Analysis

The Torslunda Plate depicting a man-wolf warrior reveals an ancient origin of the werewolf legend shared by Germanic and Celtic cultures which made its way into Marie de France’s Bisclavret. The original idea of the warrior being able to enter the state of a wolf highlights the status of Bisclavret as a noble knight in the lay. The man is not a noble knight in spite of being a werewolf, they are not opposing concepts but can rather be taken as complimentary. The king is able to identify intelligence and humanity in the werewolf as a fellow hunter rather than taking the more Christian idea of animals being below humans and devoid of souls.