Shapeshifters

A few weeks ago, Kristin wrote a blog discussing animal familiars in stories (click here to teleport to that blog), which got me thinking about a similar, but slightly different topic. So, for this week, instead of talking about animal companions, we’re going to discuss companions that can become animals.

            In fantasy stories, animals have often appeared as major, sentient characters. For example, the talking beaver couple that helps the Pevensie children in C.S. Lewis’s The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, the oppressed Animal citizens we discussed not too long ago in Gregory Maguire’s Wicked series, or at the very least, if the animals are not overtly verbal, there are characters that can still communicate with certain animals like people who speak Parseltongue in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series. Now, none of these examples fall into the category of familiars or shapeshifters, but they do establish that it isn’t uncommon for non-human characters to be fully aware and intelligent participants in the story.

            If there are animal characters who are active citizens or common players in the story, this might also bring about the scenario of humans who walk the line between human and animal as well that can add an interesting dichotomy to your story. I know I talk about her stories a lot, but one author I find to have a very interesting technique in this regard, across multiple series, is Cornelia Funke.

            Let’s start with her Middle Grade/YA Inkheart series, more specifically Book 3, Inkdeath. I’ll do my best not to give too many spoilers, but there will be a few. In this book, Resa, the mother of the main girl in the story, ends up going on a mission to give aid/rescue her husband, Mo, from the trouble he’s gotten himself into. Along the way however, Resa picks up some seeds from a previous villain of the story. The seeds can potentially be used as poison or can allow someone to shapeshift, with the catch that using these seeds too much might affect your mind or might make it very hard to find your human self again, meaning there is a permanent effect to using them, at least somewhat. Resa also is pregnant and has the added concern of how using the seeds might affect her unborn child.

As Inkdeath crescendos, Resa’s desperation forces her to use the seeds to infiltrate the castle where her husband’s being held, taking the shape of a bird (mirroring the prior villain’s animal form and giving her a handy animal shape, although Resa had no idea what she’d turn into initially) and causing an ongoing crisis of how necessary it is for her to assume the animal form to achieve her goals, but without causing harm to herself or her child. All throughout her time changed, Resa has to fight off the animal instincts of the bird and remember her human side and mission to stay sane. By the end, she’s used the seeds so much that she knows she’s caused some kind of irrevocable change to herself. In the final chapter, which reads a bit like an epilogue following Resa’s child once he’s born, Funke adds in the idea that Resa and her son perhaps have retained the ability to shapeshift into birds as a consequence of using the seeds, although the boy says he’s not sure if it’s real.

            A second of Funke’s series majorly featuring shapeshifting is her Reckless (or Mirrorworld) series, where the main female character, usually addressed as Fox, shapeshifts into- you guessed it- a fox. Typically referred to as a vixen, Fox received an enchanted fur dress after saving a fox- I always took it to refer to probably another shapeshifter in disguise- from her brothers. The fur dress allows Fox to change shape, but much like the seeds Resa deals with in Inkdeath, there are consequences to remaining in an alternate shape for too long. Jacob, the main male character, in the early books constantly reminds Fox to change back into her human form because she’ll lose it if she stays in the fox form for too long, something she is maybe annoyed by. Jacob even doubts Fox wants to be human due to her comfortableness in the alternate state, which bothers him although it takes him quite a while to admit that this might be driven by feelings for her. Jacob and Fox have a pretty messy relationship at times.

            As the story goes on throughout the series, you see Fox kind of become much more at ease with her human self, what she wants, and how to deal with that. Some of that is her own character development and she and Jacob do eventually work out that they want to be together, but she slowly eases out of isolating herself behind her alternate face.

            With these two examples though, I wanted to point out Funke’s technique, which I find really interesting. First, in both cases, she’s playing around with the idea of what it is to be human and how far you can go away from that without losing it entirely. Funke, true to the darker side of fairytales, is an author that embraces the, to quote Rumpelstiltskin from Once Upon a Time, “Magic always comes with a price” aspect of enchantment.

            Resa, fueled by desperation and daring, needs to rescue her husband, who is imprisoned and very likely about to get himself killed. She has a magical means to do so by shapeshifting, not only at great risk to herself, but also her child. All throughout her ongoing plotline during the rescue, you see Resa fight off surrendering her mind to the animal side-effects of the seeds and decide that the risk must be taken to maintain her form long enough to hopefully get them all out alive. She actively chooses over and over again to take the risk, to the point where the readers know it’ll affect her forever.

            Fox, on the other hand, is less making a desperate decision, but an emotional one. As I’ve said before, Fox and Jacob are messy, complicated people and, as a reader, there are things I like about their relationship and things I don’t. Jacob, in the earlier books, knows Fox has always loved him and retained loyalty to his causes no matter how many times he’s hurt her or basically told her nothing’s going to happen between them. Now, Jacob clearly has feelings for her too, but they go through a not-so-great cycle for quite a while before finally becoming a steadfast couple. It's a lot of drama.

            Still though, Fox very early on, devoted but allegedly unrequited, spends a lot of time in her animal form because she maybe doesn’t want to be human. The guy she loves is wishy-washy on his feelings and actively does things that cause her pain, she has this wilder side due to the kind of wandering lifestyle treasure hunters like them lead, and Jacob and Fox are both people who never maybe had a lot of guidance growing up and are trying to find their way as adults. As the series goes on though and Fox discovers more of herself, she does tend to stay in the human form much more because she discovers she wants to be human and have the connections that come with that. At a certain point, Fox even kind of puts a pause on Jacob and has a dalliance with another shapeshifter, just because she wants to be loved and finds someone who understands her in a way he doesn’t. It’s kind of flingy and the two actually become good friends even when she determines her true feelings are still for Jacob, but I appreciate a character being self-aware enough to want something and take it with no regrets.

            As I said, Jacob and Fox is a relationship that there are elements I really like and some I really don’t care for, but they do eventually get it together and lose some of that toxicity. They’re a good adventure team, but it takes them a while to grow up and figure out how to stop making decisions that end up hurting the other person. Jacob, in particular, I think doesn’t want to hurt Fox, but thinks keeping her at arm’s length will protect her from his own messiness and really all it does is hurt her more.

            I got into a side tangent on Jacob and Fox’s complicated relationship there, didn’t I? Whoops. I just didn’t want it to sound like I was justifying all the heartbreak they put each other through. They have problems. Eventually, they work it out. Read the series for yourself to figure it out- despite all of that, it’s a super creative series and I love the worldbuilding and swashbuckling aspect of fairytale treasure hunting.

            Getting back on point though, Funke is expertly utilizing limiters on her shapeshifters. Limiters are kind of a story guardrail that can be used to help keep your elements in check. It’s simple: use the magic too much, you have a strong consequence in return. I really love it with authors do this in regard to fairytales as well, as fairytales tend to have two lanes: “Happily ever after and everything is fine” or “Dark lessons learned”. Traditional fairytales do tend to typically be cautionary tales where you need to be clever and not abuse power bestowed to you.

            I wanted to use Cornelia Funke as an example as I think she’s an excellent storyteller and executes this technique very well. In truth though, I tried to think up other books featuring shapeshifters and I really couldn’t think of a lot that had specific rules to them. In Harry Potter, you have multiple kinds of shapeshifters as a werewolf like Remus Lupin is different than an Animagus, or a wizard that can change into the literal version of an animal. I’m trying to remember exactly what the rules were, but it seemed like it was very difficult magic to become an Animagus, so not many people knew how to do it. In Rick Riordan’s The Heroes of Olympus, Frank has the ability to shapeshift into various animals, but I don’t really remember any specifics on what he could or couldn’t do.

            If you’re thinking about writing a character that can shapeshift, here are some things to consider:

·       How are animals already regarded in your world and how might this affect your shapeshifters? Are human-like animals already common, in the sense of verbal or sentient ability, standing, citizenship, housing, etc.?

·       Is this a common, infrequent, or extremely rare ability bestowed by lineage or magic? In both Funke examples listed above, shapeshifting might not be extraordinarily common, but it’s not an ability accessible only to certain characters.

·       Are there consequences to using shapeshifting? In Funke’s case, you’re constantly battling the animal instincts you take on in the changed form or at risk of completely losing your human self forever.

·       Is this form of shapeshifting different from other forms, like in the Harry Potter example listed above?

·       What explicitly are a shapeshifter's abilities/limitations confined to?

Like always when creating magical worlds, writing a form/ability will require an author to think out the specifics on how it works, how it’s viewed, and how it aids your stories. In the two Funke examples, she uses shapeshifting as a means to infiltrate or spy in places a human might not be able to get access to. Does it allow your character to hide in plain sight? Does shapeshifting achieve a certain status within various communities in your world or make them be viewed with distrust?

It’s an interesting topic and I hope these examples help you in your writing or reading journey. Funke’s Inkheart and Reckless series are both extremely creative series, so if you’re looking for some fun world building or shapeshifters, try them out. Do you know of any shapeshifting writing techniques or books we don’t know about? If so, let us know!

As always, thanks for reading! Write on.

-Kamryn