Right-Hand-Cat: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

 

Why do bad guys like cats? Maybe because [[Cats Are Mean]] -- [[Predators Are Mean|they kill birds and mice, just so they can offer you the corpse]]. Cats are lap-sized and perfect to pet while scheming. Or maybe it's because cats also (reputedly) believe they are entitled to be worshipped and revered by humans, or deserve to [[Take Over the World]] themselves. Dogs are faithful and loyal, but cats are fickle with a superiority complex. Villains and cats just fit. It's the perfect accessory for a [[Card-Carrying Villain]].

 

 

 

In real life, this is almost entirely untrue. Famous cat ''haters'' throughout history have included Caligula, Nero, Bonaparte, Hitler, and Stalin. Oddly, [[Pet the Dog|all of the above were fond of dogs]], perhaps because of their obedient, worshipful nature. (Alternately, for a psychopath terrified of assassination, a German Shepherd is a little more comforting than a tabby.)

 

 

Pirate captains will have a [[Pirate Parrot]] instead. See also [[Feather Boa Constrictor]], [[Right-Hand Attack Dog]].

 

{{examples}}

* In ''[[Peacemaker Kurogane]]'', after going [[Axe Crazy|crazy]] and [[Depraved Homosexual|gay]], Suzu is depicted as having a fondness for cats.

* Djibril pets his black cat in ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny]]''.

 

 

* Gargamel's cat, Azraël, from ''[[The Smurfs]]''. Leans into [[Right-Hand Attack Dog]] territory, since the Smurfs are small enough to be frequently chased by Azraël.

 

 

* Junkman in the ''[[The Incredible Crash Dummies]]'' (a 1993 half-hour CG movie) has the Hubcat.

* Ernst Stavro Blofeld, from the early ''[[James Bond (film)|James Bond]]'' films, as pictured above. His ever-present fluffy white cat is probably the [[Trope Codifier]], being responsible for most, if not all, of the parodies and references listed below.

** ''[[Diamonds Are Forever]]'' plays with this a little, when Bond confronts Blofeld and his double. Unsure of which is which, Bond kicks the white Persian in the room and shoots the Blofeld it jumps to for safety. Sadly, it doesn't work, as there's more than one cat too.

 

 

* In the ''[[1632]]'' series, it is briefly established that Richelieu likes cats after he is given a Siamese kitten as a diplomatic gift and plays with it.

* In Yulia Latynina's ''Inhuman'', when Mehmed Lee "Eat-Alive" Trastamara (an incredibly old, infamous man, the right-hand of the [[Evil Overlord]] that founded the empire, the inventor of many nasty viruses, as well as a brainwashing symbiont, and the great-grandfather of the [[Villain Protagonist]] who comes to him for advice) finally appears in the flesh, he is sitting in a chair with a big white and red cat resting in his lap. Despite being both ancient and retired, "Eat-Alive" still has a hand in almost everything that happens in the Human Empire and more, {{spoiler|to the extent of eventually organising a successful coup d'etat and establishing himself as the most adroit and savvy opponent of the alien conspiracy}}. Let's just say, he ''earned'' that cat.

* Etienne Galant, the [[Big Bad]] in ''The Corpse in the Waxworks'' by John Dickson Carr, is seen stroking a white persian. The book was published in 1932.

* In the ''[[Novels of the Change]]'', [[Chessmaster]] Sandra Arminger pets her Persians as an aid to concentrating on her schemes.

 

 

* While she wasn't a villain ''per se'', Mrs. Pynchon, the (cold and typically unlikable) newspaper publisher (and everyone's boss) in the TV series ''[[Lou Grant]]'', has a cat who resides on her desk at her office.

* Conan O'Brien's impression of an [[NBC]] executive involves [[Biting the Hand Humor|talking in an "evil" voice and miming petting a cat in his arms]].

* Mick of ''[[Kamen Rider Double]]'' is the pet cat of [[The Don]]/[[Big Bad]] Ryubee Sonozaki. Mick also happens to be one of the high ranking villains: the [[Mega Neko|Smilodon Dopant]].

* Another non-villainous example: [[Cee Lo Green]] strokes a white cat in this fashion during Season 2 of ''[[The Voice (TV series)|The Voice]]''.

** "Assignment Earth". Gary Seven has a black cat named Isis that appears to be intelligent. At the end of the episode it's revealed that Isis is actually a beautiful humanoid female who can take cat form.

** "Catspaw". Korob has a pet black cat. Since he's dressed (and acts) like a wizard, Spock assumes that the cat is his familiar. Later on the cat changes into the form of a beautiful woman, and it turns out that she's really the episode's [[Big Bad]].

 

 

* Dr. Blackgaard with Sasha, from ''[[Adventures in Odyssey]]''.

 

 

* The cover to the ''[[Paranoia (game)|Paranoia]]'' splatbook "High Programmers" has a High Programmer petting a cat with one eye.

* Intentionally invoked [http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=44544 on this forum] as a suggestion for a good use for a template that creates an undead made from a taxidermied skin that can pass for a living creature to all but the most keen-eyed of observers... until they look into its eyes and see the inside of its scalp, or it deflates and slithers away.

 

 

* Pyewacket, Gillian's familiar in ''Bell, Book, And Candle''.

 

 

* In ''[[World of Warcraft]]'', Kel'thuzad, [[The Dragon]] of the [[Evil Overlord|Lich King]], has a cat named Mr. Bigglesworth after Dr. Evil's cat in his dungeon. If it is killed, Kel'thuzad gets quite upset with the players and threatens to send the Scourge to hunt them down.

{{quote|''"NO! A curse upon you, interlopers! The armies of the Lich King will hunt you down! You will NOT escape your fate!"''}}

 

 

* In ''[[The Brick Testament]]'', the evil pharaoh of Egypt in ''[[The Bible|Exodus]]'' is [http://www.thebricktestament.com/exodus/first_meeting_with_pharaoh/ex05_02.html portrayed with a pet cat].

* ''[[Dr. Nonami]]'': Dr. Mechano has Destroyer, an adorable little kitty who he insists is a vicious killing machine.

 

 

* [http://awkwardfamilyphotos.com/2009/10/20/chairman-of-the-board/ Some family decided their Right-Hand Cat would signify the patriarch in family photos.]

 

 

* Even Angelica, the [[Devil in Plain Sight]] on ''[[Rugrats]]'', has a pet cat named Fluffy.

* Skeletor with Panthor, from ''[[He-Man and the Masters of the Universe]]''. Though this was somewhat reversed in that it was the cat who carried Skeletor, rather than the other way around.

* An episode of ''[[Goldie Gold and Action Jack]]'' has a villain with one.

* Baudelaire, Max Madison's cat in ''[[Phantom 2040]]''.

* Ravage from ''[[Transformers]]'' is usually this to the Decepticons.

 

* [[Double Subversion]] in ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! GX (anime)|Yu-Gi-Oh GX]]'': the fact that Daitokouji-sensei had a pet cat could have been a clue he was [[The Mole]], until he was further revealed to be a [[Double Agent]]. And after his [[Redemption Equals Death]], the cat ''takes over his job''.

* In ''[[Medabots]]'', the Right-Hand Cat contains the soul of the [[Big Bad]]; the human body is just a robotic shell.

* Tailmon (Gatomon in the dub) of ''[[Digimon Adventure]]'' started off as Vamdemon's (a.k.a. Myotismon) Right-Hand Cat (though, being a Digimon, she could talk and fight), but it later turned out that she was the missing partner of the eighth Chosen Child.

* Played with in ''[[The Prince of Tennis]]'', where the main character is an [[Troubled but Cute|antisocial and skittish kid]] who is very attached to his pet cat, Karupin. He may not pet him à la Blofeld, but [[Pet the Dog|likes to have the feline sleeping in his bed]].

* What the hell the fat cat in ''[[FLCL]]'' actually was is unclear, but Haruko spends a remarkable amount of time and attention on it. Apparently, she was using it to communicate with her boss.

 

 

* ''[[Bomb Queen]]'''s eponymous supervillainess/EvilOverlord has a black cat named Ashe who, in the most recent volume, has been revealed as an ancient demon who's been using Bomb Queen and her city.

 

 

* Goldentusk's video for the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xc17zmeMlSI James Bond Theme Song] parodies plenty ''[[James Bond (film)|James Bond]]'' tropes, including the Right-Hand Cat.

 

* On ''[[Bolt]]'', the villain of the [[Show Within a Show]] has two cats. The actors who play them love to torment Bolt (who thinks the show is real) by going to his trailer and make threats in character. After Bolt is lost, he mistakes stray alley cat Mittens for one of the Right-Hand Cats and tries to get her to take him back.

* Inverted in ''[[Cats and Dogs]]'' where the villains of the film are cats who just happen to be led by a white Persian. The leader Persian Cat invokes this trope to interact with humans, using a comatose man in a wheelchair. The human's mouth has a bandana or something around it, so the cat make others think the human is talking, so as not to freak everybody out with a talking cat.

* In one of ''[[The Cannonball Run]]'' films, a Mob boss is seen stroking a cat. Then he looks down...and says (quietly and with no special tone), "This cat is dead. Bring me another cat." The mooks do.

 

 

* Gregor Brastov in [[Kim Newman]]'s alternate-history vampire novel ''[[Anno Dracula|Dracula Cha-Cha-Cha]]'' (a.k.a. ''Judgment of Tears'') is a Blofeldish cat-stroking archvillain who turns out to be {{spoiler|just a puppet manipulated by the real archvillain -- his cat. [[Captain Ersatz|Hamish Bond]] should have remembered that some vampires have [[Voluntary Shapeshifting]].}}

* ''[[Discworld]]''

** Parodied in the series, when Lord Vetinari, a [[Magnificent Bastard]] dictator who began as a sort of Blofeld spoof, had an old terrier called Wuffles, even though other characters and the narrator had him pegged as the "white cat stroking type".

** Played with in that the Evil Lord Harry Dread, who would like to be the kind of villain that has a white cat, is allergic to them and has to settle for a pet Hamster instead.

* In the book ''1633'' (in which an American town is transported to 17th-c. Europe), the people of Grantville send Cardinal Richelieu a Siamese cat as a "diplomatic offering". He takes it and strokes it in exactly the way described here. (Persians evidently were introduced in Europe in 1620 according to T.O.W., so one of them wouldn't have been quite as impressive a gift, though a modern Persian's appearance is evidently very different-looking to those times'.)

 

 

** Gary Seven with Isis in the episode "Assignment: Earth" is initially thought to be a villain, but this is [[Subverted]] at the episode's end when Gary Seven is revealed to be trying to save the human race from a nuclear war, and Isis is revealed to be a shapeshifter.

** Also, in the episode "Catspaw", the villain Korob has a black cat, who turns to be another shapeshifter, Sylvia, who later turns into a ''giant'' black cat.

** The TV comedy has fun with this one in a few episodes, including one scene where a man is stroking a white cat until someone enters his office, at which point he casually puts the cat away in a desk drawer. He has a puppy in another desk drawer, not to mention a flock of doves in his filing cabinet.

** The Boss is first shown via a Blofeld-style lap-cam, until he gets tired of this and leans down to speak directly into the camera.

* ''[[Scrubs]]''

** After having sworn revenge against Dr. Cox and then overheard something that would aid him in said revenge, the Janitor turns around in a swivel chair, stroking the nonexistent Leonard.

 

 

* Creepily subverted in the play ''[[Woyzeck]]'' (as well as the opera and rock opera based thereon). Although [[Morally-Ambiguous Doctorate|the Doctor]] has a pet cat, he [[Kick the Dog|throws it out the window]] [[For Science!|just to see whether it lands on its feet.]]

* In a version of ''The Pink Wasp and Yellow Jacket'', the villain has a cat that he would periodically forget he was holding and accidentally throw into the air. At one point, Yellow Jacket, played as a asian stereotype, picks up the cat and tries to eat it.

 

 

* Video game inversion: General Viggo from ''[[Fur Fighters]]'' is an anthro cat who pets a mini-human.

* ''[[Banjo-Kazooie]]'': Nuts and Bolts has Piddles, a cat given to Gruntilda by the [[Dungeon Master|Lord of Games]]...who she [[Kick the Dog|boots 12 feet in the air after meeting]]. Needless to say, Piddles hates her mistress with a passion and gleefully takes the opportunity to be a [[Bad Boss]] to her in the epilogue.

 

 

* In ''[[The Order of the Stick]]'', Lord Shojo pretends to [[Consulting Mister Puppet|consult his cat]], "Mr. Scruffy", as part of his [[Obfuscating Insanity|pretense of senility]]. An inversion in any case, since Shojo is a good guy. Of course, Mr. Scruffy now appears to have become a genuine Right-Hand Cat to the [[Heroic Comedic Sociopath]] Belkar.

* Parodied in [http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2005-02-16 this strip] of ''[[El Goonish Shive]]'' (note the title of the strip at the bottom).

* Referenced in the commentary of [http://darthsanddroids.net/episodes/0275.html this strip] of ''[[Darths and Droids]]''.

* In ''[[Scandinavia and The World]]'', any of the characters (notably, Russia) can appear stroking a white cat while in "evil mastermind" mode.

 

 

* [[Subverted Trope|Subverted]] to the extreme in ''[[The Powerpuff Girls]]''. The girls once defeated an archetypal [[The Faceless|faceless]] villain who stole a valuable jewel to power a laser, and took his pet cat home afterwards. The ''cat'' [[The Dog Was the Mastermind|was actually the villain all along]] and hypnotized [[The Professor]] into almost finishing the mass [[Brainwashed|brainwashing]] project.

* Subverted in the ''[[Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers (animation)|Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers]]'' [[Five Episode Pilot]], wherein Fat Cat debuts as Chlordane's Right-Hand Cat, only to become a villain in his own right for the rest of the series (while Chlordane is never heard from again). Even during the pilot, after helping Chlordane steal a ruby, Fat Cat steals the ruby from Chlordane for his own purposes, making sure to return it before its absence is noticed.

* Mistress Leevil, the president of BET in ''[[The Boondocks]]'', has her own cat. The twist here? The cat is ''dead''.

* In the ''[[Futurama]]'' episode "That Darn Katz!", a grumpy professor named [[Meaningful Name|Katz]], who rejects Amy's proposal for harnessing the Earth's rotation for energy, has a white cat in his lap. It is later revealed that Katz {{spoiler|was really a puppet operated by the cat, who (like all cats, as it turns out) is actually an intelligent alien who wants to use Amy's device to stop Earth's rotation and transfer it to his homeworld.}}

* Parodied in the ''[[Total Drama Action]]'' episode "Dial M for Merger". As a parody of spy movies, Chris introduces the challenge wearing an [[Eyepatch of Power|eyepatch]] and petting a white cat. Afterwards, [[Animals Hate Him|the cat attacks him]].

 

* [[The Pope|Pope Benedict XVI]] is apparently [[wikipedia:Pope Benedict XVI#Interests|fond of cats]], not helping rumors of his evil-ness.

* Sultan Abdul Hamid of the Ottoman Empire was reported to have been fond of the rare Van breed of cat. As to whether or not he was evil, well, he ''was'' known as the Red Sultan in the west for a reason.

* Mob big shot Monk Eastman was fond of cats and pigeons and ran a pet store.

{{quote|"I like de kits and boids. I'll beat up any guy dat gets gay wit' a kit or a boid in my neck of de woods." }}

* Deadmau5, a Canadian house artist popular for performing with a giant mouse head on, is very fond of his cat, Professor Meowingtons, going so far as to name one of his tours the Meowingtons Hax Tour.

 

 

* In ''[[Read or Die]]'', {{spoiler|The Gentleman}} has a turtle instead.

* Played with in the ''[[Hellsing]]'' manga and OVA with the [[Big Bad|Major]] and Schrödinger, a [[Catboy]] subordinate fond of sitting on the floor next to his superior's [[Cool Chair|chair]] with his head at convenient scratching height.

 

 

* Adrian Veidt from ''[[Watchmen (comics)|Watchmen]]'' has Bubastis, some kind of bright-red mutant lynx-thing. Until {{spoiler|he disintegrated it}}.

* The demonic Lord Arux from ''[[Lucifer (comics)|Lucifer]]'' has an advisor, Praxspoor, also a demon, who chooses to take the form of a panther-size black cat because he finds it helpful to be underestimated.

* The comic book version of ''[[The Thrawn Trilogy]]'' often depicted Grand Admiral Thrawn cradling and stroking a [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Ysalamiri ysalamiri], a nearly vegetative lizard creature, like it's a cat, when in the books, he carried one in a nutrient frame strapped to his back or connected to his command chair. Ysalamiri [[Power Nullifier|negated the powers]] of his [[The Starscream|psychotic dark Jedi ally]], and occasionally, he reached up and stroked it to remind C'baoth that he couldn't be choked, electrocuted, or [[Charm Person|charmed]], but he didn't carry one around in his arms or on his lap. You can't really do that with ysalamiri. [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|Plus, they smell]]. Still, the depiction is universal enough that it's practically an extension of his [[Memetic Outfit]].

 

 

* ''[[Heavy Metal (animation)|Heavy Metal]]'' film. The [[Big Bad]] of the "Taarna" segment has a Right-Hand Rat: a giant rat-like creature with a nasty snarl. He petted it while it sat next to him.

* In ''[[Despicable Me]]'', Gru has a bizarre-looking mongrel dog named Kyle.

* Early on in ''[[Megamind]]'', the title villain uses one of his Brain-bots for this purpose.

* Spoofed in ''[[Spice World]]'', where [[James Bond (film)|Roger Moore]], unseen, strokes a series of increasingly ludicrous pets as he plays the Spice Girls' corporate boss.

* ''[[Dirty Work]]'' (1998): the villain holds his tiny dog a lot. The protagonists speculate that their relationship is not entirely platonic.

* ''[[Star Trek III: The Search For Spock]]'': The Klingon Villain Kruge has a pet "Monster Dog" on board his Bird of Prey, which is said to be a cross between a lizard and a timber wolf.

* Jabba the Hutt from ''[[Star Wars]]'' has Salacious Crumb, a mischevious "Kowakian monkey-lizard" which officies as jester in the crime lord's court.

 

 

* Behemoth, from ''[[The Master and Margarita]]'', is a demon in the entourage of [[Satan|Woland]] who appears in the shape of a man-sized, bipedal black cat.

 

 

* Spoofed in the "Secret Service Dentists" sketch on ''[[Monty Python's Flying Circus]]'': "I'm glad you could all come to my little party. And Flopsy's glad, too. Aren't you Flopsy?" When the villain doesn't get a response, he shoots Flopsy and says "That'll teach you to play hard to get. Well, poor Flopsy's dead, and he never called me mother." Although Flopsy was a rabbit, not a cat, it still sorta works.

* ''[[Red Dwarf]]''. Parodied in the opening scene of "Stoke Me a Clipper", where Ace Rimmer's evil Nazi opponent is first shown via a lap-level view of his hand stroking his [[Never Smile At a Crocodile|pet crocodile]], Snappy.

* In ''[[M.I. High]]'', the evil Grand Master has a Right-Hand ''Bunny'' named General Flopsy.

* In ''[[Skippy the Bush Kangaroo]]'', one of the recurring villains has a right hand ''koala''.

 

 

 

 

* Rugal Bernstein and his pet panther Rodem in ''[[The King of Fighters]]''. His kids, Adelheid and Rose, have a little black kitten who is apparently the offspring of Rodem. Also included is Zero with Glaugan (a black lion) from ''2001''.

* [[President Evil]] Rufus Shinra in ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'' had (very briefly) a panther named Dark Nation. Very briefly because it only shows up in the battle where you first meet Rufus, where Cloud promptly kills it.

 

 

* ''[[Homestar Runner]]:'' from the ''Dangeresque'' films, Baron Darin Diamonocle (played by Bubs) is a parody of the Blofeld-style supervillain. He uses The Cheat as his cat-substitute.

 

 

* In ''[[Umlaut House]] 2'', ASCII is briefly seen with a robotic cat (he's an android) during his supervillain phase.

 

 

* ''[[ReBoot]]'':

** Hexadecimal, as an insane anthropomorphism of a computer virus, somewhat inexplicably, has a small round cute thing with a feline face called Scuzzy as a pet. In one episode, Bob and Mike the TV find to their horror and sorrow that Scuzzy also doubles as Hexadecimal's [[Right-Hand Attack Dog]]: one that [[Make My Monster Grow|can grow impossibly large]], [[Super Speed|move very fast]], has [[More Teeth Than the Osmond Family|very sharp teeth]], and [[Doppelganger Attack|can clone itself as necessary]].

** Her male counterpart, Megabyte, has Nibbles, a slug-like creature that was formerly sentient but reduced to that form after losing a game. Nibbles used to be, in a sense, Megabyte's father. Nibbles is the Null of {{spoiler|Doctor Matrix, the father of Enzo and Dot, and the designer of the Gateway Command.}}

* A few ''[[Kim Possible]]'' villains have [[Playing with a Trope|toyed with the concept]] of the Right-Hand Cat:

** Gemini, the most straightforwardly "Bondish" villain on the show, has a yappy pet Chihuahua named Pepe.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Evil Tropes]]

[[Category:Obviously Evil]]

[[Category:Loyal Animal Companion]]

[[Category:Villains]]