Redwall characters

Also known as Matthias of Redwall

Appears from the start

A young novice mouse at Redwall Abbey, clumsy in a habit and sandals that never seem to fit him, forever tripping over his own feet during the Abbey's quiet duties. He is far more interested in the great tapestry in Redwall's hall, which shows Martin the Warrior, the mouse who founded the Abbey's peace, than he is in kitchen work or the herb beds. Good-hearted, stubborn and untrained, he has no idea how to fight, but he is the first at the Abbey to take the news of an approaching rat horde entirely seriously.

Also known as Cluny the Scourge, the Scourge

Appears from the start

An enormous one-eyed rat warlord, a former ship's rat whose name is used to frighten the young across the whole country. He is scarred, missing an eye, and fights with a long muscular tail that he uses as a whip and a weapon. He travels with a horde of rats, weasels, stoats and ferrets who follow him out of terror rather than loyalty, and he rules them by fear, killing any captain who questions him. He arrives in Mossflower country looking for a stronghold to hold as his own.

Appears from the start

The elderly Abbot of Redwall, a mouse who has led the Abbey most of his long life and whose golden jubilee the Abbey is preparing to celebrate. He is a healer and a pacifist, convinced that Redwall's open door and its care of the sick and hungry are worth more than any weapon, and he is reluctant to let his community think of itself as a fortress.

First appears in chapter 2

A young fieldmouse living at the Abbey with her parents, practical and warm, who works in Redwall's kitchens and orchard. She and Matthias are close from the start, and she is the one who notices when he goes quiet with worry.

First appears in chapter 2

The badger of Redwall, immensely strong and normally placid, who pulls the Abbey cart and looks after the smallest creatures. When danger comes she is the most formidable fighter inside the walls, and she takes charge of the practical business of defending them: watches, weapons, barricades. She has little patience with the Abbot's reluctance to prepare for war.

First appears in chapter 3

The ancient gatehouse keeper and recorder of Redwall, so old that nobody remembers him young. He keeps the Abbey's books and histories, reads old and forgotten scripts, and enjoys a puzzle more than almost anything. He becomes Matthias's teacher and closest confidant once Matthias begins asking what became of Martin the Warrior's sword.

First appears in chapter 3

The Abbey's hedgehog cellarkeeper, in charge of the barrels of October ale and strawberry cordial and fiercely protective of his stores. Prickly in both senses, he is a steady presence in the Abbey's defence.

First appears in chapter 8

A vixen who lives in Mossflower Wood and sells her skills as a healer to whoever will pay. She attaches herself to the rat horde as its doctor, and she is entirely willing to trade what she learns in one camp for goods from another.

First appears in chapter 8

Sela's grown son, a young fox who assists his mother and shares her trade in information. Greedy, sly, and less careful than she is, he is chiefly interested in what he can steal.

Also known as Basil

First appears in chapter 10

A hare living rough in Mossflower Wood, a retired scout and forager with a monocle-and-parade-ground manner of speech and an appetite that never stops. Beneath the bluster he is an expert tracker, silent when he needs to be, and a dangerous fighter with his long hind legs. He attaches himself to the Abbey's cause largely for the meals, and stays for the friendship.

First appears in chapter 12

A squirrel of Mossflower and the finest climber in the country, able to go up a sheer wall where nobody else can. She lives near the Abbey with her small son and lends her skill to Redwall when a climb is the only way to get something done.

First appears in chapter 21

A young sparrow of the tribe that nests in the roof spaces high above Redwall, a fierce and aggressive people who speak a clipped tongue of their own and regard everything below them as beneath notice. She is small, quick-tempered and curious, and she is the first of her tribe to treat a captured mouse as something other than food or an enemy.

First appears in chapter 21

The king of the sparrow tribe in the Abbey roof, an old bird whose grip on his own mind is slipping. He rules by violence and hoards a collection of things taken from below, including one bright object he will let nobody touch or even look at.

First appears in chapter 30

The leader of a large, quarrelsome tribe of shrews who live along the river in Mossflower and argue about everything, including whether to argue. He is a ferryman and a rope-handler, tough and loyal once his loyalty is won, and his name is a title passed to whoever leads the tribe.

First appears in chapter 33

A huge white owl who rules a stretch of the woods and makes no secret of eating anyone small enough to carry off. Vain about his own reputation, he can be handled by a creature who knows which name to drop in front of him.

Also known as Asmodeus Poisonteeth

First appears in chapter 36

An enormous adder living beneath the old quarry, feared throughout Mossflower and spoken of only in whispers. His gaze holds his prey still while he takes his time, and no creature who has gone looking for him has come back. Whatever he takes is dragged down into his lair and kept there.