The Dresden Files > DF Spoilers
Little Things [spoilers]
Mira:
--- Quote ---Mister at the point of Little Things is 17-18 years of age. Everyone is noting he is quite old, by the calendar, but it is clear from Little Things he is as strong and quick as he has always been, with senses to equal Toot and Lacuna. The Little Folk are noted as being sensitive to to things, Harry has to Listen to even hear them sometimes. He is also relatively peacefully co-existing with The Za Guard. If he were a Malk Changeling, like Sarissa he wouldn’t age unless he chose mortal, and he would fall within Winter and would therefore allow Toot Etc to live, relatively unharnessed. Toot has only been Winter since Changes, prior to that he would have been fair game. A mortal cat wouldn’t make the distinction, a scion would. His blood thirstiness is also a Malk trait, they are worse than mortal cats. The constant reference to Tomcat suggests Mister is not fixed (we know Mouse isn’t) and yet he is not spraying, suggesting he is intelligent enough to not do so. The Mister Microfiction gives some idea of his intelligence.
--- End quote ---
Possible, but I am still not totally convinced. In my life I've known some pretty large cats, and even ones approximately thirty pounds. It seems huge, but not for an old tom. Actually that is about the size a twelve week old Bloodhound puppy, which doesn't look all that big. His blood thirstiness also isn't beyond the pale.. We were gone for a couple of days a while back, [yes, someone to feed and care for the cat] when we came home there were ten dead birds in our front yard, all neatly decapitated, bodies untouched, he did it out of boredom.. I've also opened my front door to a dead cardinal on the mat complete with a bit of green on the side like parsley. I've come across dead critters in every dark corner of the house that the cat brought in through the pet door to share. Sometimes her favorite game was to bring the critter in alive then turn it loose for more pleasure,sigh. Age? Though at 18 Gabby sleeps a lot these days run a rodent by her or fly a bird, you'd be surprised how quick she still is. Also cats do know when it is best to live and let live, she also lives peacefully with two dogs.
Conspiracy Theorist:
It’s not just size, Mister is missing his tail, and Malks have an unusually long tail, a tell-tail if he were a scion.
In addition one of Harry fondest memories of his father is of Malcolm finding a sick kitten and nursing it back to health. Harry’s memories were Lea’s playground for some time, she would clearly use them to manipulate Harry taking a spy into his household. Unfortunately Lea didn’t bargain with catnip, and because cat. I also posit Uriel may have had a hand in Mouse ending up with Harry, if My Shadow and his sister were destined to be creatures of the Circle, and Lucifer is behind the Circle. Not as a spy, but as a counterbalance like Soulfire. Harry had had no previous experience with dogs, (other than Lea wanting to turn him into one) and is quite baffled by Mouse initially, not realising he was going to be a BIG dog.
The Microfiction contains two clues, Misters food bowl is “EMPEROR” (Mouses food bowl, also Misters, reads “CHEWBACCA”)who was a Sith Lord, suggesting Harry’s subconscious (way smarter than Concious Harry) has realised this but accepts it, he has turned Leas spy. I wonder if eventually he uses Mister as a double agent against Lea in his forthcoming blow up with her over her deal with Margaret. The second is Mister refers to humans as monkeys, an insult the Fae use on humans when referred to as fairies. Where did he pick up that term? He is unlikely to have seen a monkey or be aware of that terms derogatory use.
Mira:
--- Quote ---It’s not just size, Mister is missing his tail, and Malks have an unusually long tail, a tell-tail if he were a scion.
--- End quote ---
There are domestic cats that have no tails, it is genetic to them and they tend to be larger than your average house cat. Also accidents do happen, a cat I had years ago had a run in with a car, broke her tail and eventually it fell off.
Conspiracy Theorist:
In Storm Front when Mister is first described as a kitten Harry found by some dumpsters, he is described as having recently lost his tail, Harry thought to a dog or a car because of his mistrust of both. It’s not genetic, or it might have been entailing it’s removal. Mister is not a Bob Cat.
Maybe one of Leas hounds bit it off, and Mister has been making Mouse suffer as a consequence.
BrainFireBob:
I agree with the theory on Mister being intended as a changeling; although I'd also buy that this is one of those things that Jim intended as a surprise that he might not do because readers guessed.
I don't think it was Lea, though. I think it was Mab- Mab is the one we see using malks for intelligence gathering all the time. I think Lea was getting her info from Bob during his "free nights", as a corollary to the theory of her being his mother.
The detail about Mister's tail being clubbed by some form of apparent misadventure, with the distinguishing characteristics of malks being intelligence, size, and long tails over housecats, was also the light bulb for me.
Changelings appear required to choose in adolescence/young adulthood. Choose magical heritage, gain superpowers but gain restrictions. Choose mortal, have free will, lose the benefits of being Fae. The only exception we've seen is Sarissa, who explicitly tells us she made a deal with Mab to protect herself from "hereditary insanity"- that entailed living 50% of her life as mortal and 50% as Fae, with an additional personal favor of being required to maintain Mab's connection to humanity for the favor.
That's a longwinded way of saying that the only person we've seen exercising the power of delaying Choice well outside the window- is Mab. And Mister has disappeared for periods, as I recall. At 17-18 years, Mister is certainly well past the age he should have Chosen.
Would his siring matter? I think I'd lean towards Grimalkin if he goes down this path- Grimalkin has seemed less unfriendly to Harry than other malks generally. Harry goes on and on about how Winter is generally ruthless, but family ties are acknowledged- Grimalkin might be disposed to indifference instead of hostility over good care of his kin.
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