Gabool the Wild is an anthropomorphic rat and the main villain of the Redwall series book, Mariel of Redwall.
Biography[]
Gabool was the King of all Searats, and the ruler of the island of Terramort. He commanded a fleet of corsair ships, all crewed by searats. Gabool was a skilled fighter and tactician, who always thought ahead. He serves as the arch-nemesis of Lord Rawnblade of Salamandastron, having been responsible for battles against his hares over the years that resulted in their deaths, Rawnblade developing a powerful grudge against him for it and Gabool himself developing hatred for the badger, often thinking about and plotting to kill him within his head as his mentality deteriorates. He was responsible for a massacre led against a crew of shrews on a ship stole a huge bell from the ship of Joseph the Bellmaker, one of the captains of the ship, and threw the old mouse and his daughter Mariel into the sea to drown to death, keeping the bell.
Despite Gabool's cunning and skill, he was veritably insane, killing off his own captains when he falsely thought they were plotting against him. This lead to the desertion of his second-in-command rat, Greypatch, who used to be loyal to him and someone he trusted. Angered, Gabool would set a price against him, promising to make whoever brings him his head and his crew in chains the captain of all searats. Gabool also became obsessed with the bell he stole from Joseph, treating it like a living thing and constantly trying to interpret the symbols engraved on it. He began having nightmares, and awoke to the sound of the bell being tolled; even though it had not been touched.
Gabool also had a huge black scorpion, Skrabblag, that he had captured years before, and kept it in a pit hidden under a carpet. Several times, one of his captains came to report to him, he mistook them for Greypatch, whom he hated for deserting, and tricked them into falling into the scorpion's pit, where they were killed as he watched with sadism.
Eventually, a gathering of Gabool's escaped oar slaves, lead by Joseph and Mariel, who had survived, and the Badger Lord Rawnblade, mounted an attack against Terramort. Joseph, Mariel, Rawnblade and some others entered Gabool's fortress, where he led them into the room where the scorpion pit lay. Gabool tricked Rawnblade into falling into the pit. Skrabblag attacked the badger, but he threw the scorpion up out of the pit where it landed on Gabool. The scorpion latched onto its captor and repeatedly stabbed him in the skull with its deadly stinger. Gabool died instantly from the venom.
