Mistletoe

### Usage

To poison a variety of creatures, including humans, animals, and the supernatural. Can also be used medicinally.

### Effects

* Poison
* Cure for supernatural ailments
* Glamour disruption
* Rituals
* Exposes the supernatural
* Forces target to shift
* Reverses effects of trephination

### Varieties

* Powder
* Paste

### Users

* Henri and Marie-Jeanne
* Jennifer Blake
* Melissa McCall

### Related

In *Teen Wolf*, **Mistletoe** is an herbal plant whose appearance varies based on the species; in North America, where the series takes place, the most common species of Mistletoe has a woody stem with pairs of broad smooth-edged leaves and white berries. Mistletoe is regarded as a semi-parasitic plant, as it attaches to and embeds itself within the branches of trees or shrubs so that it can use its host's structure to absorb water and nutrients from it. Regardless of the variety, Mistletoe is a plant that is poisonous to most lifeforms on Earth, which includes Humans, mundane canine animals (such as dogs, coyotes, and foxes), as well as supernatural canine shapeshifters such as Werewolves. It can even be used against Humans with supernatural powers such as Banshees and Druids to achieve certain effects.

## Uses

Mistletoe is a very versatile plant that has many uses, which range from curing supernatural ailments to poisoning someone. In 1764, the French Huntress Marie-Jeanne Valet and her partner, Henri Argent, laced several jugs of wine with mistletoe berries in order to expose and identify which of the patrons of the French Tavern was the famous Beast of Gevaudan. When he brother, Sebastien Valet, drank the laced wine, he began to cough and gasp before involuntarily shifting into his demonic Werewolf form. *("Maid of Gévaudan")*

### Poison

In Autumn 2011, the Darach, a Dark Druid by the name of Jennifer Blake, used mistletoe to poison several people and creatures. She first poisoned Bullet, a dog belonging to an ROTC student named Kyle to get close enough to him to successfully capture him from the Beacon Hills Animal Clinic, which resides on a convergence of telluric currents that the Darach was manipulating with her sacrifice ritual. *("Unleashed")*

She then poisoned the human Danny Mahealani with mistletoe out of fear that his term paper on telluric currents meant that he was close to discovering his plan *("Currents")*, and poisoned the Beta Werewolf Cora Hale in order to blackmail her brother Derek Hale into helping her in her plan to kill the Alpha Pack. *("The Girl Who Knew Too Much")* Finally, the Darach poisoned a recital pianist, which was revealed when the Darach used her power of telekinesis to snap one of the piano strings, which slit her throat and caused both blood and mistletoe to bleed out of her. *("The Girl Who Knew Too Much")* Interestingly enough, this mistletoe was then used against the Darach by Scott McCall, who reminded her that one could both use it and have it used against him before throwing powdered mistletoe at her, which disrupted her power to glamour herself and involuntarily revealed her true, mutilated appearance.

### Cure

Around the same time period, mistletoe was used in the surrogate sacrifice ritual, with Alan Deaton, a Druid, putting sprigs of it in the ice baths in which Allison Argent, Scott McCall, and Stiles Stilinski drowned themselves in hopes of finding the location of the Nemeton and saving their parents. It is unknown what role the mistletoe played in the ritual, but it presumably acted as an agent to facilitate their resurrections sixteen hours later. *("Alpha Pact")*, *("Lunar Ellipse")*

In the Spring of 2012, Alan Deaton used a paste made of mistletoe to fill the trephination hole drilled into the Banshee Lydia Martin's skull by Gabriel Valack, reversing the adverse side effects and somewhat dampening her Banshee scream to prevent it from killing Lydia, Deaton, Scott McCall and Stiles Stilinski. It also presumably allowed the wound to heal faster. *("Lie Ability")*

## Norse Myth

According to Jennifer Blake, the reason why Druids use mistletoe was due to a Norse myth about the sacred plant. In this myth, the god of light and life, Baldr, the son of Odin, was so beloved by the other gods, including his own mother, Frigg, that Frigg took an oath from every living and non-living thing to never harm Baldr, such as fire, water, metal, stone, etc. At a gathering later on, they tested these oaths by hurling the aforementioned substances at Baldr, none of which did him any harm whatsoever.

However, the god of mischief, Loki, did not share the other gods' love for Baldr, and upon learning that Frigg had forgotten to ask mistletoe, which Jennifer described as a small, harmless, and overlooked plant, to swear not to harm Baldr. As a result, Loki was able to fashion a dart out of the plant's woody stem, which he then threw at Baldr, killing him. Frigg was so distraught by the loss of her beloved son that she vowed that mistletoe would never again be used as a weapon, and that she would plant a kiss on anyone who passed under it.

According to Jennifer, this is the reason why many cultures now hang mistletoe on their doorways during the winter holidays so that mistletoe would never be overlooked again. She then used this myth as a metaphor for how the Druid Emissaries were overlooked by the Alpha Pack, and that her use of mistletoe in her five-fold knot sacrifice ritual was to teach the Alphas to never overlook them again. *("The Overlooked")*

## Victims of Mistletoe

* Canine
	+ Bullet
* Darach
	+ Jennifer Blake
* Human
	+ Danny Mahealani
	+ Recital pianist
* Werewolf
	+ Cora Hale
	+ Sebastien Valet

## Trivia

* There are a great number of varieties of mistletoe, including five different families (*Misodendraceae*, *Lorathaceae*, *Santalaceae*, *Eremolepidaceae*, and *Viscaceae*). On its own, the largest family, the *Loranthaceae*, has 73 genera and over 900 species.

## Gallery

*Teen Wolf Wiki* has 5 images related to ***Mistletoe***.
Scott using powdered mistletoeJennifer's glamour disrupted by mistletoeMistletoe poisoning DannyMistletoe curing Lydia's trephination