This will be long and filled with historical data, so it may be a bit of a dull read. Nonetheless, it is interesting to me, and I hope some people find this informative. All accounts will have the link to my sources for future reference.
DJ Twitch said:
Werewolves were made up like 100 years ago
I have no idea where you got this number from. A quick scanning of the wiki page of "Werewolf," shows that the folklore of a werewolf dates back to the Greeks, with some mentions during the time of Proto-Indo-Europeans. That's thousands of years ago. This concept is not new by any means.
With that being said, I am completely okay with the idea of werewolves in Zelda. One of the interesting aspects of Zelda is the use of some Medieval themes. The best example I have is the use of crosses for gravestones in the original Legend of Zelda, and The Adventure of Link. Werewolves were a prominent theme during the Middle Ages, and would fit perfectly in the series. We have seen the first steps of this with the use of Wolfos, but I would like to see full lycanthropy.
I'm not entirely fond of the whole, "Every full moon," transformation deal, but there are work arounds to amend it. There are a lot of different stories involving men turning into wolves during Greek and Roman times. Do keep in mind that they are turning into wolves, not wolf-men. Can't say I am a huge fan of bipedal werewolves, honestly. The best example I could find was of Lycaon, the kind of Arcadia. He tried to give Zeus an offering that had human flesh in it, and was turned into a wolf. That is Lycaon on the right, as he is fleeing. Given the picture (below) and the accounts by the 2nd century AD Greek geographer, Pausanias, one can assume that the transformation was gradual. As he fled, he was given wolf-liked qualities.
Pausanias said:
[3] For Cecrops was the first to name Zeus the Supreme god, and refused to sacrifice anything that had life in it, but burnt instead on the altar the national cakes which the Athenians still call pelanoi. But Lycaon brought a human baby to the altar of Lycaean Zeus, and sacrificed it, pouring out its blood upon the altar, and according to the legend immediately after the sacrifice he was changed from a man to a wolf （Lycos）.
Source
In summation of this point, werewolves during Greek times, and the ideal ones for a Zelda game, are not bipedal.
Anyway. the particular story that I think would do well in Zelda is the story recounted by Herodotus, who is sometimes called the father of history:
Herodotus said:
The Neuri follow Scythian customs; but one generation before the advent of Darius' army, they happened to be driven from their country by snakes; for their land produced great numbers of these, and still more came down on them out of the desolation on the north, until at last the Neuri were so afflicted that they left their own country and lived among the Budini. It may be that these people are wizards;
[2] for the Scythians, and the Greeks settled in Scythia, say that once a year every one of the Neuri becomes a wolf for a few days and changes back again to his former shape. Those who tell this tale do not convince me; but they tell it nonetheless, and swear to its truth.
Section 1
Section 2
The Darius mentioned in the account is assumed to be Darius I, or Darius the Great. His reign was from September 522 BCE to October 486 BCE, and attacked the Neuri people in 512. If it was the generation before him, then we can assume that the Neuri people were driven from their homes around 540 BC, with a margin of error around 10 years. The mentioning of the Scythians is also interesting, as they were 7th century Iranian tribes living in the central Eurasian steppes. Werewolves were in Slavic cultures, most of them believing that some humans were shape-shifters, though preferred to take the shape of a wolf.
It would be interesting for Link to visit a village where people like the Neuri people are afflicted with this condition. Rather than being malevolent beings that wreak havoc, they could be very compassionate people that are plagued by a curse. Rather than having to kill them, he ventures into the bowels of their temple that is believed to foster the curse, and expel it. Much like the two Sols infusing with the Master Sword in Twilight Princess, Link could gain an ability to weaken curse-bearing entities enough to be able to defeat them through combat.
Above all else, this could do a lot to explain why Link was turned into a wolf in the Twilight Realm. This would mean that the game would have to come before Twilight Princess in the timeline, but it could shine light upon the reason why he becomes a wolf, whereas A Link to the Past Link becomes a bunny in the Dark World. It doesn't even have to be incredibly blatant; it could be an offhand statement that sheds light on this phenomenon. In fact, I'd be disappointed if they just shoved it in our face rather than making it more subtle.
This doesn't need to be a particularly important part of the game, though. In fact, I'd much prefer if this was a side quest with a mini-dungeon like Bottom of the Well in Ocarina of Time was, or The Color Dungeon in Link's Awakening. I'd like the Master Sword upgrade to be entirely optional, as it would only deal additional damage to specific enemies. It would still be a fun, albeit optional, side quest that sheds light on another title in the series.
