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Although shapeshifting is not believed to be scientifically or medically possible, it is a common theme in myth and a popular theme in science fiction and fantasy stories.
"Shapeshifting" often refers to characters who change form on their own, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, while "transformation" refers more commonly to externally imposed change of form, whether by magic or sufficiently advanced technology. However, there is no settled agreement on the terminology.
Popular shapeshifting creatures in myths and legends are werewolves and vampires (mostly of European, Canadian, and Native American/early American origin), the faerie of Celtic folklore and the Leopard or Hyena men of Central Africa.
Shapeshifting to the form of a wolf is specifically known as lycanthropy, and such creatures who undergo such change are called lycanthropes.
Other terms for shapeshifters include metamorph, skin-walker, mimic, therianthrope, and were.
Examples of shapeshifting in classical literature include many examples in OvidFor other uses, see Ovid (disambiguation Publius Ovidius Naso ( March 20, 43 BC AD 17) Roman poet known to the English-speaking world as Ovid wrote on topics of love, abandoned women, and mythological transformations. Ovid wrote in elegiac couplets, with's MetamorphosesDisambiguation: This article is about the poem Metamorphoses written by the poet Ovid. The Metamorphoses written by Lucius Apuleius is generally known in English as The Golden Ass. See Antoninus Liberalis for his prose mythological work called Metamorphos, Circe's transforming of Odysseus' men to pigs in Homer's The Odyssey, and ApuleiusLucius Apuleius ca 123/ 5 CE ca 180 CE), an utterly Romanized Berber who described himself as "half- Numidian half- Gaetulian", is remembered most for his bawdy picaresque Latin novel the Metamorphoses better known as The Golden Ass''. He was born in Mada's becoming a donkey in The Golden AssThe Metamorphoses of Lucius Apuleius, more commonly known as The Golden Ass is the only Latin novel to survive in its entirety. Written in the second century CE, it is a precursor to the literary genre of the episodic picaresque novel, in which Rabelais,.
Shapeshifters appear in many fantasy and science fiction stories.
Notable shapeshifting characters include:
See werewolf for lists of fiction featuring werewolves.
In the story of Puss in Boots, the hero (a cat) tricks an ogre into becoming a mouse; he then eats it.
In The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, Gregor Samsa wakes up to find himself transformed into a large insect-like creature.
Many types of shapeshifters occur in Laurell K. Hamilton's novels in the Anita Blake series, such as werewolves, werejaguars, wererats, and even a wereswan.
Kimberly Rangel's novel Shadows follows the story of two people cursed to be werepanthers.
D. M. Wind's novel The Others is about a group of shapeshifters from another dimension who can turn into any animal at will, though they usually take the form of either wolves or panthers.
Many of Jack L. Chalker's novels involve one or more transformations; he wrote an essay on physical transformation as a metaphor for various psychological changes, included in his short story collection Dance Band on the Titanic. This theme is used several times in the Jerry Cornelius stories by Michael Moorcock, as well as in works by Robert Sheckley, Nina Kiriki Hoffman and others.
The word "transmogrification" has been popularized by the transmogrifier used in Calvin and Hobbes.
The Transformation Stories Archive is an online collection of stories by amateur authors centered around transformations.