ARYa_Nym Posted December 25, 2013 Share Posted December 25, 2013 Both Balerion, the kitten, and the mean old tom cat are first mentioned in AGOT. It's easy to come to the conclusion that they are the same cat. And if you do, you have a pretty neat foreshadowing.Because, for a cat to be a favorite toy of a little child, it has to unusually compliant for a cat. So if Rhaenys' sweet and gentle kitten became the meanest and most powerful asshole cat in all of Westeros because she watched her closest friend die, what can we expect of the human characters when they undergo a similar trauma?Four books later and we have Lady Stoneheart and Arya the child assassin and no end in sight.Maybe the cat was always a ferocious little thing if Rhaenys thought it was Balerion come again. Cats are also funny. Balerion could like Rhaenys yet hate almost everyone else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grey Words Posted December 25, 2013 Share Posted December 25, 2013 If fAegon makes it to King's Landing that cat's behavior towards him will tell reader's whether he's the real deal or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teal'c Posted December 25, 2013 Share Posted December 25, 2013 The cat also serves as a metaphor for the Targaryens in general - still lurking about the castle, with knowledge of all of its secret passages and places, and not so coincidentally the namesake of the Black Dread, the key to their original conquest of Westeros. For those who think Varys has Targaryen ties, which I do, Balerion's maraudings directly echo those of Varys, who is also slipping around in the hidden places of the keep, plaguing the usurpers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thendel Posted December 25, 2013 Share Posted December 25, 2013 Yeah. I'm not even saying that Bloodraven can only warg animals with one eye. I was just correcting the misconception that the cat has only one eye (it used to be on the Wiki) which is really the only reason people's minds jump to Bloodraven. Bloodraven probably doesn't even know that cat exists. Ah, sorry, I wasn't paying attention. Carry on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OutintheGardener Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 Consider also the (somewhat crackpot) possibility that Brandon or Rickard Stark, or a northerner from Ned Stark's group, could be living their second life in the cat. Could be interesting! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XSarellaX Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 did GRRM tell you this or are you just making it up? oh right, yep, making it up "That’s the real king of this castle right there … Older than sin and twice as mean. One time, the king was feasting the queen’s father, and that black bastard hopped up on the table and snatched a roast quail right out of Lord Twyin's fingers. Robert laughed so hard he like to burst. You stay away from that one, child." - random gold cloak '#228373 I think its pretty obvious the cat is Balerion, but whether or not hes being warged by BF or is Rhaenys 'second life' i have no idea, i'll guess the former, because its pretty cool to think that BF his still has his thousand eyes and one inside the red keep If it's Bloodraven, his is a bastard who took the black Edit: sorry, I think Apple Martini had already posted that.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asha Greyjoy:Feminist Icon Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 The cat exists so that I might wistfully dream of going back 7 years to name the Xmas kitten "Balerion the Black Cat." Stupid PastMe not being obsessed with the ASOIAF universe all those years ago. The naming possibilities are endless. More seriously: I vote there for shits and giggles. Namely, mine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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