WereTigers

Around Asia, the idea of a man changing into a wolf is not that popular to the culture, but shape shifting in a form of other animals is quite well known.  A fox (which is common in the legend of Japan and South Korea), Bird (Southeast Asia) or a Tiger.  The legend of a human taking the appearance of a tiger is part of the lore of India and China.

Unlike the werewolves, the weretigers are not dependent on the moon.  People who have this ability do not need lunar intervention and can transform at their own will.  In China, weretigers are known to be a vicious and violent creature that terrorize human while in some South East Asian countries especially Indonesia and Malaysia they are pictured out as a calm and not violent, unless of course provoked and in times that they cannot search food.

Based on the legends, there are many ways on how one can achieve the power of the weretigers.  One is the cause of death, they believe when a person was killed by a tiger, that person turned into a phantom that seeks for revenge.  He apparently wanted the other people to suffer the same fate that is why he changes in a form of a tiger to eat human.

In other legends, they say that being a weretigers can be inherited. Like the powers of the aswang (Philippines’ vampire) the family must pass the curse down to their family line.  They are prohibited to skip a generation of weretigers for an unknown reason.

There is also a story that one can become a weretiger through a curse.  One legend spoke of a ritual to be performed that turned someone into a hideous creature.  Then the last one and the most unique of all is that one can be a weretiger on a sheer will power.  They said that being this creature is a matter of choice and anyone can be a beast if it is indeed his true desire.