Werewolves and RL equivalents (was:Re: Snape - a werewolf bigot?...)

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 170341

> >>Magpie:
> <snip>... also, just a note to Betsy, but werewolves did
> classically turn into wolves, not furry people. That's Hollywood--I 
> think they also invented the silver bullet idea, and certainly that 
> poem).

Betsy Hp:
That first bit pleases me, because it means JKR has chosen to stick 
pretty close to classic werewolf myth.  The second bit doesn't please 
me because one of my favorite Stephen King comments (from "It" 
maybe?) is that adults invented the werewolf but children invented 
the silver bullet (though, hmmm.... maybe it was vampires and 
stakes?).  The third bit confuses me: what poem?

> >>Dana:
> What I was trying to say, and you seemed to be missing the details 
> of the difference, is that a sexual predator is like that by       
> choice. 
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
Ah, but not according to some.  There are pedophiles who claim they 
are the way they are because they themselves were preyed upon as 
children.  Or you've got the serial killer, Ted Bundy, who said to 
his arresting officer, "I wish you had killed me", suggesting that 
part of himself was horrified by his actions.  How *true* those sort 
of claims are, I don't know and won't pretend to.  However, I do 
suspect that these sort of Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde killers (charming and 
sweet on one hand; horrifyingly brutal on the other) gave rise to the 
werewolf myth.  Including the common werewolf plea: kill me.

So, running with the idea that the werewolf myth was the way people 
got a handle on the above sort of phenomenon, and looking at how JKR 
is sticking awfully close to that myth, pedophilia seems the closest 
match to me.  Not a perfect match by any means (as has been pointed 
out, the moon has nothing to do with it in RL) but closer, IMO, than 
a physical (rather than mental) disease or a disability. 

> >>Dana:
> Lupin's werewolf part has no capability of planning his actions, it 
> is just an instinctive drive, like that of a real wolf that hunts   
> his prey to survive, to eat and the werewolf will bite or kill     
> anyone that crosses his path. His strikes will be indiscriminately, 
> without preferences or prejudice of what kind of victim he is      
> dealing with. 

Betsy Hp:
That's not completely accurate.  Yes, a transformed werewolf in JKR's 
world doesn't seem to be a thinking creature; it seems that nothing 
of the host remains and the werewolf is solely about the hunt.  But 
his prey *is* specific.  The werewolf hunts only humans. A deer will 
not do (fortunately for James).

Though, hmmm...  I do wonder now how specfic the werewolf is about 
his human vicitms.  While Fenrir has to position himself by a chosen 
victim, how does the werewolf know to seek out the child in the 
household rather than the parents?  I can't imagine Fenrir being able 
to creep into his chosen one's bedroom to await transformation.  So 
how did Fenrir arrange it that he struck young Lupin and not say, 
Lupin's mother?  

Eh, I think I'll write that one off as over-thinking, because I'm 
pretty sure JKR wants her werewolves as pure beasts, with the choice 
of how to deal with this unwanted monster within being left with the 
infected human host.

Ooh, which is interesting because Fenrir is obviously putting off his 
creepy vibe in his human form.  It's how Fenrir deals with his 
werewolf-ism that makes him so repulsive.  So if the werewolf itself 
isn't actually a specific kind of deviant and violent lust could it 
be that Fenrir is actually training his "pack" into directing their 
werewolf-ism in the path of his choosing?  

> >>Dana:
> <snip>... I'm just saying that knowledge can indeed prevent the    
> danger a werewolf could pose) but knowledge about sexual predators 
> will never make you able to be safe from them if you are their next 
> chosen victim... <snip>

Betsy Hp:
But it's a similar sort of knowledge.  You are told a werewolf is out 
there, so you take steps to protect your family from a predator, 
telling your kids to be in on full moon nights.  Similarly, you warn 
your kids about taking candy from strangers.  Again, it's not a 
prefect match by any means.  But knowledge does make you safer in 
both examples because it helps you decide on precautions.

Betsy Hp