As it says on my bio, I am attempting to write a series of novels with a werewolf for a main character. For this I needed to do a lot of research on the subject for world-building and to make my stories seem halfway believable. I decided to not let all that time spent trailing over the internet and through books on mythology and fiction it was harder than it sounds. A man changing into a wolf is physically impossible, but not metaphysically. So, I am going to share some of my findings with you, so I don’t have to remember it all.

There are many scientific theories to explain away werewolf phenomenon, from ergot poisoning (from a parasitic fungus that grows on wheat), to clinical lycanthropy, which is a psychological disorder where the person thinks they are a wolf, and act accordingly; these people can be a danger to everyone around them. Religion and superstition have done their part to fuel the werewolf legend, and Christianity especially has done its best in the past to portray werewolves as evil creatures. Wolves were preached to be the helpers of Satan, and He was supposed to approach wayward travellers as a man on a black horse, and made them swear allegiance to him. Then he would give them a potion and a belt of wolf-skin so they could transform into wolves, generally on the full moon, and they went prowling through the local countryside preying on innocents.

Before Christianity, however, legends about wolves and werewolves were far more revering. Ancient cultures marvelled at the wolf for its cunning and ferocity, much like Native Americans taught that wolf was a teacher. Everybody knows the story of Romulus and Remus and how they were suckled by a she-wolf; Romans viewed she-wolves as symbols of fertility as well as cunning protectors. In Greek stories, King Lycaeon was turned into a wolf by Zeus for serving him human flesh. Zeus also turned the mother of Artemis and Apollo into a wolf to hide her from Hera; Artemis was the virgin goddess of the moon and was associated with wolves. In Norse culture, Berserkers were fearsome warriors who took on the behaviour and sometimes appearance of wolves or bears in battle; Odin kept two wolves by his side, and the great wolf Fenris (or Fenrir) was chained in a dungeon until he could break loose and gobble up the sun at the end of time.

Ways to become a werewolf ranged from rubbing a magic salve into the skin, being cursed, being born to it, to Hollywood’s favourite, being bitten. In the novel ‘Darker Than You Think’ by Jack Williamson, the theory is put forward that werewolves had evolved as a separate species, homo lycanthropus (I got annoyed at this point, because in the novel, homo lycanthropus could take the ethereal form of any animal, not just a wolf, so strictly that’s therianthropy), that died out at the end of the ice age, surviving by interbreeding with homo sapiens. I recommend reading it if you’re interested in the subject.

Hollywood werewolves are different entirely. Legends have been combined and exaggerated so werewolves are now seen as unthinking beasts that can only be killed by silver bullets. Which is far from the truth if only you scratch beneath the surface.