Fascinated and feared, the wolf has long terrorized our medieval ancestors. When this wolf turned into a wolf man, called a werewolf, the fear redoubled. Legends about men turning into wolves have been known since ancient times. Today we are going to tell you all about Lycanthropy, werewolf legend, and reveal the secrets of this incredible fantastic beast that has terrorized civilizations since the dawn of time. Be ready to know everything about these mythical beasts, half-man half-wolf, man-eater on the full moon.🌕
WHAT IS THE LYCANTHROPY?
The very term "lycanthropy" comes from the Greek king Lycaon, sovereign of Arcadia, transformed by Zeus into a wolf for daring to serve human flesh at a banquet.
In Greek mythology, Lycaon was king of Arcadia.👑 He was known to be a cruel king who respected nothing and no one, and he was known for his contempt for the gods. In order to test him, Zeus, accompanied by other gods, presented himself to him as a beggar.
Lycaon, sniffing out the trap, invited the beggars to eat at his table. But, wishing to verify their divine nature, he killed his grandson, Arcas, and offered human flesh to the gods as a meal.
All the gods immediately discover the deception. Indignant, Zeus struck down the fifty sons of the king and turned Lycaon into a wolf.🐺
The myth of the werewolf is ancient and common to many civilizations. As early as the 5th century BC, Herodotus relates that the Greeks who settled on the shores of the Black Sea considered the inhabitants of these lands as "magicians capable of metamorphosing into wolves".
The harshness of the winters at the end of the Middle Ages and the fear of the wolf (still very present in the forests of Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries) may explain the werewolf "epidemic" which occurred at that time and which transformed the myth into religious superstition. They also explain the appearance of magic ointments and other pacts with the Devil that accompany the legend.
However, the belief that a man can turn into a predatory animal is not unique to the Western world! Examples include the tiger-man, the leopard-man or the crocodile-man, who play a similar role in Indian and African legends. In Scandinavian mythology, human beings took on the appearance of bears to hunt. The origin of the myth may also come from Nordic mythology, with its gods, who metamorphose into bears or wolves.
WHAT IS A WEREWOLF
A werewolf is a legendary character half-man half-wolf who turns into a wolf on full moon nights.
Lycanthropes are mostly described as evil wolf men with wolf and human abilities, colossal strength, and great ferocity as they are capable of killing many people in a single night, which they usually don't remember after they take human form.
In its modern version, the werewolf has all the physical characteristics of the wolf: long hair covering the entire body and suddenly he is endowed with fantastic muscle power, long fangs and sharp claws. Werewolves howl at the moon like wolves, and although they sometimes stand on two legs like men, but this is not an absolute rule.
When he turns into a werewolf, his sense of smell, hearing and night vision increases tenfold. He becomes agile, cunning, and incredibly fast. The werewolf is a solitary and ruthless killer. They are always mercilessly ferocious and indiscriminately slaughter the animals and men they encounter on their nightly outings in order to eat their flesh.
HOW TO KILL A WEREWOLF?
The simplest and best known of all means is undoubtedly silver. A silver dagger or silver bullets should therefore be enough to wound/kill a Werewolf who would devour you! There is also the radical method of decapitation.
Just like vampires, Werewolves are seen as evil creatures that sow death and terror and are reputed to suffer the same repulsion for sacred things such as crucifixes or holy water. The "Rowan tree" also known as "Mountain ash", which is a tree, can also be used to repel werewolves.
A final method is to use a plant called Aconite, or Wolf Killer. This plant could also be used as a remedy for Lycanthropy.🌿
ARE WEREWOLF REAL ?
The only way to a man to have a physical transformation and look as a wolf, apart from the problems of genetic difference, is the use of surgery or the use of disguises. There is no reason to believe that these creatures really existed as described. However, people have believed in werewolves for a long time, and sometimes continue to believe it.
Today, lycanthropy is scientifically recognized only as a symptom of mental illness: it is now called clinical lycanthropy (the patient believes he or she has been turned into a wolf).
WHAT IS WEREWOLF SYNDROME?
Lycanthropy also refers to a mental disorder in which the individual is deliriously convinced that he or she has been turned into a wolf. Very early this disorder was associated with melancholy, and later it was linked to mania or agitated madness.
At the beginning of the 20th century lycanthropy was considered a clinical symptom that could be observed in many mental and organic disorders. Even today the international literature reports the observation of several interesting clinical cases.
HOW TO BECOME A WEREWOLF?
This is the question that everyone asks themselves, isn't it! Numerous tutorials and videos show how it would be possible to become a werewolf. The transformation itself can have different causes, such as the bite of a wolf or another lycanthrope, a curse or a voluntary ritual.
Here are some techniques identified through the ages:
- Born with the werewolf gene🧬: The least common of all, being born with werewolf blood, having werewolf parents. This makes things easier since you already are!
- Being bitten by a Werewolf in its wolf form🐺: It's still quite dangerous because the chances of success are not 100%. You risk dying if your body can't stand the bite.
- Use summoning rituals.🕯️
- Eating human meat🚶♂️: Needless to say that this method is not to be reproduced! As stated previously, the first werewolf would have turned after consuming human flesh. For this outrage, Zeus transformed the Greek king Lycaon into a wolf!
You can also wear our beautiful werewolf ring or our werewolf shirt, but we don't guarantee that it will transform you. However, it will give you a cool style for sure!
WEREWOLVES IN THE MOVIES
Fascinating and terrifying, werewolves have gradually settled into our film culture. The lycans have given birth to a hundred horror movies, more or less successful and well-known. It is on the big screen that they are the most prolific, surpassing the small screen, and far ahead of literature. Discover the best werewolf films not to be missed in our top 15 werewolf movies.
The first werewolf appears in 1935 in The Monster of London. In this version, only the face changes slightly in shape, with longer teeth and more hair, but the werewolf walks around in a suit and tie. There are also few references to the weaknesses of werewolves.
It is the movie "Wolf", in 1994 with Jack Nicholson, which puts the werewolf in the spotlight. The hero struggles against a transformation he doesn't want and that makes him dangerous. We find the codes of the lycanthropic gender: a painful transformation following a forced bite.
In the late 1990s and 2000s, the werewolf becomes a dangerous monster. The werewolf meets the vampire in the famous movie "Underworld" and confront each other in more or less epic battles.🧛♀️
The werewolf becomes the enemy, but still with human feelings, much less cold than the vampire. Its design is redesigned and the transformation from man to beast or the other way around is fully mastered by the host of the curse.! Wolves have a genetic origin, a gene having mutated, giving birth to the "lycan".
Finally, more recently, the famous American film saga "Twilight" as well as the series "Teen Wolf" and "Harry Potter" have brought this fantastic creature back into the limelight by making it take on the role of the hero.
TO CONCLUDE
The werewolf's origins are ancient and uncertain. For many centuries, specialists have been fighting over the subject without reaching agreement. Of course, many factors can explain the legends about lycanthropes, but there is still some unsolved mystery that makes the belief in the werewolf myth still strangely widespread. And you, do you believe in the legend of the werewolf?
