Swartt Sixclaw the Warlord

Gender: male

Species: ferret

Appears In: Outcast of Redwall




Swartt - also known as The Pitiless One - is the tall and sinewy leader of a vermin army who wields several weapons. He is the widower of Bluefen, son-in-law of Bowfleg, father of Veil, has a painted face, fangs dyed red, and wears the teeth and claws of slain enemies around his neck as well as a snakeskin belt. His surname is derived from the fact that he has six claws on his left paw, something he highly values. He is initially a soldier under Bowfleg before leaving to form his own horde, and at one point captures Sunflash. Calling the badger "Scumtripe", he uses him as a personal slave and often rides on his back. One night during the winter his army finds Skarlath trapped in a tree so he has Sunflash tied up beside him, but the badger uses his body heat to melt the ice around the kestrel. An enraged Sunflash then changes into the vermin camp and attacks, permanently paralyzing Swartt's six-clawed paw in the process. After this he wears a metal gauntlet over the limb and vows revenge against the badger. He purses the pair for many seasons but suffers casualties as the two randomly pick off soldiers, and upon realizing he is losing too many he retreats to find Bowfleg. He poisons his former leader and Wurgg, takes command of his army, burns the bodies, slays Greenclaw when the stoat challenges his authority, and has Nightshade claim she has seen a vision about Swartt conquering them. He quickly learns that Bowfleg has a daughter and, according to an unwritten tradition, he must marry her; while he does this he ignores Bluefen and continues to hunt down Sunflash. When the army runs out of food he finds himself dealing with two would-be traitors (Lardtail and Wildag), so he forces the former to feed the latter a dead crow that had been slain. Wildag chokes to death, and Swartt orders that Lardtail be killed by Marbul and Scarback for "murdering" a Captain. The crow that had been killed is Krakulat's mother, and upon finding this one he vows revenge and has his Crow Brethren attack the horde. Swartt is forced to run and eventually ends up at a gorge where he meets Shang who kills the pursuing birds, however he fatally poisons her when she demands half the booty. Not long after he encounters Balefur and, concerned he wants to take over the army, has Nightshade trick him into going to the Quarry to search for treasure; as a result the fox is killed by the resident adders. Swartt eventually ends up in Mossflower where Bluefen dies during childbirth and he becomes a father, though he shows no compassion in either his deceased wife or son and instead hands the latter to an old female rat in the army. He strays closer to Redwall but is distracted by a group of otters and squirrels who send him away from the Abbey, and during the attack his son is abandoned as the old rat is slain. Many seasons later he meets Zigu's group and together they strike an alliance as the other ferret knows that Sunflash is now at Salamandastron. They head here and attack, but while Swartt briefly manages to capture the badger he is forced to retreat by the timely arrival of reinforcements. While fleeing Nightshade spots and kills Skarlath who is spying on them, causing a grieving Sunflash to fatally crush her, and Swartt eventually reaches Bat Mountpit with his soldiers. While here he is reunited with his son Veil, but the two very quickly despise each other and Veil grows hateful of his father. As Swartt is wandering around the mountain's top levels he spots Sunflash facing the other way, so he knocks him unconscious and drags him to the camp where he ties him up between two poles in preparation for slow torture. Before he can do this, Sunflash is freed by Bryony and Swartt throws a javelin at her. Veil steps in front of her, taking the weapon for himself, and Sunflash wakes up. Swartt has no time to think as he is grabbed by the badger and thrown from the top of Bat Mountpit to his death.