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DiardiWolf In reply to ComradeK [2016-11-07 18:21:11 +0000 UTC]

Thanks, I might write more but only if there's more interest in stuff like these in general. In all honesty I don't feel like digging through all of that material and translating it into English if hardly anyonen is interested in reading it. 
Or at least not right now; I might do so eventually anyway knowing myself. 

The werewolves are really weird, and quite frankly I'm often left wondering why people would want such a power anyway if it has that many disadvantages and weaknesses. 
Werewolves in Dutch lore can't go past any kind of cross formation such as roads or rivers, and the most famous legend surrounding them tells of tossing a red hankerchief into their faces which stops them dead in their tracks as they have to take it apart thread by thread because the woven threads form cross shapes. They also can't open doors.  
Only weapons using holy attributes could harm them, as could knives which had cut through bread or of which the blade had been dragged through the earth, or weapons of which the cutting edge had been mouthed or covered in spit. Black birch wood could also harm them. Firearms would inexplicably misfire or block every time they were used against them. 
Calling the werewolf by their true human name or wounding them would turn them back, and stealing their clothes while they were in wolf form would force them to stay a wolf forever. Priests could tell which persons were secretly werewolves as they would have a red flame dancing above their heads after the "Dominus Vobiscum" was uttered. 
They also had collars, which were either made out of fur or leather or iron. Destroying it would end the werewolf curse, and possibly the life of the werewolf depending on the story. However, they could feel when their collar was at risk of being destroyed and not rarely would jump into a fire trying to save it and burn alive. 

those are just some examples of the elements which are quite different from the modern interpretations. Germany has some similar elements in their werewolf lore though. 

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ComradeK In reply to DiardiWolf [2016-11-07 21:24:42 +0000 UTC]

Too bad. If only my dad had lived there longer and I grew up with Dutch : P

That's quite an interesting contrast, that being said I've never deeply looked into the origins of the english/pop-culture werewolves really. Does seem that they're rather limited in what they can do. Are they still meant to be reasonably sensible when in werewolf form I guess? And can they be harmed by normal means in human form and do they suffer the same limitations? 

I guess I'd be foiled. I wouldn't think of crosses or hankerchiefs or bread knives heh, and go right for the firearms hah. 

And heh, collars. No comment. 

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DiardiWolf In reply to ComradeK [2016-11-08 17:14:52 +0000 UTC]

Well, you can always try to learn it I guess. It's probably also easier if you know some German as the grammar and sentence structure of both languages are very similar, unlike English or French. 

I can't say I care much for the English pop-cultural ones.
Their ability to reason and control their actions seems to vary from story to story. There's some where they change at random and can't really always choose when it happens, and there's some who can seemingly change whenever they want. Some also seem to just shift at certain hours such as at night. 
They can suffer normal injuries when human, though they also still retain supernatural powers such as the ability to carry out heavy time-consuming tasks within the blink of an eye, supernatural speed, or amazing strength up to where they could lift a full cart and oxen single-handedly into the air without problems. They had no magical healing powers either and the injuries they sustained while in wolf form would continue to be present when they were back human. 
German folklore concerning werewolves has some similar elements from what I've read, and the emphasis for the change seems to be due to ulterior motives or poverty, such as being able to more easily kill and steal cattle without being suspected. In some stories the werewolves also got paid for their wrongdoings by the devil, and some were said to be robbers and highwaymen. 

I'd love to read a story where a bunch of people get confronted by werewolves and try the pop-cultural ways of fighting them and none of it having any effect until someone loses a hankerchief . The breadknife is something which pops up as a deterrent against other folkloric entities as well, the "mare" or "nightmare" in particular. 

What about the collars? 

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ComradeK In reply to DiardiWolf [2016-11-09 06:57:38 +0000 UTC]

I'd rather focus on German for now. Though I guess learning Dutch could be cool too, open up a place closer to family to move to (though sorry I must admit from my visits I liked Germany better even with the family connection to Belgium )

I guess some of these traits and powers would be worthwhile back when people didn't travel as much. If you were a peasant, not being able to pass a crossroad or such may be less of an issue since you may not have had the opportunity anyway, so being super strong and completing tasks extremely quickly would be a great boon, to only a bit of a loss. 

Is there some backstory to the breadknife? Breaking bread with Jesus or some such allusion? 

uh. Just the implication (in a modern twisted mind) of collars.

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DiardiWolf In reply to ComradeK [2016-11-09 07:21:50 +0000 UTC]

If you want to learn Dutch due to your family living in Belgium, you might want to pick up the dialects too. There's about 30 000 of them, lol. 

I guess, though they still have far more limitations than the ones in popular culture. Werewolf lore is also thought to be metaphorical, such as the evils that people from a community can commit towards one another while they seemed normal otherwise, or how people got jealous and suspicious of others who just had more luck in certain situations or got more work done seemingly more easily. 

No idea, there's a lot of weird elements that often leave me scratching my head. Such as witches being recognized by priests due to appearing as wearing a beehive on top of or covering their heads. I mean what. 
I've been digging around for a possible origin of those sort of things, but so far nothing has come up yet. I think the backstories of many such things are lost to time. 

Ah yes, all of those kinky peasant farmers running amok everywhere  

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ComradeK In reply to DiardiWolf [2016-11-09 15:17:26 +0000 UTC]

Oh you Europeans and your dialects. Tiny countries but all these different ways of pronouncing this and that. It's chaos : P
How greatly do they differ? Like if one learned whatever might constitute standard dutch would they just be a little less intelligible? 

Oh certainly. Yeah, I've heard of quite a few examples of using supernatural reasoning for various issues or facts that people had trouble explaining. On that note, seems like one place may just be full of figurative werewolves now

Ah yes, the classic witch's beehive. Does that mean the fifties were full of witches? 

Well I mean, it fits some stereotypes of the Dutch  

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