Oh man, this book creeped me out. I don't think I was quite as invested in the series as you were, emotionally speaking, so I didn't find it quite as scarring, but there was definitely a bug-eyed moment of "Wait, THAT'S the takeaway you want for your readers? Some species are just evil?"
I thought surely it would walk it back at the end, at least a little bit, but then there's that scene where Bryony who has been Veil's champion and also the moral center of the book is like "Well I guess he was just born bad" and we're clearly supposed to think that she's Seen the Light.
It's especially weird because IIRC there are a few good cats in other books - Gingivere in Mossflower, I think? - so clearly some species are capable of moral choice/complexity in the world of Redwall. Just not ferrets, apparently.
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I thought surely it would walk it back at the end, at least a little bit, but then there's that scene where Bryony who has been Veil's champion and also the moral center of the book is like "Well I guess he was just born bad" and we're clearly supposed to think that she's Seen the Light.
It's especially weird because IIRC there are a few good cats in other books - Gingivere in Mossflower, I think? - so clearly some species are capable of moral choice/complexity in the world of Redwall. Just not ferrets, apparently.