Cait Sith (Final Fantasy VII)

Cait Sith is a player character in Final Fantasy VII. He is a cat riding a giant stuffed toy Moogle, working as a fortune-teller in the Gold Saucer. He is really a puppet controlled from far away by Reeve Tuesti, Shinra Electric Power Company's head of Urban Development. Even though Reeve works with the antagonist corporation Shinra, he develops a keen interest in saving the Planet, making Cait Sith useful to the party, as he knows all about the Shinra's plans. Despite his playful and carefree persona in the form of Cait Sith, Reeve is actually a somber and serious man, though he does harbor a good heart with a natural worry for others.

Appearance
Cait Sith is an anthropomorphic robotic cat standing just over three feet in height with short black fur and a white stomach and face. He wears a short red cape tied around his neck and white gloves and a small crown. As seen in Dirge of Cerberus and Advent Children, Cait Sith does not possess any outward robotic features that would identify him as a robot, although he is still recognized as such.

In Final Fantasy VII, Cait Sith rides a large robotic Moogle that, according to the Final Fantasy VII instruction manual, he brought to life. It is never specified if Cait Sith is indeed controlling the Moogle robot, or if Reeve is controlling both of them himself. However, the Moogle is capable of action just like Cait Sith, and it is in fact, the Moogle, that does the fighting even though Cait Sith is the one equipped for battle. According to the instruction manual, Cait Sith uses his megaphone weapons to shout orders to the Moogle. In Advent Children, Cait Sith rides on the back of Red XIII and does not seem to exhibit any fighting capabilities on his own.

Character


As he is merely a robot controlled by Reeve Tuesti, Cait Sith's character can be difficult to perceive. However, he does act noticeably different from Reeve. In particular, his speech patterns are looser, and in Advent Children and Dirge of Cerberus, he has a heavy Scottish accent while Reeve does not. Furthermore, Cait Sith often refers to himself in the first person, and as it would be simply impractical for Reeve to have to control Cait Sith directly all the time, he could have some sort of artificial intelligence. Furthermore, in Before Crisis when under the player's control, Cait Sith still speaks on his own. Thus, a rough picture of Cait Sith's persona can be made. When Cait Sith is depicted as being directly controlled by Reeve in Final Fantasy VII, it is not made clear how he controls him, since he is seen at times with a direct link to Cait Sith with no visual means of controlling him. In Dirge of Cerberus, it is revealed Reeve controls Cait Sith mentally.

Cait Sith is fun-loving and playful, but a bit cowardly and is a poor fighter. He can be loud and irritate the other party members. At times, when Reeve makes it more clear it is him and not Cait Sith speaking, he is highly accusatory of AVALANCHE's actions—at one time, Cait Sith/Reeve implies AVALANCHE is just as destructive and dangerous as Shinra. Cait Sith also makes a hobby of telling people their fortunes, which often tend to be correct, if a bit vague.

One of the few cases where Cait Sith decisively asserts his seeming sentience is at the Temple of the Ancients where Cait Sith, referring to himself in the first person, tells the party not to forget about him "even if another Cait Sith comes along", and thanks them for believing in him. Afterwards, a second Cait Sith appears and introduces himself. If Reeve were entirely in control, Cait Sith's mentions of sacrifice, and the second Cait Sith introducing himself, would be redundant, so one could take this scene to assume that Cait Sith does indeed have a mind of his own.

Before Crisis -Final Fantasy VII-
Cait Sith appears as a prototype and aids the Turks in the game's last few chapters. He meets the player Turk after having trouble being activated, and quickly tells them their fortune. Cait Sith leads the Turk to Tseng, where Reeve reveals he is its controller and has Cait Sith give the Turk a second fortune, which states that one of the Zirconiade Support Materia is in Gongaga.

Cait Sith accompanies the Turk to help them find the Materia. He also tells the Turk he knows they are working for Veld, but he (meaning Reeve) knows Veld and does not tell President Shinra. Cait Sith is impressed by the Turk's strength in battle, and wishes he could fight. Shortly after, Cait Sith is damaged, and Reeve becomes frustrated over the robot's limited combat abilities. He begins devising ways to increase its strength, but such improvements would hamper Cait Sith's agility and movement. Reeve later has an unspecified epiphany regarding the issue, which presumably leads to Cait Sith riding a Moogle to enhance his battle capabilities.

The Turk gathers the parts to repair Cait Sith, and rebuilds him. At this time, Reeve allows the Turk to use a back-up controller to control Cait Sith while he attends a meeting. Rufus Shinra hears of the robot from Tseng afterward, and suggests it be used as a reconnaissance robot. The Turk uses Cait Sith to infiltrate the Mako Reactor and retrieve the Materia, using the robot's prediction powers to find the correct doorways into the reactor core.

Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-


Cait Sith appears as a summon that assists Zack on the DMW. He uses the Limit Break Courage Boost!, which grants several buffs for Zack. It is obtained from a treasure chest in Zack, the Materia Hunter 8-4-3, Suspicious Mail.

Final Fantasy VII
Cloud Strife and his party meet a rebuilt and improved Cait Sith at the Gold Saucer during their world-wide search for Sephiroth. After arriving, Barret goes wandering around, and Cait Sith confronts Cloud. Cait Sith tries to tell his fortune and after several failed attempts, predicts that "what you pursue will be yours. But you will lose something dear". Spooked by his prediction, Cait Sith forces Cloud to take him along, as he wishes to see what the ominous fortune means. In reality, Reeve uses Cait Sith to spy on Cloud and his allies and report back to Shinra. Cloud suspects soon after leaving the Gold Saucer that the party has a traitor, but does not know it is Cait Sith. Cait Sith continues to travel for the party for some time, taking a minor role.

Later, the party returns to Gold Saucer to find the Keystone in order to enter the Temple of the Ancients where the Black Materia lies. Once they find the item, Cait Sith steals the Keystone while Cloud is absent from his hotel room, and gives it to Tseng. Caught, Cait Sith reveals he is being controlled by someone from Shinra, but won't reveal his name. He also reveals his motivations for spying, and tells he is intrigued by Cloud and his friends' selflessness. Having reluctantly taken Marlene Wallace as a hostage, Cait Sith forces them to allow him to remain with them, pointing them towards the Temple to make up for his betrayal.

The Temple of the Ancients turns out to be a giant puzzle meant to trap anybody who would try to take the Black Materia. The Temple is the Black Materia, but has to be shrunk down into a Materia orb from the inside. As he is a robot, Cait Sith offers to sacrifice himself to get the Black Materia, and the party bids him a thankful and sad goodbye, Aeris allowing him to tell her fortune one last time to cheer him up. Cait Sith is crushed in the temple, but Reeve already has a second ready for action, and a second Cait Sith, identical to the original, arrives moments later to take the place of the first one.

After the Meteor is summoned, and Shinra has captured Tifa Lockhart and Barret in Junon, Tifa is put in the gas chamber to be executed as a scapegoat. As Shinra Executive Scarlet locks her in, Sapphire Weapon attacks the city. Using this as a diversion, a disguised Cait Sith incapacitates Scarlet with knock-out gas, and frees Barret. The two flee through Junon's streets to reach the airship Highwind, which the rest of the party commandeers. The Weapon's attack saves Tifa, and she is flown out of the city on-board the Highwind.

In a reversal of his original role, Cait Sith serves as a spy for the player party afterward, and lets them listen in on Shinra's meetings. He is the one who announces Shinra's fall following Diamond Weapon's attack, and who tells them about Shinra's search for the Huge Materia. Cait Sith joins the rest of the party in their attack on Sephiroth deep inside the Northern Crater. In the game's ending, Reeve tells them through Cait Sith he has taken measures to evacuate Midgar and save its people from Meteor.

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
Two years later Cait Sith, riding on Red XIII, joins the remaining members of AVALANCHE to help Cloud defeat Bahamut SIN. He is also seen being held by Marlene near the ending. He has a Scottish accent in the film's English dub and serves mainly as comic relief during the film's second half.

In Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete, during Marlene's narration of the events of Final Fantasy VII, Cait Sith can be seen riding his Moogle into battle in the Northern Crater, while in the film's original cut he rode on Red XIII and was not immediately noticeable among Red XIII's hair.

Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII-


Cait Sith reappears in Dirge of Cerberus, and is first sighted in the beginning of the game in Kalm when Deepground attacks, where he poses as Reeve Tuesti when meeting with Vincent, but Deepground soldiers destroy his disguise. Cait Sith is more often seen controlled by Reeve in this game and is temporarily playable in Mako Reactor 0 (where he is, in fact, a terrible fighter making the mission he takes part in require a good deal of stealth). After this mission Nero captures him and later is used by him to enter the Shera. Cait Sith is seen aboard the airship, trying out a Synaptic Net Dive. It is likely there was another Cait Sith on the ship.

Equipment and Stats
Cait Sith's stats are generally lower than those of most characters, although his high magic stat makes him useful for a mage. When he first joins the party his attack stat is similar to most of the party members first acquired as a teammate. His weapon of choice is a megaphone, which he uses to give orders to his Moogle. Cait Sith's megaphones tend to have many Materia slots, again making him a potentially useful mage. One of his megaphones, the Silver M-Phone, is found in Nibelheim and is one of the only weapons with eight Materia slots that can be acquired on disc 1.

Final Fantasy VII
Unlike most characters, Cait Sith only has two only Limit Breaks, Dice and Slots. Both are similar to moves used by Setzer Gabbiani in Final Fantasy VI. The damage they inflict is random on both counts, so Cait Sith's Limit Breaks could be strong or weak, depending on the results.

Development
According to the Final Fantasy VII Ultimania Omega, Cait Sith's role in the final product bears few differences to how he was originally conceived - a robotic spy from Shinra controlled by Reeve. As Cait Sith/Reeve grew closer to the members of AVALANCHE, he would have developed a kinship with them and found his loyalties between them and Shinra torn.

In a scenario cut from the final product, AVALANCHE would have needed to shut down all the Mako Reactors around the world to help combat Sephiroth, but would not have been able to strike them all in time. At risk of jeopardizing his position at Shinra, Reeve would have shut the reactors down himself. This scenario eventually developed into Shinra using the Sister Ray powered by Mako Reactors, during which Reeve tries to talk them out of using the cannon and is arrested.

Cait Sith's job class was originally listed as "Toysaurus (Beastmaster)", his age would have been given as 9 years old, and instead of megaphones, he would have fought using whips and cards.

Cait Sith is seen riding on the back of Red XIII in Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. Tetsuya Nomura has mentioned in interviews he came up with the idea based on an old game idea he once had, which included a cat riding on a dog.

Music Theme
"Cait Sith's Theme" (ケット・シーのテーマ Ketto Shī no Tēma) plays during Cait's introduction in the Wonder Square, and later before he sacrifices himself in the Temple of the Ancients.

Trivia

 * Along with Vincent, Cait Sith is one of the only two characters in the entire Compilation of Final Fantasy VII to have more than one playable appearance.
 * Cait Sith makes a small cameo in Dissidia Final Fantasy as a tutor from the in-game manuals, explaining Arcade Mode alongside Barret. Cait Sith is also the name of a Ghost Card. The Cait Sith ghost is a Level 66 Sephiroth armed with a full set of Crystal Equipment, and has Orange Gem and Shinra Keycard to win via Battlegen. The quote on the card, "I'm Cait Sith No. 2! Pleased to meet you" is what Cait Sith says to the party when his second incarnation arrives at the Temple of the Ancients.
 * It is unexplained how or why Cait Sith's Moogle was removed from his later appearances in the Compilation. The only other time the Moogle is seen outside of Final Fantasy VII is in the opening of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete.
 * Early in Final Fantasy VII, during the Wall Market series of quests, if the player enters the Honeybee Inn and chooses to "peek" through the keyhole of the Lover's Room, a tiny Cait Sith is visible to the far right of the screen.
 * During the seventh chapter of Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII-, Cait Sith makes a reference to the film Short Circuit by saying "Number 5 is alive!" when spoken to on the Shera. This line is said by the film's main character, Number 5, as the film's closing line.