| “ | It is his right. We're not the only people to adhere to rituals thousands of years old. | ” |
Talia Hale was a minor (but very significant) character who appeared in flashbacks in Season 3A of Teen Wolf and who has been mentioned throughout all six seasons. She was the former Alpha of the Hale Pack and is the sister of Peter Hale, the aunt of Malia Tate, and the mother of Laura Hale, Derek Hale, and Cora Hale. As a powerful Alpha of the Hale bloodline who had the rare ability to fully shapeshift into a wolf, Talia was not only well-respected by the supernatural community, but she also acted as an adviser to other Alphas in the region, including Deucalion, Ennis, Kali, and Satomi Ito. Unfortunately, she was killed in the Hale House Fire started by Kate Argent and her cohorts six years prior to the start of the Teen Wolf series.
Despite her untimely death before the series began, her presence continues to linger throughout Beacon Hills and its supernatural community even in the present day, both as the result of her actions during her life, which continue to affect her surviving family members (such as the fact that she used her powers to take Peter's memories of his daughter Malia, for example) and because the lessons she taught her brother and children live on through them and have been passed down to the packs with which they were involved. Talia's motto, "We're predators, but we don't have to be killers," is a statement that both the Hale Pack and the McCall Pack have used as an informal code of conduct even to this day.
Talia is one of the most notable members of the well-known Hale Family Werewolf bloodline and was the former Alpha of the Hale Pack, as well as a respective adviser to the supernatural community of Beacon Hills, California and the surrounding areas.
Early life[]
Talia was a Werewolf born into the prestigious Hale bloodline at some point in the 20th century to unnamed parents, and was the older sister to fellow Werewolf Peter Hale. It is presumed that she is the eldest child, as she seems to have inherited her Alpha status at a relatively young age, which seems to have caused a great deal of jealousy and animosity toward her from her younger brother Peter, who wanted her status and power for himself.
After gaining leadership of the Hale Pack, Talia began a close relationship with the pack's Druid Emissary, Alan Deaton, who has admitted that he loved Talia dearly, though it is unknown if she returned these romantic feelings for him. ("A Promise to the Dead") It is also unknown what became of her parents, but judging from flashbacks and references to Talia's early life, it appears that she was Peter's guardian for a significant portion of his early life and grew up alongside her children, though he was quite a bit older than they were.
Eventually, she met and presumably fell in love with the man who would eventually become the father of her children, and she gave birth to Laura Hale, Derek Hale, and Cora Hale in turn, each of whom became a Beta Werewolf themselves. In 1994, Peter had a tryst with a Werecoyote named Corinne, otherwise known as the assassin called the Desert Wolf, which resulted in the conception of a daughter. Talia then spent nine months acting as Corinne's doula, coaching her through her pregnancy and trying to convince her that childbirth was a miracle, and that the fact that a Werecoyote passes a portion of her supernatural power to her daughter was beautiful.
However, at some point prior to Malia's birth in late November 1994, Talia seemed to fear that Corinne, who loathed the fact that her powers had been weakened by her child's inheritance, would try to kill her child to gain her power back. This led Talia to steal Malia away from Corinne before the Werecoyote could even name her daughter, instead putting her in the adoption system, where she would ultimately be taken in by humans Evelyn and Henry Tate, who raised her as their own child, though they seemed ignorant of the fact that Malia had inherited her biological mother's Werecoyote nature.
Talia then used her Alpha memory-manipulation ritual to take her brother Peter's memories of his affair with Corinne, including Malia's conception and birth, likely in an effort to ensure he wouldn't try to find her and/or to prevent Corinne from being able to figure out her location and track her down more easily. From then on, Corinne seemed to harbor a grudge against Talia for her interference in her and Malia's lives. ("Letharia Vulpina"), ("Condition Terminal"), ("Apotheosis")
When Laura started to come of age, Talia presumably began to train her to succeed her as Alpha of their pack in preparation for when she was unable to do so. ("Visionary") She was eventually killed in late 2004 or early 2005 when Kate Argent and a crew of her cohorts conspired together to set the Hale House on fire while almost the entire family, composed of both Werewolves and humans, was gathered inside. ("Co-Captain") However, she seemed to have predicted that something like this would eventually happen, because she left her Emissary, Alan Deaton, instructions to protect her children if anything should happen to her. ("Fury")
At some point in Talia's life, she was brought into an emergency room in Wisconsin after being shot with an arrow. She told Dr. Conrad Fenris that she had been injured in a hunting accident and that the arrow was intended for a white tailed deer. He removed the arrow and the wound was completely healed not long after, leading the man to grow curious about the supernatural world and begin to learn more about shapeshifters. ("A Search for a Cure" webseries)
Throughout Teen Wolf[]
In The Tell, Talia was mentioned for the first time by Derek Hale, who informed Scott McCall of Talia's common saying about Werewolves-- "We're predators, but we don't have to be killers."
In Fury, Alan Deaton awakened Derek in the ruins of the Hale House after Peter had used his blood to resurrect himself in a Worm Moon ritual in Party Guessed. When Derek, visibly suspicious of Deaton's motives, asked him why he was helping him, Deaton revealed that he made a promise to Talia prior to her death that she would look out for her children in case anything ever happened to her. This was the first hint that Deaton was Talia's Emissary and her trusted confidante.
In Unleashed, Deucalion, during his and Kali's torture of Derek Hale in Derek's loft while they tried to convince him to join the Alpha Pack, ran his hands over Derek's face and remarked that Kali was right, and that Derek did indeed look like his mother, implying that the two of them knew Talia. In flashbacks to the early 2000s in Visionary, Talia arranged for a summit of Werewolf packs in the greater Beacon Hills region after the killing of a Beta of Ennis' pack by an Argent Hunter. The packs, which included the original packs of Deucalion, Kali, and Ennis along with the Hale Pack, had already gathered when Talia arrived in her full-wolf form, howling in order to alert her arrival before trotting into the abandoned distillery where they were meeting. She then returned to her nude human form and was wrapped in a caftan by Laura Hale, who had been waiting patiently for her and who was apparently being trained to one day succeed Talia as Alpha of their family's pack. After Ennis told his story of how his Beta was tortured by being shot in the neck with an arrow and having his claws ripped out before he was cut in half, he made it clear that he intended to seek revenge against the Argents for what they had done, even after Deucalion's Beta, Marco, revealed that Ennis' Beta had killed two Argent Hunters. When Deucalion argued that starting a war with the Hunters would only lead to more losses on both sides and more animosity between the Hunters and the supernatural community, Talia reminded him that Ennis had every right to seek retribution, since, like the Hunters, the Werewolf community also adhered to centuries-old traditions. Some time later, Talia and her Emissary, Alan Deaton met with Deucalion at Deaton's animal clinic to discuss Deucalion's plan to offer a truce with the Argent Family. Though Talia wasn't exactly opposed to the idea, she stated that she thought meeting with Gerard Argent was unwise; when Deaton agreed and explained that the Argents have a matriarchal leadership, meaning that Gerard was not the true leader, Talia clarified that she meant it was because Gerard was a psychopath who cuts people in half with a broadsword. Despite her unease, Talia and Deaton supported Deucalion's plan, though they encouraged him to meet Gerard on neutral territory, bring several of his Betas with him, and make sure that he keeps Gerard's true nature in mind. After the meeting, which was eventually revealed to be an ambush on Gerard's part that led to the Argent patriarch killing his own men and Deucalion's Betas before impaling Deucalion in the eyes with two flash-bang arrows, Deucalion met with Deaton and Talia again at the animal clinic to have his eyes examined. Talia looked horrified when Deaton gently informed Deucalion that while his eyes themselves would heal, he would likely never get his eyesight back. Devastated, Deucalion asked for privacy, and Talia and Deaton left him alone in the exam room to process his fate, not knowing that by doing so, they would be leaving Marco to try to take Deucalion's Alpha status from him. When Marco made his intentions known and tried to attack him, Deucalion's anger and grief took over and caused him to violently tear his Beta apart, inadvertently learning two things in the process-- the first being that he still had his sight in Werewolf form, and the second being that killing his own Beta caused him to become stronger, faster, and just more powerful in general. This event would later lead to the formation of the Alpha Pack, as Deucalion killed the rest of his Betas and stole their power before recruiting his fellow Alphas Kali and Ennis to do the same and join him. At some point before or after the aforementioned events, Talia's son Derek, after being manipulated by Peter, convinced Ennis to give Derek's girlfriend Paige Krasikeva the Bite, which she ultimately rejected, forcing him to mercy-kill her after bringing her to the root cellar under the Nemeton. Afterward, Talia found him still in the root cellar, where he kept his eyes squeezed shut as he confessed that he had done something terrible. She admitted that she already knew, and when he explained that his eyes were different, she assured them that while that may be true, they were still beautiful. She then caressed his face with her hand, lifting his chin as he opened his eyes to reveal that his originally-gold Werewolf eyes had turned bright blue to indicate he had taken an innocent human life. In Lunar Ellipse, it was revealed that sometime after the events in the flashbacks in Visionary, Talia used the Alpha memory-manipulation ritual to take Derek and Peter's memories of the Nemeton and its location so that they could never go back, as she knew how dangerous it was and didn't want them getting into more trouble. This could imply that Talia was aware that Derek mercy-killing Paige at the roots of the Nemeton gave it a spark of power again, since he technically sacrificed a virgin and spilled her blood on the mystical tree. Talia was mentioned again by Derek after the defeat of Jennifer Blake when Derek reminded Deucalion that Talia had said he was a man of vision, and that he and Scott McCall were letting him go because they believed he could be that man again. In Galvanize, it was revealed that the Triskelion box that Derek had insisted on stealing back from the Calavera Family while he and Peter were in Mexico contained Talia's claws. Derek informed Peter that these claws were all that was left of Talia after the Hale House Fire, and that he intended to use them in a ritual to try to communicate with Talia's spirit. Peter then shoved Talia's claws into his own nail-beds so he could then impale them into the back of Derek's neck, as though he wanted to perform the memory-manipulation ritual. Through this ritual, Derek entered his mindspace, which took the form of his loft, although in his mind, the Nemeton's stump was in the middle of the room. suggesting Talia may have a connection to the mystical tree. To Derek's surprise, Talia appeared to him in her full-wolf form, with her red eyes glowing brightly, allowing the two to talk to each other, though the full extent of what their conversation included remains unknown. In exchange for his participation in the ritual, Peter insisted that Derek give him the claws afterward, though he wouldn't tell him why he wanted them aside from their "sentimental value." In Riddled, Derek revealed to Scott McCall that he was able to talk to his mother through the aforementioned ritual, and explained that Talia had told him that the Hale Family didn't just live in Beacon Hills-- they also protected it. According to Derek, this conversation changed Derek's perspective on many things, and ultimately led him to decide to mentor Scott and act as his adviser to help him learn more about Werewolf culture, believing that the McCall Pack under Scott's leadership were the right choice to continue his family's legacy and tradition. In Letharia Vulpina, Peter agreed to help Lydia Martin learn control over her Banshee powers, but only if she used Talia's Claws to trigger a Banshee premonition that would allow him to find out what memories Talia took from him prior to her death. Lydia held them in her hand as she tried to trigger a premonition, but when Peter and Allison Argent began to argue over Peter's treatment of Lydia, Lydia screamed at them to stop as she angrily threw the claws in their direction. The force of her voice caused the claws to embed themselves into the wall behind them, allowing her to finally hear what she needed to hear about Peter's missing memories. It was then revealed that Peter had a child that Talia made him forget about, though Lydia refused to tell Peter the details, which included the fact that the child was a daughter named Malia Tate, a Werecoyote the McCall Pack had recently helped transform back into human form after living as a coyote for the last eight years. In The Divine Move, it was implied that Talia's immense power in life made her claws immensely powerful objects as well, even after her death, when Alan Deaton revealed that the Triskelion box where her claws were kept was made out of wood harvested from the Nemeton. |
In Weaponized, Derek reunited with Satomi Ito, a close friend of Talia's, at Beacon Hills Memorial Hospital when they decided to work with Alan Deaton and Melissa McCall to determine what virus was killing Werewolves, Werecoyotes and Kitsune in the Deadpool. During their talk, Derek reminisced about the times that Satomi would come to visit with Talia, and how he hated the tea that Satomi always brought, which Satomi explained was made of wild purple reishi mushrooms, and that Talia adored it. Satomi also stated that Derek greatly resembled Talia. In Time of Death, Scott McCall had a dream while in a near-death state that involved him receiving a Deadpool list with the Mute, the Orphans, and The Chemist on it. When Scott argued that he couldn't kill them, his new Beta Liam Dunbar reminded him that he was both an Alpha and a predator, leading Scott to reply with Talia's own quote-- "We're predators, but we don't have to be killers." In Monstrous, it was revealed through a memory of Meredith Walker that Peter (who was telepathically connected to her while the two were both hospitalized in the same room) blamed Talia for the Hale House Fire, stating that she made the pack weak with her inaction despite his warnings that the Argents were eventually going to come after them. After the Hale House Fire, which killed Talia and the majority of the Hale Family and left Peter with third-degree burns over 75% of his body, Peter believed himself proven right for his suspicions against the Hunters and was certain that the entire scenario could have been prevented if she had just listened to him. In A Promise to the Dead, Alan Deaton went to Eichen House to speak to Gabriel Valack about Kate Argent, hoping to learn more about what she had done to Derek Hale and whether or not it was killing him. When Valack asked Deaton why he cared so much, the Druid revealed that he was concerned about Derek due to a promise he made "to the woman he loved," insinuating that Deaton had romantic feelings for Talia, though it is unknown whether or not she returned these feelings. |
Personality[]
| “ | Like my mother used to say-- "I'm a predator. I don't have to be a killer." | ” |
Talia was a well-respected and accomplished Evolved Alpha who was known for being both tough and fair when it came to Werewolf politics. From the little that was seen of her character, she appeared to be someone who did not agree with unnecessary violence but who believed that the Werewolf community had every right to defend themselves against those who sought to harm them, such as the Hunters. She was also seen to be dedicated to Werewolf traditions due to her being a descendant of such a well-known and centuries-old Werewolf bloodline.
She was a kind, compassionate, and caring woman when it came to her family, and it was obvious that she loved her children dearly, giving them support when needed while still letting them know that they needed to be held accountable for their actions. She was best known for being a widely respected leader and adviser, making her someone who Alphas and other shapeshifters felt comfortable approaching for advice and counsel on whatever issues they were having. She appeared to be excellent at maintaining a balance between expecting the best from her pack and her family, while still providing comfort and support to them even if they made mistakes, as evidenced by her sympathetic reaction to learning that her son Derek had been forced to mercy-kill his girlfriend Paige after she rejected Ennis's bite.
However, she was not afraid to use her power and status to her advantage, and was known for using it to help her make several executive decisions for others under the belief that she knew what was best for everyone. For example, she manipulated Corinne into continuing her pregnancy after she conceived a child during a tryst with Talia's younger brother Peter, only to then take the baby girl and put her up for adoption to protect her from being killed by Corinne to get her power back; she even went so far as to stealing Peter's memories of this relationship and child so that he could not be forced to give Corinne the information. Years earlier, Talia had used her ability to steal memories yet again, this time to take her son Derek and brother Peter's memories of the Nemeton, in hopes of preventing the two from ever going back there.
Physical Appearance[]
Talia was a very beautiful woman, with long dark brown hair and eyes. While she was shown to be middle-aged at the time of her death, she was still in great physical shape, with a tall and fit body. Since she possessed the ability to shapeshift into a true wolf, she typically wore loose dresses that she could easily slip in and out of, giving her the ability to strip down to transform when necessary and quickly dress herself once she shifted back. Her style of dress gave her an appearance of a casual yet regal woman.
Powers and Abilities[]
| “ | ...But there was an exceptionally powerful Alpha who did live here. She had a capacity to shapeshift that was rare among her kind. That made her something of a leader, the kind of person that they would go to for advice and guidance-- Talia Hale | ” |
Talia was an Evolved Alpha Werewolf, which made her much more powerful than most Werewolves and superior to even regular Alphas. Since she was evolved, this gave her the rare ability to shapeshift into a real wolf. Werewolves with this ability are respected within the supernatural community, and this is what led Talia to be seen as an adviser and leader of the Werewolf community. To access this ability, she had to find the balance between her human side and her wolf side; since her son Derek Hale was able to kill a Berserker with his bare hands after he became an Evolved Werewolf, it is implied that Talia was capable of such feats and even more, since Derek was a Beta and Talia was an Alpha.
She also possessed the other common powers of a Werewolf, including superhuman strength, speed, agility/reflexes, durability, and senses, as well as accelerated healing, pain absorption, and the power to shapeshif her features into that of a Werewolf.
As an Alpha, Talia also had the ability to turn humans into Werewolves through the Bite (though sometimes the Bite or an especially deep scratch can turn a human into a different kind of shapeshifter, such as a Kanima or a Werejaguar), and wounds she inflicted against those of lower status took much longer to heal than those sustained from Betas or Omegas. Additionally, she was extremely skilled at performing the memory-manipulation ritual (which is typically performed by Alphas due to the level of control and skill required, though Betas and Omegas can learn to do it as well); not only could she scan through the memories of a person by inserting her claws into the back of their neck, but she could also remove specific memories entirely, a rare and advanced feat that she managed to perform on numerous occasions.
Weaknesses[]
Talia had the same weaknesses as all other Werewolves. She was incapable of crossing barriers created by rowan wood or Mountain Ash just like any other supernatural creature, and could be weakened or even killed by electricity depending on the voltage used on her. She was also weakened by Wolfsbane, which is expected from any Werewolf, no matter how powerful they are; depending on the strain, potency, and method of exposure, wolfsbane could cause her physical weakness, hallucinations, or, in worst-case scenarios, death. During the Lunar Eclipse, she lost her power like all other werecreatures, making her vulnerable during the 10-15 minute period where the moon is in the Earth's umbral shadow. Finally, she was susceptible to the effects of the full moon and extreme emotions, though, as a born Werewolf with many years of practice and experience in learning control, it was likely that she eventually was unaffected by these events except in the most dire circumstances.
Appearances[]
| This article is missing an appearances section. Please feel free to add one. |
Etymology[]
- Talia: Talia is a feminine given name of Hebrew origin meaning "dew from God." It is also attributed to the word meaning "female lamb" in Hebrew, as defined by the Even-Shoshan dictionary—the Hebrew word for male lamb, taleh, combined with the addition of the female suffix -ya. Talia also bears a phonological similarity to names found in other languages, such as the Greek name Thalia, which dates back to antiquity as the name of the Greek muse of comedy, whose meaning is "to bloom."
- Hale: Derived from a geographical locality, "at the hale," i.e. "hall" (either as a proprietor or servant at a residence there). It is also derived from the Old English healh, meaning "nook" or "hollow." In northern England, the name often has a specialized meaning, either denoting a piece of flat alluvial land by the side of a river, or as a patch of dry land in a fen. It is also sometimes a habitational name from any of the several places in England that shares the same name. Additionally, it could also have origins as a Middle English personal name derived from either of two Old English bynames, Haele ("hero"), or Haegel, which is akin to the Germanic Hagano meaning "hawthorn." The name Hale was first recorded as De Halys in 1130. It is said that the Hales were related to Saint Edmund, the King of East Anglia, which is how the family's coat of arms got their arrows pointing downward.
Trivia[]
- Two of Talia's three children, Laura and Derek, inherited her rare ability to turn into a full wolf, making them Evolved Werewolves.
- Talia's niece, Malia also possesses the ability to shapeshift into a full coyote, though it is unknown if this is due to her Hale heritage, her status as a Werecoyote, or both.
- Talia made Alan Deaton promise that he would look after her children in case anything happened to her, which was why Deaton kept his eye on Derek after he returned to Beacon Hills in 2011.
- Talia was especially gifted in the use of the Werewolf memory-manipulation ritual, giving her the ability to scan the memories of others and even remove specific memories from their mind. She used the latter ability to take her younger brother Peter's memories of his affair with Corinne and the conception and birth of his daughter Malia Tate, and she also used it to cause Peter and Derek to forget the location of the Nemeton to prevent them from going back to the root cellar after several traumatic events occurred there.
Gallery[]
See also[]