Druidic Philosophy in Teen Wolf
or at least, what we can discern about their philosophy, based on the three (3) druids we see onscreen
Written for @teenwolf-meta‘s Meta Monday Mondays, Week 1: Ties
A druid’s job is the keep the balance—we’re told this in the show. However, what we’re not told is what exactly this means, or how someone is supposed to go about doing it.
Over the course of 3A, we see three different interpretations in the actions of our three Druids: Jennifer Blake, Marin Morrell, and Alan Deaton.
Due to her trauma, and the rage and bitterness she has harbored for over a decade, Jennifer believes strongly in taking direct action. Seven years ago, her balanced world was thrown sharply and violently out of balancing when Kali—at the urging of Deucalion—murdered her entire pack and attempted to murder Jennifer. We meet her when she’s deep within a plan to right that wrong by any means necessary, consequences and collateral damage be damned.
What’s interesting is that—despite the fact that Kali was the one who personally attacked her—she doesn’t initially seem particularly interested in killing her. Instead, she’s focused on destroying Deucalion, who she sees as responsible for everything that’s happened to the packs.
While she’s willing to kill to achieve her goal, in her own way, she’s trying right the wrongs of the past. Or, in other words, she’s trying to reset the balance.
Of the three druids we see on screen, Marin is most likely to remain neutral—at least from an external perspective. In fact, I think Marin’s concept of keeping the balance is actually what a lot of people in the fandom seem to assume a druidic idea of balance means—making sure actual balance is maintained between two groups that are at odds with each other.
However, while this view is closest to Marin’s perspective than it is to the beliefs of either of the two other druids, I believe this is still an incomplete understanding of her point of view. Rather than coldly upholding the status quo, she is instead interested mainly in mitigating harm. Instead of fighting Deucalion directly, she believes that the best way to do this is to continue to fulfill the other role of a druid: providing counsel to werewolf packs.
By influencing him in this way, Marin works hard to prevent any further atrocities from the inside. When that course of action is no longer possible, she passes information along to someone she believes can take direct action.
Fittingly for a veterinarian, Deaton’s understanding of balance is very different than the others, and is rooted in the concepts of harmony and homeostasis.
Homeostasis is defined as “a stable equilibrium between interdependent elements,” and I believe this is what he fights to achieve. Balance that is fundamentally ecological, rather than mechanical. To Deaton, balance doesn’t mean preventing any one side from gaining too much power, but achieving a state where nature is at peace.
This desire, along with his deeply held morals, is why he is willing to take direct action against the various individuals and supernatural entities that threaten the safety of Beacon Hills and the people who live there. His job is to maintain the balance, but if the ecosystem is out of balance, then the first step is to assist in the creation of that balance. Or rather, that peace.
After all, you can’t maintain something that doesn’t currently exist.
