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Malkariss is an anthropomorphic polecat and a major antagonist and overarching antagonist of the Redwall series book, Mattimeo, as well as the second season of the Redwall TV series.
Biography[]
Malkariss was the ultimate ruler of an underground kingdom named after himself. A ruthless tyrant, he enjoyed the suffering of others, and only cared for his own good. He was old and deformed, but lived in a huge limestone statue carved in his likeness, issuing orders to his second-in-command, Nadaz, the leader of a cult-like army of robed rats. Malkariss used slaves to build his kingdom; child slaves kidnapped from their homes. In order to keep his supply of slaves at high numbers (as many of them died from abuse), he hired slavers to continually capture more for him, promising them power and/or land in his kingdom. The most famous of these slavers was Slagar the Cruel, who accepted the job in order to enact his own personal vendettas.
While talking from a giant statue built by the slaves, he is directly interacted with by his servant Nadaz and a group of black-robed rats who arrive to his statue chanting before Malkariss orders him to speak to tell him his kingdom is ready. Nadaz, however, tells him the rocks will not haul themselves as four more children have died as of late since children have usually died from the conditions of the slavery and that they need more young woodland creatures who can labor for many seasons. Malkariss then asks if there are no more new captives lying in his cells to which Nadaz responds by telling him they've stood empty for a long time before Malkariss asks if there are any longtails that have passed that way to which Nadaz says that none have. As such, Malkariss tells him to carry on with that they have and work harder before ordering him to tell Stonefleck to watch for Slagar since he's been gone for 2 seasons. After Nadaz leaves to obey, cries of young woodland slaves imprisoned there come out as Malkariss sighs in awe at his kingdom.
Much, much later, Malkariss makes his next interaction again when Slagar comes in with Vitch, guided by Nadaz to his statue, with the children he has captured for slavery as Nadaz reveals that Slagar has returned with many young and strong creatures to work for him. Malkariss notices Vitch and asks who he is. Slagar tells Nadaz whisperingly that he is a gift to serve in the ranks of the Host, though Malkariss orders him to be chained with the slaves instead since he is not born to the Host, which Slagar allows despite Vitch's pleas. Malkariss then orders the new slaves to be kept in darkness without food until he decides they are fit to work since they have known freedom in the woodlands before telling Nadaz to ask Slagar what he wants. After Slagar converses with Nadaz who tells him that he says to remind him of the promise he gave after the last slave workers that he'd give all the land above ground to him so that he could serve his interests and be his voice above ground to which Malkariss orders him to tell Slagar to be patient awhile as he is to be taken to a chamber down below and be shown the work done to complete his kingdom and that he will watch him for a time before he makes up his mind where he will then send for him. Slagar is mad about this, though Nadaz still carries out this order anyway where Slagar watches the hard labor enforced onto the slaves to build it.
Nadaz then takes the recent children Slagar has brought, Mattimeo and his friends, to Malkariss as they observe the slavery within the kingdom involving scores of young creatures: squirrels, otters, hedgehogs, and mice alike with them being forced to haul huge blocks of stone on towropes while being whipped, lifting stone blocks into position with pulleys and tackles, laying mortar and limestone cement in the gaps that were to receive the stones, etc. and sometimes witness a young creature crying out and falling over exhausted to be beaten by the rats until they either got up or lay permanently still, showing horror of it. When they were brought before the statue, they were forced to bow their heads as Nadaz speaks to Malkariss, asking him what he wants to do with them to which Malkariss tells that now that they've looked upon kis kingdom, they will have the honour of building it for him. One of the children, Tess, however, declares that while they can chain her next to anyone, she will not build an underground kindgom for a statue. As punishment, Malkariss orders all of them to be taken back and locked away without light, food, or water, declaring that they're not ready to serve him yet with Nadaz doing just that.
A bit later, Malkariss has Nadaz bring Slagar before his statue, having made his decision, and tells him to tell Slagar that he is to be given fourscore rats and left to carry out his commands in the territory above his kingdom and that it he plays him false, he will be slain though if he remains loyal to his bidding for some time, he will increase his command by ten times and set his slaves to build him a stone fortress above ground for him to rule all the territory from the cliffs to the south hitherlands much to Slagar's delight as Nadaz takes him away. All of a sudden, however, Matthias and his friends came in to rescue the children and proceed to fight the servants as Nadaz and Slagar run to the statue with Nadaz alerting Malkariss of their presence. Angered at this, Malkaris condemns Slagar, telling him that he will deal with him later before ordering Nadaz to tell his fighters to surround the statue and to throw the whole weight of his host against the intruders. Nadaz carries out this command and a large battle ensues between the woodlanders and Nadaz' massive forces, a battle that would mostly reign victorious on the woodlanders' end albeit with some losing their lives.
After a bit, the horde would tie up a large basket to the end of a rope and let it over the side of the ledge (which is what Malkariss was in to hide his true form the whole time) before Matthias then directly challenges Nadaz himself to single combat and then tells him to send any beast out when he doesn't respond to which Nadaz then has the rats unleash a hugerodent, somewhere between a ferret and a stoat (as explained in the novel), looking like a primeval throwback with no ears or neck. Matthias and the enigmatic beast then engage in an intense battle while in the meantime, Mattimeo and the others are freed by the shrews lead by a dying Log-a-Log who then promotes one of them as the new leader before passing away as they all mourn his death. At first, the beast has the upper hand over Matthias, though Matthias would be able to turn the tables on it albeit temporarily as he gets tossed over the ledge by the beast where he hangs onto the rope used to send the basket over which the beast cuts as Orlando unsuccessfully tries to stop it albeit managing to kill the beast as Matthias falls into the chasm with the woodlanders' battle continuing against the rat horde.
Matthias then falls onto the basket which helps him survive the fall though he drops his sword as the creature within gets out, revealing himself to be Malkariss in his true form, a frail helpless old pole cat. Malkariss then picks up Matthias' sword and attempts to kill him with it as he lies on the ground since he looked at him and has seen his true form, saying "You have looked upon Malkariss. You must die" only for the children he's enslaved, who have been freed and rallied by Mattimeo and the others, to save Matthias by throwing a lot of big rocks at him to the point of burying him beneath a growing mound of rocks, karmically stoning him to death for all the children he's enslaved and to put an end to his tyrannical reign once and for all, having officially freed themselves. Matthias would then free them from their chains and they would all assist in the battle against Nadaz' horde of rats, managing to reign victorious before the whole kingdom gets brought down by the destruction of the statue as everyone manages to escape, putting an end to the activities beneath the Underground once and for all.
External Links[]
- Malkariss on the Redwall Wiki
- Malkariss on the Pure Evil Wiki
