InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Bad hippy! No pachooly!"

Break the Dawn Mods (btdmods) wrote,
@ 2007-12-08 13:58:00

Werewolf Information

W E R E W O L V E S
I. History
II. Appearance
III. Speed
IV. Strength
V. Physiology
VI. Current Werewolves

HISTORY
Werewolves came into existence in response to the the threat that the vampires presented to the Quileutes centuries ago. When the small Quileute tribe was terrorized by vampires, the Spirit Warriors of the tribe surprisingly took on the shapes of wolves, taller and thicker than horses. For as long as the threat of vampires exist, the werewolves exist as well.

The Quileutes and werewolves history told as Billy Black: "The Quileutes have been a small people from the beginning. And we are a small people still, but we have never disappeared. This is because there has always been maic in our blod. It wasn't always the magic of shape-shifting - that came later. First, we were spirit warriors.

In the beginning, the tribe settled in this harbor and became skilled ship builders and fishermen. But the tribe was small and the harbor was rich in fish. There were others who coveted our land, and we were too small to hold it. A larger tribe moved against us, and we took to our ships to escape them.

Kaheleha was not the first spirit warrior, but we do not remember the stories that came before his. We do not remember who was the first to discover this power, or how it had been used before this crisis. Kaheleha was the first great Spirit Chief in our history. In this emergency, Kaheleha used the magic to defend our land.

He and all his warriors left the ship - not their bodies, but their spirits. Their women watched over the bodies and the waves, and the men took their spirits back to our harbor.

They could not physically touch the enemy tribe, but they had other ways. The stories tell us that they could blow fierce winds into their enemy's camps; they could make a great screaming in the wind that terrified their foes. The stories also tell us that the animals could see the spirit warriors and understand them; the animals would do their biddings.

Kaheleha took his spirit army and wreaked havoc on the intruders. This invading tribe had packs of big, thick furred dogs that they used to pull their sleds in the frozen north. The spirit warriors turned the dogs against their masters and then brought a might infestation of bats up from the cliff caverns. They used the screaming wind to aid the dogs in confusing the men. The dogs and bats won. The survivors scattered, calling our harbor a cursed place. The dogs ran wild when the spirit warriors released them. The Quileutes returned to their bodies and their wives, victorious.

The other nearby tribes, the Hohs and the Makahs, made treaties with the Quileutes. They wanted nothing to do with our magic. We lived in peace with them. When an enemy came against us, the spirit warriors would drive them off.

Generations passed. Then came the last great Spirit Chief, Taha Aki. He was known for his wisdom, and for being a man of peace. The people lived well and content in his care.

But there was one man Utlapa, who was not content. He stole Taha Aki's body when the chief was in the spirit world. Taha Aki watched with despair as Utlapa took his place as the chief of the Quileutes. For a few weeks, Utlapa did nothing but make sure that everyone believed he was Taha Aki. Then the changes began - Utlapa's first edict was to forbid any warrior to enter the spirit world. He claimed that he'd had a vision of danger, but really he was afraid.

He knew that Taha Aki would be waiting for the chance to tell his story. Utlapa was also afraid to enter the spirit world himself, knowing Taha Aki would quickly claim his body., So his dreams of conquest with a spirit warrior army were impossible, an he sought to content himself with ruling over the tribe. He became a burden - seeking privileges that Taha Aki had never requested, refusing to work alongside his warriors, taking a young second wife and the a third, though Taha Aki's first wife lived on. Taha Aki watched in helpless fury.

Then his opportunity came when a wolf allowed him to enter his body. With this new body, he was able to convince one his warriors that he was the real chief, after the warrior entered the spirit world to communicate with Taha Aki. But Utlapa killed the warrior before he could tell the rest of the warriors of his deceit.

Taha Aki's anger was the anger of a man. The love he had for his people and the hatred he had for their oppression were too vast for the wolf's body, too human. The wolf shuddered, and, before the eyes of the shocked warriors and Utlapa, transformed into a man. Taha Aki, in his new body, killed Utlapa. There was peace.

Taha Aki fathered many sons, and some of them found that, after they had reached the age of manhood, they, to, could transform into wolves. They were all different, because they were spirit wolves and reflected the man they were inside. Some of the sons became warriors with Taha Aki, and they no longer aged. Others refused to join them and they stopped transforming. After that, they found that they could age and die if they wished it so."

Years after Taha Aki decided to give up his spirit wolf, mysterious attacks plagued the Makahs in the north. Several young women had gone missing and the Makahs blamed the wolves. However, together the two tribes found that mysterious cold people, people they called the 'Cold Ones' were responsible for the attacks. And it was only through the sacrifice of Taha Aki's third wife, that they were able to kill the last of the Cold Ones. Over the years, no more than three or so spirit wolves existed because the Cold Ones did not come often.

Time passed, and the descendants of Taha Aki no longer became wolves when they reached manhood. Only in a great while, if a Cold One was near, would the wolves return. The cold ones alway scame in ones and twos, and the pack stayed small.

A bigger coven came, the Cullens, and Jacob's great-grandfather, Ephraim Black, struck a deal with the leader who did not wish any harm. There was a treaty made. As long as the Cullens never bit anyone and stayed on their side of the land, the wolves would not bother them. This treaty has lasted all the way through modern times.

APPEARANCE
The wolves vary in physical appearance, just like their human counterparts. The colour of the wolves seems to be randomly allocated. Jake’s reddish-brown colour could be connected with his skin tone, but if that were true then the others would also be a similar colour as they are of fairly similar human appearance. However, as wolves they are markedly different in appearance, although similar in strength and size.

The sheer "monstrous size" of these things are emphasised again and again. This links clearly with the actual changes in the boys as well, which Bella notes, although she doesn’t connect the two together until later. "These were just four really big half-naked boys." As a human Jacob is well over six feet tall and Bella also remarks of the changes in Quil: "He looked bigger than the last time I’d seen him. What was with these Quileute boys? Were they feeding them experimental growth hormones?" It seems that a period of rapid growth happens in the human boy before he becomes a wolf.

It is also noticeable that the human boy changes significantly in areas other than height when they have become of an age to turn into a werewolf. Jacob crops his hair short, just like Sam and the others, but "the planes of his face seemed to have hardened subtly, tightened...aged. His neck and his shoulders were different, too, thicker somehow. His hands, where they gripped the window frame, looked enormous, with the tendons and veins more prominent under the russet skin." Becoming a wolf is a sign of maturity, and he visibly ages as a human as well. This also seems to be true of Sam Uley, as his first description is: "closer to a man than a boy, and his voice was very deep."

The boys become very similar in their physical human appearance until they could be mistaken for "quadruplets" as there was "something about the way they moved almost in synchronization to stand across the road from us, the way they all had the same long, round muscles under the same red-brown skin, the same cropped black hair, and the way their expressions altered at exactly the same moment."

SPEED
Like the vampires, werewolves are also superhuman in their ability to run. Jacob even compares it to being better and faster than a motorcycle, and thinks that the ability to run so fast is "the best part" of being a werewolf. Even in his human form, Jake seems to have developed more speed as described by Bella, "Then he turned and sprinted through the parking lot, across the road, and into the bordering forest. He flitted into the trees, swift and sleek as a deer."

As the wolves could catch Laurent it appears that they are even faster on their feet than the vampires are. Bella says: "I couldn’t imagine that—the wolves running faster than a vampire. When the Cullens ran, they all but turned invisible with speed." It seems that speed is their real weapon, along with the exchange of thoughts within the pack.

Their reflexes are also immensely fast: “With stunning speed, Jacob yanked a can opener from the counter and launched it at Jared’s head. Jared’s hand flicked up faster than I would have thought possible, and he snagged the tool just before it hit his face." They are certainly quick enough to tear apart one vampire as a pack, regardless of how strong that vampire was.

STRENGTH
Their movement is in powerful bounds as a wolf, but also as a human there seems to be a difference in strength. Bella notes that Jake handles her too roughly and when he hugs her it’s with a crushing movement so that Bella can’t breathe. He doesn’t seem aware of his additional strength like the vampires are, but this could well be due to the newness of the changes he has experienced.

Like the Cullens, once Jacob is a wolf, he exhibits similar displays of strength: "He slid his arms under me and lifted me without effort—like picking up an empty box." However, before the transformation has happened he is restricted to putting his arm around Bella and helping her back along the trail after her motorcycle accident.

When Jacob discusses being a wolf with Bella later in the novel, he explains: "It’s what we’re made for, Bells. We’re strong, too." The sounds that the wolves make are also linked with both strength and ferocity, for example, their growls are described repeatedly as like thunder. Should a wolf meet a vampire in a fight, there are few clues about what would happen. Certainly a pack of wolves were enough of a match for Laurent, but whether a single wolf could overpower a single vampire is another matter.

PHYSIOLOGY
The skin when they are in human form is burning hot. Bella feels this first when she believes Jake has a fever on the way home from the trip to see the movie. But it is common enough for his body to be consistently at this temperature. Werewolves are clearly the polar opposites of the vampires, with their icy-cold touch and marble-like skin. Perhaps their physiological make up reflects the tension between them.

"We run a little warmer than the normal people. About one-oh-eight, one-oh-nine. I never get cold anymore. I could stand like this [Jake gestured to his bare torso] in a snowstorm and it wouldn’t bother me. The flakes would turn to rain where I stood." They are also able to heal very quickly physically. Injuries don’t last very long at all.

The actual transformation between human and werewolf is barely touched on in the book. Certainly the initial transformation is not an easy one, as Jake explained his symptoms to Bella: "Everything," he whispered. "Every part of me hurts." This isn't physical pain that Jake was experiencing. The transformation into the wolf form is not a painful process, only disorienting and mentally uncomfortable. It is mental pain that Jake is referring to, from the fact he has realised that he is both a monster and the implications this has in his relationship with Bella.

The transformation itself can happen at any time, and isn’t dependent upon a full moon. In young werewolves cases, they can change involuntarily because of lack of self-control. The effects of this sort of transformation is shown in the relationship between Sam and Emily and the disfiguring injuries she has suffered. In experienced werewolves, the transformation happens in a matter of seconds.

Werewolves are only created when there are neighbouring vampires, so that the Quileute land is always protected. Jacob explains that "there’s no exact age...it just builds and builds and then suddenly..." It seems to occur around the point where the boy becomes a mature man, and is certainly accompanied by a sudden growth spurt.

Their sense of pack-identity is strong. So much so that they are capable of hearing “thoughts, each other’s anyway, no matter how far away from each other we are. It really helps when we hunt, but it’s a big pain otherwise. It’s embarrassing having no secrets like that." Even in wolf form, they retain full control of their human minds. "They are still themselves, not at all the feral, mindless werewolves of other mythologies." This means that all actions are knowing actions, although it is entirely possible for a werewolf to lose his temper and for him to be out of control as both a human and a wolf.

Werewolves can be both male and female, as long as they are descendants of the the original pack. Their sense of smell has adjusted to help them identify their one enemy. "Vampire," he spit out..."I can smell it! Dammit!" It is not clear whether it is heightened in other circumstances, but they certainly know vampires from a distance and find the smell sickly sweet and repellent.

CURRENT WEREWOLVES
Quil Ateara, Jacob Black, Rachel Black, Rebecca Black, Brady, Collin, Embry Call, Leah Clearwater, Seth Clearwater, Jared, Paul, and Sam Uley.

Sources: Twilight Lexicon and Wikipedia.

	Actual credit unions with the best savings accounts information (Anonymous) 2008-08-25 06:30 pm UTC (link)
	Cool blog Thanks, webmaster. (Reply to this)