The Complete Idiot's Guide to Werewolves (2 page)

I would like to extend my most sincere thanks to one of my most favorite editors in the world, Randy Ladenheim-Gil. I would also like to thank Megan Douglass for being the best DE a writer could ask for. To my agent, Jacky Sach, I will always be grateful for your confidence in me. Last but not least, I extend my thanks to everyone at Alpha Books who had a part in making this project possible.

All terms mentioned in this book that are known to be or are suspected of being trademarks or service marks have been appropriately capitalized. Alpha Books and Penguin Group (USA) Inc. cannot attest to the accuracy of this information. Use of a term in this book should not be regarded as affecting the validity of any trademark or service mark.

Part 1

Werewolf Origins

Werewolves have existed in the lore of numerous civilizations, even when separated from one another by oceans. To Native Americans, the wolf was a wise guardian of tribal structures. Wolf rites remain sacred to the Quileute of the Pacific Northwest. European werewolves were victims of dark magic or damned by demonic pacts. The Japanese once worshipped a wolf-deity and viewed wolves as divine messengers of powerful deities. In countries where wolves are not indigenous, there are similar creatures, were-hyenas and assorted types of were-cats.

Chapter 1

Werewolf Evolution

An odd howl reaches your ears from somewhere in the dark. “It’s probably just some dog, howling at the moon,” you tell yourself, but your words don’t seem to comfort you as well as you’d like. Suddenly, something is growling just beyond sight, somewhere in the trees. Before you know it, something is behind you, breathing heavily, a savage beast ready to tear you apart without a second thought. Fear that you will soon be dead (or worse, cursed for eternity) grips your heart.

Welcome to the nightmare that is the werewolf—a frightening regression to the animal state, an often involuntary surrender to the savagery that lies within us all.

The state of being a werewolf is called
lycanthropy.
Stories of werewolves span the globe. However, each civilization’s werewolf myth has its own unique characteristics. For example, the appearance of a werewolf’s final state of transformation differs from one culture’s legend/myth to another’s.

According to some stories, a werewolf has the ability to turn from a human into a full-blown wolf, changing in both size and shape. In other stories, which have earned the most popularity in the books and films of recent times, a werewolf turns from a human into a large, wolflike creature, as a sort of human-wolf hybrid.

 

You may be wondering just how, exactly, one becomes a werewolf. Well, if you would like to become a werewolf—or would simply like to avoid becoming one (which would be a more advisable course of action)—it is really rather simple. Of course, the simplest method for becoming a werewolf is to get bitten by one. Unfortunately, it would appear that few people have ever survived a werewolf attack. If you ever find yourself under attack by a werewolf, don’t worry. It is far more likely that you will just be ripped to pieces and killed before the transformation ever takes place. This could be seen as good news or bad news, depending on how you look at it.

 

There are a number of schools of thought as to what causes a person to enter the state of lycanthropy, and these are often related closely to the beliefs of the time periods in which they were created. For example, “werewolf-ism,” as lycanthropy is sometimes called, was first believed to be the result of supernatural causes such as a curse or spell. Later, it was believed to be of spiritual origin—certain people could be tricked into believing they were werewolves by some illusion concocted by the devil. Eventually, as science evolved, the cause became more scientific in nature—a rare disease, a virus, or some sort of psychological phenomenon.

 

The most widely recognized causes of lycanthropy are as follows:

We will begin with the cursed werewolf, as this is the type most familiar to people. The majority of werewolf enthusiasts are already very familiar with the idea of “The Curse of the Werewolf,” most likely because there is already a well-known cult classic film of the same name (see Chapter 11). Even if you have never heard of it before, you can probably figure out what it is without much trouble. In the early days of the werewolf phenomenon, it was considered a curse. The idea likely stemmed from the opinion that few people would volunteer to become savage, flesh-eating beasts on the night of every full moon. (Of course, not every werewolf myth claims that a full moon is necessary for the transformation to occur.)

 

The cursed werewolf is perhaps the most tragic type of all lycanthropes. It is said that they have absolutely no control over their shapeshifting abilities, and this includes their actions while in werewolf form. They recognize neither friend nor foe once the change has occurred and will attack any human who crosses their path. The human mind of the cursed werewolf is said to be completely overwhelmed, replaced by a savage and uncontrollable bloodlust. Needless to say, once a cursed werewolf begins to transform, it would behoove you to start running immediately. The last thing anyone would want to be, when dealing with a cursed werewolf that has just transformed, is the first human it sees.

 

The cursed form of lycanthropy commonly occurs in one of two primary ways. The first way, of course, is to be bitten by a werewolf.

The “bite curse” form of lycanthropy has some interesting folklore behind it. The usual folklore claims that if a person is attacked/bitten by a werewolf and is lucky (or, some might say, unlucky) enough to survive, then the curse passes from the werewolf to the victim. (However, this does
not
mean the curse leaves the current werewolf.) Usually, one will be able to know if this has occurred by the sudden appearance of a mark on one’s palm, hand, or somewhere else on one’s body. This is called the Mark of the Beast. This mark is most frequently described as an inverted pentagram and is usually said to appear on the palm of the hand.

Once the Mark of the Beast appears, the most common lore states that the victim will involuntarily undergo his or her first transformation when hit by the light of the next full moon (or just when the next full moon occurs, according to some). Sadly, the only known 100 percent effective cure for this sort of lycanthropy is death. Some folklore claims that the infected victim will remain mortal (and so can still be killed by normal means) until the first change occurs on the next full moon. Others claim that this isn’t exactly true, that the body of a werewolf victim (if killed after the Mark of the Beast first appears) will simply reanimate and transform anyway, if it was not disposed of properly (see Chapter 16 for instructions).

A second form of the cursed werewolf is the “familial curse” type. This is an individual who is from a family that, for one reason or another, has been marked by the werewolf’s curse. Usually some tragic event, blasphemous sin, or terrible crime was committed by an ancient ancestor (or by the entire ancient clan). This led to the family being cursed with lycanthropy. Most of the time, these curses have been placed by means of either sorcery or divine intervention.

 

For example, some lore might claim that, long ago, the cursed clan enlisted the help of a dark sorcerer in order to secure victory in battle. When the battle was won, however, the head of the clan refused to pay the sorcerer the agreed price. (Sometimes, the popular price in such stories was the lord’s loveliest daughter or firstborn child.) Sometimes these stories state that the lord betrayed the sorcerer and struck him down instead of keeping the bargain. The sorcerer then cursed the clan with his dying words and, by doing so, ensured that it could never be broken. There is one basic theme that commonly occurs in these types of stories—the clan members or leaders did not keep their contract with the sorcerer. Contracts could be seen as symbolic of civilized society. By breaking their contract, they behaved in an uncivilized manner and were therefore punished appropriately with a curse that would force them to lose their humanity completely.