in the movie Predator…if all the guys just put down their weapons and stood there would the predator not kill them?
Maybe, but would you want to be the first guy to test that theory?
Given his similar-to-humans thought processes, desires and sense of accomplishment in killing beings who he far outguns, I would say he’d blast 'em all anyway and mount their heads in his den. How many human hunters kill only prey that is attacking them vs. how many kill prey that is drinking from a stream or just standing there?
He’d probably do the far side thing and make your skull look all threatening anyway.
He might just to decide to decloak, and engage you hand-to-hand. Which isn’t much better, considering that he’s seven feet tall, and all muscle.
Good point Miller. Now I find it funny that Arnold was willing to test that theory with the female prisoner they had!
If I understand the mythology ok he’s supposed to match the weapons to his prey (never mind his weapons are far superior) the more ‘equal’ the fight the more honor he’ll earn back home.
ps, the reason he didn’t kill the female cop in 2 was because killing a pregnant woman confuses the kill count not out of any sense of sympathy. I got a chuckle out of that when I read it.
I always thought it was herd management. If you kill breeding females, you might start thinnning out the population too much.
To my embarassment I read the book (hey I was like 14 or something). I’m fairly sure that was the reason given in the Predator’s ‘head’. If that can be considered canon.
Hm. I always thought from the meaningful IR closeups on the weapons they were carrying, that was the entire point. I think I remember him specifically not killing any unarmed “prey.”
Right?
Are you telling me I found subtle subtext in Predator, and it was never there?
He’d just turn to his buddy and say “Look out! He’s coming right at me!” and shoot you anyway.
No, you’re thinking about the NYPD.
unabashed Predator fan here.
depending on which “canon” you follow (comics/graphic novels or books), allow me a couple observations. (and yes, i’ve proudly read/collected everything in either format that i’ve ever been able to run across.)
[ul]females are generally considered “off-limits” among the Predators. according to the book canon, the females are actually bigger and stronger than the males, and can flatten them without even meaning to. (i can’t decide if this should rate an “eek” smilie or (speaking as a female) a “big grin” one.) a male Predator would no more think of offering violence towards a female then he would turn his back on a competitive younger male. (Predators are also somewhat surprised and confused by the fact that human females appear to be generally smaller and physically weaker than their males.)
yes, Predator honor is generally scaled to how much challenge the prey provides, balanced against the weaponry used to hunt it down. so in a backhanded way, humans could feel somewhat honored that they use high-tech weapons when pursuing us. this is a species that seeds uncivilized planets with eggs from the Alien species, then hunts down the Aliens once they’ve hatched out of their off-world hosts. they even raid Alien hives to capture the Queen so they can have fresh breeding stock. (that one’s a double-“eek”.)
depending on mood, a Predator might kill an unarmed human, out of sheer peevishness… but he would accrue no honor status for it.[/ul]
recloaking, unashamed.
I think if you were Joe Farmer, tending your crops, the predator would just ignore you. Much like hunters don’t shoot goats, cows, pigs, and other “low glory” targets.
On the other hand, if you’re hiking through the woods toting a bazooka, I don’t think dropping it and trying to look innocent would really dissuade the predator. He’d probably just shoot you for being a rules lawyer, you know?
I agree with everything lachesis has said.
I’d also offer this addendum.
In the case of the soldiers in Dutch Schaefer’s (Arnie’s) platoon, it wouldn’t have mattered if they hadn’t engaged the Predator. The creature had already determined that they would prove worthy foes, based on the military assault on the enemy compound.
So okay, what if they hadn’t attacked the compound at all?
Still no dice. At one point the soldiers come upon their comrades, skinned and beheaded and hung from the trees. If I’m conjecturing correctly, this indicates that the doomed soldiers came upon the Predator, engaged, and were slaughtered. This means the Predator more than likely already thought of Arnie’s platoon as “worthy opponents,” based on its previous engagement with the dead platoon.
YMMV.
It seems like they wouldn’t klill and unarmed human without some reason, and not without some warning. I mean, the hunt is the thing for them. They could surely park some invisible micro-spacecraft 1000 feet up and snipe at random people all day long, but that wouldn’t be a real hunt. The Predators seems to want to kill warriors and powerful people.
Now, his actions in Predator 2 may seem to make this wrong, because some of his prey were not really ready (one was an old man armed with a sword, and another was a drug lord having sex). But maybe he was really only after the cop in the first place. The Predator certainly seemed to be following him around.
It’s not that he wouldn’t kill you if you were unarmed…just that he wouldn’t be able to brag about it to his buddies afterwards.
IRC, they didn’t show the fight between the two, just the Predator walking off with his head after traping him in the dead end alley. It’s intierly plausible that he didn’t use any weapons beyond his spear and those arm claws to take the man down. And lets face it, and tough old SOB Rastafarian drug lord with a sword isn’t what I’d call “defenseless”
IIRC, they showed the murder scene the day after, and the body was decapitated without other injury. SO they probably used the claws.
I didn’t really think that the Predators preyed on the weak and defenceless in those two cases, I was just saying that some people might not agree with me on those grounds.
I’m so embarassed … I really thought this thread was going to be about the NHL playoffs. 
Go Predators!