The Big Bad Wolf: Origins of the Werewolf Lore

In recent years, thanks in part to literary fiction and popular cinema, there has been a resurgence in the interest in the supernatural, including but not limited to zombies, vampires, and werewolves.  Anthropological inquiry into several of these supernatural creatures is vast and some has been previously discussed on this blog.  One supernatural creation that has not received as much attention, however, is the werewolf.  This was due to the scarcity of modern and appropriate literature on the topic, but the popularity of this creature within the public sphere has bled into the academic one, leading to a greater amount of reputable evidence to draw upon to sufficiently discuss this topic.  Today’s blog post is going to address the origins of the werewolf lore, examining how early human beliefs may have been the foundation for subsequent cultural phenomenon that eventually gave rise to the werewolf.

 

First, however, one must define what a werewolf is.  There are various ideas out there, but quite simply a werewolf is a human who transforms into the form of a wolf.  This form can be a hybrid human-wolf form, or it can be a full wolf that retains human thoughts but is driven by supernatural needs for violence and hunger.  Several hundred years ago it was believed that only men could become werewolves, but today the belief has spread to include women and children as candidates to become werewolves.  The ability to transform into a werewolf has changed over time, as well.  Traditionally, it was believed that transform could be voluntary or involuntary, and that it was the result of witchcraft (be it a curse or self-inflicted state) or demonic possession.  It could also be the result of performing any number of actions, such as drinking water for a wolf’s paw, eating wolf’s brains, sleeping on the ground on the night of a full moon that lands on a Friday night, or wearing certain flowers.  In modern contexts, it is believed that one can be transformed into a wolf either by hereditable traits or by being bitten by an infected individual.  Some of these ideas are quite similar to the lore of other supernatural entities (e.g., vampires and zombies), which is due in part to the evolution of the narratives of supernatural entities and legends and because for a period of time there was little to no distinction among supernatural creatures, specifically werewolves, witches, and vampires.

 

Figure 1: Lions painted in the Chauvet Cave (France); 35,000 years ago

 

But where exactly did the werewolf lore come from?  This is a topic that does not have a finite answer, but there are several ideas out there.  There are some scholars who cite the original cave paintings as being the earliest evidence of a belief in the supernatural.  These paintings, which began being created around 30,000 years ago, often depicted animals that were native to the local area, and while animals that were hunted were painted in areas where humans regularly occupied those that were considered dangerous and feared (e.g., lions and wolves) were painted in separate, deeper areas of caves where human occupants did not regularly frequent (Figure 1).  It has long been hypothesized that these illustrations, of both hunted and predatory animals, were related to some sort of hunting magic, and scholars who link the werewolf lore to this cultural phenomenon claim that the fear of predatory animals, such as wolves, was one that became foundational to later human cultural groups. 

 

Around this time was also the creation of various early art pieces, such as human-animal hybrid statuettes (Figure 2).  Scholars use this as evidence to further support the notion of a belief that human-animal hybrids could exist, although many archaeological and historical scholars believe that these may just be effigies to help in hunting or images of godly entities.  If the fringe idea that these are evidence of a belief in humans being able to transform into animals then the werewolf idea could have taken root at this time.

 

Figure 1: The Lion-Man of Hohlenstein-Stadel Cave (Copyright: Ulmer Museum)

 

There is no evidence, however, that the idea of werewolves existed at this time of early human history.  This idea did not formally exist, based on written records, until the ancient Greek and Viking eras (approximately 2000 B.C. to 500 B.C.).  That leaves a big gap of time between the foundational ideas related to fears of predatory animals and potentially human-animal transformations of the Upper Paleolithic era.  This is where the more concrete evidence of the werewolf lore exist.  As previously discussed on this blog there are archaeological sites wherein wolf and early dog remains were found, which were mutilated in an apparent ritual.  Further discovery of similar sites and additional study of this phenomenon has turned up some interesting information.  It appears that northern European populations practiced rituals wherein young adolescent boys would be initiated into war bands.  These boys would be cast out into the woods and responsible for living off the land, raiding other villages, and protecting their home villages from invaders.  Their initiations would take place in the winter time and involve sacrifices of dogs and wolves.  The purpose of these sacrifices was for the boys to take on the traits of the wolves, which would make them more ferocious, strong, cut-throat, blood thirsty, and more.  The packs of wild boys would go about acting like wild animals, taking on traits associated with wolves. The boys would age out upon reaching adulthood, and they would undergo a new rite of passage acknowledging this age milestone that would also allow them to reenter society.  The beliefs and rituals attached to the youth war bands could very well set the stage for the subsequent werewolf lore that exists today, particularly since the ritual sacrifices of dogs and wolves were done to give the boys those specific traits, in essence turning them into wolves.

 

Bibliography

Beresford, M. (2013). The White Devil: The Werewolf in European Culture. London: Reaktion Books Ltd.

Guðmundsdóttir, A. (2007). The werewolf in medieval Icelandic literature. The Journal of English and Germanic Philology, 106(3), 277-303.

Frost, B. (2003). The Essential Guide to Werewolf Literature. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.

Jacques-Lefevre, N. (2002). Such an Impure, Cruel, and Savage Beast: Images of hte Werewolf in Demonological Works. In K. Edwards, Werewolves, Witches, and Wandering Spirits: Traditional Belief and Folklore in Early Modern Europe (pp. 181-197). Kirksville: Truman State University Press.

Kaliff, A., & Oestigaard, T. (2022). Werewolves, Warriors and Winter Sacrifices: Unmasking Kivik and Indo-European Cosmology in Bronze Age Scandinavia. Odeshog: DanagårdLiTHO AB.

Summers, M. (1933). The Werewolf in Lore and Legend. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Tubner, and Co, Ltd.