#this is also our theory as to why final cutscene heart uses rat god's voice btw

[mantisgodsdomain]

Considering their IRL counterparts, we think there's a very good chance that since Heart was Rad God's previous host, while she got transmitted to Mad Rat via bits of her in the heart tissue. There's not a whole lot else going on in that operation besides the heart transplant, after all, and we doubt that the doctor had any extra contamination around to potentially transmit her. We know that she says she lives in rats, specifically, but there's One Specific Protozoan she's based off of, and cats are the definitive host o f Toxoplasmosis Gondii.

Given the givens, it's entirely possible she simply doesn't present the same symptoms cross-species, and a symbiotic host that offers more benefits to her just... won't experience the same trip, especially since trying to feed your cat host to a cat doesn't really offer any benefit to either of you. With Heart, he's probably either asymptomatic or just only experiencing symptoms that don't particularly affect his day-to-day life, possibly in a way where he wouldn't have even known he was playing host to a parasite if it wasn't for the situation with Mad Rat.

Would it be weird for him to be... aware of that, postgame? To know that he's carrying a parasite with the potential to majorly fuck up any rats that might contract it? Is there a proper way to react to the knowledge that you're carrying a hallucinogenic parasite in you that'll cause major issues for any rat you might infect? Would he even, like... figure out the whole "asymptomic/mostly asymptomic carrier" thing before later? These are the questions we really need to ask.

#mad rat dead spoilers #mad rat dead #we speak #MRD is a beautifully crafted game with an incredibly compelling narrative about death and life and making something of it all #and also we are going to talk about it like “hey yknow how rat god might live in heart's guts before being evicted via heart surgery” #we are certain someone else has said this considering we're just restating canon facts but we haven't seen it so we're making it again #please do imagine discovering you have a parasite because you died #and came back in a state where you could see the very strongly presenting symptoms in an intermediate host #this is also our theory as to why final cutscene heart uses rat god's voice btw #she's in there hanging out somewhere in his digestive tract and possibly offering mild rat-related perks #depending on how Weird mechanics are might be part of the reason he can talk to rat when the black cat doesn't share a language #gondii is a beneficial symbiote for cats after all #just not for rats #mad rat dead's plot from rat god's pov is just “you get evicted from your old apartment because someone ripped it asunder” #“and then stuck one chair from your living room into this guy's van with you still in it” #“and now you're trying to backseat driver your way into finding a new apartment. the guy will die if you do this but this is fine you think #and then she gets beaten up by the guy whose car she's using #and then from heart's pov it's just discovering you have some guy living in you like five years after she takes up residence #when she starts trying to kill the guy you were an organ donor for who you are currently haunting #and then mad rat is here with “god is real and she wants me dead” #maybe if we get the motivation we will make joke aus based on these at some point #maybe. #we rarely return to MRD so #maybe itll just float #this is one a them “once every three years” fandoms we might be back later but we don't guarantee it. #we'll see how it goes