Vermin Social Structure

[alexandre]

I'm curious to hear you peoples' opinion on how one might rank the vermin species in the series by strength, and brains, and stuff. Of course there is are the obvious ones, Wolverines and Wildcats being more powerful than the other vermin. But what about the others? Rats have always seemed to me to be weak and dull in comparison to the other creatures. Weasels as well.

Common Ferret vs Common Stoat

Ferret wins

[Ashleg]

I would think weasels are the weakest, mainly because there was only one "lead" weasel, and most others are seen living low ranks within hordes or small groups (in which, it seems, the weasel is first to be caught/killed).
Rats would be right above weasels.

[The Skarzs]

In real life, weasels are much more ferocious than any other animal in the mustelid family, save for wolverines. They will attack almost anything, though if it's too big they won't have a chance of killing it. Despite this, they will kill and eat things more than five times their weight.
Here's a comparison between a weasel and a rabbit it just killed.

[Ashleg]

Oh I know that, I'm talking about Redwall.

[Feles]

How I see it:

Wolverines
Wildcats
Foxes
Rats
Ferrets
Weasels

[Ashleg]

Wolverines
Wildcats
Foxes
Sables
Martens
Ferrets
Stoats
Rats
Weasels

[Groddil]

Wildcats
Wolverines
Foxes
Sables
Martens
Ferrets
Stoats
Weasels
Rats

Mine is similar, except rats appear to either be everyone else's punching bags and/or most likely to act "more good."

I also put wildcats above wolverines. Both species are among the strongest in the series, but wolverines are not very intelligent compared to the cunning wildcats.

Also, just look at how they were defeated.

The one wolverine to die in battle was killed by a squirrel. Easily. To put this in perspective, this is a male wolverine in his prime. Martin himself, on the other hand, very nearly died in his battle with Tsarmina, a female wildcat.

Trunn was killed by a badger, who have very rarely been defeated at all during the entire series, while Riggu Felis was killed from afar with a ninja star to the face by the biggest mary-sue in the series.

[Grond]

Wildcats
Wolverines
Foxes
Sables
Martens
Ferrets
Stoats
Weasels
Rats

Mine is similar, except rats appear to either be everyone else's punching bags and/or most likely to act "more good."

I also put wildcats above wolverines. Both species are among the strongest in the series, but wolverines are not very intelligent compared to the cunning wildcats.

Also, just look at how they were defeated.

The one wolverine to die in battle was killed by a squirrel. Easily. To put this in perspective, this is a male wolverine in his prime. Martin himself, on the other hand, very nearly died in his battle with Tsarmina, a female wildcat.

Trunn was killed by a badger, who have very rarely been defeated at all during the entire series, while Riggu Felis was killed from afar with a ninja star to the face by the biggest mary-sue in the series.

I think I wrote about the Gulo vs. Tam fight in earlier thread. But in short Tam won because of huge luck and supernatural help (being told to sharpen the shield's edge by Martin- because Martin predicted that Gulo would fall on it I guess). But up until Gulo fell on the shield he had pretty much dominated the fight with Tam- severely wounding him and forcing him into the ditch, while only suffering mior injuries in the process. If this fight was run say a 1000 times I would say the edge would certainly go to Gulo as a single lucky blow couldn't sway it. One of the few times a villain bested an abbey champion in a 1 on 1 one fight. I'd also add Wearats to that list since the one in Malkariss defeated Mathias in single combat for example.

Now with Tsarmina and Martin- it was a long and protracted fight and Martin won by inflicting more damage onto Tsarmina and also handling his injuries somewhat better. Tsarmina was also seriously injured by Martin, her hide was open in more than a dozen places as per the book before she drowned. (Gulo prior to being thrown on the sharpened shield was not seriously injured by Tam) Also the fact that Tam managed to dodge a direct blow from Gulo, while Martin blindly charged Tsarmina also shows that Tam was probably a better warrior than Martin. Run this fight a 1000 times with Martin being armed with his sword and in full armour and Tsarmina only having her natural defenses I'd say its 50/50 would be the outcome as to who wins. As both managed to seriously wound the other on multiple occasions.

[Feles]

How I see it (The updated Version)

Wolverines
Wildcats
Wearats
Foxes
Sables
Martens
Stoats
Rats
Ferrets
Weasels
Water Rats

[alexandre]

I'm going to make a poll, Common ferret vs. Common Stoat

[Feles]

Common Ferrets seem to be cleverer in battle, but are also more likely to be a coward.
However, it is pretty close.