A topic of hot debate amongst fans of Teen Wolf is werewolf eye color, and this week’s episode may have finally given us an answer.
The colors
We’ve seen werewolves with three different eye colors so far on Teen Wolf. A standard, run-of-the-mill werewolf will have golden-yellow eyes. This is, essentially, the default setting.
If a werewolf becomes an Alpha, he or she will then have red eyes. It makes no difference if you’re a True Alpha or not, as the color is the same.
Then, finally, we have werewolves with blue eyes. These are the werewolves who have taken an “innocent life,” and it is here that fans have asked, “What constitutes an innocent life?”
The situation
Teen Wolf season 5, episode 7, “Strange Frequencies,” found Theo and Stiles in the Jeep for an extended period of time. They were there to remotely keep an eye on Josh’s body in order to find out who is stealing the dead chimeras.
During their “bonding” time, the deaths of both Donovan and Josh were brought up, as well as the moral implications. Were they self defense or were they murder?
Related: Teen Wolf season 5, episode 7 recap: Seeing is believing
It’s clear that Stiles killing Donovan was an accident. He was being pursued by the chimera, who was threatening to eat him (he was a wendigo after all), and brought down the scaffolding on top of Donovan in order to get away. In the process, a metal pipe went straight through Donovan’s chest.
Theo would argue that his situation was much the same. Josh was attacking Stiles, and Theo fought him off. It was self defense. However, since we know Theo’s intentions are anything but pure, we can assume what he had a more nefarious purpose. After all, Theo was fighting him claw to claw, and instead of incapacitating Josh, Theo ripped his throat out.
The conversation
During this conversation in the Jeep, we finally — potentially — got an answer to why some werewolves have blue eyes and others still have golden eyes, regardless of the people they’ve killed. We, as fans, have often speculated about the exact definition of “innocent” and whether circumstance or intention had anything to do with it.
Related: Check out Not Another Teen Wolf Podcast to hear the hosts discuss this topic and more!
Theo believes, however, that it’s less about who you’ve killed, and more about how you feel once you’ve done the deed. His eyes are still gold, and he professes that this is because he feels he did it in self defense and that he is not guilty.
Stiles, however, picks up on the one glaring issue in this situation: Does Theo not feel guilty because he killed Josh in self defense, or does he not feel guilty because he is incapable of remorse?
The problem
While we would love to report that we finally, finally have an answer to the issue with eye color, there is still another piece of the puzzle we must put in place.
Theo is, quite possibly, another chimera. As such, we also know that the rules of the supernatural world don’t always apply to them. Tracy was, after all, able to bypass the mountain ash because she was made, not born or bitten.
What if Theo’s eyes are still gold because they can’t change due to his being a chimera? What if Theo is aware of this, and used it to convince Stiles of his innocence when he knows good and well that his eyes would be blue otherwise?
Do you think Theo was telling the truth about eye color and its correlation to guilt, or do you think something else is going on here?