Basic Information
According to the TV Tropes Wiki, which has no reason to lie to me, ferrets have become a popular type of animal sidekick character. Personally, this troper hasn't noticed it so much, but since most of the examples TV Tropes cites for this are from manga, I could easily have missed it. And since ferrets deserve more attention, why not give it to them - very few people (comparatively) can tell one mustelid from another anyway.
The Weasel Mascot shares some qualities of more traditional pets such as the Loyal Dog and the Sarcastic Cat. They tend to be inquisitive and playful and have a good wholesome streak of kleptomania to them. TV Tropes says that the Weasel Mascot makes a good ironic deadpan snarker
TV Tropes stretches the definition of "Weasel" to include non-mustelid yet slinky critters such as squirrels, mongoose, and the ever-popular naked mole rat.
See Also
Sources
Game and Story Use
- Cats are over-done. If you're looking to give a character an unusual animal companion, consider a ferret.
- Hey, it works for the Beastmaster.
- In Western Culture weasels have a (mostly underserved) negative reputation (being, for example, a byword for deceit and treachery - see "weasel words") … and this may carry over into their role as a mascot. Presumably they don't have the same bad press in Japanese culture and so are more acceptable.
- If memory serves, they were on the list of undesirable animals that an evil D&D wizard could acquire as a "familiar" (at least in early editions - these days who knows?).
- Speaking of early editions of "that RPG", giant weasels were on the list of pets for several humanoid species … using them as an alternative pet for a different species could be a useful source of cultural colour.
- They're also popular pets in Fallen London - and, inevitably, made to fight each other as well.