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Bisclavret

 Bisclavret
type
TVTItem
 Bisclavret
label
Bisclavret
 Bisclavret
page
Bisclavret
 Bisclavret
comment
Bisclavret is a 12th century Anglo-Norman lai by Marie de France.For unknown reasons, Bisclavret must transform into a wolf every week. His wife steals his clothing, without which he can't change back. One day, his friend, the king, goes hunting in the woods. Bisclavret jumps at him and paws his foot like a petitioner, and the king, impressed, grants the wolf his life. Bisclavret goes with the hunting party and stays at court. Everyone is so impressed by his nobility and gentleness that when his wife and her new husband appear at court, and he attacks them, the king concludes that they must have wronged the wolf and imprisons them until they confess. With his clothing back, Bisclavret can return to human form.
 Bisclavret
fetched
2023-07-04T18:44:36Z
 Bisclavret
parsed
2023-07-04T18:44:36Z
 Bisclavret
isPartOf
DBTropes
 Bisclavret / int_2fc2d6e1
type
Shapeshifter Mode Lock
 Bisclavret / int_2fc2d6e1
comment
Shapeshifter Mode Lock: Bisclavret cannot resume human form unless he gets his clothes.
 Bisclavret / int_2fc2d6e1
featureApplicability
1.0
 Bisclavret / int_2fc2d6e1
featureConfidence
1.0
 Bisclavret
hasFeature
Bisclavret / int_2fc2d6e1
 Bisclavret / int_889cfd0c
type
Make the Dog Testify
 Bisclavret / int_889cfd0c
comment
Make the Dog Testify: If the wolf, which has been consistently kind and well-behaved for years, suddenly attacks someone without warning, it must have some reason to attack them.
 Bisclavret / int_889cfd0c
featureApplicability
1.0
 Bisclavret / int_889cfd0c
featureConfidence
1.0
 Bisclavret
hasFeature
Bisclavret / int_889cfd0c
 Bisclavret / int_89a17726
type
Spell My Name with an S
 Bisclavret / int_89a17726
comment
Spell My Name with an S: The Norman word for "werewolf" as given in the lai is spelled differently in various manuscripts and thus modern editions, like garwal, garwaf, or garwalf. The last one is probably the closest to what was intended since the Norman term is a clear cognate of English "werewolf", man-wolf. It may not have been the proper or most common Norman spelling either. "Bisclavret" has a number of proposed "proper" Breton spellings and etymologies like bleizclaffet, "wolf-sick" i.e. "one with wolf-sickness" i.e. "one with lycanthropy".
 Bisclavret / int_89a17726
featureApplicability
1.0
 Bisclavret / int_89a17726
featureConfidence
1.0
 Bisclavret
hasFeature
Bisclavret / int_89a17726
 Bisclavret / int_8c41d6e9
type
Nameless Narrative
 Bisclavret / int_8c41d6e9
comment
Nameless Narrative: Played With; the protagonist is originally just called "the baron," but once he reveals that he's a werewolf the narration starts calling him "Bisclavret," which means "werewolf," as though it was his name. Everyone else is just called by their title.
 Bisclavret / int_8c41d6e9
featureApplicability
1.0
 Bisclavret / int_8c41d6e9
featureConfidence
1.0
 Bisclavret
hasFeature
Bisclavret / int_8c41d6e9
 Bisclavret / int_95a7e10
type
Wonderful Werewolf
 Bisclavret / int_95a7e10
comment
Wonderful Werewolf: The Ur-Example, as "Bisclavret" is a heroic and noble individual even as a wolf (except towards his wife and her lover, the two people who got him trapped in animal form)
 Bisclavret / int_95a7e10
featureApplicability
1.0
 Bisclavret / int_95a7e10
featureConfidence
1.0
 Bisclavret
hasFeature
Bisclavret / int_95a7e10
 Bisclavret / int_d238fd9d
type
Shapeshifting Excludes Clothing
 Bisclavret / int_d238fd9d
comment
Shapeshifting Excludes Clothing: An unusual version: as far as we know, Bisclavret literally has to take off his clothes to transform, and then can only change back if he puts them back on.
 Bisclavret / int_d238fd9d
featureApplicability
1.0
 Bisclavret / int_d238fd9d
featureConfidence
1.0
 Bisclavret
hasFeature
Bisclavret / int_d238fd9d
 Bisclavret / int_da38c13f
type
Lamarck Was Right
 Bisclavret / int_da38c13f
comment
Lamarck Was Right: A werewolf bites off a woman's nose and all of her descendants are born without noses because of that.
 Bisclavret / int_da38c13f
featureApplicability
1.0
 Bisclavret / int_da38c13f
featureConfidence
1.0
 Bisclavret
hasFeature
Bisclavret / int_da38c13f
 Bisclavret / int_dbde0b49
type
Transformation Trinket
 Bisclavret / int_dbde0b49
comment
Transformation Trinket: There's nothing to indicate that the baron's clothes are magical by themselves, but he has to remove/regain them in order to change form.
 Bisclavret / int_dbde0b49
featureApplicability
1.0
 Bisclavret / int_dbde0b49
featureConfidence
1.0
 Bisclavret
hasFeature
Bisclavret / int_dbde0b49
 Bisclavret / int_e83f211c
type
O.O.C. Is Serious Business
 Bisclavret / int_e83f211c
comment
O.O.C. Is Serious Business: An inexplicably tame wolf suddenly acts violently toward two specific people, who are eventually revealed to be the ones who got him trapped in animal form.
 Bisclavret / int_e83f211c
featureApplicability
1.0
 Bisclavret / int_e83f211c
featureConfidence
1.0
 Bisclavret
hasFeature
Bisclavret / int_e83f211c
 Bisclavret / int_f8b3fa5d
type
Our Werewolves Are Different
 Bisclavret / int_f8b3fa5d
comment
Our Werewolves Are Different: They're in their right mind even in wolf form. Or at least Bisclavret himself is; the opening of the tale suggests he may be atypical. Also, his clothes seem to be the Transformation Trinket, as he must remove them to transform and regain them to turn back. The poem opens by talking about werewolves, noting that they are called garwalf in Norman but bisclavret in Breton. The implication may be that there are two different kinds of werewolf, the vicious garwalf and the tame bisclavret. The term garwalf or however it's spelled (see below) seems to have evolved into the later French garou which came to mean a werebeast in general, with "werewolf" specifically being loup-garou which is thus redundant.
 Bisclavret / int_f8b3fa5d
featureApplicability
1.0
 Bisclavret / int_f8b3fa5d
featureConfidence
1.0
 Bisclavret
hasFeature
Bisclavret / int_f8b3fa5d
 Bisclavret / int_name
type
ItemName
 Bisclavret / int_name
comment
 Bisclavret / int_name
featureApplicability
1.0
 Bisclavret / int_name
featureConfidence
1.0
 Bisclavret
hasFeature
Bisclavret / int_name
 Bisclavret / int_name
itemName
Bisclavret

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 Bisclavret
hasFeature
Chivalric Romance / int_8ed5f8c4
 Bisclavret
hasFeature
Involuntary Shapeshifting / int_8ed5f8c4
 Bisclavret
hasFeature
Lamarck Was Right / int_8ed5f8c4
 Bisclavret
hasFeature
The Noseless / int_8ed5f8c4
 Bisclavret
hasFeature
Transformation Trinket / int_8ed5f8c4
 Bisclavret
hasFeature
Turning Back Human / int_8ed5f8c4