FAMILY/COVEN RELATIONSHIPS: He lives with his mother‘s sister, Huilen. Pire, his mother, died during his birth. Joham, Nahuel‘s father, and Nahuel‘s three half-sisters live elsewhere.
PERSONAL HISTORY:
Nahuel‘s very first postbirth memory is of Huilen‘s scent, and of her face as she tried to lift him from his mother‘s body. After he found himself essentially alone and abandoned in the forest, he followed that scent to where Huilen lay, convulsed in pain, teaching himself to crawl in his first day of life.
When Huilen‘s transformation was complete, she and Nahuel began their nomadic life.
Huilen was lonely without her sister, and she talked to Nahuel incessantly about Pire. She was only mildly surprised when Nahuel answered her back for the first time two weeks later; his startling development was already an accepted fact for her. Grieving for her sister, Huilen made sure that Nahuel knew exactly how wonderful his mother had been. She didn‘t intend for him to turn this knowledge into self-hatred, but despite the love she learned to feel for Nahuel, she did hold him responsible for Pire‘s death.
Nahuel and Huilen kept to themselves and became extremely close. They did occasionally run into other vampires, but Huilen never really trusted others, thanks to Joham‘s treatment of her sister. She kept Nahuel out of sight during these encounters, not sure how others would react to him.
He was much more of an anomaly in the vampire world.
Nahuel found it very easy to pass as a human. The only perceptible differences between himself and the humans were his physical abilities, which he could easily mask when necessary.
He was much more of an anomaly in the vampire world. Visibly closer to human, Nahuel was also not quite as strong or as fast as a full vampire. His senses were also weaker, though exponentially stronger than human senses.
All of his sisters have visited him a time or two — on Joham‘s orders. Joham hoped the girls could soften Nahuel to his father. Nahuel found Serena too much like Joham, but liked Maysun and Jennifer quite a bit. Nahuel returned only Jennifer‘s visits; because she is the youngest sister, he feels protective toward her. He remains closest to her.
Huilen would prefer never to leave the traditional Mapuche lands, but Nahuel is more curious about the world at large. He‘s talked Huilen into several field trips, including his visits with Jennifer.
There are two types of supernatural creatures referred to as werewolves in the Saga: those that pass on werewolf traits through a bite, and those that inherit werewolf traits from their parents. The first type, known as the Children of the Moon, are merely alluded to in the novels.
The second type, the Quileute wolves, are the werewolves featured in the Twilight Saga.
The Children of the Moon
The Children of the Moon are creatures similar to the traditional werewolves of myth.
They phase, or change form, in response to the cycles of the moon. In their changed form, they do not entirely resemble actual wolves: Their forelegs are more powerful than their hind legs, and they still have usable hands with opposable thumbs. In addition, their stance is more upright, making their movement somewhat apelike, rather than entirely canine.
While in their werewolf form, Children of the Moon are not aware of their human selves; they are feral rather than rational.
Children of the Moon change form only at night, and during the fullest phase of the moon. While in their werewolf form, Children of the Moon are not aware of their human selves; they are feral rather than rational. Usually, they run alone, or with one companion of the opposite gender. Children of the Moon cannot breed in their animal form; they can spread their species only by infecting other humans through a bite. Infected humans who have children do not pass their abilities to their offspring.
?THE CHILDREN OF THE MOON HAVE BEEN OUR BITTER ENEMIES
FROM THE DAWN OF TIME.?
— Caius (
In their animal form, Children of the Moon have heightened strength and speed that make them both deadly and difficult to kill; contrary to legend, these werewolves cannot be killed with a silver bullet, nor does silver repel them. Their amplified abilities make them capable of destroying a lone vampire; however, the vampire generally has the advantage due to the fact that he retains his logic and intelligence. One advantage the werewolf has in both his human and animal forms is immunity to vampire venom, both the transformative properties and the pain-producing properties.
Because vampires and Children of the Moon share the same food source and because each is an exception to the other‘s near indestructibility, they are natural enemies. Over time, however, the vampires have hunted the once populous werewolves into near extinction.
The Quileute Werewolves
Although the Quileutes call themselves werewolves, they are not werewolves in the traditional mythological sense. They are actually shape-shifters who take the form of a wolf.
Unlike the Children of the Moon, mature Quileute werewolves are able to phase by choice.
Another fundamental difference between Quileute werewolves and the Children of the Moon is that Quileutes in their wolf form retain their human minds, reasoning abilit ies, and personalities.
The Quileute werewolves consider themselves the designated protectors of their human tribe.
They see vampires as enemies to themselves and all humans.
INHERITANCE
Not every member of the Quileute tribe has the potential to transform into a werewolf.
Only those who can trace a direct bloodline back to the first shape-shifter, Taha Aki, are born with the potential to become shape-shifters themselves. The first transformation occurs between the onset of puberty and approximately age twenty-five, and is based on two factors: heritage and the proximity of vampires.
The direct descendants of Taha Aki are born with twenty-four chromosomal pairs rather than the twenty- three pairs of a normal human. It was once believed that the extra chromosome could be passed down only to male descendants, but that has been proven false; in
