Werewolves, suppose they don't know if they are one?

[lunarwolf]

I heard theory's that some people don't even know that they are a wolf, such as they lost their memory after transforming.
Any thoughts?

[Terastas]

They should. The werewolf waking up in human form thinking it was all a dream or having no memory of last night whatsoever is one of the greatest of Hollywood cliches, so even if they do have a split-personality to go with their werewolf form, they should be able to fill in the blanks for themselves.

[Wingman]

Well, in this day and age, when you wake up naked in a strange place "Werewolf!" probably isn't going to be the first thing to leap off your tongue. In most cases you'll think you've been slipped some kind of drug. Or possibly think that you've gone crazy, or had some sort of stroke or something.
In fact, one character I'm working on for Werewolf: The Forsaken underwent his First Change while stoned out of his gourd. Due to the whole Spirit world aspect of that setting, he was quite aware that some sort of beast was nearby, though he wasn't aware that he was the beast.

Well, on the whole, repressing traumatic memories is par the course for us folk, and intimate knowledge of what someone's sternum felt like as you gnawed on it is probably going to traumatize the average person. Then, in part it depends on the nature of the transformation, and whether the person is lost to their animal mind. If parts of your brain shut down during the transformation, then there is a good chance you are not going to remember what happened, or possess a human mindset while transformed.

Now, they should remember something, even if only suspicions that they have forgotten something. Like waking up the morn after and wondering why they feel like they recognize the guy pictured on the cover. Maybe he goes to the same grocery store as you, maybe he's an actor, or a former classmate. Oh, that's right; he was running for his life and covered in blood when you last saw him.
But, eh, if you prefer the fluffy bunnies type of werewolf then you don't even have that to go on.

[Kavik]

The majority of movie werewolves 'wake up' with no solid memories of what they did while transformed. Many books do this too (NAKED BRUNCH and ST PETER'S WOLF come to mind). Depends on the needs of the writer of course, but I think coming to terms with what's happening (and all the angst involved) is part of the fun.

[Terastas]

Well, in this day and age, when you wake up naked in a strange place "Werewolf!" probably isn't going to be the first thing to leap off your tongue. In most cases you'll think you've been slipped some kind of drug. Or possibly think that you've gone crazy, or had some sort of stroke or something.
In fact, one character I'm working on for Werewolf: The Forsaken underwent his First Change while stoned out of his gourd. Due to the whole Spirit world aspect of that setting, he was quite aware that some sort of beast was nearby, though he wasn't aware that he was the beast.

Okay, sure, sometimes you party and you wake up not remembering what you did the night before; you wake up buried in the sand beneath a topless mermaid sculpture, you get a phone call from some guy who angrily accuses you of peeing in his saxophone. . . Yeah, I know. People drink and weird things happen sometimes.

But here's the thing: What if they hadn't had anything to drink or smoke? What if there hadn't been anyone around to spike their drink or whatnot? What if amnesia is the only side effect and they don't have the hangover one would expect after a night of heavy drinking?

And if that was a possibility, what do they rationalize when they have another night they can't remember anything about twenty-eight days later? What about the full moon after that? Or the one after that?

My point is that, sooner or later, even the dullest of all the dullards will notice a pattern and begin to wonder, and even if they don't make the werewolf connection, they'll eventually get so curious and/or fed up with these experiences and either consult a doctor if they think they may have a medical problem, or make arrangements to have an eyewitness or a camera present to see what happens.

And this is all under the assumption that someone else hasn't already come to them with the answers. If they don't make the connection for themselves, someone else will.

My point is that, even if werewolves did have amnesia of the event, they couldn't possibly stay in the dark forever about it. Sooner or later they will find out.

[Celestialwolf]

I don't like the whole idea of werewolves not remembering anything from during the time they're shifted; that takes the whole fun out of it, and will obviously lead to problems later! The idea of loosing control of oneself just isn't very appealing to me.

Something that could lead to that happening is a condition (I don't remember what it's called) where people are so terrified or appalled about something they've done that they purposefully block their memories of that event and honestly can't remember.
I guess if the person who shifts gives full control to the animal side and sits back for the ride on autopilot might have this happen; but at the same time it's still you, and it would be hard not to remember something that crazy (even if the memories are just intense images, sights and smells as opposed to actual words).

[heartlessfang]

Well I personally thought of that when a person first shifts, they release all their pent up urges as a human(people living in today's society are kind of tightly wound....well "normal" ones anyway)....coupled with the mental shock they recieve from the experience(unless they're pretty strong willed) , they would wake up with a hangover-ish feeling and almost no memory of what happened.....Though it would start coming back in bits and peices until they shifted again, and that's where they remember everything that happened.

In Stephen King's novel "Cycle of the werewolf" The werewolf in question seemed to play on the pent up urges deal, and started figuring out what he was doing after he killed the third person.....I thought that was okay....

[Wolfzilla]

If the first change is traumatic enough, it's possible some people just block out the memories and choose to forget about it, same as certain people who just block out childhood traumas. But after repeated transformations, memory should resurface.