A Redwall Hamilton Satire – Boar of Salamandastron
During his lifetime, Brian Jacques wrote and contributed music to many plays. He was also a stand-up comedian. Every Redwall book features characters bursting into song, and Redwall was even adapted into a musical for children.
So I have to think that Jakesy would get a kick out of a Tony Award-winning musical being parodied with the life and times of relatives of Boar the Fighter – the character he said he would most like to meet.
Surely, he wouldn't say no to this. Who wouldn't love a stage production of badgers and hares singing and dancing around the old Salamandastron forge before battle?! I wouldn't throw away my shot to see that. That's the true room where it happens.
This Redwall Hamilton satire/parody/whatever-you-want-to-call-it was tou…
Essay: The Crow Bretheren
The Redwall universe has given us many, many characters over the years. In most cases, these characters are either good or bad, with no gray areas in between. However, every once in a while, we get a character from a typically “good” species who isn’t a good character, and one from a “bad” species that isn’t bad. These characters will sometimes recieve discussion among fans simply for how they stand out among the generally black-and-white universe of the series.
But while some characters will stand out as explicitly gray, others may be more up for debate. Sometimes it’s not quite clear whether a character leans a certain way on the moral spectrum, or is just neutral. Today I’m going to be discussing a group of crows——a generally villainous …
How European Folklore Inspired Redwall
The rationale of having certain species in the Redwall series naturally gravitate towards "good" or "evil" behavior is often debated.
Why did Brian Jacques decide that some species (e.g. mice, hedgehogs, moles) would be good characters, while others (rats, stoats, foxes, weasels) would be bad characters?
Well, he said it himself:
"The bad creatures are those which are traditionally bad in European folklore and have come to be regarded as sly or mean or evil. The good creatures are mostly small and defenseless, with the exception of the badgers."
" is a merciless tyrant, a meaningless murderer, shedding blood from mere wantonness. Both ground and winged game fall victims to his blood thirstiness."
Weasels
According to British myth, witches often to…
Why no Mossflower navy
To say that the Redwall series has a nautical theme is a great understatement. Of the the series’ 22 books, around 2/3 involve seagoing vessels in some capacity. Even those that don’t tend to feature rivercraft, and or the mention of seafaring creatures. However, there is a rather puzzling aspect to this whole subject: the good creatures never seem to be able to keep ships around.
Brocktree’s allies seized a number of Ungatt Trunn’s ships, but we never heard from them again. Wuddship was apparently refloated to ship sandstone for the building of Redwall Abbey, but we hear nothing of it afterwards-unless you count it having a creek named after it in Outcast. The ships of Mariel of Redwall were apparently either destroyed or disassembled for ti…
Essay:Everything in Redwall Ranked
Okay, I'll try to update this as much as possible, but mostly I'll be writing a fan-fic on fanfiction.net. I'm going to try to rank things in redwall #1-#22. Okay...
- 1 Main villain deaths
- 2 #1: Cluny the Scourge
- 3 #2 Gulo the Savage
- 4 #3 Ferrahgo the Assassin
- 5 #4 Tsarmina Greeneyes
- 6 #5 Urgan Nagru the Foxwolf
- 7 #6 Ungatt Trunn
- 8 #7 Gabool the Wild
- 9 #8 Vilu Daskar
- 10 #9 Riggu Felis and Pitru Felis (tied)
- 11 #10 Damug Warfang
- 12 #11 Swartt Sixclaw
- 13 #12 Ublaz Mad-Eyes
- 14 #13 Korvus Skurr
- 15 #14 Razzid Wearat
- 16 #15 Badrang the Tyrant
- 17 #16 Vizka Longtooth
- 18 #17 Vilaya the Sable Quean
- 19 #18 Mokkan the Marlfox
- 20 #19 Raga Bol
- 21 #20 Princess Kurda
- 22 #21 Slagar the Cruel
- 23 #22 Gruven Zann
- 24 Main Villains Ranked
- 25 #1 Ungatt Trunn
- 26 #2 Slagar the Cruel
Note: In this, we're going to say …
Essay: Veil Sixclaw: Redeemed in Death?
The discussion of Veil’s character, his development and the reasons why he became that way is probably the most controversial topic of Redwall fandom, and since I recently reread ‘Outcast of Redwall’, I wanted to add my own musings as well. Please note that I read some of the essays written by other fans before writing my own, so it may have influenced my opinion. There are no definite questions that I want to answer, but rather to reflect on the characters themselves and their development.
Many of the fans debate on whether Veil was born evil or was Veil forced into evilness due to the upbringing he received? I lean toward the second option, but for different reasons than most readers. Many people point out that Veil from the young age had…
User blog:Alderjack the Treescamp/Redwall Books Ranked Worst To Best
Hello, everyone! Today I am going to compile together what I believe is a list of all Redwall Books Ranked from the worst book to the best book, which I think is the toughest situation I've ever been faced with!!!. Warning: My opinion will be different than yours; don't get offended. Keep in mind that this is my stupid personal opinion and, almost all the Redwall books are solid, gorgeous, wonderful pieces of literature but there is one that stands above all else! Let's Start this Countdown! With Exception to the numbered books, none of the books are in their set order. This is a difficult task and it will take a while to organize.
- 1 #22 Loamhedge
- 2 #21 Triss
- 3 #20 Doomwyte
- 4 #19 Eulalia!
- 5 #18 The Rogue Crew
- 6 #17 Legend of Luke
- 7 #16 The Bellmaker
- 8 #15 The Sab…
Eras of Redwall (1986-2011): My take
OK, so after a recent essay about this was made (which was very well thought out), I decided to make my own based on my perspective. Here goes.
First Era: 1986-1993
This was the early era and arguably the "classic" one. It gave us what are probably the strongest books of the series, with tons of classic characters, ranging from Matthias, Cornflower Fieldmouse, Basil Stag Hare, and Queen Warbeak, to Gonff the Mousethief, Chibb, and of course, Martin the Warrior. The ideas were fresh and new at this point, and each book serves a bit of a purpose.
Redwall introduces us to the world of the series and sets the bar for the rest. With Mossflower the series truly settles into itself, and tells us the legend behind the first book, which is a fantastic i…
Groddil - A Character Analysis
Disclaimer: This is an opinion analysis on the character of Groddil, the fox magician in Ungatt Trunn's Blue Hordes. Feel free to write a rebuttal if you disagree with me.
First, I'll attempt to fill in the gaps in his backstory. We are told that Trunn killed a family of foxes except for one who he crippled and brought alive. It is implied that the wildcat only spared Groddil because of his abilities as a magician. Although we don't know the backstory, it is likely the wildcat was either looking for recruits for the Blue Hordes or conquering the region and gave them orders to vacate. Groddil's family was killed instead of becoming part of Trunn's horde. Although we aren't told what Groddil's family was like, they refused Trunn's orders…
Essay: Bloodwrath 'n Badgers
- In the Redwall series, Bloodwrath is a phenomena that "causes the afflicted to go berserk with anger for a short period of time, enabling him (or her) to cause a fantastic amount of damage during battle and withstand an almost unreal amount of battle damage" (Excerpt from Bloodwrath). It is common in many badger characters, but it has not been restricted to them. There are many notable examples (in my opinion, I just think most of the characters claimed to experience it are just in a state of rage. Brian Jacques never came out and said they experienced it, but it is assumed. As it is assumed, I can have my own opinions about this.)
As stated on the page about Bloodwrath, it seems to have been related to Viking Berserkers. Before spring break, I …
Essay: The Eras of Redwall (1986-2011)
After reading through the entire Redwall series I decided to split it up into chunks that I saw delineated different points in the evolution of the series.
1. Early Period (Redwall - Outcast of Redwall)
The Early Period of the Redwall series saw the birth of the series as well as many of its most classic novels and characters. Unlike most series that last twenty-plus books, the Redwall series found itself relatively early on, falling into a pattern from which future books in the series rarely deviated. This period is further divided into two smaller sub-eras. The first of these sub-eras spans from Redwall through Mattimeo. During this time, the basic good and evil species are established, along with the series’ rustic western European settin…
Essay:Why do Hares serve Badgers?
- 1 Introduction
- 2 The Facts
- 3 The Science
- 4 How This Applies
- 5 References
You see, in the Redwall series, they have said many times that hares have served badgers for as long as anyone could remember, but why? Hares aren't low-class beasts, so why would they serve anyone? That's what I'm about to find out!
In Redwall, there are dozens of cases in the books in which hares befriend/serve badgers. Here are a few of the examples
Lord Brocktree -between Dotti and Brocktree
The Long Patrol -between The Long Patrol and Cregga
Triss -between Sagaxus and Bescarum
Loamhedge - between Lonna and The Long Patrol (in the epilogue)
Mariel of Redwall -between Rawnblade Widestripe and The Long Patrol
There are many more examples, but I just picked these.
In the Webster Dictionary…
Essay: What is Shadow?
Ok, so I know I'm not the first person to think about this, but what is Shadow, really? As a character article, he's a rat. And he's in the rat category. But I have an argument against this. Shadow shows intelligence rats just don't possess. I mean, I'm not saying that rats can't be intelligent (ex. Cluny the Scourge), but many rats show that they are just dumb soldiers. But Shadow seems to act more like a mercenary. Next, is his reliability. Cluny, when he hires Shadow, talks as if he has a history with Shadow. And he probably does. Shadow appears to be an expert thief, spy, and mercenary. If Cluny succeeded in capturing the Abbey, he probably would have made Shadow his right-hand-man. Or rat. Or weasel. Or whatever. Third, is his speed, …
Imagine Redwall...In Real Life
As the title of this essay states, this essay is to help you imagine Redwall in real Life!
Picture if you will walking down the highways and byways of Mossflower (where mossflower is I'll let you discern), and suddenly you see Redwall Abbey in front of you, gates open wide for you. Once inside, you see the human forms of everyone from the Redwall universe (pick any novel) greeting you making you feel at home. This is the type of thing happening to you in real life. The times you'd have, right? Now, picture if you will, at some point Martin telling you that it's destiny that you save the Abbey from danger! What do you do? Save the abbey or let it burn? Obviously, you'd save the abbey, but what if you had zero combat training, like me? Would …
Can Foxes/Vixens be heroes/heroines? (Opening Statement)
As we all pretty much know, most, if not all, Redwall novels have had the foxes/vixens in them, but there's one thing they have in common; they're portrayed as either the villains (in the case of Marlfox) or as the villain's lackeys, most skilled warrior(s), etc. I bring forth an argument that I'm pretty sure is gonna be deemed as the most stupidest, least thought-out theory you've ever read; Foxes/Vixens could just as well be the hero/heroine as any other race in the whole entire Redwall universe.
Before you say or think to yourself, "what's this idiot saying?" just hear me out! In The Outcast of Redwall, the hero was a ferret, which is a typical classic Brian Jacques villain class. He was seen as the villain until he sacrificed himself to…
An Author and His Books: A Narrative Essay
Forest-F.F
- It started several years back, around the year 2006. Our family lived in
Jacksonville, North Carolina, at the time. My older brothers were into this book series
called Redwall that a few other families attending our church were also interested in.
These books told tales of brave and heroic animals such as mice, fighting for peace and
freedom against evil, cruelty, and tyranny. These tales revolved around an old sandstone
fortress called Redwall Abbey—a place of safety for those in need of a shelter. Redwall,
a haven of peace surrounded by the vastness of Mossflower woods; an envied dream to many
defeated warlords. It might sound childish, but my brothers loved it, and because I
wanted to do what they did, I tried to like this Redwall ser…
Rufe Brush
Ah, Rufe Brush. The squirrel who was so infamously "strong and silent" in Mariel of Redwall...and then inexplicably turned into a complete wimp in The Bellmaker. Who could forget him. Or shall I say, them?
I'm here to analyze Rufe's strange personality change, and what may have been Jacques' reason for it. I remember totally liking Rufe when I read Mariel of Redwall, so when I heard he was going to be on the quest in The Bellmaker (yeah, I sorta looked ahead), I was excited to see him again. But...I was disapointed, yet could not figure out why. It wasn't until someone pointed out the HUGE difference between the Rufe in Mariel of Redwall to the Rufe of The Bellmaker that I realized why. Heck, even this wiki points it out! It offers a possible explan…
Martin II---the most boring, predictable character of the entire Redwall Series
I'm here to talk about Martin II. When, in Mattimeo, we first here about him being the newborn son of Tess Churchmouse and Mattimeo, it is a great setup for the story of a new hero. Martin II sounds like a very promising warrior-to-be.
But when we got to know him years later in Pearls of Lutra, he was a huge disapointment! No, it wasn't because he was a bad warrior---he was as courageous and strong as his namesake, Matthias, Mattimeo, and every other hero in the series. No, it was because he was so flat out BORING AND UNORIGINAL.
First off, there is his name to consider. Upon reading about "Martin", it is just weird reading about a mouse who feels like he should be Martin the Warrior, but isn't. Second, he had no distinctive personality. He was …
Vanishing Acts
It's sad that the Redwall series has only gotten two direct sequel books---we frequently have to keep adjusting to new casts of characters, although during the later books it got particularly bad, as Jacques didn't seem to want to bring anybody back. Still, in the sequels, in which the same cast did return, Jacques still failed to bring back the entire cast.
Mattimeo managed to include most of the cast of Redwall that survived, although there were two very glaring omissions---Dunwing and Mr. Squirrel. In the final chapter, the former is confirmed to have survived, and the latter is implied to have. Yet neither is even so much as mentioned---it's as if Jacques forgot about both. Whereas someone pointed out that sparrows might age quicker than other…
WG4: What and What NOT to Do For the Aspiring Conqueror: The Company You Keep
The Warlord Guide: What and What NOT to Do For the Aspiring Conqueror #4: The Company You Keep
Hello, everyone out there who is still out there. On a whim I decided to check out this site again and read through my old blog posts for the nostalgic value. This series here was definitely my defining moment on this site, and I did have some neat insights, but I don't think I came up with enough.
I've come a long way as a writer since then, but my frustration with the ineptitude of Redwall Villains has stayed the same, or, if anything, intensified. I'm not sure if I really feel the initiative to continue this series, but I do have enough left in me to write another guide for all of you aspiring conqueror's out there.
After having read through my o…
Triss: A Discussion Essay
Hello. This page is one of several that I've wanted to make for a while now. In this page, I hope to express my thoughts on the parts of the book that either impress me(as being well-written and coordinated) or don't make sense to me. Essentially, this is a critique/appraisal.
I will first start off by saying that whatever I might say about the book Triss that is derogatory, I still think it is a very fine book and one of Brian Jacques' "classics". I strongly recommend it as an overall well-written book.
- 1 Trisscar Swordmaid vs. Princess Kurda
- 2 The Back-Entrance to Brockhall
- 3 Zassaliss, Harssacss, & Sesstra
- 4 Points I Found in This Book
- 5 Captain Plugg Firetail
- 6 Bescarum Lepuswold Whippscut
- 7 Poems, Songs, Riddles, ect
- 8 A Great Scene in Triss
- The first …
The US illustrations and their meanings
I've long noticed that in the U.S., the illustrations for the books often are of things that have little meaning to do with the chapter. This is especially the case in the earlier books. Sure, there are frequently ones of characters, but considering Jacques' love for numerous, untitled chapters, there are just as many that seem rather irrelevant.
Take, for example, in Redwall, Chapter 10 of Book Two: "The Quest". In the U.S., the chapter heading is an illustration of a dog, even though those don't exist in the Redwall universe. Or what of chapter 10 of Mariel of Redwall, which appears to show a monkey in a chef's hat?
Things got better when Allan Curless took over, but they still weren't as good as the Russian illustrations. For example, what …
Why the subplots?
A good story is something that needs to stick the main storyline, without getting sidetracked by things that are of little to no relevance. Yet, Brian Jacques' books, which are generally regarded as good stories, seem to do the exact opposite.
This was nicely averted in his first two books. Yes, he would show what different characters were up to. But they always connected back to the main storyline, the first being Cluny's siege on the Abbey and the Redwallers' mission to drive him away, and the second being Tsarmina's reign on Mossflower, and what the woodlander's would do to stop her. Admittedly, there was something of a side-story here, but it was relevant in that it led to the woodlanders trusting Gingivere, the first real grey characte…
How to write good Redwall fanfiction, Part Two
Well, here's what everyone's been waiting for: Part 2 of my essay! :) before I go any further, I'd just like to thank everyone for all the positive feedback. Always nice to hear. Anyway, where was I? Oh! The essay!!!
- 1 Motivation, or: Why characters do anything at all
- 2 On one-dimensionality
- 3 Nobody's perfect
- 4 Outro
This is a section of my essay I want to put special emphasis on; as this is pivotal when writing fanfictions or just writing in general. Now, in Brian Jacques' original Redwall series; villains tended to have simple goals to drive their ill-matched visions of power and ambition, and villain backgrounds and personal information tended to be fairly rare. When writing your fanfiction this does not have to be the case.
When writing your f…
Are Villain Deaths a Result of Luck?
This essay is written to comment on some villain deaths that were the result of luck, and why the villain should have won.
In the final battle, Tsarmina is shown to be a proficient fighter, as she struck Martin down twice. With near-fatal injuries, the severity of which should have prevented him from fighting, even with the aid of Bloodwrath, he forced Tsarmina into the deep end of the lake, where the wildcat queen was finished.Given the flow of this battle, it makes it obvious that Tsarmina should have won. The twist ending to the battle and the classic "hero-was-dead-but-got-revived-and-killed-the-baddie" act makes this ending grossly cliché.
Gabool the Wild was renowned as a proficient fighter, as well as Rawnblade Widestripe, so the outc…
Essay:A Primer on Copyright
It has come to my attention recently that a lot of people are simply unfamiliar with United States copyright law.
I've developed this simple primer to help educate and inform on the matter, and hopefully answer some questions along the way.
- 1 What is "Intellectual Property" ?
- 2 What is "Licensing" ?
- 3 Questions
- 4 Learning more
Intellectual property is something created by the mind, which can include literature, artwork, advertising graphics, and more.
The world of Redwall, inclusive of all characters, is a literary work conceived by the mind of Brian Jacques, thus it is his intellectual property.
Why is this important? Essentially, it means that because Brian Jacques created this world, any iteration of it without permission results in a violation of t…
Essay: Rose's Fate.
- 1 Rose's Fate
- 2 Pro Death
- 3 Anti Death
- 4 Summery
Rose of Noonvale, we all know her, we all love her, we all wish she didn't die. Well OK, some of us don't exactly wish that, and are satisfied with the story, I am not. There are two sides to this debate which has been going on since the book was released, why did she have to die. One side, the one which I support has compassion for Rose, and wanted her to survive. The other side, thinks that she should have died, and enforces what is considered "cannon." Many of us have protested about this, but it has not yet been changed. Mainly because it would mess up the series. There are all different reasons as to why she should/shouldn't have survived.
Martin could move on to Mossflower. Martins sword…
Essay: The Prevalence of Female Characters in the Redwall Universe
Hello, I'm here to discuss something I noticed as of late, and that is the female characters in the Redwall books, more notably the latest books.
WARNING! This essay contains spoilers from Doomwyte, The Sable Quean, and The Rogue Crew!
Alright, so first off is Zaran the Black. She is a river otter whose mate, Varon and her daughter, Namur were slain by Korvus Skurr and the Doomwytes. She is bent on avenging the memory of both and is armed with her swords that are joined at the hilt. In the final battle between the Wytes and the Gonfelin thieves, Guosim, and several others, she pursues Korvus Skurr, who attempted to flee the battle. It is later said that she caught up with the raven and slew him, thus fulfilling her vow to kill him for having…
Essay: I AM.
Welcome to philosophy 101. Didn't know falcons could write about philosophy? Think again. ;)
The phrase "I am that is", is partially illogical, but clearly conveys some deeper meaning besides merely being jumbled letters of the name Matthias. Though the words themselves form no coherent phrase, it contains two identities which appear to hold valuable insights.
First: "I am." You may have heard the famous phrase: "I think, therefore I am.". First laid out by the philosopher Descartes, this statement is among the more profound ever to be placed into print. Why? It's because all else follows, once one accepts the statement: "I am." For those of you who have yet to study epistemology (I haven't studied it formally either), one of, if not the mos…
Essay: Small Decisions and Fiction
Redwall is a fictional place. I used to fantasize about what it would be like for it to be real. I would look at my house-- a large, two story, red bricked home, and dream about mice running around making things in mouse-sized ovens; about my mom screaming in horror at all the animals in her kitchen... okay, maybe not that. But I will never forget the beautiful picture of life it brought to my imagination. I still have a unexplainable liking for squirrels (my favorite animal in Redwall).
I am now an adult. I have a job (two, actually). I take courses on contract theory and political philosophy. Suit jackets are a large part of my wardrobe now. All of this is in stark contrast to my childhood thoughts of imaginary worlds. Or is it?
I desired …
WG3. What and What NOT to Do For the Aspiring Conqueror: Torture
The Warlord Guide 3, What and What NOT to Do For the Aspiring Conqueror: Torture
Hello, once again, you're favorite hyena themed villain enthusiast here with another exciting instalation of the Warlord Guide. Today I'm going to go over some of the most seen idiot moves within the Redwall Villain Corps. Some of these are shockingly stupid, so those of you with weak constitutions may not want to read on.
- 1 Starvation Does NOT Count as Torture
- 1.1 One: They'll Find Food . . . Chained Up in You're Dungeon
- 1.2 Two: Vengeance Alone Will Be Their Diet
- 2 What Torture Means
- 3 Author's Note
How many times have you heard, "Jus' cut 'is rations, loss of good food an' water is the best tongue loosener!"? I'll tell you: too many times. Starvation just doesn't cut i…
Essay: What is Fan Fiction?
Do you own fan fiction? Do you want to write fan fiction? Not sure where to start or how to begin? Wondering what this phenomenon is about? What is the canon?
This page is created with the hopes of answering these questions.
- 1 Where do I begin?
- 2 Canon & Canonicity
- 3 Types of Fan Fiction
- 4 Putting it All Together
There is a variety of ways to begin fan fiction. There is space in times between novels, prior to the series, and following the series. Explore the various gaps that could use a good story; place a well-known character of the series in a different perspective; or even, create a new character and bring new, hidden characteristics out of present characters. Fans have the option of writing original fan fiction or bending the rules. Rule-bendin…
News:A Toast to Jakesy
- When sunlight tinges the dawn of the day,
- Remember those brave ones now gone.
- We who recall them to mind, let us say,
- They were perilous beasts every one!
- - from Lord Brocktree
It was Christmas, approximately 1995 or 1996, and knowing my tendency to devour books one of the the gifts my parents gave me that year was Mossflower, the Thomas Canty paperback edition.
At almost 400 pages, the size of the book intimidated me initially. I set it aside for almost half the year, until summertime arrived, and I realized there was a novel in my possession I had yet to read, so I cracked it open.
That moment changed my life forever.
The larger than life characters of Gonff and Martin the Warrior leapt off the pages; vivid descriptions of Mossflower Country drew …
Question of Redwall
i know there is a Similar essay to this but these are my own questions and i want to ask them( that and i thought it would take up too much space for each to have an individual essay for each so i just made one big one)
More will be added as i think them up.
- 1 Questions
- 1.1 Where's Brockhall?
- 1.2 Who built Salamandastron?
- 1.3 No more sequels
In the books I've noticed that on the maps the location of Brockhall has changed much, in the sable quean it was south of Redwall, in Triss it was east, in Mossflower( judging on its location from kotir) it was north. i know that they are different artists but they could at least get the location consistent(though i did like that in Triss it said "here there be serpents" that was a good pun and actually accurate…
Abbey Defense - do's and dont's
Yes, this is sort of the exact opposite of Hyena42's Warlord Guide. So, credit goes to him.
- 1 Guide to Abbey Defense
- 1.1 Strategic Summary
- 1.2 Leader's Strategy
- 1.3 The Show of Force
It is clear that in every book, no matter how massive the force, Redwall Abbey never falls, and if it does it is for no more than a few days. However, the good side never comes away without some casualties; and that is the biggest reason for this blog. The abbey could do some small things to prevent death within its ranks.
Usually, the abbey is warned before any significant attack ensues. However, vermin will [at least they should] eventually realize that a blitzkrieg [lightning/fast attack] is the most effective way to storm an abbey, and so there are things that must b…
Essay:A Study on Villains and Their Many Downfalls
I own a precious few of the Redwall series, but I hold the original masterpieces - Redwall, Mossflower, Mariel of Redwall. It's been a while since I read the other books, and my memory isn't all that great, so excuse me if I include a lot of technical errors.
- 1 We Seek Therapy: Mental Health of Villains
- 2 We Are Stupid: Wisdom of Villains
- 2.1 Conquering Redwall and Salamandastron
- 3 We Are Desperate: Useless Choices of Villains
My thanks to Long Patrol Girl for bringing this to my attention.
Well, it seems that in Redwall, the villains are often a little crazy up there by the end of the story. Often they are plagued by recurring dreams of giant badger guys with bows or mice with swords or whatnot. When they finally face the pursuers (giant badger guy…
Essay: Death in the Redwall Series
I've noticed recently that in each Redwall book, there are two main character deaths, one during the course of the story and one at the end, with a few exceptions. Here are some examples.
Redwall:
During: Brother Methuselah
End: Abbot Mortimer
Mossflower*:
Boar the Fighter
Mask
Mattimeo:
During: Queen Warbeak
End: Log-a-Log
Mariel of Redwall*:
Brigadier Thyme
Colonel Clary
Salamandastron:
During: Brother Hal
End: Urthstripe the Strong
Martin the Warrior:
During: Felldoh
End: Laterose of Noonvale
The Bellmaker:
During: Fatch
End: Finnbarr Galedeep
(*Exceptions: two characters died during the book, instead of one during and one at the end)
These are just a few examples. Now, my next question is: why did Brian Jacques always kill off at least two main characters? I…
Verdauga Greeneyes
I believe that may thinking on many matters in Redwall is unorthodox after reading the reaction to my first blog post. In any case, I shall now make the argument that Verdauga Greeneyes, Lord of Kotir, is a gray character. Understand that I am not using the typical Redwall definition of gray. I do not mean a good vermin. I will ignore his species and in turn substitute gray as meaning morally ambiguous. To start there was the matter of driving Luke and his tribe out of St. Ninian's. You can say,"Evil warlord! He drove good woodlanders out of their home!" Yes, but also no. Luke's tribe might have just retreated rather than been forced out. He appears even kinder if he did force them out. Most warlords would have tortured, killed, and enslav…
Essay: Veil Sixclaw - "Good Guy" or "Bad Guy"?
I have discovered more and more that the one of the most argued things about the Redwall universe is whether or not Veil Sixclaw is a "good guy" or a "bad guy." He definitely showed a lot of bad traits, but in the end most people agree that he became good, because he saved Bryony's life. But that is basing an entire character off of one deed. To really show what "side" Veil was on, we should look at his entire life.
He was the son of the warlord Swartt Sixclaw. While this is not always true, it remains an undeniable fact that a lot of children take after their parents. In my opinion, Swartt Sixclaw was the most evil and savage warlord ever to appear in the Redwall series.
When Redwallers first found him, he bit them. That shows that he was v…
Essay: Religion of Redwall (REBUTTAL)
- 1 A Christian Rebuttal
- 2 Redwall Does Not Have a Religion.
- 3 Martin the Warrior is NOT Jesus
- 4 To Sum Up...
My rebuttal of the Redwall is Christian and Martin is Jesus argument. FYI, taken from a Christian stand point, so if I offend you with my beliefs of God, you don't have to read this.
Redwall is known for not having a religion. There's no praying or sacrifices, no worship time or any thing like that. I particularly like that BJ is not trying to hype a religion, be it any. There are just straight out children's book, no indoctrination in them. Now, yes, some people might go, "But there's an Abbey!!!!!! That is blatantly Catholic or Monotheistic or Christian or [fill in the blank]!!!!" Okay, so it is called an Abbey. But, do they teach people about…
Research paper final
Brian Jacques Researching the Writer
Redwall is, in my opinion, the best book series I have read. Brian Jacques is the author of this amazing series. However, until I started researching for this paper, I did not know that he is as interesting as his books. For example, I didn’t know that he has two sons, or that he has two brothers, or that Brian was his middle name, James being his first. Huh, and I thought I was a big Redwall fan!
Other than writing, Brian did many different jobs. When he was fifteen he left school to go to sea. He became a merchant seaman and sailed from Liverpool. Afterwards he seemed to know and love the sea: the colors, the moods, and the weather driven risks of it. Having read all but one of his books, I know…
Redwall's future
Essay:Redwall's future
Yeah...
Many of you may have been asking yourselves this question: Is there any evolution in the Redwall series? Rather not. From the earliest book, to the latest, the primary weaponry (e.g.) consists of blade weapons, BowAndArrow- weapons, and slings. The farthest they technologically made it, was an oversized prototype of a crossbow.
So, what do we conclude of that? Middle Ages, perhaps? Not even that is certain! The Long Patrol, to give an example, seems to be stuck in the modern era (Renaissance to/or Napoleonic; In the end, it depends on the in-book descripions and the illustrators lol). Sure, they have sabres, and fancy uniforms. Yeah, that's it. Strange, that not many others ever brought it to that cultural stage…
Essay: On Villain Dynamics in the Redwall Series
This is an "essay" - more of just a listing - in which I have analyzed the patterns of dynamics between the various antagonists and vermin leaders in Brian Jacques' Redwall series. So, starting right out:
- 1 The First Three
- 2 The Quintfecta
- 3 The Rest
- 4 Conclusions
- 5 Species Listings
Jacques is finding his ground here, so there aren't any discernible patterns...yet.
- with Redwall. There's really only one bad guy of any significance in this one: Cluny the Scourge. The first Redwall book is unique in several ways, one of which is the way [i]everything[/i] revolves around its central villain. There are some minor villain subplots, mostly involving Cluny's captains duking it out for second-in-command (Cheesethief, Redtooth, Darkclaw, Fangburn, [[Scragg] etc.…
Essay:The Grey Irish Stoat? Flinky - A Character Study
Brian Jacques' seventeenth entry into the Redwall series, entitled Loamhedge, is not among the most popular. It has been derided for many reasons: having a weak main villain in Raga Bol, a rather shallow protagonist in Lonna Bowstripe, an utterly implausible and cheesy plot twist with Martha Braebuck suddenly regaining the ability to walk, and not living up to its title and providing more significant background information about Loamhedge Abbey - which, after all, is a Redwall Abbey precursor, the old home of Abbess Germaine and important for Redwall history. I'm sure I wasn't the only one expecting a story that actually took place in Loamhedge Abbey, rather than its ruins. So I'll agree that Loamhedge is not among Jacques' best entries.
But the…
On Fan Fiction Part 1
Good versus evil is predominant theme in Redwall. It does not take one long to realize that the good are woodlanders and the bad are vermin. The vermin are almost always portrayed as imbeciles. However, this is a long stretch to say considering I have not read a Redwall novel in quite some time and cannot provide clear-cut examples. However, whenever I think about Redwall I get the feeling that things move along according to a formula. Personally speaking, I find myself ill at ease with the formula because it is predictable. Albeit, one may say predictability is good. It is good to know who is going to win in the end, and to go through that experience and feel the thrills. As of late, though, I am tiring of the predictability and have been …
Essay: Why 'The Sable Quean' Could Issue In The Old Era of Creative Redwall
Warning This is chock-full of spoilers for The Sable Quean further down...and plenty other Redwall stories besides. If you do not wish to be spoiled, you'd best be heading on.
In the beginning, there was creativity.
In what I call 'The First Decade of Redwall'--even though the books may not have necessarily all been published in the space of 10 years--Each tale was something new to the series. There was no choice, you may say, the series was new. True. But think about how the main plot.
Redwall: Defend the abbey from evil beasts--but you have to find the 'magic' scabbard, shield, and sword to do so!
Mossflower: The unanswered questions of Redwall: How did the Abbey get there? Why is Martin the Warrior so special? What's up with that Mossflower …
Religon of Redwall part 2
Christanity is the religon of the estemmed author, Brian Jacques. Thus, he would put his religon in his books, as most authors do. Jacques does it in a subtle way, that can easily be overlooked. He did it so subtly that many would fail to notice, becuase it bonds so easily with the story. I shall reveal once again the proof showing Redwall is based on the Christian religon.
- First let me start off with the basics that I failed to mention in my past essay. Redwall is an ABBEY! Abbeys have always been based on the idea of the christian lifestyle. If he wanted his books to have no religon he would more likley make the setting a colony then abbey. Another basic, is all through the christian bible, it reveals God/Jesus showing up in dreams and gi…
The Religon of Redwall
Brain Jaques has always refused to put a religion on Redwall, but I believe he has based Redwall culture off Christianity. I think that the Redwaller's Jesus is Martin, but I believe that Luke and Matthias are both portrayed as Martin, therefore Jesus. Let's start with Martin. Martin was born of two parents, Luke and Sayna. I think Sayna is an version of Mary. She and Mary are both kind, gentle and sweet, and they both had to carry there children while on a journey. Another similarity between Martin and Jesus is their signs. Christians feel that the sign of Jesus is the cross, this is known by many, many people, even people who aren't Christians. The sign of Martin is his Tapestry. All Redwallers know that the TOMTW is his sign, and many w…
Iowa represents Redwall (a retributal)
- 1 Muscatine the button capital of the world?
- 2 Public library
- 3 Art center
- 4 The Discovery Center
- 5 The family center
Well I have just arrived home from Muscatine Iowa with a full stomach and mix of good and bad memories. I ran into more than I expected not with the convention but the condition of the town I never knew that they were the button capital of the world with their large amounts of clams but now with jobs going over seas the town is pretty much abandon. I would only see a few cars and people around all of the houses were falling apart and I could see the buildings that used to house factories. On my way to the library I saw empty stores "closed, sorry closed, out of businesses, or available for rent" seems like the town is losing what t…
Unanswered Questions of Redwall
UPDATE: Changed wording of several questions to make them more clear. Added two questions.
M'kay, I'm going to try and keep tabs on this, but feel free to leave a message on my talk page if you want to subscribe to this list; I'll update you whenever I add new questions.
Over time, I've come to realize that there are a number of unaddressed background questions about the world of Redwall. For my own amusement and that of the community, I've posted below a list of whatever implied realities or unanswered plot holes I can think of below. If anyone wants to suggest one in a comment, I'll add it to the list and credit you if I think it "works". I'll also strike out any question and credit you if you can provide a definite answer. I'll organize t…