| “ | "You. You! We're trying to help you, you little runt!" "By kidnapping me?" "...Just to clarify, Scott kidnapped you, okay? I... aided and abetted." |
” |
The relationship between Beta Werewolf Liam Dunbar and Human Stiles Stilinski
Stiles and Liam's relationship got to a rocky start in Season 4, as Stiles was jealous of Liam's lacrosse prowess, and Liam appeared put off by Stiles' sarcastic demeanor. This only became worse after Liam was accidentally given the Bite by Scott McCall, leading Stiles to help Scott kidnap Liam in an attempt to prepare him for his potential transformation, making Liam believe that both Stiles and Scott were lunatics. This antagonistic relationship continued on as Liam slowly became a member of the McCall Pack, since Liam seemed displeased by Stiles' rude comments regarding his intermittent explosive disorder and how this would affect his lycanthropy.
However, in time, Stiles and Liam's relationship evolved into a friendship due to the strength of the bonds in their pack, though they both remain snarky and sarcastic toward one another. Stiles, with help from Derek Hale, taught Liam how to control his transformations during the full moon while Scott and Kira Yukimura were kidnapped by Kate Argent, and Liam and Stiles both worked together to cover for Scott and Kira when this caused them to miss their lacrosse game.
Stiles and Liam's relationship became even closer in Season 5, when Liam helped Stiles investigate the intentions of Theo Raeken, an old friend of Scott and Stiles' who had just returned to Beacon Hills after a long absence. Liam being the only one of the pack to even entertain Stiles’ suspicions and help in his initial investigation (though in time, after Theo had saved Liam and Stiles' life several times, Liam started to trust him and Stiles started to reluctantly tolerate him). Together, Stiles and Liam worked with the pack to fulfill various goals, such as rescuing Lydia Martin from Eichen House, and they remain close friends going into Season 6, with Stiles, along with Scott, trusting Liam to lead the pack in their absence when they left for college.
Stiles and Liam are also known as "Stiam" by fans
Throughout Teen Wolf[]
Stiles and Liam first met in Muted, when Scott and Stiles arrived to lacrosse practice to find that Liam had not only joined the team, but he was so exceptionally talented that it was suggested he could become the first freshman captain. Scott and Stiles were both jealous of Liam's talents, and immediately threw themselves into training in an attempt to overshadow him, particularly because Stiles didn't want Scott to lose his status as team captain to Liam after he had "worked his tushie off," in Stiles' words, to gain that title. After morning practice, Scott and Stiles confronted Liam in the locker room, where Stiles began intensely interrogating him on his lacrosse skills, as he didn't think Liam could be that good at lacrosse without the assistance of supernatural powers; though Scott made an effort to not be overt about this, Stiles was much less subtle. Their conversation led Scott to realize that Liam had lied about transferring to Beacon Hills High School from Devenford Prep and correctly guessed by Liam's racing heartbeat that he had actually been kicked out. After Stiles asked Liam if he had ever found himself in the woods during a full moon, Liam looked at him as though he was crazy and insisted that he was just "that good" at lacrosse because his step-father had taught him how to play. That afternoon, when both of them continued to be dominated by Liam at the first official round of tryouts, Stiles encouraged Scott to use his Werewolf powers to get an edge, which Scott considered, though ultimately decided against due to his moral feelings regarding cheating. Unfortunately, Liam was ultimately injured during 2-on-1s in spite of this and needed to go to the hospital for a sprained ankle, where they left Liam in the capable hands of Scott's mother, Melissa McCall. Though Stiles waited with Scott outside Liam's room for a little while to see if the young freshman would be okay, he ended up having to leave before he could hear any news due to a study-date with his girlfriend Malia Tate, and he was not present when Scott was forced to bite Liam after he was about to fall off the roof during their battle with the Wendigo Sean Walcott, who had been attempting to feed on Liam when Scott finally arrived. In The Benefactor, Scott immediately called Stiles to his house a short time after he was forced to give Liam the Bite. Stiles informed Scott that he told his father Sheriff Stilinski everything he could about what had happened on the roof of the hospital earlier that evening, and when Scott anxiously asked if he told him about Liam, Stiles exasperatedly pointed out that he barely knew anything about Liam before asking him, "What did you do with him, anyway?" Scott looked down at the floor and replied that he was upstairs, and when Stiles asked what he was doing, Scott cryptically stated that he was "[sic] lying down." However, when Stiles went upstairs to investigate, Stiles found Liam with his hands and feet duct-taped together and his mouth duct-taped shut in Scott's bathtub and looked at Scott exasperatedly before leaving Liam in the tub and going into Scott's bedroom so the two could recap the night's events. The scene picked up afterward, as Stiles ran through everything Scott had just told him-- Scott bit Liam, kidnapped him, and brought him to his house. Scott insisted that he had panicked, which Stiles assured him that he understood, before joking, "This isn't going to end with us burying the pieces of his body out in the desert, is it?" which got a muffled cry from Liam in the next room in response. Stiles went on to remind Scott that this was why he always came up with the plans, because Scott's plans always suck, and then took control of the situation. He proceeded to help Scott move Liam into a chair in Scott's room, though they kept Liam bound to the chair just to be on the safe side. Stiles then calmly explained to Liam that they were going to take the duct tape off his mouth, but that they would put it right back if he screamed, causing Liam to angrily nod in understanding before Stiles did just that. Stiles then explained that Liam saw a lot of "confusing" things that night, and cryptically warned him that even more confusing things were about to happen as a result of what he saw tonight, which did nothing but aggravate Liam further. Stiles decided that perhaps Scott should tell him what happened, and when Liam angrily demanded to know what they were talking about, Scott briefly explained that what Scott had done to him (i.e. biting his forearm)-- which Scott had to do in order to save his life-- was going to change him, but when Stiles bluntly added, "Unless it kills [him]," Liam seemingly began to cry. Scott immediately began reassuring him that he wasn't going to die, but when Stiles blurted out, "Probably not," Scott glared at him and told him to stop it before instructing him to help untie Liam from the chair. Just as they had finished, Liam revealed that he was only pretending to cry when he then picked up the wooden desk chair and smashed Scott in the head with it. Stiles, appalled, asked Liam what the hell his problem was, and Liam hit him right in the face with a right-cross before scurrying into the hallway to run away. Both Stiles and Scott attempted to tackle him before he could reach the staircase, but all three of them ultimately ended up tumbling down the stairs in a heap. Before the older boys could recover, they found Liam had scampered out the front door, leading Scott to remark that Stiles' plans also sucked. The next morning, Stiles was preparing for the full moon with his girlfriend Malia Tate in his bedroom, which included testing out their chains and restraints, while they discussed the situation with Liam. Malia asked Stiles if he was sure if the newly-turned teen was going to turn into a Werewolf, remembering their recent situation with Kate Argent, who had instead turned into a Werejaguar, but Stiles grimly retorted that they weren't even sure if Liam was going to survive the Bite yet. When Liam arrived at school the next morning with the bite wound on his forearm bandaged up, he saw Scott staring at him from across the schoolyard and quickly rushed inside, where he was confronted by Stiles in the opposite direction. Scott then came up behind Liam so that he had nowhere to run in hopes of finally getting him to understand the gravity of their current predicament, as the full moon was that night and they had little time to waste. Stiles cringed in embarrassment when Scott began quoting Derek Hale, who had mentored Scott when he was a newly-turned Werewolf, by telling Liam that they were brothers now and that the Bite was a gift, leaving Stiles with little choice but to tell Scott to stop talking. Stiles then tried to help on Scott's behalf by stating, "You! You, we're trying to help you, you little runt!" Liam looked at him incredulously and asked him if kidnapping him was helping him, and Stiles, knowing Liam had a valid point, lamely retorted that Scott had actually done the kidnapping, and that he had only aided and abetted. Scott's demeanor became serious, and he somberly informed Liam that he had been through this before himself and that something big was about to happen to him, causing Liam to rip the bandage off of his arm and reveal that the bite wound from the previous night had healed just like his sprained ankle, angrily stating that nothing was happening to him before storming off. Both Stiles and Scott had matching expressions of horror when they realized that this confirmed Liam would be turning into a shapeshifter of some kind that evening. Stiles then met up with the rest of the McCall Pack outside in the bus bay in order to discuss how they were going to deal with Liam's inevitable transformation that night, as he was technically a member of their pack now. They intended to go to Lydia Martin's family's lake house as they usually did for full moons, but they needed a way to lure Liam there due to the fact that it was clear that Liam did not trust Stiles or Scott enough to come on his own. When Kira Yukimura asked how they were going to get him to the lake house, Stiles remarked, "I say, if it keeps him from murdering someone, we chloroform the little bastard and throw him in the lake," a plan to which Malia enthusiastically agreed but Scott ultimately shut down, adding that they would not be killing or kidnapping anyone. Lydia got the idea to have Kira, their Kitsune, trick Liam into attending a "party" at the lake house as her date, and Stiles and the others supported this plan despite Kira's reservations, mostly regarding her confidence in using her "vixen" trickster powers to convincingly lie and lure him to the "party." However, Kira was successful, despite having tripped and fallen down the steps in her effort to confront Liam in the hallway, as he clearly thought she was attractive and said yes without further questions. That night, Stiles, Scott, Lydia and Malia met at the lake house early to prepare for Liam's arrival, as they planned to chain him up in the boat house. Scott had just informed Stiles that he had just talked to Kira and that she and Liam were on their way when Stiles grimly admitted that he needed to tell Scott something. When Scott looked at him questioningly, Stiles revealed that he had asked around school about Liam and ended up learning why he got kicked out of Devenford Prep-- he got into an argument with one of his teachers and furiously destroyed the teacher's car with a crowbar before keying the words "THIS IS YOUR FAULT" into the paint on the side, causing both Scott and Stiles to worry about how this will effect Liam's transformation, given how anger affects their shapeshifting ability. A short time later, Kira and Liam arrived in the lake house, with Kira locking the front door as soon as they entered the house and found the other four waiting patiently for them. Liam, realizing he had been tricked, demanded to know what was going on, and Stiles sarcastically replied, "Think of it as an intervention. You have a problem, Liam," before Scott added, "And we're the only ones that can help." The McCall Pack went on to explain the supernatural world to Liam, who skeptically pointed out their respective species; Scott as a Werewolf, Malia as a Werecoyote, Lydia as a Banshee, and Kira as a Kitsune, or "fox" as Liam called it. Liam went on to turn his attention to Stiles and ask him what creature he was, and Stiles, insecure about his humanity, stated that he was once possessed by a "very evil spirit." When Liam rolled his eyes and asked him what he was now, Stiles lamely responded, "Better?" before looking around anxiously. Liam then noticed the chains laying on the coffee table and asked them if they were for him, but Malia jumped into the conversation and stated that they were for her before flashing her blue Werecoyote eyes at him. Shocked, Liam demanded to know how she did that, and Scott assured him that he would learn, but that he needed to get through the full moon first. Liam irritably retorted that the moon was already out, and Scott smirked knowingly before pointing out that Liam was clearly starting to feel something. Liam then blew up, ranting that he felt like he was surrounded by "psychotic nutjobs" before stating that he would be leaving, and was about to threaten them if they tried to stop him before the sound of an incoming line of cars hit his newly-sensitive ears so hard that he fell to his knees in pain. Realizing that they were about to have company, Lydia asked him if he had told anyone about this, and Liam admitted that he told his friend Mason because he thought it was a party. When Stiles asked who Mason invited, Kira, seeing the lights of the cars pulling into the driveway, answered "Everyone." Just then, Liam began groaning loudly, and the others realized he was starting to transform when his new claws began digging into the hardwood floor. Scott and Kira were then tasked with taking Liam to the boathouse to ride out the rest of his transformation, while Stiles tended to Malia in the basement as they usually did, ending Liam and Stiles' interaction for the evening. In I.E.D., Liam, having just found out that the Beacon Hills Cyclones were playing his old school, Devenford Prep, decided to try to be the bigger person and welcome his former classmates to the school before their scrimmage. However, when Liam extended his hand to their captain, Brett Talbot, and wished them a good game, it became clear that his former team was still holding a grudge for what Liam did to their coach's car and wasted no time bringing it up. Scott and Stiles happened to be walking by at the time, and Scott sensed Liam's anger and anxiety, leading the two to rush over to create a diversion just as Liam, whose claws had extended in his fists so far that his palms were dripping blood, stated to Brett that he paid for his crimes. Brett assured Liam that he was going to pay for it during the game, because they were going to "break him in half out there-- and it will be all your fault, echoing the words Liam scrawled on their coach's car. Scott managed to whisk Liam away to the locker room, and Stiles interrupted their conversation by dramatically greeting them with, "Hey what's up, prep students? Welcome to our little public high school!" and remarking on Brett's firm handshake to distract them from Liam's exit. He advised the Devenford Prep team to "keep it clean" during the upcoming match, warning them against "rough stuff" out there before he, too, rushed away to see how Scott and Liam were fairing. The scene cut to the locker room, where Scott and Stiles were pinning the transformed Liam against the wall while the shower poured cold water on him. The two struggled to hold back the exceedingly strong Liam, who roared several times before finally exhausting himself to the point where he shifted back to his human form and sat down on the floor on the other side of the showers to catch his breath, with Stiles asking him if he was calm yet. After a few moments, Scott, who had overheard his conversation with Brett, brought up the fact that he thought the car Liam smashed up was his teachers, forcing Liam to clarify that the man was also his coach, who had benched him for the rest of the previous season for getting "a couple" red cards, to which Stiles blurted out, "Just a couple" in response. Scott insisted that Liam needed to be honest with them from then on and asked him what else happened, leaving Liam with no choice but to confess that he was kicked out of school and had to have a psychological evaluation, which determined that he had "intermittent explosive disorder." Stiles, incredulous and exasperated, retorted, "I.E.D.? You're literally an I.E.D.? That's great. That's great," before berating Scott for giving powers to a "walking time bomb," which only made Liam more sullen and ashamed. Scott shot Stiles a look to make it clear that he wasn't helping matters before turning back to Liam and asking him if they gave him anything for it, and Liam explained that he was given risperidone, or Risperdal, but he stopped taking it because it made it too tired and he didn't have the energy to play lacrosse. Scott and Stiles thought about this for a long moment before Scott suggested that Liam bail out of the game by telling Coach Finstock that his ankle still hurt from spraining it in Muted, but Liam shook his head and insisted he could do it, especially if Scott was there. Scott and Stiles reminded him that this wasn't just about the game, as they were pretty sure whoever killed Demarco Montana, the liquor store delivery man, at Lydia's party, was on their team, and that they believed the person who ordered the keg was probably the person killing supernatural creatures on the Deadpool. Liam went silent for a moment, and when they asked Liam if he knew something, Liam admitted that while he didn't know who ordered the keg, he knew who paid for it-- Garrett, a new student who was also a freshman on their lacrosse team. That night, the game was about to start, and Scott tried his best to get Coach Finstock to let Liam out of the game, but when Liam successfully caught a ball Brett had tauntingly lobbed at his head with no issue, Coach declared him perfectly fit to play and refused to entertain the argument further. Kira, Scott, and Stiles followed Liam onto the field, with Kira speaking for all of them when she asked why she had a feeling this was going to end badly, causing Stiles to reply, "Because it usually does." Scott told Kira to keep an eye on Garrett, while he watched out for Liam and made sure he didn't get into any trouble, with Stiles stating he would just play lacrosse as the three of them split up. However, a wrench was quickly thrown into the proverbial plan when Kira got benched for the rest of the game for not listening to Coach's instructions to pass the ball. This gave Garrett the opportunity to get into a three-way tackle with Brett and Liam that resulted in Liam breaking his forearm in half and Brett knocked flat on his back in the grass. Scott quickly set Liam's arm, just as he watched Garrett retract his poisoned blade back into his lacrosse stick. Scott wondered if Liam had been cut, but Liam stated his was fine, though Brett was badly injured enough that he was screaming in pain and brought into the locker room for treatment by the medics. Believing that Liam was Garrett's target, Liam did as he was originally asked and got out of the game to give the assassin fewer opportunities to get him. However, just as Scott was frowning in confusion and remarking that he was missing something, Stiles approached them with his phone out, revealing that Lydia and Malia had worked together with Meredith Walker to crack the second portion of the Deadpool. When Liam asked if he was on it, Stiles revealed that he was not, but that someone else was-- Brett Talbot, who had just been injured on the field. Liam and Stiles were left on the field as Scott rushed into the locker room to fend off Violet, saving Brett before she could cut his head off with her thermo-wire garrote. In Time of Death, |
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In Parasomnia,
In Dreamcatchers,
In Ouroboros,
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In Codominance,
In Amplification,
In Lie Ability,
In Maid of Gévaudan,
In Apotheosis
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In Memory Lost,
In Sundowning,
In Relics,
In Ghosted,
In Heartless,
In Blitzkrieg,
In Memory Found,
In Riders on the Storm,
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In Said the Spider to the Fly,
In The Wolves of War,Trivia[]
- Despite Stiles' snarky, sarcastic, and occasionally hostile personality, he has actually helped Liam a lot with his friendships with other people, such as when he insisted that Liam come clean to his best friend Mason Hewitt about being a Werewolf and the existence of the supernatural, and when he encouraged Scott McCall to reconcile with Liam after Liam nearly killed him under the influence of the supermoon and Theo Raeken's manipulations, allowing Liam to reconcile his relationship with his Alpha.
- Liam and Stiles' friendship took a turn for the better in Season 4's Smoke and Mirrors, when Stiles, with help from Derek Hale, was able to guide Liam through his first full moon since accepting that he was indeed a werewolf by teaching him Satomi's Pack's mantra-- "Three things cannot long be hidden: the sun, the moon, the truth." This allowed Liam to gain enough control that he was able to help the rest of the McCall Pack fight against Peter Hale, Kate Argent, and the Berserkers.
- Though the two have similarities, Liam's friendship with Mason is seen as a parallel to Scott's friendship with Stiles, as both Scott and Liam are Werewolves who were turned against their will, while Mason and Stiles are both humans who are very enthusiastic about the supernatural who use their scholarly attributes to help support their friends through their transitions.
