Rats are rodents found in the known world.
Culture
Rats are considered vermin.[1][2] Ratters can clean out infestations of rats.[3][4] "Gutter rat" is used as an insult.[5][6]
Rats and cats is a children's game.[7]
Rat pits are sites of seedy entertainment.[8]
Disreputable boys in Braavos can be called roof rats.[9]
Rats can be an ingredient in bowls of brown.[10]
History
In some stories about House Lannister's acquisition of Casterly Rock, Lann the Clever filled a cleft in the castle with mice, rats, and other vermin to chase out House Casterly.[1]
According to legend, the Rat Cook was turned into a monstrous white rat who could only eat his own young.[11]
Tyanna of the Tower is said to have been able to speak with rats and spiders.[12]
Large grey rats are common in King's Landing and Oldtown. The Shivers was brought to the Seven Kingdoms, however, by smaller black rats common on ships. Cats were highly sought after in order to exterminate the vermin.[13]
Cheese was a ratcatcher who became an assassin during the Dance of the Dragons.[14]
Rats temporarily disappeared from King's Landing after bodies were burned during the Great Spring Sickness.[10]
The Rat, the Hawk, and the Pig were a notorious trio.[15][16]
Rats from Treasure brought the grey death to Pentos.[17]
The garrison of Stannis Baratheon survived on rats, roots, and boot leather during the siege of Storm's End.[18][19]
Recent Events
A Game of Thrones
Bran Stark recalls that the First Keep of Winterfell is now inhabited only by rats and spiders.[3]
Ser Alliser Thorne mocks Rast by calling him Rat.[20]
Arya Stark detects rats in the cellars of the Red Keep as she escapes the castle. She recalls Old Nan telling her that rats as big as dogs live in the crypt of Winterfell.[21]
A Clash of Kings
With food scarce in King's Landing because of the War of the Five Kings, Tyrion Lannister sees a peddler selling rats roasted on a skewer in a market.[22]
While skinchanging into Summer, Bran Stark detects a rat creeping through bush in the godswood of Winterfell.[23]
Xaro Xhoan Daxos informs Daenerys Targaryen that the rats of Qarth are chewing off their tails in the aftermath of the House of the Undying's destruction.[24]
A Storm of Swords
Ser Davos Seaworth sees numerous rats while imprisoned in the dungeon of Dragonstone.[25]
Bran Stark finds the Nightfort full of rats. The boy recalls the legend of the Rat Cook, and Summer catches a large grey rat in the ruins.[11]
Brown Ben Plumm tells Daenerys that the sewers of Meereen have the largest rats he has ever seen.[26]
Lord Petyr Baelish refers to the informants of Lord Varys as little rats.[27]
A Feast for Crows
Searching for the vanished Tyrion Lannister after the death of Lord Tywin Lannister, Ser Jaime Lannister and his men find only rats in their search of the Red Keep.[28][29] Jaime almost walks on a rat when he enters the chambers of Ser Ilyn Payne.[30]
A Dance with Dragons
Theon Greyjoy eats a rat in the dungeon of the Dreadfort.[31]
Meera Reed thinks the chunks of meat in blood stew served in the cave of the three-eyed crow is rat.[32]
Lady Barbrey Dustin thinks of maesters as being grey rats.[33]
Rats are cleared from Long Barrow during its restoration by Eddison Tollett.[34]
The Tattered Prince believes that the meat served at the Purple Lotus is more likely to be rat than dog.[35]
Rat masks are used by some of the Brazen Beasts.[36][37]
The cellars of the Shieldhall are infested with rats.[38]
Quotes
She heard the faint squeaking of rats and glimpsed a pair of tiny glowing eyes on the edge of the light, but rats did not scare her.[21]
—thoughts of Arya Stark
—Weese to Arya Stark
Sansa: I ... I should have come to you after. To thank you, for ... for saving me ... you were so brave.
Sandor: Brave? A dog doesn't need courage to chase off rats.[40]
—thoughts of Quentyn Martell
Theon: I ate a rat.
Ramsay: A rat? All the rats in the Dreadfort belong to my lord father. How dare you make a meal of one without my leave.[31]
Jon: How goes the restoration work?
Eddison: Ten more years should do it. Place was overrun with rats when we moved in. The spearwives killed the nasty buggers. Now the place is overrun with spearwives. There's days I want the rats back.[34]—Jon Snow and Eddison Tollett
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 The World of Ice & Fire, The Westerlands.
- ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 6, Jon I.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 A Game of Thrones, Chapter 8, Bran II.
- ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Epilogue.
- ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 65, Sansa VIII.
- ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 1, Arya I.
- ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 4, Bran I.
- ↑ A Feast for Crows, Prologue.
- ↑ A Feast for Crows, Chapter 34, Cat Of The Canals.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 The Sworn Sword.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 A Storm of Swords, Chapter 56, Bran IV.
- ↑ Fire & Blood, The Sons of the Dragon.
- ↑ Fire & Blood, The Long Reign - Jaehaerys and Alysane: Policy, Progeny, and Pain.
- ↑ Fire & Blood, A Son for a Son.
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, The Targaryen Kings: Aerys I.
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, The Targaryen Kings: Aegon V.
- ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 5, Tyrion II.
- ↑ A Game of Thrones, Chapter 27, Eddard VI.
- ↑ A Clash of Kings, Prologue.
- ↑ A Game of Thrones, Chapter 26, Jon IV.
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 A Game of Thrones, Chapter 50, Arya IV.
- ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 3, Tyrion I.
- ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 46, Bran VI.
- ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 63, Daenerys V.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 25, Davos III.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 57, Daenerys V.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 61, Sansa V.
- ↑ A Feast for Crows, Chapter 8, Jaime I.
- ↑ A Feast for Crows, Chapter 12, Cersei III.
- ↑ A Feast for Crows, Chapter 27, Jaime III.
- ↑ 31.0 31.1 A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 12, Reek I.
- ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 34, Bran III.
- ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 37, The Prince of Winterfell.
- ↑ 34.0 34.1 A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 58, Jon XII.
- ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 60, The Spurned Suitor.
- ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 67, The Kingbreaker.
- ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 68, The Dragontamer.
- ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 69, Jon XIII.
- ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 30, Arya VII.
- ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 52, Sansa IV.
- ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 6, The Merchant's Man.