Sorry if I'm missing anything from the discussion, I'm skimming over as I'm dizzy from a brief hospital visit.
I hope it's nothing serious and you feel better soon.
I just checked, the doors are opening in the direction of the player, so the rats would only be visible from the side of the entrance. You can assume that the doors will be open at a ball.
There are 10 rats in total, so they don't directly represent the family. But I would also say that they should show Cazador's dominance and you could also take it as a warning. "The further away you get, the tighter the knot becomes."
I saw a video of the rats in the tower. They're just talking about the "fangy ones" in the palace, the guests that came to a party but never left . They also mention that the family (brothers & sisters) is bigger than their family and they are living in the guts of the palace.
Maybe there's a mail-order-catalogue for sinister types
Must be a side business of the local tombstone dealer, whose business doesn't seem to be doing well.
