Mattimeo
Voiced by: Michael Seater
The spoiled son of Matthias and Cornflower, Mattimeo is forced to do a lot of growing up after he and his friends are kidnapped by Slagar the Cruel. Sold into slavery in the Kingdom of Malkariss, Mattimeo fights Slagar and Malkariss every step of the way, eventually earning his position as Matthias' heir.
- Badass Boast: After believing that his father was killed during the rescue attempt, Mattimeo calls Slagar a fool for letting him live, stating that from then on, his only purpose is to kill the fox. Even Slagar was taken aback by how serious and determined the boy had become.
- The Champion: Eventually inherits this job from his father.
- Dead Guy Junior: Twice over. His full name is Matthias Methuselah Mortimer, named after the two elder mice who raised and helped his father in Redwall and both of whom were killed in that book.
- The Hero: Much of his journey involves getting over himself and actually becoming worthy of the title of Warrior rather than feeling entitled to it.
- Spoiled Brat: In a deconstructed sense; He is an all around nice guy, but gets in trouble frequently. He is a son of the hero who defeated Cluny the Scourge and is proud of it, but that doesn't save him from any punishment as he is treated the same as everyone else. During his capture by Slagar, he slowly matures to protect his friends. By the time he is reunited with his family, he has become a worthy enough son and successor to Martin's sword.
- Took a Level in Badass: Becomes a strong leader, and the same kind of asskicking badass as his father.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Comes with the Pride Before a Fall storyline. Being kidnapped and undergoing huge amounts of Break the Haughty forces him to grow up fast.
Sam Squirrel
Jess Squirrel's son, and one of Slagar's captives. He was originally known as "Silent Sam" before he decided to tell the details of the "Late Rose Summer Wars" to Mattimeo.
- Disappeared Dad: Mr. Squirrel, Jess' husband and Sam's father, is mentioned at least once in the previous book and then vanishes into thin air. Even Brian Jacques has stated "
no particular story is attached to Mr. Squirrel" (a statement which borders on Trolling Creator). - The Quiet One: Spends most of Redwall sucking his thumb, being just a child, earning the nickname "Silent Sam". Near the end of the book onward, he is known to be quite talkative after finally being able to speak.
Matthias
- Cool Sword: Wields the sword of Martin the Warrior.
- David vs. Goliath: Battles the Wearet in single combat. Made even more obvious in the TV series.
- Good Parents: It's emphasized that he loves his son and strives to see him happy, but this does not cause him to spoil his son, and he takes equal pains to try and teach Mattimeo to be a good person, including punishing him when he misbehaves.
- Happily Married: Matthias and Cornflower Fieldmouse's marriage is shown as strong and emotionally satisfying, even after years of being together and having a young son.
- Martial Pacifist: Though he remains the skilled warrior who slew Cluny the Scourge and Asmodeus, amongst other feats, he prefers not to fight and is happiest when he can literally hang up his sword. Still, when his son is kidnapped, he doesn't hesitate to take up his sword and fight for his freedom, only to ultimately retire from fighting again once his family is safe.
- Papa Wolf: Receiving news of his son and the other children being captured, he and the others travel through Mossflower and beyond to get them back.
- Throwing Your Sword Always Works: Kills Stonefleck by throwing his sword at him.
Orlando the Axe
Voiced by: Anthony Bekenn
A badger from the plains who has an axe to grind with Slagar after the slaver fox kidnapped his daughter, Auma. Hopelessly lost in the woodlands, Orlando joins forces with Matthias and the Redwallers to recover their children and send Slagar to his grave.
- Battle Cry: Like all badgers and their hare servants, when in battle, Orlando voices the iconic "Eulaliaaaaaaaaaaa!"
- The Berserker: Like almost all badgers, when he fights enraged, it's best to stay out of the way.
- The Big Guy: All badgers are big, but Orlando is specifically stated to be even bigger than Constance. And a badger is always going to be the most powerful member in any group, unless the group itself is made up of badgers. He earns the cred when he quickly outmatches and defeats the Wearet, which itself outmuscled Matthias.
- Gentle Giant: Orlando is huge even by badger standards and has the strength and fighting abilities to match. When Jube's sisters attack him he just blocks with his axe. He is also a scaredy cat when it comes to heights and even laments about being so big. "The trouble with being my size is you make an excellent target".
- Insistent Terminology: He objects to his axe being called a "hatchet".
- Papa Wolf: Chases Slagar all the way south to find his daughter.
- Put on a Bus: Eventually leaves for Salamandastron before the events of The Pearls of Lutra.
- Real Men Cook: It is stated by his daughter Auma that he is a fair cook.
- They Call Him "Sword": He's not called "Orlando the Axe" for favoring, say, a spear.
Cheek
- The Apprentice: To Basil. He takes on his fighting style, mannerisms, and even adds "Stag Otter" to his name.
- Big Eater: Makes him useful when the group is being attacked by carnivorous fish while crossing a river.
- Irony: He is an otter who does not like water. But to be fair to him, no young otter does initially.
- The Load: Initially played straight. He is underfoot, poorly mannered, a Big Eater, and is nearly abducted and killed by the painted ones, requiring Jess to come to his rescue.
- Finally averted when he begins eating the carnivorous fish that were harassing the party. After this, he begins to become more of a help than a hindrance, even participating in the final battle.
- Meaningful Name: Cheek is, well... cheeky. His introduction at one point is added with "By name and by nature".
- Mysterious Past: It was never revealed what he did before meeting Matthias and his friends as they searched for their children. However, Slagar's minions did mention an otter in the start of the book, hinting that he may have been captured but abandoned and left for dead.
Sir Harry the Muse
- Big Eater: Especially when it comes to cake!
- Drama Queen: Speaks in dramatic rhymes. Also, after Warbeak's death, he is elected as a leader among the sparrows of Redwall. Tim Churchmouse writes that he has resigned several times, out of despair at the sparrows' speech patterns. However, he always assumes the position again...
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Stops rhyming when conducting business.
- Rhymes on a Dime: Tends to speak in rhymes, but he asks for cake at one point without rhyming.
- Riddle for the Ages: Why does he speak solely in rhymes?
- Serious Business: Has fun rhyming, but doesn't take kindly to those who struggle to. When Basil does a poor job at forming a rhyme, Sir Harry begs him to "please stick to being a hare".
- Shout-Out: Named after a friend of Brian Jacques, the author of the series.
Stryk Redkite
A large female red kite from a mountain called “Allrock Allrock” who comes to Redwall Abbey seeking treatment for a wing injury. Unbeknownst to her, the abbey is under threat from General Ironbeak and his army, and she arrives in time to make a difference.
- Accidental Misnaming: Her bird tongue often misnames Sister May as "Sissimay".
- Big Damn Heroes: When Ironbeak tries to kill Sister May, Stryk comes to the rescue.
- Noble Bird of Prey: Although very feisty, she is grateful to the Redwallers for helping her and is able to pay back in kind by saving them from Ironbeak.
- Worf Had the Flu: Some of Ironbeak's troops attack her when she first comes to the abbey, and she's unable to properly defend herself because one of her wings is injured and she's been weakened by hunger and thirst. Once she makes her recovery, she kills Ironbeak himself in a fight.
Slagar the Cruel/Chickenhound
Voiced by: Tim Curry and Jonathan Wilson (as Chickenhound)
Treacherous is the word that best describes Slagar the Cruel, a masked fox who leads a gang of slavers. Using a traveling carnival show as a pretense, Slagar murders several inhabitants of the Abbey and kidnaps its children, all in the name of an imaginary grudge. Pursued by the warriors of the Abbey, Slagar takes his quarry to deliver them to the 'Kingdom of Nightmares' ruled by the tyrant Malkariss. Utterly without honor or loyalty, Slagar happily betrays everyone he can with the intent of elevating his own position and achieving his vengeance.
- Adaptational Jerkass: Very downplayed. Chickenhound was never a good person in the novel, but he did feel some regret for his Accidental Murder of Methuselah, even if he quickly got over it. Chickenhound in the Animated Adaptation didn't really care one bit if he actually killed Methuselah at all.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: On the other hand, he doesn't mock his mother's death in the series, and years later, calls her a "saint" to Mattimeo.
- Ax-Crazy: Slagar has lost his mind, to the point where he actually believes that the Redwallers ruined his face.
- Badass Cape: It has stars and moons on the inside.
- Bad Boss: The worst one in the series, beating out all the competition. Other vermin leaders abuse their followers, but only Slagar planned to kill off every single one of them by manipulating them into fighting amongst themselves before he'd have to pay them for their haul of slaves, something he apparently does on every one of his trips.
- Bastard Understudy: He plots to take over the Kingdom of Malkariss, but it's destroyed before he can make his move.
- Battle Bolas: Slagar the Cruel uses a bolas as his weapons. He uses it both to attack and to intimidate. In the Animated Adaptation, he throws it at a wooden chair, shattering the chair to splinters, just to demonstrate what will happen to his slaves if they don't obey him. He later uses it to attempt a stealth kill on Matthias, though he fails. Subverted in that he's a Dirty Coward, and never uses his weapon in direct combat with anyone, instead running away when the heroes prepare to fight him.
- Best Served Cold: Waits years before getting vengeance on the Abbey residents and their children for what happened to his face.
- Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Betrays his own crew, Malkariss, and anybody else who trusts him.
- Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: Cluny was a warlord who tried to conquer Redwall. Slagar's a slaver and kidnapper who steals several children from the Abbey and then hightails it in the other direction.
- Cool Mask: A head-covering jester's mask.
- Cunning Like a Fox: One of the most outright clever villains in the series, and an actual fox.
- Deceptive Disciple: Whilst he feigns loyalty to Malkariss, he only cares about his own goals and secretly plans to usurp the polecat's realm for himself.
- Dirty Coward: Slagar runs away whenever the heroes attack or confront him and only attacks Matthias from behind.
- Disney Villain Death: Falls down an empty well to his death, with nobody even seeing what happened to him.
- Disproportionate Retribution: He kills one of his own minions, Hairbelly, for complaining about his assigned role in the traveling circus act.
- Dumbass No More: In the first book, Chickenhound was rather thickheaded and impulsive; it's his incompetence that ruined his mother's plans more than anything. When he returns many years later as Slagar, he's become a crafty schemer.
- Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: It may have taken her death for him to realize, but Chickenhound did love his mother Sela. Though Redwall shows him speaking ill of her death, as Slagar he looks back on her fondly as a "sainted healer" and wants revenge against Redwall because he blames the inhabitants for her death.
- Evil Sounds Deep: His voice is unusually gravelly because he got bitten in the throat by an adder. He's even voiced by Tim Curry in the TV series.
- Face–Heel Turn: He never was a good character to begin with, but he takes a turn for the worse after being bitten by Asmodeus.
- Facial Horror: Why he wears the mask. Asmodeus's bite left his face a ruin, with half of it a discolored, furless, immobile mask surrounding a blind, forever-staring eye.
- Faux Affably Evil: Slagar can put on a facade of being friendly and courteous. But it's only a way to get others to let their guard down. Typically before killing them.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: He was originally Chickenhound, a minor antagonist from Redwall. After losing half of his face and all of his sanity, he's become a roaming slavetrader, as evil as the searat that killed his own mother, hated by all those who encounter him, and feared by his own crew.
- Genre Savvy: He knows that trying to capture Redwall is a very bad idea.
- The Heavy: He's not the Big Bad, that's Malkariss, nor is he the Dragon, that's Nadaz. He's even outranked by Stonefleck. But he is without a doubt the one with the most personal link to the heroes, the one who poses the most immediate threat, and the one overall moving the plot forward.
- Hero Killer: Many characters die either directly or indirectly because of him, among them Methuselah, Friar Hugo, Warbeak, and Log-a-Log.
- Hired Guns: Works for Malkariss in exchange for money and power, not out of loyalty.
- Ignored Epiphany: Momentarily felt a tinge of guilt about an Accidental Murder he committed in his youth as Chickenhound, but quickly got over it and eventually became the ruthless, pitiless monster he is now.
- Ironic Death: Slagar’s smart enough to know he’s outmatched, and always acts accordingly. When fleeing the heroes at the end, however, he loses focus for just long enough to fall down a well to his death.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: He learned to run since he was young after all. Ironically, this is what does him in; when fleeing from Orlando and Matthias, he ends up falling down a well into Malkariss’s collapsed kingdom.
- Made of Iron: Over the course of one book, he survives more punishment than just about any creature that isn't a badger. He survived being speared by Cluny's horde and dragged himself to Redwall Abbey, where he made a full recovery. He then got bitten by Asmodeus, and recovered from that too, though it's implied the snake venom had a mental effect on him.
- Malevolent Masked Man: Mostly seen with his mask on.
- Manipulative Bastard: He plays his own slave crew like a fiddle.
- Masking the Deformity: He wears a harlequin-patched mask and cloak that covers his entire head, below which most of the left side of his face is deprived of skin thanks to the corrosive venom he was injected with following an attack by Asmodeus (which, Slagar being Slagar, he blamed on the Redwallers, since Asmodeus is no longer alive for him to take revenge on).
- The Millstone: As Chickenhound. He's not that helpful to Sela and is about five times more obvious about what they're doing than she is. He also blurts out that they know about Cluny's tunnel plan, which results in Sela getting executed and him getting nearly killed.
- Misplaced Retribution: If he actually believes his story, he blames the Redwallers for scarring his face and killing his innocent mother. His mother was outed for being a traitor which led to Cluny killing her and Asmodeus is the one that disfigured him yet he fixates on selling the Redwallers' children as slaves.
- Monster Clown: Invoked with his harlequin mask, which has a disarmingly innocent, clown-like appeal but is actually covering both a hideously deformed face and a ruthless, malevolent, vengeful mind.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: His name is pronounced "SLAY-gar." Yep, that's one scary name.
- Never My Fault: When he and his mother are found out by Cluny, he blames her, even though it was he who unintentionally confirmed their treachery. He also blames the Redwallers for his disfigurement, despite the fact that he was the one who decided to steal anything valuable, kill an old mouse, and then run for his life until he ran into Asmodeus, entirely without provocation.
- Pragmatic Villainy: He reprimands Halftail for trying to whip a slave for no good reason. This isn't out of mercy, however, but because he knows an injured slave will slow their progress.
- Repulsive Ringmaster: Slagar disguises himself and his minions as a travelling circus to infiltrate Redwall Abbey and kidnap its children. Slagar takes on the role of a Stage Magician, but still acts as the ringleader of the circus.
- Revenge by Proxy: Kidnaps Mattimeo and the other children to hurt their parents.
- Sanity Slippage: Nearly dying from Asmodeus and his poison did a number on his mental state even before putting on the mask. As the book Mattimeo reached its end, Slagar become increasingly unhinged.
- The Sociopath: He already showed all of the signs as Chickenhound: superficial charm to ingratiate himself with the Abbot in order to rob Redwall blind, a sky-high opinion of himself, and a complete lack of regard for everyone else, to the point of mocking his own mother's death. It only got worse after his run-in with Asmodeus.
- Spanner in the Works: To both the Redwallers and Cluny in the first book. His arrival at Redwall ends with him robbing them and killing Methuselah, which then leads to everything he does in Mattimeo, which leaves quite a body count in his wake. He also causes one of Cluny's plans to fail by tipping the Redwallers off about it.
- The Starscream: Malkariss promotes him to being a lieutenant and promises him soldiers and a large stone fortress as a reward for all the slaves he's brought. Slagar plans to overthrow Malkariss and Nadaz, ruling their entire underground kingdom himself.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: Chickenhound was a cowardly sneak thief and accidental murderer. Slagar the Cruel is a slaver, a mass murderer, a child abuser, and one of the series' better Manipulative Bastards.
- Two-Faced: Under his mask, half of his face is dead, with furless, discolored, bloated flesh, paralyzed muscles, and an implicitly blind, ever-staring eye.
- The Unfought: He's got two Papa Wolves and a band of warriors out to get him, but nobody gets a chance to have a go at him as he falls to his death.
- Ungrateful Bastard: His
Moral Event Horizon as Chickenhound was stealing from the Redwallers after they nursed him back to health, and killing Methuselah. - Villain Ball: Grabs it when he kills Vitch, since it lets the heroes know he's there and he probably could have escaped otherwise.
- Villain: Exit, Stage Left: He's a schemer first, a fighter second, so he does these quite frequently. In fairness, he usually has good reasons, often involving badgers and/or being badly outnumbered.
- Would Hurt a Child: He kidnaps children and sells them into slavery. Even willing to kill them if they don't cooperate.
- You Have Failed Me: After Wedgeback carelessly dropping his dagger allows the children to temporarily escape, Slagar pushes him off a mountaintop, and the poor stoat falls to his death.
- You Killed My Mother: He wants revenge against the Redwallers for Sela's death, though it's totally Misplaced Retribution on his part.
Threeclaws
Voiced by: John Stocker
Slagar's right-hand weasel, Threeclaws acts as the band's main slavedriver, and second-in-command. Less brutal than Halftail, and less capricious than Vitch, Threeclaws has the allegiance of the other weasels in Slagar's band, which enables him to survive the power struggle that ensues once Slagar abandons them.
- The Dragon: Slagar's Number Two, he's always left in charge whenever the fox has other business to attend to.
- Fantastic Racism: A milder example than many. He seems to believe that weasels are inherently better than stoats or ferrets.
- Fat Bastard: He's got a rather large build.
- Hooks and Crooks: He and the rest of the weasels in the slave crew are armed with iron hooks.
- Karma Houdini: He doesn't completely escape punishment, but being sentenced to run south into the unknown lands isn't much of a punishment considering how horrible he'd been.
- Villainous Friendship: Appears to have one with the other weasels in Slagar's band, especially his fellow survivors Skinpaw, Wartclaw, Snakespur, and Fleaback.
- Wicked Weasel: He is a weasel and The Dragon to Slagar.
- Would Hurt a Child: This is the defining trait of most of Slagar's band.
Halftail
Voiced by: Graham Haley
A stoat in Slagar's gang, Halftail is a thug with a short temper, a sadistic streak, and little ability to think ahead. After Slagar himself he's the member of the gang most hated by the slaves, and even the other slavers are less than fond of him.
- The Berserker: Descends into this territory during his confronation with Threeclaws and the other weasels. It takes all of them to subdue him.
- The Brute: A Dumb Muscle sadist who works as a slavedriver.
- The Bully: Delights in tormenting the slaves, to the point where Slagar has to rein him in.
- Corporal Punishment: Loves administering it to the slaves; receives it from Slagar early on.
- Disproportionate Retribution: When he wants to hurt a slave, any excuse — no matter how minor — will do. For example, he once tried to whip one of his captives for asking for a drink of water.
- The Resenter: Towards Threeclaws; Halftail's jealous of Threeclaws for being Slagar's second-in-command, a position he wants for himself.
- Wicked Weasel: A stoat.
- Would Hurt a Child: Would beat and abuse a child, in addition to selling them into slavery.
Scringe
Voiced by: Anthony Bekenn
A ferret and one of the brighter members of Slagar's gang, Scringe acts as the voice of reason in the slaving band.
- Evil Genius: Scringe, in contrast to Threeclaws and Halftail, actually has a good head on his shoulders. During Mattimeo's attempted escape, Scringe is the one who realizes what's going on, and takes command, eventually recapturing them.
- Only Sane Man: In a gang of swaggering thugs, Scringe is the only one who seems intent on actually doing the job Slagar hired him to do.
- Savage Piercings: He wears a large nose-ring.
- Spared By Adaptation: He takes Fleaback's place as one of the five survivors of Slagar's gang in the TV series.
- Token Good Teammate: Downplayed, as he's still helping to sell children into slavery, but he's the least abusive member of Slagar's gang and the only one that treats Vitch decently.
- Villainous Friendship: He's the only slaver who is decent to Vitch, who in turn, trusts him. He also appears to be on good terms with Skinpaw the weasel.
- Wicked Weasel: A ferret.
- Would Hurt a Child: He's less abusive than Threeclaws or Halftail, but he's still out to sell children into slavery.
Vitch
Voiced by: Jake Goldsbie
An undersized rat in Slagar's gang, Vitch sneaks into Redwall disguised as a mouse, scouting out the kidnapping operation. He hates Mattimeo, and takes every chance to torment him after Slagar captures him.
- Agent Provocateur: His role in Slagar's band is to pretend to be a mouse and infiltrate whatever group Slagar intends to steal slaves from, then help convince that group to trust Slagar's circus.
- Asshole Victim: Killed by Slagar as he tries to make his escape from the ruins of Malkariss.
- Bratty Half-Pint: More malicious than most, but he manages to be bratty too.
- The Bully: He takes delight in making those around him miserable, even to the point of gloating about supposedly killing Matthias and Mrs. Bankvole to their respective children's faces. Yeah.
- Butt-Monkey: Vitch gets treated by the rest of Slagar's band almost as badly as the slaves do.
- Dirty Coward: He's afraid to fight the chained slaves. Then again, both Mattimeo and Tim Churchmouse kicked his ass while chained up.
- Enfant Terrible: Vitch isn't much older than Mattimeo.
- Hate Sink: Introduced in a fight against Mattimeo and seen as suspicious by him and unlikable by the other children. He does nothing to improve his standing with them after his ties with Slagar are revealed, and even his cohorts see him as a pain. Once he is betrayed and lumped in with the others, they do not feel sorry for him at all.
- Karmic Butt-Monkey: A total uncaring jerk throughout the story, so when Slagar eventually turns against him, and makes his life hell, none of the other children feel any sympathy for him. He was soon killed by Slagar near the end.
- You Dirty Rat!: The only rat in Slagar's band.
Malkariss
Voiced by: Andrew Gillies
An old, deformed polecat with dreams of world domination. Founded the underground Kingdom of Malkariss.
- Big Bad: But that's not saying much.
- Buried Alive: His eventual fate; when his slaves rebel, they begin first pelting him with stones, and then start tipping barrels of rock and soil over the crippled animal, eventually fatally burying him in debris.
- The Dreaded: Malkariss has earned a very feared reputation due to his sadism and cruelty. Slagar's thugs are visibly unnearved by the fact that he's their employer.
- Egopolis: He rules the Kingdom of Malkariss, named for himself.
- Evil Old Folks: Revealed to be so old he can barely walk.
- Evil Overlord: The overlord of the underground realm of Malkariss.
- Gonk: He's hideously deformed and — at least in the TV series — missing large patches of fur.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: His own slaves are the ones to kill him.
- The Man Behind the Curtain: Malkariss is a crippled old polecat, who is unable to walk on his own, and gives orders from a statue.
- Non-Action Big Bad: He's too crippled to be much of a threat, and goes down without a fuss.
- Orcus on His Throne: He does little more than sit in his statue and relay orders to Nadaz for the majority of the book.
- Strong Empire, Shriveled Emperor: He founded an immense subterranean civilization on slavery and speaks from an imposing statue — but he's elderly, frail, and nearly blind, and depends on his servants to run his empire according to his orders.
Nadaz
Voiced by: Graham Haley
The leader of Malkariss' priesthood, Nadaz is the "Voice of the Host", delivering Malkariss's instructions to the rest of his growing abyssal empire.
- Accidental Murder: Slain by Matthias and Orlando the Axe when they destroy the statue he's hiding in.
- The Dragon: To Malkariss.
- Dragon Ascendant: After Malkariss is defeated, Nadaz claims his former master's throne by hiding inside the same statue as Malkariss... Although he doesn't last long in his new position as ruler, as Matthias and Orlando topple that statue and crush him in the rubble.
- Evil Chancellor: With the caveat that his boss is pretty evil too.
- Mouth of Sauron: As the Voice of the Host, Nadaz speaks for Malkariss, who never emerges from behind a statue.
- Non-Action Big Bad: Nadaz isn't a fighter, although he certainly helps to encourage the host with his drumming.
The Wearet
A primeval mustelid throwback said to be a crossbreed of weasel and ferret, the Wearet is both the chief slavedriver and strongest fighter in the Kingdom of Malkariss. Challenging Matthias to a duel, the Wearet manages to defeat—though not kill—the warrior mouse in single combat, a feat that is never replicated in the series.
- The Brute: It's a hulking monstrosity that serves as Nadaz's muscle.
- Dumb Muscle: It can only snarl and slaver.
- Mix-and-Match Critters: Half-weasel, half-ferret.
- Unskilled, but Strong: The Wearet isn't the sharpest tool in the shed, but it has more than enough muscle and combat prowess to defeat Matthias; for reference, Cluny the Scourge couldn't beat Matthias in a fair fight, and he fought Matthias when the mouse was significantly younger and more inexperienced.
General Ironbeak
Voiced by: Wayne Best (animated series), Paul Green (audiobook adaptation)
A clever but cruel and bad-tempered raven warlord from the North, Ironbeak attempts to conquer Redwall Abbey with his army of crows, magpies and rooks. This leads him into conflict with the abbey dwellers, particularly Cornflower and Constance.
- Ax-Crazy: While more refined than most examples, Ironbeak enjoys hurting others.
- Bad Boss: He’s prone to beating up his subordinates for the slightest screw ups. It backfires when his seer Mangiz hides information from him regarding potential failure.
- Batman Gambit:
- He abducts Cornflower, Mrs. Churchmouse, and Rollo and holds them hostage in hopes the other Redwallers surrender the abbey to him. When Sister May captures his magpies to trade and negate the hostage situation, he follows through with it... long enough for his army to overtake the top of the housing and try to gain more of it downward.
- He pulls a pretty clever one near the end of the book. He locks Constance in a small house, allowing him to finally take over the abbey. Unfortunately for him, it doesn't last...
- Beauty Is Bad: He’s a beautiful, sable feathered raven, but also an absolute monster.
- Big Bad: Of the Redwall abbey segments of Mattimeo.
- Clever Crows: For an arrogant lunatic, Ironbeak comes up with some effective plans over the book.
- Determinator: Much like Cluny before him, Ironbeak wethers various setbacks and problems in his attempts to capture Redwall.
- Fantastic Racism: Looks down on Earthcrawlers.
- Fantastic Slur: Refers to all flightless creatures as "Earthcrawlers".
- Feathered Fiend: Ironbeak is one of the most evil bird characters seen in fiction, hands down.
- Four-Star Badass: He’s a capable general and fighter.
- General Ripper: For Ironbeak, war is an excuse to go wild and kill everything in his path.
- It's All About Me: Ironbeak is all about Ironbeak.
- Jerkass: Seriously, Ironbeak is curt, cruel and unpleasant to all living creatures.
- Meaningful Name: While the book depicts him having a strong beak, the cartoon shows him wearing a metal helmet.
- Near-Villain Victory: Like Cluny in the previous book, he and his flock finally capture Redwall after several setbacks, and he prepares to kill everyone in it. Unfortunately for him, Stryke and Constance arrive to stop them.
- Sucksessor: The Redwallers have this view of him. Both Constance and Foremole state that Cluny and his horde were at least proper warriors, and they consider Ironbeak a completely unworthy successor.
- Villainous Breakdown: Has these semi-frequently when things go wrong. This especially happens when his allies start fearing a "ghost of a mouse warrior".
- Would Hurt a Child: He threatens to throw baby Rollo to his death to make a point, even giving a graphic description of everything he'd hit on the way down.
Mangiz
A crow seer who serves as an advisor to General Ironbeak. While intelligent and respected by Ironbeak's army, he's very superstitious and fears his boss.
- Bearer of Bad News: He warns of a warrior mouse blocking his visions and is subjected to verbal and later physical abuse by Ironbeak for it, especially when a "ghost" resembling the warrior shows up.
- Blatant Lies: Once the "ghost of the redstone house" starts making his presence known to scare away the birds, Ironbeak attacks Mangiz in frustration. Because of this, he begins ignoring the situation and lies that Ironbeak's victory is guaranteed. Ironically, victory does happen, but not for long.
- Seers: Sees outcomes that can lead to Ironbeak's victory, though his visions soon become clouded by images of "a mouse in armor" for much of the book.
