10.Werewolf: The Mythological Creature

Werewolf: The Mythological Creature

Werewolf, the legendary mythological creature with super senses, speed, unusual strength and reflexes. Werewolves are kind of human who turns out as a wolf form on the night of full moon. The Werewolf is also known as the Shape-shifter, the Wolf-man or the lycanthrope in different mythologies throughout the history.

Basically the idea of werewolves has come from different stories, Hollywood movies & drama series. We don’t know the history or the existence about werewolves or whether they are reality or just a myth. In fact, due to different concepts developed by writers in every Werewolf movie, thousands of myths have been growing. Every Story has something new to tell us. The fantasies of human mind. However today we don’t know what are the characteristics of Werewolf. Whatever we have seen in movies or centuries ago written in different mythologies. Somewhere it is indistinct now.

The research has found different origins about existence of Werewolves. In ancient Greek literature it is described of a man changing into the wolf. In Greek mythology, Lycaon was a king who tested Zeus (Zeus is the sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion). He sacrificed his own child Nyctimus, in order to see whether Zeus was truly Omniscient or not. Zeus transformed Lycaon into a wolf as a punishment of this loathsome crime.

In Indian mythology, the Crocotta is described as the dog-wolf and said to be deadly enemy to dogs & men. According to the book called “The Werewolf Delusion” by Ian Woodward, the Werewolves may have brought America by the Vikings. Some of resources includes the existence of Werewolves before the Christianity. It came in the existence since the stone age. In native American mythology, there is a spirit god named Wisakachek, was a shape shifter. It is said that he was a friend to humans & he was a shape shifter means by default his physical form was of wolf but he can turn into human form.

Now the question arises, how anyone can transform their self into the Werewolf. Different mythologies and different writers have piles of fictitious fantasies. The most famous is, if you get bitten by a Werewolf, you would transform into the Werewolf. Simply by a Werewolf bite, you can turn into Werewolf. They have a Bacteria that has capability to transform human body into the Werewolf form. In Italy, France and Germany, it was said that if anyone, on a certain Wednesday or Friday, slept outside on a summer night with the full moon shining directly on face, could turn into a Werewolf.

Various methods have existed for removing the Werewolf form. It was a belief that Wolfsbane (a flowering plant) is injuries to the Werewolves and they get weaken by the touch in their system. In German, it is believed that a Werewolf could be cured if one were to simply address it three times by its Christian name.

A Sicilian belief of Arabic origin holds that a Werewolf can be cured of its ailment by striking it on the forehead or scalp with a Knife. Another belief involves the piercing of the Werewolf’s hands with nails. The Greeks believed that if corpses of dead Werewolves not destroyed, they would return back to life in the form of wolf. According to Armenian lore, there are women who, in consequence of deadly sins, are condemned to spend seven years in wolf form.

If you analyze the myths & beliefs about different characteristics of Werewolves, you will find there are three distinct categories in which Werewolves are divided. “The True Werewolf”, “The Shapeshifter Wolf” and “The Wolfman”. As the name suggests the Shape Shifter, anyone can recognize. The Shapeshifters are the Werewolves who can turn into both human and Werewolf at any time. The Wolfman is described as the creature, with the body of human but it has fangs, claws and head of wolf’s shape. The True Werewolf is a creature who turns out as a pure wolf form in every full moon. When it transformed into the wolf, cannot control the rage, cruelty and hunger and when it turns back as a human in the morning it forgets everything.

For killing a Werewolf there are various methods. The popular one by silver bullets to their heart. Though they are strong, they are not immortal unlike Vampires. So, they can kill in various different ways. Any object with sharp edges can kill a Werewolf. I personally believe that Werewolves are not cruel and vicious as they are described in fictions. If you are in a situation where you are not able to kill Werewolf, “Stay away from them, protect yourself and run as fast as possible.”