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Redwall Wiki | Brian Jacques and Redwall Information
Sparra

The Sparra was a variation of sparrows that lived in Redwall Abbey's rooftop as an organized tribe, monarchy, and army. Sparras were extremely hostile but accomplished warriors, and their language was notoriously difficult to comprehend, though Matthias understood them easily. During the time of Queen Warbeak, they numbered approximately 1,000.

As time went on, relations between the tribe and the Redwallers stayed the same, with neither encountering each other and staying out of each other's way. However, the Abbey's war with Cluny the Scourge, the death of the incredibly xenophobic King Bull Sparra, and the rise of the benevolent and wise Queen Warbeak allowed the tribe and Redwallers to unite and defeat Cluny's rat army. Shortly after the final battle, the dying Abbot Mortimer ordered that the Sparras be allowed to come and go as they please, to which both sides agreed, and over the next eight seasons, a new age of peace and prosperity befell the colony.

This ended when General Ironbeak invaded, killing the oldest, sickest, and youngest members of the tribe left behind during the mission to deliver information to Matthias (which resulted in the majority of the warrior's deaths, including Warbeak). The survivors later returned and rebuilt the colony under the leadership of Sir Harry the Muse who, in an ironic twist, was not a sparrow, but an owl.

Sparra often referred to creatures and things as "worms", and favored a popular gambling game called "Three Feathers." When a Sparra died, he or she was covered in leaves. The name of their habitat was Warbeak Loft.

Sparra Leaders[]

Known Sparra Members[]

Books[]

The Sparra appear in Redwall and Mattimeo.

Media[]

The Sparra appear in The Wildcat Scroll.

Trivia[]

  • Brian Jacques said the following on the inspiration behind the Sparra in Ask Brian Volume 1: "The Sparras were actually based on my observation of real sparrows in my garden as I was working. My but they are argumentative and territorial, they made me laugh so much, so fierce and brave but so tiny, and I have seen them all over the world just the same tough little bodies as here in my English garden."
  • "I was sitting out in the garden, writing away in the shelter of a big lilac bush and a dwarf apple, and a sparrow landed on the table, and another sparrow after it. And this sparrow shouted at the other fellow. I was watching these, like little people fightin' something terrible, and I suddenly thought the book should have sparrows in it, so I invented the sparrows up in the attic and in the lofts of Redwall, and how they talk in the sparrow language." - Locus magazine, November 1995.
  • Since the events in Mattimeo, the Sparra have not reappeared in any books; when asked about this in an interview, Brian Jacques confirmed they continue to live in peace.
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