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Do werewolves get hangovers?

Svrtnsse

Staff
Article Team
Spontaneously, what's your first thought - yes or no?

Don't answer "it depends" or something like that. I'm first of all interested in whether you'd answer the question in the topic with a yes or a no given the information included in the topic.

Okay, now for the "it depends" part, and where I'm interested in a more thought out respose.

Obviously it's up to me as a writer to decide whether werewolves in my setting get hangovers or not, but I figured it might make for an interesting/amusing topic.
In many settings werewolves are immune to diseases or poisons. They have strong healing powers and can heal serious wounds in much shorter time than a normal human.
Now, alcohol is clearly a poison, but is a hangover a disease, or an effect of the poison, or something else. As I understand, one of the causes for hangover is dehydration. How would a werewolf deal with that?

I'm pretty sure the werewolf in my story will be getting a hangover (because all my characters eventually do, and usually sooner rather than later), but I'd like to run it by the hivemind to see what you have to say here.
 

Ireth

Myth Weaver
I think that yes, a werewolf would get a hangover just like a human would. And I'm pretty sure a hangover is just an after-effect of the poison that is alcohol. As for how they'd deal with it... water. Pretty tried-and-true, IMO.
 
My first thought was Yes.

My second thought was, well at least 29 days of every month, give or take.

My third thought was that I'm not really up on all the current werewolf lore.
 

Heliotrope

Staff
Article Team
Hmmmmmmmm, interesting.

Ok. My thoughts.

Werewolves are sort of known for their healing capabilities. They have to be able to heal fast in order to switch from man to beast monthly (insert bad PMS joke here).

Not too much is known about what causes a hangover, but dehydration is one cause.

I imagine a werewolf would probably be able to overcome any of the metabolic, or poisonous effects of alcohol, but simple dehydration is dehydration. Not much you can do about that besides drinking a ton of water.

So I imagine that werewolves would not have hangovers as bad as a human... their body can just metabolize more alcohol than any human... but... if they did drink enough they would not be able to counter the extreme dehydration.... so they would probably wake up with a bad headache, dry mouth, dizziness, fatigue, and nausea associated with severe dehydration.
 

ThinkerX

Myth Weaver
Oh yes.

Now, imagine a completely wasted, falling down drunk undergoing the change to wolf form. Probably just curl up and sleep rather than run amok.
 
Spontaneously, what's your first thought - yes or no?

Don't answer "it depends" or something like that. I'm first of all interested in whether you'd answer the question in the topic with a yes or a no given the information included in the topic.

Okay, now for the "it depends" part, and where I'm interested in a more thought out respose.

Obviously it's up to me as a writer to decide whether werewolves in my setting get hangovers or not, but I figured it might make for an interesting/amusing topic.
In many settings werewolves are immune to diseases or poisons. They have strong healing powers and can heal serious wounds in much shorter time than a normal human.
Now, alcohol is clearly a poison, but is a hangover a disease, or an effect of the poison, or something else. As I understand, one of the causes for hangover is dehydration. How would a werewolf deal with that?

I'm pretty sure the werewolf in my story will be getting a hangover (because all my characters eventually do, and usually sooner rather than later), but I'd like to run it by the hivemind to see what you have to say here.

First thought is yes, why not? Next thought is while transformed or no? (Why would a werewolf in wolf form be drinking, though? Unless he ate a drunk person?) Third thought is of how dogs are negatively affected by alcohol more than humans. But...depends on what you want for the story, really.
 

Svrtnsse

Staff
Article Team
Thanks again guys. It's good to get some different perspectives even though you all seem to agree on the main point. I'm also getting some idea for "amusing anecdotes" or character development here. :)
 

Heliotrope

Staff
Article Team
Re: the science behind eating a drunk person... the answer would be no, a werewolf could not get drunk from eating a drunk person. I'll explain why.

This was explained to me when I was nursing my first baby. I was worried I could not have a drink while breastfeeding. It turns out that even if I was over the legal limit of intoxication (which is 0.08% blood alcohol content in Canada) the baby would hardly feel anything. The reason is because my breastmilk carries the same level of alcohol as my blood. If my blood alcohol level is 0.08% (falling down drunk) than baby is drinking breastmilk that only has a 0.08 % alcohol level.

Most beers have a alcohol level of 4.0-6.0%.

Hard drinks like whiskey have an alcohol content of 40-68%.

So basically my baby would be having a few sips of the equivalent of a non-alcoholic beer, or a very ripe peice of fruit. Pretty much nothing would enter his blood stream.

Based on this logic, if a werewolf ate a falling down drunk guy, the blood alcohol level would only be around 0.08%. Not enough to get him even remotely drunk.
 
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Aurora

Sage
But it's fantasy fiction. It doesn't have to be realistic. Svrtnsse can do whatever he wants to fit his story.
 

Svrtnsse

Staff
Article Team
This is an interesting aspect though. My werewolves won't be eating any people in the story (or out of the story either if I have anything to say about it (and I do)), but...

Logically, you wouldn't get drunk from eating someone even if they're completely langers. It's fantasy though and we can apply different rules as we want. Let's say for the sake of the argument that when a werewolf eats someone they also consume part of the person soul/essence/core/mind and that's where the real sustenance comes from (or was that vampires). If the person is under the influence then their mind gets warped, and this in turn effects the mind of the werewolf who consumes it.

In this way, it could be made to make sense for the werewolf to get drunk from eating someone.
 
Re: the science behind eating a drunk person... the answer would be no, a werewolf could not get drunk from eating a drunk person. I'll explain why.

This was explained to me when I was nursing my first baby. I was worried I could not have a drink while breastfeeding. It turns out that even if I was over the legal limit of intoxication (which is 0.08% blood alcohol content in Canada) the baby would hardly feel anything. The reason is because my breastmilk carries the same level of alcohol as my blood. If my blood alcohol level is 0.08% (falling down drunk) than baby is drinking breastmilk that only has a 0.08 % alcohol level.

Most beers have a alcohol level of 4.0-6.0%.

Hard drinks like whiskey have an alcohol content of 40-68%.

So basically my baby would be having a few sips of the equivalent of a non-alcoholic beer, or a very ripe peice of fruit. Pretty much nothing would enter his blood stream.

Based on this logic, if a werewolf ate a falling down drunk guy, the blood alcohol level would only be around 0.08%. Not enough to get him even remotely drunk.

Ahhh, that's disappointing.
 

Ban

Troglodytic Trouvère
Article Team
Re: the science behind eating a drunk person... the answer would be no, a werewolf could not get drunk from eating a drunk person. I'll explain why.

This was explained to me when I was nursing my first baby. I was worried I could not have a drink while breastfeeding. It turns out that even if I was over the legal limit of intoxication (which is 0.08% blood alcohol content in Canada) the baby would hardly feel anything. The reason is because my breastmilk carries the same level of alcohol as my blood. If my blood alcohol level is 0.08% (falling down drunk) than baby is drinking breastmilk that only has a 0.08 % alcohol level.

Most beers have a alcohol level of 4.0-6.0%.

Hard drinks like whiskey have an alcohol content of 40-68%.

So basically my baby would be having a few sips of the equivalent of a non-alcoholic beer, or a very ripe peice of fruit. Pretty much nothing would enter his blood stream.

Based on this logic, if a werewolf ate a falling down drunk guy, the blood alcohol level would only be around 0.08%. Not enough to get him even remotely drunk.

Interesting.

But we should also consider that werewolves would likely be comparable to dogs and wolves in their tolerance of alcohol. Dogs are notoriously weak drinkers, who are not made to handle alcohol. For example, my dog accidentally drank half a beer once and he was acting strange and clumsy for hours. If a medium to large sized dog gets drunk off of half a can than perhaps if a werewolf ate more than one drunk human he might be hammered already.
 
Yes
I remember reading a story in which a werewolf get a hangover and it was a very fun scene.

Now, alcohol is clearly a poison, but is a hangover a disease, or an effect of the poison, or something else. As I understand, one of the causes for hangover is dehydration. How would a werewolf deal with that?

Wolves aren't immune to poison, Why would werewolves be immune to poisons ?
 

Svrtnsse

Staff
Article Team
Wolves aren't immune to poison, Why would werewolves be immune to poisons ?

Because I say so. :D

On a more serious note, I'd say it's due to their supernatural healing powers. This also allows them to tolerate or handle harmful substances to a much higher degree than wolves or humans. Then again, would this higher tolerance/immunity mean the werewolf doesn't get drunk in the first place, or just that they have to drink exceptionally much.

Also, as far as eating people goes - people are kinda big, and it's a lot to eat. :p
 
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