Joined: Jan 2009 Gender: Male Posts: 27 Location: Colorattery
Favorite Character? « Thread Started on Feb 2, 2009, 4:46pm »
One of the largest accusations people like to make against the RW series, is that all the characters are basically archetypal, and there's no specificity for each individual character. That is, all the villains have basically the same personality, all the hares are basically the same, all the badgers are indecipherable, all the abbots talk and act exactly like every other abbot, and so on, and so forth.
I happen to agree with this point of view. However, I have to admit that the Marlfoxes stood out to me as particularly titillating villains. While they certainly followed the "Redwall villain model," they carried itto such a larger degree, and with so much more ire for each other, that it set them apart for me.
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Ashstripe Administrator Badger Lord member is offline
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Re: Favorite Character? « Reply #1 on Feb 2, 2009, 8:32pm »
So very true, it's a particularly refreshing kick to the face when a villain comes along with unique intentions. Something different than, "I'm evil, so I'm gonna go smash up the Abbey.".
The Marlfoxes were wining favour if I remember right, which I probably don't. Add that with the fact that their craftiness was on par, or greater than Swart(sp?) Sixclaw, from Outcast of Redwall.
Veil from Outcast of Redwall, was an interesting character, a brat at first, seemingly supporting the idea that all vermin are born evil. But his final act of protection was something in a whole other league for me - Redwall-wise at least, in any other story, if the character doesn't have any more than one dimension to their personality, I hate it.
And there was that ship building dope from a book I can't remember, I can't even remember his name. He was a simple fellow, but defied the arche-type, so he was memorable.
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Re: Favorite Character? « Reply #4 on Feb 2, 2009, 10:56pm »
Although both the Marlfoxes and Blaggut were great, personally I particularly liked Cregga...from berserking Badgerlady to blind Badgermother. Plus, she finally gets killed in one of my favourite books (Taggerung) by the character 'Retchen was based off (Vallug), to a tune sung by a hare musician and fool (Boorab, I think), also was part of two of the best(Marlfox, I'm pretty sure, was BEFORE Taggerung, but I could be wrong...and the...other one. Was that Long Patrol?)
Re: Favorite Character? « Reply #5 on Feb 3, 2009, 4:42pm »
Martin, Mariel, and, as much as I hate to admit it to myself...Old Mad Eyes over there. They're all just cool, including Mad Eyes, even though I'm usually a strict goodbeast-supporter only. ^^"
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Re: Favorite Character? « Reply #6 on Feb 4, 2009, 10:14am »
All these characters are interesting but the best character is of course Gonff, prince of mousetheives. Brian Jaques based this character on himself, I mean come on. It doesn't get much cooler than that.
'A coward dies a thousand times, a Warrior dies only once.The spirits of all you have slain are watching you, Vilu Daskar, and they will rest in peace now that your time has come. You must die as you have lived, a coward to the last!' ~ Luke the Warrior
Joined: Jan 2009 Gender: Male Posts: 13 Location: USA
Re: Favorite Character? « Reply #8 on Mar 5, 2009, 4:46pm »
Yes Yves, sadly your right. Redwall does seem to have a set-mode for characters that he's unwilling to change and it irks me. Right now unfortunately, I've been to busy rping to get back into books, but once I do I'll have to read some decent Redwall ones like Outcast of Redwall or Marlfox as mentioned below.
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Re: Favorite Character? « Reply #9 on Mar 29, 2009, 1:38pm »
My character is Scargg for mthe first book, and i wanted to kick cheesetheif for killing him. Scragg was one of the smarter vermin followers, if ya know what I mean
I also like the boat bulidng rat who was one of the only good vermin. I wished he would have stayed in the abbey.
One thing annoys me though, all endings are the same for the redwal lseries. The bad guy and his captains die, and the good guy coems victorious.
Joined: Jan 2009 Gender: Male Posts: 27 Location: Colorattery
Re: Favorite Character? « Reply #10 on Mar 29, 2009, 7:17pm »
Quote:
One thing annoys me though, all endings are the same for the redwal lseries. The bad guy and his captains die, and the good guy coems victorious.
Aw well, it's a formula. Villains, such as myself, are written into being for their eventual death. A flat villain without a gruesome and ironic death is like a diet soda without artificial sugar--it just doesn't have that evil after-taste.
As stupid as that sounds, I'm actually serious. In another series even more poorly written than Redwall (*cough*, Goosebumps, Secrets of Droon, Most of the fantasy crap you're forced through in grammar school *hack*), the characters are all just as predictable, but the villain wins about half the time, and when that happens, it actually doesn't give you half the satisfaction you would expect. Actually, it's very disappointing. With Jacques in particular, the entire story is one long build up for the sweet taste of "Oh wow, he got squished be the big bell... ... ...?" Well, alright, most of the time it works.
But, yeah, I only read the books for the villains. They're archetypal at best, but they're well-done archetypes, and part of being the Wicked Witch of the West is melting at the end. Complex plots for undeveloped characters just don't tend to work.
In my humble opinion, I fancied Laterose of Noonvale. I have no idea why. I just like her for some reason. Well, maybe cuz she died at the end, which made me cry, which made her a memorable charrie. -brick'd for being lame-
Plus, I also like Blaggut. It's nice to have a change in personality. <3
Re: Favorite Character? « Reply #14 on May 4, 2009, 4:14am »
I really liked Major Cuthbert in High Rhulain he was a very diffrent hare. And Urth Stripe in Salamandastron he was just awesome. But yes sadly u dont get to many unique characters. O and Chugga in Legend of Luke
prankster101 Initiate Prince O' Pranks member is offline
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Re: Favorite Character? « Reply #15 on Aug 7, 2009, 1:03pm »
I'm sorry, and don't mean to be rude, but I have to argue with Yves.
Yes I will agree that Mr. Jacques does mold his characters a bit, but that is normal. Most bad guys are alike in their evil ways. The are always searching for something they do not have.Whether it is peace from a guilty deed, or immortality, or the hoarding of precious things, or revenge, or it's just the fact that the are plainly mad! It's your pick.
Example of Bad Guy similarity! Lord Voldomort from Harry Potter makes a Horcrux to make himself live longer and essentially forever. Souromon did the same thing with "the ring" in Lord of the Rings. It had the essence of him in it, which wanted to rejoin itself.
It's the same with good guys I'm afraid. They have some known/unknown relation to the villain and they must stop them to save something or someone. Or it's a deal on morals. They have to stop the villain because it is right or they have a grudge. It's your choice on how you mold your character.
But Mr. Jacques puts spunk into his characters. Like the Marlfoxes mentioned earlier. They have their own distinct battle among each other. Or "Mad Eyes" Ublaz, also mentioned earlier. He wanted the pearls for his crown, he didn't really care if they were in Redwall or they were in Southsward! He wanted the pearls. Plus, which other bad guy hypnotized his followers to do his biding?
The good guys also had their own distinctions. Mad Maudie from Eulalia was a Long Patrol Hare and she almost got kicked out because of fighting. She wasn't all respect and order that you would expect out of a Patroler. And Abbot Humble was a Hedgehog that was still a cellarhog at heart. He would sleep in the cellars and check the barrels before going up for breakfast each morning. He was not an Abbot to standard.
I enjoy the Redwall books for their spunk, continuous adventure, and exciting characters with heart. Truthfully, I don't have a favorite. I love the series with the good guys and the bad.
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Re: Favorite Character? « Reply #17 on Nov 7, 2009, 5:12pm »
Personally my favorite character was always Felldoh from Martin the Warrior. He was a rather tragic figure, and it was nice to see that in a children's book, let alone in one of Brian's.
I liked that he was a great warrior and a capable leader, but the oppression and rage blinded him, as opposed to just of following the timeless heroic movement. His valor was unmistakable, and the idea of a Squirrel focusing on strength to compliment his natural agility appealed to me greatly. His death was both foolish and noble, and I think that's what made him interesting.
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