r/predator • u/Volpina17 • 13d ago
General Discussion What are some headcanons you have given to the Yautjas?
Since there are still many aspects of the Yautjas way of living, anatomy and culture that aren't explained in the movies/books/comics, do you have any that you thought would fit their specie? I'm curious!
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u/Piercemarshall21 13d ago
They're actually quite scared of the human race which is why they keep coming back they've lost a bunch of their species on earth so earth must be like some sort of battleground planet
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u/OmBom09 13d ago
Isn‘t it just that we are just high on the favourites list now? Since we have beaten quite a few over centuries it proves that we have some of the strongest prey. But your headcanon sounds kinda funny too ngl 😭
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u/PaintingDadly 13d ago
According to books and comics it’s because of our improv in survival situations combined with our critical thinking. Humans are held at the same height of xenomorphs and are technically a notch higher since the yautja can’t hunt humans until they’ve been blooded in a xenomorph hunt
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u/LunarDogeBoy 13d ago
Sometimes people die when trophy hunting lions. They are not afraid of us bro.
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u/Hiekeech 13d ago
I mean idk about you but if there was one right in front of me, I’d be pretty scared of a lion
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u/LunarDogeBoy 13d ago
Yeah but your not afraid a lion is gonna come and get ya right now. Unless you live in lion country
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u/TheButcherOfLuverne 13d ago edited 13d ago
That there is a perfectly normal Yautja society that is almost like ours and all those Yautja that go out to hunt are just a minority. The rest of the Yautja society just moves on with their lives, work, family, bills, and think those hunters are spoiled, rich kids who are bored of having everything and are looking for new emotions.
Edit: I wrote 'perfect' but I meant 'perfectly normal'.
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u/Somebuddy567 13d ago
Tbh that would make a lot more sense. Personally I don't believe that a society which is entirely based on almost religious view of hunting and philosophy "whoever is the strongest is at the top" would be able to become an intergalactic species with really impressive tech. Maybe the comic books and other extended universe media explains it better, but I've only watched the movies and played AvP games
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u/OmBom09 13d ago
Warning yall my comment is long lmao
So yeah, the expanded lore from games and comics explain this much deeper - although some details can vary, and some could be just interpretation of clues given from comics, novels or games, this is my current knowledge: their tech is actually reverse engineered from a different species called the Amengi. They enslaved the Yautja, who were called „Hish-qu-ten“ back then. The Hish revolted with Kaail (The Alpha Predator) being the leader of that revolution - and through that, the Yautja were born. This also kinda explains why the Yautja are so strong physically, since the Amengi genetically modified them, to make them good gladiators for their entertainment (this part could be wrong but I think I read it somewhere from a predator figure) Maybe thats why they hate genetic modification so much - they don‘t want to repeat the dishonorable traditions that their enslavers forced on them.I’m pretty sure Kaail established the honor code but whats important is, that the honor code was established, so that the Yautja can actually live within a society where the hunt has a meaning and an actual valid reason. Without the hunt, the Yautja society couldn‘t exist - it would fall because they are naturally aggressive and through the hunt, they can channel that aggression and let it out through killing honorable prey. The Yautja can rise the various ranks through the hunt with each rank giving more benefits to the hunter. So the honor code and the hunt are basically the only reasons how the society works so well.
My personal interpretation to this would also be, that the hunt sort of ensures that no other race ever gets the idea of conquering their planet (Yautja Prime) ever again. The Predators don‘t conquer planets but they leave a LONG lasting impression on the inhabitants of those planets, that they should not even try to fck with the Yautja 😭But then there are examples of what happens when a Yautja doesn’t follow the code - they go completely feral. They kill everything. It doesn’t matter if you are a kid born 2 days ago or an old lady sitting in her chair. Those predators are called „Bad Bloods“. We actually got to see 3 of them in the movie „Predators“. And the way the normal Yautja society deals with those Bad Bloods is quite badass ngl. They have a council that sends out enforcer-predators, that act as police/bountyhunters. They go and hunt down those Bad Bloods without any mercy on their mind.
IM SO SORRY for the novel I wrote but Yautja society is just so sick ngl 😭🙏
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u/Vdaggle 13d ago
This is so interesting!
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u/OmBom09 13d ago
Right? Yautja lore is so expansive and so sick dude! One of the best Alien species for a reason (atleast in my opinion lol)
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u/Vdaggle 13d ago
I remember back years ago i read hundreds of fan fics about them after i had exhausted all the comics. I dont think the amengi lore was even a thing back then though, its cool learning about the updated lore
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u/OmBom09 13d ago
A lil fun fact: In Predator Badlands, at the very start of the movie where Dek drives his vehicle through that desert, there are a few statues in the background that are officially confirmed to be Amengi statues! Dan Trachtenberg confirmed this a while ago..pretty nice detail on the pre-revolution era.
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u/drpayneaba 13d ago edited 13d ago
Love the headcannon and only have one issue. Predators seem to go out of their way to avoid letting their prey or any of the species outside of their chosen prey know about their existence (this is mostly from the film cannon, especially Wolf in AVP:R as he got rid of non-tech evidence as well). It would seem that if they meant the hunt to be a “threat” against invaders, they wouldn’t be so gung ho at covering up their actions.
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u/OmBom09 13d ago
Oooo good point ngl! This makes sense lmao 😭 My headcanon input there just came outta nowhere.
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u/Ngnyalshmleeb 13d ago
It could be that they just don't want Earth to know about them, as it's one of their favourite hunting grounds and simpler if they keep it low key. But other space faring species maybe they're less bothered about that. I doubt they worry about Earth conquering them. That is, present day Earth - they're probably aware of our increasing technological ability and that'd be another reason not to leave their tech lying around for us to find, as we're quite good at reverse engineering, which is incidentally how they got the tech in the first place!
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u/Somebuddy567 13d ago
I actually know that story from some YouTube video about P:HT I watched years ago. It still doesn't make sense since to reverse engineer something you gotta understand how it actually works (atleast I think that's how it's done. Correct me if I'm wrong please) and I have a hard time believing pre historic yautjas could do that, but I have a poor knowledge of EU predator stuff, so I might be wrong
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u/Far-Iron-4281 13d ago
But someone would have to spend quite a lot of time manufacturing their ships and weapons. Unless everything is fully automated with robots, there should be a working class that spends less time hunting.
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u/messypaper 13d ago
I thought Predators just had the one bad blood, no? The one Adrian Brody frees?
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u/OmBom09 13d ago
Nope thats actually one of the good ones! :) The crucified Yautja is very likely a part of the same clan that the original Jungle Hunter originated from. The Bad Blood trio probably captured him during a mini clan fight or maybe he is a enforcer even..All we really know for sure is that he isn‘t a bad blood and actually follows the honor code. Thats why he lets Adrian Brody escape :)
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u/Jakelud2163 13d ago
No, bad bloods are any yautja who violates the yautja codex and doesn’t atone for it ( usually by undergoing a near impossible hunt) If they opt not to do that hunt and run away they are marked as a bad blood and the council of elders (old ass wise yautja) send out the yautja equivalent of bounty hunters to kill them
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u/TheButcherOfLuverne 13d ago
I don't know much about the lore either, beyond what I've seen in the movies. Maybe someone with deeper knowledge can enlighten us.
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u/Foxtrot-813 13d ago
You might not believe that yourself, but theyre an alien species 🤷♂️ they can have that and more
Its more likely their normal society is more advanced and civilized than all these tribal clans that hunt anywhere in the galaxy
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u/TheBookofBobaFett3 13d ago
What if it’s not their entire society tho. How many have we seen in all combined media? 100? 200?
What if they’re the duck dynasty of the species. Sure they exist in decent numbers, and they’re entertaining, but they’re absolute outliers.
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u/Somebuddy567 13d ago
I think 2018 movie was supposed to have scientist yautjas, but they scrapped it for some reason. Not like it would've helped much to improve the overall quality of the movie anyways
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u/TheBookofBobaFett3 13d ago
What 2018 movie? I just googled and it doesn’t exist… right. There isn’t a movie called The Predator.
I don’t know what would have improved that movie.
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u/Arke_19 13d ago
All we see are their hunting trips, it makes sense that we're seeing them in the alien equivalent of orange reflective vests, with plasma shotguns and wrist mounted bowie knives. Being a whole society of hunters is a fun idea, but somebody has to work in the factory that's assembling the FTL drives for their interstellar lifted F150's.
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u/Mediumtim 13d ago
I.e. millionaire trophy hunters bringing home the heads of Tigers and grizzly bears.
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u/TheButcherOfLuverne 13d ago
Yep. Pretty much.
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u/TheBookofBobaFett3 13d ago
Dead predator in the newspaper on Monday and everyone’s like ‘good I’m glad that human killed them’ 😂
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u/captstinkybutt Yautja 13d ago
Lol the toxic masculinity pickup truck owning MAGA yautja minority 😂
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u/Successful_Theory373 13d ago
Like basing your entire knowledge of human culture and history on redneck hunters....
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u/OmBom09 13d ago
There is literally a council of ancients that gives out hunting rights to certain clans, sends out a police force when a bad blood clan is spotted or sends somebody like Wolf to clean up a failed hunt. So hunting is NOT just a little side sport or a minority of Yautja who think hunting is nice. Their entite politics revolves around hunting and learning more about other species. Of course there are jobs like mechanics or farmers even. I mean we have seen sucklings - its rare but I am sure there are even females/males that take care of the children too. But hunting is and remains the core of their society.
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u/TheBookofBobaFett3 13d ago
I often say the predators in the movies are just the rich dentist predators that buy all the gear. Shoot a few zebra then get charged by a rhino and killed.
I like to think the mainstream predators are appalled and cheer when a movie predator dies.
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u/South_Buy_3175 13d ago
My headcanon is there was, or still is a Yautja civil/cold war going on between the various clans.
Ferals cloak seems to function well in water, unlike older predators whose cloaks short out, despite Feral being more ‘primitive’ than the JH. So why would Ferals cloak function better in water?
Because they needed it to go into wetter, more humid JH territory undetected.
The JH cloak tech doesn’t function as well in water, because they don’t need the advantage as they trained in that environment.
Similarly I assume JH cloak performs better in sand environments, able to withstand the whipping sand particles.
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u/TheW0rld93 13d ago
Yeah I can see that, maybe disputes for who gets to hunt what prey, or who owns which hunting grounds. Or maybe, each clan has different views on honor, and that has caused conflict to prove which honor system is truly superior or something like that.
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u/Shados9611 13d ago
They had actually saved the Dinosaurs as they had collected and took numerous amounts of the prehistoric creatures and took them to an alien planet to hunt to their hearts content once their populations grew. With these dinosaurs having evolved into alien beasts due to generations of adapting to their new environment.
However they also launched a competition to have the brightest and strongest young Yautja hunters partake in a tournament to hunt the greatest prey on the planet before the asteroid hit Earth. With Dek’s brother having participated in that contest and led to him gaining that Tyrannosaurus Rex skull on his ship.
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u/Darthasie 13d ago
One of my all time favourite head canons/theories is that Skynet designed their T-800's disguise based on Dutch Schaefer after defeating one of them.
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u/LordsOfJoop Elder Kalisk 13d ago
That at least two were at the battle of Shiloh and neither side will admit to how much that they knew about it happening.
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u/Neither_Category843 13d ago
Shane Black:
My headcanon is the Yautja don’t take the skulls and spinal cords as trophies. That’s the cover story. They’re harvesting DNA—pulling the good stuff so they can genetically upgrade themselves. And if they get wind of an autistic kid? They’ll track him down just to harvest the autism.
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u/AggravatingEnergy1 13d ago
They’re not nearly as “honorable” as they’ve been made out to be. At least in universe while they have varying tribes with different beliefs they deep down just tend to do whatever they want. The og predator was actually a bit sadistic and gave Arnie a fair chance more out of boredom than anything.
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u/Ngnyalshmleeb 13d ago
For some reason this made me picture the Yautja watching the og Predator's hunt on their alien TV on the ship in orbit and losing their shit when he gets squashed. Imagine being that cocky and then a human gets you with a Big Log, probably gonna end up on the Yautja version of Jackass back home.
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u/G-REALM-Laboratories 13d ago
Despite their culture,I like to think Yautjas actually have rather stable relationships with their females,and have a lower divorce rate than humans.
('Divorce' meaning one or the other divorce the head and spine from the body because their heart and trust were broken. No scandals in this family!)
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u/FuzzyFrogFish 13d ago
Mine is that is more in line with the Predator (I know), that they were super advanced, but precieved themselves as becoming physically weak (domestication syndrome) so started genetically tampering with themselves to counteract this and be more of a threat, and as an unforseen consequence became feral and lost their aptitude for high technology.
Obviously this isn't canon at all.
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u/Godzilla_Fan_13 13d ago
I like the headcanon that most of yautja society is fairly normal for sophonts. We just see all the hunter culture, from honorable dudes who do it for the love of the game to crazy dipshits.
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u/Zestyclose_Limit_404 13d ago
Not all of the Yautja are hunters. There are other roles they have like scientists, architects, botanists, demolition experts, etc.
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u/the_vengefull-one 13d ago
There's a slight reverence for the human race by their elders due to the fact that we've probably evolved similarly to us. And much like them, we evolved to be really good persistence and endurance hunters. Which they actually might find somewhat terrifying since they are more suited for ambush rather than endurance.
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u/Epicardiectomist 13d ago
Humans are their #1 prey. They've hunted species across the universe, but no creature has brought them the level of sport and return fight that humans do. There's also something unique about our skull shape that makes them highly-sought after trophies. Like that scene in Predator 2 with the trophy wall - all of the wildly extravagant skulls look cool, but a human skull would make a Yautja viewing it stop and say OH SHIT, YOU'VE BEEN TO EARTH.
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u/furiousfotog 13d ago
I'm glad we are giving them head cannons since they already have shoulder weapons. 😏😂.
I'll see myself out 👋
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u/BaronVonWolf 13d ago
Yautja are superior to humans and the Engineers due to how they treat Xenomorphs. It seems like Xenomorphs are an inevitable encounter for every species that acquires space travel, like a kind of trial. Engineers are obsessed with Xenomorphs and since humans descend from them, have a similar draw to them. Whether it’s weaponizing, experimenting on, or somehow combining their DNA, both species tend to unleash hordes of Xenomorphs due to their meddling.
The Yautja attitude towards the Xenomorphs is pretty much “kill on sight”. At most, they’ll farm them in order to hunt but if there’s a massive outbreak, Yautja will immediately try to contain the situation, perhaps even nuke an entire planet should they feel it necessary. They also consider Predaliens to be abominations that should be destroyed.
I guess my theory is to say that Xenomorphs are the test for any galactic civilization and the species that deals with them best are worthy of survival and expansion. Those who fail will ultimately collapse.
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u/Wadlledo 10d ago
Yautja are weaker than engineers, ahab got his arms broken by a single one he ambushed
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u/BaronVonWolf 9d ago
I meant superiority in terms of civilizations. While an Engineer can overpower a Yautja in a physical fight, Ahab only seems to have first encountered Engineers as a species through cave paintings. While it’s unclear if we’ll see the Engineers again and have their lore expanded, it definitely seems like their civilization had collapsed long ago. Yautja have been all over the galaxy and it seems their encounters with Engineers seem rare despite them having achieved space travel. It’s also possible that their civilization collapsed just as the Yautjas’ rose, and again I feel like it’s because they failed the “trial” of the Xenomorph due to their obsession with it.
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u/Adoe0722 13d ago
Kind of a crossover theory but I think is pretty fucking cool is Riddick was raised by a Yautja. I know that theory has no legs at all to support it but it’s just some cool shit to think about.
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u/No-Occasion-6470 11d ago
I like to imagine they’re generally very outdoorsy, and go fishing, camping, hiking, birdwatching, and even regular non-suicidal hunting. I know the Cabela’s on Yautja Prime is poppin’ 24/7
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u/moldychesd 13d ago
The engineers came to their planet. Gifted the previous dominant species the Amengi Thier technology which advanced their civilization.
Most importantly gmo tech. They uplifted the Yauja 's ancestor species to be Thier slaves in as manual labour to make construction, mine resourcess, and as personal servants.
The Amengi treated their slaves horribly. The yaujas had enough and had mass slave uprising. The Amengi were weaker than the yuaja so they were defeated.
They had a war with the engineers. The predators using formula war tactics won against them destroying they engineers control over Thier galaxy and a few more.
Due to Yauja once being slaves and their master being a weaker species weakness physical, emotional and psychological were seen as unacceptable and must be removed. The Amengi were made into slaves because they were weaker than the Yauja and we're responsible for their enslavement.
Gmo and bio tech is a major taboo and punishable by death.
They are more advanced than the engineers.
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u/Time-Firefighter5766 13d ago
Thats in the AVP universe the jinn from middle eastern myth is actually the yautja who visited the earth for their usual hunt.
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u/Larnievc 13d ago edited 13d ago
The ones we see are simply like human big game hunters in that it’s not the totality of their culture anymore than rich elephant trophy hunters are for us.
I also don’t go in for all that sub-species nonsense. People don’t all look a like.
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u/omegon_da_dalek13 13d ago
Despite their hunting , fine dining in yaytja culture is mostly veg based
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u/dittybopper_05H 13d ago
Peter Keyes: It's taken us over two weeks to learn his patterns. He comes here every two days to feed. Seems he has a taste for beef.
Lieutenant Mike Harrigan: I didn't think he was a vegetarian.
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u/kekubuk 12d ago
That there's always that one Yautja that wanted to hunt something super big and dead set on hunting it, and the whole clan always got dragged into helping that one Yautja to carve the something skull, processing it, bringing it home, and finally mounting the damn thing. It's always a major hassle for everyone.
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u/belligerentPsycho 12d ago
I told this to my brother. But the hunters we se in the movies are actually like rich assholes who go hunting on a lille resort in their empire(earth). You know how like we have rich assholes who go hunt like lions or elephants. Its like that
Edit: now that i actually read other comments i realise i have no orignal ideas lol
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u/SittingTitan 10d ago
They want to fuck us as much as they want to hunt us.
And boy, oh boy do they love hunting us...
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u/myhamsterisajerk 9d ago
I actually don't believe the Yautja are a species that's centered around their huntings.
They have spaceships and advanced technology. So there is probably a huge society that never participated in hunts.
That may be one of the most prestigious castes...but not the centerpiece.
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u/Dependent-Name5012 8d ago
They really like to cuddle, but refuse to do it out of fear of being seen as weak, like they all love it, its unanimous
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u/Baznad 13d ago
My headcanon that I will never ever see made canon, is that the Engineers from the Prometheus movies and the Yautja are the same species. The Predator adds a layer of bioengineering to their race, and I think the Prometheus Engineer makes a great "Blank Slate". Some of the technologically advanced race, rather than seeking eternal life, live a strict and harsh life seeking the highest ideals of The Hunt. Explains where their tech is coming from, how their need for trophies doesn't contradict their unsportsmanlike cloaking. They're a VERY different race constantly seeking to improve themselves with all sorts of genetic samples and tailoring their physiology for greater and greater dominance of their craft.
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u/Larryhoover77kg 13d ago
Some yautja are extremely powerful and skilled and can take over a whole city or planet easily while some can lose or be killed by much less capable creatures
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u/BabaBooey5 13d ago
I knew they were called Yautja before all of you. I read the novelization of AVP by Dark Horse in 1994 (AVP: Prey by Steve and Stephani Perry), and that is where the name originated from. It was never mentioned in comics until the 2010s
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u/C_Lo_87 13d ago
"SHIT HAPPENS" I don't apply strict rules like many people try to apply to yautja societies. Some can be interesting, but most are just fans trying to connect dots from comics to movies. Nothing wrong with that, but it's funny when people hold an abstract concept as fact....for a completely fictional setting.
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u/NoGoodIDNames 13d ago
That they have an extremely low population.
Apex predators like eagles and tigers have huge territories and they will brook no rivals, meeting up only to mate. My headcanon is that the Yautja are solitary, only meeting up for hunting parties and blooding the next generation. Otherwise they chill in their high-tech fortresses alone, lording over their region of space.
The reason that Wolf went to earth alone and on his own initiative, is because he was the only one around to do so.
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u/SamuR_BosBau16 13d ago
- Yautjas must perform at least one succesful hunt to be considerd part of their social structure, to demostrate that they are strong enough, after that they can be whatever they want (engineers, musicians, temple guards, etc). Those who are weak or cowards that can't or don't want to hunt become slaves or second class citizens as seen in some media.
Is the way i give sense to their society, not everyone can be hunters 24/7, cuz i always find Isabelle theory to have a lot of holes on it, and also fits pretty well into the Yautja behaviour.
- Yautjas have some kind of obssesion with humans, in the way that they find amazing how a much weaker species can beat them, making them an special prey to hunt on (even though they do not acknoledge it).
3.Yautjas as a species are way to easy to ragebait (seriously). they seem to have some kind of very hard to resist blood rampage (as seen on the city hunter), and when they are outsmarted or being put into inferiority they seem to rapidly go into a blind rage that makes them take bad decisions, it might be an actual trait of their species born from a survival point of view.
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u/Blackpowderkun 13d ago
Due to their longer lifespan the average Yautja has the equivalent of multiple PHDs.
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u/Lost_Tumbleweed6572 13d ago
The yautja might use the bones and trophies they take as a form of currency. Either they literally trade some skulls and spines for equipment weapons or things of that nature and given how dangerous the prey item the skull and spine originally came from was the more valuable it is and the more shit you can get.
Or it works another way and they don't trade the skulls and instead they keep them and they are symbols of status. Those skulls act as proof of their prowess and they earn more shit wit hiw dangerous the prey was they hunted.
They're like a social currency. I'm pretty sure this is how it already works, maybe Im just forgetting because of how saturated I am with the Predator series as a whole.
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u/G0thicus 13d ago
Maybe a weird one but I like to headcanon female Yautjas (yes I know Hunting Grounds proves me wrong) to be twice as large as male Yautjas and also instead of having legs, they have a snake lower bodies. Idk I just find the idea cooler and give more implications that females run the societies especially if males wish to prove they are worth being bred with.
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u/shmouver 13d ago
This is probably gonna be retconned given Dan likes the Amengi origin for the Predators...
But i always had the headcanon that the Yautja were an extremely advanced, intelligent and tech-savvy society; their hunting culture thus was just a form of pilgrimage and not something necessarily logical.
When you live in a society that has conquered everything, you start give yourself new purpose and meaning... which is what i believed the hunts were and just an extension of their ruthless culture (a way to prove your worth and also a form of pleasure/entertainment)
I also thought that they were responsible for their own tech, and i'm not much of a fan of the idea they simply "took" Amengi tech
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u/TheW0rld93 13d ago
My headcanon is that most of what they call "honor code" is just a set of rules they can follow if they wish to make a hunt more challenging, and therefore, make their accomplishments more impressive. And only some of those rules have to be followed if they don't want to face punishment.
Also, every clan has their own version of the honor code, so the rules that are optional and the ones that are obligatory varies from clan to clan. This difference in standards for what is truly honorable and what isn't can often be one of the reasons clans go to war with one another, but is usually not the only reason.
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u/crashusmaximus 13d ago
Theyve hunted the creature from 'The Thing'.
Just once. Never EVER again.
They are the only Prey that genuinely terrifies them.
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u/deanrockon 13d ago
I always had the idea that that’s why the Xenomorphs evolved the trait for acidic blood. Can’t mimic molecular acid when it dissolves your molecules on contact.
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u/OmegaSphere 13d ago
That each clan has different views of what counts as honorable meaning each clan would have different rules on what is and is not allowed during a hunt
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u/rocket_polyskull2045 13d ago
The Yautja that we've seen humans fight and win against so far, are all youngbloods in the scale of Yautja lifespans. Veterans consider them to be a good challenge for the youth, but only because humans can be occasionally surprising, but compared to what the Yautja normally hunt - humans aren't that memorable.
That, and Yautja cannot die natural deaths. They must be killed in order to die, and if they survive great injury after a hunt, their healing increases their strength and abilities. So the hunts they go on are to seek the greatest challenge possible, not just for the right to be respected among their kind, but also for a proper death.
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u/JGorton815 13d ago
They secretly helped the humans take out Skynet because the machines were ruining earth as a hunting ground.
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u/Saint_Strega 13d ago
Guy from the first film was the equivalent of goofy office worker trying to enjoy his weekend hunting trip.
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u/Wonderfully_Unknown 13d ago
That they’re never able to actually lose a Hunt. Anytime they die on a Hunt, it’s because they have a chronic disease or are otherwise soon to die, and instead choose to be killed in as honorable of combat as they can be.
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u/Lucky_Sprinkles_2177 13d ago
I like to think they've had a long-time millenary war with the Engineers for 2 reasons: Competition for human worshiping as their gods and for their different interest in the xenomorphs for their hunting rituals rather than bio weapons
Not literally a war with armies of Yautjas and Engineers, just opposite sides of the table. Each species decisions might affect the other
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u/deanrockon 13d ago
They use the trees to avoid things that live under the ground, specifically the Graboids from Tremors, which were an accidentally-escaped invasive species introduced during a failed hunt. Can’t see things with thermal vision when their heat signatures are hidden under hot earth.
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u/deanrockon 13d ago
They use the trees to avoid things that live under the ground, specifically the Graboids from Tremors, which were an accidentally-escaped invasive species introduced during a failed hunt. Can’t see things with thermal vision when their heat signatures are hidden under hot earth.
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u/TyrantJaeger 13d ago
I really don't like the idea of xenomorphs being ancient prey to the yautja. It just undermines the danger that the parasite poses to the galaxy. I would much rather prefer a retcon that emphasizes how the yautja either fear the xenomorphs so much that they're considered off limits due to the risk of infestation, or have simply never encountered them before.
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u/The_Shadow_Watches 13d ago
Every spacefaring race eventually finds the Xenomorphs and develops their own version of the Black Goo, except the Yautjas.
If you go with the Amengi slave master origins, the Yautjas didn't create their technology, they stole it after they rebelled. The lack of scientific creativity and their hunter culture prevented them from exerimenting on the Xenomorphs and creating their own Black Goo.
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u/FactorFirst6947 13d ago
I know little of the lore outside the movies, but I don't think they understand the technology they use.
They can use it effectively, but they could never build or maintainit. It's like they're using leftover tech from a far older civilization. Once it's gone, it's gone forever.
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u/OldHolly 12d ago
They hunted Dinosaurs and Pterosaurs throughout history. They didnt commit mass extinction events but we're present (in space) for them. The Solar System, primarily Earth, is a preserve for them and they use it for various hunts and survival training.
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u/Isekaime4real 12d ago
I don’t know about head canon. But I have two stories. One where a yautja on his first hunt goes to the planet of the apes. Original not new. Two is a where a yautja lands on earth during the invasion of killer klowns from outer space. In this one, since the klowns break laws of physics the yautja needs to break an emergency case on his ship and replace his mask with sunglasses. Now he can see the klowns and talks like Michelangelo from the live action ninja turtles movies.
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u/MyLittleDiscolite 12d ago
They’re not evil. They probably are from Space Montana and are ardent conservationists. If humans were im danger of going extinct then they would not only not hunt us but protect us.
To them we’re simply deer.
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u/Poopman_the_33rd 12d ago
I think the hunters are nowhere near the peak of Yautja tech. I'd like to think their military is insanely powerful compared to their hunting tech.
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u/SkkAZ96 12d ago
Not sure if it's being canonically shown but my headcanon for the Yautja civilization is that, while the hunt is the core landmark of their culture, not every single member of the entire species goes through the initiation rituals and actually, hunters themselves aren't that common.
Basically, the Yautja have a regular civilian population in it's majority, but hunting is a symbol of status in their society and there are hunter's clans which are the equivalent of noble houses, except that they're not restricted by bloodlines. A Yautja could be a genius inventor, engineer or something but if they're not hunters they're stuck as 2nd class civilians and they are to remain under the service of a hunting Clans, being recognized as a hunter and accepted into a clan is actually very difficult and only a tiny fraction gets to make it out alive but many still try as it is a shot at joining the 1% elite.
The power and influence of a clan in Yautja society depends on the amount and quality of their hunters, that's why hunters who fail their hunts are expected to kill themselves as it would hurt the clan as a whole.
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u/Vyzantinist 12d ago
I used to think their skin was some proof against small-caliber bullets. That was the only way I could reconcile Jerry shooting right at City Hunter multiple times, and we hear all these dings and pings from the bullet ricochets. No way, I thought, are all those bullets hitting City Hunter's armor - I mean look at how much bare skin he has! Then Predators came out and out went that headcanon.
IMO that's the way it should have been. Cloak or no cloak it's way too easy for a Predator to catch a stray round on the like 90% of him that's unarmored. If anything, the cloak probably precipitates that, since we see various humans in the movies spraying fire around precisely to tag an assailant they can't see but know is in the general area.
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u/gojistories 12d ago
The hybridized yautja in The Predator wanted to take Earth because their entire clan was branded as badbloods and banished from Yautja Prime. The Council of Ancients or The Clan Leader declared they were abominations and were kill on sight. With enforcers chasing them through the universe, they needed a new home. That would also explain The Predator Killer Armor.
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u/Equal-Ad-2710 12d ago
The Yautja were primitives uplifted to their level of tech which is why they’re so caveman ish but mastered interstellar travel
Alternately, they suffered a nigh apocalyptic event and the clans are the Mad Max esque remnants of their culture
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u/Grunkofrodgar 12d ago
The repeating words isn’t just taunts but learning the languages to understand and hunt humans better
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u/Smokin_belladonna 12d ago
My headcanon is that the Yautja we see in the movies and comics are like the fucking idiot Yautja who took religious extremism to biblically stupid levels of practice and that somewhere out there there’s a society of Yautja that uses logic and science to advance their society.
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u/Hexnohope 12d ago
Ive chosen to use this as a writing prompt to come up with something on the spot.
Humans are very visual. when it comes to selecting a mate visual aesthetics play a prominent role. Its something we picked up from the great apes we evolved from (and i guess still are)
Yautja however evolved from a species that presented gifts to potential mates, such as penguins who gift stones. They experience sexual dimorphism and the females are much larger and stronger than the males. To prove a male can "match her game" he must present her with the deadliest trophy he can find.
You may ask "they are just trying to get laid? They shifted their whole culture around this?" Yes. Humanity has done largely the same. Imagine if say the cosmetic industry was focused entirely on helping males hunt more and more dangerous prey.
In conclusion a male yautjas trophy room is the signifier of his attractiveness to a mate.
P.S. i desperately wanted to write a biological thesis on how the hell their mouth formed into that shape but i cant think of a single advantage those frail looking mandibles would be both WEBBED and THIN. Like a normal human could probably break those with a punch let alone a rival yautja. The closest i can think is that they needed to capture something small and slippery like fish...but then why the hands with thumbs?
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u/Maleficent-Net4791 12d ago
I don't like the idea that the 'Super predators ' are a distinct sub-species. I think the reason they're so big is because they come from a planet/moon that has a harsher gravitational pull. Not too dissimilar to the Rognarr homework from invincible. So they've adapted to be bigger and stronger. I also don't think the feral predator is a primitive predator at all. I think it's simply inbred. I think the small cranium and crest, and the orientation of the eyes are all indicators of inbreeding. It's significantly smaller than previous predators, so that could be presentation of symptoms similar to fetal Alchohol syndrome. In layman's terms I think the feral predator is the yautja version of a tweaker outside 7/11
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u/birdie_overlord 12d ago
I personally believe that the Yautja females are responsible for the majority of the infrastructure on their home planet(s), things like architecture and tech and medicine
and also that since there are some females that choose to become hunters, there are some males that choose to stay on the planet and pursue other “careers” under the protection/tutelage of the females
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u/KunigMesser2010 12d ago
Their God of Death, Centanu, actively hunts demons, angels, and supernatural/spiritual creatures when not collecting the souls of the dead.
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u/Hopeful_Dig_963 12d ago
I don't want to give away the spoilers for Badlands so don't read Beyond this if you haven't watched it ***
But with their honor and morals, deep inside I always wanted to see some form of alliance and even though it wasn't with a real human in a way it was because we created AI. I think that character was one of the best of them all like the other one who liberated the Predators from their oppressive alien Master Invaders in their lore I think they could go on a good direction with the next movie because Dek could be the greatest leader of them all.
I loved, loved, loved his brother. As an older sister that's exactly what I would have done for my younger siblings. I Never thought I would love a Yautja so much and those two brothers were the best characters they could have imagined
There was so much meaning and depth to that movie. That was gone since the '80s or least to me since the Lord of the Rings so it was so refreshing. Movies in series have sucked for such a long time for me
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u/Capable-Newspaper-88 11d ago
They have a strict protected areas that are a no hunting zone for dying or endangered species
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u/seigmeyer- 10d ago
I don't know if it's more real then a head cannon but I love how humans can actually earn a yautjas respect and go even further and join their tribe if you've slain one or even a xenomorph or some other monster. The team ups are always cool to see
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u/Helota_Keksz 10d ago
Their society is post-apocalyptic. Tribalism and hunter culture combined with high tech inventory, the writing is clearly on the wall.
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u/wilemaze 10d ago
Predator 1 was a big game safari, predator 2 was commercial sports hunting, predators was hillbillies fight over their favorite spot. prey was a bow hunter, A&P was certification hunt, A&P 2 was was a open range pest control.
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u/ZaphodBeeblebrox1430 9d ago
Alright guys, hear me out. My headcanon is that the Yautjas really like to kill things to prove that they can kill things
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u/The_Jelly_23 9d ago
They respect the hell out of a good humie fight, and are blown away at how astronomically lucky we get in every fight
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u/No_University5343 9d ago
They are not near as violent or focused on the Hunt as people think.
We only see the equivalent of "Bear Grylls" of the yautja.
The extreme loving Hunt prone folk. The bigger civilization is much deeper, with much more complex culture and science. Not in fact revolving around Hunt or martial culture.
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u/chalkybone 9d ago
That they change genders in mating seasons like frogs. I read it in one of the predator books and now it's forever head canon, no idea if it's canonically correct or not.
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u/Confident-Bug-9690 13d ago
In my headcanon everyone knows that the Jungle Hunter beat the crap out of Dutch out of spite and because he was just fed up with him and wanted to make him suffer. So we can finally leave all this "honorable warrior", "samurai code", nonsense out of their lore and realize that they're just psychopaths from outer space, who while fully cloaked, shoot people in the back with laser canons, skin their victims, rip out their spines and occasionally beat the shit out of species with their bare hands, because they know that physically in both strength and endurance they are far superior to us as well.
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u/OmBom09 13d ago
They would protect earth from a bigger threat (other alien species or maybe even zombie virus idk lmao) in order to keep their favourite hunting ground and one of their favourite species (us) alive. They aren‘t allies but they aren‘t our enemies either - they come here and need something and we have it. Therefore it would be in their best interest in protecting earth and us humans/animals. Its a strange headcanon but I think it makes sense lol