Things Better Left Unvisited:
Exactly What It Sounds Like, Mates.
Since I'm not getting any younger and this installment isn't getting any more done by me pondering wistfully in a corner about the Great Jakes's knowledge of psychology and personal development, I shall now tackle the big one. The greatest mystery of the entire Redwall series. But to me, after exhaustive research and multiple professional courses on Psychology and Sociology, the three Great Redallverse Phenomena are no mystery at all.
I am referring of course to three Redwallverse-specific mental diseases and/or psychoses you are probably familiar with but have not named them yet. Well, I went ahead and named them:
"The Taggerung Effect". "Veil's Syndrome". And the less-discussed "Orkwil Prink's Disease".
Do you all remember Orkwil Prink? He was a young hedgehog, a major hero in one of the later volumes. He is described as an orphan taken into Redwall Abbey after his thieving parents abandoned him. He regularly steals items from his fellow Abbeybeasts, but always feels that he is excused from these actions because he was supposedly going to return them.
Does that sound familiar to any of you..?
It certainly does to me. That would be because Orkwil Prink's early life almost exactly mirrors that of another orphan left by a criminal parent to be adopted by the Abbey and gets into the habit of stealing things and never thinks anything's wrong with doing it.
Veil.
Why such a marked difference in fate? And in how they are later treated, and then remembered? Does mere heritage really contribute that much?!
Yes. Yes it does. But it has nothing to do with the fact that Veil is a vermin and Orkwil is a goodbeast, not the genetics anyway. It would be like seeing that the unemployment rate among African-Americans is higher, and then assuming that it's simply because they're black and that's how they are. The real reason this ACTUAL FACT is true is something a reader of this rant has very much heard before here.
Of course it's racism. Black people don't have as much employment in the U.S. because a lot of people will not hire them. Because they are racist and think they would do a job sub-standardly compared to a person of their own ethnicity.
What happened with Veil and Orkwil could easily be used to teach this concept to new students of psychology, it's so glaringly obvious.
Why did Veil turn out evil when he was raised by decent Abbeydwellers? Because they were racist towards him, despite what they themselves might believe. Need some proof?
What is the definition of "racist"? In simple terms, it's treating one unlike or less equally than another based purely on race or ethnic background (or species, in the case of Redwall). Now you tell me if the scene in Outcast where Friar Bunfold is looking for who stole his honeypot is NOT racist:
*Allegory of Everyday Racism With Cute Mice and Ferrets*
Friar Bunfold was growing increasingly worried. His blue honeypot was missing, and he was starting to worry that somebeast had stolen it. But who among an Abbey full of well-brought up creatures would do such a thing?
"Where is my blue honeypot?" he wondered redundantly to himself. A youngish mousemaid, Bryony, came in, and the Friar became very glad that he had someone to ask for help, "Oh, Bryony! You would have happened to see my blue honeypot anywhere have you?"
"Oh, no, I'm sorry," she responded civilly, "Perhaps you misplaced it."
A hedgehog female named Myrtle came in. Friar Bunfold once again makes it clear that he would never suspect her.
Then Veil the ferret wanders in, probably innocently looking for his adoptive mother.
A scowl immediately adorns the face of the once-never suspecting mouse friar.
"Grr! C'mere you scummy liddle n**--I mean, polecat!" he grred, GRABBING THE FELLOW ABBEYDWELLER BY THE EAR AND DRAGGING HIM OVER FORCIBLY AND SHAKING HIM, "I always knew it was you! Because you're the only vermin here--it MUST be you!"
There you have it.
Why did Veil turn out bad-tempered and evil and paranoid? Because he was regularly tormented and persecuted. It doesn't excuse his evil deeds later perpetrated, but it does explain why he did them even though the Abbeybeasts themselves ACKNOWLEDGE THAT HE WAS A NICE WELL-BEHAVED DIBBUN. Not like the horrid brats that keep getting the hero's treatment whenever they unknowingly massacre dozens as a fun game.
Maybe that's where the Gawtybe came from...
Er... Never mind. Get to that later.
Now look at Orkwil. The hedgehog did the EXACT SAME THINGS AS VEIL. He stole, and frequently. He had all the same abandonment issues (or should have. People with these issues don't always talk about them.), their parents were both uncaring thieves who didn't really care what happened to their offspring. So why didn't Orkwil snap?
Because he never had anything to snap about. The Redwallers practically coddled the little spiky bastard, treating his "borrowing" habit as an endearing trait rather than a bad deed that calls for discipline. Thus, Orkwil felt more supported, not chastised and ridiculed all the time. Nothing drove him to escalate his already long list of petty crimes into major ones for the sake of revenge like Veil did. Because Orkwil had nothing to avenge.
But then how did Tagg/Deyna turn out so good?
The same reason!
Racism played no part in Tagg's upbringing. It is clearly shown that Sawney Rath loved the little otter like he'd never loved another creature. He is overheard discussing how he's going to get all these skilled beasts to tutor him in all aspects of being a Taggerung or warrior. He makes sure he gets all the best food and shelter. The Juskarath tribe adores him. He is to be their hero, their champion.
The vermin expected the otter to turn out wonderful. They encouraged him to be wonderful. Sawney Rath raised him wonderfully. Nobeast looked down on him because he was an otter except Antigra, who was generally scorned by all the Juska whose voices mattered to the young otter. Tagg was taught his values primarily through positive reinforcement, which is THE BEST METHOD OF TEACHING AND FOSTERS SELF-WORTH AND FREE-THINKING. The Juskarath treated Tagg in a way that was truly WONDERFUL.
Small wonder that he turned out... WONDERFUL.
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.