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Redwall
Deyna/Zann Juskarath Taggerung
An otter, marked from birth as the Taggerung — the destined champion of the Juska tribesbeasts. Captured by Sawney Rath of the Juskarath and raised as Sawney's son, Deyna/Taggerung eventually flees the tribe, seeking a better life where he won't be used as an assassin and enforcer.
- The Ace: He’s not quite an Invincible Hero—his handful of Near Death Experiences mitigate that— but he’s so phenomenally skilled at, well, everything that he’s practically unstoppable.
- Awesome McCoolname: As mentioned by Nimbalo, Zann Juskarath Taggerung is an awesome sounding name. Averted with his real name, Deyna.
- The Champion: Of first his Juska tribe and later, Redwall Abbey. He's the first otter to hold either title.
- The Chosen One: According to the Juska, he inherited the spirit of the Taggerung, and possesses supernatural fighting abilities. They might even be right, as no one ever manages to beat Deyna at anything in the whole book, and Martin likes him enough to make him Champion.
- Cool Sword: Becomes the champion of Redwall, and wields Martin's sword as a result.
- Distinguishing Mark: Has a unique flower shaped mole on his paw. The mark and his tattoos get removed when he's healing from his near fatal wounds.
- The Juggernaut: Manages to chase down and kill a powerful assassin despite getting shot in the heart.
- Lightning Bruiser: As an otter, Deyna is naturally stronger than most woodland creatures and he's powerful for his species. He's also incredibly fast and has an ability to end fights before the opponent makes a move.
- Raised by Vermin: He was raised by the Juskarath vermin from infancy after they killed his father. They seem to have given him a decent enough childhood, all things considered, but things went downhill as he grew up.
- Scarily Competent Tracker: Grown-up Deyna is first shown hunting down and capturing an escaping Juska. Deyna's skills as a tracker comes up various times. He's able to track vermin, accurately recreate a battle scene, etc.
- That Man Is Dead: He tells Gruven that the Taggerung is dead.
- Tattoo as Character Type: Has the marks of his Juska tribe as well as further tattoos signifying his role as Taggerung.
- Tyke Bomb: Raised from infancy to be the Taggerung - the legendary premier warrior of the Juska.
Nimbalo the Slayer
- Abusive Parents: He ran away from his father, who regularly beat him.
- Blatant Lies: Half of the words out of his mouth.
- Braggart Boss: A heroic version.
- Fire-Forged Friends: With Tagg. They start off pretty vitriolic, but after enduring a few adventures together, they end up true friends.
- You Killed My Father: An unusual case, since his father wasn't exactly the nicest fellow, but Nimbalo's still devastated to learn his father is dead, and later does in Dagrab for being the one that killed him.
Mhera
- Expy: Hm... a young Abbey maid with more wisdom and intuition than their age would suggest, a subplot focused on puzzle-solving, and eventually becoming Abbess? Sounds an awful lot like Tansy from Pearls of Lutra.
- Innocently Insensitive: She reassures Nimbalo that he'll like living at the Abbey, because they're all one big happy "family". She has no way of knowing that he's been soured on the concept of familes.
- Wise Beyond Their Years: Mhera is called a clever young maid, enough so that Cregga wants her to be the next Abbess.
Rillflag
An otter who's Deyna's father. He lived at Redwall with his wife and daughter.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Dies while fishing for shrimp.
Filorn
Boorab the Fool
- Big Eater: As per the norm for hares.
- Let's Get Dangerous!: He's a hare. This is to be expected. Moreso because he IS a clown.
- Overly Long Name: His real name, for which "Boorab" is the acronym.
Fwirl
A squirrelmaid who lives near Redwall; famous for her climbing skills.
Broggle
- Situational Sociability: Broggle has a massive stuttering problem, so he doesn't talk much. Once it's noticed he doesn't stutter at all when singing, he gets over the block and manages to speak normally.
- Stutter Stop: Zigzagged. Boorab shows Broggle that he doesn't ever stutter when he sings, and the stammer mostly goes away after that...but comes back at a plot-intensive moment.
The Juska
- Proud Warrior Race: One of the few examples of vermin who actually have some kind of culture. It's not a nice culture, but it's deeper than most of the bandits and warlord-led hordes in the series.
- Tribal Face Paint: The Juska paint their face with tribal markings. The Taggerung, a special nearly-supernatural warrior, has more markings.
Sawney Rath
A ferret and the leader of the Juskarath who bear his name, Sawney is a clever, cunning chieftain, who rules through his intellect. Upon discovering that the prophesied Taggerung of his tribe is an otter, Sawney captures the infant, and raises him as his own son.
- Affably Evil: He apparently grew worse as he got older.
- Disc-One Final Boss: He seems to be the Big Bad at first, only to be abruptly betrayed and killed by Antigra.
- Dropped A Slingstone On Him: Killed by Antigra when she notices that he's alone and distracted.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Seems to genuinely care about Deyna.
- Evil Mentor: To Deyna, who he raises to follow in his footsteps.
- Genre Savvy: When he learns that the Taggerung is at Redwall, he refuses to attack the Abbey, saying that it has "the bones of countless dead warlords scattered around it."note
- Handicapped Badass: He's plagued by a stomach affliction that causes shooting pains. note
- Mentor Occupational Hazard: A villainous version.
- Parental Substitute: For Deyna.
- Tempting Fate: He states he won't end up like Cluny or the other warlords who died attacking Redwall, only to be killed far more ignominiously than they were.
Grissoul
An elderly vixen who is the Juska tribe's Seer.
- The Creon: She's more respected than any Juska except Rath, and with good reason, given her oracular abilities. But she's not interested in commanding the tribe so long as whoever is in command does a good job.
Gruven
A cowardly stoat whose mother insisted that he, and not Deyna, was the Taggerung. Raised to believe that he must slay the Taggerung and take his place, Gruven spends most of the novel stumbling incompetently in Deyna's footsteps in a failed attempt at making good on his vow.
- The Chosen Wannabe: He didn't even want to be it that much; his mother had been insisting he was Taggerung before he could even talk.
- Dead Guy Junior: His mother didn't have any choice in the matter, but he was named after his deceased father by Sawney.
- Dirty Coward: Spends most of the story bragging about how awesome he is, only to flee at the smallest sign of danger.
- Foil: He's everything Deyna isn't (or Deyna is everything he isn't). Deyna's undefeatable, The Determinator, a master tracker, reasonably friendly, humble and likable etc. Gruven has none of his skills or personality, but Antigra keeps insisting her son is the Taggerung.
- Harmless Villain: He's one of the most cowardly villains in Redwall, and will run away from anything that has a bad temper.
- The Heavy: He's an imbecile, but staying away from him is what drives most of Deyna's plotline.
- No Sense of Direction: He doesn't know how to tell left from right.
- Off with His Head!: Shortly after officially being dubbed Taggerung, he promptly gets beheaded by Ruggan Bor. After all, he who kills the Taggerung then becomes the Taggerung.
- Smug Snake: He talks big, but ultimately, Gruven is one of the most incompetent villains in the entire series. He can’t fight, he can’t lead, he can’t navigate, he’s a moron, and he completely fails to exact fear and respect from his minions.
- Villainous Underdog: He’s in way, WAY over his head in his hunt for Deyna.
Vallug Bowbeast and Eefera
- Co-Dragons: Though they both could easily be the Bigbads of the book.
- Dragon-in-Chief: They're a much bigger threat than Gruven, by the virtue of actually being intelligent.
- He's a Woman in Russia: The Russian translation had Eefera as a girl.
- Hyper-Competent Sidekick: To Gruven. They're the only reason he managed to survive and track Deyna as far as he did.
- Improbable Aiming Skills: It is said that Vallug could hit a dragonfly in flight.
- Off with His Head!: Vallug. Jacques loved doing this, apparently.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: They clearly despise each other and plan on killing each other eventually, but they both know that the other possesses talents they need to succeed (i.e. Vallug's archery skills and Eefera's strategic thinking).
- You Need a Breath Mint: After Eefera eats some ramsons, Vallug jokes that his breath is so bad that he could knock out the Redwall guards just by exhaling in their faces.
Ruggan Bor
A golden fox, and chieftain of the Juskabor tribe. Having swallowed up Gruven's Juskazann (formerly Sawney's Juskarath), Ruggan commands an army three hundred strong, and aims to become the new Taggerung by slaying either Deyna or Gruven. Cold and all but emotionless, he's the novel's most threatening antagonist.
- Cunning Like a Fox: He's a fox, and probably one of the smartest vermin in the book—for one, he knows when it's best not to get into a fight.
- Curtains Match the Window: Has golden fur and golden eyes.
- Karma Houdini: Played with. While he's one of the few villains to survive the events of the book, he and his army suffered a rather humiliating defeat at the hands of Salamandastron reinforcements, and were forced to leave Mossflower forevermore under threat of death from Russano the Wise.
- Knight of Cerebus: For Taggerung, being the first villain in the novel to actually pose a threat to Deyna, or intimidate the audience. (Though he's defeated rather quickly, see True Final Boss)
- Know When to Fold 'Em: When faced with Russano the Wise near the end of the book, he lowers his sword and surrenders—Taggerung or not, he knows Russano by reputation, and isn't stupid enough to try and fight him.
- Nerves of Steel: Deyna holds the sword of Martin the Warrior under Ruggan Bor's throat and tries to convince him to leave. Ruggan doesn't even alter his tone of voice, and continues to repeat his questions as to the Taggerung's whereabouts until he receives an answer that satisfies him.
- Not So Stoic: He laughs insanely when he becomes the Taggerung.
- The Stoic: Never shows any facial expression or changes his tone.
- Supernatural Gold Eyes: Has gold eyes to match his fur, which never blink.
- True Final Boss: Subverted. He kills Gruven and becomes the new Taggerung, then prepares to attack Redwall, only for Russano the Wise to arrive and save the Abbey in a Deus ex Machina.
- The Unfought: Relatively speaking. While he and Deyna engage in a brief clash, it's left relatively inconclusive.
