WE NEED TO TALK MORE ABOUT HOW MAD BOYD WAS!!! HECK WE NEED TO TALK MORE ABOUT BOYD!!!
(So this got kinda long. I did not realise I was this passionate about his character until I started writing, so buckle in)
The Teen Wolf writers fumbled hard with Boyd- he was such an underdeveloped character. We knew nothing about why he wanted to join Derek's pack other than that he didn't want to be friendless- which compared to Erica, who had a serious disability she was bullied for, and Isaac, who had an abusive asshole for a father, really isn't that big of a deal. They never explain why he's any different from the hundreds of other friendless high schoolers.
He also never gets the chance to really have an important part in any scene. Isaac and Erica had the lab scene where they tried to poison Lydia. They went to kill Lydia at school, at then at Scott's house. They tried to poison Jackson at the rave. He did do most of the talking when Erica and him were running away though, so good for him. But mostly he was just standing behind Derek as backup. I only remember three 1-on-1 scenes of him with Scott/Stiles.
(I can't find a gif of the ice rink scene cause that's how little this fandom talks about Boyd and Scott when it's unrelated to their favs. I also did not even remember that last scene until I saw a post of some idiot bashing Boyd for saying that he's not Stiles's friend after Stiles "spent the entire summer looking for him unlike Scott". Which. Wow the delusion.)
In Frayed he actually almost initiated a fight by almost attacking Ethan in the bus over Derek and Erica's death. But then who actually does it? Isaac! (I love that because ahhh scisaac obviously, but could they not have included something else for Boyd too?)
Motel California is by far the most in depth ep he got. We finally learnt about his sister and the guilt he feels for not saving her. I have no idea why they left that information out for over a full season (they definitely did not make it up just to give Boyd a reason for a suicide attempt despite the fact that Erica was already dead and they really should've focused on his grief over that more because she was his only friend and also because literally no one mourned her for more than 5 seconds) but whatever! He has a backstory now! Next episode-
(And they made it about Derek, and added a sprinking of Stiles too even though it would've made so much more sense to have Cora comfort her brother since they've been tense since their reuinion and they needed a bonding moment, but I'm glad she was crying over Boyd's body though because someone needed to do it)
And ok. Fine. Teen Wolf has a LOT of underdeveloped characters. Especially when they're women/poc. This is what fanfic is for. Let's see what they have!
DAMN 17000+ works for a black side character who appears for only 1.5 seasons? The fandom's outdone itself!
The top relationship isn't related to him? His most important canon relationship has 1/4th the amount of fics that the fanon ship about two white guys has? How unusual....
I think you get my point.
I haven't read that many Hale pack fics for obvious reasons, but the ones I have come across portray him in the exact. Same. Way.
Fanon Boyd is calm. He is the level-headed, mature one (*looks at princeescaluswords posts on poc kid adultification*). When fanon Isaac has his sad meow meow moments, he reassures him. When fanon Erica acts like a sexy but chaotic cat, he smiles affectionately and restrains her. He stands stoicly behind Derek and nods assent. I mean, let's see what the internet has to say about fanon Boyd.
(The 1st result is AI. Because google is disappointing like that and I don't have time to go any deeper rn. Let it be known I do not support publicly accessible AI in any way!)
Oh boy. I know it's no secret that most Sterek fanfics warp the canon characters like hell to make their ship make sense, but oh boy.
"Gentle nature"- proceeds to beat Scott up when he tries to convince them not to kill Lydia, demolishes the opposing lacrosse team, talks back aggressively to literally everyone except Scott in that one scene in the ice rink- but he did just stand by while Derek stepped on Scott's throat 10 seconds ago so I don't think that amounts to much.
"Moral compass"- helps when Derek orders them to kill Jackson and then Lydia, nearly murders Ethan himself before Scott stops him, plots to kill Deucalion etc. Etc.
As he said himself, he only had one friend. That was Erica. A fact conveniently forgotten by the fans who think of him as-
God they really want that obedient beta fantasy don't they?
"Unwavering loyalty"- decides to leave Derek the minute he thinks there may be another pack in town.
"Understands/supports Derek WitHoUt QuEsTiOn"- Disobeys him and plays lacrosse, talked back when he tried to convince them to stay with him, basically told him he was a shit Alpha to his face.
"Compared to his impulsive packmates"? The guy who almost blew up in the middle of a bus of humans with no plan? The guy who flashed his werewolf eyes in public and alerted Gerard that Derek had bit him? Less impulsive than Erica/Isaac??? (He does seem to be more intelligent than them though, so at least they got one thing right)
(Side note- teenwolfwiki calls Scott Isaac's "foster brother"!!! Ahh i love it when they do that!!!)
Yup. The guy who had to be talked down by Scott and Isaac from murder. Yup. The guy who loses control on the full moon twice (not by his own fault of course) and tries to murder Derek and has to be stopped by Isaac and Scott. Totally.
At least the other packmates of the "Hale pack" have some resemblance to canon. Erica does flirt and Isaac does show signs of ptsd. It's still nowhere near their entire personalities though, which is what fanon makes it out to be, but it's still better than how they molded an entire OC with Boyd's face just becayse he was a bit quieter than the other characters.
Ok now that we're over with that shitshow of a fanon, let's talk about canon.
Canon Boyd was mad. Canon Erica was mad. Canon Isaac was mad. Canon Jackson was mad (because he was also one of Derek's betas- a fact the fandom conveniently forgets)
Them being with Derek did not soften them up or calm them down. It gave them the tools and power to release that anger on other innocent people.
Canon makes this pretty obvious with the way Boyd picks fights to be seen as someone important (beating up Scott, the opposing lacrosse team, almost doing the same to Ethan etc), the way Erica frequently goes on rants about how she was treated when she had her seizures (to Scott, Allison, and Stiles), the way Isaac is fully on board to kill Lydia because she rejected him once like, years ago, and the way Jackson- well- does everything (bullying Scott and Stiles, aggressively hurling lacrosse balls at trees, bitching to everyone). The fandom just has this cool way of keeping their eyes closed about what's actually happening on screen.
Derek's anger is what keeps him controlled. His betas are all extensions of that anger. Their anger is what allows them to accept the Bite without even being fully informed of the consequences (cause as Isaac directly says, they weren't)
Said Bite- a decision they made out of the anger they all felt at the world- is what led to 50% of Derek's pack dying. It's what made Jackson into a murderous lizard monster. It's what would've ruined Isaac and Derek too if Isaac hadn't chosen to join Scott because he wants to save people, and if Derek hadn't given up his Alpha status to save his sister.
C'MON GUYS THEY'RE PRACTICALLY BASHING YOU OVER THE HEAD WITH THIS IT'S SO OBVIOUS!
Boyd chose love- he chose Erica, and a life away from violence and anger- when he decided to run away. But by then it was too late. By then both of them had been cemented as Derek's betas because of their prior actions they did under his orders, because of their anger and thirst for revenge. The consequence of that is that the Alpha pack kidnaps them both.
When Boyd escapes, he could've run away again. He could've, like Isaac, gradually started to shift allegiance to Scott. But he needed revenge for what happened to Erica, and honestly I can't blame him but keeping with the themes of the show here, that's why he ended up dying. He chose Derek and his way of revenge again, and the Alpha pack killed him for it.
Boyd says to Scott, "I don't want to be like them, I want to be like you." What does he mean by that? Is he talking superficially he wants to be as good of a fighter as Scott, or maybe he wants to stand up for himself, for others, and for what he thinks is right the way Scott does?
I feel like it's the latter. Boyd and Isaac both initially agree to the Bite for a good cause. Isaac wants to be free from his abusive father, and Boyd wants to not sit alone at lunch anymore. They're good motives, but when they actually get said power they get sidetracked into their petty revenges.
Boyd is a victim- just like Derek, Peter, Isaac, Erica, Scott, Allison, Jackson, Lydia, and pretty much every main character in this show. He's also a narrative tool. Of the above characters I listed, think about who actually lived and why. There's a pretty obvious pattern. Boyd was mad at the world, and rightfully so after how it had beaten him to the ground again and again, but it's how he deals with that anger that makes him who he is (which is a consistent message of the show)
SO CAN WE PLEASE stop chalking up this character who, despite what little nuance we were given about him in canon is actually incredibly complex when you look into it, into some guard dog moral compass!?! Can we not explore Boyd's relationship with the Bite, with anger, with revenge, with love? His relationship with Erica, with Derek, with Isaac after Erica dies, with his late sister, with Cora, with Scott? What do they all mean to him from his perspective?
Uhm. Yeah I think that's it. Feel free to discuss with me in the comments/reblogs- but please stay respectfum thanks