The Hale/McCall pack experiences their first snow storm as a pack and all the wolves get zoomies in the snow (Stiles and Lydia record it on their phones… later the wolves beg for them to delete them, they don’t… Derek sulks but isn’t actual mad (he had a good snow day))
Alright, we're breaking it down and I don't know if it's unpopular opinions, but BOY IT'S OPINIONS.
note, this will be long so I'm sorry in advanced. Also note, this is mostly Teen Wolf Lore specific because I'm ME.
Werewolves in their shifted form are red/green colorblind.
Wolves in general can’t distinguish red from green due to color receptors. Humans have three color receptors in their eyes: blue, green and yellow; wolves have two color receptors: blue and yellow, making them red-green color blind.
A wolf’s eye structure allows them to distinguish more shades of gray than humans which provides good peripheral and night vision. Meaning they can see well in low light conditions and have a wilder field of view. The structure of a wolf’s eye and ability to intake information supports the theory of werewolves having “speedy reflexes”.
So let’s use that in the context of humans changing into a werewolf, that would reduce the amount of colors they could see when in wolf form due to the new limit of color receptors. Trade off, they can see in the dark and be super human with their identifications.
In certain movies or shows, black and white is used when looking through the werewolf’s eyes, so this supports the theory that wolves in media are thought to be red/green color blind when using that lens.
Werewolves age at a slower rate - specifically every 7 human years they age 1 - and stop aging around 55
Dog jokes aside, your body goes through cell regeneration every 7-10 years. When you’re injured or sick, your cells are damaged. Your cells also die all the time, a natural process called apoptosis. Your body needs to replace damaged or dead cells with new, healthy ones. To create these new cells, the existing healthy cells in your body go through cell division, or mitosis. During mitosis, a cell splits into 2 cells, each with an identical set of chromosomes. These new healthy cells can then be used to help you heal.
Werewolves have been shown to not "remove" issues, rather have it so slow that it no longer affects the person. Teen Wolf had Scott's Asthma return and Erica's seizures when their powers were 'paused'. This would be the same for the cell regeneration. your body is "completely new" in 7 years, so a werewolf would be at a slower rate. A 1:7 rate which just Happens to be dog years as well. Werewolves will start this process around puberty in my meta, because teenage years are when your body fully really gets that understanding of what it should be, so there.
As for 55, the body starts to seriously lose grip of its DNA after 55 years, and the decay starts to kick in at that time. Werewolves wouldn't have that issue, their DNA would constantly heal and therefore would keep them at the same age for that specific point. Now if their powers were removed, this might kick start the aging back again and they might see some issues, but so long as they maintain this same healing process, they would essentially be 55 for the rest of their life both from a DNA perspective and from a visual view.
Werewolves are the superior supernatural creature in modern media
So I was thinking about Remus Lupin this morning, as you do, and I remembered something I read on the Wizarding World website (informed by text from Prisoner of Azkaban) that fleshes out Fenrir Greyback’s attack on Remus in a horrifying way.
While in its animal form, the werewolf is almost indistinguishable in appearance from the true wolf, although the snout may be slightly shorter and the pupils smaller (in both cases more ‘human’) and the tail tufted rather than full and bushy. (Source)
If werewolves in the book look like true wolves besides the tufted tail, the smaller pupils, and the shorter snout, how did Lyall Lupin know his son was bitten by Fenrir Greyback specifically? Lyall never saw Greyback transform because the Ministry let him go before the full moon, so he and the Ministry didn’t actually know what Greyback’s wolf form looked like.
The answer that occurred to me is that Greyback must’ve been human for at least some of his attack on Remus and transformed when Lyall was close enough to recognize him. Which means that knowing Greyback’s brand of cruelty, he likely transformed mid-bite.
Need more evidence? So did I.
Shortly before Remus Lupin’s fifth birthday, as he slept peacefully in his bed, Fenrir Greyback forced open the boy’s window and attacked him. Lyall reached the bedroom in time to save his son’s life, driving Greyback out of the house with a number of powerful curses. However, henceforth, Remus would be a fully fledged werewolf. (Source)
This quote, also off the Wizarding World website because I didn’t want to comb the books for quotes right now, has some really important evidence in it.
Starting from the end, “Remus would be a fully-fledged werewolf.” Why is that key? Because of this:
To become a werewolf, it is necessary to be bitten by a werewolf in their wolfish form at the time of the full moon. (Source)
For Remus to be a werewolf, Greyback had to be in his wolf form when he bit him. Otherwise, Remus would have been badly injured and likely affected like Bill Weasley was (assuming he survived the attack at five years old...), but not a true werewolf.
Again, though: Lyall Lupin recognized Fenrir Greyback as his son’s attacker. He had never seen Greyback’s wolf form, so he would have needed to see the man’s face for long enough to identify him. Greyback had to be human for at least some of this encounter.
I can back it up, too - the article says that Greyback “forced open the boy’s window.” While the Internet is frustratingly contradictory on whether or not wolves can climb trees/walls (assuming that Remus had a second-story bedroom), it doesn’t actually matter where he slept or if Greyback needed to climb to get there, because forcing open a window is an action that implies hands. A wolf could break glass and/or a screen, but its paws couldn’t force a window open by messing with the frame or the lock. That needs human dexterity, or at the very least opposable thumbs.
So here’s the story I give you:
Fenrir Greyback does his research. He picks the moon, plans his location, and plans the time of night. He forces open the window - with human hands - and enters the room.
Greyback attacks, Remus screams, the full moon hits, and whatever nightmare he thought he was in grows even worse as his father bursts into the room at his cry just in time to see one monster turn into another. Remus Lupin witnessed a full-grown werewolf transform basically on top of him at five years old. And it looked like this:
THIS IS A NEAR-CANON IMAGE. Go to this Wizarding World article, it’s right there. If I saw this in my house I’d lose my shit. Anyway.
This is where my speculation gets iffy, because I don’t have a biology background beyond high school, but if Remus was bitten as Greyback was transforming... medically, that would be bad, the fact that it’s a werewolf bite aside.
Okay, so based on this GIF from the Prisoner of Azkaban movie? During a werewolf’s transformation, their skull changes shape from human to lupine. In terms of what matters to someone in the process of being bitten, that means a bigger, stronger jaw and considerably more, larger teeth.
Remus Lupin was a few weeks shy of five years old when he was bitten, assuming that it was the last full moon before his birthday (which is March 10, so we’re looking at around mid-February according to Google). Five-year-olds are... not that big, so wherever Remus was bitten (again, my chosen field of study isn’t biology) looks rough.
If Fenrir Greyback bit him mid-transformation, which seems sadistic in a very on-brand way for Greyback, that means that his teeth and jaw were actively moving and growing, so I’m not surprised that Lyall’s arrival had to be “in time to save his son’s life.” If that had continued, Remus might have been ripped apart. If Greyback had him by a limb, he was probably at risk of losing it, and if he bit closer to the torso, there are a lot of pretty important organs and such that wouldn’t react well to a human skull turning into a wolf skull in the middle of them.
So our story ends with Lyall cursing Greyback out of the house and Remus badly injured, his body the mangled result of the violent transition from human to wolf.
All that was an incredibly bloody, gory, awful, nightmare-fuel-ish way to say that Fenrir Greyback SUCKS, because based on the evidence we’ve been given, he deliberately timed his attack at the moment of his transformation so as to inflict the most damage - both emotional and physical.
The whole A/B/O thing, in addition to leading to some just... gross dynamics, doesn't even reflect accurately the way wolves (and other pack animals) interact. In the wild wolf packs are made of large families, generally with a set of parents and multiple litters of siblings, where the older ones will help raise and mentor the younger ones. They're very socially intelligent and rely on each other, working together to achieve common goals like raising young and catching food. If you were really wanting to do an accurate wolf dynamic for your werewolves, massive multigenerational families and found families are gonna be your more accurate tropes.
You wanna include 'wolflike' personality traits? Wolves love pups/kids. Werewolf Teacher/Camp Counsellor should be a MUCH bigger trope than it is, honestly. It doesn't matter how tough or big your wild wolf is, they always get excited when they can tell another wolf (or human!) is pregnant and they're all involved in raising the young together.
In addition, because they're werewolves (AKA HUMAN??? MOST OF THE TIME????? AND THEREFORE PRESUMABLY POSSESS COMMON SENSE AND DECENCY?????) there's no reason they shouldn't have some kind of social networking that allows for werewolves to have packs outside of their own immediate family members and/or in larger numbers than wild wolves, so your WHOLE CITY could contain just a handful of packs at most. The older members (grandparents and such) would have some kind of communal leadership structure, with everyone in the pack connected for mutual support and aid. You'd have the largest network of babysitters in the city. Young LGBTQ+ werewolves would have a supportive family. Older LGBTQ+ werewolves could run after school programs and Rainbow centers for LGBTQ+ youth. If someone lost their job, or was in an abusive situation, or otherwise suddenly found themselves in a vulnerable position, they'd have the whole pack to fall back on. Werewolves moving to new cities would be able to find contact info for the local pack members, and non-wolf pack members like partners and friends would have access to that whole network of support. That doesn't mean you're never going to have conflict, because people are people and personalities clash, but it wouldn't be based on any type of bizarre idea of power dynamics.
Just. Gimme massive werewolf families who spend their full moons together napping in a giant cuddle pile. Gimme movie nights where a young werewolf in a new place is hanging out with their friends in their wolf form for the first time and realising that this is their new pack. Gimme a werewolf courting someone and finding out they're a single parent and rather than being scared off being committed to being a good presence in the kid's life. Fuck a/b/o, gimme were families.
Did anyone else notice that during the final fight sequence with Maul the cage-fighting monster in The Hero’s Journey, Dean called him “Madison”?
“Bring it on, Madison!” he yelled:
Just before he got kicked in the nuts?
Yes, Dean was calling the dude girls’ names beginning with “M” to “emasculate” him, (which, you deserved the kick in the balls for, Deano) but also, Madison was Sam’s werewolf lover, way back in 2x17 Heart.:
Werewolves, more than any other monster on SPN, as I’ve written about before, represent the Winchesters’ journey away from their father’s (and Chuck’s) black-and-white view of monsters, towards a more nuanced “grey area” approach:
So it’s deeply poignant that Madison’s name is mentioned in an episode where Sam and Dean are saved by their werewolf friend Garth, whilst being pissed on from a great height by Chuck (screwing around with their health, Baby etc).
Dabb uses Madison’s mention (emerging from Dean’s unconscious association) to highlight, just that little bit more, what a giant dick Chuck really is.
Because, Sam, with the level of knowlege the Winchesters had back then (not knowing about the Men of Letters’ werewolf cure which later saved Claire) had to (at her request) kill Madison.
And now we know how actively Chuck was interferring in his “favourite story” along the way (a little nudge here, a little poke there) we know he enjoyed Sam’s suffering, falling for Maddison and then having to put that “monster” down.
Which was also a deliberate and an awful mirror, at the time, for Dean to see, of what his father, John Winchester, had told him he might have to do to Sammy himself.
So raise a glass to Madison.
And let’s hope someone kicks Chuck in the nuts before The End.
Werewolves have a complex and evolving history on Supernatural and so they are a perfect “monster” for Yockey to use in 15x05.
They started out as apparently irredeemably monstrous, like poor Maddison in 2x17 Heart, who “has to” die once she’s been bitten, but eventually, Sam and Dean end up with a werewolf friend (Garth).
So, werewolves are a sign of the way in which the SPN narrative and the Winchesters’ views of the supernatural has evolved over time, apparently despite Chuck, who in 15x05 and in full puppet-master mode, reverts back to a werewolves-are-irredeemable-monsters old script.
I’ve written more about the evolution and meaning of the werewolf in Supernatural previously here:
In 15x05 we learn it’s not a full moon, so the Winchesters speculate the werewolf brothers must be “born werewolves” rather than “bitten” ones. But we know, from Garth and his born-werewolf wife Bess (9x12 Sharp Teeth) that born-werewolves aren’t monstrous and don’t bite people. So it seems Chuck is f-king with his own previous story rules in order to mess with the Winchesters.
Andy and Josh May are werewolf brothers who live in a cabin in the woods (very fairytale - very Little Red Riding Hood - all the better to eat you with) and argue over what their dead father would have said about their life-choices.
They are supposed, by Chuck’s writing-hand (as Lilith points out to Dean in the Impala) to act as fore-shadowing for the fate of the Winchesters themselves - one brother kills the other.
If we consider them as Chuck-created mirrors for Dean and Sam more generally; there is a dark (even incestuous) feel to their lives and relationship:
They live together, otherwise alone, eating hearts; which paints Chuck’s preferred vision of the Winchesters as unhealthily co-dependent as his ideal (and unchanging) narrative.
“I don’t lie to you, I look out for you,” says Josh (the elder) to Andy (the younger) whilst persuading him into a bad decision (that they need to kill Ashley).
This epitomises the early script John Winchester impressed on Dean, in all its contradictions, because of course, for years, as part of the legacy of their traumatic childhood, the Winchester brothers did nothing BUT lie to each other about important stuff.
However, despite Chuck, the narrative itself has evolved, and Sam and Dean’s relationship has evolved too. The toxic co-dependency foisted on them as children as a survival mechanism, because of their childhood neglect by John after Mary’s death, is something they have struggled with, and worked through to a significant degree, over the course of their journey.
Chuck’s version of the Winchesters just isn’t right any longer, just as his script for werewolves isn’t right any longer either.
However, Sam and Dean aren’t all the way free, internally, just yet. Sam’s instinct was still to conceal what he’s been going through (with the God-wound induced AU “red-visions”) from his brother.
One of the keys to defeating Chuck’s script must therefore be, as this little mirrored, but mirrored-wrong, werewolf brother tableau tells us, to defeat Chuck’s emotional script for the Winchesters,
In other words, the Winchester brothers need to talk, really talk, openly and honestly with one another.
That way, they may avoid Chuck ripping their hearts out and having them destroy one another, like his little melodrama version in 15x05.
Teen Wolf headcanon: werewolves are Not Morning People. Natural wolves' sleep habits vary depending on time of year, but for the most part, they're nocturnal. In summer, they might not start moving around until late evening/early night.
For bitten wolves, it's not as bad. If they were morning people before, odds are they're still morning people now. Even so, between the hours of 11 and 3, good fucking luck trying to get them to do any kind of strenuous activity. Wolf Brain says Too Hot.
Born wolves, however, is a whole nother ballgame. You wanna wake them up before noon? Best be ready to dodge some claws because they WILL take a swipe at whoever dares. Can't even try the old 'yoink the blankets' trick because werewolf strength. And of course, you should never send one born wolf to wake up another, odds are they'll just climb into bed with them and go back to sleep with bonus cuddles.
Derek is this weird kind of hybrid. Odds are, he will be awake on a given morning, but do not try and engage with him in any way, shape, or form before 10, or at least until he's had minimum three cups of lycanthrope-strength coffee. And don't ask him to wake up anyone else because no, he will not use his Alpha authority to get their asses out of bed, he will go "oh, den comfy," and crawl into bed and go right back to sleep, and good fucking luck trying to get BOTH of them up. It does not matter whose bed it is, or who is in it. A warm bed is a warm bed, and snuggles are snuggles. This has happened with Peter.
Of course, not everyone tries to fight. Stiles, Allison, Lydia, as the pack's mostly human members, are generally relegated breakfast tasks because they're the only ones with enough functioning braincells, but sometimes they want to sleep in, too, and werewolves are cuddle-oriented. They don't give up their snuggle-buddies easily. All they gotta do is cuddle up with their werewolf SO and mumble, "I'm cold, baby, hold me," or anything to that effect, and BAM, they got a surefire wakeup call deflector.
Stiles is the worst about taking advantage of this. In fact, the little shit has specifically set things up so he can sleep in. He waits until Derek gets his first cup of coffee in before off-handedly suggesting, "Hey, wanna go wake up Erica?" because her room is closest to the kitchen, obviously. And off Derek shuffles, still too asleep to question it. Stiles waits ten minutes to be certain, then goes into Erica's room, and yup, they're both deadass asleep. He goes to the end of the bed and crawls up between them, and they move to let him in because yes, two snuggle-buddies is better than one, and voila, Stiles has now guaranteed himself another three hours of sleep because no one is suicidal enough to try waking up Derek and Erica at the same time. They're not wakeup call deflectors, they're a goddamn SHIELD WALL.
Allison, Lydia, the morning betas: Alright, everyone up, let's go! Evil waits for no were! Good werewolves don't sleep in, let's move it.
Stiles, snuggled between Derek and Erica: Game, set, fucking match, bitches.
Okay wait, so how long do werewolves live in your world? Like, are their average lifespans longer than humans, or are they similar? (Is Nathan actually getting up there, or do the kidlets just think he's ancient bc he's so much older than they are?)
So you know how one year is seven years in dog years? It’s sort of like that, but werewolves live seven times longer humans. Old werewolves are rare though.There’s too much war to let them grow old. Your average wereling (the off-spring of a human and a werefolk) can live to be about 100 or so, give or take a few decades. It depends which traits they inherit.
So the kidlets just think he’s ancient because he’s about 45 years older than they are, and anyone older than them must be a gazillion years old. (Vlad is in fact, the crypt keeper to them.)
It doesn’t help that Nathan returns home from war with numerous severe injuries, and moves stiffly like an old man instead of the spry 50 something he was before he left. That alone makes him seem even older than their father who is somewhere in the region of about two hundred, but still moves like a man in his prime, even if his hair has gone white. (And wouldn’t yours if you had 12 children all under the age of 100 before the time you were the equivalent of 40.)
“Uncle Ivar” however is near legendary among the packs, as he’s rumored to be over 300 years old, though no one knows his exact age. Likely not even Ivar.
