The mysterious alien species known as the Predator returns in the movie Predator, along with the Predator's code of honor and its habit of collecting the skulls of its victims. Comanche warrior Naru (Amber Middhander) must find a way to survive an advanced hunter while figuring out what it is and how to kill it. The task seems even more difficult when Naru witnesses the Predator single-handedly defeating a full-grown bear and bathing in its blood.
Since their first on-screen appearance in 1987's Predator, green-blooded Predators have killed their victims, sometimes in theatrical fashion, removing the skull and spine without explanation. Predators choose an inhabited world and hunt, moving up the food chain until they encounter a formidable opponent or kill their prey.
Throughout the film, the Predator skins a snake with his own hands, kills a wolf and cuts off its head with the spine intact, and also engages in a bloody fight with a grizzly bear. After first meeting humans in Predator Prey, the Predator loses all interest in his former enemies and begins pursuing the hunting party of Naru and her brother Taabe (Dakota Beavers). Identifying Earth's apex predators by the weapons they carry, the Predator uses every weapon in its arsenal to hunt down and destroy an entire group of hunters, decapitating Wasape (Stormy Kipp), who dared to challenge the Predator with a spear. The only victim they decapitate is Big Beard (Mike Paterson), who managed to lure the Predator into a confrontation with his own group of hunters.
Predators have always been mysterious, but they have a code of honor when it comes to hunting. They take the skulls of victims who they believe were particularly worthy or brave opponents in battle. The wolf was a formidable fighter and managed to wound the predator, so the hunter took the wolf's skull as a trophy. Predators, or Yautja, live to hunt, so the search for trophies is a large part of their reason for traveling to distant planets and killing everyone they can. Wasape stood his ground and challenged the Predator when almost all the people he encountered first shot at them from a distance. Big Beard was the leader of a group of trappers and hunters who lured the Predator and survived his bomb. Both men, given the chance, could have collected their skulls, which would explain why the Predator decided to decapitate them.
Predator hunting rules explained. Predator Code of Honor
The Predator's code of honor extends beyond capturing the skulls of the worthy. Only the most brutal opponents, such as the Green Berets in the original Predator, are chosen as prey. Non-combatants like Anna are left alone, while the Predator returns to Dutch (Arnold Schwarzenegger) multiple times.
The Predator in the original film also removes all of his equipment in the final fight with Dutch to ensure they have a fairer fight and a more honorable kill for the Predator if successful. When the Predator defeats Dutch, who refuses to finish off the alien hunter, the alien plants a timed explosive, allowing Dutch to get away and give himself a more honorable death.
In Predator 2, the list of conditions increases, as the Predators do not prey on sick or pregnant people, and their targets become two warring Los Angeles gangs. Predators who have turned the city into a hunting ground attract the attention of Lieutenant Mike Harrigan (Danny Glover) and his partner Jerry Lambert (Bill Paxton), who find themselves face to face with the Predator. The latter loses the fight, and Harrigan finds Lambert's skull in the Predator's trophy room, after which he defeats the alien hunter in close combat.
After the fight, the rest of the Predators appear and, following their custom when one of them is defeated by an equal opponent, their leader gives Harrigan an antique pistol, presumably a trophy from another hunt. This is entirely possible, as the gun given to Harrigan in Predator 2 is the same gun that Naru received from Raphael (Bennett Taylor) and was used to kill the Predator that was hunting her people in Predator: Prey.
