Claudandus

"Oh dear, Francis. You live through your ordinary little day and.. and fall asleep to dream your ordinary carefree little dreams through the course of the peaceful, undisturbed night. But then, I brought nightmares to your mind. Do you deny it? The world is Hell, Francis. And the crowning glory of hatefulness in this world... is man. And the joke, my friend... is that we're now no different to him."

- Claudandus to Francis. "Pascal" is the main antagonist of the German movie Felidae, based on the book of the same name. He is an elderly, brilliant cat able to read books and to use computers, whose knowledge of the local cats proves vital in helping the primary protagonist, Francis, solve the mystery of the many cat murders that plague the cat society.

Unbeknown to Francis, Pascal is actually Claudandus, one of the favourite subjects of a scientist named Preterius, who undertook awful experiments on laboratory cats hoping to create a special glue that would be able to heal flesh wounds. Judging from his own words, said experiments were like torture, so it is fair to assume that it turned him to the evil supremacist murderer bent on revenge that he is now, as he considers all humans to be evil.

After being subjected to many experiments, Claudandus killed Preterius and reached a legendary status amongst the cats and most believe him to be dead. Pascal has a secret influence on the Claudandus Sect- a sect that believe that Claudandus gained powers from the experiments, powers that could help the cat to evolve into something greater.

Indeed, Pascal does plan to make the cat race evolve by breeding some of the fittest with female cats he bred himself and killed those whom he deemed unworthy of it. Pascal may have gained some unexplained psychic powers, as he claims to have talked to Preterius and to be responsible for the nightmares that plague Francis, showing him the hindsight of the murderer. (Though whether he truly has powers or he pretends it through manipulation and suggestion remains unclear.) Pascal is also able to both read books and to use a computer, and uses his owner's computer to list all cats in town. Knowing that he would die soon from stomach cancer, Pascal took Francis as a disciple, hoping that he would succeed him in his plan.

As Francis eventually discovers that Claudandus could be the murderer and that Claudandus and Pascal are one and the same, he goes to Pascal's home and discovers the listing on the computer. Pascal then confronts him after severly wounding Francis' friend Bluebeard, and tries to explain his motivations and wanted to have Francis to take his place as the leader, but a disgusted Francis rejects his former mentor's extremist views. The two cats eventually engage a bloody battle, during which Pascal has his chest ripped open, spilling his organs.

Pascal dies a gruesome death, expressing some regret about his evil deeds in his last breath: The horror... so much pain... darkness... Francis, so much... darkness. You look at me now, and what you see Francis is evil. Yet once I was... good.