Mina the Hollower: Figuring Out What Species of Bat Thorne is
So this was something I decided to do for fun, which I ended up enjoying a lot more than I thought I would, cause of all the research I was doing to come up with a concrete answer to this curiosity of mine.
I went into this researching diets, behaviours, characteristics, and other details of bats, and Thorne in game, to come up with a reliable answer, which you can find, and hopefully find as fascinating as I did.
Now to start us of, it goes without saying there are a lot of different bat species in the world, a lot more than I initially thought. However, thankfully because of a particular detail regarding Thorne's nose, it was easy to figure out that Thorne would be part of the subspecies of bats known as Leaf-nosed bats.
For reference, this is what a typical Leaf-nosed bat looks like, and there are a very large amount of them, all with different diets, behaviours, appearances etc...
The important thing to note, is that the nose is shaped like that, so these species bats can focus their echolocation more accurately into a specific direction. Which is actually something Thorne does in game when you fight him the second time. It's also worth mentioning not all of the subspecies have pointed noses like this.
So now that we know that Thorne is part of the Leaf-nosed bat subpecies, now comes big question of figuring out, which one he is.
A fascinating detail about these species of bat family is that they are the most diverse when it comes their eating habits, and they're categorized into one of five camps.
A frugivore, which is a bat that eats fruit.
Nectarivore, which is a bat that eats the nectar from plants.
Insectivore, which is a bat that eats insects.
Omnivore, which is a bat that eats both plants and other animals.
And finally haematophagous, which is a bat that survives on blood, i.e. the Vampire Bats.
Taking into account that Thorne literally tries to eat Mina when he was berserk and out of control in his mutated form, as well as the fact from what I understand he eats other foods to. It's pretty safe to say Thorne is in the omnivore camp of bats. Though make a note of the Vampire bats, because it's going to become important shortly.
Now that we've narrowed it down to a Leaf-nosed bat in the omnivore camp, it's just a matter of figuring out which one it.
Surprisingly this was a clear cut case, because there's only one bat in this camp which behaves in a particularly way, while also having the horned nose that matches Thorne's. The bat in question being a Spectral Bat, also known as the False Vampire Bat.
So these guys, are not only the largest species of bat in world, who are active predators to a wide variety of animals. While also having no problems flying of with them. But out of the thousands of species of bats, these guys are also one of the very few that are monogamous. And when say few, I mean like 20 out of 1400 species of bats.
For those of you not aware of what monogamous means, in short it means when it comes feelings, having emotional attachments, and deeply socializing with an individual, be that working with them, or sharing resources, it's all directed at one individual. In other words Mina.
But wait, there's a bit of a problem, the Spectral Bats colouration, and some features doesn't quite match Thorne's. The nose and the black wings match, but the body colour and the ears don't.
Well remember when I said to make a note of the Vampire bat? Well it just so happens there's one with the colouration of Thorne's body, and the ears matching his to. The bat in question appropriately being called the White-winged vampire bat where some of them can have clay-coloured fur.
Very different nose, but the colouration of the body, and ears match.
If you've made it this far, it's likely you've probably realized the implication, and you'd be correct. Thorne's a hybrid of two different species of bat. The Spectral Bat, and White-winged Vampire Bat.
Now how such a union came about in the world of Mina the Hollower is up to interpretation, regardless it's pretty safe to say Thorne isn't an ordinary bat. There's definitely some vampire like behaviour with some of the things he's done.
Nope this isn't edited, he literally does this pose in game when he's talking to Mina directly face to face.
Then there's this image, where they're not even trying to hide it. Yes, this is the same Thorne that likes to write poetry, likes music, wants to save everyone's lives, and is the good guy.
So what does this all mean? Well it means a couple of things.
For one this means Thorne can eat and survive of a wide variety of different foods, including the blood of another living creature.
If the theory of how Thorne regained his senses in his mutated form is to be believed. Where ingesting Mina's plasma enriched blood, when he tried to eat her, caused the change to happen. Thorne would very likely now have a taste for Mina's blood. Whether or not he can keep his impulses in check, I guess depends on his state of mind, or other possible factors.
Likely explains why Thorne is as big as he is compared to Mina, and there's also the fact he'd have no issue flying of with her, if he got a good hold of her body.
It goes without this is simply my opinion using logic, and my findings in regards to all the stuff I looked into, and applying it into the world of Mina the Hollower.
If others come to embrace this, that would be pretty awesome, but at the end of the day it's simply a theory, a Game Theory!