Cluny the Scourge

Cluny the Scourge was an enormous male, black, Portuguese bilge rat. He had one eye, the other being allegedly lost in a battle with a pike (which ended up the worse off - dead) and covered by an eye patch. He wore a cloak made of batwings that was fastened at his throat with the skull of a mole. His war helmet was adorned with blackbird feathers and stag beetle horns. One of his most distinguishing features - as well as his primary weapon - was his own tail, which was long, powerful, and whip like. In battle, he fastened a poison spike to its tip and used it to lash out at enemies.

The Scourge is well-known as being one of the best villains Brian Jacques has to offer. He was extraordinarily strong, fast and agile, but was unusually intelligent and a master strategist as well. He was very observant and ambitious, and remains as the villain that got the closest to taking Redwall Abbey. He commanded a vast horde of rats with a smattering of weasels, stoats and ferrets. He also employed Sela and her son Chickenhound, both healer foxes, when he was injured from a fall from a tree.

Cluny was described variously as a searat and a bilgerat, and apparently hailed from somewhere warm across the sea. Once he arrived in Mossflower Woods, he began collecting an army and made quite a name for himself as a warlord. He caused destruction and chaos as he moved southward across the land, disrupting cities and farmlands. During the Summer of the Late Rose, Cluny and his horde of over 600 vermin waged an intense war against the woodlanders of Redwall Abbey, now called the Late Rose Summer Wars. He suffered from deranged dreams of mysterious warrior mice and often lost control of his temper. Despite this, he was probably the most competent warlord Redwall had ever been up against.



Cluny's various tactics included a false attempt at parleying, tunneling under the walls, a battering ram, boarding the ramparts from a tree, and building a massive siege tower to reach over the walls. All of these attempts failed, however, and his final successful plan involved forcing the dormouse Plumpen to open the gates for him after gaining access to the abbey. The dormouse was threatened with the death of his family, which had been captured by Cluny. After gaining entrance to the abbey, Cluny quickly subdued the Redwallers and would certainly have won if not for the timely return of Matthias, who had procured the sword of Martin the Warrior. Though Cluny far outmatched Matthias in strength, force, experience, and skill, the young mouse was able to kill the evil rat by slashing the rope that held the Joseph Bell, which crashed down on Cluny from above, killing him instantly.

Prior to his death, he used his poisoned tail barb to kill Abbot Mortimer. Later, Cluny was mentioned in Pearls of Lutra as one who resided in St.Ninian's, prior to its burning. Cluny was mentioned in The Taggerung, by Sawney Rath, as one who tried (and failed) to get into Redwall. He was also mentioned in a poem about the abbey bells, which killed him.



Television VA: Diego Matamoros

Audio VA: Jason Mulhearn

Cluny le Fléau