Hunter

**Notice:** This **article** uses content directly taken from the Hunter **article** at the Teen Wolf Wiki, and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License.
**Hunters** are a secret organization of self-appointed protectors of the human community from supernatural threats; though they typically focus on Werewolves, they have also been known to hunt other supernatural creatures as well, including but not limited to: Berserkers, Werejaguars, and Kanimas.

This organization has been around for centuries and are located all around the world, and they usually consist of large, old human families who also recruit among their friends. The Hunters have their own rules and hierarchy within their organization; the most notable among these rules is that, because they recognize that most wars have been started by men, they have a matriarchal leadership in which their daughters are trained to be leaders and their sons are trained to be soldiers.

For their children, Hunter training typically begins in childhood, though in some cases, such as with Allison Argent, they don't begin training until they are in their teens. One of the young Hunter's first training sessions consists of being tied to a chair in a in a unknown location and given nothing but a small blade to cut themselves free. During Allison's first Hunter training session, she was captured by other Argent Hunters from a gas station and brought to the Hale House ruins, where she was tied to a chair. The hunters then played a recording on their phone as part of the training session before giving her a broken arrow with which to free herself.

The time it takes the young Hunter to free themselves depends on the skill level of the hunter in question; it took Allison two and a half hours to free herself, while Bennett took three. Conversely, Chris Argent claimed that he was able to free himself in seconds, though whether or not he was being truthful or facetious remains to be seen.

Once the Hunter-in-training has learned all of the skills necessary to be an effective Hunter, they will forge a silver bullet as a testament to the Hunter's Code. However, this can vary based on the hunter's weapon of choice; since Allison Argent was seen forging a silver arrowhead to symbolize both her commitment to her family's new Code, as well as to show that her weapon of choice is the bow, it appears that forging a bullet is not necessarily a mandatory requirement.

The Hunter will also typically etch their family's symbol into their bullets or arrowheads; for example, Chris, Kate, and Allison etched the Argent family *fleur-de-lis* into their ammunition whereas the Calaveras, whose family name is Spanish for "skull," carves that symbol into their bullet casings.

Typically, once the young Hunter has finished their training, they will then begin to actively hunt supernatural creatures and defend humans, though this can vary among families as well; occasionally, if there is a large amount of supernatural activity in their region, the young Hunter may already have been going on hunts while still in training. This was the case for Allison Argent, whose family was actively hunting a pack of Werewolves, a Kanima, and a Kanima Master while Allison was just starting her training, and as a result, they needed all the help they could get, especially considering Allison was in school with the majority of the creatures they were hunting and was thus in a better position to gather information for them.

## Bestiary

*Main Article: Bestiary*
A Bestiary is a system of documentation collected over the years by Hunters who use it to keep records of everything they have hunted, particularly if they come upon "new" supernatural creatures their ancestors had yet to encounter, or if they learn any additional weaknesses of these creatures that can be used to their advantage. The Argent Bestiary has been shown in the series to include information on Werewolves, Kanimas, Wendigos, Hellhounds, Berserkers, and many more.

The Argent Bestiary was originally written in Archaic Latin for unknown reasons, but it has since been translated into English by Hope Mikaelson and Lydia Martin. Bestiaries typically look like an old, leather-bound book, but in Gerard's case, it was a on a flash drive until translated and put into an illustrated hardcover book by Lydia. It has over a thousand pages, according to Allison. There have been several occasions when the protectors of Beacon Hills had no idea what they were going up against, and sought out the Bestiary for more information, as it acts as essentially an "encyclopedia" of supernatural creatures.

## Hunter's Code

For the majority of the Hunter community, their Hunter's Code is "We hunt those who hunt us," which is often translated into the traditional language of the Hunter family in question; for example, the Argent family, who is of French heritage, typically recites the Code in French, "*Nous chassons ceux qui nous chassent*." This has been the Code of many Hunters for many years including the Argent Family and the Calaveras. The Hunters have a set of rules or laws that they must follow, including (but not limited to) not hunting Werewolf children or attacking or killing Werewolves when there is no proof that they have spilled innocent human blood.

However, there are some corrupt Hunters who choose not to follow the Code, such as Kate Argent and Gerard Argent. Both Kate and Gerard have shown their willingness to hunt both young and innocent Werewolves; Kate has attempted to kill Scott McCall on several occasions, despite the fact that he was only a teenager and has yet to truly kill anyone of any species, while Gerard attempted to kill several several young and innocent supernatural creatures as well, including the innocent teenagers Vernon Boyd, Erica Reyes, and Isaac Lahey, not to mention Scott, whom he has tried to kill on a number of occasions, just like his daughter, Kate. According to Chris Argent, Kate has spurned the Code because she learned to do so from their father Gerard, who hates shapeshifters and is willing to kill any of them for any reason.

The Hunters are also bound to a code of honor which dictates that, if a Hunter is turned into a shapeshifter, they must take their own life before their transformation on their first full moon. Most Hunters willingly follow this part of the Code, such as Victoria Argent and Alexander Argent, who both killed themselves moments before their first transformation. However, Kate, who does not follow the other laws of the Code, chose to ignore this rule as well, allowing herself to transform into a Werejaguar and even killing several Calavera Hunters in order to get free.

In the autumn of 2011, Allison Argent, as the newest matriarch of the Argent family of Hunters, changed their family's Code to "*Nous protégeons ceux qui ne peuvent pas se protéger eux-mêmes*," or "We protect those who cannot protect themselves." However, though Allison and her father Chris Argent committed themselves to this new Code, other Hunter families rejected it, such as the Calavera family.

## Weaponry

Hunters use a variety of weapons when hunting. Because they are human, they typically would not stand a chance against supernatural creatures; as a result, what they lack in supernatural speed, strength, agility, and accelerated healing, they make up for in an abundance of weapons. They often use a number of different firearms, from shotguns full of buckshot cartridges (a favorite of Kate Argent), to assault rifles with large magazines (a favorite of Chris Argent), to small handguns or revolver pistols (the latter of which is a favorite of Araya Calavera). Hunters also often make the ammunition even more deadly by coating or filling the bullets with wolfsbane to poison their targets.

They also use various types of bows, such as longbows, compound bows, and crossbows with a variety of different arrows, including those with military-grade titanium or incendiary arrowheads; since shapeshifters can't heal until the arrows are removed, they are a favorite weapon of many Hunters, including the Argents. Blades are also used, though less frequently, and typically only when their bows or guns are no longer an option; for example, Allison was fond of using Chinese ring daggers, while Gerard was best known for using a broadsword to cut Werewolves in half to ensure that they would stay dead.

In addition to lethal weaponry, the Hunters also use non-lethal weaponry, particularly when they're trying to capture a supernatural creature for questioning. These weapons include ultrasonic emitters to corral and incapacitate shapeshifters via a high-pitched frequency, trip-wires, tasers and taser-wands. They also have items such as motion-sensor alarms and infrared goggles to help them better locate their targets in the dark.

## Trivia

* The Calaveras treat the Code like it is the law, and have made it their job to enforce it, particularly when a fellow Hunter is bitten by an Alpha—in that case, they will supervise the Hunter to ensure that they kill themselves before their first transformation.
* Gerard and Kate have broken the Code on multiple occasions and as a result are known as rogue hunters.