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1Character index for the ''Franchise/{{Predator}}'' franchise.
2----
3!!Films
4
5[[index]]
6* ''[[Characters/Predator1 Predator]]''
7* ''Characters/Predator2''
8* ''Characters/{{Predators}}''
9* ''Characters/ThePredator''
10* ''Characters/{{Prey|2022}}''
11
12See Also:
13* ''Franchise/AlienVsPredator'' franchise:
14** ''[[Characters/AlienVsPredator1 Alien vs. Predator]]''
15** ''Characters/AliensVsPredatorRequiem''
16[[/index]]
17
18!!The Predators
19
20[[folder:In General]]
21!!Predators / Hunters / Yautja
22[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/predator_2.jpg]]
23[[caption-width-right:350:The "Jungle Hunter" from ''1'', maskless.]]
24!!!'''Portrayed By:''' Creator/KevinPeterHall, Ian Whyte, Creator/DerekMears, Carey Jones, Brian Steele, Brian A. Prince and Kyle Strauts, Dane [=DiLiegro=] (Prey)
25!!!'''Vocal Effects By:''' Creator/PeterCullen (''Predator''), Hal Rayle (''Predator 2''), Matthew Charles Santoro and Creator/RobinAtkinDownes (''Alien Vs. Predator: Requiem''), Derek Mears, Creator/CindyRobinson and Creator/KarenStrassman (''Predators''), Brian A. Prince and Creator/LexLang (''The Predator'')
26
27->''"Iwo Jima, Cambodia, Beirut. Drawn by heat and conflict. He's on safari. Lions. The tigers. The bears. Oh, my!."''
28-->-- '''Peter Keyes'''
29
30The main antagonists of the franchise, the Yautja, also known as Predators, are a race of aliens known for their advanced technology and habit of hunting aggressive individuals of other species. Despite this, the species has shown a rather strict set of rules that govern their hunt and society.
31----
32* AbsurdlySharpBlade: Nearly all of the melee and thrown weapons qualify, from their wrist blades to their spears to the disc-like thrown weapons to even their ''shields''. They cut through bodies, trees, and concrete while barely slowing down. Justifed as they utilize an unknown alien metal in their construction.
33* AdaptationalVillainy: Several of the Predators in the ExpandedUniverse lack the honorable qualities typical to the Yautja, ranging from bullying [[SmugSnake Smug Snakes]] who [[FantasticRacism look down on humans]] to vicious, bloodthirsty sadists who will torture and kill even their own kind, like the Bad Blood. The Yautja are more sapient compared to their Xenomorph counterparts, so it makes sense that some of them wouldn't commit fully to the Predator code.
34* AlienBlood: Fluorescent green, glows in the dark and (according to most ''AVP'' media) has acid-neutralizing properties.
35* AlienHair: They possess dreadlock-like strands of "hair" that some expanded universe material states are sensory organs similar to antennae.
36* AliensSpeakingEnglish: Significantly Downplayed. They speak their own native language which includes clicks, deep grunts, loud roars, and even high-pitches squeals. The films do not provide subtitles, either. However, they are shown at times being able to speak a few words or lines in English, but in a mimicry of human speech that is implied to be part of their hunting technique like bird calling. The only "exception," if it can really qualify as one, is in ''The Predator'' when one of them hacks into a nearby human-made computer and basically uses text-to-speech to communicate with them in a way they can understand; predictably, it's slightly awkward and includes some direct translations--namely, "[[MercyLead I offer time advantage," which the protagonists soon figure out means "I'm giving you a head start.]]"
37* AwesomeButImpractical: Their thermal vision helmets are a very powerful tool but they occasionally become a hindrance due to CripplingOverspecialization. Once the hunted party understands how the helmet works, it's incredibly easy to shield themselves from it by caking themselves in mud or, like in ''Prey'', taking medicine to lower their body temperature, at which point the Predator's vision becomes so poor that they can't see their target at all even when they're standing directly in front of them. This can be downplayed with a Predator smart enough to understand the vision's limitations. The Jungle Hunter at one point, knowing Dutch is attempting to draw him out, tracks the trajectory of a thrown rock to attempt to make a shot, and shortly after still manages to lead Dutch into a trap that he is only barely able to get out of.
38** Downplayed with the City Hunter, who's either willing to use his visor to its fullest potential, or has a more advanced visor than the Jungle Hunter. The City Hunter's visor is shown capable of rendering different light spectrums, including ultraviolet.
39* BetterToDieThanBeKilled:
40** Their SelfDestructMechanism encompasses this idea. They'll blow themselves up to avoid being captured, having their technology fall into the hands of their prey, and blend it with an element of TakingYouWithMe toward their prey.
41** Expanded universe material states their their wrist blades are wired into their nervous system. Attempting to remove one from a sedated Predator caused it to go into ''cardiac arrest''.
42--> ''"What kind of society would prefer its soldiers to die instead of being disarmed?"''
43* BizarreAlienBiology: Their physiology is like a mix of mammalian and reptilian; they are [[HumanoidAlien Humanoid Aliens]] with hair-like dreadlocks and navels, but they also have scales, claws in place of fingernails and toenails, and no lips. Their blood notably ''glows'' in fluorescent green and they possess mandibles. Their natural (unmasked) vision also appears to be a form of infrared.
44* BizarreAlienSenses:
45** While their mask gives them the ability to "see" in a variety of forms, most prominently thermal vision, they possess near-infrared even when maskless.
46** Their sense hearing is unusual as well. In shots throughout the franchise from their perspective, sounds come through low, distorted, and with a slight echo.
47** Hinted at in ''The Predator'' and outright stated in some expanded universe materials, their dreadlock-like AlienHair is a sensory organ similar to antennae, giving them improved spacial awareness and balance. Considering how much time the spend hunting from high places, this is a valuable sense to have.
48* BladeBelowTheShoulder: While their other weapons have varied across appearances, a pair of [[AbsurdlySharpBlade absurdly sharp]], retractable blades on their wrist is near-universal equipment.
49* BloodKnight: The Predator culture has rules for their hunt, the main one dictating that they only attack prey that can defend itself. For humans, this means being armed or otherwise demonstrating superior skill. In the latter case, the Predator will abandon its own weapons for a hand-to-hand fight. They are also shown hunting inherently dangerous creatures like Xenomorphs and Earth carnivores. They also will not kill any prey who is pregnant.
50* BlueAndOrangeMorality: They believe in a fair fight above all else and will not target the weak or unarmed with their weaponry. Yet, when actually defeated in a fair fight, they [[TakingYouWithMe self]]-[[NoBodyLeftBehind destruct]] with an explosive device strapped to their wrist, although this may be a pragmatic step taken to ensure that their advanced technology won't fall into the hands of a lesser-developed race. Further, they have FTL-capable starships, incredibly advanced weaponry, and utilize extremely sophisticated technology like cloaking and thermal vision. All of this is indicative of a highly intelligent and well-learned race, with the capability of decimating most opponents they come across. In spite of this, all we see of their culture centers around hunting exclusively for sport, in some adaptations going so far as to found alien civilizations and seed worlds with dangerous organisms for the exclusive purpose of hunting those creatures down.
51* ChameleonCamouflage: Their cloaking system works as this -- when they move, the ripple of light playing across its figure makes it visible if one is watching carefully.
52* CoolHelmet:
53** They almost always wear a technologically advanced mask when "hunting". It improves their natural near-infrared vision to full thermal vision, provides other vision "filters" should the situation call for it (like X-Ray and enhanced light detection), and includes the sighting mechanism for some of their ranged weapons, including their plasma cannon.
54** In the crossover ''Franchise/AlienVsPredator'' franchise, their masks also have a special vision mode for hunting Xenomorphs that highlights the creatures in bright green.
55* CrazyPrepared: The equipment they carry can deal with nearly any situation, ranging from advanced medical kits to patch themselves up, to a host of weaponry that an deal with any potential "prey", to their masks having additional vision "modes" should thermal fail, to a flat out SelfDestructMechanism.
56* CreepySouvenir: They keep the skulls of their prey. They use some kind of spray that strips the flesh right off and Predators who are actively "hunting" are known to attach the skulls to their belts. They are also known to make larger displays of them on their ships.
57* CurbStompBattle: Predators against most humans, even those who are heavily armed, make for very one-sided fights thanks to their LightningBruiser physical traits and advanced technology. The small number of humans who have defeated a Predator (or even put up [[CurbStompCushion decent fights]]) throughout the franchise have typically done so by outsmarting it, using its own weapons/tactics against it, or some combination thereof.
58* DeadGuyOnDisplay: Their standard approach for an adversary who put up a poor fight is to declare them unworthy by gutting them, skinning them, and hanging their corpse upside down. It could also make sense that such skinned bodies become part of their food supply.
59* DeadlyDisc: A standard part of their aresenal in most appearances. It can be thrown, slicing through everything short of concrete with ease, or held and used like a circular saw.
60* DueToTheDead: When it comes to their own kind, if a hunter perishes during the hunt to a worthy prey (provided that the hunter in questions wasn't able to [[SuicideAttack blow itself up first]]), their body will be retrieved and given full funeral rights and honors as a warrior fallen in battle.
61* ElegantWeaponForAMoreCivilizedAge: Although they certainly don't mind guns or using long range weapons while hunting, Yautja consistently respect human foes who pull melee weapons on them and challenge them to hand-to-hand combat, almost always pulling out melee weapons of their own and answering in kind. Such humans almost always get their skulls collected as trophies, in ''Predator 2'' this is suggested to be [[WorthyOpponent a gesture of honor to particularly worthy game]], since Yautja are MadeOfIron and have SuperStrength compared to humans; exactly one human in the whole film franchise has ever killed a Yautja in a one-on-one honorable duel, and it was a MutualKill.
62* EvenEvilHasStandards: The Yautja will not tolerate the members of their kind who don't abide by their honor code. Such Yautja are known as "Bad Bloods" and are exiled or killed.
63* EvilIsBigger: They are an absolutely massive species and tower over most humans. It's telling that a number of the actors who've played them including 7'2" Kevin Peter Hall (''1'', ''2'') and 6'8" Dane [=DiLiegro=] (''Prey'') were former professional basketball players. The "Ultimate Predator" in ''The Predator'' goes even further, being twice as tall as a normal Predator.
64* EvilSoundsDeep: The rare occasions when Predators have spoken without mimicry show them to have incredibly deep, animalistic voices that are less like speech and more like inhuman growls.
65* FairPlayVillain: Downplayed in that, while they still typically have major advantages over their prey, part of their code is that the prey must be able to fight back. They won't target the unarmed or unthreatening. They also seem to scale their own weapons toward their prey and will ditch their best stuff against a particularly WorthyOpponent. ''The Predator'' even has one give the people he's about to start fighting/hunting a head-start before he actually goes after them.
66* FatalFlaw: Their eyesight is their one true weakness. They have thermal vision, which makes it hard for them to see objects at a low temperature, and their vision is not very vivid without their masks to improve the image. This is also probably why they use cloaking technology, as a way to counteract this one flaw. Aside from their physiology, their HonorBeforeReason sensibilities mentioned below.
67* GeniusBruiser: They're exceptionally good hunters, trackers, and tactical planners and are very skilled at detecting and avoiding traps as well as setting their own. That's in addition to being super strong, fast/agile, and hardy warriors who possess highly advanced technology that would require "genius" level intelligence to create and maintain.
68* GuestFighter: One appears as a DLC character in ''VideoGame/MortalKombatX'', which as a bonus lets it fight against the Alien again.
69* HonorBeforeReason: They're honorable and usually very strict to their tradition of ensuring a fair fight, even to the point of fault on some occasions. To note:
70** The Jungle Hunter from the first film could have easily massacred Dutch like he did to the rest of his team, but was so impressed by his determination to battle that he stripped himself of all his weapons in favor of challenging him to a fist fight.
71** Despite being in an alien-infested temple with human intruders trying to make a getaway with valuable and stolen Predator technology, Scar from ''Alien Vs Predator'' still makes time to kneel and mark his helmet and forehead with the Blooded sigil, which was earned after he killed his first alien. The time taken to honor this tradition doesn't pay off, as he's ambushed and impregnated by a facehugger while his mask is down.
72** In ''Predators'', Yakuza enforcer Hanzo stops in the middle of a grassy field and draws his katana. The Predator that was chasing after the whole group ''could'' have just blasted him with one of its energy weapons and kept going, but knew it was being called out for single combat and accepted the challenge, decloaking and fighting him with only its wristblades.
73** In general, when the Predators face a weaker opponent they limit themselves to an appropriate weapon to match their targets. An enemy with a ranged weapon like a gun is targeted with ranged weapons in turn, but a foe who draws a melee weapon like a knife or sword is faced with a melee weapon. The exception to this is an enemy who is much stronger and tougher than them, like a Xenomorph, in which case they'll use their full arsenal.
74* HumanoidAlien: They have the basic human shape with one body, one head, four limbs, and bipedal movement. They also have two forward-facing eyes on their heads, five fingers on each hand and five toes on each foot, but that is where their similarities with humans end.
75* HuntingTheMostDangerousGame: Their motivation. The second movie and expanded universe reveal this isn't limited to humans.
76* IAmNotLeftHanded: The Predators throughout the series who are actively "hunting" aren't actually using the species' most advanced technology. In the same way a human would't use a GrenadeLauncher while wearing body armor to hunt a deer, they don't use their military level weapons to hunt either. When pressed by greater threats, as seen in ''[=AvP=] Requiem'' and ''The Predator'', they have access to ''far'' more powerful equipment such as PoweredArmor and multi-target weapons that make their hunters' plasma cannons look like toys.
77* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: Whether with their wrist blades, their spear, or another weapon, impaling foes is a favored method to execute their prey throughout the franchise.
78* ImplacableMan: When a Predator decides to target a specific prey, especially if they identify a WorthyOpponent, they will track that prey and do whatever it takes to draw it out, even if it means changing tactics (like targeting Harrigan's crew to draw him out in ''2'') or taking extreme punishment.
79* InvisibilityFlicker: Their invisibility cloaks will do this on occasion even if nothing is actually wrong with them. Water in particular causes them to short out entirely in the vast majority of appearances.
80* IronicEcho: They are known to repeat back lines they've overheard from their prey. At times, it appears to be used to get the attention of their prey, like a hunter using a game call. Other times, it seems like a flat out ''[[IShallTauntYou taunt]]'' (such as Billy's laugh toward Dutch when self-destructing in ''1'' or repeating Harrigan's "shit happens" in ''2'').
81* IShallTauntYou: They've been shown to toy with their prey in this fashion. Examples range from mimicking human speech and laughter (seen in both of the first two movies) to observing relationships between their victims and using that to their advantage (specifically hunting down Harrigan's squad in ''2'' and leaving Danny's necklace for him to find). They'll also do this when they choose to go hand-to-hand with a worthy foe, tossing them around when the Predator could easily pull them apart with its bare hands to draw out the fight.
82* ItCanThink: Far from the mindless savages many opponents expect at first, Predators are [[GeniusBruiser highly intelligent]] and extremely technologically advanced and skilled hunters which only serves to make them even more dangerous.
83%%* LastDisrespects: If prey they've killed offered pretty much no challenge and were pathetically easy to hunt, they generally take the time to skin the corpse and hang them upside down with a rope as something of a sign of disrespect.
84* LaserSight: Their mask includes a tri-beam one for aiming their weaponry. It is most prominently associated with their plasma cannon in most appearances, but as seen in ''Prey'', can be used for other weapons as well.
85* LightningBruiser: In addition to being huge and incredibly strong, they're also very fast and agile, as evidenced by their ability to climb and leap between trees.
86* LikeCannotCutLike: The metal in their [[AbsurdlySharpBlade absurdly sharp]] weapons can slice through bodies, trees, and human weapons without even slowing down. However, other weapons of the same material will stop it, such as at the end of ''2'' when [[spoiler:Harrigan uses the Urban Hunter's DeadlyDisc to deflect its wrist blades]].
87* LizardFolk: Their physiology is a mixture between this and mammalian, having a basic humanoid shape with reptilian skin and claws.
88* LongLived: The second film starts to show and various expanded universe materials confirm Predators live for centuries before becoming elderly. The City Hunter in the second film considered a youth at only 300 years.
89* LowCultureHighTech: They possess energy weapons, cloaking technology, and ships with faster-than-light travel capability yet their society seems to be tribal in nature and directed entirely towards ritualized hunting and warfare.
90* MadeOfIron: The Predators can take quite a bit of abuse, and they're usually wearing some kind of body mesh rather than actual armor. The first film alone has the Jungle Hunter take direct hits from a bodybuilder-sized man like Dutch, once with a arm-thick log and later with his fists. The log ''breaks'' against its raised arm to no effect and the punch to the face simply annoys it. It takes a log about as thick around as the Predator itself smashing down right into its head to put it down. In several instances Predators have sustained multiple gunshot wounds to the body, any one of which would most likely be fatal to a fit, full-grown human and literally walked it off, even if they'd often heal with their medicine. They have also shrugged off falls from great heights, including the City Hunter who jumped off at least part of a six-story drop to attack King Willie and was unharmed by the impact.
91* MonstrousMandibles: Each Predator seen maskless in the series has possessed a bifurcated version with a tooth or tusk on the end. The lower set can open up nearly as wide as the Predator's head, especially when roaring.
92* MoreDeadlyThanTheMale: In many media, the female Yautja can be more cunning and ruthless than the males. According to a recording in ''VideoGame/PredatorHuntingGrounds'', Dutch notes that the female he was hunting certainly didn't mess around when she killed off the rest of his team. One of the comics included a joke about the yautja males hunting so they have something to do while their females are [[MenstrualMenace in a rage during the mating season]].
93* NeverHurtAnInnocent: They typically only hunt those who can fight back and will not harm those who cannot -- sick, elderly, young, with child, etc. They will make an exception if someone from one of those groups still proves to be a threat, such as the terminally ill Weyland from ''[=AvP=]'' who turns his inhaler into an AerosolFlamethrower.
94* NightmareFace: Beneath their helmets, the Predators have very frightening, hideous faces complete with tusks and mandibles.
95-->'''Dutch''': You’re one ugly motherfucker.
96* NightVisionGoggles: Their masks offer multiple vision "modes", none of which are in the human-visible spectrum. Thermal vision is the most common (which seems to be an improved, filtered version of their natural near-infrared vision), but they're also shown to have X-ray and enhanced light detection among others.
97* NobleDemon: Predators have a strict code, so they only attack prey that can or is likely to fight back.
98* NoWaterproofingInTheFuture:
99** In most media, the Predator's cloaking device short-circuits in water, but isn't permanently damaged though.
100** The "Feral Predator" seen in ''Prey'' lacks this weakness, as its cloak continues to function in water. However, being overall more primitive, it has several other weaknessess. It cannot maintain itself during rapid movements, against debris, or cover its gear (such as drawn weapons) when in use. Since ''Prey'' is a prequel, it's likely that, in overcoming these potentially more fatal weaknesses, the weakness to water was introduced.
101* PlanetOfCopyhats: The first predator seen is a hunter who likes HuntingTheMostDangerousGame. This becomes the centerpiece of their entire culture.
102* PlanetOfHats: Downplayed. They are an alien race whose cultural hat includes being a LowCultureHighTech ProudHunterRace of {{Egomaniac Hunter}}s who live to [[HuntingTheMostDangerousGame hunt the most dangerous game]]. However, unlike many examples in fiction, they are far from homogeneous. Their appearance changes drastically throughout the franchise including face shape, skin color, and even overall size. Their culture has different clans/factions with different aesthetics (the sleeker metallics in ''1'' and ''2'' compared to the "bone"-like aesthetics seen in ''Predators'' and ''Prey''), weaponry, and even the ''rules'' for their hunts. If you encounter a Yautja, the odds are good that it is a dangerous hunter, but exactly how it hunts may vary. There's also the fact that, at least in the main movie series, we haven't yet seen any Yautja when they ''aren't'' on a hunt and for all we know they could be otherwise indistinguishable from humans and those coming to Earth to hunt humans and other organisms are only a small fraction of the total Yautja population who could easily be spending most of their time at desk jobs.
103* PlasmaCannon: Their main long-distance weapon, [[ShoulderCannon mounted on the left shoulder]] and aimed using laser sights from their mask. Sometimes they have one on [[GunsAkimbo both shoulders]].
104* PrecisionGuidedBoomerang: The Smart Disc and Shuriken weapons. It also doubles as an AbsurdlySharpBlade, able to bifurcate half a dozen frozen cow carcasses and a grown man in combat gear (''Predator 2'') and be doused in acid from slicing a Xenomorph in half before hitting a person with enough force to lift them off the ground, pin them to a wall, and cut them in half (''Alien vs Predator: Requiem'').
105* ProudHunterRace: The Trope Maker. They live for the glory of the hunt against worthy prey and take measures to ensure a "fair" fight, such as restricting their use of advanced weapons or going without them entirely against a particularly WorthyOpponent.
106* RetractableWeapon: Their signature melee weapon, dual absurdly sharp wrist blades, collapse back into their wrist band. Their spears also retract into a shorter, more compact mode when not being used.
107* RiteOfPassage: Most, if not all, Predators go through this in the form of a hunt. The expanded universe refers to this as becoming "Blooded" and allows them to "graduate" to higher-tech weapons. Ever since the two franchises were combined, Xenomorphs are a favored quarry for this ritual.
108* SeeTheInvisible: Their invisibility cloak doesn't make them truly "invisible", rather it seems to bend light around them with the occasional [[InvisibilityFlicker flicker]]. Up close, their outline of refracted light can be seen.
109* SelfDestructMechanism:
110** Most Predators have armbands with a wrist mounted bomb that they detonate when badly injured or if they are defeated with the explosive power to blow up ''three hundred'' city blocks. It's implied to be part TakingYouWithMe toward their prey, part ensuring the Predator gets a "seppuku"-like honorable death, and part a preventative measure to keep their technology from falling into lesser hands. Played straight in ''Predator'', subverted in ''Predator 2'' when Harrigan stops the countdown by cutting the device in half, having heard what it can do and recognizing the beeping and changing runes as a bomb timer.
111** The Feral Predator in ''Prey'' seemingly subverts this as he didn’t activate any self destruct device to deny Naru access to his tech. Rather he uses the wrist gauntlet to launch three smaller devices to wipe out the rest of the French trapper party before pursuing Naru again.
112* SoreLoser: For all of their honor-bound "fair" hunting practices, they still resort to self-destructing when beaten. Part of it is pragmatic to keep their advanced technology from falling into the hands of their prey. However, the sheer scale of the explosion (enough to decimate 300 city blocks), coupled with the EvilLaugh in ''1'' and IronicEcho "shit happens" in ''2'', make it clear that TakingYouWithMe is an intended part of it as well. Further, they are shown in ''[=AvP=] Requiem'' to have ''imp''losion technology that can destroy all trace of a crashed ship. It would be more than enough to finish off a mortally wounded warrior and keep their technology safe, but they opt for the mass explosion instead.
113* SuperPersistentPredator: Once they've chosen their prey, they don't stop their "hunt" until they or the prey is dead.
114* SuperStrength: From what is seen, they are much stronger than humans. Their feats range from dragging the bodies of full-grown men up trees and walls, to ripping out the skull and spine of their victims in one move, to throwing bodybuilder-sized men around with ease, to killing a ''bear'' with a punch and then deadlifting its corpse above its head.
115* VillainRespect: Yautja aren't ''completely'' averse to hunting humans who could fight back but are too frightened to, but they seem to reserve special attention to humans who fearlessly attack them, especially if said humans forego advanced weapons for hand-to-hand combat where their Yautja opponents have a huge advantage due to SuperStrength and SuperToughness.
116* VisibleInvisibility: Their invisibility cloaks technically make them ''less''-visible, not invisible. It seems to bend light around them and, up-close, the refracted light makes a visible outline. It also occasionally [[InvisibilityFlicker flickers]] and shorts out in water.
117* WorthyOpponent: If a Predator finds particularly interesting prey, it will spend its time observing them before taking their skulls as its trophy. If the prey is able to fight back with minimal weaponry, it will dispose its weapons other than its wrist blade and removes its mask, challenging its prey to hand-to-hand combat. A prey target who successfully slays a Predator earns enormous respect from the rest of their kin, and is often even given a trophy weapon as a reward--Mike Harrigan was given an antique flintlock pistol which turns out to have belonged to a character featured in ''Prey'', and Lex Woods in ''Alien vs. Predator'' was gifted an authentic Predator spear.
118[[/folder]]

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