Redwall Theory - Tumblr Posts

Ok I was confused about what this meant but @lostmousemaid and I talked about it and it's so Interesting. This is what we think:

The difference is between whether Matthias or the sword is the focus of the sentence. It could be saying "Matthias, shall wield my sword for me," as in Matthias is Martin's spiritual descent and will work as the next Abbey warrior, protecting Martin (and everyone's) home. It could also be saying "My sword shall judge Matthias for me," as in Martin's spirit works through Matthias via the sword, the sword having belonged to Martin.

I know Abbot Mortimer said that the sword wasn't magical, "It contains no secret spell, nor holds within its blade any magical power. This sword is made for only one purpose, to kill." However, I disagree with Abbot Mortimer. It's true that Redwall is a place of peace, and the sword should be hung up out of respect for that philosophy and the weight the weapon carries. It is a weapon, but it is also a symbol of power, used to protect the great Redwall Abbey. It is part of Martin's image, which is a point of cultural pride. If it is such an important tool, why shouldn't Martin be able to work with the sword like he works in so many other situations?

Personally, I like both interpretations! Martin is an iconic character, he is so important to Redwall. I really do care so much for him. The way that he cares for Matthias, and many good goodbeasts in Mossflower, really speaks to me. Maybe both options are possible!

“my sword shall wield for me” vs. “my sword shall judge for me”

Rereading Martin the Warrior and thinking about the possibility that Tullgrew and Keyla came from Starwort and Marigold’s holt in the first place

First of all, that video destroyed me. It's so emotional to see them fighting for each other and enjoying time together, crying for each other and living their rich lives. Bless them, and once again I must say how much I love the community in Redwall.

Personally, I don't believe that Matthias and Cornflower are literal reincarnations as if they were the same person. Their personalities are similar, but they are unique beasts. Instead, I believe they are connected through time, like symbolic descendants. Matthias is Martin's successor, but not his reincarnation, I think.

Nevertheless, your video fits perfectly. The connection between the two generations is very important. Very well done, everyone should go watch it.

Rose/Martin Cornflower/Matthias - Have We Met Before (reincarnation)

This video is based on Laura Schiller’s beautiful reincarnation theory, given that Cornflower and Mathias are a second chance for Rose and Martin. Matthias already is the reincarnation of Martin in canon.

Cornflower and Rose share similar characteristics, being peaceful but fighting when necessary and the foil of the ending scene: Rose rebels and is killed and Cornflower jumps out of the way when they are hold hostage.

And last but not least, the insistance of Abbot Mortimor on the blooming Laterose on his deathbed when he blesses Matthias and Cornflower’s union.

Though I do not thing the similarities were intentional in the books because Cornflower was written long before Rose, I still love this very possible interpretation of canon! It adds an additional layeer to the heavy symbolism in this world.

Some villain hordes have absolutely eaten small sentient animals before, and the Redwallers are always horrified if they find out. Redwallers would never eat thrush. In my mind, it’s not that the thrush aren’t sentient, it’s that Ascrod eats them anyway. I imagine the thrush is semi-sentient and keeps mostly to itself.

Hey redwall??? Why are owls sentient but thrush are still non-sentient??

Me reading Pearls of Lutra at age 10: Man it’s too bad Romsca died, her character development was so cool and it would have been awesome if she got to have a happy ending.

Me rereading Pearls of Lutra now; Man it’s too bad Romsca died because there is a 100% chance that she helped murder Grath’s family and it would’ve been cool to see her face consequences for that without dying for redemption.

Mouse Mummies

Anoxic bogs are most often found in northwestern Europe. What makes these bogs special is their lack of oxygen- thus “anoxic-“ and their content of chemicals called tannins. When living creatures happen to fall into a bog, their tissue is preserved because tannins keep it static and all the little mites that cause decomposition can’t live without oxygen. (Bones, however, are often dissolved if the peat is too acidic.) Not only are bodies preserved, but clothing and trinkets as well. This is how big bodies are made! You might have heard of the Tollund Man or the Yde Girl, both famous examples of European mummies, from Denmark and the Netherlands respectively. These mummies can be preserved for thousands of years.

This is the Tollund Man, probably the most famous bog body

Now, marshes and bogs aren’t exactly the same thing, but for the prevalence of marshland in Mossflower country I’m sure that some of that could be a peat bog.

Slegg, Dirig, Gruntan Kurdly, the victims of the wytes… countless named and unnamed woodlanders have found themselves sinking in the swamp. Countless bodies under the surface.

I recently discussed in this post that “the 22 [Redwall] books cover hundreds and hundreds of seasons, their stories spreading farther than memory can reach.”

That is all to say, imagine what tales are hidden inside Mossflower wood. Imagine what relics of long-gone eras are preserved in the bodies of those who wandered through Mossflower and found themselves an unfortunate end. Imagine (accounting for the fact that not all muggy water is a bog) what the Maudie, Barbowla, and Log-a-Log Luglug were blissfully unaware of when running from the Brownrats. Just one of the thousands of stories Redwall has to tell.

Maybe the Gullwhacker had started to fray, the knot staying intact but the ends twisting apart. Maybe it was stowed in the gatehouse in the hopes that someone would get some use out of it. Somebeast with idle paws found it in the corner and wandered outside with it, tying what’s left of the end around a stone at the base of the wall when they were called in to supper. Can’t have that big knot rolling away into the pond.

One day, the gatekeeper at the time is going for a stroll along the wall when they see a shape above them. Some dark bird is coming nearer. Maybe one of Korvus’ gang, maybe a lone troublemaker. Maybe it wants that treat the gatekeeper had been enjoying. In a panic, they stuff the last of their snack in their snout and take off towards the stairs.

“Mmmahhh,” they say, crumbs falling on their footpaws. “Eeeek!!! Bird, somebeast help me!!”

An otter hears them from down below. However, how can they help, having left their sling up in the infirmary as a punishment for knocking themself in the forearm? In their defense, the sling was smaller and swifter than what they’re used to. They jog toward the base of the stairs, nearly passing the gatehouse on the way.

Wait, there, they’ve spotted it. That stone-knot combo on the end of a short rope will do the trick.

The gatekeeper almost crashes straight into the gatehouse door in their effort to open it and take refuge inside. Heaving breaths, they close the door and rush to the window. They watch as the otter turns to face the crow heading straight toward them. It looks like a young bird, not a risk of permanent damage, but certainly a danger to the young abbeybeasts.

“Can’t ‘ave this birdy ‘round our dibbuns,” the gatekeeper thinks.

As if the otter heard those thoughts, they swung the makeshift weapon at their adversary.

“Swoosh!” Miss.

The bird paused in the air for a moment, flapping its wings backward, cawing loudly and rethinking its decisions. But it was a stubborn creature.

“Swoosh, thwack!” This time, the blow struck.

Squawking all the way through its short descent to the grass, the crow flailed and wailed at the otter. The otter backed off steadily as the crow eyed them. A young and stubborn bird indeed. Turning its head to the sky, it seemed the crow had decided the gatehouse of Redwall Abbey wasn’t worth it. It took off, not hardly injured, but muttering to itself about being whacked by that big rope.

Mouse Mummies

Anoxic bogs are most often found in northwestern Europe. What makes these bogs special is their lack of oxygen- thus “anoxic-“ and their content of chemicals called tannins. When living creatures happen to fall into a bog, their tissue is preserved because tannins keep it static and all the little mites that cause decomposition can’t live without oxygen. (Bones, however, are often dissolved if the peat is too acidic.) Not only are bodies preserved, but clothing and trinkets as well. This is how big bodies are made! You might have heard of the Tollund Man or the Yde Girl, both famous examples of European mummies, from Denmark and the Netherlands respectively. These mummies can be preserved for thousands of years.

This is the Tollund Man, probably the most famous bog body

Now, marshes and bogs aren’t exactly the same thing, but for the prevalence of marshland in Mossflower country I’m sure that some of that could be a peat bog.

Slegg, Dirig, Gruntan Kurdly, the victims of the wytes… countless named and unnamed woodlanders have found themselves sinking in the swamp. Countless bodies under the surface.

I recently discussed in this post that “the 22 [Redwall] books cover hundreds and hundreds of seasons, their stories spreading farther than memory can reach.”

That is all to say, imagine what tales are hidden inside Mossflower wood. Imagine what relics of long-gone eras are preserved in the bodies of those who wandered through Mossflower and found themselves an unfortunate end. Imagine (accounting for the fact that not all muggy water is a bog) what the Maudie, Barbowla, and Log-a-Log Luglug were blissfully unaware of when running from the Brownrats. Just one of the thousands of stories Redwall has to tell.

Oh my god oh my god oh my god

Headcanon adopted

Absolutely

so i was thinking…in Cluny’s introduction, BJ writes about rumors surrounding where Cluny came from–speculations that he’s “Portuguese” or “from the jungles far across the wide oceans.” Now, real places like Portugal are clearly no longer included in the Redwall mythos, but the thought persists–what if Cluny came from the Redwall-world equivalent of Brazil? That’s a jungle across the seas with Portuguese influence. This is a long-winded way of saying it would be cool if he were a woolly giant rat (Kunsia tomentosus), which are rather large black rats (well, they’re new world rats/cricetids so like…sort of) from Brazil and Bolivia. The main issue with this hc is that they have relatively short tails, about the same length as the average brown rat’s despite WGRs being larger overall. But I suppose that means Cluny would stand out especially among WGRs, which is good considering his reputation.

he fluffy lmao

Yes!! Absolutely, and I never even thought about Green Isle

XD Maybe “ferret” is just the Redwall word for polecat and they aren’t truly domesticated- like the “potatoes” that also would’ve found it difficult to reach Great Britain

land of ice and snow is canada #confirmed (there are no turtles in norway)

The books that have wildcats - Mossflower, Lord Brocktree, and High Rhulain (and a bit of Redwall itself), LB and MSF take place before the abbey is founded. 

Redwall takes place after those two and there's only Julian left. 

So they died out on the mainland, but Green Isle is so isolated, it still has a loch ness monster expy - something from the dinosaur age and wildcats who didn't get killed because they didn't go anywhere. 

So Green Isle is an island stuck centuries in the past but we can't really tell outside of it's residents bc the world as a whole isn't technologically advanced. It also ties into the fact that there's a direct mention of Kaltag's family being domesticated cats 'by something'.

It's basically this series’ version of a prehistoric setting untouched by time. 

That's clever!

I'm re-reading Taggerung right now! This is a lovely review! And really really interesting comments.

thoughts on [The] Taggerung

This is very long because I'm very torn on it. When it's good it's very great but it fails in its original twist.

All my favorite Abessess are dead 🫥. Well except Lycian I guess. 

Here's something never mentioned - outside of Germaine's tomb, where are the Abbesses buried? Just by the vegetables to replenish the soil I guess. 

I may be wrong but this may be a new art style for the chapters and only for this book. It may never be seen again in another story because I don't remember seeing it again (disclaimer - I get the ebooks and not all come with art) Pity, it's like the Marlfox art but with less sketchy lines. It's nice!

You've heard their names, everybeast has. Cluny the Scourge, Slagar the Cruel, Ferahgo the Assassin and many others. All of them defeated and slain. Redwall is so powerful, it killed someone who never tried to conquer it or even entered Mossflower Country!

See they mention Vulpuz! There’s a demon entity! AWESOME

Once again we have a great concept that's kneecapped bc of the strict dichotomy these species have. You can find fanfictions on the Redwall wikia where people have played with the concept of “good” species who are raised in evil (or in my 25 chapter fanfictions case, suffered a head wound and turned into vermin) and actually kill and commit crimes. We can't even give Tagg the vermin dialect. There's nothing to deconstruct here. 

Sometimes he had admired Sawney, his strength, leadership and determination, but he had never really liked the ferret, never called him lather, never loved him. No internal conflict. If this had been written earlier, I'm sure we would have gotten a little. This is why Nimbalo is a better character because he has been changed bc of the abuse he suffered and is unlike most mice in the series.  

The hares are wildly hit and miss for me. Scarum was annoying. Boorab is delightful. 

We see the flatlands north of Redwall to the mountain. It's nice, lively, not as weird southern desert like where the ravine and Loamhedge is. 

This may be the only book in the series with an actual theme beyond good vs evil, in terms of family. The ones you pick, are born into, are forced into, you lose, you leave, you make. You see it in the Obvious but then you see it with instances like how Boorab and Filorn are peas in a pod or how Fwirl (who is a rarity as an actual active female character who is noted as pretty doing things beyond healing) joins the Abbey, and Mhera supporting Cregga all this time. 

Actually most of the redwall characters genuinely grow and learn something you don't often see in these books. It helps that it's not a huge cast, like in Loamhedge, the Bellmaker is killed early and they never name the man again. Broggle learned confidence, Fwirl and Nimbalo learned to rely on others, Filorn learned acceptance,  Alkanet isn't shamed for being stern but grows to be flexible , Mhera did the typical Abbess MasterClass speed run. 

One of the chapter arts suggests that Nimbalo is much smaller than Tagg. He stated to be a harvest mouse, when the non denomination mice of Mossflower are a bit more in scope with otters. 

We need more Forthrights. 

The actual drama of Tagg finally being back at Redwall but them not knowing he's the missing babe Deyna is very good and I appreciate how the reunion is delayed and not rushed through. There's a real sense of anticipation, and for my big critiques about the idea not having any follow through, this is probably the best 3rd act of any Redwall book. Maybe only Mossflower is better. 

Somehow I thought Ruggan Bor just...walked away when Deyna said the Taggerung wasn't at Redwall lmao WHY did I think this.

Another point; You know how I said squirrels don't have a subculture like the other animals? There are very few, if any, shrews without a subculture , they're either Guosim or Pigmy Shrews.

There's a sliding scale of sapiency with some animals. Woodpidgeons don't talk, so they can be eaten. Other birds do, so they don't get eaten, even if that's the intent of the villains. Most lizards are sapient but some like Firl in Mariel don't talk. So when rawback was trapped in the swamp, did he go insane by eating talking lizards and frogs? Basically one out of two mentions and depictions of cannibalism in the series?

While there's a humongous missed opportunity with Tagg as a character, this can very solidly sit in my top 5.