hayley and Lana do leading up to Season 5, when New Orleans was able to actually achieve peace. Not surprising it took women being in charge before the pack found unity.

I would also like to point out that in my post I had also called out Klaus and Marcel. I am not solely blaming the werewolves for the war in New Orleans. But it is incorrect to say the werewolves were innocent bystanders in it. Their history is just as bloody as the other factions. The only faction that was innocent was the human faction who truly did not get a seat at the table. And of course, in any war, the people who ended up paying for these power moves were good people like Sophie and Eve.

[writerfae]

Imagine if Henry would’ve grown up with his father instead. Being prepared all his life to some day bring back the Alderking. Unaware (or maybe all too aware) of the fact that reawaken the king will kill him.

[capinejghafa]

David is the only valid tua cast member in this interview.... also, I love how they probably though he was joking he was was deadass serious and they're like jk!

[Source]

[nutmeggery]

actually I will say something about this:

setting up a romance line but waiting until one of the actors is a freshly legal adult before executing it is creepy, actually, especially when the co-star is 15 years older

[vietsoul]

Marcus Iron & Aiden Shaw Descent, 1999 - Hot House, dir. Steven Scarborough

[chubsette]

Since I'm here, I might as well share this, which I drew for a friend while discussing the many benefits of a fat body, like the two scholars we are

[lee1504]

why do this to me T-T

[lifeintheworldtocome]

estrogen could have saved her

[a-tear-in-space]

The duality of man

[aidens-ocean-galaxy]

imagine this:

Barty’s anigmus form is a bat and whenever he gets really tired during the day, he’ll turn into his anigmus form and shove himself into Evan’s hoodie pocket

everyone asks Evan, “what’s with the lump in your pocket? What’s in it?” And Evan just pulls out his sleeping bat boyfriend and the people get scared bc what kind of freak just has a bat?

[oldbookshop]

the thing hozier does with his voice on "take my whiskey neeeeEattt" is heroin into my veins

[ghostpajamas]

commission for @heynowisavedyouright

[Commission Info]

[vivtanner]

We are not always what we seem, and hardly ever what we dream 🌌

Aiden, Warlock of the Undead for @nudlmonster

[nudlmonster]

A little comic about how Aiden met Strahd and received a gift from him. ..and also commited a little social faux pas.

[fivesillydandelions]

THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY 4.06 - THE END OF THE BEGINNING