Dark Forest

[redwallgurl]

Nice!    Well yeah it could be like that but minus some parts if you know what I mean

[gorath]

Yea, the creepy and punishment parts

[Redwaller]

What is weird is that, they seem to say that good and bad go to Dark Forest! Is it separated or what?

[Lutra]

What is weird is that, they seem to say that good and bad go to Dark Forest! Is it separated or what?

As I've stated in the past I think the Dark Forest is like the Christian purgatory--the gateway to your ultimate fate considering there is mention of good and evil places even in the afterlife.

[gorath]

You are wrong. Purgatory is the state when you are not worthy to go to Heaven, but not evil enough to go to Hell. You cannot go to Hell from Purgatory. You can only go up, which is Heaven. Dark Forest was like the Underworld in Greek myths, you can be rewarded or punished. I believe that it has no relationship to Purgatory at all.

[MatthiasMan]

So what your saying is that Dark Forest has more reference too Greek Mythology than Catholicism? It'd make sense. Look at the Latin gods and such. I mean, Brian DID use a lot of name's and stuff from Latin.

[AxeHound]

Possibly Hellgates (Helsgrind in Norse myth) and the Sunny Slopes (which might not exist, it was poetry on a tomb) are both different parts of Dark Forest.

[Flurgy Twinj]

Dark Forest, so far as I can tell, is pretty much just a state between Heaven and Hell where all the dead creatures souls go to be judged.

I don't really think it has any connection with established religions as the Redwall universe is fictitious and has it's own mythos.

[Ungatt Trunn]

Possibly Hellgates (Helsgrind in Norse myth) and the Sunny Slopes (which might not exist, it was poetry on a tomb) are both different parts of Dark Forest.

Never thought of it that way...

[Shadowed One]

On Slagar the Cruel: Coast to Coast they make an explanation of it, but since it is a piece of fanfiction, I doubt it has anything to do with the Dark Forest from the series. Still, it is rather interesting.

[Blazemane]

To quote Brian Jacques:

"I try not to have any religious connotations at all, therefore no comparisons are intended. I have creatures die and to my mind they go on but who knows where? Dark forest is meant to be mysterious rather than menacing."

http://www.redwall.org/faq.php?page=2

[Rusvul]

There's also a mention of Hell's teeth in several books. Here's an idea. Hellgates is the opening to the Dark Forest. The sunny slopes are part of the Dark forest. Now that BJ himself has left for the Dark Forest, we must imagine the spaces that he left for us.

That is a nearly flawless idea. The only flaw is that "Dark Forest Gates" are also referenced. I think that perhaps seperate gates for good people and evil?

[CrazyPug37]

The Dark Forest is probably just the term that represents where they go, and might have no meaning really, just a thought that Brian Jacques had while writing the Redwall series.  He never got around explaining it, so all of us have different impressions of it.  Mine is that it was a myth started when younger woodland creatures asked their parents where they went when they die.  The father or mother didn't know, so they made up a story and tale about a "Dark Forest", and the story was probably carried along and told for generations.

Sorry for the long post, and I can understand if some of you are TL;DRing right now.

[Ungatt Trunn]

Yes, we can all have our own impressions of it, though I wonder what BJ thought of it personilly...

[HeadInAnotherGalaxy]

Pozzibly it vaz zorta ze gatez tae ze afterlife or zummat. For aw ve ken zere'z zome teleportation ray off tae ze zide.