Ashleg was a male pine marten who served Verdauga and Tsarmina Greeneyes at Kotir. He had a wooden leg, and one side of his body was disfigured as if he were maimed. As a result, he wore an overlong red cloak trimmed with woodpigeon feathers to hide it.
Along with Fortunata and Tsarmina, Ashleg was involved with the poisoning of Verdauga so that Tsarmina could ascend to the throne, though to what degree he was involved in the scheme is unknown; he may not have been as deeply involved in the conspiracy as either Tsarmina or Fortunata. Argulor the eagle desperately wanted to eat him and taste pine marten, but he never got his chance.
After later realizing Tsarmina was mad with power and Kotir was a dangerous place to reside, Ashleg departed south from Mossflower Woods and was never heard from again, leaving behind his cloak for a simpler one in the process.
Ashleg's cloak was used to trick Argulor into killing Bane. Tsarmina gave the cloak to Bane and locked him outside of Kotir. Argulor thought he was Ashleg, and killed Bane.
Ashleg is generally portrayed as competent and intelligent and a competent officer and adviser.
Trivia[]
- Ashleg is the first pine marten to appear in the Redwall series.
- Ashleg is the first character in the Redwall series known to have a prosthetic limb.