lostmousemaid

[lostmousemaid]

i look like this

are we good

[lostmousemaid]

Redwall Abbey

[lostmousemaid]

"Redwall: Descent Into The Mushroom Forest"

Broadpaw and Treadfast didn't want to cross the fungi forest, but the alternative was backtracking nearly forty miles. Their kidnapped friends couldn't wait - they would have to push on after the weasels.

[lostmousemaid]

"Redwall Feast"

Abbot Dycus leads the weary warrior mouse and his badger companion down to the Cavern Hole, where luck has it the springtide feast is currently being prepared.

Raising his mug of dandelion ale, Samhern Mouse calls out, "Three cheers for the returning heroes!"

[lostmousemaid]

A couple prototype minifigures from the upcoming Rocky Mountain Minifigs woodland creatures 6-figure initial release.

Planned figures:

Dark Tan Abbey Mouse with Sword

Orange Abbey Mouse with Sling

Long Patrol Hare Officer with Spear

Long Patrol Hare Soldier with Spear

Corsair Rat with Cutlass

Vermin Wildcat Sage with Staff

[lostmousemaid]

Redwall: A Visitor To Loamhedge

[lostmousemaid]

I love this conversation and I'm so glad you've brought it up. I feel for you on this analysis. I used to feel the same; it just felt like something was missing at first. Martin is the hero and deserves the wife and babies.

At least, that's how it felt then. Now, I can honestly say the life of Martin--all tragedies included--is one of my favorite things about the series.

So much of human experience deals with children, desire for children, societal expectations for children--and I get it, the species has the survive somehow, and it's pushed by more than sex drive.

However, that same human experience is so much more nuanced than biology. The legacy of children is a beautiful one for sure, but beyond a few generations the actions, impact, and connection of a mortal parent is lost. Martin's legacy is even stronger: he's a spiritual father to everyone who lived in his Abbey, for untold generations.

And this is where we come back again to Brian's religious influence: Martin is absolutely a Christ figure, and is intended to take on that "heavenly father" role. (This is a whole other topic--to be clear now, I love this type of character despite not being religious myself.)

His life is filled with burden and loss and death and although he lost a traditional life, he gained an eternity seated in honor in his sandstone home. I don't feel Martin has lost anything by being a mentor. In the end, I think the most powerful role parents play are as mentors as well.

I could wax lyrical forever, but I'll wrap up:

Another one of my favorite things about Redwall is the emphasis on found family. The communities we build around ourselves who love, support, and nurture us--whether we have a biological family or not. There is something absolutely magical about found families, because what isn't magical about someone loving you to the core of your being even though they weren't bound by blood or sexual desire? It's so wonderful.

In sum, Martin has a family: he found them, and they found him, and they love him unconditionally as he does in return. His natural habitat is community, he's welcome into many homes, he arrived just in time to save and nurture a nation, and he was solidified as a hero and honorary father until the end of Redwall's days.

No one could ask for a better legacy.

I remember the thing that most struck me in Redwall as a kid was that I expected Martin to have a wife and kids. He’s the spiritual father of the abbey with Germaine as its mother, he’s a mentor/father figure to the various orphan protagonists even if he is a ghost. The ultimate unattainable dad.

But, hopping back to Mossflower, he’s a virginal hero-knight, kindly but aloof compared to the more involved Gonff. Back further to Martin the Warrior, his relationship with Rose is beyond kids’-book chaste. I can’t even remember if it’s canonically a romance or just by implication.

Some of that may be the Christian influence, Martin as Galahad or a Christ-figure, unsullied by earthly desires. Kid me remembered it more as an abortion or stunting of his role in the story. He’s the hero. He’s supposed to win the day, get the girl, settle down, have a brood. Instead, Jacques takes care to show him as a person missing something. He’s incomplete.

From the earliest point in his chronology, he’s lost away from home. We never see him in his natural habitat. He loses the girl who was supposed to be his great love. He can’t even have Timballisto, who seems like one bright spot and then gets gently referred to in the past tense in Legend of Luke. Martin’s defining characteristic is that he’s an outsider, he’s too late, he’s stopped short, he’s unable to achieve his destiny as the hero, he has to instead become the mentor

[lostmousemaid]

I've noticed that I really enjoy this aesthetic.

[lostmousemaid]

Absolutely obsessed with these! 🤍 I don't know if I will find the courage to get one tattooed but if I do that second one calls to me quite strongly! 😆

Commissions for @lostmousemaid

She liked one of my Inktober sketches and wanted something similar as a possible tattoo design.

She’s still not sure if she’ll get one, but I liked working on these all the same.

Art © me.

= = =

Commission guidelines and prices: https://www.furaffinity.net/commissions/alexjohnson93/

Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/alexanderjohnson

[lostmousemaid]

Commission for @OwlsCantRead of his friend's old Redwall character.

It's sort of a surprise, so I won't reveal who exactly he is here.

Anyway, I had fun with this one.

Art © me.

Character © his respective owner.

= = =

Commission guidelines and prices: https://www.furaffinity.net/commissions/alexjohnson93/

Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/alexanderjohnson

[lostmousemaid]

A sketch I'm unlikely to finish.

[lostmousemaid]

Lol that's exactly what I did to Matti, minus the awesome artwork 😄

Slowly removing him from the original context of the story and projecting myself onto him until he’s a completely different character :3

[lostmousemaid]

[lostmousemaid]

[lostmousemaid]

[lostmousemaid]

this is especially true for villain lovers

[lostmousemaid]