So here’s one you might not know much about – the eye/vision powers that werewolves (and wolves) have in folklore!
So we all know werewolf (and wolf) eyes are incredibly captivating, of course. What did people think about that back in the day? There were several, and werewolves in particular were especially scary.
Well, first of all, if you ask medieval bestiaries, wolves had some very odd powers, depending on who saw each other first. Obviously all bestiaries didn’t hold to this, because there was no D&D manual type experience back then where everyone was trying to hold to the same “lore.”
Anyway, some medieval European bestiaries liked to say that if you saw a wolf before the wolf saw you, that wolf “could not be fierce.” Great. Not that wolves are known for attacking people, anyway (I do have a whole library I could open up on that topic…).
But if the wolf saw you before you saw the wolf, the wolf would “steal your voice.” Oh no! Don’t worry, though, we have a foolproof workaround, and I promise it won’t make you feel like an idiot.
All you have to do is take off all your clothes and bang two rocks together to keep the wolf from attacking you, since apparently this is a super vicious rabid wolf or something. Neat, huh?
Werewolves, on the other hand, had more, ah… fearsome powers. In various legends, including assorted legends in North America, werewolves were said to have all kind of powers to do with eyes and vision. I’m not referring to their eyes themselves and how they see – that is, of course, covered in another post, though – but rather what they can do when they look at you.
And in regard to that, they can do quite a bit, depending on whom you ask. We have werewolves with the ability to read souls, to steal souls, to eat souls… Oh, and they will scare you – absolutely terrify you and fill you with fear, no matter how fearless you might be otherwise (of course, you should be scared that you’re looking at a werewolf in the first place). Plus, they can see if you are innocent or guilty of crimes, like Ghost Rider or something.
This was only if they could make direct eye contact with the person. Good luck looking away, too.
I’ve heard a lot more legends, too, but I won’t actually list those here because I can’t find good sources on them.
Oh, and no, werewolves never had particular legends around their eye colors, like in Teen Wolf or something. Sorry!