Lycaon

**Lycaon** is a figure in Greek mythology whose existence was first mentioned in Season 3 of *Teen Wolf*. When Allison Argent and Scott McCall went to see Gerard Argent in hopes of learning more about how to defeat Deucalion and his Alpha Pack, Lycaon was brought up by Gerard to explain what is believed to be the genesis of the Werewolf species.

## Throughout *Teen Wolf*

In *Visionary*, after the Hunter Chris Argent learned that his own father Gerard was familiar with Deucalion, an Augmented Alpha Werewolf, and his Alpha Pack, he sent his daughter Allison and her ex-boyfriend and packmate Scott McCall to get answers about how they could defeat them.

Gerard began to recount his story (albeit a very biased story that contained a number of lies and exaggerations) about how Deucalion became blind and created his pack of Augmented Alphas, during which time he mentioned that he and his son, Chris, stumbled upon a root cellar built around an oak tree that had become a Nemeton, a sacred meeting place for Druids that represented the world tree.

Allison asked her grandfather why he and Chris knew so much about the Druids, Gerard stated "Know thy enemy" before revealing that Werewolves have had close relationships with the Druids for almost their entire existence, and that Druids attached to Werewolf packs were known as "Emissaries." After making the connection between the Druid Alan Deaton and the Beacon Hills Werewolves, Gerard took out a book on Greek mythology and began telling the story of Lycaon, whose name Scott identified as being the source for the term "lycanthropy," the scientific name for the Werewolf condition.

According to Gerard, many ancient Greek citizens believed that they owed their lives more to Prometheus than the gods of Olympus due to Prometheus stealing fire from Olympians and gifting it to humanity. As a result, some even took names that honored the Titans, the first generation of gods, rather than the Titans' Olympian offspring. Scott realized an example of this would be Deucalion, whose mythological namesake was the son of Prometheus, which the elder Hunter confirmed. Lycaon was said by Gerard to have been so opposed to the gods of Olympus that he actively challenged them by inviting Zeus, the king of Olympus and the Greek god of thunder, to a banquet and serving him human flesh. This act of betrayal angered Zeus so much that he struck down the house with his lightning bolts before cursing Lycaon and his fifty sons to transform into wolves.

Gerard went on to say that the part of the story lesser known to history was that Lycaon and his offspring sought out the Druids for help in controlling their curse, as they were said to be powerful shapeshifters and he hoped they would be able to turn them back to human. However, though the Druids were unable to reverse their condition, they were able to teach the new Werewolves to shift back and forth from human form and wolf form.

## Mythology

In Greek mythology, Lycaon (Greek: Λυκάων) as a king of the region of Greece known as Arcadia. His parents were Meliboea, the daughter of Oceanus (the Titan equivalent to Poseidon) and lover of the river god Orontes, and Pelasgus, the son of Zeus and Niobe.

There are a great deal of versions of the legend of Lycaon's betrayal of Zeus. The version closest to that described in *Teen Wolf* is Lycophon's work; Lycaon served Zeus the flesh of his youngest son Nyctimus and ate it alongside his family, a trick which infuriated Zeus so much that he turned Lycaon and his fifty other sons into wolves and brought Nyctimus back to life out of pity for him. In other versions of the story, Lycaon attempted to feed Zeus human flesh to confirm that his omniscience powers were as mighty as they were claimed. In most versions, Lycaon's sons went on to become founders of dozens of cities named after them in Arcadia.

Interestingly enough, a variant of the story of Lycaon angering Zeus also involves the Greek demigod Deucalion, from whom the Werewolf Deucalion got his name. In this version, instead of turning Lycaon and his sons into wolves, the furious Zeus caused a flood to put an end to the Bronze Age in an attempt to wash the earth clean. Much like the Biblical Noah, Deucalion and his wife, Pyrrha, were able to survive the deluge by floating on a chest he had made. After their survival, the two gave thanks to Zeus and, following a discussion with an oracle of Themis, the two repopulated the earth by covering their heads and throwing stones (said to be the bones of his mother, Gaia) over their shoulder, which caused new humans to be created.

## Trivia

* Lycaon is one of several figures in Greek mythology who have been referenced in *Teen Wolf*. Other referenced Greek beings are:
	+ The Furies, who were mentioned by Matt Daehler in Season 2's Fury as a metaphor for the purpose of the Kanima and its use to punish and kill murderers. The mythological Furies, also known as the Erinyes (Greek: Ἐρῑνύες), are female earth-based deities of vengeance, much like the Kanima, which was intended to be a South American weapon of vengeance. Hesiod's *Theogony* details the birth of the Erinyes after the Titan Cronus castrated his father Uranus and threw his genitalia into the sea; the Erinyes, along with the Giants and the Meliae, were then born from the drops of his blood which fell on the earth, Gaia. The number of Furies are indeterminate but are typically shown as a trio by Virgil—Alekto ("endless"), Megaera ("jealous rage") and Tisiphone ("vengeful destruction")-- and they are shown to punish those who have broken their oaths.
	+ The Hydra, mentioned by Peter Hale in Season 3A's *Frayed* as a metaphor for the Hale Pack and their allies' attempts at defeating Deucalion and the Alpha Pack. The mythological Hydra, also known as the Lernaean Hydra, is a water monster in Greco-Roman mythology born from Typhon and Echidna. The Hydra typically takes the form of a serpent who, when decapitated, grows a number of additional heads to replace it, though the exact number it grows varies based on the source. The Hydra was slayed by the demigod Heracles/Hercules.
	+ Deucalion, mentioned by Gerard Argent in Season 3A's *Visionary* as a reference to the character Deucalion. The mythological Deucalion is the son of Prometheus, the Greek Titan who gifted fire to humanity; his mother has been said to be either Clymene, Hesione, or Pronoia.
	+ Actaeon and Artemis, mentioned by Kate Argent in Season 4's *A Promise to the Dead* as a parallel to her plan to turn Scott McCall into a Berserker and hide this fact from the McCall Pack so that Scott would be killed by his own Betas.
		- The mythological Actaeon (Greek: Ἀκταίω) is a Theban hero, who, like Achilles, was trained by the centaur Chiron and who was born to Aristaeus and Autonoe. He is known for having accidentally come upon the virgin goddess Artemis while she was bathing one day. The results of this encounter differ among the many variations of the story, but in most cases, she turned him into a stag and influenced his hunting dogs so that they would attack and kill him.
		- The mythological Artemis is an Olympian deity who is the daughter of Zeus and Leto, and is the twin sister of Apollo. She is the virgin goddess of the hunt, childbirth, wilderness, the moon, and archery and is known for being a protector of young girls and women. Interestingly enough, Allison Argent bears many similarities to this goddess.

## Links

* Lycaon on Wikipedia
* Furies on Wikipedia
* Hydra on Wikipedia
* Meliboea on Wikipedia
* Pelasgus on Wikipedia
* Deucalion on Wikipedia
* Actaeon on Wikipedia
* Artemis on Wikipedia