Human form

Silverclaw · Post by **Silverclaw** » Sat Nov 27, 2004 7:52 pm

What do you all thing the werewolves should be like in human form?

I think maybe they could have some heightened senses. Not as good as when in wolf form but still very good. Like better sense of smell and hearing. They could be stronger with better healing abilities as well. No Superman or anything though.

WolvenOne · Post by **WolvenOne** » Sun Nov 28, 2004 1:19 am

Hmm, I would say, that they'd have a better body then before becoming a werewolf, but by no means should they have bodies as well built as Olympic athletes.

I would put the physical aspect well within human capabilities, for example, sure they may be slightly stronger, slightly faster and may even have a slightly higher matabolism then an average human. However they shouldn't be able to leave an Olympic athlete in the dust, heck, in human form I would think most werewolves would be left in the dust, otherwise it'd simply be too much of a perk for the werewolves.

When it comes to senses, you have a bit more lee-way to go beyond what is normal for humans. However, there needs to be a fairly big gap between what they can sense in thier human form, and what they can sense in thier transformed state. Simply put, giving them senses far beyond that of a normal human while still in normal human form, is too much of a perk.

Goldenwolf · Post by **Goldenwolf** » Sun Nov 28, 2004 1:35 am

Heightened senses, for sure, and increased strength and agility, though not superhuman like WolvenOne said. Lighter eyes, perhaps, and ever so slightly pronounced canines, but other than that I think they would look fairly normal. Also I think they would have a natural, feral sexiness to them, but that's just me ;)

WolvenOne · Post by **WolvenOne** » Sun Nov 28, 2004 2:37 am

I'm wondering, we've all talked about the good things that'd carry over from the wolf-man form, but what about the not so good things? We have to balence this out after all.

Maybe werewolves in thier human form have a problem with rapid hair growth? Might be hard to hold down an office job if your hair grows down to your shoulders every two weeks and you need to shave 2-3 times a day.

Or perhapes thier appitite is far more wolf-like in nature, wolves can eat 30 pounds in a single sitting, even if they only ate a fraction of that daily, that'd become pretty expensive after awhile.

Then there are the instincts one would have to deal with everyday. Not to mention the fact that even slightly enhanced hearing might expose you to some slightly irritating noises.

They're talking about showcasing the good and bad points about being a werewolf, so lets talk a bit about the bad as well. It'll help the movie makers make the werewolves more two dimensional.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun Nov 28, 2004 5:59 am

Maybe urge to mark ones territory

Embarrasing in itself. But I think maybe a slightly higher sense or territory, which would make the poor person a bit of a lone wolf, so to speak. Although wolves are highly social anaimals that could go either way.

But I think as the person suffers more transformation they could subconscienously (sp) mentally shift from human to werewolf. If you look at real wolf behaviour you can see how clearly they show emotion. I can post a linbk if anyone needs it.

Terastas · Post by **Terastas** » Sun Nov 28, 2004 8:30 am

For their human form, the hightened senses of a werewolf could be a bad thing. He might be able to hear and smell better as a human (either through naturally heightened senses, or because he just noticed a lot more as a werewolf and has become adapted to relying on his senses more), but heightened or not, a werewolf would still feel his senses are greatly handicapped once he's experienced the senses of the wolf. Compared to his canine sense of smell, being human again would feel like someone had jammed cottonballs up his nose. If a werewolf's human form has any hazards, that would be it: A feeling of weakness and exposure.

Soty · Post by **Soty** » Sun Nov 28, 2004 11:02 am

I don't see why this wouldn't be a great oppertunity for some humor, too. What springs to mind, for me, anyway, is perhaps the human form trying to control its wolf form tendancies. The first thing I imagine is perhaps something like a (the?) main character having a discussion with a potential love interest, and that potential love interest's, well, OTHER potential love interest. That is, your typical three person love triangle scenario. The werewolf character (in human form) might, say, begin to growl or bear his teeth at his rival, but when the female love interest looks over, he plays it off as a friendly smile. That sort of thing.

Could be mildly amusing, anyway. Y'know.

WolvenOne · Post by **WolvenOne** » Sun Nov 28, 2004 2:02 pm

Okay, here's a negetive aspect for you all.

How about an allergy to chocolate, carried over from the wolf-man form to the human one.

Might seem cheesy but, does make sense if you think about it, cannines can't eat chocolate after all.

Terastas · Post by **Terastas** » Sun Nov 28, 2004 3:16 pm

WolvenOne wrote:Okay, here's a negetive aspect for you all.

How about an allergy to chocolate, carried over from the wolf-man form to the human one.

Might seem cheesy but, does make sense if you think about it, cannines can't eat chocolate after all.

It's an idea, but not exactly a really effective weakness. All he would need to do to excuse that sort of weakness is claim to be lactose intolerant.

The biggest weakness of a werewolf would probably be the mental strain of it all. As a werewolf, they are quick, strong and can sense everything in their surroundings, but they would need to use all of their capabilities to keep from being seen by all -- a human they could trust with their secrets would be a gift from God. Anyone else could expose them; the masses, the media and the military are all their enemy.
In human form, they could feel free to actually show their faces in the daylight, but their muscles would be weak, their pace slow and their senses greatly restricted. They would still feel the same way they did as werewolves: fearful, distrustworthy of others, always wondering how many of these people they deal with in their every-day lives see them for what they know they are. They would feel the exact same way they would when they were werewolves, only this time they would feel exposed.

I imagine that, just like we do, a true werewolf would despise all the werewolf movies that have been made in the past, though not for the same reason. While we dislike the werewolf movies because they always do a crappy job depicting them, a werewolf would hate them because they make him out to be a monster when all he would ask of them is to be loved, or even just judged for who he is instead of what he can become. A werewolf in a pack might be able to say cest la' ve, but to be a lone wolf would be the lonliest feeling in the world.

Too many ideas... Too many ideas!!

I was a little reluctant at first to think of this movie as another horror genre, but now that I think about a werewolf living that way, a movie following a werewolf's life could be horrific by using us -- every-day humans -- as the monsters. The first scene I imagined was on where a werewolf has to take an elevator down thirteen floors or more, and when it arrives, he sees three people that he knows to be professional monster hunters on board. After some hesitation, he gets on the way most people do: facing the door.
Imagine riding down thirteen floors knowing there are three people behind you who's only purpose in life is to kill you. Nevermind what their doing behind your back -- just the thought of that alone would be horrific enough.

Calypso Blue · Post by **Calypso Blue** » Sun Nov 28, 2004 3:48 pm

I agree completely with the above comment. I think that is the main focus of what the movie should be. Whats it REALLY like for a werewolf?

I can say that I know they're leaning towards this type of script. Something, that says werewolves arent evil. People are evil, people are selfish, good, kind, loving, tender, horrific. And those are the attributes that are multiplied in werewolf form. Fully capable of making choice in that form, they can choose to run, or fight. But the acquired instinct begins to break that higher intellect down into its more simple forms.

So ultimately, if I were a werewolf talking to my werewolf buddies, I'd say. "Hey if you wanna go bite someone, fine, just please don't bite any assholes. Thats the last thing we need are a bunch of horrific power lusting creatures that eat people, like in those stupid movies about us.

CB

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun Nov 28, 2004 4:03 pm

I think they should have heightened senses and be stronger.

Calypso Blue · Post by **Calypso Blue** » Sun Nov 28, 2004 4:10 pm

Well, I would agree with that too, on the physical side.. but thats just my personal opinion.

Darksong17 · Post by **Darksong17** » Sun Nov 28, 2004 4:16 pm

By the way that guest comment above is mine. Why does this thing keep logging me out! >.<

WolvenOne · Post by **WolvenOne** » Sun Nov 28, 2004 4:44 pm

The social and psychological aspects of werewolfdom would definitly be the biggest downside. Simply put, secrets, especially ones concerning ones-self, have a tendency of ripping people apart emotionally.

Doesn't mean that we can't have little annoyences though, such as being unable to eat chocolate. Might make for an interesting scene too, with a man bringing a werewolf woman some chocolates for a date, then watching her try to explain why she can't eat them, while at the same time looking at them longingly.

You know, little things like that, may or may not add character to the film.

Darksong17 · Post by **Darksong17** » Sun Nov 28, 2004 5:12 pm

Well some people are allergic to chocolate. She could just say that no?

WolvenOne · Post by **WolvenOne** » Sun Nov 28, 2004 5:42 pm

She could, would still be an interesting scene though.

Might be interesting to see what would happen to a newbie werewolf whom doesn't realize he/she's now allergic though.

Or perhapes it might be interesting to see a werewolf that's decided to commit suidide, DEATH BY CHOCOLATE! ;)

Terastas · Post by **Terastas** » Sun Nov 28, 2004 9:00 pm

WolvenOne wrote:She could, would still be an interesting scene though.

Might be interesting to see what would happen to a newbie werewolf whom doesn't realize he/she's now allergic though.

Or perhapes it might be interesting to see a werewolf that's decided to commit suidide, DEATH BY CHOCOLATE! ;)

Umm... That might be stretching it a bit.

I'm not saying including a wolf's natural intolerance to sugar and dairy would be a bad thing; just not necessarily something that would have a major impact on the storyline. However, if you combine that with a lot of other little tidbits about wolves, there could be a scene in the movie where they all come together in one big chain reaction that almost pushes a still green werewolf over the edge. For example:

He comes home from a really stressful situation (like maybe the elevator scene I mentioned) and tries to find some way to wind down. He has a few Peppermint Paddys, then shortly thereafter dashes to the bathroom and wretches them into the toilet, which puts him under enough stress that his eyes shift from their natural color to a wolven yellow. Then he tries watching TV, but now that he has wolven eyes, he's seeing in infra-vision instead of color vision so the picture looks all blurry, which causes a few more slight transformations. He tries putting his headphones on and listening to music, but his hearing is more accute so the volume he has it at jolts him out of his seat and leaves him with a feeling like his ear drums just exploded. He tries going online and typing, but by then he's shifted enough that his nails have grown longer and every time he strikes a key he hears an irritating scratching noise against the key (and if he's a fast typer like I am, that will get irritating in seconds). And so on and so forth until he finally lets out an agonizing howl, which alerts the neighbors and as he sees/hears them coming over to see what the problem is, he enters every man's worst nightmare: A frantic need to calm down.

RL calls -- can't finish that thought.

WolvenOne · Post by **WolvenOne** » Sun Nov 28, 2004 10:10 pm

Or perhapes it might be interesting to see a werewolf that's decided to commit suidide, DEATH BY CHOCOLATE! Wink

Umm... That might be stretching it a bit.

I know, I was just goofing off mainly. Oh, and it's not the sugar and dairy in chocolate that makes cannines sick, it's a chemical called Theobromine. Small amounts of the stuff won't make cannines sick, but certain kinds of chocolate in certain quantities can indeed make a cannine deathly ill.

You can read more about it at http://www.addl.purdue.edu/newsletters/ ... choc.shtml.

Anyhow, the scenrio you painted does indeed sound nifty. Though I would make that scene a part of a series of scenes detailing the good and bad of werewolfdom in human-form. Starting from the beggining of the day, where the subject discovers all the good things, and ending with scenes like the ones you specified.

Of course, ultimately the script writers are going to be making the decisions about the story and such.

Silverclaw · Post by **Silverclaw** » Sun Nov 28, 2004 10:24 pm

Good ideas. In human form, they would most likely feel insecure especially around 'normal' people. Werewolves would prefer to live in a rural area around a forest ideally. But some may have to live in the city and suburbs for finanically reasons.
Bad sitations like a boss yelling at them would cause slight transformations.

TakeWalker · Post by **TakeWalker** » Mon Nov 29, 2004 10:22 am

I honestly don't see any need whatsoever to carry over any aspect of the wolf form into the human form. Maybe it's just me, but I see anyone at all being a werewolf, the only indicators being the stress-induced partial changes and the haunting 'dreams' of being a werewolf.

Of course, a lot of it would definitely depend upon what causes the change, how much of it the person remembers, and so forth.

Terastas · Post by **Terastas** » Mon Nov 29, 2004 2:48 pm

I think the idea we have going is that a werewolf would be able to change from human to wolf and vice versa through a conscious effort, which stress and anger could trigger at an undesired moment because when people are angry, they tend to wish for things they don't actually want. Anyone that's ever worked in a fast-food restaurant could testify to that -- when I found out that the guy that got payed more than me did nothing but make his co-workers lives miserable or hide from his boss in the walk-in freezer, the first thing I thought of doing was going kendo on his a** with the mop he loved to tell me to use. A werewolf is only human, so they would be subject to the same irritations in life and, as such, the same impulse urges that we suppress every day of our lives. It would be an even bigger problem for a werewolf, however, because a werewolf would likely think about using their claws or fangs before an available object like an umbrella or a paperweight. It may be their logical desire not to shift, but the impulse desire could cause a minor shift like the ones we've been describing -- yellow nightvision eyes, or some other detail like bigger canines or cuticle discoloration.

It would also therefore be tougher to shift back because the shift from man to wolf or back would usually require some concentration. If the werewolf was suddenly alerted that his eyecolor etc. had changed while he was in a public location, that could cause him to panic and make it even harder to concentrate on directing the shift back.

Just thought of something interesting:
Maybe after a scene where a newly-made werewolf almost is exposed, a sort of mentor werewolf could offer him this advice:
"Next time you get aggravated at your boss like that, don't think about how nice it'd be to scratch or bite them. Think about strangling him with your soft pink human hands instead."

The implication would be that the werewolf starts to shift because he has an urge to do something that would require being a wolf, so instead of trying to repress the impulse urges and forcing the shift back, he could instead imagine a way to release his anger which could only be done in human form. In other words, it'd be a way to trick his lycanthropy into shifting back.

Xodiac · Post by **Xodiac** » Mon Nov 29, 2004 4:28 pm

I think the idea we have going is that a werewolf would be able to change from human to wolf and vice versa through a conscious effort, which stress and anger could trigger at an undesired moment because when people are angry, they tend to wish for things they don't actually want.

We've seen that myth already. I believe it was titled "The Hulk".

Werewolves are not David Banner. They're not even Bruce Banner. Unless the world its set in has magic WELL KNOWN, not an underground, hidden aspect of the world, then I really don't think the weres should be able to change at will, or at any time other than the usual three days per month. It cheapens it.

WolvenOne · Post by **WolvenOne** » Mon Nov 29, 2004 5:19 pm

We've seen that myth already. I believe it was titled "The Hulk".

Actually the Hulk Comic has quite a few similarities to werewolves, infact, I think originally in the Hulk comics, the main character transformed at night, much like werewolves transform during full moons.

The Hulk comics and the Werewolf mythos both revolve around the fear of loosing controll of your inner beast. It's too be expected that they're very similer to eachother. Heck, it's even possible that the Hulk comics were indirectly inspired by the mythos.

It should also be noted that in mythology, werewolves wern't strictly limited to romping during the full moon. In some they were, however, Europe has many different cultures, each with thier own variation of the myths. So many of the myths have werewolves transforming, at will, or has thier transformations triggered by other events.

So really, we shouldn't be so strictly attached to the idea of them transforming during full-moons.

Terastas · Post by **Terastas** » Mon Nov 29, 2004 5:31 pm

Xodiac wrote:
I think the idea we have going is that a werewolf would be able to change from human to wolf and vice versa through a conscious effort, which stress and anger could trigger at an undesired moment because when people are angry, they tend to wish for things they don't actually want.
We've seen that myth already. I believe it was titled "The Hulk".

Werewolves are not David Banner. They're not even Bruce Banner. Unless the world its set in has magic WELL KNOWN, not an underground, hidden aspect of the world, then I really don't think the weres should be able to change at will, or at any time other than the usual three days per month. It cheapens it.

No offense, but we're talking about people that turn into wolves. No matter what makes them change from one to the other, that's pretty freakin' deep into the supernatural. Heck, maybe that's why vampires appear in more movies than werewolves -- get rid of the turning-into-a-bat thing and all you need to do to explain it is say they have some sort of blood defficiency.

The reason I'm suggesting a shift be a conscious (or unconscious) decision is because it'd be a lot easier for the director to attribute the shift to a 'lycanthropy bactirium' reacting to electronic nerve impulses recieved by the brain, than to try and explain why the full moon or the three-per-month planner has anything to do with it. If you want to add some restrictions to the nerve-impulse theory, here you go: "shape-shifting hurts."

And while I'll admit your comparrison of a werewolf to a lame Marvel Comics hero was effective, it should be noted that the canned peas mascot has his powers explained from a scientific perspective. Lame, yes, but if you're going to lecture the use of magic, don't do so by comparring it to a character that was created via the alternative.

Apokryltaros · Post by **Apokryltaros** » Mon Nov 29, 2004 5:33 pm

WolvenOne wrote:Okay, here's a negetive aspect for you all.

How about an allergy to chocolate, carried over from the wolf-man form to the human one.

Might seem cheesy but, does make sense if you think about it, cannines can't eat chocolate after all.

I just want to add my two cents, but, dogs and other canines can't eat chocolate not because they're allergic to it, but because it contains a chemical that mimics a hormone in the brain, phenyl-something-amine. This hormone is apparently present in both canines and humans, but, since the majority of canines are much smaller than humans, they are more likely to get a larger and more injurious dosage of this hormone from a candy bar.
As such, given as how the average werewolf is at the very least, human-sized, I'd think that they would be able to eat chocolate with no ill effects, unless their heightened senses creates the potential for heightened allergic reactions to weird chemicals.

Furthermore, I also want to state that I feel that limiting the werewolf's ability to transform only to the nights of the full moon cheapens the idea of werewolves, if only it creates a severely limited time-frame to work with. I mean, what does one do if the movie features a time-frame of more than three days? I'm certain that the audience does not want to spend watching 28 days of the protagonist trying to research his affliction.
However, I don't want to say that I'm totally comfortable with the idea of being able to change at will, either, though. After all, I would think that possessing the power to literally change into an animal would strain at one's psyche, even if, or possibly even especially if one is born with that ability. Wouldn't you agree that when the werewolf is changing forms, he is either chaining or unchaining the beast inside of him?