Wolf's Head

"New Hall" of the Wolf's Head society

Motto

  – Motto of Wolf's Head  from Ninth House (Novel) p.454

**Wolf's Head** is one of the Houses of the Veil as depicted in Leigh Bardugo's novel Ninth House. It is the fourth oldest House of the Veil. Wolf's Head specializes in shapeshifting into animals, focusing particularly on retaining human consciousness when transformed. Their magics are used for intelligence gathering, corporate espionage, and political sabotage.

## Book Information

The following is information found in the final pages of Ninth House provided by Leigh Bardugo on the Houses of the Veil.

* *Motto*: The strength of the pack is the wolf. The strength of the wolf is the pack.
* *Teachings*: Practices therianthropy (shapeshifting, especially into animals)
* *Famous Alumni*: Stephen Vincent Benét, Benjamin Spock, Crles Ives, Sam Wagstaff, Leigh Bardugo

### Magic

Wolf's Head specializes in therianthropy. Wolf's Head members consider the simple transformation into animals basic magic, thus referring to delegates as simple *shapeshifters* is cause for offense. Wolf's Head instead focuses on retaining human consciousness and characteristics when transformed, which is more complex magic. It can take days for someone to shake off the traits of an animal after a shifting ritual. One of the oldest of Yale's secret societies, Wolf's Head is also influential as their magics are used for intelligence gathering, corporate espionage, and political sabotage.

Their temple, located at the heart of their tomb, can be used to communicate with the dead, specifically a Gray. This is done by using the "river" within the temple to cross into a borderland between life and death. One would have to drown themselves, kneeling on the eastern shore with hands tied by papyrus and the intended Gray on the western shore. Now dead and in the Egyptian borderland, the person meets the Gray in the middle of the river. When finished, one has to bite into a carob pod and get back to the eastern bank.

### Tomb Description

The tomb of Wolf's Head is described as an English country estate in miniature—a grand manor house with a gray roof, a garden and a tall stone wall. An alley surrounds it, along with the former fraternity house properties that were ceded to the university. The alley itself acts like a moat where power gathered and can be sensed by the average person.

The interior of Wolf's Head tomb followed the traditions and decorations of Ancient Egypt. It contained slate floors, dark wood, leaded windows overlooking a small interior courtyard where an old ash tree grew. Since the tomb itself was so big, there was a magnetic board by the entrance in which members place their ankh magnet (with an assigned Egyptian god name) into the "At Home" column if present.

Off the entrance room is another dark room. Inside, there is an lozenge-shaped table surrounded by low chairs. The walls of the room had glass cases full of Egyptian curios and depictions of wolves.

Down the hallway was a plain door that led to the Egyptian temple room, located at the heart of the manor. Lit by gas lanterns controlled by a light switch, the temple room had red and gold walls. The ceiling was painted to look like a vaulted sky, with painted leaves and palms at the corners. Notably, there was a sarcophagus with an old mummy being displayed on the back wall. Additionally, there was an altar with skulls, various taxidermied animals, and a leather ledger that was signed by delegation members before the start of a ritual. A stream flowed through the room's center, coming from a small waterfall set on a balcony above. The stream was the symbolic river of the Nile, shaped by stone acquired from the ancient limestone tunnels of Tura. On the sides and base of the channel, hieroglyphs from the Book of Emerging Forth into Night were carved.

## History

### 1800's

Wolf's Head was founded in 1883. It was the consumption of Zuzanna Mazurski's soul in 1883 that created the nexus on which the tomb of Wolf's Head was built upon. The society and construction of the tomb were funded by the Phelps Trust Association.

### 1900's

Wolf’s Head was a major recruitment ground for the CIA in the 1950s and ’60s.

Wolf's Head housed protesters during the Black Panther trials, which occurred 1969-1971. Members of the society hold great pride in doing so.

In 1982, Wolf's Head accidentally re-animated the triceratops statue that stood outside of the Peabody Museum.

Wolf's Head was the last of the societies to accept women into their delegation—finally accepting them in 1992.

### Ninth House

The first series of transformations for the new delegation of Wolf's Head occurred in the fall. One Wolf's Head member, also the captain of the lacrosse team, turned himself into a vole. Alex Stern and Darlington as representatives of Lethe would have to pen in Shane Mackay while he was unable to shake off his rooster form. Members of Wolf's Head had to pluck Mackay's feathers. This included Salome Nils, president of the delegation, who was pulling feathers from his butt in the Wolf's Head kitchen.

In the winter quarter, when Alex Stern asked to use the temple in their tomb, the delegation president Salome Nils had Alex meet her at Wolf's Head with a statue of Romulus and Remus. That statue was stolen from Wolf's Head by the Locksmiths during a Valentine's Day party the year before. Since then, the society has been badgering Lethe House to get the statue back, although Darlington refused to involve Lethe in the situation. Alex prompted Salome to let them into their temple, though Salome initially refused, Alex physically threatened her and was able to get the key to the inner temple and keep Salome quiet about their activities. Inside the temple, Alex, Pamela Dawes, and the Bridegroom performed a crossing into borderlands ritual so that Alex can talk to the Bridegroom.

### Hell Bent

Wolf's Head conducted the wolf-run ritual in October. They scheduled an air-run for the next semester, where they'll transform into condors.

## Known Members

* Salome Nils, Wolf's Head Delegation President.
* Shane McKay
* Edward Harkness, former member, founder of Lethe House.

## Trivia

* Carob pods—used to bring a person back from the borderlands— were eaten raw by Ancient Egyptians and were used to make gum out of the seeds to produce a liquid which they widely used in the mummification of their dead.

## Gallery

Original tomb ("Old Hall") in 1901Current tomb ("New Hall") finished ca. 1924

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 *Ninth House* Chapter 11 (Winter)
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 *Ninth House* Chapter 12 (Winter)
3. ↑ *Ninth House* Chapter 29 (Early Spring)
4. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New\_Haven\_Black\_Panther\_trials
5. ↑ *Hell Bent* Chapter 17
 Wolf's Head on Wikipedia
7. ↑ *Ninth House* Chapter 3 (Winter)
8. ↑ *Ninth House* Chapter 10 (Last Fall)
9. ↑ *Hell Bent* Chapter 33
10. ↑ http://www.flowersinisrael.com/Ceratoniasiliqua\_page.htm