Did the magic of Redwall "die away" for you?

[Ungatt Trunn]

Most of you probably don't know me, but I'm a fairly old-time member here on the forum. In a few weeks it'll actually be the seven anniversary since I registered my account here. I was eleven years old at the time, and maybe halfway through reading all the Redwall books. At that time, I was completely enamored with the series.

The biggest thing I remember from reading the Redwall series is just how magical it all felt. The best analogy I can think of to describe what type of "magical" I mean is how most young kids view and enjoy Christmas. When you're young, the Christmas season has this warm, magical atmosphere that draws you in and makes you feel cozy, yet somehow at the same time making it feel like you're in an enchant place and time. It sort of felt like that with Redwall: it was enchanting. It was the type of fictional universe I wanted to live in. I fell in love with the locations and characters that inhabited that world. It really felt like home, in many ways. A magical, beautiful home that I never wanted to leave.

That was seven years ago, however. I'm eighteen now - and a completely different person than I was seven, six, or even five years ago. So much has happened since then, and it seems like, for a long time, Redwall slipped under my radar (around the time I was fourteen I dropped off from engaging with Redwall content). The last time I read anything from the series was three years ago. I was going through a massive depression phase (praise the Lord that it's long gone), and one of the things I tried doing to alleviate the darkness surrounding me was by returning to a magical part of my childhood. I reread the very first book in the series over the course of a week. I was excited, in a sense, to return to this world - or, should I say, excited to escape my world to one that I remembered as being much brighter. But, to my disappointment, that magic that I wanted to relive... just seemed to be gone. The story, world and characters didn't have the same warmth, the same feelings of magic and beauty that they did before. To put it bluntly, it felt like reading just another children's story.

It wasn't an active decision to no longer be able to enjoy it and be invested in it the same way I was before. And, to a very large extent, that's perfectly fine and reasonable. Like with the magical feelings of Christmas, as you get older, things change. As you slowly get pulled higher and higher up into reality as you grow older, many things from your childhood fade away. Christmas (at least for me) loses that enveloping magic once you hit thirteen or so. Things change. Childhood fades. It's natural.

It just feels like Redwall meant so much to me when I was younger. It wasn't like Christmas - it was a beautiful world that, in a way, I felt like I was a part of. I remember specifically telling myself back then that I would always love Redwall. And I still do love it, but not with the same "passion" that I had before. It's more the beautiful memories that I love now more than the atmosphere and magicalness of the series itself. That has seemed to have dissapeared as I've grown older.

I was just wondering if anyone else has had a similar experience? Has Redwall lost it's "magical touch" as you've grown older? Not asking if/saying that it became bad. Just asking if it wasn't the same for you as the years progressed...

[Tungro]

And I still do love it, but not with the same "passion" that I had before. It's more the beautiful memories that I love now more than the atmosphere and magicalness of the series itself. That has seemed to have disappeared as I've grown older.

Sad but true 

[Matthias720]

Hey dude! It's been a while. Sorry to hear that the series lost its magic for you. But you might enjoy the two Redwall podcasts, if you are unaware of them: Recorder on the Wall and If You Give a Mouse a Dagger.

Glad to see you here, and I hope you stick around a while.

[Ungatt Trunn]

Hey dude! It's been a while. Sorry to hear that the series lost its magic for you. But you might enjoy the two Redwall podcasts, if you are unaware of them: Recorder on the Wall and If You Give a Mouse a Dagger.

Glad to see you here, and I hope you stick around a while.

Heyy - nice to see you're still around! And I see that you are no longer an Admin :O looks like you've chosen a simpler life now

But anyways... I fully understand that it's natural for childhood wonder (like what Redwall produced in me) to fade over time. I just remember the series meant so much to me, so I feel rather sad that I can't connect with it the same way I did before.

And these Redwall podcasts are new to me! I just found the website for Recorder on the Wall. I'll definitely give some of them a listen when I can. If You Give a Mouse a Dagger looks absolutely delightful - I always loved the RPG/fanfiction side of Redwall, and it looks like some people are really being productive with it. This does bring a smile to my face

So yeah... I do intent to stick around for a while. I still have many wonderful memories from Redwall, and many good memories here to. It'll be nice to see what I'll be able to engage in here in the future...

[Matthias720]

Great! I'm happy to hear you're planning to stay.

I'm sure you'll like the podcasts, though I'm a bit biased as I've been a guest on Recorder on the Wall and helped set it up. And you are correct that If You Give a Mouse a Dagger is absolutely delightful!

[Ungatt Trunn]

I've always liked podcasts... the open discussion (or organized, mutual storytelling) has always appealed to me. I've even tried starting some with my IRL friends, but so far we haven't gotten anything off the ground (yet). It's great to see a podcast of one of the biggest parts of my childhood!

Also, I now get to finally hear your voice 

[Jetthebinturong]

To answer the question, yes it did, quite some time ago. I grew tired of the repeated formulaic plots and repeated formulaic characters fighting the same conflict of unnaturally perfect good against unnaturally perfect evil. I prefer to read stories about, as George R. R. Martin puts it, "individual conflicts within the human heart." (Human being a figurative term to refer to characters in general, in this case.) I have a fond nostalgia for the series, and in future I might pick one up again, but I wouldn't say I really consider myself a fan.

[The Grey Coincidence]

Kinda hard for it to die away when you actively read/write fanfics XD

[Ungatt Trunn]

To answer the question, yes it did, quite some time ago. I grew tired of the repeated formulaic plots and re[eated formulaic characters fighting the same conflict of unnaturally perfect good against unnaturally perfect evil. I prefer to read stories about, as George R. R. Martin puts it, "individual conflicts within the human heart." (Human being a figurative term to refer to characters in general, in this case.) I have a fond nostalgia for the series, and in future I might pick one up again, but I wouldn't say I really consider myself a fan.

That is one big thing that sorta spoiled the series for me - the repetitiveness and extremely black-and-white good and bad guys. When I was younger it wasn't an issue, but as one gets older these tropes become much more evident...

Kinda hard for it to die away when you actively read/write fanfics XD

That's probably the best way to keep a series alive in your heart. Fanfics can make worlds like Redwall innovate and interesting.  It can help when people besides the author give their own take on a given fictional world!

[Sebias of Redwall]

Kinda hard for it to die away when you actively read/write fanfics XD

I completely agree, Grey. 

[Ouroboros]

Yeah I'm with Jet on this one. After a while, everything just melded together into this stereotypical "nice child with godlike powers genocides evil mustelids because quasireligious castle has fancy upholstery" nonsense that wasn't very entertaining since you knew exactly how it would go. By the time I got to Taggerung, reading the series basically became a chore, since they were all the same at that point bar one or two gimmicks. I think I sold my books pretty much the second I put down Rogue Crew, since I felt like I'd basically just spent three months reading Triss over and over again.

[MathLuk]

Kinda hard for it to die away when you actively read/write fanfics XD

Redwall has no beginnings or endings, but every fanfic is a beginning.

[Sebias of Redwall]

Redwall has no beginnings or endings, but every fanfic is a beginning.

That's the truth. Do you write poetry? That was good. 

[Delthion]

To me, Redwall was never really magical, I don't seem to find much magic in universes that are not my own. Lord of the Rings was probably the closest that came to magic, but even that died out rather quickly. I find though, that instead of fanfics, I prefer reading the history of the world. I think that's why Lord of the Rings lasted that way for me so long, because I was able to delve deeply into the entire history of the world with the Silmarillion.

[Sebias of Redwall]

To me, Redwall was never really magical, I don't seem to find much magic in universes that are not my own. Lord of the Rings was probably the closest that came to magic, but even that died out rather quickly. I find though, that instead of fanfics, I prefer reading the history of the world. I think that's why Lord of the Rings lasted that way for me so long, because I was able to delve deeply into the entire history of the world with the Silmarillion.

Yeah, LOTR is good when it comes to that. Have you read all the other books of Middle Earth that he wrote? Like Morgoth's Ring?