Monday, January 24, 2011

Characters: Watership Down

Characters: Watership Down

Spoilers are unmarked below.

Sandleford Down 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 council effectively becomes Word Of God to them.
  • Herald: Fiver's visions call Hazel into action.
  • Waif Prophet
  • The Woobie
  • 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.

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.
  • The Determinator: He certainly has shades of this, particularly when it comes to the defeat of Efrafa.
  • 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.
  • Common Sense: 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.
  • Gentle Giant: Of the three Big Guys, Buckthorn is the gentlest and least inclined to fight.

Hawkbit, Speedwell and Acorn

Three 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 and Hawkbit became an Ascended Extra in the TV series.
  • 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 Crowning Moment Of Funny (and usually the one part that even fans who didn't like the sequel enjoy).
  • Ascended Extra: Despite being a very minor character in the novel, Hawkbit is a major one in the TV series.
  • Cloudcuckoolander: In Speedwell's Story the story he tells makes Speedwell come across as this.
  • Flanderization: Hawkbit in the TV series. In the novel, he only gets one major complaining scene and not much characterization otherwise, but the TV series turned him into a full-fledged Eeyore and Deadpan Snarker.
  • Killed Off For Real: Not in the original novel, but in the sequel Acorn dies.
  • Red Shirt: They're really only in the story to fill out the number of rabbits — though it can be argued that Hawkbit and Speedwell, thanks to sequel and TV series have been upgraded to MauveShirts.
  • Those Two Guys: Or those three guys.

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 Chamberlain: He was the Threarah's Captain of Owsla and tried to stop anyone from deserting the warren.
  • Da Chief: 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.
  • The Good Chancellor
  • Heel Face Turn: In the beginning of the book, Holly tries to arrest Bigwig and Silver. He eventually ends up joining the group.
  • Lawful Neutral
  • 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.
  • Officer And A Gentleman
  • Zen Survivor

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.

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 as they leave.

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.
  • The Fatalist - most prominent in Silverweed's poem.

Efrafan rabbits


General Woundwort

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

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 Interest: 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 worship 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

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.

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.
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