Would a Werewolf transform during a day time full moon?

Exactly What It Says on the Tin. Werewolves transform in a full moon, but it's possible to see a full moon in day time as well.

So I got to wondering if it's possible for a Werewolf to change during a Full Moon that can be seen during the day.

If there are any examples of such a thing in fiction, I'd love to hear about it.

Since the rules of lycanthropy vary from universe to universe, it'd really be up to the writer. Personally, I'd suggest that yes, they can transform, but their enhancements would be on a reduced level.

Makes sense to me.

Rules for werewolf transformations vary videly between different stories, but if it is established that werewolves in this story transform at full-moon, well then should day-time full-moons trigger transformations...

If you must thave a "line-of-sight" to the moon or not in order to transform is another subject entirely...

Personally, I've never heard of a werewolf not transforming just because the sky happened to be overcast that night...

OTOH, I have seen movies and TV shows where a werewolf remains in human form at night — and then the clouds roll apart to expose the full moon. A full-on Body Horror transformation ensues.

So I guess the Rule of Drama / Rule of Scary wins out.

I actually have seen it where the sky being overcast and obscuring the moon can prevent a werewolf from changing. I've only ever seen it done in movies and tv shows, though, and never in print (probably because the moment where the moon comes out from behind the clouds is better communicated visually).

Some classic sources have it that the moon isn't involved at all in how a person turns into a werewolf. This is really a case of "please yourself." If you want your werewolf affected by the moon, you're free to have your werewolf affected by a daytime-visible moon. Go for it.

It's questions like this that cause me to have werewolves that aren't compelled to change when the moon is full and can change forms at will.

Basically, make whatever rules you like for your werewolves as long as you remain consistent. Decide what it is about the moon that makes them transform and then have them react accordingly - if they have to see it, that should mean hiding inside the house with the curtains drawn should prevent a transformation. If the mere fact that the moon has popped over the horizon is sufficient (begging the questions of why it has to be in the sky at all and why they're not spending a certain period around full moon in wolf form regardless of whether it's day or night, "risen" or not) then they'd transform regardless of day or night or whether or not they knew it had risen. Or you could decide that Darkness (or at least a lack of direct sunlight) + Moonlight is the key and on days when the moon is visible and full during daylight hours, they wouldn't transform until the sun was gone and/or it was sufficiently dark

Moonlight is sunlight, just indirect sunlight reflected off of the moon.

Hence "lack of direct sunlight".

Personally I've never been able to come up with plausible reasons why the fact that the moon is in a position to reflect more sunlight would trigger changes in the average lycanthrope, anyway, so I just go with them being able to transform at will and are not forced into changing by lunar phases.

Of course, nights of the full moon - with the extra light it affords and yet the ability to melt into deep shadows at will - could well be popular times to take on wolf form.

Since wolves tend to hunt at night or dusk, maybe werewolves don't transform during the day because it isn't a good time(the night makes a good cover for a giant wolf monster) or because the "wolf curse" is conscious and is asleep during the day.

AFAIK, wolves have a polyphasic sleep pattern and have active periods during both day and night.

I always took the moon idea to be somewhat influenced by a woman's menstrual cycles, which have in some cultures been thought to have been influenced by the moon. While it generally isn't noticeable, men's hormones wax and wane in monthly cycles too. There are cases, though rare, where it is noticeable; there are some men who get considerably more aggressive during the time of the month where their testosterone is at its highest point.

Still, I think some of the older werewolf stories had them changing when they put on a belt made out of wolf fur. There's an old French one that, if I remember it right, could change into a wolf whenever he wanted, but couldn't change back unless he could find his clothes (so of course, in the story, someone hid his clothes from him).

And then there were cartoons like Fangface, where just looking at a picture of the full moon would trigger an involuntary transformation, and seeing the sun (or a reasonable facsimile thereof) would change him back.

There's a character in the anime version of Megaman Star Force who was the same.

Looking at anything round while possessed by the Fm-ian Wolf (alien made of radio waves) caused him to start transforming into their Wave change form Wolf Woods.

edited 23rd Dec '16 10:31:48 AM by HandsomeRob

I'd imagine it'd be possible for a full moon in the daytime to cause a werewolf transformation... the only problem is that it's actually not possible for a full moon to appear when the sun is up. The article you posted even says this. A full moon occurs when the moon is directly behind the Earth in relation to the sun. As such, a full moon will rise at sunset and set at sunrise, and it's actually the only phase of the moon that isn't found in the daytime sky at any time.

Other phases close to the full moon can be visible in the daytime sky near sunrise and before sunset depending on whether those phases come before or after the full moon, but not a true full moon. Funny how nature completely cooperates with the rule of werewolves only appearing at night.

edited 19th Jan '17 7:46:36 PM by Stegomasaurus

This question is silly.

It all depends on how lycanthropy works in your universe.

Now how it works can skew towards more traditional depictions (ex. A werewolf only transforms under a full moon at night) or away from them (ex. A werewolf can transform at will regardless of the time of day or lunar cycle but they have to do the Hockey Pockey first). Or for extra fun you can follow the traditional model closely to a point, only to have an individual completely break those rules in order to demonstrate how far beyond other characters they are.

This isnt the gestation period of a humpback whale. This isn't hard facts about the real world. Werewolves are fantasy and can be manipulated to the author's desire.

My werewolves are actually wolves bitten by humans who can only assume their original forms after they help a busy business woman find true love in New York City. Hilarity Ensues.

I think this would sound kind of pointless, because on the day of the full moon, you may see the moon juuuuust above the horizon in the late afternoon or early morning. While it's true that normally sunlight would be strong enough to completely overpower the effects of moonlight, at that time of day the sunlight is quite weak even if it is still in the sky, as it would be either an hour or two before sunset or an hour or two after dawn.

On a different note, I can imagine things would be interesting for a werewolf living above the Arctic Circle, where near the winter solstice you get 24 hours of darkness. Meaning that on a full moon, said moon would make a full circle around the sky, meaning 24 hours in wolf form - possibly more depending on how "full" the moon has to be. But then they also never transform in summer.

edited 23rd Jan '17 10:54:05 PM by ladytanuki