#anuk-ite

Annddd that's it! All 32 villains that will be in this villain battle. Again, sorry if a villain you like did not make it, but I think I got just about all of them. Like always, you will have 1 week to vote, and the winners of this round will move onto the second round, so have fun and vote to your hearts content! And see you next week for round 2!

I’ll give it a shot, so long as you understand that I’m not claiming absolute knowledge of what happened.  I think there were three possible reasons.

1.  The Anuk-Ite required direct eye-to-eye contact to turn someone to stone.  Not only did it have to look at its victims eyes, but its victim has to look at its eyes.  There is mystical significance in this.  Stiles is smart enough to look at the Anuk-Ite’s feet, because he doesn’t have to look it in the eye to get the mountain ash close enough.    The jar of mountain ash, if you remember, didn’t hit the Anuk-Ite, it hit the ground before it, and then Stiles willed it to surround the creature, imprisoning it once again.

2.  The show tried (and I mean it tried – not that it succeeded) to obey to a certain degree the laws of science.  One of which is the conservation of mass and energy.  The anuk-ite feeds on fear – that’s where it draws its power from.  That’s why it didn’t just reach its final form, to use video game terminology, immediately upon escaping the Wild Hunt.  It had to build up its energy until it could meld those two bodies together.   

It was supremely powerful once melded, but it didn’t have an infinite supply of energy.   Transforming a living organic body into stone takes energy, no matter what the source.   When Stiles burst into the room, the Anuk-Ite had been weakened by the fight with Scott until it simply didn’t have enough energy to turn Stiles to stone.   Scott and the Creature hadn’t just been talking, they’d been fighting and the creature had been shapeshifting and taunting Scott in order to get Scott to be afraid.   But Scott, even alone, even blinded, wasn’t afraid.  Not even of losing his friends; his faith in them and his own will (see #3) was absolute.  They literally had him lampshade that “I”m not afraid of you anymore.”   The Anuk-Ite ran out of juice.   Scott couldn’t completely defeat it by himself, but he made it possible for it to be defeated.

3.  The final fight was an ultimate and incontrovertible statement of Scott’s strengths as alpha: his force of will, his compassion for and understanding of others, and his trust – so often dismissed by fandom – in the fundamental nature of the people who share this world with him.  The show didn’t turn Stiles to stone because Scott was the True Alpha.  

He didn’t blind himself out of desperation.  He blinded himself because he knew he had to keep the fight going long enough for the creature to be imprisoned.  Scott never thinks he’s perfect or flawless; practically, in a long fight where all it took was one slip-up, keeping his eyes shut was dangerous not just to him but to the people relying on him. The Anuk-Ite wasn’t stupid; it would snatch off a blindfold first chance it could.  The only way to make sure he survived long enough to save others was to tear out his own eyes, so he did it.

Scott also took the time to understand the creature – even gently reminding it of it’s terror at being imprisoned again – and he came up with the plan to use that against it.  He had learned; he had been surrounded by people who thought that the answer to the tragedies in their lives was more power (Peter, Derek, Jackson, Gerard, Deucalion, Jennifer, Theo, Monroe, etc.) and who didn’t fully consider the price of gaining more power.  The Anuk-Ite wanted the strength of a werewolf but never thought about the downsides.   Scott doesn’t believe in power, he believes in people. 

Which is of course, his ultimate virtue: his trust in people.  Because who did he trust to complete this final task?   The seasoned hunter? The experienced emissary?  His own father?  No, he trusted in Stiles.  Stiles is his best friend, but Stiles is also the person who dragged him out in the woods in the middle of the night and frankly ruined his life.   Stiles is a liar, a cruel manipulator, and a person who doesn’t respect boundaries.   Stiles is the person who has made excuses why he can’t do the right thing from “I want to help, but I can’t do what you can do,” “I’m no hero,” and especially “Some of us are human.”   Stiles is the person who has attacked him and what he believed in just as much as any villain on the show.  But Scott believed in Stiles.  He asked Stiles to get the mountain ash because, no matter all the things Stiles has done, in the end, he is his friend.  And guess what?  Stiles did it.

Teen Wolf Season 6B’s ‘Big Bad’: Anuk-Ité ‘The Double Face’

Words: 1632

Theo and Liam were sitting on the hood of the pick-up, cautiously parked at the forest boundaries, when Theo's phone rang. It was Scott.

“What do you want?” asked Theo. Liam was relieved he came back to his normal self, after a few, softer days.

“I think we found something.” said Scott, on the other side. Liam did not even have to strain to hear what the Alpha was saying. It had been a while since his hearing had further refined, and often it was more annoying than anything else was.

"Do you think you’ll tell me what it is or should we come to your house again?" Theo asked. From the other side came a suffocate growl, but both Theo and Liam ignored it; it was Malia, as always trying to restore the honor of her boyfriend.

"In the notes of the Dread Doctors there’s something about how to get back some of those beasts to the human form." Scott began, but Theo stopped him before he could go on.

"We have already talked about it." Theo said, crossing Liam's gaze. "Those things deserve to die, and furthermore we cannot take responsibility for all the lives they could reap once the control is loosened."

"It's not about saving them, but rather about knowing why they came here, why they chose Beacon Hills, and then how to get rid of them. The notes say that when an individual's mind is broken, in the body of a chimera, only a few memories of little importance remains, but on which the chimera becomes obsessed. "

"So you're convinced that the thing that attacked me and Liam was just a failed experiment?" Theo asked, but something in his voice seemed to have broken. He too had been defined as such by the Dread Doctors; it was one of the first things he had revealed to him after a nightmare. Liam stretched out his hand, waiting for Theo to leave his cell phone: he was the one who had to communicate his intentions, and those of those who followed him, to Scott, and would not allow Theo to still take his place.

"I'm not going to replicate the desperate move we made with the Anuk-Ite: during the investigation Mason was injured and only thanks to the help of the other Hellhound we did have the necessary information. Now there is no one willing to tell us what we want to know, and as on that occasion we must guard against the supernatural and hunters, so either find a less risky alternative that do not involve giving a face, and therefore a past, to beasts of which we know nothing at all, or we will have to continue to search through what we found in those archives. "

Liam relaxed, finally satisfied with being able to say everything without letting out a bruise of anger. He knew that even his words had hurt Theo, who still felt guilty for his total inability to take Mason’s pain, and felt guilty, because he knew that although he seemed his old self, something had changed in him and Liam was not sure he could ever get totally back. They had not spoken of what had happened that day, and not only of his reaction, of the panic, or of the tears, but also of that kiss, of how, by now, Liam had understood he had become Theo’s anchor. In reality, it was from his mother's death that they had not been able to talk a lot.

"I do not want to put a face on those who attacked you, I just want to find a way to control them." said Scott, surprising Liam.

"The easiest way would be to kill their Alpha." Liam pointed out to him.

"You managed to kill the one who attacked you just out of pure luck, and whoever kills the Alpha will acquire the powers and..." Scott began, but Theo tore the phone from Liam's hands.

"Do not worry; if we get to a direct fight, I'll stay very far from the Alpha, I'm sure there will be other chimeras to take care of."

Liam saw the pain in Theo's eyes. How could Scott question whether Theo had not given up his selfish plans after all he had done for them?

"So what do you propose?" Scott asked, probably hoping that the call would end quickly.

"You, Malia, Peter and Alec continue to study those notes, while Lydia, the Deputy, Mason and Corey will check in the police archives where other creatures such as the one who attacked us could be seen, and they will divide the attacks organized by random sightings, and if what you say is true, perhaps we will approach the possibility of discovering where the whole pack is hiding. In the meantime, Liam and I continue to act as bait. “Theo explained. It was not a decision he was making on his own, but he made Scott believe the plan had not been orchestrated long before. When the Alpha agreed, just before hanging up, Liam was extremely relieved. The choice to leave Alec with them and not to bring him in the woods had been Theo’s suggestion and Liam had considered it a decidedly subtle choice: Alec had openly expressed, with Theo and Liam, his intention to stay by their side, if the pack had officially split, but he had never said anything before Scott or Malia, which made him the perfect candidate for the controller’s task.

"Everything will be fine, is not it?" Theo asked. Liam understood his need to be reassured, but he himself was the first to need someone to tell him that everything would be all right, that no other innocent would die, that, in the end, they would be able to stay in peace, even in Beacon Hills. So he just nodded and leaned his head on Theo's shoulder, waiting for someone to come to destroy even that small parenthesis of peace.

Theo and Liam walked quickly, but they were not actually running, not to draw too much attention but mainly to be able to pay more attention to what surrounded them. Alec had left Scott's house several hours ago, with some of the notes with him, to explain to them what seemed to be the best discovery of all time. Both Theo and Liam had tried to convince Scott that it would have been better if they had gone to his house and not vice versa, but the boy had seemed irremovable, saying that they had to behave as if everything were normal, otherwise they would not have been good baits. The two boys had begun to worry when the sun had already fallen, and Alec had not yet arrived at the car: he knew where they parked, when they were forced to sleep in the woods, because forced to drive away from all service areas and parking, and yet they didn’t saw even the boy’s shadow. They tried to call Scott, but he did not answer the phone either. They had to decide quickly if they wanted to go home to the Alpha first, which still had two more wolves at his side, or first to look for Alec, who, as far as they knew, could only be in the woods, and maybe even in danger. Therefore, without even needing to consult, they began to plumb the woods. It was a scream of pain that made them quicken their pace, but Theo suddenly stopped, calling Liam, his voice full of terror. When Liam turned, Theo was practically trembling. He had put a foot on a trap, which an inexpensive eye could have mistaken for a normal hare, or foxes, trap, but which was actually the perfect size for a human foot. Or for the paw of a wolf. Theo was also quite sure that the metal teeth were covered with aconite: he could smell the smell distinctly, acrid to his nostrils. Another scream pierced the silence of the forest, and this time, both Theo and Liam, distinctly recognized Alec's voice. Theo jumped, and the trap moved with him.

"Stand still." Liam hissed.

"Go look for Alec." Theo told him. "I'll be fine, at least until this thing decides to close."

"I will not leave you here," Liam replied, slowly approaching. Theo did not try to argue: he knew that look, and when Liam looked at him like that, there was no reason that can change his mind.

"Then look for the damn instructions!" Theo exclaimed.

"What instructions?" Liam asked, perplexed, and if Theo could move, he would punch him on that beautiful angelic face.

"The instructions to disarm it!" Theo growled. He hated that kind of situation. When he was stuck, when he was trapped, it felt like when the Dread Doctors controlled him: he had a choice, but every option would hurt him, one way or another. Moreover, he had already experienced aconite poisoning and did not want to replicate. He had really believed he was dying that time.

"And where the fuck do I find the instructions to disarm it?" asked Liam, worried.

“On internet!” replied Theo, exasperated.

Once freed from the trap it was not difficult to find Alec. Liam roared, and the call seemed to resound throughout the forest. Alec could not help but reply. They found him intent on trying to free himself from the trap that had grabbed his ankle, his hands soiled with blood and his tibia with a strange angle. Liam disarmed the trap, and Alec trudged to free himself.

"Who put these traps?" Alec asked, looking around hysterically. It must have been difficult for him to be trapped for so long.