Werewolf

The Werewolf, also known as Wolf Man, is an enemy in the Castlevania series. He is a man with lycanthropy who transforms into a ferocious beast when the moon is full and has developed a taste for blood. He is occasionally paired up with another fellow werebeast: the Minotaur.
==Origins==
A werewolf is a mythological or folkloric human with the ability to shapeshift into a wolf, either purposely or after being placed under a curse or affliction (often a bite or scratch from another werewolf).
A few references to men changing into wolves are found in Ancient Greek literature and mythology. The Neuri was a tribe which transformed into wolves once every year for several days and then changed back to their human shape. Lycaon was transformed into a wolf because he had ritually murdered a child. Virgil at one point also wrote about human beings transforming into wolves.
The werewolf is a widespread concept in European folklore, existing in many variants, which are related by a common development of a Christian interpretation of underlying European folklore developed during the medieval period. From the early modern period, werewolf beliefs also spread to the New World with colonialism. Belief in werewolves developed in parallel to the belief in witches in the course of the Late Middle Ages and the Early Modern period. Like the witchcraft trials as a whole, the trial of supposed werewolves emerged in what is now Switzerland in the early 15th century and spread throughout Europe in the 16th, peaking in the 17th and subsiding by the 18th century.
Werewolves have also been referenced in various written works. The main antagonist of the fairy tale Little Red Riding Hood, although referred to as a wolf, is closer in overall demeanor to a werewolf. In Bram Stoker's 1897 Gothic horror novel Dracula, the eponymous antagonist was cited to be responsible for the existence of werewolves, which led to the two often being used together in later media.
While short stories of werewolves became more common during the 19th century due to the emerging popularity in Gothic horror themes of that era, the inclusion of the werewolf in the Castlevania series was probably mainly influenced by Universal Pictures' 1941 film, The Wolf Man, with Lon Chaney Jr. playing the role of the eponymous titular antagonist monster and establishing it as a household name in classic horror cinema and popular culture, and which produced a number of sequels, spinoffs, and more recently, remakes.
While both names, "wolf man" and "werewolf", are used to refer basically to the same creature, there are distinctions regarding both of their physiologies:
#The term "wolf man" is generally used when the monster retains several traits of its human form after its transformation, such as standing straight and walking on its hind legs, with the main changes being only the growth of hair all over the body, elongated fangs, claws, pointy ears and the appearance of whiskers. It's also common that it keeps some (if not all) of its clothes after the transformation.
#The "werewolf", on the other hand, is more beast-like, muscular and larger, has an elongated canine-like muzzle with even larger fangs, its ears are larger and pointier and they're often located on the top of the head, similar to most types of canids. While it can indeed walk on its hind legs, it's often seen moving on all fours, displaying with this beastly speed and agility. All this in conjunction give the monster more the appearance of a wild animal. It's also worth noting that all (or at least most) of its clothes generally get ripped off during the transformation process, leaving the individual naked or wearing only a loincloth once they transform back to their human form.
==Description==
Werewolves (also known as Wolf Men, Lycanthropes or Lypustons) are common werebeast foes. Their appearance in the series isn't surprising; mythologically, werewolves and vampires are closely related, and some cultures consider them the same manner of creature. An aversion to silver is a trait common to both, werewolves and vampires, and both are creatures cursed to roam the night in search of innocent victims to sate their hunger. The victim of a vampire or werewolf becomes one themself.
Death is the only sure release from the curse, as seen in Castlevania: Rondo of Blood. Once defeated by Richter, the werewolf transforms back into an ordinary man before expiring.
One playable werewolf is Cornell from Legacy of Darkness and Judgment.
==Appearances==
===Castlevania===
Werewolves were considered to appear in the first Castlevania, but didn't make it into the game. Early design materials included in the Castlevania Anniversary Collection show a concept for a "Pistol" loaded with silver bullets that could kill a werewolf with a single shot, but was not really effective against other enemies. Another idea for a sub-weapon was a "Transformation" that would transform the player instantly into a werewolf for a few seconds. During that time, the whip would be more powerful.
===Castlevania II: Simon's Quest===
First appearance of the Wolf Man/Werewolf in the series. The Wolf Man wanders Jova Woods, the immediate forested area that lies east of the town of Jova, where the game starts. It moves at a slow pace and starts hopping up and down when approached, changing direction if the player comes from behind. Unlike the Skeletons that also inhabit this area, it takes two strikes of the Leather Whip (the weapon the player starts the game with) to kill a Wolf Man. While dealing with them is almost a trivial process during the day, care should be taken when approaching one at nighttime, as it will then take double the damage to kill it (four strikes from the Leather Whip); this is especially true if the player comes from behind, as this must be done in a way that only the tip of the whip hits the Wolf Man, lest it changes direction and starts hopping toward the player, which with the added resistance it gains during the night, as well as the surrounding Skeletons, all in conjunction can make dealing with them an unexpected ordeal.
===Castlevania Chronicles===
The Wolf Woman initially appears as an ordinary damsel at the top of the Clock Tower, although she'll quickly transform into a werewolf right in front of Simon. During the first phase of the fight, she'll jump around at great speed all over the screen, ripping and throwing chunks of wall and parts of the clock at him, making it very hard –but not impossible– to hit. Once she runs out of pieces of the scenery to throw or is down to 1/4 of max health, she'll rip the minutes hand of the clock and use it as a heavy melee weapon, although due to its weight she'll also become slower and more vulnerable to attack during this phase.
Her defeat will shift her back to human form, where a cloth will then come out from nowhere and modestly cover her nudity before her body vanishes completely as the cloth is carried by the wind.
===Castlevania: Rondo of Blood/Castlevania: Dracula X===
A human like silhouette under a full moon can be seen emerging from the top of a tower in the distance at the end of the second stage in Rondo of Blood (or the fifth stage in Dracula X). The shadow then emits a terrifying howl and its body suffers a dramatic transformation. Turning into a wolf, the figure strikes from the sky and the boss battle begins.
The Werewolf crawls on the edges of the screen and launches himself to strike from the chamber's walls and ceiling. He rushes at high speed when cornered and will often perform a low, sliding kick. He's also able to hurl a mass of magical energy in an undulating manner to strike from a distance. Once his health bar has been depleted, he will use his last ounce of strength to perform a devastating attack on the the player's current position in a last attempt to finish them off, transforming back into a human and dying afterward.
Attacks/Abilities:
Rob Werewolf Appearances.gif|Werewolf's appearance in Rondo of Blood.
Rob Werewolf sliding kick.gif|Slide
Rob Werewolf Energy Bolt.gif|Energy Bolt
Rob Werewolf Superhuman agility (3).gif|Superhuman agility
Rob Werewolf Superhuman agility (2).gif|
Rob Werewolf Superhuman agility (1).gif|
Rob Werewolf High speed.gif|High speed
Rob Werewolf defeated.gif|Werewolf defeated.
The Werewolf later reappears as one of the two possible end bosses in Stage 2', the other being the Bone Golem.
Its human sprite is completely nude in the original PC Engine and TurboGrafx-16 Mini versions, as well as in Dracula X, while he wears undergarments in both The Dracula X Chronicles (both versions, remake and original, as well as ports based on this version of the game, such as Requiem) and Virtual Console versions of Rondo of Blood.
The version of Dracula X included in the Castlevania Advance Collection has alternative censorship of the human sprite.
WW-PCE.png|PC Engine
WW-DXC.png|The Dracula X Chronicles
WW-DXC-O.png|The Dracula X Chronicles(original game)
WW-VC.png|Virtual Console
Werewolf-AdvanceCollection.png|Castlevania Advance Collection
===Castlevania: Symphony of the Night===
A Werewolf appears in a boss battle accompanied by a Minotaur, both summoned by a possessed Richter Belmont in the Colosseum. He strikes with punches and kicks, performing uppercuts and rushing at the player. Alone, it's an easy fight, but together with the Minotaur it makes this a difficult ordeal. Both monsters reuse their sprites from Rondo of Blood, although none of them are given any new frames of animation; as such, all of their attacks are composed of rather imaginative ways of recycling their old frames. As a result, both creatures now possess a whole new repertoire of attacks which they perform in tandem, although these are just variations of their classic attacks.
Wolf mino1.gif|The Minotaur rams from one corner of the room to the other, while the Werewolf dashes in the opposite direction.
Wolf mino2.gif|The Werewolf launches himself spinning straightforward and the Minotaur catches him in midair and throws him to the ceiling, with the former then launching himself to the ground.
Wolf mino3.gif|The Minotaur performs a bull charge which ends in a flying uppercut, while the Werewolf spins along the ceiling and finishes with a downward exploding punch.
Wolf mino4.gif|The Werewolf throws an energy wave from his hands and the Minotaur hits it in midair with his battle axe, sending it back.
Wolf mino5.gif|The Minotaur spews and dampens the Werewolf with a noxious liquid and the latter spins straightforward spraying it around.
When the player reaches the Reverse Colosseum, a large pack of Werewolves can be found accompanied once more by Minotaurs. Now they are found in various locations and are more powerful than the ones fought before, although since the player should also be much stronger, they should pose not much of a problem. Their large numbers still make it difficult to pass through the stage, however.
===Castlevania (N64)/Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness===
In the original Castlevania 64, Werewolves are uncommon enemies, only seen in the Forest of Silence. As the most balanced of the game's werebeast enemies, Werewolves combine speed and agility with moderately high damage attacks. Following the first stage, Werewolves are only encountered again during the Duel Tower portion of Reinhardt's quest.
In Legacy of Darkness, werewolves appear as minibosses twice, first in the Forest of Silence and later in the Duel Tower during Cornell and Reinhardt's quests. They are some of the fastest enemies in the game and attack with their claws while chasing the player. However, none of them possess the same energy blades Cornell has. 
In addition, at the end of the Duel Tower, Cornell is forced by Ortega into a boss fight against a giant werewolf that has been experimented upon by Dracula, leaving it not only almost three times larger than Cornell, but with its right arm and leg far larger than their left ones, to the point where the skin is starting to rip apart. This werewolf is much slower and less agile, but its strength is much greater, being able to unleash powerful shockwaves by stomping the ground. It will also attack with a powerful swing or leap into the air to crush Cornell with a belly-flop attack.
===Castlevania: Circle of the Moon===
The Were-wolf is a fast enemy somewhat similar to Were-Panthers and Were-Jaguars. His attack pattern consists in rushing at the player and swiping with his claws, then leaping over them and rushing again from the other side. Just crouching as they attack will evade both their swipes and jumps, while also leaving them open for a counterattack.
===Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow===
Werewolves only appear in the Floating Garden. The Werewolf's soul grants the Energy Guyser ability, which allows Soma to summon a fountain of magical fire that deals continuous Flame damage (it cannot be used in midair, though). It also rarely drops the valuable Black Belt accessory, which grants overall physical boosts (DEF +2, STR +5, CON +2).
Two more powerful variants of the Werewolf, the Werejaguar and the Weretiger, appear in some of the later stages of the game; the former in the Underground Cemetery and the latter in The Arena.
===Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow===
Werewolves only appear in The Pinnacle and the Condemned Tower; however, there's an abundance of them, so acquiring their soul is easy. They retain their appearance and attacks from their Symphony of the Night variants.
The Werewolf's soul is a Guardian Soul and grants Soma the Dashing ability.
===Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin===
Like in Symphony of the Night, the Werewolf is fought once again as a boss, this time at the end of 13th Street. While not being as mobile as in previous incarnations, he's much bigger and powerful this time around, and his attacks can deal some serious damage if the player is not careful.
He has four attacks:
#Picks up one of the lamp posts in the background and throws it like a javelin at the player's direction. This gives him long range capabilities to some extent, but unlike the rest of his attacks, he cannot perform it an infinite amount of times since the lamp posts are destroyed in the process and there's only a limited number of them. Staying near the entrance and under the small piece of roof there will generally make the projectile get impaled on it while the player is safe underneath. This, however, will usually trigger the boss to follow-up with one of his other attacks.
#Rushes at the player and swipes rapidly at them with his claws. Remaining on the ground will result in the creature clawing straight forward, while maintaining a high altitude results in an uppercut.
#Suddenly lunges forward, grabs the player and proceeds to bite them with his powerful jaws. This attack ignores the player's defenses and deals heavy damage.
#Lets out a loud howling, summoning with it a pack of wolves from the background that come rushing at the player. They can either be killed with normal attacks or avoided altogether.
Both Jonathan and Charlotte have their own advantages and equipment that can enable them to defeat the Werewolf, but since he's more vulnerable to Fire-based spells, using Charlotte may prove to be more effective. Equip her with the Explosion spell and try to use it as often as possible. If Charlotte happens to get the Salamander spell before this fight, then she may find it worthwhile to use as it will deal more damage. As for Johnathan, he can use the Flame Whip, as well as his Uppercut (although very risky in this fight due to it having to be used at close range), both which deal Fire damage, with the latter also dealing a lot of base damage to the beast.
Another strategy to defeat the Werewolf easily consists simply in casting the 1,000 Blades Dual Crush as soon as one enters the boss arena. Doing this, however, will most likely trigger the boss to rush forward amidst the rain of knives and allow him to score a hit. If the player is willing to sustain the damage, though, they can simply cast 1,000 Blades a second time, which will usually be enough to fell the beast.
===Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia===
Werewolves only appear in the Oblivion Ridge. One is encountered before fighting Gravedorcus, and then they start appearing more frequently in the areas beyond. They retain their appearance and attacks from their variants in Rondo of Blood, Symphony of the Night and Dawn of Sorrow. While not being a major threat this time around, ten of them are required to be killed in order to complete Irina's second quest: "Do You Hear Howling?".
This is one of the only games where the Werewolf is seen wearing undergarments when he dies. This shows that this game involves at least a certain degree of censorship, as was also shown with some enemy name changes.
===Castlevania: The Arcade===
The Were Wolf first attacks in the Palace section of Stage 2. He then escapes to the Rampart of the castle, where he's faced again in Stage 4.
===Castlevania Judgment===
While there are no "werewolf" enemies in Judgment, Cornell himself is one enforced in shape of werewolf until he can return.
===Castlevania: Lords of Shadow/Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate===
One type of lycanthrope is the Greater Lycanthrope, which is much larger than their smaller kin. These are described as being pure-bloods that are spawned by the Dark Lord himself, with their condition of not being considered a curse but rather one that the individual has willingly chosen. The Dark Lord of the Lycanthropes does not grant this gift to anyone, with only a handful of such acolytes being ascended to such a position. Thus, the Greater Lycanthropes are kept as his elite guards and used for special missions due to their fearsome nature combined with their intelligence that made them formidable foes.
Lycanthropes in Mirror of Fate relish being rid of their previous Dark Lord Cornell and eagerly serve their new master, Dracula.
===Castlevania: Grimoire of Souls===
In addition to the standard werewolf, three elemental variations exist in Castlevania: Grimoire of Souls, which include the Shadow Wolf, Snow Lycant (called Frost Lycant in the original version of the game), and the Divine Wolf.
===Castlevania: Moonlight Rhapsody===
Werewolves are powerful enemies in Castlevania: Moonlight Rhapsody, and often serve as mini-bosses or bosses. There are three kinds, the normal Werewolf, the Lycan boss, and the Werewolf Leader boss.
Thelma summoned the first Werewolf in the Marble Gallery. Lange requested that Elvis help him defeat it (see dialogue). After he did this and later arrived in front of the opening to the Underground Caverns, Wallis informed Elvis that a monster leader (a Lycan) had entrenched itself deep within the caves and that they would soon catch up with Thelma there (see dialogue). When they did, Thelma fused with the monster (see dialogue). After the fused monster was defeated, Leah was unable to separate her from the monster and Thelma was gone (see dialogue).
==Other appearances==
===Castlevania (animated series)===
A werewolf-like monster called "Brawler"@powerhouseanim at X (October 20, 2020). appears in Season 3, having a close resemblance to his Symphony of the Night counterpart (which the series takes heavy inspiration from). His possible resemblance to the game is further supported as a Minotaur-like creature, called "Deadfast", also makes an appearance, and likewise, he closely resembles his Symphony of the Night incarnation.
Along with other monsters, he ambushes Trevor and Sypha, mostly going after Trevor; but after a hard hand-to-hand fight, Trevor manages to break its knee and cut its throat. He then drags its corpse to Lindenfeld, where one of the villagers asks to have teeth taken from it in exchange for a few pieces individually.
Unlike the games, Brawler is a night creature and not a real werewolf (shapeshifting lycanthrope).
===Dead Cells===
There are two kinds of werewolves in the Return to Castlevania expansion of Dead Cells.
==Enemy Data==
==Item Data==
==Gallery==
==Trivia==
*The fact that Werewolves drop the Black Belt accessory in some games may stem from the legend that wearing a belt made of wolfskin is one of the alleged methods to become one of these beasts. A popular case is that of Peter Stumpp, a 16th century German serial killer who was known as the "Werewolf of Bedburg". He claimed that the Devil gave him a magical belt which enabled him to metamorphose into a werewolf. Removing the belt, he said, made him transform back to his human form.
*A character simply named Vampire appeared in the November 1989 issue of Family Computer Magazine who had the ability to turn into a Bat and a Werewolf.
*Much like with Gergoth, the Castlevania Dominus Collection's achievement for defeating this boss ("Fangs that Pierce the Darkness") uses an erroneous name, in this case "Wolf Man".
==See also==
*Lycanthrope
*Minotaur
*Were Bane
*Werebeast
*Wolf
==References==
de:Werwolf
Category:Animal-Type Enemies
Category:Female Monsters
Category:Film Based Monsters
Category:Fire Enemies
Category:Night Creatures
Category:Slavic Monsters
Category:Werebeasts
Category:Werewolves
Category:The Arcade Bosses
Category:Aria of Sorrow Enemies
Category:Castlevania 64 Bosses
Category:Castlevania 64 Enemies
Category:Chronicles Bosses
Category:Circle of the Moon Enemies
Category:Dawn of Sorrow Enemies
Category:Dracula X Bosses
Category:The Dracula X Chronicles Bosses
Category:The Dracula X Chronicles Enemies
Category:Encore of the Night Enemies
Category:Grimoire of Souls Enemies
Category:Legacy of Darkness Bosses
Category:Legacy of Darkness Enemies
Category:Moonlight Rhapsody Bosses
Category:Order of Ecclesia Enemies
Category:Portrait of Ruin Bosses
Category:Rondo of Blood Bosses
Category:Simon's Quest Enemies
Category:Symphony of the Night Bosses
Category:Symphony of the Night Enemies
Category:Wai Wai World 2 Enemies