| “ | Nolan: "Are you just going to let us do this to you? You know you can take us. All you have to do is change." Liam: "The sun..." Nolan: "What?" Liam: "The sun... the moon... the truth..." Nolan: "What the hell is that supposed to mean? [...] You're fighting it! But you can't hold back forever." |
” |
— Nolan and Liam Dunbar in Face-to-Faceless
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Nolan is a supporting character in Season 6B of Teen Wolf. He made his first appearance in Said the Spider to the Fly, where he was shown to be a player on the lacrosse team who appeared to be very afraid by the appearance of a bloodied wolf who showed up on the field. Later, during a counseling session with Tamora Monroe, it was implied that he was present during the battle between Scott McCall, Liam Dunbar, and Malia Tate against the Beast of Gevaudan in the school library, which opened his eyes to the supernatural world. It is implied that Nolan sought counseling with Monroe to deal with anxiety related to the existence of the supernatural. It was then soon revealed that he joined Monroe and Gerard Argent's growing army of Hunters, with his specific mission being to expose supernatural high school students such as Liam and Corey Bryant in an effort to turn the human students against them.
However, after seeing how brutal and cruel Monroe and Gerard's methods were and learning of their ultimate goal of wiping out supernatural creatures altogether, Nolan began regretting his actions and started working against their plan by telling Liam Dunbar what they were doing and helping Melissa McCall take back control over the hospital, which helped redeem him after the wrongs he had committed. Nolan now is an ally to Liam and the rest of the McCall Pack and is co-captain of the Beacon Hills High School lacrosse team.
Early life[]
Virtually nothing is known about Nolan's life prior his introduction into the series. The little that has been explored indicates that he has known Jiang, one of the bitten Betas in Satomi Ito's Werewolf pack, since he was at least ten years old ("Pressure Test"), and he has also been exposed to the supernatural world on a number of occasions, which is what led to him joining Gerard Argent and Tamora Monroe's Hunter Army. ("Said the Spider to the Fly"), ("Face-to-Faceless")
Throughout Teen Wolf[]
Season 6BIn Said the Spider to the Fly, Nolan was shown at late-night lacrosse practice, where he was tackled by Diaz and flung hard to the ground. A short time later, Nolan switched to the position of goalie, where he appeared to be terrified by the prospect of being hit by the fast-moving shot Diaz threw toward the goal. Suddenly, before the ball could hit Nolan, Liam Dunbar appeared on the field and did an aerial spin before catching it. After a moment, a bloody wolf appeared on the lacrosse field and began growling menacingly at the players, particularly Nolan, who was frozen in fear until Scott McCall, the assistant coach, gently coaxed him backward away from the wolf, allowing him to use his glowing Alpha-red eyes to force the animal to back down without anyone noticing. Nolan wasn't seen again until the next day, when he went to the office of guidance counselor Tamora Monroe to register for classes for his senior year. Noticing that Nolan was experiencing a great deal of anxiety, which was visible due to his shaking hands, Monroe asked him if he wanted to speak to her about whatever was bothering him, but when Nolan declined, stating that there were still a lot of people waiting to finish their schedules, Monroe asked him if his anxiety had anything to do with what they talked about over the summer. She went on to reference the so-called "animal attack" in the library (which, in reality, was the battle between Scott McCall and the Beast of Gevaudan the previous autumn), a comment which upset Nolan. He told her not to refer to it as an animal attack because he was certain that it was no animal, regardless of what term others used to refer to the attack. When Monroe asked him if what he was just a wolf, Nolan, looking skeptical, simply replied that it was "some kind of wolf." Concerned, Monroe asked him what other kinds of wolves there are and what kind he's seen, but Nolan remained silent and picked up his schedule, his hands trembling in panic. In After Images, Lydia Martin, Mason Hewitt, and Corey Bryant were in the science lab, where they were using the light from a bunsen burner to try to trigger Lydia's Banshee powers to use automatic writing in hopes of getting a clue as to where the missing Brett Talbot was. Afterward, they examined what the paper and found that Lydia had written "sixty-eight" in numerous languages, though they had no idea what it meant. Meanwhile, Nolan was seen with his head resting on his arms at a table in the Beacon Hills High School library, where he had fallen asleep. Suddenly, he awakened with a gasp, looking as though he had just had a nightmare. Panting for breath and looking panicked, Nolan stood up and walked over to the balcony, looking down at the ground floor, where Mason and Corey were talking and studying together. Moments later, Aaron (who, unbeknownst to anyone, had been infected with the Anuk-ite's spiders and had his DNA and traits stolen by the ancient shapeshifter) appeared next to him and remarked, "I've seen it, too." When Nolan anxiously asked him what he was talking about, Aaron replied that he had seen Corey appear out of nowhere as well. Nolan looked panicked by this statement, and when Aaron insisted that he couldn't pretend he had never seen it, he nervously replied that he wasn't sure about what he had seen. Aaron asked him if he wanted to be sure and informed him that there was a way to find out for certain, which visibly interested Nolan. Sometime later, Nolan, who was clearly still anxious, approached Mason and Corey's table in the library and slammed a textbook and notebook onto the table top. When Mason remarked that he must be studying for their biology test, Nolan sat down and said he was trying to understand how organisms evolve and change. Corey pointed out that the test was supposed to be on DNA and RNA, but Nolan continued to state that he wondered if DNA could change. Mason explained examples of how that could occur, such as when cancer changes cellular DNA. Unnerved by Nolan's manic expression, Corey pointed out that this wasn't on the test they were going to take, or any test is given in high school science, for that matter, but Nolan ignored him and wondered aloud if organisms could change and then change back, or if they could be two things at once. Mason, also starting to get a bad feeling about this conversation, gave more examples of this, such as parrot-fish being hermaphrodites, and when Corey tried to shut the discussion down, Nolan asked if it was possible that any of them changed and if there was any way to tell if this change occurred. Mason assumed he meant a DNA test, but Nolan stated that he actually meant a different kind of test, waiting until Mason and Corey were distracted before jamming his pen into Corey's hand, causing a huge spurt of blood to come out of the deep puncture wound. Corey yelped and yanked his hand away as he and Mason both stood up to back away from him, but the other students in the library had already begun to watch as Nolan grabbed Corey's hand, which had already healed, though it was still smeared with blood, and held it up so everyone could see before yelling at the rest of the students to look at what had occurred. Afterward, Nolan, who had his blood-covered pen in his hand and was walking purposefully out of the library when he ran into Lydia. Noticing that he was wearing a Beacon Hills Cyclones hoodie with his lacrosse number, #68, on the back, Lydia realized that her premonition was about Nolan, specifically that he planned to expose Corey to the rest of the school. This also led her to realize that she was wrong about her initial premonition, and that it wasn't about Beacon Hills' citizens generally turning on each other, but that it was actually about the human community turning against the supernatural community. In Face-to-Faceless, Nolan, along with Gabe and the lacrosse team, were having a team meeting about how they didn't want someone like Liam on their team anymore in the aftermath of the previous night, when Liam was exposed in his full Werewolf form in front of dozens of witnesses after Brett Talbot and Lorilee Rohr were run over and killed by a Hunter. Liam refused to leave the team, but Nolan walked toward him until they were face-to-face as Gabe insisted that he could take him. When Liam's eyes briefly flashed gold from anger and an attempt to intimidate Nolan, he flinched away from him, indicating that he was afraid of him. Before the stand-off could devolve into a full-fledged fight, Coach Finstock walked into the locker room and demanded to know who called for a team meeting without telling him they were doing so. Liam, taking a "kill them with kindness" approach, took the blame for the meeting before stating that he called all of them into the locker room so that he could step down as team captain to focus on his schoolwork, nominating Nolan to take the role of captain in his place. Though Coach did not initially know who Nolan was, he ultimately accepted this change in leadership and congratulated Nolan on his promotion by encouraging the team to applaud him. After Corey Bryant overheard Nolan, Gabe, and the others discussing their plan to force Liam to shift in front of everyone and confirm that he's a Werewolf, he attempted to use his powers of Adaptive Camouflage to make himself and Liam invisible in hopes of having Mason Hewitt navigate them through the school to safety. Unfortunately for them, Gabe and Nolan had also caught on to Corey's Chimera powers after having seen him instantly heal from being stabbed in the hand the previous day, and Nolan used a handful of chalk dust to make them both visible again. Liam was then dragged into the science laboratory by Nolan and Gabe and thrown across the floor, where Liam involuntarily partially-shifted with his glowing golden eyes, fangs, and claws. When he attempted to get up, Gabe kicked him in the back and forced him to fall face-first onto the floor again before the two pulled Liam to his feet and shoved him against the chalkboard. Luckily for Liam, he managed to retract his fangs and claws but kept his eyes closed until he knew that they were his normal human blue rather than glowing gold, much to their frustration. As a crowd started to form around them, Liam began to recite the mantra he uses to maintain control over his transformations ("What three things cannot long be hidden? The sun, the moon, the truth."), but when Nolan demanded to know what he meant, Gabe insisted that he didn't care before shoving Nolan aside and punching Liam in the face. Nolan and Gabe continued to assault Liam, giving him a bloody nose and mouth as Liam used all of his willpower and strength to keep himself in his human form. Nolan, knowing exactly what Liam was doing, pointed out what they were doing to him and reminded him that he could easily take them and that he needed to let go and defend himself. When Liam continued to resist shifting throughout this torture, Nolan remarked that it was obvious that Liam was fighting his transformation, but that he couldn't hold back forever. Mason and Mrs. Finch, whose classroom they were in, appeared in the doorway, and when Mason was held back from helping his best friend by the other students, he begged Mrs. Finch to do something; however, Mrs. Finch, overwhelmed, stated that it is often best to just let those in a violent fight work it out on their own before she rushed away. By the time Liam had been brutally beaten to the point where his face was swollen, bruised, and covered in blood, Corey finally arrived with Coach Finstock, who furiously pulled Nolan and Gabe off of Liam and screamed at them to go to the principal's office before then looking at the rest of the student bystanders with rage in his eyes and yelling at them to get out of his face because he was too disgusted to even look at them. He went on to kneel down and gently squeeze Liam's shoulder in an effort to comfort him as Mason helped Liam to his feet to get him out of the school. Later on, while Liam and Mason talked, Mason realized that Nolan and Gabe didn't just want Liam to shift to show everyone that he's a Werewolf-- he wanted to show everyone that Liam is one of the enemies. In Pressure Test, a tense, violent stand-off was underway at the Beacon County Sheriff's Station between the station's deputies, the McCall Pack, and their allies against Tamora Monroe and her Hunter Army. The latter group demanded that the recently-orphaned Werewolves Jiang and Tierney, who were guilty of killing one of their Hunters (albeit in self-defense) and who were now under the McCall Pack's protection, over to them to pay for their crimes, dead or alive. Though Monroe's Army gave them until midnight that evening to do what they asked, they sent Nolan into the station to cut the power, where he was ultimately caught by Deputy Vargas and brought into the bullpen. When Liam Dunbar demanded that Nolan be thrown out, Nolan, terrified, began to plead with them not to do so, as then Monroe would know that he failed in his task. Despite Liam's continued arguments, Sheriff Stilinski ordered the deputies to arrest him and lock him up. He was brought into the holding cell, where he was handcuffed to a bench outside of the cell due to Jiang and Tierney already being in the single cell they had. Jiang recognized Nolan and called out to him, leading a surprised Nolan to ask what he was doing there. Jiang smirked and informed him that he was arrested for murder before asking him what he was doing there. Jiang went on to say that he almost didn't recognize Nolan, and Nolan coldly sneered that a lot had changed in the five years since they last saw each other, making sure to cruelly add that it was when Jiang was still human. Jiang, clearly offended, tensely replied that he was still human before Nolan demanded to know if Jiang and Tierney really did kill one of the Hunters like the others said. Jiang defensively pointed out that the Hunter in question killed his family, and Nolan retorted, "Don't you mean your pack?" When Jiang realized that Nolan was truly a believer in Monroe's cause, he responded that it seemed as though he wasn't the only one who changed. Realizing that he was in league with Monroe and a believer in her cause, Jiang accused him of being in the Hunter Army. Nolan didn't deny this accusation and instead simply replied that he had no idea that it would be him that he was sent to kill. Tierney quickly figured out that he was still planning to kill them anyway, and Nolan stood to his feet, having broken free from his handcuffs, and insisted that he would do what he had to, pulling a vial full of potent purple wolfsbane out of his jeans pocket. Just then, a smoke bomb was thrown into the bullpen, angering Sheriff Stilinski, who insisted they promised to wait until midnight. The others then realized that this was meant to be a distraction so they wouldn't be paying attention to Nolan. Liam rushed into the holding cell and grabbed Nolan by the wrists from behind, preventing him from being able to smash the wolfsbane vial onto the floor and kill Jiang and Tierney. He then snatched the vial from him and dragged him back into the bullpen to inform his Alpha Scott McCall about what he had just tried to do. Nolan was then once again locked up in a different room with a Sheriff's deputy personally tasked with watching him to ensure he would not escape his restraints again. However, as a result of the Anuk-ite's fear-inducing powers, the deputy standing guard over Nolan ultimately committed suicide by hanging himself with a wire right in front of Nolan, who swore to the others that he didn't do or say anything. Once their time was up, Liam, who had locked Nolan in the holding cell, tossed him a Kevlar vest to protect him against gunfire; when Nolan asked what Liam was doing, Liam retorted, "I'm saving your life, dumbass. Keep your head down." Fortunately for Nolan, the stand-off did not devolve into violence, as Special Agent McCall arrived to negotiate a cease-fire, inadvertently saving Nolan's life. That night, in the armory, Nolan apologized to Monroe for failing his mission, only for Monroe to assure him that she understood that he felt like a failure, but since the wolves didn't get away and were ultimately "taken care of" (shot to death with shotgun rounds to the head), everything ended the way they intended. She went on to say that it would be easier the next time, adding, "Unless you think I need to worry about this happening again..." Nolan, relieved to be spared from punishment, insisted that it would not be happening again, and Monroe smiled, responding that she was happy to hear it, but that she was going to need him to prove this to her. It was clear by the look on Nolan's face that he was apprehensive of what this meant. In Triggers, Nolan was in Tamora Monroe's office at Beacon Hills High School, where he was being questioned by Special Agent McCall of the FBI on the disappearance of Jiang and Tierney the previous evening. When McCall informed them that the two Werewolves had escaped police custody, Monroe claimed that they injured a deputy in the process, but McCall guessed from the evidence that the gunshots were self-inflicted. Knowing that Nolan had a history with Jiang, McCall asked Nolan if the two had been in touch, causing Nolan to begin to panic as he insisted that the two were no longer friends. Seeing that Nolan was beginning to panic, Monroe declared that the interview was over and began taking McCall to task for harassing one of her students. When McCall countered that Monroe was the one who put a gun in his hand, Monroe corrected him by saying that she has been teaching him to protect himself. McCall argued that Nolan wasn't the one who was in danger-- Jiang and Tierney are-- but Monroe retorted that the two were actually the real killers in this situation before adding that McCall's lack of FBI back-up implied that either his boss doesn't believe there is a problem, or he hasn't been totally honest about what it is that he is investigating. After the meeting, Nolan rushed to the boys locker room to take a moment and clear his mind, only to find a fellow student, Edgar, laying on the floor, moaning in pain and weakly begging for help (as, unbeknownst to Nolan or the others, Edgar had been infected with the Anuk-ite's spiders by Aaron, whose DNA and identity had essentially been stolen by half of the creature and who was now looking for his other half). He then went and got Monroe and Gabe and brought them to see Edgar's twitching body. Disgusted, Monroe ordered him to get rid of it, and when Nolan argued that Edgar was a fellow student from his trigonometry class, Monroe sharply reminded him that he wasn't human and once again ordered him or Gabe to "put it out of its misery." Nolan froze out of panic, leaving Gabe to cover Edgar's mouth with his hand and suffocate him to death. Pleased with Gabe's initiative, Monroe remarked that Gabe just proved she could count on him before asking Nolan if she could say the same about him. She then instructed the gasping, horrified Nolan to help Gabe get rid of the body, though the expression on his face implied that he was starting to realize just what he had gotten himself involved with in Monroe's Army.
In Genotype, In Broken Glass, |
Personality[]
When Nolan was first introduced into the series, he was shown to be a very anxious person who had been traumatized by his earlier exposure to supernatural events such as the Beast of Gevaudan's brief reign of terror in Beacon Hills. This anxiety caused him to be vulnerable both to the Anuk-ite's fear-inducing powers as well as to Tamora Monroe and Gerard Argent's manipulations in order to convince them to join their Hunter army.
He was initially a somewhat weak-minded individual who was so driven by fear that he had no problem stabbing Corey Bryant in the hand to expose him as a Chimera by showing the students in the library how fast he healed and helping fellow Hunter army recruit and classmate Gabe beat up Liam Dunbar in hopes of causing him to transform in front of the school and expose himself as a Werewolf. He was even prepared to go so far as to kill Jiang and Tierney, Beta Werewolves in Satomi Ito's Werewolf pack with Wolfsbane (despite even having been friends with Jiang when they were growing up), although this seemed to be more motivated by Nolan's fear of being hurt or killed by Gerard and Tamora than by a true desire to kill them.
In time, however, Nolan began to see the error of his ways and became uncomfortable with the revelation that the army's ultimate goal was to exterminate all supernatural creatures across the globe, even if it meant killing humans who allied themselves with and defended them. To make up for his wrongdoings, Nolan went to Liam and gave him what information he knew about what the Hunters were planning so that the McCall Pack would be better able to fight back against them. In the final battle, Nolan redeemed himself by fighting alongside and defending Liam, Melissa McCall, Corey Bryant, Mason Hewitt, and Theo Raeken.
Physical Appearance[]
Nolan is a young man with pale white skin, freckles, blond/light brown hair, and light blue eyes. He is somewhat tall and lean, and typically wears trendy clothes such as designer jeans, boots, dark-colored t-shirts, hoodies, and leather jackets. He is also known to wear work-out gear during lacrosse practice.
Skills[]
Nolan, while being a human with no supernatural powers, has still proven himself to have a number of skills that have served him well throughout his time on the series. His primary skill is his resourcefulness, as he and Aaron (who, unbeknownst to Nolan or anyone else at the time, was actually half of the Anuk-ite, who had stolen Aaron's DNA, traits, and appearance to better induce fear and become stronger in the process) came up with the idea to test their fellow students, such as Corey Bryant, to see if they were supernatural by wounding them and observing how fast they healed. Nolan also seemed to have a moderate understanding of how to use weaponry such as firearms and crossbows due to his time as a member of Monroe's Hunter Army, as well as an understanding of the weaknesses of supernatural creatures, as he tried to kill Jiang and Tierney with purple wolfbane and forced Liam and Corey to become visible by throwing chalk powder at them.
Weaknesses[]
Nolan has the typical weaknesses of a human, such as mortality (e.g. illness and fatal injury). He has also demonstrated a vulnerability to manipulation and threats from others, such as Tamora Monroe and Gerard Argent, but he has since developed a stronger force of will.
Relationships[]
- Liam and Nolan (friends, allies, former enemies)
- Gabe and Nolan (enemies, ex-friends)
- Nolan and Corey (allies, former enemies)
- Mason and Nolan (allies, former enemies)
- Theo and Nolan (allies, former enemies)
- Jiang and Nolan (former friends)
- Melissa and Nolan (allies)
- Tamora and Nolan (enemies, former allies, former teacher/ student relationship)
- Gerard and Nolan (enemies, former allies)
- Sydney and Nolan (allies, classmates)
- Lydia and Nolan (allies, former enemies, Nolan at first didn't trust Lydia and was afraid of her supernatural status)
- Nolan and Ethan (neutral, Nolan didn't want to watch when Monroe tortured him)
- Nolan and the McCall Pack (allies, former enemies)
Etymology[]
- Nolan: Nolan is a Gaelic masculine given name and surname which is derived from the Irish name Ó Nualláin, meaning "descendant of Nuallán." Nuallán itself is an Irish given name derived from the elements nuall, meaning "noble, famous," and the diminutive suffix án. Variants of the name include Nolen, Noland, Nolin, and Nalon.
- Holloway: Holloway is an Anglo-Saxon surname that is said to be topographical and locational in nature; in the Middle Ages, the lord or owner of the land from which the name derived would take the surname as their own. In this case, Holloway as a name came from places with the name of Hallow or Hollow throughout England, or people who lived near hollows; this was typically in the central region of the country. The name is derived from the Old English hol and weg, which translate to "a sunken path." Variations of the name include Hollowway, Holloawway, Holloaway, Hollooway, Hollowawy, Hollowaye, Holloweay, Hollway, Hollyoway, Holoway, Hollway, and Halloway.
Trivia[]
- Nolan appears to have a history with Jiang, one of the Betas in Satomi Ito's Werewolf pack.
- After the war between Hunters and supernatural creatures, he became friends with Liam Dunbar, who is one of his first true friends in his life.
- After the war, Liam and Nolan are co-captains of Beacon Hills High School lacrosse team.
- He shares similarities with Chris Argent. At the beginning, he believed that Supernatural creatures were evil. After spending time with Gerard Argent, Tamora Monroe and Gabe he saw the truth and switched sides and currently helps Supernaturals.
- The relationship between Nolan and Liam is a parallel to the relationship between Scott McCall and Jackson Whittemore in Season 1 and Season 2.
- Both pairs were antagonistic towards each other before becoming friends and allies.
- Both Nolan and Jackson threatened or attempted to expose Liam and Scott as Werewolves to their classmates, respectively; Nolan did this to try to turn the school against Liam and the rest of the town's supernatural creatures, while Jackson threatened to expose Scott as blackmail to force Scott to help him get the Alpha to give him the Bite so he could be a Werewolf as well.
Gallery[]
See also[]