Shapeshifting
Encyclopedia
Shapeshifting is a common theme in mythology
Mythology
The term mythology can refer either to the study of myths, or to a body or collection of myths. As examples, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece...

, folklore
Folklore
Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...

, and fairy tales. It is also found in epic poems, science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

 literature, fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...

 literature, children's literature, Shakespearean comedy
Shakespearean comedy
In the First Folio, the plays of William Shakespeare were grouped into three categories: comedies, histories, and tragedies."Comedy", in its Elizabethan usage, had a very different meaning from modern comedy...

, ballet, film, television, comics, and video games. In its broadest sense, shapeshifting occurs when a being (usually human) either (1) has the ability to change its shape into that of another person, creature, or other entity or (2) finds its shape involuntarily changed by someone else. If the shape change is voluntary, its cause may be an act of will, a magic word or magic words, a potion, or a magic object. If the change is involuntary, its cause may be a curse or spell, a wizard's or magician's or fairy's help, a deity's will, a temporal change such as a full moon or nightfall, love, or death. The transformation may or may not be purposeful.

Themes in shapeshifting

Shapeshifting may be used as a plot device
Plot device
A plot device is an object or character in a story whose sole purpose is to advance the plot of the story, or alternatively to overcome some difficulty in the plot....

, as when Puss In Boots
Puss in Boots
'Puss' is a character in the fairy tale "The Master Cat, or Puss in Boots" by Charles Perrault. The tale was published in 1697 in his Histoires ou Contes du temps passé...

 tricks the ogre
Ogre
An ogre is a large, cruel, monstrous, and hideous humanoid monster, featured in mythology, folklore, and fiction. Ogres are often depicted in fairy tales and folklore as feeding on human beings, and have appeared in many classic works of literature...

 into becoming a mouse so he may eat him, or Jared disposes of the ogre in The Spiderwick Chronicles
The Spiderwick Chronicles
The Spiderwick Chronicles is a series of children's books by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black. They chronicle the adventures of the Grace children, twins Simon and Jared and their older sister Mallory, after they move into Spiderwick Estate and discover a world of fairies that they never knew...

by convincing him to become a swallow; it may also include a symbolic significance, as when the Beast's transformation at the end of Beauty and the Beast
Beauty and the Beast
Beauty and the Beast is a traditional fairy tale. The first published version of the fairy tale was a rendition by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve, published in La jeune américaine, et les contes marins in 1740...

indicates Belle's ability to accept him despite his appearance.

An important aspect of shape-shifting, thematically
Theme (literature)
A theme is a broad, message, or moral of a story. The message may be about life, society, or human nature. Themes often explore timeless and universal ideas and are almost always implied rather than stated explicitly. Along with plot, character,...

, is whether the transformation is voluntary. Circe
Circe
In Greek mythology, Circe is a minor goddess of magic , described in Homer's Odyssey as "The loveliest of all immortals", living on the island of Aeaea, famous for her part in the adventures of Odysseus.By most accounts, Circe was the daughter of Helios, the god of the sun, and Perse, an Oceanid...

 transforms intruders to her island into swine, whereas Ged
Ged (Earthsea)
Ged , is the true name of a fictional character in Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea realm. He is introduced in A Wizard of Earthsea, and plays both main and supporting roles in the subsequent Earthsea novels...

, in A Wizard of Earthsea
A Wizard of Earthsea
A Wizard of Earthsea, first published in 1968, is the first of a series of books written by Ursula K. Le Guin and set in the fantasy world archipelago of Earthsea depicting the adventures of a budding young wizard named Ged...

, becomes a hawk to escape an evil wizard's stronghold. When a form is taken on involuntarily, the thematic effect is one of confinement and restraint; the person is bound to the new form. In extreme cases, such as petrifaction
Petrifaction in mythology and fiction
Petrifaction, as definied as turning people to stone, is also a common theme in folklore and mythology, as well as in some works of modern fiction.-Historical:...

, the character is entirely disabled. Voluntary forms, on the other hand, are means of escape and liberation; even when the form is not undertaken to effect a literal escape, the abilities specific to the form, or the disguise afforded by it, allow the character to act in a manner previously impossible.

Hence, in fairy tale
Fairy tale
A fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features such folkloric characters, such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, dwarves, giants or gnomes, and usually magic or enchantments. However, only a small number of the stories refer to fairies...

s, a prince who is forced into a bear's shape (as in East of the Sun and West of the Moon
East of the Sun and West of the Moon
East of the Sun and West of the Moon is a Norwegian folk tale.East of the Sun and West of the Moon was collected by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe...

) is a prisoner, but a princess who takes on a bear's shape to flee (as in The She-Bear
The She-Bear
"The She-bear" is an Italian literary fairy tale, written by Giambattista Basile in his 1634 work, the Pentamerone.Ruth Manning-Sanders included it in A Book of Princes and Princesses....

) escapes with her new shape.

In modern fantasy, more than in folklore, the extent to which the change affects the mind can be important. Poul Anderson
Poul Anderson
Poul William Anderson was an American science fiction author who began his career during one of the Golden Ages of the genre and continued to write and remain popular into the 21st century. Anderson also authored several works of fantasy, historical novels, and a prodigious number of short stories...

, in Operation Chaos, has the werewolf
Werewolf
A werewolf, also known as a lycanthrope , is a mythological or folkloric human with the ability to shapeshift into a wolf or an anthropomorphic wolf-like creature, either purposely or after being placed under a curse...

 observe that taking on wolf-form can simplify his thoughts. A similar effect is noted in Stephenie Meyer
Stephenie Meyer
Stephenie Meyer is an American author known for her vampire romance series Twilight. The Twilight novels have gained worldwide recognition and sold over 100 million copies globally, with translations into 37 different languages...

's Twilight series. This can be more dangerous in other writers' works. In her Harry Potter
Harry Potter
Harry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written by the British author J. K. Rowling. The books chronicle the adventures of the adolescent wizard Harry Potter and his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry...

series, J.K. Rowling observed that a wizard who became a rat had a rat's brain (although the Animagus talent bypasses this problem), and in her Earthsea
Earthsea
Earthsea is a fictional realm originally created by Ursula K. Le Guin for her short story "The Word of Unbinding", published in 1964. Earthsea became the setting for a further six books, beginning with A Wizard of Earthsea, first published in 1968, and continuing with The Tombs of Atuan, The...

books, Ursula K. Le Guin
Ursula K. Le Guin
Ursula Kroeber Le Guin is an American author. She has written novels, poetry, children's books, essays, and short stories, notably in fantasy and science fiction...

 depicts an animal form as slowly transforming the wizard's mind, so that the dolphin, or bear, or other creature forgets it was human and can not change back, a voluntary shapeshifting becoming an imprisoning metamorphosis.

Beyond this, the uses of shape-shifting, transformation, and metamorphosis
Metamorphosis
Metamorphosis is a biological process by which an animal physically develops after birth or hatching, involving a conspicuous and relatively abrupt change in the animal's body structure through cell growth and differentiation...

 in fiction are as protean as the forms the characters take on. Some are rare — Italo Calvino
Italo Calvino
Italo Calvino was an Italian journalist and writer of short stories and novels. His best known works include the Our Ancestors trilogy , the Cosmicomics collection of short stories , and the novels Invisible Cities and If on a winter's night a traveler .Lionised in Britain and the United States,...

's "The Canary Prince
The Canary Prince
The Canary Prince is an Italian fairy tale, the 18th tale in Italian Folktales by Italo Calvino. He took the tale from Turin, making various stylistic changes; he noted it developed a medieval motif, but such tales as Marie de France's Yonec produced a rather different effect, being tales of...

" is a Rapunzel
Rapunzel
"Rapunzel" is a German fairy tale in the collection assembled by the Brothers Grimm, and first published in 1812 as part of Children's and Household Tales. The Grimm Brothers' story is an adaptation of the fairy tale Persinette by Charlotte-Rose de Caumont de La Force originally published in 1698...

 variant in which shape-shifting is used to gain access to the tower — but others are common motifs
Motif (narrative)
In narrative, a motif is any recurring element that has symbolic significance in a story. Through its repetition, a motif can help produce other narrative aspects such as theme or mood....

.

Mythology

Gender
Gender
Gender is a range of characteristics used to distinguish between males and females, particularly in the cases of men and women and the masculine and feminine attributes assigned to them. Depending on the context, the discriminating characteristics vary from sex to social role to gender identity...

-shifting may be merely used as means of disguise: appearing as a woman allows a man to enter situations from which men are forbidden, and vice versa. Zeus
Zeus
In the ancient Greek religion, Zeus was the "Father of Gods and men" who ruled the Olympians of Mount Olympus as a father ruled the family. He was the god of sky and thunder in Greek mythology. His Roman counterpart is Jupiter and his Etruscan counterpart is Tinia.Zeus was the child of Cronus...

 disguised himself as Artemis
Artemis
Artemis was one of the most widely venerated of the Ancient Greek deities. Her Roman equivalent is Diana. Some scholars believe that the name and indeed the goddess herself was originally pre-Greek. Homer refers to her as Artemis Agrotera, Potnia Theron: "Artemis of the wildland, Mistress of Animals"...

 in order to get close enough to Callisto
Callisto (mythology)
In Greek mythology, Callisto or Kallisto was a nymph of Artemis. Transformed into a bear and set among the stars, she was the bear-mother of the Arcadians, through her son Arcas.-Origin of the myth:...

 that she could not escape when he turned himself into male form again, and raped her. More innocently, Vertumnus
Vertumnus
In Roman mythology, Vertumnus — also Vortumnus or Vertimnus — is the god of seasons, change and plant growth, as well as gardens and fruit trees...

 could not woo Pomona
Pomona
Pomona was a goddess of fruitful abundance in ancient Roman religion and myth. Her name comes from the Latin word pomum, "fruit," specifically orchard fruit. She was said to be a wood nymph and a part of the Numia, guardian spirits who watch over people, places, or homes...

 on his own; in the form of an old woman, he gained access to her orchard, where he persuaded her to marry him.

In Norse mythology
Norse mythology
Norse mythology, a subset of Germanic mythology, is the overall term for the myths, legends and beliefs about supernatural beings of Norse pagans. It flourished prior to the Christianization of Scandinavia, during the Early Middle Ages, and passed into Nordic folklore, with some aspects surviving...

, however, both Odin
Odin
Odin is a major god in Norse mythology and the ruler of Asgard. Homologous with the Anglo-Saxon "Wōden" and the Old High German "Wotan", the name is descended from Proto-Germanic "*Wodanaz" or "*Wōđanaz"....

 and Loki
Loki
In Norse mythology, Loki or Loke is a god or jötunn . Loki is the son of Fárbauti and Laufey, and the brother of Helblindi and Býleistr. By the jötunn Angrboða, Loki is the father of Hel, the wolf Fenrir, and the world serpent Jörmungandr. By his wife Sigyn, Loki is the father of Nari or Narfi...

 taunt each other with having taken the form of females in the Lokasenna
Lokasenna
Lokasenna is one of the poems of the Poetic Edda. The poem presents flyting between the gods and Loki....

. The ultimate proof of this was that they had given birth and had nursed their offspring. It is unknown what myths, if any, lie behind the charges against Odin, but myths
Edda
The term Edda applies to the Old Norse Poetic Edda and Prose Edda, both of which were written down in Iceland during the 13th century in Icelandic, although they contain material from earlier traditional sources, reaching into the Viking Age...

 documented in the 13th century have Loki taking the form of a mare
Mare (horse)
A mare is an adult female horse or other equine.In most cases, a mare is a female horse over the age of three, and a filly is a female horse age three and younger. However, in Thoroughbred horse racing, a mare is defined as a female horse more than four years old; in harness racing a mare is a...

 to bear Odin's steed
Sleipnir
In Norse mythology, Sleipnir is an eight-legged horse. Sleipnir is attested in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson...

, and a she-wolf to bear Odin's the ships wwas the fastest on earth Fenrir.

In Greek mythology
Greek mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...

, the young Tiresias
Tiresias
In Greek mythology, Tiresias was a blind prophet of Thebes, famous for clairvoyance and for being transformed into a woman for seven years. He was the son of the shepherd Everes and the nymph Chariclo; Tiresias participated fully in seven generations at Thebes, beginning as advisor to Cadmus...

 was walking through a forest when he found two snakes in the act of love. He prodded them with a stick and was instantly changed into a woman. He lived in this female form for many years, and even married and had children. Years later, Tiresias came across the same snakes doing the same thing. Again she poked them with a stick, and Tiresias turned back into a man. Later in his life, he was asked by Zeus which of the two sexes enjoys sex more. Tiresias, speaking from experience, replied that it is woman, and Hera blinded him for telling her husband of the greatest secret of women. Zeus, unable to undo what his wife had done, gave the now blind Tiresias the gift of foresight. Other versions say that it was Zeus who was angered by Tiresias for saying that men did not get the most out of sex and that it was Hera who gave Tiresias the gift of foresight to comfort him.

Modern fiction

L. Frank Baum
L. Frank Baum
Lyman Frank Baum was an American author of children's books, best known for writing The Wonderful Wizard of Oz...

 concluded The Marvelous Land of Oz
The Marvelous Land of Oz
The Marvelous Land of Oz: Being an Account of the Further Adventures of the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman, commonly shortened to The Land of Oz, published on July 5, 1904, is the second of L. Frank Baum's books set in the Land of Oz, and the sequel to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. This and the next...

with the revelation that Princess Ozma
Princess Ozma
Princess Ozma is a fictional character in the Land of Oz, created by L. Frank Baum. She appears in every book of the series except the first, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz .She is the rightful ruler of Oz, and L...

, sought by the protagonists, had been turned into a boy as a baby, and that Tip (who had been searching for her) is that boy. He agrees to the reverse transformation, but Glinda the Good
Glinda
Glinda is a fictional character in the Land of Oz created by American author L. Frank Baum. She is the most powerful sorceress of Oz, ruler of the Quadling Country south of the Emerald City, and protector of Princess Ozma.- Literature :Baum's 1900 children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz...

 disapproves of shapeshifting magic, so it is done by the evil witch Mombi
Mombi
Mombi is a wicked old witch from L. Frank Baum Oz Books. She appears in the book The Marvelous Land of Oz and is alluded to in other works. Of all the wicked witches in L...

.

Rumiko Takahashi
Rumiko Takahashi
is a Japanese manga artist.Takahashi is one of the wealthiest individuals, and the most affluent manga artists in Japan. The manga she creates are popular worldwide, where they have been translated into a variety of languages...

's manga Ranma ½
Ranma ½
is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Rumiko Takahashi with an anime adaptation. The story revolves around a 16-year old boy named Ranma Saotome who was trained from early childhood in martial arts...

, along with several characters that transform into animals, also features two that transform from male to female. One is the title character, Ranma Saotome, and another is a powerful antagonist, Herb, from late in the series. While some have drawn the conclusion that this constitutes a parody of Japanese gender roles, Takahashi herself has replied that it was a "simple, fun idea," that she "doesn't think in terms of societal agendas," and "thought humans turning into animals might also be fun and märchenhaft." In Hiroshi Aro
Hiroshi Aro
, better known by his pen name , is a Japanese manga artist. He is mostly known for being the author of Futaba-Kun Change!, Morumo 1/10 and Yuu and Mii.He makes guest appearances in his own comics, drawing himself as an alligator wearing glasses....

's Futaba-kun Change, the sex transformation is inherited and everyone in the main character's family changes sexes, either at will or when they're excited, after they become sexually mature.

Even in Masashi Kishimoto
Masashi Kishimoto
is a Japanese manga artist, well known for creating the manga series Naruto. His younger twin brother, Seishi Kishimoto, is also a manga artist and creator of the manga series 666 Satan and Blazer Drive...

's manga "Naruto
Naruto
is an ongoing Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto. The plot tells the story of Naruto Uzumaki, an adolescent ninja who constantly searches for recognition and aspires to become the Hokage, the ninja in his village who is acknowledged as the leader and the strongest of...

", the common Jutsu
Jutsu
—meaning technique, method, spell, skill or trick—is a bound morpheme of the Sino-Japanese lexical stratum of the Japanese language.* Jutsu * Martial arts * Bajutsu...

used for shapeshifting is "Henge". The protagonist, with his perverted mind, invented a Jutsu that makes the user to transform into a nude lady or many ladies --> the "Sexy No Jutsu" or the harem technique. This Jutsu only works on men, though another person made some variants like the "Girl on girl" technique and the "Boy on boy" technique. They work only on the opposite sex.

Punitive changes

In many cases, imposed forms are punitive in nature. This may be a just punishment, the nature of the transformation matching the crime for which it occurs; in other cases, the form is unjustly imposed by an angry and powerful person. In fairy tales, such transformations are usually temporary, but they commonly appear as the resolution of myths (as in many of the Metamorphoses) or produce origin myth
Origin myth
An origin myth is a myth that purports to describe the origin of some feature of the natural or social world. One type of origin myth is the cosmogonic myth, which describes the creation of the world...

s.

Mythology

In Greek mythology
Greek mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...

, shapeshifting is often a punishement from the gods to the humans who crossed them.
  • Zeus
    Zeus
    In the ancient Greek religion, Zeus was the "Father of Gods and men" who ruled the Olympians of Mount Olympus as a father ruled the family. He was the god of sky and thunder in Greek mythology. His Roman counterpart is Jupiter and his Etruscan counterpart is Tinia.Zeus was the child of Cronus...

     transformed Lycaon into a werewolf (hence Lycanthropy
    Lycanthropy
    Lycanthropy is the professed ability or power of a human being to undergo transformation into a werewolf, or to gain wolf-like characteristics. The term comes from Greek Lykànthropos : λύκος, lykos + άνθρωπος, ànthrōpos...

    ) as a punishment for killing his children, in some versions of the myth.
  • Athena
    Athena
    In Greek mythology, Athena, Athenê, or Athene , also referred to as Pallas Athena/Athene , is the goddess of wisdom, courage, inspiration, civilization, warfare, strength, strategy, the arts, crafts, justice, and skill. Minerva, Athena's Roman incarnation, embodies similar attributes. Athena is...

     transformed Arachne
    Arachne
    In Greco-Roman mythology, Arachne was a great mortal weaver who boasted that her skill was greater than that of Minerva, the Latin parallel of Pallas Athena, goddess of wisdom and crafts. Arachne refused to acknowledge that her knowledge came, in part at least, from the goddess. The offended...

     into a spider for challenging her as a weaver.
  • Artemis
    Artemis
    Artemis was one of the most widely venerated of the Ancient Greek deities. Her Roman equivalent is Diana. Some scholars believe that the name and indeed the goddess herself was originally pre-Greek. Homer refers to her as Artemis Agrotera, Potnia Theron: "Artemis of the wildland, Mistress of Animals"...

     transformed Actaeon
    Actaeon
    Actaeon , in Greek mythology, son of the priestly herdsman Aristaeus and Autonoe in Boeotia, was a famous Theban hero. Like Achilles in a later generation, he was trained by the centaur Chiron....

     into a stag for spying on her in her bath.
  • Io
    IO
    Io, IO, I/O, i/o, or i.o. may refer to:-An abbreviation:* I.O., a theater in Chicago, Illinois dedicated to improvisational comedy* i.o., "in illo ordine", Latin phrase meaning "respectively"...

     was a priestess of Hera
    Hera
    Hera was the wife and one of three sisters of Zeus in the Olympian pantheon of Greek mythology and religion. Her chief function was as the goddess of women and marriage. Her counterpart in the religion of ancient Rome was Juno. The cow and the peacock were sacred to her...

     in Argos
    Argos
    Argos is a city and a former municipality in Argolis, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Argos-Mykines, of which it is a municipal unit. It is 11 kilometres from Nafplion, which was its historic harbour...

    , a nymph who was raped by Zeus
    Zeus
    In the ancient Greek religion, Zeus was the "Father of Gods and men" who ruled the Olympians of Mount Olympus as a father ruled the family. He was the god of sky and thunder in Greek mythology. His Roman counterpart is Jupiter and his Etruscan counterpart is Tinia.Zeus was the child of Cronus...

    , who changed her into a heifer to escape detection. Her mistress Hera set ever-watchful Argus Panoptes
    Argus Panoptes
    In Greek mythology, Argus Panoptes or Argos, guardian of the heifer-nymph Io and son of Arestor, was a primordial giant whose epithet "Panoptes", "all-seeing", led to his being described with multiple, often one hundred, eyes. The epithet Panoptes was applied to the Titan of the Sun, Helios, and...

     to guard her, but Hermes
    Hermes
    Hermes is the great messenger of the gods in Greek mythology and a guide to the Underworld. Hermes was born on Mount Kyllini in Arcadia. An Olympian god, he is also the patron of boundaries and of the travelers who cross them, of shepherds and cowherds, of the cunning of thieves, of orators and...

     was sent to distract the guardian and slay him. Heifer Io was loosed to roam the world, stung by a maddening gadfly sent by Hera, and wandered to Egypt
    Egypt
    Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

    , thus placing her descendant Belus
    Belus
    Belus or Belos may be:* The classical Latin or Greek rendition of Bel the Semitic honorific**Ba`al as a Semitic deity** Belus , the Greek Zeus Belos and Latin Jupiter Belus as translations of the Babylonian god Bel Marduk...

    in Egypt; his sons Cadmus
    Cadmus
    Cadmus or Kadmos , in Greek mythology was a Phoenician prince, the son of king Agenor and queen Telephassa of Tyre and the brother of Phoenix, Cilix and Europa. He was originally sent by his royal parents to seek out and escort his sister Europa back to Tyre after she was abducted from the shores...

     and Danaus
    Danaus
    In Greek mythology Danaus, or Danaos , was the twin brother of Aegyptus and son of Achiroe and Belus, a mythical king of Egypt. The myth of Danaus is a foundation legend of Argos, one of the foremost Mycenaean cities of the Peloponnesus...

     would thus "return" to mainland Greece
    Greece
    Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

    .
  • Circe
    Circe
    In Greek mythology, Circe is a minor goddess of magic , described in Homer's Odyssey as "The loveliest of all immortals", living on the island of Aeaea, famous for her part in the adventures of Odysseus.By most accounts, Circe was the daughter of Helios, the god of the sun, and Perse, an Oceanid...

     transformed all intruders to her island
    Aeaea
    Aeaea or Eëa was a mythological island said to be the home of the sorceress Circe. Odysseus tells Alcinous that he stayed here for a year on his way home to Ithaca....

     into the form of beast
    Animal
    Animals are a major group of multicellular, eukaryotic organisms of the kingdom Animalia or Metazoa. Their body plan eventually becomes fixed as they develop, although some undergo a process of metamorphosis later on in their life. Most animals are motile, meaning they can move spontaneously and...

    s. In Nathaniel Hawthorne
    Nathaniel Hawthorne
    Nathaniel Hawthorne was an American novelist and short story writer.Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in 1804 in the city of Salem, Massachusetts to Nathaniel Hathorne and the former Elizabeth Clarke Manning. His ancestors include John Hathorne, a judge during the Salem Witch Trials...

    's Tanglewood Tales
    Tanglewood Tales
    Tanglewood Tales for Boys and Girls is a book by American author Nathaniel Hawthorne, a sequel to A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys...

    , "she changes every human being into the brute, beast, or fowl whom he happens most to resemble." There have been numerous episodes in which the sorceress with her potions changed men and women into wild animals.
  • In ancient Greece there was the incident of the dog's theft of gold, guardian of a temple of Zeus
    Zeus
    In the ancient Greek religion, Zeus was the "Father of Gods and men" who ruled the Olympians of Mount Olympus as a father ruled the family. He was the god of sky and thunder in Greek mythology. His Roman counterpart is Jupiter and his Etruscan counterpart is Tinia.Zeus was the child of Cronus...

     is located in Crete
    Crete
    Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece while retaining its own local cultural traits...

    . In this myth, the architect of the theft was actually Pandareo, who gave the boy with the commitment that it hid the divine eyes. Hermes
    Hermes
    Hermes is the great messenger of the gods in Greek mythology and a guide to the Underworld. Hermes was born on Mount Kyllini in Arcadia. An Olympian god, he is also the patron of boundaries and of the travelers who cross them, of shepherds and cowherds, of the cunning of thieves, of orators and...

     came with the clear intent to recover the sacred animal, but Tantalus
    Tantalus
    Tantalus was the ruler of an ancient western Anatolian city called either after his name, as "Tantalís", "the city of Tantalus", or as "Sipylus", in reference to Mount Sipylus, at the foot of which his city was located and whose ruins were reported to be still visible in the beginning of the...

     swore falsely. The huge dog was Rea
    Rea
    Rea is a comune in the Province of Pavia in the Italian region Lombardy, located about 40 km south of Milan and about 7 km south of Pavia. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 462 and an area of 3.0 km²....

    , a female Titan, transformed by the god Hephaestus
    Hephaestus
    Hephaestus was a Greek god whose Roman equivalent was Vulcan. He is the son of Zeus and Hera, the King and Queen of the Gods - or else, according to some accounts, of Hera alone. He was the god of technology, blacksmiths, craftsmen, artisans, sculptors, metals, metallurgy, fire and volcanoes...

    .


In Norse mythology, Odin
Odin
Odin is a major god in Norse mythology and the ruler of Asgard. Homologous with the Anglo-Saxon "Wōden" and the Old High German "Wotan", the name is descended from Proto-Germanic "*Wodanaz" or "*Wōđanaz"....

 transformed Svipdag
Svipdag
Svipdagr is the hero of the two Old Norse Eddaic poems Grógaldr and Fjölsvinnsmál, which are contained within the body of one work; Svipdagsmál...

 into a dragon because Svipdag
Svipdag
Svipdagr is the hero of the two Old Norse Eddaic poems Grógaldr and Fjölsvinnsmál, which are contained within the body of one work; Svipdagsmál...

 had angered him.

Folktales

  • In the Finnish tale The Magic Bird, three young sorceresses attempt to murder a man who keeps reviving. His revenge is to turn them into three black mares and have them harnessed to heavy loads until he is satisfied.
  • Transformed into a huge dragon with a spell, Margaret of Bamburgh was rescued by his brother that with a kiss, laugh at the appearance of a woman and, after he wrapped in a cloak, rode to the castle to punish the wicked queen responsible of the spell.
  • In Child ballad 35, Allison Gross
    Allison Gross
    "Allison Gross" is a traditional ballad, catalogued as Child Ballad #35. It tells the story of "the ugliest witch in the north country" who tries to persuade a man to become her lover and then punishes him by a transformation.-Synopsis:Allison Gross, a hideous witch, tries to bribe the narrator to...

    , the title witch turned a man into a wyrm
    Dragon
    A dragon is a legendary creature, typically with serpentine or reptilian traits, that feature in the myths of many cultures. There are two distinct cultural traditions of dragons: the European dragon, derived from European folk traditions and ultimately related to Greek and Middle Eastern...

     for refusing to be her lover. This is a motif found in many legends and folktales.
  • In some variants of the fairy tales, both The Frog Prince
    The Frog Prince (story)
    "The Frog Prince; or, Iron Henry" is a fairy tale, best known through the Brothers Grimm's written version; traditionally it is the first story in their collection. In the tale, a spoiled princess reluctantly befriends a frog , who magically transforms into a handsome prince...

     or The Frog Princess
    The Frog Princess
    The Frog Princess is a fairy tale that exists in many versions from several countries.Russian variants include the Frog Princess or Tsarevna Frog and also Vasilisa the Wise ; Alexander Afanasyev collected variants in his Narodnye russkie skazki...

    and Beast, of Beauty and the Beast
    Beauty and the Beast
    Beauty and the Beast is a traditional fairy tale. The first published version of the fairy tale was a rendition by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve, published in La jeune américaine, et les contes marins in 1740...

    , were transformed as a form of punishment for some transgression.
  • In Eglė the Queen of Serpents
    Egle the Queen of Serpents
    Eglė the Queen of Serpents, alternatively Eglė the Queen of Grass Snakes , is a Lithuanian folk tale.-Details:Eglė the Queen of Serpents is considered one of the most archaic and best-known Lithuanian fairy tales and the richest in references of Baltic mythology. Over a hundred slightly diverging...

    , Eglė transforms her children and herself into trees as a punishment for betrayal.
  • In East of the Sun and West of the Moon
    East of the Sun and West of the Moon
    East of the Sun and West of the Moon is a Norwegian folk tale.East of the Sun and West of the Moon was collected by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe...

    , the hero was transformed into a bear by his wicked stepmother
    Wicked Stepmother
    Wicked Stepmother is a 1989 American comedy film written, produced, and directed by Larry Cohen. It is best known for being the last film of Bette Davis, who withdrew from the project after filming began, citing major problems with the script and the way she was being photographed...

    , who wished to force him to marry her daughter.
  • In the forests of France's famous creature half orc and half-god: Le Maître de Forêt, was famous for having the power to change humans into animals. An episode is said that one evening a group of hapless girls were unbeaten in God's forest, and were turned into hungry wolves.
  • In the Italian tale: The Prince who married a Frog, a princess is transformed by a magician in the animal amphibian because of his vanity and his habit. Only love and compassion of a beautiful prince, the frog will return in a human form.
  • Some giants abducted humans to reduce them to slavery. In the famous Irish legend of Prince Diarmuid, the giant of the forest of Black Beech was holding captive three women. For a given to maintain its appearance, but the other two, turned for fun in a dog and a horse.
  • In The Marmot Queen by Italo Calvino
    Italo Calvino
    Italo Calvino was an Italian journalist and writer of short stories and novels. His best known works include the Our Ancestors trilogy , the Cosmicomics collection of short stories , and the novels Invisible Cities and If on a winter's night a traveler .Lionised in Britain and the United States,...

    , a Spanish queen is turned into a rodent by the Morgan le Fay
    Morgan le Fay
    Morgan le Fay , alternatively known as Morgane, Morgaine, Morgana and other variants, is a powerful sorceress in the Arthurian legend. Early works featuring Morgan do not elaborate her character beyond her role as a fay or magician...

    .
  • In a Turin Italian tale by Guido Cozzano: The Mare of the Necromancer, the Princess of Corelandia was turned into a horse by the baron necromancer for refusing to marry him. Only love and intelligence of a nice guy named Candido save the princess from the spell.
  • The Neapolitan tale written by Giambattista Basile
    Giambattista Basile
    Giambattista Basile was an Italian poet, courtier, and fairy tale collector.- Biography :Born to a Neapolitan middle-class family, Basile was, during his career, a courtier and soldier to various Italian princes, including the doge of Venice. According to Benedetto Croce he was born in 1575, while...

    : The Deer in The Wood describes the transformation of Princess Desiderata into a doe. Envy and jealousy of a fairy who saw his unrequited love, because of the beauty of the noble lady, she decided to take revenge on changing it into a deer. Here, too, will always be the prince to save his beloved princess from the evil spell.

Modern fiction

  • In George MacDonald
    George MacDonald
    George MacDonald was a Scottish author, poet, and Christian minister.Known particularly for his poignant fairy tales and fantasy novels, George MacDonald inspired many authors, such as W. H. Auden, J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, E. Nesbit and Madeleine L'Engle. It was C.S...

    's The Princess and Curdie
    The Princess and Curdie
    The Princess and Curdie is a children's classic fantasy novel by George MacDonald from late 1883.The book is the sequel to The Princess and the Goblin. The adventure continues with Princess Irene and Curdie a year or two older, and having to overthrow a set of corrupt ministers who are poisoning...

    , Curdie is informed that many human beings, by their acts, are slowly turning into beasts; he is given the power to detect the transformation before it is visible, and is assisted by beasts that had been transformed and are working their way back to humanity.
  • In C. S. Lewis
    C. S. Lewis
    Clive Staples Lewis , commonly referred to as C. S. Lewis and known to his friends and family as "Jack", was a novelist, academic, medievalist, literary critic, essayist, lay theologian and Christian apologist from Belfast, Ireland...

    ' The Chronicles of Narnia
    The Chronicles of Narnia
    The Chronicles of Narnia is a series of seven fantasy novels for children by C. S. Lewis. It is considered a classic of children's literature and is the author's best-known work, having sold over 100 million copies in 47 languages...

    , Eustace Scrubb
    Eustace Scrubb
    Eustace Clarence Scrubb is a fictional character in C. S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia. He appears in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, The Silver Chair, and The Last Battle. In The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, he is accompanied by Edmund and Lucy Pevensie, his cousins...

     transforms into a dragon, and the war-monger Rabadash
    Prince Rabadash
    Prince Rabadash is a human character and the main antagonist in C. S. Lewis's fantasy novel The Horse and His Boy. Rabadash is the heir to the throne of Calormen, being the eldest son of the Tisroc...

     into a donkey,. Eustace's transformation is not strictly a punishment - his transformation simply revealing the truth of his human nature. It is reversed after he repents and his moral nature changes. Rabadash is allowed to reverse his transformation, providing he does so in a public place, so that his former followers will know that he had been a donkey. He is warned that, if he ever leaves his capital city again, he will become a donkey permanently, and this prevents him leading further military campaigns.
  • Also in The Chronicles of Narnia
    The Chronicles of Narnia
    The Chronicles of Narnia is a series of seven fantasy novels for children by C. S. Lewis. It is considered a classic of children's literature and is the author's best-known work, having sold over 100 million copies in 47 languages...

    the Dufflepuds are dwarfs who have been transformed into monopods
    Monopod (creature)
    Monopods are mythological dwarf-like creatures with a single, large foot extending from one thick leg centered in the middle of their body...

     as a punishment. However, it ultimately transpires that they are happier with their new form.
  • In the novel I, Coriander
    I, Coriander
    I, Coriander is a children's novel by Sally Gardner, published in 2005, set in London at the time of the Puritan Commonwealth. It won the Nestlé Children's Book Prize Gold Award...

    by Sally Gardner
    Sally Gardner
    Sally Gardner is an English children's writer and illustrator. She lives in London.Her award-winning book, I, Coriander, is set in 17th-century London. It tells the story of Coriander, the unhappy daughter of a silk merchant....

    , Prince Tycho is transformed into a fox after refusing to marry Undwin, Queen Rosmore's daughter.

Transformation chase

In many fairy tale
Fairy tale
A fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features such folkloric characters, such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, dwarves, giants or gnomes, and usually magic or enchantments. However, only a small number of the stories refer to fairies...

s and ballad
Ballad
A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of British and Irish popular poetry and song from the later medieval period until the 19th century and used extensively across Europe and later the Americas, Australia and North Africa. Many...

s, as in Child Ballad
Child Ballads
The Child Ballads are a collection of 305 ballads from England and Scotland, and their American variants, collected by Francis James Child in the late nineteenth century...

 #44, The Two Magicians or Farmer Weathersky
Farmer Weathersky
Farmer Weathersky is a Norwegian fairy tale collected by Peter Chr. Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe in Norske Folkeeventyr.Andrew Lang included it in The Red Fairy Book as "Farmer Weatherbeard"....

, a magical chase occurs where the pursued endlessly takes on forms in an effort to shake off the pursuer, and the pursuer answers with other shape-shifting, as, a dove is answered with a hawk, and a hare with a greyhound. The pursued may finally succeed in escape or the pursuer in capturing. This appears in legends around the world. One is "The Story of Calicoin", the story of a powerful witch called Ceridwen
Ceridwen
In Welsh medieval legend, Ceridwen , also spelled Cerridwen, was an enchantress, mother of Morfran and a beautiful daughter Creirwy. Her husband was Tegid Foel, and they lived near Bala Lake in north Wales...

 who wished to make her son Avagddu a powerful potion that would make him a wizard. She ordered her servant-boy Gwion to brew it for a year and one day, but on the last day he accidentally spilled three drops on his finger. When he put his finger in his mouth to cool it, he swallowed these drops and instantly became a wizard. Ceridwen found out and began to chase Gwion. Gwion first changed into a hare, and Ceridwen changed into a greyhound. The boy became a fish, and the woman an otter. He turned into a dove, she turned into a hawk. Finally Gwion transformed into a tiny grain of wheat, hiding with many other grains on a barn floor. Ceridwen transformed into a black hen and pecked up all the grains, including Gwion.

In Dapplegrim
Dapplegrim
Dapplegrim is a Norwegian fairy tale collected by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe in their Norske Folkeeventyr. Andrew Lang included it in The Red Fairy Book.-Synopsis:The youngest of twelve sons goes off to serve the king for a year...

, this was set as a challenge; if the youth found the transformed princess twice, and hid from her twice, they would marry. The Grimm Brothers fairy tales Foundling-Bird
Foundling-Bird
Foundling-Bird is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, number 51.It is Aarne-Thompson type 313A, the girl helps the hero flee, and revolves about a transformation chase...

contains this as the bulk of the plot. In Greek mythology, Zeus
Zeus
In the ancient Greek religion, Zeus was the "Father of Gods and men" who ruled the Olympians of Mount Olympus as a father ruled the family. He was the god of sky and thunder in Greek mythology. His Roman counterpart is Jupiter and his Etruscan counterpart is Tinia.Zeus was the child of Cronus...

 frequently transformed himself and his love to escape Hera's wrath, or that of the women's fathers, but generally in a simplified form, with only one transformation.

In the Italian Campania Fables collection of Pentamerone
Pentamerone
The Pentamerone is a seventeenth-century fairy tale collection by Italian poet and courtier Giambattista Basile.-Background:...

by Gianbattista Basile , tells of a Neapolitan princess to escape from his father, who had imprisoned, she becomes in a huge she-bear. The magic happens due to a potion given to him by an old witch. The girl, once gone, can get his human aspect.

In other variants, the pursued may transform various objects into obstacles, as in the fairy tale "The Master Maid
The Master Maid
The Master Maid is a Norwegian fairy tale collected by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe in their Norske Folkeeventyr. "Master" indicates "superior, skilled." Jørgen Moe wrote the tale down from the storyteller Anne Godlid in Seljord on a short visit in the autumn of 1842.It is...

", where the Master Maid transforms a wooden comb into a forest, a lump of salt into a mountain, and a flask of water into a sea. In these tales, the pursued normally escapes after overcoming three
Rule of three (writing)
The "rule of three" is a principle in writing that suggests that things that come in threes are inherently funnier, more satisfying, or more effective than other numbers of things. The reader/audience of this form of text is also more likely to consume information if it is written in groups of...

 obstacles. This obstacle chase is literally found worldwide, in many variants in every region.

In fairy tales of the Aarne-Thompson type 313A, the girl helps the hero flee, one such chase is an integral part of the tale. It can be either a transformation chase (as in The Grateful Prince
The Grateful Prince
The Grateful Prince is an Estonian fairy tale, collected by Dr. Friedrich Kreutzwald in Eestirahwa Ennemuistesed jutud. W. F. Kirby included in The Hero of Esthonia. Andrew Lang included it in The Violet Fairy Book; he listed his source as Ehstnische Märchen, which was the German translation of...

, King Kojata
King Kojata
King Kojata or The Unlooked for Prince or Prince Unexpected is a Slavonic fairy tale. Andrew Lang included the Russian version King Kojata, in The Green Fairy Book. A. H. Wratislaw collected a Polish variant Prince Unexpected in his Sixty Folk-Tales from Exclusively Slavonic Sources, number 17...

, Foundling-Bird
Foundling-Bird
Foundling-Bird is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, number 51.It is Aarne-Thompson type 313A, the girl helps the hero flee, and revolves about a transformation chase...

, Jean, the Soldier, and Eulalie, the Devil's Daughter
Jean, the Soldier, and Eulalie, the Devil's Daughter
Jean, the Soldier, and Eulalie, the Devil's Daughter is a French fairy tale collected by Achille Millien.The fable is classed as Aarne-Thompson type 313 and revolves about a transformation chase. Others of this type include The Water Nixie, The Foundling-Bird, The Master Maid, and The Two Kings'...

, or The Two Kings' Children
The Two Kings' Children
The Two Kings' Children is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm in Grimm's Fairy Tales, tale number 113.It is Aarne-Thompson type 313C, the girl helps the hero flee, and type 884, the forgotten fiancée...

) or an obstacle chase (as in The Battle of the Birds
The Battle of the Birds
The Battle of the Birds is a Scottish fairy tale collected by John Francis Campbell in his Popular Tales of the West Highlands. He recorded it from a fisherman near Inverary, John Mackenzie...

, The White Dove, or The Master Maid
The Master Maid
The Master Maid is a Norwegian fairy tale collected by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe in their Norske Folkeeventyr. "Master" indicates "superior, skilled." Jørgen Moe wrote the tale down from the storyteller Anne Godlid in Seljord on a short visit in the autumn of 1842.It is...

).

In a similar effect, a captive may shape-shift in order to break a hold on him. Proteus
Proteus
In Greek mythology, Proteus is an early sea-god, one of several deities whom Homer calls the "Old Man of the Sea", whose name suggests the "first" , as protogonos is the "primordial" or the "firstborn". He became the son of Poseidon in the Olympian theogony In Greek mythology, Proteus (Πρωτεύς)...

 and Nereus
Nereus
In Greek mythology, Nereus was the eldest son of Pontus and Gaia , a Titan who with Doris fathered the Nereids, with whom Nereus lived in the Aegean Sea. In the Iliad the Old Man of the Sea is the father of Nereids, though Nereus is not directly named...

's shape-shifting was to prevent heroes such as Menelaus
Menelaus
Menelaus may refer to;*Menelaus, one of the two most known Atrides, a king of Sparta and son of Atreus and Aerope*Menelaus on the Moon, named after Menelaus of Alexandria.*Menelaus , brother of Ptolemy I Soter...

 and Heracles
Heracles
Heracles ,born Alcaeus or Alcides , was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, foster son of Amphitryon and great-grandson of Perseus...

 from forcing information from them. Tam Lin
Tam Lin
Tam Lin is the hero of a legendary ballad originating from the Scottish Borders. The story revolves around the rescue of Tam Lin by his true love from the Queen of the Fairies...

, once seized by Janet, was transformed in her arms by the faeries to keep Janet from taking him, but as he had advised her, she did not let go, and so freed him. The motif of capturing a person by holding him through many transformations is found in folktales throughout Europe, and Patricia A. McKillip
Patricia A. McKillip
Patricia Anne McKillip is an American author of fantasy and science fiction novels. Her novels have been winners of the World Fantasy Award, Locus Award and Mythopoeic Award. In 2008, she was a recipient of the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement...

 references it in her Riddle-Master trilogy: a shapeshifting Earthmaster finally wins its freedom by startling the man holding it.

Another variant was used by T. H. White
T. H. White
Terence Hanbury White was an English author best known for his sequence of Arthurian novels, The Once and Future King, first published together in 1958.-Biography:...

 in The Sword in the Stone
The Sword in the Stone
The Sword in the Stone is a novel by T. H. White, published in 1939, initially a stand-alone work but now the first part of a tetralogy The Once and Future King. A fantasy of the boyhood of King Arthur, it is a sui generis work which combines elements of legend, history, fantasy and comedy...

, where Merlin
Merlin
Merlin is a legendary figure best known as the wizard featured in the Arthurian legend. The standard depiction of the character first appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, written c. 1136, and is based on an amalgamation of previous historical and legendary figures...

 and Madam Mim fought a wizards' duel, in which the duelists would endlessly transform until one was in a form that could destroy the other.

Powers

One motif is a shape change in order to obtain abilities in the new form. Berserkers were held to change into wolves and bears in order to fight more effectively. In many cultures, evil magicians could transform into animal shapes and thus skulk about.

In many fairy tales, the hero's talking animal
Talking animal
A talking animal or speaking animal refers to any form of non-human animal which can produce sounds resembling those of a human language. Many species or groups of animals have developed forms of Animal Communication Systems which to some appear to be a non-verbal language...

 helper
Donor (fairy tale)
In fairy tales, a donor is a character that tests the hero and provides magical assistances to the hero when he succeeds.The fairy godmother is a well-known form of this character...

 proves to be a shapeshifted human being, able to help him in its animal form. In one variation, featured in The Three Enchanted Princes
The Three Enchanted Princes
The Three Enchanted Princes is an Italian literary fairy tale written by Giambattista Basile in his 1634 work, the Pentamerone.-Synopsis:...

and The Death of Koschei the Deathless
The Death of Koschei the Deathless
The Death of the Immortal Koschei or Marya Morevna is a Russian fairy tale collected by Alexander Afanasyev in Narodnye russkie skazki and included by Andrew Lang in The Red Fairy Book...

, the hero's three sisters have been married to animals. These prove to be shape-shifted men, who aid their brother-in-law in a variant of tale types.

In Greek mythology, the Titan Metis, the first wife of Zeus and the mother of the goddess Athena, was believed to be able to change her appearance into anything she wanted. In one story, she was so proud, that her husband, Zeus, tricked her into changing into a fly. He then swallowed her because he feared that he and Metis would have a son that would be more powerful than Zeus himself. Metis, however, was already pregnant. She stayed alive inside his head and built armor for her daughter. The banging of her metalworking made Zeus have a headache, so Hephaestus clove his head with an axe. Athena sprang from her father's head, fully grown, and in battle armor.

In an early Mayan text, the Shapeshifter, or Mestaclocan, has the ability to change his appearance and to manipulate the minds of animals. In one tale, the Mestaclocan finds a dying eagle. Changing into the form of an eagle, he convinces the dying bird that it is, in fact, not dying. As the story goes they both soar into the heavens, and lived together for eternity.

This use, though rare in older fiction, is perhaps the most common in modern fiction. Several superheroes — Beast Boy
Beast Boy
Garfield Mark "Gar" Logan, known as Beast Boy or Changeling, is a fictional character, a superhero appearing in comic books published by DC Comics...

, Chameleon Boy/Chameleon
Chameleon Boy
Chameleon Boy , also known as Chameleon, is a DC Comics superhero, a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes in the 30th and 31st centuries. He first appeared in Action Comics #267 .-Silver Age:...

, Morph, Ben 10
Ben 10
The Omnitrix was originally created by a Galvan named Azmuth. The Omnitrix was intended to allow beings to experience life as other species in order to bring understanding and foster peace in the universe....

, Mystique
Mystique (comics)
Mystique is a fictional character associated with the Marvel Comics' franchise X-Men. Originally created by artist David Cockrum and writer Chris Claremont, she first appeared in Ms...

, Clayface
Clayface
Clayface is an alias used by several DC Comics fictional characters, most of them possessing claylike bodies and shape-shifting abilities. All of them have been enemies of Batman.-Publication history:...

 — have it as their sole power. The Harry Potter
Harry Potter
Harry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written by the British author J. K. Rowling. The books chronicle the adventures of the adolescent wizard Harry Potter and his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry...

series contains both Animagi who can change to a single form and Metamorphmagi who can alter their appearance. The Twilight Saga also features shapeshifters that can transform into wolves and have inhuman strength
Strength
- Physical ability :*Physical strength, as in people or animals*Superhuman strength, as in fictional characters*A common character attribute in role-playing gamesConflict between persons or groups:*Virtue and moral uprightness...

, speed
Speed
In kinematics, the speed of an object is the magnitude of its velocity ; it is thus a scalar quantity. The average speed of an object in an interval of time is the distance traveled by the object divided by the duration of the interval; the instantaneous speed is the limit of the average speed as...

, body temperature and aging process. Several episodes of the television shows: True Blood and Supernatural
Supernatural (TV series)
Supernatural is an American supernatural and horror television series created by Eric Kripke, which debuted on September 13, 2005 on The WB, and is now part of The CW's lineup. Starring Jared Padalecki as Sam Winchester and Jensen Ackles as Dean Winchester, the series follows the brothers as they...

featured shape-shifters. Both the Earthmasters and their opponents in The Riddle-Master of Hed
The Riddle-Master of Hed
The Riddle-Master of Hed is a fantasy novel by Patricia A. McKillip. It is the first book of the Riddle Master Trilogy, the following two books being Heir of Sea and Fire and Harpist in the Wind. It was published in 1976....

trilogy make extensive use of their shape-shifting abilities for the powers of their new forms.

Bildungsroman

A young character may learn of his shape-shifting abilities, and exploring them becomes part of a Bildungsroman
Bildungsroman
In literary criticism, bildungsroman or coming-of-age story is a literary genre which focuses on the psychological and moral growth of the protagonist from youth to adulthood , and in which character change is thus extremely important...

. Mavin Manyshaped
Mavin Manyshaped
Mavin Manyshaped is a shapeshifter within a series of nine novels written by Sheri S. Tepper that are collectively known as The True Game. The three novels telling the earliest part of the story focus on Mavin and are told principally from her point of view....

 and her son Peter in Sheri S. Tepper
Sheri S. Tepper
Sheri Stewart Tepper is an American author of science fiction, horror and mystery novels; she is particularly known as a feminist science fiction writer, often with an ecofeminist slant....

's True Game
The True Game
The True Game is the collective name for a series of three related trilogies of short novels by Sheri S. Tepper. The novels explore the Lands of the True Game, a portion of a planet explored by humanity somewhere in the future...

novels are both shifters, being a subspecies of humans having this power, and in both, the learning of their abilities is a large portion of their growing up.

For a very different effect, T. H. White
T. H. White
Terence Hanbury White was an English author best known for his sequence of Arthurian novels, The Once and Future King, first published together in 1958.-Biography:...

 had Merlin
Merlin
Merlin is a legendary figure best known as the wizard featured in the Arthurian legend. The standard depiction of the character first appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, written c. 1136, and is based on an amalgamation of previous historical and legendary figures...

 transform Arthur
King Arthur
King Arthur is a legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries, who, according to Medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and...

 into various animals in The Sword in the Stone
The Sword in the Stone
The Sword in the Stone is a novel by T. H. White, published in 1939, initially a stand-alone work but now the first part of a tetralogy The Once and Future King. A fantasy of the boyhood of King Arthur, it is a sui generis work which combines elements of legend, history, fantasy and comedy...

, as an educational experience. Although the lessons are very different, the Bildungsroman element is in common.

Needed items

Some shape-shifters are able to change form only if they have some item, usually an article of clothing. Most of these are innocuous creatures — even if they are werewolves. In Bisclavret
Bisclavret
"Bisclavret" is one of the twelve Lais of Marie de France written in the 12th century. Originally written in French, it tells the story of a werewolf who is trapped in lupine form by the treachery of his wife...

by Marie de France
Marie de France
Marie de France was a medieval poet who was probably born in France and lived in England during the late 12th century. She lived and wrote at an undisclosed court, but was almost certainly at least known about at the royal court of King Henry II of England...

, a werewolf cannot regain human form without his clothing, but in wolf form does no harm to anyone.

Another such creature is the Scottish selkie
Selkie
Selkies are mythological creatures that are found in Faroese, Icelandic, Irish, and Scottish folklore....

, which needs its sealskin to regain its form. In The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry
The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry
The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry or The Grey Selkie of Suleskerry is a traditional folk song from Orkney. The song was collected by the American scholar, Francis James Child in the late nineteenth century and is listed as Child ballad number 113...

the (male) selkie seduces a human woman but does no further harm.

The most common use of this motif, however, is in tales where a man steals the article and forces the shape-shifter, trapped in human form, to become his bride. This lasts until she discovers where he has hidden the article, and she can flee. Selkies feature in these tales. Others include swan maidens and the Japanese Tennin
Tennin
Tennin , which may include tenshi , ten no tsukai and the specifically female tennyo are spiritual beings found in Japanese Buddhism that are similar to western angels, nymphs or fairies...

.

Various forms of fairytale fantasy
Fairytale fantasy
Fairytale fantasy is distinguished from other subgenres of fantasy by the works' heavy use of motifs, and often plots, from folklore.-History:...

 have taken up these creatures and incorporated them into modern day works. Jane Yolen
Jane Yolen
Jane Hyatt Yolen is an American author and editor of almost 300 books. These include folklore, fantasy, science fiction, and children's books...

 took up the notion of selkie in Greyling and transformed it into a foundling
Child abandonment
Child abandonment is the practice of relinquishing interests and claims over one's offspring with the intent of never again resuming or reasserting them. Causes include many social and cultural factors as well as mental illness. An abandoned child is called a foundling .-Causes:Poverty is often a...

 tale.

In the sci-fi television series Fringe
Fringe (TV series)
Fringe is an American science fiction television series created by J. J. Abrams, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci. The series follows a Federal Bureau of Investigation "Fringe Division" team based in Boston, Massachusetts under the supervision of Homeland Security...

, human/machine hybrids
Cyborg
A cyborg is a being with both biological and artificial parts. The term was coined in 1960 when Manfred Clynes and Nathan S. Kline used it in an article about the advantages of self-regulating human-machine systems in outer space. D. S...

 utilize a device which consist of a control box attached to two sets of wires with three prongs on the ends. The prongs are inserted on the roof of victim's and shapeshifter's mouth and when switched on, the shapeshifter will be able to acquire the shape and form of the victim. In Season 4, the advance class of shapeshifters no longer require an external device; instead, they can acquire the shape and form of the victim through a device attached on the wrist.

Inner conflict

The power to externally transform can symbolize an internal savagery; a central theme in many strands of werewolf
Werewolf
A werewolf, also known as a lycanthrope , is a mythological or folkloric human with the ability to shapeshift into a wolf or an anthropomorphic wolf-like creature, either purposely or after being placed under a curse...

 mythology, and the inversion of the "liberation" theme, as in Dr Jekyll's transformation into Mr. Hyde.

Deception

In Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Terminator 2: Judgment Day is a 1991 science fiction action film directed by James Cameron and written by Cameron and William Wisher Jr.. It stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Robert Patrick, and Edward Furlong...

, the T-1000
T-1000
The T-1000 is a fictional nanomorph mimetic poly-alloy assassin and the main antagonist in Terminator 2: Judgment Day controlled by the series main antagonist Skynet. The T-1000 is portrayed primarily by Robert Patrick; however, being a shape-shifter, the T-1000 is played by other actors in some...

 took the form of John Connor
John Connor
John Connor is a character appearing in the American science fiction Terminator franchise and he serves as the series main protagonist. Created by writer and director James Cameron, the character is first referred to in the 1984 film The Terminator and first appears portrayed by teenage actor...

's foster mom to gather information regarding his whereabouts, and later as his biological mother to gain his trust.
"The Trickster" in Supernatural
Supernatural (TV series)
Supernatural is an American supernatural and horror television series created by Eric Kripke, which debuted on September 13, 2005 on The WB, and is now part of The CW's lineup. Starring Jared Padalecki as Sam Winchester and Jensen Ackles as Dean Winchester, the series follows the brothers as they...

 changes form often to aid in tricking the main protagonists, Sam and Dean Winchester, into hunting down something else. "The Trickster" like most shape shifters is unable to mimic what he copies to perfection and leaves clues to point towards it being him.

Usurpation

Some transformations are performed to remove the victim from his place, so that the transformer can usurp it. Bisclaveret's wife steals his clothing and traps him in wolf form because she has a lover. A witch, in The Wonderful Birch
The Wonderful Birch
The Wonderful Birch is a Russian fairy tale.A variant on Cinderella, it is Aarne-Thompson folktale type 510A, the persecuted heroine. It makes use of shapeshifting motifs.Andrew Lang included it in The Red Fairy Book.-Synopsis:...

, changed a mother into a sheep to take her place, and had the mother slaughtered; when her stepdaughter married the king, the witch transformed her into a reindeer so as to put her daughter in the queen's place. In the Korean Transformation of the Kumiho, a kumiho
Kumiho
The gumiho is a creature that appears in the oral tales and legends of Korea,, and are akin to European fairies. According to those tales, a fox that lives a thousand years turns into a gumiho, like its Japanese and Chinese counterparts...

, a fox with magical powers, transformed itself into an image of the bride, only being detected when her clothing is removed. In Brother and Sister
Brother and Sister
Brother and Sister is a well-known European fairy tale which was, among others, written down by the Brothers Grimm in their collection of Children's and Household Tales ...

, when two children flee their cruel stepmother, she enchants the streams along the way to transform them. While the brother refrains from the first two, which threaten to turn them into tigers and wolves, he is too thirsty at the third, which turns him into a deer. The Six Swans
The Six Swans
The Six Swans is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm. It is tale number 49. Andrew Lang included a variant in The Yellow Fairy Book. It is Aarne-Thompson type 451: the brothers who were turned into birds...

are transformed into swans by their stepmother, as are the Children of Lir in Irish mythology. In The Laidly Worm of Spindleston Heugh
The Laidly Worm of Spindleston Heugh
The Laidly Worm of Spindleston Heugh, also known as The Laidly Worm of Bamborough, is a Northumbrian ballad about a princess who changed into a dragon .-Synopsis:...

, Princess Margaret is transformed into a dragon by her stepmother; her motive sprung, like Snow White
Snow White
"Snow White" is a fairy tale known from many countries in Europe, the best known version being the German one collected by the Brothers Grimm...

's stepmother's, from the comparison of their beauty.

Modern fiction also includes this motif: Mary Stewart
Mary Stewart
Mary Florence Elinor Stewart is a popular English novelist, best known for her Merlin series, which straddles the boundary between the historical novel and the fantasy genre.-Career:...

's A Walk in Wolf Wood revolves about revealing that one man is an imposter, taking the form of a man who is living as a wolf in the woods, and Patricia A. McKillip
Patricia A. McKillip
Patricia Anne McKillip is an American author of fantasy and science fiction novels. Her novels have been winners of the World Fantasy Award, Locus Award and Mythopoeic Award. In 2008, she was a recipient of the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement...

 has her shapeshifters, in the Riddle-master trilogy, use their forms to take the place of others. The Harry Potter
Harry Potter
Harry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written by the British author J. K. Rowling. The books chronicle the adventures of the adolescent wizard Harry Potter and his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry...

 series included both a usurpation by a shape-shifter, and considerable precautions being taken by wizards and witches to attempt to identify such shape-shifters as they arose. In science fiction, Who Goes There?
Who Goes There?
Who Goes There? is a science fiction novella by John W. Campbell, Jr. under the pen name Don A. Stuart, published August 1938 in Astounding Stories. In 1973, the story was voted by the Science Fiction Writers of America as one of the finest science fiction novellas ever written, and published with...

by John W. Campbell
John W. Campbell
John Wood Campbell, Jr. was an influential figure in American science fiction. As editor of Astounding Science Fiction , from late 1937 until his death, he is generally credited with shaping the so-called Golden Age of Science Fiction.Isaac Asimov called Campbell "the most powerful force in...

 included a shape-shifting alien that devoured and replaced terrestrial life (realized on screen in the 1982's The Thing, but not in its first film adaption
The Thing from Another World
The Thing from Another World , is a 1951 science fiction film based on the 1938 novella "Who Goes There?" by John W. Campbell . It tells the story of an Air Force crew and scientists at a remote Arctic research outpost who fight a malevolent plant-based alien being...

).

While Doppelgänger
Doppelgänger
In fiction and folklore, a doppelgänger is a paranormal double of a living person, typically representing evil or misfortune...

s in folklore were a kind of portent that resembled a person, with no shapeshifting required, in modern fiction and roleplaying games, they are usually depicted as shape-shifters out to usurp someone's place.

This motif can also be used in a similar manner to the Monstrous Bride/Bridegroom theme. A character who falls in love with a usurper (given a justifiable motive for the replacement) can discover the unimportance of appearances beside character. In the Legion of Super-Heroes
Legion of Super-Heroes
The Legion of Super-Heroes is a fictional superhero team in the 30th and 31st centuries of the . The team first appears in Adventure Comics #247 , and was created by Otto Binder and Al Plastino....

comics, Colossal Boy fell in love with a shapeshifter who had been duped into taking the form of a woman he had been attracted to. The revelation of this made him realize that he had fallen in love with the shapeshifter herself and not with the woman he had thought her to be. Similarly, the Human Torch fell in love with a Skrull imposter
Lyja
Lyja is a fictional character in the Marvel Comics universe. As a Skrull, she possesses the ability to shapeshift into almost any humanoid or animal form. Modifications on her body gave her the power to generate energy blasts.-Fictional character biography:...

.

Ill-advised wishes

Many fairy-tale characters have expressed inadvised wish
Wish
A wish is a hope or desire for something. Fictionally, wishes can be used as plot devices. In folklore, opportunities for "making a wish" or for wishes to "come true" or "be granted" are themes that are sometimes used.-In literature:...

es to have any child at all, even one that has another form, and had such children born to them. At the end of the fairy tale, normally after marriage, such children metamorphose into human form.

Hans My Hedgehog
Hans My Hedgehog
Hans My Hedgehog, or Hans the Hedgehog, is a Brothers Grimm fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm. Since the second edition published in 1819, it has been recorded as Tale no...

was born when his father wished for a child, even a hedgehog. Even stranger forms are possible: Giambattista Basile
Giambattista Basile
Giambattista Basile was an Italian poet, courtier, and fairy tale collector.- Biography :Born to a Neapolitan middle-class family, Basile was, during his career, a courtier and soldier to various Italian princes, including the doge of Venice. According to Benedetto Croce he was born in 1575, while...

 included in his Pentamerone the tale
The Myrtle
The Myrtle is an Italian literary fairy tale written by Giambattista Basile in his 1634 work, the Pentamerone.It is Aarne-Thompson type 652A.-Synopsis:...

 of a girl born as a sprig of myrtle, and Italo Calvino
Italo Calvino
Italo Calvino was an Italian journalist and writer of short stories and novels. His best known works include the Our Ancestors trilogy , the Cosmicomics collection of short stories , and the novels Invisible Cities and If on a winter's night a traveler .Lionised in Britain and the United States,...

, in his Italian Folktales, a girl born as an apple.

Sometimes, the parent who wishes for a child is told how to gain one, but does not obey the directions perfectly, resulting in the transformed birth. In Prince Lindworm, the woman eats two onions, but does not peel one, resulting in her first child being a lindworm
Lindworm
Lindworm in British heraldry, is a technical term for a wingless bipedal dragon often with a venomous bite.-Etymology:In modern Scandinavian languages, the cognate lindorm can refer to any 'serpent' or monstrous...

. In Tatterhood
Tatterhood
Tatterhood is a fairy tale collected by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe.It is Aarne-Thompson type 711, the beautiful and the ugly twin...

, a woman magically produces two flowers, but disobeys the directions to eat only the beautiful one, resulting her having a beautiful and sweet daughter, but only after a disgusting and hideous one.

Less commonly, ill-advised wishes can transform a person after birth. The Seven Ravens
The Seven Ravens
The Seven Ravens is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm.It is tale number 25, and Aarne-Thompson type 451, the brothers who were turned into birds. Georgios A Megas collected another, Greek variant in Folktales of Greece...

are transformed when their father thinks his sons are playing instead of fetching water to christen their newborn and sickly sister, and curses them. In Puddocky
Puddocky
"Puddocky" is a German fairy tale. A variant, "Cherry," was collected by the Brothers Grimm, and in French, Madame d'Aulnoy retold it in a literary fairy tale as "The White Cat", altering the tale's frog into a cat.-Synopsis:...

, when three princes start to quarrel over the beautiful heroine, a witch curses her because of the noise.

Monstrous bride/bridegroom

Such wished-for children may become monstrous bride
Bride
A bride is a woman about to be married or newlywed.The word may come from the Proto-Germanic verb root *brū-, meaning 'to cook, brew, or make a broth' which was the role of the daughter-in-law in primitive families...

s or bridegrooms. These tales have often been interpreted as symbolically representing arranged marriages; the bride's (in particular) revulsion to marrying a stranger being symbolized by his bestial form.

These tales form, broadly, three subclasses.
The heroine must fall in love with the transformed groom. Beauty and the Beast
Beauty and the Beast
Beauty and the Beast is a traditional fairy tale. The first published version of the fairy tale was a rendition by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve, published in La jeune américaine, et les contes marins in 1740...

falls under this. This has been interpreted as a young woman's coming-of-age, in which she changes from being repulsed by sexual activity and regarding a husband therefore bestial, to a mature woman who can marry.

The hero or heroine must marry, as promised, and the monstrous form is removed by the wedding. Sir Gawain thus transformed the Loathly lady
Loathly lady
The loathly lady is a common literary device used in medieval literature, most famously in Geoffrey Chaucer's The Wife of Bath's Tale. The motif was prominent in Celtic mythology and to a lesser extent Germanic mythology, where the lady often represented the sovereignty of the...

; although he was told that this was half-way, she could at his choice be beautiful by day and hideous by night, or vice versa, he told her that he would choose what she preferred, which broke the spell entirely. In Tatterhood
Tatterhood
Tatterhood is a fairy tale collected by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe.It is Aarne-Thompson type 711, the beautiful and the ugly twin...

, Tatterhood is transformed by her asking her bridegroom why he didn't ask her why she rode a goat, why she carried a spoon, and why she was so ugly, and when he asked her, denying it and therefore transforming her goat into a horse, her spoon into a fan, and herself into a beauty. Puddocky
Puddocky
"Puddocky" is a German fairy tale. A variant, "Cherry," was collected by the Brothers Grimm, and in French, Madame d'Aulnoy retold it in a literary fairy tale as "The White Cat", altering the tale's frog into a cat.-Synopsis:...

 is transformed when her prince, after she had helped him with two other tasks, tells him that his father has sent him for a bride. A similar effect is found in Child ballad 34, Kemp Owyne
Kemp Owyne
-Synopsis:The heroine is turned into a worm , usually by her stepmother, who curses her to remain so until the king's son comes to kiss her three times. When he arrives, she offers him a belt, a ring, and a sword to kiss her, promising the things would magically protect him; the third time, she...

, where the hero can transform a dragon back into a maiden by kissing her three times.

Sometimes the bridegroom removes his animal skin for the wedding night, whereupon it can be burned. Hans My Hedgehog
Hans My Hedgehog
Hans My Hedgehog, or Hans the Hedgehog, is a Brothers Grimm fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm. Since the second edition published in 1819, it has been recorded as Tale no...

, The Donkey
The Donkey (fairy tale)
The Donkey is a German fairy tale collected by Brothers Grimm by Grimm's Fairy Tales.It is Aarne-Thompson type 430, The Donkey Bridegroom.-Synopsis:...

and The Pig King fall under this grouping. At an extreme, in Prince Lindworm, the bride who avoids being eaten by the lindworm bridegroom arrives at her wedding wearing every gown she owns, and she tells the bridegroom she will remove one of hers if he removes one of his; only when her last gown comes off has he removed his last skin, and become a white shape that she can form into a man.

In other tales, such as The Brown Bear of Norway
The Brown Bear of Norway
The Brown Bear of Norway is a Scottish fairy tale collected by Fitzroy MacLean in West Highland Tales. Andrew Lang included it in The Lilac Fairy Book.It is Aarne-Thompson type 425A, the search for the lost husband...

, The Golden Crab
The Golden Crab
The Golden Crab is a Greek fairy tale collected as "Prinz Krebs" by Bernhard Schmidt in his Griechische Märchen, Sagen and Volkslieder. Andrew Lang included it in The Yellow Fairy Book.Georgios A...

, The Enchanted Snake
The Enchanted Snake
The Enchanted Snake or The Snake is an Italian fairy tale. Giambattista Basile wrote a variant in the Pentamerone. Andrew Lang drew upon this variant, for inclusion in The Green Fairy Book....

and some variants of The Frog Princess
The Frog Princess
The Frog Princess is a fairy tale that exists in many versions from several countries.Russian variants include the Frog Princess or Tsarevna Frog and also Vasilisa the Wise ; Alexander Afanasyev collected variants in his Narodnye russkie skazki...

, burning the skin is a catastrophe, putting the transformed bride or bridegroom in danger; this is an example of the third grouping.

In the third grouping, the hero or heroine must obey a prohibition; the bride must spend a period of time not seeing the transformed groom in human shape (as in East of the Sun and West of the Moon
East of the Sun and West of the Moon
East of the Sun and West of the Moon is a Norwegian folk tale.East of the Sun and West of the Moon was collected by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe...

), or the bridegroom must not burn the animals skins. In these tales, the prohibition is broken, invariably, resulting in a separation and a search by one spouse for the other.

This motif is found in modern fiction mostly in the form of fairytale fantasy
Fairytale fantasy
Fairytale fantasy is distinguished from other subgenres of fantasy by the works' heavy use of motifs, and often plots, from folklore.-History:...

. Robin McKinley
Robin McKinley
Robin McKinley is a distinguished author of fantasy and children's books who has written sixteen books to date. Her latest book Pegasus was published in 2010...

 retold Beauty and the Beast twice, in Beauty
Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast
Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty & the Beast was first published in 1978 by children's book author Robin McKinley. It was her first book, retelling the classic French fairy tale La Belle et La Bete. The book was the 1998 Phoenix Award honor book. It was the 1966-1988 Best of the Best...

and Rose Daughter
Rose Daughter
Rose Daughter is a second retelling of the tale of Beauty and the Beast by Robin McKinley, published in 1997.Like McKinley's original Beauty, the heroine has a strong, independent personality that sets her apart from the average fairy-tale female. In the original fairytale, Beauty's sisters were...

.

Death

Ghosts sometimes appear in animal form. In The Famous Flower of Serving-Men
The Famous Flower of Serving-Men
The Famous Flower of Serving-Men or The Lady turned Serving-Man is Child ballad number 106Francis James Child, English and Scottish Popular Ballads, and a murder ballad...

, the heroine's murdered husband appears to the king as a white dove, lamenting her fate over his own grave. In The White and the Black Bride
The White and the Black Bride
The White Bride and the Black One is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, tale number 135. It is Aarne-Thompson type 403A. Other tales of this type include The Three Little Men in the Wood, Brother and Sister, Bushy Bride, and The Enchanted Wreath.-Synopsis:A woman, her daughter,...

and The Three Little Men in the Wood
The Three Little Men in the Wood
The Three Little Men in the Wood or The Three Dwarfs is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, number 13. Andrew Lang included it in The Red Fairy Book, and a version of the tale appears in A Book of Dwarfs by Ruth Manning-Sanders.It is Aarne-Thompson type 403B, the black and the...

, the murdered — drowned — true bride reappears as a white duck. In The Rose Tree and The Juniper Tree
The Juniper Tree (fairy tale)
The Juniper Tree is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm. In some editions the story is called, The Almond Tree. The Text in the Grimm collection is in Low German....

, the murdered children become birds who avenge their own deaths. There are African folk tales of murder victims avenging themselves in the form of crocodiles
Mugger Crocodile
The mugger crocodile , also called the Indian, Indus, Persian, or marsh crocodile, is found throughout the Indian subcontinent and the surrounding countries...

 that can shapeshift into human form.

In some fairy tales, the character can reveal himself in every new form, and so a usurper repeatedly kills the victim in every new form, as in Beauty and Pock Face
Beauty and Pock Face
Beauty and Pock Face is a Chinese fairy tale collected by Wolfram Eberhard in Chinese Fairy Tales and Folk Tales.It is classified as Cinderella, Aarne-Thompson type 510A, the persecuted heroine; others of this type include The Sharp Grey Sheep; The Golden Slipper; The Story of Tam and Cam; Rushen...

, A String of Pearls Twined with Golden Flowers
A String of Pearls Twined with Golden Flowers
A String of Pearls Twined with Golden Flowers or The Golden Twins is a Romanian fairy tale collected by Petre Ispirescu in Legende sau basmele românilor.-Synopsis:...

, and The Boys with the Golden Stars
The Boys with the Golden Stars
The Boys with the Golden Stars is a Romanian fairy tale collected in Rumanische Märchen. Andrew Lang included it in The Violet Fairy Book.-Synopsis:...

. This eventually leads to a form in which the character (or characters) can reveal the truth to someone able to stop the villain.

Similarly, the transformation back may be acts that would be fatal. In The Wounded Lion
The Wounded Lion
The Wounded Lion is a Spanish fairy tale collected by D. Francisco de S. Maspous y Labros, in Cuentos Populars Catalans. Andrew Lang included it in The Pink Fairy Book.-Synopsis:...

, the prescription for turning the lion back into a prince was to kill him, chop him to pieces, burn the pieces, and throw the ash into water. Less drastic but no less apparently fatal, the fox in The Golden Bird
The Golden Bird
"The Golden Bird" is a Brothers Grimm fairy tale, number 57, about the pursuit of a golden bird by a king's three sons.A French version, collected by Paul Sébillot, is called The Golden Blackbird. Andrew Lang included that variant in The Green Fairy Book.It is Aarne-Thompson folktale type 550,...

, the foals in The Seven Foals
The Seven Foals
The Seven Foals is a Norwegian fairy tale collected by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe.The hero of the story is sometimes called, in an analogue to Cinderella, Cinder-lad.-Synopsis:...

, and the cats in Lord Peter
Lord Peter (fairy tale)
Lord Peter or Squire Per is a Norwegian fairy tale collected by Asbjørnsen and Moe.It is Aarne-Thompson type 545B.-Synopsis:A couple died, leaving their three sons a porridge-pot, a griddle, and a cat...

and The White Cat tell the heroes of those stories to cut off their heads; this restores them to human shape. In the Greek tale of Scylla
Scylla (princess)
Scylla is a princess of Megara in Greek mythology. She is mentioned by Ovid.As the story goes, Scylla was the daughter of Nisus the King of Megara, who possessed a single lock of purple hair which granted him invincibility. When Minos, the King of Crete, invaded Nisus's kingdom, Scylla saw him...

, Scylla's father Nisus
Nisus
ni·susn. pl. nisusAn effort or endeavor to realize an aim.[Latin nisus, from past participle of niti, to strive.]In classical mythology, Nisus may refer to:...

turns into an eagle after death and drowns her daughter for betraying her father.

Folklore and mythology

Popular shapeshifting creatures in folklore are werewolves
Werewolf
A werewolf, also known as a lycanthrope , is a mythological or folkloric human with the ability to shapeshift into a wolf or an anthropomorphic wolf-like creature, either purposely or after being placed under a curse...

 and vampire
Vampire
Vampires are mythological or folkloric beings who subsist by feeding on the life essence of living creatures, regardless of whether they are undead or a living person...

s (mostly of Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

an, Canadian, and Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...

/early American origin), the Huli jing of East Asia
East Asia
East Asia or Eastern Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either geographical or cultural terms...

 (including the Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese kitsune
Kitsune
is the Japanese word for fox. Foxes are a common subject of Japanese folklore; in English, kitsune refers to them in this context. Stories depict them as intelligent beings and as possessing magical abilities that increase with their age and wisdom. Foremost among these is the ability to assume...

), and the gods, goddess
Goddess
A goddess is a female deity. In some cultures goddesses are associated with Earth, motherhood, love, and the household. In other cultures, goddesses also rule over war, death, and destruction as well as healing....

es, and demon
Demon
call - 1347 531 7769 for more infoIn Ancient Near Eastern religions as well as in the Abrahamic traditions, including ancient and medieval Christian demonology, a demon is considered an "unclean spirit" which may cause demonic possession, to be addressed with an act of exorcism...

s of numerous mythologies, such as the Norse
Norse mythology
Norse mythology, a subset of Germanic mythology, is the overall term for the myths, legends and beliefs about supernatural beings of Norse pagans. It flourished prior to the Christianization of Scandinavia, during the Early Middle Ages, and passed into Nordic folklore, with some aspects surviving...

 Loki
Loki
In Norse mythology, Loki or Loke is a god or jötunn . Loki is the son of Fárbauti and Laufey, and the brother of Helblindi and Býleistr. By the jötunn Angrboða, Loki is the father of Hel, the wolf Fenrir, and the world serpent Jörmungandr. By his wife Sigyn, Loki is the father of Nari or Narfi...

 or the Greek
Greek mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...

 Proteus
Proteus
In Greek mythology, Proteus is an early sea-god, one of several deities whom Homer calls the "Old Man of the Sea", whose name suggests the "first" , as protogonos is the "primordial" or the "firstborn". He became the son of Poseidon in the Olympian theogony In Greek mythology, Proteus (Πρωτεύς)...

. It was also common for deities
Deity
A deity is a recognized preternatural or supernatural immortal being, who may be thought of as holy, divine, or sacred, held in high regard, and respected by believers....

 to transform mortals into animals and plant
Plant
Plants are living organisms belonging to the kingdom Plantae. Precise definitions of the kingdom vary, but as the term is used here, plants include familiar organisms such as trees, flowers, herbs, bushes, grasses, vines, ferns, mosses, and green algae. The group is also called green plants or...

s.

Although shapeshifting to the form of a wolf
Gray Wolf
The gray wolf , also known as the wolf, is the largest extant wild member of the Canidae family...

 is specifically known as lycanthropy
Lycanthropy
Lycanthropy is the professed ability or power of a human being to undergo transformation into a werewolf, or to gain wolf-like characteristics. The term comes from Greek Lykànthropos : λύκος, lykos + άνθρωπος, ànthrōpos...

, and such creatures who undergo such change are called lycanthropes, those terms have also been used to describe any human-animal transformations and the creatures who undergo them. Therianthropy
Therianthropy
Therianthropy refers to the metamorphosis of humans into other animals. Therianthropes are said to change forms via shapeshifting. Therianthropes have long existed in mythology, appearing in ancient cave drawings such as the Sorcerer at Les Trois Frères....

 is the more general term for human-animal shifts, but it is rarely used in that capacity.

Other terms for shapeshifters include metamorph, skin-walker
Skin-walker
Skin-walker and Skinwalker may refer to:* Skin-walker, a human/animal shape-shifter from Native American legend.-Books and comics:* Skinwalkers , a 1986 mystery novel by Tony Hillerman....

, mimic, and therianthrope. The prefix "were-," coming from the Old English word for "man" (masculine rather than generic), is also used to designate shapeshifters; despite its root, it is used to indicate female shapeshifters as well.

Almost every culture
Culture
Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...

 around the world has some type of transformation myth, and almost every commonly found animal (and some not-so-common ones) probably has a shapeshifting myth attached to them. Usually, the animal involved in the transformation is indigenous to or prevalent in the area from which the story derives.
While the popular idea of a shapeshifter is of a human being who turns into something else, there are numerous stories about animals that can transform themselves as well.

Greco-Roman

Shapeshifting, transformations and metamorphoses serve a wide variety of purposes in classical mythology.

Examples of shapeshifting in classical literature include many examples in Ovid
Ovid
Publius Ovidius Naso , known as Ovid in the English-speaking world, was a Roman poet who is best known as the author of the three major collections of erotic poetry: Heroides, Amores, and Ars Amatoria...

's Metamorphoses
Metamorphoses (poem)
Metamorphoses is a Latin narrative poem in fifteen books by the Roman poet Ovid describing the history of the world from its creation to the deification of Julius Caesar within a loose mythico-historical framework. Completed in AD 8, it is recognized as a masterpiece of Golden Age Latin literature...

, Circe
Circe
In Greek mythology, Circe is a minor goddess of magic , described in Homer's Odyssey as "The loveliest of all immortals", living on the island of Aeaea, famous for her part in the adventures of Odysseus.By most accounts, Circe was the daughter of Helios, the god of the sun, and Perse, an Oceanid...

's transforming of Odysseus
Odysseus
Odysseus or Ulysses was a legendary Greek king of Ithaca and the hero of Homer's epic poem the Odyssey. Odysseus also plays a key role in Homer's Iliad and other works in the Epic Cycle....

' men to pigs in Homer
Homer
In the Western classical tradition Homer , is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.When he lived is...

's The Odyssey, and Apuleius
Apuleius
Apuleius was a Latin prose writer. He was a Berber, from Madaurus . He studied Platonist philosophy in Athens; travelled to Italy, Asia Minor and Egypt; and was an initiate in several cults or mysteries. The most famous incident in his life was when he was accused of using magic to gain the...

's Lucius becoming a donkey in The Golden Ass
The Golden Ass
The Metamorphoses of Apuleius, which St. Augustine referred to as The Golden Ass , is the only Latin novel to survive in its entirety....

.

Proteus
Proteus
In Greek mythology, Proteus is an early sea-god, one of several deities whom Homer calls the "Old Man of the Sea", whose name suggests the "first" , as protogonos is the "primordial" or the "firstborn". He became the son of Poseidon in the Olympian theogony In Greek mythology, Proteus (Πρωτεύς)...

 among the gods was particularly noted for his shape-shifting; both Menelaus
Menelaus
Menelaus may refer to;*Menelaus, one of the two most known Atrides, a king of Sparta and son of Atreus and Aerope*Menelaus on the Moon, named after Menelaus of Alexandria.*Menelaus , brother of Ptolemy I Soter...

 and Aristaeus
Aristaeus
A minor god in Greek mythology, which we read largely through Athenian writers, Aristaeus or Aristaios , "ever close follower of the flocks", was the culture hero credited with the discovery of many useful arts, including bee-keeping; he was the son of Apollo and the huntress Cyrene...

 seized him to win information from him, and succeeded only because they held on during his manifold shape changes. Nereus
Nereus
In Greek mythology, Nereus was the eldest son of Pontus and Gaia , a Titan who with Doris fathered the Nereids, with whom Nereus lived in the Aegean Sea. In the Iliad the Old Man of the Sea is the father of Nereids, though Nereus is not directly named...

 told Heracles
Heracles
Heracles ,born Alcaeus or Alcides , was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, foster son of Amphitryon and great-grandson of Perseus...

 where to find the Apples of the Hesperides
Hesperides
In Greek mythology, the Hesperides are nymphs who tend a blissful garden in a far western corner of the world, located near the Atlas mountains in North Africa at the edge of the encircling Oceanus, the world-ocean....

 for the same reason.

While the Greek gods could use transformation punitively — as for Arachne
Arachne
In Greco-Roman mythology, Arachne was a great mortal weaver who boasted that her skill was greater than that of Minerva, the Latin parallel of Pallas Athena, goddess of wisdom and crafts. Arachne refused to acknowledge that her knowledge came, in part at least, from the goddess. The offended...

, turned to a spider for her pride in her weaving, and Medusa
Medusa
In Greek mythology Medusa , " guardian, protectress") was a Gorgon, a chthonic monster, and a daughter of Phorcys and Ceto. The author Hyginus, interposes a generation and gives Medusa another chthonic pair as parents. Gazing directly upon her would turn onlookers to stone...

, turned to a monster for having sexual intercourse with Poseidon
Poseidon
Poseidon was the god of the sea, and, as "Earth-Shaker," of the earthquakes in Greek mythology. The name of the sea-god Nethuns in Etruscan was adopted in Latin for Neptune in Roman mythology: both were sea gods analogous to Poseidon...

 in Athena
Athena
In Greek mythology, Athena, Athenê, or Athene , also referred to as Pallas Athena/Athene , is the goddess of wisdom, courage, inspiration, civilization, warfare, strength, strategy, the arts, crafts, justice, and skill. Minerva, Athena's Roman incarnation, embodies similar attributes. Athena is...

's temple — even more frequently, the tales using it are of amorous adventure. Zeus
Zeus
In the ancient Greek religion, Zeus was the "Father of Gods and men" who ruled the Olympians of Mount Olympus as a father ruled the family. He was the god of sky and thunder in Greek mythology. His Roman counterpart is Jupiter and his Etruscan counterpart is Tinia.Zeus was the child of Cronus...

 repeatedly transformed himself to approach mortals (particularly women), both as a means of gaining access:
  • Danaë
    Danaë
    In Greek mythology, Danaë was a daughter of King Acrisius of Argos and Eurydice of Argos. She was the mother of Perseus by Zeus. She was sometimes credited with founding the city of Ardea in Latium....

     as a shower of gold
  • Europa
    Europa (mythology)
    In Greek mythology Europa was a Phoenician woman of high lineage, from whom the name of the continent Europe has ultimately been taken. The name Europa occurs in Hesiod's long list of daughters of primordial Oceanus and Tethys...

     as a bull
  • Leda
    Leda (mythology)
    In Greek mythology, Leda was daughter of the Aetolian king Thestius, and wife of the king Tyndareus , of Sparta. Her myth gave rise to the popular motif in Renaissance and later art of Leda and the Swan...

     as a swan
  • Ganymede
    Ganymede (mythology)
    In Greek mythology, Ganymede is a divine hero whose homeland was Troy. Homer describes Ganymede as the most beautiful of mortals. In the best-known myth, he is abducted by Zeus, in the form of an eagle, to serve as cup-bearer in Olympus. Some interpretations of the myth treat it as an allegory of...

     as an eagle
  • Alcmene
    Alcmene
    In Greek mythology, Alcmene or Alcmena was the mother of Heracles.-Background:Alcmene was born to Electryon, the son of Perseus and Andromeda, and king of Tiryns and Mycenae or Medea in Argolis. Her mother was Anaxo, daughter of Alcaeus and Astydamia, daughter of Pelops and Hippodameia...

     as her husband

or to attempt to conceal his affair from Hera
Hera
Hera was the wife and one of three sisters of Zeus in the Olympian pantheon of Greek mythology and religion. Her chief function was as the goddess of women and marriage. Her counterpart in the religion of ancient Rome was Juno. The cow and the peacock were sacred to her...

  • Io
    Io (mythology)
    Io was, in Greek mythology, a priestess of Hera in Argos, a nymph who was seduced by Zeus, who changed her into a heifer to escape detection. His wife Hera set ever-watchful Argus Panoptes to guard her, but Hermes was sent to distract the guardian and slay him...

    , as a cloud, and Io herself as a white heifer.


More innocently, Vertumnus
Vertumnus
In Roman mythology, Vertumnus — also Vortumnus or Vertimnus — is the god of seasons, change and plant growth, as well as gardens and fruit trees...

 transformed himself into an old woman in order to gain entry to Pomona
Pomona
Pomona was a goddess of fruitful abundance in ancient Roman religion and myth. Her name comes from the Latin word pomum, "fruit," specifically orchard fruit. She was said to be a wood nymph and a part of the Numia, guardian spirits who watch over people, places, or homes...

's orchard; there, he persuaded her to marry him.

In other tales, the woman appealed to other gods to protect her from rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...

, and was transformed (Daphne
Daphne
Daphne was a female minor nature deity. Pursued by Apollo, she fled and was chased. Daphne begged the gods for help, who then transformed her into Laurel.-Overview:...

 into laurel, Cornix
Cornix
Cornix is a character in Ovid's Metamorphoses.There, she recounts how she was a princess, the daughter of Coroneus. One day as she was walking by the seashore, Neptune saw her. When attempts to persuade her were unavailing, he attempted rape...

 into a crow). Unlike Zeus and other god's shape-shifting, these women were permanently metamorphosed.

In one tale, Demeter transformed herself into a mare to escape Poseidon, but Poseidon counter-transformed himself into a stallion to pursue her, and succeeded in the rape.

Humans were also transformed, for many reasons.

The seer Tiresias
Tiresias
In Greek mythology, Tiresias was a blind prophet of Thebes, famous for clairvoyance and for being transformed into a woman for seven years. He was the son of the shepherd Everes and the nymph Chariclo; Tiresias participated fully in seven generations at Thebes, beginning as advisor to Cadmus...

 once saw two snakes mating and struck the female with his staff; this transformed him into a woman, and he lived as such for many years. At the end, he saw the snakes again, and this time was careful to hit the male, which restored him to male form.

Caenis
Caenis
Caenis, a former slave and secretary of Antonia Minor , was the mistress of the Roman emperor Vespasian. It is believed that she was born in Istria, now in Croatia. Suetonius says that after the death of Vespasian's wife Flavia Domitilla, Caenis was his wife in all but name until her death in AD 74...

, having been raped by Poseidon
Poseidon
Poseidon was the god of the sea, and, as "Earth-Shaker," of the earthquakes in Greek mythology. The name of the sea-god Nethuns in Etruscan was adopted in Latin for Neptune in Roman mythology: both were sea gods analogous to Poseidon...

, demanded of him that she be changed to a man. He agreed, and she became Caeneus
Caeneus
In Greek mythology, Caeneus was a Lapith hero of Thessaly and, in Ovid's Metamorphoses— where the classical model of a hero is deconstructed and transformed— originally a woman, Caenis, daughter of Atrax...

, a form he never lost, except, in some versions, upon death.

As a final reward from the gods for their hospitality, Baucis and Philemon
Baucis and Philemon
In Ovid's moralizing fable , which stands on the periphery of Greek mythology and Roman mythology, Baucis and Philemon were an old married couple in the region of Tyana, which Ovid places in Phrygia, and the only ones in their town to welcome disguised gods Zeus and Hermes , thus embodying the...

 were transformed, at their deaths, into a pair of trees.

Pygmalion
Pygmalion (mythology)
Pygmalion is a legendary figure of Cyprus. Though Pygmalion is the Greek version of the Phoenician royal name Pumayyaton, he is most familiar from Ovid's Metamorphoses, X, in which Pygmalion was a sculptor who fell in love with a statue he had carved.-In Ovid:In Ovid's narrative, Pygmalion was a...

 fell in love with Galatea
Galatea (mythology)
-Name "Galatea":Though the name "Galatea" has become so firmly associated with Pygmalion's statue as to seem antique, its use in connection with Pygmalion originated with a post-classical writer. No extant ancient text mentions the statue's name...

, a statue he had made. Aphrodite
Aphrodite
Aphrodite is the Greek goddess of love, beauty, pleasure, and procreation.Her Roman equivalent is the goddess .Historically, her cult in Greece was imported from, or influenced by, the cult of Astarte in Phoenicia....

 had pity on him and transformed the stone to a living woman.

In some variants of the tale of Narcissus
Narcissus (mythology)
Narcissus or Narkissos , possibly derived from ναρκη meaning "sleep, numbness," in Greek mythology was a hunter from the territory of Thespiae in Boeotia who was renowned for his beauty. He was exceptionally proud, in that he disdained those who loved him...

, he is turned into a narcissus.

After Tereus
Tereus
In Greek mythology, Tereus was a Thracian king, the son of Ares and husband of Procne. Procne and Tereus had a son, Itys.Tereus desired his wife's sister, Philomela. He forced himself upon her, then cut her tongue out and held her captive so she could never tell anyone. He told his wife that her...

 raped Philomela and cut out her tongue to silence her, she wove her story into a tapestry for her sister, Tereus's wife Procne, and the sisters murdered his son and fed him to his father. When he discovered this, he tried to kill them, but the gods changed them all into birds.

Sometimes metamorphoses transformed objects into humans. In the myths of both Jason
Jason
Jason was a late ancient Greek mythological hero from the late 10th Century BC, famous as the leader of the Argonauts and their quest for the Golden Fleece. He was the son of Aeson, the rightful king of Iolcus...

 and Cadmus
Cadmus
Cadmus or Kadmos , in Greek mythology was a Phoenician prince, the son of king Agenor and queen Telephassa of Tyre and the brother of Phoenix, Cilix and Europa. He was originally sent by his royal parents to seek out and escort his sister Europa back to Tyre after she was abducted from the shores...

, one task set to the hero was to sow dragon's teeth
Dragon's teeth (mythology)
In Greek myth, dragon's teeth feature prominently in the legends of the Phoenician prince Cadmus and Jason's quest for the Golden Fleece. In each case, the dragon's teeth, once planted, would grow into fully armed warriors....

; on being sown, they would metamorphose into belligerent warriors, and both heroes had to throw a rock to trick them into fighting each other to survive. Deucalion
Deucalion
In Greek mythology Deucalion was a son of Prometheus and Pronoia. The anger of Zeus was ignited by the hubris of the Pelasgians, and he decided to put an end to the Bronze Age. Lycaon, the king of Arcadia, had sacrificed a boy to Zeus, who was appalled by this savage offering...

 and Pyrrha
Pyrrha
In Greek mythology, Pyrrha was the daughter of Epimetheus and Pandora and wife of Deucalion.When Zeus decided to end the Bronze Age with the great deluge, Deucalion and his wife, Pyrrha, were the only survivors...

 repopulated the world after a flood by throwing stones behind them; they were transformed into people. Cadmus
Cadmus
Cadmus or Kadmos , in Greek mythology was a Phoenician prince, the son of king Agenor and queen Telephassa of Tyre and the brother of Phoenix, Cilix and Europa. He was originally sent by his royal parents to seek out and escort his sister Europa back to Tyre after she was abducted from the shores...

 is also often known to have transformed into a dragon or serpent towards the end of his life.

British and Irish

Fairies
Fairy
A fairy is a type of mythical being or legendary creature, a form of spirit, often described as metaphysical, supernatural or preternatural.Fairies resemble various beings of other mythologies, though even folklore that uses the term...

, witches, and wizards were all noted for their shapeshifting ability. Not all fairies could shapeshift, and some were limited to changing their size, as with the spriggan
Spriggan
Spriggans are legendary creatures known from Cornish faery lore. They are particular to West Penwith in Cornwall.-Spriggans in folklore:Spriggans were depicted as grotesquely ugly, and were said to be found at old ruins and barrows guarding buried treasure and generally acting as fairy bodyguards....

s, and others to a few forms and other fairies might have only the appearance of shape-shifting, through their power, called "glamour," to create illusions. But others, such as the Hedley Kow, could change to many forms, and both human and supernatural wizards were capable of both such changes, and inflicting them on others.

Margaret Grant was a Scottish witch who lived in the nineteenth century and was a self-confessed witch. She declared herself fully able to take any animal form she wished. Of particular note to us however, is that on one occasion she declared that she had been transformed against her will into a big mare by "various evil-disposed persons" and ridden for long distances. Sadly, no more is known than this: presumably her own powers of transformation were unavailable to her when coerced into equine shape.

Witches could turn into hares and in that form steal milk and butter.

Michael Scott, the famous wizard in the 14th century was temporarily turned into a hare after his wand left carelessly on the table made access for a witch to angrily strike him with.

Many British fairy tales, such as Jack the Giant Killer
Jack the Giant Killer
"Jack the Giant Killer" is a British fairy tale about a plucky lad who slays a number of giants during King Arthur's reign. The tale is characterized by violence, gore, and blood-letting. Giants are prominent in Cornish folklore and Welsh Bardic lore, but the source of "Jack the Giant Killer" is...

and The Black Bull of Norroway, feature shapeshifting.

Celtic mythology

Though much of Welsh mythology
Welsh mythology
Welsh mythology, the remnants of the mythology of the pre-Christian Britons, has come down to us in much altered form in medieval Welsh manuscripts such as the Red Book of Hergest, the White Book of Rhydderch, the Book of Aneirin and the Book of Taliesin....

 has been lost, shapeshifting magic features several times in what remains.

Pwyll
Pwyll
Pwyll Pen Annwn is a prominent figure in Welsh mythology and literature, the lord of Dyfed, husband of Rhiannon and father of the hero Pryderi...

 was transformed by Arawn
Arawn
In Welsh mythology, Arawn was the king of the otherworld realm of Annwn, appearing prominently in the first branch, and alluded to in the fourth. In later tradition, the role of king of Annwn was largely attributed to the Welsh psychopomp, Gwyn ap Nudd...

 into Arawn's own shape, and Arawn transformed himself into Pwyll's, so that they could trade places for a year and a day.

Llwyd ap Cil Coed
Llwyd ap Cil Coed
Llwyd ap Cil Coed is a character in the Third Branch of The Mabinogi, known also as the story of Manawydan ap Llŷr.-Role in the Third Branch:...

 transformed his wife and attendants into mice to attack a crop in revenge; when his wife is captured, he turned himself into three clergymen in succession to try to pay a ransom.

Math
Math ap Mathonwy
In Welsh mythology, Math fab Mathonwy, also called Math ap Mathonwy was a king of Gwynedd who needed to rest his feet in the lap of a virgin unless he was at war, or he would die...

 and Gwydion
Gwydion
Gwydion fab Dôn is a magician, hero and trickster of Welsh mythology, appearing most prominently in the Fourth Branch of the Mabinogi, which focuses largely on his relationship with his young nephew, Lleu Llaw Gyffes...

 transform flowers into a woman named Blodeuwedd, and when she betrays her husband Lleu, who is transformed into an eagle, they transform her again, into an owl – Blodeuwedd.

Gilfaethwy
Gilfaethwy
In Welsh mythology, Gilfaethwy was a son of the goddess Dôn and brother of Gwydion and Arianrhod in the Fourth Branch of the Mabinogi.His uncle Math ap Mathonwy, king of Gwynedd, must keep his feet in the lap of a young virgin at all times unless he is going to war...

 committed rape with help from his brother Gwydion
Gwydion
Gwydion fab Dôn is a magician, hero and trickster of Welsh mythology, appearing most prominently in the Fourth Branch of the Mabinogi, which focuses largely on his relationship with his young nephew, Lleu Llaw Gyffes...

. Both were transformed into animals, for one year each. Gwydion was transformed into a stag, sow and wolf, and Gilfaethwy into a hind, boar and she-wolf. Each year, they had a child. Math turned the three young animals into boys.

Gwion, having accidentally taken some of wisdom potion that Ceridwen
Ceridwen
In Welsh medieval legend, Ceridwen , also spelled Cerridwen, was an enchantress, mother of Morfran and a beautiful daughter Creirwy. Her husband was Tegid Foel, and they lived near Bala Lake in north Wales...

 was brewing for her son, fled her through a succession of changes that she answered with changes of her own, ending with his being eaten, a grain of corn, by her as a hen. She became pregnant, and he was reborn in a new form, as Taliesin.

Scottish mythology
Scottish mythology
Scottish mythology may refer to any of the mythologies of Scotland.Myths have emerged for various purposes throughout the history of Scotland, sometimes being elaborated upon by successive generations, and at other times being completely rejected and replaced by other explanatory narratives.-...

 features shapeshifters and the ability allow's the various creature to trick, deceive, hunt, and kill humans. Tales are abound about the Selkie
Selkie
Selkies are mythological creatures that are found in Faroese, Icelandic, Irish, and Scottish folklore....

 as a seal that can remove its skin to make contact with humans for only a short amount of time before they must return to the sea. Or water spirits such as the each uisge
Each uisge
The each uisge is a mythological Scottish water spirit, called the Aughisky in Ireland. It is similar to the kelpie, but far more dangerous.The Each Uisge, a supernatural water horse found in the Highlands of Scotland, is supposedly the most dangerous water-dwelling creature in the British Isles...

 which inhabits Lochs and waterways in Scotland, which appears as a horse or a young man. Such stories surrounding these creatures are usually romantic tragedies. Clan MacColdrum of Uist foundation myths include of a union between the founder of the clan and a shapeshifting seal woman Selkie
Selkie
Selkies are mythological creatures that are found in Faroese, Icelandic, Irish, and Scottish folklore....

. While other tales include Kelpies who emerge from lochs and rivers to ensnare and kill unweary travellers in the disguise of a horse or woman. While other tales include Tam Lin, a man captured by the Queen of the Fairies who is changed into all manner of beasts if rescued. He was finally turned into a burning coal and thrown him into a well, whereupon he reappeared in his human form. The motif of capturing a person by holding him through all forms of transformation is a common thread in folktales.

Irish mythology
Irish mythology
The mythology of pre-Christian Ireland did not entirely survive the conversion to Christianity, but much of it was preserved, shorn of its religious meanings, in medieval Irish literature, which represents the most extensive and best preserved of all the branch and the Historical Cycle. There are...

 also features shapeshifting. Perhaps the best known myth is that of Aoife
Aoife
Aoife, earlier Aífe , is an Irish feminine given name. The name is probably derived from the Irish aoibh, meaning "beauty", "pleasure" or "radiant goddess", although the name has also be associated with the Gaulish goddess Esuvia. The name is sometimes Anglicised as Eva...

 who turned her stepchildren, the Children of Lir
Children of Lir
The Children of Lir is an Irish legend. The original Irish title is Clann Lir or Leannaí Lir, but Lir is the genitive case of Lear. Lir is more often used as the name of the character in English...

, into swans to be rid of them. Likewise in the Wooing of Etain Fuamnach
Fuamnach
Fúamnach, or Fuamnach, is Midir's first wife and a witch of the Tuatha Dé Danann in the medieval Irish text Tochmarc Étaíne . The text describes her as being intelligent , cunning and "versed in the knowledge and power of the Túatha Dé Danand", explaining that her fosterfather had been the wizard...

 jealously turns Étaín
Étaín
Étaín is a figure of Irish mythology, best known as the heroine of Tochmarc Étaíne , one of the oldest and richest stories of the Mythological Cycle. She also figures in the Middle Irish Togail Bruidne Dá Derga . T. F...

 into a butterfly.

The Púca is a Celtic faery, and also a deft shape-shifter. He can transform into many different, terrifying forms.

Sadbh
Sadbh
In Irish mythology, Sadhbh was the mother of Oisín by Fionn mac Cumhail. She is either a daughter of Bodb Derg, king of the Síd of Munster, or may derive in part from Sadb ingen Chuinn, daughter of Conn of the Hundred Battles....

, the wife of the famous hero Fionn mac Cumhaill
Fionn mac Cumhaill
Fionn mac Cumhaill , known in English as Finn McCool, was a mythical hunter-warrior of Irish mythology, occurring also in the mythologies of Scotland and the Isle of Man...

 was changed into a deer by the druid Fer Doirich.

The most dramatic example of shapeshifting in Irish myth is that of Tuan mac Cairill
Tuan mac Cairill
In Irish mythology Tuan mac Cairill was a follower of Partholon who alone survived the plague that killed the rest of his people. Through a series of animal transformations he survived into Christian times, and told the story of his people to St. Finnian....

, the only survivor of Partholón's settlement of Ireland. In his centuries long life he became successively a stag, a wild boar, a hawk and finally a salmon prior to being eaten and (as in the Wooing of Étaín) reborn as a human.

Norse

Both Odin
Odin
Odin is a major god in Norse mythology and the ruler of Asgard. Homologous with the Anglo-Saxon "Wōden" and the Old High German "Wotan", the name is descended from Proto-Germanic "*Wodanaz" or "*Wōđanaz"....

 and Loki
Loki
In Norse mythology, Loki or Loke is a god or jötunn . Loki is the son of Fárbauti and Laufey, and the brother of Helblindi and Býleistr. By the jötunn Angrboða, Loki is the father of Hel, the wolf Fenrir, and the world serpent Jörmungandr. By his wife Sigyn, Loki is the father of Nari or Narfi...

 are shapeshifters in Norse mythology
Norse mythology
Norse mythology, a subset of Germanic mythology, is the overall term for the myths, legends and beliefs about supernatural beings of Norse pagans. It flourished prior to the Christianization of Scandinavia, during the Early Middle Ages, and passed into Nordic folklore, with some aspects surviving...

. Both take on female forms, and Loki in the form of a mare bore Sleipnir
Sleipnir
In Norse mythology, Sleipnir is an eight-legged horse. Sleipnir is attested in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson...

. The Lokasenna
Lokasenna
Lokasenna is one of the poems of the Poetic Edda. The poem presents flyting between the gods and Loki....

depicts the two of them taunting each other with it, as having been women through and through, having borne children. (Any myths that depict Odin in female form have been lost, but the Lokasenna does contain references to many myths that are known to be believed.

In the Hyndluljóð
Hyndluljóð
Hyndluljóð or Lay of Hyndla is an Old Norse poem often considered a part of the Poetic Edda. It is preserved in its entirety only in Flateyjarbók but some stanzas are also quoted in the Prose Edda where they are said to come from Völuspá hin skamma.In the poem, the goddess Freyja meets the völva...

, the goddess Freya
Freya
In Norse mythology, Freyja is a goddess associated with love, beauty, fertility, gold, seiðr, war, and death. Freyja is the owner of the necklace Brísingamen, rides a chariot driven by two cats, owns the boar Hildisvíni, possesses a cloak of falcon feathers, and, by her husband Óðr, is the mother...

 transformed her protégé Óttar
Óttar (mythology)
In Norse Mythology, Óttar, also known as Óttar the Simple, is a protégé of the goddess Freyja. He appeared in Hyndluljóð , a poem in the Poetic Edda. In this tale, Óttar is said to be very pious to the goddesses. He built a shrine of stones, a hörgr, and on it made many offerings to Freyja...

 into a boar to conceal him. She also possessed a cloak of falcon feathers that allowed her to transform into a falcon, which Loki borrowed on occasion.

The Merchant's Sons is a Finnish story of two brothers, one of whom tries to win the hand of the tsar's wicked daughter. The girl does not like her suitor and endeavors to have him killed, but he turns her into a beautiful mare which he and his brother ride. In the end he turns her back into a girl and marries her.

The Volsunga saga
Volsunga saga
The Völsungasaga is a legendary saga, a late 13th century Icelandic prose rendition of the origin and decline of the Völsung clan . It is largely based on epic poetry...

 contains many shapeshifting characters. Siggeir
Siggeir
Siggeir is the king of Gautland , in the Völsunga saga. In Skáldskaparmál he is given as a Sikling and a relative of Sigar who killed the hero Hagbard...

's mother changed to a wolf to help torture his defeated brothers-in-law with slow and igmonious deaths. When one, Sigmund
Sigmund
This article is about the mythological hero Sigmund; for other meanings see: Sigmund .In Norse mythology, Sigmund is a hero whose story is told in the Völsunga saga. He and his sister, Signý, are the children of Völsung and his wife Hljod...

, survived, he and his nephew and son Sinfjötli
Sinfjötli
Sinfjötli or Fitela in Norse mythology was born out of the incestuous relationship between Sigmund and his sister Signy...

 killed men wearing wolfskins; when they donned the skins themselves, they were cursed to become werewolves
Werewolf
A werewolf, also known as a lycanthrope , is a mythological or folkloric human with the ability to shapeshift into a wolf or an anthropomorphic wolf-like creature, either purposely or after being placed under a curse...

.

Fafnir
Fafnir
In Norse mythology, Fáfnir or Frænir was a son of the dwarf king Hreidmar and brother of Regin and Ótr. In the Volsunga saga, Fáfnir was a dwarf gifted with a powerful arm and fearless soul. He guarded his father's house of glittering gold and flashing gems...

 was originally a dwarf, a giant or even a human, depending on the exact myth, but in all variants he transformed into a dragon—a symbol of greed—while guarding his ill-gotten hoard.

In Scandinavia
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...

, there existed, for example, the famous race of she-werewolves known with a name of Maras. If a female at midnight stretches between four sticks the membrane which envelopes the foal when it is brought forth, and creeps through it, naked, she will bear children without pain; but all the boys will be shamans, and all the girls Maras. Women who took on the appearance of the night looking for huge monster half human and half wolf. The transformation was slow and suffered from screaming, hair and nails grow, the woman's face stretched into that of a hungry wolf meat and leaving room for animal instinct. In fact, the Maras were almost all women from peasant and plebeian classes. Let's just say a popular version of the Norse Valkyries.

In more recent folklore, the Nisse
Tomte
A tomte , nisse or tonttu is a mythical creature of Scandinavian folklore. The tomte or nisse was believed to take care of a farmer's home and children and protect them from misfortune, in particular at night, when the housefolk were asleep...

 is sometimes said to be a shapeshifter. This trait also is attributed to Huldra
Huldra
In Scandinavian folklore, the Huldra , or the skogsrå or skogsfru/skovfrue or Tallemaja in Swedish culture, is a seductive forest creature...

.

Slavic

Even in Slavic mythology
Slavic mythology
Slavic mythology is the mythological aspect of the polytheistic religion that was practised by the Slavs before Christianisation.The religion possesses many common traits with other religions descended from the Proto-Indo-European religion....

, werewolves and other human-to-animal shapeshifters, exist in their variations. But in the Slavic world is full of tales about human transformations. For example, in Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

, in the parish church of Schwarzenstein, hang two horse-shoes: the legacy of an interesting tale.
In the village of Eichmedian, a mile from Rastenburg, there lived a woman who was a tavern-keeper. A greedy woman, she charged double to honest rate for board and lodging. Late one evening, a group of guests accused her of cheating them. Defending herself, she swore an oath before them, saying:

- If my business is not just,
Then ride my back the Devil must! -

To her horror and the amazement of all present, the room suddenly darkened and the Devil suddenly appeared before her. He gestured, and unable to resist, she knelt on all fours. She felt herself growing and changing, and the Devil mounted her back as she tossed her head and made whinnying sounds. In seconds she stood before the dumbstruck guests as a bay mare, and the Devil gave a great laugh and rode her out of the building and out of the village.

At headlong speed he rode her to the town of Schwarzenstein, and to a blacksmith's shop there, arriving in the small hours of the morning. He roused the blacksmith and demanded that his steed be shod at once. The blacksmith, yawning, complained of the late hour and that his forge was shut down and cold. But the Devil insisted and promised gold if it were done swiftly, and so the blacksmith agreed. He lit his furnace, and had the Devil work the bellows. The blacksmith had not long begun his work however when the mare began to speak, evidently having worked out how to form human words with her equine lips. "Don't you know me?" she begged. "It is I, the tavern-keeper of Eichmedian!"

The blacksmith was horrified and nothing could persuade him to continue with the shoeing. The Devil raged but there was nothing he could do, and as a cock heralded the arrival of dawn, the spell was broken. The Devil vanished and the tavern-keeper returned to her human form. Repenting of her greedy ways, she had the two horse-shoes which the smith had already fashioned nailed up in the church as a warning to other cheats.

Armenian

In Armenian mythology
Armenian mythology
Very little is known about pre-Christian Armenian mythology, the oldest source being the legends of Xorenatsi's History of Armenia.Armenian mythology was strongly influenced by Zoroastrianism, with deities such as Aramazd, Mihr or Anahit, as well as Assyrian traditions, such as Barsamin, but there...

, shapeshifters include the Nhang, a serpent-like river monster than can transform itself into a woman or seal, and will drown humans and then drink their blood, or the beneficial Shahapet, a guardian spirit that can appear either a man or a snake.

Indian

Ancient Indian mythology tells of Nāga
Naga
Naga or NAGA may refer to:* Nāga, a group of serpent deities in Hindu and Buddhist mythology.-People:* Nayan / Nayar/Nair people of Kerala Society* Naga people, a diverse ethnic identity in Northeast India...

, snakes that can sometimes assume human form. Scriptures describe shapeshifting Rakshasa
Rakshasa
A Rakshasa or alternatively rakshas, is a race of mythological humanoid beings or unrighteous spirit in Hindu and Buddhist religion...

 (demons) assuming animal forms to deceive humans. The Ramayana also includes the Vanara
Vanara
Vānara popularly refers to a group of ape-like humanoids in the Hindu epic Ramayana who were brave and inquisitive by nature. They possessed supernatural powers and could change their shapes...

, a group of ape-like humanoids who possessed supernatural powers and could change their shapes. The urban legend of what is known in Punjabi as ਛਲੇਢਾ is well documented in local lore.

Another example of human transformation in this country exist particularly in southern of India; a famous popular tale is told of a kindly Brahmin who had a good mother, but his wife and mother-in-law were jealous and mean, mistreating her and treating her like a slave. The poor woman was too elderly and feeble to defend herself.

The unfortunate mother fled one night to the shrine of the village goddess and prayed to her. The goddess answered and gifted her with a magic mango. Returning to her home, she partook of the fruit, and felt her skin grow firm and youthful once more. She rose from her elderly stoop as her body grew strong and young again. Now she could defend herself and no longer had to endure the humiliation at the hands of her son's wife.

The Brahmin's wife was furious, and sent her own mother to the same shrine with a fabricated tale of woe. The goddess, of course, wasn't fooled, but gave her a fruit all the same. Returning to the house, the mother-in-law eagerly bit into the fruit. At first, as strength flowed into her body, she was delighted and thought all was well, but then grey-brown fur began to sprout from her body, and her hands and feet transformed into an ass's hooves. Falling to all fours, she tried to complain, but only a donkey's bray emerged, as she was wholly changed into an ass.

This tale is why in India today, if a person declines steadily in social standing or achievement, there is a proverb, "Little by little, the mother-in-law became an ass."

Philippines

Philippine mythology
Philippine mythology
Philippine mythology include a collection of tales and superstitions about magical creatures and entities. Some Filipinos, even though heavily westernized and Christianized, still believe on these tales...

 includes aswang
Aswang
An Aswang is a mythical creature in Philippine folklore. The aswang is an inherently evil vampire-like creature and is the subject of a wide variety of myths and stories, the details of which vary greatly...

, a cannibal capable of transforming itself to either a huge black dog or a black boar to stalk human beings at night. The folklore also mentions other beings, i.e., Kapre, Tikbalang, and Engkanto, that change their appearance to woo beautiful maidens. Also, talismans, called "anting-anting" or "birtud" in the local dialect, can have the power to give its owner the ability to shapeshift.

Tatar

Tatar
Tatarstan
The Republic of Tatarstan is a federal subject of Russia located in the Volga Federal District. Its capital is the city of Kazan, which is one of Russia's largest and most prosperous cities. The republic borders with Kirov, Ulyanovsk, Samara, and Orenburg Oblasts, and with the Mari El, Udmurt,...

 folklore includes Yuxa
Yuxa
Yuxa yılan , or Sly Snake, is a legendary creature that figures in Tatar folklore. According to popular beliefs, every 100-years old snake is transformed into Yuxa. In fairy tales, Yuxa is described as a beautiful damsel who would marry men in order to beget offspring....

, a hundred-year-old snake that can transform itself into a beautiful young woman, and seeks to marry men in order to have children.

Far East

Chinese, Japanese, and Korean folklore and mythology all tell of animals able to assume human shape. Though they have other traits in common—such animals are often old, they grow additional tails along with their abilities, and they frequently still have some animal traits to betray them—there are distinctions between the folklore in the various countries.

Chinese

Chinese mythology
Chinese mythology
Chinese mythology is a collection of cultural history, folktales, and religions that have been passed down in oral or written tradition. These include creation myths and legends and myths concerning the founding of Chinese culture and the Chinese state...

 contains many tales of animal shapeshifters, capable of taking on human form. The most common such shapeshifter is the huli jing, a fox spirit which usually appears as a beautiful young woman; most are dangerous, but some feature as the heroines of love stories.

Madame White Snake
Madame White Snake
The Legend of the White Snake, also known as Madame White Snake, is a Chinese legend, which existed as oral traditions before any written compilation...

is one such legend; a snake falls in love with a man, and the story recounts the trials that she and her husband faced.

Japanese

In Japanese folklore
Japanese folklore
The folklore of Japan is heavily influenced by both Shinto and Buddhism, the two primary religions in the country. It often involves humorous or bizarre characters and situations and also includes an assortment of supernatural beings, such as bodhisattva, kami , yōkai , yūrei ,...

 many yōkai
Yōkai
are a class of supernatural monsters in Japanese folklore. The word yōkai is made up of the kanji for "otherworldly" and "weird". Yōkai range eclectically from the malevolent to the mischievous, or occasionally bring good fortune to those who encounter them...

 are animals with the ability to shapeshift. The fox, or kitsune is among the most common, but other such creatures include:
  • Bakeneko
    Bakeneko
    A is, in Japanese folklore, a cat with supernatural abilities akin to those of the fox or raccoon dog. A cat may become a bakeneko in a number of ways: it may reach a certain age, be kept for a certain number of years, grow to a certain size, or be allowed to keep a long tail. In the last case,...

  • Mujina
    Mujina
    is an old Japanese term primarily referring to the badger. In some regions the term refers instead to the Japanese raccoon dog or to introduced civets...

  • Tanuki
    Tanuki
    is the common Japanese name for the Japanese raccoon dog . They have been part of Japanese folklore since ancient times...


Korean

Korean mythology
Korean mythology
Korean mythology consists of national legends and folk-tales which come from all over the Korean Peninsula. Even within the same ethnic group, myths tend to have slightly different variations...

 also contains a fox with the ability to shape-shift. Unlike its Chinese and Japanese counterparts, the kumiho
Kumiho
The gumiho is a creature that appears in the oral tales and legends of Korea,, and are akin to European fairies. According to those tales, a fox that lives a thousand years turns into a gumiho, like its Japanese and Chinese counterparts...

 is always malevolent. Usually its form is of a beautiful young woman; one tale recounts a man, a would-be seducer, revealed as a kumiho. She has nine tails and as she desires to be a full human, she uses her beauty to seduce men and eat their hearts (or in some cases livers where the belief is that 100 livers would turn her into a real human).

See also

  • Metamorphosis (biology)
  • Resizing (fiction)
    Resizing (fiction)
    Resizing , is a theme in fiction, in particular in fairy tales, fantasy, and science fiction.- Early instances in fiction :...

  • Self reconfigurable
  • Shamanism
    Shamanism
    Shamanism is an anthropological term referencing a range of beliefs and practices regarding communication with the spiritual world. To quote Eliade: "A first definition of this complex phenomenon, and perhaps the least hazardous, will be: shamanism = technique of ecstasy." Shamanism encompasses the...

  • Shapeshifting as a comic book superpower
  • Soul eater (folklore)
    Soul eater (folklore)
    A soul eater is a folklore figure in the traditional belief systems of some African peoples, notably the Hausa people of Nigeria and Niger.Belief in soul eaters is related to traditional folk beliefs in witchcraft, zombies, and related phenomena...

  • Werewolves

External links

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