Sawney Rath

Sawney Rath  is the main antagonist of the first act of the Redwall series book, The Taggerung. He is an anthropromorphic ferret and the leader of the Juskarath clan.

History
Sawney Rath first appears as the chief of the Juskarath clan. He seeks to find the "Taggerung", a legendary figure who is born very rarely and said to be the greatest fighter in the world. His seer, Grissoul, tells him that the Taggerung has been born at Redial Abbey. Rath, however, refuses to retrieve it, not wanting to become another one of the dead warlords who tried to conquer Redwall. Later, a stoat mother, Antigra, claims that her son, Zann, is the true Taggerung. Rate mocks her and he is quickly challenged by her mate, Gruven. Rate quickly murders him and proceeds to take him and some of his best men into the woods to find the Taggerung.

They come across an otter fishing for shrimp with his infant son on the nearby shore. Sawney orders his best archer, Vallug Bowbeast, to shoot the otter. They then take the otter pup and check its paw to see if it has the flower birthmark on his paw, which Grissoul said he would have. Rath take him back to his camp where he renames the otter, Tagg.

Many seasons later, Sawney has grown older and is suffering from intense stomach pains. He has raised Tagg like his own son and he has become a great warrior; however, he believe Tagg has been showing too much compassion to his enemies. One day, one of his men, a fox named Felch, steals his favorite knife and runs off, so Rath sends Tagg to retrieve it. Tag finds Felch and brings him back the next day. After an argument with Tagg, Sawney decides to have Tagg skin Felch alive. When Tagg refuses, he steals Sawney's knife and runs off. While Grissoul suggest to send some men after him, Rath decides that Tagg needs to be taught a lesson and pursues him himself. Antigra, who Grissoul told to find some bird eggs as a peace offering to Rath, sights Sawney searching for him. After yelling to gain his attention, she slams a bag of rocks on Sawney's forehead, killing him. Ann, who has been renamed Gruven, succeeds him has chief and the Juskarath are later taken over by a different Juska clan, the Juskabor.

Trivia

 * Despie being built up as the main villain of the novel, he is killed off early in book two and replaced by Gruven as the novels Big Bad; thus, making his a Disc-One Final Boss.