Slagar the Cruel

Gender: male

Species: fox

Appears In: Redwall and Mattimeo

Mentioned In: Pearls of Lutra and The Taggerung




Slagar - real name Chickenhound - is a very evil resident of Mossflower who wields metal-tipped bolas. He is the son of Sela and, in his youth, lives with her in an unnamed fox band. They are hired by an injured Cluny to heal his wounds, though they are actually double-dealers and attempt to give his battle plans to the Redwallers. The Scourge eventually finds out and orders them to be executed, however while Sela dies Chickenhound does not and is taken in by the Abbey inhabitants. He tells them about Cluny's plan of digging into the grounds but Constance and Jess are suspicious of his actions, though Mortimer allows him to stay for a while. During a scuffle with the vermin horde he starts to steal some goods and flees from Hugo after running into him only to meet Methuselah who tries to stop him, but the young fox accidentally kills him when he strikes the ancient mouse harder than intended on the head with his bag. He flees into Mossflower where he hides from a pursuing Constance, hiding under a tree until she leaves, however he is stalked and bitten on the face by Asmodeus who then drags him back to the Quarry. He escapes into Mossflower where he uses the healing knowledge passed down from his mother but the adder's venom causes the right side of his face to become horribly disfigured, revealing loosely-hanging black and purple furless skin. He obtains a silken harlequin-coloured mask to wear over his face, renames himself Slagar, and becomes hellbent on exacting revenge on the Redwallers as he blames them for both Sela's death and his injuries (he mostly blames Matthias because the young mouse slew Asmodeus and he wanted to do it). At one point in time he meets Malkariss and is promised the land above if he can bring young woodlander slaves to the underground kingdom, so he gets together a band of vermin slavers and does just this. He has a nasty habit of either killing any remaining gang members or deserting them before delivering the slaves to Malkariss and taking all the credit, and while it is unknown how many times this happens it is mentioned that it occurs over many seasons. Slagar eventually decides to get his revenge on the Redwallers and has his band put on a "performance" during a feast at the Abbey, having been allowed access by Matthias after he has them pose as a harmless traveling circus. He secretly drugs all their drinks and kidnaps the youngsters, including Mattimeo who is specifically targeted considering he is Matthias's son. He quickly leads the group south as he knows the woodlanders will pursue him, and he attempts several times to stop them. Not long into the trek he reveals his true identity to Mattimeo, who argues that the masked fox brought his injuries upon himself, and during the journey he secretly grows fearful of the maturing young mouse. Upon arriving at the realm he is finally given his rat army and the promised land. While leaving he runs into Matthias's group who have survived all his previous attempts to kill them, and he flees so that his soldiers can fight. Some time later he sneaks up on Matthias who is looking at stone carvings, trapping the mouse Warrior with his bolas and planning on killing him but being forced to flee by some rescued slaves. He escapes the final battle and starts thinking about how he will conquer both the land above and below the kingdom, kills Vitch who tries to desert, and is pursued by a vengeful Matthias and Orlando. The masked fox accidentally steps on a sealed hole which is actually Loamhedge's ancient well and ends up falling to his death. In Pearls of Lutra Rollo mentions that Slagar used Saint Ninian's Church as his headquarters, and in The Taggerung Sawney names him as one of the villains who had been defeated and slain by the Redwallers. Slagar is the only baddie to appear in two novels.


Slagar's Aliases
Chickenhound
Mousedeath
Slagar the Cruel (main one)
Slagar the Fox
Slagar the Slaver
The Cruel One
The Sly One
The Lord of Double-Dealing
The Pitiless One
Lunar Stellaris
Lunar Stellaris Fortuna Mandala (alternate name for Lunar Stellaris)
Stellar Lunaris (alternate name for Lunar Stellaris)
Lord of Moon and Stars (alternate name for Lunar Stellaris)
Lord of Mountebanks (alternate name for Lunar Stellaris)
Lord of Light and Dark (alternate name for Lunar Stellaris)
Master of Life and Death (alternate name for Lunar Stellaris)
Lord of Shadows (alternate name for Lunar Stellaris)