App for asgardeventide

Character Name; Isaac Lahey
Canon; Teen Wolf
Canon Point; Post 2x12
Age; 16/17

House; Hel

So, there's a little reasoning for this, feel free to skip this part!

Basically, Isaac from the majority of Season 2 would qualify for House Baldr, no questions asked- his arrogance, confidence, and aggression match the house requirements verbatim. Initially, I wrote this app intending for him into Baldr. However, taking his character development from the last two episodes of season two (and the presumed path he's going to follow in season three) almost negates this. He's still aggressive, but he makes a very selfless decision to stay and help the main cast, regardless of the fact that he has nothing to gain by doing so. After this decision, his temperment has somewhat faded, and he's helpful, if a little sarcastic, and it's rather obvious that his budding friendship with Scott is bringing out a bit of a Hero Complex in him. Of course, all of that seems to go directly against Baldr house.

So, with that out of the running, it was hard to pick a house that represented his recent heel face turn, but ultimately, I decided on Hel. While Isaac is by no means gloomy, his life is steeped in death. His mother is mysteriously absent from the show, his brother was KIA in the military when Isaac was in fourth grade, and during season two, his father is brutally murdered, leaving Isaac alone. He has constantly faced death since he was turned into a werewolf, and he has dished out a little himself, in killing a hunter during his first full moon. After he sides with Scott, his cynicism starts to show, and he's still reluctant to be that hero, still very violent and he has the potential to be rather abrasive. For these reasons, I decided to choose Hel.

Power; Shadow control

Personality;

What happens when the people who are bullied most are given a chance to fight back?

That seems to be the main question in mind when the three wolves of Derek's pack were introduced in the beginning of Season Two. While Erica and Boyd both had problems at school, most of Isaac's trouble originated in his home life with his absent mother, dead brother, and physically abusive father.

Isaac's past has had a constant motif of helplessness in it. He's helpless to escape his situation, and at times even physically restrained and locked inside of a freezer chest in the basement for hours on end. This situation, of course, leads to a lot of resentment, anger, and frustration- not only at his father, or those who could have intervened, but at the world itself.

When Derek offers him the chance of a lifetime- an opportunity to possess real power- Isaac sees it as a chance to tip the scales and takes it. And while, in a perfect world, he would use his newfound power to help himself escape his situation and develop in more positive ways... that's not necessarily what Isaac does.

Instead, he does what just about every bullied kid does- he lashes out. Isaac becomes the new bully, prone to violence, arrogance, and filled with the simple pride of being able to push people who push him (or even people who don't). This complete personality shift makes him one of the enemies of the protagonist groups for several episodes.

Because Isaac has always known violence, he responds with violence, even in situations where it's not wholly needed. For example, instead of figuring out a way to get tickets to a rave, he simply walks toward two people who have tickets and proceeds to mercilessly beat the shit out of them, and... voila. Tickets. This trait of problem solving through violence still hasn't fully disappeared from his character, even though he has undergone a few significant changes in the last few episodes. Isaac still lashes out, crippling his teammates in lacrosse so that Scott can be forced to play, among other examples.

Despite all that, there's still a part of him that responds to violence toward him as he had as a child with his father. When Derek, his new alpha and surrogate 'father' figure aggressively threatens his werewolf form away from Stiles, Isaac's reaction isn't just a gesture of werewolf submission- it's one of a curled up helplessness, and is the same way he reacted to his father when Mr. Lahey got angry with him in the beginning of the episode. The dominant/submissive relationship between an alpha and a beta werewolf mirrors the style of relationship he had with his father- he fits comfortably into taking orders and doing what Derek needs him to do, even when failure or angering him means broken bones.

Because of this, Isaac (and Erica, another of Derek's turned werewolves) are formidable foes throughout most of season two. They have little to no remorse over the idea of killing Lydia or attempting to defeat Scott when Derek orders it. It's not that he's incapable of thinking for himself- but with the style of relationship he had with his father and then Derek, it's simply easier for him to take orders and follow through with them. Part of this is probably the werewolf instinct, but part of it definitely feeds back into his arrogance and aggression.

The thing is, Isaac likes being the big, bad wolf. He likes having power over people, and making people afraid of him, most likely because it's such a juxtoposition of his previous home life. With Derek, it's easy to have that position because Derek always seems to be on top of the game- confident, sure of himself, and he seems to be the biggest, baddest wolf around.

That is, until the tides start turning. When the Kanima- a lizardlike creature capable of utterly destroying a werewolf- becomes a significant threat, Isaac begins having his doubts. The power is pushed back on him, and a combination of the werewolf hunters and the Kanima after Derek makes him start to wonder if he's better on his own. Unlike with his father, he is able to leave Derek, and the idea of running off with the other two werewolves is tempting to him.

In a seemingly strange decision, however, Isaac turns to Scott. While he may embody the violent bully character trope, Isaac shows here that there's more to him than meets the eye- he's rational enough to take a step back from the situation, see what his allies were doing, and realize that he's in over his head. He knows that running away doesn't seem like the right choice, but staying to fight is... well, suicidal. And instead of asking Derek, he turns to Scott.

There are several reasons why he does this- the explanation he gives is because Scott always seems to want to do the right thing. This is very telling, and allows us to see how Isaac's character is developing. He's had his time to be selfish, to wrap himself up in pride and arrogance, and now he's truly concerned about what is right. While he's still not convinced enough to stay and help without being told- he needs Scott's advice before he can make a decision- Isaac is starting to learn how to think for himself, and motivate himself into doing what is right, even if it means that he himself will be put into danger.

Another reason he gives is that he trusts Scott. Now, for someone who's been mostly opposing Scott for the entirety of the season, this can be more than a little confusing- especially given the fact that Isaac seemingly doesn't really trust anyone- not even Derek. Isaac is used to a life of pain and paranoia, he's never had that 'home' space that he can return to and feel safe in. So why, then, does he give his trust to Scott? The answer is surprisingly simple: because Scott cares about his safety, and is probably the only person in the entire series to do so. Isaac's initial reaction to Scott showing that heroic concern several episodes prior ('I don't want you [Isaac] to get hurt') was a stunned silence. By this point, he's had at least a few days to process this, and has decided for himself to trust him in turn.

This visit is also extremely important for another reason: in helping Dr. Deaton treat one of the dogs with his gifts, Isaac is shown that he can use his powers to help others, rather than to simply help himself. It marks a crucial turning point in his character, and alters his path from one of selfishness to one of a reluctant hero.

From here on, we can see Isaac begin to defer to Scott- the hero- rather than Derek. He follows in Scott's footsteps and stays to fight, even though he doesn't believe that he personally has anything worth staying for. What's more, he actively plans ways to help Scott, and even though he uses more violence than necessary, he's still starting to use his aggression for reasons that are somewhat more morally right.

What does this necessarily mean for his character? Throughout season two, we see Isaac in a state of near-constant transformation: from the helpless, abused teenager, to the cocky rival, and finally to a conflicted antihero. And while he is by no means someone to look up to, he's definitely earned his position as a member of the pack.

->RELATIONSHIPS

It should be noted here that Isaac seemingly can't bring himself to hate his father or paint him as the bastard that everyone else sees him as. While we didn't see much of his interaction with his father, this lack of hatred can probably be attributed to emotional manipulation, as well as the physical beatings. In the scene where they are sitting down at the table, Mr. Lahey attacks him because he has failing grades- and when he draws blood, he yells that it's Isaac's own fault for forcing him to resort to such methods. Unfortunately, this is a very classic form of abuse, and often leads to the victim blaming themselves for the attacker's actions. While this isn't outright stated to be the case with Isaac, it's heavily implied during his second full moon.

When asked how he can master his aggression as a werewolf during that night, Isaac responds that his father is his anchor- the one thing he holds onto to remind himself that he's still human.

At one point in his life, his father was probably not a complete waste of oxygen- from what Isaac lets on, it can be assumed that Mr. Lahey used to be somewhat kinder (at the very least, he didn't always lock his son in the freezer), until some event in the past turned him against his only remaining family.

Isaac still feels some point of attachment to his father, and during some scenes, shows remorse at his death. With Mr. Lahey's death, Isaac presumeably becomes the last living member of his family, and therefore goes into hiding with Derek.

Because of this, and because it's evident that Derek is, on some levels, just using his new pack as a play for power, Isaac feels... very alone. As he remarks in s2e11, he literally has nobody worth staying around to fight for, nobody who needs him, and nobody who would really care if he stayed or left. He appears to be absolutely stunned when Scott tells him to be careful out of concern for his safety, and it's almost painfully evident that Isaac is simply not used to people caring about him. Because of this, building personal relationships is difficult for him, and his trust is something that's not easily won.

Samples;
Network Sample;
Here is a post I made in the last game I played Isaac in! While there's not a lot of explicit dialogue in the main body of the post, he has a pretty chatty text conversation with Scott as the first response to that post, and several action logs in the threads beneath that.

Aaand I cut my log sample out of this post because it's embarrassing!