| “ | See the stars, see the Moon, penned around by blackest night. See the diamonds, red and purple, silk and fire and blood and light. See them turning, ever turning, like great mandala wheel. Spinning as the fire is burning... What is false, and what is real? | „ |
| ~ Slagar's infamous, mystical and mesmerising quote by which he puts all of Redwall's inhabitants under his spell for one night. |
Slagar the Cruel (real name: Chickenhound) is an anthropomorphic fox and despite being only a minor character in Redwall, became the main villain of the Redwall book entitled Mattimeo as well as the second season of the TV series.
In the Redwall TV series, Slagar was voiced by Tim Curry, who also portrayed the villains Pennywise and Dr. Frank-N-Furter.
History
Slagar was originally named Chickenhound, and, along with his healer mother Sela, made a pact with Cluny the Scourge. However, they proved disloyal and were executed by Cluny's rats. Sela was slain, but Chickenhound barely survived and crawled to Redwall Abbey, where they took him in and cared for him. In return, he stole a sack full of trinkets and artifacts from the Abbey, but before he could escape he was confronted by Brother Methuselah. Chickenhound killed the old mouse with the heavy sack, and fled into the woods. He evaded Constance the badger, who chased after him in a fury, but while hiding under a large tree stump he was ambushed and bitten in the face by the giant adder, Asmodeus Poisonteeth. Chickenhound miraculously survived the deadly bite with his knowledge of healing, but his face and mind were forever deformed and twisted from the venom.
Renaming himself Slagar the Cruel, he gathered a band of weasels, stoats, and ferrets and tricked his way into Redwall Abbey in order to exact his "revenge" upon the warrior mouse Matthias, whom he held responsible for his disfigurement. Slagar captured Matthias's son as well as some other young creatures to be sold as slaves to the underground kingdom of the polecat Malkariss.
Matthias and his fellow animals followed Slagar, reached the underground kingdom, saved the children, defeated the rat army and killed Malkariss, but Slagar managed to get out alive. When the band of woodlanders were ready to go back to Redwall, a rat named Vitch, who had been a part of Slagar's gang started to run off. Slagar seized his chance and killed Vitch with his bolas. This alerted Matthias and Orlando the axe to his presence and they chased after him. Seeing them coming, Slagar ran, but while running away from his pursuers, the masked fox accidentally ran directly into an ancient Loamhedge well and fell to his death into it. In the series, Slagar makes one last attempt to kill Orlando and Matthias by hurling a boulder at them; the two destroy the boulder, and the resulting spray causes Slagar to tumble into the well.
Personality
Despite his semi-insanity caused by the adder venom, Slagar was extremely intelligent and manipulative, constantly fooling his enemies and betraying his allies. He was pitiless and unspeakably cruel (as his name implies), and was an expert with a bolas. However, despite being cruel, he was nothing more than a coward. Running away from fights and letting his cohorts do his dirty work.
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Trivia
Slagar is the only Redwall villain to appear in more than one book.
Links
- Read more about Slagar at the Redwall Wiki.