Almanach Kvartopirci, The Card Players II, oil on canvas, 145×268cm, mid-17th century
"Please close your eyes when it is dark, please open your eyes for werewolves..." In recent years, reasoning tabletop games such as "Werewolf Kill" have been sought after. In the multiplayer Werewolf Kill, there are many characters for players to choose from, each with a different mission. However, are there really "werewolves" in the world? What secrets do "knights", "hunters" and "witches" hide? Today, Harper's Bazaar Art takes you into an artistic version of the Werewolf Kill game.
Who were the first werewolves?
Although "werewolf killing" has only spread among young people in recent years, the legend of "werewolf" has been circulating for thousands of years. Are there really "werewolves"? What do they look like? Who was the first "werewolf" to appear?
Depiction of "werewolves" in late 14th century sagas
In one of the levels of the hit game Assassin's Creed Odyssey, "Lucaon Wolf" stopped many players. The "Lycaon" here is based on the legendary King Lycaon of ancient Greece. And King Lycaon is often considered to be the earliest image of a werewolf in recorded history.
The scene where Lycaon turns into a "werewolf"
Why did the monarch become a half-human, half-beast monster? It starts with mythology. Lykawon, who owns the entire city, lacks only the love that cannot be met. One day, while hunting, he was touched by a girl with a beautiful singing voice and stunning shape. Who knew that the girl was actually the daughter of Zeus, the king of the gods.
Zeus casts spells at the feast, turning Lycaon into a "werewolf".
In order to please Zeus, Lycaon, who fell in love, hosted a feast in the palace for seven days. However, as the days passed, no matter how hard he tried, Zeus never looked at Lycaon squarely. Enraged, Lycaon ordered the cook to prepare a piece of food made from human flesh (said to have killed his son) and serve it to the table to deceive Zeus. Zeus sees the conspiracy at a glance, enraged by its cruelty, and turns Lycaon into a wolf-headed monster.
The figure of the wolf head recorded in Marco Polo's Livre des merveilles du monde
In this way, Lycaon is the world's first "werewolf". In fact, another ancient civilization also gave birth to this image. Anubis, the funerary god of ancient Egyptian mythology, also matches the appearance of a werewolf. He often appears as a jackal's head and human body in pharaoh tomb murals.
Anubis the funeral god
In ancient Egypt, the deification of an animal was closely related to that animal's attributes. Anubis is headed by wolves precisely because wolves are good at searching and eating scavengers. Therefore, he is considered the best choice for guiding the souls of the deceased, that is, the god of funerals.
Statue of Anubis
When Anubis meets playing cards
On one side is the cruel king of ancient Greece, on the other side is the majestic divine messenger of ancient Egypt, in the imagination and creation of the "werewolf" image, the two ancient civilizations thousands of years ago and thousands of miles apart coincide and have their own merits. Which one is more in line with the image of the "werewolf" in your mind?
With you, you can rest assured!
No matter how powerful the werewolf camp is, there is always a time to bow to the good guy camp and admit defeat. When civilians triumph, knights and hunters are indispensable. Whether it is a majestic knight who turns over on his horse, or a hunter who shoots a shot and crosses the Yang at a hundred paces, there are never many heroic warriors of all kinds in the art version of "Werewolf Kill".
Antonio de Pereda, The Knight's Dream, oil on canvas, 512×217cm, 1650
As shown in the picture above, this knight mostly fought in his dreams. The angel showed him fleeting wealth and honor to the sleeping one. The table is full of all kinds of things: skulls representing death, cards symbolizing entertainment, clocks that metaphorically describe the passing of time, masks that foretell all falsehoods... But the Daydream knight is unaware of reality.
Peter Paul Rubens, Equestrian Portrait of the Duke of Lerma, oil on canvas, 290.5×207.5cm, 1603
Unlike the knight who can choose to "die to apologize" in the game, Rubens's knight who is actually a duke is arrogant. The Duke was dressed in armor, rode a white warhorse and hung ornaments inscribed with the words "Knight of St. James". Rubens thus created a model of portraiture on horseback, which had a profound influence on later generations.
Part of The Knight Series by Jack Tworkov, 1974-1977.
The knight is not only a character in "Werewolf Kill", but also an indispensable pawn in chess. In 1974, Jack Tworkov began work on The Knight Series. He traces the knight's movement on the board to determine the structural points, and then connects them in turn. Cascading colors complicate the picture without disturbing the original grid structure. This loose but normative approach underscores Tvokov's conviction: "Planning does not exclude intuition, and is sometimes nothing more than a random game." ”
Bang! Bang! Bang! ⚠️
Pieter Bruegel de Oudere, Jagers in de sneeuw, oil on wood, 117×162cm, 1565
If the knight cannot do without the beloved BMW, then the hunter is destined to live and die with his gun. From fighting wild beasts for survival, to catching prey for a full stomach, to just for sports or entertainment, and finally to introspection and no longer killing indiscriminately... The history of hunting bears witness to the development of human civilization.
Peter Paul Rubens (La Chasse au Tigre), oil on canvas, 248.2×318.3cm, 1615-1617
Whatever the era, many artists wholeheartedly depict what they see, admire, or marvel at. In hunting, whether for animals or people, it is a matter of life. This expression of life tension and natural charm is a test for the artist.
Lang Shining et al. "Qianlong Emperor Shooting and Hunting Map" axis, silk color, 115×181.4cm, Qing Dynasty
The most qualified and capitalized hunting as a recreational activity in history were the emperors. The works of Lang Shining and others depict the moment when the Qianlong Emperor and his close princes and ministers hunted hares in the Nanyuan hunting ground. The fierce "hunter" riding on a horse and the hare running for his life are accurate and expressive in the artist's writing. According to the Qianlong Emperor's imperial poem, his Nanyuan hunt this time was "eight rabbits in the daily fan", and his achievements were prominent.
Claude Monet, The Shoot, oil on canvas, 1876
The witch 🧙 ♀️ who doesn't hold a broom
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Witch and Scarecrow in the Snow, oil on canvas, 70×60cm, 1930-1932
Female characters have the style of "not letting the eyebrows" in "Werewolf Killing". In the game, witches belong to the camp of good guys; However, in the dark Middle Ages, witches were once regarded as the embodiment of the devil, and it was not uncommon to kill women in this name. In the long history, the evolution of the witch image has shown the tortuous road of human civilization, and also highlighted the glorious course of women's struggle for freedom and independence.
References to witches in ancient European texts
What do you imagine a witch to look like? Historically, witches have appeared in a variety of forms: warty-nosed women curled up in a pot of boiling liquid, ugly monsters in pointed hats riding on brooms, or long-haired girls with skin like curd, middle-aged women who are no different from ordinary housewives, and so on.
Francisco Goya, Witches in the air, oil on canvas, 43.5×31.5cm, 1797-1798
Who the hell is the witch? In fact, the original witch was nothing more than a healer or a gifted woman, but was stigmatized as a witchcraft, captivating pagan. In the mid-15th century, witches who could not withstand torture were forced to confess their "guilt." Subsequently, the cruelty of "witch hunting" spread. According to statistics, between 1500 and 1660, as many as 80,000 wizard "suspects" were executed in Europe, of which about 80% were women.
Francisco Goya, Witches Sabbath, oil on canvas, 44×31cm, 1789
Paul Klee, Witch Scene, oil on canvas, 32×24.3cm, 1921
Witchcraft is unpredictable and unreal, but the changes in the perception of witches in European history are closely related to the identity and status of women in real society. Behind the image of the witch lies a myriad of meanings. When women's beauty is demonized, when gender becomes a source of discrimination, in fact, "witchcraft" at this time is just a fig leaf for the moral decline of society.
White or black, people imagine and depict witches differently.
With civilization and gender equality, today's witch image no longer has to bear a heavy history. Artists express their creative ideas in different styles and ways. Just like the witch in "Werewolf Kill", as a division of labor, not a hierarchy, she fights side by side with members of the good guy camp such as knights and hunters to fight evil.
Gene Davis, Red Witch, acrylic on canvas, 306.1×590 .6cm, 1966
After "playing" this art version of "Werewolf Killing", I wonder if everyone is having fun? Life is a grand game, and people live in it, sometimes immersed, sometimes withdrawn. The special thing about this game is that it is limited in time, only once, there is no winner or loser. Humans and wolves can share the same moon for generations, but the difference is that human beings have a conscience and always listen to the call of virtue. Which character do you like the most? Welcome to leave a message to share.
Editor, text by Zhou Yuxuan
This article was originally created by Harper's Bazaar Art Department and may not be reproduced without permission