Information AboutWerecat |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT WERECAT | |
| legendary mammals | |
| shapeshifting | |
| human-derived fictional species | |
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FOLKLORE Europe an folklore usually depicts werecats who transform into domestic cats. Some European werecats became giant domestic cats or Black Panther s. 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 n 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 n 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. South America n 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 n werecat legends are usually based on the European model, with domestic cats, either normal-sized or Giant , being the favored shape. Cougar s 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 Legend s 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 .
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