The Twilight Saga took liberties in the books and films with its depictions of supernatural creatures, including werewolves.

The Twilight franchisewon overmany young peoplewith its vampires and werewolves, but it also came under fire for taking creative liberties with the detailsabout these classicmonsters. The werewolves are less controversial than the vampires in a lot of ways, but their physiology is still pretty unique compared to other werewolves in cinema and fiction.

The first thing to know about Twilight's main wolves is that they aren'treal werewolves. A group called the Children of the Moon were werewolves, but due to their ability to easily kill vampires, the Volturikilled the vast majority ofthem,so they're rare to this day. The wolves in Forks, Washington are actually shapeshifters; although, they're mistaken for werewolves and often regarded as such by the fandom. They are descendants from warriors of the Quileute Tribe, and they could originally roam the world incorporeally, talk to animals and communicate with each other telepathically; however, after Chief Taha Aki's leadership, these warriors became wolf shapeshifters.

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For many years, the wolfpack was made up of the male descendants of Taha Aki, the original wolf shifter. He passed thisgene onto the Black, Uleys and Ateras families, who would continue his legacy by passing on the shifting ability to the following generations. The shift is triggered by the scent of vampires, which signals the need to protectthe tribe, so the number of wolves who shift is directly proportional to the number of vampires they'll need to fight in the area. The transformation is most common among young adults and sets off a growth spurt as well.

Leah Clearwater unexpectedly shifts into a wolf after experiencing mood swings and intense rages. In the book, her first shift is so shocking that it causes her father to have a fatal heart attack. Leah shifts in order to make their pack big enough and strong enough to fight the approaching vampires, but it has a profound psychological effect on her. She's especially upsetbecause she believes her physiological changeswill prevent her from having a child since her menstrual cycle has stopped. Furthermore, as the first known female shifter, it's unclear how"imprinting" works for her.

Quileute shapeshifters have soulmates, and imprinting is how they realize this. A shifter first sees awoman - the process is exclusively described foropposite sex partners - and from that moment on, she's the shifter's first priority. The woman can be anyone, and shifters cannot choose who they imprint on.

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Werewolf Physiology, According to the Twilight Movies | CBR - CBR - Comic Book Resources