Is Jacob a Werewolf?

[Trekker4747]

So I got into a tounge-in-cheek argument with a coworker this week about Jacob, from the Twilight movies/books. I argued to her that Jacob is not a werewolf. His tribe of Indians animal form (in the Twilight universe Indians, I guess, are limited shape-shifters) is that of a wolf. He turns into a wolf. A werewolf is a beast that is part man, part wolf. A creature with arms, walks on two legs and still has a mostly "man-shaped" body with wolfian aspects.

Her argument as that simply turning into a wolf, even though a complete wolf, makes him a werewolf.

(Neither of us are Twilight fans beyond the "its fun to make fun of it" stuff)

So, what do you think? Is Jacob a werewolf?

 

[captcalhoun]

it depends on your universe's rules.

in the Discworld books, werewolves are - like Twilight apparently - shapeshifters who turn into wolves. however, they also retain heightened olifactory capabilities in human form, but not to the extent they have as wolves.

in a Real Ghostbusters comic when they encountered a werewolf, it was a bipedal wolf as you suggest werewolves should be.

in Marvel Comics, Man-Wolf is literally a humanoid wolf.

in Harry Potter, IIRC, Lupin is able to become both a bipedal wolf-creature and a literal wolf.

depends.

 

[The Evil Dead]

He's a shapeshifter.

 

[Greg Cox]

Your friend is right. Traditionally, a werewolf is a person who turns into an actual four-legged wolf.

The half-man, half-wolf version is mostly a Hollywood creation, dating back to only the 1930's. That's more of a wolfman than a werewolf . . . .

The term "werewolf" has been used to describe characters like Jacob for hundreds of years.

 

[RJDiogenes]

The term Werewolf dates back in some form to Old English and describes anyone who is transformed into a wolf or composite wolf-Human creature. The Werewolf may be indistinguishable from an ordinary wolf, it may retain certain Human attributes while in wolf form (such as hands with fingers or Human eyes), or it may be an anthropoid wolf, such as in The Wolf Man. It may also retain hints of its Werewolf side while in Human form, such as hairy palms or a unibrow, long canines, or wolf-like eyes. Like all folklore, legends differ from era to era and culture to culture.

 

[Trekker4747]

So is Odo a werewolf?

 

[RJDiogenes]

No, he could make himself look like a wolf, because he can make himself look like anything; but he can't actually become a wolf or pseudo-wolf, nor are his abilities supernatural in origin.

 

[od0_ital]

Goin' just from the trailer where Jacob is able to change form at will in the middle of the day, I'd say no, he's not a werewolf.

And since Edward & the other Cullens can go out in daylight & have a reflection, they aren't really vampires.

 

[Greg Cox]

So is Odo a werewolf?

No, he's the Blob.

 

[Kemaiku]

The more important question being, will a Silver bullet kill him anyway?

 

[Greg Cox]

Goin' just from the trailer where Jacob is able to change form at will in the middle of the day, I'd say no, he's not a werewolf.

And since Edward & the other Cullens can go out in daylight & have a reflection, they aren't really vampires.

To be fair, Dracula could go out in sunlight too, at least according the original novel. The whole sunlight thing was invented by the movies back in 1922.

Likewise, as far as werewolves go, the full moon thing was pretty much invented by Curt Siodmak as recently as 1941. In the original myths, a werewolf could transform at will, although they naturally prefered to hunt at night.

The thing to remember is that there are no definitive rules. Every new book or movie adapts the legends to fit the story it's trying to tell. BUFFY vampires follow different rules than Anne Rice's vampires, which are different from UNDERWORLD vampires.

TWILIGHT, whatever people may think of it, is no more or less accurate than other vampire or werewolf movie.

 

[Nerys Myk]

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvSPBu7ajuA[/yt]

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

It may also retain hints of its Werewolf side while in Human form, such as hairy palms

That's not from being a werewolf!

 

[Tulin]

And a 30 second clip proves more entertaining than the entirety of Twilight.

 

[Myasishchev]

I always thought it was unfair that the Twilight vampires can't turn into bats.

 

[RJDiogenes]

It may also retain hints of its Werewolf side while in Human form, such as hairy palms

That's not from being a werewolf!

There are multiple etiologies for Hairy Palm Syndrome.

 

[od0_ital]

I think its bullshit that True Blood vampires can take off like fuckin' rockets...

 

[Checkmate]

I'm pretty sure Eric can fly. They seem to be following the Vampire Chronicles/Vampire the Masquerade mentality where different vampire bloodlines have different abilities.

 

[Greg Cox]

I always thought it was unfair that the Twilight vampires can't turn into bats.

Alas, the bat thing seems to have fallen out of vogue.

 

[danellis]

I always thought it was unfair that the Twilight vampires can't turn into bats.

Alas, the bat thing seems to have fallen out of vogue.

The only thing I can think of where vampires *could* turn into bats was Count Duckula!

Spoiler: As far as Twilight's take on the matter goes

they're declared not really vampires (and therefore no longer an official enemy) by the ruling family in the last book. Quoting from the book: "Though the creatures think of themselves as werewolves, they are not. The more accurate name for them would be shape-shifters. The choice of a wolf form wa spurely chance.... It's genetic -- they do not continue their species by infescting other the way true werewolvs do."

dJE