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A werewolf is a savage predator. In its humanoid form, a werewolf has heightened senses, a fiery temper, and a tendency to eat rare meat. Its wolf form is fearsome, but its hybrid form is more terrifying by far.


Appearance[]

A furred and well-muscled humanoid body topped by a ravening wolf's head. Any humanoid creature can become a werewolf, not just humans, such as elves, dwarves, gnomes, halflings, etc. This is because the werewolf forms through a curse which isn't natural by any means.

Abilities[]

They are able to wield weapons in hybrid and humanoid form, although it prefers to tear foes apart with its powerful claws and bite.

  • Enhanced physique. Werewolves have enhanced speed and strength, reaction speed and increased senses (smell, vision and hearing).
  • Immunities. Werewolves are immune to all natural forms of attack except for silver weapons, magic on the other hand is quite effective.
  • Shapechange. During a full moon at night, the humanoid with the curse will transform into his hybrid form and will revert in the next morning. But at all other times, the humanoid can choose to be in wolf or humanoid form, but not their hybrid form.

Examples[]

TV shows[]

  • In TV series Teen Wolf, werewolves are given enhanced senses, and a few other various gifts, when they have transformed. Shape-shifting into a werewolf can heal scars, or even long-term diseases. While it is optional for a werewolf to ultimately decide to join a pack, contributing to a group aids the werewolf by helping them become physically stronger, and therefore, more powerful.[1]

References[]

  1. Werewolf, Teen Wolf Wiki

Folklore[]

In folklore, a werewolf (Old English: werwulf, "man-wolf") or occasionally lycanthrope /ˈlaɪkənˌθroʊp/ (Greek: λυκάνθρωπος lukánthrōpos, "wolf-person") is a human with the ability to shapeshift into a wolf (or, especially in modern film, a therianthropic hybrid wolflike creature), either purposely or after being placed under a curse or affliction (often a bite or scratch from another werewolf) and especially on the night of a full moon. Early sources for belief in this ability or affliction, called lycanthropy /laɪˈkænθrəpi/, are Petronius (27–66) and Gervase of Tilbury (1150–1228).

The werewolf is a widespread concept in European folklore, existing in many variants, which are related by a common development of a Christian interpretation of underlying European folklore developed during the medieval period. From the early modern period, werewolf beliefs also spread to the New World with colonialism. Belief in werewolves developed in parallel to the belief in witches, in the course of the Late Middle Ages and the Early Modern period. Like the witchcraft trials as a whole, the trial of supposed werewolves emerged in what is now Switzerland (especially the Valais and Vaud) in the early 15th century and spread throughout Europe in the 16th, peaking in the 17th and subsiding by the 18th century.

The persecution of werewolves and the associated folklore is an integral part of the "witch-hunt" phenomenon, albeit a marginal one, accusations of lycanthropy being involved in only a small fraction of witchcraft trials. During the early period, accusations of lycanthropy (transformation into a wolf) were mixed with accusations of wolf-riding or wolf-charming. The case of Peter Stumpp (1589) led to a significant peak in both interest in and persecution of supposed werewolves, primarily in French-speaking and German-speaking Europe. The phenomenon persisted longest in Bavaria and Austria, with persecution of wolf-charmers recorded until well after 1650, the final cases taking place in the early 18th century in Carinthia and Styria.

After the end of the witch-trials, the werewolf became of interest in folklore studies and in the emerging Gothic horror genre; werewolf fiction as a genre has pre-modern precedents in medieval romances and developed in the 18th century out of the "semi-fictional" chap book tradition. The trappings of horror literature in the 20th century became part of the horror and fantasy genre of modern popular culture.

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