Werewolves and tattoos

[Svrtnsse]

In my WiP I'm currently writing a scene where the MC meets up with a bunch of werewolf ruffians. They're loosely described as your stereotypical biker dude with all the extras, except they don't have any tattoos. My MC takes the lack of tattoos to mean they were turned into werewolves while still young.
The implication is that once you get turned you're no longer tattoable.

What's your take on this? Does it match your own notions of how werewolves function, or does it not?

 

[Ankari]

Why does becoming a werewolf prevent you from having tattoos? Unless your mechanics are different, werewolves are normal humans most of the time and hulking hairy brutes other times. They always revert back to their human appearance. I'd need an in-universe explanation why tattoos are incompatible with your werewolves.

 

[Svrtnsse]

My reasoning is that the werewolf's body expels the colour in the tattoo as a foreign substance. It's possible to go through with the process, but the tattoo would fade within a few minutes/hours. If the tattoo existed since before the person was turned into a werewolf then it would be accepted as a part of the body and not expelled.

 

[Ban]

My reasoning is that the werewolf's body expels the colour in the tattoo as a foreign substance. It's possible to go through with the process, but the tattoo would fade within a few minutes/hours. If the tattoo existed since before the person was turned into a werewolf then it would be accepted as a part of the body and not expelled.

I was thinking that werewolves might not be 'tattooable' due to the extreme stretching of their skin that would happen upon transformation. SO it would still technically be possible, but the werewolf would just end up with a terrible looking tattoo.

Your explanation works too though, so I would keep it. You might be able to apply my suggestion to werewolves who already had tattoos before they became werewolves if you'd like.

 

[Ankari]

My reasoning is that the werewolf's body expels the colour in the tattoo as a foreign substance. It's possible to go through with the process, but the tattoo would fade within a few minutes/hours. If the tattoo existed since before the person was turned into a werewolf then it would be accepted as a part of the body and not expelled.

So, just to be clear, this phenomenon applies to all foreign materials, right? Things like medicine, alcohol (consumed), needles, earrings, and stitches would be expelled from the body?

 

[Svrtnsse]

So, just to be clear, this phenomenon applies to all foreign materials, right? Things like medicine, alcohol (consumed), needles, earrings, and stitches would be expelled from the body?

This is where it gets tricky. Needles, earrings, stitches etc would get expelled if they were added after the person got turned into a werewolf (you can't be born a werewolf). But if you take it even further you could claim that food is also an alien substance and that it would be expelled, which would be a bit of a downer. There's got to be some kind of line drawn somewhere, right?

When it comes to alcohol I posted a thread about that a while back: Do werewolves get hangovers?
The idea there is that werewolves can get drunk, but they have to drink significantly more than regular humans, and they still get hangovers in much the same way humans do.
In the same way, in order for medicine to have an effect on a werewolf you'd have to up the dosage by a significant amount. It may not be necessary though as the werewolf affliction itself may do the job the medicine was intended for, meaning medicine isn't needed.

Then again, there could be werewolf-specific illnesses that aren't handled by the affliction itself. I'll have to ponder that.

 

[Ankari]

This does get tricky. I did a quick scan of what composes higher grade tattoo ink and found much of the ingredients to be found in food. Carbon dioxide is the main component of black ink, copper and aluminum are also prominent in some colors. The obvious problem is that if inks are expelled, so would many molecules found in the body.

I wouldn't have tattoos expelled. Or have only the poorer quality inks with questionable ingredients expel, while higher grade inks stay.

 

[Svrtnsse]

This does get tricky. I did a quick scan of what composes higher grade tattoo ink and found much of the ingredients to be found in food. Carbon dioxide is the main component of black ink, copper and aluminum are also prominent in some colors. The obvious problem is that if inks are expelled, so would many molecules found in the body.

I wouldn't have tattoos expelled. Or have only the poorer quality inks with questionable ingredients expel, while higher grade inks stay.

Thanks for looking into it - it's more than I expected. I was more interested in the spontaneous reaction, but I guess that's part of it.

I'm not completely married to the idea, but at the moment I probably won't change it.

A more convoluted explanation would be that the mode of insertion matters. The werwolf affliction is magical in nature, and it comes with its own mind and personality (there's a beast living within the mind of the person afflicted). Since there's a certain pain involved with tattooing there would be a greater tendency for the associated substance to be expelled.
This is something I came up with just now though in order to support my argument so I haven't really thought about any other implications of this. It could be there's some serious drawbacks to the idea.

 

[K.S. Crooks]

Perhaps when a werewolf becomes human again they return to a set form and appearance that can only be altered by natural aging or traumatic injury, such as losing a hand. This would be similar to Mr. Hyde returning to Dr. Jekyll or The Hulk turning back into Bruce Banner. So this would mean that the person could get a tattoo, but it would disappear once they turn into a wolf. For them it would be like henna.