Let them out of the fairy ring, and they just want right back in.note L-R, Top-Bottom: Cait Sith in Boots, Cat Sidhe, Grimalkin, Dweomercat
The Cait Sidhe, more than almost any other breed of fae, have always co-existed with humanity. There’s some question as to whether man domesticated the cat, or whether the Cait Sidhe domesticated man and decided to share the spoils of our labor with our little mortal cousins. Whatever the reality, the truth of the matter is that where there are men, there have always been cats, and cream, and Cait Sidhe hiding their true nature behind a purr.
— Rand, Rat-Catcher
Cats have a broad reputation as being wily, independent, and stealthy. In the British Isles and Western Europe, cats are prominent in folklore, recognized as capricious spirits of nature.
In European folktales, cats (due to their unpredictable and borderline unsettling habits) were identified as no ordinary animals, but animalistic Fair Folk known as "fairy cats." Like cats, the enchanted felines had a range of attitudes—they were either a Portent of Doom, tricksters, predatory stalkers, or all of them, tending to range from merely amoral to outright evil.
There were two common types of fairy cats, with the feline aspect dependent on the type of fairy. In Celtic and Welsh tales, fairy cats referred to fairies and witches that donned cat forms as a disguise to interact with humans, either as helpers or to cause trouble. Other tales told of the cat-sidhenote pronounced "ket-shee" (or cat-sith) and grimalkin (or greymalkin), which were more animal-like: they naturally looked and acted like ordinary cats, but with magical abilities. Due to their supernatural status, the cat-sith were heavily tied to the occult, appearing in texts pertaining to witches. Unlike other fairies, the cat-sith were more malevolent, where their mere presence could spell misfortune for humans who vexed them. With the belief that cats were fairies in disguise, the fairy cat phenomenon also influenced cat superstition in Europe, among which included stealing the breath of humans and stealing milk from cows, and portrayals as wicked creatures in European and American folklore.
Notably, despite being traditionally dubbed as a fairy, fairy cats were interchangeable with different mythical creatures. Parts of the British Isles viewed cats and cat spirits as vengeful specters, while Scotland during the 16th century interpreted the cat-sith as demons disguised as a witch's familiar. Due to this, fairy cats were not always explicitly fairies nor magical, though they were always fearsome. In Ireland, witches disguised as fairy cats were said to transform into a cat and back eight times. If one of these witches chose to go back into their cat form for the ninth time, they would remain a cat for the rest of their lives. This was theorized to be the origin behind Cats Have Nine Lives.
Appearance-wise, fairy cats commonly have black, white, gray, or tabby fur with Glowing Eyes of Doom and a Mark of the Supernatural (i.e. a patch of miscolored fur) to highlight something off about them. Another trait was that fairy cats were often bipedal, walking on their hind legs like humans. However, the fur color was generally a giveaway of the cat's morality.
Modern depictions of the fairy cat myth will typically be mischievous or malevolent cat-like spirits, with some depictions also alluding to the names and traditions surrounding them. In addition, denoting the similarities fairy cats have with the Fair Folk, witches, ghosts, and demons, stories may depict these cats as various supernatural species, cat-fairy hybrids, or a variation of magical cat.
Sub-Trope of Cats Are Magic and Our Fairies Are Different. Related to Mega Neko. Compare to All Witches Have Cats and Black Cat Luck. Contrast Hellhound. See also Bakeneko and Nekomata, a Japanese cat spirit. May be a Sub-Trope of Ghostly Animals depending on the exact nature of the fairy cat in question.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- The Ancient Magus' Bride: The Cat Sidhe are monstrous black cats, some of whom serve as the guardian beasts of the College.
- ARIA: Cait Sith is a giant Aquan cat who is the King of the Cats of Neo-Venezia. Not only does he have a high degree of magic, but he's suggested to be the entity of the same name in Scottish folklore, and it is strongly suggested that he is a guardian spirit of Aqua.
- Blue Exorcist: Cait Sith are demons that resemble cats. Despite their name, their trait of two tails is based on Bakeneko and Nekomata, making them a combination of the two creatures.
- Future Card Buddyfight: Cait Sith in Boots is a fairy-type Buddy inspired by Puss in Boots.
- Ojamajo Doremi: Witches are accompanied by fairy companions, who often take the form of cats in public.
- Pretty Cure: Seiren, a.k.a. Ellen Kurokawa, a.k.a. Cure Beat from Suite Pretty Cure ♪, is a fairy who looks identical to a black cat; it's likely she is a cat. She had a pendant that allowed her to transform into a human with no physical traits of a cat. After becoming Cure Beat, Seiren is trapped in her human form, Ellen, because her pendant got broken. In the Halloween Episode, Ellen cosplays as a black cat.
Fan Works
- Earth-27: Yule cats, known as cat sidhe, Cheshire cats, phantom cats, and a number of other names, are predators native to Nóatún, the home of Santa Claus and the Christmas Elves. They're roughly the size and shape of a saber-toothed tiger and need to eat a diet rich in magical beings such as elves, fairies, or human mages to fully mature, which makes them a serious danger for the other natives of their home.
- Spellbound (Lilafly): Miraculous Ladybug characters and events are reinterpreted in terms of fae magic. Adrien and Felix are half-fae, Cat Sídhe shapeshifters through their mother. Cat Sídhe fae can turn into cats, eat the souls of the departed to increase their power, and bestow curses on anyone and receive good luck in response, or with blessings and receive bad luck. Plagg is the creator of the Cat Sídhe fae, as when he needed to get rid of an unfit holder, he gave them raw power that would change them into something inhuman, and therefore not capable of using a Miraculous. One such person turned into a large black cat and became the ancestor of the Cat Sídhe. Then, centuries later, a half-human Cat Sídhe (Adrien) became the holder of Plagg's Miraculous (and Plagg isn't thrilled about it).
Film — Live-Action
- Cat's Eye (1985): Discussed in the "General" segment. Amanda's mother is distrustful of the titular tomcat because her mother told her of the old wive's tale that cats steal the breath of infants when they sleep. While General is unnaturally lucky (and it's implied he's psychic), it's never outright stated whether it's true. At the end, General creeps up to Amanda, implying he's going to steal her breath. He instead gently licks her awake, and she cuddles him.
Literature
- The Dresden Files: Malks are a kind of feline fairies associated with the Winter Court, and tend to be wily, sneaky, and casually cruel beings sitting at the cross of common felines' nature as "joyful killers" and the harshness and coldness of the Winter Fae; Harry describes them as being "to cats what Hannibal Lecter is to people". Harry encounters two individual malks over the series: Grimalkin, first seen in Summer Knight, acts as a cross between a valet and a Mouth of Sauron to Queen Mab, while Cat Sith is a particularly old, vicious, and feared malk sent by Mab to assist Harry in Cold Days.
- Little Witch Academia: The Nonsensical Witch and the Country of the Fairies: Feoras and the Cait Sith are a group of fairies who take on the appearance of cats. They are opposed by the Alan and the Cu Sith, who are the Cait Sith's canine counterparts.
- October Daye: The Cait Sith are cat fae that are outside the normal fae laws for being cats.
- Pale: Strangelings are fairy-adjacent Others resembling normal cats that are used by fairies and Fae to bypass protections by pretending to be ordinary cats and do tasks ranging from simply getting an item back from a hapless Innocent, to undoing said protections entirely so that the Fae can enter a house with impunity.
- Puss in Boots: The Italian version of the fairy tale (Costantino Fortunato) portrayed the titular cat as a fairy in disguise, where he helps the boy who raised him due to the compassion he felt for Constantino and anger towards his brothers' mistreatment of them both.
- Rainbow Magic: Two of the fairies, Lara and Kitty, are feline-based fairies based on black cats and tigers, respectively.
- Sword Art Online: The Cait Sith race of Alfheim Online are fairies designed after the eponymous fairies from folklore as Cat Folk, complete with feline ears and tail. Another parallelism of the franchise with Otherland, in which there is a race with elvish/feline features called Sith.
Mythology & Religion
- The cat-sith is a cat spirit in Celtic Mythology that appears as a black cat with a white spot on its chest.
- According to legend, the cat-sith is believed to steal the souls of dead humans who haven't crossed over yet, and, like many fairies in British folklore, it could dry up cattle and sour milk. The creature is commonly thought to be a fairy, but others think it's a demon or witch in disguise.
- A popular English folktale of the cat-sith is "The King of the Cats". In the story, a man comes home to tell his wife and black cat, Old Tom, hollering, "Who's Tommy Tildrum?" He explains that he saw nine black cats with white marks on their chests. The cats were carrying a coffin with a small golden crown laid on the top, and one of the cats spoke to the man, "Tell Tom Tildrum that Tim Toldrum's dead." Suddenly, Old Tom exclaims, "What?! Old Tim dead! Then I'm the King o' the Cats!" The cat then climbs up the chimney and is never seen again.
- Grimalkin is an archaic term for cats and commonly refers to felines that are demons, spirits, or witches. In Scottish legends, the grimalkin is a fairy cat that lives in the highlands.
- In Islam cats are traditionally considered benevolent djinn.
- Norse Mythology: The skogkatt is a mountain-dwelling fairy cat with adept climbing skills. The name is believed to be the inspiration for the modern-day breed of Norwegian Forest Cat.
Tabletop Games
- The Crooked Moon: Ketgrinns are evil, catlike fey spirits with enormous eyes and Slasher Smiles that steal voices and gather intel for their masters.
- Dungeons & Dragons: The grimalkin from the 3rd Edition Monster Manual II is a shapeshifter whose true form is a large blue-gray housecat, but which can turn into any animal close in size. They are found in Faerun, the land of the faeries, but their origins are mostly unknown; some claim they come from the Feywild and others claim they were created by a wizard as familiars. Grimalkins themselves insist they’re just "cats of exquisite talent". Breeds of Grimalkin include the blue, igola, mau, and skogkatt.
- Pathfinder:
- Cat siths are magical creatures that resemble black housecats with a white spot on their chests; they can walk bipedally and sometimes wear magical boots. They're mysterious and intelligent creatures with powerful innate magic, and often cloaked in superstition; they're known to act as familiars and spies for spellcasters, and often infiltrate humanoid settlements either on the agenda of their masters or following their own inscrutable whims. They're also rumored to be able to steal the souls of the recently dead.
- Dweomercats are magical felines native to the First World, the home of the fey. They're naturally intensely magical beings with an innate ability to absorb and warp spells, but away from the First World and its magic they are left stunted and unable to fully grow and mature. Dweomercat cubs are sometimes taken as familiars by powerful wizards.
- Elananxes are cat-shaped fey resembling stocky housecats with glowing eyes, a perpetual smell of burning leaves, and an affinity for fire. They're cruel hunters that enjoy toying with their prey, and frequently ally with the equally malicious redcaps.
- Silvanshees, the lowest rank of agathions — Neutral Good celestials resembling Beast Folk — resemble small, non-anthropomorphic talking cats capable of flying and turning into mist. In appearance, they can resemble any kind of cat, but always with a blaze of differently colored fur on their chests; in practice, however, their artwork always depicts them as black cats with white chests and purple eyes. They're usually sent to the material plane to act as scouts for the greater agathions or to serve as Familiars for Good-aligned spellcasters.
- We Are All Mad Here: The cat sidhe are predatory nine-tailed cats found in the Enchanted Forest. They have the ability to eat the souls of their prey, and especially love the taste of their victims' memories. If a cat sidhe is killed, it can choose to lose one of its nine tails instead. Once a cat sidhe has no more tails remaining, its death is final.
- Werewolf: The Apocalypse: The Ceilican tribe (fae cats) are werecats linked to the fae that resemble domestic cats. They are the most secretive tribe among the Bastet werecats, and were thought to be extinct many times throughout history (some of which the Ceilican themselves faked). The Revised Edition introduced a sub-breed known as Hellcats, Ceilican driven mad after walking through the Black Labyrinth.
Theatre
- Macbeth: One of the witches owns a gray cat named Greymalkin.
Video Games
- Dominions: One of the units that can be gained from the "Summon Fay Folk" spell is the Fay Folk Cat Knight, a tiny Fay man riding a Fay Cat. Like all Fay Folk, both rider and mount are stealthy and hard to hit in combat, but weak to iron.
- Fate/Grand Order: Lord Grimalkin was the original ruler of Darlington, a cat faerie and the master of Tristan/Baobhan Sith. His taking advantage of Tristan ultimately caused the Calamity of Resurrection, since he had Tristan create zombies out of corpses until they overran Darlington, resulting in the death of Grimalkin and almost all of the city's inhabitants. Tristan has a skill named after the faerie himself as a reference.
- Final Fantasy XI: Cait Sith are magical felines that are neither monsters nor Beastmen, but lesser deities created by Altana. There are initially 10 black Cait Siths associated with Altana and 10 white Cait Siths associated with Voidwatch, with each of the black ones named after a number in Gaelic. The black Cait Siths eventually combine to form a single entity that joins Lilisette.
- Gems of War: The Cat Sith is a fey-beast monster that appears as a large blue-furred grinning cat monster.
- GrimGrimoire: The Grimalkins, from the game's Sorcery faction (themed around occultism and demonology), are magical cats that can enchant enemy units to sleep or burn their enemies' mana reserves to inflict damage.
- Pokémon: Downplayed with the feline 'mons Skitty and Delcatty. Although neither one of them is an actual Fairy type, they're still in the Fairy Egg Group and learn a few Fairy-type moves leveling up (Baby-Doll Eyes, Charm, Disarming Voice, and Play Rough, to be specific). Additionally, Skitty has a Lunacy motif (a crescent moon-shaped face and evolving with a Moon Stone) and pink color scheme, both of which are common among Fairy types.
- Rage of Bahamut:
- The Cait Sith are god-type monsters who appear as bipedal cats of a feline civilization. They live in a kingdom and are ruled by a cat king.
- Grimalkin is a demon who appears as a gray-furred cat with a white patch on its head and a claw for a tail. It can use magic and summon higher-level demons in its Witchcraft form.
- Shin Megami Tensei: Cait Sith is a recurring summon in the series that's also inspired by Puss in Boots. A fairy demon and a member of the Beast race, it resembles a black cat with a white patch of fur and wields a sword in battle. Its origin from the Scottish highlands references the origins of the fairy it's inspired by.
- Soul Sacrifice: In the DLC, the Cat Sith is an archfiend who was once an overprotected prince who wanted to be free, like the cats he observed. After his death, he got his wish, becoming a white-furred feline demon that looks like a blob of gnarled cat flesh with powerful claws.
Web Videos
- Critical Role: Campaign Two: Caleb's "Find Familiar" spell summons a fey spirit, which for him takes the form of a cat, specifically his late childhood cat, Frumpkin. When he later casts "Widogast's Nascent Nein-Sided Tower," said tower is tended by 100 fey cat servants.
- In Dimension 20: The Unsleeping City, la Gran Gata is a bodega cat who is also a spirt of wonder who provides our heroes with whimsical magic in a time of need. He also serves as source of magic to Sophia, becoming the Ariel to her Prospero.
Websites
- Bogleech: Discussed in the article on "Caterwauls👁 Image
" (that is, cats and catlike creatures in the context of Halloween decorations), which brings up folkloric beliefs about cats such as their ability to steal the breath or souls of infants or the elderly.
Western Animation
- Gabby's Dollhouse: Kitty Fairy is a half-fairy kitty with nature magic that allows her to help the garden grow.
- He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (1983): The Grimalkin is a cat demon found in the Temple of the Cat. Originally trapped inside the Grimalkin Statue, the demon was released and attacked the heroes before it was resealed in the statue.