Non-Humans R Us Newsletters

Were-Creatures

No matter where one goes in the world; China, India, Europe, Africa, North America, South America, Russia- anyplace except Antarctica, one will hear stories about were-creatures of some sort. Weresharks in the Philippines, weretigers in India, wereleopards and werelions in Africa, to werewolves in Europe and werebears in North America, most every animal has a werecreature named after it.

Were-creatures are found in mythology and horror stories.

In a mythology story, the creature could be the Hero, an Adviser/Ally to the Hero, or the Villain.

Say your Hero is an Inuit native, whose wife has been taken by a stronger tribe’s raiding party. To get her back, he is told to see one of the Nanook- a creature that can change from man to polar bear, and back, and can determine success in certain things- like hunting the great bears. In this case, the Nanook might give the Hero some aid, in the form of one of the Nanook’s own sons, some advice, or even the ability to change shape himself. Due to the Nanook’s help, the Hero is able to rescue his wife, and ensure safety for his tribe in the future.

Now, let’s set a story in more modern times, and place it in the South Pacific islands. A hard-working fisherman tries to provide for his family, but the area he’s been fishing isn’t doing too well. So, he plans to fish in an area that has lots of fish, but is highly dangerous due to rocks jutting out, and whirlpools. Before going out, he goes to a shrine dedicated to Dakuwaqa- the local shark god, and leaves an offering for good luck, and for protection against disaster. He then goes to the area when tragedy occurs, and the fisherman ends up in the water, hitting his head. Just before losing consciousness, he sees a triangular fin coming towards him. Next thing the fisherman sees is that he’s on a beach near his home. When he looks around, he sees a fin heading out to sea- a shark had saved his life instead of eating him- perhaps it was Dakuwaqa himself in his shark form who’d rescued a man who had proven himself a good person.

In a horror story, the creature is usually something that needs to be destroyed, but is the Hero on occasion.

For instance, in the Underworld series, vampires and werewolves have been fighting a war for centuries. Caught in the middle is an American doctor, who is of the blood of the ancestors to both vampires and werewolves, and is now a hybrid of both. He has to work with a vampire woman in order to try and stop the war, but there are those on both sides who don’t want to end it- for one reason or another.

Now, just what is a were-creature? It is a being that has between two and three forms. There is the human form- which is common to all weres. There is the animal form- which is typically bigger, and stronger, than the ordinary version of the animal. Then there is the hybrid form, which is a mixture of animal and human features.

As mentioned earlier, were-creatures can be based off of any animal- and not just carnivorous ones. Name an animal, and odds are there is a story about some were-creature based off of it, though it might be tricky to find. Of course, it might be one of those unpublished stories that novice writers have made and tossed in the proverbial trashcan. Of course, said were-creature might be very different from its regular counterpart- i.e., a were-rabbit with a taste for meat. For the most part though, they tend to be based off of carnivores, or omnivores.

Now, also as mentioned earlier, were-creatures tend to be villains in most stories. However, they can be heroes.