Our Werewolves Are Different

How much wolf must a wolfman be for a wolfman to be wolf?

"It's a full moon tonight,
I'm gonna get a bite,

I can't wait till I start transforming."

—Calibretto, "Mysanthropy and the Full Moon"

Sub-Trope of Our Werebeasts Are Different, dealing with variations of lycanthropy (i.e. werewolves). As with vampires, the exact parameters of lycanthrophy vary, but to meet the definition, a werewolf must be like an Animorphism who takes the form of a wolf every month. The prospective werewolf character has a number of options for customization. See the Werewolf Analysis Page for a listing of common characteristics and some variations on werewolves in media.

Werewolves did not receive the same revisionist treatment as vampires did during the 90's... Partially this is due to the high probability of Special Effects Failure in visual media, but also because the concept is much more difficult to revise (even with today's computer SFX). Having your neck bitten by beautiful people is erotic, being torn into bloody chunks and eaten is not. And in most common depictions, werewolves aren't exactly sapient in their beast / wolf-form. Hence they're often relegated to supporting roles in Fur Against Fang plotlines and Fantasy Kitchen Sink settings.

However, recently the werewolf's cachet has been rising. Recent works of note include the Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy, Jennifer Lynn Barnes' Raised by Wolves (a sequel to which is in the works), and the Mercy Thompson and Kitty Norville books. 2010 also saw a highly-publicized remake of The Wolf Man, although this depiction is much more traditional then the above. And of course, they are very popular within the Furry Fandom, usually of the more-in-control-while-transformed variety, and their depictions therein can range from the innocent to outright Yiff.

The word "werewolf" is a compound with the archaic English word for an adult male (etymologically "man" was once genderless). Hence, the not-uncommon female Lycanthropes should more strictly be "wifwolves" (or 'woman-wolves'), a term that has not seen much actual use. Generally, werewolves are Older Than Feudalism, going back to the European middle ages- and to the Ancient Roman myth of a King cursed by Zeus to become one. Werewolves are very popular because of qualities of opposing forces of 'man vs animal nature'.

Related Tropes

• See Werewolf Works for an index of works that prominently feature werewolves.
• See Werebeast Tropes for other tropes related to werewolves and other Werebeasts.
• Other wolfish tropes include Big Badass Wolf, Everything's Worse with Wolves and Wolves Always Howl At the Moon.
• Youkai are Japanese supernatural creatures that are sometimes depicted as having features similar to werebeasts.
• See Sliding Scale of Anthropomorphism for information on other tropes related to the combination of human and animal features and Shapeshifting for other tropes related to changing form.

Examples of Our Werewolves Are Different include:

Anime and Manga

• Jean Jacquemonde is this in the manga Spriggan as his father before him was a werewolf too, being created as a biological weapon of war by ancient civilizations. The catch? He needs to see his own blood after being shot to death to do this. He transforms back to a man after anyone near him is either gone from sight or dead.
• Free, of Atushi Ookubo's manga Soul Eater is a werewolf of the Man-Wolf variety. His transformation is entirely voluntary and is little more than cosmetic in regards to adding physical abilities (although it gives him claws and a tail). Free is also apparently immortal: He cannot die of old age and regenerates from practically any form of damage seen so far in the show (no-one have used fire or silver on him onscreen, but the witches probably tried it at some point during his imprisonment). He's also an ice mage and illusionist, which come from the magic eye that he took from the leader of the witches.
• Jyabura, a villain from One Piece, possesses a Devil Fruit power that allows him to transform into a wolf or a wolf/human hybrid that looks like a typical werewolf.
• Liru from Magical Pokaan turns into a cute little puppy with anything round, strangely enough, except for the full moon.
• Ginei from Rosario+Vampire, president of the Newspaper Club and Handsome Lech. As a werewolf, his primary battle strategy involves super speed.
  • He can transform at will, but he his power varies according to the phase of the moon. He once lost a fight when a cloud covered the moon.
• The Captain, one of the villains from the manga Hellsing, is a werewolf. He has several forms which he can go between at will, ranging from a human to a mist-like Dire Wolf. In all forms he has massive physical strength and speed with a Healing Factor.
• Wolf familiars Arf and Zafila of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, who are shown as capable of shifting from giant wolves, to this, to full human (i.e., no wolf ears or tails), to Fun Size versions of the first two forms. And just to punctuate the Wolf Man image, Arf's first on-screen transformation into a wolf was accompanied with a full moon in the background.
• The Earth Clan from Dance in the Vampire Bund have been for generations the sworn protectors of the Tepes family of vampires. In ages past, they accomplished this with claw, rage, and sword blade. These days, they go with claw, rage, and machine guns. Each and every one of them is badass incarnate, especially Akira, the series' protagonist (naturally).
• Kotaro Inugami of Mahou Sensei Negima is technically a dog boy, but he associates himself with wolves. He's also proven capable of turning into a really Big Badass Wolf at full power.
• Subverted in Wolf's Rain, in that the titular characters are sentient wolves not capable of actual shapeshifting; but can make themselves appear human, through a sort of telepathy; in order to hide among humans who would otherwise fear and kill them. They occasionally drop this disguise to frighten humans; or, in one case, to befriend a human by appearing as an ordinary dog.
• Dora Nikov from Doraemon transforms whenever he sees a round object.
• Dragonball features a Man Wolf (not a Wolf Man), a humanoid wolf who transforms into a man with the full moon. He tries to take revenge on Master Roshi for destroying the moon, leaving him a wolf, but Roshi is able to turn substitute the moon with hypnotism and Krillin's bald head to turn him human.
• Outlaw Star includes werewolves.
• Appears in many works by Osamu Tezuka. In Phoenix they're a kind of Shinto nature spirits. Another story, Vampire, features more typical ones that are called, well... Vampires (Though many vampire legends say they can turn into wolves, too). Perhaps the weirdest, and arguably most realistic, example is Ode to Kirihito, which revolves around the mysterious illness known as Monmow Disease, an affliction that gradually turns people into canine-like mutants until the trauma the transformation causes to their organs kills them.
• Holo is a wise Dire-sized wolf who inhabits wheat that can change into a young Wolf Girl. She needs either wheat or blood to transform from one form to another.
  • She is a wolf-god who transforms voluntarily into a human form, however, not a human who becomes a wolf.
• ARAGO has a variation wherein a specific wolf's pelt, when worn, will turn a person into a werewolf.
• Boma from Heat Guy J. He started off as a normal human being, but then committed a murder or series of murders. He got a life sentence (his city-state has no death penalty), and his head was genetically and surgically altered to resemble that of a black wolf. He also has the ability to Flash Step and literally pull a sword out of thin air.
• Arguably, Gaara counts as a were-tanuki pre- Time Skip. Shukaku is most active inside his mind when the moon is full, and this is when it is easiest for him to transform into the demon-tanuki.
• In the Wild Series, manbeasts are functionally werewolves from heaven. They are a hereditary magical race and can choose when to transform, but lose control around humans without a master to keep them in check. A master is essentially a cure to their madness.
• In La Blue Girl, Yaku turns into a werewolf when the moon is full...unless she has a good orgasm by midnight. She is ashamed of this alternate form (and so usually tries to prevent it), but it can occasionally be handy in fights.
• The Werewolves are different within the Hyper Police series. Both Batanen Fujioka and Tommy Fujioka are werewolves, but look very different.
• Hellwolf in Tentai Senshi Sunred is an adorable plush wolf that turns into a fearsome, unstoppable werewolf-monster during a full moon. It only works as long as the full moon's rays are directly touching him, however, so when Vamp schedules the Sunred vs. Hellwolf fight to an overcast night his constant switching back and forth leaves him unable to fight in either mode and drives Sunred nuts.
• Were-Garurumon of Digimon Adventure is a blue-and-white werewolf in spiky clothing. He is an inversion of the "classic" werewolf; he is the evolved form of Garurumon, and since Garurumon regularly powers up by evolving into Were-Garurumon, we have a wolf that becomes a werewolf, as opposed to a man becoming a werewolf.
• Wolf Guy Wolfen Crest: The transformation is Voluntary Shapeshifting, but near unavoidable around the full moon. On the new moon, he can not transform at all. Depending on the phases, he could be completely bullet proof or totally mortal.
  • Regardless of the moon, he has incredibly bad luck that tends to get others hurt or killed.
  • The only legitimate transmission seems to be inheritance. Biting is never brought up and blood transmission just turns the recipient into a short-lived ogre.
• Jitsu wa... combines Our Werewolves Are Different with Gender Bender, in that a girl transforms into a wolf-man.

Comic Books

• Werewolf by Night at Marvel Comics. The main character is named Jack Russell, which is a breed of terrier.
• Early in the chronology of Elf Quest, Timmain, one of a group of elfin space travelers stranded on the Earth-like World of Two Moons, shapeshifted into various forms in order to understand the planet's ecology, finally turning herself into a fully fertile she-wolf so that she could mate with the alpha male of a wild pack and have offspring. She didn't just do that on impulse, but so that her descendants would be a part of the planet. In more recent issues (set about 20,000 years later) the elf Kimo has learned from Timmain how to shapeshift into a wolf.
• John Jameson (J. Jonah's son) was an astronaut who was transformed by a ruby he found on the moon into Man-Wolf. He was later transported to the dimension the ruby originated in, where he became Stargod. (Still a man-wolf, but with Jameson's intelligence & personality).
• Mikola Rostov from The Warlord was a Russian fencing instructor cursed to become a werewolf every full moon. He tried to escape his curse by moving to world of perpetual sunlight. This was not as successful as he might have hoped.
• Bigby Wolf from the Fables is a sort of inversion. He was a giant wolf great enough to eat entire armies at one go (indeed, he was the Big Bad Wolf), but he allowed Snow White to cut him with a lycanthropy-cursed knife so that he could take a human form at will in order to live peacefully in our world.
• In Fred Perry's Gold Digger, one of the main characters is one of the last Werecheetahs. Other weres include Lions, Tigers, Rats, and of course Wolves. Each subspecies is able to shift between human, animal, and a "Wolf-Man" styled hybrid form. All of the weres retain their rationality in each of their forms, although they need to learn to control their instincts during childhood. Although the weres are separate species, they are capable of spreading Lycanthropy to Humans as a disease; they were originally created by a wizard as Super Soldiers before said wizard was betrayed. They have a Healing Factor for everything except attacks by another were—and silver, which literally burns their flesh and souls!
  • You forgot magic and Dwarven Steel (which disrupts the magic in the were's aura, which slows down their Healing Factor).
  • The main character in question is the last Full-blooded were-cheetah and the werewolves have only one fertile female left due to a war between the two and betrayal by the leader of the werewolves which left Britanny the last were-cheetah and the werewolf clan in ruins.
• Little Gloomy takes place in Spooksville, Frightsylvania, where the moon is always out, and always full. Accordingly, the sizable werewolf population is a constant danger to the average citizen, with one of the only civilized werewolves being Gloomy's friend Larry.
• In Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew, one storyline had a wolf who, thanks to a magical artifact, transformed under a full moon into a "wuz-wolf", a feral-looking human being. (The Zoo Crew's Earth having no humans, who are considered only to be fictional creatures, is noted at several points during the story).
• In The Warlord, Mikola Rostov was a Russian fencing instructor cursed to become a werewolf every full moon. Rostov followed his lover Mariah to the other-dimensional realm of Skartaris, hoping the perpetual sunlight would free him of his curse. He eventually went back in time to the age when the land was called Wizard World. There Jennifer Morgan cast a spell that cured him from his werewolf curse. However he can still use his "wolf spirit" in battle.
• Thicker than Blood features two brothers, one of whom is a werewolf (of the manwolf variety) while the other turns out to be Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, or at least something like him. The werewolf brother originally only transforms on the full moon nights after being been on a family trip, but after drinking his brother's serum he appears to change more frequently and is even stronger and more feral than usual.
• In the Blood is a limited series, currently held up in production due to the artist suffering from cancer, which centers on a teenager struggling with his burgeoning lycanthropy. He seems to be unable to control when his transformations occur and is styled after the classic Lon Chaney wolfman style. It's been implied in interviews that this is a family affliction.
• The Astounding Wolf Man, written by Robert Kirkman, focuses on a man who, after being infected with lycanthropy on a family vacation, uses it as a means by which he can become a superhero. His werewolf powers give him super strength and healing, but only work at night. Also on the night of the full moon he enters a feral state and can no longer control his actions.
• Wolfsbane of the 1980's Marvel Comics to present is a mutant shapechanger who originally could become a red-furred wolf, or a 'werewolfgirl' intermediate form. These forms continued to change as she grew, influenced by emotional crises, mind control, drugs, mutant energy influxes, whatever the writers could dream up. Twice (at least) depowered and restored, she has served on more teams (and in more different comic books) than most any character.
  • Don't forget her Love At First Sight, the Asgardian wolf prince, who is a regular wolf with the power to turn into a wolf-man.
  • There was also a minor character, Wolfcub, who was stuck in a "wolfman" form. A couple of plots have tried to explain that all mutants with regenerative powers, claws, and heightened senses were a subspecies of mutant (Homo superior lupus) that was the origin of werewolves.
• In Runaways the heroes have to go up against a group of "cowboy werewoofs". One character is surprised at this because "there isn't even a full moon tonight". This prompts another character to point out that the "moon is always full".
• In Beasts of Burden it's a demon possessing someone's body, doesn't seem to be restricted by moon cycle when taking over the body, and it gives the person the ability to talk to animals. Silver bullets are still the way to go though. At least that's how it was with a guy who got lycanthropy as an experimental subject of a witch (apparently).
  • The guy infected a dog, but that was different. The dog got accelerated healing and low grade magic sight, at least.
• In the very allegorical House of Mystery story "Maidenhead", the Children of the Blue Gray's lycanthropy is sexual (it's unclear whether arousal leads to the change or vice versa, because as far as they're concerned it's the same thing), but also seems to be tied into their Crystal Dragon Mohammad religion.
• In the Wildstorm title Wetworks, werewolves are a separate species (as are the vampires, with which the werewolves are secretly at war), which spend most of their time in human form, but have trouble controlling their rage when transformed into wolfmen. For the first two years of the title, the titular team was employed as vampire killers by the werewolf king (originally presenting himself merely as a human billionaire concerned about the vampire problem). An interesting twist is that most werewolves find it increasingly difficult to control their rage as they get older, so most of the governing in werewolf society is done by the children.
• Last Man Standing's Ronin is a Ragin Cajun salesman who had his life turned around under a Blue Moon...
• DC Comics has Anthony Lupus, a werewolf who has fought Batman a couple of times. Lupus was an Olympic athlete who was given a serum by Dr Milo that transforms every full moon. The first appearance of Lupus was loosely adapted into the episode of Batman: The Animated Series "Moon of the Wolf", where Lupus' name was changed into the slightly less obvious ^[1] Anthony Romulus.
• Welcome To Hoxford by Ben Templesmith had a pack of werewolves running a prison/mental asylum, in order to hunt the inmates. These werewolves are huge, skeletal and vicious, and have a propensity for eating human flesh, though notably they lack the invulnerability many werewolves had, and can be killed with physical weapons.They also transform very squickily, and seem functionally ageless.
• Ferals focuses on a breed of very violent and strong werewolves that do not appear to have any restrictions on when they can transform. While they are certainly not mindless, they do seem prone to unquenchable bloodlust and cruelty while they are in wolf form. They fall closest to the dire wolf flavor of lycanthropy, except perhaps with a gallon of steroids thrown in for good measure.

Film

• Werewolf of London (1935), the first werewolf feature film, introduced the moon/werewolf connection and the contagion meme. Not only does the full moon cause the infected to transform, but the only antidote for the transformation (the "mariphasa") is a fictional flower which only blooms under moonlight.
• Curt Siodmak built on the above foundation in the script for The Wolf Man (1941), and added the henceforth near-unavoidable weakness to silver. "Even a man who is pure in heart, and says his prayers at night, may become a wolf when the wolfsbane blooms and the autumn moon is bright." A less copied touch is the trait of having the werewolf seeing the mark of a pentacle on his fated next victim. Even less copied, Lawrence Talbot (the hero/villain of the movie and its sequels) can come back even after being killed with silver if his body is exposed to the light of a full moon. This happens at least twice over the course of the movies.
  • There are references to the use of silver against werewolves as far back as in the 18th century or more. Of course back then silver was considered effective against all sorts of evil entities, and wasn't absolutely necessary in disposing them.
• An American Werewolf in London used a dire wolf transformation, who proves vulnerable to ordinary gunfire. It also almost single-pawedly popularised the horrible transformation subtrope.
• The modern man-wolf style made its popular debut in The Howling (1981), which featured infectious werewolves who otherwise acted as a species (changing at will and possibly retaining their own minds, though with predatory instincts).
  • The so-called sequels also had this. Howling II had Transylvanian werewolves who exhibited more vampiric traits (aversion to holy water and only a stake through the heart can kill them) and are weak to titanium instead to silver.
  • In Howling III: Marsupials we are introduced to werethylacines. The movie also implies that the therianthropes of that reality are akin to the wolves in Wolf's Rain, as they've evolved to become human to survive human persecution of their baser species (the wolves in Russia, thylacines in Australia).
    • What makes that especially weird is that, despite being ten a penny in the rest of the world, shapeshifting myths are completely unknown in Australia.
  • It should be noted that both An American Werewolf In London and The Howling both came out in 1981 (as well as the sorta werewolf movie Wolfen). Together, they make an almost perfect example of this trope in action. In The Howling a character points out that the werewolves must be killed with silver, while saying the full moon thing is just Hollywood made up stuff. In An American Werewolf In London, the titular character is told by his now undead friend to commit suicide before transforming during the full moon, but when the werewolf asks if he needs silver bullets, he's told to get real!
  • The transformation from American Werewolf In London is paid tribute to in Fright Night where Evil Ed (who is a wolf at the time during that scene) turns back into a human.
• Teen Wolf and the Animated Adaptation, Teen Wolf The Animated Series, featured a light comedy version of this.
  • The werewolves of Teen Wolf were hereditary, and could transform at will retaining full mental faculties, but lost control of the transformation on nights of the full moon.
• The movie Wolf has Jack Nicholson's character Will gradually become more and more werewolfish in his behavior during the days leading up to the full moon. In desperation, he acquires a mystic amulet that will supposedly prevent his transformation, but all it does is keep him in a half-man/half-werewolf (think about that one for a moment) state. Until the guy he bit shows up, more werewolfish than Will and threatening Will's new love interest. Will tosses the amulet aside and quickly catches up to the other werewolf, finally looking like a Wolf Man lite before leaving. At the end of the film it's revealed that the curse has run its course and Will has become a full wolf. And his girlfriend is going to be one, too. After next month, at least.
• The infamous Cantina Scene from A New Hope showed a Shistavenen, which though not werewolves certainly fit the bill of "wolfman". The Star Wars Expanded Universe gives us "wyrwulves", the nonsentient canine immature form of the Codru-Ji; KotOR also provides rakghouls, who in terms of transforming someone who has been bitten fall squarely between werewolves and zombies with a dash of Body Horror.
• The Company of Wolves has a very different take on werewolves, in that they're actually much more faithful to the medieval version of werewolves, albeit combined with a lot of hard-to-understand symbolism. But hey, the transformation sequences are awesome.
• Werewolf was wildly inconsistent in its portrayal of the titular monsters; they vary between looking like really hairy men and looking like "a bear with a bat mask." Even a scratch from a dead werewolf's bone is enough to transmit "werewolfism" to other people; one victim gets scratched and transforms while driving. Mike and the 'bots did not let this pass without comment; for instance, the sketch where Mike accidentally gets scratched by Crow and begins transforming into a "were-Crow", or "Where Oh Werewolf".
  • The film has the gall to go out of its way to argue that its titular beast is "not a traditional white man's movie monster", but some obscure Native American curse. And then proceeds to have said werewolf behave... exactly like a white man's movie monster.
    • Well, it's claimed that the silver bullets only incapacitated one of the infected characters. And the inconsistent makeup seems to just show progression; they just look very hairy at the start of their transformation, and wear the bat-mask when they're fully "wolf". By the way, said werewolves aren't very tough; a random bystander gets into a fistfight with one, and almost wins.
• Ladyhawke features a couple of young lovers cursed to take on animal form at different times, as to keep them apart; the man turns into a wolf at night, and the lady... guess what.
• In Big Fish by Tim Burton, the title character suspects that the circus ringmaster (Danny Devito) is a werewolf, turns out he actually is one but not an evil or monstrous one.
• Dog Soldiers has werewolves who change at the full moon, but can hold it back if they wish, though with difficulty. Also, silver isn't absolutely necessary to kill them, even while they're in wolf form. It's just really difficult without it.
• Silver Bullet has a werewolf who is a church pastor and changes EVERY NIGHT, though he gets less "wolfish" in form and thought the further away time gets from the full moon, and vice versa.
• Underworld and its oddly named sequel answer the age old questions of what would happen if vampires and werewolves got into a centuries old blood war, what would happen if someone was turned by both vampires and werewolves. In Underworld werewolves, or lycans, are from the brother strain of the virus that produced the vampires. There are two strains of werewolves. The first came from the first werewolf, William, and all those bitten by him. They're dire wolves, but they can never turn back to humans ever again, and they've permanently lost their minds. The second version is the ones descended from Lucian. They are monstrous man-wolves with jet black skin and very little hair. The latter ones go berserk on their first transformations, but as they age they can gain control. They can voluntarily transform during the full moon, but they don't have to, and again, older ones can transform when they please. Both forms are transferred via a bite, and both are regenerating immortals. (Immortal to an extent anyway, silver works, but ripping their head off without silver works too).
  • Of course, there's also Michael, who's a badass hybrid as a result of Selene turning him near the end of the movie, but resembles a werewolf far more than a vampire, likely because he was bitten by a werewolf first. He's a wolf man, and has complete and total control over his transformations, sometimes even doing partial transformations with ease.
• Van Helsing features big muscular werewolves that rip the skin of their former human selves when they transform.
  • The title character eventually transforms into one in order to take down Dracula for good.
• Ginger Snaps has its title character bitten by a werewolf on the night that she gets her first period. Unlike most werewolf movies, Ginger's transformation into the monster (which is of the Man-Wolf type) is gradual, and there're many ties with the onset of puberty.
  • Silver and wolfsbane (usually referred to as monk's hood) work on the werewolves in the Ginger Snaps trilogy, though the latter must be liquefied and injected to have any real effect. In the sequel, Ginger's sister Brigitte—who survived but was infected—takes regular, weakened doses of monk's hood in order to inhibit her transformation.
• The Wolfman from The Monster Squad was a pretty solid Wolf Man. Regular bullets didn't work on him, as revealed in the scene with the cops and the coroner guy. In his first encounter with the protagonists in the old house on Shadowbrook Road, he gets kicked in the nards by "Fat Kid" Horace, which proves to be quite effective. After being blown up by the main character and his father, he's finally finished off when Rudy, the oldest of the titular group, uses a silver bullet to kill him, completely ignoring the fact that you need a cartridge in order for the bullet to actually fire.
• Bad Moon features a werewolf that changes every night, without the need for a full moon, and that doesn't need any special method to kill (or harm).
• In the Wes Craven film Cursed, Werewolves have a powerful sexual allure to members of the opposite sex. The curse itself seems to confer an uncanny ability to pull off complex pro-wrestling moves in high school wrestling matches, and killing the cursed werewolf that infected you won't cut it for the cure... you have to kill the natural born werewolf that infected it.
• Trick 'r Treat features all-female werewolves who change their form by tearing apart their human skin in a rather gruesome way. They also seem to congregate in Holloween nights to party and devour men.
• Red Riding Hood: One can only be turned into a werewolf if they are bitten by one during the Blood Moon. And only those that are in their bloodline can understand what they say. Everyone else hears only growls.
• Nosferatu has a scene of a werewolf (actually, a hyena) roaming the inn that the protagonist stops at en route to Orlock's castle in the Carpathians.

Literature

• In Poul Anderson's Magitek reality in Operation Chaos, werewolves are persons with a genetic condition. Scientific understanding of the condition in the 20th century allows the werewolf to understand and receive training to keep his human motivations in wolf form (but not full intelligence). The change is permitted by having polarized light as the only light source (either moonlight or a portable "moonflash" carried on the person). The wolf-form heals at Wolverine speeds except when silver is involved. The hero/werewolf/narrator fought in World War II as an Army Ranger and seemed to suffer no social prejudice.
  • He was a movie star, before the war, playing a Rin Tin Tin type character.
• The Bartimaeus Trilogy heavily implies, and then outright states that the police of the oppressive magical regime that rules the Alternate Universe British Empire are werewolves. Werewolves are the result of exposing humans to transformation spells invented in ancient times, they can transform at will from human form to a giant wolf and anything in between. They are stronger, larger and hardier than humans, but extremely vulnerable to silver specialised forms of magic, and seem to be fairly simple minded. Their human foms are noticably tall and bulky, and they seem to be predominately male, it is apparently possible to be a werewolf and a magician, but only one example has been seen.
  • They can be killed by mundane means as well however. One dies from leaping out of a high up window.
• Kelley Armstrong's Women of the Otherworld series features werewolves that turn into pure wolves at will, but the process is painful. They must Change about once a week, becoming more irritable and restless the longer they put it off, until finally their bodies take over and they Change involuntarily. Control over their Change is a matter of teaching, practice, and willpower. All but one of the werewolves are male, and they pass the gene down to their sons (daughters need not apply). A hereditary werewolf will not have his first Change until late adolescence. Werewolves can be made by an infected bite or by injection with werewolf saliva, but most are hereditary. An infected werewolf will pass the gene down to any sons conceived after his Change. In Broken, Elena gives birth to male and female twins, who are both genetic werewolves and it is hinted the female will Change in adulthood. Since Elena is the first female werewolf and the twins' father is also a werewolf, it is unknown if a hereditary female gets the gene from just her mother or from both parents.
• The Dresden Files has four varieties, presented in Fool Moon and covering most of the range of possibilities. None are infectious or take wolfman forms, however.
  • The werewolf (as a technical term) is just a human who can transform into a normal wolf at will - they undergo no mental changes (and thus must learn how to live like a wolf), have no linkage to the moon, and gain no special invulnerabilities. It is a learned ability, somewhat like becoming a wizard who knows only one spell, but knows that one really well. There are also wolves that can take human form in the same way, and with the same limitations. The latter are technically termed wolfweres.
  • The hexenwulf ("witch-wolf") uses an enchanted belt of wolfskin to transform at will into a dire wolf. The magic is generally tied to darker, sometimes demonic, forces and causes the hexenwulf to gradually fall deeper and deeper into savagery in both their wolf and human forms.
  • Lycanthropes are people whose minds become wolf-like at full moons, and who gain increased strength and healing at the same time, but physically remain human. They are related to Viking berserkers.
  • A Loup-Garou is a human subject to a powerful hereditary curse. Under the full moon, he transforms into a demonic man-wolf with enormous speed and strength, as well as immunity to injury by virtually any source except inherited silver. The demon takes over all control during this time, with the human personality completely submerged. There is no known cure and the only spells capable of perfectly restraining them is similar to what one would need to contain an archangel.
• Wolfbreed. Think Elfen Lied in Middle Ages Europe with werewolves and you have the basic plot of this book series. The titular Wolfbreed are man-wolf/dire wolf shapeshifters that can change at will, have a rapid healing factor, age normally and are vulnerable to silver. The Teutonic Knights tries to use them as Super Soldiers. Since this is an Expy of Elfen Lied their attempt doesn't work out so good.
• In The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, the role of Baloo is taken by a no-nonsense Hound of God named Miss Lupescu, who uses the Baltic version of the myth. As a Hound of God Miss Lupescue, and apparently other werewolves, pursue evil and will run to the gates of hell, or beyond, to save the innocent. She transforms into a powerful wolf and is immune to injury except from silver. She's also apparently immortal.
• Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter.
  • The series includes some werewolves, including one of Anita's love interests, Richard. In her world, there's a vaccine for the infection; Richard caught Lycanthropy from a bad batch of the serum. Anita herself is currently a carrier (which should be impossible) for multiple strains (which should also be impossible) of the virus.
  • The books also contain: wereleopards, werelions, weretigers (including blue, red and black tigers in the last book), at least 3 weredogs (their abilities are inherited not infection), weresnakes (at lest 2 species cobra and anaconda), swanmen (some are cursed others inherit their abilities like the weredogs), wererats, werebears, werehyenas and a lamia which is an immortal shapeshifter. Lastly there is Chimera, a pan-were than can shape shift in to six animal forms (each with a different crazy personality). And then she has sex with all of them.
• In P.C. Hodgell's Chronicles of the Kencyrath series, the Wolvers are inverse werewolves; they are wolves that can transform into human form. Their young cannot achieve the transformation until they reach a certain point in their development. As humans, they are still quite hairy.
• John Hodgman's The Areas of My Expertise includes handy lycanthropic transformation timetables, showing how and when different kinds of werewolves transform, and how to stop them, during each phase of the moon.
• In Tom Holt's Barking, theriomorphy is transmitted in the classic style, and werewolves gain nigh-invulnerability in both human and wolf forms, including a massively extended lifespan, and most of the werewolf characters work for the same law firm, Ferris and Loop (a Meaningful Name, referencing "Fenris" and "Lupine"). They are of course rivals of the vampire firm Crosswoods.
• The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan has 'wolfbrothers', men with the ability to communicate telepathically with wolves. Wolfbrothers gain greatly enhanced senses, as well as golden eyes which people remark as resembling those of wolves. Wolfbrothers are prone to acquiring wolf instincts, and in some cases have been known to completely lose touch with their humanity, becoming essentially wolves in men's clothing.
• King's Cycle of the Werewolf has a more traditional, dire wolf, changes-with-the-moon type. Oddly enough the victim has no idea how he started Involuntary Shapeshifting, and initially not even that it is happening. He does remember picking strange flowers in a graveyard before he started having blackouts, which is one of the less known/used methods of lycanthropic infection. Even if he never realized it, readers probably picked it up as a red flag anyway.
• The Arcadian and Katagarian wolf branches of the Were Hunters in Dark Hunter series can change between wolf and human easily and painlessly when conscious and alert.
• In CS Lewis's Prince Caspian, one of the two creatures to tempt Caspian to summon back the White Witch is a werewolf. Apparently it is not contagious, as it bites Caspian without transmitting its condition to him.
• In Peter David's Howling Mad, the main character is a wolf who is bitten by a werewolf, which causes the wolf to become a human during the full moon.
• In the Mortal Instruments, there are werewolves of the variety where they are forced to change at the full moon, but can change shape at will at other times; they mostly retain their human minds, although at the full moon their minds become less human. They can be hurt by silver, while the condition is semi-contagious, with about half of all bites transmitting lycanthropy.
• Larry Niven's story "What Good Is A Glass Dagger?" is told from the POV of an idealistic Atlantean werewolf. The surprise bit comes when he discovers that werewolves aren't people who become wolves, but rather wolves who turn into humans.
• Constable eventually, Captain Delphine Angua von Überwald from Terry Pratchett's "City Watch" series of Discworld novels. Angua can transform into a wolf at will, but is unable to prevent herself from changing during a full moon. Pratchett delves much deeper into the psychology of the werewolf than most writers, describing what the world looks like to a creature that uses smell as its primary sense, and also developing a cultural Backstory for the werewolves, such as the term "yennork" being used to describe a werewolf that cannot change shape (and is therefore trapped in the body of either a wolf or a human) but is born to werewolf parents.
  • The "smell as its primary sense" has to be reinterpreted by the werewolf when in human form; it is presented as synesthesia, with scent data being reinterpreted in terms of colours and sounds.
  • Reaper Man features two interesting specimens. One (Mrs. Cake's daughter Ludmilla) is, for three weeks out of the month, a young woman; the other is, three weeks out of the month, pretty much just an intelligent wolf. That fourth week, though, they meet each other half way, and it's implied they begin a relationship.
  • Angua's type of lycanthropy is hereditary (infection by bite is alluded to but never actually demonstratedin the books; it does happen in Discworld Noir, which Pratchett worked on). Pure-bred werewolves change into a normal wolf (hybrids produce other forms). At least partial control is possible, although sometimes this takes some effort. Silver and fire are a werewolf's primary weaknesses; all other damage is temporary.
  • During the involuntary moon-induced transformation there's an irresistible urge to eat meat, but enough control is maintained for the werewolf to choose which kind of meat is consumed. Angua, who's a vegetarian when she can help it, eats chickens (and always leaves behind payment for them, even when forced to steal them from out of the henhouse).
  • Werewolves are generally referred to as undead. Despite uncertainty as to whether they truly should be categorized along with Zombies and Vampires the consensus seems to be "they're big and scary, they come from Überwald, and if you stab them with a sword they don't die. What more do you want?"
  • Angua and her family also act rather dog-like; they don't like the B.A.T.H. word or hearing "Vet"—Vimes at one point deliberately pauses saying Lord Vetinari's name just to mess with them—and at one point Angua laments the difficulty of walking past lamp posts without...well, you know. This is discussed in the books as a logical progression: Dogs are, essentially, wolves that were given human traits. Werewolves are wolves that are partly human.
• In Harry Potter, lycanthropy is transmitted by bites, and results in uncontrolled transformations during full moon. Werewolves are discriminated against by the Wizarding society despite their relative innocence. They are dangerous to humans, but not to other animals (or Animagi). No cure exists, but a Wolfsbane Potion allows them to keep control of their minds during the transformation. Good werewolf Remus Lupin takes the Wolfsbane potion to keep his, whereas the evil Fenrir Greyback doesn't care as he is bloodthirsty as a human anyway. In the books werewolves are Dire Wolves, with only a few superficial differences between them and real wolves. In the movies they are Wolf-Men that look more like Were-Chihuahuas than wolves...
  • It should also be noted that werewolves are only created when bitten by another werewolf while in wolf form. If bitten by a werewolf in human form, they may garner a few traits (a desire for bloody meat, a temper issue, etc.), but will not actually become a werewolf.
• In Magnus the nephilim Tsavo has the ability to transform into a slavering wolf as a result of a magic spell he casts.
• The "Wolf and Raven" stories, which are part of Shadowrun's Expanded Universe, feature a man who is possessed by Wolf, one of the many animal totems of the world, which grants him powers and mannerisms similar to the classic Wolf Man (as well as a Split Personality, of sorts). It should be noted that this is very different from the game's usual take on werewolves.
• The Sookie Stackhouse Mysteries has Weres, who can change at will, but tend to give into the animal instincts and predatory tendencies on the night of the full moon. They can also be shielded from the light of the moon to help them, but they are tense, more easily agitated, and prone to violence and uncontrolled bloodlust during the full moon. Though it's not spelled out explicitly, werewolves may go over entirely to animalism during the full moon if they give into the change or are otherwise provoked into it. Additionally, the Were trait is hereditary and can be passed on to children.
  • In addition, the series has shapeshifters, who can change at will into various animals, but most choose one animal form and stick with it, for ease and comfort of transformation. On the full moon, they must change into their animal form. They maintain human intelligence the entire time, so far. The Shifter trait is hereditary and can be passed on to children. Unlike the vampire population, the Were and Shifter populations are not known to humankind at large. There is friction between the shifters and the weres; the weres consider themselves superior, but to everybody else, they are something akin to blue collar workers.
  • Those bitten by weres have a chance at becoming a demonic monster form of that animal. Jason, Sookie's brother, becomes a werepanther.
    • Sam, Sookie's boss, turns into a friendly collie.
    • One shifter in New Orleans, though, turns into an Owl and looks the part slightly even as a human.
• The werewolves in Blood and Chocolate are of the genetic variety, and can only breed with other werewolves. They turn into something like a dire wolf, but Vivian notes they had only adopted wolf as a convenient term, and are truly known as the Loup-Garoux. They can transform at will, but transform involuntarily at the full moon, and are weak to silver in any form. They keep their minds when transformed, however, and are expressly forbidden to be seen by or kill humans, in order to maintain the Masquerade. They live in packs, with males fighting to be alpha, and females fighting to be the alpha's mate.
• In the Goosebumps book Werewolf Skin, werewolves shed their skin during the daytime and can only resume their werewolf form if they put on their skin during the night. Burning the skin while it's unshed will kill the werewolf while stopping the werewolf from putting on its skin for one night cures it. The Werewolf of Fever Swamp features a more traditional werewolf.
  • "The Werewolf's First Night", a Goosebumps short story, has a boy believing all the people at his camp are werewolves. Of course, it turns out he's the werewolf, and it's the full moon..
• In the Mercy Thompson series, lycanthropy is transmitted through a savage attack - most victims of werewolf attacks die of their injuries rather than turn into werewolves. Werewolves are forced to change at the full moon, but can also change more or less at will. Werewolves in human form are resistant to disease and poison, heal quickly, do not die of old age, and have VERY short tempers. For this reason, the average life expectancy for a wolf after becoming one is ten years.
  • It is worth noting, however, that werewolves certainly don't always die young. The book takes place in the present day, and several wolves are thought to date from the Renaissance. If I remember correctly, there were even a few who called those young.
    • The Marrok is implied to have known the real King Arthur (and therefore being the real Sir Marrok). Samuel, his son and Asil the Moor are almost as old.
  • Werewolves also have a kind of magic, called pack magic, which allows an Alpha to draw strength from his pack and control them.
• In Welkin Weasels, werecreatures spend most of their time as normal Talking Animal characters and turn into monstrous flesh-eating humans at the full moon. Fully transformed ones can only be slain by silver bullets, but when Maudlin is nipped slightly by one, they manage to purge the wereweasel infection from him by immediately applying silver to the wound.
• In Marie de France's lai Bisclavret from the 12th century, Bisclavret (for unknown reasons) must transform into a wolf every week. His wife steals his clothing, without which he can't change back, but one day, the king his friend goes hunting in the woods. Bisclavret jumps at him and paws his foot like a petitioner, and the king, impressed, grants the wolf his life. Then Bisclavret goes with the hunting party and stays at court. Everyone is so impressed by his nobility and gentleness that when his wife and her new husband appear at court, and he attacks them, the king concludes that they must have wronged the wolf and imprisons them until they confess. With his clothing back, Bisclavret can return to human form.
  • Similarly, in a lai featuring King Arthur, Melion, the wife actively transforms the husband into a wolf, but he again takes refuge in court and attacks his wife there, leading to his transformation back.
• In the Chivalric Romance William of Palerne, the wolf that protects William and his love proves to be the son of the King of Spain, enchanted by his Wicked Stepmother.
• Werewolves, or Weres, in The Hollows novels are a separate race that descended from the union of demons and female humans. They can change on will into full wolves, possess enhanced strength and senses even in human form and cannot infect other humans without the help of a demonic curse. They are organized into packs which can vary from hardcore survivalists, a baseball team or a corporation. They are of course rivals of the vampires for influence and power.
• In The Vampire's Assistant by Darren Shan, the wolf man is biologically half wolf and half human, and the mixture has induced madness, resulting in Sam Grest being eaten, and R.V. having his hand bitten off, later becoming a major villain. He is basically humanoid with wolf claws, head and tail etc along with thick, wiry fur.
• The protagonist in Will Shetterly's Urban Fantasy novel Elsewhere calls an elf an "Elflands bitch". She tries to turn him into a dog, but magic in Border Town is unreliable, and he becomes a wolf man, with hair, wolf ears, and a snout that makes it impossible for him to speak.
• In Ryk E. Spoor's Digital Knight, werewolves are very different, particularly in that they're powerful enough that even "the Great Demons" wouldn't lightly defy the will of the Werewolf King Virigar. Also, they devour souls. The narrator's Friendly Neighborhood Vampire friend tells him:

"Their strength is immense, their cunning formidable, and their ability to shift shape, though confined to a wolflike predator on the one hand, is unlimited in the human range; they can be anyone at all. They do not fear night or day, nor does the phase of the moon have any effect on them. They also have a talent similar to my own to charm and cloud other minds... There is nothing I have seen ... that I fear more than the Werewolf King."

• • Consider the last sentence of that quote in light of the fact that the speaker is five hundred thousand years old and has seen the Great Demons reshape the continents of Earth.
• The Kitty Norville series by Carrie Vaughn focuses on a werewolf heroine ironically named...Kitty. This series is closer to earth than most werewolf stories in a lot of ways.
  • Rather than being a Wolf Man, werewolves when shapeshifted are different from natural wolf in only three respects: vulnerability to silver, a Healing Factor for anything else and generally increased strength and toughness, and the most obvious difference is a lack of Shapeshifter Baggage. A healthy adult wolf in Real Life weighs about 80 lbs. or so, so an adult male werewolf would be twice the size of a real wolf.
  • Werewolves can be killed without silver, they can just survive more damage than a normal human and heal faster, but being gutted or at ground zero of an IED kills a werewolf perfectly well.
  • The first werewolf pack that we see in the books is led by a bullying, abusive alpha male, but from the second book on we can see that werewolf pack dynamics vary widely. At least two seem to be a normal group of people who just happen to spend full moon nights in the woods together.
  • The Theme Naming trope is subverted or just averted; the protagonist herself has a punny Non-Indicative Name purely by chance, and few if any of the many other werecreatures encountered in the series have any connection between their name and what they do.
  • Lycanthropy is infectious. Some characters have feared getting it from being exposed to a werewolf's blood or saliva while that werewolf is in human form, but it hasn't happened in the books themselves. In their human forms, werewolves have the same silver vulnerability, Healing Factor and increased strength that they do as wolves. Female werewolves can't carry a pregnancy to term; shapeshifting causes the fetus to miscarry.
• Warhammer Fantasy Battle had the Children of Ulric, but they were apparently wiped out in the same story where they were introduced ("Trollslayer").
  • There was also Wolfgang von Newald in the Konrad Saga although it isn't revealed until the end of the last book.
• In Kit Whitfield's novel Bareback (understandably published as Benighted in the US) 99% of the world's population are werewolves; not being a werewolf is due to a birth defect. Werewolves cannot change at will, but do invariably change on the full moon and the nights before and after, and do not retain their human mind when they do. This has led to some complicated social structures. Their form is never described in detail but seems to be the dire wolf with some Man Wolf characteristics, for instance they normally run on all fours but can stand up.
• In Lisa Williams' Family Bites, lycanthropy is hereditary. Sophia Rivers thinks it can probably be transmitted as well, but no-one she knows has ever tried. The Rivers family, being easy-going and friendly werewolves, are described as looking like large friendly dogs in wolf form. They can change shape whenever they feel like it, although they sometimes do it at full moon without meaning to.
  • Family Bites hangs a bit of a lampshade on this and Our Vampires Are Different; Sophia Rivers (werewolf) and Daniel Alfonz (half-vampire) look each other up in the mythology books, and are completely bewildered by what they find. Then they look themselves up and get even more bewildered.
• In Never Cry Werewolf, the titular werewolf controls his full-moon turnings with medicine. He keeps his human mind during his time as wolf, however.
• In The Wolf's Hour by Robert McCammon, the werewolves mainly follow the standard man into full wolf pattern and can shift at will. The main difference is that the werewolves age as wolves while in wolf form, so it avoids the issue of everything being solved by turning into a wolf.
• In WerewolveSS by Jerry & Sharon Ahern, you start off with the standard Man-Wolf of Wolf-Man bipedal death machines that change under the full moon. Given time and Nazi science (thus the SS in the title), the remnants of project Werewolf determine that, by using specific types of music, werewolves and their shape-shifting abilities can be controlled. This results in the neo-Nazis running about infecting people with lycanthropy and then using loudspeakers to play Wagner operas that turn them into a goose-stepping werewolf army.
• The Wyr in Nick O'Donohoe's Crossroads trilogy (The Magic and the Healing, Under the Healing Sign, and The Healing of Crossroads) are a separate species; they shapeshift at will (although it's painful, physically taxing, and disturbing to watch) and have something of a Healing Factor. While they're generally attractive in human form, they're secretive, brutally pragmatic, rather feral, and arrogant as hell. Despite this, they're basically on the side of good after the first book.
• Arguably Indigo, although her shapeshifting ability seems to be tied to her friendship with a Big Badass Wolf Telepathic Wolf.
• In Toby Barlow's epic poem/novel Sharp Teeth various gangs of werewolves live in the area of Los Angeles; them becoming aware of each other is the main plot of the book. They change voluntarily into what can be mistaken for stray dogs, some hiding in pounds and even getting adopted.
• In J.R.R. Tolkien's The Silmarillion werewolves are evil spirits transformed into the shape of giant, monstrous wolves. Sauron, who used to be infamous for his shapeshifting powers, was at one point known as the Lord of Werewolves and turned into one in order to fight the mystic wolfhound Huan.
  • There are also the Wargs in The Lord of the Rings; giant evil wolves that are sentient and have a language of their own. It's unclear if they're actually related to the werewolves, but some fans have speculated that they're the result of werewolves mating with ordinary wolves.
  • The Hobbit features Beorn, a "skin-changer" who can shapeshift into a bear at will and uses this ability to kill orcs. The Silmarillion also features some magical shapeshifting, which requires the skin of the monster to be imitated.
• The wolves in Maggie Stiefvater's Wolves of Mercy Falls Series receive their ability when they are bitten by a person already infected with the werewolf disease. Unlike traditional werewolves, they turn into wolves only during the winter; in warm weather they are normal human beings. The older they get however, the longer they stay wolves, until finally one summer they don't change back at all. And they can't just move south; if they do they only become more sensitive to temperature change, to the point where even the slightest change in temperature can cause them to shift. The first book Shiver is about a boy and a girl who try to find a way to fight this. In the sequel, we find out that the cure from the first book might not be a cure at all- and that the reason they change into wolves might have more to do with brain chemistry than the weather.
• The Felix Castor series defines weres as what happens when a human ghost possesses an animal body. The ghost moves in and redecorates; first timers usually create something that looks like a hunter's worst nightmare, but those with experience can make the body look downright human. It usually maintains some animal qualities, however, and the were can shift back and forth at will. If the ghost is ever exorcised from the were body, it collapses utterly, and the ghost has to go back for another round.
• Petronius's Satyricon contains a story told about a werewolf who is a wizard, able to transform his clothing into stone and back (so that it remains undamaged while he's changed) and changing fully into a wolf at will. He does not have any kind of accelerated healing and retains his wounds when he changes back (so that a pike through the neck as a wolf becomes a grievous wound that requires a surgeon's attention as a human). (Incidentally, this segment is also well-known to Latin scholars for containing the hapax legomenon "circumminxit", describing the method for transforming his clothes to stone - he pisses in a circle around them).
• In the Lonely Werewolf Girl books werewolves are mainly vulnerable only to silver, certain magic weapons, and other werewolves; they have accelerated healing only in werewolf form though. Speaking of werewolf shapes, they have three modes: human-looking, a wolf-man/woman half and half mode, and a full wolf mode. They must change on the night of the full moon into one of the latter, but "royal werewolves" can change at any time so long as it is dark outside. A lunar eclipse locks them into their human forms, and make them ill while it passes. They are born werewolves (although Big Bad Sarapen does have a human minion who thinks Sarapen is going to turn him into a werewolf if he serves well enough. Since Sarapen gives him the old "You Have Outlived Your Usefulness" treatment the question is left open). Having been born in wolf shape, while her mother was in wolf shape, on the night of the full moon, protagonist Kalix feels as if she lives in a permanent lunar eclipse.
• Black Company mentions a few, but in action participates only Forvalaka—were-leopards. Undead were-leopards. Vicious, superhumanly fast and almost unkillable.
• In Robert E. Howard's "Rouges in the House" Conan the Barbarian invokes this to reason that the Beast Man is possible.

Everyone knows there are men who take the form of wolves at will.

• • In "Black Colossus", Vagueness Is Coming invokes this for the arrival of the Big Bad.

werewolves howled across the wilderness.

• In Rehepapp, people can become werewolves free-willingly after consuming some kind of mixture. They look like normal wolves, but retain human intelligence.
• In The Werewolf Asylum, werewolves are people who transform into wolves every night, but their transformations can be repressed with enough willpower, which is why the titular asylum exists. There also exists a werewolf, named Martha, that is not a human who turn into a wolf, but stays permanently a mixture of both forms. The doctors of the asylum believe that is due to a birth defect, but Martha claims it is because she is a Messiah and lycanthropy is part of a plan from a 'Lord'.
• Department 19.
• In Warwolf: The Centurion Warrior Book 1: The Warriors (It apparently had a very small print run and is almost impossible to find, but it does have a listing in the Library of Congress- so at least one or two copies are located there- and a copyright number dating it's publication), the werewolf is a species within a species, as the term "lycanthrope" is a blanket term here (There's mentions of werecats and even a werecobra in one or two chapters). The werewolves here have multiple forms that range from human to Man-wolf to full wolf, though of a much larger size than is normal, while other lycanthropes seem to have a similar set of forms. These werewolves have their own language and can also speak human languages, and are part of a secret worldwide empire of various Lycanthropes that seem to encompass nearly every animal species known. No indication is given for whether they are human at the start and then change at some point in their youth or the other way around, but the main character is stated as being able to transform from the age of twelve on up at the very least and is roughly seventeen at the time of the story. According to a note at the start of the book from the author, he wanted to create an entirely new kind of werewolf/shapeshifting world where werewolves aren't just painted as mindless monsters when they transform, so he created this book as the start of a series that came to him at some point. The eponymous character, Warwolf, is something of a Friendly Giant when not in combat and appears to be best friends with another werewolf who is definitely a Deadpan Snarker if ever there was one. This book indicates the creatures have abnormally long lifespans (One character is over a hundred years old and is expected to live at least to see two hundred), and also lists silver as a weakness for the creatures...but paradoxically some of the lycanthropes use them as part of the construction of their own weapons. Warwolf is shown displaying superhuman strength, which may be an indicator that the other werewolves and assorted Lycanthropes share this trait. Warwolf and his three companions are also shown to display superhuman senses. Whether or not anyone else in this society does also is unknown. Warwolf and his friends also appear to have been raised in a partially warrior-toned society before making the trek to Rome to attempt a slow attempt to get humans used to their existence to being an attempt an inter-species reunification, and it is indicated that werewolves are the most well known type of Lycanthrope and are the most feared despite the fact that they are not savage, mindless killers and can change at will, and the other Lycanthropes in the book share this ability to transform at will as well. The book itself seems to be intended as a set-up to a situation apparently intended to show up in the second book best summed up as Werewolves vs. demons.
• In A Song of Ice and Fire, 'wargs' are people who can telepathically borrow the bodies of animals in dreams. Their human body stays the same, however if they are killed while their spirit is within an animal they will be trapped there.
• Werewolfs in The Talisman are called Wolfs and are servants of the crown, acting as shepherds. Even in human form, they are immensely strong and quite honest but not terribly intelligent. They transform into wolves for several days around the full moon, prior to which they slowly lose their humanity. Even as wolves, they retain some sense, but are intensely hungry. They also transform under stress, but it hurts.
• In Wolfen by Whitley Strieber, the titular creatures aren't shapeshifters, but a freak evolutionary offshoot which is never fully explained—more or less they are to true wolves as humans are to apes. (It's noted at one point that they consider true wolves very pretty, but the wolves are so gentle that the Wolfen scare them.) Even though they don't swap forms, they've still developed fully articulated hands along with human level intellect (operating in a feral, instinctive manner), making them man-wolves of sorts. Although not having any supernatural element to them, the Wolfen are quite frightening enough... They're clever enough to understand human speech, operate mechanical devices, evaluate the threat of guns, and feed on us right in our midst—having remained unseen long enough for mankind to dismiss them as fairy tales, or simply forget them altogether.
• In the childrens book series Alfie the Werewolf, the main character becomes a werewolf because it runs in his familiy, but skips a generation (his grandfather is also a werewolf, but his parents are not). They can however turn other people into werewolfs by biting them, and the 13th book introduces special belts which can temporarily turn people into werewolfs. Werewolfs in these books can both walk on four legs like a normal wolf or on two like a Wolf Man. They are not bloodthirsty monsters but most of the time retain their human toughts and capability of speech, although sometimes they can get so called werewulf hunger, which they can solve by eating meat. Finally; while young werewolfs only transform during the full moon, older werewolfs like Alfie's grandfather can stay in wolf form all the time.
• In S.M. Stirling's Shadowspawn series the title race are the source of both the vampire and the werewolf legends (as well as most other monster myths). They drink blood and can turn into any animal whose DNA they've sampled, live for centuries, use magic based on altering probabilities and are, except for Defector From Decandence Adrian Exclusively Evil.
• MaryJanice Davidson's werewolves are faster and stronger in their human form and can turn into both Man Wolf and Dire Wolf at will although they have to during the full moon.
• In Devon Monk's Dead Iron, Cedar, under a Curse, changes by the full moon and loses his mind, requiring him to chain himself. He pays quite dearly for a collar that lets him keep his right mind. Later we learn his brother Wil is still alive and also under a curse, but while Cedar only changes during the full moon, Wil is permanently a wolf, and fortunately, can control himself all the time when not actively bespelled by LeFel.
• In The Book of Lost Things, Loups are man/wolf hybrids created via women coupling with wolves.
• The novel Tamed features werewolves as pets.
• Half Upon a Time gives us The Wolf King, who can assume a human guise as he wishes.
• "The Compleat Werewolf" by Anthony Boucher was a college professor in the 1940s. When a wizard recognized that he had the shapeshifting capability and taught him to use it, one of the professor's first questions was whether becoming a werewolf meant he was damned. The wizard explained that, no, most werewolves of the past became werewolves because they wanted to use that power to do evil things, but the professor transformed just because he thought it might be fun, and to impress a girl. That was a basically innocent motivation, and being a werewolf didn't make it any less innocent.

Live-Action TV

• Doctor Who has had several different examples:
  • "The Greatest Show in the Galaxy" featured a lycanthropic girl who could be forced to transform by nothing more than an "old devil moon" stage lamp gel.
  • In the new series, "Tooth and Claw" involved an alien intelligence that could possess people and turn them into a Wolf Man form, and jump between bodies by biting.
  • A society of werewolves also appears in the Big Finish audio Loups-Garoux, in which the Doctor notes that "There are so many forms of lycanthropy", presumably to avoid any problems with continuity.
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer had Oz, who learned to suppress his normal transformations, but could also be triggered to transform outside of a full moon by stress. The series also had Veruca—a minor love interest of Oz—who had embraced the wolf inside her, making her a bad puppy.
  • In Season 2, Oz turned into a Man Wolf (fur covered, clawed humanoid with a fully lupine head—re: a man in a suit), next season, with the advent of better budget, Oz turned into fur-covered Wolf Man Running on All Fours with a more humanoid face (like a lupine great ape). This became the standard look for Buffyverse werewolves.
  • The most interesting aspect of Buffyverse werewolves is that lycanthropy can be transmitted by bite even if the werewolf is in human form at the time. Oz was bitten by his baby cousin Jordy.
  • Though vulnerable to silver, werewolves could also be killed by deadly injuries, like a ripped throat.
  • Angel showed another species of werewolves that walked upright and reverted to human form when killed. It also introduced a werewolf as a recurring love interest for the title character.
  • In Season 3, Oz started to display a heightened sense of smell in human form. It's possible that if Oz hadn't left the show in Season 4, his werewolf nature would have been more fully explored.
• The short-lived series Wolf Lake revolved around a community of lycanthropes based (roughly) on Native American werewolf mythology.
• FOX, in their inaugural season, aired a series, Werewolf, which depended upon a rare (and completely bogus) astronomical conjunction which caused the moon to be full for eight nights in a row.
  • The above poster mis-remembers the series' mythology. Transformations by the hero (and his enemies) could happen for eight nights in a row, because their timing was random and had nothing to do with the lunar cycle.
  • It also borrowed Siodmak's pentacle (see below), but has it appear on the werewolf's own palm during twilight hours as a harbinger of the coming change. It also introduced the idea of escaping the curse by killing the werewolf who started the "bloodline" (although the series didn't have time to explain how bloodlines get started in the first place).
• Gou Fukami of Juken Sentai Gekiranger, thanks to a Dangerous Forbidden Technique. He did eventually cure the wolf within him, but since his very fighting style is wolf-based, it still sort of applies.
  • His counterpart RJ, of Power Rangers Jungle Fury, is basically the same in terms of affliction.
  • In Power Rangers Wild Force, Merrick Baliton has this condition in reverse - because he used a cursed wolf mask to defeat Master Org, the spirit inside of it, Zen-Aku, possessed him and changed him into a wolf monster. He was only able to return to human form during a new moon or a lunar eclipse. The Power Rangers eventually overcame it. Interestingly, while a similar arc played out with his Gaoranger predecessor, the werewolf angle was a new addition for the Power Rangers adaptation.
• Big Wolf on Campus follows the life of good Wolf Man Tommy Dawkins. He transforms at will or involuntarily when stressed; he also is forced to transform during the full moon. Tommy keeps full control of his mind at these times. Lycanthropy is, again, transmitted by bite but if a person is fed a Wolfsbane potion before their first full moon they can avoid becoming a werewolf. Most other werewolves are evil and part of a syndicate of evil werewolves, but Tommy acts as a town protector instead.
  • In fact, it's demonstrated that becoming a werewolf makes you evil. It wasn't explained why this didn't happen to Tommy, but BWOC was never big on explanations anyway. Curiously, Lori and Merton were the only ones who went evil when they became werewolves.
    • It seems to be hinted that Tommy didn't turn evil because he was bitten at the full moon, not giving the werewolfish nature a chance to dig in over time. For example, during a What If scenario, Tommy's place was taken by someone else when the wolf bit him. He wasn't precisely evil, just a massive dick. And he was like that before he was bitten.
• The Munsters had Eddie. Eddie is a werewolf but the only indication of such (besides his Unusual Ears and Cute Little Fangs) is his sometimes-catchphrase "Awooooooooo-tragious!" In one of the feature-length movies, he finally turns into his wolf-form and he looks like a Lon Chaney Jr. style werewolf.
• Wolfie the werewolf from Beetleborgs is treated more like a house pet than a monster at Hillhurst, although in one episode he accidentally bit Jara and turned her into a werewolf.
• An episode of Dinosaurs had Robbie tell a scary story to his baby bro where he gets bitten by a rabid caveman and becomes a were-man. (Of course, were means man anyway, but you shouldn't go to this show for one hundred percent accuracy).
  • That may have also been a case of Viewers are Morons.
• The half-wolves of The Tenth Kingdom. Although only one example is extant in the series, Wolf, judging by him the half-wolves are hereditary Wolf Men with heightened senses who live in packs (we never see any so don't know about the existence of alphas, though they're highly likely) and do not seem to be vulnerable to silver. They change only on the three nights of the full moon, and while changed have no control over their actions and no memory of what they have done. They also seem to be afflicted by the 'take on lupine mannerisms and characteristics' aspect of this trope, since Wolf is constantly scratching at his temple, whines and whimpers and growls, nuzzles Virginia, and scrapes the ground with his feet to cover his tracks—although this may merely be a product of actor Scott Cohen's enthusiastic character immersion.
  • What makes the half-wolves interesting is the twists: they always possess tails, even in human form, which change size with the time of the month and apparently act as erogenous zones, and explicit reference is made to the female cycle by how Wolf starts gaining PMS-like symptoms as the full moon approaches and, when fighting the change, ends up with... cramps.
  • Still more interestingly, it is never truly explained what the term 'half-wolf' actually means. Are they the literal product of a coupling between a full wolf and a human, and this is what grants them their ability to change forms? Or is it merely a euphemism for werewolf, which could be considered a half-wolf because they can also appear as humans? Or is it even possible, taking into account the prejudice against them in the Kingdoms, that the term is meant to be parallel to mulattos, quadroons, and octaroons in the real world—so if a half-wolf had a child with a human, their offspring would be a quarter-wolf, and so on?
    • Wolf's sole Transformation Sequence during the miniseries is inconclusive, since all we see is him becoming a typical Lon Chaney Wolf Man. According to Simon Moore, however, Wolf was intended to become a Dire Wolf, but they didn't have the budget for such special effects. What this says about the nature of half-wolves isn't clear.
• The Wizards of Waverly Place episode "Beware Wolf" has Justin kiss a girl who is a werewolf and turn into one himself.
  • And the werewolf acts like a dog, when he is in his human form.
  • And kissing a werewolf that's a "mutt" will turn you into a werewolf, but kissing a werewolf that's a "pure bred" won't.
• The horrifying werewolves of Supernatural are of the mortal/cursed variety. As for their appearance: slightly longer fingernails and fangs. Pull out their teeth and file down their nails and they'd be indistinguishable from any other Axe Crazy psycho. Which actually makes a kind of sense, as they're not obvious to Muggles. They always remove the heart from a dead victim.
  • There are also shifters (Shapeshifting Doppelgangers), rougarou (humans who transform into hideous, cannibalistic monsters) and okami (who look like humans with wolf teeth, have superhuman athletic ability and have Nigh Invulnerability against anything other than a bamboo dagger blessed by a Shinto priest).
    • The episode All Dogs Go To Heaven introduces skinwalkers, who turn into normal, domestic dogs. The skinwalker can be passed by a bite, and across the US skinwalkers are entering homes as family pets, ready for a signal to turn their families, creating a skinwalker army. Good boy, Rover?
• Jiro/Garulu from Kamen Rider Kiva is a Wolfen, one of the 13 Demon Races represented in the series. He can voluntarily change from human to Wolfen form, and feeds by using his claws to pull the soul from a human's body and devour it. Thanks to his supernatural origin, his human form seems to have superhuman levels of strength, speed, and endurance, as well as an enhanced sense of smell (and a fondness for coffee).
  • And in an extreme twist of transformation tropes, as part of his involvement in the titular character's transformations Jiro becomes the sword of Garulu Form.
• In Being Human (UK), werewolves have to change during the full moon. Changing is a slow, agonizing process. They turn into giant, bipedal wolf humanoids that can tear apart even vampires. They cannot generally turn at will. In the days before and after their change, they have heightened hearing and smell. The more times they change, the stronger and tougher they get, to the point that some can rival vampires even in human form. They generally do not have the ability to change at will.until the fourth season, in which it proves fatal.
• Out of Jimmy's Head has Yancey, the alien sister of the main character, dating one. He's harmless for the most part, but does retain canine features and strengths.
• The fake documentary Werewolves: the Dark Survivors features a pack of werewolves who have a non-lethal strain of rabies and porphyria (which causes them to crave blood). Their transformation is simply their skin tightening when certain toxins reach a critical point every couple months or so (some use wolfsbane to force a change) making it look like their nails, teeth, and hair are growing. It seems unlikely that they're invulnerable in any way and the full moon is just the only time when ordinary humans can see their monthly hunts.
• Mystery Science Theater 3000. Repeat after me: "He's a werecrow! A WERECROW!"
• True Blood has werewolves who shift into a normal-looking wolf form. They can shift anytime they want but pack leaders have the ability to force a shift on other weres. They don't appear to have any special vulnerability to silver but ordinary bullets can kill them.
• The Vampire Diaries introduces werewolves in the second season, though it had been hinting at their existence for a while. It's part-heredity, part-curse: those of particular bloodlines - including the Lockwood family - are potential werewolves, who suffer from anger control issues especially around the full moon. The curse kicks in if they kill a human (even in self-defence); they will immediately become a full werewolf, painfully transforming into a monstrous wolf during the full moon. The weakness to silver is a myth, but wolfsbane can burn and weaken them. According to legend, they were once able to shift at will, but were cursed into becoming slaves of the moon. Since the bite of a werewolf will kill a vampire, the vampires hunted them almost to extinction.
• Henry Foss from Sanctuary is revealed to be a werewolf-like Abnormal, who was found on the moors as a child and was raised away from his kind. At first, the changes are involuntary (and don't have to be triggered by anything specific at all, as it's explained to simply be a new metamorphic phase his body has entered), but he eventually comes to accept his 'bad' side and learns to control it. He doesn't like the term "werewolf", however, and prefers to be described as a hyper-accelerated protean, or HAP for short.
• The Dresden Files TV adaptation had an episode around werewolves that went with the more classical Hollywood version. It was transmitted by bite, and those afflicted were weak to silver. The only cure was to kill nine other werewolves.
• In Grimm they are called bludbaden, their wolfman form can only be seen by a Grimm and you don't need silver to kill them. Also the color red is their Berserk Button.
• series/TeenWolf has several variations. Beta wolves are humanoid with wolf-like features. Alphas are more like the classic werewolf. There's also a type that can go fully into wolf form. Silver bullets will harm all of them, and emotional stress can trigger a transformation on non-full moon days.
• Once Upon a Time retcons Little Red Riding Hood's backstory to include a werewolf rather than a regular wolf. Red herself turns out to be the werewolf; however, her eponymous hood can prevent her transformation.

Music

• The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion song "She Said" involves a man getting lycanthropy by cheating on his girlfriend (that's a new one), and the transformation is triggered by the blooming of wolfsbane. The song ends with him being killed with a silver bullet.
• "Werewolves Of London" by Warren Zevon. Some versions mentioned Lon Chaney Jr while some other ones mention Jack Nicholson.
• Frank Hayes's "Silver Bullet Blues".
• Of Wolf And Man by Metallica.
• Zomby Woof by Frank Zappa.
• Bark at the Moon by Ozzy Osbourne.
• She Wolf/Loba by Shakira.
• Rammstein - go watch Du riechst so gut.
• "Wolf Like Me" by TV on the Radio.
• Full Moon by Sonata Arctica.
• "There's a Lycanthrope On the Bus" and "Werewolfe" by Scary Bitches.
• Pentagram, "Sign of the Wolf".
• Horror Of Our Love by Ludo. Also contains Vampires and Ghosts
• "Midnight Hunger" by Thornwill.
• The Animal by Disturbed, which seems to jump between loss of control and enjoying the transformation (or possibly enjoying the loss of control). The narrator does at one point warn the victims to run.
• The music video for "Heads Will Roll" by Yeah Yeah Yeahs features a wolfman dancer who eventually loses control and massacres his audience.
• Howl by Florence + the Machine.
• Lobo hombre en paris by La Union is about a wolf that was bitten by a wizard, and turns intro a men. His name is Denis.
• Curse of the Werewolf and Return of the Werewolf by Timeless Miracle.
• The Curse of the Wolf by Metal Witch.
• Wolfsmensch by Schandmaul.

Mythology

• The werewolf of medieval tradition tended to fall in the devil's deal category, with the bargainer typically gaining the ability to become a normal or dire wolf through the use of a magic wolf pelt or wolfskin belt.
  • The most well-known werewolf of this type would be Peter Stumpp.
  • It should be noted that according to the church of the time, Satanists wouldn't be powerful enough to change their physical forms—that level of control over the fabric of reality was reserved for God. Satanist werewolves weren't actually shapeshifters, just illusionists who liked to terrify their victims before slaughtering them. When they killed people with their bare hands and ate the corpses, they were fully human and fully aware of what they were doing. Benighted (Bareback to all you British readers) discusses the mythology in some detail in an appendix.
  • It should also be noted that the Deal with the Devil was a basic Retcon applied by the Church to all sorts of magic (except those endorsed by the church, of course). Many witch trials got out of hand because this retcon could transform mere misdemeanors (e.g. magically stealing milk from you neighbour's cow — it was treated seriously by the courts of the time) into treason against God and State.
  • Suffice to say, all this varied greatly by the era and region. In early and mid Middle Ages magic was considered real, but the legal treatment was purely based on the effects; supposedly killing a person or animal by magic was considered essentially the same as poisoning, for example. The Deal with the Devil as a necessary condition for magic only came into legislation and theology in the late Middle Ages. Likewise, whether the Devil could actually grant powers like shapeshifting to his followers, or if they were just deluded or performing illusions varied considerably. In any case, many sociopathic serial killers of the era were considered, and possibly considered themselves to be werewolves. Also, the crime of bestiality was often associated to werewolfism, as well.
• The other common variety is an average, sometimes even faithful man, cursed to be a wolf for a certain amount of time, usually ten years. In this case they had all their normal intelligence and personality, but were trapped in the wolf's body.
  • Notably, the cursed variety is normally described to be completely harmless, even less dangerous than ordinary wolves. Often they were described as such lousy hunters that it makes you wonder how they survived their cursed period, at all.
    • In Slavic folklore, the process of "turning into a wolf" is sometimes interpreted very literaly: one must turn around, or somersault, and land in a new shape. While holding onto a magic blade, stuck into a magic tree. If the blade is then removed by someone, the poor sorcerer-gymnast remains in the animal form. This would be the cursed variety - cursed by their own curiosity and lack of foresight. Evil sorcerers, on the other hand, usually keep track of the knife.
• The tale of Bisclavret, from the Lais of Marie de France, features a man cursed to turn into a beast once a fortnight or so; in order to become a man again, he must find his human clothing and put it back on. His wife, upon learning this, sends a knight to steal his clothes, effectively trapping him as an intelligent beast.
  • In one version the word gets out and he is returned to normal, but not before biting the guilty wife's nose off and having her banished.
• An interesting variation was the Hounds of God. In the Baltic regions, it was believed that Werewolves were given their powers not by the Devil, but by God to battle the forces of the devil. Our Werewolves Are Different indeed.
  • Wait, so Van Helsing wasn't just making shit up?
    • And neither was White Wolf Game Studio. (Take a look under Tabletop Gaming).
  • And Gaiman too, in The Graveyard Book? Damn, should have known better.
• In Norse Mythology, berserkers were warriors devoted to Odinn, who turned into wolf-men or bear-men in the frenzy of battle. The usually accepted etymology for the word in bar-sarkr, which meant bear pelt, but it is debatable. Tolkien had those guys in mind when he created the character of Beorn.
• Irish Mythology has the Faoladh, another benevolent version of the werewolf. Supposedly they protected children and wounded men. Despite that, they still liked to abscond with livestock when they could.

Tabletop Games

• In Dungeons & Dragons, werewolves have always been able to take on the normal wolf form and infect with a bite, but other details have cropped up with the evolution of the game, including the addition of a "hybrid" form equivalent to the Man-Wolf, the existence of natural lycanthropes in addition to infected ones, and the imposition of a whole new alignment (and personality) not just on the nonhuman forms but on the human(oid) as well.
  • The game later inversed the process with the wolfwere (and subsequent varieties of beast-were), who is an evil, intelligent, shapeshifting wolf who assumes a human form to mingle in society and lure potential victims. Werewolves and wolfweres both share intense loathing for each other.
  • The Ravenloft setting took this trope to heart for all monsters, introducing "salient abilities" that could make any werewolf (or vampire, golem, mummy, etc) different from any other of its kind. The Van Richten's Guide to Werebeasts gives exhaustive details on all forms of lycanthropy.
  • Forgotten Realms got Lythari—elven Chaotic Good variant of werewolf. Lythari have no hybrid form and "convert" others very rarely—this requires a special ritual and done only when they are really sure they want someone to join their tribe.
  • 4th edition D&D makes yet another change. Shifters are presented as playable races in Monster Manual 1 and Player's Handbook 2. Regular werewolves, however, are monsters only... and they no longer transmit the "curse of lycanthropy" upon biting someone, just a generic disease. They also have a Healing Factor that can be suppressed by silver.
• Shadowrun has a virus which turns people into mindless Neanderthal types which get stronger and vicious during the full moon. However, they don't gain animal traits, beyond the extra hair. What Shadowrun does have are Shapeshifters, as in normal animals of all varieties spontaneously giving birth to magically active stock able to take on human form. Not to mention all the dragons who've learned the ability...
• Warhammer 40,000 brings us the Wulfen, werewolves In Space. The curse is present in all Space Wolves due to it being imbued into their genes during their trials. Those who fail to overcome the curse during the trials turn into wulfen. However, since it is still in the genes of the Space Wolves, they gradually turn more and more bestial over the years. Some look like real wolves wearing power armor after a while. The Thirteenth Great Company is a prime example of this, since they have spent ten thousand years inside the Eye of Terror, coming out later with the curse with a high hold of their bodies. The best thing is, they are still sane and loyal to the Emperor. Indeed, the wulfen curse reacts strongly to chaos, acting as some kind of automatic mental shield against the taint of chaos. In short, the wulfen curse is only a bad thing if you can't overcome it, meaning the Space Wolves have a high natural resistance against the taint of chaos due to it.
• Werewolf: The Apocalypse, the Player Characters play werewolves, which are a separate species. "Garou" may breed with both normal humans and wolves, though breeding between Garou produces deformed, sterile outcasts. They can quickly change into various stages of wolf and human at will, with the middle form being the classic half-human half-wolf. They worship Gaia and have access to the spirit world, but are also soldiers in the war against vast forces of nature embodying smothering order and mindless destruction. Their Unstoppable Rage gives them power in combat, but can also be an Achilles' Heel. As with all Old World of Darkness races, they have made a terrific mess of things, so it falls to Player Characters to set things right. Maybe. (OK no, actually the world is probably doomed anyway, hence the title.)
• Werewolf: The Forsaken, has the Uratha, which are somewhat similar to the Garou, but simplified. Unlike the Garou, the Uratha all start as human and can only breed with humans (or wolf-blooded); trying to mate with other Uratha leads to the "ghost children". Interestingly, the antagonist tribes, the Pure, are almost ideologically identical to the Garou. The rules reference commmon aspects of werewolf lore. Biting people doesn't spread lycanthropy, but werewolves do bite people on the verge of a first change to get their scene. Wolfsbane does not cure lycanthropy, but it can be imbued with the ability to force Uratha to return to human form.
• In Ars Magica, lycanthrophy is the result of a curse which can be magical or faery in nature, and is tied to the moon cycle. If taken as a blessing, transformations can be controlled. Were-bears and were-lynxes are also possible in the setting.
• Rifts and other games in Palladium's Megaverse have them as a separate species, ranging from Wolves to Bears, and some of the big cats (and even further, Werepanthers are different than Werejaguars).
  • Rifts also features the Loup-Garou, a werewolf species with a god complex and the statline to back it up against an unaugmented human. It also must die twice, once in Wolf or Man-Wolf form and once as a Human, in order to be truly killed. Killing it only once "kills" that form, preventing it from changing into it ever again.
• A set of semi-official articles in Palladium's magazine/book The Rifter expands the Werebeasts to the Nightbane game. There Weres form clans collectively known as the Children Of The Moon. These clans run the gamut from Corrupt Corporate Executives, Mercenaries, Seers, Insane Beasts, Superpowered Mutants, and their own internal police force. According to their creation legend, Humans were originally Wereapes, but lost their ability to change to their animal forms due to a curse that also gave the Werebeasts their vulnerability to silver.
• In Deadlands, the Classic Collection, the Du Ponts are a branch of the mad Whateley family who are known for being werewolves, as well as inbred mad magicians. Mina Devlin has a few of them working for her at the Hunt-Phelan house.
• An optional werewolf template in GURPS is an uncontrollable problem triggered by the full moon. They're very hard to kill but curiously don't have any special level of strength like most werewolves.
• In Terror T.R.A.X: Track of the Werewolf (reviewed by Spoonyone), the werewolves seem to possess few characteristics that separate them from normal humans. They can be killed by ordinary methods, speak clearly, and fight using automatic weapons.
• The Lawful Neutral Wolfen from Confrontation.
• In Miller's Hollow, the werewolves are regular humans during the day and unstoppable monsters during the night, regardless of moon phases. There is also a race that can apparently transform a second time, getting white fur and a taste for other werewolves.
• Exalted; There is absolutely nothing preventing a Lunar Exalt from having a wolf as their spirit-shape, although they're not exactly your average werewolves. As far as official characters go, Ma-Ha-Suchi is Mode Locked into a humanoid wolf/goat hybrid form as a result of Wyld-induced Body Horror.
  • Actally, only Ma-Ha-Suchi's goat traits are permanent. He can still assume his human form, wolf form, or any other form he's acquired. But he's ashamed of his horns and hooves in his non-hybrid forms (not to mention that the hybrid form is designed for maximized asskickery).

Theater

• In The Mystery of Irma Vep, Nicodemus is mauled by a monster on the moors and subsequently transforms into a Wolf Man on-set.
• Similarly, The House Of Frankenstein features Talbot, a Wolf Man who gets an onstage transformation.

Toys

• Monster High's werewolves such as Clawdeen and her brother Clawd's transformations are triggered by moonlight or a spotlight. Even then, their physical changes are minimal - weres in the MH universe have not been shown to have a fully human or fully lupine form. In Clawdeen's diary, their younger sister Howleen is mentioned as having been sprayed by a skunk, whether this indicates she was hunting, or simply in the wrong place at the wrong time is not mentioned.

Video Games

• Free MMOFPS game Wolf Team revolves around this. Super Soldiers with the Lycanthrope gene that can transform at will and go melee on people. Some game modes allow for "mutated" versions of Wolf, permanent Lycans with radical powers.
• Gabriel Knight: The Beast Within
• Werewolves are a common enemy in the PC game Nocturne, appearing in all but one chapter, and they can be killed with any weapons; it's just that silver bullets kill them a lot faster.
• One of the main "dual nature" gimmicks in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is that Link transforms into a wolf when he enters the Twilight Realm. It's quite an impressive step up from the unarmed, pink bunny he turned into in A Link to The Past's Dark World.
• Saberwulf of Killer Instinct is looking for a cure for his condition. Although his ending in the first game does give him one, that ending is not canon and he actually comes out worse before the second game, both failing to get a cure and losing his arms in the process, forcing him to get new bionic arms.
• Goro Okami in Moero! Nekketsu Rhythm Damashii Osu! Tatake! Ouendan 2 turns into a werewolf when he sees round objects. The entire goal of his level is to try and have a date with a girl he likes while suppressing the transformation in the face of multiple round objects (balloons, balls, ice cream, etc.). Winning the stage reveals that the girl loves dogs. Losing shows Goro being carted off to the pound.
• Fighters Destiny for N64 has a character named Piere who is a french clown, there's a cheat you can use which turns him into a werewolf.
• The Fable series has Balvarines, humanoid wolf-creatures. When someone is infected, they turn into a Balvarine and stay that way. Permanently.
  • When infected you have a chance of becoming a white balverine, an especially powerful and intelligent kind that usually leads packs of regular balverines.
  • There are two cases of balverines who shift back to human form: in the flash game, the white balverine turns out to be the mayor of town, who involuntarily changes forms at night, and in Fable 2 a woman who you escort through a balverine-infested forest turns out to be a white balverine in disguise, luring you into a trap for her "children".
• The Bloody Roar games have a whole menagerie of therianthropic characters like this including some kind of metalic bug-like beast called the unborn and a penguin who becomes a Phoenix.
• The Beast Kingdom in Seiken Densetsu 3 is inhabited by a race of werewolves known as Beastmen. They are generally more humanlike during the day, and become Wolf Men at night, but due to the presence of the Mana Stone of the Moon, the entire country is cast in perpetual night. One of the potential player characters, Kevin, hails from this place and transforms at night. This effectively gives him two sets of moves to the other characters' one.
• Castlevania 64: Legacy of Darkness has a "Man-beast", Cornell, as one of the playable characters. Very little is given about the race, but what can be inferred from the text, a Man-Beast is different from a werewolf in that they're usually not evil because their powers are usually sealed away and can only transform after Training from Hell. Cornell, unusually, has the ability to shoot endless blades of wind from his hands even as a human. In Castlevania Judgement, he also gained the ability to howl out blasts of supersonic waves. His rival, another Manbeast who was a werelion, sold his soul for the power to become a werechimera.
  • One of the forms Alucard can shapeshift into in Symphony of the Night is that of a wolf.
  • Both wargs and werewolves are featured in the series proper. Werewolves, however, have a few pyrokinetic skills
• The most recent Fire Emblem games have the laguz, which can shapeshift for limited amounts of time. A "Halfshift" ability can be applied to let them take on a less powerful transformation at will, certain items can make them instantly shift, and the kings and queens of each tribe can stay in their animal forms indefinitely. And yes, there are wolves.
• Tinek/T'Nique/whatever Arcana from Star Ocean is part of a race called lycanthropes, and transforms into a werewolf before every battle. He isn't explored very much, but he does say in Private Actions that he has to train constantly so he doesn't lose his senses and go berserk while transformed.
• The second Golden Sun game has Garoh, a village of friendly werewolves who are also psychic. Though they don't want you to know their secret. A cutscene suggests that the lycanthropy and Psychic Powers both come from exposure to Psynergy Stones.
  • No references to Garoh in Golden Sun: Dark Dawn, but a nation of beastmen does exist in Morgal, with Belinsk as its capitol. Sveta, a player character, is from that nation and is a member of its royal clan.
    • Fans looking for connections between the beastmen and Garoh's werewolves will find them. Sveta can turn into a more wolfish form, and she has the same elemental affinity as the Garoh. In addition, some NPCs in Belinsk mention that beastmen get more aggressive under the full moon, especially those that were once human.
• The MMORPG "Darkfall" has a playable race of wolf-men called Mahirim. They are unable to transform, have their own cities, and weild weapons and armor.
• Keine Kamishirasawa, rather than a werewolf, is a were-hakutaku. While her transformation only occurs during a full moon, she's doesn't turn evil. Though it would be a good idea not to interfere in her work, lest you be Unpersoned or simply CAVED.
• In Okami, the Oina tribe can transform into a wolf-like form at will. Oki even does this to aid Amaterasu in battle.
• The orginal Worgen of World of Warcraft were humans who turned into manwolves after Archmage Arugal experimented on them in the hope of battling the Scourge. After the war the beasts escaped into the nature and continued to inflict the curse in their blood. The playable Worgen in Cataclysm are (mostly) Gilnean humans, who are infected with the werewolf curse after the assault on the city of Gilneas. Once they are infected, the curse is final: They will stay in their manwolf form once turned into it and there is no known cure to undo the curse and revert the transformation. However, a recently transformed Worgen can still be rescued, if the infectees are given a potion that will help the bitten to retain their human minds instead of reverting to bloodthirsty monsters, they later regain complete control over their minds, and control over their bodies as long as they don't feel certain feelings (Pain, excitement, ect. ect.).
  • While the playable Worgen are of the Man-Wolf variety, the bear and cat forms of Worgen druids physically resemble werewolves of the Dire Wolf variety. For gameplay purposes, though, the abilities that they have in these forms are identical to those of the other three druid races.
  • Though Worgen lore as a whole stretches back to the war of ancients, roughly several thousand or more years ago, they were druids who worshipped the wolf ancient, Goldrinn. Their wolf form filled them with rage and was difficult to control, so they attempted to stabilize it by drawing upon the power of Elune, the moon goddess, through a magical scythe. This had the opposite effect, twisting and Shapeshifter Mode Locking them into an insane manwolf form. The other druids, fearing their power and insanity, sealed them away in the Emerald Dream (another dimension). Many years later, Gilnean sorcerer Arugal accidentally summons some of the worgen as an attempt to drive back the undead Scourge. Around the same time, a night elven sentinel finds a magical scythe (the same one that cursed the worgen in the first place) that allows her to summon the worgen herself. Unfortunately, they too go out of control.
• In Mega Man Star Force, Damian Wolfe's takes upon the appearance of an anthro wolf as his EM form, Wolf Woods. It's hard for him to control himself in this form.
• Warwolves in City of Heroes are a mysterious variant of Super Soldier used by the Fifth Column and Council. After a certain level, random Council Mooks have a chance of transforming into them when defeated.
• Sabre Man, the intrepid explorer from the classic, eponymous 8-bit computer game series, is cursed with lycanthropy in 'Knight Lore' by the dire wolf Sabrewulf and forced to find a cure within 40 days before the curse becomes permanent. Sabreman transformed into a "werewulf" every night, the most notorious game effect being our poor hero marked as an enemy by Melkhior's magic cauldron, the only artifact that can prepare the cure for his affliction.
• Dragon Age: Origins features werewolves that were created by the Keeper of a Dalish (Elf) clan who cursed the humans who destroyed his family. They can only become human again if the Keeper agrees to end the curse, an act that will also kill him. These werewolves have learned to speak, but are regrettably cursed with frequent pig-like snorting when doing so. These aren't the only werebeasts in the setting. Most werecreatures are actually humans or animals possessed by demons from the Fade and subsequently mutated.
  • It is also mentioned that because of that, there is pretty much no one "true" version of werewolf. Some change when the moon is full, some when they are angry, some turn into wolf-men, some into large wolves, some are only vulnerable to silver... It all depends on the exact demon involved.
• Subverted in Quest for Glory IV with the Gypsies, who are Voluntary Shapeshifters who turn into wolves (just wolves, no hybrid form). The local villagers believe in the classic version of the werewolf legends, which gets one of them Misblamed when he's caught near town when the gravedigger goes missing. If you mention werewolves to the Gypsy leader in conversation, she dismisses the legends as superstition and even offers to let you cross her palm with silver to prove that the traditional Kryptonite Factor is bunk.
• Final Fantasy V has a whole town of creatures called werewolves, but they always appear in humanoid wolf form, never transforming either way. They're also pretty friendly, for the most part. They were bipedal and wore clothes.
  • One also shows up in Final Fantasy VI, where it is a thief who goes by the codename, Lone Wolf. He probably has no connection to the town of werewolves in the previous game, though his sprite was very similar to the generic sprite used for the its townspeople.
  • Previously, in Final Fantasy I, werewolves were random encounter enemies who were recolored wolf sprites that had more HP.
• The Sims 2: Pets allows Sims to become werewolves by interacting with a glowy-eyed wolf or getting into a fight with a transformed werewolf. Werewolves transform every night and are still controllable in their wolfy forms, though they tend to freak out other Sims. Their personalities tend toward extremes and, even in human form, they get along with animals much better than regular Sims. The condition is curable.
• Diablo 2: Lord of Destruction has the Druid, with an entire skill tree dedicated to transforming into a werewolf or a were-bear, and special attacks that can be used in those forms.
• League of Legends has Warwick. Once a mercenary, he obtained a fully controllable version of lycanthropy as punishment for genocide. He hardly leaves his new form and is mentally the same (which isn't all that different from a wilder mindset). Essentially Soraka's punishment made things a hell of a lot worse.
• Altered Beast features the player becoming a werewolf in two levels.
• Valkenhayn R. Hellsing, Rachel's Badass Battle Butler in BlazBlue is a werewolf. Contrary to most examples, he's very cultured and cool-headed. Not only is he capable of changing into a wolf completely (or even partially) at will, it's actually a part of his gameplay. In wolf form he's much faster and has some powerful moves, but he can't block.
• Darkstalkers has Jon Talbain (Gallon in the Japanese version). He seems to be in control of himself as a werewolf, although he fears that he will lose himself in bloodlust and become a beast completely, and is desperately searching for a cure for his condition. He does find a cure in the endings of the first two games, although the third game's ending suggests that he's jumping headlong in the other direction. Also note: English Kung-Fu Werewolf. Hell yes.
• Werewolves exist in The Elder Scrolls games.
  • In Daggerfall, you have Werewolves and Wereboars. It's infectious, they change every month at the full moon and have to kill an innocent a month.
  • In Morrowind (from the Solstheim expansion) it's infectious, they change every night and have to kill a person every night or they are weakened (damaged health) when they revert back to humanoid-form.
  • In Skyrim Werewolves can change into their powerful beastforms anytime they want every 24 hours. They also retain full control of themselves and gain a lifelong immunity to disease. The downside? For one thing, it's impossible to get a good night's sleep since the beast blood within werewolves makes them restless. Also, if werewolves die with their lycanthropy untreated (removing it is possible but very difficult), their lycanthropy manifests as wolf spirits that drag their souls to Hircine, Daedric Prince of the Hunt and the creator of lycanthropy.
• In Disgaea (as represented by Fenrich), werewolves are a type of demon descended from both humans and wolves that get their power from the moon. They're a Little Bit Beastly by default, but can turn into Big Badass Wolves as a means of attack.
• Master of Magic has Werewolves as Death realm unit that can only be obtained by casting the Lycanthropy spell on any friendly Normal unit. It has more health than cavalry, regeneration, good melee attack and bonus to hit. Weapon Immunity gives a huge bonus against non-magical attacks, but any weapon-enhancing spell or alchemical material bypasses it and their own defense is minimal, much like with berserking units. As Death creatures they also got immunity to cold, poisons, mental and death magic.

Webcomics

• Lawrence Talbot (of the 1941 Wolf Man movie) briefly headlined a webcomic called "The Talbot Chronicles". The werewolves in that followed the same rules as the 1940s movie series, and even addresses the two different versions of the classic poem: according to the comic, a werewolf transforms during the full moon, as well as every night during Autumn.
  • Also, amusingly, features a Shout-Out to this very page. Talbot's bookshelf includes a book called "Our Werewolves Are Different" credited to TV Tropes.
• Hanna Is Not a Boy's Name: first off, they look like this. Second, they transform at will and third, they are very rare.
  • Actually, Toni's (who by the way, normally looks like this) ability to change at will is "cheating". (Mentioned here at the bottom and explained here).
  • Toni has different wolf forms, too, depending on how complete her transformation is. The one depicted above is actually an incomplete form, and her latest form is...just...waaaaaay too cute.
• Cry Havoc has four werewolves as its main characters. They have greatly enhanced size strength and resistance, given to the point that they can effectively fight battle tanks head on. They transform during a full moon, and during their wolf phase are considerably larger than normal humans. They stand approximately six feet tall at the shoulder when on all fours, and nearly 12 feet tall when erect. They posses tough skin augmented by their resistance to non-silver weapons. They also have greatly improved senses. When transformed they may have difficulty controlling their actions due to bestial and pervasive 'wolf mind' that works subconsciously toward a fully animal state of mind. They can communicate with one another through a language that to observers sounds like growls and barks, but is understood only by other werewolves.
• Harry Potter Comics with a werewolf casting spells and one of his half-transformed victims still wearing his hat and sunglasses. As the series takes place 19 years after the books, werewolf bites can now be cured if caught before the first full transformation.
• Shifters is yet another 'weres versus vampires' series.
• Peter Is the Wolf: About one in every 1000 people in the world is some sort of were; werewolves are most common and have the most developed social structure, but there are plenty of other were species with their own idiosyncracies (werebears are antisocial, werelions are arrogant and lazy, etc.) Weres can change at will, and are forced to change under the full moon or under emotional stress (including sexual arousal), but wolfsbane can either reverse or inhibit a transformation. (A separate herb, called "locoweed", forces a transformation). Humans that are either injured by a were or engage in unprotected sex with one become a thrall that must be rigorously trained to control their new form, which lends the primary storyline to the comic.
  • It uses the title of this page as an advertising tagline.
• Alpha Luna, in where the werewolves are born that way and can change at will, but the first transformation appears to be non-controllable. The actual comic itself is fairly good, with slightly wonky dialogue (Deu to the fact that the writer has English as his second language) but gorgeous artwork.
• One of the supporting characters in No Room for Magic is Roy, whose dad turned him into a werewolf so that he could survive gym class. It's made him less shy, but he feels compelled to sniff strangers' butts.
• Dominic Deegan contains an entire race of werewolves. These werewolves can transform at will. Infact, many of the race prefer their wolf-man form, only taking a human form for diplomatic purposes. Their strength is based on the moon, with their wolf-man forms becoming stronger and more proficient with magic. Although the race is inherently more brutal, there is no loss of sanity or any other such ill effect from the transformation.
  • Some werewolves can only partially shift; these are referred to as "runts". They have anger management issues and are subject to Fantastic Racism.
• The Wotch has a few lycanthropic minor characters including a hereditary werewolf (Samantha "Wolfie" Wolfe). Transformations occur involuntarily under a full moon (or a spell capable of duplicating those conditions), and victims lose their normal personalities while transformed (though both above characters can overcome this thanks to a magic amulet).
  • Some clarification on this: Samantha's Werewolf state is a trait of her bloodline, and when the first member of her family to undergo this transformation was given an amulet from the Wotch of that time in order to protect his mind (the body still had to undergo the transformation, but the individual's mind would remain unchanged), it became a true gift to the family. This is because when a new member of the family was born, a new amulet would appear for them to use. Eventually the power of the amulet became so intertwined with the bloodline, that the amulets were no longer needed after a given point. Branches of the family still keep hold of them however in order to show their gratitude for the Wotch's gift, and when Samantha's friend Katie first becomes a Werecat, the amulet is now needed for her in order to prevent a loss of control. A possible ending to the side story that explains this shows that the amulets will now appear for Katie's family line.
• The werewolves in Lunatic Chaos are caused by heredity. However, the 'when' is cleverly subverted. Upon entering puberty, a werewolf will change some random night. Whatever moon is out that night is what they become 'linked' to. They can transform at will, but will be forced to take on their wolf shape on their personal phase. However, when a werewolf becomes linked to the full moon, they become bloodthirsty monsters whenever they are forced to transform.
• El Goonish Shive, unsurprisingly as Shapeshifting is one of main themes. The backstory for the Dewitchery Diamond mentions a traditional curse-based Were-Wolf. It was shown as a man-wolf and infected a victim. So, by Dan's count, 2 1/2 werewolves (the one produced by DD wasn't "were"). Currently in the Alpha world, werewolves are said to be wiped out - or at least Pandora believes so, and she was the one arranging this.
• Neauria from Earthsong and her species provide the inspiration for the werewolf legends on Earth. They're anthropomorphic dog-like humanoids, but that's about the only similarity they share with Earth's werewolves.
• In The Tao of Geek, a horde of werewolves was caused by a voodoo curse found on the Internet. The first person affected became the Alpha Wolf, and all subsequent cursed people became members of the Alpha's pack. Killing the Alpha was mentioned as a way to reverse the curse on the other afflicted people. Removing the curse on the Alpha works just as well.
• Wally from Zebra Girl can transform to a wolf or wolf-man and change his size to some degree, but only at night - he's stuck on whatever shape he takes during the day. His power level seems tied to his status within the "pack" - his old alpha could turn into a wolf the size of a house.
• In Dandy and Company, Bernard is turned into a werewolf by the demon Skeezicks. As such, he's basically a Petting Zoo People version of a wolf (well, inasmuch as an animal in this comic can be otherwise) 24/7, but transforms into the classic humongous, bloodthirsty monster when exposed to the light of the full moon. (Cloud cover is enough to block out the effect). The only way to restore normalcy is to challenge Skeezicks to a battle for Bernard's soul.
• In Sorcery 101 werewolves do not retain their full human consciousness, but they do seem to retain a certain level of control. For instance, even in his wolf form, Brad will not harm anyone he likes. Brad is also colorblind, because he is trying to keep his werewolfism under control. Werewolves in Sorcery101 turn into full wolves, without any form of humanism to them. Werewolves also have hyper healing powers. Also, there is a cure. If a werewolf has his tail removed, they become human again. However, any wound that they suffered as a werewolf will come back if cured. Werewolfism is also hereditary, as Brad's daughter has it without being bitten.
• First off, the creatures in Ansem Retort are actually werePIRES (though they seem to take more after their were-side). All that is known so far is that their natural predators are sharks. And their beast forms look like, well, the Beast. Oh, and apparently they make cute reindeer.
• Two of the protagonists of The Dragon Doctors become inflicted with Lycanthropy. The titular doctors are able to cure nearly any malady, but they're only able to control lycanthropy rather than get rid of it entirely. The two werewolves became so because a horrific entity bent on consuming all life tried to absorb their minds and souls, and this awoke within them an "inner beast". This is treated differently than "standard" lycanthropy, which is contagious, but it's also difficult to cure because you can't really get rid of the inner beast without killing a person's will to live, and getting it to settle back down is the only way. Kili and Greg have to wear magical arm-bands and exercise a lot to burn off their excess energy, and one side-effect is that their hair is now incredibly long.
• Family Man features an entire town based around the local werewolf population, though the majority of townspeople are by no means werewolves. Lycanthropy, in females, at least, seems to coincide with menstruation, and the transformation is preceded by a ritual including the donning of a wolf skin. Evidence suggests that werewolves can arise from genetic inheritence and from...some means of transmission. At least, that's what we know so far: there's still much to be revealed on the subject.
• Vlad the Vegan Vampire got a pal, Estragon the werepanda.
• In Paradigm Shift, the weres are the result of (apparently) a government experiment on making Super Soldiers gone wrong; the original one is a werelion, whereas Kate turns into a rather Nightmare Fuel-ish man-wolf. They later see the results of, apparently, the same program gone right; these are somewhat were-ish but mostly just Made of Iron in human form.
• Strays They have Mismatched Eyes! (Also can't talk but that appears to be injury based).
• WiredWolf of Enjuhneer has no apparent connection to the moon, instead transforming when incredibly angry (and, in one case, when she needed a Halloween costume.) Her precise nature is unconfirmed, but it's worth noting that post-Plot-Relevant Age-Up, she's a Little Bit Beastly even in human form.
• Ace of Eerie Cuties is a werewolf. He's been shown to involuntarily transform during the full moon (requiring him to depend on his class partner Nina for an important essay because he couldn't type with paws) and always exhibited hairy hands in his human form (until hit by another curse).
• In Walking on Broken Glass most of the main cast are Werewolves, who also happen to have Elemental Powers
  • In the current story arc it has been explained that everyone at the "Green Company" Grey Inc., except for one person is a werewolf; also all the wolves have a connection with two different elements they have an affinity for, which varies from person to person, when they awaken their primary element shows itself most readily such as here https://web.archive.org/web/20120623142156/http://brokenglass.greyinkstudios.com/comic/book-1/volume-1/issue-3/of-monsters-and-men-3/
    • actually it is implied that all magical creatures have an alignment to two elemental forces
• Three Panel Soul has a one shot werewolf strip: highly social and monogamous.
• In Sinfest, how Slick's reaction to a woman is depicted.
• Girl Genius has a mention of "at least one reported werewolf" on one noble family tree. Much later we see a knight transforms at the urge of his master to save them both, demonstrating how inconvenient sides of shapeshifting sometimes can be very handy.^[2] Later it turns out that all Knights of the Hunt are werewolves.

Web Original

• Limyaael is more concerned with werewolves drowning in the Wangst than in playing with myths.
• What do you get if you mix the Our Werewolves Are Different and Everyone Is Gay tropes? You get the werewolves at choose your own change! WARNING: May not be sfw - since it is a Fetish Fuel station)
• Given its canine features, it's quite possible The Rake of creepypasta lore(as well as Everyman HYBRID) is a really creepy, hairless wolfman. Its features are mostly human, with just enough canine there to be disturbing.

Western Animation

• Gargoyles had an episode where Xanatos' engagement gift to FOX turned her into a wolf-like being every night until he and the gargoyles were able to forcibly remove it. In this case, it's noted that her were-form is unsustainable; she has to feed constantly and is in danger of burning out and dying.
  • Another episode featured were-leopards who transformed involuntarily because of a magic curse.
  • Also, recurring villain "Wolf", formerly a human mercenary/TV star, who due to genetic engineering is a half-man, half-wolf creature, he can't change back to human form or spread his condition, but he's frequently referred to as a werewolf, which, as werewolf roughly translates from Latin as "man-wolf", is technically true, although "mutant" and "hybrid" would be better terms.
• Freakazoid!! did a parody of the original The Wolf Man with an obvious Lon Chaney Jr. parody coming to Dexter for help with his werewolf problem. Freakazoid, after forcing him to suffer numerous indignities, ultimately cured him by dumping him into the internet and back out again.
  • This same episode even parodied the fake frame-by-frame transformations of the original Wolfman, for both the Lon Chaney Jr. Expy and Freakazoid himself.
• The Simpsons did it during a Treehouse of Horror episode where Ned Flanders gets bitten by a Dire Wolf and becomes a Man-Wolf; a rare case of two types in one show.
• The title character of the Ruby-Spears cartoon Fangface would transform whenever his human form saw the full moon ... or a photograph of it... or anything which vaguely reminded him of it. Hilarity Ensues, of course. The reverse transformation was similarly triggered by the sun. Or any other sun-like image.
• Buzz Lightyear of Star Command has a very "mechanical" twist to our friend the werewolf, called the wirewolf.
  • They also spoofed vampires with "NOS 4A2" (Nosferatu), an energy-draining robot vampire.
• Gravedale High had a rather nerdy werewolf teen named Reggie Moonshroud.
• Codename: Kids Next Door has two characters who are weredogs, Valerie (a girl who is an honor student) and Ms Thompson (the teacher), Numbuh 5 got turned into one in "Operation D.O.G.H.O.U.S.E."
• An episode of The Real Ghostbusters had Egon turn into a werechicken.
  • There was also "No One Comes to Lupusville", in which a clan war between werewolves and vampires finally got bloody, and when they fought...

Peter: Egon, not to be intrusive or unduly nosy, but what do you mean by "worse"?
Egon: Well, when a vampire bites someone, he becomes a vampire, right?
Peter: Right.
Ray: And when a werewolf bites someone, they become a werewolf too!
Egon: Exactly! So what happens when a werewolf bites a vampire, and a vampire bites a werewolf?

• In a direct parody of An American Werewolf in London (and Turbo Teen - of course), Futurama has a curse that can turn any mild-mannered robot into a werecar.
  • But unlike the hovercars the characters in the show are familiar with, these cars are "crawling around on round rubber feet...like a wolf!"
• In the Ben 10 episode "Benwolf" we were introduced to an alien version of the werewolf called a Loboan or Yenaldooshi. It scratches the Omnitrix thus causing Ben to slowly turn into this alien werewolf. Later, the creature is added to the Omnitrix's Big List Of Heroes and he later dubs it Benwolf.
• Animaniacs featured a somewhat unusual version in the Minerva Mink short "Moon Over Minerva". A geeky wolf, named Wilford B. Wolf, would turn into a hunky wolf when exposed to the full moon. Minerva won't give his geeky self the time of day, but she goes crazy for his moonlit self. Needless to say the short is pretty heavy on the Fan Service for both the male and female audiences? Also doubles as You Sexy Beast.
• On Ugly Americans, werewolves turn shortly after being bitten, but retain their intelligence. They're still pretty vicious though, one tore a man's arm off just to get tickets to a magic show. After turning, that man grew his arm back, albeit very slowly (it took the entire episode just to grow the arm to half its original size). They also don't turn back, or it hasn't been shown anyway.
• One episode of Johnny Bravo involved Johnny finding out that his date was a werewolf. He went on the date anyway, reasoning that he just had to stick it out until sunrise for her to turn back into a beautiful woman. Unfortunately, it was a Wednesday, and it turns out that on Wednesdays she turns into an annoying little man named Melvin who keeps trying to show people his stamp collection.
• In Jonny Quest the Real Adventures, the transformation into a werewolf comes because of a genetic disorder that only affects men.
• Mary Shelley's Frankenhole. The Wolfman can only be killed by a silver bullet. The death will only be temporary and he will heal as soon as the bullet leaves him (even if he has to rot and decay for 70 years before the bullet leaves). The only way for him to permanently die is if a lover fires the silver bullet.
• Adventure Time has the Whywolves, which are werewolves-like creatures born out of inquiry and bloodlust.
  • Fin mistook them for normal werewolves at first, however, so there might be one than one type.
  • Another episode had Finn get infected by being hugged by a "Hug wolf", a were wolf with heart-shaped hands and feet that hugged anyone it came across.
• After Shaggy is turned into the titular character in Scooby Doo and the Reluctant Werewolf he reverts to his old self by saying "Oogly boogly wobbly wye, no more a werewolf am i, I'm going to be a normal guy!"
  • Winnie the Werewolf is a student of the All-Ghouls School.
  • In the direct-to-video Halloween film, "Scooby Doo and The Goblin King", Scooby Doo and Shaggy go to the Magic World and encounter a bartender who was a werewolf. They manage to convince him that they're a werewolf themselves by using a variation of the Trope Pole Trench and switching themselves to make it look like Shaggy transforming into Scooby. Velma becomes a werewolf very briefly (along with Fred who becomes vampire, and Daphne who turns into a witch) as a result of the Goblin King's magic sceptor.

Real Life

• Vampires were originally very similar to (or basically were) werewolves. In some historical lore, vampires would turn into wolves rather than bats.
  • The "vampires turn into bats" trope is just a bit over hundred years old in any case, only first thought up by Bram Stoker when he heard of blood-drinking bats in South America. Before that there has been no connection between the animal and the mythical monster.
  • The connection is made even further with beliefs that if one fails to properly dispose of a werewolf's corpse, it will rise up as a vampire.
• Some legends say that witches were also blamed for making potions (with extreme hallucinogenic properties) that made men into werewolves (or at least made them believe they were wolves).
• It is also thought that the rabies virus may be to blame.
  • There may also be a connection to leprosy; in some medieval legends, werewolves in their human forms had no noses.
  • And possibly (naturally impossible to confirm) early serial killers. It's not like Jack the Ripper was the first one, merely the first in the modern age.
• Perhaps unsurprisingly, some Furries claim to be werewolves or other "shifters". Since they obviously can't change physically, they state that their shifting is (mostly) mental or spiritual in nature, often with connections to astral projection or Native American style totemism.
• Clinical lycanthropy is a rare disorder where sufferers think they have transformed into an animal.
  • It affects the parts of the brain that manage a person's body image, so they actually experience shifting shape into something that isn't human, and interpret it as turning into an animal.
  • SS Werewolf. Pretty much evil.

1. ↑ although remember who the mythical founders of Rome were raised by
2. ↑ contains many minor spoilers