#Doomwyte

[incorrectredwallquotes]

Bisky: God, Dwink is getting on my nerves today. Spingo, taking a nerf gun from a pile of stuff in the apartment: I'll take care of it.

[wildivymutt]

Zaran the Black 💪🏼🖤 from Doomwyte by Brian Jacques.

Thank you for the request : ) it was fun to draw. @notsodogninja

[littlemissinkdrinker]

Doomwyte by Brian Jacques

I enjoyed this book buuuuut. It fell short. I didn't connect to the characters as much and it felt the most forced out of all of Jacques books. The Doomwytes was an interesting mechanic in the story and a couple of enjoyable characters, but no one that I adored.

Read : Mar 28th - 31st, 2023

Rating : 4 Stars

[captainmirefleck]

Vote for your favorite Redwall villain! Not who you think would win in a fight, but who you think is most effective as a villain or who you enjoy the most!

[moonybadger]

I'm down to the last fourth of Doomwyte and god this is a slog. These villains are the most incompetent and disappointing ones yet. They start off cool and creepy but they are embarrassingly bad at everything they do, like I'm almost done with the book and the majority of the Redwallers are still not even aware that the birds were trying to intimidate them. And the only reason Dubble, Spingo, and Bisky even know is because Zaran told them!

[spanakorizzo]

THE SWORD CUTS DOWN A SYCAMORE TREE IS THAT INTENTIONAL SYMBOLISM I-

I have like 20 notes on Doomwyte but I can sum it up as thus;

It's like Redwall's greatest hits stereotyped. It hits every stereotype in the series, subverts a few, and is otherwise unremarkable except

THEY USE MARTIN'S SWORD TO CUT DOWN A SYCAMORE TREE!

[interrupted-reverie]

I've read Outcast of Redwall twice and can still barely remember what happens in it. a lot of Redwall books kind of do this to me but this is the biggest culprit. I guess they kind of blur together, with all the feasts and battles and character archetypes... I still love the series though :D it's predictable in a way that, to me, feels familiar and comforting. for the most part. sometimes I go a little crazy reliving the same descriptions of the fancy rodent food

[haveyoureadthismgyabook]

Book 1 of Redwall

Book 2: Mossflower

Book 3: Mattimeo

Book 4: Mariel of Redwall

Book 5: Salamandastron

Book 6: Martin the Warrior

Book 7: The Bellmaker

Book 8: Outcast of Redwall

Book 9: Pearls of Lutra

Book 10: The Long Patrol

Book 11: Marlfox

Book 12: The Legend of Luke

Book 13: Lord Brocktree

Book 14: Taggerung

Book 15: Triss

Book 16: Loamhedge

Book 17: Rakkety Tam

Book 18: High Rhulain

Book 19: Eulalia!

Book 20: Doomwyte

Book 21: The Sable Quean

[definitelyyessnakedemons]

so apparently my brain decided it's 're-read the entire Redwall series' time.

that's 22 books. i have read 1 & 1/2 of them this year so far.

you might think that means i'm in the middle of Mossflower right now, but i am not reading them in order. i read The Rogue Crew (#22) first and am currently reading Doomwyte (#20)

[incorrectredwallquotes]

Dwink: Do you even know what an amulet is? Bisky: Of course I do! I eat amulets sometimes. I like the ones with cheese and onions! Dwink: Bisky, those are omelettes. Bisky: Oh. Then I’ve got nothing.

[captainmirefleck]

Baliss transgender??

[moonybadger]

You know I feel like I've seen a lot of criticism for Eulalia! being a not very good Redwall book and retreading a lot of old ground, but tbh I think that book is actually pretty good and almost all the criticism should actually put on Doomwyte which came right after it.

[the-wolfbats]

Thoughts on the Redwall Series overall 

What started as a walk down memory lane ended up being a multi month reading project. With notes!

A lot of how these books are stereotyped is not true. Only a handful of them end in Babies Ever After. There may be a riddle or a poem but it's not taking up most of the story.

The lack of immediate continuity after book 6 is a little sad but it gives a real sense of time to things, which I like. The Lord of Mossflower exists in Mattimeo, but hundreds of years later in Loamhedge, it doesn't. Brockhall is rediscovered twice! That’s kind of what I liked about Mistmantle, it was only 5 books but there were enough characters that yes, some became parents, but the young ones didn’t. It’s only at the end of the series where some even get married, and it’s not EVERY animal.

Until I reread these, I didn't look at these from the point of anti-colonialization. But, yeah it's THE recurring theme.   

colonizers (vermin) are harassing the people who already live there. Who are native to the land. They're trying to enslave or kill them.  

They're trying to take over either redwall, or mossflower, or basically any place mentioned. 

There is a minor fighting force but the majority just want to chill. A few outliers exist because they've lost families or communities. And they get stopped. This book series is essentially a minimally colonized world.

 Green Isle is a colonized area where the indigenous population fights back and eventually succeeds. Mossflower is eventually freed from the Greeneyes. 

Rhulain and Taggerung come at this from different angles, and while both are hampered by the series structure a bit, enough good shines through. (I lurked the r/Redwall subreddit and a lot of people seem to dislike Taggerung, maybe they were thinking about it from my angle initially - see my thoughts on Taggerung post in my Redwall tag for how my mind was changed).

There's also the heavy religion (Western Christianity) parallels which is why so many conservative kids and young adults attached themselves to this series. And yet they miss major parts of the entire concept. Ah well. 

 I did find it tiresome that as soon as a maid is mentioned to be pretty she's going to be the wife of the male protagonist. They all prove capable and varied but the immediate reaction of pretty is tiring. Note how Mariel is never referred to as pretty by Dandin, and they don't get married but remain partners presumably through their lives. Doomwyte is terrible about this. Come to think of it, Rogue Crew is like a homage but is done much better than Doomwyte, and it works on expanding the world in ways  we never get to see officially :( Maybe we should work on it ourselves. We could do that.

While the squirrels have no subculture, the shrews only have a subculture (arguably two worth pygmy shrews) There's not lone shrews simply existing outside of Redwall or the Guosim. 

Any headcanons about things in story?

I choose to believe Martha spent a time as Abbess after Fenna died. She would be the only noted hare ruler of Redwall. 

There was a squirrel society in Mossflower but it eventually migrated to the area where Sunflash and Skarlath stayed the winter with the mole and hedgehog families.

What books were your favorite?

I've ranked them in groups of 5 of published order (or in the case of the last 2, just 2.) 

*Lord Brocktree was my favorite as a child and frankly it’s still enjoyable. I won't include it in any ranking to keep it fair. 

The Pleasant Surprises

Loamhedge (probably bc I listened to the audiobook. I liked how there was quite a mournful tone throughout, from going to a place full of life to a dead Abbey.)

Eulalia!

The Long Patrol

Martin The Warrior (while it felt a bit long, it was so nice to see a different side of the continent. It wasn't just Mossflower.)

Taggerung.

The Rogue Crew

Side note; I’d love to see someone superimpose the map of some of the books on others. Like where did Martin wander in his book with Grumm, the hedgehog, and Rose compared to the Patrol in The Rogue Crew? He was born on the northern shores - are they the same shores as the Crew? 

The Disappointments

High Rhulain - It’s just not interesting outside of what Green Isle existing implies.

Mariel of Redwall - I think he got better at writing female characters, and it’s not as if Mariel is awful - she’s fairly well rounded, being headstrong and angry as well as needing support - her personality is just kind of There.

Half of the Bellmaker. The part with Southward is dull as dishwater the part with the seafaring is almost enjoyable. The Redwall part is, oddly, the best part.

The one with more than meets the eye lorewise 

High Rhulain 

The one with the best songs 

Loamhedge (the spring song)

High Rhulain (the honeybee song and the calling of the clans)

Marlfox (Mother Nature Dear)

The Long Patrol (over the hills)

Lord Brocktree (a hare is a marvelous creature)

The Rogue Crew (The song Lancejack Sage sings at the funeral)

The best

Mice: Rose, Lycian, Nimbalo

Hare: Maudie, Dottie, Boorab, Martha, Rockjaw

Squirrels: Fwirl, Song, Doogy 

Shrews: Basically all of ‘em, if I had to name one, Flib, if I had to name two, Dandy

Moles: again, most of ‘em. Though it’s funny how they’re championed as beings with good sense, but apparently not good enough sense to ever be elected as Abbott or Abbess.

Hedgehogs: The family of theatrical troupe hedgehogs in Sable Quean, Tansy, Posy

Otter: Mhera, Kroova, Skor, Ruggan, and Swiffo

Birds: Orocca and Tauroc, any bird from the North, Rocangus and MacTalon

Moles: any of the mole Dibbuns. 

Badgers: Sunflash, Cregga, Brocktree 

Major antagonists: the fractured groups of the Juskarath, Tsarmina, Ungatt Trunn, Slagar, Raga Bol, Razzid Wearat.

There was probably going to be more but I got a concussion and forgot

[applesandpavenders]

I love how this guy has a whole song as to why he’s so great. And after two seconds of meeting him everyone is like ‘yeah this guy high key sucks’

Tugga Bruster for worst father

Oh I forgot about him yeah he sucks pretty bad

[booksformks]

Book Review: Doomwyte

Doomwyte (Redwall, #20)by Brian Jacques 3 out of 5 stars The good creatures of Redwall discover a riddle that could lead to the lost treasure of Gonff, the Prince of Mousethieves. Hundreds of generations ago, Gonff stole four beautiful jewels from the Doomwyte caves, and hid them somewhere in Redwall Abbey. Now a new generation of young creatures are following the clues to find the priceless…