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Greetings and welcome!
As promised, here is the second part of the article
about Ronald Kelly’s werewolf novel Undertaker’s
Moon. If my rambling piques your curiosity and you decide you would like to
read the book yourself, you can find a direct link to Amazon’s Kindle e-store
to the side. In this second (and last) part, I would like to first talk about
the portrayal of werewolves in the novel; afterwards, I will say a few words
about how different characters in the book view lycanthropy, and, finally, I
will end with my general impressions and evaluation of the book. That said,
let’s get down to business, because there is quite a lot to talk about.
Werewolves
in Undertaker’s Moon
As I’ve mentioned before, in this section I’d like to
talk a bit about the way werewolves are presented in the novel. There is a lot
that can be said on the subject, so without further ado, let’s get started with
what we can glean from the text.
The first thing to be said about the werewolves in Undertaker’s Moon is that they are
immortal. They don’t suffer from diseases that are fatal to humans and are
resistant to physical damage in the sense that inflicted wounds, even those
seemingly severe, merely inconvenience them. They possess extremely fast
regenerative powers, which let them heal any damage they suffer practically
instantly. Needless to say, they can virtually live forever and do not seem to
age physically past their prime – although Devin and Rosie became werewolves as
small children, they still kept growing, while McManus, being at this point
over a millennium old, had not seemed to have changed since his prime back in
the 8th century.
The werewolves’ only weaknesses seem to be: silver,
which causes an acute allergic reaction, other werewolves, and the two mysterious
Celtic amulets owned by Ian Danaher. The amulets and the gems embedded in them
have the power to weaken any nearby werewolf, draining them of their powers. The
origin of said amulets is never fully explained, apart from the fact they were
kept secret by the Irish monks who lived in the Kells monastery in the 8th
century. We can only speculate about their genesis and the reason why they
possess their supernatural properties. Since the source of the Silver Beast’s
curse is a pact with the devil, the crosses may work as they do due to being
holy relics. Unlike silver and werewolf-inflicted injuries, the amulets
themselves aren’t lethal to werewolves. They simply diminish their powers, even
as far as quenching their hunger for flesh and preventing transformation
altogether if worn, as it is in the case of Ian Danaher.
As for ways of getting rid of werewolves permanently
in the novel’s universe, it is stated that the only way they can be killed is either
if another werewolf kills them or they are killed with the use of silver
(bullets, knives, swords, daggers, and the like). Both contact with silver and being injured by another werewolf cause sizzling wounds as if one was burned by a very hot object.
Werewolves here are able to transform at will, but the
process isn’t instantaneous – it takes a while for them to assume their
werewolf forms and the act of shapeshifting seems to be quite painful, since
their bodies basically rebuild themselves. However, it does seem that the more
accustomed one is to their curse, the faster this process will be. Moreover, they
are also able to only partially transform, as shown when Rosie defends Brian
from Mickey by slashing the latter with claws, as well as later on when Devin
threatens Jake and confronts Brian about his sister. Even in their human form,
the werewolves possess superhuman strength, agility, reflexes, and heightened
senses.
Once transformed, their werewolf forms are those of
bipedal, seven-foot (or more) tall human-wolf hybrids. There are some traits
that the werewolves retain from their human selves – their human body build is
reflected, while their fur is the same colour as their human hair colour; also,
their eye colour remains the same. The werewolves can communicate with each
other in what the author calls ‘the snarling tongue of the wolf’ (Chapter 12,
loc. 1658), but it is unclear whether this form of communication is
intelligible only among the werewolves or not, because there’s no instance
where any werewolf successfully communicates using this method with a human. As
I see it, any dialogue between the lycanthropes (which, nota bene, is written in italics) is limited to them only and
cannot be understood by humans, to whom any utterances of the kind simply sound
like lupine growls and barks.
As far as the process of becoming a werewolf is concerned,
it is a little bizarre here. As shown numerous times throughout the novel,
people becomes werewolves similarly to what was shown in the movie Underworld: Evolution in the case of
werewolves created by the elder werewolf William. Here, same as there, in order
for one to become a werewolf, one must be killed by another werewolf. And yes,
by that I don’t mean being brought to the brink of death – I mean they actually
have to die, after which they come back to life, their injuries healed, as
werewolves. According to Ian Danaher, there is a magical element in the process
of being infected through a bite (it seems like it’s not possible to be
infected through means other than a bite in this universe) – this is possibly
because of the fact that the roots of the curse are supernatural, since McManus
first became a werewolf with the help of the devil. Upon healing their
injuries, characteristic white scar tissue covers those parts of the body of
the new-born werewolf that were damaged by the other werewolf. This scar tissue
is also a kind of a mark binding the infected to the curse, because when they
are killed, these white patches are healed and disappear.
A defining feature that drives the whole plot of the
novel is the werewolves’ craving for human flesh that increases as the moon
gets closer to being full. This irresistible, burning hunger is the underlying
cause for the novel’s premise – the whole reason why McManus lives with the
O’Shea family and helps them maintain the undertaking business is to be able to
sate that hunger with as little risk of discovery as possible. As he himself
admits at one point, hunting humans became too risky as the world developed
over the course of the centuries – it was no longer as easy to kill human
beings without being hunted down as in the past. That’s why, in order to
survive, McManus and his unwilling lackeys were forced to resort to scavenging.
Migrating from town to town depending on where the fatality rate is highest,
the werewolves use the undertaking business as a cover for their monthly feasts
on dead, but still human, flesh. Their attitudes towards this practice differs,
but up until the events in Old Hickory, they all accept it as a necessity for
their survival.
Although the source of the werewolf curse is
supernatural in nature and it’s stated at one point in the novel that there is
a ‘magical’ element to the bite and the infection process, it doesn’t seem to
only be limited to humans, as we find out at the end of the novel when it is
revealed that one of Devin’s victim’s pet dog named Popeye has survived his
struggle with the werewolf Booker brothers… and is now a werewolf-dog. This
topic isn’t elaborated on, obviously, since it just serves as a cliff-hanger
ending to the story, but it does seem like even a small creature like Popeye
transforms into a large enough beast to carry a grown pig with ease. Whether
this creature is different from the werewolves our human characters turned into
remains unknown.
Finally, one more thing I wanted to mention here are
werewolf babies. Yes, you read it right. In Undertaker’s
Moon there are two instances where the subject of werewolf babies is
brought up. First, during the novel proper, we learn of the possibility of a human
becoming pregnant with a werewolf baby when Devin reveals his diabolical plan
of populating the earth with his progeny to his lover, much to her horror. We
learn that, apparently, the conception of such a child is not as easy as one
would have thought, because, according to Devin, he had failed to actually make
a human woman pregnant in the past. Another instance where we meet with the
mention of a natural-born werewolf is in the novella The Spawn of Arget Bethir and this time we learn a little more about
it. During his fateful visit to his hometown, Brother Ian learns the truth
about his mother’s passing from his older sister. It is then revealed that
Ian’s mother had fallen victim to McManus’s lust and had become pregnant with a
werewolf baby. As we learn, this pregnancy did not have a happy ending – close
to the time of birth, when the child was big enough, the full moon caused the
foetus to transform inside its mother’s belly. Shortly after, the werewolf
infant tore its way out of its mother’s belly, causing her death. Whether this
would have been the fate of Devin’s lover had she not committed suicide is
unknown, but there is a big chance that she would have shared the same fate as
Ian’s mother.
The
Characters’ Differing Attitudes Towards Lycanthropy
As I’ve mentioned before, each character in the novel
has a slightly different stance on their condition. Some view it as a curse,
others a blessing, while others yet see it as a natural part of their
existence. In this section, I’ll try to outline how each major (werewolf)
character sees lycanthropy. As an afterthought, I’ve additionally included one
non-werewolf character due to his ties to werewolves even if he isn’t one
himself.
Squire Crom McManus
The Squire is portrayed as the source of lycanthropy
in the novel’s universe. A charismatic man that once lived in the early
centuries A.D. Ireland, he struck a deal with the devil who granted him power
and riches, but with a catch – although he would be able to shapeshift into a
great wolf-like beast at will, every full moon he would suffer from insatiable
hunger for human flesh that would force him to feed on the living. This,
however, did not bother McManus in the least. Using his brand-new gift, he
would quickly become a figure of legends among the Irish folk, recruiting more
and more werewolves into his ranks, devouring whole villages at a time where
his pack appeared. Needless to say, during that time, McManus openly defied
every authority and boasted about his superiority to man every chance he got,
relishing in the hunt. His attitude gradually changes with the passing of time.
As human civilisation develops, he and his followers are no longer able to
enjoy the same freedom as in the days of old. From hunters they become the
hunted and are forced into the shadows of the underworld. McManus himself is
forced to leave his native Ireland and he travels around the world, trying to
survive, if not flourish, in a different place. Come twenty-first century, he
admits to himself that he has grown old – mentally, if not physically – and
remarks during the climax of the novel that, although he is forced to live the
life he does out of the necessity for survival, he longs for the hunts of old
and misses the time when everyone trembled at the sound of his name.
Patrick and Mary O’Shea
Patrick and Mary O’Shea were a happy couple with two
young children before Squire Crom McManus crossed their path. They died by his
hand and subsequently were forced into his service through the curse of
werewolfism. They have memories of their lives before they became werewolves
and because of that, they resent lycanthropy and the one who bestowed it upon
them. Lacking the strength to oppose their master, Patrick and Mary are forced
to be a part of his scheme. They view werewolfism solely as a curse that binds
them in an unholy way to McManus and are themselves appalled at their deeds
during the full moon. And yet, they are unable to end their lives by their own
hand, choosing to continue living a life that is, for them, full of deeply hidden
sorrow. It comes as no surprise, then, that they welcome their killers when
they raid their house at the end of the book.
Rosie O’Shea
Rosie, the youngest of the O’Shea family, was still a
toddler when she was made a werewolf. Hence, she does not know any other life
than that of a shapeshifter forced to feed on human corpses every full moon.
Due to this fact, her attitude towards lycanthropy is very different to that of
her parents. Contrary to them, Rosie views werewolfism as a special gift that
should be cherished. Despite that, she knows that it’s not something she can
brag about openly. She does, however, make use of her abilities when her back
is forced against the wall, especially if someone dear to her is in danger, partially
transforming to fend off whatever danger looms ahead. She tries to live as
normal a life as a teenager whose family is on the move every few years can
live, her wolf side being just a natural state of things that she has to cope
with, the Feasts of the Moon being to her like an old family tradition that one
cannot free oneself from. Shortly after arriving in Old Hickory, Rosie falls in
love with Brian – a teenager living next door – and is grief-stricken when the
boy comes to her house to murder her because she’s a werewolf. She is angered
at the fact that her secret became known and even suggests that Brian become a
werewolf like her, so that they can be together, but she is met with refusal.
Devin O’Shea
Rosie’s brother Devin, who also became a werewolf when
he was a young child, developed a vastly different attitude towards lycanthropy
from that of his sister. He is not only the stereotypical upstart of the pack
who refuses to comply with the rules set by his alpha, but he takes it a step
further. He oftentimes clashes with McManus, pointing out to him that he has
become too meek and that by leading a life of a scavenger he brings shame to
any werewolf out there. Devin knows, however, that he on his own isn’t strong
enough to overthrow McManus, so he resorts to plotting behind his back. To
carry out his coup, the teenager plans to establish his own pack of werewolves,
which he gradually starts doing over the course of the novel. He refuses to
continue feasting on human remains, to which McManus orders him to hunt animals
if he must, but forbids him from killing live humans – which Devin, of course,
ignores. Additionally, Devin is fascinated by Hitler’s Nazi ideology of the
master race – a fascination that his family dismisses as a phase that he will
get over, eventually. However, Devin uses Hitler’s ideology as a basis for his
own – in his mind, werewolves are the master race, while ordinary humans are to
them merely prey, or slaves. Even as a human, he looks down on people around
him and likes to humiliate others using his superhuman abilities. His obsession
with the idea of werewolf superiority doesn’t end there. He embarks on a
personal crusade to not only fill the world with werewolves he creates with his
bite, but also to establish his line of werewolves born from human mothers. To
this end, he seduces girls at school and tries to impregnate them, his good
looks making it all the easier for him to do so. Because he feels invincible
thanks to his powers, he doesn’t shy from partially transforming in front of
people he wants to harass and even admits he is a werewolf and blackmails
another boy, who witnessed him killing another boy during the full moon. He
likes taking advantage of people’s disbelief in the supernatural, certain that
even if he reveals his identity to other teenagers, no-one will believe them if
they tell any adults about it. In the end, Devin’s ideology and his reckless campaign
prove to be the cause of his family’s downfall (and McManus’s as well,
subsequently).
The Booker Brothers
Billy and Bobby Booker are Old Hickory’s liaison with
the underworld. As such, they are said to be able to procure anything illegal
the local teenagers would ask of them, for an appropriate price, of course. It comes
as no surprise then that being made into werewolves turns out to be right up
their alley (well, except for the part where they first have to die by Devin
O’Shea’s hand). Initially not fully aware what they’re getting themselves into,
the brothers agree to become Devin’s lackeys in exchanged for the promise of
immortality. In exchange for the curse, Devin orders them to supply him with
living humans every full moon, so that he can feast on them instead of on
corpses or wild animals. The Bookers are fiercely loyal to Devin and are
prepared to take risks in order to destroy any evidence that could endanger
him. They also serve as Devin’s henchmen, threatening and harassing whoever he
orders him to. Moreover, with their new-found powers, they are not above murder
if it is a way to silence those who have begun to discover their secret.
Ian Danaher
Ian Danaher is McManus’s arch nemesis and has been
such since the destruction of the monastery he was a brother at in the 8th
century Ireland. Ian’s backstory is revealed in the novella The Spawn of Arget Bethir, found after
the end of the novel proper. Deeply religious, Ian is nearly driven insane by
the strange premonitions of him becoming a werewolf. Trying to find peace of
mind, he is given leave to go back to his home village to his sister, the last
of his kin. There, not only does he find his birthplace ravaged by the werewolf
pack, but learns that his sister has become a werewolf herself. Having put her
out of her misery, Ian goes back to the monastery, where he comes across the
Silver Beast and his pack. Nearly killed by McManus, as a last ditch effort the
man throws himself off a cliff to deny the werewolf the satisfaction of the
kill. However, he survives the fall and wakes up on the shore, now a werewolf
himself. Actually, keeping in mind the way werewolves are created in this
universe, it’s more probable that he actually died from the fall and came back
to life as a lycanthrope. Ever since, he treats his werewolfism as a means of
conquering the evil that is the Silver Beast. Wearing his holy Celtic amulet
allows him to keep the beast within at bay, preventing his transformations.
Brian Reece
While not a werewolf himself, Brian has some peculiar
ties to lycanthropy. When we first meet him, we learn that he’s an avid fan of
everything horror and likes to write monster-related fiction. However, subconsciously
Brian despises werewolves, so in his whole gallery of horrors one would be
hard-pressed to find anything much about The
Wolf Man. And, as it is explained (kind of) later, there is a good reason
behind it. Faced with the possibility of the O’Sheas being genuine werewolves,
the teenager starts reminiscing about his late father and recalls an instance
where he arrived home one morning naked and dirty, for no apparent reason. Also,
he experiences a dream (which turns out to be based on his childhood memories)
in which he cowers in his bedroom as a small child while a great black
wolf-monster tries to reach and devour him, but is then chased away by his
mother with the help of a silver-plated mirror. Based on that, as well as a
newspaper article describing an accident (which, in fact, was a suicide attempt
of his father’s) in the local silver mine, in which his father died. But
although Brian realises his father was a werewolf, this plot point doesn’t seem
to go anywhere further, apart from serving the purpose of some character
development for the boy, I guess. Did this realisation have an impact on Brian’s
attitude towards his love, Rosie, once he’d found out she was a werewolf? Could
the mutual feeling between the two even be called love if it didn’t matter in
the end?
Impressions
and Evaluation
While I enjoyed reading Undertaker’s Moon very much, I’ve concluded that I still have mixed
feelings towards it as a whole. I enjoyed reading it until the book started
heading towards the conclusion, at which point my enjoyment began to decrease.
It’s kind of like when a very expensive and tasty looking meal leaves a bitter
aftertaste in your mouth or gives you heartburn.
This is mainly because of one reason. Namely, I was
left frustrated with the direction the author decided to take. I’m angered at
the one-dimensional approach that has been done so many times and I keep asking
myself why the story couldn’t have ended differently. I’m not even going to
mention the plot-point of the werewolf dog at the very end, because it’s just plain
silly. At the same time, I do acknowledge that picking up this reading I wasn’t
expecting anything more than a stereotypical horror story, where all the
monsters are eventually slain (or was I?). In this sense, the book has done
good by its genre; the rednecks managed to kill all the werewolves (well,
except for the werewolf dog), enabling their town to go back to being the
boring Southern backside of beyond it had been before.
What I found annoying and deliberate on the author’s
part was the portrayal of the werewolves throughout the book. Let me explain.
In the first, let’s say, half of the novel, the O’Shea family are presented as
friendly, well-mannered folks (except for Devin, of course, and McManus to some
extent) willing to be part of the local community despite their nature. The
young Rosie even goes as far as establishing a happy romantic relationship with
a neighbour teenager. Once the proverbial faeces hit the fan, however, and the
human protagonists learn of the O’Sheas being werewolves and feeding on the
corpses of the town’s deceased, this approach suddenly ends. In actuality, all
portrayal of the characters apart from their portrayal as monsters that have to
be destroyed at all costs and regardless of everything stops. From then on, the
novel focuses on the human characters,
their investigation into the O’Shea family, and their plan to destroy them.
Now, don’t get me wrong. Undertaker’s Moon is an excellent monster horror story for any fan
of the genre. It’s well-written and gripping, which makes it a very good read
for all fans of the genre. It also has a lot of werewolf references that us
fans catch on the fly, e.g. the jukebox in the pub plays Warren Zevon’s Werewolves of London and Credence
Clearwater Revival’s Bad Moon Rising,
while another time a character makes an inside joke about the 1941’s The Wolf Man. However, for me, it became
a little one-sided somewhere in the middle and turned into a survival horror
with human protagonists towards the end. I just found it lacking; even though
during the final confrontation the author tried to give the O’Sheas some
dignity, it was still not enough. The line between humanity and bestiality,
initially not so fine, becomes a crevice separating the werewolves from the
local community. That, I think, is my biggest gripe with Undertaker’s Moon – that, in the end, no matter your intentions, be
they good or bad, if you’re a monster, you need to be destroyed. Not even love,
be it genuine or an infatuation, seems to make a difference here, which was
very disappointing. And this, for me, was the biggest let-down of the novel,
which left me dissatisfied after I finished reading it – the horror fan inside
me was satisfied, I guess, however the lycanthropologist was definitely not.
*
Thus we have come to the end of the second, and last,
part of the article, and it’s time we finished up with Ronald Kelly’s Undertaker’s Moon. I hope you enjoyed my
ramblings and if I’ve sparked an interest in you in the novel, you can always
find the link to its Kindle version by clicking on the image of the cover at
the top. And if you don’t have a Kindle reading app yet, you can find a link to
where you can download it from in the right sidebar (or, alternatively, you can click here). In the meantime, I’m off
to watch some more werewolf movies and read some more werewolf books. Remember
to follow me on Twitter @werewolftheory for any smaller updates I might post
and I will see you soon!
