I was really surprised to learn
that the legend of the werewolves originated with witches and demon worship,
which all came from the church. While I usually believe that most of the older
monster stories from Europe have a religious background, contemporary media’s
interpretations of werewolves made me believe that magic and demons had no relevance
to them. Most of my monster knowledge comes from entertainment media such as
video games (I am not the biggest fan of horror movies, which monster movies
usually are). Most of the werewolves in these games tend to be regular people
that were bitten by another werewolf at some point. This is why I thought of
them as unfortunate casualties to an illness that was out of their control. This
is why I had always believed that werewolves were something made up by ordinary
citizens that experienced someone getting bitten by a wolf with rabies, just
like one of the readings stated. In contemporary media, the victims of werewolf
bites usually went through an unwilling transformation into a new werewolf every
full moon. According to the readings however, the church believed that only god
had the power to create and transform living beings. Werewolves were actually
supposed to be witches that had the blessing of Satan, and thus were able to
use illusions to disguise themselves as terrifying monsters. The only trait
that the contemporary werewolf seemed to relate to its older versions is that they
roam during full moons, which is when witches were believed to practice their
devil worshiping.
Obviously not all of the newer
werewolf stories are the same. There are some that are far more similar to the
devil worshiping wolves from the readings. Out of the contemporary werewolves
that I can remember, the ones that are the closest to its historical roots are
the ones found in the video game series, The Elder Scrolls. Like most modern
werewolves, lycanthropy is spread with a bite and they actually transform into
beasts. The werewolves in these games are not witches. In fact, they are
usually against the use of magic in a world full of it. The main reason that I find
them similar to the original werewolves is because of the origin of the disease
in the universe: it was given as a gift to the followers of some higher power.
A Daedric Prince (equivalent to gods in The Elder Scrolls) called Hircine gave
his believers the power of the werewolf so that they can hunt down any
creature. Once werewolves died, their soul was claimed by the Daedric Prince. Similarly,
Satan was also believed to have given the witches the forms of werewolves for a
similar purpose: to hunt and kill the creations of god. The church also taught
that people who commit sin (such as devil worship) were sent to hell to be
tortured by Satan forever.
Other similarities between Hircine
and Satan’s werewolves are that they are cannibals, and are feared by the rest
of the residents of the world. Both of the deities gave their gifts to be used
to induce fear to the people. However, only Hircine’s wolves gain actually
strength to back up their appearances. The reason why I think the contemporary
werewolves are not merely illusions is mainly because of secularism. The main
reason werewolves couldn’t transform was because only god was supposed to have
the power of life and transformation. As the church lost its influence, tales
of Satan worshiping monsters died out and became scary stories people tell for
entertainment. Stories of werewolves were probably separated for witches and
magic to become a creature worthy of their own story.
Although the Daedra often resemble (especially when related to Molag Bal or Mehrunes Dagon) Abrahamic demons, Hircine resembles and seems to act similar to old Anglo Saxon and Germanic deities. Perhaps he's a combination of both, as much of the Elder Scrolls' mythology resembles mythology in the real world. Daedric princes often resemble morally complicated or wrong deities. For example Sheogorath is similar to the Norse god Loki (as is Sanguine, although Sanguine looks like our modern notion of biblical demons).
ReplyDeleteBut maybe these things aren't a coincidence, as many of the old European religious figures were literally demonized after Christianity took hold. In fact, the image of horned demons came from the old gods worshiped by ancient Europeans
I think it is interesting that you bring up the Elder Scrolls version of the werewolf. I hadn’t thought about it but there really are strong parallels between the old European belief in the origin of werewolves and the origin in Skyrim Lore. I had never thought of Hircine as a version of the Devil but I suppose, just like the werewolves in the game it all depends on how you see the condition, as a curse or a blessing. What I do find interesting though is that in Skyrim the fate of werewolves in the afterlife is much more of a grey area. In European belief the werewolf’s soul being tortured by the Devil for all eternity is a terrible fate regardless, But in Skyrim, Hircine gets the werewolf’s soul to become one of his hunters in the afterlife. Some see this as a good thing and others don’t. I think it makes an interesting situation since it makes the condition overall much more unique to the individual.
ReplyDeleteI'm also really impressed that you were able to relate Skyrim to the blog assignment. I agree with what Elizabeth said as well. There were characters in Skyrim that you went on quests with that actually enjoyed all the powers that Hircine gave. They also were more than content to hunt forever in the afterlife. In the readings it was also said that werewolves did many terrible things without changing form. This relates to one of the people you go on a quest with, where you and her wipe out an entire fortress of people and try to murder every last member of the organization without changing into the form of the werewolf. I would say that's pretty terrible. A difference between the werewolves of old and contemporary werewolves is in the Companions quests (and throughout the whole game), in order to become a werewolf, you need to willingly drink the blood of another werewolf that is freely given. In other words, not be given a cloak or what the readings mentioned were given by the devil and the potential werewolves didn't necessarily have to go through Hircine. ("The devil")
ReplyDeleteI actually think that the Elder Scrolls universe is excellent when discussing mythology, and I think that video games, in future, will be discussed more and more in academia. The Elder Scrolls has so much mythology that is inspired by old religions, but is still written by modern writers and hints to modern sayings and issues. There's actually an orc that says "Some of my best friends are elves, but elves give elves a bad name," which sounds kind of like people saying "Some of my best friends are black, but etc..." I think there's also commentary on racism in general with Nord nationalism is Skyrim and how the Dunmer are treated in Windhelm.
Delete