Lycanthrope

Lycanthrope

Naming
Others	Werewolf (masculine or gender neutral) Were-wolf Wolf Man Wifwolf (feminine, seldom used)
Morphology
Body type	Canine-humanoid
Average height	Varies
Average weight	Varies
Intelligence
Sentience	Sentient
Sapience	Varies
Aggressivity	Varies (typically Extreme)
Language	Howling Roaring Growling and Snarling Sometimes capable of talking, even when transformed
Ecology
Place of origin	Europe
Habitat	Anywhere
Diet	Carnivorous
Locomotion	Bipedal Sometimes quadruped when transformed
Lifespan	Human-like
Reproduction	Viviparous, or assimilation via biting
Related species	Human Werecat Vampire
Behind the Scenes
Universe	Real
Performed by	Various

Lycanthropy is the condition in which a human being is periodically transformed into a vicious wolf or a human/wolf hybrid. A person affected by this condition is referred to as a Werewolf or Lycanthrope.

Historically, numerous people have been accused of being werewolves, with wide persecutions happening all over Europe, particularly during the Renaissance.

Etymologically, the term "Werewolf" should be exclusively used for males. The female equivalent would probably be "Wifwolf", which is seldom used.

Overview[]

In modern stories, the transformation into the Werewolf is involuntary, triggered when the subject finds himself or herself under the influence of the full moon. How much they retain (or fail to retain) their sapience and self-control after the transformation varies from tale to tale. They're also shown to be highly vulnerable to silver.

Like vampirism, lycanthropy is typically portrayed as a transmitted condition: the victims of Werewolf bites will become infected and start turning into Werewolves themselves. Conversely, it has also been portrayed as an inherited generic condition, or as the result of curses and other forms of dark magic.

Stories about werewolves have existed since ancient times and were already popular in the Greek and Roman civilizations. In literature, they have been popular since the Middle Ages, with Marie de France's "Bisclavret" constituting one of the earliest examples.

Association between Werewolves and Vampires was already recurring in Bram Stoker's prose, in which vampires can typically assume the form of a wolf, and exert command over both natural and supernatural wolves. As a result, many works have portrayed Werewolves as servants and associates of Vampires; with the bloody rivalry sometimes seen between the two races constituting a more modern trope.

Appearance[]

Their transformed forms may have varying levels of resemblance to wolves. They may either be completely wolf-like, or be humanoid with minor wolf characteristics, like fur and fangs, or they may simply resemble an anthropomorphic wolf, the last being the most common.

In popular culture[]

Werewolves are featured in The Lost World season 2 episode "The Visitor", in which they are feared by native tribes of the plateau. Lycanthropy is portrayed as highly virulent, as it can be transmitted even by the smallest scratches. The first symptoms of infection manifest in the form of a strong debilitating fever and painful convulsions, only for the subject to return to normal on the next day, but start showing animalistic and violent tendencies. Only under the moonlight does the physical transformation occur. According to a local shaman, werewolves can only be harmed by silver or fire. It has been shown that these werewolves live in dark places, sleep communally in caves and are mostly active at night, leading Prof. Challenger to speculate that they might be sensitive to light. They come back to normal during the day, and may also return to their human form when they die. At the end of the episode, Challenger manages to develop a cure by using a silver nitrate injection.

In the Scooby-Doo universe, it appears werewolves never shapeshift and cannot infect others. When Count Dracula wanted to create a werewolf to participate in his Monster Road Rally - as the previous one had retired - he resorted to an old prophecy that pointed out Shaggy Rogers as a candidate for lycanthropy. According to this prophecy, every 500 years the moon comes in the perfect position to transform a selected human (Shaggy in this case) into a werewolf if he's exposed to it at the right time. For a brief period after being exposed to the moonlight, Shaggy kept transforming back and forth every time he hiccuped. However, once his transformation was stabilized, he remained in his werewolf form permanently, and could only become human again by reading a magic spell from the book. Similarly, lycanthropes such as Winnie Werewolf and Woof Woof appear to have no human form whatsoever. Conversely, an episode of The Richie Rich/Scooby-Doo Show did feature a medallion that would turn the wearer into a werewolf only as long as the moon shined upon them. The werewolf from The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries episode "A Halloween Hassle at Dracula's Castle" followed the classic variety of a human being spontaneously transformed by the full moon. The first episode of The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo features an entire village of lycanthropes in the Himalayas which shift to human form during the day. In their case, however, it was the result of a curse sent by spirits after the villagers captured and imprisoned the world's 13 most dangerous ghosts. Still, when Daphne Blake drinks a beverage containing wolf-bane, she too turns into a lycanthrope along with the rest of the townsfolk. Fortunately, Flim-Flam's Lotsa Luck Joy Juice provides a permanent cure.

In Hotel Transylvania too the lycanthropes appear to have no human form. This is consistent with some folkloric werewolves, such as the Scottish Wulver, which likewise never shapeshifts and has never been human. It should be noted that a werewolf who doesn't shapeshift is not very much distinct from other mythological canine humanoids such as the Beast of Bray Road and the classical Cynocephali.

In Dungeons & Dragons, the word "lycanthrope" is erroneously used to refer to all were-creatures.

Works featuring Lycanthropes[]

Literature[]

Bisclavret, by Marie de France (1175)
The White Wolf of the Hartz Mountains, by Frederick Marryat (1839)
The Wolf Leader, by Alexandre Dumas (1857)
"The Ghost-Eater", by C. M. Eddy, Jr. and H. P. Lovecraft (1924)
The Circus of Dr. Lao, by Charles G. Finney (1935)
"Monsters in the Night", by Clark Ashton Smith (1954)
The Silmarillion, by J. R. R. Tolkien (1977)
Cycle of the Werewolf, by Stephen King (1983)
High Moor, by Graeme Reynolds (2011)
High Moor 2: Moonstruck, by Graeme Reynolds (2013)
High Moor 3: Blood Moon, by Graeme Reynolds (2015)
Howling Mad, by Peter David (1989)
The Howling, by Gary Brandner (1977)
The Howling II, by Gary Brandner (1979)
The Howling III, by Gary Brandner (1985)
The Bloody Red Baron, by Kim Newman (1995) (Mentioned only)

Comics[]

Alabaster: Wolves
The Astounding Wolf-Man
Broken Moon
Broken Moon: Legends of the Deep
Bug-a-Booo
Creepy
Dark Shadows
Dead of Night featuring Werewolf By Night
Don Dracula
Dragon Ball
Giant-Size Werewolf
Hellboy
House of Mystery
The Howling: Revenge of the Werewolf Queen
Jughead: The Hunger
Lethal Instinct
Moonshine
R.R.H
Rosario + Vampire
Savage (2008)
Werewolf by Night
Werewolf: The Apocalypse
Wolf Moon
World War Wolves

Films[]

Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein
Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet the Wolfman
An American Werewolf in London
An American Werewolf in Paris
Among the Shadows
The Ancines Woods
Another WolfCop
Bad Moon
Battledogs
The Beast Must Die
Beast of the Yellow Night
Big Bad Wolf
Big Fish
Blood & Chocolate
Boogeyman Pop
The Cabin in the Woods
Cast a Deadly Spell
The Company of Wolves
Cross of the Seven Jewels
The Curse of the Werewolf
Cry of the Werewolf
The Daughter of Dr. Jekyll
Dark Moon Rising
Despicable Me
Dog Soldiers
The Feeding
Female Werewolf
Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man
Freaks of Nature
Full Moon High
The Fury of the Wolfman
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Hotel Transylvania trilogy
House of Dracula
House of Frankenstein
Legend of the Werewolf
Mad Mad Mad Monsters
Mad Monster Party?
Monster Dog
Monster Family
The Monster Squad
Moon of the Wolf
Nature of the Beast
The Nightmare Before Christmas
Nosferatu
Open Season: Scared Silly
The Return of the Vampire
Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School
Scooby-Doo! and the Goblin King
Scooby-Doo and the Reluctant Werewolf
Teen Wolf
Twilight film series
Underworld: Rise of the Lycans
Van Helsing
War Wolves
Werewolf of London
The Werewolf of Washington
The Werewolf of Woodstock
Werewolf in a Girls' Dormitory
Werewolf Rising
Werewolf Woman
Werewolves on Wheels
Wolf Blood
WolfCop
The Wolf Man
The Wolfman

Television[]

The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo
Archie's Weird Mysteries
Being Human
Bitten
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs
Dark Shadows
Face Off
Fangface
Freakazoid!
The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy
Grimm (as a disease affecting Blutbaden)
Johnny Bravo
Kolchak: The Night Stalker
Lost Tapes
The Lost World
Monsters
The Munsters
The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries
Night Gallery
Once Upon a Time
Penny Dreadful
Quack Pack
The Real Ghostbusters
Regular Show
The Richie Rich/Scooby-Doo Show
Sanctuary
She-Wolf of London
The Simpsons
The Smurfs
Supernatural
Tales from the Crypt
Tales from the Darkside
Teen Wolf
True Blood
The Vampire Diaries
Vampirina
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
The Order (2019)
Wednesday Addams (2022)

Video games[]

The Elder Scrolls
Killer Instinct
Skylanders
The Witcher

Gallery[]

"Reverse Lycanthropes"[]

The following are examples of "reverse lycanthropes": lupine creatures that become human under the influence of the full moon.

Non-human "Lycanthropes"[]

The following are examples of non-human species afflicted with lycanthropy.

Notes[]

Besides lycanthropy, there exist several other forms of therianthropy, i.e., men turning into animal-hybrids of some sort. Different cultures over the world tell stories of things that could be referred to as "Were-Boars", "Were-Crocodiles", "Were-Tigers" and even "Were-Dolphins" (these names aren't used, though). Then you have fictional/comedic varieties such as the "Weremoose" from Ace Ventura and the "Were-Rabbit" from Wallace & Gromit. Meanwhile, Sonic the Hedgehog's transformation into the "Werehog" cannot be considered lycanthropy, as he wasn't human to begin with. The term "Werehog" is a misnomer, as it would indicate a man turning into a hedgehog hybrid, rather than a hedgehog turning in a wolf hybrid as is the case with Sonic.