The Origins of The Werewolf: Lycanthropy and Its Historical Past

Capstone Post by Alexis Saucedo

What it means to be a lycanthrope

In order to understand the werewolf and to delve deeper into its origins, we must first understand its components and what it really means to be a werewolf. The term Lycanthropy derives from two greek words, lykos which means wolf and anthropos which means man.

Werewolf Attack woodcut. By Lucas Cranach (1512)

The "Laws" of a Werewolf

A werewolf is an individual (a living person) who turns into a massive wolf, typically during the nighttime, and devours anything from animals, people, and even corpses. These werewolves will turn back into their human form once sunlight begins to arise. There are also different variations of werewolves; some can turn into their animal form at will and some are forced to turn during a full moon. We can see these variations of transformation in countless pop-culture pieces.

We then ask: Well, how does one become a werewolf? There are two most common methods.

Method #1: Hereditary

Becoming a werewolf can be hereditary, which of course means that you have had no choice in this lifestyle and are automatically born into it. This is also known as "Genetic Lycanthropy." Both parents must posses the werewolf gene in order for this method to be successful. The child born with werewolf genes though will not automatically assume werewolf form during full moons or at-will transformation, this will likely occur during the late stages of puberty. Individuals with the werewolf gene may or may not be aware that they contain it. Parents can have the werewolf gene without ever actually having physically transformed into a werewolf. Thus, if the child contains this gene, it might come at an extreme shock when the time does come and they're faced with this horrific transformation.

Transformation from 1981 film The Howling

Method #2: The Bite

This second method is the most classic method and the most commonly used in film, books, tv, etc. This method consists of being bitten by a werewolf while, of course, in their werewolf form typically during a full moon. The victim must survive the attack in order for this to be successful. It is a slow process for the bitten individual to actually become fully infected, it is not something that occurs overnight as the bacteria must spread throughout the whole body. This slow process is painful and can have many symptoms such as nausea, insomnia, fevers, and flu-like symptoms. Once the bacteria from the bite has fully spread, the individual will transform every full-moon from then on.

Earliest Recording of the Werewolf

Most people may think when asked about the origins of werewolves that they were first "discovered" around medieval times maybe in Europe since most creatures of this sort come from European folklore. Back then was also the time where religion and witchcraft were dominant and common beliefs. But in fact, the earliest recording of "man-to-wolf" transformation comes from The Epic Gilgamesh which was from around 2,100 B.C. It was the first recorded incident of its kind where a father-son duo "transformed" into wolves and went on a killing rampage in the forest. This, though, was not the classic werewolf that we know today. Of course different cultures and places around the world have their own ideologies of what it means to be a werewolf. The more classical werewolf appeared in texts from ancient Greece.

Almost every early civilization believed in some sort of mythical creatures and you can see that many thought shapeshifting to be real, that humans could transform into their animal counterparts and back. We see this in ancient writings and drawings especially in greek mythology where human hybrids are extremely prevalent.

Engraving entitled Lycaon changed into a wolf.

Ancient Greek engraving, "King Lycaon is punished for his misdeeds by being turned into a wolf"

The Story of King Lycaon The First Werewolf

As these stories and myths of the werewolf were passed down through time, humans began to correlate werewolves with "immoral" practices and activities such as cannibalism. It was in the late 20th century where homosexuality began to be tied to these "immoral" practices. Seen as some sort of disease that needed to be cured. During this time, medicine was used as a way to keep these fears at bay and combat diseases such as HIV.

Modern Day Werewolves

Today, werewolves remain among the most popular monsters in writing, film, and TV along with creatures such as vampires and zombies. Younger generations today may think of the Twilight films when they think of werewolves or shows such as True Blood and Teen Wolf that are catered towards an adolescent audience. These shows are focused around the usual teen/high school drama and that absolutely saddens me. Regardless, there are still creators that continue to put out impressive works surrounding werewolves and incorporating their own creative twists. One such example is a recent film called The Wolf of Snow Hollow which takes place in a small town in Alaska where there is a wolf-like beast going around and murdering women. It contained all of the classic aspects of what is a "true" werewolf as we know them from recorded history, but the twist at the end was that it was just an abnormally tall man in a werewolf suit that was going around and committing these murders. I found this film to be extremely compelling and one of the better modern takes of the werewolf. It makes us think, as we do with most monsters, that humans are ultimately the true monsters. We are the ones that create these monsters in the first place because of our immoral thoughts, insecurities, and fears. And I think the werewolf is one of the best examples, created by humans or not, that showcase the human lust for immoral activity.