Questions tagged [brian-jacques]
Questions about the works of Brian Jacques (1939-2011), the author of the Redwall series, or his life as a writer.
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Origin of the war-cry "Eulalia" in Brian Jacques's Redwall series?
In Brian Jacques's Redwall series, "Eulalia" is the traditional war cry of the badgers and hares of Salamandastron. It's also the title of one of the books in the series, but it's used ...
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Where did Jacques tell this story of how the mole accent was from truck-driving through Somerset?
According to the Redwall wiki page on moles,
The mole dialect is derived from the region of Somerset, England. Brian Jacques frequently tales the story of how when he was a truck driver, he drove ...
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Why does Sir Harry like Matthias's poem and not Basil's?
In Mattimeo, Chapter 29, the rescuers' party encounters Sir Harry, an owl who speaks in poetry for much of his dialogue. For one example, this is how he introduces himself:
"Why, pray, do you ...
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What did the students at the Royal Wavertree School for the Blind think of "Redwall"?
The Redwall series was originally written by Jacques for the students of the Royal Wavertree School for the Blind. This is pretty well documented, from the official website (click on "About Brian&...
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How does this joke (?) of Gonff's work?
There's a line by Gonff in Mossflower that's clearly supposed to be a joke, but I just... don't get it.
Gonff was conscious of Columbine watching him. Bella had given the little mousethief permission ...
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Why is the snake named "Asmodeus"?
In Redwall there is a fearsome, hypnotizing serpent called Asmodeus Poisonteeth. The name seems pretty obviously from the Biblical demon/devil (Is there a difference? The Wikipedia page doesn't help) ...
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What is a "three-part moon"?
This is from Book 2, Chapter 23 of Salamandastron. Samkin, Arula, and Spriggat are sneaking at night into a vermin camp, planning to steal back the sword of Martin the Warrior.
Under a burgeoning ...
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As good as Brian Jacques or your money back?
Back in the mid-2000s, I read two books of Garry Kilworth's Welkin Weasels series, a set of two trilogies about anthropomorphised mustelids, one trilogy set in a version of medieval England and the ...
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How can "Salamandastron" be considered "In the Tradition of 'Watership Down'"?
I dug up a copy of Salamandastron and noticed something about the cover:
On the U.S. PB cover is:
In the Tradition of Watership Down
I know the definition of "in the tradition of"
having ...
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Were all the Redwall songs created by Brian Jacques, or based on some real songs?
Brian Jacques's Redwall stories contain a huge number of songs: marching songs, drinking songs, campfire songs, feast songs, all of them different and none repeated from one book to another (as far as ...
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Is there evidence that "Marlfox" actually occurred?
While doing some research for an answer, I discovered the Redwall series book Marlfox. At the end of the book, there is a meta-note:
Curtain!
This narrative has been edited by Florian Dugglewoof ...
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Do ALL of the Redwall books include the death of a major character?
I read most of Brian Jacques's Redwall books in the 2000s, and one of the things I always noticed was how seemingly every book has at least one major character die: for example,
Am I right in saying ...
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What are stag beetles like in the world of Redwall?
Cluny the Scourge's armor is described thusly:
His long ragged black coat was made of batwings, fastened at the throat with a mole skull. The immense war helmet he wore had the plumes of a ...
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Are there any species that are not sentient?
The Redwall series is full of talking animals. The main characters are usually mice or badgers. We see many examples of animals that are sentient; there are mice, shrews, sparrows, crows, cats, owls, ...
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Do I need to read the Redwall books in any specific order?
The Redwall series by Brian Jacques is pretty long: ~40 books, iirc. They all focus on different characters, but there are lots of people that appear in lots, such as Martin the Warrior.
Do I have to ...
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