Mythology: Werewolves

I love wolves. I love the recent werewolf stories. A few weeks ago I was East Glacier (yes, I am lucky enough to live very close to Glacier National Park, I feel your envy) and we saw a wolf in the trees across the way. At least I think it was a wolf. It certainly looked wolfish and some of the dads that were with us confirmed it to be a wolf. However, we saw just one, not a pack. It was so beautiful and mystic-like. I could have watched it all day, and it certainly seemed aware of us. It was so cool.

Anyway, I have been dissecting the various mythologies of supernatural creatures in movies and books. Read post about vampires here. Here are my thoughts on werewolves. (It should be noted that I have not read a bunch of the current werewolf books so I am going from what I have read. You can let me know new ones in the comments!)

Appearance: Right away I start having problems. I like Maggie Stiefvater's Wolves of Mercy Falls because they are actual wolves, not the half man/half wolf we see in lost of movies and TV. I know that Stephenie Meyer's are as well, but they remember things and have similar thoughts as humans so that gives them a human quality. I guess that is the difference between "shifting" and "transforming." Anyway, I am very disappointed in the weres in Teen Wolf, they do not look good. I think I read in some book once how the alpha or natural weres look a certain way and the ones "created" look a different way. But, if I was creating a werewolf story I would make mine look like werewolves--half human/half wolf.

Hierarchy: I like the idea of a "lone wolf" best, but if I had a pack I think there for sure needs to be an alpha. Plus I like when no one can go against the alpha, his/her word is law. But, I like how Jacob split from the main group to create his own pack so if the alpha was bad my werewolf could go onto make his group (because he would be noble).

Changing: Since I am going with an actual were I would make it so they could only change during the full moon. But, I would add in there that their powers are no different when they are not changed and when they are. I hate having a were that is only strongest at the full moon (Being Human). Mine would be just as strong at the other times as well.

Sub-Par to Vamps: It drives me nuts that other supernatural creatures are sub par to vamps, especially weres. Even in Underworld when the weres had stepped out of being vamps slaves they were still not living like vamps. Don't get me wrong, I love myself some vampires. But, they are always the most powerful. In my world the weres would be on top. Are there any books out there where weres are on top (when both entities exist)?

Death: I think that I would make mine be able to be killed with silver. Not just a silver bullet, but anything silver. Silver bullets are too specific, it needs to be more open. And when mine die they remain looking like whatever form they died as--human or were.

What are your favorite werewolf mythologies? What am I missing here? Sound off below!