Basil Stag Hare

Gender: male

Species: hare

Appears In: Redwall, The Great Redwall Feast, The Redwall Cookbook, and Mattimeo

Mentioned In: Pearls of Lutra




Basil is a tall resident of Mossflower whose middle names comes from his idolization of stags. He is the uncle or relative of Tummscoff, adoptive father of Cheek, a former member of the Fur and Foot Fighting Patrol as well as the 47th Hare Border Rangers, and a previous Officer Cook in the 67th Paw an' Mouth Long Patrol under Puffscutt. He has a massive appetite, can easily camouflage into his surroundings, sneezes when around the herb thyme, and saves Snow from a fallen tree; the grateful owl gives him a medal as thanks. He lives by himself in the woodlands until he meets Matthias and moves to Redwall, and he works with Jess to retrieve Martin's stolen tapestry from Cluny. Some seasons after participating in the final battle against the Scourge's horde, he joins Matthias on the quest to rescue the kidnapped youngsters. Not long into the journey they meet Cheek, and while he is initially annoyed by the young otter he soon grows quite fond of him (as a result he adopts Cheek, who changes his name to "Cheek Stag Otter"). He plays a big role in the Battle of Malkariss and later returns to Redwall where he stays until his death from presumably old age. He is succeeded by Clecky.