Cluny the Scourge

Gender: male

Species: bilge rat

Appears In: Redwall

Mentioned In: Pearls of Lutra and The Taggerung




Cluny is the very large black-furred leader of a vermin army and possibly originates from the far southern jungles. One eye is covered by a patch as he lost it in a battle with a pike (whom he kills), and wears a batwing cloak secured at his throat by a mole skull, along with a war helmet with blackbird feathers and stag beetle horns. He is perhaps most famous for his very long tail which he uses as a whip (a "scourge" is a whip-like weapon, hence his nickname), and during battle he places a poison spike on the tip. He is intelligent, agile, extremely arrogant, physically quite strong, possesses a fiery temper, does not hesitate to kill his own soldiers, and is one of the only warlords to conquer Redwall (albeit briefly). His horde consists of mostly rats as he views them superior to other vermin, and leaves a trail of complete destruction as he arrives in Mossflower and moves swiftly south across the land. As his ultimate goal is to rule Redwall, he uses Saint Ninian's Church as his headquarters and launches a full-scale war against the inhabitants and attempts to lower their morale by having Shadow sneak inside and steal Martin's tapestry. While the plan is successful he constantly suffers from terrifying nightmares in which the armoured mouse haunts him, and the tapestry is eventually taken back by Basil and Jess. His various plots to gain access into the Abbey grounds include a battering ram, tunnel, bargaining, and huge siege tower. At one point he suffers injuries after falling out of a tree and hires Sela to heal him, though the vixen and her son Chickenhound (later Slagar) are actually double-dealers and give important information to Mortimer. Cluny is aware of this from the start and orders his soldiers to kill them, however Chickenhound survives. He later starts to lose confidence and backs away from the horde, leaving a few Captains in charge and claiming that a deceased Cheesethief had been planning a mutiny against him. Towards the final battle he captures Plumpen's family and forces the dormouse to betray the Redwallers by opening the gates, and he immediately enslaves the woodlanders inside their own home. He fatally wounds Mortimer with his tail barb before being confronted by a fully-armoured Matthias wielding Martin's sword, and the final battle erupts. Mouse and rat duel each other across the Lawn before reaching the Bell Tower, with Cluny being far stronger and more experienced. Despite this he cannot defeat the Warrior and briefly snatches up a hiding Hugo, threatening to kill him unless his foe comes down from the top of the tower. Matthias convinces Cluny to let the Friar go as he will "come down", but before the evil Scourge can realize what is happening he is crushed to death by the Joseph Bell which has been cut from its ropes by Matthias's sword. In The Taggerung, he is mentioned by Sawney as being one of the warlords who was defeated by the Redwallers. Cluny is considered to be one of Mr. Jacques' most iconic baddies.