Werecat

In folklore and fantasy fiction, Werecats are shapeshifters who are similar to werewolves, except that they turn into some species of feline instead of a wolf. The species involved can be a domestic cat, a tiger, a lion, a leopard, a lynx, or any other type, including some that are purely fantastical felines. Typically, an individual werecat can only transform to one unique feline, not to a number of different species. The word "werecat" was not coined until the late 19th century, so it was not directly used in legends from earlier eras, only by later folklorists' commentaryve ijfiwfwefiwufhifhuhievurevbieuvbaiurvhiauehaievhriauerhvieuahrvuevhruiehveurhviuhveivrheivheivuhriuvheiherivuehrivheurhvieurvhieurhvieurvhieurhveiurvhieuhrvieurvhieurhvieuvhrieuvrhieurhvieurhveiruhveiurhvieurvhieurhvieurhveiruvheruiehvurieWerecats are real I am one I h

Folklore

Werecat folklore is found on all continents except Antarctica and is generally based on wild felines native to the area.

Europe

European folklore usually depicts werecats who transform into domestic cats. Some European werecats became giant domestic cats or black panthers. They are generally labeled witches, even though they often have just the one magical ability, of self-transformation. During the witch trials, this was official Church doctrine: all shapeshifters, including werewolves, were just specialized witches.

Africa

African legends describe people who turn into lions or leopards. In the case of leopards, this is often because the creature is really a leopard god or goddess masquerading as human. When these gods mate with humans, offspring can be produced, and these children sometimes grow up to be shapeshifters. Any of them who never transform will have other powers. With werecats who turn into lions, the ability is often associated with royalty. Such a being may have been a king or queen in a former life, or may be destined for leadership in this life. This quality of heroic warriorship can be seen in the lions of Tsavo, which were reputed to be kings in lion shape, attempting to repel the invading Europeans by stopping their railroad.

Asia

Mainland Asian werecats usually become tigers. In India, the weretiger is often a dangerous sorcerer, portrayed as a menace to livestock who might at any time turn to man-eating. Chinese legends often describe weretigers as the victims of either heredity or a vindictive ghost. Ancient teachings held that every race except the Han Chinese were really animals in disguise, so there was nothing extraordinary about some of these false humans reverting to their true natures. Alternately, the ghosts of people who had been killed by tigers would become malevolent supernatural beings, devoting all their energy to making sure that tigers killed more humans. Some of these ghosts were responsible for transforming ordinary humans into man-eating weretigers. Also, in Japanese folklore there are creatures called Bakeneko similar to kitsune and tanuki.

South America

South American werecats usually became jaguars. In some tribes, all shamans were thought to have the ability to become jaguars. There are also urban legends about jaguar shapeshifters lurking along highways in tales similar to the vanishing hitchhiker and of them being assassins secretly employed by the government or organized crime.

North America

North American werecat legends are usually based on the European model, with domestic cats, either normal-sized or giant, being the favored shape. Cougars appear rarely, and jaguars only appear south of the American border. In what is now Mexico, Aztec folklore described jaguar people as being specially blessed by one of the gods, but modern Mexican folklore is more likely to attribute such transformation powers to the devil. American urban legends tell of encounters with feline bipeds, beings like Bigfoot except with cat heads, tails and paws. Feline bipeds are sometimes classified as part of cryptozoology, but more often they are interpreted as werecats.

Fiction

Fictional werecats tend to be portrayed as less influenced by the lunar cycle than werewolves, and they appear in heroic roles slightly more often. In addition, the females seem to outnumber the males, which is the opposite of the tradition in werewolf fiction.

Films

The movie Cat People was the most influential item of werecat fiction, about a real sex kitten who turns into a black panther. It was followed forty years later by Cat People, a remake in name only with a vastly changed storyline that now included two shapeshifters, brother and sister.

The movie Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island consist of werecats that drain life forces to preserve their immortality.

The film Night Watch featured a character named Tiger Cub who was a weretiger.

The film Sleepwalkers portrayed hairless werecats as the basis for vampire legends.

Half-Caste, a mockumentary made in the style of The Blair Witch Project, purports to base its story on legends from South Africa.

The upcoming film Eragon is expected to have a werecat in it.

In the animated Marvel Comics movie, Ultimate Avengers 2, the Black Panther can turn into a werepanther when angry.

In Halloweentown High, Layla is a werecat, she is not really shown and is one of the creatures that went back to Halloweentown.

Anime

The video games, animation adaptations, and comic books of Darkstalkers feature the character Felicia who usually stays in a catgirl form but can also transform into a small white cat. She also appears in several cross-over games.

The comic and television series Ranma ½ has plenty of shapeshifters, including the werecat Shampoo.

The anime Outlaw Star had a character named Aisha Clanclan who was already a catgirl, but could turn into a white tiger.

Kyo Sohma in the anime and manga Fruits Basket becomes a house cat, and Kisa Sohma becomes a tiger.

Ichigo Momomiya and Ryou Shirogane in Tokyo Mew Mew. In the anime and manga, Ichigo only turns into a cat when kissed or gets excited or nervous. The only way for her to revert to human is being kissed again. For Shirogane, he can only remain as a cat for 10 minutes at a time, or he will remain a cat permanently.

The anime KO Century Beast Warriors has a weretiger named Wan, and other shapeshifters, as the heroes.

In Gorgon Sisters (a hentai manga) werecats are described as an old necromansers trick esentialy the described recepy is similar to that of a Homunculus

Television

In Season 3 of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, Kat Hillard, while under the control of Rita Repulsa and Lord Zedd, she could become a white Angora cat, and when she paralyzed Tommy to gain control of the Falcon Ninjazord, cat scratch marks appeared over his body. She would later on lose this ablity when she reformed (because, she was under a spell at the time.)

In Season 1 of Big Wolf on Campus the episode Cat Woman focused on conflicts between a werewolf and a werecat (a girl with blue streaks in her hair who transformed into a dyed-blue cat).

The short-lived 1980s television series Manimal featured a shape-shifting man who could turn himself into any animal at will, usually into a hawk or black panther.

An episode of Gargoyles called Mark of the Panther dealt with werepanthers in Africa.

Novels

The Anita Blake novels contain many werecats, mainly wereleopards.

The Jaguar Princess by Clare Bell is about an Aztec slave girl who is descended from jaguar gods and can transform into a jaguar.

Two Witch World fantasy novels by Andre Norton focus on werecat characters, Year of the Unicorn and The Jargoon Pard.

The Inheritance Trilogy includes a werecat known as Solembum, a black cat able to communicate telepathically and change into the form of a young boy. Later on other werecats are noted.

The Southern Vampire series by Charlaine Harris features various werecreatures, including werepanthers and weretigers.

In the Harry Potter books, Professor McGonagall can transform into a tabby cat at will.

In the Black Lace novel the Pride by Edie Bingham, the lead character, Kami Osbank, is a member of a hidden race of feline humanoids known as the Pride, who possess tails, claws and tracks of leopard-like spots, all of which appear whenever she gets angry or aroused.

Comics

Clan of the Cats is a comic that has a black panther werecat as the main character.

Gold Digger is a comic with a cheetah werecat as the sidekick of the main character.

The Wotch has a werecat character named Katie McBride.

El Goonish Shive has several shapeshifting characters, two of whom, Grace and Elliot, have the ability to take on a human/cat hybrid form.

The post-crisis Cheetah characters from DC Comics were represented as true werecats instead of the earlier costumed supervillains.

Catseye from Marvel Comics could become a human/cat hybrid, or a panther.

Beast is a Marvel Comics character with a half-human/half-feline appearance.

Games

The role-playing game Werewolf: The Apocalypse includes werecats called Bastet.

In the role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons, weretigers are feared for being one of the most powerful lycanthropes.

In the RP [Role Play] of Athrok Kingdom one of the main characters, Rask, is a noted werecat with the ability to become a small, white cat at will. A few other werecats make an appearance also.

The RPG series Breath of Fire features a race of cat-like humanoids called Woren. One of them (Rei, from Breath of Fire 3) can turn into a large, extremely powerful weretiger during battle.

The video game Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance features laguz, a race of humanoids which are able to take the forms of certain animals. The 'Beast Clan' of laguz is made up of those who turn into cats, lions and tigers.

The Castlevania video game series features many werecats based on big cats, including a main werelion villain Ortega from Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness.

The Bloody Roar video game series features many werecreatures (called Zoanthropes), including Long and Shen-Long the weretigers, Gado the werelion, Shina the wereleopard, and Uriko the werelynx.

References

Borges, Jorge. (1969). The book of imaginary beings. New York: E. P. Dutton. ISBN 0-670-89180-0
Greene, Rosalyn. (2000). The magic of shapeshifting. York Beach: Weiser. ISBN 1-57863-171-8
Hall, Jamie. (2003). Half human, half animal: Tales of werewolves and related creatures. Bloomington: 1st Books. ISBN 1-4107-5809-5
Hamel, Frank. (1969). Human animals: Werewolves & other transformations. New Hyde Park: University Books. ISBN 0-8216-0092-3
Steiger, Brad. (2001). Out of the dark. New York: Kensington Books. ISBN 1-57566-896-3
Saunders, Nicholas J. (1991). The cult of the cat. London: Thames and Hudson. ISBN 0-500-81036-2

External links