Tear Jerker / Teen Wolf

As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.

The 1985 movie:

• The entire relationship between Scott and Mick. Especially during the school dance, as Mick punches Scott. He then becomes the wolf and beats him up, literally only a few seconds after changing back to Scott. Pamela, Scott's longtime crush, tells him he's just some kind of animal, and the look on his face....
• What makes it worse is that Scott just runs away.

The TV series:

• The entire history of Derek Hale. All of it- most of the main characters have had bad things happen to them, but from the age of 16 onwards his life has been nothing but one tragic event after another. Meet a gorgeous girl at 16 who you fall head of heels for? Yeah, she's your teacher and you have to keep it secret, but you love her, and she seems to love you too. Only she's really a hunter using you to kill your entire family! Great home life? Happy, loving family of werewolves? Killed in a fire that you were (at least indirectly) the cause of! So you spend the next few years wallowing in misery and guilt, but it's okay, you still have your older sister... nope, she gets murdered. By your psychotic, supposedly comatose uncle, no less. And that's before the series even starts, for crying out loud...
  • In 3x08, we learn why Derek's eyes are blue. It's because he had to Mercy Kill his first love after the werewolf bite didn't take. Made worse by the fact that he helped set up the werewolf attack that was supposed to turn her, and that she knew Derek was some type of supernatural creature anyway, so it could have worked out.

Season 1

• "I miss your mom."
  • Stiles' reaction; he completely stops what he's doing and his voice cracks when he asks, "What did you say?" And then he stops the Sheriff from drinking more, a case of Harsher in Hindsight since Scott's father later reveals that Stiles' father had a drinking problem after Claudia died.
• Lunatic:
  • Stiles has to handcuff Scott to the radiator to keep him from hurting anyone. Scott's pleas eventually turn to screaming as the light of the full moon falls on him, and the look on Stiles' face as he sits in the hallway and covers his ears...
• Night School
  • Allison practically in hysterics over the thought of Scott going out alone.
  • Stiles refusing to call his dad because he's all Stiles has left, and Jackson pressuring him actually causing Stiles to punch him.
  • Allison breaking up with Scott because she can't trust him.
  Allison: Right now I don't - I don't feel like I can trust you.
• The Sheriff pulls over a traumatised Allison, who then begs him to give her a ticket and, while still in tears and shocked, swears that she's not usually like this and she's not crying to get out of a ticket.
• Derek's face while Kate taunts him about how he inadvertently helped cause the demise of his entire family, and how he never told anyone.
• Melissa crying in her car while Scott is powerless to do anything.

Season 2

• Erica, who even at her worst moments is still heartbreaking.
• Frenemy:
  • How Jackson's parents realized the text Stiles sent from his phone wasn't from their son - Jackson hasn't been able to say 'I love you' to them since he found out he was adopted.
  Sheriff Stilinski: Jackson doesn't say 'I love you?'
  Jackson's Father: Not once in eleven years.
  • Jackson crying while Scott and Stiles talk about how Jackson has no one.
• Restraint:
  • Stiles and his dad, the latter of whom reveals that he was fired because Stiles has stolen police property and gotten a restraining order placed against him, which didn't reflect well on the Sheriff or the county. The fact that Stiles looks ready to either break down sobbing or give his dad a hug during the conversation doesn't help at all.
  Stiles: Dad? I don't get it, why - why aren't you angry at me?
  Sheriff Stilinski: I don't know. Maybe I just don't want to feel any worse than I already do by having to yell at my son.
• Party Guessed:
  • Scott, Stiles, Jackson, and Allison fall under a hallucinogenic spell, preying on their worst issues. While Scott's issues (the loss of Allison) is the lightest, Allison fears she'll become just like her father, aunt, and grandfather. Stiles thinks his father blames him for his mother's death resulting in a vision of his dad stumbling into the party drunk and telling Stiles how much of a burden he is before throwing the liquor bottle at him. Agent McCall later heavily insinuates that Stiles's father used to have quite the drinking problem around the time Stiles's mother died. Jackson fears that he has no real identity because he doesn't know who his birth parents were.
  • Scott's fears have more layers if you look at them. Depending on when you think it starts, part of it could be the part where Stiles walks away for seemingly no reason. Not to mention, Allison is Scott's anchor as a werewolf. Losing her could mean losing control.
  • Could be a case of Fridge Brilliance, back in Lunatic when he and Allison broke up, he could remember how dangerous and out of control he became when he actually lost her and that's why the fear is so much more real than before.
  • A flashback in Season 5 makes Stiles' hallucination even more heartbreaking. In the late stages of her frontotemporal dementia, Claudia attacked ten-year-old Stiles because she thought he was trying to kill her. No wonder he blames himself for her death.
  • When Allison's mother is going to die because Derek had to scratch her away from killing Scott at some underground party. She knows she's going to turn into a werewolf and she chooses to die by her own terms, with her husband helping her. The scene is so moving, especially after he'd agree to help her with her suicide note. You can clearly see that even though they're kind of manipulative and evil, they do care for each other. Also, tops to Allison's reaction when she finds out.
  "I'll tell them that you suffered from depression. Even though, in the last twenty years, I've never once seen you depressed..."
  • Even worse if you know someone who actually does suffer from depression, but keeps (or kept) it so well-hidden no one knew about it. Until. . .
• Fury:
  • The backstory of the kanima's master: Dunked in a pool by the drunken high school swim team, suffers a near-death experience, only to be dragged out and ordered by the swim coach to keep quiet about it, even being forgotten by those who were there. Which, as the next episode informs us, happened when he was nine. Sure, he was unhinged, but you could clearly understand just what knocked him loose. This becomes worse at the ending of the episode when Matt, who is revealed to be the Kanima's master, is fleeing the police station and Gerard catches up to him and drowns him in the river, and Matt's last thoughts are of drowning in the pool.
    • The way Matt relates the whole story to Scott, intermixed as it is with flashbacks. Like he can't even think about this event without reliving it.
  Matt: And then Camden. Isaac's jarhead brother, he grabs me. He thinks it's funny.
  Scott: They threw you in.
  Matt: I yelled that I can't swim, but nobody listens. I go under and I swallow water, but no one cares. And I see these bodies underwater. I see Jessica's got her hands down Sean's board shorts. Tucker's grabbing Kara. And I'm drowning. I'm dying, and they're laughing. All of a sudden, I'm lying by the pool. And Lahey is right there, right above me, and he says -
  Mr Lahey, in flashback: You tell no one!
  Matt: He says, "You tell no one!"
  Mr Lahey, in flashback: This, this is your fault!
  Matt: This, this is your fault!
  Mr Lahey, in flashback: You don't know how to swim?
  Matt: What kind of little bastard doesn't know how to swim?
  Mr Lahey, in flashback: You say nothing! You tell no one! No one!
  Matt: And I didn't. I didn't tell anyone. And I would see them at school, and they wouldn't even look at me. I'd wake up in the middle of the night. I'd gasp for breath. And my parents, they thought I was asthmatic. They even gave me an inhaler. They didn't know that every time I closed my eyes, I was drowning. You know about that little white light they talk about, you see when you die? Well, I didn't see anything. Just darkness. Everything was dark.
  • One detail Matt relates when telling the story. One girl had her hand in a boy's board shorts. He's dying a horrific death, and two kids are more interested in sex than saving his life.
  • Melissa sees her son shot in front of her and is told that she can't help him otherwise the next bullet goes through his head. Seeing her tearstained and sobbing as she begs Matt to "just let (her) take a look at it" is in equal measure terrifying and heartbreaking.
  • Scott's mom recoiling in fear and terror when she sees him wolfed out and the heartbroken look on his face afterwards.
• Master Plan:
  • The Sheriff having a near meltdown upon seeing Stiles bloodied, beaten, but very much alive after his disappearance from the lacrosse field. After threatening to 'pistol whip' those responsible, he finally breaks down into tears and hugs his kid as tightly as is humanly possible. Also a Heartwarming Moment.
  • The final ten minutes of Season 2, entirely, are heart-warming, awesome and tear-jerking all in one for both Jackson and Lydia. Let's recap. Lydia knows that she needs to find Jackson to return his house key in a symbolic declaration of her love. When she and Stiles arrive at the fight scene, Kanima!Jackson goes to attack her. Lydia doesn't flinch, and instead holds the key to him; he begins to turn back to normal. As he takes the key, Derek and Peter attack him, leaving him to die in Lydia's arms, where she tells him how much she loves him. As she lays his dead body to the ground, she begins to cry. All of a sudden, he begins to move, and he rises as a werewolf, renewed. The two finally embrace with tears in their eyes. Stiles witnesses the whole thing. He's been in love with Lydia for years and had actually been making some progress this season before this.

Season 3

• Tattoo:
  • Isaac is talking with Mrs. McCall in the hospital, they can't contact Derek, his emergency contact. When she asks if he has another contact? He answers that it's Scott.
• Fireflies:
  • Stiles, upon finding Heather's body. Not just in the fact that he's looking at the dead body of someone he knew, but also because he knew her because of his mother.
  "Our moms were best friends before mine died, we used to take freaking bubble baths together when we were three."
• Isaac in Unleashed:
  • First, he and Allison are locked in a supply closet, causing him to have flashbacks to how his father used to lock him in a freezer in their basement. He begins to have a panic attack, slams himself repeatedly against the closet door, and wolfs out, injuring Allison in the process. When Scott rescues them and gets Isaac to regain control, he looks horrified at having clawed Allison and apologizes over and over.
  • Later, Derek has to send Isaac away from the loft for his own safety. In order to completely drive him away emotionally as well as physically, Derek refuses to explain his motives and, when Isaac questions him anyway, throws a glass at his head in a horribly close parallel to Isaac's father in 2.02.
  Isaac: Did I do something wrong, Derek?
• Motel California:
  • One that pulls triple-duty as a Heartwarming Moment and Moment of Awesome as well: A mentally battered Scott is attempting to commit suicide with a road flare and gasoline spread around his feet. He begins to tell Stiles, Allison, and Lydia about how he used to be nothing before he was bitten, how he wants to be nothing again, and how everyone would be better off with him gone. Stiles finally has enough and gives one of the most beautiful speeches in the series yet, proving that he's not just a lancer or sidekick to Scott; he truly loves his best friend with every ounce of his being and would die for him.
  Stiles: Okay, listen to me, okay? You're not "no one." Okay, you're someone. Scott, you're my best friend. Okay? I need you. (choking up) Scott, you're my brother. Alright, so... (he begins walking into the gas) If you're gonna do this, you're just gonna have to take me with you then. (takes the flare and throws it away)
  • Boyd feels guilty for his sister disappearing while they were ice skating. When he was first introduced, we learned that he worked in an ice rink...
  • Isaac relives a fight with his father that led to him being locked in the freezer. The worst part is that the other werewolves tried to kill themselves because of their mental torture. Isaac was so used to emotional and physical abuse that he just hid under his bed.
• Currents:
  • Boyd's death. Not only because it's accompanied by a flashback of Erica's death which shows she died trying to kill Kali but also because of how everyone reacts. Especially Derek.
  • Not only that Boyd's last act is trying to comfort his Alpha, his friend. Thanking him for changing his life and for the gift of the bite. And the last thing Boyd see's before he dies is Erica reaching out for him and calling his name one last time before she died...
• The Girl Who Knew Too Much:
  • Ethan's description of what life was like for him and Aidan prior to them joining Deucalion's pack: They were omegas, at the bottom of the pecking order, at least in part because they couldn't control their shapeshifting ability. And they were treated horribly, until they learned from Deucalion and killed their way up the food chain. They didn't join up with Deucalion out of lust for power but literally for their own good.
  • Stiles' face after his father gets taken by the darach. It's the face of a kid on the verge of a complete breakdown, because as far as he knows, he's probably just lost the only other parent he had.
    • Doesn't help that Stiles finally told his father about all the supernatural events that have occurred thus far, with the Sheriff understandably not believing everything, and his last words to him were ''Mom would've believed me."
• The Overlooked:
  • Stiles' expression when he talks about his dad, who'd been taken by the Darach, especially when he starts musing to himself/Cora in the ambulance. It actually hurts to look at.
  • Scott's agrees to join Deucalion, and Stiles is pleading with him to stay, saying that they always have a plan B, just don't go, and Scott replies "not this time".
  • Made worse when you remember Stiles monologue to Cora earlier in the episode, where he says that instead of Scott, it used to be him with a plan, or at least a plan B. When Scott says that they don't have a plan B this time, it's almost like he's finally saying that Stiles is useless now.
  • Derek still can't catch a break. His Mercy Kill turns out to be the reason Jennifer Blake is still alive, making him indirectly responsible for even more pain.
• Alpha Pact:
  • Papa Stilinski revealing the story of why he always had an inkling that something was up in Beacon Hills: As a deputy, he had to help a girl who was dying in a car accident. The girl declared, "if you want to be with her, go now", referring to his dying wife. He didn't believe her words, and he stayed with the girl until she passed away. When he went to the hospital after the fact, he found Stiles in the waiting room, head in his hands. His wife had died and Stiles was alone with her when it happened.
  • The main characters are about to make enormous sacrifices to save their families. It's the depressing music and fear on their faces (and possible consequences) that really sells it.
• Lunar Ellipse:
  • In a happy way where Derek and Cora are finally okay, and don't have anything really hanging over their heads, and Derek finally gets the hell out of Beacon Hills.
• Stiles talking with Caitlin in the hospital, about why she and her girlfriend had camped out.
  Stiles: You wanted to make it romantic ...
• Galvanized:
  • Kira eating lunch with her Dad because she doesn't have anyone to sit with and saying she doesn't care about getting a boyfriend, she just wants a friend. Her awkwardness had mostly been Played for Laughs before, but the scene makes it clear how lonely she really is. Made worse when the camera pans to Scott listening and had been just about to ask her out. Remember it wasn't so long ago that he was a high school outcast. (Although at least he always had Stiles).
• Riddled:
  • The scene where Scott is in school, and his love interest, Kira, shows up as music starts playing. It's set up so that you expect some sort of moment between them, but when Kira calls out his name Scott doesn't even notice. He walks away, completely zoned out because he is too worried about Stiles to care about girls or school right now.
  • Stiles telling Scott that the medical tests that are being run on him are to check for frontotemporal dementia, which is what killed his mother, and that there is no cure. Scott tells him that he'll find one, and they hug, crying.
    • This is sort of subtle, but Scott is actually offering Stiles the bite here. Frontotemporal dementia has no cure, but making Stiles a werewolf would give him the ability to heal and survive. Particularly heartbreaking when you consider the fact that Scott has never wanted to give anyone the bite, but he's willing to do it for Stiles.
  • The Nogitsune, when completing the process of taking over Stiles's mind, tells him that all of his loved ones are going to be the first to die. Stiles, in tears, stares at Melissa and his dad, and tries in vain to convince the demon otherwise.
  • The fact that, now that Stiles is possessed by the Big Bad, his friends are likely going to have to fight him at some point down the line. It's even more gutting when you realize that two of those friends are Scott and Lydia, who are two people he adores.
• Echo House:
  • Stiles in tears and screaming when the Nogitsune is about to drill into Malia's head.
• The Fox and the Wolf:
  • The Nogitsune may be faking Stiles' disease on the brain scans in order to destroy Stiles' hope.
  • You can see Rhys mouthing "please" to the man with the Molotov cocktail.
• Insatiable:
  • Lydia does her best to warn the group that they shouldn't try to find her. Of course, they disregard it, but the reason? Lydia foresaw Allison's death and was willing to do anything to prevent it, including being left alone with the Nogitsune, knowing how dangerous it is.
  • Allison dies in Scott's arms as Isaac, Kira, and Noshiko watch in horror. Made even worse by her final words to Scott: "I love you." And then Chris shows up to see his dead daughter.
  Scott: I can't take your pain.
  Allison: That's because it doesn't hurt.
  • Meanwhile Stiles spends the whole episode guilt-stricken about all the people he killed and how he hurt Scott under the influence of the Nogitsune. ^note  Remember Stiles already has a horrendous Guilt Complex and is likely to blame himself for people getting hurt, even if its because of things out of his control like his mother's illness. And his focus since the beginning has been protecting the few people he has in his life - Scott, his Dad, Lydia, Melissa - no matter the cost to himself. Now think about how much he's going to blame himself for everything the Nogitsune did. Despite Scott insisting it wasn't his fault, Stiles is just so obviously broken that he doesn't even care about his own life anymore and has given up.
  Stiles: You mean like if he dies do I die? I don't care. So long as no one else dies because of me... I remember everything I did, Scott. I remember pushing that sword into you. I remember twisting it.
  Scott: It wasn't you.
  Stiles: Yeah, but I remember it. You guys gotta promise me. You can't let anyone else get hurt 'cause of me.
  • Also, Lydia's reaction to Allison's death. She may not have been there when it happened, but because she is a banshee and can signal a death before it's about to happen, this means she knew beforehand. Her screaming Allison's name and breaking down on top of an unconscious Stiles...
• The Divine Move:
  • Scott, Lydia and Isaac at the police station, all sitting completely still. Lydia's face is still tearstained, and all three of them have an expression of disbelief.
  Isaac: It just happened so fast.
  • Chris and Isaac in the Argent apartment following Allison's death. Chris goes on about how Isaac doesn't need to stay, that he'll be fine, and that he's learned how to compartmentalize his emotions and bottle them up when there's still work to be done. Then Isaac barely chokes out "I can't". Chris immediately pulls him into a big hug.
  • Aiden's death. He gets impaled by an Oni's sword, and dies in Ethan's arms. Before he dies he asks, "Does it hurt you as much as it hurts me?" Ethan replies with a tearful, "Yeah," and holds him as he dies.
  • And then he dies saying "Lydia never believed I was one of the good guys anyway" showing how much her opinion mattered to him. And, unfortunately, he died before he got to see how much his death impacted her.
  • After the dust settles, Scott is finally able to break down and cry for the friends who died. His final scene of the season is him crying in Mama McCall's arms.

Season 4

• Meredith's suicide, as well as Lydia's reaction to it.
• 117:
  • Teenage Derek returning to his home and finding out it's been burned down. He searches the ruins for a bit, then just crouches down and sits there.
• While it's somewhat Played for Laughs, the moments where Malia is having an awkward time in class and can't answer any questions the teacher asks her because she missed eight years of school.
• I.E.D.:
  • Lydia trying and failing to get control of her banshee abilities and realizing she could go the same way as Meredith.
• Weaponized:
  • Scott and Stiles discussing their parent's respective money problems. It's yet another burden these two teenage boys have to shoulder and probably have shouldered since before the show.
  Stiles: "You know how many problems that money could solve? For you? Me? My dad The Eichen House and MRI bills are crushing him."
  Scott: "Mom does this thing, she writes down all the items in our budget, and how much they cost, then she adds them all up and figures out how long we have until we lose the house."
• When Parrish is burned alive in the police cruiser by a fellow officer, he is screaming and pleading, but his killer won't listen. The next we see of him, the normal friendly and sweet Parrish walks into the police station covered in ash and beats the guys unconscious.
• Perishable:
  • When Brunski forces Lydia and Stiles to hear the final words of the former's grandmother when he killed her. These words? "Please don't hurt my Ariel. Don't hurt Ariel." Ariel was her nickname for Lydia due to their bonding over the Little Mermaid. Lydia looks ready to burst into tears and/or murder Brunski herself.
  • In the same episode Stiles reveals to his Dad that he knows about their money problems, resulting in one of the many raw and heartbreaking exchanges between the Stilinski's.
  Sheriff Stilinski: "Stiles are you going through my stuff."
  Stiles: "Yeah, I go through all of your stuff. Especially when you keep things from me."
  Sheriff Stilinski: "I keep things from you because you don't need to know everything."
  Stiles: "Yes, I do. I have to know everything. How the hell else am I supposed to take care of you?
  Sheriff Stilinski: "You're not supposed to take care of me! I'm the dad. You're the son. You get it? Dad. Son. I take care of you!
  Stiles: "....We're supposed to take care of each other."

  • And what makes the whole thing even worse? The topic comes up because the Sheriff can't afford medical insurance because of Stiles's fees from Eichen House...which means Stiles will yet again be blaming himself for something that wasn't his fault.
• Chris Argent admitting "[he] has nothing left"
• Kate revealing one of her main motivations for her actions in Season 4: Avenging Allison.
  • Followed by this:
  Chris: Alison died protecting those she loved. What would you die for ?

Season 5

• Creatures of the Night:
  • The group (sans Liam), enters their senior year, writes their initials on the inside of Beacon Hills Library's bookshelves: SS (Stiles), LM (Lydia), KY (Kira), MT (Malia) and finally, SM (Scott). But then, Scott adds one more set of initials: AA, for their fallen friend.
  Stiles: She would've been with us.
  Scott: Yeah.
  Lydia: She still is.
• Required Readings:
  • The group re-lives traumatizing flashbacks from their childhood, but Stiles' had most of the fandom, (and himself) in tears.
  Claudia: (to Sheriff Stilinski) "I couldn't stand to be in that room anymore, not with [Stiles] looking at me like that. He's trying to hurt me. I don't care if you don't believe me but he is! He's trying to kill me!"
• Lies of Omission:
  • Scott ends his friendship with Stiles because of Theo's lies; Kira has left town for fear of hurting Scott; Malia is utterly broken by her inability to save another victim; Parrish has locked himself in jail due to his supernatural nature influencing him; finally, Scott tells Liam that he won't save a dying Hayden. At this point, it looks like the last remaining hero that can save the day is Lydia.
  • Stiles and Malia breaking up in the car.
  Malia: Are you gonna tell (your dad) about Donovan?
  Stiles: You knew?
  Malia: Guessed. It didn't matter to me.
  Stiles: Yeah, but it matters to me.
• The Last Chimera:
  Malia: We kind of broke up, I guess.
• The Maid of Gevaudan:
  • Poor Marie-Jeanne realising that her brother is the Beast.
• Apotheosis:
  • Sebastian killing Marcel after Marcel reveals that everything he's done was to bring Sebastian back to life.
  • Sebastian accidentally digs his claws into Scott's neck and sees Scott's memories of Allison.
  • The Desert Wolf telling Malia that despite nine months of Talia telling her about the miracle of childbirth, "You know what it really felt like? A parasite."
  • Though the scene where Stiles stumbles into Malia and her mother's confrontation has its elements of humour and awesome, there's a very real fear for Malia that he's about to die. Malia's about to snarl and attack her mother when he throws the door open, and watching her face suddenly turn innocent and terrified when she sees him is quite a tearjerker.
  Malia: I want my family back.

Season 6

• Memory Lost:
  • Stiles being erased by the Ghost Riders. Made sadder by Sheriff Stilinski asking his son his name, and, in the following episode, Scott and Lydia trying to remember him with lines like, "I know this sounds crazy, but I think I had a best friend" and "I think I loved him."
• Sundowning:
  • Scott, Lydia, and Malia visit Stiles's grandfather. The Sheriff hauls them out once he finds them, but Elias delivers a gut-punch line as he's leaving.
  Elias: Go crawling back to your dead wife and your loser son!
  • The implication, once they manage to get Elias fairly lucid, that he was not a very nice man. He makes cutting remarks about Scott's father (implying infidelity) and Lydia's mother, and unleashes some pretty scathing venom on his own son, Sheriff Stilinski. Makes you wonder if everything the Sheriff is as a father is him trying to be the exact opposite of his own father.
• Blitzkrieg:
  • Sheriff Stilinski remembering Stiles but realizing that his wife is dead.
• Ghosted:
  • Lenore's entire backstory: She's a banshee and the last remaining citizen in the town of Canaan following a Ghost Rider attack in the eighties. She's left completely alone save for the spirit of her dead son, which the Ghost Riders conjured up to stave off the crippling loneliness. Even worse is the knowledge that this would've been Lydia's fate if the Ghost Riders hadn't been stopped. And who has Lydia lost? Allison.
• Memory Found:
  Malia: Stiles, where are you going?

  Lydia: I was there, I was the last person to see him!
  • When Scott tells Lydia that he thinks that no one had a connection like Lydia and Stiles, Malia says, "I saw it too", which implies that Malia knew about Stiles and Lydia's feelings for each other for at least part of Stiles and Malia's relationship. It's made more sad with the knowledge that, since Kira's gone, Lydia's pretty much her only close friend, and downright heartbreaking with Malia's look down right after while a tear slips out.
    • Plus, it's pretty unlikely that Malia knew Stiles and Lydia had kissed. Lydia admits it while under the hypnosis, and it's the memory she connects to. It's the memory that brings Stiles back. Poor Malia must have no idea when it happened and how. She could be thinking that they even kissed while Stiles and Malia were together.
  • Scott and Malia both failing to bring back Stiles. Plus, the look on Lydia's face when they tell her that there was nothing there.

The Movie

• Derek's son Eli can't transform or heal, to the point he wonders if he's even a werewolf. It's later revealed that he is, but is apparently phobic of his own transformations, passing out as soon as they start. It's later revealed why: when Eli was very young, coyotes clawed their way into the house and were advancing on the boy, and Derek went full Papa Wolf, roaring at them to frighten them away. It worked. . . and scared Eli so much he wouldn't come near Derek for days. Eli is terrified of Derek's wolf, and thus his own.