#lycanthropes

[vorpalfae]

𝔤𝔦𝔫𝔤𝔢𝔯 𝔰𝔫𝔞𝔭𝔰 🐺🌑🪻

[barkyshark]

The carousel turns 🌗

[seashellisinmyheart]

Havn't read the books, but this looks really cool!

[maverick-werewolf]

Revised Werewolf Fact 2, "Full Moon"

October is a great month to revise another Werewolf Fact. This one got a great makeover!

I've heard some people claim that werewolves in folklore have no relation to the full moon or to the moon at all. Some even say they have no relation to night as opposed to daylight, and they pin all these concepts squarely on Hollywood and modern media. I say those people need to do more research.

The revised Werewolf Facts will be shared with my patrons first as I prepare to polish them and publish them in book form. However, I want to make sure everyone knows I'm still doing nonfiction work (especially since I hope to keep everyone excited for my upcoming folklore collection), that Werewolf Facts will return in a big way, and that they will be so much better than they were before - so I wanted to share this one publicly very early!

This is very much a ROUGH DRAFT. This is not yet ready for wide publication (such as in my official Werewolf Facts masterlist and in the upcoming book), and it'll undergo further revisions before I do that. Please remember this is rough and DOES NOT REFLECT EXACTLY WHAT WILL BE FOUND IN THE WEREWOLF FACTS BOOK COMING SOMETIME IN THE NEXT FEW YEARS.

But this is my starting point!

Expect many more updates ahead. And before you ask, yes, I am technically supposed to cite myself if I pull anything from my own works - I'm not being egotistical. Weird, right?

Enjoy!

---

The full moon and the werewolf are inseparable. Today, some media tragically shies away from it, ashamed of holding to tradition, yet the iconic imagery of a werewolf howling at the baleful visage of the full moon will always persist in the subconscious mind, as it has for so many ages. So, what is the connection, how old is it really, and where did it come from?

Werewolves being associated with the moon, and specifically the full moon, is an old association indeed. Although perhaps best known for an early appearance in film with the movie Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943), the idea of a werewolf turning beneath the light of the moon appeared in stories long before.

One could naturally discuss in depth the age-old concept of moon-induced madness - "lunacy" - and studies and arguments on how the moon phases affect human and animal behavior and aggression levels, not too unlike how they affect the tides. However, I'm not here to dive into those matters; I'm here to talk about werewolves specifically.

Examples abound in folklore and are well-documented by the two foremost werewolf scholars, Sabine Baring-Gould and Montague Summers, as well as assorted folklore stories besides. Associations with the full moon and moonlight existed among, and were not limited to, the Gauls, legends from France, and Italy; an association with moonlight is also alluded to in tales from Russia and ancient Rome. The following is by no means an exhaustive list, but the aforementioned examples will be detailed, as follows...

Beginning with several examples found in Summers' work on werewolves, he states point-blank when discussing several werewolf legends, "In the first place, the transformation is effected in the moonlight" (Summers 155). He goes on to discuss, in particular, a set of tales around Palermo, which is located in Italy...

"In Palermo they say that as the moon waxes to her round the werewolf begins to feel the craving; his eyes sink deep and are glazed (si cci'nvitrianu), he falls to the earth wallowing in the dust or mud, and is seized with fearful writhings and pangs, after which his limbs quiver and contract horribly, he howls and rushes off on all fours, shunning the light, especially (they say in Menfi) torches, candles or lanthorns [sic]. The lycanthrope dashes to and fro, and he will bite anyone whom he may meet in his wild courses. His hideous cries may, however, be heard from afar and all hasten to avoid the wolf-man" (Summers 163-164)

Quite the graphic description of a man turning into a "wolf-man" (interesting quote, as well) under the light of the full moon. And yes, I personally love this quote. This represents, perhaps, one of the most directly classical werewolf descriptions that has survived to this day. We really have to thank both Baring-Gould and Summers immensely for protecting tales such as these from being utterly lost to time.

Not yet done discussing the legends from Palermo, Summers also says, "A certain wealthy man, the scion of a noble house, at the full of the moon was seized with lycanthropy [...] [they] wondered who this dread werewolf might be, seeing that my lord's face and features were so convulsed and hideous lupine as to be unrecognized even by those of his intimacy and own household" (164-165).

These are certainly not every single example Summers gives of a relation between werewolves and the full moon, nor is it every example of a relation between werewolves and the moon, or moonlight itself, in general. Indeed, Summers gives quite a few cases in which werewolves are connected to the moon in more ways than one - but most often by a full moon inducing their beastly transformation, after which they utterly lose control.

Further examples connecting the full moon, and moonlight itself, to werewolves can be found in the single best source for werewolf folklore that still exists: Sabine Baring-Gould's The Book of Werewolves...

Baring-Gould details on page 115, citing the writings of Gervaise of Tilbury in his work Otia Imperalia, “Vidimus frequenter in Anglia, per lunationes, homines in lupos mutari, quod hominum genus gerulfos Galli vocant, Angli vero wer-wlf, dicunt: wer enim Anglice virum sonat, wlf, lupum."

In my own edition of Baring-Gould's work, I translated this passage as, roughly, “We have frequently seen in England, through means of the moons, men are changed into wolves, a race of men the Gauls call gerulfos, but the English specifically say wer-wlf: for in English wer sounds like man, wlf, a wolf" (115n45).

Similarly, Baring-Gould gives a mention of legends in France: "In the south of France, it is still believed that fate has destined certain men to be lycanthropists—that they are transformed into wolves at full moon. The desire to run comes upon them at night" (119-120). Here, we see specificity about the full moon yet again, and this time from an entirely different region than previous examples.

Also coming from France, Baring-Gould mentions "the Périgord," wherein "[c]ertain men, especially bastards, are obliged at each full moon to transforms themselves into these diabolic beasts" (120).

Though less specific regarding the full moon, Baring-Gould also mentions tales from Russia, saying that one who wishes to become a werewolf (here called an "oborot," meaning "one transformed" [132]), will need to recite an incantation that includes the lines, "On the empty pasture gleams the moon, on an ashstock lying," and, prominently, "Moon, moon, gold-horned moon" (133), as though addressing the moon itself when reciting the spell, asking it for protection and transformation.

In terms of popular culture, the previously mentioned Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943) helped bring the full moon and werewolf connection to the forefront with the alteration of the curse from the film's predecessor, The Wolf Man (1941), in which the werewolf rhyme specifies...

Even a man who is pure at heart And says his prayers by night May become a wolf when the wolfsbane blooms And the autumn moon is bright

However, the werewolf transformation's specific timing was altered in Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943), in which the rhyme instead says...

Even a man who is pure at heart And says his prayers by night May become a wolf when the wolfsbane blooms And the moon is full and bright

However, much earlier, in 1935, the film Werewolf of London had werewolves that transformed beneath the full moon, but it is much lesser-known.

Thus, it is quite obvious that a connection has long existed between the werewolf and the full moon. This is not some newfangled concept, and there's a reason they are so endlessly iconic. Indeed, even in the mind of those who do not turn their thoughts often to werewolves, the sight of the full moon may inspire them to recall these sundry legends - as it should be.

Works Cited:

Baring-Gould, Sabine. The Book of Were-Wolves. 1865. Justin & Maegan Stebbins, 2023.

Stebbins, Maegan. The Werewolf: Past and Future - Lycanthropy's Lost History and Modern Devolution. Justin & Maegan Stebbins, 2017.

Summers, Montague. Werewolf. 1933. Mansfield Centre, CT: Martino, 2012.

And as always...

Happy Howl-o-ween!

( If you like my werewolf blog, be sure to follow me here and check out my other stuff! Please consider supporting me on Patreon or donating on Ko-fi if you’d like to see me continue my works, including my folklore blog and writing my own novels, werewolf and otherwise. Every little bit helps so much. You can find all my stuff in my pinned post! )

[goldenwolfen]

Show them your fangs this #WerewolfWednesday with my Werewolf Rage wooden pendant!

Pendant measures 2.5 X 1 inches. Laser cut cherry wood, printed on one side.

Get yours here!

[pamiwerewolfybunterfly]

Werewolf meets a toon werewolf

I’ve been a fan of @lightningsparklestar ‘s Dandy’s World Werewolf AU which features Rodger the Magnifying glass as a werewolf. And I could imagine Werewolf Rodger meeting Werewolf Harvey from my Bloodmoney werewolf AU: Wolfmoney. Either these two will become unlikely friends.

Also here’s a textless version of them:

Night of the werewolf detective toon AU and Werewolf Rodger belongs to @lightningsparklestar

[truedelusions]

If any other clinical lycanthropes/zoanthropes have advice I would really love to hear it. I am in a difficult spot and no one who knows me could ever understand, and if I tried to tell them, they would just lock me up again.

I do sometimes wonder when schizophrenia started to affect me, and how that aligns with being a lycanthrope.

As far back as I can remeber my human life, I've always had behaviors that indicated I am a wolf. I spent my childhood in the woods, acting as though I was one. As I got older those behaviors didn't change much, I just learned to hide them in public. I always felt like I was an animal, and I knew something about my body was off. I have had many times as dating back to when I was a child where I could feel my wolf body, and it has always felt right.

My mental health started getting increasingly bad around 10-11, with what I think we're the beginning of my psycotic episodes. But that was only the extreme parts of it. I can't tell how far back the mental problems themselves started.

When I was 15 I had my first full transformation. I can't remember much of it now, but it was scary. It felt both terrifying and exhilarating. It's hard for me to peice together what is real and what isn't.

If I am truly a wolf, or was one before becoming whatever I am now, then what about my past is real and what isn't? What things did I really experience? Is my life fabricated?

I don't think I will ever know. Every day that passes I become more confused. My medication is supposed to make this stop, but it isn't. Is that a sign that I was never really a person? That my "delusions" aren't delusions at all? That I really am a wolf. And if I am, and always was, how do I cope with losing who I was? Or am I losing who I am now instead? I don't really know.

All I know is this is a painful life to live.

[zorlok-if]

Werewolves and Lycanthropes in the Zorlok Universe

A look into some of the facts and fiction surrounding lycanthropy.

(Full text below the cut.)

Lycanthropes: Fact and Fiction

Written and distributed by Haru Kurokami on behalf of the International League of Nonhumans

Fiction: Lycanthropy is a disease.

Fact: Lycanthropy is a genetic and hereditary condition. Some scholars view lycanthropes as an evolution of humanity while others consider them a hybrid of humans and fey creatures. It is often passed from parent(s) to offspring, but some lycanthrope parents have human children. This occurs most often when only one of the parents is a lycanthrope. On the other hand, the lycanthropic gene can lie dormant in a family line for generations only to randomly manifest in a child of human parents.

Fiction: Lycanthropy began as a curse afflicted upon the mythological kin killer, Lycaon.

Fact: This myth is nothing more than that, a myth. There are two common explanations for the origin of lycanthropes. The first is that they, like many other species of nonhumans, are the product of human and fey crossbreeding. The second is that the original lycanthropes were human mages who used lunar power while attempting to merge themselves alchemically with animals.

Fiction: If a human is bitten by a lycanthrope, they will turn into a lycanthrope during the next full moon.

Fact: The concept that lycanthropy can be spread—through biting or any other means—was a false idea intentionally invented by early Slayers to demonize all shapeshifters and encourage public sentiment to favor the persecution of nonhumans.

Fiction: The transformation lycanthropes undergo is always agonizing. / There is no pain associated with the transformation.

Fact: Lycanthropes start shapeshifting when they hit puberty. For the first several years, the transformation is extremely painful, though the first is always the most agonizing. With time, the transformations become less jarring and the pain becomes more manageable.

Fiction: Lycanthropes only transform under the light of the full moon; at which time they lose all human sapience. There is no way to prevent this bestial transformation.

Fact: Lycanthropes are compelled to shift with the lunar cycle—always during the full moon and occasionally for a day or two on either side of it, depending on how close the moon is in its orbit. These transformations don’t necessarily begin at nightfall. They are triggered by the moonrise which rarely coincides perfectly with sunset. Most lycanthropes aren’t solely reliant upon the moon to transform. Once a lycanthrope has been shifting for at least a few months, they’re able to transform at will. Importantly, a lycanthrope’s mind is unaffected by their bodily transformation. The idea that they lose all sense and thought was another lie devised by Slayers to frighten humans. There are enchantments and spells lycanthropes can use to ward off the compulsion to transform [ 1 ].

Fiction: When lycanthropes transform back into their human forms, they look the same.

Fact: After each transformation, the lycanthrope’s skin is covered in stretch marks where their body and face were forced to grow, twist, and elongate. However, thanks to their accelerated healing, the stretch marks vanish within a few hours. Still, you can always tell if someone has recently transformed by the presence of these marks.

Fiction: Wolfsbane and silver are the only things that can injure a lycanthrope. They cannot ingest wolfsbane or touch silver, even in human form.

Fact: Wolfsbane contains a potent neurotoxin known as aconitine. Lycanthropes are naturally resistant to most poisons and diseases, so humans are actually more likely to be affected by wolfsbane than lycanthropes. As for silver, almost all lycanthropes are allergic to silver. Lycanthropic healing does not work on wounds inflicted with silver, but any metal can injure them. If they were to hold silver for an extended period of time, they may develop a rash, but little more than that.

Fiction: Lycanthropes have supernatural strength, speed, and senses.

Fact: Lycanthropes tend to be faster and stronger than the average human though they aren't as strong or fast as fey creatures. If humans and fey creatures were two ends of a spectrum for physical ability, lycanthropes would lie about midway between the two, if not a little closer to humans. They have accelerated healing abilities which are affected by the lunar cycle. This means that around the full moon, lycanthropes can heal wounds almost instantaneously, but around the new moon they heal slightly faster than humans do. Lycanthropes’ senses are more acute than humans, but their strengths tend to be related to the type of were-animal they shift into. For example, werewolves and werebats are known for their hearing while werecats and werehawks are known for their eyesight. Most lycanthropes can see in the dark and have a tapetum lucidum, the special membrane that causes eyeshine in most animals.

Fiction: Lycanthropes turn into animals. / Lycanthropes turn into monstrous versions of animals.

Fact: When lycanthropes shift, they are not turning into animals, though they will appear as a hybridic version of an animal and a humanoid. Werewolves, for example, develop lupine features, are covered in thick fur, and grow long claws but they aren’t wolves, nor do they look exactly like wolves. Most lycanthropes are still bipedal in their hybridic form and will be larger than they are in their normal human form regardless of the natural size of the animal they look like.

Fiction: All lycanthropes are werewolves.

Fact: It’s unknown just how many variants of lycanthropes exist in the world, but there are many different kinds. The most common lycanthropes are werewolves, werecats, and werebears. Lycanthropes will always turn into the same were-animal and cannot control what type of lycanthrope they are. It’s also worth noting that the animal lycanthropes seem like, isn’t always the same as their parent(s)/ancestors. It’s possible for a weredragon to be descended from a human and a weregoat while a werewolf might be the offspring of a wererat and a werehawk.

[ 1 ] These aids are a polarizing topic in lycanthropic communities. Most see them as viable options for those who don't want to transform. Others see their usage as a denial of one’s nature and suggest that failing to transform and falling out of sync with the lunar cycle can negatively impact one’s health.