Dark Forest is the transcendental realm where many creatures go after their life ends. Martin the Warrior and Sunflash the Mace are the only characters known to have actually visited its "gates" upon near-death experiences, spoken with the deceased, and returned to the living to tell the tale afterwards.
In Mossflower, Boar the Fighter and Ripfang are described as "going together" to the gates of Dark Forest. When Fortunata, a conniving and duplicitous fox, was slain, Lady Amber told her to "tell your deceitful tales to whoever meets you at the gates of Dark Forest."
A "Lord of Dark Forest" is spoken of in the mole song "Wurpledown Durr" as snatching away the titular character to Dark Forest.
"Hellgates" seemingly serves as the vermin equivalent, though whether it refers to the same place or not is indeterminable. According to Ermath, Vulpuz is the ruler of Hellgates; at other times this domain's ruler has been referred to as the Dark One.
The phrase "Dark Forest" appeared less as a reference to the afterlife in later novels, with the most recent usage occurring in Taggerung. Phrases such as "sunny slopes and silent streams" seemingly replaced it.
Books[]
Dark Forest appears in Mossflower, Outcast of Redwall, and Taggerung.
Trivia[]
- A fan asked Brian Jacques if Dark Forest and Hellgates were supposed to be the equivalent of Heaven and Hell, inquiring because Dark Forest sounded bad. He replied that he tried "not to have any religious connotations at all" so it was an unintended comparison. Dark Forest is supposed to be "mysterious rather than menacing."