Fourth Post · 10:32am Apr 1st, 2014
Well, that went much better than I feared.
My thread from earlier is what I am talking about. It may be premature to say that though, as its less than a week old, but hey, Its first post was a nice bit of encouragement for me; a positive, scincere entry of world building. The following posts were reasonable critique of the whole premise, but I was prepared for that. I simply wanted to suggest the idea that quadrapedal wolves existing in the setting is a possibility. I don't think there is any solid proof stating how they'd exist and the most reasonable assumption to make is they are creatures, that while intelligent, are mute much like the majority of non-equine animals on the show.
Thats what I'll readily agree to, but I find, personally mind you, that that interpretation, while the most reasonable, isn't the most interesting. While there is a lack of evidence stating what niche of intelligence they occupy, there is also a lack of evidence to contradict the idea of this species of animal has a comparable level of intelligence to other talking species on the show (its a theory only really able to be made by the conspicious lack of a live wolf for examination, but at least there exists enough circumstantial evidence that the existence of wolves is not in question). But if an intelligent carnivore species does exist in the setting what are the imediate and far reaching implications?
More specifically what (or who) do they eat?
This is a big issue of the world building around wolves for me. I have read a few stories that have actually featured an intelligent species of wolves in them. Specifically Predatory by Crazy Laughter, The Upheaval Series by Visiden Visidane and A Wolf in Pony's Clothing by Ardashir are three fics I am currently getting through that prominently feature wolf-like species in their stories and cast. Each has a pretty distinct answer to the question I raised and its coloured their respective stories greatly.
Upheaval is a straight up epic, of a far reaching conflict that the main cast and others are thrown into, The first story features a primary conflict of an Equestrian Legion facing an onslaught of Wolven warriors and as such the natural predatory nature of wolves is readily apparent. While some portions of the chapters are dedicated to Wolven Points of Veiw and it's shown that Ponies and Wolven are known to work together in extreme circumstances and hints at wolven culture are droped now and then, The wolven are still the primary antagonists. Its a position the text makes very obvious especially because Wolven are explicitly portrayed to be carnivores that actively prey on ponies, its understandible that the text doesn't really challenge the assumed alway-chaotic-evil status they have. I did find an interesting point that Wolven spies are working for the Legion, so maybe the generalisation is more due to the fact of the focus being solely on the conflict between the two species. Another interesting point is a major Original Character in the series, Vanguard Clash, is actually a Wolven-Equine hybrid, fourth generation, and similarly his father, a third generation hybrid, are positive characters in the story. This goes a little way to give the idea that wolven may not be biologically locked into being antagosists by virtue of being carnivores, as cross species breeding is possible and it seems the hybrids are fully capable of further breeding and their diet is absolutly compatable within equestrian limits.
Predatory is quite interesting in how it handles this point, but in a very mish-mashed way. I need to reread the fic and its new chapters but what I distinctly remember is that the great wolf in the story is actually an awakened older being (similar vein of alicorns perhaps?),and from a time were it/they were allied with Nightmare Moon, and so too were its breathren wolves. While the wolf is also firmly a predator (the Great Wolf took on a dragon and won) the author takes the internal conflict between the Wolf's new sense of self and its carnivore nature and what that means when he is confronted with the decidedly Prey animals of Ponies, and runs with it, giving it real, sincere face time and having it be major plot point and source of tension in the story. Its this examination on the internal and external conflict and even philosophical examination, that an intellegent Carnivore can experience that has let this story linger in my mind.
A Wolf in Pony's Clothing is in contrast a much lighter and softer take, being more comedic, but a nice departure form the possible grimness that a predator species can have for a story in Equestria. I am still reading it and its mostly the individual escapadees of the Wolf character, disguised as a canon character being played for laughs. It offers a counter narrative were the wolf is generally the fearful creature and local equestrians are the actual threatening elements in the story. I hope the story allows for Ardi (the wolf) to flesh out his species history and culture a bit more, but I'll find that out when I continue reading it. But I think its safe to say that the author may have come across some of the same sources of information that I did, that could allow for a more benign portrayal of wolves in an Equestrian setting.
These three stories are the ones that stick out to me, but are by no means the only ones related to the premise of Wolves in Equestria. Dozens of other stories also fill that niche and I'll try delving into more of them to see how broad the idea is later on.
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Anyway with this sort-of-reveiw out of the way, I can hint at my next post. I think I'll elaborate on the ideas I have for what I would like in a portrayal of wolves as a intelligent talking species in Equestria (or rather in the wider world), and in particular forcus on a detail that gives me hope for a more complex and elaborate portrayal than antagonist meat-eating race. Its the fact that wolves are classed as Mesocarnivores and not obligate Carnivores. By that I mean they have a diet of only 50-60% of consumed matter consisting of fresh meat, and the rest being made up of non-vertebrate matter such as vegetation, fruit and fungai needed to fufil esential nutrition. So, technically, wolves (and most Canides) can be described as omnivorous.
Weird, Huh?
