Teen Wolf was a series about teenagers taking on heroic tasks to save their friends and their town. Heroism, however, doesn’t exist in black and white. There are a lot of shades of grey when it comes to the heroes of Beacon Hills.
Most of the main characters of Teen Wolf stayed firmly in the “good guy” camp for their time on the show. That didn’t mean they always did heroic things. Sometimes, they made decisions that had grave consequences. These are the worst things the main characters did over the course of the series.
Lydia: Pretended To Be Dumb
In the grand scheme of Teen Wolf, pretending to be less intelligent doesn’t seem so bad. With Lydia Martin, however, that one decision changed the course of her life for a while.
Lydia was the most popular girl in school. She made sure she also had the most popular boyfriend in Jackson. Unfortunately, Jackson’s ego, and the attention of the popular kids, meant Lydia didn’t answer questions in class, kept her mouth shut during discussions, and pretended she didn’t understand basic concepts to keep Jackson and his friends interested in "teaching" her.
If Lydia hadn’t been so focused on pretending instead of embracing her genius, she might have been able to do more good earlier in the series.
Jackson: Chose The Bite
If a fan wanted to get technical, they could say that Jackson’s worst actions occurred as the kanima. After all, the kanima killed quite a few people. Those actions weren’t Jackson’s, however, but the person controlling him. Instead, Jackson’s worst decision was choosing the bite.
When Jackson decided he wanted to be a werewolf, nothing else mattered in his life. He began to treat his friends poorly, dumped Lydia, and purposely put others in danger. Once he got the bite, his own issues meant he initially became the kanima. It’s the choice he made that meant the kanima even existed to hurt anyone at all.
Allison: Attacked Scott’s Pack
Raised by a family of hunters, Allison Argent trained to take on supernatural creatures, but she didn’t harbor the same hatred that others in her family did. That’s why her anger at her mother’s death and her manipulation by her grandfather was so significant.
Allison believed what Gerard told her. Her following him into battle repeatedly meant her grief had an outlet, which was all well and good until she attacked Scott and his friends. Allison and Scott had the same friends right up until she found out a werewolf bit her mother. Then, she decided all werewolves were monsters instead of focusing on what she already knew about Scott and his allies.
Isaac: Tried To Kill Lydia
To be completely fair, Isaac didn’t have all the information when he decided to go after Lydia. Isaac was a brand new beta in Derek’s fledgling pack. While he and Erica enjoyed their new power and strength, Derek tasked them with tracking down the person who transformed into the kanima. Circumstantial evidence led them to Lydia.
Instead of trying to catch Lydia turning, or investigate any further at all, Isaac decided to kill her. While the rest of the pack distracted Scott and his friends, Isaac broke into Scott’s house to get to Lydia. He was ready to kill her until he saw Lydia and the kanima and realized they couldn’t be the same person.
Stiles: Gave In To The Nogitsune
Stiles would probably argue that the worst thing he ever did was kill a chimera. Since he was defending himself, that can be chalked up to survival instead of premeditated action. Instead, Stiles’ worst actions are the result of him making one choice.
The nogitsune had already been in his head manipulating him for quite a while. Taking advantage of the fact that Stiles cared, the creature gave Stiles a choice: he could either allow the nogitsune to take over, or the nogitsune would kill Malia. Stiles chose the former in order to save Malia. What he didn’t realize was that by saving Malia, he created chaos and more loss. The nogtisune’s actions caused the deaths of Allison and Aiden, injured countless others, and caused a certain amount of trauma in Beacon Hills.
Liam: Refused To Listen
Yes, Liam had an anger problem. He got into a fight with Hayden in middle school and destroyed his coach’s car in high school Those were relatively minor issues in the Teen Wolf world. Instead, Liam’s worst actions came from not listening to the more experienced pack members.
When Scott bit Liam, it wasn’t because he wanted a beta, but because he was trying to save Liam from falling. Liam, despite getting explanation after explanation from Scott and Stiles, refused to listen to anything they had to say for a very long time. That led to some serious physical altercations with other characters, Liam bailing on helping other people, and Liam generally putting himself in danger.
Ethan: Killed Pack Members
Ethan wasn’t a main character for long. He dated Danny when he appeared in season three, tried to join Scott’s pack for a while, and dated Jackson when the show came to an end.
Before Ethan and his twin brother Aiden came to Beacon Hills, there was something they had to do to join the alpha pack led by Deucalion. In order to maintain their alpha status, they had to steal the power of their entire pack. That meant killing everyone. Ethan and Aiden did, and despite Ethan’s reservations in Beacon Hills, he and Aiden helped Kali manipulate Derek into killing Boyd.
Malia: Killed Her Family
Though Malia often gave in to her animalistic instincts, she never intentionally did bad things. She often remarked that she would leave everyone if it meant surviving, but she always came through for Scott and the pack, never actually leaving anyone behind.
Instead, Malia’s worst action was one that caused her the most pain. She killed her family. Though her birth mother, the desert wolf, caused the crash that launched her family’s car off the road, Malia actually took the lives of her adopted mother and sister. The stress of the accident and the power of the full moon caused her to transform into a werecoyote for the first time. Her mother and sister died in an “animal attack,” and Malia guiltily spent the next decade living in the woods as a coyote.
Derek: Created Betas For His Own Power
Derek tried diligently to teach Scott how to be a good werewolf in the first season. His mantra was just because they were predators didn’t mean they had to be murderers. He didn’t want to hurt anyone, but he wasn’t above using people get what he wanted.
When there was an influx of hunters in Beacon Hills as Derek became the alpha, he decided to do something to help himself. He disguised it as helping a trio of teenage outsiders, but really, Derek was out to build his own power. Turning Isaac, Erica, and Boyd meant that Derek had more strength, but he also had a loyal group of fighters to help him.
Two of his betas ended up kidnapped and dead, and the third ended up leaving him for another pack.
Scott: Made Everyone Else’s Choices For Them
Scott McCall was the true alpha: a hero. Scott intended to do the right thing. He was also controlling and a little manipulative - and he didn’t even know it.
Scott didn’t want his pack to kill - no matter the situation. He gave Stiles a hard time when he defended himself and a chimera ended up dead. Scott looked at Derek differently when he realized what his eye color meant. He refused to kill the alpha pack who systematically set his friends up to die. That being said, Scott set up those in his life to get their claws dirty for him. Derek, Peter, Deucalion, the Argents, and more were all people Scott allied with, only to have them kill enemies instead of him.