Wolfgang von Überwald
| Wolfgang Von Überwald | |
 | |
| Name | Wolfgang Von Überwald |
| Race | Werewolf |
| Age | |
| Occupation | |
| Physical appearance | |
| Residence | Überwald |
| Death | At the end of The Fifth Elephant. Killed by Sam Vimes wielding a signal flare. |
| Parents | Guye von Überwald and Lady Serafine. |
| Relatives | Angua Von Überwald, Elsa, Andrei |
| Children | |
| Marital Status | s |
| Appearances | |
| Books | The Fifth Elephant |
| Cameos | |
Wolfgang is the brother of Captain Angua of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch, and a son to the Baron Guye von Überwald and Lady Serafine. Like the rest of his family, he is also a werewolf. Unlike Angua though, his character is cruel and unrestrained.
He is also a traditionalist. It is suspected that he drove away his brother Andrei and killed his sister Elsa, because they were both yennorks, werewolves that are stuck in one shape. To the pure-blood werewolf, these "abominations" cannot be tolerated.
In his opinion, werewolves are born to rule. He keeps his body in shape with lots of exercise outdoors. He prefers to run around naked, even in human shape, because in his opinion it is more natural.
He has been read as a Nazi in lupine form: determined that werewolves are the pure-breeds, and whose insignia is a silver wolfshead on a crimson banner whose snarling mouth is filled with flashes of lightning. He also acts as a representative of what happens when the Jungian shadow is too fully embraced. Even this just scratches the surface.
Wolfgang appears in the book The Fifth Elephant. He plays a major part in the intrigue to bring down the dwarf Low King. Wolfgang feels superior to other species, and is the leader of a pack of vicious werewolves, who try to take over the power in Überwald. They have re-installed the Game, in which a man has to try to outrun the werewolves. If he can't, he will be killed. Wolfgang is cunning though, and doesn't play the game by the rules. People seldom have a chance against him.
Remaining too often and too long in wolf-shape made him go crazy in the end. Completely enraged by his contempt for everything civilized, he became a sort of psycho-killer on the loose, who had to be stopped.
Angua fights him when he attacks Carrot, but it is Sam Vimes who finally puts him down, because calling it murder would've been obscene.
Annotation
And of course the lightning-flash S-rune, when you put two of them side by side, was also the insignia of Heinrich Himmler's SS., a group equally obsessed with notions of racial purity and the "Superman". The runic symbol came first, btw: the designation "schutz-staffel" to go with the letters came afterwards. What mattered was first and foremost having the right insignia! Now try crossing one runic S over the other so they meet in the middle. Yup, it's the good ol' sun-wheel rune: the swastika.