Tattooed Werewolves

[Svrtnsse]

Ahoy Scribes. I need your input on something: Can werewolves have tattoos?

I'm intentionally leaving this as a very open ended question. Use your own impression/understanding/version of werewolves - and tattoos (I'm sure you all would sooner or later anyway ).

 

[trentonian7]

Interesting post! Yes, I would think that werewolves can have tattoos. I imagine if a werewolf had a tattoo and he transformed into wolf/ wolf- man it would be stretched out though and so fainter. I don't know if hair can grow through tattoos, but if it can, the tattoo probably isn't visible which could mess up whatever you're going for.

 

[Caged Maiden]

Okay, so here's my interpretation (because I was a White Wolf, Werewolf: The Apocalypse player in the 90s and LOVE werewolf movies):

If the science behind werewolves is that they heal wounds while transformed, a tattoo would heal rapidly, which would be beneficial and I don't think it would effect the tattoo in any sort of negative way. Like, if it someone tried to brand a werewolf, and magical healing began, I'd think the wound would heal without leaving a scar. Otherwise, if wounds healed and left scars, werewolves would be covered in scars, wouldn't they?

Okay, so not the next point, if you're a human and you transform into your beast state (Crinos form, in the old days, ha!) your fur color is not the same as your hair shade, your physical attributes and muscle structure alter, etc. so would ink deposited under your skin also change in some way, only to revert to where it was once you returned to human form?

And that brings up my third thing. In White Wolf's version of the condition, all toxins were purged from the body during any shift to Crinos form. I have adopted a similar thing for my own writing, but have made changes. In the game, if you'd been loaded with bullets, and you healed those health points, your body basically mended and pushed the bullets out, and they I suppose fell to the floor. In my writing, magical healing is similarly effective to mend bullet wounds, but the trick is that no magical healing is possible while the foreign object is standing in the way. As in, my characters must remove the bullets in order to heal. Their werewolf form may be able to keep them alive because it still regenerates blood while they are wounded, but it cannot close the actual holes without medical help. I did that as an equalizer, so they weren't invincible. You know, since I don't have modern weaponry and all kinds of things that can kill really effectively, like we do in the real world.

Anyways, so if you have magical healing for your werewolves, does it protect them against foreign objects, and if so, is ink a foreign object? If the werewolf receives a tattoo in human form, and doesn't change until after the darn thing heals, does the ink stay when she changes forms? Or does it squeeze out through the pores as the same power responsible for magical healing expels all foreign materials from the body?

So I am using tattoos in my own work, I use blood magic (cuts, in patterns), and one really rare case of a dragon bite one werewolf underwent to gain the powers the toxin would grant him, but he had to stay in his beast form to regenerate constantly until the poison had worked its course, or it would have killed him).

So yeah, I think that pretty much covers the things I contemplated when working on the science for my own purposes. Also, I only used tattoos to give certain magical powers through ritual. The tattoos wouldn't be visible when they are shifted, and the ink is not rejected by the body because it doesn't cause injury (unlike a bullet). So...I'm not even sure my own science is complete, but hopefully it helps you to figure out some of your own questions.

 

[Jerseydevil]

I would think it depends on the nature of the werewolf. Keep in mind that I have no tattoos, and am not a werewolf (at least as far as I can tell)

Tattoos are made when a needle pierces the skin and ink in injected. If the werewolf heals instantly, this may be a problem, or at least a factor to consider. It may be hard to get one after becoming a were, but if someone has a tattoo beforehand, I see no reason that they can't have them. Things like moles, birthmarks, scars, and other markings often stay after shifting forms, so I see no reason tattoos would be different.

Also, fiction. If you want them to have tattoos, put them in.

 

[valiant12]

There are two types of werewolf in my main setting, although none of them is called officially werewolf.
The first type are just smarter bipedal wolves. I'm sure that if somebody really wants to do it , they can capture one shave some hair/fur and tattoo the skin.
The other type are very magical in nature. They can have tattoos(while in human form) , and the reason for that is that when I created the first character from that race I wanted him to have some tattoos.
.

 

[Svrtnsse]

I think my main emponderance here is whether a werewolf can receive a new tattoo or not, and if they can, if it will stay past shifting into their animal form.

If they have a tattoo since before they became a werewolf, then the colour pigments could be an accepted part of their body and it would stay with them, even through shifting. What about receiving new tattoos though? The damage would heal quickly, as the wounds are really small, but would the body expel the pigments as being a foreign substance? Perhaps, perhaps not.

Maybe werewolves need special kinds of ink in order for the tattoo to stick? Perhaps they need it mixed up with their own blood in advance, or something like that?
Even then, maybe the tattoo won't stick through shifting unless the werewolf is emotionally attached to it in a significant/subconscious way?

What if shifting changes the tattoo. Let's say a werewolf shaman uses his tattoos for divination of some kind. He applies a tattoo to himself, and then after he's shifted he sees how it's changed from what it was. Could be interesting.

 

[TWErvin2]

Why not have the tattoo ink mixed with something like silver nitrate, which would inhibit the automatic healing of the werewolves? Or use a silver-tipped needle?

Heck, it would be painful and possibly a mark of courage, strength, and possibly honor.

 

[Svrtnsse]

This is something I've considered as well. I'm not comfortable doing it to my main character - at this time - but I can see how some of his opponents (he's a wrestler), might have opted for that, if it's an option.

It might even be that the silver in the tattoo makes them more ferocious in their animal forms which could come in handy in the battle arena.

 

[arbiter117]

If the tattoo remained on the wolf as discolored fur, it could be a useful plot point for a supernatural detective tale, or the mark of a particular gang of werepeople

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

[Trick]

I don't know if hair can grow through tattoos, but if it can, the tattoo probably isn't visible which could mess up whatever you're going for.

From personal experience, yes, hair grows through tattoos. I agree that, logically, if logic can be applied to werewolves, the fur would cover any tattoos. The silver idea might work though because it might create a scar in the same area as the tattoo and sometimes scars inhibit hair growth enough for skin to be visible. In this case, as long as the colors of the ink and fur contrast, the tattoo could be visible and achieve the desired look.

 

[Svrtnsse]

[...]and sometimes scars inhibit hair growth enough for skin to be visible.

I'm now picturing werewolves covered in silver nitrate tattoos changing into wolfes with fur just growing in patches here and there, and with strangely patterned scar tissue everywhere else. Nasty, but intriguing.