When did the idea of non evil werewolves come from?

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Re: When did the idea of non evil werewolves come from?

Post by hotshot7000 »

I highly agree with what FullMoonStar had just posted here, the term 'evil' is a thing derived by human knowledge and fear. What humans feel as a threat to them and an impossible ally or a thing to be tamed then it seems no matter what they're deemed 'evil'. I'm sorry to use such an excuse of a movie for this example, but my example is that in the movie 'Skin Walkers' which was just released sometime within the last couple years or so, the movie is based off Werewolves who are in Civil War amongst themselves over a cure to the curse pf being werewolf. The thing is, werewolves are no different than us human beings, within stories they're usually picked as the 'evil' characters because it's hard to ever picture them being the 'heroes' within the movies, but the point I am trying to make is that the werewolves are just like humans when it comes to choosing what's 'evil' and what's good, humans fight amongst themselves and werewolves fight amongst themselves just the same. Overall if you truly think about it, there's really no bad guys or good guys, there's only survival when it divides between werewolves being good or bad.




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Re: When did the idea of non evil werewolves come from?

Post by Suupalayön »

I agree with hotshot and fullmoon on this for the most part but feel that the bigger issue at hand here is the whole concept of evil. Firstly, some fairly relevant reading material would be 'beyond good and evil' and also 'the genealogy of morality'; both written by a wonderfully clear sighted German man by the name of Friedrich Nietzsche. These two texts give a good account of evil and good and the whole morality shabang. Personally I would have thought that people regardless of race, gender, nationality ect would have moved past this right and wrong debate. Unfortunately I am still disappointed. Right and wrong is a very (apologies to the 'God' people) monotheistic ideal. All of it is based on fear and control or fear of lack the latter thereof. While pre-christian (it's just the big one) had a concept of right and wrong and was much less pretentious and was based more upon common sense than self serving egotism. Usually religion and politics, which are really one and the same, being both methods of control the masses by deceit and brutal persecution, are a bit of an iceberg for the conversational Titanic. But I can reason no greater culprit nor even a possible substitute from the big R.

Conclusion, R='bad' not from a moral point of view but because they try to govern outside of themselves. I'm not even going to go into the other arguments against 'them' because they are both tedious, often nonsensical at some point and we have all heard, read or even used them before.


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Re: When did the idea of non evil werewolves come from?

Post by Terastas »

Dreamer wrote:I mean, there is no precedent for the non-evil, non-cursed werewolf in mythology. The good ones are usually under some curse, so where did the idea of the non-cursed, non-evil werewolf come from?
Probably from wondering where the idea of cursed and/or evil werewolves came from and realize it made just about as much sense as the alternative.

The general idea as of late is that werewolves are not naturally inclined towards either alignment, and that it isn't a blessing or a curse, but rather a mixed bag of pros and cons altogether. It's not good or evil, a blessing or a curse; it just IS.
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Re: When did the idea of non evil werewolves come from?

Post by silver1 »

I agree with you.
If you talk to the animals,they will talk to you and you will know each other.If you do not talk to them,you will not know them and what you do not know you fear,and what one fears one destroys.

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You say werewolf like its a bad thing.

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Re: When did the idea of non evil werewolves come from?

Post by demonwithin »

Norse mythology, it was said that the ability to shift into a wold was a pure gift from the gods, to allow the people to hunt and be one with their true spirit or something like that

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Re: When did the idea of non evil werewolves come from?

Post by Scott Gardener »

Non-evil werewolves originally began as whatever they called werewolves before the idea of pairing turning into a wolf got mixed together with being evil.
Taking a Gestalt approach, since it's the "in" thing...
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Re: When did the idea of non evil werewolves come from?

Post by Trinity »

Werewolves, or any were-creature, myths tend to differ from culture to culture.

There is also the different types of transformations to consider that tend to get lumped under this one topic of "were-creature".

Some cultures have subverted and made "evil" things from other cultures.

Black Cats, for example, in America are consider bad luck. This stems from the American Revolution. As American developed a sense of National Identity, they had to slough off the British National Identity. One way of doing this is to twist, pervert, or turn one's back on the ideals and traditions of the other culture. This is why Americans don't do "tea time". In Britian white cats were seen as "bad" and black cats "good".

Some cultures view being able to transform into beats as a good thing. Some take certain ways of transforming as a bad thing (in some Native American cultures, a "witch" takes on the animal form fully (no hybrid) to cause havoc). (See Twilight: New Moon). Some allow that hybrid forms are evil perversions of the human soul showing through to the physical being.

So it really depends on where one is coming from.

Another way of lookign at this would be "when did werewolves become evil?" ;)
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Re: When did the idea of non evil werewolves come from?

Post by Scott Gardener »

Transforming into beats? A weremau5!

:saiyenwolf: :cafinated: :headbanger: :splinterwolf: :postit:
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Re: When did the idea of non evil werewolves come from?

Post by Trinity »

OOPS! lol XD

Mosh pit time? OOh werewolf mosh pit?
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Re: When did the idea of non evil werewolves come from?

Post by Karthage »

Something thats been floating around tumblr;
"The Irish werewolf is different from the Teutonic or European werewolf, as it is really not a “monster” at all. Unlike its continental cousins, this shapeshifter is the guardian and protector of children, wounded men and lost persons. According to some ancient sources, the Irish werewolves were even recruited by kings in time of war. Known in their native land as the faoladh or conroicht, their predatory behaviour is typical of the common wolf, not beneath the occasional nocturnal raid on local sheep or cattle herds. If attacked or surprised while in wolf form, they usually simply run off because this causes them to shift back into their more vulnerable human form. However, after changing back into a man or woman, evidence of their lupine adventure remains on their bodies. If wounded, the injury remains. If they kill a sheep or cow, the telltale bloodstains stay on their faces and hands.

The most famous of the mythical Irish werewolves are the people of Ossory (modern day Kilkenny) whose legends live on even today. Among other lingering tales, the Ossory folk were documented by none other than Giraldus Cambrensis who, in the year 1185 transcribed what was no doubt a much older, oral folktale. According to Giraldus, the Ossory werewolves worked in pairs, male and female. A chosen couple lived as wolves for seven years before returning to human form to be replaced by a matched set of two others. During their time as wolves, they fed from the herds but this was taken as their due for watching over wandering children, healing the wounded, and guiding lost strangers to safety.

Despite the fact that this is a pre-Christian folk belief, the Irish werewolves eventually gained a reputation for being under a curse from either St Natalia (St Nailè) or, naturally, St Patrick as punishment for some vague transgression committed long ago. If you read Giraldus’ account of these creatures, it is easy to separate what may be the original tale from his preachy commentary at the end."
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Re: When did the idea of non evil werewolves come from?

Post by Kveldulf »

I'd vote for shamanic practices (and later, after people got agriculture and stuff like that, so needed organized religion more than shamanism, holdover magico-religious techniques).

Granted that, to the best of my knowledge, all shamanic cultures agree that sometimes shamans can be bad guys; the general commonality of shaman/animal shifting suggests a strong likelihood that the "werewolf" as tribal spiritual defender was with us about since we realized that there was a physical difference between monkeys with useful rocks and wolves.

Morgan Llewellyn actually did a pretty interesting job on a very ambiguous shaman/shapeshifter in "The Horse Goddess", an attempt to recreate Celtic god-legends as "things that happened to early Celts on the Continent". The shaman Cernunnos is not necessarily someone you'd want to date, but does do his duty for his clan, as best he sees it...and has a few moments as the proto-werewolf of the Carpathians.
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Re: When did the idea of non evil werewolves come from?

Post by Wolfguardian »

That idea is from Ireland and Scotland the Scottish had the wolvner and the Irish had the guard.
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