#i have sooooo many thoughts on why Ylfa's grandma was the werewolf

[atticfish]

The more I think about it, the more I think that maybe the Huntsman killed Ylfa's grandmother, and further, that Ylfa's grandmother was the werewolf. In many versions of the story, Little Red meets a wolf and trusts to reveal where in the woods she's headed -- at which point the wolf beats her to her grandmother's cottage, eats the grandmother, dons her clothing and takes her identity. But this Little Red seems a bit world-weary even before she gets wolfed, and Emily specifically places emphasis on Ylfa having unwavering respect and loyalty for authority figures. She might not trust any old wolf, but she would trust the Huntsman.

As for Getting Wolfed, either the Huntsman was a werewolf (he could even in some ways be a form of the Wolf, as both deal in Death, and both kill to eat), Ylfa's grandmother was a werewolf (Ylfa's lycanthropy being genetic in the context of Little Red Riding Hood as a story about coming of age would be a super interesting take imo; also, would satisfy well with the deliberate parallels drawn between Ylfa and her grandmother), or perhaps the Wolf gifted Ylfa her lycanthropy by other means (per se, not as a werewolf but as a spirit of Death).