Redwall Abbey

Brian Jacques' Works (Spoilers) => General Discussion => Topic started by: Mara the Wolf on November 24, 2020, 04:14:02 PM

Title: Changes between Redwall (novel) Edition(s)
Post by: Mara the Wolf on November 24, 2020, 04:14:02 PM
Does anyone have an original or First Edition Redwall? An acquaintance of mine got me the first six Redwall books (in publication order), and my Redwall novel is a "30th Anniversary Edition". I was kinda looking forward to the early-installment weirdness of this early novel, wanting to see comparisons to later books, but a few things seemed changed, and I want to see if anyone has an earlier Edition, tell me if these things actually existed in the original, or if someone's not being entirely truthful/accurate over on my favorite site, TV Tropes:


Currently, Killconey's yet to have his gender-change (but I'm only on Chapter 16 of Book II: The Quest), Constance kills Redtooth by throwing him into a sycamore (my favorite site says Constance killed him by repeatedly bashing his head into the wall), Cornflower does not get yelled at for flirting with Matthias (Colin gets scolded for likening them to one, but not because Matthias is off-limits) there's no ambiguity as to whether Sela has magical powers, and Basil is most definitely saying "what, what".

So, is my favorite site inaccurate, or have changes been made over the Editons?

EDIT: Turns out Fangburn dies that way, not Redtooth.
Title: Re: Changes between Redwall (novel) Edition(s)
Post by: Ripred the Gnawer on November 27, 2020, 12:23:09 AM
I think it's completely inaccurate, but I hope you don't take that as an insult...
Title: Re: Changes between Redwall (novel) Edition(s)
Post by: Cornflower MM on November 27, 2020, 07:43:24 PM
It's been a looooong time since I read Redwall but I don't recall Cornflower ever getting scolded for being flirty. I don't remember about Sela's powers for certain, either, but Basil's "what, what"ing confused me as a child. XD

Redwall definitely has a lot of stuff and weird inconsistencies that the others don't, which has been chalked up to it being the first one and Brian not having settled into the universe yet.
If heaven and hell were mentioned in the first book (I don't remember exactly but I feel like they did), they pretty much got turned into Hellgates/Dark Forest/sunny meadows like a Greek-inspired three-tier afterlife, although even that much is a wee bit fuzzy and unclear.
The later books were definitely more polarizing with a few exceptions because Brian wrote them that way on purpose - Redwall is, after all, meant for kids and he wanted it more black and white for them.
I always found the relation chain of badgers from the books earlier in the timeline really fascinating and I wished there had been more of that in the later books - it was fun to trace them back, putting the pieces together and see how the books related to each other, although granted I first read the series in no order at all and picked them up randomly, so when they were connected that was always a fun surprise. Bloodwrath definitely did seem to get more common as the books went on. I've always thought that was because the badgers who had it were typically more integral to the story and therefore implied different than the rest of the countless badgers that were supposedly around between books, in the background of canon, etc. Can't deny that it was a really easy plot convenience tool though.
Title: Re: Changes between Redwall (novel) Edition(s)
Post by: Ripred the Gnawer on November 27, 2020, 10:50:27 PM
I agree with Corn about the badgers. The strange thing about them though was that, in my mind, a lot of them didn't really have any business in the books. Like in Rakkety Tam, for instance. You know, there was a badger lady—I forgot her name—ruling Salamandastron? Where did she come from? And Lady Cregga Rose Eyes seemed out of place too.

And then there was that strange white badger. He sure wasn't related to any other badger lords or ladies. Neither was his brother.

And Ambrevina Rockflash of the Eastern Shores was definitely not supposed to rule Salamandastron.

Also, with the badger mums, where did Mellus and Constance come from, anyway?
Title: Re: Changes between Redwall (novel) Edition(s)
Post by: LordTBT on November 30, 2020, 08:44:44 PM
There are no changes over the editions. The only differences with the "anniversary" editions are slight updates to the amount of time passed since the original publication of Redwall.

Some special anniversary editions include full page illustrations.

https://redwall.fandom.com/wiki/Redwall