Has it canonically been proven that Stiles was Derek's anchor?
You mean has anyone verbally said “Stiles is Derek’s anchor”? No
Has there been alot of evidence? Yes
The thing you have to remember, and the thing that’s very very HARD to remember, is that Stiles and Derek are both very private people who communicate almost entirely through actions rather than words
And that’s hard to do because there’s so much TALKING in Teen Wolf- so much verbal “confirmation” and story telling, that it makes it feel like we shouldn’t have to look at actions, take for example Cora, Teen Wolf spent so much time TELLING us that Derek had no family that few people bothered to question it- Derek certainly acted like it was true after all, but it’s actually not at all unlikely that Cora was alive because PHYSICAL evidence showed us there were missing Hales- and yes, I am the FIRST one to tell you Cora was a desperate attempt to plug up a hole, but it makes sense because there are inconsistancies in the story Derek tells and the police report Stiles gets that clocks us in at three possible missing Hales (the body count Derek tells us is different from the one on the police report) Cora is one, Peter is another, who is the third? But that’s a different meta for a different time
It’s like on Once Upon A Time, Rumplestiltskin lies like a rug, and he really WILL get you going and believing him on nothing but his word, but because we as an audience aren’t USED to unreliable narrators on our TV screens we’re constantly surprised- and really shouldn’t be- when he stabs us in the back, admits he was lying about EVERYTHING, and laughs about it
Teen Wolf is Rumplestiltskin and Sterek is Belle- the innocent, quiet one always finding a home in books and stories when the lying liar lie-face it’s married to does what it does best: Lies
This is nothing AGAINST Teen Wolf, unreliable narrators are a good technique to use
But I digress, Teen Wolf thrives on being a talky show that gives us people like Gerard, Deucalion, and Theo to TELL us things without having to SHOW us the truth- Theo being the exception to the rule because the entire point of him was to show he was a liar, to lie to our faces and then show him breaking a guy’s hand five minutes later
Because of that, we automatically assume everyone will tell us what we need to know, but Teen Wolf is like Deaton, it only gives us the bare minimum cryptic information that we have to WORK for and that makes us think and decypher what the hell just happened
Derek and Stiles are not verbal people- and I know, I know right now you’re squinting at me wondering if I’ve just confused Stiles with The Mute because he talks more than anyone else on the show, but just because he TALKS, doesn’t mean he SAYS anything, it doesn’t mean he’s being honest, it doesn’t mean he’s saying what he feels or talking about IMPORTANT things, Stiles talks as a coping mechanisim and as someone who does that myself I understand why, he used to talk about killing all the time (“Can you just let him die for me?” “Why don’t we just kill Jackson and get it over with?”) but when it comes down to someone getting on board and saying “Yeah ok you’re right” he suddenly backs up and tries to detour them, now I’m not saying that Stiles *lies* the way the Sheriff asks him about in episode two, and remember Stiles has a “different definition of lying” (reclining horrizontally) and we know he lies by omission, this isn’t to be intentionally dishonest or antagonistic, it’s just a defense mechanisim, like horned lizzards shooting blood out of their eyes, Stiles is scared of being vulnerable and we know this, so he’ll talk, he’ll talk all day about male circumsinssion and Star Wars or online RPGs but if you ask him something as simple as “How are you feeling today?” or “You’re anxious, what’s wrong?”, he’ll suddenly clam up and quickly either lie or avoid answering, he gets stuttery, jittery, and all around hard to talk to, so yes, when it comes to anything that has to do with even POSSIBLY being vulnerable, Stiles is not a verbal person
Derek… goes without saying
These are both physical people who show rather than tell wich goes against the grain of everyone else, and physically? Physically Stiles became Derek’s anchor a long, long time ago, I would pinpoint the moment this bond is made as being during Boyd’s death, when Stiles supports Derek, I think the first time it’s shown as being firmly in place is here
This is called the “Anchor pose”, I suggest referencing @darachmoon for this as I think she came up with the title (and also has the right screencaps, I need to stop relying on Google images but alas, I don’t know how to take images from DVDs)
There’s a reason it’s called that, consistantly this is the pose anchors take when grounding someone, but admittedly, that’s flexible, what isn’t flexible? This
Not ONLY did Derek conjure Stiles into his psyche when in a state of severe distress, but look at this body language
Derek is sitting down, hunched over, fidgeting, head bowed, obviously distressed, vulnerable, submissive- you can see in his breathing that he’s close to a break down
Stiles is standing up straight, steady, unflinching, dominant, guiding, he isn’t twitching or fidgeting and his arms are very delicately placed to avoid the usual signal of being closed off and defensive (crossing your arms over your chest) without HIMSELF looking vulnerable or overly open (hands to your sides, in your pockets, or spread out)
Derek could have thought of anyone in this moment- even his mother, so why, in a time of severe distress, go to Stiles?
Derek gave Stiles a position of dominance, in this situation that could really only translate to one of two things: His anchor or his Alpha, and considering the emotional state he was in I don’t think he was looking for an Alpha
Stiles is Derek’s anchor, Derek obviously knows it after that dream, and I’m willing to say that Stiles PROBABLY knows it as well as of season four during the van ride with Liam, the way Derek consulted him was a partnership, and for something as personal as gaining control, for Derek to work with someone as an equal partner- especially a non-wolf- that’s got to have a pretty strong emotional bond already in place
jacobvanloon
pixelskylines
tangentwithtanner
izzy806
2087
prguitarman
areudirty
origamiaround
