Burhoo, oi'd foller a wurrier loike ee anywheres, zurr. You'm a gurt h'example to ee molers.
Axtel Sturnclaw was a war-hammer-wielding mole warrior who helped Buckler Kordyne, the Guosim shrews, and the Redwallers rescue young ones that Vilaya and her Ravagers captured. He was known as a berserker, or one who was filled with the Bloodwrath in the midst of battle, which is generally characteristic of badgers. He was a loner and a wanderer, tunneling along underground and smashing up large rocks with his hammer. If he ever killed any vermin, he would throw their carcasses up into the trees so that the earth wouldn't be sullied by their bodies.
Axtel was digging around near Althier when he discovered Flib, Guffy, and Gurchen in a collapsed escape tunnel, from which he rescued them. When he was left with the three creatures, Axtel realized he had little experience with young ones and was very shy around them. The trio told the mole of the Dibbuns being held captive in Althier by Vilaya and the Ravagers, who planned to use them for ransom. Enraged at the thought of such cruelty, Axtel left Flib in charge during his absence, and tunneled back into Althier to try to get the rest of the babes. He saved Tassy and Borti before being crippled by Gilfis; the rat stabbed him through the footpaw, forcing the mole to make a hasty retreat. Once they were away from danger, Tassy treated the wound with herbs.
When Buckler Kordyne and the Guosim met up with Axtel, the group proceeded to the dwelling place of Mumzy, who placed a better dressing onto the mole's footpaw. The band decided to attack Althier; Axtel went with them, as he already knew where the best entry point was located. He and Diggs led half the attack force, while Buckler and Log-a-Log Jango Bigboat led the other; the ambush failed, as the Ravagers had already left to attack Redwall.
While spying on the Ravager's new campsite with Buckler and Sniffy, Axtel was bumped into by Fallug, who recognized him for a mole and sounded the alarm. Axtel went into full Bloodwrath then, charging the vermin alone. It was Abbess Marjoram who saved his life, convincing him to return to Redwall and have his still-painful footpaw seen to.
During the final battle at Redwall, Axtel, and Ambrevina Rockflash defeated many vermin between them, and later chased after Vilaya. Axtel's wounded footpaw finally got the better of him, and he was forced to hang back and let Ambrevina continue alone. After Vilaya's death, Ambry carried Axtel back to Redwall on her shoulders. Axtel went out again the next day to retrieve the young ones that had been left at Mumzy's house; after his second return to Redwall, the mole settled down at the Abbey in peace.
Trivia[]
- Axtel Sturnclaw was named after U.S. soldier Pfc. Donald Reas Axtell III, to whom Doomwyte is dedicated. In 2007, it was reported that Axtell, a member of the 977th Military Police Company, was seriously wounded in Kirkuk, Iraq, during a grenade explosion. Axtell exclusively told the Redwall Wiki how he encountered Brian Jacques. "I met [Brian Jacques] while I was in the hospital after my injury in Iraq. I was [in] Walter Reed and he happened to be doing a book signing in D.C.," Axtell said. "He came by the hospital and we just had a conversation." During their discussion, Jacques asked if he could create a character based on him. Axtell agreed, but he didn't know what to expect after that. "Next thing I know I'm a character in one of my favorite book series."
- Axtel Sturnclaw is the only mole character known to have experienced Bloodwrath.
- Axtel Sturnclaw was the first warrior mole in the Redwall books.