Emperor Ublaz Madeyes: why he's one of the most powerful in the series

[Captain Tammo]

If you have read The Pearls of Lutra, then you'll be familiar with who Emperor Ublaz Madeyes is. In this topic, I'm going to be making the case for why this villain is the most powerful of them all. To do that, I'll be saying "why?" a lot and trying to answer as many questions as I can. Hope you like it and I can make a few of you agree with the argument.


HISTORY OF THE CHARACTER

Emperor Ublaz Madeyes started out as a corsair on the Western Sea. He was a successful captain and renown swordsbeast. By chance, he stumbled across Sampetra, an isle inhabited by some nasty lizards (or more appropriately, monitors). Ublaz took the isle and presumably did not lose a single one of his crew. how? because HE HAS A HYPNOTIC GAZE. Hello?! This is the closest to a super villain we see in this series. Not only does Ublaz use his gaze to subdue the native monitor lizards, but he uses it to control all of them and make them do, quite literally, anything he wants.

Ublaz set up a palace on the isle without lifting a paw. Any conflicts that arose he would put down with a look in the eyes. No trees grew on the isle of Sampetra (or if they did, he had them all chopped down), so he built up a store in the back of his palace. He constructed taverns to make the place hospitable to corsairs and searats. A really smart move! Why? Because he was trying to build up a following, and it worked. Word spread about the isle of Sampetra and its palace, how those who join will always be taken care of and given a tavern to stay in when they need to rest. Followers will be given a purpose - someone to serve and work for - and they can keep their ship and their crew, everything. Even if their ship gets damaged, this was of no worry! By giving a portion of all loot to the emperor and simply staying loyal, they were given any material needed for repairs. Ublaz set up a system that was mutually beneficial for both him and his followers. His mind-controlled monitors kept the island safe, and his corsairs kept bringing in money. And our villain hardly had to do a thing.



WHY HE'S THE MOST POWERFUL VILLAIN

As you can imagine, Emperor Ublaz built up an incredible fortune. With this only came more and more power. He truly was one of the most successful villains in the Redwall universe. Many villains either get stopped trying to gain control of a territory (check), build their fortress (check), or maintain the slaves used to build said fortress (check). When The Pearls of Lutra starts out, Ublaz is already established and well-renown for his empire he built himself and from scratch. His downfall was, naturally, his pride and his greed to obtain the 6 pearls of Holt Lutra. That and the fact that he was basically forced to fight 2 wars at once!

Wealth, wits, and warriors - three 'W's, each of which Emperor Ublaz had abundance of. Pair Emperor Ublaz up against any other villain in the series in a one-on-one battle and he will come out on top. Why? Well, for one, Ublaz is the medusa of the Redwall universe. Anyone caught looking at him will be hypnotized. Why? Well unless they are a reincarnation of Martin the Warrior, or can win a staring contest with a coral snake, they will succumb to his every will. "Jump out that window over there into the sea? You got it, boss!" And if, for whatever reason, Ublaz can't use his hypnotism on the foe? Well don't forget that he had a reputation as a skilled swordsbeast. So he is certainly not powerless against someone just because he can't use his gaze. Not only that, but he was a corsair. Corsairs know a fight - what else do they do?!



"BUT I THOUGHT HE WAS SOFT?!"

If you haven't read A Crumb's List of Redwall's villains as ranked in a usefulness in a bar fight, go do that (it's pretty fun and well-written). You may notice that Ublaz is ranked rather low on the list for being pudgy and soft. WELL I BEG TO DIFFER! This guy is "pampered" because he can afford to be. Not because he got the wealth from somebeast else, though. Don't forget he started at the bottom as a corsair with a sword. From there, he built himself one of the strongest empires in the Redwall universe and controlled an army of monitor lizards with his mind. Put this guy in a barfight and he'll soon have everybeast there fighting for him. What if it's dark or, somehow, nobody can see his eyes? Well name me one corsair who wouldn't love a good barfight. He's still a corsair at heart and would probably jump right in! But what sets him apart from the general mob further is his use of wits. Ublaz is a planner, as is seen by how he built himself an empire. You can bet he'll be right up there with Gabool the Wild until the very end. I mean, just look at how crazy this character looks on the cover of his book! It doesn't exude the air of "pampered" does it? I'd say it's more like a "Try it. I'm more powerful than you could think." kind of look. and suddenly.... you're.... being controlled by.......

...

those eyes....

[Nadaz, voice of the host]

sorry I meant to post something in a different topic.

[The Skarzs]

I want to know about this forum where you brought this content from.

What do you mean?

[Captain Tammo]

both wonderful replies. Thank you for commenting, lol

Nadaz just wasn't sure how to delete their post so they edited it to say something else. That's all. I'll take this as an opportunity to bump the topic - I want to hear what other people think!

[Grond]

He was arguably one of the most skilled vermin swordsmen in the series. The sword fight between him and Martin II is described as being fairly evenly matched. With each beast struggling to get the upper hand and each looking for any possible advantage. This is impressive considering the fact that in the Redwall series, on several occasions the main villain was defeated by a relatively unskilled main hero. Yet Martin II on the other hand likely received extensive training from Mathias, Basil, Orlando and probably from his own father, Mattimeo as well. The fact that they were so evenly matched in a 1 on 1 fight speaks to Ublaz's skill with a blade, especially since he did not have a huge or significant strength or size advantage over Martin II. Most of the other cases were a vermin managed to essentially defeat or incur a victory or near draw was the times when the vermin was significantly physically more powerful than the woodlander. Case in point the fights between Mathias vs. Wearet, MTW vs. Tsarmina  and Gulo vs. Tam.

But as for him being the most powerful villain I think that depends on the power of his hypnotic glare. In the series it seems to be used mostly against non-sentients (gulls and the coral snake), semi-sentients (the monitor lizards), and against Conva who was weak minded and scared. So it may not work against strong minded/willed individuals- hence the ineffectiveness against Martin II. Or it might take a long time with them- and thus make it unpractical in battle. Also hypnotizing the snake was quite a procedure- he had time to carry it out on the snake because it is an "animal" and not particularly intent on killing him unless provoked or extremely hungry. Its unclear then how he was able to hypnotize all of the monitors. So if his "hypnotic gaze" is not particularly effective against strong minded/willed opponents then id say he would probably lose in a 1 on 1 battle against wolverines, wildcats, and wearets...

[Ashleg]

And take away his powers and he is pretty weak.

[Captain Tammo]

So it may not work against strong minded/willed individuals- hence the ineffectiveness against Martin II. Or it might take a long time with them- and thus make it unpractical in battle.

Hmm, maybe not entirely so! Remember Rasconza, the fox who lead the revolution against Ublaz on Sampetra and was often referred to as both strong and cunning, refused to look Ublaz in the eyes. Given how often the two tried to outwit one another in a game of cat and mouse, one might say that Rasconza wouldn't have fallen into the weak minded/willed category. But he still knew not to look at Ublaz. My guess is that the spirit of Martin the Warrior is what kept Martin II from falling under the gaze, not just his willpower. But I do like the point you brought up! I bet it certainly would be easier to influence a weak-minded individual, but the notion that it'd take longer? I guess there's no sure way of knowing. I always interpreted the coral snake scene as taking so long because it too had a stare of hypnosis, and the two were locked in battle for a time.

And take away his powers and he is pretty weak.

How so? It seemed to me like he was pretty good with a sword, and definitely a strategist.

[The Skarzs]

I am not entirely sure, but I think I remember that the only time Ublaz tried to hypnotize Martin II was when he was on the boat, passing by. So I always imagined that because Martin was not very close to Ublaz, and because of his strength ofind or whatever, he didn't fall under his spell, so to speak. There was no other instance where Ublaz hypnotized anyone from a great distance.