The term werewolf seems to be a very broad subject these days by definition.

Dog
Wolf
Wolfman
Human
lycanthrope
Therianthrope

 

Siverwolf.

Hmm, what's real and what is not...

There are folks who've sworn they've seen creatures that looked exactly like movie type werewolves (flannel garbed werewolves no less - see 'Hunting the American Werewolf' by Linda S. Godfrey), so you can either think they're crazy/seeing things/lying, or decide that there might just be something 'out there' that looks like a werewolf. Only, those folks don't really relate seeing anyone change into the creature they saw, so the label 'werewolf' may not apply.

There are shapeshifter legends from all over the world, and alot of folks feel that since it's such a prevalent repeated theme that there must be some grain of truth to it.

Scientifically the idea of a werewolf seems completely impossible. But impossible things happen all the time, science obviously doesn't have all the answers yet. Whether that's enough for you to go 'OMG werewolves could be real!' is a personal thing of course.

There are lots of topics explaining therianism on these boards, and the werelist. Those folks who are wolf therians sometimes call themselves werewolves. But most don't extend that to mean that they physically change into a wolf, or the 7 foot digigrade wolf/human hybrid beasties made popular in zee movies.

Alot of the lore/rules surrounding movie werewolves is false - full moons, silver, pentagrams, etc. There are alot of posts about that stuff too.

So, it's really hard to say what's real and what isn't. At least, for me.

Vancariad wrote:

Siverwolf, so you believe in all of these?  I am just curious.

Well the term werewolf has at one time or another been referred to by these.

Like for example:
The common dog is basically a domisticated wolf cosin and it seems to have been common during the middle ages for dogs to become neglected by there owners and they become wild and hungry for farm animals and such.  People chased them away and called them werewolves and all kinds of fictional stories evolved from that. 
There was also the rabies epidemic and hallucinegenic rye that led to the wrong ideas.

The wolf is a hunter and predator which some people came to fear due to old superstitions.  They are not true.

Wolfman is a fitional hollywood version of their idea of a werewolf.  It's not based on facts.  Silver bullets can kill you or me or anything else.  Full moons have no effect.  Shape shifting has not been proven.

Also if you become a serial killer or cannible you might be refered to as a werewolf.
Actually real life werewolves have free will to do good or bad.  Werewolves are not inheritally evil.

Last, you get to the lycanthrope or therianthrope.  The two are related and sometimes referred to as the same thing.  Lycanthropy is a mental disorder most of the time.  So real life werewolves like to be titled Therian as it applies to more than just one animal.  Werebear, werefox, werecat.  Their all Therian.  Sometimes werewolf is a general term for these.

Hope this helps and clarifies a little.  This is my outline.  I try hard to keep with the facts based on histoical werewolf related books and scripts.  I believe the truth is in the literature and books.  You just have to understand whats fact and fictious while using common sense.



Siverwolf.

Last edited by Siverwolf (2008-09-30 21:31:29)