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Exploring Flichaye — Description
The only thing I patently dislike about the Redwall series is the whole "savages" portrayals... I dunno, they just smack too strongly of old 1900s (and pre-that) materials treating real-life human cultures with the same broad brush, just for having different ways than Whitey McWhiterson the White-as-Sour-Cream explorer/conquistador.

I tend to take a more balanced approach to the various "savage" tribes (particularly those called vermin in the series) in my fanstuffers. XD And knowing of the actual pygmy subspecies of Least Weasel the Flitchaye are based on, I am particularly endeared to them. Plucky little uncommonly brave and strong creatures, nothing like the portrayals in Mariel of Redwall and Legend of Luke. They have unique hidden burrows with trap-door lids, interesting stealth gear that's as near as I can guess was meant to be like gillie suits, and they knock out trespassers and attackers with herbal smoke and drugged darts. They also tend to get slaughtered unrepentantly by "goodbeast" and allies, for being "barbaric" as is often cited. (This despite the fact that many squirrel, vole, and pygmy shrew groups have been shown with similar or even obvious moral shortcomings like slave-taking, murder-mobs and outright treachery, and they tend to not be penalized in this way.) It's... well, it's clear to me that it's a case of in-universe racism and colonialism, but it just bugs me to no end that in all cases of this in the books it's never used to show flaws in the would-be heroes or teach a lesson about prejudice, but is sort of blindly shown to be the rightful way of treating such groups and is just an uncomfortable sub-conflict that gets to be pushed away and not thought on at all as the Big Bad approaches. It's not that there is racism in the series that aggravates me, you see--it's how it is portrayed and dealt with thematically. It exists, and that it exists offers no good lesson nor does it change for the better in any hero characters. It exists, and through the actions of the characters and by how aggressively Pure-as-Driven-Snow they are told to be it is inferred that such treatment of others, such divisions by type, and intolerance of difference is acceptable. Hell, not even just "acceptable" but to be considered "just" and "right" in some cases.

Look, I get being initially suspicious of a rat with obvious pirate crew tattoos and a recently-bloodied weapon, but having all the characters have a "bad feeling" about any member of a select few species, and then having that bad feeling get consistently and constantly proven correct in a 22-book-long series with very little to no variety in motive and the number of exceptions countable on one paw... that's a little oversimple for the author's full talents, methinks. If I could say one thing to the dear departed Brian Jacques, it would be to trust your readers--we don't need good and evil coded out so simply, please just spin your tales and we'll figure out the goodies and the baddies from what you wrote. The price of dumbing-down to try and make things easier for young children to understand is unintentionally including bad messages with the good, which is what I feel happened with the unconscious prejudice, unusual ambivalence and overquick recovery from violence, and fantasy-racism-coming-much-too-close-to-real-life-racism in the series.

Whoof, that was a rant. <w<; I critique Redwall so much because I love it. There's just too much great world and imagery to leave it alone. Enjoy this sketch of carefully creeping pygmy weasels.