User:AsmodeusTheAdder03

Hi, I’m AsmodeusTheAdder03. My name is derived from one of my favorite Redwall villains, and the year I first began reading the series.

I was in third grade when I first began reading, and what mainly attracted me to the series was the fact that it was one of the first “adult” books I’d ever read. I pretty much called it quits with the series by the middle of fourth grade, although I read “High Rhulain” in the fall of ‘05 when I got the chance to see Mr. Jacques in person at a stop near me.

It wasn’t until the following year, as I started middle school, that I began to revisit the series and really see what it was I’d loved about it: mainly, the bird, snake, bat, and in one or two instances, fish characters scattered throughout this series primarily focusing on mice, rats, moles, hares, and other creatures that I wouldn’t call my favorites.

Yes, I’m a primarily lover of non-mammals, although I have exceptions, of course, as I do like bats and don’t care for frogs/toads. Snakes are my favorite reptile, and the first book of the series featured perhaps my all-time favorite snake character, Asmodeus. (In addition to naming myself after him, I’ve tried to upload the Gary Chalk chapter image as my profile pic, but am having trouble doing it because of my phone.) I’d seen Asmodeus depicted in the TV series prior to it vanishing off my PBS station, so I already was familiar with him long before I read “Redwall”. Both one of my favorite creatures and the sort of classic, mysterious villain to be featured in the best ancient lores, Asmodeus was nothing short of a classic character.

So I’m glad Jacques didn’t create many more snakes in the series, as it allowed him to stand out. However, he gave us many classic bird characters. Warbeak was the unquestionable best one for me on the “good” side; a character with plenty of personality and development who rises up to become the leader of her tribe, I at times wish she had been the protagonist of “Redwall” instead. (It doesn’t help that she’s one of the only birds to apppear in multiple books.) Highlights for me in the first book also included the mention of a sparrowhawk (a species which sadly never did get to appear in the series) and Captain Snow the snowy owl; the latter was a pleasant surprise as I was also into Harry Potter at the time.

With his next few books, Brian Jacques expanded his bird menagerie. With Mossflower he gave us a classic character with Argulor the golden eagle, whose main point of interest (aside from being a beautiful kind of bird) was his neutrality, which made him stand out as both a bird character and from Asmodeus. So Argulor was definitely one of the best parts of the book. Bird-wise, we also got Chibb, a rather comical character who, while far less of a highlight to me, was also a fun character.

But what about bird villains? The first book had the initial leader of the Sparra tribe, but he didn’t really stand out as a good villain or well-written character; and “Mossflower” didn’t really have any. Well, book 3 sure fixed that with the introduction of General Ironbeak the raven. In addition to being one of my all-time favorite kinds of birds, Ironbeak was such a well-written villain. Rather than a being another mysterious figure like Asmodeus, he was a Cluny-like, full on antagonist. Asmodeus is the classic villlain of the series, but Ironbeak is perhaps the best written. (I have a Devianart account named after him; although I haven’t posted any art yet, I am striving to be an artist and have drawn sketches which I might share here.)

As for other kinda of creatures I love, while the first and third books didn’t have many, Mossflower had quite a few. There was the sentient like Stormfin, the bats of bat Mountpit, a newt who was friends with the snake of the book, and perhaps most interestingly, a talking eel! To top it all off, if we’re counting other non-mammals/wild creatures, there was even a sentient beetle and crab! Mr. Jacques sure was rather adventurous.

So following those first three books, Mr. Jacques had some tough characters to live up to. Book 4 managed to be worthy enough company by including a heron (another bird I love), and book 5 was even better as it introduced falcons and, surprisingly enough, a sea-serpent with the deepcoiler. Book 6 continues to keep up the pace by introducing easily the best bird-hero in addition to Warbeak with Boldred.

The series never was quite the same after Gary Chalk, my favorite Redwall illustrator, left after “Martin The Warrior”. But Brian continued to introduce interesting characters of species I like with each book. While I didn’t read most of the later books, I know Mr. Jacques continued to come up with new additions with each book, showing a promising feature for the series.

Unfortunately, tragedy occurred in 2011 before Mr. Jacques could make his next interesting move. Some possibilities include a main character of my favorite species, visiting new lands or parts of the Mossflower universe, revisiting any old groups or places like the Sparra or Bat Mountpit, revisiting any surviving characters who could be elaborated on (“Salamandastron” and the books from “Triss” onward have the most) or—-and this one has always seemed particularly interesting—-make a book set during the seemingly incredibly long period between “Salamandastton” and “Redwall”...in other words, a prequel to the book that started it all.

Well, we can agonize over what Mr. Jacques might have done with the series, or we can honor him by coming up with and telling our own Redwall stories. With the Netflix series in the works, the Redwall franchise is about to be at the most prominent it’s been in the world since BJ’s passing. There is so much I look forward to seeing finally be brought to life, or, for the books Nelvana adapted two decades ago, be brought to life again. Maybe someone will decide to actually continue the series? All we can do is wait and hope for the best. ~~~~