| “ | Argent: "You know about the Dread Doctors, don't you?" Gerard: "So they did succeed?" Argent: "Tell me what it is." Gerard: "Oh, not what it is. What it was. A monster whose only purpose was to kill-- not for sustenance, not for revenge, not for any rational impulse other than the drive to end life wherever it's found. It also has a rather personal connection to our family." Argent: "La Bête". Gerard: "The Beast of Gévaudan." |
” |
La Bête du Gévaudan, also known as The Beast of Gevaudan, is a monstrous Werewolf who terrorized France in the 1700s. The Beast was eventually killed by one of the ancestors of the Argent family of Werewolf Hunters. In 2012, a trio of ancient parascientists known as the Dread Doctors resurrected the Beast by summoning his essence into the body of their final Chimera, who was revealed to be Mason Hewitt.
Early life[]
The Beast was originally born in France in the early 1700s as Sebastien Valet. What his early life was like is still a mystery, but it is known that he eventually became a soldier in the French military and served during the Seven Years' War in North America, fighting alongside the Native Americans against the British. He and his comrade Marcel were running from British soldiers on a rainy night when he tripped and fell face-first onto the ground, accidentally drinking water from a puddle in the ground made by a wolf's paw print. As a result, Sebastien was inadvertently transformed into a monstrous form of a Werewolf made of shadows who took pleasure in violently tearing apart any living thing that crossed his path, all while Marcel helped him cover up his role in the killings.
This caused the legend of "the Beast of Gevaudan" to begin even before Sebastien and Marcel officially returned to their hometowns of Gevaudan, France, where a young boy named Emil was slaughtered, causing a hunting party led by Sebastien's sister Marie-Jeanne Valet, the best hunter in the village. With help from Henri Argent, Marie-Jeanne was able to identify her brother as the murderous Beast and began hunting him through the Auvergne and South Dordogne regions of France between 1764 and 1767.
It was after three years old hunting that Marie-Jeanne finally caught up with her brother and was able to slay him with a mystical pike made of steel, Valet blood, wolfsbane, and mountain ash under a full moon. However, by this point, the Beast had already killed upwards of five hundred innocent humans. To ensure that Sebastien could not die satisfied that history would always remember him for being the most vicious and feared Werewolf in history, Marie-Jeanne gave him the final punishment of damnatio memoriae, Latin for "condemnation of memory;" she and the town destroyed everything associated with Sebastien and that acted as evidence of his existence, leaving the real name of the Beast to be lost to time and unknown in the 21st century.
However, Marcel, desperate to resurrect his friend Sebastien, who he believed was the world's most perfect killer, augmented his medical knowledge by deep research into the supernatural, artificially bestowing powers upon himself and two other like-minded scientists; the three would become known as the Dread Doctors, and their mission was to create the perfect vessel for the resurrected spirit of the Beast, though they were not successful until late summer 2012.
Throughout Teen Wolf[]
Season 5[]
In the first half of Season 5, the Dread Doctors turned a dozen teenagers who had two sets of DNA as a result of organ and tissue transplants into Chimeras, or hybrid supernatural creatures who were created by scientific means rather than magical ones, all in an effort to find the perfect vessel and resurrect the Beast of Gevaudan. This resulted in one successful transformation that wasn't a suitable vessel for the Beast (Theo Raeken) and many outright failures (Tracy Stewart, Donovan Donati, Lucas, Josh Diaz, Hayden Romero, Corey Bryant, Zach, Beth, and an unnamed female Chimera with black, needle-like claws). However, only the final Chimera they created actually became a perfect success (Mason Hewitt), due to the fact that reviving the perfect evil required them to corrupt something perfectly good, and at some point, the Doctors managed to summon its life essence and put it in the Chimera as its new host.
In Status Asthmaticus, the Beast was shown prowling around Beacon Hills, eventually ending up at the high school, where it threw the school's large stone sign on top of the school, causing it to fall through the roof and into the entrance hall, where it broke in half. That night, the Dread Doctors uncovered a fresco in their laboratory in the tunnels under the town that depicted the Beast battling what appeared to be a Hellhound.
In Damnatio Memoriae, the Beast killed a technician working on fixing a problem at the electric substation. Shortly afterward, it chased Deputy Valerie Clark out of the station after she arrived to check on the unresponsive technician before then going after Liam Dunbar and Hayden Romero, who ran into the woods and jumped off a cliff into a ravine just to avoid it.
In Codominance, Theo Raeken and Tracy Stewart tracked the Beast to Beacon Hills High School, where they found both the Dread Doctors and the Beast, the latter of whom was carrying the severed head of Mr. O'Quinn, a teacher at the school. The Beast then roared at Theo when he began yelling at the Dread Doctors about how he still wasn't a real Werewolf or an Alpha.
In The Sword and the Spirit, Chris Argent and his father Gerard were searching the tunnels under Beacon Hills to find the Beast while Gerard explained what he knew about the creature. Gerard claimed that there were myths that said the Beast was a gigantic red-furred wolf or a cloven-hoofed panther, but the specific legend he was told by his grandfather described the Beast as being oil-black in color and both solid and formless in shape, as though it was a shadow trying to be a real being.
He also believed that the Dread Doctors were leaving the message "damnatio memoriae" to get the Beast to remember who it was in its first life. When the men split up to search separately, Argent found at least thirty victims of the Beast's bloodthirsty nature hidden in the sewer by the Dread Doctors, who were trying to protect it from exposure. That night, the Beast showed up at Fort Jewett during a battle between Malia Tate and the Desert Wolf, where he nearly killed Alan Deaton before Malia rescued him and the Desert Wolf retreated.
in A Credible Threat, the pack attempted to finally learn the Beast's identity by examining the shoes of everyone at the lacrosse match against Devenford Prep, as they had found a partial footprint of a size ten shoe with Jordan Parrish's blood on the sole. Malia Tate was in charge of disabling the news vans so their frequencies couldn't be used to activate the Beast's transformation, but thanks to an interruption by her mother Corinne, the Dread Doctors were able to trigger the Beast. Corey Bryant got a bad feeling while he was kissing Mason Hewitt, only to be shocked when the Beast suddenly appeared out of nowhere near the buses.
In Maid of Gévaudan, the Beast was revealed to be Mason Hewitt when Scott McCall, who had just had an hours-long fight with the giant Werewolf, was able to follow his scent to Mason's car, where they found the bloody shoes in the trunk. Unfortunately, before they could react further, Corey used his powers to hide Mason and rush him away from the pack. It was also revealed by Argent and Gerard that the original Beast of Gevaudan was named Sebastien Valet, and it was his sister who not only slayed the Beast, but who also became the progenitor of the Argent bloodline of Hunters.
in The Beast of Beacon Hills, the Dread Doctors triggered Mason's final transformation into the Beast without frequencies, allowing the Beast to finally figure out who he truly was as he violently tore apart the awestruck and proud Doctors. He was briefly engaged in battle with the Hellhound Jordan Parrish when Argent and Gerard arrived, causing the Beast to shift back into human form, only to shock everyone when it was Sebastien Valet and not Mason.
In Apotheosis, Mason was still alive inside Sebastien in the form of memories, which Sebastien kept in order to help him navigate the modern world and identify all of the different people with whom he was having to interact, such as recognizing pack members and understanding how to drive a car. The Beast continued to make its way through the tunnels, where he continued to battle with the Hellhound Jordan Parrish/Cerberus off and on.
He was soon tempted into fighting with Scott and Liam, keeping the Beast busy until the Banshee Lydia Martin arrived to use her voice to force Sebastien's spirit out of Mason's body, allowing the Beast to transform back into Mason as the Beast's spirit, a black, animalesque cloud of smoke, tried to fight back. The Beast's spirit was once again killed by Marie-Jeanne's Pike, only this time it was in the form of a sword-cane and it was wielded by Scott McCall.
Season 6[]
In Face-to-Faceless, the Beast was seen in flashbacks to the events that occurred early on in Season 5's A Credible Threat, where the Beast was attacking the high school one night after a faculty meeting. He viciously tore apart many of the school's teachers, and the school's guidance counselor, Tamora Monroe, was severely injured but ultimately survived due to hiding under the bodies of the dead around her.
She then watched as Jordan Parrish/Cerberus chased after the Beast while Scott McCall, Stiles Stilinski, Liam Dunbar, and Chris Argent stood horrified looking at the gory scene and held severe resentment toward them for not checking to see if anyone was alive on the school bus. She was eventually found by Sheriff Stilinski and was told that the Beast was actually a bear, an obvious lie which spurred Monroe on to become a Hunter and create her own army.
Personality[]
The Beast, in his Werewolf form, was an incredibly vicious and bloodthirsty creature who relished in violently tearing apart any living thing in his vicinity. He did not discriminate between victims and was known to have killed the young and the old, students and teachers, soldiers and civilians, and his kill count was near five hundred.
As a human, he was known as Sebastien Valet who was the original Beast and was allegedly a serial killer or mass murderer even before he became a Werewolf. However, it was revealed that he was a part of the French military and the brother of the maid of Gevaudan and he, in his own words apparently become a "demon wolf" by drinking rain water from the paw print of a wolf, a reference to the folklore of Werewolf mythology.
Upon being resurrected, Sebastien's spirit did not remember who he was when it was first placed in the Chimera Mason Hewitt's body; as a result, Mason was ignorant to the supernatural spirit within him during the day, and then at night (after being triggered by the Dread Doctors' frequencies) transforming into the Beast and mindlessly killing while the Doctors tried to get it to remember who he was by leaving messages saying "DAMNATIO MEMORIAE." According to The Surgeon, resurrecting "the perfect evil" required corrupting something genuinely good, suggesting that Mason's personality and temperament was necessary to house the Beast's spirit.
Physical Appearance[]
The Beast of Gevaudan's "beast" form is a more larger version of an Alpha Werewolf's beast form, being almost twice the size and with more fur covering its body as well as large red visible veins. The face of the Beast is also peculiar, being more feline than canine and with an oversized mouth with no lips. Additionally, the Beast almost appears as though it is made up of black smoke or shadows, and has been described as looking both solid and shapeless at the same time. Instead of eyes like typical Werewolves, which have either red, blue, or gold irises, the entire surface of the Beast's eyes are a glowing white-blue. specifically an electric blue. It is shown that the Beast had these traits in its original life, meaning it was never a "normal" Werewolf to begin with; thus the strange powers and appearance has nothing to do with the Dread Doctors or it coming from a Chimera.
Powers and Abilities[]
The Beast possesses the common powers of a Werewolf, but they are extremely heightened and powerful. It appears to be the most powerful Werewolf ever to appear on the series thus far, and it was even able to gain the upper-hand in a battle against the Hellhound, Jordan Parrish. Even Deucalion, an Augmented Alpha Werewolf who was self-described as "the Demon Wolf," saw the Beast as an incredibly dangerous and formidable force to be reckoned with, which says a lot about his level of power.
The Beast's ability to "transform" itself is also unusual in that it is able to keep its clothes intact, which was proven when the Beast's bloody paw-prints at a crime scene were shown to morph into bloody shoe prints. It's implied that it morphs into its bestial form by wrapping shadows around its "human" body, though how it does this is not fully understood as of yet. It was recently revealed that it could do this in its original life and was apparently turned not by a bite or a scratch but by drinking rain water from a paw print of a wolf.
Weaknesses[]
In the Beast's original life, it would have presumably had the same weaknesses of a typical Werewolf though it has been stated that even in the past, it was never a "normal" Werewolf. According to Sebastien himself, he could not be killed by ordinary steel weapons, and according to Gerard Argent, the only effective weapon against it was a special spear (made of mistletoe, mountain ash, and Valet blood under a full moon) in the hands of a young woman.
Mountain Ash is effective as a barrier against it, suggesting that does indeed have the typical weaknesses of a typical Werewolf. Deucalion suggested that the Beast should also be vulnerable to Kanima Venom; however, this was proven false when Theo Raeken attempted to paralyze him in order to steal the Beast's power.
Since the resurrected Beast was inhabiting the body of a Chimera, it was even more of a mystery as to whether it has any weaknesses typical of a Werewolf, though it was ultimately still susceptible to being killed by the same spear that killed him in his first life.
Appearances[]
| This article is missing an appearances section. Please feel free to add one. |
Trivia[]
- La Bête is one of the earliest known supernatural creatures in the history of Teen Wolf, and its existence is what began the Argent Family's legacy as Werewolf Hunters.
- Unlike Werewolves, whose wolf-eyes are typically gold, blue, or red, depending on their rank and status, the Beast appears to have glowing white-blue eyes in its werewolf form. It also has a black, shadowy aura around it that almost looks like smoke.
- According to Gerard Argent, the Beast is said to have no other purpose than to cause death whenever and wherever it can.
- According to Theo Raeken in Codominance, the Dread Doctors summoned the spirit of the original Beast and put it into the body of a Beacon Hills teenager, since the Doctors couldn't resurrect such an old creature out of thin air. He also claims that the Beast only shifts into its monster form at night, and during the day, it likely has no idea who it really is, which was proven when Scott McCall and Liam Dunbar finally linked the Beast to their friend Mason Hewitt, who was revealed to be a genetic chimera as a result of having absorbed his twin in the womb.
- It has been implied that the original Beast did something so terrible that it was given the punishment of "damnatio memoriae," or condemnation of memory, which was a punishment used in the Roman Empire that was said to be worse than death because all traces of their existence is stripped from recorded history so that their life story is forgotten. It was revealed that the original Beast was Sebastien Valet, the brother of Marie-Jeanne, who sentenced her brother to said punishment after personally hunting him down and killing him, virtually erasing him from existence, so that he was only remembered as a Beast.
- According to Gabriel Valack, the Beast was a man in its original life, and eventually this was confirmed, as the man was named Sebastien Valet. It has also been said that its new Chimera vessel could be either a male or female, later revealed to be Mason Hewitt.
- The Beast's destined rival is the Hellhound, as it is the only being so far to survive an encounter with it after engaging in battle, and even managed to briefly overpower the Beast. Its Hellhound adversary was ultimately revealed to be Cerberus, who was possessing Jordan Parrish.
- The Beast is often called a Werewolf, but it actually seems to be one in name only, because while it does share some of the powers and weaknesses of a "normal" Werewolves (e.g. superhuman strength, speed, agility, durability, senses, etc.), the Beast's other powers are more mystical in nature, such as wrapping his body in shadows and darkness.
Gallery[]
See also[]