Werewolf CSI

[crockpotcauldron]

There are a lot of old werewolf stories in which the werewolf gets busted by someone spotting evidence of their wolf activities on their human bodies. Often it's an injury that someone inflicted on the wolf that lingers in human form - an arrow wound, a knife slash, a paw getting cut off and turning into a human hand. Sometimes it's blood in their mouth, a scrap of fabric between human teeth, or someone looking suspiciously well fed during hard times. It adds an exciting air of murder mystery to what are, essentially, horror stories.

It makes me a little sad that modern werewolf stories have completely dropped the ball in favor of easy regeneration. I blame vampires, honestly. You wind up with this superpowered arms race in urban fantasy, where werewolves have to be powered up so they don't get bowled over by super fast, super strong, bulletproof, hypnotic, intangible, etc vampires. And then, of course, they have to have the long lifespan to match the vampires too, and some mind control, and sometimes the individual extra superpowers - it really gets out of hand.

I'd like to see some more stories where there are actual consequences to wolfy shenanigans besides just dodgy full moon alibis - a cut on the palm from four-wheeling it, a scratch on the nose from sticking it where it doesn't belong, a microchip from a well-meaning biologist. A proper full moon hangover, you know?

Comments

[chickadee_sun]

I don't think vampires are to blame as much as technological improvements. Old-time werewolves are often basically wolves with human intelligence and no other powers. In the Medieval or Early Modern era, that was scary enough. Wolves were wild animals, large dangerous predators that sometimes attacked livestock or even humans. But humans aren't afraid of the big bad wolf anymore. We have high-powered rifles and cars and helicopters we can shoot from. Wolves are endangered because we've gotten so good at killing them.

Werewolves without tons of extra powers aren't just losing an arms race with vampires; they're losing an arms race with ordinary humans. Even without vampire fiction, they'd still need extra powers to keep up. Look at the difference in power between the Martians in Wells's The War of the Worlds and in the 1953 movie adaptation.

I think to counter it stories would have to go much more in a murder mystery direction. Treat werewolf antagonists as human murderers instead of as monsters. Their wolfishness can be relate to the mystery and/or to their motive. Protagonist werewolves can be more slice-of-life or the nonsuperpowered type of action. The horror and urban fantasy genres demand creatures that can pose a credible threat to modern humans, so for more traditional werewolves step outside those genres. CSI, like you said.

Do you think Wilde Life pulls it of well? I don't think Cliff has been caught by traces like you mention, but his powers do seem mostly limited to being a wolf and don't automatically help him deal with other supernatural stuff. "What did you want me to do? Turn into a wolf at it?"

[nerd_bastard]

oh man, that would make for an amazing romcom werewoof story tho-- 'this cute field researcher microchipped me on a full moon and now I have engage in Shenanigans to keep them from figuring out why I always seem to be in the same spot their microchip tracker points to until I can ask them out on a date'

[vashnoi]

cosigning for the overwhelming desire for a research biologist/werewolf rom-com

Imagine a Phd student or postdoc with their first funded project getting really mad at this one data point that has diverged from the pack and is now... parked on the outskirts of the woods by this isolated cabin for some reason? Tch, must have messed up that with tracker I guess. I should go and see if I recover it. Wait, but it's moving around. Huh.

There is so much scope for hilarious wolf researcher and werewolf stories.