Big Bear – Name and Appearance
- CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR...Books One, Three, and Four
Big Bear is a real world cat transplanted into a fantasy world. His name and his appearance are lifted, almost 100%, from a beautiful black and white tomcat, Big Bear, who was my best friend for years.
So you would think that there is not much more to say here.
But, given that I am a verbose author writing a series where the central tenet is that all our concepts have multiple layers of meaning, it could never be that simple!
Top Cat
Upon their meeting, the fabulous feline tells Lucy that he is “Chief Big Bear of the Great Maine Coon nation”. In fact, he gives her a false name (something SO on brand for him) but later admits to the above being true.
The fact that he began their relationship with an untruth, and that he is a raconteur who spouts some exceptionally unbelievable sounding stories, means that everyone could be forgiven for thinking this grand claim is a fabrication.
Then Book Four happens and we learn that it’s all true. Or, at least, him being a chief isn’t a lie.
The real Big Bear’s name came from how he ran. He came into my life in 2004 as a teeny six-week old kitten, found under a house in a very modest part of Auckland. The first time he ran down the hallway his lope reminded me of how a bear runs.
“Little Bear” would have been apt but I liked the alliteration of “Big Bear”, and the fact that it was incongruous given his diminutiveness. What I didn’t know then is that he would turn into a chunky bruiser. In his prime he clocked in at 10kg, totally subverting my attempt at irony.
It wasn’t lost on me back then that “Big Bear” sounds a lot like a naming convention from Native American culture. So when I was forced to give this character a backstory, I fell back on that. I dubbed him “Chief” and boom, Aedean felines became the inspiration for Native American tribal structures. And yes, I was thinking of the Great Sioux Nation when concocting his title.
Green-Eyed Monster Cat
For his appearance I simply took a look at the real Big Bear and described what I saw. This is from Lucy’s first observation of him:
“He was a hefty animal, a little bit larger than an ordinary house cat, with meaty paws, a spherical stomach and those vivid green eyes. His face was predominantly black but there was a curve of white around his jaw, forming a Joker-like grimace, and a line around his neck like a collar. His generous belly was white as were his paws.”
Note that Aedean animals tend to be larger than our counterparts but with the real BB already being plus-sized, I barely had to inflate.
There is one key change I made. Real life Big Bear’s peepers were dark yellowy-green, but Big Bear the character is obsessed with finery, especially precious metals and jewels, and so I referenced one such gem in his eye-colour, making them “emerald green”.
Fur Trade
However, I also performed a wee switch-out with his breed. Real Big Bear isn’t a Maine Coon. A long time ago I adopted another stray who I dearly loved and lost called CC. CC was a Maine Coon, so I added that in as a tribute to him, and because Great Tomcat of Indistinct Breed Nation didn’t sound nearly as mellifluous.
Maine Coons do tend to be large animals so that also worked as an explanation for Big Bear’s size. I’ve seen images of short-haired Maine Coons online that could easily be our Big Bear’s relatives, and personality-wise he is very much like CC, so perhaps it’s not such a switch-out after all.
UPDATE: Big Bear passed away in April 2021. I miss him terribly. Every day.
Bonus Round
I pepper the novels with in-jokes one of them is in this description from Book Three:
“Big Bear bounded up the stairs to the next level, his belly shaking like a trout that was covered with hair.”
I used to make up little songs about the cats, and Big Bear’s theme song includes that delightful simile.
