How do werewolves transform

Ben Davis September 22, At what age do werewolves first transform? Can werewolves be cured? Are werewolves scared of silver? Why does silver kill werewolves? What is the only thing that can kill a werewolf? Why is silver good against monsters? Does Silver kill monsters? However, the first sign of an onset of actual wolfie activity is usually hair. What were once your normal human hands get mangled and your skin peels away like a banana. They are replaced with the large, hairy, dangerously clawed hands of a beast.

Once your new body parts start popping out, a slimy, dog saliva-like substance oozes out along with blood from your snapping joints. The yellow, glowing orbs of a predator radiate from your eye sockets, and your pupils dilate like a wolf's. Your eyes are now stripped of all humanity and replaced with the eyes of a hunter - usually including excellent night vision.

Your entire body starts molding itself into its new werewolf shape, which is usually a lot taller and broader than a human and somewhat slouched. So bones begin to snap, lengthen, and pop through the skin and back into place.

Some methods of becoming a werewolf are more dangerous than others, and life after transformation may not be what you expect. If you haven't yet, please read the primer on Becoming A Werewolf. It will give you all of the information you need to make an educated decision on whether or not lycanthropy is right for you.

That said, let's get to it. There are three ways to become a werewolf:. I suppose it's a bit of a misnomer putting this in "Ways to Become a Werewolf", since if you aren't already born this way you can't do anything about it.

Technically, though, it is a valid option, so I guess it stays. In order to be born with the genetic ability to become a werewolf known formally as "Genetic Lycanthropy" , both parents have to have the werewolf gene to pass on to their child, though neither parent necessarily has to be a werewolf themselves. For a better understanding of how this works, I've prepared a Primer on Werewolf Genetics that will give you a detailed, scientific explanation of how exactly a child can be born a werewolf.

Those born with genetic lycanthropy are not werewolves right out of the womb. A human with the genetic structure will not begin the werewolf transformation until sometime in late puberty. Pratchett's werewolves can change from human to wolf at any time.

Some choose to spend most of their time in wolf form, while others, like Angua, an officer in Ankh-Morpork's Watch, change form whenever it suits them. The transformation itself is generally more important in film than in written works. Next, we'll look at how people physically change into werewolves. A Breton lai is a love story written in rhyming verse. Most Breton lais were composed during the Medieval period in Europe and include mythological or supernatural elements.

Many works of literature don't spend a lot of time describing what happens when a person becomes a wolf. One minute, a man is human. The next minute, he isn't. Even in movies like "The Wolf Man," the transformation process happens largely off-screen -- the man himself, rather than his process of transformation, is the primary focus of the film.

At the same time, the werewolf transformation in "The Wolf Man" is convincing, particularly considering when it was made. First, hair begins to grow from Larry Talbot's skin, and eventually he becomes a creature that resembles a very hairy man with claws and fangs.

In more recent films, though, the process of becoming a wolf is often the highlight of the show. It appears in great detail, and it's often depicted as being painful. Bones forcibly elongate and change their shape, sometimes moving so drastically that they rupture a person's skin.

From beginning to end, the transformation can take several minutes, and the end result is a creature who is part human and part wolf, in varying proportions. Depending on the special effects available at the time the film was made -- and the techniques used to create them -- these transformations can range from absurd to grotesque to truly convincing.

Whether a werewolf transforms when he dies varies from book to book and movie to movie. Sometimes, if a werewolf dies in wolf form, he remains a wolf forever. But in other depictions, he immediately reverts to his human form. In these films, if you cut off a werewolf's paw, it can become a human hand before your eyes. In general, injuries sustained in wolf form appear on the werewolf's human body, making it much easier to determine which friend or neighbor is a lycanthrope.

In most modern portrayals, the only cure for lycanthropy is a silver bullet. But sometimes, potions, medicines or rituals can stop the transformation, or at least keep it under control. In the " Harry Potter " books, Remus Lupin can sleep off his time as a werewolf if he drinks a wolfsbane potion. In the movie "Ginger Snaps," an injected infusion of monkshood can cure lycanthropy. Today's fictional werewolves grow primarily from folk tales, and in these stories, lycanthropy is often a metaphor.

Next, we'll explore what werewolves represent in both old stories and modern movies. In many depictions, werewolves are evil -- they kill animals and innocent people, sometimes for fun. But in some books and films, werewolves are good, or at least sympathetic. They stir the audience's compassion, largely because of their struggles to accept or control their lycanthropy.

This isn't entirely a recent invention. The story "Eena," by Manly Banister, was published in It broke with tradition by portraying a werewolf who is both sympathetic and female. Other characters, like J.

Rowling's Remus Lupin, seem to be entirely benevolent. One werewolf, the impenetrable Oz from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," learns to control his lycanthropic impulses so he can be a better person and win back the heart of his ex-girlfriend, Willow.

As with vampires , there's a sexual element to werewolves. While vampires tend to be smooth and sexually charged, the typical werewolf is hyper- masculine. He's exceptionally muscular, exceptionally hairy and exceptionally violent. These traits come not just from a werewolf's appearance, but from the folkloric history behind werewolves. In many stories, a man becomes a werewolf because of some sort of excess. His behavior may be too rough, or he may, by the standards of the community, be sexually deviant, usually in terms of wanton relationships with women.

These traits may have even caused the word "werewolf" to apply to human behavior. In the 16th century in Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands off the coast of France, teenagers who roamed around at night, broke curfews and socialized outside the bounds of polite society were known as werewolves. In some cases, young people disguised themselves as animals to travel from one community to another. A common belief at the time was that outlaws would eventually become werewolves.

This connection to rough or coarse behavior also ties in to modern psychology. In psychological terms, you might think of a person's struggle with lycanthropy as a struggle to come to terms with -- or get rid of -- his more primitive nature.

When a man becomes a werewolf, his primal instincts, which aren't necessarily considered to be appropriate, take over.

There are natural parallels between lycanthropy and puberty. During puberty, the human body changes dramatically. These changes can seem foreign, and they're definitely beyond a young person's control. Similarly, in some depictions, lycanthropy is a metaphor for menstruation. A woman's body changes according to a regular monthly cycle. In a lot of ways, these changes define who she is -- menstruation is a hallmark of being a woman, and physical transformation is the hallmark of being a werewolf.

Because of its typical transmission through biting and frequently fatal outcome, lycanthropy can also be a metaphor for any contagious disease, particularly those that are transmitted sexually.

This is one of the reasons why people can identify with werewolves, in spite of their status as monsters. Teenagers and young adults can identify with the idea of sudden, seemingly inexplicable changes in their skin, hair and body. And just about everyone has experienced the struggle to keep control of emotions like anger and frustration.

At the same time, there are some medical conditions that can make lycanthropy seem very real. Read on to learn about some of these.