| Thomas Mutton | |
|---|---|
| |
| Sex | Male |
| Age | Unknown |
| Hair | Gray |
| Eyes | Red sclera with black line-like pupils |
| Height | 187cm |
| Occupation | Consort to Ishtar Bartender and owner at Stray Sheep |
| Location | Behind bar counter |
| Time At Bar | Always present |
| JPN VA | Norio Wakamoto |
| ENG VA | Kirk Thornton |
- "I thought I was a sweet scented middle-aged man. But Erica just said I have "old man smell"."
Thomas "Chop" Mutton, also known as Dumuzid and Boss, is a character in Catherine. He is the owner and proprietor of the Stray Sheep, although he is later revealed to be the orchestrator of the Nightmare outbreaks, thus serving as the main antagonist of the game.
Dumuzid is an immortal demigod, though his only duties appear to be carrying out Ishtar's will. The player first meets him as Boss, and is later introduced as Thomas Mutton before being finally identified as Dumuzid the Shepherd.
Mutton is a playable character in the DLC of Catherine: Full Body.
Personality[]
Mutton has a smooth, easygoing style of speaking, as it is rumored that he is a charmer, and he was apparently very much a ladies' man in his youth.
Mutton spends all of his time behind the bar of the Stray Sheep, and is the one who introduces Vincent Brooks to most of the patrons. He always has some words of wisdom to dispense, even if it's sometimes inappropriate. Mutton spends the majority of the game dispensing romantic advice to Vincent by stealing other people's quotes. These quotes are usually damning to relationships, and meant to discourage him from trying to continue on with Katherine. This tendency to use other people's words continues even up to the final confrontation between Mutton and Vincent, where most of what he says is taken from other video games or pop culture.
He's frequently ignored and written off by the main characters as "old", which he passively accepts.
Erica Anderson spreads the rumor that Mutton was quite the ladies' man in his youth, and wears his sunglasses all the time to hide from an angry ex-girlfriend. Though she frequently complains about him making advances towards her, he is never seen doing so in the game. He also has a reputation for being promiscuous; this is the main reason Ishtar gives for wanting to replace him.
Though he displays a cool outer facade that can even slide into an intimidating demeanor, it is easily cracked to reveal a complete push-over. Though a demigod, his cool facade is easily broken in the real world to reveal someone a lot more submissive, and easily intimidated.
History[]
Early life[]
Born human with the name Thomas Mutton, he doesn't speak much of his mortal life. He mentions a long-standing problem with alcohol in his 20's and 30's where he would often end up in embarrassing and mysterious circumstances. He married after that, and subsequently cheated on his wife with a young woman while she was away on vacation. She reacted violently, and it can be assumed this is when he started having the Nightmares. He still speaks fondly of his wife, despite their history.
Mutton climbed Ishtar's tower successfully, as Vincent does in the main game. Impressed with him, Ishtar granted him a wish: godhood, and a place as her consort. Dumuzid is the name bestowed upon him by Astaroth when he ascended.
When working at the Stray Sheep, he is simply known as Boss.
It is not clear how old Mutton is, though Lindsay and Martha Uspenski both speak of two men who succeeded in The Great Trials: one 300 years ago, who was given a fortune, and one 700 years ago, who was given the world. It could be assumed Thomas was given the world, godhood, and is 700+ years old.
Astaroth states that the Great Trials were created by Dumuzid, after he beat a version of them himself. He is the one that explains the trials' true purpose, and the one responsible for choosing each victim, using his occupation and business as a form of intelligence-gathering and keeping an eye on his targets.
Catherine[]
Boss with his sunglasses off.
Mutton spends the entire game innocuously dispensing romantic advice to Vincent. At the climax, Vincent confronts Mutton about knowing Catherine and the Nightmares although the latter tries to deny this information. Vincent then removes Mutton's sunglasses in front of a horrified Erica. Mutton accidentally reveals his true purpose as the being responsible for the construction of the Nightmares, and choosing which men to send there. Mutton finally explains the details about the Nightmares as well as Catherine.
Vincent then challenges Mutton at The Empireo in an effort to free all of the men from the Nightmares as well as summoning Catherine/Katherine. Once at The Empireo, Mutton taunts at Vincent throughout his progress while sarcastically congratulating Vincent. Mutton finally confronts Vincent personally as the final boss of the game for the last two stages, 9-5 and 9-6, taking the form of Thomas Mutton and Dumuzid, respectively which Vincent successfully wins.
After his defeat, Mutton then has a moderate role to play in each of the endings:
- For Catherine Bad Ending, Katherine Good Ending and Katherine Bad Ending, he has a minimal role of summoning Catherine or Katherine to Vincent.
- In Catherine Good Ending and Catherine True Ending, he unexpectedly ends up sharing a bed with Catherine and Vincent.
- In Katherine True Ending, he is forced into MC'ing for Katherine and Vincent's wedding.
- In both Freedom Good Ending and Freedom True Ending, he is surprised to learn that Vincent does not intend on getting back with either Catherine or Katherine while also informing Vincent about the true purpose of the Rapunzel arcade game in the Stray Sheep; it is a way to ease the shift into the nightmares by familiarizing his victims with its mechanics. Mutton is then forced into giving a loan to Vincent to pay for a space tourism trip; Mutton doesn't have enough money, so Vincent bets what he gets on a wrestling match.
Although Vincent forced Mutton to stop the nightmares when he became the Man of Legends, it is not clear if this is permanent, as Mutton ultimately answers to Ishtar's wishes.
Catherine: Full Body[]
Mutton's role remains mostly the same in Full Body but there are some notable differences depending on the player's choices throughout the game.
If the player is on the Rin route, a connection between Catherine and Mutton is established earlier after Vincent breaks up with Catherine on day 7; she is seen talking to Mutton before leaving the store. In the following night, Rin ends up being kidnapped by the nightmare Catherine at the Cathedral. Vincent is able to connect this back to Mutton the following day, remembering that he heard Mutton's voice during the nightmare. When Vincent confronts Mutton about this, the latter explains that he noticed that the men he sent to the nightmares were not dying as he intended and he did not know why until he noticed that it was Rin's piano which was interfering with his plan. Following his defeat in the Rin route in day 9, Mutton expresses genuine fear of Rin and his brother Archangel as a threat. Following Vincent's triumph in Archangel's trials, he is then seen relentlessly beaten up by Rin's brother aliens.
Mutton is not seen at all in the new Katherine ending despite the first scene happening in the Stray Sheep. Mutton is only seen very briefly at the beginning of the new Catherine ending but is not seen during the wedding scene at the Stray Sheep which could be an unknown result from the new timeline in which it takes place.
Etymology[]
The "Thomas" of Thomas Mutton may be a reference to Tammuz, Dumuzid's counterpart in the Sumerian version of the Ishtar underworld myth.
The name Thomas Mutton may be a reference to the economist Thomas Robert Malthus, who wrote a few papers on population dynamics.
Thomas' last name, Mutton (sheep meat), is another of many references to sheep. Particularly, the name of his bar and how he "herds" the sheep into the Nightmares.
Quotes[]
- "Marriage is a state where two people can't stand living together and can't stand living apart."
- "I swear on the name of Dumuzid, the Shepherd, consort of Ishtar! Your ass is mine, punk! Prepare yourself!"
The Trivia for Tonight.....[]
- Mutton's sex has been erroneously listed as "female" in the Venus Mode Art Book.
- Mutton's true eyes are bright red, and show the male symbol ♂ in his right eye, and the female symbol ♀ in his left.
- The design of the Immovable Blocks in the Nightmare stages besides Babel bear a face which greatly resembles Mutton's.
- Though portrayed as slightly demonic in-game, the Babylonian god Dumuzid was actually the god of food and vegetation.
- In Babylonian lore, Dumuzid the Shepherd was damned to the Underworld by Ishtar after his lack of respect to her.
- During the Dumuzid boss stage, Mutton states that he is the "Morning Star". Whether or not this means he is or is connected to Lucifer has not been explained in the story.
- In one of the quotes during the loading screens late in the game, Thomas Mutton innocuously states, "A dream is something that will disappear no matter how much you wish it to believe it". This is actually a pretty interesting interjection considering what Vincent just dreamt about during the previous night, his struggle and triumph over that particular nightmare, and how it all meant nothing the next day when he fails to remember most of its details.
- During the last nightmare stage towards the end he references Castlevania 2 by saying "It's a wonderful night for a curse."
- Goro Akechi of Persona 5 can dress as Mutton.
- Mutton shares striking similarities with Nagi from Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth, as they are godly beings originated from Mesopotamian myth who appear as classy, charming folk in white, curate the in-game hub, having a close-to-nonexistent role before they expose their true identity, ensnare people in nightmare or nightmare-like complexes and harbor good intentions, although said intentions are considered villainous due to poor execution.
- Interestingly, a dish named White Mutton is written on the blackboard beside him at the Stray Sheep. One possibility being it may allude to Mutton himself, given that he's always wearing white.
Gallery[]
Art[]
Catherine[]
Catherine: Full Body[]
Catherine novels[]
| Main characters |
|---|
| Vincent · Katherine · Catherine · Rin · Orlando · Jonny · Toby · Erica · Thomas Mutton |
| Stray Sheep goers |
|---|
| Justin · Todd · Archie · Daniel · Morgan · Anna · Lindsay and Martha · The Couple · Roderick · Abul |
| Other |
|---|
| Trisha · Paul · Steve · Feather · Connie · Nergal · Archangel · Hysterical Sheep · Joker (DLC) |