Mine was a squirrel too! Or at least one of them was, it's been like fourteen years amd I can't remember but I think I had a couple. At any rate, at some point I had a squirrelmaid character named Trissia. (I named her after Triss from the book but it was before the book had come out and no one knew what Triss was short for so....)
I loved the continuity. I bought all the books in publishing order, and then every time a new one came out I'd reread the whole series chronologically with the new one slotted into order. Welp I know what I'm reading for the next couple months. Also Mariel was GREAT. I'm pretty sure she was Jacques' first female warrior and she had STYLE and a completely unique weapon (Gullwhacker is the the best Redwall weapon, even over Martin's sword, FIGHT ME) Also anyone find it hilarious that Martin's sword seems to change size? It was made for a mouse but apparently otters and hares can use it no problem.
magic my first redwall book was pearls of lutra, which was awesome I used to read out scenes for the dialogue and accents alone the moles! the sparrrras!
My fursona was a ferret. When I was eight I somehow developed a crush on Killconey of all characters. I think it was the accent. I don't know, I think the morality's got more grey areas than it's given credit for, though it is still primarily black and white. The Highbeast shrews take slaves, the Gawtrybe squirrels are horrible and only fight on the side of good because they're persuaded it will be more fun to kill slavers than rebels, Rusvul Reguba is emotionally abusive and Tugga Bruster and Nimbalo's dad are physically so (Rusvul gets redemption though)... I've always said teaboo American Doctor Who/Sherlock/Hobbit fanbrats who gush about "British accents" should be forced to read the entirety of Jacques' bibliography aloud and explain which British accent they like. My grandmother spent a lot of her childhood in an area where, before the introduction of TV, they actually did speak the way the moles did, and she can still imitate a couple lines.
NGL my SWTOR Bounty Hunter is named named Romsca after the ferret corsair in Pearls of Lutra, and her foil, my Trooper, is Grath. I try to make story choices the way they would :D
I picked the first book, the original "Redwall," out of one of those reader's catalogues in elementary school and was instantly hooked. We don't own all of them, but most of one of our bookshelves is full. Mossflower and Mariel were my favorites. :)
Oh man, Redwall. Mariel was my absolute favorite, though I love, love, loved the hares and the long patrol. Tiny!me had a little hare fursona named Pansy. I actually owned the redwall cookbook a few years ago, before a house fire kinda rendered it so much ash. It was deeply satisfying to be able to make those delicious recipes I read about.
Kinda back to the badfic thing, there was a more recent one which... well, apart from the fact that I can't buy the Abbeydwellers being homophobic, can anyone read a scene where an authority figure confronts a protagonist over an illicit affair without thinking of My Immortal chapters 4 and 5? Mental image of Germaine calling Martin and Timballisto "mediocre dunces" is hilarious.
All I can say is this was my childhood. Though I've been worried about re-reading as an adult in case it takes the shine off the nostalgia. Hm...
Awww yiss. Dismantled my Book Closet, found all my copies (and their doubles) ordered the last four (FOUR!) that I didn't have, set them up in chrono order. Time for a book binge of the likes I haven't had since my early teens.
I'd somehow forgotten that he does all the accents phonetically, and the moles. I want to hear the moles' accent live so badly. It's barely readable sometimes, I love it.
I have heard the mole's accent live while Brian Jacques acted out the part. I did not understand a SINGLE word.
Is there someone UK or with enough verbal-linguistic know-how to identify the regional accent flavors so I can at least Google them? Mostly the otters, hares and moles. The baddies tend to be typical Oliver Twist Baddie accent, no?
I think the moles might be west country? Somerset, Devon, Dorset. But don't quote me on that, despite me being a Brit, I've got a tin ear for accents.
Oh, and the hares are incredibly upper-crust old fashioned posh talk. The Oliver Twist Baddie accent you're thinking of is probably cockney. I dunno about the otters though, they're a bit more generic.
So. Reading Lord Brocktree first up, and can I get a feminist shout-out for Dotti the hare? Scatterbrained, unapologetically girly "fatal beauty" who proceeds to go and challenge King Bucko Bigbones--and outsmart, outeat and outfight him without sacrificing an ounce of herself or being seen as "manly" for it.
Yeah, the moles are West Country. The vermin are assorted/generic "low class" British (with two in Salamandastron who are explicitly Brummie in the audiobook and use appropriate local slang in the book), Killconey and similar accents are Irish, Bluefen's dad and the Riftgard ferrets are German, the hares are the Upper Class Twit embodied, the otters are supposed to come off as stereotypical sailors, and the Sparra were probably written out because that's what British media in the 1980s thought Native Americans sounded like and in the 90s that became less acceptable. In the audiobooks a lot of characters without definable text accents are Scouse because Jacques' son voiced them.
Also as I said my nan lived in Gloucestershire, where they really did speak like the moles. Quote from a local who she imitated; "Oi yurrd'n an' she yurrd'n, an' oi said 'Bide whurr thou bist an' let'n 'oller."
