Shapeshifting

The concept of shape-shifting (also shapeshifters or Metamorph ) refers to a fictional creature that is able to change its own external form. This option is used primarily by fantasy and science - fiction writers as well as in comics and movies, but also in some popular myths come shapeshifter before, such as the Japanese Hengeyōkai. Even ghouls are often viewed as shapeshifters.

Various types of shape-shifting can be distinguished:

• A kind of can of their own (usually human ) in the form of another species ( mostly animals ) change. Well-known examples are werewolves (see lycanthropy ) and vampires. In some folk myths also the change from an animal in human form appears, for example, the Kitsune ( red fox ) in Japanese mythology, which in humans can fall in love and then take the form of pretty young women to marry these men. However, they disappear as soon as the man noticed that his wife is a Kitsune.
• As a rule, a shapeshifter only switch between two characters, exceptions are very strong or old beings. Thus, Dracula, in some legends into a wolf, a bat, transform a vampire in human form and in fog. The fog can be viewed as a state between the transformations.
• Another type of shape-shifting can only assume another form within their own species, such as the Face Dancer from Frank Herbert's Dune or the character Mystique from the Marvel comic book series X -Men.
• The last type of shape-shifting has no proper own form and can take almost any shape. These include, for example, the T-1000 from the movie Terminator 2, which consists of a synthetic liquid metal, and Odo from the Star Trek series Deep Space Nine, one of the so-called founders, which are a liquid in its natural form and with increasing experience in almost everything can change - even shining gas.

• Literary themes and motifs
• Fantasy
• Science fiction