"Bloody, brutal, angry" is our inherent impression of the Western "werewolf".
In recent years, countless Gothic literature, film and television works and even games have taken the above characteristics as a hot selling point, attracting countless fans who love "werewolf" culture.
For example, Sirius in Harry Potter, Jacob in "Twilight", Warwick in League of Legends, and the board game "Werewolf Kill" that we are familiar with, it seems that as long as the works related to the werewolf IP can eventually catch fire.
So, what is the mystery of the unique werewolf culture, and why can it stand firm in the tide of thousands of years of history?
I guess this article has the answer you want.
Werewolf "werewolf" is derived from the Old English word "wer(e)wulf", where "wer" means "person" and "wulf" stands for "wolf".
So to be precise, the correct term for "werewolf" should be "human wolf", which is not only related to the etymology of Old English, but also depends on its own exact attributes. (Sell a close here first, and will explain it specifically later)
In Old High German, "werewolves" are called "Weriuuolf" and in Old Frankish they are called "wariwulf". In distant northern Europe, Norwegian ancestors honored it as "varúlfur" or "ulfhéðinn", the latter meaning "wolf skin".
Later, as some of the Rulers of Scandinavia moved to the State of Kievan Rus', they also brought a "werewolf" culture to the local Slavs, deriving Eastern European-style words such as "vlkodlak" and "vovkulaka". (They, like the aforementioned "ulfhéðinn," have the meaning of "wolf skin.") ）
The origins of the "werewolf" can be traced back to the ancient Greek period, embodied in ancient Greek literature and mythology.
For example, the historian Herodotus wrote in his book History:
In addition, in the second century BC, the Greek geographer Pausanias also told the story of the "werewolf" Lycaon, who is believed to be the world's first "werewolf".
Lekaon was originally the king of Arcadia, with many wives, sons, and a daughter named Calisto. When Zeus went to Arcadia for worship, Lekaon, in order to test his abilities, slaughtered, cooked, and sacrificed one of his sons to Zeus. According to Ovid's Metamorphosis, Zeus was aware of this and, in order to punish Lekaon's cruel arrogance, cursed him into a wolf.
Later, around 60 AD, in some Latin literature, there were also some traces of "werewolves".
《Satyricon》
Satyricon is a collection of adventure stories written by Gaius Albitt, in which a character named "Niceros" tells the story of witnessing his friend turn into a werewolf during the banquet:
"When I was looking for a partner, I saw him strip his clothes on the side of the road and pile them up... Then he rolled around his clothes, and just like that, he turned into a wolf! ...... He began to howl, then ran into the woods. “
It was not until the Middle Ages that the "werewolf" culture really entered the field of vision and stood on the same line with religious heretics such as gargoyles, vampires and witches.
However, the "werewolves" that appeared earlier in Norse mythology were not coerced by the obscenity of religion, and what they showed was a naked masculinity.
Blonde Harald
For example, the Norwegian king "Blonde Harald" had a body known as "Úlfhednar "Wolf".
In the Nordic chronicle Vatnsdœla, "Úlfhednar" is a collective term for a class of berserkers who, instead of wearing bearskins like ordinary warriors, were replaced by a thick and sturdy wolf skin. It is believed that wolf skins will give warriors "wolf souls", increasing their courage and desire for bloodthirsty warfare.
Úlfhednar
Legend has it that these "wolf soul" warriors can resist any pain in battle and will bite enemies like wild beasts.
It is even believed that "Úlfhednar" has a strong connection with the Norse god Odin, and that they can be reborn through bloodlust.
Therefore, the "werewolf" actually occupies a very high position in Nordic culture, and is a symbol of the gods and the like.
Later, as a large number of Scandinavian inhabitants migrated to Eastern Europe, things changed and the werewolf culture within the court was derived.
1. The Prince of Werewolves
The 11th-century Belarusian prince Vseslav of Polotsk was considered a werewolf, able to move at speeds beyond ordinary people. As described in the epic Igor Expedition:
"Prince Vseslav was born a normal man, and as a prince he once ruled the town. But at night, he would wander around under the guise of a wolf. ”
Of course, in addition to Prince Vseslav, Prince Bajan, the son of the Bulgarian Tsar Simeon I, is also able to use magic to turn himself into a wolf, but his transformation is more arbitrary and will not be disturbed by external factors.
2. Werewolf husband
The 12th-century poet Marie de Frans's book Bisclavret also described the court werewolf incident.
The protagonist, Bisclavret, is a Baron of Brittany who is beloved by the king but mysteriously disappears three days a week, without even his wife hearing from him.
Later, under the interrogation of his wife, the baron confessed that he was actually a werewolf. In werewolf form, he must hide his clothes in a safe place in order to be able to regain his human form.
But the wife obviously couldn't accept this fact, and she began to try to escape from her husband. Because she "didn't want to lie by the monster's side anymore." ”
So she conspired with a lover, knight, to steal the Baron's clothes so that the werewolf could never change back into human form.
Baron Bisclavret found himself in the middle of the game and went into seclusion in the mountains and waited for his chance. Later, he met the king who was hunting in the forest, and before he could pull off his bow and arrow, the baron took the initiative to kiss the king's toes.
The king had never seen such a friendly wolf, so he ordered someone to bring it back to the castle and prepare it for pets.
That evening, the king celebrated the harvest of the hunt by hosting a sumptuous dinner. It just so happened that the Baron's wife and lover Knight were also present, and the Baron, who was in wolf form, rushed up desperately to bite the "dog man and woman".
The king immediately ordered his men to stop his actions and to take him away from the banquet. A few days later, after being convinced that the wolf had obeyed the discipline, the king personally took him to his wife's house to make reparations, but who knew that the baron had just met his wife, and immediately threw the latter down and bit off her nose fiercely.
The king was furious and announced on the spot that he would execute the beast. But then out of nowhere a wise man appeared who truthfully told the king why the "wolf" was only for the baron's wife. Immediately afterward, the king announced the convening of a court, and sent the baron's wife and lover knight to the dock.
During this time, the plaintiff Wolf burst into tears, and although none of the judges present could understand his complaint, he punished the "dog man and woman" according to the king's will.
Later, the king witnessed the baron's transformation and rewarded him with more land as a sign of comfort. The wife and knight were banished forever to the cold north.
Thereafter, the Worm Bishop of the Holy Spirit of the Roman Empire also entered the word "werwolf" for "werewolf" in the 11th century.
Unfortunately, it did not appear in medieval German poetry and fiction. Similarly, in England, stories of werewolves are rarely mentioned, which scholars believe is the result of the strong binding of religious culture on folk beliefs.
It wasn't until 1539, when Martin Luther described a tyrant as a "beer wolf" (who can turn into a werewolf by drinking a special beer), that the silence of the werewolf in Western Europe was broken.
Therefore, the werewolves of the medieval period can actually be divided into two categories. On the one hand, the development of werewolves of "Germanic" ancestry in the west has a strong connection with religious and witchcraft panic; on the other hand, the "Slavic" werewolves in the East are related to the undead, vampires, war spirits, and national beliefs.
So, how do you fight the "brutal werewolves"? What can be done to stop them from harming the innocent?
The medieval people racked their brains for this – in the end, they developed three main ways to "cure" werewolves.
These include medication, surgery, and exorcism.
Sicilians believed that this stubborn disease could be cured by cutting a knife on the werewolf's head or scalp and letting the blood flow. It is also said that some people want to use the method of piercing the werewolf's hands with nails to treat them.
But treatment isn't always so extreme. In the German Lowlands, for example, people wanted to awaken the sleeping "humanity" of a werewolf by shouting out its Christian name 3 times.
The Danes, on the other hand, believe that merely verbal abuse can sober up werewolves.
But the most common cure in the Middle Ages was to convert the pagans who were suspected of being werewolves to Christianity so that God could indoctrinate them with cruelty and cold-bloodedness.
The Renaissance was the culmination of the development of witch hunting, so werewolves were not spared as heretics.
In 16th-century France, there were many reports of werewolf attacks and subsequent court trials. In some cases, there is clear "evidence" of murder and cannibalism in "werewolves", filling people with fear of the creature.
"Werewolvery" (werewolvery) is a common accusation of witch trials in history, even during the Valais witch trials in the first half of the 15th century.
In the canton of Vaud, there were reports of werewolves eating small children as early as 1448. As part of European witchcraft, attention to werewolves peaked in the late 16th and early 17th centuries.
For example, from 1595 to 1615, a series of academic papers on werewolves appeared in France.
In 1598 there was propaganda that werewolves were seen in Anjou.
In 1603, a teenage "werewolf" was sentenced to life imprisonment in Bordeaux.
In 1620 and 1624, several more werewolves were convicted.
It was not until 1653, when a paper by the Vaud priest believed that werewolves were purely a sick hallucination, that revisionist thoughts began to emerge.
At the beginning of the 17th century, James I of England began to rehabilitate "witchcraft", who regarded the "werewolf" as a victim of delusions caused by "natural excessive melancholy".
In the 18th century, the encyclopedia of the philosopher Denis Diderot also attributed "werewolves" to "brain disorders", but in Austria and Bavaria, the Alps, people's belief in werewolves did not disappear because of this, but intensified in the folk.
Most modern novels argue that the werewolf is afraid of attacks from silver weapons, but it is highly resistant to other types of damage.
In fact, this feature first appeared in German folklore.
Legend has it that in 1640 Greifswald of Germany was harassed by werewolves. Subsequently "a clever lad suggested that they collect all the silver items such as buttons, goblets, belt buckles, etc., and melt them into bullets and load them in muskets ... The townspeople then succeeded in injuring the monster and driving it away from Greifswald. “
Later, at the beginning of the 18th century, people were haunted by a wolf-shaped monster named "Gévaudan", and through previous experience, people once again made silver bullets to repel it.
The 1897 novels Dracula and The Vampire's Guest, written by Bram Stoker, again draw on the story of werewolves and legendary demons.
In Dracula's Guest, Bram Stoker writes:
A group of military riders are helping the protagonist chase Dracula, but the latter turns into a giant wolf, and perhaps the only weapon that can kill him is the "Divine Bullet".
Later, in the novel Dracula, Bram Stoker mentions again that Dracula is able to transform into a wolf at will at night and at noon, and has super resistance.
Since then, the concept of "silver waswolf" has been deeply rooted in the hearts of novelists, until the explosion of Gothic literature in 1935, and the werewolf IP became one of the biggest hits.
To this day, the image of the "werewolf" is still enduring in the literary forum and has become a cultural IP spanning thousands of years, which is really amazing.
Literature for this article
1."Werewolf" in Grimm, German Dictionary. "online version". uni-trier.de. Retrieved 2012-12-21.
2. Kim R. McCone, "Hund, Wolf, und Krieger bei den Indogermanen" in W. Meid (ed.), Studien zum indogermanischen Wortschatz, Innsbruck, 1987, 101-154
3. Rose, C. (2000). Giants, Monsters & Dragons: An Encyclopedia of Folklore, Legend and Myth. New York: Norton. p. 230. ISBN 0-393-32211-4.
4.Ménard, Philippe (1984). "Werewolf Stories in the Middle Ages". Symposium in honorem prof.M. de Riquer (in French). Barcelona UP. pp. 209–38.