#ratar-o

apple's not at ALL involved in the main storyline. they make a lil cameo and that's it <3

they're a background character, if you will. apple is a young plundarrian architect working behind the scenes during the war. they've designed airbases, schools, and the occasional mutant fortress here and there with their little team of architects.

they appear tense all the time even when they don't mean to be. apple's a bit socially inept, speaking mostly to their canine spouse, dozer. they have an intense passion for doodling and storytelling, but they settled for architecture as a way of getting by (things are tough on plun-darr)

apple and their team have worked for ratar-o in the past, designing fortresses and bases for him. while apple was suspicious of the things said about thunderians, they couldn't bother to care (what can they do about it anyway? if you show any opposition, you're likely to be considered a traitor to plun-darr, and that's a death wish!!)

before the planet exploded, apple and dozer managed to squeeze themselves into a ship with other survivors. these survivors will soon be dragged into an invasion of third earth, led by the lunataks. there on third earth, apple will settle down with everyone else who isn't involved in the conflict, working to rebuild their homes.

fun factz:

apple has never (and probably will never) interacted with anyone from the main cast of roar. BUT, there was an instance where they saw some of them from afar. apple recalls a time at a construction site where they witnessed a peculiar looking monkey swinging around the unfinished project with his little jackal friend. apple watched as their boss promptly kicked the two off the site. how quaint,,,,

despite being a primate, apple is a very weak climber. they've gotten teased for this in the past

First, a quick summary of what facts I’ve gleaned from canon re Ratar-O and the rats, and a few assumptions I’m basing my headcanons on:

Ratar-O was the absolute ruler of the rats, but I'm unclear what his title is. I’m also unsure if he inherited his rule (as the heir to a ruling bloodline traced, at a minimum, back to Ratilla), or if he seized his rule on his own power. It’s probably splitting hairs, but I like knowing these things.

Perhaps worth observing: when Ratar-O states Ratilla is his ancestor, he could have meant it in a “the ancient rats are our ancestors” way, not necessarily a “Ratilla is my great-great-greatx50-grandfather” way. The latter has a stronger basis in canon because Ratar-O specifically states: “…My ancestor, Ratilla…” but, you know. Just putting that out there.

It’s unclear if Ratilla was already leading the rats or if he came to power after obtaining the Sword of Plun-Darr. I’m operating from the tentative assumption that if Ratilla was not “born a king,” then he established his dynasty with Mumm-Ra’s Sword. 

My tentative assumptions for Ratar-O are either: (a) Ratar-O is a direct descendant of Ratilla; and therefore Ratar-O inherited his rule, or (b) Ratar-O seized power and set himself up as the rats’ ruler by his own hand. I regret that I had to think so hard about that.

I’d like to see Ratar-O come back for a Round Two with Lion-O in either the second or later seasons, either as a lackey a la Slithe & co., or entirely independent of Mumm-Ra. I’d like to see Ratar-O moving against Lion-O on his own (they’re fun to watch together), but I think it’d be more likely for Ratar-O to approach the Ever-Living to ask for aid in revenging himself on Lion-O. I don’t recall that Ratar-O had a huge role in the classic series the way Slithe and Mumm-Ra’s other minions did, but I could see Ratar-O perhaps forming an alliance with Mumm-Ra rather than directly handing himself and his people over to Mumm-Ra’s absolute rule (as far as Rataro-O knows, anyway. lol)

Another thought I had is that Ratar-O might not return in the second season (although I do expect the rats to join the final battle against Mumm-Ra in the finale), but could appear as a villain in his own right in the third or later seasons, maybe in a kind of “I’ve been plotting my revenge on Lion-O all these years now feel my wrath!” way. That scenario could go all kinds of directions, and it’d make a nice early arc to keep the thundercats busy while Mumm-Ra is secretly recovering/freeing himself from the Ancient Spirits/&c.

Backing up a bit, I’m particularly interested in what Ratar-O’s people do in the wake of his defeat/the destruction of his mine: if the rats were abandoned by their ruler when he “fled back underground,” that may’ve created a power vacuum in the rats’ government, which would open the door to all the change and likely chaos that follows a deposed despot; or if Ratar-O only fled from Lion-O, but maintained his grip on his people, then there’s still the original question of the civil unrest resultant of tyranny, which could only be made worse by Ratar-O’s defeat at Lion-O’s hands, as well as general observations and talk about how Lion-O, an enemy king, treats the rats better than Ratar-O ever has (“Your people are just slaves on the other side of the whip!”)…

The rats clearly have a long, bitter history with the cats (along with just about every species on Third Earth lmao), so it’d be nice to see how Lion-O unites them under his flag (or his Code, I suppose), particularly since they have a very recent painful history in the cats’ enslavement and subsequent liberation. I wouldn't expect Lion-O to struggle overmuch to convince them to fight with him, but I would really, really like to see all the conflict that comes from the rats rubbing shoulders with their recently freed slaves, particularly through individuals' POVs. Such as, a cat (with their own story) recognizing a rat (with their own story) who beat him/her or killed a loved one or the like, and the many different ways similar scenarios play out across all these reunions. I'd expect to see healing if not forgiveness, eventually, but I wouldn't mind seeing any of the hundreds of other ways different dynamics end, either. And Lion-O getting caught up in at least one of these personal conflicts, and Lion-O talking to rats and cats personally and convincing then to move on, and just Lion-O being a fantastic leader to all these people with so much pain between them and hnnng I need it.

Now to conclude with a totally relevant gif.