The Beast of Gevaudan

"*"You know about the Dread Doctors, don't you?"*
"So they did succeed?"

"Tell me what it is."

"Oh, not what it is. What it *was*. A monster whose only purpose was to kill-- not for sustenance, not for revenge, not for any rational impulse other than the drive to end life wherever it's found. It also has a rather personal connection to our family."

"La Bête."

"The Beast of Gévaudan."*"*

—Gerard Argent and Chris Argent about **La Bête**.

**La Bête du Gévaudan**, also known as **The Beast of Gevaudan**, is a monstrous Werewolf who terrorized France in the 1700s. The Beast was eventually killed by one of the ancestors of the Argent family of Werewolf Hunters. In 2012, a trio of ancient parascientists known as the Dread Doctorsresurrected the Beast by summoning his essence into the body of their final Chimera, who is likely part-Werewolf, though their identity remains unknown.

## Early Life

The Beast was originally born in France in the early 1700s. What his early life was like is still a mystery, as is when he became a Werewolf, as the little information known about him suggests he was not a born wolf. However, what is known is that in 1764, he began terrorizing the Auvergne and South Dordogne areas of France, according to one of the Argent family's history books. This reign of terror continued for three years, during which time he killed numerous people; some stories say it was a little more than 100 victims total, but according to the Dread Doctors, the body count was closer to 500.

Finally, in 1767, the Beast was finally killed by a member of the Argent family, beginning their legacy as expert hunters of Werewolves and other supernatural creatures. However, the horrors the Beast committed was seen as so evil that the area's leaders decided to punish him with *damnatio memoriae*, or condemnation of memory, where he was literally stricken from written history. As a result, the true identity of the Beast is unknown in the present day.

## Resurrection

Valack says that the Dread Doctors have managed to create an "engineered version" of the Beast using a teenage chimera as host. Theo explains that they needed a body because they couldn’t resurrect the beast out of thin air. He says the chimera is human during the day and probably unaware that it is transforming into the beast at night.

The Doctors are apparently using broadcast frequencies to force the chimera to manifest the beast nightly in an effort to speed up its development. Chris Argent explains that, as the beast gets smarter and regains the memories of its former life, the teenager inside will be physically gone replaced by the beast's original host.

## Throughout *Teen Wolf*

In the first half of Season 5, the Dread Doctors turned a dozen teenagers who had two sets of DNA as a result of organ and tissue transplants into Chimeras, or hybrid supernatural creatures who were created by scientific means rather than magical ones, all in an effort to find the perfect vessel and resurrect the Beast of Gevaudan. However, only the final Chimera they created actually became a perfect success, and at some point, the Doctors managed to summon its life essence and put it in the Chimera as its new host.

In *Status Asthmaticus,* the Beast was shown prowling around Beacon Hills, eventually ending up at the high school, where it threw the school's large stone sign onto the roof, causing it to fall through the roof to the entrance hall and break in half. That night, the Dread Doctors uncovered a fresco in their laboratory underneath Beacon Hills that depicted the Beast battling what appeared to be a Hellhound.

In *Damnatio Memoriae,* the Beast killed a technician working on fixing a problem at the electric substation. Shortly afterward, it chased Deputy Valerie Clarke out of the station after she arrived to check on the unresponsive technician before then going after Liam Dunbar and Hayden Romero, who ran into the woods and jumped off a cliff into a ravine just to avoid it.

In *Codominance*, Theo Raeken and Tracy Stewart tracked the Beast to Beacon Hills High School, where they found both the Dread Doctors and the Beast, the latter of whom was carrying the severed head of Mr. O'Quinn, a teacher at the school. The Beast then roared at Theo when he began yelling at the Dread Doctors about how he still wasn't a real Werewolf or an Alpha.

In *The Sword and the Spirit*, Chris and Gerard Argent were searching the tunnels under Beacon Hills to find the Beast while Gerard explained what he knew about the creature. Gerard claimed that there were myths that said the Beast was a gigantic red-furred wolf or a cloven-hoofed panther, but the specific legend he was told by his grandfather described the Beast as being oil black in color and both solid and formless in shape, as though it was a shadow trying to be a real being. He also believed that the Dread Doctors were leaving the message "Damnatio memoriae" to get the Beast to remember who it was in its first life. When the men split up to search separately, Chris found at least thirty victims of the Beast's bloodthirsty nature hidden in the sewer by the Dread Doctors, who were trying to protect it from exposure. That night, the Beast showed up at Fort Jewett during a battle between Malia Tate and the Desert Wolf, and nearly killed Alan Deaton before Malia rescued him and the Desert Wolf retreated.

in A Credible Threat, The pack attempt to find to find out the Beast's identity by looking at the shoe size of the players of the Lacrosse team. Corey becomes startled after kissing Mason in the school bus, moments later the Beast shows up near the buses.

In Maid of Gevaudan, the Beast is apparently revealed to be Mason Hewitt. The original man that was the beast was Sebastien Valet, the brother of Marie-Jeanne. He eventually killed with a special spear and had his past erased as punishment.

## Personality

In its Beast form, it is extremely vicious and will kill anyone in its path. According to Gerard, the Beast is one of the only creatures whose only interest is ending life wherever it finds it.

As a human, he was known as Sebastien Valet who was the original Beast and was said to have been a serial killer or even a mass murderer, killing many people before he even became a werewolf. However, it was revealed that he was the brother of the maid of Gevaudan and he, in his own words apparently become a "demon wolf" by drinking rain water from the paw print of a wolf, a reference to the folklore of werewolf mythology. After becoming the Beast, he slaughtered whoever crossed his path with no regard. He was finally killed by his sister in 1776 with aspear made from Marie-Jeanne's blood, mountain ash and wolfsbane under the full moon

## Physical Appearance

The Beast of Gevaudan's "beast" form is a more larger version of an Alpha werewolf's beast form, being almost twice the size and with more fur covering its body as well as visible veins. The face of the beast is also peculiar, being more cat-like than a canine and with an oversized mouth. Additionally, the Beast almost appears as though it is made up of black smoke or shadows, and has been described as looking both solid and shapeless at the same time. Instead of eyes like typical werewolves, which have either red, blue, or gold irises, the entire surface of the Beast's eyes are a glowing white-blue. It is shown that the Beast had these traits in its original life, meaning it was never a "normal" werewolf to begin with thus the strange powers and appearance has nothing to do with the Dread Doctors.

## Powers and Abilities

The Beast possesses the common powers of a Werewolf, but they are extremely heightened and powerful. It appears to be the most powerful Werewolf ever to appear on the series thus far, and it was even able to gain the upper-hand in a battle against the Hellhound, Jordan Parrish.

The Beast's ability to "transform" itself is also unusual in that it is able to keep its clothes intact, which was proven when the Beast's bloody paw-prints at a crime scene were shown to morph into bloody shoe prints. It's implied that it morphs into its bestial form by wrapping shadows around its "human" body, though how it does this is not fully understood as of yet. It was recently revealed that it could do this in its original life and was apparently turned not by a bite or a scratch but by drinking rain water from a paw print of a wolf.

## Weaknesses

In the Beast's original life, it would have presumably had the same weaknesses of a typical Werewolf though it has been stated that even in the past, it was never a "normal" Werewolf. According to Gerard Argent, the only effective weapon against it was a special mountain ash and wolfsbane made spear in the hands of a young woman.

Since the resurrected Beast is now inhabiting the body of a Chimera, it is even more of a mystery as to whether it has any weaknesses typical of a Werewolf.

## Trivia

* La Bête is one of the earliest known supernatural creatures in the history of *Teen Wolf*, and its existence is what began the Argent Family's legacy as Werewolf Hunters.
* Unlike werewolves, whose wolf-eyes are typically gold, blue, or red, depending on their rank and status, the Beast appears to have glowing white-blue eyes in its werewolf form. It also has a black, shadowy aura around it that almost looks like smoke.
* According to Gerard Argent, the Beast is said to have no other purpose than to cause death whenever it can.
* According to Theo Raeken in *Codominance*, the Dread Doctors summoned the spirit of the original Beast and put it into the body of a Beacon Hills teenager, since the Doctors couldn't resurrect such an old creature out of thin air. He also claims that the Beast only shifts into its monster form at night, and during the day, it likely has no idea who it really is. The identity of the teenage vessel of the Beast still remains unknown at this time.
* It has been implied that the original Beast did something so terrible that it was given the punishment of "damnatio memoriae," or condemnation of memory, which was a punishment used in the Roman Empire that was said to be worse than death because all traces of their existence is stripped from recorded history so that their life story is forgotten. As a result, the Dread Doctors have been leaving it messages to try to remind it of who it really is, since it appears to still be disoriented and confused about its true identity.
* According to Gabriel Valack, the Beast was a man in its original life, but this has yet to be confirmed. It has also been said that its new Chimera vessel could be either a male or female teenager.
* It's destined rival is the Hellhound, as it is the only being so far to survive an encounter with it after engaging in battle.