>>9600
werewolf comes from the anglo saxon word "were" (man) and wolf (fucking wolf retard)
its origins are common across many cultures but in terms of germanic and european culture many of the barbarian cultures such as the scythians, celts and germans were known to have rites of passage where a young warrior would wear a wolfskin for a certain amount of time and live as if they were wolves, at the end of which they would become a specialized shock warrior (to the germanics they were called beserks)
werewolves as a myth came out of these traditions when they died down in practice and became more memorized in the sagas and legends as magical and supernatural. werewolves however are different from the mythical beserks in the sagas, as a werewolf actually changes into a wolf and has no choice in the matter, and completely loses his humanity, and usually a werewolf gains it by some curse (a disease from a rapid wolf, blasphemous sacrifice of children to zeus, and wearing wolfskins after killing women were all known to cause lycanthropy as curses). a beserk however is different, they become a beserk not through a curse but a blessing given by odin to his favored warriors. these warriors hoped to gain the attention and favor of the war-gods (NOTICE ME SENPAI) by arrogant boasting, wearing little to no armor in combat and in place elaborate ritual helmets or animal skins, and chanting, or more accurately screaming, war-chants to frighten their enemies, inspire their friends and praise the gods of sword and axe. a beserk had some control over his blessing but it was not total, there are some stories in the sagas where beserks slay their kinsmen in fits of rage or kill an ally in the chaos of battle. however although the beserkergang is essentially about losing the self through trance, war and devotion to odin, this was for a higher purpose and transcendence. the beserks were holy warriors, the zealots of wodanaz and crusaders of the teutonic religion. they lose their humanity in order to become even more human, as in I LIVE, I DIE, I LIVE AGAIN for the memers, even though its a dumb meme from a good movie, the phrase is a pretty good summary of the cult of odin and the purpose of the beserk. werewolves are a cursed reflection of the beserk
now get the fuck out christ shill