Cat versus UnCat

[zoeiona]

Inspired by this thread within the previous post, I started to realise just how little of Cat there is in UnCat in one very important way.

Cat was all about trying to stop the war - suggesting late in AGOT that the northmen sue for peace, trying to get Renly and Stannis to come to terms, etc.  She'd lost a lot to the war and the Lannisters,

Comments

[redcandle17]

Cat didn't want revenge because it would risk the lives of more of her loved ones. But her thoughts are quite vicious actually. In AGoT, when she's negotiating with Walder Frey, she fantasizes about spitting him and roasting him over a fire. And she constantly wants to slap people. But of course, she doesn't give in to those impulses; she stays true to her role as Lady Catelyn, lady wife and mother.

Now she has now nothing to lose so there's nothing to restrain her.

[shadowvalkyrie]

My opinion as well. Cat is one of the most reasonable people in the books, except when her children are in danger. It's like there's a switch in her brain that somehow tips in such situations, e.g. when Bran is in the coma, she screams at everybody that nothing had any meaning anymore. But until the red wedding she always caught herself again -now that switch seems to be constantly set on murder.

[shadowvalkyrie]

I really don't know what would happen if she were to meet one of her kids again, but now that you mention it, I want to read it!

[mitasova]

At the end of ACoK Cat was brimming with hate - witness her confession to Brienne "I want them all dead <...> but my girls...". Well, now she doesn't worry about her girls anymore. UnCat in some sense is a direct continuation of Cat, only without any inhibitions and with actual power to do what she always wanted to do and punish whom she long wanted to punish. Way to create a relentless avenger.

Do you think that UnCat can be brought to realise that she is becoming what she detested in life? Do you think this realisation can have an effect on her, with the way she is at the moment?

Nah, I really don't think she can be reasoned with, in this state. I'm not even sure how much of her past life she remembers or how self-aware she is. I, personally, don't even think that UnCat and Cat are one person, technically.

[bananorama]

The thing about Cat wasn't that she was never tempted by revenge, she just tried to resist it. Revenge was something she didn't like but GRRM presents it as a very human temptation and sometimes we find ourselves giving in to the base desires we otherwise reject. It became harder and harder as the series went on and she lost more people and had less and less of an outlet for her grief. I think it's safe to say that part of her that kept herself in check is gone, the only thing I could imagine that would stop her is the welfare of her kids, which I think is the only thing that still matters to her.

At least I hope it still does.