User blog comment:Brigadier Barty/The Greatest Threat to Redwall Abbey/@comment-3135907-20150328002748/@comment-3135907-20150328032228

I see I didn't fully understand the question. I originally thought this was about threats to the Abbey and/or the Redwall way of life- such as beasts whose goal was potentially trying to either destroy Redwall Abbey, enslave the Abbeybeasts, cause the Order of Redwall to become defunct, or use Redwall as a fortress of their own. A much worse predicament than just posing a temporary threat to the Abbeybeasts' safety while they are trying to obtain the Tapestry.

The Marlfoxes' intent was not on killing anyone and they weren't a threat to the survival and continued existence of Redwall Abbey as a free haven in Mossflower for any real length of time to come. They may have threatened some of its members, but they weren't even intending on having them as slaves. They just wanted to come in and get what they were there for with the least amount of bloodshed. The intent behind what drives a force matters a lot, wot? Like all villains with goals that only temporarily involve Redwall, they're not nearly as great a threat as a force whose sole purpose is to either bring about Redwall's obliteration, or to subjugate its citizens forever.

I'd put more stock in Zwilt the Shade or Cluny the Scourge or Vizka Longtooth, because even if they weren't (for the sake of argument) as capable of mayhem as the Marlfoxes, they were focusing all their ability at achieving their goal of conquering Redwall. The Marlfoxes weren't interested. Their goal was pleasing their Queen (and eventually taking her place). Redwall only briefly came into the equation, and only because it had something they needed, Once they got what they needed, that was the end of it. That's why I never saw them as nearly as much of a threat. They didn't want to take over the place, or ruin the Abbey way of life. They weren't even trying.