Lydia Martin

## Physical description

* Allies
* Enemies

Peter Hale (formerly), Jennifer Blake, the Alpha Pack, Deucalion (Formerly), The Nogitsune (formerly), Meredith Walker (formerly), Dread Doctors, Theo Raeken (formerly), Dr. Gabriel Valack, Sebastien Valet, Ghost Riders, Gerard Argent, Tamora Monroe, The Anuke-ite

## Personal information

### Education

Beacon Hills High School (formerly; graduated)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (formerly; graduated)</small

### Likes

Protecting her friends and family, hanging out with her friends (mainly Allison, Scott, and Stiles), her dog, Prada, helping others, protecting Beacon Hills, caring about her friends

### Dislikes

Her banshee powers kicking in, somebody dying, losing her friends and family, being pressured, werewolf hunters, being taken advantage of, threats to her pack

**Lydia Martin** is one of the two deuteragonists (alongside Stiles Stilinski) of the MTV series *Teen Wolf* and a major character in the 2023 Paramount+ sequel, *Teen Wolf: The Movie*.

She is a banshee whose powers were activated when Peter Hale bit her. She is the daughter of the estranged Mr Martin and Natalie Martin, the primary love interest of Stiles Stilinski, and the granddaughter of Lorraine Martin as well as the best friend of Allison Argent, Scott McCall, Kira Yukimura and Malia Tate. She is also close friends with Mason Hewitt, Liam Dunbar, and Corey Bryant, a good friend of Derek Hale, Noah Stilinski, Melissa McCall, the fellow Banshee and protege of Meredith Walker, and the ex-girlfriend of the late Aiden Steiner and Jackson Whittemore.

Lydia was introduced as the most popular girl in school before making bonds with the three main characters. At the end of Season 1, Lydia is bitten by the then Alpha Peter Hale; this bite does not turn her into a werewolf. Instead, it activates her banshee powers, abilities she inherited from her paternal grandmother.

She is a member of the McCall Pack, a former student at Beacon Hills High and the MIT, and a worker at the San Francisco's Energy Company.

## History

Lydia Martin is a Banshee who was born on March 19, 1994. She unknowingly inherits her Banshee powers from her paternal grandmother, Lorraine Martin; however, Lydia will not come into these powers until she is bitten by then-Alpha werewolf, Peter Hale. She had been a classmate of Scott McCall and Stiles Stilinski since the third grade, where the latter harbored a major crush on her. However, Lydia paid no attention to him. (Formality)

At some point during her academic career, her IQ was tested, and she rated a genius-level score of 170. ("Unleashed")

Growing up, Lydia was very close with her grandmother and they would often read "The Little Mermaid" together. Because it was their favorite fairytale, Lorraine nicknames Lydia "Ariel" after the titular mermaid. When Lydia was in elementary school, her father had Lorraine admitted into Eichen House; while Mr. Martin believed his mother to be mentally ill, Lorraine was a banshee. (Time of Death")

One day, Lorraine performed trephination on herself while in the bathtub at Eichen House, which caused Natalie to be called to help deal with it. Though the young Lydia was told to stay in the car, she eventually got bored and followed her mother inside, where she found Lorraine surrounded by a pool of blood. Lorraine saw her in the doorway and stated, "They're coming, Lydia. They're coming for all of us," but for some yet-unexplained reason, Lydia repressed the memory until she read Gabriel Valack's novel The Dread Doctors, which was intended to trigger suppressed memories, specifically those that were suppressed by the Dread Doctors themselves. Horrified, Natalie immediately rushed her daughter out of Eichen House, while Lydia had no memory of this happening ("Required Reading").

Because of the constant fighting between her parents, Lydia becomes a queen bee, a mean girl persona, and one of the most popular girls in school. (The Tell)

Lydia also has a string of relationships; however, she never loved them. (Frenemy).

At some point, she began dating Jackson, Captain of the Lacrosse team. Over time, Lydia grows to love him, unlike her other boyfriends (Frenemy; Master Plan)

Despite her intelligence, she acts dim-witted around him to make him not feel insecure. (Magic Bullet; Pack Mentality).

At some point, Lydia's parents went through a divorce. Mr. Martin gave her the option to live with either her dad or her mom. Natalie believed this was pressure for a sixteen year old girl and explained why Lydia continued to hide behind her "Queen Bee" attitude. Ultimately, Lydia chooses to remain with her mother, who she was rather close to. Excelling in high school, Lydia began demonstrating exceptional leadership qualities, surprising Natalie and Mr. Martin. (The Tell).

### *Teen Wolf* (2011)

After Jennifer's unsuccessful murder attempt, the paramedics took Lydia to Beacon Hills Memorial hospital for treatment. However, a severe thunderstorm knocks out the power, and Lydia had to transfer to the nearest hospital with the rest of the evacs. During her absence, Jennifer knocks Derek out and kidnaps Melissa, Scott joins Deucalion, and the Argents, Isaac, Peter, and Cora escape the hospital

## Personality

Lydia used to be a vain, shallow, ditzy mean-girl who flaunted her popularity around. Despite this, Lydia was one of the most intelligent people at her high school. She mainly kept up this appearance so her then-boyfriend Jackson Whittemore wouldn't feel like the odd one out. However, she did show signs of her true self several times throughout Season 1. For example she was impressed by Scott's lacrosse skills and genuinely praised him for it to Allison. Additionally, due to the absence of a father in her life, Lydia would later form something of a father-daughter bond with Sheriff Stilinski. She was also close with her paternal grandmother, Lorraine and read "The Little Mermaid" with her. In the first two seasons, Lydia maintained this appearance. After coming across one of Peter's crime scenes, Lydia becomes distraught and stays home from school the next day. She tries being a beauty queen by immediately putting makeup on herself after seeing her mascaras run, putting her mean girl attitude back on. By Season 3, however, Lydia no longer puts on this face and starts embracing herself. For example, she refuses to let her mom cover up the bruising around her neck because Lydia isn't afraid to show people that she is strong even though Jennifer tried to kill her.

In her romantic relationships, Lydia appreciates those with raw talent. For example, she started paying attention to Scott because he improved his game on the lacrosse field. Even before his breakup with Allison, Lydia sometimes flirted with him and later kissed him in "Lunatic." However, as time went on, Scott and Lydia developed a brother and-sister relationship. She was later attracted to Stiles Stilinski because he was an intelligent individual in his own right after he recognized her as just as intelligent. However, the fact that they had been best friends before their relationship also factors into this. Lydia also appreciates people with good tastes in fashion, as seen during her first interactions with Allison. However, she comes to appreciate friends who prove, time and time again, to be selfless, caring, and supportive.

After her breakup with Jackson, being attacked by Peter made Lydia feel traumatized and secluded and became more distant from her friends. Without Jackson to keep her grounded and Allison, Scott and Stiles keeping secrets from her, Lydia felt lost because her friends were acting "like total nut jobs." Because Scott, Allison and Stiles were too busy dealing with the Kanima and the Argents, Lydia was tormented by Peter Hale's spirit and faced most of her endeavors alone.

After becoming aware of the supernatural and developing closer friendships with Scott and Stiles, Lydia started becoming more compassionate and caring to others. She was resistant of her powers at first but learned to accept them and use them so she could save her friends and protect Beacon Hills. After Stiles, Lydia's closest friendship are with Scott, Allison, and later, Malia. Theo noticed that it would be impossible to turn Lydia against Scott due to their close friendship so he targeted Stiles, Liam and Malia instead. Despite her newfound heroism, Lydia still made snarky comments, but mainly towards her enemies. During Kali and Aiden's confrontation with Lydia and Ethan at Derek's apartment, the Banshee sarcastically told Kali she was in desperate need of a pedicure," referring to the female Alpha's clawed toes. She added how she would be happy to give Kali a referral. Later during her and the pack's mission to rescue Derek Hale from Kate Argent, Lydia called Allison's late aunt a "psychopathic bitch" because she murdered Derek's family seven years prior to Season 4.

Lydia had self-doubt in her powers and abilities because of the Banshee powers she didn't want. Even after Peter had left her consciousness, she was still regularly traumatized by the deaths she would come to witness and the corpses to which she was drawn as a result of being a Harbinger of Death. At the end of the series, she becomes more confident in her abilities, especially after the trials she endured at Eichen House and being trained by Meredith Walker. She learned to accept her role and help Scott and their friends whenever they needed it. Additionally, after being best friends with Stiles for two years, Lydia finally realized her romantic feelings for him, especially during his absence. Along with Scott and Malia, Lydia was successful in bringing him back to the trash world. However, it was also her memory and love for Stiles that truly allowed him to cross back over.

## Powers and abilities

### Powers

**Banshee Physiology:** After she was bitten by then-Alpha Werewolf Peter Hale in the Season 1 episode Formality, Lydia's Banshee nature was activated earlier than anticipated. However, she remained unaware of her nature until Jennifer Blake identified Lydia as a Banshee when the latter was trying to kill her in Season 3’s “The Girl Who Knew Too Much.” In Season 4, it was revealed that Lydia’s powers are hereditary on her father's side of the family. Her grandmother, Lorraine, was a Banshee, who predicted her wife's death and that Lydia would become a target for the Dead Pool and that Lydia had the potential to stop it. It is also implied that Lydia would have gained her powers sometime after her eighteenth birthday.

### Abilities

* **Genius Intelligence:** Even from the start of the series, Lydia is considered a child prodigy and genius. Because of her intellect, Lydia was accepted into the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Lydia has an IQ of 170, and knows mathematics, chemistry, physics, medicine, psychology, history, mythology, and foreign languages. She investigates supernatural crimes, due to her academic knowledge and Stiles' understanding of law enforcement.
* **Charisma**
* **Multilingualism:** Lydia is fluent in Latin (both Archaic and Classical), Spanish, and French in at least a conversational capacity.
* **Skilled Artist:** Lydia drew a very detailed picture of the Nemeton's roots she initially mistook for a tree. However, they realized this must have been the place where Jennifer was holding Sheriff Stilinski, Melissa McCall, and Chris Argent hostage.
* **Combatant:** Lydia was trained by Jordan Parrish in hand-to-hand combat, including
	+ hand-to-hand combat,
	+ Martial arts
	+ Krav maga
	+ Kickboxing
	+ Jiu-jitsu
	+ Karate.