Werepanthers

Werepanthers are a breed of supernatural creature who are a distinctive species of shape-shifter. They have the ability to transform from a human into the form of a panther and back again. The change requires only an act of will and the werepanther may shift to and fro at any time of his or her choosing regardless of extraneous requirements such as lunar cycle and whatnot.

Werepanthers played a key role in the HBO television series True Blood. They were introduced in the season three of the series in the form of a young woman named Crystal Norris. All of the members of Crystal's family were werepanthers and lived in the rural town of Hotshot, Louisiana. Crystal's half-brother/fianc was Felton Norris and her father was Calvin Norris.

The werepanthers living in Hotshot are deeply inbred due to their tradition of keeping their tribe's bloodline "pure" through incest. This has the unfortunate consequence of leaving them unable to produce healthy offspring because of a lack of diversity in their gene pool. Recently, the risk of extinction has lead the werepanthers to resort to extreme measures of breeding by any means necessary. Jason Stackhouse's brief imprisonment was an example of their desperation. It is currently unknown if there are other werepanther tribes outside of Hotshot; or if any of them take up this practice as well.

Notes & Trivia

 * In "The Southern Vampire Mysteries" series of novels by Charlaine Harris, the character of Jason Stackhouse was bitten by a werepanther and became one as well. They addressed this storyline in season three of True Blood, but the connection did not take and Jason did not transform into a werepanther.


 * In accordance to the werepanther tribal lore, the male pregenitor of the bloodline is referred to by the title of "Ghost Daddy". In contrast, the maternal progenitor of the bloodline is called "Ghost Mommy". When it was believed that Jason Stackhouse was going to father a strong purebred line of werepanthers he was given the title Ghost Daddy.