Werewolf

"*You have only ever seen me amongst the Order, or under Dumbledore's protection at Hogwarts! You don't know how most of the wizarding world sees creatures like me! When they know of my affliction, they can barely talk to me!*"
— Werewolf Remus Lupin regarding his affliction[src]

A **werewolf**, also known as a **lycanthrope**, was a creature who normally resembled human being but, upon the complete rising of the full moon, became an uncontrollable, fearsome and deadly wolf. This condition was caused by infection with lycanthropy, also known as werewolfry. There were various differences between werewolves' wolf form and actual wolves, making it easier to detect one.

A mixture of powdered silver and dittany applied to a fresh werewolf bite would seal the wound and allow the victim to live on as a werewolf, although tragic tales were told of bite victims begging for death rather than becoming werewolves. The Wolfsbane Potion, invented by Damocles Belby, allowed werewolf drinkers to keep their human mind during transformation.

A werewolf could not choose whether or not to transform and would no longer remember who they were once transformed and were very aggressive; multiple werewolves were known to kill their best friends or loved ones while in wolf form if they were given the chance. Despite this, they were able to recall everything they had experienced throughout their transformation upon reverting to their human form.

## Contents

* 1Infection
	+ 1.1Treatments
* 2Description
	+ 2.1Monthly transformations
	+ 2.2Appearance and traits
* 3Reputation
	+ 3.1Prejudice and discrimination
	+ 3.2Retaliation
* 4Ministry relations
* 5Wizarding education
* 6Victims of lycanthropy
	+ 6.1Werewolves
	+ 6.2Other victims
* 7Published works
* 8See also
* 9Etymology
* 10Behind the scenes
* 11Appearances
* 12Notes and references

## Infection

"*To become a werewolf, it is necessary to be bitten by a werewolf in their wolfish form at the time of the full moon. When the werewolf's saliva mingles with the victim's blood, contamination will occur.*"
— How a human became a werewolf[src]

Lycanthropy was a magical illness known to be spread by contact between saliva and blood; thus, when a transformed werewolf bit a human, the bitten would become a werewolf themselves. These bites, however, could also be fatal, and a mixture of silver and dittany applied to the fresh wound would seal it and allow the person to live on as a werewolf. Specifically Muggles would die from the extent of their injuries if their wounds were not sealed, as noted by Professor Marlowe Forfang, though some could survive to become werewolves themselves.

Were a werewolf in human form when they bit their victim, the victim would merely gain lupine tendencies such as a fondness for raw meat. Any bite or scratch obtained from a werewolf, whether in human or animal form, would leave permanent scars, even if the wound was sealed.

According to Remus Lupin, werewolves rarely have children. This is likely due to fears, as expressed by Lupin himself, that any children would inherit their affliction, with the danger and prejudice that comes with it. The only known human born to at least one werewolf parent (untransformed at time of conception) was Teddy Lupin, son of werewolf Remus and human metamorphmagus Nymphadora Tonks.

Despite Remus' fears, Teddy did not inherit his father's condition. However it is unknown if it definitively could not be passed on in this manner or if Teddy did not inherit the condition from pure chance, as no other cases are known. In Teddy's case, it was his father who was a werewolf, not his mother, therefore it is unknown if a pregnant female werewolf's transformations would affect the ability to carry the pregnancy to term.

If two werewolves were to mate at the full moon, in their animal forms, it was possible for them to conceive. This was an extremely rare occurrence only known to have happened twice in recorded history. Any offspring were full wolves that were indistinguishable from mundane wolves except for their near-human intelligence and their beauty. They did not inherit the sadistic behaviours associated with Lycanthropy, being no more sadistic than regular wolves.

Sometime before the 1980s, a pack of lupine werewolf offspring came to live in the Forbidden Forest on the grounds of Hogwarts Castle with the kind permission of Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of the School. Rumours of a pack of werewolves inhabiting the forest soon spread among the student body. Though they posed little actual threat to students, Hogwarts staff never tried to dispel these rumours because they felt that keeping students out of the forest was highly desirable due to actual dangers present.

### Treatments

"*The many Muggle myths and legends surrounding werewolves are, in the main, false, although some contain nuggets of truth. Silver bullets do not kill werewolves, but a mixture of powdered silver and dittany applied to a fresh bite will ‘seal’ the wound and prevent the victim bleeding to death (although tragic tales are told of victims who beg to be allowed to die rather than to live on as werewolves).*"
— Treatments that could be done in order to prevent death[src]

Unfortunately, there was no cure for lycanthropy. However, some of the worst effects could be mitigated by consuming Wolfsbane Potion, which allowed a werewolf to retain their human mind while transformed, thus freeing them from the worry of harming other humans or themself. It was a very difficult potion to make, with many complicated ingredients. According to Remus Lupin, it tasted disgusting, but sugar made it useless. The high cost of the ingredients made it virtually impossible for werewolves to brew the potion for themselves, as most were reduced to poverty and could not taste the potion without revealing their statuses. Because werewolves only posed a danger to humans, companionship with animals whilst transformed was known to make the experience more bearable as the werewolf would have no-one to harm and would be less willing to harm themself.

According to Gilderoy Lockhart, the Homorphus Charm could permanently force a werewolf back into human shape. However, due to Lockhart's reputation as a liar, and the many falsehoods he told to inflate his popularity, his information is highly suspect — as is the very existence of a Homorphus Charm in the first place. However, as many of Lockhart's claims were also based on the accounts of more trustworthy wizards (accomplishments he would claim for himself, following the disposal of the originating witch or wizard), there is a chance that the charm did, in fact, exist.

In the 1980s, Cecil Lee, a wizard working for the Ministry of Magic's Werewolf Capture Unit, told Jacob's sibling that he had used the Homorphus Charm during his job. However, for him, the charm "only" forced the werewolf to temporarily revert to human form rather than permanently curing them as Lockhart claimed. Though as Lee was a fan of Lockhart's, he believed that this was due to his own inability to perfectly cast the charm.

Contrary to what the Muggle world believed, werewolves were not affected by silver, except in that it could be used in the mixture of powdered silver and dittany to prevent bite victims' death and would merely close their wounds to prevent bleeding after a severe werewolf attack. There may certainly have been several other ways and solutions to prevent and heal werewolf injuries, as Quirinus Quirrell taught about the topic in first year Defence Against the Dark Arts class. None of them, of course, could completely cure an afflicted person once they were bitten, but could merely prevent and close the physical wounds on the skin.

## Description

### Monthly transformations

"*There was a terrible snarling noise. Lupin's head was lengthening. So was his body. His shoulders were hunching. Hair was sprouting visibly on his face and hands, which were curling into clawed paws*"
— Description of a Remus Lupin's transformation[src]

The monthly transformation of a werewolf was extremely painful if untreated and was usually preceded and succeeded by a few days of pallor and ill health. The werewolf could display irritation towards people while in the ill following state. While in their wolfish form, the werewolf would entirely lose its human sense of right or wrong. However, it is incorrect to state (as some authorities did, notably Professor Emerett Picardy in his book *Lupine Lawlessness: Why Lycanthropes Don’t Deserve to Live*) that they suffered from a permanent loss of moral sense.

While human, the werewolf could be as good or kind as the next person. Alternatively, they could be dangerous even while human, as in the case of Fenrir Greyback, who attempted to bite and maim as a man and kept his nails sharpened into claw-like points for the purpose. Though werewolves usually only infected their victims through biting, they sometimes took it too far and killed their victims.

Without any humans nearby to attack, or other animals to occupy it, the werewolf would attack itself out of frustration. This would leave many werewolves such as Remus Lupin with self-inflicted scars and premature ageing from the difficult transformations.

### Appearance and traits

Werewolves could be easily distinguished from regular wolves by their shorter snout, more human-like eyes, the tufted tail, and their mindless hunting of humans and thus more sadistic tendencies whilst in wolf form. At all other times, they appeared as normal humans, although they would age prematurely, and would gain a pallor as the full moon approached and then waned. It's unclear if the premature appearance of ageing is due to the affliction or the physical and mental stress it causes.

It's possible that some individual physical traits may be present in both forms, as with Chiara Lobosca having silver/white hair in human form and similarly coloured fur in her transformed state.

The real difference between a wolf and a werewolf was in behaviour. Genuine wolves were not very aggressive, and the vast number of folk tales representing them as mindless predators were believed by wizarding authorities to refer to werewolves, not true wolves. Wolves were unlikely to attack a human except under exceptional circumstances. Werewolves, however, targeted humans almost exclusively and posed very little danger to any other creature.

## Reputation

### Prejudice and discrimination

"*The stigma surrounding werewolves has been so extreme for centuries that very few have married and had children.*"
— The prejudice surrounding werewolves in the magical community[src]

Werewolves were generally regarded with fear and disgust by wizarding society. People seemed to think even when in human form, the werewolf could pose a danger. It was not uncommon for people known to be werewolves to be shunned by society and discriminated against within the wizarding world. It was very difficult for a werewolf to get a job in the wizarding community, especially after the passing of restrictive anti-werewolf legislation by the very prejudiced and hateful Dolores Umbridge in the 1990s.

Umbridge drafted this legislation due to her irrational and vitriolic hatred for what she considered to be "half-breeds". Because of the difficulty in finding work in the wizarding world, many werewolves lived in poverty. It also forced some, like Remus Lupin to take jobs far below their abilities. After Lord Voldemort's defeat in 1998, the anti-werewolf legislation was most likely repealed by the new Minister, Kingsley Shacklebolt, in his effort to reform the Ministry of Magic, therefore weeding out corruption and not tolerating prejudice and discrimination.

As a result of the anti-werewolf legislation, many werewolves suffered poverty. Remus Lupin managed to get by with the aid of his friend James Potter and later by working as Defence Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts. Though in between he had to work at many jobs that were far below his level of abilities, resigning and moving on to another before his workmates noticed his signs of lycanthropy. Lupin did this while living in a tumbledown, semi-derelict cottage in Yorkshire. He decided to resign from this position after his condition was exposed, by Severus Snape, as most parents would not want their children being around a werewolf, despite the safety precautions Remus and Albus Dumbledore took; Remus stated that it would have been impossible for him to even attend Hogwarts as a child if it were not for Dumbledore's kindness, as other headmasters would not want a werewolf in the school.

In a display of ignorance and arrogance, the Ministry expected werewolves would submit themselves to the department to sign various conducts and registries, which would also force the werewolves to promise to secure themselves from attacking others. No person would be prepared to walk into the Ministry to admit themselves as werewolves, thus showing the Ministry's lack of respect of werewolves' intelligence and dignity. Lyall Lupin, in particular, regarded werewolves as "*soulless, evil, deserving nothing but death*", until his own son was infected as a result of his prejudicial comment.

Given Kingsley Shacklebolt's friendship with Remus Lupin and the furthering of Muggle-born and house-elf rights after 1998, it is likely that the reforms of the Ministry under Minister for Magic Shacklebolt included less prejudicial treatment of werewolves.

### Retaliation

**Harry Potter**: "*How come they like Voldemort?*"
**Remus Lupin**: "*They think that, under his rule, they will have a better life.* "
— Werewolves' involvement in the Second Wizarding War[src]
Due to the oppression and discrimination they faced, some werewolves came to hate the wizarding society, and as such created their own society. Under Fenrir Greyback's leadership, this society worked to infect as many people as possible, especially children, with the goal of one day having enough strength to take control of the wizarding community.

The werewolves under Greyback's command served Lord Voldemort in the Second Wizarding War, believing that they would have a better life under his rule, though Remus Lupin spied on them for the Order of the Phoenix. Death Eaters looked down on them; for example, they were not permitted to have the Dark Mark. They were used as a threat to ensure ordinary citizens' compliance with Voldemort; for example, five-year-old Montgomery was fatally attacked by Greyback after his mother refused to co-operate with the Death Eaters.

Although only Greyback was explicitly known to have participated, werewolves under Greyback's command may have fought alongside the Death Eaters in the Battle of Hogwarts. They were most likely sentenced to Azkaban for life for uniting with Lord Voldemort, or killed for resisting arrest. It is unknown whether this was the only occurrence of the society, though it is implied that it was a new idea of Greyback's. Likewise, it is unknown whether all werewolves in the society were caught, or — as it was "underground" — some of the members evaded capture and continued their efforts.

## Ministry relations

**Harry Potter**: "*The Ministry isn't perfect, but think of all the good we've done since the Second Wizarding War ended. Werewolves used to be ostracised and discriminated against. But thanks to our outreach programme, attitudes are changing. The wizarding community is becoming more inclusive.*"
**Constance Pickering**: "*I'm not discounting the progress you've made, but didn't your original proposal include providing free Wolfsbane Potions to any werewolf who wanted them? Politics and protocols prevented you from making the kind of change that would have done the most good. I know you're trying your hardest, Harry. But at its best, the Ministry is ineffective. At its worst, it's dangerous. You can try to change it, but there will always be things the Ministry simply can't do.*"
— Discussion of the Ministry's new progressiveness and of its limitations[src]
The Ministry of Magic attempted to regulate werewolves and thus the relationship that existed between them and the Ministry was a rocky one. According to Newton Scamander, werewolves were shunted between the Beast and Being divisions of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures for years.

At one point, the Werewolf Registry and Werewolf Capture Unit were both in the Beast Division, while at the same time the office for Werewolf Support Services was in the Being Division. These regulations and services were ultimately a failure, as no one would be prepared to walk into the Ministry to admit themselves as werewolves, and thus none took the prescribed responsibilities of the Werewolf Code of Conduct.

The Werewolf Code of Conduct of 1637 was meant to give Werewolves a framework for co-existing safely and legally within the wizarding world. Werewolves were required to sign a copy of the Code and to promise to refrain from attacking and biting non-werewolves. They were also supposed to lock themselves away during their wolf transformation periods. As no werewolf was willing to sign it, the Ministry had huge difficulty in hunting down culprits of these attacks, such that Fenrir Greyback was able to act innocent in regards to him murdering two Muggle children.

Werewolves were classified as XXXXX creatures in their transformed state. Dolores Umbridge herself incorrectly referred to werewolves as half-breeds, and drafted an anti-werewolf legislation that made it almost impossible for werewolves to find a job.

Even when the Ministry was taken over by the Death Eaters, the relationship between the bureaucracy and werewolves remained strained. Death Eaters and their supremacist allies looked down on werewolves, only using them as foot soldiers and to intimidate the rest of the wizarding world into submission. They did let the werewolves have more freedom of movement than before the takeover, but in no way showed they were equals; Greyback was not given the Dark Mark despite being permitted to wear the Death Eater's robe, and genuine Death Eaters looked down on him, while Greyback himself acknowledged that if he took Harry Potter to the Ministry, he would be left out of any credits for capturing him.

It was not until after the Second Wizarding War, in which Kingsley Shacklebolt took the position of Minster for Magic, did the Ministry's relationship with werewolves improve. Kingsley posthumously awarded his werewolf friend, Remus Lupin, the Order of Merlin, First Class, for his bravery in the war, the first time in history that a werewolf had been accorded this honour. The example of his life and death played an important role in lifting the stigma on werewolves among the wizarding society. The British Ministry of Magic has also setup an outreach programme, allowing the wizarding community to become more inclusive.

## Wizarding education

Wizarding children were educated about werewolves from a young age and information about them could be found in various Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry textbooks, for example The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection.

Werewolves were mentioned several times in connection with Harry Potter's Defence Against the Dark Arts Professors, as they were dark creatures which were heavily studied throughout the class. Quirinus Quirrell had encountered them in the Black Forest, and at one point discussed in class how to treat werewolf bites. Gilderoy Lockhart, supposedly, once defeated the Wagga Wagga Werewolf, something that may be discussed in his book *Wandering with Werewolves*. Lockhart eventually confessed to Ron and Harry that an 'ugly old Armenian warlock' had *actually* performed the rescue of a village from werewolves that he himself had taken credit for. Remus Lupin, of course, is a werewolf.

Werewolves were discussed in one of Harry Potter's third year Defence Against the Dark Arts lessons, with an essay assigned by Severus Snape when he substituted for Lupin, although werewolves were not due to be covered until the last chapter of the third-year DADA textbook.

## Victims of lycanthropy

### Werewolves

"*Nearly all of them are on Voldemort's side.*"
— Remus Lupin regarding Greyback's pack[src]

### Other victims

"*Greyback attacked him. Madam Pomfrey says he won't — won't look the same anymore.... We don't really know what the aftereffects will be — I mean, Greyback being a werewolf, but not transformed at the time.*"
— Ginny regarding Greyback's attack on Bill Weasley[src]

 Bill Weasley
 Defenders of Hogwarts
 Lavender Brown

## Published works

There were many books containing information on werewolves, whether it was their main subject or was just mentioned in them:

*Hairy Snout, Human Heart* by anonymous

*Wanderings with Werewolves* by Gilderoy Lockhart

*Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them* by Newt Scamander

*The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection* by Quentin Trimble

*Lupine Lawlessness: Why Lycanthropes Don't Deserve to Live* by Emerett Picardy

## See also

* Blood purity
* Remus Lupin
* Fenrir Greyback
* William Weasley
* Wolfsbane Potion
* Werewolf army
* Homorphus Charm

## Etymology

The word *werewolf* is from Old English *wer* ("man") and *wulf ("wolf")*.

The term comes from Ancient Greek λυκάνθρωπος, λύκος being "wolf" and άνθρωπος translating to "human".

## Behind the scenes

* The werewolf is a creature found in the folklore of many European countries. Traditionally, a werewolf is a human who transforms into a wolf (as depicted in the *Harry Potter* books) but in some modern depictions, the werewolf instead transforms into a man/wolf hybrid (as depicted in the *Harry Potter* films).
* Professor Quirinus Quirrell had the first-year Defence Against the Dark Arts class copy notes about how to treat werewolf bites. Also, Professor Severus Snape assigned an essay during the 1993-1994 school year when he substituted for Lupin, although werewolves were not due to be covered until the last chapter of the third-year DADA textbook. In Snape's case, this was an attempt to expose Lupin by having one of the students work out his secret (which Hermione Granger did, although she kept the secret rather than exposing it, as Snape had intended).
* Draco Malfoy once claimed that there were werewolves in the Forbidden Forest. A wolf pack actually lives in the forest, the cubs of two werewolves that mated during a full moon, however, they were just beautiful and highly intelligent wolves. Despite this, rumours of savage werewolves living in the forest spread amongst the student body of Hogwarts, rumours that the staff let spread in hopes to help keep students out of the forest. During the detention in the Forbidden Forest, Harry Potter asked Rubeus Hagrid if it was possible that a werewolf could be killing the unicorns in the forest, but Hagrid stated that werewolves aren't fast enough.
* Tom Riddle once accused Rubeus Hagrid of raising "werewolf cubs" under his bed as a youngster. Since Riddle was trying to frame Hagrid, the veracity of his statement is questionable. Regarding this, *Harry Potter* series author J. K. Rowling stated in response to a fan question "Riddle was telling lies about Hagrid, just slandering him."
* Lord Voldemort referred to werewolf offspring as cubs another time. When at the Malfoy Manor, he ridicules the Malfoys and Bellatrix about the marriage of Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks, asking Draco if he will "babysit the cubs." Given his purist attitude and disdain for 'half-breeds,' this is far more likely to be a derogatory insult rather than an implication that lycanthropy is inheritable.
* In the film Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, after Lupin is irritable with Harry, Mr Weasley says that "his condition takes its toll;" later on Tonks explains that "the first night of the cycle is always the worst." This could imply- though nothing like this was mentioned in the books- that werewolves suffer symptoms other than the transformation itself, which either directly or indirectly make them less patient and harsher than they would normally be. What night the cycle begins with is unknown, though the full moon itself, the night after, or the new moon is most likely.
	+ This could also be a side effect of the "illness" described during the week leading up to the full moon.
* A prop made for the film adaptation of *Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban* includes a large number of werewolf lore from the 1995 video game The Beast Within, but as this text includes several ideas that contradict higher sources, it should not necessarily be considered canon to the Harry Potter universe. The contradictory claims include:
	+ It identifies several other ways to become a werewolf other than being bitten. These included being given the power of shapeshifting via sorcery, the Lycacomia Curse, and being born to a werewolf. *Pottermore*, however, clarifies that the only way to become a werewolf is via the bite of a werewolf at the full moon, and explicitly denies that inheriting the disease via birth is possible.
	+ It states that werewolves can transform into their wolfish forms by a variety of means, including by will or when forced by various phases of the moon or hearing the howl of another werewolf. According to *Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them*, the full moon is the only thing that can transform a werewolf.
	+ It claims that the soul of a werewolf is eternally damned if they have tasted human blood and cannot move on from the mortal plane upon death. However, Remus Lupin was successfully recalled from beyond the Veil using the Resurrection Stone, and thus must have "passed on." Though it should be noted that he never actually killed someone in his werewolf form, as far as we know.
* There is in the real world a very rare mental illness called lycanthropy, in which a patient believes he or she is an animal and behaves accordingly. This is sometimes referred to as clinical lycanthropy, to distinguish it from its meaning in folktales.
* In the books, it is mentioned that the werewolf resembles a normal wolf in appearance, save for a few distinguishing traits. This is not the case in the film, as Lupin in his werewolf form is shown as having a gaunt, humanoid, hairless appearance, with a coyote-like face and no tail.
* Despite how the werewolf cannot be cured in Harry Potter books but in the real world, according to other myths it can be cured by medicine men and antidotes.