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any legends mention ways to un-become a werewolf?

Posted: Sun Oct 08, 2006 8:26 pm
by nachoboy
i was wondering. the title of this thread basically says it all.

i don't mean to say that if i was a werewolf, i would wanna become a not-werewolf. i imagine that could be very restricting and unpleasant. you know, being able to shift and then being stuck as a human just like all the normal humans? that could be lame :cry:
i was just curious.

any info would be apreciated.
nachoboy

Posted: Sun Oct 08, 2006 8:30 pm
by Figarou
Hmmmm....the undoing...

if magical....say the chant and poof!! You're normal again.

That or drink a potion.


Simple as pie.

Posted: Sun Oct 08, 2006 8:59 pm
by nachoboy
thanks for the info. :howl:  :oo

that clears that one up.

Posted: Sun Oct 08, 2006 11:15 pm
by Scott Gardener
You could avoid eating meat for seven years straight. I've personally tried it, but it's a lot harder than it sounds. Along the way I accidentally bit into things with meat about on average once a year. (I've also intentionally eaten meats outside of my personal banned list, since I'm not technically vegitarian per se, so much as not eating anything that was tortured before it died.)

You could stand in the same place for one year straight, and not move. Even harder to do, and I forgot were this legend originates. This one also makes even less since, since the vegitarian legend at least annoys the wolf out of you. I guess the wolf gets bored to death faster with this one.

You could be forced back to human form if someone calls you by your Christian name. But, the catch is, many of us are werewolves in the first place because we never bothered to get baptized in the first place. So, pbbbt!

Most legends don't mention a cure because it's assumed to be a voluntary thing. The "cursed" werewolf bit is actually fairly contemporary. Classic werewolf lore was less about shape-shifting creatures and more about sorcerers who employed magic to shift. Thus, therians who meditate on shifting may technically be closer to the legends than hypothetical literal physical shifters, even if we don't have the coolness factor of actually transforming into anything other than a person with an active imagination.

Posted: Sun Oct 08, 2006 11:59 pm
by Rhuen
I think the seven to nine years one said to avoid eating people in that time.

For magic they wait till morning or they just take the magic belt or skin off and instantly become human again.
"the way it works for most traditional werewolves"

For the Loup Garou though its a little tricker. when in wolf form you're crazy and someone has to draw your blood with out killing you, then you become human again, but if either you, the person that drew your blood, or anyone else that saw you change back talks about it to anyone with in 101 days then you'll revert to the insane wolf form again never to come back.

Others can have it that you just become seriosuly injured "probably where Hollywood got the idea where you revert when killed" which is also part of many myths but hollywood seems to ignore that just being seriously injured was enough.

Or if someone recognizes you and says your name. Some versions say if a family member recognizs you and calls you by your name.

There are many ways to go back to human.

Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2006 5:52 pm
by RedWolf
In one medieval legend, human <--> wolf shapeshifting is linked to clothing. In 1198, Marie de France, a Breton writer, composed "Bisclavret," also known as the "Lay of a Werewolf." In this tale, a shapeshifter/knight regains human form after his clothing is returned. The reverse transformation is apparently triggered when the wolf smells the human scent on his own clothing.

Websites:
http://www.klotz.org/SCA/mudpuppy/bisclavret.htm
http://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/Lai_de_Bisclavret
http://www.monsieurtoussaintlouverture. ... avret.html

Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2006 10:15 pm
by nachoboy
thanks for all the info you guys. guess i better read up more next time :read2:

Posted: Tue Oct 10, 2006 2:45 pm
by MoonKit
Wow...I couldnt do the not eating meat one, Scott. I think I might die eating a vegetarian's diet. I am a proud carnivore. :)

Posted: Tue Oct 10, 2006 3:50 pm
by Moon_Lover
Agreed. Let us sear.
*Tosses a steak to MoonKit, tapping it with his own in a toast-like fashion*

Posted: Tue Oct 10, 2006 4:48 pm
by nachoboy
yeah. man, that there beef sure can be tasty. and lamb. and pork. and chicken. ooh, those crazy,lil, runnin-around chickens. tasty.

but still, the standing still one would be hard, too. not moving for a year?

and anyways, who on this website would really go to very many lengths to un-become a werewolf? I mean, man!

I'm lost in a forest, all alone...

Posted: Tue Oct 10, 2006 11:59 pm
by Scott Gardener
Most of the legendary methods don't really "cure" anyone of lycanthropy so much as induce a shift temporarily back into human form.

And, it's true that most of us here are more interested in curing the condition of not being able to shift.

I want to write a story at some point about a werewolf trying desperately to find the cure, doing spellwork and magic, and then ending up running into Robert Smith, lead singer of The Cure.

Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2006 8:46 pm
by nachoboy
sounds interesting, scott. you have fun with that.

Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2006 11:09 pm
by Jamie
You guys have mentioned most of them. But you forgot a biggie. Probably the most common method mentioned in legends of curing a werewolf (or trapping it permanently in human form, which pretty much amounts to the same thing) is to burn the magic object (belt, salve, wolfskin, or even something weird such as a magic hat) that causes the transformations (this is also very common in non-werewolf shapeshifters).

Conversely, it was sometimes thought that burning the clothing that the werewolf had taken off immediately before the transformation would trap it permanently in wolf form.

Then, much farther down the list in terms of frequency, there are a bunch of weird random things such as:

-teaching the skills to another werewolf cures the original werewolf (found, rarely, in Romania and Russia)
-getting the werewolf to formally renounce the werewolf lifestyle
-exorcism (used originally because all magic-users, including werewolves, were thought to be demon-assisted, so if demons couldn't get near the werewolf it wouldn't have any powers, however, in the 20th century, the rare fundamental Christians who still believe in werewolves took to interpreting werewolves as possessed, so that exorcism would work for that reason too)
-various magical ceremonies other than exorcism that were specifically supposed to rid werewolves of their powers
-contact with running water (like many of the methods mentioned earlier in this thread, this was sometimes just supposed to force the werewolf back to human form temporarily rather than outright cure it)
-for the type of werewolf that couldn't be injured by normal means, managing to injure it in any way, even with just a pinprick, was often a cure

Posted: Thu Nov 30, 2006 7:49 am
by Merrypaws
In one book I read it said that the curse could be lifted by death or hitting the werewolf three times on the forehead with a stick. (No kiddin'.)

The death part is a bit of a two-edged sword, however, for many sources claim that people who die as werewolves very easily turn into vampires after death.

Posted: Thu Nov 30, 2006 12:48 pm
by Kaebora
The one cure I always hear about, is killing the werewolf that bit you before your first full moon transformation.

Posted: Thu Dec 07, 2006 4:44 pm
by wolfwing
It may not nescarily be before your first moon, but kill the werewolf before your first human kill, so you could go a few moons or years, but if you ever kill a human while a werewolf your soul would forever be damned...:> Least from what a few sources I've read, though I doubt many here would believe it to be damned.

Posted: Wed Jan 03, 2007 11:28 pm
by Kamara
The act of the enchanter (operating either on himself or on a victim), and another was the removal of the animal belt or skin.
To kneel in one spot for a hundred years, to be reproached with being a werewolf, to be saluted with the sign of the cross, or addressed thrice by baptismal name, to be struck three blows on the forehead with a knife, or to have at least three drops of blood drawn have also been mentioned as possible cures.
Many European folk tales include throwing an iron object over or at the werewolf, to make it reveal its human form.

A few more :)

Kamara

Posted: Mon Jan 08, 2007 1:49 am
by RedEye
Sorry-Caffiene levels are getting low and I'm getting silly...
(That's why I'm called RedEye)

1. Wash fur in cheap drying shampoo, rinse.
2. Use a blow dryer on your fur so it sticks out all over.
3. Curl it, and dye it pink or blue.
4. Put Fur up in ribbons.
5. Congratulations! You are no longer a WereWOLF: you're a WerePOODLE!
---Well, you said un-become a Werewolf..... :lol: and that's about as un-becoming as I could think of..... :P

Posted: Mon Jan 08, 2007 2:31 am
by Kamara
RedEye wrote:Sorry-Caffiene levels are getting low and I'm getting silly...
(That's why I'm called RedEye)

1. Wash fur in cheap drying shampoo, rinse.
2. Use a blow dryer on your fur so it sticks out all over.
3. Curl it, and dye it pink or blue.
4. Put Fur up in ribbons.
5. Congratulations! You are no longer a WereWOLF: you're a WerePOODLE!
---Well, you said un-become a Werewolf..... :lol: and that's about as un-becoming as I could think of..... :P
:lol: :P :evillaugh: :roflmao:

Hee I needed a good laugh!


Kamara

Posted: Mon Jan 15, 2007 6:49 am
by Snowskin
i read that giving the werewolf the last rights after or upon death will prevent it bieng a werewolf after death (eg. werewolf ghost/reincarnated as werewolf)

Posted: Thu Feb 08, 2007 3:51 pm
by RedEye
Oy! What if the Werewolf were Jewish? Last rites? what last rites? :P

Posted: Sat Feb 10, 2007 7:17 pm
by Jessie-Simone
:? Silver nitrate poisoning into the blood.

Posted: Sun Feb 11, 2007 12:59 am
by Silver
Wow, I'm sorry but I agree with the queation "Ewwwwwww - Why?"

I've never studied it. I would guess, however, this whole "kill the one that made you." idea is also used on how you can stop being a vampire. It sounds cool, really, but I don't see how in magic, or logic that works. If I kill the person who gave me a cold, chicken pox or AIDS, it won't cure mine. If a mage dies, or you kill him, would all the magic he did become undone? So that doesn't work for me.

It would depend on how the transferrance happens. The Pack decided that the transfer was based on a disease from the bite. If it's a virus, then maybe there's a substance that would attack the virus. I don't want to go further - don't want to give anyone a successful idea!

Posted: Sun Feb 11, 2007 1:26 am
by Figarou
Silver wrote:Wow, I'm sorry but I agree with the queation "Ewwwwwww - Why?"

I've never studied it. I would guess, however, this whole "kill the one that made you." idea is also used on how you can stop being a vampire. It sounds cool, really, but I don't see how in magic, or logic that works. If I kill the person who gave me a cold, chicken pox or AIDS, it won't cure mine. If a mage dies, or you kill him, would all the magic he did become undone? So that doesn't work for me.

It would depend on how the transferrance happens. The Pack decided that the transfer was based on a disease from the bite. If it's a virus, then maybe there's a substance that would attack the virus. I don't want to go further - don't want to give anyone a successful idea!

Ha!! That would make a great comic strip!

:jester:

Posted: Sun Mar 04, 2007 7:28 pm
by wolfsangel
an old legend speaks of "kill nine remove the sign" in other words kill nine other werewolfs bitten by you or the one that bit you and you will remove the sign of the werewwolf.
easiest question yet. :nerdwolf: