Tandemaus and Maushold may have dark origins as they may be based on the concept of a "Rat King", where several rats' tails are tied together or tangled by a person (although there have been reported cases of this happening without human interference). Explaining the German-sounding name of the Pokémon, the Rat King concept is named after the German term "Rattenkonig" which, in turn, is based on the villain of the same name from the short story "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King" who is sometimes depicted as being comprised of several mice or rats.

Also the Pokémon themselves may be aesthetically based on toy-like dioramic objects called "Sylvian Families" in Japan (or "Calico Critters" in English countries) which are essentially dressed-up mouse dolls in different whimsical small settings that make the mice look more like a human family. These Sylvian Families started in Japan in the 1980s, which is when many of the veteran developers at Game Freak would have grown up.