Redwall Baddies vs. HP Slytherins

[Firebolt]

No: HPFGUIDX 18011

Margaret Dean wrote:

> I've read a few of the Redwall books, too; my elder son loves
> them (as well as HP), so I got roped into reading two or three
> aloud to him and his brother.  I don't have any serious
> objections to them except that they all have the same plot.
> That, and the fact that while biology appears to be destiny (all
> rats, stoats, weasels, ferrets, foxes are apparently Bad), it's
> not really logically consistent (if some mustelids are Bad, why
> are others, such as otters and badgers, Good?), and the animal
> characters are portrayed too humanly for me to feel right about
> such predestination anyway.  It gives me the same twitchy feeling
> (to drag this back on topic) that I get from "All Slytherins Are
> Evil" (which JKR as author has NOT said, I should note).

And here you've listed all the reasons that I eventually stopped buying
them <g>. As you've said, it's always a variation of a plot that goes
something like: Character A and friends travel, other characters are
attacked by the bad guys number 2, while Character A and Co. fight bad
guy number 1, they win, everyone goes home happy, then they eat a lot. I
mean, you'd think with over ten books there could be a *tad* more
variation.

We never have any anti-heroes or anything, what with the species
stereotyping. The closest was Veil the ferret from Outcast of Redwall,
who was like Draco Malfoy farther down the wrong path, but he died, and
his sister/mother figure ended the book saying she loved him, but he was
most certainly evil, like all vermin. And regarding your 'why ferrets,
etc., and not otters or badgers?', my opinion is that it's because
otters and badgers are traditionally cute, and the other mustelids are
vermin.

In Harry Potter, at least, most of the Slytherins who've been described
are evil or at the very least anti-heroes to the extreme, but nothing
says they can't be redeemed, or there aren't exceptions to the
rule/shades of grey. Although a character like Draco Malfoy helps for
their PR :).

And another irritating thing about Redwall - there are some very
interesting characters in there, like the Mask, the disguise-otter from
Mossflower, Chickenhound/Slagar, who I think is probably a smarter bad
guy than Voldie, even if he's not quite as dangerous to the general
public, Skarlath the kestrel (probably my favorite, and the only bird of
prey I've met without an accent) and of course Martin the Warrior
(although he needs to just go off to the Great Abbey in the Sky and stop
visiting the Abbey people - they need to learn to take care of
themselves). I just wish Jacques had fleshed them out a bit more - the
two most interesting ones, the Mask and Skarlath, were killed rather
quickly, and sidelined then killed, respectively. There really isn't
much room for discussion/fanfic, because the two above, most of the
intruiging characters are either supporting cast or just not given much
chance to show other sides. What I love about HP is all the side
characters who are barely mentioned yet have their own stories, and
maybe even get fleshed out later - like Neville.

- Firebolt


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