My Taleblr Werewolf Headcanon Masterlist
While not the most present aspect throughout the entirety of Taleblr, the small and infrequent appearances made by lycanthropy has found its way into the hearts of the fandom. Of course, this may be largely because PIE is so beloved and just about every werewolf was involved in a PIE video. Not a bad thing, but it does also call into question How werewolves work, who has been one, and why we don't see them more often. Werewolves are a popular movie monster even outside of Taleblr, but every series has it's own rules. I think that defining what makes the werewolves that are encountered during the videos similar or different to other popular werewolves to be important in its own rights.
Whether it be Ghost being cured preemptively by eating fresh berries, or the Wyomingwolf getting her own unique title, I'm going to explore what it breadly means to be a werewolf in the Taleblr Universe.
While I would love to start by deconstructing the mod that was used for Toast's transformation and continue with a fandom exploration of the idea, I do want to open with determining what is meant by Werewolf here.
What are Lycanthropes?
General Mythology
The idea of people turning into wolves exists back to the Epic of Gilgamesh, the first written story in the world.
From the Merriam-Webster Dictionary: "The word lycanthropy comes from the Greek words lykos, meaning “wolf,” and anthrōpos, meaning “human being.”"
From the Merriam-Webster Dictionary: "Though some doubts about the word's etymology still remain, werewolf probably comes from a prehistoric West Germanic compound whose constituent parts gave Old English wer ("man") and wulf ("wolf")."
Werewolves as we know them likely comes from European Folklore. However, the first werewolf story is said to be the Greek Myth of Lycaon, who was turned into a wolf with his sons.
Additionally from the previous source, a lot of British serial killers were thought to be werewolves devouring their prey. Kind of messed up.
Okay, no more links.
The general consensus is that Werewolves are people who are, in some way, also wolves, likely done through a transformation of some kind. In history, we see the transformation to be permanent, but when the legend came home it became something one could turn back from.
Scientifically, the full moon doesn't do anything to creatures, whether it be wolves or humans (no hate to people who's spiritual beliefs include the moon <3). However, the idea of humans turning into wolves on the full moon likely came from previous ideas that wolves howl Only at full moons... and then from there the idea that humans act weird on full moons followed.
While I'm not sure where it came from, most interpretations of werewolves has them as humanoid wolves, others as basically humans as rabies, and others still as sentient wolves. It seems like it doesn't matter where on the scale between human and wolf a werewolf falls, so long as it is a human who is turned into a wolf, whether temporary or permanent.
Apparently a full moon in January is called a wolf moon.
In Taleblr
There were about two to three videos about werewolves and the werewolf arc, which is about curing lycanthrope. Unfortunately, I'm struggling to find out how many videos are counted for that arc, and apparently Toast was cured off-screen and we never got proper closure until a livestream years later.
The werewolves most known for Taleblr are the ones from Toast's time as a werewolf. These werewolves use this player model and this mod on Gmod, for anyone wanting to experiment with it themselves ^^
Just about every example of a werewolf in Taleblr is a human-shaped creature with wolf claws and a wolfish face covered in fur. They can infect others through bites-- though whether this is only in wolf form or also in human form I'm not sure.
Based on the transformation mod's description, they are stronger than people, they are faster than people, they regenerate themselves when hurt, the infection can be spread incredibly quickly and begin affects on the same full moon they were bit.
Johnny Ghost says that Lycanthropes can be cured with a specific berry, because he was able to prevent his own transformation by eating them in advance... I think he may be partially wrong, though.
If Johnny was right about the berries, the arc wouldn't exist. They already had leftover berries and knew where several bushes are. No, I think the distinction is that Ghost was infected by Toast, who was not fully infected and was still switching between wolf and human.
Either that, or the cure only worked because Ghost ate so many BEFORE the infection settled, and Toast was too late.
Fun Fact; the June full moon is apparently named after strawberries... I think we found the berries? (I was totally going to say it was blueberries before this)
Werewolves sneak when hunting and may be color blind like dogs.
According to Toast, they love jelly and can be cured by berries, though I do think that may be him craving berries mid-transformation. Funnily enough, a British version of the word Jelly is Jell-o, cuz british people only call jelly jam.
According to Ghost, they can be killed with silver bullets, but according to other videos, they can be killed with normal weapons too.
The Werewolves
Johnny Toast
We don't know who infected Johnny Toast, so there isn't much to say about how the infection spreads aside from what we see between Toast and Ghost. What wee see between them is Toast lashing out and attacking Ghost and Ghost being only infected temporarily while Toast oscillated between forms. Unlike what Ghost thinks, there are a variety of reasons as to why the infection may not have taken to Ghost while solidifying on Toast. This includes:
Ghost just has a better immune system at fighting supernatural threats.
Toast was infected longer before he started taking measures to cure it.
Ghost's berry theory is real and Ghost just ate all of them in the area like a dick.
Whether or not the infection takes depends on entirely chance and Ghost got lucky
Because Toast killed someone while in the form of a wolf, it solidified the transformation.
Because Ghost died soon after being infected, it purged the infection before it could take root.
Since serial killers used to be considered werewolves, the infection vanished because Ghost is technically Already Infected.
However there's no confirmation as to what the real case is. I am not taking Ghost at face value because. The man just for infected and uninflected with lycanthropy in an hour, an infection process that caused actual delirium in Toast.
While Toast can't remember anything while a wolf, he has reacted to things that Ghost told him to do while infected, implying that the wolf either recognizes Ghost or has some basic dog training. People taking quirks of Toast and applying it to the wolf? Amazing. People making stories about Toast trying to hide his infection only for people to end up hurt? Chef’s kiss. People who depict the werewolf as a lumbering shadow intimidating others? love it. People who depict the werewolf as a little guy a little boyyy? Cute as fuck. Whatever the case, the fandom is incredibly creative and I love everything y’all do with him.
I think that the fandom choosing to not acknowledge Toast's cure is for the best. Toast being a werewolf allows for sooo much character and is another threat to consider from inside the house. What isn't to love about a consistent problem that can't be solved with banishment or stabbing? I'm a fan of the posts that ask if Toast is worried about being a danger to his friends and associates, and I'm a fan of the fluffier posts that allow for Toast to just be a massive dog. I’d draw stuff for it if i could draw dogs.
For Toast I'm going to say that he was a British Columbian wolf because they were apparently notably Large. They also notably have the darker colors of brown and black that Johnny Toast was while infected. Also, they can be found in America despite being British.
The Wolfman of Wyoming
The Wolfman, also known as Alberto Guppy's sister (who I'm gonna call Amelia Wulf) was apparently an anomaly in Wyoming based on how she got her own title by existing freely. We don't know if she can turn back, or if her transformation is permanent. Both she and Alberto are genetic experiments done by who Alberto thought were their parents, and she especially got the short end of the stick. When they escaped the lab, we know that Alberto got his memory erased, and with no memories or experiences in the world, he began living on the streets around the same time that people would've started to notice his sister in the area.
Unlike Johnny Toast, the Wolfman definitely wasn't infected the same way. Because she was created by what I can only assume was gene-splicing in an attempt to recreate certain animal-based monsters from mythology. While Alberto seems to have either been an attempt at sirens or mermaids, it's obvious that Amelia was a at least partially-successful attempt at making a werewolf. While she is terrorizing a state now that she’s free, my guess is that she’s looking for her brother, since we don’t know when they got separated, and is fucking shit up in the meantime. I think that Amelia’s “parents” were working to re-capture her before the authorities, or in this case PIE, could find her and find out what they were doing.
Since gray wolves are native to the area, it's likely that's what type of wolf Amelia was genetically fused with. More specifically, the northern Rocky Mountain subspecies of gray wolf.
Unwolf Werewolves
And now, a list of character who apply for the label of werewolf if they only turned into specifically a wolf.
- Officer Maloney, turns into a bird at will
- Gregory Gregory. Gregory, turns into a bird at will
- Sally Acachalla, turns into a “demon” when frustrated
- All Gingarians have two forms that they somewhat alternate between.
- Johnny Ghost/Jimmy Casket, turns into a serial killer at random
- Princeton Quagmire/Jimmy Casket, ditto
- Light Zeron, ditto
- Billy Acachalla, kinda turns into a bird.
- Papa Acachalla, TURNS INTO ANOTHER PERSON (JOSE JOSE JOSE JOSE) ON MONDAY MIDNIGHTS BECAUSE OF A CURSE.
Some of these are more werewolf-y than others. If any of these were wolves, it would qualify. Except maybe billy.
