"A taker of slaves, and a thief; I know not what master he served. Cruel Slagar has come to grief; T'was all that he deserved." -Slagar's Epitaph, spoken by Sir Harry the Muse
Chickenhound, later known as Slagar the Cruel, was the son of Sela the healer from Mossflower Woods. During Cluny the Scourge's war against Redwall Abbey, Sela was called on to provide medical aid to Cluny. However, she and Chickenhound were double dealers of information, and tried to sell Cluny's war plans to the Abbey. Cluny soon deciphered what their game was, and ordered them both to be executed. Chickenhound managed to survive, and hauled his wounded body to the Abbey, where he told them about Cluny's scheme to tunnel into the Abbey grounds. Only Jess Squirrel and Constance suspected he could not be trusted, but Abbot Mortimer cared for him anyway. During one of the skirmishes with the horde, Chickenhound started to loot Redwall, but accidentally ran into Friar Hugo. Running from the Friar, he encountered Methuselah, who bravely tried to stop him. The fox took no notice and struck the old mouse with his bag of loot harder then he meant, accidentally killing him. Chickenhound ran into Mossflower and hid from Constance the badger, who wanted to find and slay the fox.
The fox hid under a tree and Constance passed by him, but things still went badly for Chickenhound. While he was hiding, the huge adder Asmodeus snuck up on him and bit him in the face. Miraculously, Chickenhound survived, though badly disfigured by the venom; the right side of his face had lost all of its fur, revealing skin that was black and purple and hanging in loose folds. Escaping Asmodeus, he hid deeper in the wilderness, slowly treating himself with the knowledge of healing taught to him by his deceased mother. As he recovered, Chickenhound's conviction that his pains were brought upon him by the Redwallers grew, exacerbated by the idea that he was prevented vengeance against Asmodeus by Matthias, who slew the adder. Chickenhound vowed to exact his revenge. Adopting a silken, harlequin-colored head mask to cover his disfigurement, he renamed himself Slagar.
Slagar wielding his bolas
Sometime in his travels, he encountered the kingdom of Malkariss and promised the polecat leader that he would bring him slaves if he were given all of the land above ground. With this new deal in mind, Slagar realized how he could gain his own kingdom and get revenge on Redwall Abbey at the same time.
Over the course of many seasons, Slagar perfected a slaving routine: gain a gang of vermin, make them help him get some slaves, travel back to the kingdom of Malkariss, and then get them to betray and kill one another while Slagar himself received all the credit and reward-to-be.
Finally, Slagar decided the time was right to perform his vengeance on Redwall. With his new band of slavers, he worked his way back to the Abbey, picking up several more slaves in the process, including Auma and Jube. They arrived at Redwall just in time for the mid-summer feast. Disguised as a group of traveling circus folk, Slagar's gang entered the Abbey and put on a show while Slagar secretly drugged all of the drinks. When everyone was asleep, the fox took the liberty of kidnapping Mattimeo, son of Matthias, and several other Abbey young ones.
Slagar once again continued his routine of traveling back to Malkariss to deliver the slaves. This time, Malkariss finally agreed to give Slagar his own army of rats and the land above. As Slagar and his new force were leaving, they encountered Matthias's party, who had tracked him there. Allowing the others to do the fighting, Slagar sneaked off, but as Matthias curiously looked at stone carvings done in the kingdom, Slagar sneaked from behind and felled him with his bolas. But before he could kill the warrior, slaves that were being freed chased Slagar off and saved Matthias.
After the band of woodlanders had fought and destroyed the army of Malkariss, Matthias and company were ready to head back to Redwall Abbey. As they were leaving, a rat named Vitch, who had been part of Slagar's gang, started to run off. Slagar seized this chance to kill Vitch with his bolas. This alerted Matthias and Orlando the Axe to his presence and Slagar was also forced to run. Before either could get to him, however, Slagar accidentally stepped into a sealed hole, which used to be a well, causing the masked fox to fall to his death.
Later, Slagar was mentioned in Pearls of Lutra as one who resided in St. Ninian's prior to its burning. Sawney Rath also referred to him in Taggerung as one who had been soundly vanquished by Redwallers.
Slagar's Identities
Chickenhound from the Redwall TV Series
Slagar from the Redwall TV Series
Slagar unmasked from the Redwall TV Series
The various names and titles used by Slagar included:
- Chickenhound
- Mousedeath
- Slagar the Cruel
- Slagar the Fox
- Slagar the Slaver
- The Cruel One
- The Sly One
- The Lord of Double-Dealing
- The Pitiless One
- Lunar Stellaris (as the head of the circus entertainers)
- Lunar Stellaris Fortuna Mandala (alternative name for Lunar Stellaris)
- Stellar Lunaris (alternative name for Lunar Stellaris)
- Lord of Moon and Stars (alternative name for Lunar Stellaris)
- Lord of Mountebanks (other designation for Lunar Stellaris)
- Lord of Light and Dark (other designation for Lunar Stellaris)
- Master of Life and Death (other designation for Lunar Stellaris, and shared with Kharanjul)
- Lord of Shadows (other designation for Lunar Stellaris)
Trivia
- Slagar is the only villain to appear in two books.