Giant rat

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For the genus of giant rat, see Kunsia.

Nutrias are sometimes mistaken for the fearsome Giant Rat of Sumatra.

A giant rat is a rat that is substantially larger than its other rodent cousins. Rats of startling size do appear in nature such as the Gambian Pouched Rat, Cricetomys gambianus, adult specimens of which have been known to attain upwards of 3 feet (91 cm) in size from nose to base of tail; and the caviomorphs of South America regularly top the scales at over 200 lb (90 kg) in weight. However, the most noteworthy giant rats appear as monsters in fiction, role-playing games, computer games, and other venues of fantasy.

[edit] Sherlock Holmes and the Giant Rat of Sumatra

Perhaps the best known giant rat in fiction comes from the pen of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who in The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire has Sherlock Holmes declare, as an aside, to Dr. Watson:

Matilda Briggs was not the name of a young woman, Watson, . . . It was a ship which is associated with the giant rat of Sumatra, a story for which the world is not yet prepared.

Holmes's reference would appear to imply that the ship Matilda Briggs somehow became infested with giant rats. There is a "giant rat of Sumatra;" it is called Sundamys infraluteus; it also occurs on Borneo.

Based on this tantalising aside, a number of authors of Sherlockiana have endeavoured to fill in the blank and supply the missing adventure of the giant rat of Sumatra for a world that is now presumed to be prepared for its revelation. These tales include:

The Holmes-Dracula File, a 1978 novel by Fred Saberhagen, in which Holmes and Dracula (who turns out to be related to Holmes) uncover a plot to destroy London with plague-bearing rats, the Giant Rat being a living plague vector.
The Giant Rat of Sumatra, a 1987 novel by Richard Boyer, which features the return of The Hound of the Baskervilles villain Stapleton. In this novel, the "giant rat" turns out to be a vicious tapir. (ISBN 0-586-20087-8)
All-Consuming Fire, a 1994 Doctor Who novel by Andy Lane, part of the New Adventures series; in this story, the Doctor joins forces with Holmes and Watson to confront Azathoth, an entity from H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos. The giant rat is portrayed as an alien monster. (ISBN 0-426-20415-8)
The Giant Rat of Sumatra, a 2001 novel by Daniel Gracely (ISBN 0-9714041-0-0)
Sherlock Holmes and the Giant Rat of Sumatra, a 2002 novel by Alan Vanneman, (Published by Carroll & Graf, ISBN 0-7867-0956-1). The 'Matilda Briggs' does not appear in this book.
The Oriental Casebook of Sherlock Holmes, a 2003 collection of short stories by Ted Riccardi supplied an adventure involving the Giant Rat of Sumatra. (ISBN 0-9658164-3-5)
Sherlock Holmes' Lost Adventure: The True Story of the Giant Rats of Sumatra, a 2004 novel by Lauren Steinhauer. (ISBN 0-595-66386-9)
"A Father's Tale", a short story by Sterling E. Lanier, published as part of a collection of stories titled Sherlock Holmes, Through Time and Space, compiled by Martin Harry Greenberg and Charles G. Waugh, and edited by Isaac Asimov (ISBN 0-312-94401-2). The story is distinctive in that it is told from a distant, second-hand perspective and Sherlock Holmes is never identified by name.

This reference was expanded by comedy troupe the Firesign Theatre in 1974 into the satire The Tale of the Giant Rat of Sumatra (LP Columbia KC32730) with protagonists Hemlock Stones, the 'Great Defective', and his biographer and companion, Dr. John Flotsom, O. D., part of which takes place aboard the "Matilda Brigg". The name of this ship induces the group to perform the song Frigate Matilda (to the tune of Waltzing Matilda), which has become somewhat of a cult standard.

The phrase was also used as a title for one of the books in the Hardy Boys juvenile mystery series.

[edit] Other fictional giant rats

In the Deus Ex computer game a newspaper named Midnight Sun publishes a piece entitled Giant Rat Stalks New York? which contains a reference to The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire:

In recent weeks a rash of mutilated corpses -- many of them found near docks, subways, or sewers -- had garnered nothing but indifference from the NYPD. "Isolated and unremarkable" in the words of one police spokesperson. But while the police seem content to categorize these horrible crimes as nothing more than simple cases of homicide or suicide among the poor and indigent, eyewitness accounts tell a different and all together more frightening story. "'is a monster, 'nnit?" says Dickie Cork, a sailor aboard the Matilda Briggs out of Sumatra. "Thing looked like a rat, it did, only it was big, 'bout the size of a lion or sumthin'."

In H. G. Wells's science fiction novel The Food of the Gods and How It Came to Earth, the sighting of giant rats is one of the first indications that a chemical formula that induces growth has gone astray.

Dire rats figure in Dungeons & Dragons as a common low-level monster used to populate dungeons.

Giant Rats are part of the Skaven force in Warhammer

Giant rats, known as Rodents of Unusual Size (R.O.U.S.), have a starring role in the novel and motion picture The Princess Bride.

A giant rat appeared in the sewers of Victorian London in the Holmes-flavoured 1977 Doctor Who serial The Talons of Weng-Chiang.

The Stephen King anthology Night Shift contains a short story, Graveyard Shift, later made into a movie of the same name, which climaxes with the revelation of a giant rat.

The Giant Black Rat is a ferocious species of radiation spawned mutants featured in James Herberts "Rats Quadrilogy".

The Sumatran Rat-Monkey is a hideous creature created by director Peter Jackson for his 1992 horror film/ comedy film, Braindead

The Elder Scrolls computer game series features giant rats (just called 'rats', but clearly larger than ordinary rodents) as aggressive but weak creatures. Their meat can be used in potions to dull enemies' fatigue.

The movie Willard (1971 film) and its 2003 remake featured a giant rat named Ben. He was also prominently featured in the 1972 sequel named after him.