Mossflower

Mossflower (1988) is a children’s fantasy novel by British author Brian Jacques. It is the second book in the Redwall series, which spans 22 volumes. The series begins with Redwall, originally published in 1986, while the final installment, entitled The Rogue Crew, wasn’t published until 2011. Aside from the Redwall series proper, Jacques wrote a three-book series called Tribes of Redwall and five other standalone novels set in the Redwall fictional universe. He is also known for the Castaways of the Flying Dutchman Series. An animated series based on the Redwall series was developed in Canada and aired between 1999 and 2002 on American public broadcasting stations. In 2021, Netflix announced plans to create a feature film of the Redwall series, but the project is currently still in development. The first book in the series, Redwall, is available on SuperSummary.

Mossflower is a prequel to events described in the first book in the series. It is intended for children aged nine and above in fifth-ninth grade. It is categorized as Children’s Mice & Small Animal Stories and Children’s Fantasy & Magic Adventure Fiction. This study guide and all its page citations are based on the Kindle edition of the novel.

The book is set in a medieval English countryside populated entirely by non-human creatures. The fortress of Kotir is constructed to the scale of the animals who inhabit it. The action begins during the winter season in an unspecified year and concludes during the summer of the same year. The story is told using an omniscient third-person narrative technique. Events are described primarily from the perspective of Martin, the mouse warrior, and Tsarmina, the wildcat queen, though multiple minor characters also disclose their thoughts and experiences.

The story begins with a wandering mouse warrior named Martin who runs afoul of a wildcat warlord for carrying a weapon in the warlord’s realm. Martin is imprisoned, and the wildcat’s daughter Tsarmina snaps his sword in half. Martin vows one day to kill her for this insult. In prison, Martin makes the acquaintance of another mouse named Gonff, a master thief. Through Gonff, Martin becomes allied with the woodlanders of Mossflower Woods, who are being threatened by the army in Kotir. Led by a badger named Bella, the woodlanders soon free Martin and Gonff. As a group, they try to resist the attempts of Tsarmina to enslave the local population. As Martin and his friends battle and eventually triumph over the evil forces at Kotir, the novel examines the themes of how Greed Leads to Tyranny, how Generosity Builds Cooperation, and The Making of a Hero.

Plot Summary

The novel opens on a snowy winter night as a mouse warrior named Martin treks through a foreign realm seeking shelter. He is soon apprehended by soldiers and taken to a stronghold called Kotir, ruled by a wildcat warlord named Verdauga, along with his daughter Tsarmina and son Gingivere. Martin is informed that it is illegal for anyone to carry weapons in the realm, and Martin’s rusty sword is confiscated. Tsarmina advises killing Martin as a warning to others, while Gingivere counsels mercy. Verdauga spares Martin’s life but orders him locked in the dungeon for a short period before being freed. Tsarmina snaps Martin’s sword in half, and he warns that he will kill her someday for doing so. Tsarmina then hangs the hilt around Martin’s neck as a memento.

Shortly afterward, Tsarmina has her father poisoned and assumes control of Kotir by pinning the blame for the murder on Gingivere and throwing him in prison. She wishes to exploit the local farmers to make them grow crops to feed her army. When most flee to Mossflower Woods for sanctuary, Tsarmina vows to conquer the woodlanders and enslave them.

Martin joins forces with the woodlanders, who have formed a resistance group. They call themselves the Corim—Council of Resistance in Mossflower. Everyone has taken shelter in an immense underground burrow called Brockhall that belongs to a badger named Bella. She and a wise abbess named Germaine lead the resistance, which manages to thwart Tsarmina’s plans for domination at every turn.

Bella sends Martin and his two friends on a quest to a distant land called Salamandastron, where Bella’s father disappeared years earlier. She hopes Martin can persuade her father, Boar, to return and lead the woodlander army to victory. Instead, Boar reforges Martin’s sword and sends the mouse back in his place to help free the woodlanders. Under Bella’s leadership, the group finds a way to flood the entire fortress of Kotir. The woodlanders vanquish the remaining soldiers and banish them while Martin fights Tsarmina. She accidentally drowns during their struggle, and Martin nearly dies from his battle wounds until Abbess Germaine heals him. Everyone celebrates the liberation of Mossflower Woods, and Germaine draws up plans to build a sanctuary that will one day become Redwall Abbey.