Doomwyte - Tumblr Posts
Bisky: I fixed it!
Samolus: What did you fix?
Bisky: Everything!
[loud crash and explosion upstairs]
Bisky: Except that.
Spingo 💯
remember bisky? he’s trans. and spingo? she’s genderfluid. and they’re both polyamorous. because.
Mouse Mummies
Anoxic bogs are most often found in northwestern Europe. What makes these bogs special is their lack of oxygen- thus “anoxic-“ and their content of chemicals called tannins. When living creatures happen to fall into a bog, their tissue is preserved because tannins keep it static and all the little mites that cause decomposition can’t live without oxygen. (Bones, however, are often dissolved if the peat is too acidic.) Not only are bodies preserved, but clothing and trinkets as well. This is how big bodies are made! You might have heard of the Tollund Man or the Yde Girl, both famous examples of European mummies, from Denmark and the Netherlands respectively. These mummies can be preserved for thousands of years.
This is the Tollund Man, probably the most famous bog body
Now, marshes and bogs aren’t exactly the same thing, but for the prevalence of marshland in Mossflower country I’m sure that some of that could be a peat bog.
Slegg, Dirig, Gruntan Kurdly, the victims of the wytes… countless named and unnamed woodlanders have found themselves sinking in the swamp. Countless bodies under the surface.
I recently discussed in this post that “the 22 [Redwall] books cover hundreds and hundreds of seasons, their stories spreading farther than memory can reach.”
That is all to say, imagine what tales are hidden inside Mossflower wood. Imagine what relics of long-gone eras are preserved in the bodies of those who wandered through Mossflower and found themselves an unfortunate end. Imagine (accounting for the fact that not all muggy water is a bog) what the Maudie, Barbowla, and Log-a-Log Luglug were blissfully unaware of when running from the Brownrats. Just one of the thousands of stories Redwall has to tell.
Does anyone actually like Doomwyte
Someone convince me that Doomwyte is good. It’s a lovely book, but I always get stuck halfway through.
(It is a lovely book, though. I would never really dislike a Redwall novel.)
A Photo For Every Book I Read This Year: Doomwyte by Brian Jacques
I love the way that Brian Jacques plays with his characters in his role as author.
I’m reading Doomwyte right now, and I just read the part where Bosie and Tugga Bruster get into an argument in the ditch. Bosie is angry with Tugga for calling him “longears” as an insult, saying “if ye refer tae the Laird o’ Bowlaynee as longears once more, ‘twill be a harsh lesson ye’ll learn.”
Not two paragraphs later, in the next scene, Jacques says “the hungry hare beamed from long ear to long ear.”
Rascal! Scoundrel! It’s such a fun touch, a fun dynamic that he creates with his characters and his writing.
And not to worry, this “longears” point certainly comes up again. Jacques is nothing if not clever.
This line made me smile so big when I read it. That’s what Gonff used to say, and it’s what the Gonfelin are saying countless years later! It’s like a callback to the classic Redwall books which live so rooted in my heart.
Bosie: Would you please help me with this? I’ll owe you. Brother Torilis: You don’t have anything I want. Bosie: No, but I bet there’s a lot of things you want me to stop doing.
Brother Torilis: … Brother Torilis: Touché.
Bisky: Alright, I talked to Brother Torilis. I got the scoop. Bosie: What did he say? Bisky: “Hates you with the power of a thousand suns”. That’s a direct quote.