Gaelicat, also known as Ghilacat in the Final Fantasy Chronicles, is an enemy in Final Fantasy V. They are often fought in groups on North Mountain, and also appear in Ghido's Cave when summoned by Metamorphs.
In the Advance version, the Metamorph version of the enemy is called Cait Sith. This particular enemy is also called Cait Sith in various foreign language versions.
Stats[]
Enemy
Metamorph
Battle[]
Gaelicats can either attack with a mediocre physical attack, or a strong critical attack called "Cat Scratch".
Gaelicat is also fought as a form that Metamorpha can take in Ghido's Cave. Though it has considerably more HP, it is still fought the same as before.
Strategy[]
They can be defeated with simple physical attacks.
AI script[]
{Fight,Fight,Cat Scratch}
Etymology[]
ゲイラキャット (Gaira Kyatto?, lit. Gayla Cat) is a play-on-words of "Gayla kite" (ゲイラカイト, geira kaito?), keel-stabilized kites which were popular in the 1970s for their innovative delta wings and their triangular bat-like designs. The English name, Gaelicat, is phonetically similar to the Japanese name, but it's altered enough to be a portmanteau of "Gaelic" and "cat", and instead alludes to the Celtic fairy cat, cait sith.
The Japanese name,cat-sìth (plural cait-shìth), meaning "fairy cat" in Scottish Gaelic and pronounced "caught shee", is a fairy creature from Celtic mythology, said to resemble a large black cat with a white spot on its breast. Legend has it that the spectral cat haunts the Scottish Highlands. The Irish word cat sí literally translates to "cat of the fairy mound", where "mound" refers the fairy forts commonly believed to be the homes of fairies of all kinds in local folklore. English speakers may be familiar with its usage in the term "banshee", from Irish bean sí, meaning "woman of the fairy mound".
TheThe legends surrounding this creature are more common in Scottish folklore, but a few occur in Irish. Some common folklore suggested that the cat-sìth was not a fairy, but a witch who could transform into a cat and back up to nine times. After the ninth transformation, they would be unable to return to human form. This is speculated to be the origin of the proverb "a cat has nine lives", as opposed to some other number.