Bob on Hexenwolves in FM (hatchet job, all quoted, but mixed for easy reading)
“Hexenwolf,” Bob said, with a strong Germanic accent. “Spell wolf. The Church declared war on anyone who chose to become a Hexenwolf, and burned a huge number of people at the stake. The most common way, back in France, was to make a deal with a demon or a devil or a powerful sorcerer. You get a wolf-hide belt, put it on, say the magic words, and whammy, you’re a wolf. A Hexenwolf. You don’t use your own magic to become a wolf. You use someone else’s. It’s different because you’re employing a talisman. Sometimes it’s a ring or amulet, but usually it’s a belt. The talisman provides an anchor for a spirit of bestial rage. Nasty thing from the bad side of the Nevernever. That spirit wraps around a human personality to keep it from being destroyed. It leaves you with your own intellect and reason, but the spirit handles everything else. And when you use a talisman to turn into a wolf, you lose all of your human inhibitions and so on, and just run on your unconscious desires, with the talisman-spirit in charge of the way the body moves. It’s really efficient. A huge wolf with human-level intelligence and animal-level ferocity.”
Possible Suspects
- Victor Sells - unlikely, he was already dead, and while Harry said he was powerful, he didn't have a lot of training
- Leonid Kravos - possible, he summoned demons that could have helped, but no evidence that he was THAT powerful, nor inclined to that form of magic, nor active that early
- Madge Shelly - unlikely; although the most powerful of the ex-wives, we presume her contact with PapaR started due to Arturo's defiance, which was years later.
- Mavra - possible, but doesn't seem to tie in with her darker magic style
- Bianca - unlikely, it was probably too early for her to be that far along in her sorceress apprenticeship, and I don't think we had proof she was 'powerful'
- Ortega - unlikely, no evidence he was that powerful of a sorcerer
- Arianna - possible, seemed to have power, and may have been able to make the belts
- Leah - unlikely, she DOES have a thing for transforming humans into dogs, but she wasn't crazy from the athame yet, and she wouldn't have wanted Harry dead.
- Mab - unlikely, it all seems beneath her
- Aurora - unlikely, no proof she was crazy yet
- Erlking - possible; he may have made the belts, but I don't seem him giving them to Denton. Who else would he make them for, probably at Fae cost, who would then give them away to Denton for free?
- Nicodemus - unlikely, no evidence that he's ever done magic on that scale
- Thorned Namshiel - possible, due to presumed Blouncil ties and known magical ability
- Lord Raith - possible/unlikely, i like to pin everything on him these days, and he knows magic, but him being cut off from using magic makes it nay impossible.
- Lara Raith - unlikely, we haven't seen her do any magic other than the White Court Whammy
- Madrigal Raith - unlikely, we never saw proof he would be in the 'powerful wizard' category
- Madeline Raith - unlikely, like her brother, doesn't seem to have any magical ability
- Skavis - unlikely, no evidence whatsoever of magical ability beyond standard White Court
- Cowl - possible; he has enough power, is familiar with the NN, can handle demon-beast things, but what would his motivation have been?
- Corpsetaker - possible; she knew SOMETHING about bodies, but doesn't seem like her forte
- Grevane - unlikely; as a traditional necromancer, it doesn't seem like his bag
- Skinwalker - possible, is powerful, familiar with darker magics, shapeshifting, and has helped at least once in a presumed Blouncil plot.
- Theoretical Kumori/Elaine: She's probably powerful enough; she spent time in Summer, and may have learned how to bind NN spirits to a belt like Bob described; she would definitely warn people about the Wouncil, but other than being a task Cowl gave her, wouldn't have motivation against Marcone.
