20
votes
Accepted
Do I need to read the Redwall books in any specific order?
I've already posted about this on another SE site. Let me try to go into even more detail here.
There are two obvious possibilities for the ordering: publication order and in-universe chronological ...
- 76.7k
20
votes
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What is a "three-part moon"?
“Three-part” means “three-quarter”:
three-part, adj. b. = three parts, n.
three parts, n. Three out of four equal parts, three quarters.
Oxford English Dictionary.
“Three-quarter moon” means “...
- 63.9k
19
votes
Accepted
Why is the snake named "Asmodeus"?
You might be overthinking it. According to Brian Jacques himself, it seems he didn't go into the depths of exactly what traits the mythological/biblical character Asmodeus represents; he just found it ...
- 76.7k
15
votes
Accepted
Origin of the war-cry "Eulalia" in Brian Jacques's Redwall series?
According to Brian Jacques, as related in a live-action segment for the TV series:
That was one of the Norse war cries, the Vikings, the sea-wolves, the Norsemen, and the Celts used to use it when ...
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7
votes
Origin of the war-cry "Eulalia" in Brian Jacques's Redwall series?
The historian T. L. Kington Oliphant claimed that “Eulalia” was (part of) the war-cry of Barcelona during the War of the Spanish Succession and afterwards. (Saint Eulalia is the patron saint of ...
- 63.9k
7
votes
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Do ALL of the Redwall books include the death of a major character?
Yep!
This is based on Wikipedia’s plot summaries (which I read under the assumption that any major character deaths would be mentioned), cross-checked with the Redwall wiki. Note that since I haven’t ...
- 9,963
6
votes
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Is there evidence that "Marlfox" actually occurred?
Yes, Marlfox is a solid part of the Redwall chronology.
In the (chronologically) next book, The Taggerung, one subplot of the story revolves around a few Abbey creatures deciphering messages left by ...
- 76.7k
6
votes
Are there any species that are not sentient?
The horse Cluny drove to Redwall Abbey comes to mind. In Chapter 2 of Redwall, he makes his way to the abbey with 500 soldiers, on a (stolen) hay cart pulled by a horse driven to panic by a whip. It ...
- 6,092
6
votes
What are stag beetles like in the world of Redwall?
Size doesn't matter ...
You may find Are the Redwall creatures their natural real-world size? an interesting read. The long and the short of it is: don't worry too much about the animals' size in the ...
- 76.7k
5
votes
Accepted
Are there any species that are not sentient?
Horses
There was a horse in the first book, Redwall. It seemed to be just a brute animal, used to pull the cart carrying Cluny the Scourge and his horde, without any intelligence. It certainly never ...
- 76.7k
5
votes
Were all the Redwall songs created by Brian Jacques, or based on some real songs?
This is a partial answer, sourced off an old version of redwall.org (since I can't find the Q&A section on the up-to-date version of the site).
It seems Jacques was asked this question:
Mr. ...
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4
votes
Accepted
How does this joke (?) of Gonff's work?
I think it's just that the contradiction is a joke. The "outrageous statement" is the whole thing - "This is an ancient chant, honestly, even though I've just made it up".
Along ...
- 285
4
votes
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Where did Jacques tell this story of how the mole accent was from truck-driving through Somerset?
It's not exactly an interview, but I found this claim directly from the horse's mouth in a letter from Brian Jacques to a then-young fan, Joshua Bishop, in 1996 (link):
I give my characters accents ...
- 76.7k
3
votes
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As good as Brian Jacques or your money back?
The Corgi Childrens paperback editions of Garry Kilworth’s Thunder Oak (1997), Castle Storm (1998), Windjammer Run (1999), Gaslight Geezers (2001), and Vampire Voles (2002) all carry the quotation
‘A ...
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3
votes
How can "Salamandastron" be considered "In the Tradition of 'Watership Down'"?
Sometimes odd lines like that on covers are quotes, even if they aren't attributed. A possible source for this would be the brief review paragraph, by Tynan Laurie, for the 8 cassette recorded book, ...
- 19.2k
2
votes
Accepted
What did the students at the Royal Wavertree School for the Blind think of "Redwall"?
Yes, it seems that Jacques did read drafts of the Redwall novels to the children in the school, using them as testers to check the pacing of the story and so on. Later on, when he had become a ...
- 18.9k
1
vote
What is a "three-part moon"?
A three-part moon is, apparently, just the moon. As the Wikipedia page about the Triple Goddess that the question links to says, modern Pagan usage such as Wicca considers the moon's waxing, full, and ...
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