Werewolf

Oz as a werewolf in the episode "Phases". The werewolf appearance would be retroactively changed in the episode "Beauty and the Beasts"

Werewolves are humans suffering from a curse that causes them to transform into a lupine creatures, particularly during full moon nights.

Origins

A person becomes a werewolf when they are bitten by another werewolf and survive. It does not matter if the original werewolf is transformed or not at the moment the bite takes place. Scratches do not change a person, nor is the condition genetically passable to offspring. From the point of being bitten on, the victim transforms into a lupine creature and remains so from sunset to sunrise during the three nights of the full moon, or alternatively from moonrise to moonset, depending on species. (It should be noted that a newly-bitten werewolf will not transform until the falling of the next full moon night, even if the bite was received during a night of the full moon itself.) When transmuted, the human side of the psyche is completely dormant, taken over by a feral predatory mentality that knows only the hunt.

Biology

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A werewolf from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, as first seen in the episode "Beauty and the Beasts"

Werewolves are capable of sensing strong emotions, sometimes from miles away, and are are attracted by sexual heat. Even in human form, their sense of smell remains enhanced enough to track and distinguish between the scents of individual people, even being able to smell if someone is afraid. They can also perceive the presence of other werewolves and are seen having a primal, physical attraction to one another.

The psyche of a 'new' werewolf remains separate between the human self and the feral side. The traumatic and painful experience of the transformation causes the werewolf to lose memory of it, until some sort of evidence provides conscious knowledge of the person's condition, such as waking up naked in a different place from the one in which the transformation took place.

Even after the werewolf acknowledges its condition, he or she retains no memories of whatever action they might take during the transformation. The lupine beast, completely dominated by instinct, is incapable of recognizing loved ones or friends. It does, however, seem to retain some of its intelligence, being able to recognize certain words and reacting to them, often violently. The wolf side also exerts influence on the basic instincts and impulses of the werewolf while in human form.

As the time a person has been a werewolf lengthens, he or she will begin to retain memories of the time spent in wolf form. Prior to this phase of the werewolf's life, it is also possible for the werewolf to exert certain influence on its actions during the feral phase.

Silver is the most effective way to kill a werewolf, but other severe injuries are enough to do the job as well: Oz was able to kill Veruca by tearing into her throat with his fangs, and during the battle against Twilight's army members of Monroe's pack are seen lying dead with (regular) bullet wounds riddling their chest. Like vampires, werewolves can be affected by drugs (such as Haldol) and tranquilizers (such as Phenobarbital), although the exact dosage required for both cases is never specified. A tranquilizer meant for Oz was once used on Giles without any lasting ill effect, so whatever the dosage is, it's not lethal to humans. Tranquilizers are sometimes employed to restrain free-roaming werewolves without injuring them.

Cures

The werewolf curse, so far, remains impossible to cure as whole: once a person has been bitten, he or she cannot be unmade a werewolf. However, it is possible to control the transformation. During his first visit to Tibet, buddhist monks taught Oz meditation techniques that they combined with herbs in his diet, along with chanting and charms. After this he was able to roam about under a full moon in apparent ease and comfort. However, with this technique intense negative stimulation such as great physical pain or overly stressful social situations can trigger the transformation, even during the day.

Returning to Tibet a second time, Oz and Bayarmaa find a second, more wholesome way to refrain from turning into a werewolf during the full moon, based on the original Tibetan religion Bon. This time, rather than bottling up the wolf, they allow the energy of it to flow out of them and into the world around them: "the wolf is pulled into the earth." This technique takes about a year to get right and consists, among other things, of connecting with the land with their own mortal bodies. Later it is revealed the neccesary chants that are part of the method are actually an invocation of wrathful goddesses Ekajati, Remati and Vajrayogini dwelling deep inside the earth, who accept the werewolves' offering of their power in exchange for the deities' protection.

Psychological and Social Issues

While some werewolves try to hold their animalistic impulses in check, other werewolves believe that their human side is merely a disguise, a cage for their true selves, and do not restrain in any way. Whether a werewolf chooses to embrace its condition or not depends on a number of social and psychological factors and can't be solely blamed on the influence from the bestial side of the werewolf psyche.

• Both Oz and Nina, after learning of their condition, seek out ways of restraining themselves during their transformations in order to protect people, especially their loved ones.
• Veruca, unlike Oz, relishes in her werewolf condition, believing it to be her true self. She refuses to be locked up during her transformation and lets her instincts and impulses dominate every one of her actions, whether in human or in lupine form. She believes that doing what comes naturally is good and desirable, even if these impulses include killing.
• McManus originally tried to protect people from himself. He abandoned his family and tried to remain away from people. Eventually he gave up and returned to populated areas. Unlike Oz or Nina, he lacked the support necessary to cling on to his humanity.
• Monroe originally came to Oz's retreat in Tibet to be cured, suffering terribly from his condition. However, after going back into the world he got tempted and no longer followed Oz and Bayarmaa's teachings properly. He soon held beliefs similar to those of Veruca and became leader of a group of werewolves who shared his views, believing that the wolf side is the best part of them.
• The existence of other werewolf packs is mentioned. These groups seemingly also hold similar beliefs to those of Veruca and sometimes kidnap young werewolves to increase their ranks.

On the side of humans, reaction to the existence of werewolves is extremely varied:

• Gib Cain hunts down werewolves in lupine form to skin them and sell their fur. He doesn't care that his victims are humans for the rest of the month.
• The Scooby Gang and the Angel Investigations team argue that werewolves can't be held accountable for their actions in lupine form. They do make an exception to this belief when it comes to werewolves that, knowing of their condition, do not seek any method of restraint, regarding these individuals as they would regard common vampires and demons, or at least a dangerous human.
• Certain parties and individuals hold werewolves as abominations and seek to eliminate them.
• Paranormal sporting groups capture werewolves to hunt them down in events, similar to foxhunting in England.
• Werewolf flesh is also considered a delicacy in certain circles. Werewolves are captured, cleaned, restrained and served alive, as the particular sub-species of werewolf coveted for its meat, Lycanthropus Exterus, will revert back to human form after dying.
• After catching a werewolf, doctors and researchers of The Initiative regard and treat it the same as they would a common demon: they experiment on and research it freely, not hindered in the least when it turns back into a human being and are told said person is actually a student at the above UC Sunnydale. The human is eventually locked naked into one of their cells, no different than any other demons they have obtained. This event forces Riley Finn to realize the full extent of the Initiative's corruption and causes him to leave the group.

Species

Lycanthropus Exterus

There are more than one species of Werewolf. Nina Ash contracts lycanthropy from a breed of Werewolf never seen before in North America called Lycanthropus Exterus. Thus Nina is a different species of werewolf to that of Oz and Veruca .

The more common werewolf is smaller, with a heavy coat of fur, and while still being very dangerous, doesn't have a large mouth or canine set of teeth. The Lycanthropus Exterus on the other hand walks on two legs, has longer, more powerful arms, is larger and sports a more canine-like head fangs. It is unknown if the varying breeds have different strengths and weaknesses, or if their differences are mostly cosmetic.

Known Werewolves

• Jordy
• Oz
• Veruca
• Bayarmaa
• Monroe
• McManus
• Nina Ash
• Dr. Thilbault
• Marv
• Cecil

Behind the scenes

• The appearance of common werewolves is altered without an explanation in Beauty and the Beasts. In Phases, Werewolves are depicted as wolf-headed hairy humanoids that walk on two-legs, while in the next episode, werewolves are depicted as more ape-like in appearance, walking an four legs and sporting a more humanoid face. In Retreat, werewolves are again shown more wolf-like, with a wolf-like muzzle, and are depicted as both biped and quadruped: they stand and walk on two legs and run on four.

• In Phases, it is stated by Gib Cain that he is only able to skin werewolves when they are dead, and in Wild at Heart, Veruca remains in werewolf form after being killed. However in Unleashed, it is stated that werewolves must be eaten alive as when killed they revert to their human form. One possible way to explain this contradiction is that common werewolves do not revert to human form after death, while the Exterus species does.

Appearances

• Phases
• Beauty and the Beasts
• The Zeppo
• Wild at Heart
• New Moon Rising
• Unleashed
• Oz (comics)
• Retreat
• Spike: Asylum
• The Dust Waltz

See also

• Werewolf in Wikipedia