Coraline: The History of The Cat | Horror History

There are few characters as rooted in speculation in the Neil Gaiman novella Coraline, as the cat. Countless Coraline YouTubers have come up with their own strange theories about who this feline really is, so in this video I'll be looking to put the mystery to rest by exploring everything we know about the cat.

The cat is the only character other than Coraline herself with no Other World counterpart, and he lacks any real name. We can use clues in the story and similarities to depictions of cats throughout history and to learn more about the cat and start to draw some conclusions.

This will cover the entire known history of the cat from the novella. Please note that this will only analyze the characters as written in the book. I will show clips from the 2009 movie as a visual aid, and talk a little bit about the movie version of the cat at the end, but for the purposes of Horror History, the book is canon!

Chapters
0:00 Coraline Meets the Cat
0:15 Unhinged Theories
1:06 Nightmare Before Christmas Connection
1:38 The Cat's Voice
1:58 Before Coraline
3:37 Witches and Cats
4:23 Why Cats Don't Have Names
5:26 Depiction of Supernatural Cats in History
5:50 Teaming Up with Coraline
7:20 Audible
8:17 Trapped in the Other World
11:29 Battle With The Beldam
12:03 A New Friend
13:03 The Movie Version of the Cat

#Coraline

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Horror History is a series that analyses specific characters, monsters, places or events in the fictional worlds of your favorite horror franchises.

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Edited by Andrew Botz-Zapp | @ClaudeGnome

[chrisseb]

I love how the cat in the book just says his whole deal is that, ya know, he's a cat. He doesn't have a name because his species aren't dumb. He's just a cat. And there's a history of a cat. Im still absolutely watching this

[AuronRoxas]

Pretty sure the cat is just a cat. Coraline was made by Neil Gaiman and if you've read some of his other works, like the sandman, he has this running theme with cats where they're sort of in-between worlds. The cats dialogue is just it referring to the nature of cats. You name a dog and it comes when it calls you. You name a cat and it comes to you when it wants to.

[Danikoshii]

Love the detail of the cat letting Coraline pet his belly at the end of the story. Cats don't actually like belly pets like dogs because it's a vunerable area they protect when in fights. So the cat letting Coraline pet such a vulnerable spot for him shows they've really become close

[asdfghjkl]

Please do the grandmother next. I'm really interested in her history and what happened to her sister.

[cheesecakewhispers]

I really like the idea of the cat being to opposite entity to the beldom, like it and the turtle, guiding the children to escape. Maybe old enemies but ancient creatures.

[freebird]

My theory is that the Cat is the Beldam's former pet. The Beldam is clearly like a witch, and witches often have a cat as a pet (or an owl, toad, rat, snake, etc.) So what if she created her own cat and used it to entice children into her world and gave him the abilities to speak in her world and teleport between worlds freely like her dolls. However, after Ms. Lovatt's sister was abducted, the Cat recognised the damage he was causing as Wybie's grandma no doubt mourned the loss of her sister. Thus, the Cat developed a conscience and broke off his allegiance to the Beldam - resulting in a fight that caused him to lose a bit of his ear. He then stayed mostly in the real world rather than the Other World, and slowly growing his own soul, causing his button eyes to fall out as real ones grew in. He then made it his mission to torment the Beldam and wait for another child to come along whom he could assist in destroying the Beldam once and for all.

[tayloredwards]

By far the most mysterious character in the movie and the book. We don't know where he comes from. Most importantly how he's able to talk or even knows what the other mother is 🐈‍⬛

[kittykatgaming]

I love reading the book and watching the movie. That cat has always been my favorite character

[thebananagamer]

If I had a nickel for every time Keith David played a creepy cat I'd have 2 nickels, which isn't much but it's weird it happened twice

[benihime]

Coraline traumatised me as a kid.. i can still remember the creepy soundtracks.. what a masterpiece this cartoon was

[MissLaBoeuf]

This is probably a really dumb question, but how do you do your background art? I've always loved the 'drawing on a chalkboard' look

[DriedVix]

One of my favorite books! The movie got me into the horror genre. Thank you for going back to this book! Your original 'Other Mother' video is what got me to buy the audio book.

[amyrobinson]

The cat disappearing at the end was always so amazing! I always thought it implied the cat was evil and actually on the Beldam’s side or if it meant there were other worlds, portals, and baddies other than the Beldam. Likely it may mean nothing and just a creepy ending for the film.
It does not matter how many times I watch Coraline, it is a great film.

[kelsey]

I love the cat and honestly anything coraline. I was so obsessed that I read the book as a 26 year old. It was to easy and simple for it to be super interesting to me unfortunately but the movie is still one of my favorites of all time. But I will say the book does add some cool details for sure

[talibhussain]

There need to be Coraline 2, with lots of backstory!
Your theories are always great

[wannabecartoonist]

I can’t speak for the others, but I’m an avid watcher of The Theorizer and while his Coraline theories may seem outlandish on the outside, in a lot of areas they’re frighteningly plausible and where they’re not they’re incredibly interesting and creepy to make up for it

[ChiliDUDE]

You know what I'd really like to see? A horror history episode on Courage the Cowardly Dog.

[SirToaster]

fun fact: when a cat blinks at you it's their way of saying "I love you"

[mathieuleader]

I like how Gaiman himself voiced the cat in Coralisa the parody of Coraline in one of the later treehouses of horror from the Simpsons

[justineharper]

Anytime someone ends a video with “I’ll see you in the next one”, my brain automatically adds “Assuming we both survive” 😂