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The form a werewolf
A very popular modern subgenre consists of stories
that treat werewolves as separate race or species
(either science fictional or magical) or as persons
using magic in order to deliberately transform into
wolves at will.
Such current-day werewolf fiction almost
exclusively involves lycanthropy being either a
hereditary condition or being transmitted like a disease
by the bite of another werewolf.
The form a werewolf
takes is not always an ordinary wolf, but is often
anthropomorphic or may be otherwise larger and more
powerful than an ordinary wolf. Sometimes the beast form
of the werewolf will have some physical characteristics
borrowed from an animal species other than the wolf, as
can be seen in the boar-like werewolf of Wild Country
(2006) and the cat-like werewolves of Underworld (2003).
Many modern werewolves are also supposedly immune to
damage caused by ordinary weapons, being vulnerable only
to silver objects (usually a bullet or blade). This
negative reaction to silver is sometimes so strong that
the mere touch of the metal on a werewolf's skin will
cause burns.
Werewolf in Fiction and Media - The Motif
of Heroic Werewolves
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