1 REAL ORIGIN BETWEEN RIVALITY AND HATE BETWEEN VAMPIRES AND WOLVES

In principle, it must be said that the rivalry between Vampires and Werewolves is strongly rooted in horror films but completely absent from the literature. There are no classic stories that use this resource; however, what do exist are legends, by the way, very old, about the enmity between Vampires and Werewolves.

To know the origin of this rivalry between Vampires and Werewolves, it is necessary to set aside current beliefs on the subject.

Just as Vampires were always seen as evil creatures, Werewolves enjoyed an excellent reputation well into the Middle Ages, when the view of them changed radically. Until then, lycanthropes were considered allies of good, and therefore enemies of the Vampires.

Often, when referring to the Werewolves, we quickly think of the Middle Ages, where it was believed that witches and necromancers could turn into wolves after signing a pact with the devil. In this sense, the lycanthropes became allies of Lucifer, and therefore persecuted by the Holy Inquisition, but this was not always the case.

Werewolves were not always opposed to the Church they worked for it on many occasions. The first record of this relationship occurred in 617 AD.

A herd of lycanthropes entered an ancient Roman monastery, on which the monastery of San Giovanni would later rise. Although it may have been a real carnage, only three monks were attacked, and the rest did not suffer any damage. The three victims were being prosecuted for various acts of heresy, including that of turning into vampires through the use of black magic.

Since then, the Werewolves have become known as the Hounds of God, and they acted accordingly, chasing and hunting Vampires all over Europe.

To such an extent the Werewolves were well regarded by the religious authorities, that even several saints exercised the power to turn someone into a wolf, and thus also turn him into a warrior of the faith. There goes the story of Saint Patrick, who turned Vereticus, King of Wales, into a wolf (and a meek follower of religious principles); and that of Saint Natalis of Ulster, who sentenced an Irish family to roam the woods like wolves and serve the Church for seven years.

From the perspective of the Vampires, it is logical to assume that the Werewolves became their natural enemies.

It is still curious that, during the Middle Ages, where Vampires and Werewolves were equally persecuted, the enmity between both races continued. In general, agents of evil — such as witches, sorcerers, and necromancers — were allies to each other; that is to say, they respected the same hierarchical order, with Satan being the supreme leader, but this does not happen with the Vampires and the Werewolves in medieval times. Legends generally consider them bitter enemies.

By the way, both races, according to legend, responded to the evil one, but the relationship between them was broken, and it was not uncommon for there to be conflicts of all kinds.

Another interesting fact regarding the enmity between the Vampires and the Werewolves is found in a trial of Thiess of Kaltenbrun, accused of being a lycanthrope in Livonia, in the year 1692. Thiess, eighty years old, confessed to being a Werewolf, but he denied the accusations of witchcraft and maintained that lycanthropes are not monsters or agents of evil, but creatures in the service of God.

According to the accused, the Werewolves have been part of the hosts of good since time immemorial, and one of their main occupations is hunting down Vampires, Succubi, and Incubi.

Thiess was one of the few werewolves to shed any light on the Werewolves' agenda in terms of Hounds of God. He also maintained that their souls were not doomed, but quite the opposite, that they would ascend to heaven when they died, as long as they fulfilled their duty: exterminate the Vampires from the face of the earth.

At this point, it is fair to think that the Vampires did not sit idly by. The clearest evidence of their triumph is that lycanthropes also began to be persecuted by the Church, even though all chronicles before the Middle Ages maintain that the Werewolves worked tirelessly to defend human souls.

Among the oaths that bound the Werewolves to the Church was the obligation to respond to any summons, official or not, to hunt down the Vampires. They were also bound by oath to descend into the depths of hell to fight demons, if necessary, preventing them from escaping to this world.

Contrary to what happens with the Vampires, who were always seen as agents of evil, the reputation of the Werewolves has changed over time. At first, they were protectors and guardians of good but later fell out of favor, perhaps due to the subtle political arts of their adversaries. The only thing that remained unchanged was the enmity between Vampires and Werewolves, regardless of which side they represent.