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The Curious Cat[1] was a creature residing in the Ever After that first appeared in "Rude, Red, and Royal". They traveled the realm and helped facilitate the ascension process by determining who required it. They served as the main antagonist of Volume 9.
At first, they acted as a guide for Team RWBY, trying to help them reach the Great Tree. However, in "Tea Amidst Terrible Trouble", they revealed that they were only trying to wear down Ruby emotionally so they could possess her body and travel to Remnant, in order to find out why their makers, The Gods,[2] abandoned them. Though when Ruby ascends, they instead possessed Neopolitan's body, becoming known as NeoCat.[3]
In "Of Solitude and Self", they were forced out of Neo and then defeated by Team RWBY in battle, before being devoured by clones of the Jabberwalker summoned by Neo.
Quick Answers
What role does the Curious Cat play in the Ever After realm?
What was the Curious Cat's true intention towards Team RWBY?
How does the Curious Cat facilitate the ascension process?
Why did the Curious Cat target Ruby specifically?
What is the significance of the Great Tree to the Curious Cat?
Appearance[]
The Curious Cat's normal form
They were a purple glowing quadrupedal cat. They had cyan-colored eyes with white pupils and cyan markings on their face. Their torso was patterned with a cyan checkerboard pattern. Their legs and tail gradually turned into the same light blue color near their ends. They had white whiskers on their face, and purple digital pads on their paws.
They were capable of growing three times as large, gaining a monochrome color scheme. Their main body became pure white, and their checkerboard patterning became pure black. Their sclera/irises turn black while their pupils turned white. The inside of their mouth turned red, as their teeth became sharp, long, and jagged. They also gained an anaglyph filter in this form, making them seem more unnatural.
The Cat possessing Neo
Upon possessing Neopolitan, they gained her form with a few minor differences. Her eyes became those of the Cat's in their normal form, with a light blue sclera and white pupils. Neo's teeth also became much more jagged and sharp. Later, her arms were replaced with large light blue claws, further showing the influence they had over her form.
The "Furious Cat"
After being ejected from Neo, the Cat grew much larger than their previous enlarged form, now looking much more intimidating. Maintaining the black and white color scheme, the "Furious Cat"[4] stood on their hind legs and had a much closer appearance to a lynx. Their claws grew very large and sharp, and rather than polygonal checkerboard patterning, they gained black stripes much more similar to other cats.
Image Gallery[]
Personality[]
The Cat was very curious and asked questions about whatever they can. They at first exhibited a very mysterious, enigmatic and mischievous personality, and they took delight in speaking in various riddles and rhymes to confuse friend and foe alike. Unlike most of the other Afterans shown so far, who seem to be mostly content with staying in their own respective acres, the Curious Cat instead chose to wander freely across any and all of the acres and would explore wherever they please. The Cat later revealed that their curiosity-defined personality was apparently a fault in their nature that they're "cursed" with: they're driven to insatiably to seek new knowledge infinitely, and they couldn't stand not being able to find new answers. This curse, along with their inability to fix their own heart's mounting wariness via Ascension and trauma over their former companion Alyx's betrayal, twisted them into an extremely manipulative, bitter, and sadistic being with a strong disdain for humans, who became obsessed with escaping the Ever After to find out why their makers abandoned them.
Befitting the Cat's curious core nature, when they're manipulating Team RWBY, they enjoyed listening to other people's stories and asked a wide range of questions, some of which were seemingly minor and inconsequential ("What happened to Ciel?") to very serious ones that nobody had any answers to ("How will you save Remnant now that Atlas is gone?"). However, the Cat also revealed that they maddeningly loathe repetition and routine stimuli which isn't new to them anymore, further fueling their need to escape their native realm and find new answers. They quip that they've grown "tired of [Jaune's] little sob story" after watching him refuse to move past his failures for decades, and they rant at Jaune that he's "just more fairy-tale nonsense" in the heat of battle.
The Cat's modus operandi with both Alyx's party and Team RWBY was to approach and aid them as a companion, helping them to reach the Tree so that the Cat could ultimately leave for Remnant with them. The Cat was apparently honest with Alyx about their intention to leave for Remnant and struck up a bargain where she would aid them; but Alyx going back on the deal left the Cat disillusioned, convincing them that the natives of Remnant they interact with only ever want to use the Cat as a means to their own ends, and the Cat in turn treated them the same way. By the Cat's account, they were notably more deceptive with Team RWBY than they'd previously been with Alyx, hiding more of their true intentions from them, while subtly working to wear down Ruby's mental state so they could prey on Ruby's resulting fragility to forcibly possess her.
The Cat was intelligent, cunning and willing to use underhanded techniques to gain the advantage; using Neo's Semblance to take on the appearance of a frightened Penny Polendina in battle when Jaune was about to stab them, triggering a PTSD attack in Jaune which prevented him from striking. The Cat's method of wearing down Ruby was to ask seemingly innocent questions regarding Ruby and her team's defeats and failures which were, in truth, subtle jabs meant to slowly whittle away Ruby's psyche and increase her guilt and self-loathing. Furthermore, this implied that Team RWBY’s encounter with the Herbalist, the Punderstorm and even the early stages of Ruby’s duel with Neo were, in truth, set up by them in order to carefully cause Ruby’s mental decline but, at the same time, ensuring that she did not go through Ascension.
Alyx's "betrayal" was a sore spot for the Cat. The Cat before revealing their true colors turned solemn and depressed (to the point where their color scheme changes) when they vaguely recounted Alyx "betraying" them to Team RWBY. The Cat after revealing their true colors was spitting with rage when they recounted the event in further detail. The Cat displayed nothing but contempt and anger when describing Alyx's crisis of conscience that drove her to decide to atone for all the harm she'd caused through the Ever After, at the price of the Cat losing their chance to leave, highlighting how the Cat only looked out for themself.
The Cat was also sadistic when the need for deception has disappeared. They gone out of their way to taunt Jaune about his past failures, and to project an illusion of Pyrrha Nikos - which smirks throughout the deed - to strike Jaune down in battle. They also tortured Ruby by digging their claws into her chest when she's at her breaking point, and they had no reservations against musing aloud on what they're going to do to Neo while the latter was just cognizant enough to react with horror.
The Cat showed a desperate side in their maddening need to escape the Ever After and find new knowledge: they frantically cried out and panic when the Tree took Ruby before the Cat could possess her, and when the Cat reached the Tree's gate but found out that the host they've claimed can't go through, they spended an indeterminate length of time repeatedly throwing themselves into the portal only to get churned back out over and over again, crying out in anger and desperation all the while, until the heroes' arrival drawed the Cat's attention.
As revealed in “Of Solitude and Self”, after being created by The Gods, the Cat during the early days of the Ever After had a much kinder and noble personality, as seen where they were initially very empathetic and caring towards their fellow Afterans and strived to help them when their hearts were broken and they lost their way. However their nature of being cursed with curiosity, alongside Alyx's small act of dishonesty (and, perhaps, the fact that their creators left them behind in the Ever After with no explanation) eventually caused the Cat to undergo such a dark change in their attitude.
The Blacksmith suggested that if someone had been able to guide the Cat back to the tree for repair of their broken heart, then they wouldn't have gone insane. However, as that was the Cat's own job, there was no one to do it for them. It's also implied that they were fully aware of the fact that they were broken and in desperate need of Ascension but couldn't. This knowledge that they needed to be healed but unable to Ascend likely drove them even deeper into insanity and only made them even more dangerous.
Furthermore, likely due to their past experience with Alyx and Jaune, the Cat had developed a low and spiteful opinion of humans in general. After being beaten by Team RWBY, they spitefully stated to Ruby that she was weak, broken, confused and incomplete like all humans in a failed attempt to break her by reminding Ruby of her failures. This opinion was likely due to Alyx's broken promise to them to take them to Remnant. That, combined with their feelings of abandonment by their creators, who left the Ever After to create new worlds such as Remnant and new creations such as Humanity, only increased the Cat’s hostility and resentment to humanity in general.
Powers and Abilities[]
The Curious Cat was a unique Afteran, proclaiming themselves different from the other Afterans. As revealed in "Of Solitude and Self", the Curious Cat was personally created by The Gods who would take their original role in finding broken hearts of others and ascend them, tasked as a guide to the Ever After in order to follow this purpose. They were also capable of combat with others upon utilizing either their possession of a host, or transformation into their Furious Cat form. With the former, they gained all the skills and even Semblance of their host, allowing them to combat multiple people which included Jaune, Weiss, Yang, and Blake.
As the Furious Cat, while lacking their host's skill and Semblance, the Curious Cat showcased increased size, strength, agility, and immense durability. Capable of destroying Jaune's aura in one punch, and taking on several attacks on their body, including a point-blank bullet at their head from Ruby. Though there was a limit to how many hits they could take, as the combined attack of Team RWBY reverted them back to their base form and left them momentarily weakened.
Kiersi Burkhart described them as an "incredibly powerful opponent" to face.[5]
As a personal creation of the Gods, the Curious Cat was given several unique abilities and powers by them, which include:
- Healing: They had an ability to calm a person down by sharing a piece of their heart. They used this on the Red Prince to calm him down after he lost the game, and on the Herbalist after he used his mist on Team RWBY. This allowed the recipient to decide either to continue performing their role or seek a new one at the tree.
- Transportation: They had the ability to transport to any place they wished to go. They could do this in two ways: a quick burst of movement that resulted in them turning into purple and blue polygons as they travel, or in a bright flash of light that teleported them and nearby people to a completely different area. Upon possessing Neo, the former version of the ability was powered up by her Semblance, allowing them to travel at a faster rate.
- Invisibility: They were able to turn and remain invisible, and selectively make body parts visible, such as their eyes, mouth, and face markings.
- Body Separation: The upper and lower halves of their body could split off and reconnect easily, functioning independently of each other.
- Levitation: They could levitate in the air with great mobility.
- Purpose Alteration: They had ability to change the purpose of Afterans and give them new ones. The Afteran emits a cyan line flare eyes which was seen when they used it on Hawker.
- Emotion Colors: In “Confessions Within Cumulonimbus Clouds”: They could change the tone of their fur depending on their current moods. When they felt sad their fur patterns started to slightly fade away.
- Energy Blast: As shown when they saved Ruby from being attacked by Neopolitan, The Curious Cat had the power to fire powerful blasts of blue lightning from their mouth. In their “Furious Cat” form, the Cat showcased the ability to fire purple lightning from their mouth.
- Transformation: They showcased the ability to transform into a larger, more menacing form, turning black, magenta, and milky purple before finally settling into a large black and white form. Later exiting Neo’s body, the Cat transformed into a larger, more battle-oriented form of the "Furious Cat".
- Possession: They had the ability to possess and take over the bodies of another being, though they could only do so when the intended victim is sufficiently broken down and void of purpose.
- Overactive Imagination: After possessing Neo, the Curious Cat gained access to her abilities and fighting skills, one of which being her Semblance. They can combine her Semblance with their own power, having used it alongside their ability to travel fast distances to quickly get to the Tree after possessing Neo. Later during their brawl with Yang, Blake, Jaune and Weiss, the cat was shown to use it to manifest blue claws for combat. They also showcased creating clones of themselves to fight multiple battles all at the same time, shapeshift into Penny’s form in order to throw off Jaune, a clone of Pyrrha to ambush Jaune and conjure several distorted clones of Ruby to taunt Yang.
- Immunity to Ascension: As shown in "Of Solitude and Self", the Curious Cat was seemingly immune to being affected by the leaves of the Great Tree, with the Blacksmith confirming this and stating how there was no one to send the Cat to the tree to repair their own broken heart. Despite this, if possessing someone they could be affected due to the host, as seen when possessing Neo, with the cat later being unaffected by the smoke in their own body later after exiting hers. Whether or not their immunity was due to them being a unique creation of the Gods or due to the Cat being the one responsible for sending Afterans to the tree for ascension was unknown.
Weaknesses[]
Due to their curious personality and their nature as a cat, they got distracted very easily at little things like chasing butterflies. They had little physical strength in their ordinary form, and their ability to change the purpose of others did not work on non-Afterans. Also, although they were immune to the effects of the Great Tree's leaves, they could still be affected if using a host such as when they felt all of Neo’s regrets and pain manifesting itself and forcing the Cat to experience them alongside her, overwhelming the Cat and quickly causing them to eject themselves from her body.
Like all Afterans, the Cat’s counterpart, the Jabberwalker, was the one thing that can permanently destroy them. Unlike other Afterans, the Curious Cat could not ascend due to their purpose being to heal the hearts of others and cause them to ascend, which they could not use on themselves.
Trivia[]
- They allude to the Cheshire Cat from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
- Unlike every other character, they were not rendered with an outline.[6]
- The Curious Cat may reference the proverb "curiosity killed the cat", foreshadowing their death at the end of Volume 9.[7]
- In early drafts of "Tea Amidst Terrible Trouble", NeoCat would have left the mansion using wheels for feet.[8]
- An image of the model in action was later shared, alongside concept art of the idea.
- The Curious Cat is likely a cautionary tale of a person trying to know everything and trying to gain infinite knowledge.
- Following the Cat's death, Somewhat appears to have taken on their former role, as in "The Adventures of Somewhat", they were tasked with finding "what feels wrong" in the Ever After.