Warning! SPOILERS for Prey.
The mysterious orange flower becomes Naru’s secret weapon in Prey when she is being chased by a Predator — that’s all we know about the healing flower and how Naru uses it to her advantage. Initially, Naru and her tribesmen are inferior to the prowess of the Predator. Using otherworldly technologies and pure force, the Predator Preya (aka Yautzha) alone dominates the armies of people and does not give Naru the opportunity to gain the upper hand. However, Naru later benefits from his sharp mind and survival instincts and comes up with the perfect plan to defeat the fortress-like creature. It is then that the vital role of her orange blossom manifests itself.
Before the flower becomes one of the key ingredients of Naru’s victory over the Predator, the Prey establishes that Naru learned about it from her mother and almost always keeps a part of it at her disposal. Several other scenes in Prey also show Naru either asking wounded warriors to swallow a flower or directly applying it to their open wounds. Since the action takes place in the 18th century, Prey never delves into the science behind the flower’s work. However, many subtle details during its execution explain how Naru does an incredible job of using his many advantages during the battle with the Predator.
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Since Naru and her mother use the local name “orange tutsia” to describe the flower, it is difficult to determine whether it is real or exists only in the Prey universe. However, with that said, the flower seems to have a lot in common with calendula plants. Like those depicted in Prey, calendula flowers are bright orange in color and have been used for centuries both in cooking and for medical purposes. During the Civil War, the flower was also used to stop bleeding from combat wounds, just as Naru uses it to treat one of the French hunters after a Predator cut his leg. In addition, calendula flowers are also known to relieve fever and treat severe infections, which may explain why Naru gives them to wounded warriors and applies them to their wounds. Despite the numerous benefits, it is always recommended to use calendula or any other similar natural products after consulting a doctor, as they can cause some dangerous side effects, such as allergic reactions and drowsiness (through medications).
How the Orange Flower works in Prey
Several moments in Prey show the world from the Predator’s point of view. These brief moments show that the Predator’s visual abilities work only in the infrared part of the electromagnetic spectrum. Simply put, this means that the Predator is largely dependent on the temperature difference in the environment, but it is difficult to distinguish objects with the same temperature. Since the normal temperature of the human body is fairly constant, the Predator uses its ability to distinguish between people and their surroundings.
Naru becomes invisible to the Predator when she swallows an orange flower because the flower lowers her body temperature. This is probably due to the expansion of her blood vessels, which allows blood to flow to the surface of her skin and divert heat from the core of her body. As soon as its temperature drops and becomes relatively equal to the temperature of its surroundings in the final moments of Prey, the Predator cannot distinguish it from inanimate objects when it stands still. In this way, the orange flower becomes an effective camouflage for the Naru, which ultimately highlights the biggest weakness of the almost perfect Predator Predator.
