| Boss | |
|---|---|
| |
| Sex | Male |
| Age | Unknown |
| Hair | Gray |
| Eyes | Red sclera with black line-like pupils |
| Occupation | Consort to Ishtar Bartender and owner at Stray Sheep |
| Location | Behind bar counter |
| 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"."
Boss, also known as Thomas "Chop" Mutton and Dumuzid, is the owner and proprietor of the Stray Sheep. He is, arguably, the main antagonist of Catherine.
No one knows his name, but everyone's happy to simply refer to him as "Boss." Always dapper, always the gentleman, he uses his experience in ways of the heart to give advice to his customers in times of need. He makes it a point to help his customers get to know each other by introducing them and fostering conversations between complete strangers. With a smooth, easygoing style of speaking, he's quite a charmer, and he was apparently very much the ladies' man in his youth.
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.
Personality
Boss 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. Boss 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 during the final fight, 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 he 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, he never does 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
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.
Thomas 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's not clear how old Thomas 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.
Catherine
Boss with his sunglasses off.
Boss spends the entire game innocuously dispensing romantic advice to Vincent. It's only at the very end that he accidentally reveals his true purpose as the being responsible for the construction of the Nightmares, and choosing which men to send there. Vincent confronts Boss about knowing Catherine and removes Boss' sunglasses in front of a horrified Erica.
When Vincent discovers Boss' involvement, he challenges him in an effort to stop the Nightmares. Boss is 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.
Boss 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 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 forced into giving a loan to Vincent to pay for a Space Tourism trip; Boss doesn't have enough money, so Vincent bets what he gets on a wrestling match.
Nightmares
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.
He also constructed the Rapunzel arcade game, as a way to ease the shift into the nightmares by familiarizing his victims with its mechanics.
Although Vincent forced him to stop the nightmares when he became the Man of Legends, it's not clear if this is permanent, as Dumuzid ultimately answers to Ishtar's wishes.
Quotes
- "I swear on the name of Dumuzid, the Shepherd, consort of Ishtar! Your ass is mine, punk! Prepare yourself!"
The Trivia for Tonight.....
- Boss' sex has been erroneously listed as "Female" in the Venus Mode Art Book.
- 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 trials. Interestingly, you can read the dish, White Mutton, written on the blackboard beside him. One possibility being it may allude to him, a Mutton wearing white.
- Thomas still wears his wedding ring in his mortal form as Boss.
- Dumuzid's true eyes are bright red, and show the male symbol ♂ in his right eye, and the female symbol ♀ in his left.
- Erica says she repeatedly turns Boss' advances down, and tells rumors about his sexual appetite and the reason he wears shades (to hide from an angry ex-girlfriend). Boss never actually flirts or hits on any character, from what the player can see.
- 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.
- The "Thomas" of Thomas Mutton may be a reference to Tammuz, Dumuzid's counterpart in the Sumerian version of the Ishtar underworld myth.
- During Empireo, Boss 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 the previous night, his struggle and triumph over that particular nightmare, and how it all meant nothing the next day.
- During the last nightmare stage towards the end he references Castlevania 2 by saying "It's a wonderful night for a curse."
- The name Thomas Mutton may be a reference to the economist Thomas Robert Malthus, who wrote a few papers on population dynamics.
- Goro Akechi of Persona 5 can dress as Boss.
Gallery
| 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) |