Werecreature
| Tropes and genres | |
|---|---|
| Synonym(s) | Were-Creature |
| Related tropes/genres | Animal Transformation (includes spirit animals), Bestiality, Cats, Centaurification, Kemonomimi (includes catboys and catgirls), Mating, Merpeople, Penguinfic, Selkie, Shapeshifting, Werewolf |
| See also | Furry Fandom, crack, Alternate Universe, Magic |
| Related articles on Fanlore. | |
Were-animal is a fanfic trope in which one or more characters are able to transform into an animal that is not a wolf, or else an Alternate Universe story wherein the characters are cast as animals.
Fanon
Were-animal fanworks are a lot rarer than werewolves or animal transformation works, it does exist. Many times the were-animals deals with the characters that are able to transform into an animal, have been around forever - usually in secret or out in public.
Other times, a character gets bitten or maybe a blood transfusion that transform them into the animal. These characters generally have control over the transformations although sometimes to cause tensions they can't control it. For example, only at night or under the full moon they transform or once they lose control over their emotions.
Another common characteristic trait in these stories are the were-animals having similar characteristic traits in their human form as well, such as better sense of smell, superior strength or the need for a mate. Others include heat cycles, scent marking, and pack structure such as Alpha/Beta/Omega.
For a canon example, the Dark-Hunter series by Sherrilyn Kenyon has characters that can transform into variety of animals: from werewolves, werebears, werejaguars, weretigers, wereravens, weredragons, werelions, etc. (Oh My!) The Others series by Christine Warren has wereleopards, werelions, and weretigers besides the normal werewolves. There is a were Leopard series by Christine Feehan. The True Blood series have werepanthers and werewolves. Teen Wolf is probably the most popular, however, due to it canonically introducing a werecoyote (Malia Tate), were-foxes aka kitsune (Kira Yukimura, Noshiko Yukimura) and a werepanther (Kate Argent) as main characters.
Examples
(For examples where characters turn into wolves, see the Werewolf page. For more examples where characters are turned into cats, see the Cats page. For examples where characters spend part of their time as penguins, see the Penguins page. For examples where characters spend part of their time as dragons, see the Dragon page. For examples where characters are centaurs, see the Centaurification page. For examples where characters turn into unicorns, see the Unicorn page.)
| Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples. |
- It's All About Your Pride by tigress123, Sherlock is a lone rogue shifter in London. He was not prepared to meet John Watson, ex soldier and halfbreed shifter. (Sherlock/John)
- Naming of Parts by imaginary_golux (2017). Most of the time, Rey is a smallish, territorial, viciously loyal young woman. Sometimes, when she's really really angry, one of those descriptors is not quite accurate. This changes fewer things than you might expect. (Finn/Rey)
- the adventures of the hawk and her fox by nezstorm, Dean was going to slay them later. (fox!Charlie Bradbury/hawk!Jo Harvelle)
- To Make an Omelette by etherati (2010). Daniel is a were-owl who lays eggs.
Archives and Communities
- Fanworks tagged with Were-Creatures tags at Archive of Our Own
- Glee Animalism (Glee)
External Links
- Wereanimal tag at Tumblr
- Werecreature tag at Tumblr