According to one fan theory, Predator’s titular villain let Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Dutch escape on purpose since the character beat the monster fair and square. The idea that the Predator tried to kill Dutch with an explosive blast at the end of 1987's original Predator has never added up. According to the mythos of the Predator franchise, Predators believe in honor and civility (despite the high body count they rack up across the series).
What makes the Predator so different from the Alien franchise’s lethal Xenomorph is this fact. Predators hunt for sport rather than sustenance. Where the monsters of the Alien series are mindless killing machines that can’t be reasoned with, the Predator is threatening precisely because the monster is at least as intelligent as a human. This is the thinking behind a fan theory that suggests an alternative motivation for the Predator’s self-destruction at the end of 1987’s original movie.
When Dutch holds a huge rock over the injured monster before deciding to show mercy and not kill the Predator, conventional wisdom states that what happens next is the Predator proving a warrior should never turn their back on an injured enemy. The Predator plays back Billy’s laugh, seemingly taunting Arnold Schwarzenegger’s hero, before then blowing itself up with an explosive charge. The assumption is that the monster was a sore loser who hoped to take out Dutch as it died, but one fan theory found on Reddit refutes this reading. Since the Predators are established as creatures obsessed with honor, this theory reasons, the monster could be looking to give itself the merciful death that Dutch denied it.
The theory argues that the Predator entering a countdown into the self-destruct device on its wrist allowed Dutch enough time to escape the explosive charge’s effects, thus sparing his life. Since the Predator could likely have chosen to simple press self destruct immediately, the fact that the monster gave Dutch an opportunity to evade injury by leaping behind a log — along with the fact that the explosion is so small and self-contained — seemingly points toward the wrist device as a last-ditch option for Predators suffering a slow death. Rather than the explosion being another weapon in the monster’s arsenal, the Predator’s self-sacrificing weapon is designed to let the monster die with dignity.
To this end, the fan theory further argues that the Predator playing back Billy’s laugh could be intended not as a mean-spirited taunt, but as a genuine attempt to commend Dutch’s impressive performance. Since the Predator doesn’t speak any local language, one thing the monster can convey is a sense of humor, something that is best encapsulated by playing back Billy’s laugh while waiting to self-destruct. Rather than laughing at Dutch and his fallen companions, the Predator is displaying a streak of self-deprecating humor while awaiting its merciful death, while the timer ensures that Schwarznegger’s hero doesn’t bear the brunt of the blast too.
