Should a werewolf be able to scale walls?

[Scott Gardener]

With practice, excellent jumping I can see, though not neccessarily Anime / Chinese Action Movie flying-jumping. Still, a digitigrade leg should give one a pretty good sproing.

But, the Lionel Ritchie "Dancing on the Ceiling" bit seen in Underworld, Cursed, and Van Helsing is blatantly cheesy and screwy. I think Underworld took it from Dracula, the original novel, in which the Count climbs down the side of the castle wall, and decided to give that ability to werewolves. Then, the others decided to imitate this magic ability, and pretty soon it became the new Hollywood werewolf standard, next to full moons and silver bullets.

Still, Howling 2 holds the record for silly werewolf powers. According to that movie, werewolves have a hive queen who shoots lightning from her hands and can, with her howls, make her enemies' eyes explode.

[LunarCarnivore]

i dont see why not, but only straight up and not amazingly fast, it would take time to dig claws in to concrete or what have you.

[Uniform Two Six]

Still, Howling 2 holds the record for silly werewolf powers. According to that movie, werewolves have a hive queen who shoots lightning from her hands and can, with her howls, make her enemies' eyes explode.

Nah -- Werewolf: The Apocalypse has the record for silly werewolf powers. Good thing it's not a movie, I guess.

[vrikasatma]

Claws aren't calcium, they're keratin sheathes over a bone core. They're basically digit-mounted horns.

If stories of werewolves ripping through doors and walls are anything to go by, I think the wall might give way before the claws did. It'd have to be something like marble, steel, concrete, strawbale or cob, though. I think a werewolf claw could tear through anything else.

[Scott Gardener]

Uniform Two Six:

Werewolf: The Apocalypse has the record for silly werewolf powers....

Oh, yeah. Forgot about that one. In it, werewolves could teleport and travel into an alternate dimension that was a lot like the one behind the doors in the game Super Mario Brothers 2.

[Meeper]

Should werewolves be able to scale walls?

My simple answer is yes.

Claws would be able to dig into soft plastered internal walls to create hand holds (or claw holds if you will), body weight would be an issue, as would how aggressive the climbing was, for that reason I heap salt on the wall climbing antics depicted in Underworld and Cursed. Claws may provide some advantages on harder surfaces, but only where pre existing handholds are available (ala rock climbing) but could take advantage of holds a human finger couldn't. Claws chiseling into concrete, stone, or brick to create hand holds is in my opinion a silly expectation for a realistic werewolf, although one that's been provided with mechanical enhancements, such as a weaponized werewolf might be able to pull off such a stunt.

The Meeper.

[Terastas]

Using claws to climb? I guess, as long as the surface is soft enough or has enough surfaces to grip like brick or something.

The problem with that would be that any material weak enough for a werewolf to jam his claws through Wolverine style shouldn't in turn be expected to be strong enough to support the werewolf's weight hanging off of it.

I could envision a werewolf doing something like this, but I would still wouldn't expect a werewolf to be capable of doing anything that, with practice, a normal human could never recreate.

[Uniform Two Six]

Hey, big cats use their claws to help them scale trees.

[Meeper]

Hey, big cats use their claws to help them scale trees.

True, and that would also be true of the walls of a log cabin, tree bark being tough and fibrous, but the generally rightful assumption most people will have when you say "wall" is one made from brick or stone, or plastered on interior walls, all materials that are granular and brittle, if it's resistant enough to hold weight it's resistant enough to stop a claw, or if it's soft enough to dig a claw into, it'll inevitable chip and fracture around the point of penetration, such soft granular material is unlikely to be durable enough to cope with the weight of an animal, it's why builders drill down through the plaster and into the brick underneath to mount wall fittings that carry significant weight, like wall mounted TV stands.

There is one type of interior wall that may be reliably climbable with the claws, plaster over wood lattice, the plaster would crack, but the claws could hook onto the lattice underneath

[Terastas]

Hey, big cats use their claws to help them scale trees.

Cats don't jab their claws into the tree to do such though; they latch onto the various bumps and grooves on their way up. You can climb a tree wearing mittens and bowling shoes if you're careful enough.

- - - - -

"No, really, scaling walls is easy when you're in gestalt form. Go on, try it."

*scrape scrape scrape-scrape-scrape-scrapescrapescrape-CRASH!!!!*

"April fools."

[hotshot7000]

Well if you think about it, after a werewolf has shifted in to the legit. werewolf form, the person's body undergoes incredible healing abilities, and nearly tripling their body's strength and to do such a thing would mean that a werewolf's calcium within it's bones would be much stronger and be able to withstand tearing through such materials as plywood and such, but to go so far as for a werewolf to tear it's claws in to a slid steel structure... I think I'd rather leave that to something such as the 'Gargoyles' cartoon where they're claws can practically carve through anything.
But say if the structure was a thin one like steel plating to reinforce a wall, I don't see why thee werewolf wouldn't be able to carve it's way through, but such as cutting a steel pillar from a swipe of it's claws would be far too unrealistic for someone to take seriously.

[Volkodlak]

underworld type scaling?

Yes and No fast movement on celling and horizontaly on wall no way ,but verticaly is possible with some training and claws strong enough to hold your weight

[silver1]

Cats use their claws to climb trees. So yeah, I think it is possible for werewolves to scale walls, but I think the whole "running on the ceilings" thing is not possible.

[Sevena]

Scaling anything would depend on the strength of your claws,your muscle mass and what you're scaling.I think the combined strength of the human nail and wolf claw would give werewolves an advantage but I don't see it giving them the ability to defy gravity or gain supernatural powers.

[silver1]

I agree with you.

[Uniform Two Six]

I think the combined strength of the human nail and wolf claw would give werewolves an advantage but I don't see it giving them the ability to defy gravity or gain supernatural powers.

Totally... In order to do that, they'd at a minimum need brightly colored spandex and a cape.

[ABrownrigg]

I unno.. I have a hard time going against most physics, and especially gravity.

Momentum, balance, inertia.. sure.. werewolves have skills in spades and could do a lot of things better than a human.

But defy gravity? against sheetrock? no.. no.. just.. no no.. no.. please.. my brain will explode. I should totally try to sell silver on putting a scene like that in the series.. only to have the werewolf come crashing down in a heap. (damn, i thought we could do that).

[Meeper]

I should totally try to sell silver on putting a scene like that in the series.. only to have the werewolf come crashing down in a heap. (damn, i thought we could do that).

Do it! Werewolves failing at things will be entertaining , I've seen enough blooper reels and so called "Fail" compilations on youtube, you could have werewolves telling stories of famous cock-ups and such.

The Meeper.

[Volkodlak]

i agree with Meeper

[LunarCarnivore]

Wolves are excellent climbers, but not against sheer surfaces. Should a werewolf be able to climb a tree? Yes. Should they be able to do the underworld thing? Only in underworld.