The Yautja tend to think of themselves as hunters throughout the Predator franchise. Using the advanced weaponry and tracking technology at their disposal, these aliens come to Earth to hunt their ultimate prey, humanity. But the hunters eventually become the hunted.
The franchise would start in Predator (1987), with the Yautja slowly taking out multiple former members of the U.S. military. Dutch would eventually take him down. This wouldn’t be the first Predator to come to Earth looking for a fresh hunt, In Prey (2022), another Yautja arrived in the year 1719, attacking Comanche and colonizers alike. Naru, a young woman, played admirably by Amber Midthunder, would take down this hunter. Here we’re going to analyze the traits of both Dutch and Naru to determine best which of these hunters is superior.
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Allies
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Alan “Dutch” Schaefer comes into combat with plenty of allies at his side. After his days in the military, Dutch would recruit his fellow veterans to become mercenaries for hire. Most of these men would be callously slaughtered by the Predator as the team attempted to flee to the extraction point. The team’s most effective member outside of Dutch was Billy, the half-Sioux, half-Italian warrior who would hold off the Predator with a machete. The only ally that would live through the film with Dutch would be Anna, who had only lived because she never armed herself, meaning she was never a target of the Predator, to begin with.
Naru had few allies going into her fight against the Predator. While most of her tribe looked down on her quest to prove herself as a hunter, her brother, Taabe, would vouch for her on multiple occasions, giving the hunters reason to bring her along. Even Taabe would fall victim to the Predator, being killed while attempting to rescue Naru. A critical companion that Naru keeps close to her side is her dog, which helps her track her prey. The dog would prove numerous times to be a welcome distraction to her opponents, buying Naru time to ready her bow or set up the perfect trap.
Enemies
Dutch would initially only be set to take down insurgents who he believed to be kidnapped foreign cabinet ministers and their aides. These enemies would lack in dialogue and screen time, being easily mowed down by Dutch and his team. Sometimes, even your friends can be an opposing force, as Dutch’s friend, CIA agent Dillon lied to Dutch, manipulating his moral code to trick him into wiping out a team that had already murdered Dillon’s fellow agents.
Naru’s enemies, outside of the Predator, would be introduced halfway through the film as French colonizers. These men would treat Naru and her fellow Comanche as savages. With the belief of manifest destiny at their side, the colonizers would encroach further on the Comanche tribe’s land, capturing Naru and Taabe and using them as bait for the Predator. These enemies would leave an impression on Naru as she established herself as a hunter and asked her tribe to prepare to pack and leave, fearing foreign threats of all kinds would harm them.
Survival Skills
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Dutch constantly used his military experience to improve his mind and pain tolerance. After suffering torture for an extended period while in service, being hunted by the Yautja isn’t too daunting a task for our hero. Dutch would prove resourceful, crafting traps in the forest to disorient the Predator and cause him great harm. Using the knowledge he gained during the Predator’s initial pursuit, Dutch would cake his body in mud to cloak himself from the Yautja thermal imaging technology while attacking the Predator from afar. Even when the Predator’s significant strength proved too much, Dutch would incapacitate the creature with another well-placed trap.
A majority of her tribe shares Naru’s survival skills. With the setting of Prey (2022) coming before modern survival gear was implemented, and a bow and arrow were more common hunting tools than a firearm, Naru practiced tracking with her canine companion, setting traps, and making precise shots under pressure. Naur also proved to have great agility, constantly evading the Yautja and other apex predators that lurked in the woods. Naru was always keenly aware of her surroundings, never falling for the same pitfall twice, and even using the knowledge of her surroundings against her opponent, such as trapping the Predator in a mud pit. And despite how advanced the Yautja technology was, Naru still proved more than capable of using the helmet’s weapon on the Yautja, effectively killing the Predator with its own weapon.
Predator
The Predator would prove to be the most potent foe Dutch would face, although when Dutch learned to avoid the Predator’s tracking tech and set up traps, the Yautja recognized Dutch as a worthy opponent, and the two would compete in hand-to-hand combat. Despite Dutch’s victory, the Predator would fulfill his vow not to let the tech fall into human hands, self-detonating with a maniacal laugh.
While the Predator of 1719 would slaughter the colonizers, this Yautja would prove powerful for Naru, using brute strength to overpower her. Naru would manage to outsmart the Yautja using their own weapons against them. While Naru’s Predator got considerably more screen time, most of its unique qualities came in its apparel, traits that differ due to the time difference. Lacking the personality that other Yautja carry, this Predator is more focused on the hunt and is cinematically used as a mere opposing force to Naru’s journey and less so as a character.
