In Brian Jacques’s Redwall, the villain Cluny the Scourge is a rat.
Cluny is a feared warlord who leads an army against Redwall Abbey. His reputation and military ambition make him the principal antagonist of the first novel in the long-running Redwall series.
The story presents a society of intelligent woodland animals, with species often associated with heroic or villainous roles. Cluny’s army includes several kinds of vermin, but Cluny himself is specifically a rat.
Readers sometimes confuse Cluny with other animal antagonists from later Redwall books, including foxes, stoats, and ferrets. Redwall’s original protagonist is Matthias, a young mouse who seeks to become a warrior and defend the abbey.