Arena Beasts

"*Oh, no!*"
―Summer Petersen sighting one of the Arena Beasts[src]
The **Arena Beasts** are a group of rare creatures of unidentified species kept in cages in the Death Pit, an arena located above the throne room of their owner, Zira Miranda Grover. One such creature hailed from Planet 12, having been given to Zira as a birthday present from her henchmen. She was fond of throwing people into the Beasts’ den and watching them be eaten as a part of the Tournament of White Roses.

## History

### Tournament of White Roses

Among the Beasts Zira collected were a former resident of Planet 12 with extremely potent psionic powers. It was being transported from its homeworld by Grindi for a merchant named Grizz, when it broke out, killing Grindi and his crew, and causing the ship to crash on Earth. A scavenger named Terell Jack discovered the wreckage and informed Zira’s servants Jim Newman and Bill Kerve. They presented it to Zira as a birthday present. Newman was rewarded by being made Zira’s assistant, while Kerve was fed to the beast. Zira frequently used her Arena Beasts as an amusing form of execution for the Tournament of White Roses. At some point, Zira’s battle talisman somehow ended up falling into its pit, where the Prime Beast ate it. Luke Jones was bought from a circus in order to care for Zira’s Arena Beasts. He became very emotionally attached to the strongest of the creatures, known as the Prime Beast. While he took the Prime Beast for a walk in the desert, it saved him from a small gang of locals. Zira enjoyed pitting the Prime Beast against other exotic monsters for her amusement. It always won, but was seriously wounded by four lions. When Luke discovered that Zira planned to pit the Prime Beast against a Herbiddean Black, which would surely kill it, he made plans to betray Zira to Valarie and escape Idaho with the Prime Beast before the dragon could fight it.

On January 16, 2016, Zira used the beasts against Vincent Organa. Vincent proved to be unusually challenging: the young Kraton dispatched most of them, and when the Prime Beast first attempted to throw his flesh off, deflected the attack, tiring him as he had already exerted his Force powers against Zira's guards. The Beast threw Organa against the ceiling. Upon landing, Organa tried to attack the Prime Beast again, who swung him back against a metal grate. Organa tried to reason with the Prime Beast, claiming that he could save it, learning that the creature spoke. The Prime Beast, grateful that Organa had saved it, swore to help him, but then an emergency turret blasted the Beast's head cleanly off. As it was dying, the Prime Beast moaned weakly, with Luke Jones rushing to the Prime Beast’s aid and then gasping in horror when he discovered it was too late.

### Aftermath

"*The Keepers forced Zira’s Prime Beast into a dungeon where it could barely move. It was half-starved. Though I didn’t have a choice, I’m still sorry that I had to kill it.*"
―Vincent Organa[src]The Prime Beast's death greatly upset Zira, who ordered the execution of Wes Bomee for firing the turret, and demanded Vincent and his companions be executed at the Temple of the Relinquished, but was defeated near the temple when the Kraton escaped. Jones was even more impacted by the Prime Beast's death, feeling that he had failed it and no longer had purpose in life. However, as Josh Hogan indeed pointed out, it is unclear if the surviving beasts continued serving Zira going forward, as their presence would have been difficult to conceal, even for her.

## Behind the scenes

"*I like the idea that everyone loves someone. And even the worst, most horrible monster you can imagine was loved by his keeper. And in turn, the Prime Beast loved his keeper.*"
―D. Isaac Thomas[src]
* D. Isaac Thomas later revealed about some of the victims the Arena Beasts had killed, and provided depth into the relationship between the Prime Beast and Luke Jones.
* According to Ammon Thomas, Zira’s Prime Beast once fought the alien from Planet 12 that had debuted in *Baby Intelligence*, but failed to kill it. However, D. Isaac Thomas never declared this fact to be canon.

## References

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