Hunting Xenomorphs is literally a part of the Predators’ culture, however, Alien reveals the one planet the Yautja would never go to kill Xenomorphs (for more reasons than one). Predators hunt Xenomorphs as a part of their coming of age ceremony known as the Blooding Ritual. For a Yautja to become a mature member of its clan, they have to kill a Xenomorph (or a team of them has to wipe out a small hive of Xenomorphs) and then brand itself with the mark of their clan using their dead Xenomorph’s acid blood. The Blooding Ritual is featured in almost every Alien vs Predator story, including the 2004 film, as that is generally the basis for their conflict. To ensure that Xenomorph life is thriving in the galaxy in order to continue this important rite of passage tradition, Predators even go so far as to abduct Queen Aliens and spread their Ovomorphs to planets across the cosmos. Effectively, the Predators are seeding worlds with Xenomorph life (to then kill later, of course).
What is interesting about this process is, unlike other Predator hunts, the Blooding Ritual is usually very controlled, and on a planet that is foreign to the Xenomorph but familiar to the Predator. This is likely because inexperienced Yautja are hunting the Xenomorphs. But, it’s also possible that the Predators do this because the Xenomorph homeworld is totally off-limits. While that’s not explicitly stated in any comic, movie, or novel, it just makes sense that this would be the case. If the Predators tried hunting Xenomorphs on their homeworld, the Yautja either wouldn’t survive, or they’d be forced to do something they really don’t want to do.
Predators Will Never Hunt Aliens on Their Homeworld, Xenomorph Prime
In the Dark Horse Comics four-part miniseries Aliens: Genocide by Mike Richardson, John Arcudi, and Damon Willis, readers are introduced to the alien’s homeworld of Xenomorph Prime, which is home to the source of all Xenomorph life in the cosmos, the Queen Mother. When the Colonial Marines who were tasked with going to this planet first arrived, they were accosted by thousands upon thousands of Xenomorphs. The good news is the marines were well-prepared for what they were walking into, and had anti-Xenomorph suits and energy shields ready to initiate upon their landing. However, that ‘warm welcome’ would assuredly be too much for a small group of Predators to handle–unless they took extreme measures.
Based on what was shown in this series compared to what fans have seen in previous Alien vs Predator stories, a small team of inexperienced Predators would not survive one second on this world. Predators who kill Xenomorphs only do so because of the Blooding Ritual, as doing so is more than a rite of passage to them, but a part of the Predators’ religion. This means that the only Predators with reason to go to this world would be ones trying to prove themselves to their clan. They would be inexperienced, small in numbers, and totally unprepared for the Xenomorphs coming at them in the thousands all at once. That being said, the Predator species could absolutely wipe out the Xenomorph homeworld if they chose to, but that’s simply something they’d never do.
As previously stated, Predators seed worlds across the cosmos with Xenomorph life, and the root of all Xenomorph life is found on this planet, stemming from the original Queen Mother herself. The last thing the Predators would want to do is destroy the source of their most important hunting ritual, so there’d be no reason to go there to do so, even though they technically could. In short, Predators wouldn’t survive a normal hunt on Xenomorph Prime–especially inexperienced ones–and using nuclear options to wipe them out (while possible) wouldn’t be something Predators would be interested in doing. Therefore, Xenomorph Prime is the one planet where Predators would never hunt, and Alien proves it.
