Cats (Spoilers all books incl RWC)

[maulkin]

They can communicate mind to mind with humans in a similar manner to dragons (but usually choose not to). The Others are terrified of them. What is so special about cats?

[Manephelien]

"The Egyptians once worshiped cats as gods. They have never forgotten this."

[Mervi]

Is that Pratchett?

[Manephelien]

I think so, but I'm not sure. I have read and enjoyed most of his books, though! Someone just uses it as their signature at another bboard.

[Nuytsia]

I have definitely read that quote and I thought the Pratchett idea sounded right, but then I thought .... it can't be cos there's no "Egypt" in discworld ...? (unless the quote has been modified to substitute the word Egyptian for whatever it's called in discworld, which I can't remember right now)

Re the OP - well , I'm not sure what is special about cats in the ROTE world (in our own it goes without saying surely!)
Where is it mentioned that the Others are terrified of them? That's an interesting point... well the mystery deepens!

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ok don't worry about the question, I just read the answer in the other thread!
I still have no idea why the others fear cats though. Why don't people just take their cat with them when they visit the others island? If only Fitz/Dutiful had a cat handy that time.......

[Mervi]

Yes, there's that brief mention in AA about "Other Folk" with webbed feet and a fear of cats. (In the very beginning of chapter 9.)

There was also an indicent with Kennit and the Others. He found a bag of drowned kittens on the beach of their island and terrified them by telling them about it (of course he lied, saying there were more than there actually were and that some were alive). It is then mentioned that their fear of anything feline is almost as legendary as their ability to sooth-say. This is all in the first chapter of Ship of Magic, if you want to look it up. (Drowned kittens also make think of Thick, but I doubt that's really related. And I also wonder whether these kittens were truly blue, or if the colours from the bag (red and blue) had dyed the bodies in the water. And why does one of them have an earring? )

Hmm. Then there's a weird mention in Ship of Destiny (chapter 11) when Etta is talking with Bolt and the "dragon" instructs her about behaviour fitting for females, that they should act like queens and not wait for males to decide on things like breeding. And Etta wonders about the term queens (because Kennit is aspiring to be a king), though she knows that Bolt simply uses it of all female dragons. The quote I'm thinking about is "Female dragons were queens, like cats." That's an interesting juxtaposition, although I have to ask (since English isn't my native language) - do people really refer to female cats as queens in English? (I fear we simply refer to them here as female or girls or, err... bitches. )

I really need to reread the LST again.

[Manephelien]

Entire female cats are sometimes called queens, usually by breeders. In English, bitch refers to female dogs, not cats (I hadn't thought of narttukissa in that connotation, Mervi!).

[maulkin]

I think that the Pratchett quote might be from The Unadulterated Cat, but it is ages since I read it and I don't own own a copy. I wonder whether it is even still in print!

In some ways, the dragons of RotE are a lot like cats; graceful, individualistic, predatory and arrogant. The relationship of dragons and elderlings is also a little like the ambiguous relationship of humans and cats (who has tamed who?). It makes me wonder whether the earliest Wit bonds were between humans and cats.

Perhaps the Others fear cats because cats are like dragons writ small. Then again, perhaps it is merely the fishlike nature of the others that makes them afraid of feline predators.

[Nuytsia]

Hmmmm my memory IS terrible! I had forgotten those other references in the Liveship Traders books about the drowned kittens etc. As to why the earring and if they were truly blue ..... hmmmm.... well I have only read the books through once and I am going to read them all again after I read Dragon Keeper (which I got today YAY!!!!!) and Dragon Haven, so I am sure I'm going to realise SO many new things on second reading.
I haven't read the Unadulterated Cat, but I feel I must get hold of it now !

[maulkin]

The Unadulterated Cat was republished as a new edition in 2002 and is still in print. I may have to reread it myself!