#Cowslip's warren

[fantasywatershipdown]

Betony! Name-dropped once by Pipkin iirc, and it wasn't even about him... it was about his mate... anyway. I had a lot of room to work.

I gave all the Cowslip warren rabbits extra neck fluff to kinda push the soft... domesticated feel? I wanted them to feel almost like they were being pampered (which is sorta true). I pulled from those beautiful purple betony flowers for this guy

(I keep messing up where I post.. if u saw that sorry about that ;;;;;;)

[vixymix101]

I like the cult leader rabbit

[pep-ino]

I am so normal about watership down I swear..,,,

[b-plot-butch]

fiver from watership down is UTTERLY sandman-character-coded. he’s having confusing encounters with morpheus in his dreams as we speak. fuck, certain watership down plot points would be SO good as stand-alone issues like the ramadan one

[runningwolf62]

Before tonight's episode and I get proven wrong, the snippet from the teaser of "badgers? Humans." reminds me of a scene in a different fucked up animal story, Felidae (If you go to check it out know the Bear has nothing on a Nightmare Sequence in this movie).

But at one point the hero is confronting the antagonist who reveals they killed a human by mimicking human speach enough that the human let them out and the hero's response of

"You spoke to a man?" Is horrified and awed and it's stuck with me and that scene and that revelation is all that i can think of when I think about this human warren.

[astronomalyy]

Why do people talk about how harrowing Watership Down was but never mention Cowslip's warren... There are a group of anthropomorphic rabbits in this children's fantasy novel that have accepted their role as living meat. They've convinced themselves that to kick and struggle is to defy the will of a god confined to the tortured ramblings of their poet caste, who beg for their throats to snap under shining wire as their kin look on in polite fascination. They speak with lobotomised tongues and shun their culture for that of their devourers, pushing stones into walls, digging agoraphobic atriums under which to sit in silence, awaiting a fate they are forbidden to name. Why don't we talk about this

[sparkylurkdragon]

A detail I really love in the Watership Down comic is how every rabbit in Cowslip's warren is almost constantly smiling widely. It is incredibly unsettling, given the characters usually have minimally anthropomorphised expressions.

Like, here's a smile from (I think) Pipkin. Note how it still reads as a small little bunny mouth and is just barely enough to tell he's smiling.

And then there's THESE SHADY MOTHERFUCKERS.

Like, here's some with Strawberry side-by-side with Hazel and Bigwig so you can see the contrast.

It's a wonderful tell that Something Ain't Right.

[persy-r-bozo]

Thinking about how good of a minor villan cowslip is. Like he is so intresting yet he is only in the book for like a few hundred pages or so.

And I can't help but want more of him. But at the same time. His short time in the book is perfect.

Our main characters relize that he's basicly running a cult and go "uhhhh. NUH UH. let's hit the bricks boys!!!" Beacuse they realized. There is no beating cowslip

Not with words. Beacuse he too believes 110% in what he's saying. And while you could maybe beat him with claws and teeth. You'd gain absolutely nothing from that. Nothing but a cursed and snared Warren.

So they leave him be and run away. And cowslip never runs after them beacuse He has everything he needs right here. And he's made it perfectly crystal clear he doesn't care or is phased by rabbits leaving. Either by foot, or Soul.

So cowslip never shows up in the book again. But his impact lingers though strawberry and though the Warren's morels when dealing with other warrens who are getting agressive.

[krinsbez]

A Watership Down Meta/Headcanon/Rant

So, both @jaybutnotthebird and @stavarosthearcane have stated that, to their knowledge, I've not posted this on tumblr, and indicated that they would like to hear it, I'm posting it now!

So I don't recall if it was stated explicitly or was, like, a rumor, but everything about Gen. Woundwort makes so much more sense when you realize he's a hutch rabbit.

Why is he so enormous? Cuz he was bred to be big and fluffy, was fed flayrah everyday, and was taken to the vet if he got sick.

Why is he so afraid of humans? Because they were the first elil he ever encountered.

Why is everything he does in complete opposition to proper lapine culture and behavior? Because he grew up not knowing anything about it.

Efrafa is, in essence, an attempt to make a warren into a hutch.

OK got that? So, here's another thing to think about. Cowslip's Warren, or Strawberry's Warren, or the Warden of the Shining Wire, or whatever you want to call it...they also completely disregard traditional Lapine culture and behavior; they don't tell stories of El-ahrairah, they make weird poetry about the inevitability of death, they keep babbling about dignity, they make ART, etc. This, by the way, is why it and Efrafa come off as so viscerally wrong, because Mr. Adams went to the trouble of putting us in a rabbit headspace, so we can understand the full horror; it's not just Woundwort's tyranny or the farmer's snares, it's that they're unnatural and rabbits aren't meant to live that way.

Now, I know what you're thinking when I say that word, "unnatural", but put down the pitchfork.

Because Hazel and Co. do a LOT of things that is outside the realm of typical rabbit behavior:

Despite being Chief Rabbit, Hazel let's the others argue with and talk back to him.

They made friends with mice and a bird.

He adopted Cowslip's Warren's idea of using tree roots to create a big central chamber

Tales (the sequel short story collection) has them adopt a (obvs. less aggro) version of the Efrafan practice of having the Owsla run patrols

They busted out hutch rabbits.

They used a boat

Meanwhile, Sandleford, the Warren that our heroes fled, was apparently the epitome of a traditional Warren and of course they all died horribly.

So, what's the difference?

It goes back to the last lines of the first myth, part of which was used as the first animated film adaptation's tagline:

“All the world will be your enemy, Prince with a Thousand Enemies, and whenever they catch you, they will kill you. But first they must catch you, digger, listener, runner, prince with the swift warning. Be cunning and full of tricks and your people shall never be destroyed.”

(I bolded the important part)

Sandleford's Chief Rabbit (EDIT: The Threarah) decided he liked things as they were and refused to change, and his people died. Cowslip and Co. allow themselves to be farmed and treat death as an inevitability, and they're slowly going mad and dying one by one. Gen. Woundwort teaches his Owsla to respond to every situation by fighting, and they break and flee when the unexpected happens. The ordinary rabbits of Efrafa are forced to live like hutch rabbits and they're miserable and not having babies.

Hazel does weird stuff…but he does so because he's in a weird situation and has to adapt. He listens to the other's concerns and ideas, he keeps an open mind, he figures out what resources are available to him, and then figures out how he can use them to protect his people.

In short? Unlike Woundwort, Cowslip & Co., or the unnamed Chief Rabbit of Sandleford EDIT: The Threarah, he is cunning and full of tricks.

(I think one of the reasons the BBC miniseries from a few years back didn't hit right is that they failed to get this)

Anyways, thanks for coming to my TED Talk

[bigwigxhazel]

i think the Watership Down fandom (especially those of y'all who experienced the adaptations first) tends to forget that, in the original novel, Fiver's visions being real is a big plot twist! nobody (not even us, the readers) gets to actually see his visions, meaning we sort of just have to take him at his word up until Bigwig's encounter with death at Cowslip's warren (and, later, when Holly recounts the fate of Sandleford warren).

Fiver is supposed to seem like he's crazy! we're supposed to question his judgement! that ambiguity is what makes the twist work!

and while i'm at it, i really dislike how harshly Hazel is judged for not listening to Fiver about the hidden peril in Cowslip's warren. again, nobody else can actually see what Fiver sees. he is the only one who can see what needs to be done. but if you, like Hazel and company, have no proof of his abilities and are not fucking magic, Fiver's conviction seems a lot more like delusion and arrogance!

and that's Fiver's problem! he isn't perfect! he has zero social skills, is incredibly stubborn, lacking in patience, and has limited empathy and understanding for others! if it weren't for Hazel possessing all of those qualities in spades, nobody would've made it out of Sandleford warren alive. it's why he's the leader, and Fiver isn't!

[cinder-starlight]

Watership down fandom, settle something for me

I’ve been trying to watch the Netflix adaptation for a while—I’ve only really made it to episode 2 but even then I’ve seen a bit of discussion here and there about strawberry.

Before I continue—really quick: I’m not very word savvy so I just wanna give an FYI that I’d like for this to be a genuine discussion, I’d like to hear other peoples’ takes on the matter especially since there will always be different ways to see things.

Continuing: I don’t have any solid thoughts on Strawberry yet, design wise she is very cute but what absolutely grinds my gears is the fact she is only really there to be a romantic interest between hawkbit, dandelion and bigwig.

I usually don’t have a big problem with love triangles (or squares in this case) and think they can be pretty entertaining but after learning strawberry was male through other variants such as the graphic novel (if I’m correct), book and TV series—which is the majority. It kinda has me confused, why change Strawberry into a doe for the sake of romance?

I’ve seen people argue that strawberry works better as a doe or that strawberry isn’t a male name—which I’m well aware the series doesn’t exactly do female characters much justice since the majority of the story is about bucks. But also Strawberry totally works as a male name! It’s a fruit, by that logic, blackberry should also be a doe.

I still have yet to finish the Netflix miniseries and look into one of the books but Personally: I think it would’ve been nice to see male strawberry in the miniseries, especially to be there to prove the group wrong on their “bucks don’t dig” statements. It would’ve been nice to see a chipper and eager strawberry look to help out with the warren and sort of just be a fresh perspective to them all from his time in cowslip’s warren.

Again this is just my take, but I’m also curious as to what others think or wish could’ve happened.

[fantasywatershipdown]

Nildro-hain/Song of the Blackbird!! I feel like she could've been an interesting addition to the cast, but 😤whatever. Lol. Maybe I'm projecting 🥴

Her design is of course inspired by blackbirds! Her little extra back fluff is meant to be shaped a bit like wings :) She's got that fluffy neck fur like Strawbs as part of their Cowslip's-Warren-heritage. She wasn't given all that much character in the book sadly, but I thought it would be cute if she was partially a foil to her mate Strawberry, so that's reflected in her shapes :)

[vixymix101]

Cowslip sketch cause I still love the cult leader rabbit

[captainsparklefingers]

I want to trust this collectivist stoat utopia so bad. I really, really do.

I can't, of course, and I don't. I read Watership Down. I remember Strawberry and Cowslip and the Warren of Snares. I watched The Secret of NIHM. I've watched shorts like Peace on Earth and Good Will to Men.

Something is not right here. It's either something with the stoats, or the humans aren't as uninvolved in things here as the stoats think. Or... general nuclear apocalypse stuff.

[paulinawoodpecker]

Watership down: a horror story

Coming soon

Cast:

Sandlefords:

Hazel: James corden

Fiver: Jacob tremblay

Bigwig: Trevor white

Blackberry: rob paulsen

Pipkin: Ciara bravo

Dandelion: Jospeh Balderrama

Hawkbit: frank mele

Clover: Diane Keaton

Bluebell: timothee chalamet

Sliver: Sam smith

Holly: Tom cruise

Toadflax: don cheadle

Violet: Anne Hathaway

The threarah: Hugh jackman

Speedwell: viola davis

Acorn: Tiffany haddish

Buckthorn: Jim Carrey

Cowslip’s Warren:

Cowslip: Alec Baldwin

Strawberry: Alex Kelly

Silverweed: Ryan gosling

Efrafra:

General woundwort: Gary Martin

Hyzenthlay: pippa Bennett Warner

Campion: Joe mele

Vervain: Seth rogen

Orchis: sean Austin

Blackavar: Jung kook

Groundsel: Chris hemsworth

Thethuninnang: Emma stone

Nelthilta: Katie Higgins

Vilthurill: Julia Roberts

Chervil: Pedro pascal

Mystical characters:

Frith: Ed Sheeran

El-ahrairah: will smith

Rabscuttle: Ryan renolds

Prince rainbow: Adam James

The black rabbit of inle: Lizzo

Hufsa: Tom Kenny

King Darzin: Keanu reeves

Rowsby wolf: Justin Timberlake

Yona the hedgehog: Gwen Stefani

Other voices:

Keehar: Peter capaldi

Laurel: SIA

Boxwood: Anna Kendrick

Haystack: Renee Rapp

The mouse: Cathy Ang

Flyarith: Angela basset

Stone crop: Dwayne Johnson

Spartina: Andra day

Granite: Ethan hawke

Shale: Tom holland

Feldspar: Michael Peña

Bark: Margot Robbie

The weasel: will Farrell

[blueberryattack]

Do people largely view Watership Down as a horror book? Like it's dark and it's violent, and has some horror elements (Cowslip's Warren and the destruction of the Sandleford Warren) but it never really struck me as falling into the horror genre at all