Hybrid Werewolf or Lycan, often mistaken for the Children of the Moon, are descendants of the ancient warrior spirits of the tribe. Back then, warriors and chieftains could leave their bodies and wander as spirits, commune with animals, and hear each other's thoughts. However, a change greatly affected the tribesmen during Talal's leadership and permanently changed their powers to become dire wolves.
When a member of the current generation comes across the scent of a vampire, his physique will automatically transform into a giant wolf before they even know they are descended from these wolves.
Talal, the first hybrid metamorph
Legend has it that a spiritual warrior, Tlapa, wanted to use this power to enslave neighboring tribes, the Hos and the Makaha. Unwilling to use the warriors' powers for such monstrous ends, his chieftain, Talal, banished him from the tribe. One day, the chief left his body in a hideout to sweep the valley in his spirit form, searching the area for anything that might pose a threat to the tribe. Uka followed him and possessed his body, then slit his own body's throat to prevent Talal's return. The chief wandered for a while in spirit form, watching the thief do horrible things to his people. One day, the chief's spirit found a big and beautiful wolf in the forest. Although he was jealous of the wolf's physical form, he came up with an idea. He asked the wolf to share his body with him, and the wolf agreed. Returning to town as the wolf, he met a group of warriors and tried to make himself known by singing songs from the day before. One of the warriors, an old man named Yut, realized that the wolf was under the control of a spirit and, disobeying the orders of the usurper Tlapa not to enter the spirit world, he left his body to speak with the beast.
The false chief, alarmed by Yut's entrance into the spirit world, fearing that his treachery would be revealed, killed the warrior. Talal was enraged and hastened to kill the man; his emotions were too much for the wolf, and he was transformed into a magnificent human being, the glorious flesh-and-blood interpretation of Talal's impeccable spirit. The fake boss was killed and things were quickly patched up. Talal had many children and discovered that his children, in adulthood, could also transform into wolves.
This is how Lycan was born. The entire pack is made up of the descendants of that original wolf. So far, Inanna is the only female known to have inherited the metamorphic gene, the others being male. She transformed when he marked her by biting her neck
Wolf hybrids are very similar to normal wolves, but several times larger. On average, a quiléte shapeshifter will be about the height of a horse, but with greater body mass. In addition to being larger than a normal wolf, wolf hybrids are also supernaturally stronger and faster. Its teeth and claws are strong and sharp enough to harm a vampire; they can also run as fast as them. (Like humans, some wolf hybrids are faster than others.) In their human forms, wolf-hybrids are stronger and faster than humans, but not fast enough to outrun a vampire. Hybrid wolf coats range in color from shades of brown, gray, and black. The length of a tribesman's hair in their human form affects the length of their fur when in their wolf form. For example, if a human has long hair, the fur in wolf form will also be long.
The appearances of the other seven wolf hybrids who join the group at the end of Breaking Dawn are not specified.
If the tribesman meets both conditions for the transformation, they will go through certain physical and psychological changes. First, a male will experience a noticeable growth spurt, which will affect his height and musculature. For women, the physical changes are much more discreet and seen primarily in muscle definition, rather than mass or height. Both men and women will experience such a drastic increase in body temperature that an ordinary human being would not be able to survive. At the same time, they will begin to display dramatic mood swings and brief, sudden bouts of almost uncontrollable anger. When the transformation is very close, they will start shaking and trembling during those angry moments.
Lycan in his human phase.
Phase instinct only kicks in when a hybrid crosses the scent of a vampire and feels the need to protect the tribe. There is no exact age to determine if the member is old enough for the gene to kick in, it just approximates the necessary number of vampires. The transformation generally it occurs around the time the shapeshifter reaches adulthood and is accompanied by a growth spurt that lasts about two months.
After the violent shaking begins, the first transformation, or phase, can take place in seconds if the affected person does not calm down. All initial transformations are triggered by euphoria, until the shapeshifter learns to control their reactions. The actual act of phasing lasts only an instant. There is no gradual change, in which the hybrid appears to be a mixture of human and animal. Since the hybrid is more than four times the mass of a human, to an observer the change appears explosive as the human expands to the size of the wolf. This impression can be intensified if the shapeshifter does not have time to remove his clothes before the phases; clothing is torn by the pressure of expansion, and each time there is a tear, its sound accompanies the otherwise silent transformation.
As the young Lycan take control of their phases, they manage to anticipate removing their clothing, avoiding destroying it in the process. Most carry a leather strap with them so that they can tie their clothes to their legs before the phases. With experience, wolf-hybrids become proficient in phasing and can control their transformation.
The transformation can occur at any time and is not dependent on the full moon, unlike the Children of the Moon.
A hybrid with the same eye color in his human phase.
A hybrid's eyesight is ten times sharper than that of a normal human and twice that of a bird of prey. Although a normal human can easily spot a vampire at a glance, if he knows what he's looking for, a shapeshifter, even in human form, sees much more than pale skin and that trademark eye color. For Wolf Hybrids, the vamps look bright and angular, almost like moving crystals.
Like wolves and other predators, wolf hybrids have a heightened sense of smell. As a special feature, vampires have a distinctive scent that wolf hybrids know well, both in their human and wolf forms. In general, for wolf hybrids the vampire smell is so unbearable that it reaches the degree of pain, it can be a sweet and cloying smell that burns. Individually, each vampire has their own personal scent, which is easily recognizable to wolf-hybrid wolves. They can smell them from a considerable distance, or even pick up their scent on objects a vampire has touched.
They can reach over a hundred miles per hour. According to Jacob, it's better and faster than a motorcycle, and that's "the best part" of being a wolf. Compared to vampires, they are very similar in their preternatural speed. It is stated that a fast wolf can outrun an average vampire, and conversely, a fast vampire can outrun an average wolf. This indicates that they are very equal in their speed.
Even in their human form, wolf-hybrids are easily faster and have greater stamina than all humans.
While in their human form, their strength is near superhuman, in their wolf form, they are not only larger than normal wolves, but supernaturally stronger as well. In this form, his strength is incredible and almost equivalent to that of a vampire. An entire pack can easily overpower and kill any vampire.
This high temperature allows Wolf Hybrids to withstand very cold climates. It also makes it very difficult for vampires to damage them in combat, since vampires are extremely sensitive to high temperatures. After Bella becomes a vampire, she describes Jacob's skin as "touching open fire" and "unbearable to the touch".
In his wolf form, his fangs are strong enough to penetrate a vampire's skin.
Quileute wolf hybrids heal very quickly, both in human and wolf form. When they are injured, they immediately begin to heal. Minor wounds heal in just a few seconds. More serious injuries, such as broken bones, often heal on their own in a matter of days. Wolf-hybrids aren't indestructible, and even killing one of them is easier than killing a vampire, but it still takes supernatural strength or tremendous skill to seriously injure them. An exception to this rule is vampire venom. In a hybrid's system, in their human or wolf form, the venom does not induce the process of becoming a vampire, but instead acts as a delay in their healing abilities. The poison alone wouldn't normally kill a healthy shapeshifter; however, in combination with the other injuries, it could be fatal.
Lycans communicate telepathically.
Lycans or hybrids are pack animals. They are more effective, either hunting vampyres or fighting, when they work as a team. In his wolf form, the pack shares a group mind; each member of the pack listens to the thoughts of the other members. This telepathic communication allows them to work as one, coordinate instantly, and move in perfect unity. The true power of the pack lies not in the strength of each Wolf Hybrid, but in their ability to work together as a cohesive group.
The ability to perform smoothly as a team comes at a price. When in wolf form, these beings have no privacy. All thoughts, however fleeting or insignificant, are transmitted to the other members of the pack in the form of a wolf. Feelings are also conveyed, even those that are personal or perhaps embarrassing.
When more than one wolf-hybrid wolf pack exists at a time, the wolf-hybrid wolves of one pack cannot communicate telepathically with those of the other. The only exception is the Alpha, or leader of each pack. The Alpha can decide whether or not to share his thoughts with another Alpha and can select which thoughts to send, just as he would choose to speak out loud.