Rat Prophet

* Pathologic 2
* Pathologic

This entry contains potential spoilers for *Pathologic 2*. Read at your own risk.

*Come now, you haven't given us any time to change the set!*This entry contains potential spoilers for Pathologic 2. Read at your own risk.

The **Rat Prophet** is a creature that lives underneath the Theatre and is able to visit the player in their dreams. It is able to see the future, but often tells lies.

## Description

Similar to the Fellow Traveller and Mark Immortell the Rat Prophet is a player who appears to know that they are part of a performance. The Rat Prophet appears both inside and outside of the set performance, breaking character when necessary. While in character it visits Katerina Saburova at night and influences her prophecies, causing her great pain. The Rat Prophet is incredibly mysterious, and rarely reveals its true motives.

## Appearance

The Rat Prophet is a giant semi-anthropomorphic brown rat. It has black eyes and brown fur, and is wrapped in a large black blanket. This blanket either obscures its human-like legs, which is a child’s body with dark trousers and no shoes, or an apparition with no visible limbs. When the Rat Prophet appears as an apparition, its eyes are white.

## Plot

### Haruspex Route

The Rat Prophet can be first met in the introductory sequence of the game a little aside from the street, contemplating a jerboa. It will ask whether black suits them better or not; the answer will decide whether jerboas seen later throughout the game will be black or not.

During the 'death sequences' of Pathologic 2, where the player is punished with "failure" by waking in the Theatre to speak with Mark Immortell, a stage hand notes that a 'rat escaped the theatre'. Upon returning to the Town, the player may meet the Rat Prophet outside of the Theatre, observing the tumour in the earth - a large skeleton, shaped like a bull, that begins to grow from the ground. It seems that this growth increases in size with every "failure" of the Haruspex - literally speaking, with every death the Player causes. The Haruspex can dismiss the frustrations of the prophet or take it into consideration.

As the Town grows unsteady with the outbreak, a mob stands outside the Rod one day and declare they are responsible for housing a carrier of the plague. Later, Changeling speaks with the Haruspex, requesting that he pay her adopted parents a visit to make sure they are well. When the Haruspex speaks with Katerina Saburova, she reveals to him the source of her visions, which take the form of the Prophet. It berates the ignorance of humans before evicting the Haruspex from Katerina's abode.

Later still, if the Haruspex goes to the Cemetery to deal with the overflow of dead bodies brought on by the plague and its effect on Grace, he will find the Rat Prophet after speaking to her. The former will offer a solution, though it does not reveal what exactly it does: only that it quiets the spirits of the dead.

The Rat Prophet can be met in both the Nocturnal and the Diurnal Endings. In the Nocturnal ending, it can be found on top of the Polyhedron, and in the Diurnal ending, on a Stairway to Heaven.

### Pathologic: The Marble Nest

The Rat Prophet does not appear during *The Marble Nest*.

## Screenshots

* Rat Prophet in dialogue
* Rat Prophet in dialogue (Diurnal ending)
* Rat Prophet in the prologue
* Rat Prophet outside the Theater
* Rat Prophet in the Haruspex's dream
* Rat Prophet in the Cemetery
* The Rat Prophet with the incomplete tumour caused by the Haruspex's deaths
* The Rat Prophet with a half complete tumour caused by the Haruspex's deaths
* The Rat Prophet with a complete tumour caused by the Haruspex's deaths
* Rat Prophet in the Diurnal Ending
* Rat Prophet in the Nocturnal Ending
* Rat Prophet in the Town Hall in the Pathologic 2 alpha

## Official Art

* Rat Prophet's concept art
* Rat Prophet's full models
* Rat Prophet from the Pathologic 2 art book
* Rat Prophet from the Pathologic 2 art book

## Notes

* Though still very much a rat, there are apparently no rats in the Town in *Pathologic 2*. Instead, the rodent population is replaced with jerboas.
* When visiting Katerina in the presence of the Haruspex, its legs are gone and its eyes illuminate white.
* Alexander Saburov is also able to hear the Rat Prophet that speaks to Katerina Saburova, implying that the Prophet speaks aloud to her.
* In the Nocturnal Ending, the player is able to climb the Polyhedron and hear farewell notes from Ice-Pick Lodge developers, all called “Devisers” and taking the form of various townsfolk children. This is also present in the Diurnal Ending, where the Devisers are on a Stairway to Heaven. At the very top is the Rat Prophet, speaking on behalf of the leader of Ice-Pick Lodge, Nikolay Dybowski.
* In the files of the game, the Rat Prophet has a portrait that would appear on the Haruspex's list similarly to other Bound characters. However, its portrait uses the photograph from *Pathologic 1*, rather than the in-game model like other NPCs. This is likely a placeholder from early development concepts.

## References

1. ↑ *Katerina Saburova is sick. And it seems like the governor can also hear the voices in her head. The power of love? Or something shadier?*

The **Rat Prophet** is a creature that lives underneath the Theatre. It is able to see the future, but often tells lies. It visits Katerina Saburova at night and influences her prophecies. It appears before the two of the three healers: the Haruspex and the Changeling. It does not appear before the Bachelor.

## Background

Prior to the start of the game, the Rat Prophet was known to appear to the townsfolk from time to time, and gained a reputation of a "well-known spectre".

The Rat Prophet appeared to Katerina as both her inner voice and a character of her prophetic dreams, indoctrinating her to the belief that the town's demise is inevitable and that fighting against it would be pointless.

## Description

The Rat Prophet appears to be a small child wearing a rat mask. It wears a fur coat, a suit, and holds a smoking pipe in its hand. It is described as a mendacious character, being able to twist the truth into lies effortlessly. The Rat Prophet, however, insists that it speaks the truth, despite what people say.

It can be found either in the Theatre or in the tunnels underneath the town.

## Appearance

The Rat Prophet takes the form of a young child in a brown suit. It has a brown rat’s head, and carries a smoking pipe. If observing the Rat Prophet from behind, the rat head is shown to instead be a mask around a brown haired child’s head.

## Plot

### Bachelor Route

The Rat Prophet does not appear in the Bachelor route.

### Haruspex Route

On **Day 5**, the Haruspex inspects the tunnels dug beneath the ground of Vlad the Younger's well. Upon reaching the exit, the Haruspex will speak with the Rat Prophet about what is happening in the town. The Rat Prophet encourages the Haruspex to listen to his father's voice in order to hear the identity of his killer.

On **Day 6**, the Haruspex will again speak to the Rat Prophet at the Changeling's request. The Changeling wants information about herself: How she came to be, who she is, and what will happen to her. When speaking with the Rat Prophet, it says that it cannot summon the Haruspex's father, and that Isidor is displeased. When asked about the Changeling's fortune, the Rat Prophet reveals that the Changeling is the unknowing manifestation of the Plague, and that anything she believes comes true.

### Changeling Route

On **Day 4**, Katerina asks Clara to persuade Mark Immortell to stop the Theatre from being turned into a hospital. When she finds him, Mark reveals that Katerina believes the Theatre to be important due to the creature that lives there. Returning to the Theatre, the Changeling meets the Rat Prophet who is standing on the stage. The Rat Prophet greets the Changeling with familiarity, calling her "Lady Plague". It says that, despite being called a liar, everything that it says is the truth. It also shares that it needs to go into hiding, so it will be leaving the Theatre for the time being.

On **Day 10**, the Changeling and the Rat Prophet meet again as the Changeling searches for Stanislav Rubin. The Rat Prophet tells her that Rubin is underground, and ominously tells her that "it doesn't seem like he's getting out of there any time soon". It then sends her down into the tunnels. The exit will lock behind her and she will be confronted by two hostile young men who are guarding Rubin.

## Notes

* The Rat Prophet appears to be a young boy wearing a coat and a rat mask on his head.

## Screenshots

* Rat Prophet's in-game portrait in original *Pathologic*
* Rat Prophet's in-game portrait
* Rat Prophet in the Theatre
* Rat Prophet's back with its human head visible
* Rat Prophet in the Tunnels
* Rat Prophet by the exit to the Tunnels behind the Theatre

## References

1. ↑ **Vlad Jr.:** Still, it's known for a fact that the illusion appears to The Town's inhabitants from time to time. It's a well-known spectre. - *Haruspex Route, Day 5*
2. ↑ https://vk.com/photo-147796\_292115765
3. ↑ **Clara:** I feel that his words are turned inside out; that truth becomes lie as soon as it emerges from his mouth. *- Changeling route, Day 4*