Big Badass Wolf: Difference between revisions

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{{trope}}
[[File:ghost_3811ghost 3811.jpg|link=A Song of Ice and Fire|frame|Direwolves. Not snugglypuppywolves. [[Meaningful Name|''Dire''wolves]].]]
 
{{quote|''"The [[Professional Butt-Kisser|jackal may follow the tiger]], but Cub, when thy whiskers are grown, remember; the Wolf is a hunter. Go forth, and get food of thine own!"''|'''[[Rudyard Kipling]]''', ''[[The Jungle Book (novel)|The Jungle Books]]''}}
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Sleek predators, with cunning pack hunting behaviors, impressively menacing doglike appearances, and, of course, the ever-frightful howl. As one of the top predators in the Northern Hemisphere, wolves were feared as rivals for people of the past, who had to compete with wolves when hunting, and, in times of famine, lost livestock to lupine predation.
 
Perhaps for this reason the Wolf occupies a singular place in Western folklore and fiction. Among all the predators of folklore, few have been as demonized as wolves, who almost inevitably appear as savage, cunning, endlessly rapacious and irredeemably evil. It is the Big Bad Wolf who devours [[Little Red Riding Hood]]'s grandmother and the boy who cried wolf; wolf packs that haunt the dark forests. Indeed, in fiction, the wolf almost seems to function as an entire species of [[Evil Twin|evil twins]] to the tamer, more noble dog. Even when they are good, they are by [[Good Is Not Nice|no means nice]]. In many aspects, wolves are [[Not So Different|more similar]] to humans than any other animal. And well, [[Humans Are Bastardsthe Real Monsters]]. It may be these above factors that have uniquely contributed to the popularity of ''werewolves''. While nearly every animal can be given human-like characteristics, with werewolves it also (in fact usually) works in reverse. Being fierce predators, wolves reside partially within the amoral, cutthroat natural world, but being social creatures, they also display the beginnings of civilization. Hence, a man that starts becoming influenced by more of the former starts to look like a wolf.
 
But as industrialization progressed across the globe and wolves no longer posed as much of a threat, people came to understand wolves differently. The primary reason people disliked wolves - their predation of livestock - was largely forgotten as most people no longer had any experience of livestock themselves. In reality, pure-blooded wild wolves almost ''never'' prey upon humans (wolf-dog hybrids and feral dogs are more likely to attack), and display many positive attributes - cunning, cooperation, and great beauty - that gradually elevated them from wicked monsters to [[Worthy Opponent|respected, even admired predators]]. It helps that they are devoted to their cubs, who are fall-down cute (they look like dogs; or, more accurately, [[wikipedia:Neoteny|dogs look like them]]). For good reason too. After all, dogs are descended from wolves that decided that [[Rivals Team Up|Man made a better partner than rival]].
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Compare [[The Big Bad Wolf]], [[Canis Major]], [[Animals Not to Scale]], [[Our Werewolves Are Different]], [[Everything's Worse with Wolves]] and [[Hell Hound]].
{{examples|Examples of Big Bad Wolves}}
 
{{examples|Examples of Big Bad Wolves}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* The Wolf in ''[[Chirin no Suzu]]''. Ruthless and vicious, he kills whatever he can sink his fangs into -- includinginto—including Chirin's mother.
** {{spoiler|Subverted because Chirin soon grew fond of the Wolf, seeing him as a father. In fact, near the end, after killing Wolf, he soon felt sad and realized that revenge wasn't satisfying.}}
* Coyote Stark from ''[[Bleach]]'' can summon an army of wolves from fragments of his own soul...{{spoiler|that [[Action Bomb|explode]].}}
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* The latest ''[[Promethea]]'' encounters the original Big Bad Wolf concept on her first jaunt into the Immateria. It's probably the only thing in the entire series that's really capable of killing her. By nature, the Big Bad Wolf can only be killed in its own story, by its own plot characters. Anyone else- ANYONE else- just falls into the role of "hundreds of victims."
** Promethea also points out that part of why he can kill her is because he's a much older concept than her. Being one of the primal fears of mankind makes you a special kind of deadly.
* Fenris from the Lucifer comics manages to take revenge for his fellow mythologies by [[Hijacked by Jesus|hijacking Jesus]] , stomping into a story arc almost entirely populated by Judeo-Christian characters. When one challenges him for this he points out that before humanity cowered before demons they feared the wolves beneath the trees, proceeding to pretty much become the [[Big Bad]] through raw [[Badass|Badassery]]ery.
* One of these guards the Roark family farm in ''[[Sin City]]'', as seen in The Hard Goodbye. Marv has two encounters with it. He first meets it when investigating Goldie's death. The wolf attacks him and he knocks it unconscious, then pets it and explains that he would never kill him, it's his owner he's after. The second encounter involves Marv {{spoiler|sawing Kevin's arms and legs off, tying the wounds off with turnequets to keep him alive but letting enough blood to get in the air to attract the wolf, which comes and starts eating Kevin to Marv's approval.}}
* [[Instant Awesome, Just Add Ninja|Snake-Eyes]] from [[G.I. Joe]] has a pet wolf called Timber [[Multiple Choice Past|depending on which comic you read]].
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== Literature ==
* In [[Dan Abnett]]'s [[Gaunt's Ghosts]] novel ''His Last Command'', Gaunt remembers how Colm Corbec would tell stories of wolves circling "the stranded, the unlucky, the lost" to bring them down; his current situation, being stalked by an unseen Chaos creature, reminds him.
* The mutant wolves in ''[[Gone (novel)]]'' by Michael Grant.
* Maugrim the talking wolf in [[C. S. Lewis|CS Lewis]]' ''[[The Chronicles of Narnia]]''.
** An evil werewolf appears in ''Prince Caspian'', as well.
* In William King's [[Warhammer 4000040,000]] novel ''[[Space Wolf]]'', the aspirants hear and fight giantatic wolves during their training. Ragnar's having actually killed one alone, while being trained, is the source of his [[The Magnificent|name "Blackmane"]]. (They are also threatened with the prospect of [[The Corruption|becoming]] [[Our Werewolves Are Different|"wulfen" wolf-like creatures]], and one does.)
* In ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]'', the Stark children all have direwolves as pets. Some of them grow mean badass.
** {{spoiler|Bran is a warg or skinchanger, too...}}
* The werewolf Fenrir Greyback from ''[[Harry Potter (novel)|Harry Potter]]'' is quite... disturbing, to say the least. He delights in biting young children to turn them early, and was not opposed to eating someone {{spoiler|(Dumbledore)}} in the climax of ''[[Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Franchisenovel)/|Harry Potter and Thethe Half-Blood Prince|Harry Potter]]''. Note: this person was ''still alive''.
** Of course, the other werewolf from Harry Potter was caring, intelligent and friendly, except for his 'furry little problem'.
* The Wargs and werewolves of [[J. R. R. Tolkien|JRR Tolkien]]'s ''[[The Hobbit (novel)|The Hobbit]]'', ''[[The Lord of the Rings|Lord of the Rings]]'', and ''[[The Silmarillion]]'' are classic Big Bad Wolves, although the Wargs are not entirely natural creatures.
** In ''[[The Silmarillion]]'', there is a wide chasm between the noble and intelligent dog Huan and the evil, bestial monster-wolf Carcharoth, who was bred by Morgoth specifically to slay Huan.
* Gmork from the book (and movie) ''[[The Neverending Story (novel)|The Neverending Story]]''.
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* The beast Harley Mac Finn turns into in ''[[The Dresden Files]]'' when his family curse comes on him. Murphy describes it as an "Ice Age looking thing" and it sounds very much like the direwolves of [[Genetic Memory|our racial nightmares]]...
{{quote|'''Dresden''': "...it's been nearly a hundred years since the wolf went extinct in most of the United States. You've got no idea, none at all, of how dangerous they can be. A wolf can run faster than you can drive a car through most of Chicago. His jaws can snap your thighbones with one jerk. A wolf can see the heat of your body in the complete dark, and can count the hairs on your head from a hundred yards off by starlight. He can hear your heart beating thirty or forty yards away."}}
* [[Deconstructed]] in ''[[Discworld/Witches Abroad|Witches Abroad]]'', when a [[Twice-Told Tale]] of ''[[Little Red Riding Hood]]'' features Big Bad Wolf who's {{spoiler|been forced into a semi-human shape and mind-controlled into playing the part. When the woodcutter arrives, the wolf ''[[I Cannot Self-Terminate|begs for death]]''.}}
 
 
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== Tabletop Games ==
* ''[[Dungeons and& Dragons]]'' had Dire Wolves, Worgs (taken from Tolkien's "Wargs") and Winter Wolves, all very dangerous.
 
 
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== WebcomicsWeb Comics ==
* In ''[[No Rest for The Wicked (webcomic)|No Rest for The Wicked]]'', the woods are known to house wolves, which is why Perrault refuses to believe that November came through the woods alone. However, the actual wolves appear only as skins in Red's cottage.
* Big Bad Wolf from ''[[Ever After (webcomic)|Ever After]]'' combines this with [[Eldritch Abomination]] [[Knight Templar]] [[Psycho Prototype]]. [[Hilarity Ensues]].
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** [[Digimon Xros Wars|Dorurumon]] is bringing back the lupine badassery in Digimon, complete with being a powerful character with a rebellious attitude.
* The wolves portrayed in the film ''[[Princess Mononoke]]''. Wolves in that movie were enormous, the size of quarterhorses, could run unbelievably fast, and leap enormous heights. They were portrayed both as noble creatures who just want to protect their own and even saving a little child and raising her as [[Jerkass|huge bastards]] who [[Kill All Humans|kill indescriminately]] and apparently like to eat the people they killed. The movie is actually a subversion of the trope that [[Science Is Bad|nature and animals are inherently good and humans and technology are bad]]. Actually, neither the animal spirits nor the people of the Ironworks are any better or worse than the other.
* The entire premise of the anime ''[[Wolf's Rain]]''. However, the titular pack from the episode "Fallen Wolves" have given up on being [[Badass]] and make a living through scavenging and even enslaving some of their pack to humans -- muchhumans—much to the disgust of Kiba's pack.
* Zakuro Fujiwara from ''[[Tokyo Mew Mew]]'', a [[Petting Zoo People|wolfgirl]], is a [[Tall, Dark and Bishoujo]] [[Broken Bird]] and one of the strongest [[Magical Girl|Magical Girls]]s on the team.
* Holo from ''[[Spice and Wolf]]''. Both extremes exist here; Holo is seen as a gentle and playful trickster, but when she takes her full wolf form everyone is frightened by her. At the end of the first season there's also a pack of wild wolves, led by a bus-sized wolf deity that even unnerves Holo.
* Sajin Komamura from ''[[Bleach]]'' is revealed an anthropomorphic wolf ([[All There in the Manual|The Guide Book]] confirms this, but his red fur causes some to mistake him for a fox) with a huge sense of personal loyalty, [[I Owe You My Life|particularly directed towards Yamamoto]]. One of the [[Made of Iron|toughest characters in the series]], he has blocked both [[Blood Knight|Kenpachi Zaraki]] and {{spoiler|Kaname Tousen}}'s swords with just his forearm. [[Curb Stomp Battle|Curb stomped]] Poww Choe Neng in his released form [[Single-Stroke Battle|with a single strike]], which {{spoiler|Tousen reveals is his normal way of fighting}} after being punched across Karakura with no damage.
** Even when defeated, Komamura demonstrates huge resilience having refusing medical treatment after taking a Level 90 offensive kidou from Sosuke Aizen, returning to the fight mere minutes after {{spoiler|Tousen's released form's ultimate attack appeared to cave in most of his chest}}, and counter-attacking {{spoiler|Aizen twice despite having had his hand cut off and slashed through the waist}}. Komamura does all of this while arguably jobbing more than Renji.
** It should be noted when Komamura's not in battle, he's basically a [[Gentle Giant]], who cares deeply for his dog Goro and is well liked by children despite his supposedly frightening appearance.
* Duran from ''[[MaiMy-HiME]]'' was Natsuki's Childe, took the form of a giant, metal wolf whose super power was ice. Want to know what fueled him? {{spoiler|Love.}}
* Arf and Zafila of ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]''. Wolf familiars whose fangs and claws can rip through steel.
* In ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'', Kotaro's summoned spirits, the [[wikipedia:Inugami|Inugami]], are usually fierce and relentless in their hunting during combat, but even during - [[Heel Face Turn|depending on Kotaro's team alignment]] (or mood) - they can be depicted as almost majestic and beautiful. That still doesn't stop them from acting puppy-like on occasion (they are technically dogs). {{spoiler|Kotaro later shows an ability to [[One-Winged Angel|become a monsterous wolf at full power]].}}
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* Jyabura, from ''[[One Piece]]'' transforms into such a wolf as his Devil Fruit power.
* Everyone imagines Sakaki as one of these in ''[[Azumanga Daioh]]'' and goes gaga. Sakaki imagines... something else. {{spoiler|A cute widdle wolf puppy.}}
* Sasami finds a wolf in one of the ''[[Tenchi Muyo!]]'' manga volumes, an escapee from a zoo transport. Notably, all the girls (being not from around here--namelyhere—namely, Earth) have no idea what a wolf ''is'' until educated.
* Snarl in ''[[Transformers Cybertron]]'' has a wolf for an altmode.
* Subverted by the player-character Ohka the Werewolf in ''[[.hack|.hack://Legend of the Twilight]]''. She's only really badass when she's in human form, although she retains her wolf ears and [[Cute Little Fangs]]. Despite her protestations to the contrary, when she's in 100% wolf form she acts like a big, lazy dog.
* The Battle Wolf in ''[[Toriko]]'' -- One—One of its kind once averted global extinction by single-handedly killing the entire race of Death Gores that were causing it, not even allowing them one leaf of the forest in which it lived in (yes, the Death Gore is a Herbivore). And in an encounter with the [[Reptiles Are Abhorrent|Devil's Serpent]], a snake rumoured to have been the Battle Wolf's competitor in the ancient days...[[Curb Stomp Battle|it only lasted three pages]]. On top of that, [[Up to Eleven|said Battle Wolf was just exhausted from giving birth, and nearing the end of its life]], [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|having given all it had to give birth to its child]]. In the end, [[Died Standing Up|she died standing up, proud like the king it was cloned from, which was the same Battle Wolf mentioned earlier]].
* Gabu from ''[[Arashi no Yoru ni]]''.
* ''[[Digimon]]'' knows how awesome this trope is - there's one in almost every series, typically partnered with [[The Lancer]]. Even [[Panthera Awesome|big cats]] aren't nearly as common.<ref> There's almost always a version of Leomon, but he's typically a [[Recurrer]], not a main cast member, and [[Running Gag|his life expectancy isn't usually very good]]</ref>. The most prominent examples from the franchise are Garurumon of ''[[Digimon Adventure]]'', Gaogamon of ''[[Digimon Savers]]'', and Dorulumon of ''[[Digimon Xros Wars]]''.
* Fenrir in ''[[Mythical Detective Loki Ragnarok]]''.
 
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== Fairy Tales ==
* In ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20060523212750/http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/firebird/index.html Tsarevitch Ivan, the Fire Bird, and the Gray Wolf]'', the wolf introduces himself by eating Ivan's horse. After that, however, it serves as Ivan's steed and gives him advice on [[The Quest|his quest]]. (Even if Ivan [[Idiot Hero|can not be relied on to follow it]].)
** Similarly in ''[http://www.mythfolklore.net/andrewlang/392.htm The Golden Mermaid]'', although there the prince ''offered'' it his horse for a meal.
* In ''[http://www.mythfolklore.net/andrewlang/038.htm The Grateful Beasts]'', one beast was a wolf. The king's last [[Impossible Task]] is for Ferko to summon all the wolves in the kingdom together. It's the last because the wolves are hungry. Only the princess escapes because she was [[Girl in the Tower|locked in the tower]] for objecting to all these impossible tasks.
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* Another Jack London novel, ''[[The Call of the Wild]]'', has a dog doing the opposite: after being forcefully taken from his comfortable life on a large estate and then forced into becoming a sled-dog in the Yukon, he eventually joins a pack of wolves and becomes the leader.
** This also plays out like an animal version of [[Mighty Whitey]].
* The Canim from Jim Butcher's ''[[Codex Alera]]'' are ''anthropomorphic'' Big Badass Wolves. They actually fit this trope both ways - most of the Alerans hate and fear them because of their great skill and physical power and ruthless raiding habits, but [[The Hero|Tavi]] learns to have a great deal of respect for their culture. The Canim generally are treated as the Alerans' [[Worthy Opponent|Worthy Opponents]]s.
* The wolves of David Eddings' ''[[Belgariad|The Belgariad]]'' are, if not totally idealized, still treated as clever and admirable predators rather than ravening monsters.
** The fact that one of them, {{spoiler|The Woman Who Watches}}, is a protagonist and {{spoiler|Belgarath's wife (and Polgara's mother!)}} probably plays a part in this. {{spoiler|Poledra's being a wolf doesn't come up much, even in ''Polgara'' or ''Belgarath''. Belgarath mentions that he just tries not to think about it much - even deliberately overlooking things that he really should have noticed - and Polgara just comments that her mother "doesn't think the same way humans do" and muses that her heritage probably plays a part in how she reacts when she has to hide the last surviving member of the Rivan monarchy.}}
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* The wolves of ''[[Discworld]]'', as described by Angua, are seen as Big Bad but are really Big Badass wolves.
** Angua is a very biased source of information on wolves.
** ''[[Discworld/The Fifth Elephant|The Fifth Elephant]]'': All ordinary wolves in the book are pretty damn clever in their own element, and have no desire to get involved in matters they don't understand. Save for the one Angua apparently had, er... a special relationship with some time ago.
* Most of the Royal Wolves in the ''[[Firekeeper]]'' series, particularly Blind Seer, although there is the occasional [[Jerkass]]. Cousin Wolves, by comparison, are just animals.
* Owing to their status as emblems of House Stark (arguably the "protagonist" house), the direwolves in ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]'' fit this to a tee.
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== Live-Action TV ==
* Both ''[[Power Rangers Wild Force]]'' and ''[[Power Rangers Jungle Fury]]'' - the two seasons devoted to animal themes - have wolf-themed [[Sixth Ranger|Sixth Rangers]]s. This applies to their ''[[Super Sentai]]'' counterparts, as well. While Merrick of ''Wild Force'' fits the "lone wolf" trope to a tee, ''Jungle Fury'''s RJ seems to be a subversion as a [[Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass]] [[Big Badass Wolf]].
** Merrick's alter ego, [[Anti-Villain|Zen-Aku]], also qualifies.
** Also, [[The Dragon]] of ''[[Power Rangers Mystic Force]]'' is Koragg the [[Black Knight|Knight Wolf]], who drew the [[Wolf Man]] straw when it came to the villains' [[Monster Mash]] theme. {{spoiler|He does a [[Heel Face Turn]] into Leanbow the Wolf Warrior at the very end.}}
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** ''[[Power Rangers RPM]]'' had Dillon, the Black Ranger. Another "lone wolf".
* ''[[Kamen Rider Kiva]]'' has Jiro, a Big Badass [[Werewolf]] who is badass enough normally, but briefly gets to use the IXA Rider System in 1986.
* Diefenbaker from ''[[Due South]]''. Granted, he's only part wolf, but he is still a complete bad ass -- heass—he can even "read lips". Seriously. For an animal on a live-action show, he had quite a few [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|Crowning Moments Of Awesome]]. His character was also the first of the show to receive fan-mail.
 
 
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== Tabletop Games ==
* Since 3rd edition ''[[Dungeons and& Dragons]]'', players have it suggested that wolves aren't there for killing ([[Werewolves]] are still fair game, though). The biggest example: the default animal companion for a druid is a wolf.
** The [[Always ChaoticExclusively Evil]] [[Our Vampires Are Different|vampire]] can still call wolves with its ''Creatures of the Night'' ability, though.
* Fenrisian Wolves from ''[[Warhammer 4000040,000]]'' take the "big" and the "badass" to, well, 40k levels, sometimes growing to the ''size of a tank''. They're the sometime companions, sometime foes of the Space Wolves chapter of Space Marines, who both revere the wolves and hunt them as a ritual of manliness, wearing their tails and their pelts as trophies. (The Space Wolves themselves are big badasses who ''call themselves'' Wolves.)
** According to the background, the only way for a Space Wolves Marine to get a pack to follow him is [[Challenging the Chief|to become the pack leader- by killing the previous one]] (as part of that ritual of manliness, usually. Doing it with a gun doesn't work.).
*** Presumably wolves, with their acute sense of smell, are able to smell the old pack leader on those who have gone head-to-head with them, and Fenrisian ones are smart enough to know that anyone who can take out the old top dog is not one to be trifled with.
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* In ''Skyrim'', you can become a werewolf and any nearby wolves will fight for you.
* Ain MacDougal in [[FEDA|FEDA: Emblem of Justice]].
* The Rawulf race from ''[[Wizardry]]'' games are playable anthropomorphic wolves. This is a unique take on them -- asthem—as they have a well-rounded build, but with more Piety than most races, making them a good choice for Lord (think of Paladin), Valkyrie, and Priest classes. Rarely do you see a wolf-like race associated with support!
** The thought of a race made up of wolflike beings who are exceptionally pious (and therefore presumably exceptionally obedient) really evokes the idea of dogs more than wolves.
* ''[[Ōkami|Okami]]'':
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** {{spoiler|Shinranui probably deserves her own mention as well, considering she travels from the past to help Amaterasu, and is the previous incarnation of Amaterasu at peak power. She looks pretty badass too, with the Solar Flare and alternate design. All in all, Shinranui is probably the only person in the game who should inspire more terror than Amaterasu. Who regains her former strength as an [[Eleventh-Hour Superpower]]. Sucks to be Yami.}}
** Subverted in the sequel ''[[Ōkamiden|Okamiden]]'' with the adorable puppy Chibiterasu, however. He might be badass and a wolf, but [[Badass Adorable|big he is not]].
* Wolf O'Donnell of the ''[[Star Fox (series)|Star FoxFOX]]'' series. Originally presented as a generic "evil Star Fox", the later games showed him to be a gruff pilot with a sense of honor, teaming up with Star Fox in many an occasion. ''[[Super Smash Bros.]]. Brawl'' even has him as being taller than Fox (Although his stance puts him lower).
* In ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess]]'', Link turns into a Big Badass Wolf in the Twilight Realm. Later in the game, he gains the ability to turn into the wolf at will.
* Tiger of the Wind from ''[[Monster Rancher (anime)|Monster Rancher]]'' is another combination, (overly) proud and often rather ruthless yet brave and loyal to the point of death.
* Blanca from ''Shadow Hearts: Covenant''. Not someone's wolf pet/companion, not a talking wolf (Though we do get to hear his thoughts and communications with other wolves), not a side character. A white wolf, on its own, as a member of your party. If that isn't Badass, this Troper doesn't know what is.
* Luceid, the Guardian of Desire from the ''[[Wild ArmsARMs]]'' series, takes the form of a wolf and is frequently the only Guardian strong enough to take a physical form without a medium.
* ''[[Fire Emblem]]: Radiant Dawn'' has a pair of wolves, Volug and Nailah. Nailah is especially badass as she is one of the laguz royals that can stay in animal form indefinitely, but Volug also remains in wolf form for all of Part I.
* Shamans in ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' have the ability to turn into a Ghost Wolf for faster travel as well as summon Spirit Wolves that tend to tear up anything they can.
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** With a few exceptions, the portrayal of any wolf that isn't a Random mob is a noble creature/spirit to be respected.
*** And in one case, even a wolf you ''do'' kill [http://www.wowhead.com/?npc=3056 is also respected and revered by the local natives], even if none truly mourn Ghost Howl's death due to his unfortunate insanity. Still, one of three particular spawn points of said mob puts it in a good spot to eat newbie characters without any chance for retaliation.
** There's also [[Always ChaoticExclusively Evil|the Worgen]], such as the Sons of Arugal, original members of the Druids of the Pack, and the Gilnean Worgen (which are playable).
*** Heck, one such Gilnean Worgen picks up a STAGECOACH and starts BEATING PLAYERS WITH IT.
** Goldrinn...goddamn, Goldrinn. The guy is best known for possessing King Varian Wrynn, being utterly wrathful, being the source of the Worgen curse, and [[One-Man Army|tearing out the throats of legions of]] [[Department of Redundancy Department|Burning Legion]] demons.
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** ''Shining Tears'' has Volg, a [[Retired Badass|former Beastman Commander who now runs a tavern]], who raised Mao away from the Beastman city to prevent her for being shamed. Despite being old, he fights quite well.
** ''Shining Wind'' has Rouen, a [[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot|pirate king of a Chinese-inspired town]] who went AWOL to investigate the happenings on the world. He's also voiced by [[Tetsu Inada]] so that makes him more badass.
** ''Shining Force Neo'' has Baron, who takes the next logical step after Rouen by being a [[Big Badass Wolf]] [[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot|Ninja]] [[Big Badass Wolf|Wolf]]. [[High-Class Glass|With a monocle]].
** ''Shining Force EXA'' has Duga, [[Brainwashed and Crazy|captive turned feral]] but then rescued by the main characters. He is large and fights using ice attacks.
* Lang-Gong of ''[[Arcana Heart]]''. A wolf [[Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence|whose spirit became]] the [[Playing with Fire|Arcana of Fire]].
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* Mabari War Dogs from ''[[Dragon Age]]: Origins'' are...well, [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|DOGS, not wolves]], but they deserve a mention for the simple fact that these fighting dogs are trained to be able to ''break ranks of pikemen'' and ''UNSEAT MOUNTED KNIGHTS''. Best of all? You can GET one in your party.
** Rogues who take the sub-class of Ranger can summon wild animals; guess which is the first available?
* Yugo from ''[[Bloody Roar]]'' transforms into an anthropomorphic [[Big Badass Wolf]].
* Shadow, [[Cowboy Cop|Jack Slate]]'s massive husky from ''[[Dead to Rights]]'' is able to kill mooks with incredibly ease as well as drag back whatever they've got on them for Jack, to the point where in [[Slowbeef]] [[Retsupurae|and Diabetus']] [[Let's Play]] of the game they portray Shadow as the real [[Marty Stu]] of the game.
** It also doesn't help that most of the art work that features Shadow makes him look like a big grey wolf.
* [[Norse Mythology|Fenrir]] in ''[[Final Fantasy XI]]'', particularly ''Wings of the Goddess'', [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|where you finally get to witness the Great Beast's ravaging of the Yagudo Theomilitary and Dark Kindred forces]].
* ''[[Alien Soldier]]'' has "Wolfgunblood & Garopa". It's an [[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot|anthropomorphic cyborg cowboy wolf]] with a [[Gatling Good|rapid-fire]] [[Arm Cannon]], riding a [[Mechanical Horse]] that chases the player character down a tunnel for [[Giant Space Flea From Nowhere|no apparent reason]]. You wouldn't believe until you see it for yourself [https://web.archive.org/web/20140822124804/http://www.bogleech.com/aliensoldier/as-horseman.gif here.]
* Sylvan from [[Romancing SaGa]]. Cluadia's female wolf protector.
* Brad Fang, a wolf-like humanoid in ''[[Contra]]: Hard Corps''.
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== Webcomics ==
* The main enemy of Chapter Three in ''[[Supernormal Step]]'' is an [[Eldritch Abomination]] named Fenris, whose form is a [[Big Badass Wolf]] with [[Glowing Eyes of Doom]] and [[Poison Is Corrosive|poisonous]] [[Breath Weapon]].
* ''[[Gunnerkrigg Court]]'' upholds the noble wolf trope by subverting the [[Big Bad Wolf]] trope: Ysengrin is a dangerous predator, teetering on the brink of insanity, but that's because he underwent a [[Biological Mashup]] that made him less of a wolf. Ysengrin [[Blood Knight|likes fighting]] whether he goes crazy, fakes going crazy, or having fun, but mostly acts cool.
** Reynardine falls under this indirectly, even though he's actually a fox. While possessing Annie's wolf doll, he's noticeably less of a "jerkface" when he takes the form of a full-sized wolf, rather than his usual pint-sized plushy form. Or he takes a wolf form when not grumpy. As with most everything at the court, we really don't know whether he's undergoing a slow [[Heel Face Turn]], never was malicious to begin with or it [[Heel Face Revolving Door|depends on how upset or desperate he feels]]. There's always [[Alternate Character Interpretation]].
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** [[The Chessmaster|Or he planned it all along]].
** And according to the backstory in ''[[Start of Darkness]]'', the goblin deity the Dark One rode one of these as his mount when he was still mortal.
* Vorg from Cwen's Quest is literally a big badass wolf...guy. Of course personality wise [https://web.archive.org/web/20090126013335/http://www.drunkduck.com/Cwens_Quest/index.php?p=494901 he seems to have more in common with corperate sharks] then common wolves, plus is pretty [[Ax Crazy]].
* The Sarghress clan from ''[[Drowtales]]'' have a wolf as their clan animal, and the Highland Raiders [https://web.archive.org/web/20111117035511/http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?order=chapters&id=872&overview=1&chibi=1&cover=1&extra=1&page=1&check=1 ride wolves] into battle. Definitely big, definitely [[Badass]].
* The wolf in ''[[Saijiki Stories|Autumnside]]''
* In ''[[Gold Coin Comics]]'', [http://www.goldcoincomics.com/?id=44 Lycaon], a boss.
* Milov Danovich of ''[[Dominic Deegan]]'' has had his moments of badassery, especially during his [[A Day in the Limelight|time in the limelight]] as can be seen [https://web.archive.org/web/20120203233945/http://www.dominic-deegan.com/view.php?date=2007-09-18 here] and [httphttps://wwwweb.archive.org/web/20101215195613/http://dominic-deegan.com/view.php?date=2007-10-26 here].
* Somehow ''[[Kevin and Kell]]'' fell through here? One's in the title.
** See also her boss, R.L. In a recent comic, a polar bear attemted a hostile takeover of the company in the middle of a slide presentation. By the time the presentation was over, it was being shown on his ''skin''.
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== Web Original ==
* [[Image Boards|Courage]] [[media:COURAGE_WOLFCOURAGE WOLF.jpg|Wolf]].
* [[EPICMEALTIME|Muscles Glasses]]' father has a pet wolf that loves bacon.
* King Altador and Jeran in ''[[Neopets]]''
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* [[wikipedia:The Beast Of Gévaudan|The Beast of Gévaudan]] a wolf-like beast (or several of them) terrorized the area of Gévaudan (now called Lozère) in the Auvergne region of France for several years during the 1760s, killing over a hundered people. The speculations of what the beast really was range from a ordinary wolf or wolfdog to a [[Hell Hound]] or [[Werewolf]]. These later theories are in line with the legend that claims it was killed by a silver bullet.
* Can we just say that the ''entire species'' counts? They have been an apex predator of the temperate regions of the northern hemisphere for 300,000 years, and even when domesticated, they prove to ''still'' be [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iA9pw53WaKQ&feature=related quite badass.]
** Also, American wolves may not be considered really dangerous, but in Eurasia the story is very different. In Russia alone there were 169 children and 7 adults killed by wolves between 1840 and 1861, and 122 children were killed in India between 1980 and 1986. Througout Europe and Asia, even today, wolves are considered a major threat to people and livestock alike. Also single wolves are known for killing adult [https://web.archive.org/web/20121116085707/http://www.de5stora.com/illustrationer/fil_20041123132025.pdf moose]. MOOSE. ALONE. One can imagine what they can do in packs. By the way, they also [httphttps://wwwweb.archive.org/web/20111130003106/http://carnivoraforum.com/index.cgi?board=zoological&action=display&thread=8199 kill bison and musk ox]... Again, alone.
*** Many Eurasian wolves have partial dog ancestry, and hence are genetically less prone to be frightened of humans, this may help account for this disparity in aggression towards people.
** Oh well we get along so well together. We both have a [[Undying Loyalty|social instinct]], [[My Master, Right or Wrong|both revere]] the [[Team Dad]], and hunt in teams. And they are also one of the few animals that can keep up with humans during long trips. [[Not So Different|We have been essentially occupying the same ecologial niche]].
** "[[The Simpsons (animation)|Smithers, find me that dog! I'm making him my Executive Vice President]]!"
** Not to mention the [[Australian Wildlife|Australian]] subspecies, the dingo. It might ''look'' like your family Labrador Retriever, but it sure as hell isn't, as you will painfully learn if you try to pet one.
* The Prehistoric ancestors and relatives of modern gray wolves tend to be overall smaller, aside from a few notable exeptions.
** The Dire Wolf, (which co-existed alongside modern Gray Wolves) which hunted megafauna (mammoths and the like). Averaging 1.5 metres in length and weighing about 57 to 87 kilogrammes. They looked like a larger, stockier Gray Wolf (which vary in size geographically. The heaviest gray wolf on record was of equal size: 86 kilogrammes, but the gray wolf average weight is closer to 33 kilogrammes).
*** There are reports of wolves hunted in Russia and even Northern America reaching over 100kg100&nbsp;kg, it's has becoming a regular claim that at least two of those are caught every season in Siberia, unfortunately they don't keep records of weight there, only size measures (head, height, etc)...
*** And now, to the Fridge: If there are outlier wolves even in the modern era that weigh over 100kg100&nbsp;kg, [[Fridge Horror|then what must an unusually large Dire Wolf have been like?]]
** [[Everything's Worse with Bears|Bear Dogs]]. Ancestors of both bears and dogs. Some were fox-like creatures, but many mixed the features greatly--includinggreatly—including size.
* Numerous names (mostly masculine, many of Celtic or Germanic origin) derive from local words for wolf
** The aforementioned Adolf and its cognate Adolphe and Adolphus (noble wolf).
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** Surnames include Wolfson, Lopez and Volkov, (all meaning son of the wolf) Farkas, Lupei, Lupino, Ochoa, Vovk and Vukotić.
** Wolf itself is also a name.
* The Minnesota Timberwolves basketball team, especially their previous superstar, Kevin Garnett, and their current superstar Kevin Love.{{context|reason=How is this an example of the trope as written?}}
 
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Big Badass Wolf{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Native American Mythology]]
[[Category:ThisCanine Index BarksTropes]]
[[Category:Just for Pun]]
[[Category:Fairy Tale Tropes]]
[[Category:Badass]]
[[Category:Big Badass Wolf]]