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The good werewolves

Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2005 1:47 pm
by Wise Wolf
Hi, there! hwlwnk

As you may know, I'm writing on my fantasy adventure novel that still on the drawing board. It's about the good werewolves who befriend the humans. Those creatures couldn't change back to humans like the old legends. However, they could be bloody-thirsty when the moon was full, and fortunately, they wouldn't kill the humans except the evil ones who cause the troubles. Like the humans changed from apes for millions of years, the dire wolves changed into the werewolf race called the Wolfernians. Anyway, I would like to see how the werewolf should be look like in the new film. It would help for my story to off the ground.
Let me know what do you think about my story.

Wise Wolf :howl:  :oo

Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2005 2:56 pm
by Ronkonkoma
you might want to read The Talisman by Stephen King and Peter Shaub, there is a werewolf character in there named wolf that might give you some ideas what good and bad wws are like

Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2005 3:55 pm
by Timber-WoIf
...and perhaps think of another name for the race. the one you gave makes me cringe....

Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2005 3:57 pm
by Apokryltaros
Timber-WoIf wrote:...and perhaps think of another name for the race. the one you gave makes me cringe....
True, but often, all the other names have already been taken.

Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2005 4:33 pm
by Wise Wolf
If that name I gave were make you cringe, how comes you want a different or better name that would make you very terrifed in death? What a funny question. Anyway, I can figure out for a new name for my characters. ??

Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2005 5:17 pm
by shey
If you need some ideas about good werewolfs vs bad ones read the wereling trilogy it has a lot of that in it but you might want to read some folklore like the white wolf woman or a book like that :)

You read my mind (and, hopefully, my book)

Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2005 12:46 am
by Scott Gardener
Books in the fantasy genre does seem to do a better job in general than nearly any other venue I can think of offhand in depicting the "heroic werewolf" archetype. Movies rely heavily on the shock and horror value association; most benign werewolves in movies are stretching the concept of werewolf, and many of such movies are, again, in the Fantasy genre. (Ladyhawke, for example, flirts with lycanthropy.)

The role-playing game Werewolf: the Apocalypse depicts a heroic werewolf archetype, but it also implies that werewolves still have a lot of aggression. Well, it doesn't just imply it, it rather shouts it. OK, it howls it out loudly until your ears are bleeding. For bloody sakes, your characters have "Rage points." Still, it was a big step forward for its time.

In my own writing, I've focused on creating a contrast between what werewolves are--an amalgamation of humans and wolves, with empathy, enhanced senses, and the potential to use those for greatness or harm--and what people expect them to be--the destructive monsters. In the end, the real monster turns out to be human fear, anger, mistrust, and hate.

I'm surprised so few have pointed out that wolves, while aggressive a species, are not as aggressive as humans. A werewolf might actually potentially be a calmer and more peaceful individual. The enhanced senses could make one more perceptive of other people's moods and frame of mind, and more able to notice the subtle cues of body language that could make the lycanthrope seem almost psychic in knowing what people are thinking and feeling.

To that end, a werewolf with malevolent intent could be far more damaging in human form than in the body of a creature.