Humanity through a Rabbit's Eyes

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The face on the rabbit who had the almost-asleep realization they were all dudes is perfect and expressed the situation perfectly.

This is the book that turned me onto conlangs. It's fantastic: rabbits can only count up to four, so the word for five, "hrair," also means "many" or "thousand." So Fiver (Hrairoo) means "thousandth," or runt of the litter. Predators are "U Hrair," The thousand. El-Ahrairah comes from Elil-Hrair-Rah, enemies-thousand-prince, Prince Of A Thousand Enemies. Best of all, Hazel tells Woundwort "Silflay hraka, u embleer hrair" ("Eat shit, you stinking predator") and the audience gets it. It's the best.

"My heart has joined the thousand, for my friend has stopped running today." I love Watership Down‐ it actually has influence amomgst rabbit owners. The quote above is often used when one of our rabbits die.

I did a book report in the 3rd grade about this book. The teacher called me a lier and said I didn't read it and just looked at the dust cover . 😳 I told my dad and he went to the school and put them to task to provide the proof that I created. Nothing in my report was in the dust cover so an A+ replaced the F.

This book broke my heart open. We actually had a house rabbit at the time, and it convinced me to get him a companion. A local rabbit shelter arranged “dates” for him, and a large white rabbit decided he was her man. We adopted her, and they fell absolutely in love. The way he came to me and looked at me shortly afterward, I felt he understood what we’d done and was thankful. ❤️

There's one moment in the final battle between Bigwig and Woundwort that I think deserves a special mention: When Woundwort asks Bigwig why he is still fighting against overwhelming odds, Bigwig answers that his chief rabbit ordered him to defend the warren and never surrender. Woundwort and the other Efrafans are completely blown away by the revelation that Bigwig himself is not the chief, because to them it is simply inconceivable that the chief of the warren could be anyone else except the strongest rabbit. I think that's a great bit because it underlines both Bigwig and Hazel's character arcs during the book. Bigwig went from wanting to leave the weaker rabbits behind and questioning Hazel's orders to defending everyone in their warren, believing that Hazel will come up with a way to save them all. Hazel in turn proves himself worthy of the trust, successfully pulling off his most dangerous and audacious trick of all time. What's more he does it by playing into the strengths of his friends, rather than trying to be the hero alone, leaving Bigwig to defend the warren while he takes the fastest runners and arranges them in a relay chain to lead the dog from the farm to the hill.

There's a line from the Watership Down movie that I always remember. Hazel asks Frith to save his warren in exchange for his life. Frith responds: "There is not a day or night when a mother doe does not offer her life for her kittens, or an honest captain of Owsla his life for his chief's. But there is no bargain. What is, is what must be."

My dad read Watership Down to us when we were younger. All I recall fully was 'Elerrirah'(sorry if I spelled it wrong, never read it myself), cause not only was he the rabbit prince, Dad voiced him with Bugs Bunny's voice...I remember it being absolutely fascinating, though

When I was a kid I read this book because a teacher jokingly called it "bunny on bunny violence" I read it for a laugh and it became my favourite book

I grew up with the 1978 animated movie as a kid, and yeah, it definitely made me realize that rabbits aren't just cute, cuddly, passive fluff balls. I had been mistakenly given this movie at the library while trying to find my favorite VHS of The Velveteen Rabbit, and I just loved Watership Down way more, even though I didn't understand a lot of what was happening at the time. It was something new and a little scary, but fascinating. I especially love the highly stylized lore at the start.

Thlayli did not guard the entrance to the warren. He burried himself under the last tunnel with all the noncombatant rabbits hiding behind him, so that he could bite Woundwart on the neck and beat him back (knowing it would likely mean his death) and at that moment he proclaimed Hazel his Chief Rabbit. This is a good video, but it sells Bigwig short. His infiltration of Efrefa is one of the greatest adventure stories ever all on its own. And as many times as I read it, I still get chills when he stands his ground and names his chief.

"My heart joined the thousands as a friend stopped running today." I say this every time someone dies... I've said it... for Frith sake, far too much.

My Watership Down moment is at the very end, where Hazel sits in the sun listening to one of the next generation tell the story of Hazel, Fiver, and Bigwig migrating to Watership Down but named as Elil Hrair Ra and His Owsla. And so Hazel finally meets Elil Hrair Ra and moves on to the next stage of his life, secure in the future of his extended tribe. And so we all must go down into history...

One of the greatest books I've ever read.

That audiobook version of Watership with Peter Capaldi is spectacular! His version of Kehaar in the miniseries was also great.

I love this book so much that I tried to find other books by Richard Adams. "The Plague Dogs" is extremely disturbing. Very good, but I kinda wish I could unread it. Seeing even fictional anthropomorphic canines go through SO MUCH SUFFERING was not pleasant.

Okay, I've never read the Watership Down but your summary from 19:00 onwards moved me to tears. It's been an long week and I'm feeling overwhelmed by the things I need to do and this really helped. Thanks, Tale Foundry.

The movie gts played in the UK every easter, basically a right of passage for children to be traumatised by what they thought would be a cute rsbbit animated movie.

Amazing book. Incredibly effective movie. Taught lil me that it is the story that matters and a talking warren doesn't mean it is childish, some very adult events were going to take place. It was.... startling. The movie.... animation does not mean Happy-go-lucky. Inside thought: I thought of the vicious rabbit, who put the claw marks, as rabbit Hitler, an 8 y.o. understanding of history and allegory. It may not be a 1 to 1 but it ain't completely wrong neither.