A Mantle for Mister

[fillmoreb]

My 30 pound cat passed away from old age recently, and now I find myself stressing about Mister.  Harry is (barring a premature killing) going to live a long time.  So is Maggie.  So is Mouse.  Mister, on the other hand, only has a couple years left in him.

There's obviously only one answer.    Vadderung took on the Kringle mantle so that he could maintain immortality after he lost the vast majority of his worshippers.  We need a mantle for Mister now as well.  Perhaps Cat Sith's.  Perhaps something else.  I need suggestions so I can put them into my head canon as possibilities for Mister's continued existence.

Help me.

[Griffyn612]

Before someone else jumps in with WoJ's on Mister and theories about his true identity, I'll just say that I don't think we have to worry about Mister. But I wouldn't want him to get a mantle like Cat Sith's, because I think he'd want to retain his independence.

Sens more likely than he could pick up a mantle from Harry that is fueled by the brown of the little folk he's hunted over the years. Just needs a ritual and he should be good to go.

The Dread Beast Mister.

[b4utoo]

Mister will find a girlfriend and live happily ever after

[Con]

Mister is a witches/wizards familiar. As long as the wizards alive so shall he be. Admittedly Bob takes up most of that role.

[Conspiracy Theorist]

I think Mister is a Changeling Malk who has never made his choice.

As a Changeling Malk five things would have been noticeable :-

(1) he would be larger than a Domestic cat, more like his Malk progenitor
(2) he would have a very long tail like his Malk progenitor
(3) he would be noticeably long lived like his Malk progenitor
(4) he would be an especial object of fear of the Little Folk like his Malk progenitor.
(5) he would be intimidating to other animals.

How does Mister measure up?

(1) he is extremely large described as 30 lbs
(2) he lost his tail as a kitten before Harry found him.
(3) Harry in Peace talks mentioned Mister is getting on in years, in Storm Front Mister had been with Harry 3 years, by Christmas Eve he is 18 years old. He isn’t on any medication or special diet and appears to be in otherwise robust health.
(4) he is renowned by the Little Folk as “Dread Beast Mister”
(5) he dominated Mouse from day one.

Two other Clues from Misters Microfiction. His food bowl has the name Emperor,  a Star Wars reference, where the Emperor is a Sith Lord, and he refers to Harry and Maggie as “Stupid Monkey” and “Useful Monkey” Monkey is of course a derogatory term used by the Fae to refer to humans especially when they use the term Fairy.

One other point,  in PT/BG Harry relates an anecdote about his father rescuing a stray kitten and nursing it back to health. If I were the Leansidhe obsessed with Harry and wanted to put a spy in Harry’s household I would play upon Harry’s cherished memories of his father to do so, removing the tell-tail evidence that Mister is a Malk scion in the process.

I think that Mister is a Changeling,  a scion of Cat Sith fully capable of choosing to be Fae but hasn’t, because Cat, and whilst he has been a spy for Lea (and later Mab, remember him sitting on Mab’s lap) he hasn’t been a very good one, because Cat. And Harry has Catnip.

Mister doesn’t need a Mantle, he can choose Fae at any point. The new Mister/Toot short story (or short tail tale) may answer some of these points.

The only Mantle Mister needs is the one above a roaring fire, to sit upon and look down scornfully at all the stupid monkeys.

[seanham]

I agree with Conspiracy Theorist that Mister does not need a mantle. However, I am not sure if he can be a changeling. A Changeling is created when a mortal and a fae have a child, that child must have the capability to make a choice out of free will to choose either parent and become that "side" fully. However, does a cat possess the cognitive ability to make a choice of this magnitude?

[Conspiracy Theorist]

Yes, Misters Microfiction would suggest that he does indeed possess the cognitive faculty to make a choice out of free will. Mister when looked at by Harry’s third eye is the only thing which stays the same, I think this is indicative that Mister is quite happy being Mister, neither a mortal cat, nor a Malk, at least for the moment. This has been picked up in fan theories from the first up to and including that Mister was in fact the Avatar of the White God.

We have a story featuring both Mister and Toot in the coming year, and hopefully that story will shine some light on Mister’s back story. The two working together when they should be mortal enemies, except Toot is now a vassal of Winter and part of the Queen’s Guard, and the Malk’s Have long been affiliated with Winter. The two would work together to further an aim of Winter and that might push Mister choice. Technically the Knights are also responsible for their Courts Changeling’s, we know this from Ronald Reul who cared for and housed Summer’s Changelings. Has Harry been inadvertently been doing the same thing with Mister?

Besides just imagine a scene where Harry goes into check on a sleeping Maggie, only to find her cuddling a full grown Malk. Harry would have kittens. Cat Sith terrified Harry more than anyone in Mab’s Court.

WOJ has it that Harry is in for a big betrayal, everyone figures Carlos, Steed  or Eb, but Mister? Mister has been with Harry I think even from Restoration of Faith. To find out the cat who has been with him for nearly two decades was Leas plant and Mab’s spy would be a big blow. To do that Jim needs to have used Checkov’s gun, providing all the clues in plain sight from the start. Think of how Jim did the reveal of Bonny, it was all there from Lash’s demise until his subconciousnesses big reveal. That something continued on with the tune he composed and could play well, the headaches etc. It’s like Bob’s parents, things have been seeded in from the start of the series for a reveal much later on.

Also Jim relates the story of his cat Fenris, who he says came into his household under false pretences as a stray kitten, when in fact he was a stray small adult cat. Fenris dominates Jim’s Pitbull Brutus in exactly the same way Mister dominates Mouse, a case of life imitating art though as that pairing occurred later than their literary equivalents. I think the false pretences line has echoes of Misters situation.

Harry is obeying Mab now, largely because their aims are running parallel now and Harry can see that. The need for a spy in Harry’s household is done. So time for a reveal.

If Mister is indeed  a Malk Changeling, after him and Mouse, Harry is going to be very careful if Maggie asks for a new pet.