Ratigan

**Professor Ratigan** (voiced by the late Vincent Price in the film and later by Maurice LaMarche on *House of Mouse*)  is the main antagonist of *The Great Mouse Detective*. A pernicious, yet suave crime lord, Ratigan is the archenemy of Basil of Baker Street, who proves to be an obstacle in his grand scheme to control all of Mousedom. Ratigan is obsessed with his status as a mouse, but when labeled a rat, his ostentatious demeanor shatters and reveals a violent and savage mind.

Ratigan is based on the character of the same name from *Basil of Baker Street* and the story's version of Professor James Moriarty from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's *Sherlock Holmes stories* and serves as the adversary to the Sherlock Holmes counterpart Basil of Baker Street.

## Background

Ratigan is regarded as the most infamous criminal in all of Mousedom. His reputation as the "world's greatest criminal mind" is backed by an impressive track record, as several of his schemes have actually saw success—notable events include the "Big Ben Caper" and the "Tower Bridge Job", both of which are said to have had devastating results on London. The only road block in Ratigan's plots appear to be Basil, whose intellect (and eccentricity) matches that of Ratigan's. However, just as Ratigan continuously fails to kill Basil, Basil continuously fails to apprehend Ratign, thus allowing their rivalry to endure for several years—much to the chagrin of both parties.

Ratigan has a variety of henchmen that follow him, most of which are an army of two-bit, yet heavily-armed thugs. Ratigan's right-hand man is a peg-legged bat named Fidget. Ratigan has no tolerance for failure and will quickly resort to killing minions that either fail him or disrespect him (regardless of whether or not this was intentional). Ratigan's method of execution comes in the form of his overweight pet cat, Felicia, whom Ratigan adores greatly. Felicia is summoned by the ringing of a bell that is always kept on Ratigan's person. Once the bell is rung, Felicia will arrive and devour Ratigan's latest victim(s).

### Personality

Personality-wise, Ratigan is very charismatic, calm, and calculating, but can easily be sent into a violent rage at the mention of Basil, who has foiled many of his rather complex schemes, or by the incompetence of his minions. Intolerant of failure, he nearly kills Fidget for losing a list of items he was dispatched to obtain, before making a calculated, albeit split-second decision and sparing him, believing he may yet be of use to him. He has a very dark, malicious sense of humor and an inflated ego. He is also very intelligent, and like most rats, he prefers to live in the sewers. Unlike most Disney villains, Ratigan is an ebullient, lip-smacking jester who has a tendency towards big movements and long rants or speeches.

A truly cruel and sadistic megalomaniac, Ratigan is solely driven by power and the desire to earn himself riches (such as the Tower Bridge Job, an assemblage he quite arrogantly calls a "cunning display that made Londoners sob") and even more so the desire to rule over his fellow men in the place of Queen Moustoria. Unlike most evildoers, he acknowledges his crimes as being immoral and takes pride in his wicked acts, which he acknowledges as being evil, making him a truly sadistic and heartless being. He even says that he loves being nasty and that he is about to pull off a crime that will leave an infamous legacy.

In spite of his universally cruelty and sadism, Ratigan at least appears to genuinely enjoy the approval of his minions. He also has an affectionate relationship with Felicia, who he calls "darling", "baby", and "little honey bun", and addressing himself as her father figure. He is also seen hugging her and looking at her awkwardly when she burps.

Even though he is one, Ratigan detests, above all else, being referred to as a rat, preferring the description of a "big mouse," and fed Bartholomew to Felicia when Bartholomew calls him the "world's greatest rat" while intoxicated. Despite his hatred of being labeled as such, he possessed enough self-control to barely react when Basil referred to him as a rat, which is evidenced with two instances in the film: The first, right after he trapped Basil and Basil called him a sewer rat, Ratigan retained his cool demeanor, only closing his watch, and the second time, when Basil revealed his survival after the literal breaking down of the fake Queen of Moustoria by finishing her sentence of Ratigan being a rat, only growling in irritation.

Despite being stoic and charismatic, Basil's exposure of his robot, tying his cape to a gear, and rescue of Olivia finally send him over the edge. In his rage, he pursues Basil, tearing his clothes in the process and transforming from a very formal, composed rat to a highly savage one. He tackles Basil, extending his long, strong fingernails and scratching, punching, and strangling Basil continuously and wounding him.

## Trivia

* In the *Basil of Baker Street* book series, Ratigan's first name is revealed to be Padraic, and he is in fact, portrayed as a mouse (in contrast to his depiction in the movie).
* Ratigan can easily be identified as a rat since he has five-fingered hands, while all the other mice have four fingers. Also, both the mice in the film, other popular culture, and real-life have thinner, fur-covered tails while Ratigan has a thick, pink, fleshy, segmented tail.
* Ratigan is shown to have an animation flaw. If one looks ever so closely during the course of the film, they can see that Ratigan has five fingers on his hands (see the above fact). However, during the battle sequence from when he goes feral to when he falls to death, he is shown to have four fingers on each hand minus when he flared his claws and before he punches Basil off the clock hand.
* Though not too noticeable, Ratigan actually seems to grow in size during his breakdown in Big Ben, and his claws are shown extending out of his hand. This transformation could be compared to that of a stereotypical Werewolf.
* According to a deleted lyric in "The World's Greatest Criminal Mind", the Tower Bridge Job involved hurling several innocent mice into the River Thames and then shooting whoever attempts to come up to the surface.
* Vincent Price, the voice of Ratigan, said that doing Ratigan was his favorite role because he had two songs written for him.
* Despite his death, some Italian follow-up comics depict Ratigan as having survived the fall.
* There is a level in *Disney Heroes: Battle Mode* called Ratigan Street, named after Ratigan.
* Ratigan is one of two villains to be shown explicitly attempting to kill minions under their charge, the only other being Rourke.
* Ratigan became Thomas and Twilight Sparkle's enemy in *Thomas and Twilight Sparkle Meets The Great Mouse Detective.*
* Ratigan and Fidget returned in *Thomas and Twilight Sparkle Meets Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs*to get revenge on Thomas, Twilight and their friends for foiling their plans of crime.
* Ratigan is great partners with Cat R. Waul.
* Ratigan is also Fievel Mousekewitz's most hated and second archenemy since he tries to hurt Olivia Flaversham many times.
* Ratigan is based off his human counterpart, Professor Moriarty from *Sherlock Holmes.*

## Gallery

Ratigan in The Great Mouse Detective.Ratigan with his pet cat, FeliciaRatigan with his sidekick, FidgetRatigan with BasilRatigan as Supreme Ruler of all MousedomRatigan in his vicious, highly feral state.Ratigan's deathRatigan in House of Mouse.Ratigan with some other mice in House of MouseThis page is sourced from the Disney Wiki.

[1]