THE PACK Message Boards

Reilune wrote:I have a book called Monsters by John Michael Greer. He discusses alot of things in it besides werewolves, but there is a section in there about how silver relates to the etheric plane. I'd reccomend you take a look at it. It's a facinating book. I'll quote some of it for you.

Magical teachings about the etheric body also make sense out of the lore surrounding methods of wounding or killing werewolves. Dense etheric patterns are more or less invulnerable to most ordinary physical objects, but can be damaged by metals, especially highly conductive ones like silver. Since a shapeshifter's own etheric body provides at least some of the substance of the body of transformation, and since the etheric body forms the framework on which the dense matter of the physical body is arranged, any damage to the animal form will be mirrored in the shapeshifter's human body as well. This is known as reprocussion among magicians, and forms one of the potential hazards of any sort of out-of-body experience.

More drastic results are caused by a conductive metal object that passes through the core of the body of transformation. If the shapeshifter is projecting the animal body at some distance from his or her physical body, the result is usually sudden death. The body of transformation implodes, and the shapeshifter-with no way to reconnect to the physical body-passes though the Second Death instantly.

If the shapeshifter is physically present within the body of transformation, on the other hand, the results are less immediately fatal, but the shapeshifter is likely to be pretty dazed from the etheric rebound, and may slip into a life-threatening state of shock. Either way, the werewolf's traditional dread of silver makes a great deal of sense in magical terms.

Lazywolf wrote:Silver is there so werewolves aren't completely invincible. If someone in a story has no weakness, that story isn't nearly as intersting.

Fenrir wrote:Who?

Apokryltaros wrote:

Fenrir wrote:Who?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krishna
Avatar of Vishnu.

vrikasatma wrote:...And only a cockroach wouldn't notice if their head went missing.

"We killed it with silver bullets! That proves he was a werewolf!"

"I see a human body with bullet wounds. You shot a man to death. Tell it to the judge."

Apokryltaros wrote:From what I've read, silver was considered to be a "holy" metal, hence its use for the goblets, bowls and other ceremonial regalia of the Christian Church(es).
And given as how werewolves were (according to the Christian Church) were unholy servants of Satan, silver or blessed weapons were the weapons of choice when dealing with them.
I think the Beast of Geudevan (spelling?) was killed by blessed bullets.

Searif Bogard wrote:

Apokryltaros wrote:From what I've read, silver was considered to be a "holy" metal, hence its use for the goblets, bowls and other ceremonial regalia of the Christian Church(es).
And given as how werewolves were (according to the Christian Church) were unholy servants of Satan, silver or blessed weapons were the weapons of choice when dealing with them.
I think the Beast of Geudevan (spelling?) was killed by blessed bullets.

its true that silver is considered holy, thats why vampires are supposedly weakend by it also

Apokryltaros wrote:Well, a cockroach would notice that it's head was missing...As it will, provided it didn't die of shock from decapitation, eventually die of starvation or dehydration within a week of its injury.

vrikasatma wrote:Interesting that silver, which is supposed to be so pure, tarnishes...gold never does and that's why you can always tell when an antique has real gold leafing: it stays bright indefinitely and never oxidizes.

Silver is anti-bacterial, though. This is why the rich always used to eat with silver utensils, because they'd be proof against food poisoning. Hence, silverware.

Arania wrote:From most of my readings into Folklore, silver is a recent addition to the werewolf myth - namely with hollywood and the wolfman.

The only connotation I can find to silver in the myths is actually with Windigo myths of the Algonkian indians, not werewolves, but there appears to be a LOT of crossover between the general themes (people go crazy, eat other people, believed to be monsters). The windigo myths had the affliction spread by a bite from another windigo, as well as a vulnerability to silver, and I have suspicions that it's these myths that were conglomerated onto werewolf myths when it became more pop-culture.