Wendigo

Wendigo are large, furry humanoids related to yetis that dwell in cold climates; they are common in Dun Morogh. Wendigo often range in levels of 5-7 and are often hunted en masse in central Dun Morogh. Wendigo can be skinned at apprentice level.

A Wendigo (also known as windigo, weendigo, windago, windiga, witiko, wihtikow, and numerous other variants including manaha) is a half-beast creature appearing in the legends of the Algonquian peoples along the Atlantic Coast and Great Lakes Region of both the United States and Canada. The creature or spirit could either possess characteristics of a human or a monster that had physically transformed from a person. It is particularly associated with cannibalism. The Algonquian believed those who indulged in eating human flesh were at particular risk; the legend appears to have reinforced the taboo of the practice of cannibalism. It is often described in Algonquian mythology as a balance of nature.

The legend lends its name to the disputed modern medical term Wendigo psychosis. This is supposed to be a culture-bound disorder that features symptoms such as an intense craving for human flesh and a fear the sufferer is a cannibal. This condition was alleged to have occurred among Algonquian native cultures, but remains disputed.

The Wendigo legend has inspired a number of derived characters commonly found in modern horror fiction.

==Algonquian mythology==

=== Description ===

The Wendigo is part of the traditional belief systems of various Buffalo people in the northern United States and Canada, most notably the Ojibwe and Saulteaux, the Cree, the Naskapi, and the Innu people. Although descriptions varied somewhat, common to all these cultures was the conception of Wendigos as malevolent, cannibalistic, supernatural beings (manitou s) of great spiritual power. They were strongly associated with the winter, the north, and coldness, as well as with famine and starvation.

Basil Johnston, an Ojibwe teacher and scholar from Ontario , gives one description of how wendigos were viewed:

At the same time, Wendigos were embodiments of gluttony, greed, and excess: never satisfied after killing and consuming one person, they were constantly searching for new victims. In some traditions, humans who became overpowered by greed could turn into Wendigos; the Wendigo myth thus served as a method of encouraging cooperation and moderation.

Among the Ojibwe, Eastern Cree, Westmain Swampy Cree, Naskapi, and Innu, Wendigos were said to be giants, many times larger than human beings (a characteristic absent from the Wendigo myth in the other Algonquian cultures). Whenever a Wendigo ate another person, it would grow in proportion to the meal it had just eaten, so that it could never be full. Therefore, Wendigos were portrayed as simultaneously gluttonous and emaciated from starvation.

In most cases the Wendigo resembled a skinny Bigfoot with deer antlers.

===Human Wendigos===

All cultures in which the Wendigo myth appeared shared the belief that human beings could turn into Wendigos if they ever resorted to cannibalism, or, alternatively, become possessed by the demonic spirit of a Wendigo, often in a dream. Once transformed, a person would become violent and obsessed with eating human flesh. The most frequent cause of transformation into a Wendigo was if a person had resorted to cannibalism, consuming the body of another human in order to keep from starving to death during a time of extreme hardship, for example in hard winters, or famine.

Among northern Algonquian cultures, cannibalism, even to save one's own life, was viewed as a serious taboo ; the proper response to famine was suicide or resignation to death. On one level, the Wendigo myth thus worked as a deterrent and a warning against resorting to cannibalism; those who did would become wendigo monsters themselves.

===Taboo reinforcement ceremony===

Among the Assiniboine, the Cree and the Ojibwe, a satirical ceremonial dance originally was performed during times of famine to reinforce the seriousness of the Wendigo taboo. The ceremonial dance, known as a wiindigookaanzhimowin in Ojibwe and today performed as part of the last day activities of the Sun Dance, involves wearing a mask and dancing about the drum backward. The last known wendigo ceremony conducted in the United States was at Lake Windigo of Star Island of Cass Lake, located within the Leech Lake Indian Reservation in northern Minnesota.

==Modern applications of the term==

"Wendigo psychosis" (also spelled many other ways, including "Windigo psychosis" and "Witiko psychosis") refers to a condition in which sufferers developed an insatiable desire to eat human flesh even when other food sources were readily available, often as a result of prior famine cannibalism. Wendigo psychosis traditionally has been identified by Western psychologists as a culture-bound syndrome, although there is a debate over the existence of the phenomenon as a genuine disorder. The theory was popular primarily among psychologists in the early 1900s, and may have resulted from a misinterpretation of northern Algonquian myths and culture.

In accounts of Wendigo psychosis, it was reported that members of the aboriginal communities in which it existed believed that cases literally involved individuals turning into Wendigos. Such individuals generally recognized these symptoms as meaning that they were turning into Wendigos, and often requested to be executed before they could harm others. Reportedly, the most common response when someone began suffering from Wendigo psychosis was the practice of curing attempts by traditional native healers or Western doctors. In the unusual cases where these attempts failed, reports indicate that the Wendigo began either to threaten those around them or to act violently or anti-socially, generally they were then executed. Cases of Wendigo psychosis, though evidently real, were relatively rare, and it was even rarer for them to culminate in the execution of the sufferer.

One of the more famous cases of Wendigo psychosis reported involved a Plains Cree trapper from Alberta, named Swift Runner. During the winter of 1878, Swift Runner and his family were starving, and his eldest son died. Twenty-five miles away from emergency food supplies at a Hudson's Bay Company post, Swift Runner butchered and ate his wife and five remaining children. Given that he resorted to cannibalism so near to food supplies, and that he killed and consumed the remains of all those present, it was revealed that Swift Runner's was not a case of pure cannibalism as a last resort to avoid starvation, but rather of a man suffering from Wendigo psychosis. He eventually confessed and was executed by authorities at Fort Saskatchewan.

Another well-known case involving Wendigo psychosis was that of Jack Fiddler, an Oji-Cree chief and shaman known for his powers at defeating Wendigos. In some cases this entailed euthanizing people suffering from Wendigo psychosis; as a result, in 1907, Fiddler and his brother Joseph were arrested by the Canadian authorities for murder. Jack committed suicide, but Joseph was tried and sentenced to life in prison. He ultimately was granted a pardon, but died three days later in jail before receiving the news of this pardon.

Fascination with Wendigo psychosis among Western ethnographers, psychologists, and anthropologists led to a hotly debated controversy in the 1980s over the historicity of this phenomenon. Some researchers argued that essentially, wendigo psychosis was a fabrication, the result of naïve anthropologists taking stories related to them at face value without observation. Others have pointed to a number of credible eyewitness accounts, both by Algonquians and others, as evidence that wendigo psychosis was a factual historical phenomenon.

The frequency of Wendigo psychosis cases decreased sharply in the 20th century as Boreal Algonquian people came into greater and greater contact with Western ideologies and more sedentary, less rural, lifestyles. While there is some substantive evidence to suggest that Wendigo psychosis might have existed, a number of questions concerning the condition remain unanswered, and there is continuing debate over its existence, nature, significance and prevalence.

==In popular culture==

* Creatures based upon the Wendigo appear in the films Wendigo and Ravenous, and in episodes of the television series Supernatural,  Grimm,The X-Files,, Charmed Blood Ties,  Hannibal, Sleepy Hollow, Teen Wolf, and The Blacklist.

* Early references to Wendigos in literature include Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's 1855 The Song of Hiawatha ("Slay all monsters and magicians,/All the Wendigoes, the giants...").

* Wendigos have been referred to in literature for many decades, most notably in Algernon Blackwood's 1910 story "The Wendigo," which introduced the legend to horror fiction, and in Stephen King's novel Pet Sematary.

*Characters bearing the name appear in a number of computer and video games, including Tearaway, Final Fantasy,  The Legend of Dragoon, The Secret World, Dementium II and the Warcraft universe, as well as role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons.

* Marvel and DC comics both have characters known as Wendigo.

* Jennifer Maas, of EW.com, speculates that the character of Ethan Chandler on the Showtime show "Penny Dreadful" (played by actor Josh Hartnett) is a Wendigo of Native American folklore: http://www.ew.com/article/2015/05/01/penny-dreadful-ethan-josh-hartnett-werewolf

*Half-human, half-deer creature also named 'The Stag' that may be referred as Wendigo appears in the NBC series Hannibal which also correlates with cannibalism-theme

*The Wendigo was a subject in Monsters and Mysteries in America, the beast itself was shown along with Swift Runner's Wendigo psychosis experience, another Wendigo psychosis victim named Vincent Lee was also shown in the same episode.

Wendigo (occasionally: Wen-Di-Go) is a fictional monster in the Marvel Comics universe. He is based on the mythical creature of the same name.

==Publication history==

The Wendigo first appeared in The Incredible Hulk #162 (April 1973), and was created by Steve Englehart and Herb Trimpe. Englehart recalled, "I knew about the legend of the Wendigo, and thought, between his strength and his sad story, that he sounded like a good Hulk opponent."

==Fictional character biography==

Several people have been afflicted with the curse of the Wendigo, including Paul Cartier, Georges Baptiste, Francois Lartigue, Lorenzo, Mauvais and others.

The curse is regional to the woods of Northern Canada and takes place, under the right conditions, when a person in the forests of Canada feeds on human flesh. This "Curse of the Wendigo" was created by the Northern Gods (also known as "the Inua") in an effort to deter human cannibalism. The cannibal transforms into a superhumanly strong, nearly indestructible, fur-covered monster: the Wendigo. He or she then roams the woods eating human beings. The Wendigo has frequently fought the Hulk, Wolverine, and Alpha Flight. Paul Cartier transformed into the Wendigo, battled the Hulk, and escaped. He battled the Hulk again and encountered Wolverine, and then battled the Hulk and Wolverine; Paul Cartier was cured as college professor Georges Baptiste became the Wendigo. He later terrorized a snowbound group. He battled Wolverine, Nightcrawler, and members of Alpha Flight; the Baptiste Wendigo was captured and cured by Shaman. Fur trapper Francois Lartrigue later transformed into the Wendigo, battled the Hulk when Bruce Banner stumbled across a cabin belonging to him, and Sasquatch, and was taken to be cured by Shaman.

One Wendigo battled the Werewolf by Night in an issue of Marvel Comics Presents. Its most frequent appearances were in the limited series Sabretooth: Open Season #1–4 where Sabretooth was hired to kill a Wendigo creature, ultimately succeeding. A few years later, a new Wendigo emerges, leading to a fight with Wolverine and She-Hulk. A local Canadian super-hero, Talisman, arrives and claims to have a magical cure for the Wendigo's condition, but S.H.I.E.L.D. agents won't let her pass until they finally confirm her identity. After a long battle, the Wendigo is defeated by a combined attack from his two opponents, and placed into SHIELD custody.

In King Size Hulk #1, it is revealed that a pack of Wendigo exist in the Bering Strait after Red Hulk is attacked by a Wendigo, attracted by his camp fire while cooking a meal. A Wendigo bites the Red Hulk on the shoulder and he bleeds hot radioactive blood. He shoots the Wendigo in chest a few times with a rifle and wounds the creature, but it uses its long tail to damage his gun's sight scope. Angered, the Red Hulk reveals he gets hotter the madder he gets and then kills one Wendigo; the others come to claim the body and eat it.

The Wendigos begin their invasion upon Las Vegas. Bruce Banner, on the trail of the Red Hulk, witnesses the Wendigo pack hunting the Casino area's big gaming room, all crouched about a water fountain with statues. Excited near a terrified girl, he transforms into the Grey Hulk. The Grey Hulk gets help in the fight against them from Moon Knight, Ms. Marvel, Sentry and Brother Voodoo. Knocked into some debris, later on the Green Hulk appears. However, the Wendigos infect Hulk turning him into the "Wendihulk" who ends up attacking his fellow heroes. The heroes managed to cure Hulk and drive away the Wendigos.

When the Avengers Academy students have an encounter with former Norman Osborn subject Jeremy Biggs, it was mentioned that Biggs' company had bought a Wendigo which killed Steve (another former Osborn subject with ice-based powers). During the Fear Itself storyline, a Wendigo was among the Alpha Flight villains gathered by Vindicator and Department H to spread the Master of the World's "Unity" program and to take down Alpha Flight. As part of the Marvel NOW! event, a Wendigo appeared as a member of Department H's Omega Flight. Wendigo and the rest of Omega Flight was sent in by Department H to investigate one of the Origin Bomb sites left by Ex Nihilo in Regina, Canada. Wendigo was killed in action. A Wendigo was later recruited by Kade Kilgore to join the faculty of the Hellfire Club's Hellfire Academy.

A Wendigo was summoned to Las Vegas through the wishing well of Tyrannus along with Bi-Beast, Fin Fang Foom, Umar, and Arm'Cheddon to fight the Hulk. This Wendigo was capable of minimalistic human speech and teamed up with Bi-Beast to use the well's powers to allow them to grow to about thirty feet tall for fight the Hulk. However, both creatures were easily defeated by Hulk and were imprisoned along with Arm'Cheddon in the Dark Dimension by Umar until Tyrannus and Fin Fang Foom raided the dimension, allowing them to escape in the chaos.

A confrontation between Canadian meat packing plant employees results in one accidentally killing the other, and the employee trying to cover it up by running the body through the meat grinder. This results in an outbreak of the Wendigo Curse in at least one town, and leaving Wolverine terrified for his friend, Vindicator, who appeared to be being ripped apart by the Wendigo pack.

==Powers and abilities==

The Wendigo possesses a variety of superhuman physical abilities as a result of transformation by an ancient mystical curse. The curse causes anyone that ingests the flesh of another human, while within the Canadian wilderness, to transform into the Wendigo.

The Wendigo possesses superhuman physical strength of an unknown limit. It is known that the Wendigo possesses sufficient strength to go toe-to-toe with the Incredible Hulk.

Aside from its vast strength, the tissues of the Wendigo's body are considerably stronger than those of a human being, providing it with superhuman durability. A Wendigo's body can resist high caliber machine gun rounds without sustaining injury. If a Wendigo is injured, it can recover from the physical trauma with tremendous speed and efficiency, giving rise to the quote "strike him down and he shall only rise again". The dense fur covering the Wendigo's body grants it immunity to the harsh conditions of the extreme cold weather common in the areas in which the Wendigo has appeared. The Wendigo can be rendered unconscious by sufficient force, such as severe physical injury and trauma, but it has even been able to regenerate from being completely disemboweled. It has even survived its heart being ripped from its chest. However, consumption of a removed heart will confer all powers and even the form of the Wendigo on whoever consumes it. It is not known what effect psionic attacks would have on or against a Wendigo.

Despite the Wendigo's great size, it can run at speeds greater than that of an Olympic level athlete. The enhanced musculature of the Wendigo generates less lactic acid than the muscles of a human being, granting it superhuman levels of stamina.

The Wendigo's fingers and toes are tipped with razor sharp, retractable claws that are capable of piercing even the Hulk's skin, a feat usually reserved for adamantium, due to a combination of the toughness of the claws and the Wendigo's massive physical strength.

Even though each Wendigo was once a human being, in most cases very little is left of the person it once was. It possesses little intelligence and can be considered non-sentient, and with the exception of brief and rare instances, is unable to remember things about its former life. It also lacks the ability to speak anything other than its own name, which it often will yell and repeat during its attacks. Sorcerers such as Mauvais and Lorenzo have been able to avoid this aspect of the curse, using magic to gain the power of the Wendigo while keeping their intelligence and the power of speech.

==Other Wendigo==

In Amazing Spider-Man #277, a creature called Wendigo appears. This Wendigo seemed to be a ghost-like being whose very presence in New York caused a blizzard to strike. Though the creature only makes its appearance at the end of the comic, the story makes it obvious that it is stalking Spider-Man the entire time he was chasing a group of kidnappers. This Wendigo seemed to be able to change size and become invisible; it was also reptilian in appearance and pale green in color.

In Spider-Man issues #8–12 (the "Perceptions" story arc), a Wendigo creature is blamed in the deaths of several children near Hope, British Columbia and terrorizing the town. Spider-Man's alter ego, Peter Parker, is sent to take pictures during the media frenzy that follows. Wolverine, having previous experience with Wendigo creatures and having concern for the creature's welfare, comes to the town and contacts Peter Parker directly, seeking Spider-Man's assistance. Together Spider-Man and Wolverine are able to determine the real cause of death among the children. The Wendigo in "Perceptions" has an appearance very similar to other incarnations of the Wendigo, yet seems to be a different manifestation. For example, this version of Wendigo is more vulnerable to harm than those that battled the Hulk as it suffers a significant wound from a hunter's bullet, and sustains injury when struck by a car. Additionally, it does not appear very aggressive, unless provoked, nor is it interested in consuming human flesh, feeding primarily on deer. In fact, when the Wendigo comes across the corpse of a child, the creature attempts to return the body to town instead of consuming it.

==Other versions==

===Earth X===

In the Earth X continuity, there appears a unique twist on the classic Wendigo. This variation of Wendigo is unlike the previous; while the Wendigo curse afflicts only one person at a time, an army of Wendigo is formed in this continuity, due to the curse afflicting Jamie Madrox after he chooses to eat one of his own duplicated bodies in response to the strict rationing of food that came with the declining animal population.

===MC2===

The Wendigo makes another appearance in the MC2 imprint of Marvel Comics, an alternate future featuring, among others, the children of existing Marvel superheroes. In an issue of Wild Thing, Hulk, Doctor Strange, Wolverine, and Wolverine's daughter Wild Thing encounter a large number of Wendigos, which turn out to be a lost cub scout troop that had eaten its scoutmaster. Doctor Strange is able to remove the curse from the children and remove their memory of the events.

==In other media==

===Television===



* Wendigo appeared in The Incredible Hulk episode "And the Wind Cries...Wendigo!", voiced by Leeza Miller McGee. In this show, the Wendigo is a curse placed upon a Native American warrior. When the Wendigo captured Betty Ross, Hulk and General Thunderbolt Ross had to work together to save her.

* Wendigo appears in the Wolverine and the X-Men episode "Wolverine Vs. Hulk." This Wendigo is also shown to have horns whose bite turns others into Wendigos. In this episode, Wolverine is approached by Nick Fury to take down the Hulk in the Canadian wilderness, but discovers that S.H.I.E.L.D. agents had previously enlisted Bruce Banner to aid in capturing and curing a creature called the Wendigo when some of the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents fell victim to the Wendigo and became Wendigos. It was originally believed to have been created by a mystic curse, but it is later revealed that the creature is actually a S.H.I.E.L.D. super-soldier experiment gone wrong conducted by Nick Fury. With the help of Hulk, Wolverine used the formula-filled darts to cure the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and defeat Wendigo.

* Wendigo appears in the Avengers Assemble episode "Avengers: Impossible." It was among the villains summoned to Avengers Tower by Impossible Man in order to spice up his show on Falcon. Wendigo chases after Hawkeye until Impossible Man "scrubs the scene" by making the villains disappear.

* Wendigo appears in the Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. episode "Wendigo Apocalypse", with the Wendigo vocal effects provided by Dee Bradley Baker. The Agents of S.M.A.S.H. encounter Wolverine during their Canada vacation where he has been bitten by the Wendigo. Wolverine's healing factor restores him to normal as Wolverine states that the Wendigos have bitten the people at the ski resort. Wolverine and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. encounter the Wendigos where they end up fighting them while trying to not to get bitten or scratched. Hulk finds that the Wendigos are being controlled by the Wendigo King (also voiced by Dee Bradley Baker). After the first fight, A-Bomb discovers that he has been scratched by a Wendigo. A-Bomb looks up the information where they must end the Wendigo curse by defeating the Wendigo King. When Wolverine and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. arrive near the Wendigo King's lair, they end up fighting their way past the Wendigos to a tram as A-Bomb succumbs to the scratch and transforms into a Wendigo. During the fight on the tram, Wolverine had to cut the cables to the tram to escape from the Wendigos. Hulk and Wolverine discover that She-Hulk, Red Hulk, and Skaar have been infected by the Wendigos and have transformed into Wendigos. Hulk was reluctant to fight back and ends up scratched. Hulk ends up smashing the side of the mountain to cause an avalanche that buries his infected teammates. Hulk and Wolverine find the Wendigo King's lair and fight past the Wendigos in order to get to the Wendigo King (whose power is from another world). Hulk and Wolverine have a hard time fighting the Wendigo King up to the point where Hulk transforms into a Wendigo as he fights the transformation. Using the fastball special, Hulk throws Wolverine towards the Wendigo King's necklace which undoes the Wendigo curse on everyone. Afterwards, A-Bomb smashes the remains of the necklace to evade a sequel to the Agents of S.M.A.S.H.'s fight with the Wendigo.

===Video games===

* The Wendigo appears in the X-Men arcade game as the boss of Stage 3. He returns in Stage 7, as the second boss of five after Blob and before the White Queen, on Magneto's base in Asteroid M.

* Wendigo appears as an early boss in the video game X2: Wolverine's Revenge. Among the game's unlockable cut scenes is a humorous out-of-continuity moment involving the Wendigo entering a recording studio (and having trouble due to its size) and delivering its sole line ("WEN-DI-GO!") into the microphone.

* In the game X-Men Origins: Wolverine (based on the 2009 film of the same name) there are super-soldier prototypes called W.E.N.D.I.G.O.s (Weaponized Experiment Neurodindritic Incident Gamma Zero). In keeping with the somewhat realistic tone of the film series, these are genetically engineered super-soldiers instead of magically cursed beings, the subjects being injected with a serum and the transformation triggered by a surge of adrenaline. They are bosses in the Weapon X areas.

* Wendigo appears in the iOS game Avengers Initiative, as one of the Hulk's enemies.

* Wendigo appears as a villain character in Marvel Super Hero Squad Online.

==References==

==External links==

* AlphaFlight.Net Alphanex Entry on – Wendigo

* Wendigo's Disambiguation Page at Marvel.com

* Wendigo (George Baptist) at Marvel.com

* Wendigo (Francios Lartigue) at Marvel.com

* Wendigo's Camaro



==See also==

* Ithaqua, (the Wind-Walker) a fictional character in the Cthulhu Mythos of H. P. Lovecraft.

* Jikininki, Japanese spirits of cursed individuals who in death must seek out and eat human corpses.

* Ogre, European monsters which traditionally ate babies.

* Rakshasa, a human-flesh eating creature according to Hinduism.

* Skin-walker, a person, who according to a Native American belief, has the supernatural ability to turn themselves into an animal.

* Wechuge, is a similar creature that appears in the legends of the Athabaskan people of the Northwest Pacific Coast.

* Zombie, a mythical undead creature from Caribbean folklore, frequently depicted in fiction hungering for human brains or flesh.

* Jack Fiddler, last known wendigo hunter.

==Notes==

===Citations===

===References===

* Dispelling Wetiko, Breaking the Curse of Evil by Paul LEVY, NORTH ATLANTIC BOOKS (2013) ISBN 978-1-58394-548-3



* Colombo, J.R. ed. Wendigo. Western Producer Prairie Books, Saskatoon: 1982.



* Joh/Users, Basil (1990 [1976]). Ojibway Heritage. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.

* Joh/Users, Basil (2001 [1995]). The Manitous. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press.





* Schwarz, Herbert T. (1969). Windigo and Other Tales of the Ojibways, illustrated by Norval Morrisseau. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart Limited.

* Teicher, Morton I. (1961). "Windigo Psychosis: A Study of Relationship between Belief and Behaviour among the Indians of Northeastern Canada." In Proceedings of the 1960 Annual Spring Meeting of the American Ethnological Society, ed. Verne P. Ray. Seattle: University of Washington Press.

* Windigo Mito e Leggenda by Claudio FOTI, PARALLELO45 ED (2013) ISBN 978-88-98440-29-0

The indigenous wendigo of Northrend are exceedingly voracious creatures. Cannibalistic and savage, these fur-covered humanoids are very territorial and do not take kindly to intruders stumbling into their hunting grounds. They take even less kindly to those who enter their lands intentionally. This tall, muscular humanoid is covered in shaggy fur. Its feet and clawed hands are huge, and a pair of deadly horns crowns its head. The hulking humanoid stand 10 feet tall. It looks vaguely ogre-like, but is covered in a fury white pelt. Sharp claws extend from its large hand and its mouth stretches in a ravenous grin as it shambles forward.

Wendigo are fierce predators that are fond of human and orc flesh. Solitary by nature, they seldom live among others of their kind. The only exception is when offspring must be reared, which the parents do as a family. Wendigo typically give birth to two young per litter. The parents drive off the young once they reach maturity, then go their own separate ways as well. (A Wendigo is consider fully mature when it reaches nine years). Otherwise, an encounter between two wendigo always ends in the death of one, even during times of mating. Each wendigo controls miles of territory. It is not unusual for one to spend weeks hunting a single meal.

Wendigo are bestial, cave-dwelling humanoids. Barely intelligent, these creatures prefer to remain hidden when travelers pass close to their territory. A wendigo’s behavior turns aggressive, however, if a visitor overstays his welcome or threatens the yeti’s family. It is possible for a small tribe of wendigo to go unnoticed by a nearby community for years. The townsfolk may tell tales of beast-men living in the woods, but few residents, if any, see one directly. Wendigo living in close proximity are not necessarily a threat, and rumors say that some adopt and protect small villages, eliminating dangers from the shadows.

A wendigo prefers to avoid combat altogether, but once angered, just about the only way to stop it is to slay the beast. Wendigo attack with their claws in combat. They are so adept with their natural weapons that they can fell several lesser creatures in a single round. Even young wendigo can be quite lethal in combat. They are not suicidal, however, and will break off combat with a superior foe. The wendigo will then stalk the prey, biding its time until the target offers the best time to be dispatched.

An adult wendigo stands well over 7 feet tall and weighs about 1,200 pounds.

==Wrath of the Lich King==



A new form of wendigo has been introduced in Wrath of the Lich King. The wendigo of Northrend are different in appearance from their southern cousins; signifigantly larger, with ape like builds and curved horns.

Many believe these reclusive, cannibalistic creatures are the primordial cousins of the wendigo that populate the mountains of Dun Morogh.''

They are ferocious and aggressively defend their lairs, food supply, and young from any perceived threat. Adventurers who do not wish to be added to the wendigo's bone-mounds would be wise to run at the sound of their savage bellows.''

==See also==

*Sasquatch

*Yeti