Things Better Left Unvisited:
Exactly What It Sounds Like, Mates.
At this point, I come to the racism.
It had to happen eventually, you know. Redwall is chock-a-block full of racism, to poorly use Australian slang. This is not bad in itself; it would be weird in a book based in the American South in the 1800s to not have a bunch of racists in it--it's an in-universe apparatus. Er... it may have been more acceptable for the bigotry, and the very nature of telling your enemies from your allies by physical features, to be something that is more or less denounced by the author. There's nothing wrong with a suspiciously Anglo mouse and suspiciously patriotic English hare spotting some suspiciously non-Anglo ferrets and assuming the mustelines are up to no good because they're "villainous vermin", and then proceed to murder the heck out of the ferrets... UNLESS the author makes it so that the racists are always right in their prejudice.
It's made even worse when you considered the illustrious Redwall creator's, um... personal tendencies. Brian Jacques, bless his heart (can't complain now--I invoked the southern charm that allows you to say anything you want about a person without getting attacked), was a raging British Imperialist and a notorious xenophobe. I won't even go into this too much, as it may tarnish ole Brian's reputation, but it is said the reason he never pronounced his obviously-French surname, "JACQUES", in any way other than "JAKES" (otherwise known as "wrong") was that he really, really, really, REALLY HATED ANY AND ALL FOREIGNERS.
Especially the French. Does it surprise anyone here that toads (French Frogs) are one of the most reviled and evilly-represented species in the series?
Back in the world of Redwall, more racist stuff was going on.
*Mellus and the Two Sea Rats, Blaggut and Slipp*
Badgermother Mellus (or actually any of the series' badgers; they're all equally racist) had been doing her Abbey duties all day. Every once in a while she saw those two icky rats they'd let into the peaceful goody-goody place doing other Redwally things. They had said they were a cook and a carpenter, but rats couldn't be cooks or carpenters! Every badger worth its salt knew that rat=sea rat, a.k.a. pirate scum that deserves to die.
Unfortunately for the bigoted badgermum, she wasn't allowed to snap the scrawny relatively helpless necks of the Abbey's guests. Lynching had been outlawed in the Summer of the Stoat Uprising (Did anyone else catch that line by Meldrum the Magnificent earlier on? Did it make a little bit of your mustelid-loving soul die inside?), so no fun happy kill time for Mellus.
However, she was allowed to be insufferably mean to them for no other reason than they had longer noses and thicker tails than mice (Anyone who knows about black stereotypes just left the room in a state of shock).
"Hiya, stripedog! Ya seen my pals the innocent liddle dibbuns?" Blaggut asked cheerfully. RAT MUST DIE, RAT MUST DIE, Mellus's inner dialogue said.
"Shut up, rat! Those babes are in bed and you can't come near 'em!" She growled in a completely unjustified rage, "Don't call me 'stripedog'! Only other badgers can call badgers that!"
"Okay, er... Mellus," Blaggut said, confused. Slipp grumbled off the the side.
"Hmm, then 'ow come she kin call us 'vermin' instead o' 'rat'?"
The next day, before breakfast, Mellus decided to be spiteful with her equally racist friend Tarquin the hare (no surprise he's named after a tyrant...). They randomly grabbed Slipp out of bed and forced him to cook for the Abbeybeasts even though he was at the very least an Abbey guest and had never volunteered to stay permanently. If they believed his story they should have believed also that he was traumatized by a shipwreck that left all his companions but Blaggut dead.
How very like a kind Abbey-dweller.
Of course, Slipp's not actually a cook, but she didn't have to rub it in like that either. Because of her a stinky mess is created, which Slipp is actually proud of and innocently walks about trying, somewhat nicely at that, to get otherbeasts to try it too.
"Anybody want some o' this grub?" he offered cheerfully, thinking of turning his life around and becoming a cook after all.
"YOU NOT COOK, YOU JUST EVIL RAT PLANNING TO MURDER BABIES!" Mellus thundered in, grabbing Slipp up violently in a way that should've been scolded by the Abbot as an act unbefitting of a good Abbey creature, "GRAAAAAAARR! WHITE-WITH-BLACK-STRIPES POWER!"
Now, you're probably all familiar with the "goodbeast's" extreme racism against the "vermin". But are you well-versed in the everyday racism that exists between all the "goodbeast" species? Why do some of you look shocked? It's there. It's in every damn book. Not only do Redwallers openly hate members of the genuses Rattus and Mustela and Vulpes, they also engage in subtle racism against them and AMONGST THEMSELVES.
Don't believe me? Okay, here's some tidly-bits.
Remember that time in Long Patrol when the freaking Abbey Sister nonchalantly implies that dormice are all not very smart? As if this dormouse stereotype is obvious and should be common knowledge to all? And NO ONE CORRECTS HER OR TELLS HER THAT THAT'S A LITTLE HARSH?
Remember that time in EVERY BOOK when a hare got called a rabbit and took it as an insult, implying that the hares believe themselves superior to rabbits?
Remember that time in Bellmaker when one of the hares (either Hon Rosie or Meldrum, can't remember exactly) casually points out matter-of-factly that hedgehogs are "very basic beasts"? IN THE COMPANY OF A HEDGEHOG ALLY? WHO IS OBVIOUSLY OFFENDED BY IT?
I rest my freakin' case.
More may follow. If you like, you may leave an as-of-yet unanswered bit of unusual Redwall yore as a suggestion, but it is more than likely I'll cover the grand majority of oddness and unmentioned unmentionableness.