I can't think on vampires or werewolves without pondering the question of origin.
In the old days, it was a given that if you were bitten by a werewolf, you'd turn into one. Sometimes even a scratch was enough to do the trick. It was a good system. Kept the villagers scared and stabbing everything they could find with pitch forks.
In the past several years, born werewolves have made an appearance. They can bite and scratch you all they want, but you won't change. You're either born that way or you're not. It's also a good system, even if the villagers never got the memo. They pretty much still stab everything with pitch forks out of fear of the unknown.
What makes me prefer born to made is simple--it's damned hard work.
Let's focus on the aspect of werewolf romance.
All the romantic choices you make as a made wolf carry far less weight than if a born falls in love with a mortal.
If you're made, and you fall for a human, there may or may not be pack protocols to follow or other repercussions for your actions, but at the end of the day you can bite your lover and both go home happy. Unless you changed her without her permission, in which case, yeah, not so much.
If you're born, and you fall in love with a mortal, you have problems. Even though the immortality of werewolves is up for debate from series to series, it's generally a given the wolves will be long-lived. They will outlive their partner. There's no way around it. So falling in love is a painful prospect. The best they can hope for is supernatural aid in the form of another supernatural creature able to do the change (and in to what?) the wolf can't do alone. Or, they can bind their life to that of their mate (again, from series to series) and when the mortal dies the wolf does too. That gives us a poignant ending you'll almost never see inside of a romance novel. It's a painful, but poet resolution. I think it's my favorite.
So, how about y'all? Do you like your wolves born or made?
4 comments:
I'm all over the place with this. In one series they can only be made and in a new series they have to be born. Both are fun to write.
I think either can be done well. I can and have been sold on both varieties. LOL
I do like the alieness of born wolves. They aren't human. I guess humanity is on my short list. ;)
I've always liked werewolves ever since I can remember, I'm very fond of made wolves but for it sort of depends on who's doing the creating or writing.
In the movie Wolf with Jack Nicholson he was changed forever and I'm assuming that he could never be the woman he loved, so that particular facet of being a made wolf kind of bothers me.
All in all though I think I like them both.
Werewolves, Born or Made...?
That is an interesting question. It's also alittle difficult to decide which I prefer.
Like you said in your blog, it depends how each author writes the books.
I have enjoyed reading both versions, but I'm leaning towards "Born" werewolves. It makes the story more complex about how the author decides how to make the werewolves able to have lifemates with a happy ending. and what they have to do to accomplish their goal.
This concept works with any kind of "shifters".
I will still continue to read both versions of weres. It's addicting...lol
Thanks!
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