Mossflower (Redwall)

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As the pitiful remnants of the Kotir army are fished out of the water by the woodlanders, Dinny, Bella, and Gonff search for Martin. Seeing the signs of a great struggle, they find Martin more dead than alive, and realize that he is beyond Bella’s skill to treat. The next day, widespread consternation reigns in Kotir as the vermin discover that the lower levels are flooded. Most of Tsarmina’s soldiers desert and swim through the flooded valley to safety. Brogg and those that remain are crushed as Timballisto’s newly made ballista hurl huge boulders at the sunken fortress.

Artistic License – Military: While the Long Patrol take cues from RAF pilots and use almost exclusively British military ranks, High Rhulain has a hare with the rank of Master Sergeant, which is primarily used by the US army and is absent from Britain. In Redwall, Cluny the Scourge and Asmodeus Poisonteeth each were primary antagonists in their own right. Cluny tries to take over Redwall, while Asmodeus has hold of Martin's sword. Tsarmina poisons her father with the aid of Fortunata, and frames her brother Gingivere for the murder. She subsequently usurps the throne for herself and tosses Gingivere into the fortress dungeon. Meanwhile, Gonff the Mousethief is caught stealing from Kotir, and is thrown into a cell with Martin. The two get acquainted, and Gonff tells Martin of the Council of Resistance in Mossflower (CORIM) movement actively rebelling against the wildcat family.Except Martin. Martin, man, whose one-word characterization may be "Warrior" but whose character arcs are almost always about the conflict between warring and living: fighting is necessary to protect what he loves, but it divides him from what he loves. That conflict is reiterated in all his stories, but it's so bittersweet and surprisingly gentle--quiet, powerful, lonesome Martin, so eager to accept the first hand extended to him in friendship even though he remembers exactly how that ended last time--that I don't much mind.

Mossflower was intended to be adapted as the fourth season of the Nelvana Redwall TV Series, however this did not occur. Tsarmina, the evil self-proclaimed queen of Mossflower, is quite the ballistic type personality that grows on the reader, even though she is the main antagonists of the story. As you progress through the story, the reader will start to see paranoia and insanity slowly take over her, and it is quite entertaining to watch. The story has some good comedic quality throughout. One of these core laughable traits of the story is how she conducts her army and captains. Through her short lived reign, she promoted over a five or more captains due to blunders which ended in death or displeasing the queen. She as a villain was true to her nature, instilling fear as a means to control her weasel and rat army. Gulo the Savage, who's above the size and weight of a badger, but with sharper claws and teeth. When the heroes lead him through a crow-infested grove, he actually loses interest in pursuing them to continue the slaughter.The first book of the series more or less stated that the stories take place in the "real world" - there's a full-sized church near Redwall Abbey, some vermin arrive stowed away in a horse-drawn carriage, and Big Bad Cluny the Scourge is said to come from Portugal. Three or four books down the line, the Redwall world has its own geography, and neither humans nor Portugal have anything to do with it. Then High Rhulain comes along and implies that the cats' distant ancestors were once pets. 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. ZigZagged in Mariel of Redwall. At first it looks like Rawnblade and Gabool are about to get into a massive swordfight...but then Rawnblade disarms Gabool with little effort. Then, after a small chase, Gabool challenges Rawnblade to a fight using nothing but their paws, only for Rawnblade to fall into Skrabblag's chamber. Just when you think the fight will end with Mariel and her friends taking on Gabool themselves, Rawnblade grabs the scorpion and throws it out the hole onto Gabool, where it promptly stings him in the head and kills him. And then Dandin chops the scorpion in half with ease. Big, Screwed-Up Family: The Marlfoxes. The queen of the Marlfoxes killed her mate to take the throne, only to be manipulated and killed by her daughter in turn, who then ends up being killed by her brother, Mokkan. The other children of the queen are all equally nasty as the others. From a region known only as the Land of Ice and Snow emerges Gulo the Savage, a vicious wolverine in command of a horde of a hundred white vermin (foxes and ermine) who eat the flesh of their enemies. After murdering his father, Dramz, Gulo assumed control of his father's territory. However, only he who possess the Walking Stone may rule, and after his father's death, Gulo's brother, Askor, steals the stone and sails to Mossflower Woods. Gulo pursues his brother with the vermin under his command. Most notably with his captain the white fox named Shard and his mate the vixen Freeta. Although Shard is the captain of this horde, it is Freeta that holds the real power, intelligence and sway.

Somewhat subverted in The Sable Quean. The Quean and one of her Mooks are plotting revenge on The Starscream, Zwilt the Shade. He tried to kill the Quean and sent the Mook's mate to his death. As they talk about their plans, we hear, for the first time, a vermin say the words, "I loved him."

Conjoined Twins: The "three-headed dragon" in Triss is actually a set of adder triplets, bound together by a mace and chain they were unable to remove.