| “ | The king of all lycanthropes. He is said to have the strength of mountains, the speed of moving stars, and a will that is like unto fire. Some say he was a cruel and barbaric king, others say that he was a noble and benevolent lord. Some even likened him to a god. What I do believe is that without him, we would not exist. And honestly, I'm not sure whether to be thankful or spiteful. | „ |
| ~ Miguel talking about Lycaon. |
In Greek mythology, Lycaon was a king of Arcadia, son of Pelasgus, who is believed to be one of the first mortals to walk on Earth, and Meliboea. He is regarded as the first werewolf in existence and thus the strongest of them all.
Description[]
Lycaon is considered to be the first ever werewolf in existence, and as such he is regarded as the most powerful werewolf on Earth and even lorded as the "king of the werewolves". Due to being the first werewolf, he is possibly the only known species of werewolf with whitish gold fur. It is actually extremely rare for another werewolf to have this fur coloration, even if it was just a small patch.
A lycanthrope with whitish gold fur is believed to be the direct descendant of Lycaon and it is implied that the golden aura emitted when a lycan activates their Munin Howl is colored after Lycaon's own fur, essentially cementing their eternal ties to their forebearer, be it afflicted or pureblood. Moreover, animals with white fur are typically said to be owned by the gods themselves, a belief held in Celtic mythology though given that werewolves came from divine hand it is no stretch in of itself.
History[]
Background[]
Lycaon's origins are shrouded in mystery, though according to some of the elders, he was among the Antediluvian people who survived the Great Deluge. Another is that he descended from the legendary continent of Hyperborea, a son of Pelasgus, the first kingdom of man established on Earth before the Great Flood. He would then rule over Pelasgia, renaming it as Arcadia. This was the period in Greek mythology before the Great Flood when Cecrops was upon the throne of Athens, and Deucalion was king of Thessaly.
Lycaon was said to have had many wives, including the Naiad nymphs, Cyllene and Nonacris. These many wives would give birth to many sons for Lycaon, although, whilst it was generally said that Lycaon was father to fifty sons, the names, and even the number, of sons does differ between sources. The sons of Lycaon though, would travel across the region founding many of the towns subsequently located in Arcadia.
Cursed by Zeus[]
The legend of Lycaon varies but in one popular version of the myth, he tested Zeus by serving him the roasted flesh of a guest from Epirus in order to see whether Zeus was truly omniscient. In return for these gruesome deeds Zeus transformed Lycaon into the form of a wolf, and invoked a curse where any silver material or possession will become a bane to him; this punishment is likely because Lycaon acted like a beast and will thus eat like a beast instead of using proper utensils like a human. Zeus then seemingly killed Lycaon's fifty other sons with lightning bolts and the slaughtered child, Nyctimus, was restored to life. Nyctimus then succeeded Lycaon as king in the process.
However, unbeknownst to Zeus at the time before killed most of his fifty sons, Lycaon bit them and placed them under the curse of the werewolf, enough for them to survive the King of the Gods' wrath. After surviving, the surviving sons of Lycaon all escaped out into the wilderness and traversed the globe separately, each one making a clan of werewolves that have come to be known across the world.
Zeus later knew of their survival and opted to destroy them with a great flood just as God did to destroy the Nephilim and the sinful humans in a fit of rage with the aid of Poseidon which effectively brought an end to the Mycenaean era of Greece. Despite his efforts, Lycaon and his sons survived the deluge and Zeus was prepared to eradicate them once more, however, he was stopped by Athena who informed her father that perhaps Lycaon and his sons may be of some use to restoring proper balance to the Natural Order. In this case, they would become a foil to the vampires that terrorized many human regions across the world and by Zeus' hand he would have created a solution to rid the vampiric dilemma. Zeus heeded Athena's advice and stayed his hand.
Legacy[]
While no other werewolf knows where the mighty lycanthrope is, there are rumors that his howls can be heard in Lykaia, which is known as Wolf Mountain and thus believed that he is currently residing there. There is another legend among the lycans regarding Lycaon, where they say that after the War of Beasts his spirit would lurk about the mountain regions where Azog is entombed from Zeus' flood, making sure the malignant werewolf and his tribe do not see the light. When Azog is released after the "world rises from fire", Lycaon's spirit would be taken back to the spirit realm.
His sons would sire other lycanthropes to carry on their legacy and with each passing century, create tribes across different regions of the world. Despite being notorious for his horrific deeds, Lycaon was also remembered as a culture hero: he was believed to have founded the city Lycosura, to have established a cult of Zeus Lycaeus and to have started the tradition of the Lycaean Games, which Pausanias thinks were older than the Panathenaic Games.
