theredwallrecorder

[theredwallrecorder]

outcast: the necessity of the mace

The kestrel spoke around a beakful of chestnut: “I am Skarlath; I was alone, but you saved my life; now I am with you. Where come you from, friend?”

Scratching his golden stripe, the badger chewed thoughtfully. “I’m not sure. I think I had a mother, Bella or Bellen or something, it’s hard to remember. I must have been very young. Boar the Fighter, that’s a name I recall, maybe he was my father, or my grandsire, I’m not certain. Sometimes I dream about home, or maybe it’s my imagination, but it feels nice. Then there’s the mountain, was that my home? It is all very mixed up.”

Sunflash speaks about himself, excerpt from Chapter 2 of Outcast of Redwall

one of the reasons outcast differs from every other novel of redwall is in the fact veil, the titular character, does not even exist until the eighteenth chapter of the book. the previous seventeen chapters are spent building the rivalry between swartt sixclaw, the primary antagonist, and sunflash the mace, ascendant badger lord. though he may not have done so intentionally, mister jacques’ inclusion of the experience of sunflash allows us to draw comparable narrative lines with veil’s story. sunflash is fortunate to bear memories of his early childhood that become the lynchpin for his growth into a just, kind, and wise badger lord and friend. this foundational aspect of backstory, echoed more explicitly in the narrative of deyna in taggerung and rooted in current theories of psychology and human development, postulates that positive experiences with a parental guardian in early life are necessary for healthy growth and formation of the self. in future posts, we will weigh the differences between sunflash’s early childhood and veil’s early childhood; here, we will extrapolate what sunflash’s early memories imply about his childhood environment.

though his memories are certainly sparse, the tone and descriptive words sunflash uses to talk about his early childhood betray more about it than he is consciously aware of. he begins his reminisce with his mother: she is the largest figure in his memory as a baby. her name comes to his lips immediately, though when he presses against the fog of memories, he falters in his confidence. so much of the secure base of his babyhood has been eroded by the cruelty he experienced at the hands of swartt. bella likely spoke to sunflash of boar the fighter even before he could understand speech, sharing the legacy of their bloodline and imparting some of the sense of the destiny of badger lords to her son--whom she knew, even as he was a babe, he would one day take on that heavy mantle. perhaps boar even visited little sunflash in his early dreams, as is the mysterious power of some badger lords, which could explain sunflash’s vague sense of the existence of salamandastron. it is one of the latter lines of sunflash’s dialogue that gives us the most information about his formative environment. he dreams of his home and the emotions those dreams conjure for him are inherently positive. these dreams bring him comfort and they are totally unlike his reality at the mercy of swartt. “... it [thematic elements of home] feels nice.” what does “nice” mean for a baby? we can easily guess. there was safety. there was security. there was warmth. baby sunflash’s basic needs were met: he did not go hungry, somebeast tended to him when he cried, and he was groomed and cared for.

swartt tried his absolute damndest to beat any sense of personhood out of sunflash. swartt gave sunflash a degrading name, forced the young badger to commit acts lower than a slave, deprived sunflash of food and drink, and left him exposed to suffer the full effects of the weather. swartt did not succeed in breaking him because sunflash carried his verifiable sense of self borne out of the scant memories of his childhood. sunflash knew he had a benevolent mother figure. he knew he had a family history, the promise of having come from somewhere and something of any measure of meaning. he knows he had a home: a place where he was wanted, where he belonged. it was a place where he was safe, where his needs were met, and where his worth as a living creature was imparted. sunflash subconsciously knew that swartt could not truly define him.

veil, in strikingly direct contrast, was given none of these things.

#i have tried my best to avoid using clinical language to describe sunflash's connection with his babyhood #commonly known psych buzzwords are fun #but often lack the true nuance of their meaning #clinicians would posit sunflash was likely 'securely attached' to his mother #due to the rapidity of creature development in the redwallverse #my theory is that one significant positive experience with a benevolent caregiver is enough for a creature to form a secure attachment #evidence of this could be deyna/tagg of taggerung #his first swim with his father became the anchor of his humanity #outcast of redwall #text #sunflash #sunflash the mace #skarlath #bella #boar the fighter #make no mistake #veil was wronged

[theredwallrecorder]

Sunflash and Skarlath the second they met:

#i too would instantly become friend with the badger who hug-warmed me with him soft fur #SKARLATH AND SUNFLASH CUDDLING OVER COLD WINTER NIGHTS #oh this post has blessed me #text #skarlath #sunflash #outcast of redwall

[theredwallrecorder]

Sunset at mountain hood…

#salamandastron vibes #mountain #mount hood #oregon #nature photography #photography #video

[theredwallrecorder]

Friendly reminder that Sunflash would have become a casualty of his desire for revenge if Skarlath had not intervened, to convince the young badger to flee and fight another day.

#are you even lifekin if you don't consistently take turns saving each other's lives #i come to mister jacques' feasting table #and i receive the sustained blessing of fundamental selflessness in friendships #text #reminders #outcast of redwall #sunflash #skarlath

[theredwallrecorder]

More pretty stained glass windows

#*eyes emoji eyes emoji eyes emoji* #redwall abbey aesthetic #stained glass #architecture #photography

[theredwallrecorder]

Unpopular Redwall opinions:

- I love that there’s poems and songs thrown in wily-nily. I think they almost always suit the occasion and I always enjoy reading them. Some are awfully pretty.

- I love the dialects. Can’t talk me out of it. The moles wouldn’t be moles without it.

- I love the hares. I don’t care if they’re similar and always hungry and talkative and sometimes downright stupid and silly. I love them all. And they’re usually pretty amazing.

- Love how similar the books are. Really has a comfort food feel to it.

I may add more as I think of them…

#there is no such thing as an unpopular redwall opinion #all opinions are welcome #seconded to all of these #<3 #text #redwall #justredwallthings

[theredwallrecorder]

I got the Redwall Map and Riddler recently. I think it was a solid purchase. Featuring a cameo from my cat Casey.

#the art from the insert cover sometimes haunts my dreams #i think it was used on early promotional material for redwall #*trying so hard not to be jealous of the redwall map* #thank you for posting these pictures matey #<3 #brian jacques #redwall #redwall map #redwall supplemental material #photography

[theredwallrecorder]

It's wild because Outcast of Redwall is probably my least favorite Redwall book, as in the one I returned to the least as a child, but that's not quite fair to say because only one half of it was my least favorite, and the other half was one of my favorite relationships in the entire series.

Oh God oh no I forgot how much I loved Skarlath, I mean I knew I loved him but I forgot HOW MUCH--

#i am pretty sure we all would die for skarlath #skarlath is as pure in his devotion to sunflash as gonff is to martin #and i just think that's beautiful #text #outcast of redwall #skarlath #pitviperofdoom

[theredwallrecorder]

#*falls out of recliner* #tag urself i'm gloomer duty #HIT DA BRICKS!! #this has blessed me #ashleg #art #illustrations #meme #mossflower #kotir-propaganda #let's all channel ashleg's energy and get ourselves out of toxic situations when we can

[theredwallrecorder]

Swartt Sixclaw sat closest to the fire. He was a young ferret, but obviously the leader of the threescore vermin who made up the band. Tall, vicious, and sinewy, Swartt had made himself Chieftain, because he was quicker and stronger than any who dared challenge him. He was a fearsome sight to friend and foe alike, his face striped with a sloping pattern of purple and green dye, teeth stained glistening red. Round his neck hung the teeth and claws of dead enemies. His left forepaw bore six claws--it rested on the hilt of a long curved sword thrust through a snakeskin belt.

the introduction of Swartt Sixclaw, from Chapter 1 of Outcast of Redwall

#this is random but swartt would 100% wear the shorts that say 'are you nasty' on the butt #he absolutely thinks he is the nastiest #i wonder how often he has to reapply the dyes #text #quote #swartt sixclaw #outcast of redwall #brian jacques

[theredwallrecorder]

Swartt Sixclaw

This fellow has always been presented to plainly for my liking, so I done up a portrait to embellish the ferret Warlord's appearance a bit. Note that magnificent gauntlet, custom-forged and fitted for a six-clawed paw. Given that "Swartt" is very similar to the root word for "swarthy" (aka, dark-complexioned) I figured his coat would be prominently dark-umber or nearly black, not the usual roany brownish or grayish or off-white of common ferret morphs. And armor! So much armor--armor of any form is really so much better than no armor. It still ticks me that Long Patrol and many woodlanders are never described as having a form of armor while all the bandits and hordebeasts are--yet are still at advantage in their battles. Give 'em armor, y' stingy ole Badger Lord! XD

#yeah swartt is right up there with ublaz and badrang and vilu in putting extra effort into his appearance #these makeup dyes ain't gonna apply theyselves #love how he's favoring but also mildly brandishing his sixclawed paw #art #illustrations #swartt sixclaw #outcast of redwall #spidermilkshake

[theredwallrecorder]

outcast: opening thoughts

i think i may have mentioned in tags or briefly in other posts that outcast of redwall is very special to me. i am unceasingly grateful to mister jacques for writing this book, not only because it is a vital fictional case study in family dynamics, child behavior, and the influence of environment on human development, but because of mister jacques’ fundamentally honest approach to narrative.

if there is anything you can be convinced of in regards to all of redwall, it is that you can always trust that mister jacques will never attempt to sell you a “falsehood” in order to bring his story in the direction he intends. what do i mean by “falsehood”? for the sake of avoiding spoilers from a show i in full transparency have actually never seen (game of thrones), i would instead like to use an example from a similar recent adaptation of the works of one of mister jacques’ contemporaries: amazon’s rings of power.

again, to be fully transparent, i abhor rings of power, and not for its misguided multi-ethnic pandering that at times borders on insensitivity. in robust confidence and unfailing ego a pair of men undertook the writing of this show, and the shallowness of the narrative they have birthed betrays their lack of experience and their emotional immaturity. rings of power alone is the biggest reason i am low-key relieved that netflix’s planned redwall movie and tv show have effectively been shelved for the time being. i cannot quantify the amount of grief that would fall over me if we were given a version of mister jacques’ world that had been mindlessly adapted in such a way as to make it a brutal mockery of mossflower. far more eloquent critics and devout middle earth scholars have broken down the aspects of amazon’s rings of power that have fallen far short of tolkien’s vision, and i encourage you to peruse their think pieces, but i will simplify my point by picking out the treatment of the character of galadriel. the narrative rings of power attempts to sell you is based entirely on an interpretation of galadriel that has nothing to do with the infinitely wise, long-suffering figure of galadriel that tolkien wrote. tolkien’s galadriel is soft and powerful, containing the narrative depth of living through thousands upon thousands of years of the cultural height and decline of middle earth, and every word she speaks is laden with conscious discernment and meaning. true, galadriel at the time of rings of power is much younger than the galadriel tolkien presents in the lord of the rings, but it is canon that she had already been married and had had a daughter by the time rings of power is meant to take place. in comparison, the galadriel of rings of power is a petulant, rude, self-serving, overbearing child, carrying none of the life experience of the equivalent canon galadriel of this time. i believe the choice of the show’s writers to remove completely galadriel’s life partner celeborn and her daughter celebrían speaks volumes about their true intentions in regards to galadriel’s character within the narrative of rings of power. 

to fashion their narrative into the shape they desired, the writers of rings of power eschewed canon and distorted the character of galadriel. i am sure you can easily think of other stories where character psychology was sacrificed on the altar of The Ending Or The Twist The Writers Wanted. to the best of your memory, your readings of outcast may have come across in a similar way--mister jacques mangled the characters of bryony, abbess meriam, bella, and even veil to, perhaps, smooth over the bitter sting of the abbeybeasts’ treatment of veil. i will be the first to admit that veil’s foul behavior is exaggerated almost to the point of comedy, as is the nature of stories intended for children, but mister jacques was never in the business of pursuing extremes in order to make a point. adolescent drama is as tumultuous as the myriad changes of puberty, and jacques has gone on the record stating that he writes from what he has observed. the naked fear or disgust brought on by a reading of outcast of redwall is based in the fact the characters are true: true to themselves, true to each other, and true to the beliefs under which they were raised. it is sobering to discover that a children’s book can prompt one to grapple with the reality that cruelty, albeit wholly unintended, can come from goodness.

#thems a lot of words but we gettin ready to set sail mateys #i know in life mister jacques preferred to not have redwall compared to the lord of the rings #but all stories share commonalities #rings of power is recent enough that some may be able to catch my meaning #though similar character assassination occurred in game of thrones #may the property of redwall always remain in hands willing to respect its spirit #outcast of redwall #text #redwall #veil #bryony #it is well-intentioned harm that inflicts the most trauma

[theredwallrecorder]

#oh. this. #soft but strong #and such melancholy #*kisses my screen* #this is gorgeous #art #felldoh #martin the warrior #how are all redwallers so creative i don't #ruusukultakruunu

[theredwallrecorder]

Just the warrior family, casually ending villains’ careers!

#truly brian jacques challenged us all to curse more creatively #love how hard the cartoon went #this has blessed me #redwall #redwall tv show #memes #stand somewhere else and i'll insult you there is a mantra #u feel me

[theredwallrecorder]

Greengage jam Bakewell tart (serves 10-12)

For the jam

(creates around twice as much as you need for the tart. Yum)

500g greengages

380g caster sugar

30ml water

Juice from ¼ of a lemon

De-stone the greengages. Pop them in a heavy based milk pan / sauce pan. Add the sugar and the water and place on a low flame. Gently stir so that the sugar dissolves.

Once the sugar has dissolved, turn the heat up and bring the greengages and liquid to the boil. Boil for around fifteen to twenty minutes until the temperature of the ingredients reaches 105C. Stir occasionally just to ensure no sugar is caramelizing / burning on the side, nor the fruit catching on the bottom of the pan.

When the ingredients are at 105C, turn the heat off. Add the lemon juice, decant to a bowl or two sterilised jam jars and allow to cool and set before using.

For the tart shell

You will need a 24cm diameter, 4cm deep loose bottomed tart mould

125g unsalted butter (cubed and cold)

250g plain flour

75g icing sugar

pinch of table salt

2 egg yolks

2 tbspns cold milk

Sieve the flour, salt and icing sugar from a height into a large mixing bowl then add the butter cubes. Rub these ingredients together using the tips of your fingers until the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs.

Make a well in the centre. Mix the egg yolks and cold milk in a bowl. Add about half into the well and work into the flour, sugar a butter mixture. Add the rest of the egg mixture gradually. You may not need it all. Pat and push the pastry dough together into a ball. Don’t overwork the pastry, else it’ll be springy, rather than short. Cling film the pastry ball and put it into the fridge for at least 2 hours.

Once chilled, roll the pastry ball out on a cold, floured surface until it’s about 5mm thick and plenty big enough to line your tin. This is really short pastry, so you need to be quick, firm and confident.

Gently roll the pastry backwards over your rolling pin and line the tin. Trim so that you leave only 1cm of pastry beyond the height of the mould. Patch any gaps that you may have with pastry trim. Freeze for at least 15 minutes and pre heat your oven to 180C.

Bake your tart shell blind: lined with grease proof paper and ceramic beans, rice or dried pulses. Cook for 10 mins. Remove the paper and beans/rice/pulse and cook for 5 mins more. Remove from the oven, trim off the overhang with a sharp knife and allow to cool.

For the filling

250g unsalted butter

210g caster sugar

210g ground almonds

40g plain flour

3 eggs

250g greengage jam

Turn the oven down to 150C

Cream the butter and sugar together (ideally using a food mixer – on the lowest setting). Gradually add and incorporate the almonds and then the plain flour. Then add the eggs, one by one, waiting till all the liquid is taken up by the butter and almond mix before adding the next egg.

Spoon the greengage jam over the cool tart shell, making sure there’s even coverage. Then gently drop large spoons of the almond mix on top of the jam (if you just scoop it all out, you may disperse the jam). Prod all of the almond splodges together and even out the top with a palette knife.

Bake the tart in the middle of the 150C oven for 55-60 minutes – until the top is a lovely golden brown and just set. Allow to cool (it will carry on cooking). Either reheat in a very low oven (60C) and serve just warm with crème fraiche, or cold with warm custard.

#i'm in love with the word 'splodge' #this looks so good #the gentle dimpling of the crust #*chef's kiss* #greengage jam #baking #recipes #greengage jam bakewell tart #tart #angrenwen

[theredwallrecorder]

Between Redwall and Outcast of Redwall, Sunflash is kind of the first Badger Lord of his kind, and I can't believe I either forgot or missed how genuinely cool he is.

Like first off he's basically the Mossflower version of a superhero. He's a wandering do-gooder who shows up in times of need to rescue people in trouble before moving on without asking for a reward, to the point where songs are sung about him and he reaches legend status by probably his late teens. And yet he's so different from the handful of Badger Lords we've seen so far, which at this point are Boar, Rawnblade, Urthstripe, and Urthwyte. (Yes I know Orlando eventually goes to Salamandastron after the events of Mattimeo but I don't count him because we mostly just see him as a dad.) Every one of them, except maybe Urthwyte, basically lives to fight vermin. Urthstripe shows distaste at the thought of parlaying with them. Rawnblade literally names his sword after how much he uses it to kill vermin.

Sunflash? Rescues Bruff and Tirry's family from foxes, but recognizes that the foxes are just bullies and scares them off without hurting them. Smerc and the eel literally try to drown him in a swamp, and he still shows concern for them when Skarlath strands them in a tree. The only ones he shows no mercy to are Warpclaw, a slaver who was trying to kill a baby at the time, and Swartt and his horde, that being a deeply personal conflict with a genuinely dangerous warlord who prides himself on being cruel. And if I recall correctly, once Swartt's dead and the horde is dealt with, that's basically it for Sunflash's fighting days. He rules Salamandastron as a farmer and poet, not a warrior.

I just think he's really cool and stands out among the rest of the stab-happy Badger Lords. I know he's not the only one who takes up a peaceful life--hello, Russano!--but he definitely set the standard for them and he's still one of my favorite badgers.

#sunflash tempered his destiny as a badgerlord in the marketplace of the common woodlander #sunflash is imperative to understanding veil and the story of outcast of redwall #sunflash defined himself beyond the boundary of salamandastron #and i just think that's good writing #redwall #outcast of redwall #text #sunflash the mace

[theredwallrecorder]

the emotional devastation of reading the Redwall books as a young person, but also being 1000% down to eat the nice sounding food in it, shaped a lot of us as people... i think

#i get: a deep inner sense of belonging and comfort #i also get: mister jacques' brutally honest assessments of truth and the reality of living in a world that ultimately culinates in goodbyes #you bet this man raised me #brian jacques #redwall #text