Whyfore the hostile puppies?
Okay, okay. It's late. Uh, well it's so late now that it's essentially "early", but whatever...
I love canines, my wife & I have 3 of them at home, including a Siberian Husky. I've always loved wolves as well so I'm hopelessly biased here and I love Baldur's Gate as well, so this isn't a bash on it. But there are times when I'm smashing through a rampaging pack of wolves and thinking, "Okay, so if there were any animals in the real world that would Get Out of Dodge when the Big Bad Adventuring party comes through, it would be Wolves. Why do RPG-Makers always give wolves such a bad rap? Wolves in the Real World only got a bad reputation because they were so clever & sneaky about killing farmer's livestock. That's where their bad rap came from. Not being mankillers."
Yes, yes, It's a game, I know. But obviously they thought a bit about these things, because Black & Brown Bears can be avoided. Why not regular wolves? Also keep in mind I'm not talking about Worgs, Dire Wolves, Dread Wolves, etc... they are sentient & evil.
(Rereads own post). Yup. It's late. Time for bed. But I'm throwing the post out anyway because I can't possibly be the *only* one out there who's thought about this.
I love canines, my wife & I have 3 of them at home, including a Siberian Husky. I've always loved wolves as well so I'm hopelessly biased here and I love Baldur's Gate as well, so this isn't a bash on it. But there are times when I'm smashing through a rampaging pack of wolves and thinking, "Okay, so if there were any animals in the real world that would Get Out of Dodge when the Big Bad Adventuring party comes through, it would be Wolves. Why do RPG-Makers always give wolves such a bad rap? Wolves in the Real World only got a bad reputation because they were so clever & sneaky about killing farmer's livestock. That's where their bad rap came from. Not being mankillers."
Yes, yes, It's a game, I know. But obviously they thought a bit about these things, because Black & Brown Bears can be avoided. Why not regular wolves? Also keep in mind I'm not talking about Worgs, Dire Wolves, Dread Wolves, etc... they are sentient & evil.
(Rereads own post). Yup. It's late. Time for bed. But I'm throwing the post out anyway because I can't possibly be the *only* one out there who's thought about this.
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There was actually a post a while ago (maybe a few years ago) on another forum where someone was advocating for equal animal rights in video games.
If you need a reason for it, you could say that the worgs and dread wolves became the pack leaders for all of the normal wolves along the Sword Coast, which is why the wolves are so aggressive.
I don't know about 'equal animal rights', but a bit more realistic animal behavior would be appreciated. Still, as I said, your rationale works well enough.
Siberian Husky?? Nice! Very beautiful dog!!
I love canines too, I had a female Belgian Shepard and a cute little female Pincher ׂ(Cancer,both...), So right now I'm dogless
Hopefully one day I'll bring Siberian Husky or one of the Shepard types (Belgian/German/Swiss)
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My wife's co-worker loved her, but lived in an apartment in downtown LA, not a good environment for a Husky. At the time we were looking for a 3rd dog and decided to give it a try. Taking care of her was initially a nightmare. She was basically feral, knew no commands and wasn't really even housetrained (at 6 months old). She was hyper, nervous, skittish, her kill list of our possessions got to an impressive level and she was driving our middle dog, Jo so crazy that she wasn't eating or drinking for days. I ended up having to feed & water Jo by hand.
But we stuck with it, and after nearly 3 years I can safely say that Maya is everything you'd want a dog to be. Obedient, mindful, intelligent & very protective of her pack. So much so that when we got our newest girl, Ivy, Maya immediately adopted her as her own baby. Maya had her housetrained in a week. We've had next to no Puppy Issues with Ivy because of Maya.
As for the wolves, dire wolves, wargs, and vampire wolves as fantasy staples, I think that it goes not only to the historical significance of wolves and coyotes as rival predators to humans (they will take your food, your childrens' food, and even your children as food in a subsistence economy/environment), but also to the legendary representations of the archetype of "the big bad wolf". Almost half of the fairy tales in Western European lore reference "the big bad wolf" as the child-eating, don't wander into the forest for goodness' sake, villain.
As for the cats as fantasy villains, I can't think of any story archetypes for it, other than maybe Alice's Cheshire, who delights in misleading and confusing, but, I would think that early human observations of the cat's ruthless and sadistic behavior towards its prey, could have triggered a fear archetype for the feline type - especially when you figure in the tactile sensations of being clawed and bitten at the cat's superspeed velocity and frequency of movement and dexterity, not to mention the fact that it is an ambush predator that will come at you out of nowhere if it wants to.
There would be similar human archetypal fears associated with spiders and snakes. Interestingly, it seems that every human-as-biological-prey-animal (i.e., every human), identifies and associates with one of his or her predator species, and even loves individuals from that species as familiars or animal companions. @Ronin13, for you, it's the canines; for me, it's the felines, although, I also am capable of a deep bond with a canine.
I totally don't get people who feel the same for spiders and snakes, especially spiders.
Canines, felines, reptiles, arachnids, and also ursines. These phyla all were threats to our lives and killed us regularly in prehistory.
There is probably a deep psychological insight to be had from which of these you feel attracted to, and which of these repulse you to the core of your being. Of the five, I would say that the canines have the deepest and longest standing potential to bond with humanity as allies and companions, but that the felines are rapidly catching up.
Second, I think that it is very important to realize that all these creature types are, IRL, potentially deadly. Also, a "blank slate" infant does not seem to have an inborn fear of these creatures who can kill it. A toddler who giggles, smiles, and starts walking up to wolves, panthers, bears, spiders, or snakes is going to very soon be a DEAD toddler.
That's why our stories that villify these creatures, and instill fear of them at a very, very early age at an archetypal level, are so important to the survival of humanity, which basically has absolutely nothing going for it from an evolutionary standpoint except brain power, as expressed through language, and through that, to "culture", i.e., archetypal knowledge expressed in the Jungian "collective unconscious".
Through the "magics" of language, memetic culture, and the blank slate infancy, humanity has become the dominant species of our planet. As in, humanity is the quadratic, exponential, DOMINANT species of, not only this planet, but of any space within light-years of here.
As a matter of fact, it's the lack of aggression towards us that enabled us to get the domesticated dog out of them. And to put it back in a game context, I find it ironic that wolves are always aggressive, while bears are not, but bears, oh my, are *so* much more aggressive IRL!
@ajwz another interesting idea. But that idea competes with @Aosaw, so I guess now it's our fanfic duty as a forum community to come up with the 'official' unofficial rationale behind wolves behavior. Are they attacking your party because of who you are? Or is it because the normal wolves are being dominated by the intelligent, evil, wolf-kindred? A combination?
I tried to explain that they attacked me first, and I was just defending myself. He would have none of that! He actually tried to grab the mouse to keep me from directing the party members actions!
So, my 3 year old grandson got my party wiped by a pack of dogs.....
@mch202 Cruelty in any form to anyone or anything cannot be justified.
@Kitteh_On_A_Cloud Oh, I'm not advocating https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grizzly_Man Behavior by *any* means! If an animal threatens the life of me or my loved ones, it's getting taken out. All I was saying earlier is that the amount of wolves attacking men is historically insignificant. The reverse, sadly is not true.
Something to do with the iron shortage making people more desperate to survive and decimating the local populations of deer and whatnot(also, you need metal tools to farm, while all you need to hunt is a snare and a bow and arrows), making wolves and other predators just as desperate and hungry, having to switch to secondary prey, which would include humans(tons of them in the forests anyway, by the looks of BG areas).
I suppose that bears, being omnivores, can support their diets with roots, nuts, berries and the occasional fish for certain species, and as such aren't as desperate to chase after every mushroom picker that they see.
Now, I'm writing this completely off the top of my head, and I could be wrong, but even if he doesn't say that I usually accept this as the the reason for rabid wolves attacking well armed parties.