Category:Werewolves
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| Creature profile | |
|---|---|
| Werewolves | |
| Ministry of Magic Classification | XXXXX[1] |
| Appearance | wolfish, but with distinctive signals (see below) |
| Origin | originally northern Europe, now found worldwide |
| Known specimens | Fenrir Greyback, Remus Lupin |
| First appearance in canon | Grim Defeat (PA) |
| Notes made on Harry's copy of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them | section title complemented with 'werewolfs aren't all bad' |
Werewolves are humans who shapeshift into wolflike creatures once a month during the full moon. The condition is transmitted through bites—anybody who survives a werewolf attack will become a werewolf themselves. The creatures are almost indistinguishable from regular wolves and are particularly vicious towards humans. Their killer instincts are uncontrollable, and they must be kept away from the general population (FBAZ).
For that reason, wizards infected with lycanthropy are often discriminated, despite their normal behaviour on all other days of the month. Vicious werewolves such as Fenrir Greyback give them all an even worse name[2].
Three distinctive signs of the werewolf, in contrast to a regular wolf, were revealed in canon: the snout shape, the pupils of the eyes and the tufted tail (OP28). For many werewolves, including Remus Lupin, their Boggart is the full moon (PA7).
Contents |
Role in the wizarding world
As stated above, fellowship with werewolves is, as a rule, shunned and feared in the wizarding world. The drama of a discriminated werewolf is well-depicted in the anonymous book Hairy Snout, Human Heart (FBAZ). Dolores Umbridge, Senior Undersecretary to the Minister for Magic, drafted a piece of anti-werewolf legislation that makes it nearly impossible for wizards with that condition to find jobs (OP14). The Ministry of Magic keeps a Werewolf Registry for the surveillance of all British werewolves. It also sustains a Werewolf Capture Unit and offers support through the Office for Werewolf Support Services. While the first two are located at the Beast Division, the latter is part of the Being Division. This demonstrates that the classification of werewolves as beasts or beings is particularly problematic. They have been shunted between the Beast and Being divisions for years (FBi).
Acutely aware of this discrimination, some werewolves refuse to coexist with wizards (HBP16).
Cure
There is no way to cure a werewolf bite. A patient of the 'Dangerous' Dai Llewellyn Ward of St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries received one such bite shortly before Arthur Weasley was sent to the same ward due to Nagini's attack. The man became sullen and desperate, and shunned both Arthur's and the Healers' attempts to comfort him and point out that an almost normal life is possible and manageable (OP22).
The Wolfsbane Potion is a recent (as of 1993) invention that allows werewolves to maintain control of their mental faculties even in their lupine form. Another of its effects may be to diminish the pain of the transformation (HBP16). Its first known maker was Damocles, uncle of the Ravenclaw Marcus Belby (HBP7).
Allegiance
Werewolves are among the hordes of dark creatures that Lord Voldemort sought to recruit to his army with the help of Fenrir Greyback (HBP16), a Death Eater from the time of the First War (HBP2).
Defence Against the Dark Arts
When Remus Lupin took a sick leave, Severus Snape replaced him temporarily as the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher for Harry Potter's class. Ignoring both Parvati and Hermione's warnings that their class had not yet covered the material leading up to that subject, Snape focused on werewolves. The chapter about the creatures ws located on page 394 of their textbook, whose name was not provided (it was possibly The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection, used in Harry's first and fourth years).
Snape appeared shocked that the third-years did not know the difference between a werewolf and a regular wolf. He assigned them a two-parchment essay on the subject, telling them to focus on how to recognise and kill the creatures (PA9). Remus later said that they did not have to hand in the essay, much to Hermione's disappointment—she had already finished hers (PA10). While researching for it, the girl realised that Professor Lupin was, in fact, a werewolf.
Despite Snape's reaction, it is fair to assume that not all third-years would be able to pinpoint the signs that identify a werewolf. It is, after all, an OWL-level question—in fact, the question was number ten in Snape's own examination. After finishing their OWLs, the four Marauders joked about it. James Potter asked Remus if he had been able to reply correctly, to which Moony retorts that he thinks so: "One: he's sitting on my chair. Two: he's wearing my clothes. Three: his name's Remus Lupin." Peter Pettigrew, however, seemed concerned; he could only remember three of the required five signs (OP28).
Werewolves in the series
Fenrir Greyback
Fenrir Greyback used his werewolf affliction as a weapon; according to Remus, "He regard it as his mission in life to bite and to contaminate as many people as possible; he wants to create enough werewolves to overcome the wizards." In order to achieve this end, Greyback often bites children, to be raised away from their influences of their parents and therefore trained to hate wizards (HBP16).
Voldemort threatened parents with Greyback, saying he would set the werewolf on their children; in this way, he convinced many parents to succumb to his will (HBP16).
Remus Lupin
Remus is a kind, soft-spoken man, despite his lycanthropy. His prematurely aged face and greying hair, combined with his empoverished status and gentle temper reveal how much he has suffered and matured because of his condition (PA5). He is frequently portrayed in fanon as heavily scarred, notably in the Shoebox Project[3].
Remus was bitten as a young child, because his father offended Fenrir Greyback (HBP16). He was allowed to attend Hogwarts regardless of that fact; Albus Dumbledore had the Whomping Willow planted to guard a passageway leading to the Shrieking Shack, where Lupin experienced his monthly transformations. They are extremely painful; Lupin's howls of pain caused common Hogsmeade folk to believe that the Shack was haunted (PA19).
It did not take his fellow Gryffindors long to realise that Remus was a werewolf, despite his constant excuses that he would be visiting his mother or other such fabrication. They had no problems accepting Lupin as he was; in fact, they did as much as they could to help him. Knowing that he would only see them as prey if they were in human shape, James Potter, Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew sought to become Animagi, and succeeded in their fifth year. As such, they accompanied him on full moon nights, and explored the Hogwarts grounds in their animal forms. The four Marauders were thus able to make the Marauder's Map (PA18).
When discussing the issue with Harry, many years later, Remus says that "[James] called it my 'furry little problem' in company. Many people were under the impression that I owned a badly behaved rabbit." (HBP16)
His lycanthropy made it difficult for Remus to get a job. Despite that, Dumbledore allowed him to teach at Hogwarts for a full year, at the end of which a highly irritated Severus Snape "let it slip" amid Slytherins that Lupin was a werewolf (PA22). He then chose to resign. During that year, Snape faultlessly brew Wolfsbane Potion for Remus, which he took every month. For this reason, Lupin does not like or dislike him—indeed, up to the point where Snape murdered Dumbledore (HBP29), he did not share his best friends and Harry's prejudice against the Potions master.
After the rebirth of Lord Voldemort, Dumbledore asked Remus to act as a spy among other werewolves; the task was extremely difficult, especially because Lupin clearly displayed signs of having lived in the wizarding society for long (HBP16).
Bill Weasley
Bill Weasley was attacked by Fenrir Greyback. Though he did not become a full werewolf, he retained heavy facial scarring (HBP29).
Trivia
- Draco Malfoy feared that there would be werewolves in the Forbidden Forest (PS15).
- Rubeus Hagrid mentioned that werewolves would not be fast enough to catch and kill a unicorn (PS15).
- Tom Marvolo Riddle falsely accused Hagrid of trying to raise werewolf cubs under his bed (CS17).
Footnotes
- ↑ That classification refers only to the werewolf on full moon nights.
- ↑ J. K. Rowling has pointed to this as one of the reasons that Remus Lupin would have a hard time resuming his teaching career (JKRW). See here for more information.
- ↑ A picture of Remus with a scarred face as portrayed in the Shoebox Project can be found in this chapter
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Articles in category "Werewolves"
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