19 replies to this topic

[ghostcrossing]

I have been wondering for a long time now about a question that might modernize werewolf legends. The question I had was I wondered if the bullets, blades, or bludgeons used to kill werewolves had to be pure silver of could they be silver plated. To do research, I went to a site called The Bullet forge, www.bulletforge.com, to check out the price of silver bullets. A pure silver .357 magnum round is $40.00, but a silver plated .357 magnum round is only $9.00. So by means of cost efficancy, the silver plated rounds are much cheaper, but would they work? Also, for a person to make a silver weapon would be almost impossible because of the high melting point of silver and the cost of the silver itself, as silver is about $20 a troy once, but to silver plate something metal would be cheap and easy because of electroplating by means of electrolysis. Once again, the question arises whether a silver plated item would kill a werewolf or not. I hope someone out there might have some ideas that might help me answer this question.

[rayzrwyre]

The use of silver to kill a werewolf was originally suggested in a story about three hundred years ago, "The Beast of Gevaudan". But here is the twist; that bullet was blessed prior to being used! (Silver was chosen because of it's supposed ability to possess magical attributes, so that when one was blessed, all the bullets would be.) Authors since then have given life to the silver bullet or silver weapon as a way to dispose of the werewolf. However, it must be considered that it may have been the blessing of the bullet that made it effective, as much as the metallic properties of said bullet.

If we are to consider the fact that silver is the killing factor, then why chance it. Go for the full silver variety! Heck of a time to figure out that an attempt to be cost-effective failed because the plated bullets are not stopping your adversary! And, as the saying goes, an ounce of prevention is cheaper than a pound of cure, go visit your local priest prior to and get them bullets blessed!

Of course, the best advice to give any intrepid werewolf hunter is to ensure that the prey you are tracking is indeed a werewolf. Much more difficult in practice than what Hollywood would have you believe.

Finally, as that the whole werewolf existance is myth-based, there is no defintie process that can be said to be 100% effective. There are a mryiad of ways that are suppose to dispose of a vampire, for instance, and a handful of things they are supposed to be wary of, but who is to say which is right and which is wrong? Ahh, the beauty of myth and lore! However you wish to perpetuate the story is up to the author!

[Mark London]

Ray should be known as Van Helsing lol

[Redhead]

This is an interesting topic, but it belongs in the Legends area so I am moving it there.

[rayzrwyre]

Long as you are talking about the old one, from Bram Stoker's "Dracula", then cool! Hugh Jackman's rendention, ahh, not so much! Too flashy!

[leonie]

Ray should be known as Van Helsing lol

Rays much cooler than Van Helsing.
I think it is more likely that the fact the bullets are blessed would make more difference in killing a werewolf. I would imagine though that a silver plated bullet would kill a werewolf because silver is coming in contact with the werewolf, but I dont know much about killing werewolfs.

Ahh.. Id love to be a werewolf, they are my favourite of all mythical monsters!

Oh and Hugh Jackmans Van Helsing Rocked kill those vampires!

Edited by leonie, 10 June 2007 - 12:58 PM.

[Justa]

I read somewhere also, although I can't find it again, that there was/is a believe that werewolves are highly allergic to silver.

I guess silver plating may be effective, but not as effective as solid silver. You run the risk of some of the plating flaking off, etc. So instead of killing him, you would just wind up with him/her being sick, but able to recover. You know, a mild allergic reaction.

[leonie]

Yeh but if a person who is allergic to peanuts eats half a peanut its just as bad as eating one peanut. lol, that was my example

[Justa]

Not necessarily. Not everybody who is allergic to peanuts has a full blown anaphylactic emergency.

If somebody ingests a pure peanut, then the odds are that they will have a more severe reaction than somebody who ingests something that has come in contact with a peanut. It depends on the individual.

I'm allergic to penicillin. If I take a pill, it takes up to 72 hours before I have a reaction. If I take it intravenously, the reaction is happens within a few hours.

Edited by Justa, 10 June 2007 - 11:52 PM.

[leonie]

It depends on the werewolf then because I know people who if they are in the same room as a peanut, they begin to have an allergic reaction. So maybe it depends how allergic werewolves are.

[rayzrwyre]

I think that the whole silver issue killing a werewolf is based on the belief that silver, considered back in time, was a "pure" metal when refined, all nice and shiny. Because of it's belief as a pure metal, and the fact that werewolves were an abomination in the eyes of the Church, an evil creature who committed the most heinous of crimes, "pure" silver would be a natural deterent against the "evil" werewolf.

But back to the "pure" part. This is probably the most likely killer for not just werewolves, but vampires, even Frankenstein's, etc. Vampires hate crosses, holy water, sacred ground, i.e "pure" things. But the biggest killer for them was sunlight, the life-giving rays from our Sun. From an ancient myth and folklore point-of-view, sunlight cleansed all things evil, chased away all night spirits, and returned the world to goodness. Even the werewolf could not survive in animal form during the day. Sunlight, silver, and fire, the bane of Doc Frank's creation, are all things that were considered "pure". Fire cleanses, fire purifies metal, fire burns witches (not one of humanity's prouder moments!).

So then, is it silver that kills the werewolf (allergic reaction), or the pureness of the metal, or the fact that the bullet can be blessed. Because this all myth-based, it falls onto the storyteller or author to elaborate and draw conclusions, and to make the story believable. This is the true essence and goal of any story! And as you can witness, we are currently involved in a conversation based off one man's story written over two hundred years ago on a subject that has no scientific merit or proof! I love it!

Sorry Leonie, I like Hugh, but his VanHelsing, while very much a butt-kicker, was to Hollywood for me! Surprised he didn't have silver claws pop out of his hands!

[leonie]

Oh great now rays taking the mick out of Wolverine...

Every tale comes from some truth... Thats my sentence of the day... just think about it.

[Yosei]

Silver hasn't got a particularly high melting point( Lower than iron or steel for sure. I've melted some on accident while working with it, and my torch isn't very strong ), but it doesn't hold a good cutting edge if your weapon is other than a gun. It is rather expensive stuff. No idea on killing werewolves, though!

[PARANORMALIZER]

Werewolf stories always grabbed me, more so than vampires. There was something about the struggle between the man and the beast that just appealled to me.

I reviewed a website a while back and it is (imo) unquestionably the best werewolf site on the net: http://paranormalize...review-022.html

[rayzrwyre]

I believe the overall appeal of the werewolf is that the creature is the embodiment of man's primal urge to connect with his animalistic side. The werewolf is a creature of the night, strong, cunning, guided by a killer's instinct to hunt and feed. They are feral, using the heightened senses to track prey and avoid detection. But above all, they operate under the premise that societies rules do not apply to him. The beast will kill without remorse or concern. The ramifications of this type of action keep most normal people from commiting the crime, but as a werewolf, this means nothing.

Here is the central point. We live in a well structured world, dominated by the guidance and control from our government and the church. During the day, the affected individual is normal in appearance, but at the beckoning of the full moon, he becomes the creature that does not have to follow the rules. He becomes a free-willed machine of destruction. He becomes what we wished we could be, but can't for fear of persecution.

Vampires, on the other hand, are idolized for their ability to sway the opposite sex. They are smooth and sauve, they also operate at night time, and they have been described in most literature and film as beautiful, charismatic people. Underneath that is an urge to drain the very life from their victims, doing so in a manner that provides, in most cases, ecstasy for both the victim and the vampire. The ultimate sex symbol, the vampire intrigues people much in the same way the werewolf does. But why?

At our very core, we have two drive impulses, two basic needs imprinted directly into our very DNA. Survive and propogate. Find food and make babies. While we as modernized humans find more acceptable ways of going about this, we can't forget that not too long ago in our history, we lived in caves, ate what we could catch and tried to build our clan membership as often as possible, all for the survivability of the group. Times changed, and we changed with it, but we still carry with us these two primal desires. And where as the reproductive urge is more intense and satisfying, the drive to survive is the greatest of the two. And to do that on a strictly unrestrained level would be the most effecient and desirable. This is why, I believe, that some people have such a deep fascination and admiration for the werewolf.