Watership Down/Characters

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WARNING! There are unmarked Spoilers ahead. Beware.

Characters from Watership Down include:

Sandleford Warren rabbits

Hazel

The protagonist, Hazel is the leader of the Sandleford Warren group.

Fiver

Hazel's brother, a prophet whose visions spur Hazel to leave.

  • The Cassandra: Subverted, somebody actually listens and some of them leave Sandleford Warren before it's too late. Furthermore, after the others realize his warning about the danger of Cowslip's Warren is on the money, his counsel effectively becomes Word of God to them.
  • Cowardly Lion: While he cowers, shakes in fear and having to be coaxed going everywhere, it's also surprisingly a Moment of Awesome when he goes out on his own to find his brother, even though he knows fully well that his brother was shot.
  • Dissonant Serenity: His little chat with Vervain. Dear God. Fiver, previously thought to be dead by the Efrafrans suddenly sits there, calm, looking at them and then apologizes to Vervain for Vervain's imminent death. And continues to explain that after all it was their own fault. Since they came to kill the rabbits of the Watership Down warren... and he says this all in a very calm, serene, soft voice... while Vervain sees him surrounded by ghosts of 'rabbits done to death months before in the tunnels of Efrafa...' Fiver is a Freakin'. Damn. Scary. Fluffball.
  • Dream Land/Another Dimension: Fiver discusses the concept with Hazel, as Fiver travels in this land in a vision to find out what’s happened to Hazel after he goes missing. No-one doubts it’s existence because in Lapine mythology El-ahrairah moves between this place and "Another" at will, and Fiver is well aware of its existence from his visions, and claims that this spirit world is, in its own way, just as dangerous as the mundane one most rabbits know.
  • Herald: Fiver's visions call Hazel into action.
  • Intellectual Animal: He's not on Blackberry's level. But he's almost always the only other rabbit to understand the concepts Blackberry uses.
    • Indeed, sometimes the others refer to him and Blackberry collectively as "the clever rabbits."
  • Waif Prophet
  • You Are Number Six: His name, "Hrair-roo," literally means something like "little many," since rabbits can't count past four.

Bigwig

An ex-member of the Sandleford Owsla, Bigwig is the best fighter of the group.

Blackberry

A friend of Hazel, Blackberry is the closest thing the group have to a mechanical genius.

Pipkin

The smallest and most timid of the rabbits, Pipkin is a friend of Fiver who is persuaded to go along on the journey.

  • Character Development: Though it mostly happens in the background, and in small ways, Pipkin does change and develop a lot over the book, starting out as afraid of everything and gradually becoming a loyal and steadfast companion.
  • Cheerful Child: The TV series not only portrays him as very young, but removes his timid nature as well, making him this.
  • Cowardly Lion: Timid and easily scared he may be, but thanks to his fierce loyalty to Hazel and Fiver he'll show surprising courage at times.
  • Tagalong Kid: More in the TV series than in the book.
  • Took a Level in Badass: Replace "Pippin" with "Pipkin" and you get the idea.
  • Undying Loyalty: Towards Hazel. At one point Hazel is considering a suicide-mission into Efrafa to rescue Bigwig and Pipkin responds simply "I will go with you."

Dandelion

A fast runner and gifted storyteller, whose stories of El-ahrairah keep the spirits up among the rabbits (as well as giving the reader insight in Lapine mythology).

Silver

One of Bigwig's friends from the Sandleford Owsla, who is almost as big and good at fighting, but more placid and less hotheaded. He has gray fur, hence the name.

  • The Big Guy: He's the muscle of the team when Bigwig is incapitated, not available, or just not willing to follow orders.
  • Determinator: He certainly has shades of this, particularly when it comes to the defeat of Efrafa.
  • Noble Fugitive: Although Silver is the nephew of Threarah (the Chief Rabbit of the warren where the story begins), he joins Hazel's exodus and proves himself a skilled fighter and reliable follower.
  • The Tank / Meat Shield: The other rabbits rely on him for this as hlessil.

Buckthorn

Described as a "decent, straight-forward fellow," Buckthorn is an outskirter from Sandleford with a tough, sturdy and sensible nature.

  • The Big Guy: Along with Bigwig and Silver.
  • Gentle Giant: Of the three Big Guys, Buckthorn is the gentlest and least inclined to fight.
  • Simpleminded Wisdom: Though he doesn't play the classic trope completely straight, since nobody thinks of him as an idiot and Hazel in fact deliberately labels him as the most sensible one in his crew. At the end of the book, he and Strawberry become Groundsel's chief advisors in the new warren.

Hawkbit

One of the outskirters from Sandleford who joins Hazel's crew. Described (by Hazel) as a rather slow, stupid rabbit, he is the first to complain and express doubt in Hazel's abilities as leader, but soon develops into a loyal follower -- after which he's barely even mentioned by the narrative for the rest of the book. In the TV series, he has a dramatically increased role as the resident Eeyore.

  • Ascended Extra: He's an extremely minor character who is left out of every single adaptation of the book except the TV series, where he's one of the main characters.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Not in the book, but in the TV series he's developed a notable talent for sarcasms.
  • The Eeyore: He grows out of it in the book. In the series, not so much.
  • Grumpy Bear
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He may complain and say mean things, but he proves to ultimately be a loyal and dependable rabbit.
  • Sarcastic Devotee


Speedwell and Acorn

Two outskirters from Sandleford who join Hazel's crew. Apart from a few scenes and lines here and there, they don't get very much attention in the original novel -- though Speedwell got A Day in the Limelight in the sequel, Tales From Watership Down.

  • Cloudcuckoolander: In Speedwell's Story the story he tells makes Speedwell come across as this.
  • A Day in the Limelight: Speedwell's Story from the sequel, a nonsense tale which Speedwell tells the other rabbits, is easily the book's Funny Moments (and usually the one part that even fans who didn't like the sequel enjoy).
  • Deadpan Snarker: Speedwell has traces of this.
  • Killed Off for Real: Not in the original novel, but in the sequel Acorn dies.
  • Red Shirt: Along with Hawkbit, they're really only in the story to fill out the number of rabbits -- though it can be argued that Speedwell, thanks to the sequel has been upgraded to Mauve Shirt.
  • Those Two Guys: Or those three guys, with Hawkbit.

Holly

Ex-captain of the Sandleford Owsla, he initially tries to stop the group from leaving but survives the massacre and joins the group.

  • The Good Chancellor
  • Head-in-The-Sand Management: He was the Threarah's Captain of Owsla and tried to stop anyone from deserting the warren.
  • Heel Face Turn: In the beginning of the book, Holly tries to arrest Bigwig and Silver. He eventually ends up joining the group.
  • My Master, Right or Wrong: In a way he is the "good side" version of Campion, always sticks by his chief and is very efficient. He stuck by the Threarah, and when the Threarah died he stuck by Hazel.
  • Number Two: Described in the novel as a born second-in-command. He was the Threarah's Captain of Owsla and kept discipline in the Sandleford Warren. While serving Hazel he is still a loyal, no-nonsense, officer.
  • Officer and a Gentleman
  • Supporting Protagonist: Holly gets this duty twice in the book. And neither story is a happy one.

Hazel: "Don't make it too grim, Holly."
Holly: "Grim? I haven't even begun."

Bluebell

Another ex-member of the Sandleford Owsla, Bluebell survives the Sandleford Massacre and is the only one of Holly's group to make it to Watership Down.

  • Ascended Extra: Within the novel itself. He's literally a nameless extra in the first part of the book, but upon his re-introduction along with Holly in the second part, he gets not only a name and a characterization, but becomes one of the major characters. In the sequel he's also a constant presence, constantly joking and lightening the mood for the other rabbits when things get difficult.
  • Heel Face Turn: He follows Holly's, though unlike Holly he is not named and gets no characterization in the initial confrontation with Bigwig.
  • Motor Mouth: He's a chatterer, constantly joking and rambling on about nonsensical things -- though his constant talking has a clear purpose, namely to relieve tension and encourage the others to forget how dire their situation really is.
  • Plucky Comic Relief: Pretty much his main function.
  • Rhymes on a Dime: It becomes a minor Running Gag in the novel that Bluebell makes up some nonsense poem and Hazel, in Deadpan Snarker mode, finishes it with a biting final rhyme.
  • Spoony Bard: Perhaps even more so than Dandelion.
  • The Storyteller: When Dandelion isn't available, or in the mood, for telling stories, Bluebell is the one who steps in.


Cowslip's warren

Cowslip

A prominent rabbit in his unnamed warren, Cowslip is the rabbit who takes the group to the warren.

Strawberry

A rabbit who befriends the Sandleford group. He joins them when they depart.

Silverweed

The poet and prophet of Cowslip's warren.

  • Ascended Extra: A curious version in the TV series; he's not present for his original scenes, but in the third season he appears and gets a large role.
  • Evil Counterpart: Although he's not actually presented as evil, he's clearly the dark counterpart to Fiver, who is terrified at the truth of Silverweed's poetry. In the TV series, he has more of an antagonistic role, though as we find out, he's actually just misguided.

Fiver: "He smells like barley left out in the rain to rot. He smells like a mole that's wounded and can't get underground."
Hazel: "He smells like a big fat rabbit to me, with a lot of carrots inside."

  • The Fatalist: most prominent in Silverweed's poem.
  • Trapped in Another World: After Fiver travels in "another place" to find Hazel after he's gone missing, he Tells Hazel that the “other place” exists, and is just as dangerous as the mundane world, if not more so. He then mentions Silverweed and states that:

"He knew where he belonged, and it wasn't here. Poor fellow, I'm sure he's dead. They'd got him all right- the ones in that country. They don’t give away their secrets for nothing, you know."


Efrafan rabbits

General Woundwort

The Big Bad of the novel, General Woundwort leads the Efrafa warren.

Such was Woundword's monument; and perhaps it would not have displeased him.

Hyzenthlay

A smart and sensible doe from Efrafa, one of Bigwig's main helpers in the revolt against Woundwort. Like Fiver, she is a prophet who sometimes has visions of the future, though unlike him she isn't alway certain she's right.

  • Action Girl: Less so in the novel than in the film, though she has her moments. In the TV series, she's named Primrose.
  • The Cassandra: In an interesting variant, she manages to dismiss her own visions as being too ludicrous, even though they turn out to be completely accurate.
  • The Chick: She's the primary female character, as Clover drops out of the third act.
  • Damsel in Distress: In the book, Hyzenthlay nearly dies of grief after despairing of ever leaving Efrafa.
  • Defector From Decadence: Hyzenthlay helps lead the does out of Efrafa.
  • Love Interests: Not so much in the original book; she bonds with Bigwig and it's implied, rather than outright stated, that she eventually becomes Hazel's mate, but this is notably downplayed. In the TV series, she is definitely Hazel's Love Interest. In the film, she appears to be Bigwig's Love Interest. Of course, these are rabbits we're talking about here...

Captain Campion

A prominent rabbit in Efrafa, Campion is an enemy of the Watership Down rabbits and an important soldier of Woundwort.

Vervain

The chief of Efrafa's Owslafa (Council Police) and, according to Woundwort, the most hated officer in Efrafa.

Blackavar

A former member of Efrafa, constantly being punished for his escape attempts. He finally manages to escape with the Watership Down rabbits.

Groundsel

An Efrafan officer, who despite his obvious Hero Worshipper of Woundwort, is a skilled, sensible and decent rabbit.

  • Heel Face Turn: He surrenders to the Watership rabbits towards the end and eventually becomes the Chief Rabbit of Vleflain, a new warren that's established between Watership and Efrafa and is populated by rabbits from both warrens.
  • Hero Worshipper: To Woundwort (even after his Heel Face Turn he speaks of Woundwort with awe), although he is far more competent and practical-minded than most other examples of this trope.

Mythical characters

Frith

The Sun God and creator of the world.

El-ahrairah

An Anglicized rendering of the rabbit term elil-hrair-rah, "thousand-enemies-prince." The rabbit folk-hero, El-ahrairah is the protagonist of most if not all of their stories.

Rabscuttle

El-ahrairah's closest friend and ally.

Prince Rainbow

Frith's deputy and right-hand man on earth, who has "the power of the sky and the power of the hills."

The Black Rabbit of Inlé

The rabbit Grim Reaper.

  • Dark Is Not Evil / Everybody Hates Hades: He is not a force of evil (he is one of Lord Frith's servants after all), but he is very creepy and nobody really likes him anyway.
    • Really? Cause at the end of the movie when he comes to take Hazel at the end of his days, he's actually quite comforting and nice.
    • In the novel, it was El-ahrairah who came to Hazel and asked him to join his Owsla - although that does beg the question of why the Black Rabbit did not appear... unless the two are actually one and the same.
  • The Dreaded: The Black Rabbit of Inlé is not evil, but in the book he is terrifying. In his presence even El-ahrairah cannot think straight, and therefore loses all of the Black Rabbit's games.
  • The Grim Reaper
  • Moon Rabbit
  • Viewers are Morons: In the movie, he's called "The Black Rabbit of Death."
    • Only in the prologue; when Bigwig hears Captain Holly calling to him from afar, he whispers fearfully, "It's the Black Rabbit of Inlé!".

Hufsa

A rabbit who is planted in El-ahrairah's warren as a spy for Prince Rainbow, and thwarts many of El-ahrairah's plans before he's found out.

  • Cassandra Truth: El-ahraira envokes this in order to get rid of him. How do you discredit a spy? By implying to everyone that he's crazy, and then have him "prove" to them that he is when he tells of the many unbeliveable situations he's been in, that you secretly set up.
  • The Quisling: To rabbits, his name is synonymous with "traitor."

Other

Kehaar

A black-headed gull, Kehaar is befriended by Hazel and becomes a very important ally.

Humans

The most dangerous of the elil and also the most incomprehensible to the rabbits. While the rabbits fear humans they cannot see them as good or evil as humans behave in a way that's completely alien to them with humans on the one hand killing them or destroying their homes but on the other also helping them and showing compassion.

  • Above Good and Evil: Humans are this from the rabbit's perspective. While other Elil like dogs and cats hunt them for understandable reasons and they can judge the actions of their fellow animals as either good or evil, humans are never depicted as either malevolent or benevolent on the whole as humans have both helped and harmed rabbits for reasons the rabbits cannot even fathom. Bluebell claims that humans destroyed their home because they hated the rabbits but Toadflax corrected her by explaining that it was for their own ends and the rabbits weren't even a factor in the decision.

"That wasn't why they destroyed the warren. It was just because we were in their way."

  • Angels, Devils, and Squid: In keeping with the incomprehensible nature of humans to the rabbits and other animals, humans are the squid in the story from a figurative standpoint. The angels are the mythological creatures like Frith and the Black Rabbit of Inle; in rabbit-told tales they are helpful and protective of rabbits; some of them even appear to help the rabbits in-story directly and indirectly. The devils are the Thousand Enemies or the elil, who are the rabbits' enemies, who hunt them to eat or simply because they don't like the rabbits. While humans are technically regarded as Elil in that they kill rabbits and destroy their homes, humans are so inscrutable and incomprehensible that the animals see them as something apart and completely different. This is underlined by the frequency with which humans do things like helping hurt rabbits or showing compassion and feeding them -- making them, at times, not elil at all. For the rabbits their mythical figures are angels meant to save them, the other animals are elil as the devils that would hunt and destroy them and humans... humans are a mystery and can be either destroyer or savior.
  • Blue and Orange Morality: From the rabbits perspective, humans seem to follow some kind of behavior pattern or reasoning. It's just completely alien to them. Humans destroyed their homes but never seem to target the rabbits specifically. Some humans will trap them but also leave out food for them. Some humans will hunt them directly while others will show compassion and care for rabbits who are injured. None of this makes any sense to the rabbits who only see the world in terms of predator/prey and survival of the fittest.
  • Did We Just Have Tea with Cthulhu?: When humans show compassion and care for the rabbits, it falls under this trope from the long ear's perspective. While humans are terrifying and unknowable creatures to pretty much all of the animals it's especially pronounced to the rabbits who are entirely a prey species. Hazel is almost killed by the cat Tab when she pounces on him while injured. The farm-girl Lucy then orders Tab to stop and then gathers up Hazel, brings him to a vet to treat his wound and cares for him until he is well enough to go back outside on his own. She then takes him to the fields and lets him go. While Hazel is certainly grateful and feels less scared of humans after, he still has no idea why she helped him.
  • Humans Are Cthulhu: To the rabbits, humans are something beyond their understanding and creatures of great and terrible power. While humans are understood to be elil they far beyond the others and all other elil fear them. They can make other eili obey them, they use items such a thundersticks (guns) and hrududu (automobiles) which the rabbits don't understand but are terrified of. Humans can easily destroy their homes and kill them with traps and poison. Other humans will show them compassion and shelter them or heal their wounds. From the animal's perspective, humans are unfathomable and capable of terrible and wondrous feats.
  • Outside Context Villain: Humans are only technically villains in that they cause death and destruction towards the rabbits. However, even the rabbits understand that this is situational and conditional. Humans cause harm to the rabbits for reasons no other animal does nor can comprehend. While rabbits can tell if humans are dangerous by judging whether or not they are interested in them they also understand that most humans ignore them entirely for the most part. They are even aware that sometimes humans cause them harm without even thinking or caring because the rabbits where never even a consideration in their plans. At the end of the book, a young rabbit of Watership Down is frightened when a human on a horse comes riding by but hazel, now Older and Wiser, recognizes that the human is not even looking at them, is focused entirely on his travels and is riding at a brusque but casual pace. Hazel remarks that there is no need to worry from that human and he'll just ride on past without any trouble which Hazel is correct about.
  • Token Heroic Orc: While the rabbits don't really see humans as evil exactly they do see them as extremely dangerous and incomprehensible. However, lupine mythology tells the tale of a great human who built a great hutch and gathered as many animals as he could to save them all from a great flood and released them after the rains departed. Yes, the rabbits have their own version of the story of Noah and his Ark. Makes you wonder if they have a story of a great human that was full of love and compassion that ended up hung up on a tree for thee days.
    • Also Lucy and any human that shows compassion, mercy and kindness to animals count as this. Animals tend to be less scared of these types of humans and find them particularly strange but are grateful to them for their help.
  • World's Strongest Man: Humans as a whole are seen as the elil among the elil and the greatest and most dangerous of the thousand enemies. They can build things like traps, have great earth movers that can destroy the forest and change the land in a matter of hours. They can make other elil like dogs and cats obey them. No other elil can harm them or fight them and none can truly escape them when humans are actively hunting them.


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