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{{trope}}
[[File:jenner 8246.jpg|link=The Secret of NIMH|frame|[[Sarcasm Mode|Looks like a stand-up guy]].]]
{{quote|''"Rats is rats, past, present, and forever. [[Wicked Weasel|Weasels]] [[Heel Face Turn|change]], but rats is rats!"''|'''John Wesley Weasel''', ''[[The Book of the Dun Cow]]''}}
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{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* In [[Gregory Horror Show]], Gregory and his family either want to trap the protagonist's soul forever (Gregory), eat it (his mother), or torment it (his grandson). All three of them are rats.
* In ''[[Heat Guy J]]'', [[Elite Mook|Ian]] has been sent to do some recon for Clair. However, Ian gets caught by the very man he's investigating, [[Corrupt Politician|Senator Noriega]]. Noriega says, [[Smug Snake|"Well, look what I've found: a dirty little rat."]] Ian takes off his night-vision goggles and replies, "Am I really the one who's the rat?" {{spoiler|before being shot in the head.}}
== Comic Books ==
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* Averted in ''The Tale of One Bad Rat'', a miniseries about a teenager who runs away from home after being sexually abused by her father; her only companion is her pet rat, and she can get quite indignant when people say that rats are dirty or creepy.
* [[Disney Animated Canon]]:
** As far as Disney films go, ''[[Lady and the Tramp]]'' features a rat that threatens the Darlings' baby but is stopped by The Tramp, and ''[[Cinderella (Disney film)|Cinderella]]'' features heroic mice who help the title character deal with her stepmother and stepsisters.
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* In ''[[Coraline (animation)|Coraline]]'', she's shocked that the cat would kill a mouse like that. Little did she know...
* In ''[[Cat City]]'', the rats are villains (although of the [[Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain|ineffectual sympathetic kind]]).
* In ''[[The Princess Bride (film)|The Princess Bride]]'', Wesley gets attacked by a ''[[Rodents of Unusual Size|giant]]'' rat in the forest. He manages to kill it after a few minutes.
** Although it actually looks a lot more like a giant ''opossum'' than a rat.
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* Averted in ''[[Home Alone]] 3'', in which the kid's pet white rat, Doris, is depicted as a cute friendly companion.
* This trope is the reason the Mouse King from ''[[The Nutcracker (theatre)|The Nutcracker]]'' was changed to the Rat King in ''[[The Nutcracker (theatre)|The Nutcracker]]: the Untold Story''.
== Literature ==
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* ''[[Watership Down]]'' uses this one. Hazel finds and saves a field mouse from a hawk. In return, the mouse tells him where there's a stretch of really good grazing for the rabbits. The rabbits are later attacked by a pack of rats just after escaping from Strawberry's original warren. Then again, later in the book Hazel, during the first trip to Nuthanger Farm, stops to ask a rat for directions and gets a quite civil answer, even if, as the narrative notes, the rat had no particular reason to be friendly.
** Possibly the hostile ones were defending their home, as the rabbits had bedded down in an abandoned barn suitable for rats to live in. The rat at Nuthanger farm was simply walking by.
* [[Discworld]]:
** Examined on both sides in the so-called "young adult"
*** The correct answer being: {{spoiler|all of them except the telepathic rats.}}
** Much earlier, Pratchett subverted the "cute friendly mouse" side of this trope with Definitely Not Squeak, a mouse who began talking under the influence of ''[[
** In ''[[
* Mostly averted in ''[[Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH]]'', and its sequels and adaptations. Indeed, its author received a number of letters asking just why he had rats as sympathetic heroes in his book.
* Subverted in ''The Roly-Poly Pudding'', where it's unclear whether the rats actually intend to harm Tom Kitten or are just trying to scare him. (Conversely, there's no question that the cats have eaten rats in the past, and continue to eat them in the future.) This relatively even-handed treatment probably occurs because Beatrix Potter kept a pet rat when she was a girl.
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* [[Mary Gentle]]'s [[Intelligent Gerbil|Rats]]—who are generally the dominant sapient species of any work in which they appear—tend to be crooked, [[The Chessmaster|manipulative]], [[Ambition Is Evil|ambitious]], [[It's All About Me|self-centered]], and [[Fantastic Racism|bigoted]]—in other words, [[Averted Trope|about as bad]] as [[Humans Are the Real Monsters]]. (And they're ruled by [[Stealth Pun|rat kings]] with their tails deliberately knotted together.)
* Averted in [[Spider Robinson]]'s ''Telempath''. Rats are very dangerous — the main character lost his left arm after rat bites got infected — and at one point near the book's end he confronts hundreds of them. "Some were the size of tomcats. They were like a great grey carpet of death." He manages to [[The Empath|empathically]] suggest a truce. The rats don't attack. One of his friends wonders, "Can even ''that'' war be ended someday?"
== Live-Action TV ==
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* Seen in [[Fawlty Towers]] where Manuel's pet 'Siberian Hamster' becomes a pest that must be got rid of before the health inspector arrives.
* For some reason [[Frasier]] and Niles Crane are both squicked badly by Daphne's description of the show rats she used to raise. All they can think of is the rats of the Black Plague, despite the fact they are both mental health professionals who should be familiar with the use of rats in psychological and medical studies. In another episode it's revealed they themselves were named for their mother's lab rats.
* The mythology surrounding the phenomenon of the rat king (a group of rats whose tails are knotted and matted together with filth) tends to give them certain supernatural and generally unpleasant powers. Though it did (rarely) happen in real life, increased hygiene means that rat kings are probably not likely to occur ever again.▼
== Newspaper Comics ==
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* Inverted in ''[[Krazy Kat]]'' with Ignatz Mouse.
== Oral Tradition, folklore, Myth and Legend ==
▲* The mythology surrounding the phenomenon of the rat king (a group of rats whose tails are knotted and matted together with filth) tends to give them certain supernatural and generally unpleasant powers. Though it did (rarely) happen in real life, increased hygiene means that rat kings are probably not likely to occur ever again.
== Radio
* "Three Skeleton Key", a 1950 episode of ''Escape'' narrated by [[Vincent Price]], involves a trio of [[Lighthouse Point]] keepers who find themselves besieged after a [[Ghost Ship|derelict ship]] crashes onto the nearby rocks and ejects its "passengers": an army of ravenously hungry rats.
== Tabletop Games ==
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* In ''[[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]]'', the Skaven are [[Exclusively Evil]] rat-men who practice foul sorcery and use chaos-empowered steampunk technology to wage war on everyone else (even the other [[Exclusively Evil]] races).
* In earlier editions of ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'', wererats were [[Exclusively Evil|Always]] [[Lawful Evil]] (along with the [[Chaotic Evil]] werewolves), while most other forms of lycanthrope were good or neutral. With Fourth Edition, this has been changed so all lycanthropes are [[Exclusively Evil]].
** And then there's [[Planescape]]'s [https://web.archive.org/web/20130621031716/http://www.planewalker.com/040101/cranium-rat Cranium Rats]—one isn't smarter than a normal rodent, but their telepatic abilities bind their little powers and intellects into [[Hive Mind]], so the pack of three dozens can cast minor spells, half-hundred is as smart as an average human, and so on. They're [[Neutral Evil]], and some or all of them are spies of [[Eldritch Abomination|illithid god Ilsensine]].
* Subverted by the Nezumi (aka "ratlings") in ''[[Legend of the Five Rings]]''; they're primitive and rather crude, but basically good guys.
** When ''Five Rings'' was converted to ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' for the 3rd Edition ''Oriental Adventures'' book, nezumi were portrayed as [[Chaotic Neutral]]. However, the book noted that ratlings were often evil in other settings.
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** The predecessor game, ''[[Werewolf: The Apocalypse]]'', had the Ratkin, one of the many Changing Breeds. They decided the werewolves weren't going far ''enough'' in their quest to save Gaia from the deprivations of the Wyrm, so they basically became chaos-mongering terrorists and saboteurs.
== Theatre ==
▲== Theater ==
* The Mouse King in the [[The Nutcracker (theatre)|Nutcracker Ballet]] is probably one of the more famous examples and a subversion of the "mice are nice" part. He even has [[Multiple Head Case|three heads]] in some versions of the story.
** See "rat king" under mythology. Now, imagine ''that'' in place of one guy in a costume with three heads. No wonder all the other characters are terrified of him.
== Video Games ==
* The Qiqirn in ''[[Final Fantasy XI]]'' are a race of beastmen rats who are on not-really-hostile-at-all terms with [[The Empire]] of Aht Urhgan. That is, [[Honest John's Dealership|they like the "clink-clink" people carry, and will do anything to get it.]] Essentially the Near-Eastern version of [[Our Goblins Are Wickeder|Goblins,]] just more peaceful.
** The Burmecians of ''[[Final Fantasy IX]]'' are anthropomorphic rodents. The word 'Rat' appears to be a derogatory term for them, but they are mostly on the side of good.
* Apparently most of the Rattkin in ''[[Wizardry]]'' are thieves (there's also a Rattkin scientist), and their high-ups are [[The Mafia]], but in general they are not worse than any other faction present and better than some, and no more or less prone to generate an aggressive [[Random Encounter]]. That's just their ways. In ''[[Wizardry]] 8'' some work with the party against [[Big Bad]]—it turns out that NPC followed him to another planet to avenge for crossing them on Guardia back in VII.
* Rattata and Raticate in the 1st generation of [[Pokémon]]. They aren't really evil, but are often used by Team Rocket grunts and are [[Com Mons]], so most players generally get tired of seeing them. Also, are contrasted by the [[Nice Mice]] Pikachu and Raichu.
** In [[Pokémon Sun and Moon]], we're introduced to the Alola Region's version of the Rattata line. They're trouble-making Dark/Normal types that look and act the part of a gang of criminals: the mustached Alolan Rattata will steal food from people at night and give it to the Alolan Raticate in charge of their pack, where they proceed to hoard it all like the [[Fat Bastard|Fat Bastards]] they are.
* The rats in ''[[Little King's Story]]'' appear quite
* Don't forget the army of anthropomorphic rats in ''[[Battletoads]]''. These sleazy space pirates fit this trope perfectly. And you'll come to hate rats after [[That One Level|Sc]][[Invincible Minor Minion|uzz]].
* Jimmy Two-Teeth in the ''[[Sam and Max]]'' games, a small-time ruffian rat who is also the [[Butt Monkey]]. He is apparently [[Put on a Bus|sent on a bus]] in Season 3 -- but not before (it is suggested) causing an outbreak of bubonic plague at Max's bidding.
** Rats reappear in Season 4, petty criminals at worst but generally good-natured. None of them are nearly as [[Heroic Sociopath|violent and dangerous]] as [[Killer Rabbit|Max]].
* In ''Majesty'' Ratmen are a milder version of Warhammer's Skaven; they're like goblins, except their habitats are broken sewer pipes, which means they can pop up randomly in the middle of your town rather than some distance away.
* Speaking of Warhammer, ''[[The End Times: Vermintide]]'' is basically ''[[Left 4 Dead]]'', but with you slaughtering hoards of ratlike Skaven instead of zombies.
* Played straight in ''[[King's Quest I]]''. The guard rat will kill Graham if he gets too close. He is amicable to bribery, though.
* Rat demons are the lowest creatures in the demon hierarchy in [[Jade Empire]].
* Rats are the weakest enemies in [[Legend of Kay]].
* Rats are almost always evil disease-carrying pests in ''[[The Elder Scrolls]]'' series. One notable exception is the initial Fighter's Guild quest in ''[[The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion]]''. You have to ''save'' a woman's beloved pet rats from hungry mountain lions. In ''[[Skyrim]]'' they are replaced by Skeevers, which are even bigger, uglier, and filthier. One of the Thieves' Guild quests pits you against a wizard who went crazy trying to convince people that Skeevers are awesome. He now plots to overrun Whiterun with a swarm of mutated venomous Skeevers. Interestingly, it seems that Skeevers aren't always bad either. The owner of the Winking Skeever inn in Solitude named the inn in memory of his beloved childhood pet Skeever.
* ''[[Rat Simulator]]'' has ''you'' playing as one. Your mission in this game is to run around from house to house eating all the food, spreading disease, and avoiding the human residents who will summon flame-shooting exterminators if they catch you.
* Micah Bell from ''[[Red Dead Redemption 2]]'' has rats as his [[Animal Motif]]. While he doesn't look like one, his complete lack of ethics and moral standards as well as him {{spoiler|betraying the Van Der Linde gang to the Pinkertons by ''ratting'' them out}} all embody personality traits often associated with rats. For bonus points, {{spoiler|you can see a rat scampering around his hideout at the end of the game}}.
* The ''[[Donkey Kong Country]]'' series of video games has rat enemies in the second and third games: Neek in the second, and Sneek in the third. Both of them are [[The Goomba|very weak and non-threatening]], but Sneek's got an edge over Neek when you're playing as Ellie the Elephant: if she sees them, she'll panic and run away from them, potentially endangering you if you're close to any hazards.
== Web Comics ==
* Inverted in ''[[Digger]]'', in which sacred rats assist the keepers of the temple library and protect the books from gnawing insects. "Mousie", conversely, is what Ed called Digger, who is tough as nails and far from cuddly or helpless.
* Norveg, Angelika's rat familiar in ''[[Our Little Adventure]]'', completely averts this, being more level-headed than Angelika and acting as her [[Straight Man]] most of the time. Norveg does at one point complain about mice having better PR than rats even though rats are the more intelligent and compassionate species. [http://danielscreations.com/ola/comics/ep0170.html The doctor is afraid that a rat will contaminate his office.]
== Western Animation ==
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* ''[[The Animals of Farthing Wood]]'' have a whole swarm of rather cartoonishly evil rats, considering the otherwise more realistic tone of the show. The rat king, Bully, displays all the stereotypical traits you'd expect a fictional rat to have: he's sneaky, boastful, ruthless, filthy, and cowardly, and his followers aren't much better.
* Ratty from [[Mr. Bogus]].
== Real Life ==
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]▼
[[Category:Characterization Tropes]]
[[Category:Just for Pun]]
[[Category:Rodent Tropes]]
▲[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
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