Sawney Rath, Chieftain

Gender: male

Species: ferret

Appears In: The Taggerung




Sawney is the older Chieftain of the Juskarath clan who lives with them in northwest Mossflower. He is the son of Zann Juskarath Taggerung, adoptive father of Deyna/Tagg, and sports the tribe tattoos (a black stripe running down the muzzle with crimson dots on either side). He often suffers from stomach cramps and considered to be a vicious murderer, as seen when he throws his knives at unlucky vermin. Like most Juksa vermin he is very superstitious and often advises Grissoul, the clan Seer. He is one of the few vermin leaders to show no interest in attacking Redwall - he almost appears to fear the place, especially the sound of the twin bells ringing - and he tells Grissoul he is well aware of the warlords who have tried and failed. He causes Antigra to swear revenge after he kills her mate and forces her to rename her son after his "foolish father", and after learning of the Taggerung's existence he leads his tribe to a ford where Rillflag is performing an ancient otter ritual with his infant son Deyna. Sawney has Vallug kill the former, he kidnaps the latter, names him Tagg, and permanently cripples Felch's paw when the fox attempts to hurt the babe when he bites him; this causes Felch to ally himself with Antigra. Despite his best intentions to raise Tagg into a bloodthirsty killer, he realizes that the otter is not at all like him. When his adopted son returns to camp with a captured Felch he orders him to kill the fox (who had previously attempted to desert), but Tagg refuses as he says that while the fox is a pitiful creature he will not take the life of a defenseless beast. Sawney grows enraged and starts to pursue him when he flees the camp, however while not far into his hunt the ferret leader is spotted and killed by Antigra whose son Gruven is later named Chiefain.