A Question about Werewolves/Lupin

[Ali]

No: HPFGUIDX 90993

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "cmbrichards" 
<cmbrichards at a...> wrote:

>>> There is something that was bothering me about the whole 
 Lupin/Werewolf thing, and I passed this off as maybe "not in 
J.K.R.'s world," but now that I see this, I am not too sure.
 
We know that in POA the book, we are told that Lupin is a 
 werewolf, and that he was bitten when he was younger. My problem 
with this had always been, why did he age? Traditional gypsy lore 
would tell us that werewolves do not age from the time they are 
bitten. 

 Sort of like a vampire not aging from the time he/she is turned. 
But we well know that Lupin has been aging, rather rapidly from 
Harry's descriptions of him, from book 3 to book 5 anyway you look 
at it. Now if he was a werewolf back in the "Marauder Days," how is 
it that he has managed to show a normal or even slightly accelerated 
aging process? Unless he wasn't bitten at all...Unless it was a 
curse of some sort. 
<snip>

BUT <and this is a capital B-U-T>, now that I have seen a copy of 
the movie's DADA page on werewolves, I am wondering if my gut 
instinct on this wasn't right all along. If J.K. was the one who 
gave them the info they put on the DADA page, then maybe this is 
another one of her subtle hints as to what is going on.>>>

Ali responds:

I was also really interested in the PoA prop. But, at this stage, I 
would have to argue that the prop is not "canon". We have no means 
of knowing whether JKR "okayed" it before it was used as a prop. I 
thought that there was some evidence that the material had in fact 
been used in a previous film. Thus, it could perhaps have been 
reused by people not as LOONy as ourselves.

JKR has shown that she is quite able to adapt folklore, so it is  
possible that her werewolves can age. Lupin is so often described as 
pre-maturely aged. He loses weight following painful 
transformations, and looks older. If he were the traditional 
werewolf, he would still be a young child. No, his circumstances 
just don't fit the description of the prop.

I did find the idea of almost enternal damnation following the 
biting of another human, very interesting. In PoA, Lupin alluded to 
some things being worse than death. I had always taken that to 
mean "The Kiss", which would seem to deprive victims of an after-
life. But, the curse of the werewolf, if this evidence were true, 
would also fit this definition. IMO This would make the rationale 
for people's hatred of werewolves far more understandable. If Lupin 
lives in terror that he might bite another human, that would make 
his existence, and the risk Dumbledore took in having him at 
Hogwarts, far more serious. Not only would he create another 
werewolf, but he would also face a terrible future.

I was interested that the prop had a section on the "Silver Bullet 
myth". Whilst it would be great to think that this was a JKR hint 
that Lupin cannot be killed by a silver bullet, and perhaps by 
extension, the Silver Hand of Pettigrew, I would imagine that this 
is a leap too far. 

Unless JKR has created plot inconsistencies with her depiction of 
Lupin, I would argue that the PoA Prop is not canon. I do now wonder 
though, how Lupin can be killed? Is he mortal as we know it, or not?

Ali