Hello there!
One of my most watched videos right now is still the Most Powerful Character list I did last year.
I don’t know exactly why the YouTube Algorithm has chose this one to be
the one people find most but right now it’s like my most watched thing on the channel.
It’s also gets the most comments because apparently some folks don’t
watch the whole thing and just skip to the final list and then
complain about my rankings without bothering to understand my criteria.
I’ve already done one of these videos defending my placement
of Jennifer Blake in the top five due to her excellent planning around the
eclipse and that bomb telekinesis – the card should be linked above.
Now it seems I’m always having to defend my ranking of Malia above all the boy werewolves – If
I was cynical I would say a portion of my audience has a problem with strong women –
but I’m no cynic so today we’ll just look at why Malia is better than the boys on Teen Wolf.
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First a quick recap of my criteria for rating characters as powerful.
Durability or how hard they are to kill. That means a healing factor would rank you high on
durability but if you are primarily a spirit form like a Hellhound or Nogitsune, you’d rank
even higher because spirits in this universe apparently can not be killed or destroyed.
The second attribute is Intelligence - because obviously - intelligence overcomes
brute strength on Teen Wolf so if you’re highly intelligent and think before you act,
you are automatically more powerful on this show.
Then comes how strong a character is physically.
While this can be important in hand to hand combat, brute strength doesn’t actually
help you win the big fights on Teen Wolf. Okay, there was that one time in Season 4.
Then finally I considered abilities – those things that one character can do that are beyond
the abilities of other characters – Lydia’s scream and Jennifer Blake’s telekinesis
are examples of the kind of abilities I looked at.
On my original list – Malia ranked near the bottom because the werewolves on Teen Wolf
are really the least impressive when it comes to intelligence and abilities. They are actually
the baseline for strength and durability due to their healing factor – but overall,
they’re not the most powerful set of creatures in this universe.
I think they did that on purpose because what fun would it be if your hero was always punching down?
I mean, your villain has to be either smarter or stronger to give you a challenge so Scott and
the others couldn’t be overpowered because that would make for a really boring show.
So, just looking at the were-folk – I found Malia
is one of the most powerful in that group for a couple of reasons.
First – she doesn’t fear pain. Peter: Are you crazy? Malia: It's just one of them.
Peter: That means we have a chance. Malia: To beat them?
Peter: To survive.
Recent studies have reinforced the old wives tale that women have a higher pain tolerance than men.
The most recent science suggests women experience pain through an entirely different
biological process from men. Women also don’t remember pain in the same way men do so they
are more willing to face situations that previously led to painful outcomes without
experiencing the anxiety and stress that all the male subjects showed.
For the purposes of my most powerful list, Malia ranks higher because she proved more
willing to throw caution to the wind and take on situations that would result in pain.
The other deciding factor in Malia’s favor was her time spent living in the wild
as an actual animal. While all the werewolves have
animal instincts, Malia is the only one who used them 24-7 for 8 years.
Malia: Work faster Stiles.
Malia: There is something out here with us.
Her sense of smell and hearing is naturally superior to the boys
because while they’ve been learning to use their enhanced senses – she lived it.
Even Derek, a born werewolf, had to spend years learning and coming to terms with his animal side.
In the end, it took a dramatic transformation via a magic Aztec
tomb for him to really understand those abilities he was born with.
That’s not the case with Malia. She is
the animal. It is her nature. It's not even her second nature, it’s her true nature.
One of the big jokes throughout her run on the series was characters trying to humanize her.
Stiles: Like I thought you were leaving.
Malia: I wouldn't leave without you.
Stiles: Really?
Malia: No. I would never leave without you.
Malia: Them I would leave.
Stiles: Yeah. It's progress.
That exchange seems funny to us because it’s not what we would do – but when it
comes to survival – you take your mate and you run and you expect everybody else to
catch up. That’s how you survive in the wild where there is no place for sympathy
and the bear chasing you doesn’t care about your feelings.
Malia's eight years as an animal adds to her intelligence and her abilities scores on my
list because her time in the wild makes her smarter than the others in a different way.
I would go so far as to say that animal intelligence
is far more useful than even Lydia’s brain in this universe where survival depends on
senses and instinct as much if not more than fists and claws.
So yeah, her natural intelligence and her willingness to face pain along with
her animal instincts rank Malia higher than even the physically superior werewolves on Teen Wolf.
Thanks for watching. Now get down there – like and comment and tell me how wrong I
am. Maybe you could subscribe if you want to while you’re down there around the subscribe button.
I’ll see you next time we go back to Beacon Hills.