As wolves became less common in inhabited areas, people became less wary and more curious of them and started to look at their positive traits. No longer seen as simply destructive beasts, they were soon written as proud and admirable symbols of nature that were intelligent, dignified and reasonable. Although still dangerous, if a Noble Wolf is antagonistic, it's probably not just because it hates you or wants to eat you. Rather, an antagonist Noble Wolf will probably have been offended at your trespasses or your competition for resources.

Although leaning more towards neutrality, a Noble Wolf can easily be a heroic figure. With their intelligence, a doglike figure and social nature, it is easy to pick out good traits to emphasize. Any heroic wolf of this sort will be a force to be reckoned with as wolves are still taken very seriously today. Bonus points if the wolf is white.

The spread of this trope in popular culture happened for a number of reasons. One of the primary early motivators was the growth of urbanization, until the majority of humanity was living in cities and large towns by the early modern period. This meant that fewer and fewer people lived in close contact with wild animals or raised livestock for a living; this, combined with declining wolf populations in general, meant that the primary reasons why people hated wolves historically — predation of livestock, competition for wild game, and occasional attacks on people — became less important culturally. In addition, advances in ecological science have also shown that older assumptions about predator-prey relationships, namely that the absence of predators is a net gain for prey animals and wildlife management, are flatly wrong, and that apex predators such as wolves play a very important role in managing the populations of wild game and keeping environments healthy.

This saw a shift in perception of wolves from monstrous man-eaters and livestock thieves and towards noble rulers of the wilderness, cunning hunters and rugged survivors. Indeed, since humans and wolves are both highly social, endurance-based predators of mainly the same prey animals, a lot of traits present in wolves — cooperation, loyalty to pack members, cunning, skill in tackling difficult prey — are historically ones that humans often value in themselves.

A Sister Trope to Heroic Dog and Wonderful Werewolf. See also Heroic Dolphin. Compare and contrast Savage Wolves. This trope as it pertains to positive traits of male wolves is the origin of Papa Wolf. Having a lupine ally or pet is another trope, i.e. Canine Companion.

Examples