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DCLeadboot — Reformed Vermin Anonymous

Published: 2011-08-12 16:24:08 +0000 UTC; Views: 4397; Favourites: 63; Downloads: 14
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Description Inspired to do more Redwall fan-art while reading Brian Jacques' latest (and perhaps last) book, "The Rogue Crew"

I was reflecting on the rarity of "reformed vermin" - those creatures usually considered bad guys purely because of their species (rats, ferrets, stoats, weasels, fox, etc) - and yet they ultimately forsook their evil ways and did something good... some more than others, but still, a posthumous good deed is better than none!

There sure are few of this class of grey character to be seen in the Redwall series, but there were at least enough to make a go of it... a special exclusive club for all former vermin that made that rare heel-face-turn and became good guys!

In chronological order:

Gingivere Greeneyes (Mossflower): One of the earliest, perhaps the very first "reformed vermin" recorded in all of Brian Jacques' books, though to be sure Gingivere was never evil to start with. He was generous and honest, showing the best possible interests towards the woodlanders oppressed by his evil sister Tsarmina. As a wildcat who has known what it is to be a victim of injustice, he has since worked to provide succour to other reformed creatures like himself who wish to leave their evil ways to pursue good lives for the betterment of creatures everywhere - and so he founded the RVA club.
Veil Sixclaw (Outcast of Redwall): Without giving too much away, I will only say that Veil had come from a harsh background where his childhood life at Redwall Abbey had ever been overshadowed with suspicion by creatures who expected nothing but the worst from him - and got exactly what they expected! As a result, Veil is highly introverted, convinced that he can only make a change for the good by dying to protect those who care for him. The young ferret is going through round-the-clock youth counselling to bring him out of his shell.
Blaggut (The Bellmaker): Formerly a searat bosun, Blaggut soon found that he was just not cut out for the life of bloodthirsty pirating, despite the abuse he received from his greedy captain. Since his entry into respectable society, he has been pursuing a steady career as a shipwright, utilising a hitherto-undiscovered natural talent as a carpenter.
Romsca (The Pearls of Lutra): Formerly a ferret corsair, Romsca started having doubts about her piratical career as a subject of Emperor "Mad Eyes" Ublaz after finding herself shipping an Abbot of Redwall back to Sampetra as hostage, in exchange for six paltry pink pearls. When war broke out on her ship between her crew and Ublaz's crazed monitor lizards, she was somehow the one and only survivor besides the Abbot himself - and then only long enough to receive a deathbed-conversion. Thanks to the miracle of fan-fiction, she has survived the encounter, but sadly the horrible spinal injuries she endured have left her paralysed from the waist down. Nevertheless, she is now trying to pursue a career as the world's first wheelchair-bound fencing tutor!
Grubbage (Triss): A wharf rat, formerly a crew member of Captain Plugg Firetail. At some point in his life, the fat rat lost both his ears, leaving him moderately deaf and often misunderstanding what his crewmates said to him. For all that, he was nonetheless very jolly and likeable, and an excellent navigator.
Crumdun (The Rogue Crew): A small, fat and cheerful stoat from the latest book, and a welcome (and refreshing) newcomer to the fold of reformed vermin. For the first time in ages, we are introduced to another rare gem among characters who have an opportunity to turn their lives around - and naturally, Gingivere is glad to welcome in a new member and issue him with the special RVA badge... and Crumdun is glad to find acceptance amongst other creatures like himself, content to just be themselves without any wild dreams of conquest!

All characters are Copyright © the late great Brian Jacques.
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Comments: 139

DCLeadboot In reply to ??? [2017-07-23 10:43:17 +0000 UTC]

Fair enough? I only really read those later books like once, at the most... they just became retreads of the same story at the end... random villain shows up, decides they want to threaten Redwall, random young naive hero gets chosen, Martin the Warrior communicates in riddles and the bad guys get killed off.

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ravagecat31 In reply to DCLeadboot [2017-07-24 19:02:29 +0000 UTC]

I agree the series did get pretty formulaic at the end...I like the earlier books though!

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DCLeadboot In reply to ravagecat31 [2017-07-24 20:20:31 +0000 UTC]

Oh yes, the earlier books were great! They were written when his ideas were fresh... and also we at least had more than one book to become acquainted with characters like Martin, Matthias, Basil Stag Hare, etc.
One beef with the later books that I always had was that after we had one adventure to endear ourselves to a bunch of new characters, each succeeding book seemed to jump an undisclosed period and we found ourselves having to bond with a whole bunch of new characters...
I would have liked to spend more time seeing how Redwall fared in Mattimeo's generation, after they're all adults and Matthias has passed down the Sword and retired... or seeing what new adventures Deyna had after the Taggerung episode was well behind him... or even something of where Dandin and Mariel travelled after leaving Mossflower at the end of the tale of "the Bellmaker" (like whether they did officially become a couple)

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ZwarionwanyMikotaj [2017-05-10 22:13:08 +0000 UTC]

I can see Gingivere being founder of group.

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DCLeadboot In reply to ZwarionwanyMikotaj [2017-05-10 22:31:30 +0000 UTC]

Indeed, that was my reasoning!

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ZwarionwanyMikotaj [2017-05-09 02:27:15 +0000 UTC]

What about that one Rat In Martin the Warrior?

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DCLeadboot In reply to ZwarionwanyMikotaj [2017-05-09 08:16:12 +0000 UTC]

Who?
(I haven't read that book in ages... I don't like the sad ending)

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ZwarionwanyMikotaj In reply to DCLeadboot [2017-05-09 17:58:02 +0000 UTC]

Wulpp

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DCLeadboot In reply to ZwarionwanyMikotaj [2017-05-09 18:36:58 +0000 UTC]

Oh yeah... vaguely remember him as a rather minor character... I dunno about an explicitly reformed vermin...?

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ZwarionwanyMikotaj In reply to DCLeadboot [2017-05-09 20:28:33 +0000 UTC]

Brome saved his life, and in the last battle Brome Helped him escape. I honestly Don't think Wulpp is evil, he's just in Badrang's Ranks.

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DCLeadboot In reply to ZwarionwanyMikotaj [2017-05-10 09:56:38 +0000 UTC]

Yeah, certainly a neutral character at best...

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RensMeerkat [2014-11-02 01:06:23 +0000 UTC]

Depends on where you live and what kind of animals are around. In some places meerkats are considered vermin...seeing how KM's basically a "thug", that wouldn't phase her. Anything that is thought to cause problems such as spread disease or kill livestock is though of as "vermin". In some places, cheetahs are considered vermin because they go after livestock.

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DCLeadboot In reply to RensMeerkat [2014-11-02 01:42:13 +0000 UTC]

In the world of Redwall, "vermin" was kind of the general term for all the "bad guy" species in the series...

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RensMeerkat In reply to DCLeadboot [2014-11-02 14:41:51 +0000 UTC]

Never read that series.

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DCLeadboot In reply to RensMeerkat [2014-11-02 20:58:19 +0000 UTC]

There were a number of books, but... I dunno, with all the emphasis on horror stories and Twilight, decent books like the Redwall series are hard to find. You might stand a better chance on Amazon.
It'd take a while for me to explain in a comment, but here's the Wikipedia article on the series: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redwall

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RensMeerkat In reply to DCLeadboot [2014-11-02 21:31:17 +0000 UTC]

I had a friend who had the whole series and was always telling me I should read them since I was into anthropomorphic animals. (She didn't get it...I prefer animals vs humans stories where the humans are the villians...Kinda like Sonic SatAM if they had given them guns and if Sonic and Sally would at least bite Robotnick.)

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DCLeadboot In reply to RensMeerkat [2014-11-03 00:32:06 +0000 UTC]

Heh, well... Redwall had no humans in it, really... and they were medieval-based...

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RensMeerkat In reply to DCLeadboot [2014-11-03 00:44:36 +0000 UTC]

Medieval really was never my thing.

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DCLeadboot In reply to RensMeerkat [2014-11-03 01:02:26 +0000 UTC]

Heh, ok... I always found ancient history more fascinating than the more modern stuff.

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RensMeerkat In reply to DCLeadboot [2014-11-03 01:08:34 +0000 UTC]

Human history of any era never interested me.

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Frostedmountain [2014-09-29 20:19:18 +0000 UTC]

I see this is old, but it's still awesome nevertheless! although he was minor, shouldn't Ashleg be there?

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DCLeadboot In reply to Frostedmountain [2014-10-04 13:37:00 +0000 UTC]

Thanks very much!
And you raise a very good point. I kind of forgot about Ashleg, yeah...

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Frostedmountain In reply to DCLeadboot [2014-10-04 15:25:54 +0000 UTC]

Eh, that's fine---because it's still awesome!

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IneptArtisan [2013-09-06 00:12:26 +0000 UTC]

I love this concept!

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DCLeadboot In reply to IneptArtisan [2013-09-06 07:59:31 +0000 UTC]

Thanks very much!

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IneptArtisan In reply to DCLeadboot [2013-09-06 13:57:57 +0000 UTC]

No problem. Besides, I think Veil deserves more recognition after all the "rubbish" he had to deal with in Redwall due to the stereotypes Redwallers had about any type of vermin (ferrets, foxes, rats, etc.) always being evil and they can never be good. But maybe that's just my viewpoint on Veil.

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DCLeadboot In reply to IneptArtisan [2013-09-06 14:47:33 +0000 UTC]

Yeah, there was a lot of species-ism (like racism, only furrier) going on at Redwall Abbey there... and he turned out evil, but only because they brought him up to believe that in their treatment of him! He was an outcast even before they banished him!
Even Bryony stated, "He was evil after all!" - and that after he'd heroically sacrificed his life to save her! Ungrateful hoe... and they made her Abbess for it!

It was probably a combination of Veil and the ferrets owned by Compo Simmonite (from British sit-com "Last of the Summer Wine") that led to my creation of Danbuster's best friend, Frederick - raised from a newborn kit by river-dwelling otters and accepted as a true family member. Guess his early development started with my desire to prove that ferrets aren't evil just because they're ferrets!
Spencer's kind of the same - a scruffy little street-urchin rat with a heart of gold, befriended by Dan and Fred.

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IneptArtisan In reply to DCLeadboot [2013-09-06 17:29:52 +0000 UTC]

Bryony actually stated that "Veil was bad, I know that now", not "Veil was evil, I know that now". But I still find it very harsh and cruel for Bryony to say that, although I could be the only person who thinks so.

I think with The Outcast of Redwall, Brian Jacques is indirectly criticising society for their tendency to judge someone solely on various things other than their character (like nationality, ethnicity, their beauty, etc.). I also think that Brian Jacques wants to make a point that once people find out that that person whom they've judged has a shed of good, it's already too late. But maybe that's just me who thinks this way. Maybe it's just my philosophy (a pretty bad one to be exact).

It's very interesting to hear about Frederick's and Spencer's development. At least nothing tragic happened to them like with Veil.

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DCLeadboot In reply to IneptArtisan [2013-09-06 18:27:43 +0000 UTC]

Yeah, I paraphrased. But that's what I thought - a very mean-spirited way of dealing with her grief after all she did for him while he was alive...

Maybe Brian Jacques was making a point... but I'm not quite sure what he intended to put across. He kind of left the "WAS Veil bad?" question to us to answer - and I for one wouldn't accept Bryony's "Veil was bad" as a final answer... some villains can reform and turn nice. I believe everyone has a reason behind being good or bad.

Yeah, their tragedies really happened in the past.
Frederick's single unmarried mother died in childbirth, before the otter Todd Wilkinson found them, but he always states that he can't really grieve too deeply when he never really knew her - and the otters were the only family he ever knew.
Spencer lived on the streets for years after he and his mother ran away from his violent drunkard father, where she died. Frederick took him in. Spencer's father still lives, a changed and repentant creature, but a future story where they reconcile is still only on paper.

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IneptArtisan In reply to DCLeadboot [2013-09-06 20:42:46 +0000 UTC]

Oh I'm sorry. I didn't know you've paraphrased. Stupid me.

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DCLeadboot In reply to IneptArtisan [2013-09-06 21:27:34 +0000 UTC]

Never mind

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Leatho-Shellhound [2013-08-17 00:27:50 +0000 UTC]

Nice!

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DCLeadboot In reply to Leatho-Shellhound [2013-08-17 09:33:34 +0000 UTC]

Thanks

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Snakespur [2013-07-28 05:36:01 +0000 UTC]

You did an excellent job making this piece. Great work on making Gingivere huge compared to everyone else. I think a lot of people when they read Mossflower fail to realize just how big the Wildcats are compared to Martin the mouse and the others. We're talking about a large four legged predator the size of a cougar or something! The fact that little dude Martin is able to not only fight but win against such a beast is pretty amazing.

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DCLeadboot In reply to Snakespur [2013-07-29 16:25:18 +0000 UTC]

Thanks very much!
Heh, yeah... that was something I developed very quickly in my own dealings with anthro-characters. Basically all animals with clothes and human characteristics, but they also follow a definite size scaling rule! I guess kind of like the Hobbits, Dwarfs, Elves, Humans, Ents and the like in Tolkien's world.
In my world, the shrews, mice, weasels and sparrows are the little people who do the nippy jobs; rats and moles are taller; squirrels, stoats and ferrets are taller again; then hares like my own alter-ego are about human-sized; then the larger mammals are badgers and otters who do the heavier work. There are also dogs, cats and horses who come in various sizes depending on breed and also goats and pigs - as well as various birds, among which golden eagles are benevolent giants, fierce but noble.
Basically, any British animals whether domestic or wildlife, I guess... in trying to avoid the early Redwall influence, the United Animal Kingdom is just a contemporary Great Britain with animals and alternate placenames!

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Bitsy83 [2013-05-12 18:20:40 +0000 UTC]

Blaggut was always my favorite. At first, I thought he was just stupid, but over the course of the book we see he just had a really good heart and a tender soul. The scene where he kills his captain shows just how much he believes in doing the right thing.

I was so sad that Jaques passed away. I always felt that, eventually, we would see a VERMIN carry the sword of Martin, just to show it's not what you are that makes you a villain, but WHO you are.

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Snakespur In reply to Bitsy83 [2013-07-28 05:25:58 +0000 UTC]

Yeah Blaggut probably my favorite as well, mainly because he seemed to have the most depth out of the entire crew of reformed vermin (excluding Gingivere as he wasn't evil to begin with). I think that would be the coolest thing to have a vermin carry the sword of Martin, though, the backlash from the Redwall fan base might not have taken to kindly to it lol.

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Bitsy83 In reply to Snakespur [2013-07-28 14:04:13 +0000 UTC]

Oh I don't know. I bet they would've liked some variety. Plus, it'd be a good lesson for kids: Just because you're born into a certain species (aka race) doesn't automatically make you good or bad. It's your choices and actions that decide that. I loved Jaques with a passion and I'm sad that he's gone, but his writing did become a BIT formulaic. In a lot of the later books, there was always some threat to the Abbey, Martin would visit someone in a dream, some animals had to go on a journey, there'd be a riddle, etc. Great stories, but most of them were predictable at times. Still, I loved his writing style and will miss him greatly. 

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DCLeadboot In reply to Bitsy83 [2013-07-29 16:15:20 +0000 UTC]

Yeah, that was certainly my beef with BJ's later books... the same recycled plot churned out over and over with a few changes here and there...

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Bitsy83 In reply to DCLeadboot [2013-07-29 17:22:02 +0000 UTC]

There was one change he made that I loved. I forgot which book, but there was one later one where there was a Mole warrior! We never saw that before! Dude had a huge Thor-like hammer and was just fricking awesome!

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DCLeadboot In reply to Bitsy83 [2013-07-29 17:37:41 +0000 UTC]

Oh yeah, who was that guy again? *goes to Redwall Wiki*
Axtel Sturnclaw - he was in Sable Quean, yeah!
That was certainly something different!

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Bitsy83 In reply to DCLeadboot [2013-07-29 18:26:53 +0000 UTC]

AXTEL!!!!! I can't tell you how happy I was when I saw the picture of a big, burly mole carrying a weapon! Moles were always such mild characters, only used for digging tunnels and talking funny and mainly just being sidekicks. It was great to see one finally step up! I only have "The Rogue Crew" left to read, so shh! 

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DCLeadboot In reply to Bitsy83 [2013-07-29 23:06:03 +0000 UTC]

Heh, heh... moles need more badass, yeah...

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Snakespur In reply to Bitsy83 [2013-07-28 21:02:01 +0000 UTC]

Yeah I suppose you're right.

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DCLeadboot In reply to Bitsy83 [2013-05-13 09:49:24 +0000 UTC]

I wonder if Slipp's was the first and only life Blaggut actually took...
the searat was a bad influence on him. At least Blaggut went out of his way to endear himself to the Redwallers (well, the young ones to start with) despite his bad table manners...
(But then, my own rat-character Spencer has appalling manners and a scruffy appearance, but he's a sweet guy underneath and dearly valued as a friend by Danbuster and Frederick)

Yeah, shame he never had a chance to come up with some original new ideas for Redwall...
Certainly, vermin carried the Sword of Martin once, but that was those misfit stoats Dingeye and Thura, and that evil fox Dethbrush...

But I take your point - no GOOD vermin ever carried the Sword... that could have been a refreshing change:
Some down-and-out weasel of uncertain (or yet-unrevealed) origin stumbles across the Sword (perhaps stolen from the Abbey by some vagabond, who subsequently met with a fatal accident or something) and in turn, the weasel comes to be the sword-bearer and - by some chain of events or other, he learns of the Sword's significance and comes to Redwall, where he initially suspected but then accepted... especially when they are (as usual) reminded of some prophecy passed down in a dream by Martin the Warrior, telling them that "the paw of a vermin will strike for me" or something like that... hence, our itinerant weasel becomes our hero for the tale...

In a Redwall RP-story I once wrote up here (collaboration with a good friend of mine), we had this rat-prisoner that was taken... but then completely forgotten about. So I developed him later, giving him a Heel Face Turn and revealing him as a ship-surgeon with lifesaving skills!

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Falconflight12 [2013-01-28 04:12:34 +0000 UTC]

Great job on the drawing, Gingivere is my fav character from the series.

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DCLeadboot In reply to Falconflight12 [2013-01-28 12:25:30 +0000 UTC]

Thanks!
Yeah, I always thought it a pity that he didn't get a bit more pagetime. Even after he was sprung from prison, he quietly slipped out of the story to start a new life safely away from Kotir...
Still, we had guys like Martin and Gonff, who were also cool!

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SpiderMilkshake [2013-01-22 02:07:06 +0000 UTC]

Ooh, this is well done. Likin' Blaggut's happy-face.

No Graylunk? Ah, well, he reformed in the book already. Maybe the flyers just haven't gotten around yet.

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DCLeadboot In reply to SpiderMilkshake [2013-01-22 10:35:43 +0000 UTC]

Thanks very much!
Yup, Blaggut was one of the nicer ones, despite being a general stranger to bathwater...
I liked Romsca too.

Yeah, trouble with Graylunk was that he was introduced posthumously, so we never really got to know him... so unless I was going to add a stoat-skeleton in a ragged sea-jacket...


Oh, and thanks for the

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SpiderMilkshake In reply to DCLeadboot [2013-01-22 19:46:43 +0000 UTC]

You're welcome!

Eww... skeleton mustelids... A common monster in Dibbun tales...

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