I myself don't think the red symbolizes evil (and I can't bring myself to think of Wolf as evil in any way!)...but I would argue that red eyes are a symbol for evil in modern popular culture....   I don't think though that Simon Moore thinks along conventional lines and I think in writing this that he may have intended something else......For me what the red symbolizes is passion- passion of a shamanic/transformational type where there is suffering and ecstasy at the same time! An example that some at least will be familiar with of this type of experience is what occurs for the participants in the Sun Dance of the Native American Plains cultures.

          I'm sure you've noticed that Wolf IS smiling when he tilts his head up and his wolf teeth extend.(Look at the picture again: he's smiling!) This is an experience he has had once a month all his life (or at least since puberty? we aren't told whether his cycle bears this similarity to a woman's cycle as well)...I have a feeling he has for the most part enjoyed it! I think it is mentally/emotionally painful for him this time because the Queen is trying to disrupt the normal process: she wants to twist the power he has access to at this time for her evil purposes...therefore he is afraid he will hurt Virginia now. He normally wouldn't put himself into this situation at the time of his cycle: remember how he pleaded with the others not to go into this farming community? Although he may have ended up in a similar situation accidentally before- I think that's how he landed in prison! I don't think he normally goes thru any of this conflicted stuff when he cycles other times! Two questions come to mind: how do you suppose they controlled him when he cycled in prison? Or maybe he'd only got caught during his last one- if so he'd have been in prison only a couple weeks! Also- originally in the writing Simon Moore intended Wolf's eyes to turn GREEN all the time (that's how they are in the book). I've seen the pictures some people have put up on their websites from the making of 10K where Wolf's eyes are green- I have a feeling they didn't end up using the green because the whole scene seems to have a green tint when they do - I wonder if the change in eye color was made at the last minute for technical reasons! Perhaps if they had been able to film it the way Moore intended we wouldn't even be having this conversation!

I read with interest Simon Moore's recent letters to fans. He said that there are whole villages of half-wolfs and quarter-wolfs! With the Full Moon approaching, I am led to wonder: what would it be like in one of those villages on the night of the Full Moon? Terrifying? Amazing? A Big Party? A Big Hunt? A Passionate Orgy? I don't really think they rip each other to shreds: does anybody else? If that were the case they'd have gone extinct long ago! I am trying to picture what this would be like...And personally I'm thinking lots of Feasting and Lovemaking! WoW!

    Of all the things that are fascinating about Wolf, the thing that I feel really effected women the most, moved them and made them pay attention to him, is his Lunar cycle.

        We can't tear ourselves away from those scenes in Little Lamb Village. Many of us fell for him then. I have heard others say they only first really paid attention to him then! But then they couldn't stop! No matter! We had to watch, completely mesmerized...And Wolf was ever after a male that we felt close to, because we had seen him this way.

            What happens to Wolf as he cycles speaks to women on a deeply symbolic level. There are two things about his cycle that draw women in: causing us to feel both deep empathy for him and deep attraction to him.

          The first is that because Wolf DOES cycle like this; he shares a "menstrual connection" with us. Here is a male that shares an experience with we women that other males don't even understand! (Or usually even try to!) We saw him suffer as only we suffer. He's almost a "sister" to us now!   But he's more than that too...due to the other element of his cycle that draws us... And that element is the tremendous amount of sexual energy he generates at this time. I felt it. I can never sleep the night after watching those scenes. (And you know which ones they are!) If you are attracted to males, you felt it too. Deny it if you can!

I don't know how much Simon Moore knows about menstrual practices and taboos from around the world, but I would venture to say he knows a lot! I see references to many of these woven into the scenes involving Wolf's cycle. Too many of them for it to not be intentional! For one thing, the whole theme of Wolf being "dangerous" and needing to be "locked away", hidden from the eyes of the general populace during his cycle, is remenescent of "blood hut" practices all around the world. Women are indeed locked away, separated sometimes by quite a distance from the rest of the community, in special accomodations used just for this purpose, during menstruation. Almost universally, a menstruating woman is thought to be "dangerous" (and did you know that among the Tohono O'Odham of Arizona and Mexico, the only word that the native tongue supplies for menstruation translates out to: "dangerous" !!! ). Women are thought to be unusually "powerful" and to have abnormal appetites at this time, and in many cultures ( Australian aboriginal and Tewan come to mind) meat and salt are with held from a menstruating woman: it is thought that if she gets hold of these she will become uncontrollable. Look at how powerful and how ravenous Wolf is during his cycle - see the reference there? And he's really scarfing down the meat! In many, many cultures (too many here to mention: this is a very universal thought: Papuan, Tarahumara, Apache, are some), the menstruating woman is thought to be sexually insatiable! She needs to be locked away separately, restrained, just for the protection of the males in the community! With her abnormal strength and unstoppable drive she's thought capable of ravishing every boy and man around for miles! Now just reverse those genders, add a barn a post and a rope, and what do you get? Betcha can't guess!

(The anthropology of feminism was one of my minor subjects when I was at UCSB. If any of you would like my references for the evidence I've cited above ['cause I sure didn't want to clutter this page with a buncha "op cit" and "loc cit" junk], just mail me and I'll send ya a list. Fascinating reading, really!)

Now - on to the two aspects of Wolf's cycle...

First: on the menstrual connection:         Whether or not you are straight or gay or attracted to Wolf at all, if you are female and thru puberty, you realize that here is ONE male that shares something most womanly with you. He cycles every 28 days. Did you know that the only time and place in which pain is considered to be "normal" and not a sign of dis-ease is during a menstrual cycle? Wolf does. He hurts and sweats and goes moody and has to lie down and needs to be left to himself, just like we do. Although he does not himself bleed at this time, something else may bleed: certainly the rabbit and the chickens did!

          I think that Wolf's cycle is marked by a great hormonal surge (probably primarily testosterone, supported by some other androgens). The surge brings to the forefront two appetites he has, and his primary need at this time is to satisfy these. And I think that as the hormone upswing begins, that is when he hurts and runs a fever, and at the same time he becomes hungry for food (thus the consumption of the rabbit and the chickens and all those ribs and chops). Even more hungry than he usually is. Food becomes a need to the exclusion of all others. I think that normally (remember he does this every 28 days) this would be a time when Wolf would go hunting and make a great kill of some kind, and gorge himself. His steroid-enhanced strength at this time would probably enable him to bring down a larger prey than he would normally go for: an elk or some type of cattle? Here again we see symbolic bleeding associated with his cycle: the bleeding of his prey. (Which only came via the rabbit and chickens this time.) Also he probably eats/drinks quite a bit of the blood: another "blood connection".

            The peaking of this steroid surge created the strength needed to break the ropes, I'm sure. And I could almost picture him sweating out blood in that scene just before he does break the ropes, where his muscles ripple and his tendons stand out. (I personally find him very beautiful and desirable in this scene: hard for me to verbalize about my feelings here...he's just such a strong "male animal") Then he would have had a true bleeding time, but that would have been too graphic for tv, I guess! As it is, he has great access to power now (he's powerful in the way the menstruating women are powerful) as he transforms: full access to his animal power, and access to another power as well - sexual power.

            By the time this scene takes place, and by this time in his cycle usually, he should have already satisfied his first hunger, the hunger for food (although I don't believe he'd had quite enough food this time, which created conflicted desires within him), and moved on to looking to satisfy his second hunger. And that second hunger, and the energy he exudes as he looks to satisfy it, is the other thing that irresistably attracts we heterosexual women to Wolf...because as soon as he's filled his stomach I think what he needs is a sexual outlet. A focus for his sexual energy and power. And he needs it badly! I don't know how the virgin wolfs (who don't yet have mates) handle this normally: gosh maybe they really do have to be locked away like we insatiable menstruating women! Because when Wolf begs Virginia to tie him up, and not let him do something he'll regret, I think he's awful scared he might rape her. I don't for one minute think he wants to eat her (although as I commented above I don't think he's had quite enough to satisfy his gut, and he may be afraid he'll rape her and take a couple bites out of her too! I think he's really fighting that one, though!) I purely think he can hardly restrain himself here (and Mr. Cohen does an incredible job of bringing this sexual energy to the screen). He can barely keep from taking her by force. And yet Wolf is really a romantic, not a rapist. The rational part of him doesn't want to do this: he knows if he does that it will ruin their relationship forever - he will be that awful creature that raped her, with no chance to be her mate. Because what he really, really wants is a mate, a lifetime partner with whom he can make love many times. If only he can hold out this time, that is! The sexual tension in that scene is palpable! You could cut it with a knife! He is just oozing urgency, desire and pheromone and it oozes right thru the tv screen and did indescribable things to every woman I know! Including me! I want to cry: "Take me, Wolf, take me!", at this point. Also makes a lot of us want to TAKE HIM!! I can't decide whether I want to lie down and spread my legs for him; or pounce on him and tear all his clothes off! And proceed from there... What is it about him here that brings out our sexual needs like that! I've spoken with several women who've told me how aroused they get by this scene. And I know I sure do! And then when he rasps in that husky voice, "I'll eat you up!" Does any one of you for even one minute not know what kind of eating he means? I didn't think so! Bet'cha reacted accordingly, too! I've decided: I'll pounce on him and tear his clothes off! And then: I'll eat him up! Grrrooowwwllll...

(I'm attempting to regain my composure, here!)

        Of course, thanks to the temporary restraint of the ropes, along with the fact that Virginia chose to leave, Wolf did not rape her. And he managed somehow to prevent himself from ravishing the shepherdesses he was watching thru the bushes as well, as I believe his desire for them was the same: he was still looking for that sexual outlet, not another meal. Sure: he was muttering about killing, and about being hungry: and he hadn't really had enough to eat...but if he'd been unable to control his desires, and went for one of those girls, which hunger would he really have tried to satisfy?

        And then they caught him right after that! And since his hormone surge had long since peaked he was back to his normal strength: in fact probably sub-normal because the hormones dipped like they do in women! And so they were able to haul him in (of course it helped that there were about 50 of them!).

  I do think that in Little Lamb Village the whole natural process of Wolf's cycle has been disrupted, and that this is what causes him so much torment! He has barely had enough to eat, and that is interfering with things! He finds himself in uncomfortably close quarters with a woman he loves and desires. It's a farming community: he's surrounded by potential food items, and the citzenry hate wolfies! And the Queen is harassing him: trying to turn the normal progress of his cycle into something she can use to her own ends, and make him kill the woman he loves. This was not a normal cycle for him at all, and thus we see him conflicted, in pain, and sometimes appearing foolish and definitely in need of being rescued! But at the same time we women saw something that really made us sit up and take notice, made us think, and (at least for some of us), kept us from sleeping...

Something I have discovered is, one thing that disturbs some folks about Wolf is the possibility that he has or does eat human flesh. I have some thoughts and opinions on that myself, and since the whole topic disturbs people so, I have included them here on this "R - Rated" page!

I myself am a big fan of predators. I have been involved with wolf rescue for many years: have worked for that cause in two states now. And: I don't want to "Tame the Beast"!
One very non-western idea that horrifies many folks is the idea that we are all food. From the bug to the bird to the deer to the cow to (yes, and you have to admit it) the human. We all eat and we are all edible. But nowadays in most parts of the world influenced by "classical", western thinking, we believe that WE sit high and mighty at the top of the food chain: we eat anything we take a notion to, but God forbid anything eat us! And because of our numbers and technology, this is mostly how it works now.BR> But it wasn't always this way, and everybody didn't always think it should be! Native Americans didn't. Indigenous African, Australian, and Pacific Island cultures didn't! And others... In the Upanishads (ancient Hindu texts, written in poetry form, still revered by many) , one set of verse involves a hunter out for the day, who happens to run into a tiger. An articulate, thinking tiger...
        "I am food!"
        "I am food!"
"I am food!"
                    "I am a food-eater,"
"I am a food-eater,"
              "I am a food-eater!"
                                                    ...each muses, sing-song, to the other. But on that particular day, neither is particularly hungry, and each goes his separate way. Each accepted his circumstances as meat, but not to be consumed this time: in another encounter it could go either way! Especially since so many "humanoid" yet not-technically-human species seem to be present in his world (including the wolfs themselves), the full humans may be just another prey item to the wolfs, categorized right along with the sheep and so on. A factor in this may be that so many entities in the Kingdoms seem to have voices (the mice; the birds; the frog; the magic well; mirrors): it may not be at all unusual to be conversing with your prey be it a human or a deer! Humans aren't the only ones who can speak! A vocal predator/prey interaction may be more usual than not (by the way, this is often seen in Native American tales).
Indeed I think it could be possible that Wolf thinks nothing of eating a human (after all; they're food - seems like he may have grown up eating them!), that is until he runs into Virginia! Indeed the problem IS wanting to love her instead of eat her! And when he comes to terms with what he really does want to do, what implication does that have for continuing to include other humans in his diet?
I do think that Wolf is SO hungry because there is a hunger within him that food cannot satisfy. If he kept trying to satisfy it with ONLY food, he might end up like another character from Hindu mythology, the "Face of Glory", a half-man/half-lion, who ate and ate and was still ravenous: so ravenous that he then proceeded to eat himself, until only a head remained. That head (the literal "face" that was left), resides at the feet of Shiva, a revered spirit. But Wolf doesn't have to go there, because he meets Virginia! I think that his innermost hunger is finally satiated thru finding his true mate: an emotional/sexual feast that he can partake of throughout their lives together. The food that satisfied him was the banquet of being "well and truly loved"...

Wolves in our world are not known to attack humans! Nor to eat them in the rare instances in which they have "interacted" with humans. However it would seem that in the Kingdoms things are a bit different! One analogy we can draw though is that, in both worlds, the wolves are maligned for what they DO eat!
I'm sure you must be aware of the troubles surrounding the re-release of the Grey Wolf in western New Mexico. The ranchers are adamant about not wanting them because they attack and eat livestock (at least to hear the ranchers tell it, they do! A whole what? 3 cows? have been killed: questionable whether it was even done by wolves.). And most of the re-released wolves have been found shot! And even though they deny it: don't cha know who shot 'em? (OOps! Almost lapsed into one of my "wolf-rants" there. I'm very passionate about this whole thing...). So anyway: whichever the world, the menu's the problem!
And my other point was that even though today it seems wolves don't attack and eat people, we modern western-thinking humans are simply horrified by the whole IDEA of ourselves as food. If Wolf had only eaten bunnies, chickens, and sheep in the course of the story, would we be having this discussion? I don't think so! We ourselves eat bunnies, chickens and sheep! So what if he did it a little less "delicately" than we do! I think his ordering the "warm milk" at the Grill on the Park was a reference to his eating habits: When he hunts his prey, the meat is warm and raw, ("Just let it look at an oven in terror and then bring it out to me!")...he likes his meat RARE...blood-rare as a fresh kill has that element as well.
As for him eating grandmother: well, he wasn't totally empty-stomached there, in the book he had his BLT ("...he threw away the L and T but the B was delicious..."). But you know: at one time on some forum somewhere there was a whole discussion on whether he had eaten Candy the waitress when he had her cornered in that supply closet: after she told him how to find Virginia!. He did a little "ruff"-y kind of growl at her after all: did he eat her or smooch her (the book says "...he trapped her between his arms and looked at her...the way a prospective lover would...") or did he just let her alone and take off looking for Virginia and the dog???