Origins

[Raina The Werewolf Queen]

Native americans believe in totem animals an that to become closer to one totem you must become it

[Lupin]

A)It was a free prize from a cereal. (Fruit Brute)

B) A wolf sneezed at a human sending wolf DNA and green colored mucas.

C) Someone stepped in something.

D) None of the above.

M) Someone forgot to wash their hands after going to the bathroom.

N) Evolutionary advantage to get *all* the bubbles in the bubblewrap.

[Figarou]

N) Evolutionary advantage to get *all* the bubbles in the bubblewrap.

heh, you like popping those things to?

[Lupin]

N) Evolutionary advantage to get *all* the bubbles in the bubblewrap.

heh, you like popping those things to?

Oh yes, sometimes even more than whatever it was I got them with.

[Terastas]

Native americans believe in totem animals an that to become closer to one totem you must become it

*nods* The whole concept specifically of the "werewolf" is European, but stories about shapeshifters abound all across the world.

I remember in another thread, somebody brought up kitsunes from East Asian lore, and someone else (probably me) suggested that maybe werewolves and kitsunes are the same species, but where the Europeans thought they most closely resembled wolves, the Asians thought they most closely resembled foxes.

So if you go with that possibility: that lycanthropes have been around just as long as civilized man has, it could simply be that lycanthropes are an evolutionary fluke.

[WolvenOne]

Heh, if you wanted an origin of the species you could go a dozen different directions.

You could tie it into mythalogy and have King Lycan be the first werewolf, or you could add a sci-fi twist and have the Gods of Olympus be ultra advanced alien beings. Admittedly that last bit is cheesy and could easily become the butt of many.

Then there's the magical route in which the first werewolf was either cursed by a, I dunno a celtic group or whatever. Or that the first werewolf simply mistook a spell-book for a cook-book.

There's the less cheesy but equally unrealistic sci-fi route in which werewolfism is a virus that was created as a result of an evolutionary fluke, genetic engineering, nano-engineering or leaving the McDonalds secret sauce in the sun too long.

I myself prefer the "there is no origin," approach, and instead simply stating that, "it just happens, we don't really know why. The rest of the options are all well and good, however each and everyone has a mildly cheesy element that could easily lend itself to a campy Werewolf Slasher. As such, they're not all that great for more dramatic affairs in my opinion.

[Scott Gardener]

Although I personally go with the genetic engineered alien experiment deal in my works, I think I'd prefer the no explanation route in Freeborn, as it's a werewolf movie, not a sci fi movie about werewolves.

You have to deal with alien influences very carefully, otherwise you run the risk of another Highlander II. The Men in Black really have had to work overtime to neuralize all of us and tell us that there is no planet Zeist, and what we thought was a Highlander sequel was in fact light from Venus refracted through swamp gas.

[WolvenOne]

Yeah, in a book you have the entire novel in which the reader can forget the fact that any scientific explanation would be fudged. You don't have the same leeway in a movie, if you present an explanation that smells fishy, the audience won't have a chance to recover from that impression before the film ends.

That's of course, assuming that a science geek is watching/reading, a normal person probably wouldn't care. ;)

[Vicious]

The only course that I have ever felt does proper credit to wolves is lycanthropy as a realisization of one's true soul or character.
No curse, no virus, no mutation.

[WolvenOne]

That's, a bit too..... spiritual for my taste. Well, not so much spiritual as much as it lacks coherency. I mean, I know people who think they really are wolves in human bodies but that doesn't magically make them turn into wolf creatures every full moon.

Remember, cause and effect, cause and effect.

[IblisPendragon]

The first werewolf ever was called Yorik, and he came from Russia. He was a bad fellow and liked to kill wolves for fun(much like som woolheaded Norwegians), the Devil didn't like this and punished the bugger. He had to be the creature he had killed so many times until he died..I don't think he liked it..

[Terastas]

http://va.essortment.com/werewolveslycan_rfzm.htm

[Anubis]

i think that werewolves make the "virus" from the glands in thier mouths.
when biting the virus makes it way threw the blood stream.

[Anubis]

Alrighty, this one is kindof hard. What do you think are the orgins of the werewolf 'virus'? When did it first apper on earth? Much to think about indeed

my opinon is that the werewolf started to make it in the glads in its mouth so the werewolf can have genetic diversity

[Lupin]

Alrighty, this one is kindof hard. What do you think are the orgins of the werewolf 'virus'? When did it first apper on earth? Much to think about indeed

It was the chicken.

[Silverclaw]

*slaps head* of course! The chicken! Why didnt I think of that? Its always that damn chicken

[Lupin]

*slaps head* of course! The chicken! Why didnt I think of that? Its always that damn chicken

Not always. Sometimes it's the egg.

[Silverclaw]

My mistake Right again

[outwarddoodles]

If you ask me from quite awhile I'd have to say lycanthropy would be like a virus. But thats my personal opinion on this. Not precisouly a virus but would act like a virus. Inwhich it would invade the body inserting the werewolf DNA and information, which ofcource when infected that person is given the virus. How ever it came apon this earth, we may never know.

How many people does it take to fret over a made up virus to come to the conclusion, we may never know.

[Figarou]

Alrighty, this one is kindof hard. What do you think are the orgins of the werewolf 'virus'? When did it first apper on earth? Much to think about indeed

It was the chicken.

Now why didn't I think of that.

Wait...I didn't because thats silly.

I'm silly. We all are silly!!

[outwarddoodles]

It was the chicken.

Now why didn't I think of that.

Wait...I didn't because thats silly.

I'm silly. We all are silly!!

Who are you calling 'we'?

Of fine, I'm silly too. *runs off to edit llama icon.*

[Doruk Golcu]

It is El Puello Diablo!!!! *runs in fear*

[outwarddoodles]

Now I am a silly llama.

Crap, the jingle bells on the hat are transparent too!

[Figarou]

Now I am a silly llama.

Crap, the jingle bells on the hat are transparent too!

Soooo.....you wanna be silly, eh? I'll take a look at the hat and make some improvements for you. Unless someone else is already working on it.

[Kavik]

Rather than agreeing that no one can know the true origin of lycanthropy, that any such exploration of this origin is likely to drag a potentially decent werewolf movie into schtick, and that wolves have sillier hats than llamas, I'd like to see some more of those proposals as to how individual members like to imagine lycanthropy was started.

Personally, I link it back to a tribe of Homo habilis making a pact with the sky god Numi-Torem in what is now Siberia. Of course, I think Numi is another name for Ithiqua the Wind-Walker (of Cthulhu Mythos fame), and I believe the proto-humans were bred with a pseudo-demonic race called the gnophkeh, so this genetic offshoot of primals has alien and magical origins. They are my Mitochondrial Lillith.

Then it follows some evolutionary paths. The resulting hybrids became yetis and wendigowak as they migrated across Asia and North Am. Because of their demonic heritage, they were highly adaptable and fully able to interbreed with standard humanity, so that their offspring usually looked "normal".

An alien virus still plays a part, as it was transported to Earth via a chunk of the planet Thyoph which collided with the Earth (and resulted in the creation of the Moon). The virus inherits the dna of its carrier, but has the nasty effect of rewriting human dna to match the previous host. Most humans either die or fight off this effect (though a few actually become the animal carrier in a one-way transformation), but those who carry the primal dna adapt. They became the kitsune, werewolves, cynocephali, rakshasha, etc, and as they spread into Africa, Europe, and South America they added the boudas, berserkr, bruxsa, and other cool words starting with the letter 'B' to their ranks.

I could go on, but I suspect this won't appeal overly much to those not wanting to define the origins of the species, or just not wanting to tie werewolves into the works of H. P. Lovecraft (and friends).