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Asanbonsam β€” The Werewolf in fiction and folklore by-nc-nd

Published: 2013-06-10 23:10:28 +0000 UTC; Views: 12067; Favourites: 188; Downloads: 0
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Description I was planning a picture like this a long time ago, ever since I was so fed up with people being apparently unable to distinguish between the werewolf of fiction and the one of folklore, even so far as claiming that the typical traits of the fictional werewolf actually appear in true legends.
To be fair the full moon does occur and so does the silver and increased strength but rarely in that combination. The majority of werewolves could be killed just like any other living being, most were no stronger than ordinary wolves just often bigger, the full moon was a seriously minor detail that occurred only in some legends and as for phases of the moon in general, it could just as well be any other phase. In fact the oldest I know that actually names a moon phase as being part of the transformation is from England and stated that the werewolf transformed at New Moon. The bite doesn't exist in actual legend, all evidence points to it first appearing in true fiction (which unlike folklore and legend usually has no obvious or hidden claim to be true, which distinguishes it from these two) and having no folkloric predecessor, except it maybe being borrowed from the folkloric vampire.
Also the big wolf-man shape was practically non-existent. Usually what you see in old paintings and statues and the like and what is labeled a werewolf is actually a dog-head and was no shapeshifter at all, but rather a human dog hybrid (yes dog, some had clearly visible spots and dropped ears) and when you call that a werewolf you can call an angel a werebird or a centaur a werehorse and apparently no one does that unless confronted with that conundrum.
The usual folkloric werewolf is either a wolf or a very wolf-like canid. Sometimes they had human characteristics like eyes, hands or toes, sometimes even speech. But in either case those shapes had no resemblance to the man-wolf. But the most common shape was simply a big wolf.
And like I said the bite doesn't exist in legend, there is no credible source claiming this, the cyclic transformation could be tied to all sorts of factors and the most common means of transformation was via pelt/shirt or ointment. Also drinking magic water or having "lycanthropus flowers" (no idea whether these were legendary flowers or actually existing ones) were a means to an end. And that is another distinction between fiction and folklore. In folklore transformation is usually voluntary, in fiction forced.
Now some probably noticed the influence of Prescott and Lullabi here and while Prescott inspired it, I admit to directly copying Lullabi's style, because I think that fits, because most fictional werewolves especially in movies are just copies from another, you can easily switch them and there would be no difference.

It is one thing to want to address the werewolf from all angles, but claiming legends to exist when they are not is promoting untruth. Even if you think that myths and legends are also just fiction… that doesn't matter. If you claim a work of fiction to be something it is not you lie and in historical documents, whether fiction or not, thereby you make false claims about history.
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Comments: 108

Asanbonsam In reply to ??? [2024-05-17 05:45:59 +0000 UTC]

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epicfiredragon2011 In reply to Asanbonsam [2024-05-17 06:48:20 +0000 UTC]

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Asanbonsam In reply to epicfiredragon2011 [2024-05-17 11:38:57 +0000 UTC]

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CarlosSerra [2024-04-24 13:46:24 +0000 UTC]

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ZadieTheTenacious [2022-06-02 17:59:34 +0000 UTC]

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Asanbonsam In reply to ZadieTheTenacious [2022-06-06 14:58:42 +0000 UTC]

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ZadieTheTenacious In reply to Asanbonsam [2022-06-07 17:17:00 +0000 UTC]

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Asanbonsam In reply to ZadieTheTenacious [2022-06-09 06:23:40 +0000 UTC]

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ZadieTheTenacious In reply to Asanbonsam [2022-06-09 17:10:59 +0000 UTC]

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dcblackstar [2021-05-16 03:54:01 +0000 UTC]

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Asanbonsam In reply to dcblackstar [2021-08-07 11:33:53 +0000 UTC]

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dcblackstar In reply to Asanbonsam [2021-08-08 00:18:15 +0000 UTC]

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Galaxy-Fighter [2016-07-02 17:12:03 +0000 UTC]

Most of our folklore was heavily transoformed with time (thanks, Hellywood) not just monsters. Especially, thanks to Christianity, which wasn't very kind to legends of our european forefathers.
Β But frankly, I found the fiction one more entertaining
Watching two gigantic wolf/human giants duking it out on each other is more fun, than watching two wolves fight.
Also, you forgot to mention, that in folklore, werewolves weren't necessarily evil. As any human being, they could have chosen good or evil.
They weren't berserk beast that wanted to kill everything and everyone.

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Asanbonsam In reply to Galaxy-Fighter [2016-07-27 16:48:37 +0000 UTC]

Yeah, but that is difficult to portray on a picture so I stuck with the way of transformation and bodyshape. Now as for watching two wolf-men fight against two wolves fight... both have their advantages, the problem however for me is that most werewolf fights in Hollywood are so damn boring because the werewolves in question are so dumb that tactic is practically non-existent, especially in vampires vs. werewolves, I think White Wolf were the only ones doing it right, and in such cases you can only see the same thing over and over before it gets boring. I want a smart werewolf, not one that is so dumb and loudΒ that you can easily outsmart it andΒ hear it approaching miles in advance.

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Galaxy-Fighter In reply to Asanbonsam [2016-07-27 17:57:54 +0000 UTC]

Wait, what's a White Wolf? I find several things that it could refer to.

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Asanbonsam In reply to Galaxy-Fighter [2017-02-11 08:40:39 +0000 UTC]

Sorry for the insanely late reply, I completely overlooked all these messages.
"White Wolf" was/is a game company that has several werewolf related titles (just like vampire related, mummy related etc.) and their werewolves are overall more animistic/spiritual than anything else. They have a strong horror element to them, it is a horror game line after all, and I think it is generally well done. Except for some horrible mistakes they made.

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Galaxy-Fighter In reply to Asanbonsam [2016-07-27 17:55:04 +0000 UTC]

What about Hemlock groves? This one did werwolves pretty good in my opinion.

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Asanbonsam In reply to Galaxy-Fighter [2017-02-11 08:41:16 +0000 UTC]

"Hemlock Grove" is at first a book and later a show based on that book. I think they are currently in their 3rd or 4th season.

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Rogue98 [2014-01-04 15:08:05 +0000 UTC]

Just like how folkloric vampires didn't have fangs, super speed/strength, hypnosis, flight, weakness to sunlight, shape shifting into bats, lack of reflection, glowing eyes and basically anything else you see in the movies or TV. Makes you wonder where they get this stuff from...

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Asanbonsam In reply to Rogue98 [2014-01-04 15:36:08 +0000 UTC]

Well shifting into bats might not have been among their powers but some versions had shapeshifting abilities, I remember a tale where it was allegedly a broom a vampire shifted into.

That and stuff like the bean counting is the reason why I don't consider Meyerpires ridiculous for their sparkling but rather their near invulnerability.

Some might have had some sort of hypnotic or luring powers but that is nowhere near as strong as the deus ex machina like glamour, compulsion, encantado etc. that so many writers today use, and use badly and inconsistently.

These really strong superpowers came to supercharge the vampires and make them cool. Also possibly because many writers have no idea about the richness of mythology and therefore do not consider something else and therefore make vampires practically god-like. Of course they also cannot differentiate folklore and legend from pure fiction.

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Rogue98 In reply to Asanbonsam [2014-01-04 23:23:47 +0000 UTC]

If they could be destroyed by a piece of wood, couldn't go into someone's house without being invited in once by the owner (that was in folklore) and were shit-scared of crucifixes and holy water etc then I would say that they were FAR from invulnerable (in actual legends anyway). Overall, I'd say vampires in folklore were rather pathetic creatures who (by whatever means) were clinging onto their last breath of life by stealing others'. Of course Hollywood came along and decided to turn them into freakin X-Men to make more money so the folkloric side to vampires has almost vanished from most peoples' minds.

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Asanbonsam In reply to Rogue98 [2014-01-05 06:03:38 +0000 UTC]

Definitely, to the degree that they no longer notice how often this "humans don't know they are real" doesn't work. Just like with the man-wolves. These things are too strong, big and violent to actually fade into myth so easily. And I am talking werewolves and vampires.

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Rogue98 In reply to Asanbonsam [2014-01-05 15:48:20 +0000 UTC]

Precisely, in most stories you read, werewolves and vampires etc are "forbidden to let humans know that they exist" and yet they still go around feeding off and slaughtering said humans 24 7, and they expect people to not notice them ever? It's ludicrous and whoever came up with myths of supernatural creatures was just stupid.

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Asanbonsam In reply to Rogue98 [2014-01-05 15:54:01 +0000 UTC]

Well no one exactly came up with it it just sort of developed. But in fiction it is ridiculous what some authors come up with. Just as much as they use vampirism and werewolfism not only as an excuse for homocidal behavior but also as a stand-in for minorities, which is ridiculous since for the most part these monsters are dangerous killers.

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Rogue98 In reply to Asanbonsam [2014-01-05 15:58:28 +0000 UTC]

If creatures like that were ever actually real (which is highly unlikely) they'd probably be extinct due to their own stupidity for targeting human beings as their prey. But don't tell Hollywood that, they'd probably bite you themselves.

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Asanbonsam In reply to Rogue98 [2014-01-05 16:08:32 +0000 UTC]

Well not creatures like the ones in films and books of course. Fictional werewolves were rather an individual phenomenon or one affecting entire people, not something like packs, so they could hide somewhat and vampires were also something rather individual due to the evil inside in the dead people that kept them "alive" so to say.

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Rogue98 In reply to Asanbonsam [2014-01-05 18:14:31 +0000 UTC]

There was very little logic in anything back then

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KaliberZ [2013-07-16 15:09:23 +0000 UTC]

Great artwork

and Thanks for Ilumminating me with the folklore concept, I had the feeling that I knew it before, but not with much details...
now I can keep that in mind!

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Asanbonsam In reply to KaliberZ [2013-07-16 16:10:42 +0000 UTC]

Thanks.

And trust me, this not even half of what is really out there.

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KaliberZ In reply to Asanbonsam [2013-07-16 16:20:04 +0000 UTC]

then someday I have to investigate...

That kind of information will be useful for me... like I said again: Thank you!

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QuebecoisWolf [2013-06-27 00:42:08 +0000 UTC]

Also, I wanted to add a pet peeve of mine: when you see a movie with a purely fictional werewolf, but there's an "expert" who can explain EXACTLY what the werewolf is based on "folklore," as if every piece of werewolf folklore describes exactly the same thing. Anyone who's looked at werewolf legends knows that they vary wildly, although most of the modern myth is either rare or outright unheard of in folklore.

Howling: Reborn earns a special prize for the expert not only being completely right about the werewolves in the movie despite being an idiot, but the monsters of the movie having literally nothing to do with the werewolves of folklore.

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Asanbonsam In reply to QuebecoisWolf [2013-06-27 20:57:54 +0000 UTC]

So true. Which I could forgive if it is done right, but it just isn't. These man-wolves often reproduce too fast, they are too uncontrollable, even to themselves, they are too strong and too big. It makes no sense that they should be a myth. It doesn't fit.

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QuebecoisWolf In reply to Asanbonsam [2013-06-28 12:41:18 +0000 UTC]

Well, Yetis are pretty darn big, but they're part of folklore. But one day, I would like to see a werewolf movie where the protagonist goes to see the "folklore expert" who isn't very helpful because very little of the folklore agrees and none of it sounds like the film's version of lycanthropy.

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Asanbonsam In reply to QuebecoisWolf [2013-06-28 20:46:52 +0000 UTC]

But part of Yeti folklore is that they are shy, these man-wolves are usually the direct opposite.

Personally I doubt that any film-maker has even the basic knowledge to come up with the scenario you suggested.

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QuebecoisWolf In reply to Asanbonsam [2013-06-28 21:55:36 +0000 UTC]

True dat. Most movie werewolves would be discovered within 48 hours.

Unfortunately, no.

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Asanbonsam In reply to QuebecoisWolf [2013-07-01 09:11:19 +0000 UTC]

Yeah, even when they look like the ones in TVD they are so rabid and powerful that they could never stay hidden. Not even the ones in True Blood are subtle enoug, not with their addiction and biker culture.
The only case so far where it could actually work are the werewolves in Hemlock Grove.

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QuebecoisWolf In reply to Asanbonsam [2013-07-01 23:45:07 +0000 UTC]

I haven't seen the werewolves on either show, but it's rare that you see werewolves who are either in a situation where they don't have to hide or actually doing a decent job hiding.

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Asanbonsam In reply to QuebecoisWolf [2013-07-02 14:21:59 +0000 UTC]

Well the TVD werewolves are already strong in human shape, in wolf seemingly even stronger, at last faster. They tale ho knows how long to transform while screaming their lungs out and afterwards are totally rabid and attack anything, not that the show ever treated that consistently, and due to their speed could cover miles in mere minutes and could not be contained without magic prior to the invention of steel chains, which makes the presented background totally idiotic.

True Blood's I think have increased strength in either form but not that much. The presented ones were mostly agressive drug addicts looking like bikers.

I have not seen much of Hemlock Grove but they have increased strength only in wolf form.

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QuebecoisWolf In reply to Asanbonsam [2013-07-02 23:49:54 +0000 UTC]

I've never liked mindless rabid werewolves much and they're certainly quite incapable of hiding or of being tolerated. And I really dislike it when anything moves at Ludicrous Speed (if you've seen Spaceballs).

I heard that True Blood's weres are a lot less powerful than the vampires because... uh... well, market demographics show that vampires get the highest ratings.

Haven't seen that. Should I?

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Asanbonsam In reply to QuebecoisWolf [2013-07-11 14:44:04 +0000 UTC]

I saw spaceballs and sadly most current film parodies don't have that classic style.

The werewolves in True Blood are far less powerful, smart or good looking than the vampires. No idea why vampires still get the highest ratings when they are constantly the same.

As for Hemlock Grove... I haaven't seen it yet. I hear good and bad things about it. But in either way it cannot be as horrible as Hemlock Grove.
The only thing all seem to agree is that the werewolf transformation is one of the best ever seen.

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QuebecoisWolf In reply to Asanbonsam [2013-07-13 02:30:00 +0000 UTC]

No, they don't. I have no idea why they can't make good (or even plain old mediocre) parodies anymore.

That's why. People like the homogeneity of modern vampires, especially the fact that they're almost always sexy white people.

I've actually heard mixed things about the transformation and mostly bad about the show. Still, it's on Netflix and it's free, so I guess it's worth trying at least one episode. I just feel like it's going to be the same generic horror werewolf story I've seen a thousand times.

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Asanbonsam In reply to QuebecoisWolf [2013-07-13 12:05:23 +0000 UTC]

Well they still make good parodies, just not films. HISHE still does good ones.

Don't forget that the vampires are also almost always rich.

Hm, I heard only good stuff about the transformation apart from the old complaint that the result was a wolf and not a wolf-man.
I don't think that the werewolf part is that strong in the show. But so far the first episode wasn't great but it kept me interested enough to try the second one. Especially that upyr guy has psycho written all over his face.

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QuebecoisWolf In reply to Asanbonsam [2013-07-14 16:06:05 +0000 UTC]

You're right. All of the actual comedy is online. Given that comedy is about relevance, it makes sense that the most up-to-date format would be the most successful one.

Well, of course. It's all part of the sex appeal.

It always bugs me how little "werewolf" there is in werewolf stories. It's understandable when it's a movie or a TV show, but when I see a written work or comic that just doesn't feature many transformed werewolves, I don't get it.

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Asanbonsam In reply to QuebecoisWolf [2013-07-14 21:07:39 +0000 UTC]

I don't think Hemlock Grove is really a werewolf story, so I don't bother much.
Teen Wolf on the other hand is a different matter. These werewolves seem more like were-big-cats to me.

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QuebecoisWolf In reply to Asanbonsam [2013-07-14 21:46:34 +0000 UTC]

Teen Wolves look to me like sexy 20-somethings with contact lenses, pointy ears, and fangs.

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Asanbonsam In reply to QuebecoisWolf [2013-07-15 20:22:20 +0000 UTC]

They added a few 30 and 40 somethings now but the basic is the same.
Also all new male werewolves are white, have dirty blond hair and are muscular but slim. Or in other words: Davis' claim to make a show without racism and sexism has so far massively failed.
At least most of the newcomers have memoranly faces. Except for two, no idea whether it is natural for them to look so blant or whether the director wants it.

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QuebecoisWolf In reply to Asanbonsam [2013-07-16 00:39:22 +0000 UTC]

Davis claimed to make a show critical of racism and sexism?Β  I catch any of that from what I've seen.Β  Unfortunately, since they can only hire pretty white male faces, there's not a lot that can be done to make them look distinctive.

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Asanbonsam In reply to QuebecoisWolf [2013-07-16 16:17:39 +0000 UTC]

Davis claimed to try and create a show without racism and sexism, this is why he supposedly always, except for the now dead black character Boyd, cast color blind. But if that is true I would say that he must have an unconscious bias, no way is all that coincidence.

And even pretty and white can give more variety than what he currently has on the show. Apart from the main character and one support cast there aren't even black-haired white people in there. The character Stiles is light brown of hair or so.

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QuebecoisWolf In reply to Asanbonsam [2013-07-16 23:23:55 +0000 UTC]

"Now dead black character"... I think that says it all.

I notice that since blond hair isn't that common, the modern media for the teenage demographic is going for light brown.

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Asanbonsam In reply to QuebecoisWolf [2013-07-17 05:19:52 +0000 UTC]

Yep Boyd is dead and supposedly Scott can become an Alpha without killing one because he has such a strong will and such high virtue.... No he doesn't, he is an idiot. In season 1 he was more interested in getting famous as lacrosse then stopping the rampaging Alpha, he usually takes friends for granted, never stopped Derek from mistreating Stiles (Scott's best friend), never asks the right question, can't distinguish between what he thinks and experience and what others do, thinks he is always right, is easily distracted and never plans ahead.

Β 

But even light brown isn't that common, and trust me these werewolves are what is called dirty blond. Which is definitely not color blind casting, the percentage of people (even white people) with dirty blond hair and light brownΒ hair are not common enough to justify such a high percentage at a casting out of pure chance. And considered that the two werewolf twins are one gay and one straight twin, he could have taken any people of similar age since people would buy the opposite sexual orientation more in the case of fraternal twins. So apparently they are cast for looks first and foremost, especially since the new werewolves barely talk.

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