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Vargulf
Hemlock Grove - 1x12 - Children of the Night vw
General Information
Status

Extant

Distinction

A werewolf who turns on a wrong moon, driving them mad.

Season(s)

123

A vargulf (meaning "Rogue Wolf" in norse) is a physically and mentally unstable Werewolf. Unlike typical werewolves, a vargulf will kill its prey without eating it. A vargulf will eventually die from the disease or insanity possessing it.

The wolf is connected to the phases of the moon. Its body becomes fuller as the moon does, with its peak form appearing when the moon is full. If they transform without a full moon, they risk becoming a mentally and physically unstable werewolf that is consumed by its condition until it dies from it.

Parts of the wolf body can manifest from the human body on the werewolf's will, though this usually happens when the wolf body is incomplete inside the human one. This risks them becoming unstable and insane, with their transformations being completely unstable. The wolf body becomes independent of the human one and transforms the human body involuntarily. The wolf, rather than the human, takes control of the transformations, causing the human to lose control of their own minds and bodies as well. The more unstable these transformations, the more the wolf can appear without a full moon, though at the cost of the werewolf's conscious mind. It causes the wolf to emerge from a werewolf's corpse, should the werewolf not be decapitated beforehand.

At this point, the werewolf has become a vargulf, which commonly have brightly colored eyes and completely white fur as their condition progresses. The human form of a vargulf, should the vargulf ever take human form again, also has brightly colored eyes and completely white hair, usually due to the stresses of their insanity. This insanity could also mean the loss of human thought and the complete takeover of the wolf's feral and instinctive nature, though it may still retain the memories of its human self, as Peter did.

Known Vargulfs[]

Appearance[]

Vargulf as just like werewolves when it comes to their appearance. They are much bigger than regular wolves—about as big as a tiger—with an almost bear- or feline-like build. Their eyes glow a bright yellow, though sometimes their eyes look blurred in color.

The fur of a vargulf mainly depends on of the color of their hair in their human form. Christina's vargulf form's fur was black at first, but the stress of her traumatic experiences, loss of her friends, and subconscious guilt and confusion over her wolf's actions caused her human and vargulf's hair to turn white.

A vargulf's teeth are all similar in size and are shaped like stalagmites, and they have more humanoid limbs. Peter's vargulf eyes had far a more blue-red look to them and had a darker yellow as did Christina's, both in the second season. They appear to have much more fur than usual, causing a "wilder" appearance.

Transformation[]

When a person turns, the body up to the surface and all layers of skin begin to transfigure into a wolf body that literally rips out of their human bodies surface and skin layers. In the first season, their eyes pop out and are replaced with wolf eyes that glow yellow and their teeth fall out and replaced with fangs. The eyes do not fall out in the second season and transfigure along with the body under the human skin. Briefly, a transforming person voice can change and become inhumanly deep and distorted as their vocal cords are transforming.

When the vargulf has completed its change, the wolf then eats the remains of their human skin. A vargulf fully dies without having their heads are destroyed, or they will return from the dead, and while they can die inside the ground they are buried in and rot in their grave, but they will still be somewhat alive and transform into their wolf bodies, which will be normal and not rotted like their human body, which also rots again if they die again in their grave, as both the wolf and human bodies are constantly redeveloped and reborn from each other's bodies, which is why they can not die without their brain being severed or destroyed, as their brain drives both bodies to operate.

Vargulfs revert to their human form, their wolf bodies seemingly transfigured back into a human one instead of the human body having to be pulled out of the wolf body, or the human digging themselves out of their wolf body or the body dissolving or opening like a cocoon or chrysalis and rapidly decomposing, as suggested by the lack of any sign of the wolf body in season one when werewolves became humans again.

Since their transformations are unstable and uncontrollable, there are some points were the wolf will damage the human body of the werewolf from the inside at unpredictable times.

In the first season, it seemed that both werewolves and vargulfs turn back to human form without their wolf body tearing and turn back in 4 seconds, simply their wolf body literally changes into the human body in an unseen manner.

It was not shown if this changed in the second seasons, at least for vargulfs, as regular werewolves are now seen transforming back seemingly with their wolf bodies being a cocoon or chrysalis and their human bodies redeveloping, much like an embryo in an egg, throughout the time the werewolf is in their wolf body.

It is possible to have changed for virgules as well, though it might have been as maggots fed on Christina's corpse, seemingly eating off her wolf body and exposing her human body, that or her wolf body physically transfigured itself back into her human body, and Peter was inside his wolf body while he was transformed into a vargulf.

Becoming a Vargulf[]

There is only one way to become a vargulf, by turning on another part of the lunar cycle other than the full moon. If a werewolf partly turns too many times or fully turns more than once without the full moon, they will become a vargulf, or will be at high risk of it if they transform or partially transform without a ritual that requires the destruction of their physical human faces. Their body and mind become misaligned as they do not feel the phases of the moon properly, as they normally can the moons phases.

The process of physical and mental degeneration is called distrugere, the Romani word meaning to be destroyed, spoiled, or burned away, or to ruin oneself. The wolf consciousness that a werewolf has will take over the werewolf, potentially permanently trapping a werewolf in its wolf body without any conscious control, or simply having the wolf develop an instinctual homicidal personality that the werewolf does not control at all.

Cure[]

There is only one known way to turn a vargulf back into a werewolf, while in their wolf form, someone with extreme strength must open up and destroy the wolf body and pull the human body out of it.

Death[]

When a vargulf dies, their head must be cut off or damaged past the brain before putting it into the grave. If this is not done, the vargulf will come back from the dead, seemingly as crazed as it was before. Christina was shown to have awoken in her grave a day after having her neck broken by Shelley, screaming in horror. 9 months later, her rotted corpse's hands emerged from the ground and her vargulf body came out of her rotted corpse. It chased Shelley throughout the night and day after, either due to instinct or that she wanted to avenge her death. Shelley could still fight her off smacked into the air and into a tree. She ran from her until her neck was crushed with a rock, and her head was severed.

Shelley picked up the head, causing the flesh still attached to the head from the body, to rip and tore it in half in anger. The flesh under what was once a neck started to bubble slightly and later on, her human body was found, still with white hair, and maggots eating away at the pieces. Some of her wolf skin was also found being eaten by maggots.

Feeding[]

A vargulf kills their victims provoked or not. Meaning it could be a random kill. They will also kill who they feel antagonized them and will act on their subconscious feeling. When a vargulf kills they only eat some parts of their victims body but leave most of the body wherever.

Powers & Abilities[]

A transformed vargulf's physical abilities seem greater than that of a regular werewolf, allowing them to overpower and kill animals, humans, and other werewolves. Shelley and a full upir, no matter the age, can more than easily overpower and kill Vargulf's, as Shelley killed Christina twice and Roman ripped open a vargulf's body to remove a transformed Peter from the body.

  • Mesmerisation Resistance: Vargulfs can resist the mesmerizing of upirs because of their insanity there is not much to mesmerize.
  • Shape-Shifting: Vargulfs can turn at will, though they will not consciously control it as they are mentally unstable.
  • Enhanced Strength: Vargulfs only have their strength when they are in their wolf form, and then they can overpower almost every living creature and be at equal or nearly equal strength to that of a Full upir and that of Shelley. It can seemingly affect human strength as Peter was in a fist-fight with Roman and fought him on equal grounds, though Roman probably held back some of his strength to not kill Peter.They are more vulnerable in a fight with such species due to their quadrupedal bodies and being forced to lunge directly at their victims, leaving openings in their attacks. They would be equal in strength with upir and Shelley if it were not for their body shape and limited movement. Roman demonstrated this when he grabbed Peter's vargulf body by the jaws and torn it apart when it tried to attack. Shelley came at Christina from behind and picked her up, leaving her helpless as her neck was broken. Also, due to her non-humanoid shape, Shelleywas able to smack her aside while she was in mid-air after lunging at her. Shelley used a rock in a downward strike while Christina lunged at her, pushing her right to the ground and helpless while her neck was crushed and her head pulled off. Peter's vargulf fought Roman on equal grounds, with Roman's distraction by Destiny's ghost allowing Peter to tackle them both out the window, leaving Roman with several injuries and broken bones, allowing Peter to kill him by ripping out his heart.
  • Heightened Senses: Vargulfs can see, hear and smell much better than humans.
  • Enhanced Speed: Vargulfs' speed is increased when they are in their wolf form.

Weaknesses[]

  • Turning: Once someone has become a vargulf they are unable to control their turning. Each time it seems, their bodies can become more unstable and eventually leave transformation related injuries that can be fatal though they come back to life unless their heads are destroyed. It is possible they can be trapped in their wolf form permanently as their wolf becomes in control of its turning, but have no intellect to control it. They may turn back and have no memory of what they did in wolf form or only subconsciously know and believe something else. Christiana seemed to have developed a split personality from the vargulf condition, with her split personality controlling her wolf and stemming from her seeing others as promiscuous and sexually threatening to herself.
  • Mortality: As they do not have enhanced healing factors, vargulfs can be killed any way a normal human can be killed. Although, they come back to life if their head is not destroyed or removed.
  • Mercury: Mercury is a liquid that can burn the skin of a werewolf.
  • Decapitation: If a vargulf's brain and head are completely or partly destroyed or even severed, they will be permanently destroyed.
  • Non-Humanoid Body: Due to their non-humanoid shape and their lack of joints that provide the movement that humanoids possess, vargulfs are exposed at certain parts of their bodies, and be attacked from the sides or be picked up and killed. They are limited in their attacks due their quadrupedal bodies, which only allow them to lunge forward and slightly reach to the sides. They can, however, turn as fast as humanoids and can be overwhelmed and killed due to their predictable movements.

Gallery[]

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