History Headscratchers / RedWall

* The adder triplets in ''Triss'' are bound by their tails with a mace and chain, basically turning them into a discount hydra. But it also mentions that their tails are dead and rotting, probably because of lack of circulation, which raises the question how they've lived so long: either they'd have succumbed to gangrene and infection eventually, or their tails just dropped off and freed them from their unnatural conjoinment.

** Real mice sometimes entwine tails with a companion they happen to be standing next to. It's not sexual at all, and may simply provide a convenient way to keep track of the other mouse.

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** Redwall and Salamandastron are not conquerors. They're aren't fighting to take something, they're fighting to defend something. If whatever they're doing works (and given how long the series has run, it does), there's not a lot of pressure to improve on that.
** Additionally, most characters seem perfectly content with the status quo laid out for them: you're becoming part of the military apparatus in Salamandastron, a supportive Abbeybeast in Redwall, a sailor or a farmer or whatever. Money to buy items doesn't really exist, aside from the luxuries the evil beasts hoard. There's no need to compete and do better when everything's just fine, minus the once-in-a-generation [[CurbStompBattle]].

** The biggest reason for lack of advancement progably lies in the fact that there are only two somewhat permanent (and only tenously connected to each other) centres of civilization in the land plagued by savage tribal raiders on all sides. There are no trade to speak of and almost no one is free from farming or serving as a warrior, to pursue a life of education. This is one of the worst possible setups for technological development. Seavermin actually seem to be more technologically developed, designing pretty large and advanced ships, but their societies are obviously highly unstable.

<<|ItJustBugsMe|>>

* It's a bit WhatHappenedToTheMouse, but it really bothered me that the characters in Salamandastron (with the exception of Urthwyte, very briefly, in Marlfox) are never mentioned again. Mara was a Badgermum, for crying out loud.

** But wolverines are twice the size of badgers, if not larger, and they're evil. Squirrels and rats are about the same size, and least weasels (the type most likely to be seen in England) are much smaller than the average squirrel, although ferocious as hell. Even stoats aren't always that big. Hedgehogs fit in the middle of the weight range between rats and foxes. And it's not clear that the carnivore/herbivore distinction even exists within the setting: the mice shouldn't be able to digest fish, but do, and Veil and Squire Julian should have problems with a diet with much vegetation at all, but have no problem.

* How do tattoos work in Redwall? One would assume they just paint permanent designs on their fur. But they could just shave it off whenever they feel like it, except [[spoiler: Tagg's tattoos had to be medically removed]] Even further confusion is that the healer reminded Skipper that she gave him a tattoo with needle and ink. How does that work with fur!? This seems to be the kind of thing, we just shouldn't think too hard about.

*** Could it be that there really are good "vermin" out there, but we just don't see most of them because of Jacques' decision to avoid moral ambiguity? Go ahead and call me overly optimistic, but thanks to the examples noted above, such as Blaggut and the foxes mentioned in ''Redwall'', I find it impossible to believe that every single "vermin" is really and truly evil. I think that they're out there, but the just live far away from Mossflower. (As mentioned above, many of them seem to come from the Land of Ice and Snow.)

*** Could it be that there really are good "vermin" out there, and we just don't see most of them because of Jacques' decision to avoid moral ambiguity? Go ahead and call me overly optimistic, but thanks to the examples noted above, such as Blaggut and the foxes mentioned in ''Redwall'', I found it impossible to believe that every single "vermin" is really and truly evil. I think that they're out there, but the just live far away from Mossflower. (As mentioned above, many of them seem to come from the Land of Ice and Snow.)

*** Actually in a way it makes sense: most of the vermin belong to species that would eat redwallers in real life.

** The series is actually pretty reliable about making vegetation small, whenever it's mentioned. Matthias is introduced in ''Redwall'' as a very small mouse with a number of hazelnuts held in his arms, and while hazelnuts are not very large, the real-world scale would make such things impossible -- three hazelnuts would be larger than he is. Likewise, a young tree is just about the right size for a badger's bow, while even human-scale saplings would be well oversized. The very large trees may simply be a byproduct of relatively little deforestation (and in the case of Brockhall, being at least partially if not mostly underground). Animal size... it's pretty much the FurryFandom equivalent of Superman being As Strong As He Needs To Be; any Mossflower speaking animal is exactly the size it needs to be for the plot at the time. Constance can carry a cart that's large enough to hold a big family of mice, but a couple servings of fish on a mouse's scale is all she wants to eat, even when others have significantly more. The architecture could actually go either way. The Redwall Abbey itself was constructed solely by the talking animals of the setting, and it's still staggeringly high; Jess Squirrel is described as looking like a speck at the top of the abbey, and the trees nearby are described as being more than six yards high while still being under the wall's height (while a two pound trout is considered a record-setter and large enough to feed an abbey).

*** Considering that they make milk out of roots and tubers, it's fairly logical to assume that the Abbey dwellers have a lot of eggless, dairy-free recipes. Basically they're vegan, besides their love of honey.

* How do tattoos work in Redwall? One would assume they just paint permanent designs on their fur. But they could just shave it off whenever they feel like it, except [[spoiler: Tagg's tattoos had to be medically removed]] Even further confusion is that the healer reminded Skipper that she gave him a tattoo with needle and ink. How does that work with fur!? This seems to be the kind of thing, we just shouldn't think too hard about. Maybe the ink under the skin affects the hair's pigment?
** The tattoo might show through the fur, though that might not work with otters, which have fur so thick that it's nearly impossible to see their skin when parted with a comb.

* How do Tattoos work in Redwall? One would assume they just paint permanent designs on their fur. But they could just shave it off whenever they feel like it, except [[spoiler: Tagg's tattoos had to be medically removed]] Even further confusion is that the healer reminded Skipper that she gave him a tattoo with needle and ink. How does that work with fur!? This seems to be the kind of thing, we just shouldn't think too hard about. Maybe the ink under the skin affects the hair's pigment?

* How do Tattoos work in Redwall? One would assume they just paint permanent designs on their fur. But they could just shave it off whenever they feel like it, except [[spoiler: Tagg's tattoos had to be medically removed]] Even further confusion is that the healer reminded Skipper that she gave him a tattoo with needle and ink. How does that work with fur!? This seems to be the kind of thing, we just shouldn't think too hard about.