Derek Hale might be a man of few words, but he's got some great Teen Wolf lines.
Characters like Stiles and Lydia in Teen Wolf always have something to say. Characters like Derek, on the other hand, use fewer words to get their point across. In fact, in the first season, Derek preferred to glare rather than speak to Scott and Stiles, making for some interesting scenes. That doesn't mean he doesn't have some great lines though.
Many of Derek's most memorable lines are delivered in a deadpan tone, or are meant to intimidate other characters. They also offer a great look at just how much his character changes over the course of the show.
Derek Likes To Get Right To The Point
"You wanna do homework, or do you wanna not die?"
When Derek and Scott first start interacting, Derek has little patience for Scott. Scott continually brushes Derek off because he wants to use his new werewolf abilities and still live a normal life. Derek wants Scott to be in a pack with him. The two just don't see eye to eye on much of anything at the time.
When Derek tries to convince Scott that they need to work together against the threat of the Alpha, he gets right to the point with him. Scott is either going to have to learn to fight like a werewolf, or he's going to die trying to avoid the supernatural part of his life. It's not exactly a wake-up call for Scott, but he does slowly start to trust Derek and learn more about the supernatural.
Derek Doesn't Mince Words With Peter
"We don't like you. Now, shut up and help us."
A man of very little patience, Derek grows to hate his uncle, but see him as a necessary evil. Derek doesn't trust Peter, especially when he knows that Peter killed their relatives to make himself the Alpha of the Hale pack. He sees Peter as selfish and power-hungry, and he's not wrong.
Derek, however, knows that Peter has more supernatural knowledge than most of the other Beacon Hills residents. He also knows that Peter will do what it takes to stay alive, which means he can be used to his and Scott's advantage in dire situations. As a result, Peter becomes a frequent ally even though no one likes him.
Stiles And Derek Have An Antagonistic Relationship
"Start the car. Or I'm gonna rip your throat out - with my teeth."
When Derek needs a little help early in the series, there aren't many allies for him to turn to. Whether he wants to or not, he has to trust Stiles. At one point, that even means having Stiles drive him out of danger, even though Stiles isn't particularly keen on the idea.
Though Derek is severely injured and Stiles doesn't initially think he's strong enough to hurt him, Derek still manages to intimidate him. Derek threatening Stiles and Stiles not taking him seriously is par for the course in their friendship. It grows strong enough for the two to save one another's lives without any of the rest of their friends around by the end of the series, but it's never without a little sarcasm.
Derek Appeals To Stiles For Help
"I don't remember waking up. So, tell me, how do you know? How do you know if you're still dreaming?"
On its own, this particular line might not be that memorable, but it becomes a major theme in the show once Derek asks the question. Derek questions his reality to Stiles of all people after having a nightmare, someone he doesn't usually get along with. Though Stiles gives him a way to tell if he's dreaming (extra fingers on his hands), Stiles is the one who has to start paying attention to reality versus dreaming.
Stiles, Scott, and Allison are the ones who find their waking minds troubled after a ritual brings them to the edge of death and back. It's this first conversation with Derek, however, that starts their fragmented dealings with reality.
Derek Calls Kate Out
"I was evolving. Something you'll never do."
Derek Hale and Kate Argent have a history. She manipulates him into a relationship as a teenager in an effort to get information on his family so that she can exterminate them. It's safe to say that Kate is a very dangerous enemy. Unlike her older brother, she never learns that some members of the supernatural community don't deserve to be hunted. Even when she becomes a werejaguar, she's still intent on taking the McCall pack down.
When she comes to Beacon Hills with the intent of interrogating Derek, wanting to know what he was doing during his time away from his hometown, he doesn't offer up much information other than a dig at her still being the same person she was when they first met - cruel, manipulative, and power-hungry. Derek, on the other hand, has become more selfless - and learned how to turn into a full wolf.
Derek Lets The Power Go To His Head
"I'm the Alpha now!"
After fighting his own uncle to the death, Derek becomes an Alpha and makes his own new pack of Betas, and the power starts to go to his head a bit. He just wants to maintain control and protect his own, but it doesn't go that well.
Derek repeatedly tries to get Scott to join his pack because an Omega wolf doesn't have anyone to draw strength from, and when he loses his temper with Scott, it leads to him yelling about being an Alpha. It's clear that the power begins to corrupt Derek. He eventually realizes that himself as well.
Cora Makes Derek See The Light
"I don't care about power. Not anymore."
When his little sister gets sick, Derek realizes how dangerous his obsession with being the Alpha of a pack really is. His quest for power puts his sister in danger, and being the Alpha really means nothing if he doesn't have people he cares about and trusts in his pack to begin with.
Peter doesn't entirely understand that since he was ready to sacrifice the entire family to become Alpha. Derek telling Peter he doesn't care about the power because he cares more about Cora just doesn't compute. It's just one of the ways the two Hales are so very different from one another.
Derek Plays The Role Of Miguel
"This... no fit."
A Derek and Stiles team up early in the series is played for laughs when Stiles also ropes Danny into helping them without giving him all the details. Danny, who is good with technology, is asked to figure out who sent a message while Stiles tells him that Derek is his cousin Miguel. "Miguel" is in need of a shirt and Stiles tries to get him to borrow one of his.
The entire situation sees Derek growing impatient, but not wanting to blow up at Stiles in front of Danny, he simply tells him, "no fit," when putting on the shirt. Stiles uses the entire exchange to play to Danny checking Derek out to make sure Danny will help him. It's one of the more ridiculous scenes in Teen Wolf, but also one in which all three actors get to have some fun.
Derek Wants His Own Dead Pool
"Anyone who thinks they can hunt and kill us for money is gonna be put on another list, our list. They get to be a name on our dead pool."
It's no secret that Scott McCall and most of his friends aren't usually willing to kill their enemies; they just want to end conflict. That's not the case with Derek who sees that permanently eliminating a threat is going to be the better option.
That's the case when they all discover that their names are on a dead pool, their deaths worth millions of dollars to the person running it. While Scott just wants to figure out who's behind it, Derek encourages everyone to take out those who come after them to make it less likely that they'll continue to be hunted. The idea doesn't work out as well as he would like.
Derek Praises Scott's Leadership
"You're gonna be good at this."
Though Derek spends a lot of time in Seasons 1 and 2 trying to get Scott to be a member of his pack, he changes his tune when he discovers that Scott is a True Alpha, someone who doesn't have to take his power from another Alpha.
It's cemented when Derek sees Scott interacting with his first Beta, Liam. Derek sees that Scott is able to connect with Liam in ways Derek never could with Isaac, Erica, and Boyd, and he encourages Scott's Alpha status, showing how much they've both grown since they first met.
