[HPforGrownups] Werewolves and RL equivalents

[Bart Lidofsky]

No: HPFGUIDX 170349

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?

Bart:
	Well, the silver bullet idea is actual a Christian idea (although I 
have no idea how much Christianity JKR is using in her novels). The myth 
runs something as follows: because silver was used for the betrayal 
Jesus, as a sort of compensation, silver was given the power to destroy 
evil magic. Hence, a vampire will not be reflected in a silvered mirror 
(because silver will not reflect evil), and silver can harm otherwise 
invulnerable lycanthropes.

	Bart