(Submitted by reader Kevin)
Years ago, I was playing ‘Vampire: the Masquerade – Redemption’ and listening to an internet radio station. As my coterie of vamps was leaving the Tower of London zone, we were jumped by a werewolf, the only one in the main storyline. What was playing on the radio? ‘Werewolves of London’, of course.
Though that one is entirely coincidental, I have another gaming story connected to werewolves which may not be entirely so. I was creating a City of Villains character who was a person cursed by a fallen angel to become a werewolf-like beast. Since most angels within the Abrahamic mythos have names that mean something in Hebrew and end in “el”, I named the character “Zevael”, since “zev” is apparently the Hebrew word for wolf.
When writing the above story, it occurred to me that the singer of “Werewolves of London” was Warren Zevon. I do not know if or how his surname and song subject may be connected.
[EDITOR: The first one’s a pure moment of funny timing. The latter story is an interesting one because it combines two possible extra elements to what we see: one is merely anomaly-hunting, finding three letters and the writer of a song and deciding they connect; the other is the possibility of the subconscious affecting the name and rendering this a purposeful, if not consciously planned, connection. Another thought: the lead role in Teen Wolf was played by? Michael J. FOX. How about THAT for a crazy connection? What? Why are you looking at me like I’m the crazy one?]
Heh… I was thinking that maybe Warren liked wolves or werewolves, and “Zevon” might be a stage name chosen because of the meaning of “zev”. Alternately, if that was his real surname, he may have been aware of the meaning and that sparked an interest in lupine things, which later showed up in the song lyrics.
Of course, it could also be entirely coincidental, and linking little details like that is a good example of the pattern-seeking that leads people to invent conspiracy theories. We can’t really help having that human tendency, but being aware of it allows us to check ourselves before taking it too far.
Thanks,
Kevin
☺
Yeah I think that it sounds eerie at first, but how long were you playing with your werewolves involved in London? I mean if you listen to any pop 80’s radio station long enough you will hear that song. That and “My Shirona”.
Funny how our brains try to find the pattern, I bet if the Werewolf song had come within 3 songs before or 3 songs after you might have made the link. Probably wouldn’t have written about it in this place, but you might have thought it odd. And if you were someone not thinking critically you might have strongly seen the pattern and gone out and got a werewolf tattoo or something.
Nice story anyway, thanks for sticking that song in my head for the rest of the night.