Jayde

PART I - Introduction & Theo Before the Dread Doctors

A little while ago I received an anon asking about my theories involving the level of Theo’s compliance and involvement in Tara’s death so I’ve done a longer post on it. If you have questions or requests for meta posts you can always send them to my Ask.  :-)

For the purposes of this post I am going to refer to Theo’s mental issues generically as “pathology” and “lack of empathy”. My reasons for doing this I explained here.

When constructing this, I’ve considered both the intent of the writers as well as the performance and opinion of the actors because unlike novels - television production is a very collaborative art. Actors read into the script and Writers/Show Runners are often inspired to delve deeper into some areas of their own writing based off how an actor is delivering.

There is no definite answer to the question “Did Theo Kill Tara?” but there’s a lot to speculate about. I have written Theo with several variations of backstory, and every time I start a new fic or RP I have a set of questions that I need to answer for myself to make sure the verse makes sense.

So let’s start with what we do know:

1) The Dread Doctors were in Theo’s life before he killed Tara, and he couldn’t have been much older than 9-10 at the most.

We know what grade Theo was in when he left Beacon Hills because 4th grade is the last time Theo and Scott saw one another. In America children in 4th grade are between the ages of 9 and 10. Tara died in Beacon Hills so Theo could be, at most, 10 years old, but could easily have been younger.

2) He watched her drown in the river and didn’t help her.

We can be pretty certain this happened because it came from two independent sources: Lydia’s vision, as well as through the flashbacks Theo has while in hell.

3) Theo feels some form of guilt and responsibility for her death.

We know this because Theo’s personal hell is a repetitive guilt-ridden hallucination. This does not prove that Theo was completely responsible, however it certainly shows that he feels responsible.

4) Theo did not have a heart problem, and Tara did not need to die for Theo to become a chimera.

This is the really interesting part. To be a genetic chimera, Theo could have had something as little as a skin graft. Tara’s death was entirely unnecessary to the Dread Doctors on a physical level, and we know they were still experimenting to create the “perfect evil” so the motivation behind giving Theo Tara’s heart was most likely to achieve some sort of psychological end with Theo.

Because these are the canon facts we have to work with, all of our theories must work within these parameters.

Additionally we should note that since Theo’s story is highly tangled with the Dread Doctors, their characterization and actions play a large part in answering these questions. All strong theories about Theo’s backstory need to be consistent with Dread Doctors motivations and MOs.

How innocent was Theo before the Dread Doctors entered his life?

Theory #1 -  Theo was completely corrupt before the Dread Doctors

Although there are scenes that made me speculate in this direction, I think it is pretty unlikely.

For someone as young as Theo to have been a killer before the Dread Doctors were in his life, there’d have to be some severe biological or developmental issues. We’ve heard nothing from Theo (or from any of the Teen Wolf writers) about Theo having a disturbed life (i.e. abuse or traumatic experiences) prior to the Dread Doctors, and a biological cause for Theo’s deviance isn’t likely because he overcomes his challenges in later seasons with no biological aid or medication.

Specifically the fact that Theo is able to develop a sense of empathy later on in life (after he is free from the Dread Doctors) makes this theory less viable.

One of the major signs of a young person with innately homicidal tendencies and low empathy is cruelty to animals and insects. In 6A we’re given a scene that shows Theo responding warmly and emotionally to finding a spider in his truck.

Because Theo is alone in this scene, he cannot be performing or acting to trick others. This is an authentic and genuine expression of his own unguarded emotions. Definitely not the behavior of someone that can’t feel empathy.

Additionally, the writers make a point in showing that Theo can’t take Mason’s pain because he “doesn’t care” and then, a few episodes later, we see Theo take Gabe’s pain as he is dying.

The reason the writers gave us the scene with Mason was very deliberately to setup the fact that Theo can’t just take pain because he wants to - in order to take pain it has to come from a place of genuine compassion. He couldn’t help Mason to get himself out of danger or prove his trustworthiness. But he is able to care about Gabe: a kid that had wandered down the wrong path and was suffering. He’s able to empathize with Gabe because Gabe is like him.

The idea that you need to be able to “care” to take pain is obviously a retcon in the Teen Wolf lore, because in earlier seasons we’ve seen people take pain in order to absorb their power. Much like the Teen Wolf timeline (don’t get me started on all the writing holes there!) world lore consistency took a backseat to the story that the creators wanted to tell about Theo.

The reason they include this new information about taking pain in the scene with Mason is to make it clear to the audience that when Theo takes Gabe’s pain in the finale, it comes from a place of genuine compassion.

Reaching back to season five, when Theo and Scott attempt to rescue Mason from the Doctors, the Surgeon tells Theo that he was a failure because he wasn’t a “true evil”. If Theo was cold enough on his own to murder his sister when he was only nine, could he really not be considered “truly evil”? Honestly how much more evil can you get?

It’s unlikely that that version of Theo would then be able to develop empathy to the level that he does when he’s eighteen.

Finally, Cody Christian has said in interviews that Theo was the Dread Doctor’s victim, which wouldn’t make sense if he was 100% evil from the start.

Theory #2 - Theo was just an innocent child that was abused and twisted by the Dread Doctors

This is a compelling theory with little to directly refute it. However it does leave us with a major unanswered question: Why did the Dread Doctors target Theo?

Was Theo more isolated than other children? Did he have a hatred for his sister? Was Tara really awful to him? Were his parents extremely unaware/neglectful? Would that be enough to make him a target?

Any potential answer I can construct would be based entirely off whims and speculation. There’s no hints in the canon for why they might have targeted him if he was a relatively healthy and reasonably well-adjusted kid. Why wouldn’t the Dread Doctors pick someone that showed an early propensity for pathological behavior instead?

Also, remember that they didn’t just grab any teenager in Beacon Hills and turn them into chimeras, they looked for teens that already had two sets of genetics (something Theo didn’t become until after Tara’s death). So it would much better fit their MO if they looked for a candidate that displayed more malleable traits.

Could there have been another reason they selected Theo? Yes. Absolutely. I’ve come up with all sorts of reasons in my fics and RPs, but there are none that the canon really points to.

A scene that it’s important to think about when considering the Innocent theory is (again) the scene in Season 5 where the Surgeon tells Theo that he couldn’t become a “true evil” because he wasn’t “truly good” to begin with. This hints that Theo may not have been all the perfect before their meddling.

Arguably, the Surgeon could have meant that they’d corrupted Theo before turning him into a chimera and that’s why it didn’t work. They spoiled the materials before their the real experiment. This is further backed by the fact that as the scene plays out, it seems important that Mason is corrupted during the procedure to become the Beast.

If that is true, than it would also support the third theory…

Theory #3 - Theo showed early signs of low empathy and/or other problematic behaviors, the Dread Doctor’s saw he was vulnerable and took advantage of it, thus shaping his development into what he became.

Just because someone has the potential to develop pathological traits doesn’t mean that they necessarily do. However, stressors can push someone with a predisposition (a vulnerability) to develop in that direction.

Popular psychology postulates that children begin developing empathy around ages 5-6, so a lack of empathy could have been apparent to the Doctors (or others) by ages 6-7. If the Doctors were looking for a child to influence, they could have picked him out for this reason and then worked on shaping his development from ages 8-9. Theo watches Tara die around age 9-10 so that timeline works.

We know that the Dread Doctors kidnap and experiment on people while they are still conscious. We also know that they are capable of inducing hallucinations. They can do all of this unbeknownst to others. That leaves them with a lot of tools to shape a young Theo into what they wanted.

One of the scenes that got me theorizing in this direction is the when Theo reads Donovan’s psychological evaluation, and puts on a highly theatrical performance. A farse play of a mental health professional telling someone that there is something abnormal going on with them.

Combined with Theo’s propensity to force others to re-enact scenes of his own corruption (you can read more about that in my other meta post here), it got me wondering: is Theo drawing on an experience he might have had as a child with a mental health authority figure?

Before anyone shouts that Stiles would have found records if Theo was ever treated for mental health issues – remember that Theo (with the help of the Dread Doctors) has falsified records in the past. It’s entirely possible that he was treated at some point, and those records were destroyed.

This is my favorite theory because:

It leaves the smallest amount questions unanswered

The timeline of events makes sense

It fits the Dread Doctors’ MO of selecting a subject that already has something going in the direction they need

It casts Theo as a victim of the Dread Doctors (which concurs with Cody Christian’s interviews) without removing all of his responsibility for his actions (which would rob the narrative and Theo of a very edgy quality).

PART II - The Dread Doctor’s Influence (coming soon)

Not only was Theo a kid when the Dread Doctors got him, but he was also very sickly and frail.

People don't realize what an explosive combination it would be the absolute trauma and distress that the doctors cause when they are abducting someone (look at Tracy for example, and she was older) and just wanting to be fixed and be able to play as a normal kid that's not one cough away from dying.

Yeah he has done a lot of shit but honestly for me Theo is like an abused dog, because even if he has schemed stuff himself, he was their creation and they were the ones that fucked him up.

contrary to fandom opinion, i don’t believe theo raeken ever saw the dread doctors as parents or even mentor figures. to theo, the dread doctors were his god. his backstory is a dark inversion of the pinocchio story– a boy who dreams of outgrowing his human body for smth greater

when someone creates you– physically manufactures a new body/soul from you– and can subvert human will to reshape your memories and beliefs, you have met god. theo was not a son, but rather a prophet for their doctrine. 

he wanted to become a “real” supernatural, but was abandoned along the way. the doctors deeming him a FAILURE was not just a stomp on his ego. its the moment god walked away. it was where he lost all identity and purpose.

building up to this moment, he was promised power– to one day become the prophesied “Beast” and help rule the supernatural world. with the doctors classifying him unworthy, theo became an empty vessel. a puppet with its strings cut. 

theo was stuck as something in between supernatural and natural, monstrous in the way he had no belonging at all. belonging is theo’s ultimate goal, which is reinforced often. he wants a pack, wants to be supernatural, wants the doctors approval, etc.

its why he was partial to staying with the mccall pack post-hell. he could’ve left but stayed in an effort to find a new doctrine. they were familiar and strange and all he had left of his identity. without the dregs of his prior life, theo raeken was a substanceless name

Only, this time he’s not returning it to Danny. No, this shirt was supposed to be folded and put away in Steve’s t-shirt drawer for Danny to have for the inevitable night that he stayed over. Just like the spare pair of cutoff sweatpants, a couple pair of clean boxers, and some very brightly patterned socks that Steve would never wear. Not even Catherine had kept that much clothing at his place and they had been sleeping together.

It’s not just having the clothing either, it’s the fact that he knows how to do Danny’s laundry. That he switched from Tide to Gain detergent because Danny likes the smell better. That he keeps a box of Captain Crunch in his cupboard and hair product in his bathroom vanity. It’s like a switch being flipped how quickly it all slides into place now. He’s dating Danny.

The idea should terrify him. He’s always been resistant to settling down with someone, never imagined himself to be the kind of guy with the white picket fence and 2.5 kids. He’s just not one for domesticity, he’s always known that deep down. Yet he can’t be upset by the way Danny has completely infiltrated his life. The front door opens and shuts, the noise distracting him from his ruminating, and he knows that the only person that it could be is Danny. He hears Danny call for him and walks out of the laundry room in a daze.

It’s like seeing his house for the first time. There are pictures of him and Danny, him and the kids, there’s even one of the four of them and Mary and Joan all piled around a sand castle they built the last time she came out. There’s a papier-mache statue that Charlie made in art class for fathers day on his bookshelf and a jar of shells that Gracie picked up off his beach ages ago, when she still liked to do things like that. He nearly runs into his chair trying to find more evidence of their cohabitation, absently remembering that Danny was the one who helped him pick out his new furniture set when he decided he wanted to make the house his own.

“There you are,“ Danny says, getting his attention from the kitchen. He’s leaning against the doorframe, giving him an easy smile, and for the first time, Steve admits to himself what the somersaulting in his stomach means. “What do you want for dinner?“ Danny asks him, heading back into the kitchen and he follows, watching as Danny finishes putting away the groceries he bought. When he sees that Danny’s putting everything away in the right place without asking him, he decides to amend his previous revelation.

He’s not dating Danny, he’s married to him.

“Babe?” Danny gets his attention. He looks worried for a second before his face changes into something softer, something more indulgent and fond that sets Steve’s heart racing. It’s a familiar expression of Danny’s and he thinks that maybe he’s starting to understand what it really means.

Emboldened, he steps forward, blocking Danny in against the counter and just standing there. Danny makes no inclination of moving, just quirks an eyebrow up at him in question.

“We’re dating,” he says inelegantly, the confession not scaring him as much as he thought it would.

“Nice of you to finally notice,” Danny chuckles and Steve kisses him.

5.20/1.20 Hiking Date Turns Murder Mystery

One of those glaring occasions when a Mcdanno trope/storyline/date is repeated with a straight couple later. Looking at the episode numbers you can't tell me this isn't intentional. To add insult to injury it actually illustrates that Steve and Danny have a healthier and more loving/lasting relationship vs actual married people but sadly will never be recognised as such by canon.

A husband not screaming his wife's name was one of the main reasons Lou was suspicious about his distress not being genuine. It happens so fast yet Danny screams Steve's name 5-7 times at least. Unlike Clay, Danny actually loves his spouse partner.

(Out of Context) McDanno Quotes - Part 4