The week of the full moon

The week of the full moon is the period when an awakened werewolf’s inherited curse becomes active each night. Rather than being a neutral lunar interval, it marks a recurring transformation into a wolf, the loss of conscious control, and the danger that leads the Underworld to classify werewolves as The Cursed Species.

Definition and Conditions

The week of the full moon distinguishes werewolves from both shifters and lycanthropes. Shifters can change completely into an animal and are born with an inherited ability to shift, while lycanthropes are made when a werewolf bites a human during its first full moon and remain half human and half wolf. Werewolves, by contrast, are born human; once the family curse has been awakened, it takes over during the week of the full moon.

Transformation and Loss of Control

During every night of this period, an awakened werewolf turns into a wolf and hunts. The transformation is presented as compulsory rather than chosen: the werewolf cannot control when the change occurs or what follows it. Once the curse awakens, the werewolf loses all control and gives in to bloodlust, so the week is defined not merely by altered appearance but by a temporary collapse of human agency.

Law and Underworld Consequences

The danger associated with the week of the full moon explains the legal status of werewolves in the Underworld. Because they cannot control their transformations or their actions afterward, they are called The Cursed Species, and Underworld law requires that they be killed on sight. The lunar schedule therefore functions as both a biological trigger and the basis for a collective system of fear, classification, and execution.

Narrative Function

The week of the full moon also serves as a boundary between supernatural groups and exposes the limits of apparently human identity. The distinction between a born shifter, a bitten lycanthrope, and a cursed werewolf depends on origin, bodily form, and the timing of transformation. Its recurrence gives the supernatural world a predictable rhythm while making that predictability threatening: every full-moon week reopens the possibility that a human family curse will become an uncontrollable animal force. The period consequently links inherited identity, bodily transformation, and the coercive authority of Underworld law.