We are, at the time of this recording, about to have a full moon on Halloween.
In the Teen Wolf Universe, this confluence of events under a full hunter's moon would
likely lead to a disaster with comical undertones.
I’m taking a look at how the full moon and the way humans have traditionally named the
different full moons helped shape and define a lot of the episodes of Teen Wolf.
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It’s important to note that Teen Wolf writers made the moon full whenever they wanted to
– science be damned.
So, sometimes the moon is full every two weeks.
I did some of the math with Seasons 1 and 2 way back when and found that the full moon
came every 16 to 20 days in the teen wolf universe.
Still, there were key moons on the show that coincide with the ancient lunar naming system
and make for an interesting subtext to the show.
This correlation actually started with the very first episode – Jeff Davis called it
Wolf Moon which is the traditional name of the full moon in January.
According to the Old Farmer’s Almanac – the Wolf Moon marks the time of year that the
howling of wolves was often heard.
It was traditionally thought that wolves howled due to hunger, but we now know it’s to define
territory, locate pack members, reinforce social bonds, and gather for hunting.
In the Teen Wolf Universe – this was when Peter Hale was hunting around for his first pack member.
He thought he’d found one when he bit Scott McCall.
That didn’t turn out quite like he planned though.
Davis and the writers brought back the Full Wolf Moon in Season 4 Episode 4 for Liam’s
first transformation.
It was a full circle moment for the show as Scott helped his first pack member through
the trauma of becoming a werewolf.
Scott: You're not a monster.
Scott: You're a werewolf...
Scott: ...like me.
In February the Almanac says we get the Snow Moon.
I’m sure you can guess why but here’s what they say about it.
February is typically a time of heavy snowfall.
Yep.
In Season One of Teen Wolf, the full Snow Moon coincided with Episodes 8 through 10.
There was no actual snow in Northern California, but that period did include the Beacon Hills
High School winter formal.
Then, about two weeks later in Teen Wolf time, we had another full moon in February.
It was the night Jackson filmed his transformation into the Kanima in Season 2 Episode 2.
Now, whenever there are two full moons in one month, they call that a blue moon.
Those are supposed to happen once every 2 to 3 years but, again when the writers on
Teen Wolf wanted a full moon, they just wrote a full moon.
Guest: We're here for the party. Lydia: Well, come on in.
Following pretty quickly after this blue moon, again about two weeks later, we got the March
full moon on Lydia’s birthday.
Here Peter Hale summed up the Almanac Definition of what they call a Worm Moon.
Peter: They call it that because it's the last full moon of winter. And the worms literally crawl out of the earth as they thaw.
Indeed, the Almanac says the Worm Moon was traditionally thought
to be named after the earthworms of warming spring soil.
In Teen Wolf the Worm Moon marked Peter Hale emerging from the soil of his grave.
There was another Worm Moon in Season 4 in the final episode Smoke and Mirrors.
You can find that springtime symbolism of rebirth here too – we saw Scott emerging
from the bones of the berserker.
We also saw Derek die and come back in new form.
Now, we didn’t get to see spring and summer moons on Teen Wolf because the vast majority
of episodes took place in the autumn and winter.
So, we don’t get to cover the Pink Moon, Flower Moon Strawberry Moon or Buck Moon.
It’s possible a Pink or Flower moon happened during Season 6, but full moons weren’t
all that important to the plot during the final season.
That brings us to the end of summer and beginning of autumn and, in all honesty, the symbolism
of the full moon of August doesn’t really match up with anything in the episodes but
there were two during the series so I have to at least mention it.
Yeah, so August is the Sturgeon Moon.
It’s named after a fish because they were
apparently easy to catch during this full moon.
So, again, no symbolism here but the Sturgeon Full Moon came during the beginning of Season
3 when Boyd and Cora escaped the bank vault
and went nuts in the woods during episodes 2 and 3.
The sturgeon moon also heralded the return of the Dread Doctors in the first episode of Season 5.
Marcel: Our time is limited. No second chances. Dread Doctor: No Second Chances
Moving quickly away from the ugly fish month and into September and the Harvest Moon.
Here we have a return to symbolism as this full Moon corresponds with the time of harvesting.
In Teen Wolf we saw the first Harvest Moon in Season three episode 12 as Jennifer Blake
was reaping the Alpha Pack.
I tried to write this whole thing about how she sewed the seeds of her revenge and watered
them with the blood of her sacrifices but it just sounded like a freshman comp lit paper
so we’ll just say the symbolism is obvious.
The next Harvest Moon was during Season 5 Episode 10 when, again, a big bad’s plan
came to fruition.
In this case, While Scott was getting pummeled on the Library roof, the Dread Doctor’s
succeeded in bringing back the beast of Gevaduan.
Marcel: Success.
Finally, we are up to October – which is where I am now at the time of this recording.
We’re heading into a full moon on Halloween – in this case it will be a blue moon since
we had one already at the start of the month but usually the October Full Moon is the hunter’s
moon.
According to the Almanac - This is the month when the game is fattened up for winter.
Now is the time for hunting and laying in a store of provisions for the long months ahead.
Well, I don’t see why we have to fat shame the animals.
But there is some symbolism in the hunting aspect.
On the full moon during Season 3, Episode 14 Scott and his pack were all out hunting
for a fully transformed Malia Tate.
It was a race against time as her adoptive father was trying to kill
her since he didn’t know it was her.
Thanks for watching. If I didn’t have to worry about a copyright strike, I’d play bad moon rising here.
Be sure to tell me what I got wrong in the comments and check out the channel for more
Teen Wolf videos.