Cluny the Scourge was an enormous black male bilge sea rat horde leader with unknown origins. It is believed that he once was involved with seafaring and came from distant jungles. One of Cluny's 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 his enemies. He commanded a vast 500-strong horde of rats with a smattering of weasels, stoats, and ferrets.
Cluny had one eye, the other was lost during a battle with a pike; he covered its socket with an eyepatch. Cluny wore a cloak made out 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. He was extraordinarily strong, fast, and agile, but unusually intelligent and a master tactician as well. Cluny was very observant and ambitious.
History
While Cluny the Scourge's origin is a mystery, he wrought a path of destruction that seemingly began in the Far North. After discovering a mine owned by badgers and others, he attempted to take it for his army and lost a battle for it. He later returned to collapse the mine and kill everyone inside. As Cluny moved south over several seasons, his horde burned down a farmhouse, consumed a litter of piglets, infected livestock with disease, and destroyed a village with a cow stampede.
Assault of Redwall Abbey
After Cluny arrived in Mossflower Woods, he began expanding his army and made quite a name for himself as a warlord. During the Summer of the Late Rose, Cluny waged an intense war against the residents of Redwall Abbey in an effort to take the structure and rename it Cluny Castle.
He experienced deranged dreams of a mysterious warrior mouse and often lost control of his temper. Despite this, he was probably the most competent warlord Redwall ever faced.
Cluny's various tactics included a false attempt at parlaying, 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. His final plan, which resulted in success, 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, who had been captured. After entering the Abbey, Cluny quickly subdued the Redwallers and would certainly have conquered them if not for the timely return of Matthias, who had procured the missing sword of Martin the Warrior, bringing with him the Guosim and the deadly Sparra warriors.
Though Cluny far outmatched Matthias in strength, force, experience, and skill, the young mouse was able to defeat the evil rat by slashing the rope that held the Abbey's Joseph Bell in place, causing it to free-fall towards Cluny, crushing him to death before he even knew what was happening.
Prior to his death, he murdered Abbot Mortimer with his poisoned tail barb. Later, Cluny the Scourge was mentioned in Pearls of Lutra as one who resided in Saint Ninian's Church prior to its burning. Cluny was also mentioned in Taggerung by Sawney Rath as one who tried (and failed) to enter Redwall Abbey. He was also mentioned in a poem about the Abbey bell that killed him.
Nelvana Redwall TV Series
Cluny the Scourge from the Redwall TV Series
In the Redwall TV Series, Cluny is portrayed as having killed Matthias' family during an attack on their village. Cluny the Scourge and Badrang the Tyrant shared the same voice actor, Diego Matamoros.
Other References
- Off Color Brewing in Chicago, IL, named a 9.9% ABV Belgian-style stout "Scourge" after Cluny, with accompanying artwork.
Trivia
- Cluny the Scourge is originally described as Portuguese, however Portugal does not exist in the world of Redwall.
- Many of Cluny's past misdeeds involve animal species that were later retconned out of the Redwall universe as Redwall was not intended to be published.
- The name Cluny was meant to rhyme with the word "loony" as Brian Jacques describes him as a "mad type."
- Cluny the Scourge, General Ironbeak, Badredd, and Raga Bol have the distinction of being the only villains to successfully hold Redwall Abbey.