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Why are the Ghost Riders scared of Lydia?
“Teen Wolf’s” deadliest villains yet are still a total mystery to us, but we do know one kind of terrifying thing about them: They are scared of Lydia Martin (Holland Roden).
In Tuesday’s (Jan. 17) episode, Lydia and Liam (Dylan Sprayberry) run into a Ghost Rider in the tunnels underneath the woods — and rather than go toe-to-toe with her, as they have every other supernatural character on the show, the Ghost Rider in question simply stands still and lets her pass. Liam and Lydia make the pretty astute guess that the Ghost Rider is scared of her.
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If you remember, the kids mistakenly thought the same thing back when the Ghost Riders first went up against Parrish (Ryan Kelley). They figured Beacon Hills’ newest villains didn’t want to tangle with a Hellhound — when in reality, they were actually trying to communicate with Parrish.
Could they be trying the same thing with Lydia?
They obviously don’t have any desire to take Lydia captive, which is the same M.O. they used in Canaan. They left the single banshee in town behind, even offering her the ghost of her dead son to help her cope with the loss of her neighbors. It could be that they have the same relationship with banshees as they do with hellhounds — they’re all supernatural messengers of death, in a way.
We’ve got another — slightly more angsty — theory: The Ghost Rider didn’t let Lydia pass because he was afraid of her, he let her pass because he’s actually Stiles (Dylan O’Brien).
Remember when the gang came to the horrifying conclusion earlier this year that those kidnapped by the Ghost Riders eventually end up becoming Ghost Riders themselves? We haven’t quite been able to shake the fear that this might be Stiles’ fate if he can’t be saved from the ghostly train station in time. Not for nothing, but it’s been a while since we last saw Stiles, so if Scott (Tyler Posey) and Lydia want him to avoid that fate, they should probably make it happen sooner rather than later.
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There’s also the reasoning that turning Stiles into a Ghost Rider would allow “Teen Wolf” to further reduce the amount of time Dylan O’Brien (who has been busy filming movies and recovering from on set injuries this year) is needed on screen. The knowledge that Stiles is under one of those creepy masks would keep him in the narrative of the show and extend the arc to save him, while still making it unnecessary to bring O’Brien back into the mix.
This theory gets a little sappy when you realize that if that Ghost Rider is, in fact, Stiles, then some solitary piece of his soul must remain there that doesn’t want to harm Lydia. Everyone say it with us: Awwwww!!
For the most part, we’re kind of hoping this theory is a dud. When given the option of seeing Stiles again and not seeing Stiles again, we know what everyone’s first choice is. Whatever the case, it’s food for thought as Season 6 marches steadily on to its final episodes and Stiles is still nowhere to be found.
“Teen Wolf” airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on MTV.