The lexicon of the Predator series can be surprisingly obtuse, especially for a franchise 35 years old with no signs of slowing down. The core concept of the Yautja — the titular creatures who view the galaxy as their private game preserve — is strong enough to handle not only an evolving creative vision but also a surprising number of ancillary efforts such as comic books and paperback novels. In the process, a number of suggested details have been fleshed out.
That includes their code of honor, which informs the manner in which they conduct their hunts and the type of prey they target. The upcoming Prey — which focuses on a Predator incursion in a pre-colonial North America — appears to present a major breach of that. The Predators’ code forbids them from hunting certain game, which plays a significant role in most of the franchise’s entries. Prey may be getting ready to upend the status quo.
What Is the Predator’s Yautja Honor Code?
The Yautja Honor Code defines the day-to-day life of the Predator species, as well as their ritualistic hunts. The hunt plays a central role in Predator culture — every film released in the franchise thus far details one — and a good deal of importance and honor is invested in the act. The code has not been formally discussed in the movies, though the seed was laid in the original 1987 Predator. During the flight to the chopper, one of the alien’s targets drops his assault rifle. “Leave it,” Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Dutch growls. “He didn’t kill you because you weren’t armed. No sport.”
Non-canon releases cover the idea in more detail. Most notably, the 1993 Dark Horse comic book miniseries Predator: Bad Blood covered the details, as has several of the franchise’s line of paperbacks. The chosen prey must be worthy, for one thing. That means giving it a fighting chance or otherwise equalizing the odds by letting them use weapons or similar steps. It also means that they don’t hunt innocents: multiple times in the Predator movies they have refrained from harming those who weren’t capable of fighting back. 1990’s Predator 2 provides the strongest example when a Yautja refrains from harming a police officer because she’s pregnant. And should one of their targets defeat the Predator hunting them, they’re afforded respect and even limited protection from other Predators. The climax to Predator 2 spells that out as well.
Will Prey See the Predator Break the Honor Code?
The details of Prey have yet to be seen, and trailers are infamous for taking images and sequences wildly out of context to sell potential audiences on the film. Nevertheless, it appears as if the Yautja in the new movie is bending or breaking some of the rules in its vaunted code. That extends to the film’s heroine Naru, who is depicted early in the trailer as someone still learning to take care of herself. Yet she’s targeted by the Predator, as are other members of her tribe despite only being armed with muskets and bows.
There are a number of potential reasons for the discrepancy. The code may not have existed at this point in history, and indeed, it’s not inconceivable that the events of Prey are what lead to its creation. Another clue may exist within Nimród Antal’s 2010 entry Predators, which dropped a diverse group of human soldiers and killers on a Yautja planet to serve as game for a hunt. They soon realize that there are two different groups of Predators on the planet and that some manner of feud is taking place between them. That parallels the plot of Predator: Bad Blood, which entailed a normal Yautja arriving to stop the rampage of his out-of-control brethren.
Finally, it’s quite possible that the Predators in Prey don’t break the code at all. In that case, the trailer is simply using deceptive editing in order to entice viewers into watching the film. If so, it wouldn’t be the first time. A trailer for Predators came under heavy criticism when it showed star Adrien Brody targeted by far more alien laser sights than there were actual Yautja in the film. Prey‘s new trailer might have done the same thing.
Prey will be released on Hulu August 5.