There Are At Minimum 3 Different Types Of Werewolves, Shifters, Lycanthropes, And Wolfmen.

There are at minimum 3 different types of werewolves, Shifters, Lycanthropes, and Wolfmen.

Shifters are humans who can, at will, turn into a wolf. The wolf might be bigger than a normal wolf but it's still just a wolf. They also (mostly?) retain their human mind while in wolf form and their temperament, not becoming any more or less violent or bloodthirsty. There is a shifter variant where they are humans who can at will turn into Wolfmen. The important thing about shifter werewolves is the "at will" part. Werewolfism in these kinds of stories is less of a curse and more of a superpower, and more often than not born into being a werewolf through a genetic line rather than being bitten and turned.

Wolfmen are creatures that take on the characteristics of both humans and wolves at the same time. Anthro wolves and anime girls with ears and a tail both fit into this category. The important distinction in this category is that these werewolves look like this 24/7 and unless they are the shifter variant mentioned above they have no human form at all. Wolfmen are similar to shifters, more often than not born into this form and lifestyle rather than being cursed with it through bites.

Lycanthropes are horror movie werewolves, these werewolves need to be bitten, cursed, or otherwise inflicted with lycanthropy. These are the werewolves that have painful, bone-breaking transformations under the light of the full moon and turn from a human into a monster. The form they take, whether it be closer to a wolf-human hybrid or a big wolf, isn't as important to the typing as the fact that the transformation is uncontrollable and that the Lycanthrope loses almost all of their human qualities becoming a wild animal. Lycanthropes also often don't remember what they did as a wolf in their time shifted.

I will hear arguments for how these categories could be expanded on and refined as well as other types of werewolves. please someone just talk to me about werewolves. Also, these categories are all equally hot and fuckable thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.