Cait Sith = Reeve?

[LicoriceAllsorts]

To what extent is Cait Sith Reeve? Is Cait Sith supposed to have a personality, an identity - a life - of his own, or are his character traits really Reeve's? Or is he supposed to be Reeve's alter ego, expressing and enacting all the things Reeve would like to do but, as a grown and supposedly mature man, can't?

I was just wondering what you all thought about this. If anything.

 

[Ryushikaze]

In short, yes, to both. He IS supposed to be his own personality, but he's also born of Reeve's mind, and the individual Caits are all technically an expression Reeve Himself.

 

[Splintered]

I'm always confused in where Reeve ends and Cait Sith begins. I think it's deliberately made ambiguous, especially after the first Cait Sith "dies" and that being itself is technically gone for good, but a second Cait Sith that's exactly the same take its place without any conflict.

There are also times when Reeve can control CS directly, and it doesn't seem that CS is really any different.

So I'd wager it is more like an alter ego. The two may act different and have different experiences, but at the core they are similar.

I think. I might have just confused myself.

 

[ForceStealer]

Due to Reeve letting the team directly eavesdrop on "Gya ha ha and Kya ha ha" through Cait Sith, I had long assumed that Cait Sith was programmed with an AI but Reeve could assume direct control whenever he wanted.

But then this ridiculous Inspire business came about...

 

[Alex]

but Reeve could assume direct control whenever he wanted.

I know you feel this, toy cat.

 

[Cat Rage Room]

Due to Reeve letting the team directly eavesdrop on "Gya ha ha and Kya ha ha" through Cait Sith, I had long assumed that Cait Sith was programmed with an AI but Reeve could assume direct control whenever he wanted.

But then this ridiculous Inspire business came about...

This is what I thought.

 

[Sigbru]

I think Cait refers itself as a "stuffed toy" at least once, so I think it it's not entirely a robot. Or maybe just the cat is a robot and the moogle a stuffed toy?

 

[DLPB]

Makes Neelix on voyager look like a good character

 

[LicoriceAllsorts]

I have heard of this "Inspire" but I don't know what it is. Am I better off that way?

 

[Raquelborn]

I conclude Cait's a stuffed toy in-built with an AI which Reeve can remotely control whenever he wishes.

Is that from Farscape? Whoa.

 

[Splintered]

Is that from Farscape? Whoa.

Play Mass Effect now. This must happen.

 

[Ryushikaze]

Makes Neelix on voyager look like a good character

LIES.

Also, Splintered, Inspire is an ill explained superpower that Reeve has that lets him turn inanimate object animate.

 

[ForceStealer]

I have heard of this "Inspire" but I don't know what it is. Am I better off that way?

To quote Reeve's Ultimania Profile on our greatly underappreciated main page:

By utilizing his special ability, “Inspire”, he is able to cause inorganic things to emit life; his “child”, the “cat”-shaped robot, Cait Sith can be controlled from a great distance.

That's right folks, Reeve can will inanimate objects to life. Not because of a special materia, not because of Jenova infusion, not even because of a limit break, he just...can.
Why Cait Sith can't just be a part remote-controlled/part artificially intelligent robot is beyond me.

 

[Joe]

I know you feel this, toy cat.

Alex beat me to it

Oh gawd so many ME2 references this weekend.

 

[looneymoon]

That's right folks, Reeve can will inanimate objects to life. Not because of a special materia, not because of Jenova infusion, not even because of a limit break, he just...can.
Why Cait Sith can't just be a part remote-controlled/part artificially intelligent robot is beyond me.

What is this I don't even... :|

 

[Ite]

That is some smelly poop right ther

You don't painstakingly develop a system where magic has been turned into a science, only to start throwing hogwash like this around. You don't develop a gameworld wherein the afterlife is a tangible, rational thing and then just give a cubicle-farmer the superpower to bring pens and doilies to life.

Would the doilies go into the Lifestream?

The ambiguity around Cait Sith was one of the more interesting things left unsaid about Final Fantasy VII (as FF7's strengths were mostly what was left unsaid). It very subtly handled the old robot question of the validity of life even if it is programmed (or, in Cait Sith's case, directly controlled). Cait Sith also played into the theme of puppetry and manipulation, and what it means to make a choice. He was ALSO important to bear in mind when thinking about identity, as Reeve prefers to remain as Cait Sith even after he is outed, suggesting that the character has become the man, and vice versa. There is just a truckload of subtext and depth in the character that it gets hard to fault him for being an excitable annoyance.

Now, a wizard did it. The magic cat is all there is.

If Reeve has this power, why didn't he use it all the time for his job? Urban development, hmm. He could bring cranes to life and they could build flawless infrastructure. He could bring dollar bills to life so they could have sex with each other and make new dollar bills. He could bring the roads to life so they could give him weekly status reports on traffic.

He wouldn't be, you know, rounded up by the Science Department and experimented on? Aeris couldn't do shit like that. Nobody can. Cause it's smelly poop POOP POOPY CA CA

 

[Splintered]

LIES.

Also, Splintered, Inspire is an ill explained superpower that Reeve has that lets him turn inanimate object animate.

Oh, I know what inspire is, well, what it is suppose to be anyway. Doesn't make it any less confusing.

There is some shit that shouldn't bother having an explanation. Like RedXIII. Why can he talk, why is his tail on fire, how is it on fire? Or in Wutai when trying to get Yuffie's limit break, how can all those people turn into monsters? How come nobody thought it was weird that there was a sentient cat being carried ontop of a moogle, fighting with a megaphone- when they almost shit bricks about RedXIII?

Nobody cares, it is because it is. Trying to wrangle some sort of explanation just makes it worse.

 

[LicoriceAllsorts]

Let's all just conspire
To ignore Inspire.

 

[ForceStealer]

 

[Sigbru]

Like RedXIII. Why can he talk, why is his tail on fire, how is it on fire?

Obviously, Nanaki decedents were Charmanders. Duh

The saddest thing is, with the power to give life to ANY inanimate object, he choose Cait Sith

 

[Shademp]

He could have theoretically given life to Aerith. Well, at least to her body. Imagine that; puppet Aerith walking around speaking an irish accent.

If Reeve has this power, why didn't he use it all the time for his job? Urban development, hmm. He could bring cranes to life and they could build flawless infrastructure. ... He could bring the roads to life so they could give him weekly status reports on traffic.

I think we just found the explanation for all the inconsistencies with Midgar. The reason that the parts of Midgar destroyed in AC are whole again in DoC is because, well, Reeve told the city to repair itself. Glad we got that sorted out!

 

[ForceStealer]

He wouldn't be, you know, rounded up by the Science Department and experimented on? Aeris couldn't do shit like that.

And this is an excellent point. Hojo would be all over that shit.

Furthermore, this isn't a case of "explaining something that's better left up to the player." That implies that it was a mystery that fans had fun speculating about. Its a case of explaining something that didn't require any explanation. Its a remote control cat, seems to be able to act autonomously for periods of time. Okay, there was nothing mysterious or difficult to accept about that in FF7's world. Why come up with something so nonsensical?

Was the giant moogle Inspired as well? Or did the cat just drive it?

 

[Ryushikaze]

One thing to note about Inspire: Only Cait Sith comes of it.
Cait Sith #4 from DoC was crafted out of a Moogle doll, and reverted to one when he 'died.'

If all Reeve can do is make Cait Sith, even Hojo wouldn't want to investigate.

 

[ForceStealer]

Cait Sith #4 from DoC was crafted out of a Moogle doll, and reverted to one when he 'died.'

Eh...what? Really?

 

[Shademp]

From FFVII manual:
"Cait Sith rides around on the back of a huge stuffed Mog he magically brought to life. Megaphone in hand, he's always shouting orders and creating dopey attacks."

So Cait Sith is brought to life by Reeve, and Cait Sith brings life to this Mog but we are not explicitly told if this was an act of an 'autonomous' Cait Sith, or if Reeve was in direct control of this process.

If Reeve can control whatever he animates, then why do Cait Sith bother with using a megaphone to shout orders to the stuffed mog? Should not controlling the mog be the same as controlling Cait Sith?
Here is where I would argue that control of the mog is something that Reeve leaves to the free/autonomous Cait Sith. But in that case, we have an 'Inspired' object in turn using 'Inspire' on another object. What happens as you advance this ladder, making each object 'Inspire' another?
Maybe for each time an animated object uses Inspire the next animated object has a more primitive consciousness thus potentially explaining Cait Sith's use of the megaphone to order the mog around. ...No wait, it doesn't! We see Cait Sith 'puppeteering' the mog all the time; the mog follows the cat's motions perfectly without any use of the megaphone. Why is the megaphone so important for attacking?
>_<