Mokkan

**Mokkan** is the main antagonist of *Marlfox*, the eleventh book within the *Redwall* novel series. He is the Marlfox brother of Ascrod, Gelltor, Varran, Ziral, and Lantur, the first four of whom he betrays and leaves to be killed by the Redwallers while leaving Mossflower on a boat so that he could become ruler of Castle Marl since they are all in a deathly competition against each other per the norm of Marlfox siblings to kill each other for the throne. Before he does this, he leads an attack on Redwall Abbey that allows two of his siblings to steal their tapestry which Mokkan steals to take back with him to Castle Marl.

## What Makes Him Magnificent?

* He selects an appropriate spot for camp and to hide the boats his siblings stole in a sheltered creek at the streamside.
* After telling Ziral about how they with their siblings as Marlfoxes will need to kill each other so that one could rule Castle Marl, he foils Ziral's attempt at killing him when she tried to swing her axe at him in a scything swipe after making as if to sheathe it beneath her cloak by locking her axblade against his before forcing it to the ground and trapping it beneath his footpaw, continuing to smile at her and acknowledging that she sees what he means.
* He tricks one of Redwall Abbey's Dibbuns, Dwopple, into falling into his and the other Marlfoxes' trap by passing himself off as a kindly creature named Stickabee offering him candyfruit and instructing him to jump off the abbey's walltop onto a cloak he had be held out by several other water rats by the edges and when he does, he has him be captured in the cloak to use him as a hostage.
* While holding Dwopple for ransom, he has two of his Marlfox siblings, Ascrod and Vannan, sneak into Redwall Abbey to steal something from there while engaging in a battle against Redwall Abbey's residents when they came to fight against Mokkan, his siblings, and their large army of water rats to get Dwopple back to serve as a diversion, with Ascrod and Vannan successfully stealing the abbey's tapestry in the aftermath.
* He manipulates his siblings by pretending to support them going to battle against Redwall Abbey under the guise of fulfilling the Marlfox code of blood calls for blood while pretending to limp when in reality he intends to get them disposed of by the Redwallers.
* After overhearing Vannan set a water rat guard named Beelu to spy on Mokkan out of suspicion, when she left with the siblings to march off to Redwall Abbey with their army, he tricks Beelu into taking him for a stroll in the forest while still under the pretense of not being able to walk very well before throttling him to death once they're in the forest and tossing his corpse into the stream.
	+ In a nice touch, Mokkan acts eerily serene while carrying out this act, speaking gently and soothingly to Beelu as he kills him, calmly chiding him for thinking he could outsmart him.
* Upon catching Fenno whom he noticed spy on him after he drank, he destroys all but one logboats his siblings had stolen, saving the last logboat to escape on himself with his water rat guards while using Fenno to steer it under the threat of his life to be able to escape Mossflower and ensure his siblings don't follow him.
* He survives an attack by hostile reptiles and amphibians on the logboat by giving orders to his crew to paddle the boat while paddling himself using a slain rat's oar and fighting a few of them off by smashing a toad over the head with his blade and slaying a toad and a frilled newt with his ax before they manage to escape the situation, set up camp, spread out the precious tapestry on the grass per Mokkan's orders to keep in in perfect condition, and guard them.
* He successfully escapes Mossflower by having two of his water rat guards get into the boat and take it down to the lake while having the rest pick up the tapestry to walk along the bank and meet the boat at the lake's edge, exiting the place after this.
* Upon arriving back to Castle Marl and discovering that Silth had died and Lantur had become ruler, he puts on a charming facade while approaching Lantur, pretending to mourn the death of their mother and congratulate her on becoming queen as his sister before having his water rats open the tapestry and spread it wide and Ullig have his bearers bring forward torches so that every beast on the island can gaze on it and while everyone was distracted doing so, he pushes Lantur into the lake surrounding Castle Marl, getting her killed by the pike while pretending that she merely slipped and fell and that he was trying to save her, successfully fooling everyone (except Ullig and Wilce, though they were in on the scheme albeit forcefully) and becoming the new king of Castle Marl with the tapestry he took being hung on a wall.
* He performs a Pet the Dog moment by rewarding two guards, Toolam and Durrlow, for being faithful and obedient by promoting Durrlow as his personal adviser and Toolam as the commander of his army.
* He shows himself to be fair and honorable to some extent by making a new rule to the slaves of Castle Marl, gladly telling them that if they work hard and well, he'll free them from slavery and promote them to be soldiers in his army while telling the soldiers that if he catches them slacking, he will demote them to slaves.
* When he notices creatures setting the slaves of Castle Marl free and attacking, he quickly thinks up a way to escape by having his guards follow him and slay anyone who tries to stop him, mustering up soldiers to sweep the invaders from his island with the intent to see them when the incident is finished, hurrying along the damp rock passages that ran beneath Castle Marl with him managing to keep unerringly to one passage sure of his destination in spite of the tunnels winding many different ways in mazelike patterns before going through a door, climbing along a tunnel carved into the solid rock, sliding a flat slab, tossing the lantern into the tunnel, and taking off along the boundary where the woodland grew down to meet the rocks.
	+ While he hears a sound while taking off, he moved silently back into the shade of a rowan and became almost one with it using the Marlfox art of camouflage before catching Durrlow who was passing by and dealing him a sharp blow with his ax handle before having him paddle the logboat over to his location.
	+ Despite this plan not working due to Durrlow changing his mind, shoving the boat, and Mokkan getting killed while trying to paddle due to a former slave tossing her chain around his neck and pulling him fast into the lake to be devoured by pike, it's still a well-set up plan.
	+ He even makes his escape attempt with some style by dropping his heavily embroidered cloak of kingship, slunking swiftly down to the main chamber, and donning his old cloak of dull brown and green weave with the text specifying that a transformation came over him and his eyes glowed as he did this, feeling like a proper Marlfox once more, showing that he carried this out in a composed manner too.

## What Makes Him A Baddie?

* He tricks Dwopple into coming to him under the pretense of being a kindly creature named Stickabee who wants to offer him candyfruit and when he does, he kidnaps and captures him to hold him for ransom by threatening to hurt him to the residents of Redwall Abbey should they not give him anything worth of value as ransom.
* He engages in an attack against the Redwall Abbey residents when a good number of them show up to him and his siblings to reveal they brought weapons to battle against them while two of his other siblings sneak into the abbey and steal its tapestry, the attack in the aftermath getting a few killed.
* He throttles a water rat called Beelu his siblings had to spy on him to death while speaking calmly and soothingly to him.
* Upon catching Fenno, he strangles him a bit before asking him if he is good at steering and guiding a logboat, telling him that his life depends on his answer to that question, suggesting he would have killed him if he wasn't.
* He takes Fenno hostage when he tells him he is and tells his water rats to keep their spear on him and to gut him if he moves to use him later as someone who'll steer and guide his logboat.
* He takes the tapestry his siblings stole from Redwall Abbey for himself and leaves his Marlfox siblings to be killed by the residents of Redwall Abbey to avoid getting killed by them in an inevitable fight to the death between them on a logboat he forced Fenno to steer while having his neck pulled to one side by the short thong to ensure that he steers it properly as if the boat sinks, so does he.
* After stopping the boat at land at dusk and setting up a camp, when he overhears Fenno trying to rally the water rats against him, he shows up behind him and beats him severely several times as punishment.
* He shows no remorse over the deaths of the few rats who were killed by the hostile creatures they encountered as the logboat was steered while slaying a toad and a frilled newt with his axe.
* He had planned on killing Fenno had he not been kidnapped by the creatures.
* When one of the few rats he was with refuses to sail the boat to Castle Marl out of fear of the water, Mokkan executes him by beheading him with his axe to coerce another rat to sail him back to Castle Marl as soon as possible.
* Upon arriving back to a funeral hosted for Queen Silth (who had been killed by Lantur), while having everyone else gaze at the tapestry he stole, he killed Lantur by throwing her into the castle's lake to be eaten by pike to become the new ruler of Castle Marl.
* As ruler, he proceeds to demote Ullig and Wilce to roles of slaves due to finding them untrustworthy while promoting Toolam and Durrlow for being trustworthy while making a new rule towards the slaves, telling them he'll promote whoever works hard enough as soldiers and demote whoever he finds slow and lazy to slaves and threatening to toss whoever thinks of playing him false into the lake of pike, planning to continue working them as slaves.
* When the creatures arrive at the island to take back the tapestry, he attempts to escape the island while telling his guards to follow him and slay anyone who tries to stop him as he makes his way to his boat only to be caught by the chains of a slave that throws them at him and tosses him into the lake to be devoured by pike.

## Trivia

* He, Bane, and Ferahgo the Assassin are the only characters from the *Redwall* book franchise to count as Magnificent Baddies.

## External Links

* Mokkan on the *Redwall* Wiki
* Mokkan on the Villains Wiki
* Mokkan on the Villainous Benchmark Wiki