Werewolves are a fascinating topic because they so closely breach the line of reality and fiction.
Wolves are real, humans are real, and there’s not much preventing a cross between the two from being a very real thing.
However, while werewolves share many characteristics with the common wolf and your friendly neighbor, some things differ such as their lifespan.
Do Werewolves Live Forever?
The short answer is no, it is unlikely that a wolf can live forever. Even though the answer seems simple enough, the werewolf is an incredibly complex creature.
The reasoning behind the mortality of a werewolf is nothing short of complicating.
Werewolves are often crammed into the same category as a vampire, which comes as no surprise.
They both crave human blood, come out in the middle of the night, have sharp fangs, and in some cases, have other physical similarities. Although, if we ever saw a truly hairy vampire, we might need to seek professional help.
One of the most fascinating differences between the two is their immortality and mortality. A vampire can live forever, but a werewolf cannot.
How Long do Werewolves Live?
Werewolves, unlike vampires, are not dead when they change.
They are still the same human being we have known and loved our whole lives, but at midnight, they get a bit of a temper, grow some hair, and suddenly you become their snack of choice.
Werewolves can be killed quite easily, compared to a vampire. They actually have many weaknesses.
Werewolves have been said to live an incredibly long and unnatural lifespan. Some have said they live hundreds of years, while others claim they can live for thousands.
This depends on the werewolf and other factors that go into their life, and it doesn’t appear that many werewolves live thousands of years.
Maybe it’s only the health-conscious werewolves that live that long!
Now that we know a werewolf lives an abnormally long time, how does that affect the human underneath? If a werewolf is simply the transformation a human takes at midnight, does the human age, or is their youth somehow frozen in time like a vampire?
How Does A Werewolf Age?
Werewolves age just like any other human being does, only slower. There have been discussions that claim there are some elderly looking werewolves and some that still look like teenagers.
However, the most common understanding of how a werewolf will age is that they age normally as any human would into their twenties. Once they reach their twenties, their aging slows down dramatically.
The average werewolf can live up to 2000 years old.
The Physical Signs Of Aging
Whenever you meet somebody new, you can easily guess their age based on their appearance. Sometimes you might be wrong, but you can usually get a general ballpark idea.
However, with werewolves, this won’t be possible. Due to the unusually long lifespan of a werewolf, the physical signs of aging are stretched out over a longer period.
A werewolf that has lived on earth for over a hundred years might only look like they are in their forties or fifties.
It is unknown how quickly or slowly a werewolf ages after their twenties. Furthermore, werewolves are incredibly strong, fast, and have super-enhanced senses.
Because of this, it is unlikely that in their human form they will show any signs of aging such as walking slower, wrinkles, or grey hair.
Here’s a good question—if a human has grey hair, does their wolf hair turn grey too? We think the answer to this is yes!
Healing Abilities of Werewolves
Werewolves have a ton of different abilities and quick healing might be the most fascinating of the bunch.
Shapeshifting is amazing and super speed is something we wouldn’t mind having, but there’s something about being able to heal yourself that screams immortality.
However, it is important to remember that even though a werewolf can heal quickly, they aren’t immortal.
The healing abilities play a huge role in how a werewolf ages. When it comes to getting older, getting wrinkles, weakened bones, and failing organs are just a part of that.
For a werewolf, if a bone is getting weakened by age, the werewolf would be able to heal it and make it strong again.
The same goes for any organs that are getting older, they can all be healed. While aging isn’t necessarily an illness, it does eventually lead to death.
Werwolves can prolong that aging process as well as heal any illnesses and injuries that might move that process along.
Shapeshifting To Control Aging
One of the most important aspects of the aging process is shapeshifting. Shapeshifting is the greatest power that the werewolf possesses.
While some werewolves don’t have any control over when they switch at midnight, most can.
Contrary to popular belief, werewolves can choose to shapeshift whenever they feel like it. It would make sense that not many werewolves would choose to make this switch because it is a painful transformation.
Furthermore, remaining in the werewolf form during the daylight could lead to an early death.
Werewolves don’t look like regular wolves. If spotted by the wrong person or a hunter of werewolves, they would most likely be killed.
When it comes to aging, shapeshifting might be the reason they can live for so long. When a werewolf is in its wolf form, it won’t age, at least not in a visible way.
Remaining in the wolf form or shapeshifting into the wolf form frequently will maintain their current age for a very long period.
It appears that once a werewolf stops shapeshifting and remains in their human form without stimulating the werewolf part, they will go back to aging as a regular human being would.
Unfortunately, there isn’t much information on whether this is an immediate change or something that happens after a few days, weeks, months, or maybe even years.
Related Questions
Do Werewolves Age in Human or Dog Years?
The short answer to this question is neither. The werewolf doesn’t age 7 years for every 1 year on earth and it doesn’t age as a human would.
Werewolves have an incredibly slow aging process and can live for hundreds and thousands of years depending on their lifestyle.
If we were going to use the dog year theory, it would be smart to reverse it. It would make more sense that a human who turns into a werewolf ages 1 year for every 7 years that they are alive.
Do Werewolves Die of Old Age?
The question if werewolves can die of old age has been circulating and making its way into discussions for years. Unfortunately, we just don’t know for sure.
A werewolf is so similar to a human and so similar to a wolf that it makes sense that they would eventually die from old age.
They aren’t immortal like a vampire, and even though they age slowly, eventually they would have to reach that age that finally takes their life.
It is unclear what aspect of aging would finally end their life. If their healing abilities prevent their heart and other organs from getting weaker, it is almost easier to believe that they are immortal.
Perhaps there is an age that we don’t know of where their heart just can’t take living anymore.
Does the Hair on a Werewolf Change With Age?
This question is somewhat complicated but the short answer is yes, we believe so. Werewolves have silver, black, brown, and in rare cases, red fur. Sounds kind of familiar right?
In human beings, blonde, black, and brown are incredibly common where red hair is also kind of rare. If you were born with red, brown, or black hair you will most likely have that color hair when you transform into a werewolf.
The way that a werewolf transforms isn’t necessarily magical. The structure of your bones change and the hair growth accelerates, but all of this was already in your body. You aren’t magically growing new bones or anything like that.
The hair color that is embedded in your roots is the color that will appear all over your body during and after the transformation. After all, that hair is already inside all of our skin, it just hasn’t made it’s way to the surface yet!
As you get older in your human form, you will most likely notice a grey hair or two, whether you like it or not. The same will happen when you turn into a werewolf, your fur will be grey.
This might be why some werewolves are shown with grey hair, it can be a way to sort the younger werewolves from the elderly.
Due to the color of the fur relying on the color of the roots, I don’t think that you can dye your hair to cover up the grey.
Whether you are a grey-haired human or a grey-haired werewolf, you’re just going to have to deal with it.