Population

[ShamanSquirrel]

Can anyone estimate the population of Mossflower woods? I'm sure it varies by species, the most common I'm assuming are mice.  My guess would be in the tens of thousands of mice; hundreds of thousands total.

[Vilu Daskar]

I wouldn't put it that high. The Blue Hordes numbered about 7500 and that was considered huge, if there's hundreds of thousands and creatures living in Mossflower that army wouldn't be that large. In The Bellmaker they round up creatures from all over Southsward to fight Urgan Nagru. Southsward is about a quarter of the size to Mossflower and they managed to get an army about the size of Nagru's. If there was hundreds of thousands of creatures in Mossflower the heroes/heroines would run into more people than they do when they're roaming around Mossflower. And in the book Mossflower CORIM has woodlanders from probably half to one third of Mossflower and they aren't in enough numbers to attack Kotir which makes you think they are at the most the several hundred.

I'd put the number of woodlanders between 500 and 800 counting those at Redwall and Camp Tussoc.

[Wylder Treejumper]

I'd say that estimate is erroneous, considering the population of Mossflower Woods seems to fluctuate over time and that estimate is based on various time periods. I would say the population appears to be greatest at the time of Redwall, and least directly after the events in The Long Patrol. I'll do estimates later, I'm feeling lazy right now.

[Jewel Thief]

Mossflower is a strange place. It's wonderful in some ways, because of the presence of Redwall Abbey, but otherwise its incredibly dangerous to even step outside your house if you don't want to end up on the pointy end of a sword.

Woodlanders love it, but only if they're in large groups, living near enough to Redwall to be able to flee into it at a moment's notice, or capable enough to survive the woodland for more than a few days.

Vermin love it, because of its warmth and plenty, but rarely stay there for long if they're wise enough to realize that they might get
a) Eaten by snakes.
b) Eaten by birds.
c) Butchered or robbed by bands of otters, shrews, or the occasional hare patrol.
d) Killed, robbed or oppressed by other equally desperate-to-live vermin.

Mossflower Country's mostly just a death trap in which only the smart, the tough, the winged, the sailing, or the ones with the most dangerous friends can survive. Which explains why so few beasts actually prefer living there. Aye, the danger lowers or rises from time to time, but once you hit the later books, Mossflower seems to be almost entirely filled with death and carnage.
Me? I'd stick to the Islands, or head South.

[The Skarzs]

Going off the point someone else made, on how woodlanders aren't tended toward fighting while vermin are, battles would be much more devastating to peaceful creatures who don't know how to fight against creatures who fight for survival. If this were held true, the wars and battles throughout history would keep the populations rather low on both sides, woodlanders perhaps reproducing more rapidly.