- For the pre-scratch counterpart of this character, see Becquerel.
God Cat, aka GCat, is the first guardian of Earth in the post-scratch session, who infrequently interacts with Jane Crocker and the rest of the alpha kids. Unlike its pre-scratch counterpart Becquerel's relationship to Jade Harley, however, GCat is not an especially close guardian, protector, or even friend to any one individual Hero; “[h]e's just a feisty stray who likes to meddle with [Jane's] life, then vanish for weeks at a time.”
GCat in Condesce's lap, thanks to animal communion.
If indeed GCat has motivations or agendas beyond those of a household cat, they are not known; the Condesce, however, has fostered a close relationship with him and through the use of her animal communion has occasionally used him as a powerful pawn in furthering her own goals.[more citations needed]
Concept and creation[]
Numerous names were suggested for the God Cat by readers, including Curie and Sievert, but no consensus was reached;[citation needed] a story presumably reflected in the fact that among Jane and her friends “everybody has opinions, but nobody can agree on a good name.”
Etymology[]
Jane believes the creature doesn't have a name, and as such she and her friends refer to it as GCat for short. This name's connection to the four nitrogen bases that form DNA (Guanine, Cytosine, Adenine and Thymine), not only connects it to the naming convention of the various online handles, but also, more delicately, to how the DNA sequence involved in Bec's creation was recorded with a substitution of these letters by those used in the word “MEOW”. This was due to Rose's subconscious association of the code with the "secret" Jaspers left her before his disappearance. Whether these aspects of the name are anything more than in-jokes remains to be seen.
Biography[]
Origins[]
The exact origins of GCat have never been revealed, but Jane while under the Condesce's control was seen apparently preparing to create GCat. However, the process for the creation of first guardians is known and would suggest that a cat that has already been seen or yet to be introduced would be the ectobiological origins of GCat. This leaves a limited pool of cats. Looking much like a regular Earth cat would suggest a relation to Jaspers; another possibility is that like Doc Scratch he has multiple ectobiological parents, and that Jaspers, one of his clones, or another cat was combined with yet another cat. The source of the genetic sequence that all first guardians share is very likely written in the notebook that Roxy managed to appearify from Jake's room, as it appears to contain a genetic sequence encoded with the word “BARK”, mirroring the “MEOW” code used to create Becquerel.
As the death of Jaspers is caused by GCat momentarily appearing in Roxy's room and provoking him – an incident previously referred to more obliquely – this may be GCat's way of fulfilling the necessary task of all first guardians having to ensure their own creation. This would imply that GCat's ectobiological parent may be Jaspers, and in getting Jaspers killed, it is ensuring that he is paradoxifiable – a requirement of ectobiology.
When Roxy sends Jaspers back to where he came from a number of his clones gather to "bid farewell to their common ancestor" with GCat having also arrived. Whether the narrative was referring to both them and GCat, or solely to the known clones while falsely implying GCat to share this ancestry, is unclear.
On Earth[]
Prior to the Alpha Kids' entry into the Medium, GCat is seen performing various esoteric and often inexplicable actions on post-scratch Earth. While it interacts mostly with Jane, it does not do so exclusively. GCat appears to possess a capricious spirit, hindering the kids' efforts as much as it appears to aid them. Whether this attests to anything about GCat's own nature or the general independence of cats as opposed to dogs is unknown.
GCat had been interfering with Jane's life for years prior to her playing Sburb, including an incident in which GCat teleported her into a random field on the other side of town. Whilst this action is definitely unhelpful, GCat later saves her life twice, although this could be more due to a necessity to fulfill the conditions of a timeline in which Jane does not die and thus secure its own existence than due to loyalty to Jane. Jane states that he often vanishes from her life for weeks at a time.
As Jane prepares to enter The Medium, GCat stops Dirk Strider's auto-responder from prototyping her Poppop's stuffed corpse by warping it into space[citation needed] - mirroring the same preventative action taken by Becquerel in the pre-scratch timeline[citation needed] - ensuring that the session goes on to become a void session without prototypings.
Years in the future, the Condesce employs GCat alongside a dragon in the final battle against Dirk and Roxy's ancestors.
Hundreds of years into the future, GCat appears in Roxy Lalonde's room and provokes Jaspers into leaping beneath a daunting text right as Roxy appearifies it, crushing and killing him. GCat watches as Roxy sends the black cat back to its original owner, but absconds as a mob of Dersites approaches. When Roxy tries to escape through a fenestrated plane, GCat cuts the connection by teleporting it to Dirk's apartment, momentarily stranding Roxy in the Furthest Ring.
In the Medium[]
GCat attends Jane and Roxy's preparations for the Crocker birthday on the Land of Pyramids and Neon.[citation needed] Later on that day, he seems to attend to a process which may be his own creation with Jane in an ectobiology lab.[image?]
The Condesce's ability to influence GCat is further exemplified when Jane uses a Betty Crocker mouse toy to summon GCat in order to distract PM and Jack Noir, a tactic that is effective due to their rings' prototyping with Becquerel. This further implies a natural rivalry between the two First Guardians similar to that normally encountered between cats and dogs.
Post-retcon[]
The mouse toy is instead used by Jake under Vriska's command to summon GCat. He is prototyped with Tavrosprite, creating Gcatavrosprite. Vriska promptly puts the sprite to sleep, telling Jake that she used Tavros to prevent that cat from being a threat to the session.
Gallery[]
He doesn't give a shit about anything, does he?
Trivia[]
- The God Cat is unique in having been depicted with bright green biology, specifically his tongue[citation needed] - the inside of Bec's mouth is seemingly empty and white,
[image?] while Doc Scratch of course has no mouth to speak of at all.
