Rakkety Tam MacBurl
- Brave Scot: Though his exact point of origin isn't clear, he's obviously meant to be the Fantasy Counterpart of a Scot, and he fights the hands-down most dangerous Big Bad in the series toe-to-toe... and wins.
- David Versus Goliath: He's the David to Gulo's Goliath.
- Experienced Protagonist: What sets him apart from many of Redwall's other heroes, who usually start out as Action Survivors before taking a level in badass. Tam, for his part, is already a seasoned warrior with many campaigns under his belt.
- Heroes Prefer Swords: He ends up wielding the Sword of Martin.
- Hired Guns: Starts the story as a sellsword, though he ends it as a family beast.
- Honor Before Reason: When we first meet him and Doogy, they're bound to the service of two entirely spoiled and selfish monarchs. Despite being strong and skilled enough to abandon them (and fight their way out if need be), they insist on having said monarchs formally release them from service.
- I Gave My Word: He's out to avenge his slain comrades, but he's also bound by oath to retrieve his employer's banner. Subverted, in a sense - he mentions that he has to live up to his word, but seeing Gulo's horde brought to justice is much more important to him.
- Love at First Sight: He's quite clearly smitten when he meets Armel for the first time. They end up married.
- Multi-Melee Master: He's an interesting case in that he has three weapons - a basket-hilted claymore, a dirk (a long dagger), and a small knife called the Sgian Dhu that works as a hold-out weapon of last resort. Of course, that's not counting the Sword of Martin.
- Nice Guy: Warrior he might be, but Tam is also very polite and respectful to those he encounters.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: He and Wild Doogy Plum aren't above bickering in good fun, but they'll always stick up for one another when things get serious.
- Warrior Poet: He possesses a rather eloquent view on life.
Wild Doogy Plum
- Badass in Distress: He spends the climax of the book being tied up and held hostage by Gulo. This doesn't stop him from bravely hurling insults at his captors.
- Big Fun: A chubby fellow with a heart of gold.
- Bound and Gagged: By Gulo, in the climax. However, see Brave Scot for how little this worries him.
- Brave Scot: Like Tam. During the finale, it's mentioned that the vermin keeping him captive have to keep replacing his gag because he keeps chewing right through it.
- Funetik Aksent: As a Highlander squirrel, his is much more pronounced than Tam's.
- Odd Friendship: He and Yoofus loot a vermin camp together, but tells him off whenever needed.
- Walking Armory: After looting a vermin camp, he carries more weapons than he has limbs to carry them.
- Wrecked Weapon: His claymore gets destroyed by Gulo's reckless usage of it against the Sword of Martin - Rakkety Tam parrying the former with the latter ends up damaging said claymore so badly that the blade falls apart after the fight.
Yoofus
A vole thief.
- Dude, Not Funny!: His antics are tolerated by Redwallers, up until he steals the sword of Martin.
- Funetik Aksent: An Irish one.
- Kleptomaniac Hero: Steals everything not nailed down, including a drum intended for the Abbey, a flag Tam and Doogy need to find, and the sword of Martin the Warrior.
- No Sense of Direction: Gets hopelessly lost in Mossflower when trying to find Redwall, though fortunately his wife is there to find it.
- Odd Friendship: Loots a vermin camp with Doogy, though he's quick to warn Yoofus when he crosses a line. With a claymore.
- What the Hell, Hero?: The other members of the cast aren't hesitant to call him out whenever his penchant for plundering goes a little too far.
Gulo the Savage
A savage beast of a wolverine who seeks to usurp his father's kingdom in the northlands by murdering him. Gulo is forced to journey across the seas to chase his brother who has stolen the Walking Stone: the symbol of leadership. Gulo leads his followers on multiple rampages that claim the lives of many innocent victims to feed Gulo's lust for battle and hunger for the flesh of other beings. With an ambition matched only by his bloodlust, Gulo aims to seize the Walking Stone and kill or conquer all in his path.
- Ax-Crazy: Kills a fox who considers deserting, effectively removing an eighth of his remaining forces.
- Bad Boss: His brother, Askor, is mentioned to be a fairer and less harsh ruler than him. And really, considering that Gulo's idea of motivation involves killing anyone who even seems to be showing doubt or weakness, this trope squarely applies.
- The Berserker: Once he gets in a killing frenzy, things like personal wounds or losses on his side do nothing to deter him.
- Big Bad: Of Rakkety Tam.
- Blood Knight: He stands out among villains in the series for not only reveling in bloodshed, but being eager to draw it himself in the thick of battle.
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: The savage barbarians of the Land of Ice and Snow don't have the same taboos against cannibalism as the Mossflower-dwellers, though Gulo's ravenous hunger for the flesh of other sapient creatures is abnormal even by their standards.
- Boring Yet Practical: Gulo's thought process as a whole falls into this. He's not the brightest Big Bad. But, his plans tend to fairly straightforward and simple, yet still effective.
- Cain and Abel: While both he and Askor were barbarians, it's mentioned that Askor was a more reasonable sort than him, making Gulo the intended Cain of the two. Pity for Gulo that Askor's long-dead by the time he arrives in Mossflower.
- Determinator: Nothing will stop Gulo from tracking down the Walking Stone - not a forest's worth of hostile crows, not increasingly-dwindling forces, not nearly sailing off the edge of a waterfall, and certainly not Redwall's latest champion. Said champion ends up killing him.
- Dumb Muscle: Averted. Gulo's not one of the smarter villains to attack the Mossflower region, but he's not stupid either. His tactics are unimaginative, but effective.
- I'm a Humanitarian: In a world where eating any living thing other than fish counts as cannibalism, he regularly feasts on his dead enemies, thinking it will empower him further.
- Klingon Promotion: It's mentioned that he killed the former chieftain - his own father - in order to claim the right to rule the lands of ice and snow.
- Large and in Charge: Wolverines are the size of badgers, and Gulo is huge even for one of his kind. Despite his lack of guile or cunning, he is still one of the most dangerous antagonists in the series due to his raw physical prowess.
- Losing Your Head: During his duel with Rakkety Tam, he gets knocked onto the sharpened edge of Tam's shield and decapitated.
- Meaningful Name: Twice over. The scientific name for the wolverine is gulo gulo, and it means "glutton."
- Natural Weapon: His claws and bulk, though in the climax he makes use of Doogey Plum's claymore for a sword fight with Rakkety Tam.
- One-Handed Zweihänder: During his final duel with Rakkety Tam, he pulls out one of the stolen claymores and wields it one-handed. Justified, due to his huge size in comparison to the weapon's intended user.
- One-Man Army: He single-handedly does such damage to a forest's worth of savage ravens that they never fully recover from their losses.
- Outside-Context Problem: There'd never been a wolverine in Mossflower before Gulo and his brother showed up.
- Rank Scales with Asskicking: He stands out as one of the few main antagonists to go out fighting. He nearly ends up killing Rakkety Tam in their final battle, which is the sort of badassery that was rarely seen since the days of Cluny the Scourge himself.
- This Cannot Be!: He seems to think this of the notion that Rakkety Tam could have killed his brother, Askor. But when the squirrel reveals the Walking Stone, Gulo realizes that Askor would never have parted with it if he were still alive.
Shard
A fox captain.
- Cunning Like a Fox: He's one of the more clever servants under Gulo's banner.
- Disc-One Final Boss: He's set up as Gulo's right-hand man, but ends up being killed during the first act.
- The Dragon: To Gulo.
- Dragon-in-Chief: He believes himself to be this, as he's the one who comes up with strategies for his master.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: His mate, Freeta, whom he confides in. It seems to be mutual, as she later wants revenge for his death.
- The Starscream: A downplayed example - he thinks of himself as the real leader of their band, seeing Gulo as a useful weapon to be pointed in the right direction. However, he's happy to let Gulo be the official chieftain, until he falls out of favor for failing to guard their captives. He starts planning revenge, but gets killed before anything can come of it.
