Skrablag

[Stonewall]

I find it curious that the character of Skrablag, the giant scorpion in Mariel of Redwall, manages to  avoid being the topic of much discussion, when in  fact his mere existence evokes so many questions.

The idea that there is a bug of gigantic proportions surely defies the normality of the Redwall universe. Granted, there is a certain species size flux that occurs in the series; badgers, while acknowledged as generally larger then mice, are surely never the same size disproportion as they would be in real life, meaning that some shrinking and stretching of reality to story must occur. Also, there is the matter of the original Redwall, where Squire Julian seems to be abnormally large as opposed to most other cats, the reasoning being that this was the first book, and Brian was still figuring out the world. But by the time Mariel came out, being the fourth in the line, the rule of size seems well established, including the scales of mice in relation to bugs, which is more or less the same relation that humans have to bugs, IE, they're very small.

Yet here we have a scorpion the size of a badger, or at least, is of great enough size that it can challenge a badger to a fairly even fight.

How can this be, if it is more or less established that bugs are the size of, well, bugs? One answer might be that Skrablag is an anomaly who happens to have mutated beyond the general size of other bugs. If this is the case, one would have to ask why and how this happened. With the nonexistent possibility of the same ooze that created the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles being in this world, the fact that this mega-scorpion rising above the rest of the bugs brings questions as to his own evolution, how he came into being, and why no other bugs seem to be able to match him.

The second answer is: scorpions in this world are all of this size, and Skrablag is but one of them. Though there is no real proof of this, at the same time there is no proof that this is /not/ the case, Skrablag being (to my knowledge) the only scorpion to appear in the books. For all we know, there may be an entire colony of scorpions somewhere, and Gabool and Greypatch may have just snagged but one of them. And, perhaps even more fearsome a thought, Skrablag may have been one of the smaller ones, with even grander scorpions a possibility. Again, there is no way of knowing, but it is interesting that given how much fan speculation has been spent imaging grander family trees of Marlfoxes, or of the wolverines, that none has been spent on scorpions.

It might be thought that Skrablag may be simply in existence as a sort of "monster" character, thrown in for the purpose of providing the heroes with a dragon to slay. Fair enough, and perhaps more than correct. Yet it is intersting that he is not presented just as a mindless automoton who's sole purpose is to stop the heroes. In fact, his own personal motivations are to stop the villain, and perhaps just as strong (if not stronger) in drive then the rest of the heroes. He recognizes Gabool as the enemy, and that the rat is the source of his troubles. In other words, he's intellegent. Skrablag isn't just a killing machine, but knows who and what is responsible for his incarceration, as well as recognizing names and personalities (he also holds a grudge against Greypatch, it seems). The scorpion, then, is not just a mutant dragon to be slain, but a thinking, rational creature. Are, then, all bugs rational, or is Skrablag again just an anomaly?

Where does Skrablag hail from? We know that Gabool and Greypatch have captured him from their travels, but the where and when are kept vague, leaving the reader guessing. Was it near the area of Mossflower country, or at least on some map that we've seen? And if so, why are there no other giant scorpions running around in the series? It would probably be the best guess to assume that due to the lack of other specimens that Skrablag hails from an entirely different island, and thus his abnormality in this world is better explained, simply because he is truly not part of the greater canon.

Still, it is something to consider.

[Tiria Wildlough]

I don't really think about this. Still, good point.

[DanielofRedwall]

Shouldn't this go in character discussion?

[James Gryphon]

Well, if we use the illustrations as evidence when discussing Redwall books, we can see that while large, Skrabblag isn't anywhere near as large as a badger, based on the picture we see at the Redwall wiki.

As far as the text itself goes, I don't have my copy of Mariel handy, but if I remember clearly, Skrabblag latched onto the badger's chest, and it's said that Rawnblade "threw" the scorpion at Gabool. I assume that while larger than a rat, Skrabblag still isn't anywhere near as large as a badger; thus, the reason why Skrabblag is a threat is because of his lethal venom. That is why it was necessary for Rawnblade to get the scorpion away as quickly as possible, because if he had delayed for a moment longer, Skrabblag would have injected him with more toxins than his body would have been able to deal with.

One thing that's worth mentioning is that crustaceans are always shown as being similar scale to the heroes as they are in real life -- that is, much larger -- and thus scorpions, although technically arachnids, are probably based on the same proportions. That said, though, scorpions are usually smaller than rats, so Skrabblag's status as a "giant scorpion" is still an anomaly, by real world standards. Without having Mariel of Redwall handy, though, I can't look up the relevant parts to assist.

According to the Redwall wiki, and my few vague memories, Skrabblag hailed from the "extreme south", possibly in either a tropical environment, or the Redwall equivalent of Africa.

It is true, though, that Skrabblag's sentience is a detail that most people don't give a lot of thought to. Even the heroes essentially ignored it, Dandin casually slicing the scorpion up with Martin's sword just moments after it avenged itself on Gabool. That said, I admit that they probably didn't really have any other choice, since if they left it there it would have eventually died anyway, and transporting it back to its homeland would be impractical, at best.

[Dotti]

That's a very interesting point, Stonewall.    Good essay!

[Tiria Wildlough]

I think we have another James Gryphon on our hands!

[Jetthebinturong]

Once again I sense fanfiction

[AxeHound]

I was just about to say that!