Luke the Warrior

"Cowards die a thousand times, a hero only dies once. The spirits of all you have slain are watching you, Vilu Daskar, and they will sleep in peace knowing that your time has come. You must die as you have lived: A coward to the last!"

- Luke's final words to his mortal enemy, Vilu Daskar

Luke the Warrior was the main protagonist and the chief hero of the Redwall book The Legend of Luke by Brian Jacques. Luke was a mouse who led his tribe of peaceful mice up from the hostile Southern lands to seek a new life.

Luke was also the father of Martin the Warrior, who would become a stock character in the series.

Origin
Luke came from the Southern lands and him and his future wife Sayna were born at Saint Ninians church, and it was said that he had no physical toughness about him and he looked no different from any of his tribe except he had a strong mental capacity and was very good with words and with his sword. He could never bully or oppress others and was a fair mouse. The only creatures he fought were those who threatened his tribe, which is why he sheltered his tribe up in the cold inhospitable Northlands. Luke believed the best for his tribe and believed they would be safe here.

Losing his wife
One night, when Luke was out looking for firewood, one of his friends told him about a cliff full of good berries. The tribe were having a feast in celebration of their new home, and they were preparing for it and preparations were underway. Luke and his friends, Denno, Dulam and Vurg, went up the cliff to challenge the overprotective sea birds which lived there. However they met two moles instead, who warned them of the marauding pirates. Fearful, Luke dashed back to his tribe, only to come at the worst possible time - his beloved wife Sayna had been murdered!

Vengeance
Luke immediately ran out to the shallows, screaming after the murderer, the evil stoat pirate Vilu Daskar, futilely. Luke was now almost suicidal, so the surviving tribesbeasts had no choice but to club him out to save him from drowning. Besides, Luke had his son to care for, and anyway he was needed to protect his tribe. Luke was still enraged though, and when a fox named Raynard Chopsnout and his crew pitched in on a wrecked ship, Luke slew them all and got his tribe a ship. Now Windred, the tribe matriarch and Sayna's mother, encouraged Luke to go and avenge himself as she knew it was getting close to reality. Martin, now a teenager, named the ship Sayna after his dead other and he wanted to join Luke, but Luke said no, he put Timballisto, an older mouse, in charge, and said he was keeping Martin safe by leaving him behind. Luke set off on a cold Wintry day after giving Martin warrior's advice, and the voyage began.

The voyage begins
Luke set off with his best friends, Vurg, Dulam, Denno, Coll and Cordle, and Cardo the ship's cook. The voyage went amicably enough considering they were on a quest for vengeance, and Luke kept on anxiously looking for the red ship of Daskar, The Goreleech. Knowing it was a slave ship, they stuck to open sea, but soon put in at islands, such as an island full of marooned Sea Rogues, however, good fortune struck them as they met a chatterbox hare named Beauclair Fethiringsol Cosfortingham, Beau for short. Beau took over from Cardo as chief cook. This done, they landed at another island, which was eerily quiet except for a suspicious pile of fruit lying on it. Knowing this was odd and probably a trap, Luke and Vurg sat back in the ship watching, but the others rushed ashore and stuffed their faces. Soon, they fainted, and Luke became aware the fruit had been drugged. Soon, the shipmates were captured by a cannibalistic tribe of weasels who worshipped a giant serpent named Slariss, but Luke and Vurg broke in and saved them all, tricking the weasel leader into eating her own squashed fruit after she gave them sightings on The Goreleech. Now with his purpose fired, Luke followed these records.

Captives!
Luke became aware of The Goreleech at the Twin Islands but in a ferocious storm, Beau, who had also formerly been a prisoner on the slave ship, was washed overboard. Fearing him dead, Luke dived in to save him with a rope tied round his waist, but came up empty handed and half drowned.

One morning, Vurg got up early and was suddenly punched out by thee full front of The Goreleech's' attack! Vilu had known they were in the Twin Islands all along and he was playing with them, waiting to get them all. He killed Cardo, Coll and Cordle, and for this Luke strangled the pirate captain almost half to death in his ferocious rage for Dsskar. The stoat, wanting to avenge himself on Luke by torturing the mouse slowly to death, chose to keep him alive.

Luke met a ferocious fighter squirrel, named Ranguvar, who had also been captured a week prior to him. Together they plotted their revenge on Daskar. Luke was bought up to the captain and challenged into being a general in his crew, but knowing how Daskar loved murdering innocent creatures, Luke coldly refused. He also got his second chance to kill Daskar by throwing a knife which narrowly missed his enemy's head, but Luke was subdued before he could proceed further, however, this attack was just a warning.

Bargain
Luke was in the process of defying Daskar, when he came up with a plan: All pirates love treasure. So what if Luke got his friends, Dulam and Denno, to pretend their tribe had a hidden treasure, and then to guide Daskar up to his old cave, where he hoped, Martin would emerge from to kill Daskar and his crew with his father. Ranguvar was also in on the plan. Luke convinced Vilu Daskar he did have a tribal treasure, when in fact this was a blatant lie. Vilu believed it hook line and sinker and asked Luke to guide him. He actually had Luke chained to the ship's wheel which later turned out to be his biggest mistake ever - he claimed no beast outsmarted Vilu Daskar, but in fact, Luke, a simple farmer mouse, had outsmarted the smartest Sea Rogue captain ever.

However, Luke tragically saw his tribe had vanished inexplicably. Martin was gone. More than that, there were signs of an attack on the settlement. Daskar mockingly said he knew of Luke's plan to have his tribe avenge him, and Luke openly said then there was no treasure, but Daskar said all tribes have treasure. So Luke steered a course further North.

Beau and Vurg had actually survived being drowned, so they banded together on their marooned island and struck out with help of a sea lion named Bolwag to find The Goreleech. This was successful, and they climbed aboard. Knowing how superstitious the pirates were, Beau dressed as a Sea Bogle and haunted the ship. He scared the crew into shutting themselves in the cabin so he could sneak off and bake scones to feed the slaves, giving them their strength back. He met Ranguvar and Luke and formulated a plan. Luke would yell "Dead ahead!" when it was time to attack. One cold night, with Luke at the wheel, and Daskar watching him, Luke steered the ship to the Tall Rocks, and then all the slaves broke out in a mass revolt. Vilu Daskar's worst nightmare came to life. Ranguvar killed her hated enemy Slavemaster Bullflay with his own whip and she fought off the crew with Beau and Vurg and some slaves helping her.

Mad with anger, Daskar sliced his blade into Luke's unprotected body, and actually got close to killing his captive. But, being a courageous and noble mouse, Luke would not die quickly. He crushed Daskar to the wheel and said that Daskar was always a coward. With vermin biting and harassing him all around, Luke said he was avenging his wife that Daskar had killed. This, coupled with the loss of his son Martin, was enough to make Luke end his own life. When the ship hit the Tall Rocks, it split, and one half was forever lodged up there when the half with Luke and Daskar on it crashed into the stormy seas, never to be seen again.

Personality
To his friends and those that helped him, Luke was a kind, noble, forgiving mouse. He was very amicable and the only things that he cared about where his tribe and family. When these deserted him, he became suicidal.

However, to his enemies, Luke was cold and unmerciful, and utterly ruthless. He did form a strong bond with budding warriors like himself, such as his son Martin, Vurg, Timballisto and Ranguvar.

Luke was the only mouse to possess the Bloodwrath, a condition where he was unable to tell friend from foe in battle.

Trivia

 * Luke is very similar to Luke Skywalker:
 * He is one of the leaders of the Light Side and he is the father of one of the heroes
 * He lost his family to villains and this scars him for life
 * He was a farmer, much like Luke was
 * He is possessed of the Bloodwrath, much as Luke has the Force
 * Like Luke, he refuses to listen to the temptations of the Dark Side.
 * His line, "I will not eat from the table of a murderer!" is very much like Luke's classic line, "No, you have failed, your highness. I am a Jedi, like my father before me."
 * Also Luke is very much like Captain Ahab from Moby Dick:
 * His hatred for Vilu matches Ahab's hatred for Moby Dick.
 * He is a marine captain.
 * Both their ships are wrecked
 * His line "Cowards die a thousand times" matches Ahab's line "From Hell's heart I spit at thee!"