Chemical weapon to kill a werewolf

Question

A weapon is needed for a climactic battle against an otherwise invincible wolf monster. In principle it could be any random thing, like the traditional silver, but we want something based in science. It should be a real chemical with actual biological properties, and something that takes effect fast enough to be used as a weapon.

Characteristics of the Chemical

An answer must be a real chemical satisfying the following requirements:

• Secrecy The chemical should not be present in everyday life in the real world, including both modern times and ancient times, or else it would be discovered too easily and the monster would never get a chance to be invincible. It cannot be in food or in the air in anywhere near the effective dose.
• Effectiveness The chemical needs to have some unusual biological effect when applied in the correct dose. This effect will serve to destroy the monster while nothing else available could, so it has to be something that cannot be achieved in any easier way. It should probably cause a loss of homeostasis in some biological system and that homeostasis can turn out to be critical to the monster's invincibility. The effect does not need to be harmful to real animals.
• Nontriviality The effect of the chemical should not be peripheral; removing the monster's hair or changing its color would never seem like a plausible way to destroy the monster's invincibility. Samson's weakness to having his hair cut is not a good example of the kind of weakness we're looking for.
• Availability The heroes need access to the chemical, so it either needs to be something that can be manufactured without sophisticated equipment, or it needs to be a chemical that is so stable that it could have survived for 300 years without climate control only to be discovered when it is needed. In this world there is nothing more advanced for doing chemistry than a typical kitchen, but in the past all sorts of advanced chemistry would have been possible.
• Weaponizability The chemical needs to be effective as a weapon, which means a small dose is enough. The ability to be absorbed through skin would be good, or it might be inhaled as fumes. If it could be effective by being coated onto an arrow, that would be excellent. It also needs to take effect quickly, ideally in less than a minute.

Characteristics of the Werewolf

The monster is a mammal that resembles a wolf, but it is the size of a tall and heavily built human and has a tendency to walk upright. Therefore answers that take advantage of either wolf biology or human biology are acceptable.

In spite of having real mammalian biology, the monster is a terror that overwhelms all other attempts to defeat it. There is some part of it that allows it to fight through any injury and recover from anything, but the exact mechanism is irrelevant. If we can find a suitable chemical, we can say that whatever organ or system is affected by the chemical is somehow critical to the monster's invulnerability. The chemical itself doesn't need to be deadly, since the monster can be killed by conventional means once its invulnerability is removed.

The monster's invulnerability has no effect on ways the chemical might be delivered. The monster's skin can be broken, and the monster cannot stop itself from breathing if the chemical must be inhaled. The monster has no special resistance to chemicals being absorbed through the skin.

Answer 1

Killing the monster with VX nerve gas or an overdose of fentanyl or cyanide muffins seems kind of anticlimactic. You can kill anything with that stuff.

The whole thing about werewolves is that silver is not predictably a super killer or especially bad for anything else. It is a secret special Achilles heel for werewolves. Except not so secret because it has been done to death. Is there anything similar but novel we can use here?

Chocolate. Chocolate is delicious (and keeps a long time). Humans love it and dogs do too. They will hog it all down if they get half a chance. But everyone knows chocolate is to dogs as silver is to werewolves - even a small amount can be lethal. Symptoms include extreme thirst, too much energy, diarrhea, heart arrythmias, seizures and death. I am picturing the SyFy channel: that is the way you want your monster to expend its last 5 minutes of show.

It might take longer than a minute for regular chocolate to kick in if some poor pooch gets hold of some. Maybe in the story this is future chocolate - sort of like the super marijuana of today as compared to the hippie stuff of yesteryear. To us: phenomenally good chocolate. To canid monsters: INCONTINENT DEATH FRENZY!

Answer 2

Dimethylmercury

If I ever face a werewolf, I would personally try to poison it with a mercury derived toxin called Dimethylmercury. Here is why:

First of all, we all think that silver is a very good werewolf killer but maybe we are all wrong... The name of the real secret weapon against these beasts may have been lost through oral history, changing from Quicksilver to Silver... It is even plausible that a werewolf hidden organization (a powerful underground lobby) is at the base of the progressive name change from Quicksilver to the actual Mercury in order to erase all possibilities to find the true weapon!

Then, Mercury is not that difficult to find. Just go to the center of waste sorting of your nearby town and check for the “hazardous things” place. You should find what you need. The chemical reaction to transform Mercury in an even more dangerous toxin is pretty simple. Dimethylmercury for example, can be obtained with reagents “easily” stolen from any science university:

Hg + 2 Na + 2 CH3I → Hg(CH3)2 + 2 NaI

Concerning the Dimethylmercury effects, the werewolf will have to deal with one of the strongest neurotoxins ever, causing irreversible brain damages leading to mental confusion, memory issues, deafness and even blindness. I think all this will be enough to “finish him” quickly!

Another good point is how quick Dimethylmercury can find its way through the werewolf's skin and how difficult it is to be cured. Just look at the case of Karen Wetterhahn, a chemistry professor who died of accidental exposure to just a few drops of Dimethylmercury absorbed through her protection gloves!

Wikipedia article on Karen Wetterhahn

Quoting wikipedia (emphasis mine):

Tests later revealed that dimethylmercury can, in fact, rapidly permeate different kinds of latex gloves and enter the skin within about 15 seconds

So basically, if your werewolf doesn’t take a shower within 15 seconds, consider it as irremediably poisoned. Because yes, Mercury is a heavy metal, which makes it very difficult (almost nearly impossible) to remove it from a body.

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Yes but…

There is one problem. Even if Dimethylmercury will poison the werewolf very quickly, symptoms will not appear before several weeks or months (for a human).

Of course, a solution would be to have your werewolf metabolism to be very fast, which could by the way explain its healing factor which is way above that of a normal living being... If your werewolf can recover from bullet injuries in a matter of days, then it is not unthinkable that its metabolism is at least 100 times faster (not sure about this calculus) than a human beings metabolism. From this we could imagine that Dimethylmercury assimilation by the body will occur in several hours. We are far from the minute you ask, but that’s the best I can do! :)

Answer 3

Silver nitrate may be your chemical.

Silver salts are easy to prepare (silver + nitric acid (one of the easiest to develop acids)). They were used in the 1800s to treat rabies, as an antiseptic, and as a way of sterilizing people (didn't work in the latter case), wart treatments. Used to stain proteins, so it can easily get around a body, unlike some chemicals. Also used in old fashioned photography, so there are lots of good excuses for the stuff to be lying around somewhere.

Answer 4

If the monster can not be blown to smithereens with sufficient quantities of explosive (or a large keg of black powder full of iron nails), I guess the invulnerability mechanism has to be near to magic in nature.

So any traditional "antidote" to evil magic should work logically -- possibly in conjunction with an appropriate delivery method.

For example you could resurrect the myth of Baldr, who could not be harmed by anything except mistletoe. Say that there is some truth in there, but you still need to wound the monster with mistletoe and you do not know what component of mistletoe is actually the active ingredient, so just shooting an arrow drenched in the juice might have no effect.

So what you do is design a gun capable of shooting solidified (frozen?) ballistic pellets of pureed mistletoe. Or a powerful composite bow with frozen mistletoe arrows, which adds some complication (kitchen chemistry, no more) since you need a refrigerated quiver.

• Secrecy: check. Nobody thought of using mistletoe that way before.
• Effectiveness: check. Something in mistletoe acts as a poison, disabling the invulnerability mechanism which turns out to be the reason the werewolf form is capable of existing in the first place (there's something of the kind in Bull God by Roberta Gellis - the Minotaur is held together by a powerful spell by Poseidon. Remove the spell, and the body literally falls apart. You can't get much more effective than that.
• Nontriviality: see above.
• Availability: check. The typical kitchen (and weapons shop) ought to be enough.
• Weaponizability: see under Effectiveness.

Answer 5

Based on your requirement, a werewolf is basically invulnerable until some foreign agent is introduced. By invulnerable we also mean that decapitation would slow the monster down, but it would be up and going as soon as it found its head, and lots and lots of fire would hurt, and likely make it slightly irritable, but that it would regenerate too fast for the fire to destroy it.

Well, there is wolfsbane (Aconitum) which is highly poisonous to anyone, but not more so to werewolves, right? Their werewolf invulnerability would burn right through the poison, right? Well, it is called wolfsbane for a reason...

I agree with LSerni that such a high degree of invulnerability must be magical, or perhaps due to a deal made with a demon or something along those lines. So. In an ancient tome, buried in a tomb in an old monastery, might be found the secret to activating the mystical qualities locked in the wolfsbane.

Secrecy: The werewolf, if it has been around long enough, knows that the secret to its destruction is hidden somewhere, and is desperately looking to find and destroy it before it can be found and used against it (Or it may be instrumental in why practically all knowledge of this compound has been lost). Or it may have heard of it from its maker, but discounts it, or came into being after the last great werewolf outbreak and is entirely unaware of it.

Effectiveness: Wolfsbane is a very poisonous plant across all its varieties, but simple poison would be negligible to the werewolf in its invulnerable state. True, Aconite won't kill the werewolf. However, when correctly prepared and introduced into the werewolf's bloodstream, it serves to hamper the werewolf's supernatural regenerative abilities, or perhaps overwhelm it for a time, allowing the werewolf to be finished of through more traditional means.

Non-triviality: There is no outward sign that the werewolf has been affected by the wolfsbane. But taking a potshot at it, will cause it to fall down and bleed all over itself, the way it would do a normal person. The trick is to know when to take that shot.

Availability: Since there are over 250 species of Aconitum, finding a plant or two should not be too difficult, provided you are in the Northern half of the world, near a damp, mountainous area, or can get some brought in from such an area. Easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy.

Weaponizability: A little bit of wolfsbane will go a long, long way. You will need to break the werewolf's skin in order to introduce it into its system. I would say (but that would be your call, as this is all me), that ingesting it might give the werewolf a mild case of diarrhea, but not inconvenience it too much (and may tip your hand). In order for it to be effective, the werewolf must be cut with a blade treated with it, with a dart or arrow dipped in it, or even with a bullet soaked in it.

Answer 6

The problem with werewolves is that they supposedly can tolerate massive amounts of physical abuse as well as large amounts of poison and still survive. Not only that, they also heal from their injuries quickly. Whichever secret chemical is used, it will be a bit like Kryptonium, an invented weakness to make the Superman less boring. Hence the silver bullet for werewolves.

Instead of inventing an alternative to silver, a better idea would be to use a mechanism that affects all living beings. Every living organism on earth needs oxygen to turn chemical energy into mechanical energy. Oxygen deprivation will kill us all rather quickly. An animal that is particularly strong, consumes more oxygen than weaker counterparts that are the same size. Werewolves should be no exception. They probably need a lot of oxygen since they are so strong. You could theorize that oxygen deprivation levels which are tolerable for us humans would make werewolves faint or die. Carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide are generated by setting fire to things. This is, and has always been, easy to do. Those two gases are heavier than air and will replace oxygen if they are "poured" into e.g. a cellar. If a werewolf was lured into that cellar, he would become harmless, faint and eventually die.

Answer 7

To add to the list of horribly dangerous chemicals...

Hydrofluoric Acid

There are plenty of acids that are more dangerous than HF, but it would probably be significantly harder for your heroes to get their hands on fluoroantimonic acid, triflic acid or the like. And HF is plenty dangerous on its own.

From the Wikipedia article:

In addition to being a highly corrosive liquid, hydrofluoric acid is also a powerful contact poison. Because of the ability of hydrofluoric acid to penetrate tissue, poisoning can occur readily through exposure of skin or eyes, or when inhaled or swallowed. Symptoms of exposure to hydrofluoric acid may not be immediately evident, and this can provide false reassurance to victims, causing them to delay medical treatment. Despite having an irritating odor, HF may reach dangerous levels without an obvious odor. HF interferes with nerve function, meaning that burns may not initially be painful. Accidental exposures can go unnoticed, delaying treatment and increasing the extent and seriousness of the injury. Symptoms of HF exposure include irritation of the eyes, skin, nose, and throat, eye and skin burns, rhinitis, bronchitis, pulmonary edema (fluid buildup in the lungs), and bone damage.

Once absorbed into blood through the skin, it reacts with blood calcium and may cause cardiac arrest. Burns with areas larger than 160 cm2 (25 square inches) have the potential to cause serious systemic toxicity from interference with blood and tissue calcium levels. In the body, hydrofluoric acid reacts with the ubiquitous biologically important ions Ca2+ and Mg2+. Formation of insoluble calcium fluoride is proposed as the etiology for both precipitous fall in serum calcium and the severe pain associated with tissue toxicity. In some cases, exposures can lead to hypocalcemia. Thus, hydrofluoric acid exposure is often treated with calcium gluconate, a source of Ca2+ that sequesters the fluoride ions. HF chemical burns can be treated with a water wash and 2.5% calcium gluconate gel or special rinsing solutions. However, because it is absorbed, medical treatment is necessary; rinsing off is not enough. Intra-arterial infusions of calcium chloride have also shown great effectiveness in treating burns.

Emphasis mine.

Wikipedia also provides a quick how-to on where you an acquire some if you can't find any in the lab.

Hydrogen fluoride is generated upon combustion of many fluorine-containing compounds such as products containing Viton and polytetrafluoroethylene (Teflon) parts. Hydrofluorocarbons in automatic fire suppression systems can release hydrogen fluoride at high temperatures, and this has led to deaths from acute respiratory failure in military personnel when a rocket-propelled grenade hit the fire suppression system in their vehicle.

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Alternatively, if you are interested in lighting the werewolf on fire you can always go for dioxygen difluoride.

Answer 8

Poisoned blowgun or airgun darts. These could be doped with a wide range of poisons both natural and manmade. As a bonus the dart body could be made out of silver.

Naturaly occuring poisons that might be used can be found here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrow_poison

Such as tubocurarine, curarine, quinine, protocurarine and related alkaloids. Most frequently derived from the bark of Strychnos toxifera

Cardiac glycosides, such as Acokanthera (possessing ouabain), oleander (Nerium oleander), milkweeds (Asclepias), or Strophanthus, all of which are in the Apocynaceae family.

The black legged dart frog and various other poisonous species of frog.

Artificial organophosphate nerve agents might also be used such as those found here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nerve_agent

Such as Dimethylheptylpyran and Sarin. Sarin as a liquid could be sealed in a very small thin glass ampule in the head of the dart which would break on impact. I believe some nerve agents are not that hard to make, although I'm not an expert.

Answer 9

Genetic manipulation

The key to destroying a werewolf is its regeneration ability. All living beings have cells that divide to provide new growth. The werewolf has something like this except in overdrive - and its body somehow knows if an arm has been cut off so it can grow another one.

In humans, this cell division can produce a 'rogue' cell that also goes into overdrive, splitting and growing at great rates. We call this disease cancer.

The key then, is to manipulate the werewolf's cell division either to give it an extremely fast replication rate or a very slow one. Fast would cause cancer (as fast as you choose) and a slow one would make a werewolf susceptible to all other types of death.

By targeting the werewolf's regeneration genes other life on the planet should not be affected.

At some point in the past, werewolves were a big problem which is when this 'treatment' was developed. For some reason, the werewolves went into hiding - maybe because they heard about it or some of them actually died from it. Over another couple of hundred years werewolves became a legend and people largely forgot about them. Those who were werewolves hid their affliction but one decided he was invulnerable and 'came out'. The heroes recalled there was a something developed long ago and the quest began...

Answer 10

Safely stored in the cold caves under a glacier in the North pass, lie the dart tips made by a rod of white Phosphorus covered by a layer of Gallium, the latter in the shape of a harpoon tip. The gallium melts after penetrating the skin.

Ensure that the shape is such that part of the Phosphorus will enter in contact with the air to facilitate self-ignition. Otherwise, provide a tip of Sodium (or Caesium, or Rubidium), still under the Gallium, for ignition as soon as it enter in touch with the aqueous environment under the werewolf skin.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_phosphorus_munitions#Effects_on_people

And if you want to add a poison that smells like garlic, and possibly related to it, you could encase a thin rod of Arsenic trioxide in the white Phosphorus. The arsenic will melt and boil as soon as the latter ignites. Internal contamination as well as inhalation are quite likely.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arsenic_trioxide#Toxicology

Answer 11

Interestingly, chilli powder works very well on elephants as a deterrent, so I daresay something a little more lethal, such as finely powdered silver wrapped in delicate bag with explosives inside could work in a similar (though much more deadly) and low-tech manner to this.

All of the elements are available, silver has been around for a millennium or two, and China had gunpowder from the first century.

Answer 12

Dimethyltryptamine

• Secrecy: it has been used for centuries by shamans to talk to spirits, but it was only isolated quite recently in human history, and you will only have regular contact with it if you are a psychonaut.

• Effectiveness: the onset for injected DMT is less than a minute, and the effects may last up to 45 minutes (but usually they last up to 15 minutes) depending on dosage. During this time, the subject will be helpless.

• Nontriviality: The effect of this drug is that the subject will be enjoying a psychedelic, out-of-body experience.

• Availability: if your heroes are smart they may be able to isolate some from tree barks with highschool lab material. Or you can distill it from ayahuasca with kitchen material, though it won't be as concentrated as if you did use a proper lab.

• Weaponizability: as stated before, it takes less than a minute to kick in. You could coat arrows with it, but using something like a tranquilizer gun would be ideal. It can also be inhaled and the effects will be majorly the same, so you can use smoke as well.

Answer 13

To go with the old silver, but with a twist:

Dental amalgam

a mixture of mercury, silver, tin and copper. Something that could be made with medieval-like technology and could also have been stored as old dentist´s supplies, found in old skeletons teeth or in toxic waste disposals.

Could be delivered as power and possibly inhaled or molded onto other Weapons surfaces.

As we know, Silver reacts with the werewolf on contact. I imagine this will happen in a exothermic reaction, which will cause the mercury to vaporize.

The werewolf, already weakened from the silver, will then die of mercury poisoning.

Answer 14

Antifreeze kills dogs. It's a real issue if you have something like a junk yard where it might leak from old cars.

Another option is to go to any pet web site and look for "shit that can kill your dog". A lot of food is not safe for dogs (chocolate, onions, garlic... list is pretty long).

Answer 15

I feel like something that at least contains silver would be required to kill a werewolf. If traditional bullets and weapons are not up your alley, perhaps something more explosive and less expected, like silver fulminate. It is often used in "crackers" along with potassium chlorate, but is also used as a primary explosive. It is conceivable that a werewolf, expecting to be immune to a regular explosion, could be caught off guard by such an attack.

6,000 of these small explosives would be sufficient to do some serious damage to a werewolf, and could be triggered simply by being dropped from higher ground, as demonstrated in this video: https://youtu.be/tduhGmZHQGQ?t=72

Answer 16

There is already a silver based gas that ends up in our atmosphere

AgNP , It's health affects on humans have been overlooked for quite some time so it is viable.

Health Report

How to synthesize

dump a whole lot of that in your area. Wont kill the humans, they wont even know what's happening till weeks later when people come down with asthmatic symptoms

surely if this is a werewolf it will have allergy to silver, and if it cant breath well you can do a whole lot of whatever you want to it.