Thread:ScottyBlue/@comment-1298206-20130805171601/@comment-3462718-20130805184743

Oh dear. I don't usually write out my reasons for why things are my favorites - I had to think on this before I answered so I wouldn't sound uneducated. Hopefully I succeeded - here goes!

Gulo is one of my favorite villains for several reasons. To begin with, he is certainly is one of the more fun ones to read about; I like a villain to be a worthy foe for the protagonist in the sense that he's extremely difficult to defeat, not necessarily that he had an interesting backstory or anything like that (not that those are bad things, but I think some people overrate that). Gulo, to me, is definitely among the most formidable, if not THE most formidable, adversaries any Redwaller faced. Admittedly, he was a terrible tactician, but he did have the advantage of knowing his own strengths and putting them to use. He was a totally ruthless killing machine, and he knew full well the army around him was not necessary because he could slaughter any foe they faced, provided it was a savage surprise attack that the foe did not have time to prepare for. His defeat was the only time he faced a foe that had been forewarned of the combat and had time to prepare for it. That's why I like Gulo - he's vicious, he's strong, and he's like a giant time-bomb that everybody (friend and foe) knows will eventually go off. He makes the book fun, tense reading, and I rank him pretty high on my Villains list. Incidentally, I do like his backstory as well, because it's interesting to note that every action he does is prompted by the fact that he let sibling jealousy consume him, not by the normal Redwall Villain's actions of wanting loot, plunder, slaves, and so on. Gulo doesn't want any of that; he just wants the proof (Walking Stone) that he was the better son of Dramz, and more suited to rule his homeland, even if he killed all the subjects in it traipsing here and there to get the stone. He's the only villain I can think of (besides, maybe, Princess Kurda) who was all about the principle of the thing, and not the actual materialgoal.

(Incidentally, my favorite Redwall Villain of all time is probably Plugg Firetail from Triss.)

Now, as to Doomwyte. Why so many people hate that book I will never know. It's VERY high on my list of favorites, and, like my reasons for liking Gulo, there are several factors why it's up there. Number one, it contains some of the best characters (in my opinion) out of all the books. I especially like Laird Bosie MacScutta (the only true Highland Cheiftain in any of the books, which, being Scotch by ancestry myself, makes me very happy) because of his unorthodox fastidiousness and his eneral demeanor which is the most classicaly Scottish of any Highland's character I've read in any of the books. The book also contains the absolutely hilarious and the delightfully evil Tugga Bruster, who is the only good-species-turned-bad character who gets his comeuppance in what I'd call a satisfactory manner.

Furthermore, it has some of the more emotionally complex villains; specifically Tala (who was atypically fond of her mate and was one of the few villains to seek justifiable vengeance) and Frang (he stood up to Skurr about the idiocy of hiring a snake that would obviously betray them, and actually was bold enough to get away with it).

Besides characters, the book, though admittedly not overly remarkable for its throughout-the-story plot, has several great subplots that are, paradoxically enough, the thing that keeps me gripped in the book each time I read it. For instance, Tugga Bruster and Tala's story only takes up a little less than half the plot, and the whole great incident with Blodd Apis (up there on my list of best villains because of the subtlety and near-success of her mead scheme) is one chapter. The bit about Tarul in the belltower and the subsequent maddening of Baliss from this incident is another subplot that interests me, as well as (my favorite) the tension between Nokko and Bruster. I like this last not only because Nokko runs rings around the shrew, but also because one has the opportunity to compare and contrast the results of their parenting styles. Both, it should be noticed, are very harsh on their offspring - however, Tugga merely criticizes and browbeats for the sake of belittlin his son, whereas you can tell that Nokko genuinely loves his children (witness, the incident with Spingo and the rock) and criticizes their actions for their own good (breaking up fights, punishing disrespect to elders, and so on). Also, Nokko inspires far more devotion in his children than Tugga ever could hope to; you can see that they follow him without question and will make jokes with him and cheer him on when they are not being punished for ill behavior.

Finally, this book has a reference back to some of the greatest early characters in any Redwall book - Gonff the Mousetheif and Lady Columbine. It isn't the only book to mention their legacy, but it is the only one to explore it in-depth. In other stories, they are only mentioned as Martin the Warrior's friends, and usually some character's ancestor. Often, Columbine is left out while only Gonff is mentioned. However, here, we learn about what he did after the battle for Kotir was over, and a good deal more about the way Lady Columbine's mind worked from her diary. This is also the only book that I know of (after the Legend of Luke) which mentions the mole Dinny, who was a far more important character in Mossflower than he is often given credit for. His mention is a short one, but it's nice to see that he's not forgotten entirely.

Sorry this was so long. Hope it helps explain my reasons clearly (if not concisely).