Things Better Left Unvisited:
Exactly What It Sounds Like, Mates
People wonder all the freakin' time about the religion of the Abbey of Redwall. I know--I've seen them do it. It's a running joke. It is about as common a question as the eternal:
"Hey... Are these all about the same group of mice and stuff eating cake and genociding rats?"
Well, I, er... I get that one a LOT from non-readers after I've introduced the saga.
Back to the show:
I myself don't wonder quite so much about the religious beliefs of the Brothers and Sisters. That's because, through careful screening of several of the older books, I have pieced together a few of their main ideals. Here are the spiritual beliefs of the great Redwall. Tell me if you think any of them are... a little paradoxical (I WILL be hearing from many of you).
When peaceful beasts die, they go to a land of rest and peace eternal known as the Dark Forest. While this title could easily be the site of the main villains' lairs in any other furry-animal-fantasy, in the Redwallverse a darkened forest is... kind of everywhere. So it's not that scary.
However, bloodthirsty warriors can somehow get into Dark Forest. Even though it is a place of peace. Hmm. But only if they're hares, squirrels, otters, or especially badgers.
All the "saints" are mice or badgers. No other species has had their spirit so worshiped.
Yes. Martin the Warrior is WORSHIPED. That is what it is called when all the inhabitants of a place have your image enshrined in their most important hall, and they regularly seek out help in times of trouble by praying and/or wanting to receive visions from you. If you were Martin, you would agree that you were being WORSHIPED.
Hellgates! Hellgates is where all the evil beasts go when they die. It is guarded by a "satan"-like form known as Vulpuz, which some creatures claim is the ancestor of all foxes, but somehow not wolves even though they are stated to be related. Vulpuz the badass demon fox (Naruto, much?) guards the evil souls of beasts and makes sure they never leave.
And it's odd that the big guy's considered a bad thing, seeing as Redwallers are utterly terrified of "bad spirits" coming to get them. Vulpuz ought to be being thanked for his services. He(she?) seems to have gotten the Hades Treatment. Hades was the only Greek god who WASN'T a bastard. And yet he gets slapped with devilish imagery. Go figure.
Yes, Redwallers believe in ghosts. Not as the neutral to "just checking in on my descendant" kind, but the fubar medieval version of a "ghost", which is not what the word "ghost" means anymore. No, they believe in GHOULS, which are floaty and can go through solid objects like "ghosts", but also are reanimated corpses coming to "get" you. Like magic-using zombies. I'm sure the dead relatives of thes idiotic mice are very pleased by what the grandkids think of them.
Redwallers are very clear what "get" means. If you're caught by a mouse-looking glowing thing, consider yourself eaten (Bleach, much?). Somehow. Ah, it's medieval times, it's not supposed to make sense!
UNLESS it is the spirit of Martin the Archangel--I mean, Warrior, that has come to honorably possess your body and use you like a flesh puppet to stab a vermin in the back!
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.