Mattimeo: A Very Redwallian Tale [Redwall Extravaganza]

[a crumb]

Mattimeo, a book that shows us the Redwall universe's grandeur and adventurousness
Making the case that Mattimeo should be considered a highly ranked book in the series isn't a very surprising thing to do, as the book tends to be thought of as one of the best. Thus, instead of Tammo's High Rhulain review where he actively sells us on the worthiness of the tale, I am doing something slightly different. Here, I'm spending an evening trying to think through why I have always thought of it as one of the best books. I think that is creditable to Mattimeo being both an exemplar of classical beloved Redwall characteristics, and the book's landscape of actors, both goodbeasts and villains. 
In some ways, Mattimeo almost feels like a more full-bodied Redwall. A young mouse defying the odds to attain herodom, a journey through Mossflower dependent upon riddles, a supremely monstrous villainous figure (the Wearet and Asmodeus) ect. Mattimeo is so close to the series' origins that it is imbued by that spirit. The idea (or even problem) of the "Redwall Formula" gets a lot of play. The most common objections, as I can pick them out, are things like invincible heroes, younger characters who attain competence facing enemies in a very quick manner, and simplistic, almost generic villains. Mattimeo defies these most common of objections.

First, take Matthias' defeat at the claws of the Wearet. This was a fair fight, and the hero genuinely lost, and very nearly died. As far as the coalition of good's victory goes, I'd note that as impoverished as Malkariss' kingdom is, the poor state of the host does not seem surprising once the slave revolt begins. Second, Mattimeo's ascent does not reflect that of heroes in later books –from totally peaceful creatures to killing major enemies in no time. Mattimeo will become a competent warrior, but this is by a believable clawed progress upwards. Even before the book begins, Mattimeo can be inferred to be an adequate and tenacious fighter, who has picked up some level of expertise from his father, and his bickering with folk like Vitch. Once enslaved, Mattimeo burgeons into a warrior proper, but definitely does not pop into herodom immediately.

There is also the matter of the book's cutthroat nature. Very quickly, we have the murders of Lettie and Friar Hugo. I always loved Friar Hugo. His death, and discovery by Basil, was highly sad. Despite the suggestion that the deaths of goodbeasts in Mattimeo amount to little more than redshirts, the casualties mount upwards from the very beginning.  There is Log-a-log, our original shrew chieftain, and Queen Warbeak and her Sparra. The near annihilation, destined to be total, of the Sparra is not some redshirting fiasco. This is a relatively brutal book by Redwall standards –which is, honestly, a fairly harsh series, more so than it sometimes gets credit for in the fandom. While not as bad as The Long Patrol (nothing is), Mattimeo sees the departure of quite an array of favorite characters, under more tragic than usual circumstances. Mattimeo had a substantial degree of real tension. The stakes were real.

Now, let's talk about Slagar. I love Slagar. I love the culture of jokes that sprung up around Slagar. I love suggesting that Slagar would be reasonably good at brawling with other villains. All the jokes aside though, Slagar is a very satisfying and intriguing villain. For sake of staying focused on Mattimeo, I will restrict myself to only addressing Slagar in the most relevant vein. If I was just going to talk about Slagar...we'd be here way too long. Slagar has a feasible, appreciable basis for his villainy. Irrationally, he hates the Abbey and its warrior-mouse Matthias, and his entire life is shaped by the events immediately following his conflict with them. His mind, already surely prone to victimhood and imaginary delusions, is further warped by Asmodeus, an experience that ultimately demonstrates Slagar's toughness and spirit. Everything Slagar does is based on being a survivor. A survivor who doesn't lose sight of the twin goals of revenge and power.

Every plan Slagar launches is thought through. He has perfected his scheme of outplaying his recruited slavers and maximizing influence over the underground kingdom. His introduction involves a convoluted scheme (WHY DIDN'T HE JUST KILL THEM WHEN HE HAD THE CHANCE AND TAKE THE ABBEY?!?!??!?!?!?!?, it is asked) to kidnap the children of his hated enemies, make them suffer for the loss, and work, gradually, towards immense power and complete revenge. This is a fox who knows what he wants, and will viciously get it, no matter how much he has to sit and plan everything out. And, unlike certain villains prone to whimper, when things go south Slagar maintains his irrational belief in himself and his potential. And honestly, I understand this mentality. If he isn't the most impressive villain, he is the best chance you'll ever get to analyze a Redwall villain. Yes, the entire anti-Matthias plan is too cute by half. That is, however, Slagar. It is his flaw, in the end, but it is not a gigantic plot hole. It is the nature of the villain. Honestly, we could have a whole division of Slagar Studies and offer degrees in it.

Lastly: An aspect of the Redwall series that I love is when a book shows off a large array of factions, tribes and the like. You have in Mattimeo not only Slagar and his gang, but other vermin groups, and a motley crew of goodbeasts. Books like Mossflower, Lord Brocktree and Mariel of Redwall are similar, in having a landscape of different actors. Mossflower, for instance, has an otter tribe under Skipper, a squirrel tribe under Lady Amber, the mole team under Foremole, Loamhedge refugees, Brockhall, Martin, and various former farmers and miscellaneous woodlanders. Both vermin and goodbeasts in Mattimeo display this dynamic. When you have these competing/cooperating groups, the world feels very alive. Some Redwall books lack this, boiling down to merely cohorts of the Abbey, a handful of others, and the primary villain group. Mattimeo is very different. The array of villainy is complex – Slagar is playing for, but ultimately plotting against, Malkariss, who presides over non-talking, seemingly spiritual rats, who have a mutant champion, and all of this odd kingdom is allied with a faction of river rats who specialize in their own terrain and operations, including dealing with a tribe of Painted Ones. I think it can be inferred as well that Slagar and whatever vermin he rounds up aren't the only suppliers of slaves – suggesting there is even more to this system than we see. I love systems like this, with a complex set of vermin (probably why I like Gabool and his operation so much, I'd note).
As for the goodbeasts, we have an independent badger, Guosim (with their own internal divide), woodlanders, Abbeybeasts, and the Sparra, who are a separate entity from the Abbey proper. Add to this the rebelling slaves once the battle at Malkariss begins. The perspectives and friendships that come out of this are wonderful. Nothing about how all these groups interact feels artificial or contrived either- this is a truly rich world of different beasts who can all join and fight together. It's a tale that traverses a wide, wholly new terrain, while also keeping up with the Abbey and its inhabitants, and giving them all a tale to tell each other –at least, all those who survived. A journey over, most of our heroes must themselves return to the Abbey, whether it was already their home, or not. With that in mind, Tim Churchmouse's invitation to come to Redwall and experience its welcome feels all the more poignant. 

What do you all think?

[The Grey Coincidence]

Excellent review. Mattimeo is a direct sequel, and I love that it's a continuation of Redwall, and shows us the characters we loved so much and what they did after Cluny the Scourge was defeated.
Slagar I agree, is also a fantastic villain, and while probably not my favorite (The Marlfox family of course) he was a genuine threat. I was haunted when he killed that slaver at the cliff, and the Painted Ones forest travelogue was both scary and so cool. I'm only disappointed by his death, which was caused by him killing Vitch... Why did he do that again?
It was a wonderful book and your review was extremely accurate.

[SoranMBane]

I'm actually in the process of rereading this book right now. I haven't read this book since I was a little kid, so I wasn't quite sure how it would hold up, but so far I'm finding myself enjoying it way more than I thought I would. In a lot of ways, it is almost like a better-written version of the first book (I recently reread the first book as well, and honestly, Redwall may have been the book that started it all, but it's got real clunky writing that did not hold up quite as well to me today). Mattimeo and Mossflower before it are both testaments to just how quickly Brian was able to grow as a writer.

[Ashleg]

I love this book, it's one of my favorites. That said, I never got and still don't get the Slagar greatness y'all talk about.

I thought Malkariss and Nadaz were much cooler.

[Jetthebinturong]

Malkariss hid in a statue and talked, and then got stoned to death. Nadaz... was there. I don't understand the Malkariss and Nadaz greatness.

Well, Slagar actually had a personality and a motivation beyond "evil warlord" so that instantly puts him above most other Redwall villains. He was cunning and intelligent, far moreso than the protagonists, and would have won had it been real life and not a fictional story.

[Ashleg]

If death equals less coolness points then Slagar's wasn't much better.

Malkariss was cool because of the mystery. He was Slagar's boss and he created a creepy underground realm, Slagar just supplied him with slave children.

Nadaz gave off some very insane vibes.

[The Grey Coincidence]

Well I think it's all a matter of build up.
Nadaz had none so he's my lowest ranked.
Malkariss had excellent build up. In the books, even Slagar's slave gang was scared of the place. But his great build up lead to some disappointment when it was just an ugly old thing. It felt a little anticlimactic.
Now Slagar was the villain, sure he was the underling but he DID evil things, Malkariss and Nadaz just told him to do evil things. We saw him ply his crew like a fiddle and kidnap the kids. We saw him kill some of his crew. As Chickenhound he even killed Methusuleah (spelling?) Etc Nadaz and Malkariss had more potential but less time to shine. Plus I think Slagar's the only character who's a villain for more than one book

Though I still don't know why he killed Vitch at the end and gave away his location like some *******************. Honestly I wish we had seen him try and betray Malkariss. If he had failed then he'd both get a death that wasn't necessarily linked to his stupidity and Malkariss and Nadaz could take their place as the Big Bads of the book.
So Slagar (in my opinion) is better because he had more page-time, but Malkariss and Nadaz had more potential.
The Wearer though was a much better villain than both and was clearly the one running the place i