Tichinde

"I will spill your thwei as easily as I do that of the ooman dogs later! This is not a hunt, as that dead slave-to-rules thought, but self-defense. We are allowed to defend ourselves from attack, are we not?"

―Tichinde to the other Un-Blooded (from Aliens vs. Predator: Prey)

Tichinde^[2] was an Un-blooded Yautja and member of Dachande's Clan. He partook in an initiation hunt on the planet of Ryushi, led by Dachande. However, when the hunting party's ship was accidentally destroyed by Dr. Kesar Revna and Dachande was left incapacitated, the remaining students found themselves stranded and leaderless.

Tichinde nominated himself as the de facto Leader of the pack, and led them in a merciless slaughter against the humans within the colony of Prosperity Wells, fighting both the colonists and the Xenomorphs they had seeded on the planet using a Lou-dte kalei. The debacle ultimately led to the death of the entire party, and Tichinde was killed by Dachande for his treachery.

Biography

Tichinde was a member of Dachande's clan aboard the Mother Ship Ne'dtesei. Dachande noted him as a troublemaker "who talked louder than any other".^[3]

Dachande would go on to choose the planet of Ryushi to conduct Tichinde and the other Un-blooded's initiation hunt. Unbeknownst to them was that the human colony of Prosperity Wells had established itself on the planet since the leader's last visit.

Landing and usurpation

"Others dispute?"

―Tichinde (from Aliens vs. Predator: Prey)

Tichinde and his pack landed over the horizon of Prosperity Wells. After colonists Ackland and Jame Roth had acquired dead Facehugger specimens and subsequently brought them back to the med-center, Dr Kesar Revna headed out to the location which Ackland claimed to have found them, Iwa Gorge. However, there he encountered Dachande's shuttle and was discovered by its inhabitants, and he attempted to escape on his hoverbike. During his escape, he accidentally killed Chulonte, incapacitated Dachande, and drove into the Predator's shuttle, destroying it and killing the two Blooded Adjutants Skemte and Warkha.

Stranded, the pack debated what to do next. Tichinde nominated himself the de facto leader of the hunting party and attested that Dachande was a lost cause. Instead, they should conduct their own hunt and exact revenge on the humans and slaughter them. Tichinde was dissented by fellow Un-blooded 'Aseigan, only for the latter to be killed by Tichinde, who unloaded his Burner point-blank into him. After a tense silence, the others accepted him as their new leader, and chose to declare war on the local humans.^[4]

Tichinde's pack soon encountered a desolate ranch owned by Bob Sheldon and his family. They would attack and slaughter the family, with Tichinde murdering Bob's wife, Sylvan.^[5] Their son, Robert Sheldon managed to escape on a hoverbike.

Upon discovering the colony, Tichinde had sent Gkyaun to scout ahead, but following a Xenomorph infestation within the colony, he was killed fighting against a horde of Aliens.^[6] Tichinde subsequently led his pack in an assault against a group of humans, who had barricaded themselves within the West Lock. Although the attack would result in comrades Mahnde and Da-ec'te being killed by the defenders, the pack would eventually emerge victorious and, they slaughtered them, with Tichinde killing the former colony administrator Hiroki Shimura.

They subsequently held a ritualistic victory bonfire, dancing with the heads of their kills on their Combisticks. Tichinde had collected at least six skulls, with one of them being a small child.

Duel with Dachande and Death

"Tichinde was his student, once. He had broken the rules of the Hunt. There was only so much slack Dachande could give him, even as a Leader. Now the rope must be pulled taut. Now, Tichinde must be destroyed. It was the law. It was a matter of honor."

―Dachande regarding Tichinde (from Aliens vs. Predator: Prey)

At some point, Tichinde separated from the pack in search of human stragglers.^[7] He eventually spotted Dr Miriam Revna within the colony med center and lured her out using Vocal Mimicry of current colony administrator Machiko Noguchi.

Tichinde suddenly broke into the centre and attacked. Just before killing Miriam with his Wristblades, she was saved by Dachande, who had been recovered from the wreckage by the humans and placed under her care. The real Machiko subsequently rammed through the wall of the med centre with her hoverbike and into the insubordinate Predator, before holding him at gunpoint. Miriam, trusting Dachande, released him and allowed him to gear up.

Upon seeing Tichinde, Dachande immediately approached and grabbed his trophy bag of skulls, shaking it in his face so the child's skull rose to the top. Realizing that Tichinde had killed innocent civilians, an outraged Dachande struck his dishonorable lesser, resulting in a brief brawl between the two. Dachande was easily able to overpower his subordinate, and subsequently grabbed a Yautja dagger and plunged it into Tichinde's jaw, killing him and ending his usurpation.^[8]

Personality and Traits

"Give him credit for spirit. Credit for brains, no. For skill, hardly. But he was no coward."

―Dachande regarding Tichinde (from Aliens vs. Predator: Prey)

Tichinde was a lot like Dachande when he was young - highly ambitious and possessing a vast ego, so much so that he challenged and attempted to kill the latter in the novelization. Dachande noted that despite being strong and brave, he lacked composure and intelligence. Regardless, he saw potential for Tichinde to become a great warrior.^[9]

However, Tichinde was also disrespectful, disobedient, and most importantly, dishonorable. He seemingly loathed authority figures such as Dachande, and yearned to overtake his position. Thus, he was quick to leave his superior for dead following the incident, immediately electing himself as Leader instead of attempting to treat Dachande as Gkyaun had suggested. These traits would lead Tichinde down the inglorious path of becoming a Bad Blood, squandering the potential that Dachande had seen in him.

Tichinde expressed extreme amounts of apathy during his hunt; he justified the killing of unarmed innocents as "self-defence" under a preconceived notion that humans were naturally dangerous to Yautja,^[10] and had also callously killed 'Aseigan for sticking up against his claims of leadership - he clearly had no respect for the Yautja Honor Code, and sought to walk his own murderous path.

Equipment

List of Notable Victims

'Aseigan
Sylvan Sheldon
Hiroki Shimura

Trivia

The are several notable difference between Tichinde's depiction within the comics and in the novelization Prey:
- Tichinde's name itself was not given until the release of Prey; the character of an impish Un-Blooded that led the leaderless pack was introduced in the novel, and Tichinde was actually indistinguishable from any of the other Predators in the comics.
- In Prey, Tichinde challenges Dachande to a duel after defeating Mahnde, but is soundly defeated by the leader.^[11] In the comics, however, it was the recurring character of Top-Knot, a fellow Leader, to challenge Dachande. As Top-Knot's name had not yet been revealed until the short Aliens vs. Predator: Blood Time, Tichinde retroactively filled the role of a previously unnamed Yautja from the comics to be defeated by 'Broken Tusk'.
- In the novel, it is stated that Tichinde had collected three trophies,^[12] but in the comics, his satchel contained at least six skulls.
- Tichinde's death is depicted differently in the novel: Tichinde suffered two broken mandibles, before trying to crawl away from his leader. Dachande grabbed his spear and killed him by piercing the base of his spine, before spitting on his corpse.^[13]
Robert Sheldon would later vow to eradicate the Yautja species from the universe, and subsequently lost his mind in his bid for vengeance, something that Tichinde's actions were a direct consequence of.