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This heartwarming Prey theory shines a new light on the Predator pistol question

Photo credit: Disney+
Photo credit: Disney+

In case you missed it, Prey is out and it is great. Those worried another Predator film would be a bust were shown just what a great premise, cast, and writer can do with a beloved franchise.

In case you think we are being hyperbolic, the prequel film, starring Amber Midthunder, now has the highest rating of any Predator film on Rotten Tomatoes. It garnered a whopping 92% fresh rating, and we gave it five stars and called it a "must-see triumph".

So if you haven't seen it, go watch it! And maybe now, because we're about to go into a Prey theory that has a lot of spoilers (and if you just forgot, you can refresh your memory on Prey's ending.)

While there were many Predator Easter eggs and nods, one in particular caused quite a stir amongst the die-hard fans of the franchise. You'll recall that Naru (Midthunder) steals a pistol from her French fur-trapping captors – but not just any pistol.

It is the same gun from the end of Predator 2, in which Mike Harrigan (Danny Glover) is given a flintlock pistol with the words "Raphael Adolini 1715" on it. The pistol that Naru steals has the exact same inscription.

First, there's a slight continuity issue there, as a comic short from 1996 told the story of Grayback, a Predator, who got the pistol after killing Adolini himself. Now Prey is likely to take precedence in the canon, especially given how many direct links it has to the original franchise.

Photo credit: Disney
Photo credit: Disney

One explanation as to how Naru had the pistol prior to Grayback, only for Grayback to get his hands on it by the time he meet Mike in Predator 2, is that in the wake of Naru's defeat of the Predator, more of the Yautja (aka the predator's species) come to Earth and wipe out all of Naru's people, stealing the gun back. This is the seemingly more likely and also more prevalent theory.

However, one Redditor posited a different, slightly more heartwarming and less violent, theory. The short version is that Naru gave the pistol to a different Yautja, who then gave it to Grayback who gave it to Mike.

The long version is predicated on a little tidbit of information that you might not know: that Alan 'Dutch' Schaefer (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is alive as of 2025. With the Yautja as skilled at hunting as they are, why did they never go after him?

Photo credit: Disney
Photo credit: Disney

The Redditor posits that the Yautja creatures have a sense of honour – though we'd say it's probably more a code than a moral sensibility – in which the person who finally vanquishes a Yautja is deemed the higher 'predator' and, therefore, there deserves respect in the hierarchy.

Once Naru kills a Yautja and takes its head, however, the other Yautja want the head back — after all, they're a little obsessed with skulls. So, they visit Naru and bow to her as the supreme predator there, having already proven herself such.

Photo credit: 20th Century Studios
Photo credit: 20th Century Studios

The theory goes on to say that Naru gives the predator the pistol to show that her fellow Comanche are not a threat. After all, it didn't go after her when she was caged, nor did it go after Dutch's captive. Giving the pistol, a 'superior weapon' compared to the rest of Naru's people's arms, would confirm in the eyes of the Yautja that the Comanche people are not 'worth' going after.

It's a lot nicer to imagine a peace between the Comanche and the Predators and it isn't exactly unprecedented (after all, in Predator 2 they've shown that they will fight with their prey for a greater-good outcome). But as we said previously, the speculative answer to the question of the pistol may yet be proven if a Prey sequel is greenlit.

Prey is now available to watch on Disney+

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