Redwall: Difference between revisions

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* [[Accidental Murder]]: In ''Mossflower'', Blacktooth and Splitnose start fighting each other over the food they stole from Martin, Gonff and Dinny. Everything was going fine until Splitnose decided to use his spear...
** In ''Salamandastron'', [[Those Two Guys|Dingeye and Thura]] start playing with archery equipment inside the Abbey and aim a bow and arrow ''at the stairs''. Cue Brother Hal.
** A [[Karmic Death|karmic]] example happens in ''Outcast of Redwall''. Just when the Wraith is about to assassinate Lord Sunflash after climbing up to an open window, Porty throws two rockcreams at Folrig and Ruddle (who were hiding behind Sunflash at the time). The badger and two otters duck, and the rocks end up hitting Wraith, causing him to fall to his death--[[Hoist by His Own Petard|and also to stab himself in the jaw]].
** Yet another karmic example pops up in ''Doomwyte''. Just when the raven Tarul was about to kidnap a mousebabe, Sister Violet came into the belltower to help the mousebabe ring the bells. She ends up ringing them and crushing the bird in-between them both.
* [[Action Girl]]: Quite a few, starting with Jess Squirrel and Constance in the first book. Mariel is probably the best known and most popular of them among the fandom.
* [[Aerith and Bob]]: Martin and Gonff, for example. This is more common in the earlier books when a large number of the characters still had human-ish names.
* [[Affirmative Action Girl]]: Triss, after fans asked why there had never been a female bearer of Martin's Sword. Sadly, it [[The Scrappy|backfired]] a tad (probably because they thought Triss was a [[Mary Sue]]). Mariel might also count, but she didn't bear the sword and she's far more popular.
* [[All Monks Know Kung Fu]]: For a supposedly peaceful bunch, the Redwallers are pretty handy when it comes to war.
** Peaceful doesn't necessarily mean Pacifist, as many would-be conquerors found out the hard way.
* [[Always ChaoticExclusively Evil]]: "Vermin" -- the catchall term for rats, stoats, and other carnivorous mammals (other than badgers, otters, or shrews) -- are universally criminals. It borders on [[Fantastic Racism]] at times. Only [[My Species Doth Protest Too Much|about three named characters]] have ever pulled a [[Heel Face Turn]], and two of those [[Redemption Equals Death|didn't last long]].
** Averted in ''Marlfox'', which concludes with the rat army, who had hated their lot in life, joyfully tossing out their arms and armor and learning to live as farmers.
** Somewhat subverted in ''The Sable Quean''. The Quean and one of her [[Mooks]] are plotting revenge on [[The Starscream]], Zwilt the Shade. He {{spoiler|tried to kill the Quean and sent the Mook's mate to his death.}} As they talk about their plans, [[Even Evil Has Loved Ones|we hear, for the first time, a vermin say the words, "I loved him."]]
** It should be noted that the degree of evilness exhibited by vermin varies between books, and even in the same book, there is often a distinction between [[Punch Clock Villain|punch clock vermin]], [[Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain|serving primarily as comedic relief]], like Flinky and most of his gang in ''Loamhedge'' or Lousewort and Sneezewort in ''Long Patrol''; and genuine, murdering villains. Quite a few of the former successfully pull [[Screw This, I'm Outta Here]], and many of those are implied to give up banditry and such for good.
*** In the animated adaptation, and in the first book, there were rats and other vermin who were peaceably living in the area, but Cluny ordered them press-ganged into fighting. Given Cluny's orders: "Smash their dens so they don't have homes to worry about! Kill all who resist!", those that didn't fall in line were probably killed.
** Averted in the very first novel, where the protagonist encounters a wildcat who conscientiously avoids eating meat, and, bar a few personality quirks, is quite happy to help the heroes.
*** Not to mention his ancestor and namesake was a goodbeast pretty much from the start, and so was his mate. Given the few examples given, it might be able to safely be said that cats are some of the only animals with a real chance of becoming either good or bad, which makes sense considering there are both good and bad [[Animal Stereotypes]] for them. It's just that the evil ones tend to be [[Big Bad]].
** Blaggut became good as well.
** Deconstructed in ''Outcast of Redwall''. A ferret child was found abandoned and taken in by a resident of Redwall; because he's a ferret, and everyone assumes ferrets ''are'' [[Always ChaoticExclusively Evil]], he tends to get the blame for anything that goes wrong, which leads to him becoming a thief and acting out most of the stereotypes placed on him. The only Redwaller that never pointed an accusing finger at him was his adoptive mother; she always argued for his innocence even when it was plain he was guilty and she truly loved him, and he sacrificed himself to save her from a vermin spear.
*** A deconstruction badly botched in the closing pages, when said Redwaller comes home and gives a speech about how the ferret in question was always evil and she shouldn't have bothered trying to change him.
* [[Always Lawful Good]]: Just as the vermin are always bad, the woodlanders are always good. Later books subvert this trope, but not before ''Taggerung'' took this trope to the ridiculous extreme.
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** ''Eulalia'' has a vole that might have readers ''cheering'' when he dies. He threatens to shoot one of the main characters when he's first introduced, then, after the Redwallers take him in and help him after he's nearly killed, decides to ''steal Martin's sword'' in exchange for the character he threatened to shoot stealing his dagger. He also kills a Sister when she tries to stop him, though he's killed later on and the sword is stolen by an actual vermin, who manages to get to the end of the book before dying.
*** Voles are very neutral. There are multiple times where they would screw honest woodlanders over to try and save themselves, Druwp from Martin the Warrior is probably the best example.
*** And ''Doomwyte'' has a Log-a-Log named Tugga Bruster. Unlike the other Log-a-Logs in the series, who were all good chieftains and relatively Badass in one form or another, Tugga was brutal (even killing the chieftain of a vermin gang when he was begging for mercy), harsh to his crew and a total [[Jerkass|prick to the Redwallers]]. At first, it's easy to assume he was [[Jerkass Facade|acting tough as a leader should]], but it's made clear that he's a genuine jerk, a coward and a thief.
** This is also subverted in the forms of several 'bad' woodlanders, all of them either hedgehogs, voles, or shrews.
** Don't forget that in ''Martin the Warrior'' we have a tribe of pygmy shrews who are slavers, a tribe of squirrels who make a game of hunting an killing strangers and a hedgehog who is known to poison trespassers.
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* [[Human Pincushion|Animal Pincushion]]: Skalrag is hung from the gates of Marshank and used as target practice for Badrang's archers.
* [[Animal Stereotypes]]: Obviously. Weirdly, it's averted with the owls; they're almost invariably good-natured but absent-minded, and almost never "wise", as folklore would have it. Possibly [[Truth in Television|Truth In Literature]], as owls aren't terribly smart in real life. Also, the bats are fairly cute and harmless with a silly [[Verbal Tic]] (verbal tic, verbal tic...), as opposed to the usual portrayals of them as evil in fiction.
** Also unusual, rabbits are not at all flirtatious, [[Trickster Archetype|mischievous, or clever]]. The hares take that role, and the rabbits are universally [[The Load|prissy little weaklings]] who never factor heavily into the plot.
* [[Animated Adaptation]]: Nelvana produced an animated series, which adapted the books ''Redwall'', ''Mattimeo'', and ''Martin the Warrior''.
* [[Annoying Arrows]]: Both averted and played straight; Mooks will fall to arrows easily, but major characters can pull them out with their teeth and keep [[Plot Armour|fighting so long as the plot requires it]].
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* [[Armour Is Useless]]: Armour, mostly mail, is occasionally useful, but its weight, hotness, and restrictiveness is shown either realistically or overplayed. Mostly armor is just rare or absent. Unless it's [[Plot Armour]].
* [[Arrows on Fire]]: The fire-swingers in ''Mariel of Redwall''.
** The traditional kind are aplenty as well. Greypatch burned a ship with flaming arrows in the same book.
* [[Arrogant Kung Fu Guy]]: In ''The Sable Quean'', Buckler is a step or two away from this trope. [[The Rival|His enemy, Zwilt the Shade]] is spot on: he likes to challenge any strong warriors, [[Nonchalant Dodge|effortlessly evade their assaults]] [[Trash Talk|while scorning their efforts]], and oft-times will kill them with their own weapons.
** All of the important Blue Hordes members in ''Lord Brocktree'' are this, Ungatt Trunn the worst of the lot.
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* [[Bigger Bad]]: Malkariss acts as this in Mattimeo, as Slagar The Cruel is in fact working for him throughout the novel. And then {{spoiler|he turns out to be a misshapen wimp}}.
** Also King Agarnu in ''Triss''.
* [[Big Bad Wannabe]]: Quite a few rather incompetent vermin 'leaders' fit this trope; notably Badredd and Gruven.
* [[Big Eater]]: Hares. Well, pretty much every character becomes one whenever they're given the opportunity, but the hares are the most obvious.
** Veil Sixclaw ravenously devours any food put in front of him. Bella remarks, "Some creatures are always hungering after one thing or another."
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** Some of the Vermin use pseudo-cockney speech or slang, Random Pseudo-Irish accents pop up amongst both vermin and woodlanders, and the Otters being naturally nautical use either standard English with a hint of [[Talk Like a Pirate]] or what looks like [[The West Country|Devon or Cornish English]] which makes sense as the Cornish peninsula is traditionally famed for fishermen, smugglers and sailors.
* [[Card-Carrying Villain]]: Lots. By ''Triss'', they're doing ''song and dance numbers'' about how "'tis nice to be a villain".
* [[Carnivore Confusion]]: See [[Always ChaoticExclusively Evil]] and [[Cats Are Mean]].
** The eating habits of the (almost) [[Always ChaoticExclusively Evil]] vermin? They're carnivores who by nature would eat mice, but in a setting like Redwall, that would be cannibalism. Mostly when they kill for meat, it's wood pigeons or sea gulls.
*** To add to the confusion, badgers and otters are always good characters, even though they're carnivores. Badgers even eat mice in real life.
**** And the whole quasi-religious eating of fish by the good guys.
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** At various points, it's stated that certain badgers (and sometimes other creatures) have a particularly strong version of the bloodwrath. Presumably, there are plenty of badgers out there who don't suffer from the bloodwrath (Lord Russano comes to mind) -- we just don't hear about them because of [[Rule of Cool]].
* [[Cheaters Never Prosper]]: Played straight in the case of Vermin being the cheaters, as the goodbeasts normally win the upper hand again, with horrible results for their foebeasts. But it is played straight in the case of goodbeasts being the cheaters {{spoiler|like in the case of Dotti vs. Bucko Bigbones; She did not win the first contest, ''Bragging (spoiler-notouchingorfightingallowed-disqualificationmayfollow)'', by bragging best. She rather was concentrating on provoking her easily angered counterpart, and neutralising his brags by joking about them. She went so far (which was of course calculated on Dotti's behalf), that Bucko went after her and struck her. Guess what... disqualification followed.}}
* [[The Chessmaster]]: Cluny. Every chapter has him adapting his [[Evil Plan]] to exploit some new development or preceived weakness.
* [[Chronic Backstabbing Disorder]]: Mokkan, full stop.
** Actually, don't trust ''any'' fox.
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* [[Trailers Always Spoil|Covers Always Spoil]]: The back of ''Outcast of Redwall'' spoils Veil getting exiled from Redwall. This doesn't happen until the ''very end'' of Part 2 of the book.
* [[Crap Saccharine World]]: Redwall and Salamandastron are basically little [[Sugar Bowl|Sugar Bowls]], but apparently everywhere else you're in imminent risk of marauding bandits, predatory birds, pirates, cannibalistic lizards...
* [[Crapsack World]]: Only and arguably in the later books. Eventually, the world consists of Redwall, Salamandastron...and in between, a wretched hive of [[Always ChaoticExclusively Evil]] vermin ready to kill or enslave anybeast who steps outside.
* [[Creepy Crossdresser]]: It probably wasn't ''meant'' to be read that way, but the evil Emperor Ublaz Mad Eyes has a weird fixation on silk robes, perfume, nail polish, and pink pearls.
* [[Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass]]: ''Many'' characters, mostly hares who aren't on the Long Patrol- Basil Stag Hare, Tarquin L. Woodsorrel and most especially Cleckstarr Lepus Montisle aka. Clecky.
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* [[Curb Stomp Battle]]: Sometimes, the battles are [[Pendulum War]] types. Nine times out of ten, however, the heroes will utterly stomp their way through the villains.
** Famed to the point where [[Intercontinuity Crossover|there are cross-fandom jokes]] about the ability of woodlanders to curbstomp: "How do you know when you are fighting [[Warhammer Fantasy|Wood Elves?]] You walk under some trees, a voice 30 foot above you shouts 'fire!', and you die. How do you know when you are fighting Mossflower squirrels? You walk under some trees, die, and ''then'' a voice 30 foot above you shouts 'fire!'"
* [[Cute but Cacophonic]]: Dotti in ''Lord Brocktree''. Pretty haremaid, appalling singer, worse with instruments. All Hares seem prone to this.
* [[Cute Is Evil]]: Baby Veil causes [[Cuteness Overload]] in Bryony even when he's biting her. Anyone who's owned a ferret knows this is [[Truth in Television]].
* [[Cut His Heart Out with a Spoon]]: Most notably, Clogg's announcement that he wishes to cut Badrang's head off and throw it in his face.
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* [[Death by Materialism]]: [[Too Dumb to Live|Flogga.]] Sure, you should definitely trust Gabool just because he promised you treasure and completely ignore that [[Villainous Breakdown|he's spent the last several days going crazy]] and thinks you're Greypatch, the rat he's been trying to kill. [[Sarcasm Mode|Nothing could possibly go wrong]].
** Subverted in ''The Long Patrol'' with Friar Butty, who fell into an underground swamp due to the weight of the treasure he was carrying and was nearly devoured by toads and mudfish. Luckily, he got saved by Shad at the last minute.
* [[Death Glare]]: Sister Alkanet gave such "icy glares" to anyone who discredited her, her infamous physicks or her perceptions of how dibbuns have to behave.
** Some villains have something like this, almost literally in the case of Ublaz. And it is said that if you stare too long into Farran the Poisoner's eyes, [[Nightmare Fuel|you'll either die or go insane]].
* [[Decapitated Army]]: The rats in ''Marlfox'' do a [[Heel Face Turn]] once the Marlfoxes and their captains are dead. As do Flinky's band in ''Loamhedge'' and the Brownrats in ''Eulalia''.
* [[Deceptive Disciple]]: Slagar to Malkariss (''Mattimeo''), Klitch to Ferahgo (''Salamandastron'')
* [[Deconstruction Fic]] in the fandom commonly attempts to deconstruct the [[Always ChaoticExclusively Evil]] nature of vermin. Success varies.
* [[Decoy Protagonist]]: Veil Sixclaw, in large part [[Covers Always Lie|due to the cover]].
** Gabool is arguably a Decoy ''Antagonist''. You would think with the book's description, he'd be going around causing as much turmoil as he could. Up until the end of ''Mariel of Redwall'', all he does is sit on his throne [[Villainous Breakdown|going crazy]] and killing his own searats. The real [[Big Bad]] is [[The Starscream|Greypatch]], who not only betrayed him with complete success but did what Gabool probably should've been doing in the story: trying to take over Redwall.
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* [[Dirty Communists]]: The shrews. They even have Russian accents.
* [[Dirty Coward]]: Pretty much all vermin.
** Subverted with Gulo the Savage (''Rakkety Tam''), who often fought from the front alongside his vermin Mooks. Of course, considering [[The Brute|who]] [[I'm a Humanitarian|he]] [[Nightmare Fuel|is]], aside from a badger lord or another wolverine, there wouldn't be too many threats to his person. And the fact he grows [[Ax Crazy|increasingly psychotic]] doesn't hurt either...
** Cluny (original ''Redwall''), Ferahgo (''Salamandastron''), Vallug Bowbeast (''Taggerung'') plus six rebel captains and Romsca (''Pearls of Lutra'') were fairly [[Badass]] as well.
** Ferahgo was a highly dangerous fighter, but he was still a coward (look at his "duel" with Urthstripe for proof of that).
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* [[Eats Babies]]: Some of the bad guys. Cluny makes a throwaway remark about baby rabbits being "tasty little things". See [[Carnivore Confusion]].
* [[Elaborate Underground Base]]: Salamandastron is a fortress built into an extinct volcano.
** Brockhall, which was dug out under a tree.
** Also, Asmodeus' quarry.
* [[Enemy Civil War]]: This happens repeatedly. ''Mossflower'', ''Martin the Warrior'', etc.
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** In ''Loamhedge'', {{spoiler|Lonna uses Raga Bol's ''carcass as a flail''}}. [[There Is No Kill Like Overkill|Geez...]]
* [[Even Evil Has Loved Ones]]: Ferahgo openly states that he'd let Klitch live if he was caught plotting rebellion just because Klitch is his son, {{spoiler|Vilaya is very distressed by the death of her confidante Dirva, who was said to be something a mother figure}}, and a few of the minor vermin are clearly upset when their partners or friends are killed. In ''The Sable Quean'', a vermin speaking of her deceased mate actually says -- for the first time in the series -- the phrase, "I loved him."
* [[Even Evil Has Standards]]: It is said in ''Mariel of Redwall'' that alone out of all villains, sea rats are the only ones verminous enough to use fire as a weapon.
** Although it was acknowledged that, being creatures who live on the ocean, they may simply not understand the dangers of starting fires in a forest.
*** [[Did Not Do the Research]]: The rats are bigger assholes than even Jacques suspected. Fire is the most dreaded occurance aboard ship, because it is extremely difficult to stop. Flooding can be contained relatively easily if you're quick about it, and abovewater impacts typically won't put the ship at risk. Fire, however, cannot be contained, and with the tools available at that tech level, cannot be fought. If you start a fire aboard ship you're going to be fishfood shortly. The sea rats more than ''anyone'' should fear fire as a weapon.
** Sawney Rath also refuses to kill a mother nursing a babe. Whether a villain is considered a [[I'm a Humanitarian|cannib-]] [[Carnivore Confusion|eating other speaking animals]] might also be a clue as to how monstrous they're supposed to be -- the threat of Cluny gobbling up beasts is offered as frightening to most inhabitants of Mossflower.
** Vizka Longtooth's pirate crew deserted him after he murdered two of his own crew members in cold blood and for no reason whatsoever.
** And during the performer's play in ''Martin the Warrior'', when Ballaw asks the vermin spectators if he should "kill" a pretty squirrelmaiden with a (trick) knife, none of them speak up. Except [[Big Bad|Badrang]].
* [[Everything's Better with Dinosaurs]]: Deepcoiler in ''Salamandastron'' and [[Stock Ness Monster|Slothunog]] in High Rhulain.
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* [[Eviler Than Thou]]: What tends to result if a book's "A-plot" villian confronts the "B-plot" bad guy (see [[Enemy Civil War]] above). A good example is in ''Loamhedge'', when [[Complete Monster|Raga Bol]] and his searat crew encounters [[Big Bad Wannabe|Badredd]] and his band.
* [[Evil Laugh]]: Cluny the Scourge, in the [[Animated Adaptation]]
* [[Evil Plan]]: Each book has one but they usually involve conquering Mossflower/Redwall/Salamandastron.
** The Legend of Luke is a inversion as 2/3 of the narrative is actually [[The Hero]] searching for the truth about his father's fate and then going home.
* [[Expansion Pack World]]: Brian Jacques only expected to write one book when he started out, hence the aforementioned [[Continuity Drift]].
* [[Eye Scream]]: {{spoiler|Damug Warfang stabs Cregga's eyes, putting them out as she kills him.}}
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** [[The Big Guy]]: Sollertree (for a short time)
** [[The Chick]]: Songbreeze
* [[Flanderization]]: It becomes common knowledge that hares have big appetites. This is taken [[Up to Eleven]] with Bescarum (who will steal from various hosts when he gets hungry) and Diggs (who simply never talks about anything else.)
* [[Flaying Alive]]: This seems to be a favored method of execution/torture/punishment of Ferahgo the Assassin. He even keeps some of his victim's pelts for clothing.
** Also in ''High Rhulain'', Riggu Felis orders one of his top mooks to do this to one of [[Overlord, Jr.|his son]]'s spies.
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* [[Foe-Tossing Charge]]: Badgers do this, from time to time.
* [[Food Porn]]: Lots in every book. Particularly in the first, where a Redwall feast consists of "tender freshwater shrimp garnished with cream and rose leaves, devilled barely pearls in acorn purée, apple and carrot chews, marinated cabbage stalks steeped in creamed white turnip with nutmeg." Later books stick to a more standard rotation of bread, cheese, soup, pasties, salad, sweets, etc.
** [[Word of God|Jacques]] said in a meet the author that growing up in a food rationed era, he was always annoyed by the lack of descriptions of food in the books he read, and would often just read recipe books.
* [[For the Evulz]]: While the main motivations that drive typical vermin are power and plunder, sometimes revenge, most of them also engage in meaningless cruelties just for the thrill.
* [[Framing Device]]: Often used in the books that had their story taking place in the past, where the story is told by someone to an excited group of Dibbuns.
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* [[Funetik Aksent]]: Used a ''lot'' - to the point that the moles' accent is portrayed as indecipherable in the first book, burr aye! Methuselah has to ''translate'' mole dialect into ordinary speech for Matthias!
* [[Foregone Conclusion]]: See the [[Downer Ending]] above. {{spoiler|Since a previous book starts with Martin already on exile alone, it was practically a given that he would either leave Rose behind or she was going to die.}}
* [[Frothy Mugs of Water]]: [[Averted Trope|Averted.]] '''Hard.''' Canon states Matthias is the equivalent of about thirteen during the events of Redwall and you see him drinking ale and cider with the rest, and in British English, there is no such thing as ''hard'' or ''soft'' cider: cider is alcoholic by definition. In fact the [[Food Porn]] has lots of gratuitous drinking, [[The Guards Must Be Crazy|vermin sentries are easily taken out of action by leaving Grog lying around were they will find it]], the multiple [[Poison Chalice Switcheroo|Poison Chalice Switcheroos]] only work because of the senior vermin's love of a nice [[A Glass of Chianti|goblet of damson wine]], and in earlier novels it is strongly implied that some of the adult good guys are [[Alcohol Hic|dead drunk at the victory feasts]].
** Granted, during the Middle Ages there was no drinking age and beer was often safer than the water.
* [[Furry Confusion]]: Mostly avoided, though there are still a few oddities; lizards and frogs are either savage but sapient carnivores or cute pets with about the intelligence level of real-world monkeys.
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** One of the rats in ''Marlfox'' was fully aware of what the [[Big Bad]] does to [[You Have Failed Me|subordinates who fail him]]. After he's captured and starts to get interrogated, he ''kills himself'' so the Marlfoxes won't.
* [[Gentle Giant]]: Most badgers are portrayed as loveable, valiant, cute creatures who are friendly to almost everyone. [[Beware the Nice Ones|Just]] [[Mama Bear|don't]] [[Papa Wolf|piss]] [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge|them]] [[Axe Crazy|off]].
* [[Give Chase With Angry Natives]]: Running through hornet's nests or crow-infested trees while making ungodly noise is a common tactic for Redwallers, and the hapless pursuing vermin fall for it every time.
* [[Go Out with a Smile]]: Most notably {{spoiler|Lady Cregga Rose Eyes}}.
* [[God Save Us From the Queen]]: Tsarmina and Silth
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* [[Infant Immortality]]: While it's nowhere near as bad as ''[[Warrior Cats]]'', the series has averted this trope a few times. Anyone who isn't a Dibbun can die at any moment, even if they're described as being "young" in the novel.
* [[The Insomniac]]: Gabool the Wild, Tsarmina and Mokkan. Also Mokkan's mother, Queen Silth (''Marlfox''), Cluny the Scourge (''Redwall'') and Ungatt Trunn (''Lord Brocktree'').
* [[Instant Expert]]: It seems that any good character who wields the Sword of Martin becomes an expert swordsman and all-around warrior...even if they haven't been shown to wield a sword before (Triss, though some may claim she'd [[In the Blood|be inherantly skilled because her dad was a swordmaster]]). Even if, in the case of Laird Bosie (Doomwyte), the user has explicitly stated they are bad at using swords because they're unwieldly.
** Would have been an obvious case of [[A Wizard Did It|enchantment that grants Martin's swordsmanship skills to the wielder]], but the Sword of Martin was explicitly stated to be totally nonmagical in earlier books.
*** Then again, it's not impossible that either Gingivere was wrong, or technically it's not the Sword that's magical but the spirit of Martin hanging around it ...
**** It is indeed the spirit of Martin that empowers the wielder, so long as they are a goodbeast.
* [[Instant Sedation]]: The Flitchaye tribe uses knockout gas (resembling ether or chloroform) to anaesthetise travelers, to rob and to kill them. Oh, and No! [[Hollywood Science|You cannot nullify the knockout gases' effect on you by stuffing ramsons or garlic or whatnot up your nostrils!]]
* [[Intelligible Unintelligible]]: Corporal Rubbadub from ''The Long Patrol'' speaks only in drum sounds (and one time, with a cymbal crash), but others in his regiment understand him fine.
* [[Interspecies Romance]]: Although Bragoon and Sarobando probably come the closest, this never actually occurs. It does, however, show up in songs.
* [[It's All About Me]]: Ublaz.
** As well as Vilaya, [[Ungrateful Bastard|who won't think twice about killing those who saved her life.]]
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** Any vermin who [[Screw This, I'm Outta Here|successfully desert their army]], such as Sneezewort, Lousewort, {{spoiler|Ashleg}}, {{spoiler|Ripfang}}, {{spoiler|Grand Fragorl}}, and more.
* [[Karmic Death]]: Many of the main villains had very karmic deaths. Examples: {{spoiler|Cluny was crushed by the bell that had earlier awakened him from his nightmares; hydrophobic Tsarmina drowned; Gabool was stung to death by his pet scorpion, whom he had used to execute foes previously; Ublaz was bitten by his pet snake; Princess Kurda fell and stabbed herself on her own broken sword; Riggu Felis was killed by the same barbed star that he earlier used to trap Pandion; Vilaya fell on her own poisoned dagger, which she had used to kill numerous characters.}}
** Some of the minor villains or [[The Dragon|Dragons]] have karmic deaths too. For instance, Brool and Renn are killed by Veil shortly after they tied him up and stole all his food and gear; the Wraith is accidentally knocked off Salamandastron by Porty; {{spoiler|Klitch drinks the water Farran poisoned just when he thinks he's survived the gruesome battle at Salamandastron; Karangool was presumably whipped and killed by Bucko Bigbones, whom he had tortured in the past}}.
** {{spoiler|Tugga Bruster is [[Impaled with Extreme Prejudice|stabbed in the chest by Tala]] as revenge for killing her husband Chigid}}. This is rather interesting case. Unlike all the names listed above, {{spoiler|Tugga Bruster}} wasn't evil or even a vermin. He was just [[Jerkass|an asshole]] who made even the [[Punch Clock Villain|Punch Clock Villains]] look good. Not even the Redwallers missed him.
* [[Kindhearted Simpleton]]: Notably Blaggut.
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** Some of the hares. For example, Cleckstarr Lepus Montisle, aka Clecky.
{{quote|'''Clecky:''' What ho, the jolly old camp! Rovin' fighter returnin' with tales of derring-do, high adventure, and all that nonsense, wot!}}
* [[The Last Thing You Ever See]]: In ''The Pearls of Lutra'', the [[Big Bad]] tells Martin that the last thing he'll ever hear is the [[Big Bad]]'s name.
* [[Left Justified Fantasy Map|(Left Justified)]] [[Fantasy World Map]]
* [[Leeroy Jenkins]]: Felldoh. His rousing nature {{spoiler|and ultimate death nearly cost the life of all the Fur'n'Freedom fighters}}. Idiot.
** Sadly he {{spoiler|never learned}} his lesson, that leading a small, personal war against the main antagonist, whilst all of his friends fight the big, official war against the main antagonist, does ''not'' pay off. And yet he's still an [[Ensemble Darkhorse]].
* [[Legacy Character]]: The Log-a-Logs, and [[The Good Captain|the Skipper of Otters]].
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* [[Meaningful Name]]: At the time Veil, the son of a warlord, is taken into the Abbey as an infant, Bella says she named him that because there's a veil over his life - they know nothing about him. Later, it's revealed that her other reason for the name is that it anagrams to "vile" and "evil":
{{quote|''Give him a name and leave him awhile, Veil may live to be evil and vile. Though I hope my prediction will fail, and evil so vile will not live in Veil.''}}
** [[Word of God]] says that Cluny's name was meant to rhyme with "loony".
*** Furthermore, Cluny's name may also somehow be related with [[wikipedia:Cluny Abbey|Cluny Abbey]] in Cluny, Saône-et-Loire. This early medieval Benedictine monastery does seem to have inspired some of Redwall's more prominent architectural (if not even cultural) aspects. So why is this Abbey honoured in the novel by providing a name for the [[Big Bad]]? [[Fridge Brilliance|Because it's]] [[Acceptable Targets|French, naturally]].
** Gabool the Wild ruled over Terramort. Terra= land, mort= death. He ruled over the Land of Death/Deathland. Way to be subtle there, Mr Jacques...
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* [[Multiple Demographic Appeal]]: Children like the books because the plots and characters are quite clear-cut; this becomes a liability with adult readers, most of whom like the books rather because of Jacques's clever use of language.
* [[Multiple Head Case]]: The adder triplets.
* [[The Movie]]: Averted. Literally ''half a dozen'' times! Most of the projects failed primarily due to [[Word of God|Brian Jacques']] general distaste of movie adaptions. The ones who didn't suffer from this actually made it into pre-phase before it was discovered they lacked the rights. Those who had rights and made it into pre-phase turned out to be mere [[Dude, Not Funny|practical jokes]] or misunderstandings. Currently, however, a [[Deviant ART]] [[Ragtag Bunch of Misfits|group]] is working on a feature-length adaption of ''Mossflower'', the second book of the series. Not to be confused with another so-called ''"movie"'' that was brought out (which was just a re-edited version of the animated series with the [[Filler]] episodes removed).
* [[Murder Ballad]]: [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|"Slaughter of the Crew of the Rusty Chain."]]
* [[Murder by Mistake]]: It happens a lot...
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* [[Myopic Architecture]]: The main gate of Redwall Abbey is large and thick, impervious to even the most dedicated of sieges. Basically, not one invading vermin horde has ever gotten through it. The tiny wicker side-gate, on the other hand, has been breached by countless invading hordes over the seasons, probably accounting for every successful invasion of the abbey. This is presumably intentional, since it would be easy to station three well-armed, armoured guards there during a siege to hack up any single file intruders who tried to get in. Unfortunately, being peaceful monk and villagers, the Redwall inhabitants never think of that.
* [[My God, What Have I Done?]]: Some of the Redwallers who haven't experienced war have this reaction after killing someone. Burlop from ''Rakkety Tam'' breaks down and starts crying before he decides to head back to Redwall after killing one of Gulo's soldiers.
* [[Naked People Are Funny]]: When Badrang's in need of a piece of rope, he cuts a random minion's belt, causing said minion's kilt to drop off and everybeast to start laughing at him.
** Which is [[Fridge Logic|kind of weird]] considering they're all ''[[Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal|animals...]]''
* [[Name's the Same]]: [[Blackadder|Friar Bellows]] in ''Salamandastron''. Probably not intentional.
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* [[Oh Crap]]: Cluny just before being crushed by the Joseph Bell.
* [[One-Hit Kill]]: Even some of the burliest of characters will go down quite easily. Just ask Bluggach, who, after his [[Badass Boast]], gets whacked in the head by Gurgan's mallet just ''once'' and dies.
* [[Pendulum War]]: Almost every military engagement in the series that isn't a [[Curb Stomp Battle]]. Let's say, that whenever there is a big battle in the end, vermin usually have an upper hand at the beginning, until heroes manage to close the gap in numbers/invent a better plan. However, smaller skirmishes against named heroes usually are curb stomps in said heroes favor (even if villains manage to bury one or two of them under their own dead). [[Conservation of Ninjitsu]]?
* [[One-Man Army]]: Badgers, or any creature for that matter, under the Bloodwrath can carve through a horde with ease.
* [[Only Known by Their Nickname]]: Was a fan assumption about the vermin until ''Loamhedge'', when it was made explicit. [[Even Evil Has Standards|Evidently even vermin aren't sadistic enough to inflict names like "Stinky" on their offspring at birth.]]
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* [[Overlord, Jr.]]: Klitch to Ferahgo, and Pitru to Riggu Felis. Mostly subverted with [[You're Not My Father|Veil]] to [[Parental Neglect|Swartt]].
* [[Overly Long Name]]: Jodd's full name. According to him, [[You Do NOT Want to Know]] what it is. Captain Tramun Josiah Cuttlefish Clogg also counts.
** As does Laird Bosie Mc Scutta of Bowlaynee (''Doomwyte'') and now, Subaltern Meliton Gubthorpe Digglethwaite (''The Sable Quean'').
** Bellscut Oglecrop Obrathon Ragglewaithe Audube Baggscut (Boorab the fool)
* [[Papa Wolf]]: Matthias is an all around nice person throughout the series, but mess with Cornflower, Mattimeo or Redwall abbey in general and you'll meet the end of his blade. {{spoiler|Just ask Cluny, Asmodeus and Slagar to name a few.}}
* [[Parental Neglect]]: Swartt's relationship with Veil. Progresses to [[Parental Abandonment]] when Veil is still a baby.
* [[Perfectly Cromulent Word]]: "Dibbuns".
* [[The Pig Pen]]: The natural state of vermin. Flinky actually sings a song about how bathing is dangerous.
** There's some [[Truth in Television]]/[[Fridge Brilliance]] to this. Ferrets, weasels, and stoats, along with foxes, do produce a stronger odor than, say, mice or squirrels. It's completely natural and expected of them. So it stands to reason that vermin consider frequent baths and flowery soaps to be unnatural and unattractive.
** This is why Simeon (who is blind) knows when Blaggut is coming: the searat is a stranger to bathwater (but he has a good heart, so that's forgivable)
* [[Pirate Girl]]: Romsca
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* [[Redshirt Army]]: The Guosim in ''Mattimeo''.
* [[Reed Snorkel]]: In ''Mattimeo''
* [[Reforged Blade]]: In ''Mossflower'', Martin the Warrior's sword, which belonged to his father, is broken in his travels. It is then reforged by the great lord of Salamandastron, using a "fallen star" (a meteorite, rather) to rebuild it into a purely unbreakable sword, which also begins its legendary status. All during one book of the series. Martin wears the broken hilt around his neck through most of the book, until he finally gets it reforged and proceeds to kick much ass.
* [[Reincarnation]]: Matthias is established to be a reincarnation of Martin, and it's possible that so are all the other Swordbearers. Cornflower ''might'' be [[Reincarnation Romance|Rose's reincarnation]], but it's not spelled out.
* [[Reptiles Are Abhorrent]]: Practically every reptile and amphibian in the series is [[Always ChaoticExclusively Evil|evil]]. Frequently, they are depicted as being far worse than the vermin. Nearly all are cannibalistic. Exceptions made for the ones which have occasionally been seen as pets - see [[Furry Confusion]]. Some come across a little more as [[True Neutral]], however.
* [[Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves]]: Damug Warfang drowns some traitors in ''The Long Patrol''.
** In ''The Bellmaker'', [[Bad Boss|Urgan Nagru]] [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshades this trope]] to an underling who was serving both him and [[God Save Us From the Queen|his wife, Silvamord]]: "Life is the highest reward of all, my friend. [[The Mole|Double dealers]] and [[The Starscream|traitors]] often receive death as their payment. But I will spare you for your treachery to me and my queen. Your reward is that I allow you to live."
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** Most badgers in the series.
** Swartt Sixclaw, as his sole motivation in the entire book for stalking Sunflash was to kill him for maiming his infamous six-clawed paw.
* [[Rodents of Unusual Size]]: Damug Warfang is a "Greatrat", twice the size of a normal rat.
** Also, some [[Fanon]] suggests that-- to solve issues with scale and such-- most of the animals are human-sized or thereabouts and objects are scaled to in a similar manner, with badgers and such things being around ten feet tall. This doesn't apply to the first book, due to [[Canon Displacement]].
* [[Romantic Two-Girl Friendship]]: Piknim and Craklyn.
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** Cluny the Scourge is partly named for his whip-like tail.
* [[Those Two Guys]]: Sneezewort and Lousewort. Technically [[Those Two Bad Guys]], but they are so [[Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain|ineffectual as villains, they can't pull it off.]]
* [[Through a Face Full of Fur]]: The Redwall critters are constantly turning red from rage, green from seasickness, white with fury or fright, and pink with pleasure.
* [[Throwing Your Sword Always Works]]: In ''Mattimeo'', Log-a-log slays Stonefleck with a sword throw.
* [[Thud and Blunder]]: Gruntan Kurdly's [[Catch Phrase]]
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== Tropes:U-Z ==
* [[Uncleanliness Is Next to Ungodliness]]: Most of the rank-and-file vermin, though a lot of the [[Big Bad]] characters avert it.
** This is addressed in ''Loamhedge'' when [[Big Bad Wannabe|Badredd]] gets garbage dumped on him and he takes a bath (his last one being last Spring): "Every vermin knows that bathin' weakens ye."
* [[Undefeatable Little Village]]
* [[Underdogs Never Lose]]: The good guys just about ''never'' have the numbers advantage and always win anyway because [[Right Makes Might]].
* [[Unfamiliar Ceiling]]: This happens to the main character at least once a book.
* [[Ungrateful Bastard]]: A lot of major villains, thanks to running on [[It's All About Me]], exhibit utter lack of gratitude or obligation to those who just helped them. Vilaya is probably the biggest example, killing a [[Mook]] who saved her life and still was on her side more or less just because said [[Mook]] refused to grovel before her.
* [[The Unfavorite]]: Veil, to the Abbeydwellers.
* [[Unfortunate Names]]: "Stiffener Medick"? Probably unintentional on the author's part, but one wonders how that got past the publisher. "Felch" might be even worse.
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** Slagar the Cruel in ''Mattimeo'' is already crazy at the start, blaming Matthias and the Redwallers for the horrible scarring on his face. By the end, he's pretty much raving, frantically reassuring himself that however events turn out, he will "win" somehow. He even plans to steal Matthias' sword, now convinced that it is magic and grants victory to whoever wields it.
** Gulo starts out as being creepy, scary, and menacing, but after he survives falling down the waterfall, he becomes [[Ax Crazy]], starts [[Laughing Mad]], rambles about his dead brother and talks to himself--and inanimate objects, making him even scarier and creepier. Needless to say, his soldiers were scared out of their wits of him.
** Tsarmina in ''Mossflower'' also does this. Granted she's being driven insane by a constant dripping noise and the fact that everything she tries to destroy the resistance fails.
** Cap'n Clogg's really the only character who had a justified reason for his breakdown. After all, he did suffer a head injury.(Though who KNOWS what happened when Gulo fell down the waterfall - he could have hit his head as well.)
** Justified with Baliss too, who was already blind and not-so-sane to begin with. After he gets a bunch of hedgehog spikes in his head, he spends the rest of the novel literally losing his mind and thrashing around killing anything in sight and trying to soothe his wounds.
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** The Flitchaye could certainly count for this in ''Mariel of Redwall'. Their temporary capturing of Mariel and her friends serve little to no purpose but to add a couple of chapters extra padding. And after it's over, [[Big Lipped Alligator Moment|the travellers never mention them again]].
*** Well, near the end of the book it ''does'' mention that the scattered survivors of Greypatch's pirate crew were fleeing towards Flitchaye territory, with the implication that it would be the end of them.
** Used again in ''Doomwyte'' with the Gonflins, a literal tribe of [[Lovable Rogue|thieves and robbers]].
* [[Weapons Kitchen Sink]]: One of the major examples in child's fiction. Let's see, finely crafted light fencing rapiers? Pattern-welded meteoric iron broadswords? Giant axes? ''Tree trunks!?'' Just ''running at your enemy with teeth and claws!?!?!''
* [[What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?]]: [[Show Within a Show|The Duel of Insults]] in ''Marlfox''. The characters shout insults at each other and react as if actually wounded.
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* [[Whip It Good]]: Cluny uses his own tail as a whip in ''Redwall'' and attaches a poisoned barb to the tip so he can use it as a lethal weapon. Not to mention the numerous slavedrivers who wield whips, notably Bullflay, [[Meaningful Name|whose name even seems to reflect his weapon of choice]].
* [[Wicked Cultured]]: Emperor Ublaz (''Pearls of Lutra''), Vilu Daskar (''The Legend of Luke''), Queen Vilaya (''The Sable Quean'')
* [[Wicked Weasel]]: Weasels are [[Always ChaoticExclusively Evil]], so...
* [[Wig, Dress, Accent]]: See [[Dressing as the Enemy]]. Jukka Sling, a squirrel, passes for a rat by shaving her tail.
* [[Wiki Rule]]: [http://redwall.wikia.com The Redwall Wiki]