The Wolfman of Wulvershire is a fantasy webcomic available on the Webtoons app, where all but the latest three chapters can be read for free. The series takes place in a Victorian style fantasy world, where technology and medicine are powered by mined Aether, and orcs and elves live alongside humans.
Lady Carina may be of noble birth, but she has no interest in getting married and becoming a baby factory for some man. Despite this, she decides to attend the Duke of Wulvershire's annual Spring Fling, a high society event geared for matchmaking. Things go from awkward to terrifying as a gruesome series of homicides begin taking place at the Duke's mansion. The more superstitious are eager to blame the fabled Wolfman, said to steal away young women in the night and make them his brides, but Carina and the handsome half elf Ren think there may be a darker conspiracy afoot. The Waterfords have dark secrets, and aren't above doing some awful things to keep them hidden.
This work contains examples of:
- Abusive Parents: Carina's mother refused to believe her when she came forward about being sexually abused and blamed her for it when presented with undeniable proof.
- The previous Duke of Wulvershire was... unpleasant, to say the least. After his plan to force Ren's mother into marriage for money and a title failed, he took the first chance he got to fake his death and work towards framing Ren, tricking his own son into thinking his big brother was a murder and executing him, all so that he could run away with the inheritance. He was totally fine with killing countless people on top of leaving his own son penniless and disgraced just so he could be rich. And then when Everett's existence got in the way of his plans to embezzle the inheritance, he tried to kill him.
- Dane's family give him a black eye and disown him after finding out that he's leaving the police force and entering a same sex relationship.
- Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Carina's mother is clearly meant to evoke the "Karen" stereotype. She makes excessive demands of service staff wherever she is, carries around a small lapdog named Chauncey, and while she's not openly bigoted some of the comments she makes about the nonhumans in her company are still insensitive. Carina is appalled when she makes some suggestive comments about how having some elvish heritage will make Ren's children more attractive.
- Ambiguously Brown: Carina is visibly tan, something she got from her father. In this setting there isn't much social difference between humans of varying ethnicities. The social minorities are all nonhuman races.
- By-the-Book Cop: Dane Brammage, which is notable because his family has organized crime ties.
- The Casanova: Duke Everett is an infamous womanizer who has taken on multiple maidservants as mistresses. The first death is of an elf woman who was one such woman and was pregnant with a child who would have a claim to the estate.
- Calling the Old Man Out: Carina's mother gets drunk and her bigotry goes from passive to very aggressive, prompting Carina to tell her off and make it known that she doesn't want to see her again.
- Cataclysm Backstory: The world seemingly used to be a more traditional high fantasy setting, but 2000 years ago a huge natural disaster involving the world's moon forced all of the Aether in the air underground. The only races and societies that survived the event were those who could adapt to a world where magic was mostly gone.
- Deceased Parents Are the Best: Played with. Carina is aware of her father's many flaws, ranging from frequent absence, to infidelity, to gambling, but she loved him and he was always there when she needed him the most.
- Death by Childbirth: This is a key part of the legend of the wolfman: He seeks out a virgin bride to carry his children, and she is doomed to die giving birth to another demon. This is also extremely common amongst Elf women who birth hybrid children, due to their smaller bodies. In-universe scholars surmise that the latter is part of what inspired the legend of the wolfman, as nonhumans take the legend more seriously. In ancient times humans hunted alongside dogs and wore wolf pelts. Combine that with the terrible fate that befell any Elf women who wound up abducted by the hunters and you get the origins of the myth.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Everett is selfish, sexist, self-absorbed, pursues relationships with women who are under his authority, and shows interest in Carina's seventeen-year-old sister, but he had nothing to do with any of the murders or Ren being framed. He had no idea Ren was his brother and when he tried to kill him, he genuinely believed Ren was the killer.
- Fantastic Racism: The nobility is entirely made up of humans and they view nonhumans as exotic oddities at best.
- The tabloids start spreading some nasty rumors about Ren and he also starts getting death threats after he claims his birthright as the true heir to Wulvershire.
- Freudian Excuse: Everett's behavior seems to be tied to the fact that his father was a horrible, abusive person and his mother couldn't bear to look at him as he was the result of said abuse.
- Dane's initial hostility towards Carina for getting an abortion, his dislike of Ren, and their open promiscuity can all be tied to him trying to be an especially straight arrow due to coming from an abusive, neglectful family with organized crime ties that also raised him to be conservatively religious.
- Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Despite his troubled upbringing, the series and characters do not treat Everett as though he deserves any sympathy. This isn't helped by the fact that we have yet to see any evidence that his father directed any of his abusive behavior at him.
- Dane himself admits this about his previous cold behavior towards Carina and apologizes.
- Half-Human Hybrid: Ren, which is notable because half elves are uncommon due to how it's very dangerous for elf women to give birth to half-human children. It's later revealed his mother was a human.
- Hero with Bad Publicity: Ren spends a good chunk of the first arc as the prime suspect for the murders.
- Intrepid Reporter: Carlton the journalist.
- Irony: Lionel Waterford's final act of cruelty was a failed attempt on Carina and Ren's lives. In the end, Carina is left unable to bear children—something she considers to be a blessing. Oh, and he also died by being shoved into the boiling lake, which is how he intended on disposing of Ren.
- It's All About Me: Lionel Waterford's kill count is in the hundreds. Everything he did—murdering Ren's father, kidnapping Ren and his mother, blowing up a train full of innocent people, killing even more people during the Spring Fling, framing Ren, and trying to get him and Carry killed—was so he could steal the Wulvershire inheritance and escape the consequences of his actions. He's even willing to leave his own son penniless and disgraced in his pursuit of a life of luxury.
- Kissing Cousins: This is not frowned upon amongst nobility, but Everett is not a fan of the practice and thus rebuffs his cousin's offer for marriage.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Dane Brammage eventually realizes the error of his ways and works to clear Ren's name.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Cary's abuser eventually winds up in a full body cast.
- Lionel Waterford is revealed to be a murderous abuser, both physical and sexual, but before we find out about his misdeeds we know that he died in an explosion on a train. The comic later states that he lost a few limbs and was badly burnt in the accident, noting how talented the mortician was for hiding all of this. And then it turns out that was Carina's dad in the casket, burnt beyond recognition, and Lionel had been in hiding the whole time. After all of this, Karina and Ren still manage to kill him, with the public finding out that he was the real killer all along.
- Everett's sexcapades become public and he's thrown in jail for shooting multiple people after he finds out that he's not the true heir to Wulvershire. And then it turns out that he genuinely believed that Ren was the killer and had nothing to do with his framing. He never killed anyone and his horror at finding out the first victim was pregnant with his child was genuine. In the end, he narrowly escapes his father's attempt on his life, is declared dead, and now lives on the street as a beggar.
- Luke, I Am Your Father: Carina's investigation reveals that Everette's mother was also Ren's mother, and that he's the rightful heir to the Wulvershire Duchy.
- Not Quite Dead: Lionel faked his death and orchestrated everything to try and embezzle Ren's inheritance away.
- Murder the Hypotenuse: This is the reason Ren's father died. The previous Duke's claim to the land and political standing was shaky, so he sought out Ren's mother, who had run away to have a quiet life with the Elf she fell in love with. He abducts her and Ren and murders him, forcing her into the marriage in exchange for Ren's safety.
- Mr. Fanservice: Ren winds up nearly naked at multiple points, and the author has confirmed that the only reason we haven't seen him fully nude is because of Webtoons' content guidelines.
- Ms. Fanservice: Carina is rather... well-endowed, and frequently winds up in attire that shows this off.
- My Greatest Failure: Ren sees his inability to help Cary when she was clearly being abused as this.
- Not Wanting Kids Is Weird: Everyone feels this way about Carina's desire to not have kids. This also resulted in some of Ren's past relationships ending badly, as his hybrid status means he's unable to father children. It's later brought up that this might be a myth spread by racists, but it becomes a moot point as the stabbing Carina survives at the comic's climax leaves her unable to bear children.
- Papa Wolf: After finding out that Carina was being abused, her father took it upon himself to deal with the situation discreetly but effectively. He teamed up with Carlton to investigate the abuser and the ring of his allies in the aristocracy sharing illicit images of victims.
- Riches to Rags: Everett's final fate. Also, Ren and Carina make the decision to give up most of Ren's inheritance to a group that wants to abolish the monarchy and help the nation transition into a democracy, but they're by no means penniless at the story's close.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: After Ren takes over the Wulvershire Duchy and his relationship with Carina becomes public, Carina's mother eagerly supports the relationship, but only because it's a highly prestigious match with ties to royalty. She probably would have vehemently opposed if Ren were just an ordinary half elf. She also has no problem with them getting intimate out of wedlock, but also manages to be creepy and embarrassing about it.
- Sequel Hook: The comic ends with Dane's father murdered right after it seemed like he'd realized the error of his ways and wanted to make amends.
- Unequal Pairing: Every one of Duke Everett's affairs is this.
- Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Ren and Everett were actually quite close as children, and he laments what his brother could have been if he'd stayed to protect him.
