Theo Raeken And Tragic Hero Essay... Thing (idk What I'm Doing)

theo raeken and tragic hero essay... thing (idk what i'm doing)

in this... essay, i will talk about theo raeken as a tragic hero, because why the hell not.

tragedy as a literary genre goes all the way back to the 5th century BC, and is still written about today. it is a genre of drama focused on stories of human suffering, where a human flaw/weakness/choice leads to devastating events, traditionally ending with death. examples of tragedies include 'romeo and juliet', 'a streetcare named desire', etc etc.

so, anyways, tragedies have multiple components, with an introduction, a middle and an end, dramatic events, a character that is usually the tragic hero, and it all leads to catharsis (catharsis being the purging of emotion).

the structure would go more or less like that:

the tragic hero, central character, starts out in a good position (could be of high social standing, or maybe they're famous, successful, happy in general, etc), whose choices or weaknesses lead to a chain of events that end with their downfall. it could be oeudipus, killing his father and marrying his mother, and later being like 'oh shit'. because of their action or trait, the hero is now facing an inevitable ending, which is... tragic.

and that leads us to theo!

i consider that theo's tragedy starts with him watching tara die, and ends with him going to hell (we're ignoring season 6, sorry theo, maybe later), and would probably actually be composed of two parts (his childhood, and then him arriving in beacon hills again).

we have the tragic hero, theo, who, while he has good qualities, makes an error of judgement (that's an understatement) and lets his sister tara die of hypothermia, in order to gain power. that choice leads to his downfall, as he becomes the first chimera, being experimented on.

so we'll consider theo's hunger for power his tragic flaw (the 'hamartia' of the story, which is a factor that causes the downfall), that follows him all the way to the first episode where we see him.

then again, theo starts out great, but he ends up experiencing peripeteia; a reversal. while he was planning on taking over scott's pack, there is a reversal of situation, which means that it doesn't turn out how he wanted.

from then on, theo loses control over the story, kills part of his pack, loses the few 'betas' he had, becoming isolated, fails at everything he attempts, and, at the last moment, realizes what's about to become of him. before being dragged by tara into 'hell', he has a moment of 'anagnorisis' (recognition) of his fate, and tries to fight against it (pleading to be helped, trying to hold on something).

however, a tragic character, while they might fight against fate, cannot reverse it, which is why theo gets trapped in hell.

so in my opinion, theo shares traits with tragic heroes, and part of his story follows the concepts of tragedy.

where it lacks, however, is the fact that you probably don't relate or pity theo's downfall until you've watched season 6 and started liking theo (which doesn't go along the idea of the tragic hero being relatable), and thus there is little catharsis, except for general satisfaction at his tragic ending. theo also escapes, in a way, his tragedy, by later being released from hell (his ending is reversed).

anyways, the story has a tragic hero, a tragic flaw, some sort of catharsis, peripeteia, and some late anagnorisis, so i'll consider it a tragedy :).

(sources are

https://www.supersummary.com/tragedy/

https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/a/agamemnon-the-choephori-and-the-eumenides/critical-essay/aristotle-on-tragedy

https://literaryterms.net/tragedy/

https://www.britannica.com/art/tragedy-literature

https://teen-wolf-pack.fandom.com/wiki/Theo_Raeken)

heyoo!! sorry this is kind of an annoying ask so feel free to ignore but I loved all your thiam fics and they characterizations you have for everyone especially theo is so spot on and perfect so I was wondering if you could do a character analysis on any of them?

hi anon!! thanks so much for your kind words! i’m 99% sure this unhinged rant is not what you were hoping for but bestie my professors chose violence this week and my brain is made of soup so please. bon appetit

i really think the thing that's so compelling to me about theo is how fundamentally his character arc captures the themes of change and redemption that are at the center of teen wolf's dna as a show.

pretty much as soon as his betrayal is revealed in 5a, theo's framed as a figure whose very survival has itself become a selfish act. tara's heart is an obvious and visceral symbol of what he's taken from others in order to survive, but her death is also a direct parallel to what he does to tracy and josh, and what he tries to do with scott. like corey and mason and the rest of the chimeras, theo is a victim of the dread doctors - perhaps even more so. he was a child, taken from his family, raised in an unloving and unsympathetic environment for almost ten full years. as a result, his primary defense mechanism has become a twisted sort of ambition. gain more power, and no one can hurt me. gain a pack, and i won't be alone anymore. become an alpha, and i’ll never feel helpless again.

in 6a, after he's brought back from superhell (rip), theo immediately declares himself to be the same person he was before he was sent away. joke’s on him, though, because within three episodes he’s actively sacrificing his life for someone for the first time that we're aware of. when he throws liam into the elevator and stays to hold off the wild hunt, there is absolutely no reason to believe he’s getting out of there alive. nobody else has up to this point. s5 theo wanted liam to kill scott - kill his alpha and his friend, scarring himself permanently in the process - so that theo could kill liam and gain both of their power. s6 theo, unprompted, makes the choice to put his own self-preservation on the backburner in order to give liam the chance to survive another day. setup, meet payoff.

i really think a lesser show might've killed him there - redemption complete, a selfish existence thrown on its head and then ended. when it’s not doing the Absolute Most, though, teen wolf actually kind of slaps really hard. so instead, we get s6e10 the wolves of war (complimentary). this episode is a mess and i understand why people have issues with it, but i'm a wolves of war apologist just because of theo's final scene in the hospital. that shit is such immaculate character work. i cannot shut up about it. s6e10 tells us that what theo needed to be redeemed was never to die for someone - it's to fight with someone, to live with someone, to reframe existence and life and growth in terms of support and mutual benefit instead of selfishness. theo’s able to take gabe's pain, in the end, because he's no longer putting his own self-preservation first. but he doesn't need to die to prove that - instead, he fights at liam's side, and eases gabe's pain as he dies, and proves his survival does not have to be a selfish act.

theo proves the point scott’s been making for the whole fuckin show. he's not only capable of change, but he does it - and he does it because he decides to. because he finds something - someone - worth fighting for. it doesn't erase the things he's done, but it does recontextualize them. i believe that in life we do the best we can with what we're given. theo was given tara's heart and a chimera's body and then - finally - liam's outstretched hand. good is a verb, not an adjective. theo is redeemed because he's given the opportunity to, and because he actively seizes that opportunity.

theo raeken is when dove cameron said “so you wanna talk about power? / well, let me show you power.” and when mitski said “open up your heart like the gates of hell / you stay soft, get beaten. / only natural to harden up.” and when khalid said “sister, sister, please know that i’m sorry; / i wish you could’ve stopped me.” and when mary oliver said “you do not have to be good... / you only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.” and when rina sawayama said “i’m trying to be normal / but trauma is immortal... / i don’t wanna be a monster anymore.” and when silas denver melvin said “you are not as damned as you think you are.”

the gerard pitts hcs post

(the BEAUTIFUL gif is from this post by @yawpanderson)

someone said he had a big family before, but imo he has like twenty siblings, but none of them go to welton with him

he started going to welton bc he was exceptionally smart as a kid and needed to be challenged

that said, he feels really left out of his family

his mom is the strict and harsh one—she's the one who wanted to put him in welton

his dad is more forgiving

has really poor study habits

possibly on the spectrum, but it's the 50s, so he's never diagnosed

cannot read social cues to save his life, but also can't stand when someone else doesn't recognize his sarcasm

hates having his head touched

cannot tell when a girl is flirting with him

breaking news: he has never been on a date!

will speak without thinking and can roast someone with no problem

once had his extracurriculars taken away for a quarter because he talked back to mr. nolan

he didn't mean to; it just slipped out

can't get comfortable in bed because it's too small

when he does sleep, the world's deepest sleeper; will not wake for anything

his growth spurt happened basically overnight and was incredibly painful

i saw this somewhere else, but he gives the best hugs, and he loves hugging people

loves carbs, he would eat a whole loaf of bread if someone let him

it's a miracle he let his friends have half a roll

world's fastest metabolism—cannot gain weight even if he tried

loves listening to music and frequents the record store when he's home

loves running—a track star, if you will

loves horror stories

he prefers cats as pets over dogs because he likes how independent they are

speaking of, do not let this boy into a pet store

he will buy a hamster, no questions asked

if he makes a mistake, no matter how small, he will lose sleep over it

if money didn't matter, he would be a teacher

shockingly, he has great handwriting

he and meeks have roomed together since sixth grade

can lift meeks and charlie

really good at crossword puzzles but needs meeks' help with spelling

believes in astrology—to a degree

hates crying, just like the act; he hates when he cries, he hates anyone seeing him cry, he hates seeing people cry

he has holes in his sweaters bc he refuses to buy new clothes until his current ones literally fall apart

very insecure about how he looks and can never take a compliment

he's hesitant about going to yale bc he's afraid of being around new people and away from meeks

for the life of me, i cannot decide what his star sign is so <3

I found something in two Thiam fics that really fucks me up and that is ✨️theo being incredibly smitten✨️

“It’ll be nicer if it’s just us,” Liam nervously whispers, hoping Theo gets the hint (not that Liam really knew what he was trying to hint, but Theo is smart, so Liam’s confident he’ll catch on). He keeps his eyes trained on the ground, and ooh, look, a five dollar bill, awesome!

"Yeah?” Theo murmurs, and when the beta finally does look up, the chimera’s eyes are wide with surprise and something else Liam can’t pinpoint. He swallows roughly and clears his throat. “Okay, yeah, I think so, too.”

Guardian -morgana_moonlight

“Do you think–” He pauses, glancing back pointedly. Tries not to focus on the way Theo’s eyes linger on his face. Liam smiles at Corey and Mason, notes how they’re tangled together, and is just suddenly a lot lighter. He turns back to Theo and his smiles dims a little, not any less real, just more subdued. More uncertain. “Do you think you could give us a ride?”

“Huh?” Theo stares at Liam’s face for a few moments. The exhaustion must have really been hitting him. He snaps back into reality before Liam can say anything else. Can begin to ask the question whirring around in his brain. “Yeah? Yeah. Okay, sure.”

the stories told at a funeral for the living -yikeshereiam

me when theo raeken analysis

Dead Poets Society as things my friends do or have done.

Knox - He constantly denies that he has a citrus allergy even though he's admitted on multiple occasions that kiwis make his mouth go numb.

Todd - Doesn't like the texture of milk so he puts water in his cereal.

Pitts - Instead of laughing at jokes he just starts crying.

Charlie - Whenever there's fruit at the bottom of his drink he will reach his entire hand in the glass to get it.

Keating - "Are you guys ready to learn about science?" *Pulls a live crayfish out of his desk.*

Cameron - At a school dance he didn't dance once he just recorded everyone else and used it as blackmail.

Meeks - Went through weeks of effort to fairly plan an entire election to see who was the president of the friend group but gave up and rigged it anyway.

Neil - Is so expressive that he can perfectly make the face of a blobfish.