Werewolf Mystery

[quigonginger]

No: HPFGUIDX 153711

lanval:
>> In common werewolf folklore, werewolves attack to _kill_, and 
> occasionally, if a victim manages to escape and survive 
> the wounds, this person will then become a werewolf also. At least 
> that's the impression I've always had. 
> 
> Now along comes this explanation. For a simple mistake, it's too 
long 
> and detailed. It plainly raises some questions, however. 
> 
> If werewolves do NOT as a rule attack to kill (note that Harry 
> is 'shocked' at the idea), then the entire story about Snape owing 
a 
> life debt to James falls apart. Snape's life 'may' still have been 
in 
> danger, but if most of Greyback's little victims -- unarmed, 
> untrained, unaware and fragile-- survive, and are in fact 
_expected_ 
> to survive... then surely a sixteen year old wizard, armed with a 
> wand and an astounding knowledge of spells for his age, who quite 
> possibly knew what he was about to face, shouldn't have much to 
fear?

Ginger:
I snipped a whole lot of a very good post here.  

This is only a guess, but I'd say there are werewolves, and there are 
werewolves.

Lupin is a good type who really doesn't want to hurt, but is overcome 
by his illness.  GF is the bad kind who hurts because he can.

I am guessing that GF goes out and hunts for the kill when it pleases 
him, so he gets the urges out of his system enough to be able to plan 
an attack for the purpose of infecting a new victim.

Lupin, OTOH, has no desire to hurt and will only do so if he actually 
loses control, in which case, there is no stopping him.  Given his 
animosity towards Snape when in normal form, he might well lose 
control when effected by his transformation, in which case, Snape was 
truly in danger, and his debt to James was an actual life debt.

This may be a bad analogy, but I'll try it anyway.

I just finished watching a movie with my young Godson.  (Madagascar, 
if anyone is interested.)  In the movie, a lion named Alex is best 
friends with a zebra named Marty.  When they are in the zoo and Alex 
is fed steak every day, they get along great, but when they are sent 
to the Wild, Alex has to really fight his urge to eat Marty.  After 
several days without eating, Alex, despite his best intentions, 
almost kills Marty for dinner.  Alex exiles himself to the other side 
of the island, his regret is so great.  He sees himself as a monster, 
even though he is by nature a carnivore.

I see Lupin as being like Alex.  He knows what he is capable of, but 
doesn't want to do it.  Alex loses control because of depths of his 
hunger and because of his nature.  Lupin in werewolf form would be at 
that point of loss of control.  No matter how good his intentions 
are, he is still a werewolf.  Hence his exile in the SS and his 
potion in PoA.

In the movie there are also the foosa, who are carnivores, who 
regularly attack the lemurs.  They have no moral qualms about this.  
The lemurs are just dinner.  The foosa are not starving, and often 
play with the lemurs before eating them.  The lemur king tells Alex 
that the foosa often rip their limbs off.  

I would also compare this to a real life instance of a cat playing 
with a mouse or bug before it eats it.  Now in real life, the cat 
isn't being sadisitic or evil, it's just its nature.

GF, OTOH, has a dual nature.  The human side is capable of reason and 
planning, and the werewolf side is out for a feed.  My guess is that 
he uses his human side to plan the attack, and that part of the plan 
is that he feeds at will before any attacks he plans for infection so 
he is not so out of control that he eats the victim.  

They always say one should never go to the grocery store on an empty 
stomach.  (This would be the supermarket version of shopping, not the 
daily marketing type.)  I've tried it myself, and when one is full, 
one is not nearly as tempted by the goodies and is more in control of 
one's purchases.  Perhaps GF has read the dieting manual and adapted 
it to suit his purposes.

Like I said, just a guess.

Ginger, duly noting that if Lupin is ESE, all points herein are moot.