The Last Great Adventure
All the way through the Redwall books, death is a permanent fixture. I'm not criticising that, it's a fact of life. Maybe I'm being stupid. But as I said, it's there.
Thinking about it, none of the deaths really upset me except for three. You can call me unfeeling, but I'm not. A strange thing is, they're all from when Martin was alive in books.
First, one that upset almost every reader: Rose. Let's look at the points.
- Everyone knows that she had to be killed off. However, had Brian Jacques begun the series with Martin the Warrior, I can't feel sure that he would have kept Rose alive.
- Rose was a lovely character, and deserved a happy ending. But would the book have been so - so damn good, if Rose had married Martin and got her happy ending? I think not.
- What I'm saying is that had Brian Jacques begun the series with Martin the Warrior, he would probably still have killed Rose, especially if he was planning to make a series of books.
Second, we have another Martin death: Felldoh. This, again, is a plot death. Felldoh had to die, explaining why Martin had no companion in Mossflower. But again, would the book have been so poignant, so attractive, if Felldoh had survived, working on the principle of Brian Jacques beginning the books with Martin?
Third and last: Luke. Of course Brian Jacques had to explain why Martin never met his father. The answer lay in the handwritten memoirs of the crew of the Sayna, named after Luke's wife and Martin's mother. The book was called In the Wake of the Redship.
Plot deaths are among the cruellest deaths in the world, real murders may be more horrific, but if you want to move an outsider to tears, write about it. There is no better way to describe things.
But meaningless deaths such as Rockjaw Grang, Lieutenant Morio, Furgale, and Reeve Starbuck in The Long Patrol, they must take the prize. Perhaps the latter three were necessary to show that the Redwall/Salamandastron armies weren't such brilliant fighters to escape unscathed, but Rockjaw Grang was completely meaningless. Russa Nodrey, too, had no point.
There is often a motive to murder, but a quarter of the time the motive is that there is no motive. The last thing a psychologist wants to hear is that a murderer kills because he likes to kill. That usually heralds a psychopath, and so that is the answer the public hate as well, for fear grips them. If someone kills merely for fun, then there is no reason why they should not be next.
Death is a great sorrow to all those affected except the victim. Perhaps we should look on it as the last great adventure. After all, no one knows what will happen.