Overly powerful woodlanders...

[The Shade]

Yes, there was Ungatt and Cluny, but still, when it comes to a final battle, woodlanded just blitz the vermin.

[Dannflower Reguba]

So? Hitler used Blitz's for the majority of his offense at the start, and he conquered a major part of Europe. It works! Just because the woodlanders use good battle tactics makes them OP? That's just showing how brains beat brawn.

[rachel25]

The good guys aren't immortal, but the story usually focuses on the creatures who survive the conflict.
Is everyone who survives a war immortal, no. They are just the ones who happen to live through it.
Plenty of good creatures do die in Redwall, Bellmaker comes to mind.
But the bad guys don't always lose easily, again I'm thinking Bellmaker. 
There is always an epic struggle for victory, and in the end good will over come evil.
In the books we always come in when the fight for freedom is successful, does anyone remember in Mossflower it says that Gonff's parents were killed in a failed revolution. Well the story doesn't focuses on the failed times, we get to read about the victories.

If you read Rakkety Tam, you'll see that the good isn't always more powerful than the evil. Also, Brian wanted to make good, strong heroes that kids could look up too. Having a bunch of super easy to defeat heroes who lose all the time is never very interesting.

Heroes that win every single battle are just as uninteresting as heroes who lose a lot. Also, the losing side doesn't have to be boring, Avatar: The Last Airbender is a good example of this.

I agree Rusvul, the good guys don't have to win all the time to make it interesting. In Prince Caspian the good guys lose a battle, but that just adds to the tension.

[redwallgurl]

Woodlanders are usually "overpowerful" to make the story interesting and to show that good usually defeats evil. As you guys have said woodlanders have been overpowerful to show morals and keep the book alive. Could you imagine if one of the villains beat all the "weak" woodlanders. This would've left a bad effect on the readers who look up to the books and probably would entertain more older readers. And a lot of the woodlanders are posed as humble "weak" creatures, which is more realistic to the world today and proves that there are survivors.

[Dannflower Reguba]

The Legend of Luke + Martin the warrior also come to mind, both involve huge amounts of loss just trying to ascertain peace.

[WildDoogyPlumm]

The Legend of Luke + Martin the warrior also come to mind, both involve huge amounts of loss just trying to ascertain peace.

I was actually just about to post that...it's true.  As far as I can recall, though, Luke is the only protagonist who dies within their main book, right?

[Ungatt Trunn]

The Legend of Luke + Martin the warrior also come to mind, both involve huge amounts of loss just trying to ascertain peace.

I was actually just about to post that...it's true.  As far as I can recall, though, Luke is the only protagonist who dies within their main book, right?

I think so...

[Romsca]

There was also Ranguvar Foeseeker

And I agree with KitrallStreamrippler; there were probably lots of failed attempts, losses, etc., but the books never focused on those times

[Ungatt Trunn]

There was also Ranguvar Foeseeker

But she wasn't the main protagonist in The Legend Of Luke. Luke was.

[rachel25]

There was also Ranguvar Foeseeker

And I agree with KitrallStreamrippler; there were probably lots of failed attempts, losses, etc., but the books never focused on those times

I said that 

There was also Ranguvar Foeseeker

But she wasn't the main protagonist in The Legend Of Luke. Luke was.

Yeah but Luke died too 

[Dannflower Reguba]

Ferrago almost took Salamandastron, and Ungatt had it for a little while as well. The Abbey has had at least one if not more bird takeovers, Urgan took Terramort Castle for a pretty long time.

(Just going back to naming some of the examples of how woodlanders don't always win as the title suggests. 

[Ungatt Trunn]

There was also Ranguvar Foeseeker

But she wasn't the main protagonist in The Legend Of Luke. Luke was.

Yeah but Luke died too 

But Ranguvar Foeseeker still wasn't the main protagonist in The Legend Of Luke...

[JangoCoolguy]

The really annoying part is that Brian out and loud REFUSED to use any of the bad animals' traits from real life that would've made them a bigger threat (and cooler in general) in Tales of Redwall...

[Ungatt Trunn]

The really annoying part is that Brian out and loud REFUSED to use any of the bad animals' traits from real life that would've made them a bigger threat (and cooler in general) in Tales of Redwall...

Really? When did he say that?

[JangoCoolguy]

The really annoying part is that Brian out and loud REFUSED to use any of the bad animals' traits from real life that would've made them a bigger threat (and cooler in general) in Tales of Redwall...

Really? When did he say that?

He never said, but it sure FELT that way. At least to me.

The badgers had their strength, the otters were great swimmers, the squirrels were acrobatic, the hares were athletic & versatile (and good kickers), the moles were industrious and had their digging abilities, etc.

The vermin? They barely had any unique abilities. Jacques may as well have written them as one species for all the they could do...

Gulo tore fools apart like a good wolverine should, the adders had their venom, hypno-stare and coils, and the birds could fly, claw and peck. That's all. The rest were chumps.

The cats should've been fast, agile and acrobatic, used their claws as well as weapons, and see in the dark. The rats could've been more well rounded fighters (and had mean little bites). The foxes could've had heightened senses and maybe been smarter (though the main ones were clever enough as is). The lizards should've been quick, agile, fierce, used their tails and regeneration. The toads should've used their jumping skills to tackle and body slam creatures or make quick getaways and fought with their tongues. The weasels could've been stealthy and sneaky and good at getting into small places (they'd make great burglars or stealth assassins)

But no. Each woodlander was the best at what their species could do while the inherent abilities of many of the bad guys were noticeable absent...