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TL;DR?
These are two files containing Redwall survivor writing contests held by Terrouge.
What’s in these files?
The file for Questors Bold contains:
Contests
Questors Bold III: Cloak of Darkness (235, 352 words)
Questors Bold IV: Blackened Past (225, 616 words)
Questors Bold V: The First War (239, 614 words)
Bonus
QBIII Character Applications
QBIV Character Applications
Questors Bold I (Weeks 1 and 2 only)
QBI Character Applications
QBI Character Portraits (by Kelly Hamilton, aka Fernblossom)
QBIII Character Portraits (By Gloria Pike)
The file for The Emperor’s Decree contains:
Contests
The Emperor’s Decree I ((192, 160 words) (Weekly PDFs pulled from Archive.org)
The Emperor’s Decree II: No Surrender (271, 669 words) (Pulled from fanfiction.net)
Bonus
TED1 Character Applications
TED1 Character Portraits
My thanks to Sycamore, The Grey Coincidence, and Airan for these files! Also thank you to Highwing, Vitora, other ROC alumni, and everyone else for responding to my messages and putting up with my mad search.
What is this?!
Questors Bold and the Emperor’s Decree were a series of writing contests hosted by the Redwall fan website Terrouge circa 2001-2010.
Throughout the 2000s, starting with the ‘Redwall Online Community: Survivor’ contest, writing competitions were hosted by various Redwall fan communities. Early contests were much like typical forum RPs, with short posts interacting in an improvisational way between characters. Later contests evolved into a more strict and co-ordinated format, turning RPs into pass-along stories.
A typical contest format looked something like this:
The contest organiser writes an opening prompt for a story. Potential contestants submit one or more applications to show off a concept for a character (often there would be specific categories, like ‘Male Otter’ or ‘Good Weasel’ or ‘Surly’). Forum members review, discuss, and vote in the top ten applicants, whose identities are kept anonymous. The contestants confer on where to take the story, and begin writing their first story posts. After the first week, with forum members reviewing posts, voting begins to start eliminating contestants. It’s convention, but not rule that the eliminated character be killed off. The top 3 contestants eventually left standing are the winners, and write the story’s ending.
So, each contest is a full-length novel written by several authors, writing from their characters’ perspectives. The story has to develop around the fact that every week, one of the main characters dies (or leaves) by the vote of the readers. It is therefore incumbent on the contestants to write engaging characters that are important to the plot.
Questors Bold III, IV and V? Aren’t we missing I and II?
Despite my efforts to locate them, QBI and QBII appear to be lost media at this point. I have found the first two weeks of QBI on Archive.org on the Terrouge domain, which itself seems to be an archive from Terrouge’s old host at redwall.vr9.com. QBII’s first week is available on redwallsurvivor.com, but there are only a few posts archived on Archive.org. Should you have any information or complete files for either contest, I would be very interested! As a ‘bonus’ I have included the first two weeks of QBI taken from Archive.org, as well as the character applications and portraits.
Though contestants could be fond of making reference to other contests, they are all standalone stories with no direct connection to each other, and can be enjoyed individually.
Has this anything to do with the VI?!
Yes! The VI began with Terrouge, and there have been two survivor writing contests based on the VI directly, The Emperor’s Decree (TED1) (2007), and The Emperor’s Decree II (TED2) (2010). I haven’t read either in approximately 14 years, so I could not tell you how much of those stories relate to the VI as we know it today. I have uploaded the weekly PDF files for TED1 and TED2 in a separate file, though TED2 is already available on fanfiction.net, which is probably easier to read post-by-post.
More generally, these contests are a part of the Redwall Online Community, of which the VI is one of the few survivors. I feel it’s important to keep these stories accessible. They represent a lot of effort and talent by their creators, and hold a lot of fond memories for those that participated, whether as readers or contestants.
Questors Bold III
The Premise: Ten beasts disappear from their regular homes and occupations, summoned by something mysterious and malevolent. This is the story of the ten other beasts in hot pursuit of them, motivated by revenge, curiosity, love, and hatred!
I would describe QBIII as a rough-cut diamond - flawed, but beautiful. It is (by necessity, really!) a very character-driven story, with development, personal stories and relationships as the main focus. I feel like the mystery plot mainly exists to keep the ball rolling, as the intrigues of the antagonists really do have to play second-fiddle. It’s understandable given that every contestant had a strong motivation to make their posts primarily about their characters.
The early weeks can feel a little disjointed, and often the same scene plays out from two or even more perspectives. Also there are some posts in the PDF that seem to be out-of-order with events, which unfortunately I cannot edit.
It is also worth noting that, at least according to an old review by Geo Holms, the first two eliminations in this contest were the results of the contestants having to forfeit due to other life commitments. This is, of course, all done as a hobby!
Having said all that, I adore this story, flaws and all. The characters become eminently engaging and likable, and their deaths become ever more heartbreaking as the story progresses. There’s dark moments, but uplifting ones as well. There’s some great writing, that’s for sure. I want to quote so many of my favourite parts, but I’m avoiding spoilers. The ending made me cry actual tears for fictional talking animals. It’s that good. Or I just cry easily.
Throughout my life, it has always given me a peculiar joy to wander into second-hand book shops (the larger, dimmer and dustier the better), and browse rows of fantasy books all brown-paged and crease-spined, until I find something utterly obscure, catering to incredibly niche interests, that captures my curiosity. If you ever have a similar impulse, and your local book shop is too far for a rainy day, then I heartily recommend reading Questors Bold III!
Questors Bold IV
I haven’t read Questor’s Bold IV in 14 years, and given that it isn’t complete, It’s fairly low on my re-reading list. My short note on it from an earlier article reads thus:
After an underground collapse during a public execution, ten survivors must travel together to escape an subterranean labyrinth. On the way they face danger on all sides and discover a secret weapon that could decide the war between the woodlander colony of Mikau and the vermin kingdom of Kereval.
The story is reasonably paced and the characters quite diverse. Even the first few to die make a memorable impression. The dynamics between characters can be quite engaging. The plot is fairly simple, but well executed. There are some oddities in the narrative, but otherwise Questor’s Bold IV is a decent read. Unfortunately, it does not have an ending, leaving the fate of the character undetermined.
Questors Bold V
The Premise: The story of the First War of Redwall Abbey, set after the fall of Kotir. The goodbeasts of Redwall have problems enough with the local vermin, but if tribes of toads, Flitchaye and a mad rook in the attic weren’t enough, a corsair ship sets sail upriver, her crew set on conquest, their slaves desperate to escape!
You absolutely should read Questors Bold V. It feels like by this stage there is a level of ‘polish’ between posts that avoids retreading scenes, and makes this feel much more like one consistent narrative. The writing across the board is excellent, a lot of it could be excerpts from a published novel. I like how the characters interweave their stories without anything feeling forced, and I really enjoy how each character grapples with serious and difficult problems like leadership, revenge, and war.
I have written a little paragraph review for each contestant below, but spoiler warning! This will give away who lived and who died.
The Emperor’s Decree I and II
I haven’t read either of these in 14 years either, and my notes suggest to me I was burned out on contests after reading way too many of them at once. Definitely a priority for me to read these soon, given their connection to the VI!
I will update this post should I get ahold of any more files, and hopefully give QBV and the two TEDs more extended write-ups when I can finish reading them all. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy these classics!
These are two files containing Redwall survivor writing contests held by Terrouge.
~~~
What’s in these files?
The file for Questors Bold contains:
Contests
Questors Bold III: Cloak of Darkness (235, 352 words)
Questors Bold IV: Blackened Past (225, 616 words)
Questors Bold V: The First War (239, 614 words)
Bonus
QBIII Character Applications
QBIV Character Applications
Questors Bold I (Weeks 1 and 2 only)
QBI Character Applications
QBI Character Portraits (by Kelly Hamilton, aka Fernblossom)
QBIII Character Portraits (By Gloria Pike)
The file for The Emperor’s Decree contains:
Contests
The Emperor’s Decree I ((192, 160 words) (Weekly PDFs pulled from Archive.org)
The Emperor’s Decree II: No Surrender (271, 669 words) (Pulled from fanfiction.net)
Bonus
TED1 Character Applications
TED1 Character Portraits
My thanks to Sycamore, The Grey Coincidence, and Airan for these files! Also thank you to Highwing, Vitora, other ROC alumni, and everyone else for responding to my messages and putting up with my mad search.
~~~
What is this?!
Questors Bold and the Emperor’s Decree were a series of writing contests hosted by the Redwall fan website Terrouge circa 2001-2010.
Throughout the 2000s, starting with the ‘Redwall Online Community: Survivor’ contest, writing competitions were hosted by various Redwall fan communities. Early contests were much like typical forum RPs, with short posts interacting in an improvisational way between characters. Later contests evolved into a more strict and co-ordinated format, turning RPs into pass-along stories.
A typical contest format looked something like this:
The contest organiser writes an opening prompt for a story. Potential contestants submit one or more applications to show off a concept for a character (often there would be specific categories, like ‘Male Otter’ or ‘Good Weasel’ or ‘Surly’). Forum members review, discuss, and vote in the top ten applicants, whose identities are kept anonymous. The contestants confer on where to take the story, and begin writing their first story posts. After the first week, with forum members reviewing posts, voting begins to start eliminating contestants. It’s convention, but not rule that the eliminated character be killed off. The top 3 contestants eventually left standing are the winners, and write the story’s ending.
So, each contest is a full-length novel written by several authors, writing from their characters’ perspectives. The story has to develop around the fact that every week, one of the main characters dies (or leaves) by the vote of the readers. It is therefore incumbent on the contestants to write engaging characters that are important to the plot.
~~~
Questors Bold III, IV and V? Aren’t we missing I and II?
Despite my efforts to locate them, QBI and QBII appear to be lost media at this point. I have found the first two weeks of QBI on Archive.org on the Terrouge domain, which itself seems to be an archive from Terrouge’s old host at redwall.vr9.com. QBII’s first week is available on redwallsurvivor.com, but there are only a few posts archived on Archive.org. Should you have any information or complete files for either contest, I would be very interested! As a ‘bonus’ I have included the first two weeks of QBI taken from Archive.org, as well as the character applications and portraits.
Though contestants could be fond of making reference to other contests, they are all standalone stories with no direct connection to each other, and can be enjoyed individually.
~~~
Has this anything to do with the VI?!
Yes! The VI began with Terrouge, and there have been two survivor writing contests based on the VI directly, The Emperor’s Decree (TED1) (2007), and The Emperor’s Decree II (TED2) (2010). I haven’t read either in approximately 14 years, so I could not tell you how much of those stories relate to the VI as we know it today. I have uploaded the weekly PDF files for TED1 and TED2 in a separate file, though TED2 is already available on fanfiction.net, which is probably easier to read post-by-post.
More generally, these contests are a part of the Redwall Online Community, of which the VI is one of the few survivors. I feel it’s important to keep these stories accessible. They represent a lot of effort and talent by their creators, and hold a lot of fond memories for those that participated, whether as readers or contestants.
~~~
Questors Bold III
The Premise: Ten beasts disappear from their regular homes and occupations, summoned by something mysterious and malevolent. This is the story of the ten other beasts in hot pursuit of them, motivated by revenge, curiosity, love, and hatred!
I would describe QBIII as a rough-cut diamond - flawed, but beautiful. It is (by necessity, really!) a very character-driven story, with development, personal stories and relationships as the main focus. I feel like the mystery plot mainly exists to keep the ball rolling, as the intrigues of the antagonists really do have to play second-fiddle. It’s understandable given that every contestant had a strong motivation to make their posts primarily about their characters.
The early weeks can feel a little disjointed, and often the same scene plays out from two or even more perspectives. Also there are some posts in the PDF that seem to be out-of-order with events, which unfortunately I cannot edit.
It is also worth noting that, at least according to an old review by Geo Holms, the first two eliminations in this contest were the results of the contestants having to forfeit due to other life commitments. This is, of course, all done as a hobby!
Having said all that, I adore this story, flaws and all. The characters become eminently engaging and likable, and their deaths become ever more heartbreaking as the story progresses. There’s dark moments, but uplifting ones as well. There’s some great writing, that’s for sure. I want to quote so many of my favourite parts, but I’m avoiding spoilers. The ending made me cry actual tears for fictional talking animals. It’s that good. Or I just cry easily.
Throughout my life, it has always given me a peculiar joy to wander into second-hand book shops (the larger, dimmer and dustier the better), and browse rows of fantasy books all brown-paged and crease-spined, until I find something utterly obscure, catering to incredibly niche interests, that captures my curiosity. If you ever have a similar impulse, and your local book shop is too far for a rainy day, then I heartily recommend reading Questors Bold III!
~~~
Questors Bold IV
I haven’t read Questor’s Bold IV in 14 years, and given that it isn’t complete, It’s fairly low on my re-reading list. My short note on it from an earlier article reads thus:
After an underground collapse during a public execution, ten survivors must travel together to escape an subterranean labyrinth. On the way they face danger on all sides and discover a secret weapon that could decide the war between the woodlander colony of Mikau and the vermin kingdom of Kereval.
The story is reasonably paced and the characters quite diverse. Even the first few to die make a memorable impression. The dynamics between characters can be quite engaging. The plot is fairly simple, but well executed. There are some oddities in the narrative, but otherwise Questor’s Bold IV is a decent read. Unfortunately, it does not have an ending, leaving the fate of the character undetermined.
~~~
Questors Bold V
The Premise: The story of the First War of Redwall Abbey, set after the fall of Kotir. The goodbeasts of Redwall have problems enough with the local vermin, but if tribes of toads, Flitchaye and a mad rook in the attic weren’t enough, a corsair ship sets sail upriver, her crew set on conquest, their slaves desperate to escape!
You absolutely should read Questors Bold V. It feels like by this stage there is a level of ‘polish’ between posts that avoids retreading scenes, and makes this feel much more like one consistent narrative. The writing across the board is excellent, a lot of it could be excerpts from a published novel. I like how the characters interweave their stories without anything feeling forced, and I really enjoy how each character grapples with serious and difficult problems like leadership, revenge, and war.
I have written a little paragraph review for each contestant below, but spoiler warning! This will give away who lived and who died.
Meadowbrook
Meadowbrook has to be my favourite character. A slave that develops Stockholm Syndrome is already a unique premise for a character in the Redwall setting, but it’s Meadowbrook’s development that really fascinates me. It eventually becomes clear that the burnt ottermaid did not ‘switch sides’ and become Cinder, the Dark Woodlander (as opposed to Breeze the Light Woodlander). Meadowbrook would never be content on any side, because it’s in her nature to keep running from situation to situation, and wanting to escape the moment she arrives. She likes to play with fire, and gets metaphorical fire twisted with literal fire quite often. When she fears the corsairs, she clings to big, dangerous Thalon for protection, but the moment the slaves turn on her, and Thalon becomes overbearing, she runs to Ashpaw, the very beast that enslaved her, only for his own uncertainty about her to cause her indecision yet again. She seeks refuge in the flames, and gets burned over and over. Yet when she’s in the arms of the bookish, typical Redwall goodie otter Remy, his warmth is insufficient for her. Meadowbrook isn’t the type of character I can visualise settling down and being happy with a peaceful Abbey life. Perhaps it’s fitting then that her fate is ambiguous, with her last appearance feeling more like a hallucination, and her author’s last post open to interpretation. Personally, I like to think she escaped the Abbey and - what else? Started running again.
Reese
Reese’s development is fantastic. He begins as a comic relief character, the kind of silly thieving bird that you would expect to find in a Redwall B-Plot, while the heroes are off doing more important things. Eventually, he seems to realise that there is only so much mileage he can get out of pretending to be a pompous, high-and-mighty fool. When he drops the act and becomes sincere, thoughtful and frankly honest, my estimation of him rises just as much as it does for the characters around him. His story transforms from being a cowardly failure with an absurd fixation on becoming King of something no matter what, to an intelligent if insecure leader who learns the meanings of courage, leadership, and responsibility. That’s a hell of a turnaround. Also the author’s writing for the Flitchaye is just absurdly lovable. How can you make bloodthirsty cannibals cute and endearing??
Liam Flashstep
Liam comes across as a very well-thought-out subversion of the typical Long Patrol hare. Guilt-ridden, revolted and ashamed by the horror of his first kill, he spirals down darker paths as he tries to block out the realities of battle, and struggles to apply the Patrol’s black-and-white understanding of friend and foe to sympathetic corsairs Dart and Boo, and unpredictable ex-slave Meadowbrook alike. Yet Liam’s worst moments are not the end of his development, and when thrust into a position of leadership, he is all the wiser for restraining the bloodlust and revenge that threatens to tear apart the principles on which Redwall Abbey is founded. When certain Redwall books present us with the pitiless necessity of revenge and no-quarter combat, Liam admirably pulls himself back from the brink.
Ashpaw
Ashpaw walks perhaps the hardest path of all - making a vermin corsair leader besieging Redwall Abbey feel original, interesting, and even sympathetic. He manages this with deft skill, putting it to the reader that perhaps such a character has little choice but to play the villain. Ashpaw’s life was always as a corsair, and the only way to survive that was to rise to the top. He commands ambitious beasts seeking plunder and battle, what else could he give them but the goal of the legendary prize of Redwall Abbey? When vermin are treacherous and woodlanders hate his kind to the death, how else can he respond but to kill and enslave to protect his own? The reasoning is just right, and just flawed enough to be believable. He might be almost fatalistically ruthless in prosecuting the war, but his own desire, his dream that he tells nobody, not even his closest companion, is simply to float in a pond, safe, and at peace. It’s a melancholy thought, as he knows even if he wins, his corsairs and fickle allies are hardly likely to settle down, and he’ll be fighting to keep what he’s stolen the rest of his life. His relationship to Calamity is an intriguing puzzle that explores trust, communication and the way two people can bring out certain qualities in the other.
Thalon
Thalon initially feels so much like the hero of another Redwall story, up to a very definite point where he isn’t. While he presents the image of an innocent fisher and family man thrust into dire circumstances, I am intrigued by how unreliable a narrator he becomes, the first clue being ‘Rasscul’, someone that Thalon never quite catches sight of. Rasscul eggs him on to kill the corsairs, props up his growing delusion of becoming the legendary Ribbajack, and even passes him information and items vital to his success. Yet he is always just a voice or a shadow that one suspects exists only in Thalon’s head. Which leads the reader to start questioning other encounters Thalon has, and what sort of impression the otter actually makes to those around him. Thalon slips from being a symbol of resistance to one of revenge, and ultimately, it seems his bloodthirsty style of leadership leaves few survivors, even amongst those he initially saved. I really enjoyed how Thalon kept me guessing, and fearing what kind of ‘hero’ he might become.
Althen
Althen makes for quite an interesting wildcard to the dynamic of Abbey defenders versus vermin invaders. He is the sole avenger of a canon villain, Queen Tsarmina, as this is set not too long after her death and the fall of her regime, but his motivations remain hidden to both sides until the very end. So, Althen for the majority of the story is never truly himself to others, making all his interactions with the other contestants some degree of insincere. It’s not even clear if any of his aliases are his real name at all. He pulls off such a challenging position admirably, and maintains a wonderful level of tension as to whether his lies and genuinely heroic actions will come tumbling down before his true diabolical plan can be unfurled. It’s kind of tragic really. He could have abandoned his unhappy past as Terrin, and become the Althen persona he had created. Yet consumed by revenge and a tinge of madness, it’s ironic that what seems like victory to him is in fact his defeat.
Izlude
Izlude does an excellent job at playing the unhappy role of a seer with genuine visions, just not the ones that her masters necessarily are interested in. Such a character has to maintain mystique, balance between divulging genuine information or flattering misdirections, and also ultimately be a kingmaker. If Izlude tells someone that she sees them conquering Redwall Abbey, the lie can become the truth, vision or not, if it’s the right conqueror for the job. On top of everything else, she is a monitor lizard, which might as well make her an alien to all the fur-bearing characters around her. I enjoy Izlude’s ambitions and curious obsessions, and how she takes risks in relying on fear and sleight-of-hand to lean into the preconceptions her enemies already have of her. Unfortunately as is the case in writing contests, Izlude’s loose threads do not quite get tied up satisfactorily.
Keero Flicker
Keero reminds me of various ‘one-scene wonder’ kind of vermin characters from the Redwall books. Someone introduced as interesting, with a bit of mystery around them, a unique look or fighting style, and sadly, far too little screen time. I really liked Keero, honestly, he’s good at being a spooky, sneaky menace. He definitely wins the ‘coolest name’ award for this contest. Apart from that though, I did want to see whether he could grow out and away from merely being one of Ashpaw’s henchpersons. I feel like there was potential in exploring someone whose ambitions for his leader outstripped those for himself. I genuinely would have loved to see more than just a Flicker.
…I’m sorry, I had to. XD
I will leave aside writing reviews for Hector and Nadine, as from my understanding both withdrew from the contest early, and we didn't really get to know them.
Meadowbrook has to be my favourite character. A slave that develops Stockholm Syndrome is already a unique premise for a character in the Redwall setting, but it’s Meadowbrook’s development that really fascinates me. It eventually becomes clear that the burnt ottermaid did not ‘switch sides’ and become Cinder, the Dark Woodlander (as opposed to Breeze the Light Woodlander). Meadowbrook would never be content on any side, because it’s in her nature to keep running from situation to situation, and wanting to escape the moment she arrives. She likes to play with fire, and gets metaphorical fire twisted with literal fire quite often. When she fears the corsairs, she clings to big, dangerous Thalon for protection, but the moment the slaves turn on her, and Thalon becomes overbearing, she runs to Ashpaw, the very beast that enslaved her, only for his own uncertainty about her to cause her indecision yet again. She seeks refuge in the flames, and gets burned over and over. Yet when she’s in the arms of the bookish, typical Redwall goodie otter Remy, his warmth is insufficient for her. Meadowbrook isn’t the type of character I can visualise settling down and being happy with a peaceful Abbey life. Perhaps it’s fitting then that her fate is ambiguous, with her last appearance feeling more like a hallucination, and her author’s last post open to interpretation. Personally, I like to think she escaped the Abbey and - what else? Started running again.
Reese
Reese’s development is fantastic. He begins as a comic relief character, the kind of silly thieving bird that you would expect to find in a Redwall B-Plot, while the heroes are off doing more important things. Eventually, he seems to realise that there is only so much mileage he can get out of pretending to be a pompous, high-and-mighty fool. When he drops the act and becomes sincere, thoughtful and frankly honest, my estimation of him rises just as much as it does for the characters around him. His story transforms from being a cowardly failure with an absurd fixation on becoming King of something no matter what, to an intelligent if insecure leader who learns the meanings of courage, leadership, and responsibility. That’s a hell of a turnaround. Also the author’s writing for the Flitchaye is just absurdly lovable. How can you make bloodthirsty cannibals cute and endearing??
Liam Flashstep
Liam comes across as a very well-thought-out subversion of the typical Long Patrol hare. Guilt-ridden, revolted and ashamed by the horror of his first kill, he spirals down darker paths as he tries to block out the realities of battle, and struggles to apply the Patrol’s black-and-white understanding of friend and foe to sympathetic corsairs Dart and Boo, and unpredictable ex-slave Meadowbrook alike. Yet Liam’s worst moments are not the end of his development, and when thrust into a position of leadership, he is all the wiser for restraining the bloodlust and revenge that threatens to tear apart the principles on which Redwall Abbey is founded. When certain Redwall books present us with the pitiless necessity of revenge and no-quarter combat, Liam admirably pulls himself back from the brink.
Ashpaw
Ashpaw walks perhaps the hardest path of all - making a vermin corsair leader besieging Redwall Abbey feel original, interesting, and even sympathetic. He manages this with deft skill, putting it to the reader that perhaps such a character has little choice but to play the villain. Ashpaw’s life was always as a corsair, and the only way to survive that was to rise to the top. He commands ambitious beasts seeking plunder and battle, what else could he give them but the goal of the legendary prize of Redwall Abbey? When vermin are treacherous and woodlanders hate his kind to the death, how else can he respond but to kill and enslave to protect his own? The reasoning is just right, and just flawed enough to be believable. He might be almost fatalistically ruthless in prosecuting the war, but his own desire, his dream that he tells nobody, not even his closest companion, is simply to float in a pond, safe, and at peace. It’s a melancholy thought, as he knows even if he wins, his corsairs and fickle allies are hardly likely to settle down, and he’ll be fighting to keep what he’s stolen the rest of his life. His relationship to Calamity is an intriguing puzzle that explores trust, communication and the way two people can bring out certain qualities in the other.
Thalon
Thalon initially feels so much like the hero of another Redwall story, up to a very definite point where he isn’t. While he presents the image of an innocent fisher and family man thrust into dire circumstances, I am intrigued by how unreliable a narrator he becomes, the first clue being ‘Rasscul’, someone that Thalon never quite catches sight of. Rasscul eggs him on to kill the corsairs, props up his growing delusion of becoming the legendary Ribbajack, and even passes him information and items vital to his success. Yet he is always just a voice or a shadow that one suspects exists only in Thalon’s head. Which leads the reader to start questioning other encounters Thalon has, and what sort of impression the otter actually makes to those around him. Thalon slips from being a symbol of resistance to one of revenge, and ultimately, it seems his bloodthirsty style of leadership leaves few survivors, even amongst those he initially saved. I really enjoyed how Thalon kept me guessing, and fearing what kind of ‘hero’ he might become.
Althen
Althen makes for quite an interesting wildcard to the dynamic of Abbey defenders versus vermin invaders. He is the sole avenger of a canon villain, Queen Tsarmina, as this is set not too long after her death and the fall of her regime, but his motivations remain hidden to both sides until the very end. So, Althen for the majority of the story is never truly himself to others, making all his interactions with the other contestants some degree of insincere. It’s not even clear if any of his aliases are his real name at all. He pulls off such a challenging position admirably, and maintains a wonderful level of tension as to whether his lies and genuinely heroic actions will come tumbling down before his true diabolical plan can be unfurled. It’s kind of tragic really. He could have abandoned his unhappy past as Terrin, and become the Althen persona he had created. Yet consumed by revenge and a tinge of madness, it’s ironic that what seems like victory to him is in fact his defeat.
Izlude
Izlude does an excellent job at playing the unhappy role of a seer with genuine visions, just not the ones that her masters necessarily are interested in. Such a character has to maintain mystique, balance between divulging genuine information or flattering misdirections, and also ultimately be a kingmaker. If Izlude tells someone that she sees them conquering Redwall Abbey, the lie can become the truth, vision or not, if it’s the right conqueror for the job. On top of everything else, she is a monitor lizard, which might as well make her an alien to all the fur-bearing characters around her. I enjoy Izlude’s ambitions and curious obsessions, and how she takes risks in relying on fear and sleight-of-hand to lean into the preconceptions her enemies already have of her. Unfortunately as is the case in writing contests, Izlude’s loose threads do not quite get tied up satisfactorily.
Keero Flicker
Keero reminds me of various ‘one-scene wonder’ kind of vermin characters from the Redwall books. Someone introduced as interesting, with a bit of mystery around them, a unique look or fighting style, and sadly, far too little screen time. I really liked Keero, honestly, he’s good at being a spooky, sneaky menace. He definitely wins the ‘coolest name’ award for this contest. Apart from that though, I did want to see whether he could grow out and away from merely being one of Ashpaw’s henchpersons. I feel like there was potential in exploring someone whose ambitions for his leader outstripped those for himself. I genuinely would have loved to see more than just a Flicker.
…I’m sorry, I had to. XD
I will leave aside writing reviews for Hector and Nadine, as from my understanding both withdrew from the contest early, and we didn't really get to know them.
~~~
The Emperor’s Decree I and II
I haven’t read either of these in 14 years either, and my notes suggest to me I was burned out on contests after reading way too many of them at once. Definitely a priority for me to read these soon, given their connection to the VI!
~~~
I will update this post should I get ahold of any more files, and hopefully give QBV and the two TEDs more extended write-ups when I can finish reading them all. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy these classics!
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