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Vital statistics
Title Roux-Ga-Roux
Gender Male & Female
Race Shapeshifters
Faction Various
Health Medium
Level Low
Status Active
Location Earth

The Rougarou, is a kind of werewolf in the Cajun folklore of French Louisiana.


The stories of the creature known as a rougarou are as diverse as the spelling of its name, though they are all connected to francophone cultures through a common derived belief in the Loup-garou. Loup is French for wolf, and garou (from Frankish garulf, cognate with English werewolf) is a man who transforms into a wolf at his or her own will.

Louisiana folkloreEdit








Native American folkloreEdit

The creature, spelled Rougaru, has been associated with Native American legends, though there is some dispute. Such folklore versions of the rugaru vary from being mild Bigfoot (Sasquatch) creatures to cannibal-like Native American wendigos. Some dispute the connection between Native American folktales and the francophone rugaru.

As is the norm with legends transmitted by oral tradition, stories often contradict one another. The stories of the wendigo vary by tribe and region, but the most common cause of the change is typically related to cannibalism.

A modified example, not in the original wendigo legends, is that if a person sees a rugaru, that person will be transformed into one. Thereafter, the unfortunate victim will be doomed to wander in the form of this monster. That rugaru story bears some resemblance to a Native American version of the wendigo legend related in a short story by Algernon Blackwood. In Backwoods's fictional adaptation of the legend, seeing a wendigo causes one to turn into a wendigo.

It is important to note that rugaru is not a native Ojibwa word, nor is it derived from the languages of neighboring Native American peoples. However, it has a striking similarity to the French word for werewolf, loup garou. It's possible the Turtle Mountain Ojibwa or Chippewa in North Dakota picked up the French name for "hairy human-like being" from the influence of French Canadian trappers and missionaries with whom they had extensive dealings. Somehow that term also had been referenced to their neighbors' stories of Bigfoot.Author Peter Matthiessen argues that the rugaru is a separate legend from that of the cannibal-like giant wendigo. While the wendigo is feared, he notes that the rugaru is seen as sacred and in tune with Mother Earth, somewhat like Bigfoot legends are today.

Though identified with Bigfoot, there is little evidence in the indigenous folklore that it is meant to refer the same or a similar creature.


  • Shapeshifting: When a it takes the first bite of human flesh, they become a Rougarou.
  • Superhuman Strength: Rougarous are stronger than the average man, and can easily break bones.
  • Speed: Rougarou are essentially like animals. Speed is necessary in order to catch its prey
  • Flesh Eating: Its prime motivation, and food.

Weakness Edit

Fire - Rougarous can only be killed by fire.

Decapitation - Decapitation is the most commonly used method to kill Rougarous.

Severe Destruction to Body - Destroying head, heart or entire body will kill it.

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