Grimm Guide

These hound dog creatures are ruthless enforcers of the Verrat. Known to be tenacious and vicious, it's rumored that Hundjagers eat their mothers from inside the womb. Fast, clever, cold and calculating, these are the last Wesen you'd ever want on your tail.

"'Perhaps some accident has befallen him,' said the king, and the next day he sent out more
huntsmen who were to search for him." - Iron Hans

The inspiration for this episode came from the Grimm Brothers' "Iron Hans." In this fairy tale, a
king sends a number of huntsmen into a dangerous forest from which they never return. Some
years later, a wandering explorer accompanied by a dog hears of these dangerous woods and
asks permission to hunt in the forest, claiming that he might be able to discover the fate of the
other hunters. The man and his dog are allowed to enter, and as they come to a lake in the
middle of the forest, the dog is dragged under water by a giant arm. The hunter returns to the
forest the next day with a group of men to empty the lake. There, they find a man with skin like
iron and long shaggy hair all over his body.

In "Cat and Mouse," this story morphed into a bounty hunter theme with a "viva la resistance"
twist for the episode. But outside of the hunt and the use of Hundjagers, much like the use of
dogs in the tale, the stories don't carry many similarities. "Cat and Mouse" takes a more political
direction, exploring the dangers of creature-human interaction and introducing us to new
elements of the Grimm world, such as the Veratt.

The Veratt is an ancient Wesen organization that originated in Europe. Supporters of the Veratt believe it is paramount to maintain the purity of the Wesen kind, and in the 1930s, they committed mass executions of innocent Wesen without trial for marrying outside their own breed. While the Veratt have old origins and an archaic school of thought, their modern influence is spreading. They occupy positions of power: politics, industry and organized crime. Anything that is corruptible is susceptible to the Veratt's influence, even law enforcement. The Veratt enforcers are Hungjagers, a race so tenacious and vicious that it is said they are birthed by consuming their own mothers from inside the womb.

The Lauffeur is the underground resistance against the oppressive Veratt. One of its current leaders is Ian Busch, a journalist and freedom fighter on the run.