Henry the Poet
Henry the Poet
Title: Poet
Sex: Male
Occupation: Bard
Organization: Mossflower Defenders
Alignment: Good
Character History
Before Coming out of the Loft
Henry's life before coming to Redwall is mystery. It is know that he comes from the north (despite the fact that black throated sparrows a southern creatures) and that he only lived up north for four seasons before coming to Redwall. Other then that, the Redwallers no information.
His life in the Loft is also unknown, although it is very likely he was disliked by most sparrows.
Life as a Character
After four seasons in Warbeak Loft, Henry visited the abbey itself for the first time. He enjoyed the Abbey life, so he stared to frequent fairly quickly. It was around this time that the villainous squirrel, Quade, started to put his plan in to action. Kidnapping or hospitalizing all who could interfere with his concerning of the Abbey. despite this, Henry's personally was not affected by these events, Until two things happened.
First, with all the chaos that was happening at the abbey, Henry decided to learn healing. He got the Master Healer of Redwall abbey, Leon, to be his teacher.
Second, when Xander became the leader of the Mossfalower Defenders, he offered Henry a chance to join. Which Henry gladly accepted. Because of this Henry brought the sparrows of Redwall -who's leader,king Nutclaw, had gone missing- to help in the battle with the aforementioned Quade. However This lead to...
The Sprra Civil War
The Sparra civil war. An event that will go down in sparra history for, if nothing else, halving what was left of the sparra. And Henry was the one who sparked it.
After the battle with Quade, many of the sparra warriors were wounded and Henry picked up a bit of healing from watching Leon. So, he and a few sparra shaman (shasparra?) try to heal the wounded sparra. It did not work, and the wounded sparrows died. The wounded sparrows made up two fifths of the sparra. One of the sparrows that died was the raining king in all put name,prince Starwing. Keep this in mind.
With so many sparrows killed because of him, Henry thought it would be best if Leon(see Life As A Character) healed the remaining sparrows. A sparrow named Warclaw, and a score of other sparrows, did not want Henry's help. They said that Henry had brought them into the battle with Quade, got there wounded warriors killed, and now he wanted to bring a worm into the Loft? So they come to the logical conclusion that Henry was a spy, Leon was a spy, and that they were trying to take down the sparra. Rational fols these sparrows. Not all the sparrows agreed with Warclaw, however. Most of the sparra thought that the abbey dwellers were friends like they have been for generations. Then the Warclaw sparrows tried to kill Leon and Henry. and so, war.
Before the battle with Quade, there were around a hundred sparrows. About forty died from Henry's incompetence. Around twenty of the sixty sparrows left join Warclaw. After the first battle, the Loft was ruined,about half of both sides were wounded, and both sides left the Loft. Warclaws forces retreated into Mossflower Woods and the forces against Warclaw retreated into the Abbey. both sides went off to gather allies.
As Henry found out later, this was not the whole story. The reason why Warclaw wanted a war was because he was the nephew of missing king Nutclaw. When Starwing died (remember him?) the next in line was his kid brother, Dawnfeather. But Dawnfeather was too young to rule, so his mother would rule until he was old enough. This makes sense constricting that Dawnfaether's mother was queen anyway. Warclaw, if he wanted the throne, would have to get Dawnfeather and his mother out of the way. He could not kill them, that would be a crime and make it hard to raise support. That's where the war comes in, if there is a civil war then he can gain the power he wants and almost make it seem justified. Henry was just an excuse.
