Were-Wolves/Were-creatures (where we discuss what they will be like in our version of Middle Earth)

Well... the air down here is different from that in our admin area... Maybe it will help us think.

So, were-wolves. Like you said, we have “wolves possessed by non-human spirits” pretty much covered by our wights. It’s unnecessary to have a special class of creatures possessed by wights just for wolves.

It’s also surprising (and disappointing) that a linguist and someone who knew his mythology, someone like Tolkien, would just ignore the “were” in “were-wolf”. Man. Man-wolf. There is a human in there somewhere. I think we should have that. Our were-wolves should have a human in there somewhere.

And we do have the Dunlendings and there Berserker-like belief. They already believe that they can turn into animals and act as if they did. Some can’t snap out of it.

I have recently read a really interesting article on berserker cults and how it relates to the human psyche and traumatizing experiences on the battlefield. As well as another that links those cults to the belief in were-wolves and other legends of people believing that they themselves or others can or are forced to turn into animals.

Maybe we can work with that? Work the Dunlending traditions into it somehow? Sauron is the “giver of gifts”. Maybe he gave them the “gift” to actually transform physically after they were too far gone to function as humans?

In any case, I would like to keep being a were-wolf as a curse, as something that happens against someone’s will and torments him. I don’t want it to be just another handy super-power. A Maia may be able to do that, alright, but they are not a were-wolf because of it.

I want our were-wolves to remain extremely dangerous and impossible to control, too. Those are no overgrown puppies.

Thoughs?

I think it would work really well if we worked it into that dunlending berserker belief. Perhaps they were given the 'gift' that if they truly believed they could turn into an animal that when berserk they would turn into a wolf. Perhaps it only happens to those who get stuck as 'berserk' and they eventually 'turn'.

Personally I prefer the concept if those who became wolf are constantly wolf, with that element of human trapped inside; for Tolkien's world I wouldn't be a fan of them being able to transition fully back and forth (at will or not). Id like them to be angry at everything, as you said, wild and uncontrollable.

How do they transform, though? I mean, once in the beginning (traditionally: bitten by another were-wolf) and other times once they are "infected" (traditionally: during a fullmoon). Does anything cause their transformation? Do they have to eat something or be bitten by another were-wolf, for example, does anything then trigger their transformations? Or are they just cursed and it happens without any pattern?

The traditional one is a nice idea, but that does however beg the idea of where the first were-wolf came from... which may require some musing upon.

Or we find a different trigger. I do wonder if it could be linked to dunlendings going beserk in battle. Perhaps some are just cursed to actually transform instead of just believing they had

Maybe it's part of the a ritual? If they are too far gone after battle, they get to drink water from a certain source and this is what turns them into a were-wolf? (A little like in that fairytale in which drinking from a cursed/magical river turns one sibling into a deer.)

Jumping in... (not having seen the admin discussions so it may already have been raised...) I'm sure there's mention of were-wolves in the Silmarillion... I think I remember they were possessed/inhabited by bad Maia. Perhaps the first one was one of these?

Join us and have some wine, ancient one!

By "demons"/"evil spirits", that is, the feä of orcs and, like you said, evil Maia, yes. I've read that, too. The problem is that we already have something similar for our Wights. That's why we are trying to find an alternative...