#fiver and hazel

[deuterosapiens]

So, end of Day One for Watership Down. Eight Chapters in, we've left our hone Warren and crossed a river. Not too much actually going on this early on, but I don't have the time to read much more. That said, a few notes.

First, I'm a polite sucker for constructed languages. Even just the few scattered words of Lapine give the reader some interesting insight into rabbit culture. This is, I would say, best exemplified by the remarkable passage where Dandelion tells the story of El-ahrairah's blessing given by Frith. Richard Adams' influences here are quite clear, and given how his introduction in my edition spells these out anyway, I won't dwell too much on it. That said, it's a simple passage, but adds a mythic element to the text. I'm curious what parallels will be drawn between our rabbits' journey and the adventures of the Prince with a Thousand Enemies. Also, amusing, Adams, naming one of your characters Fiver and then telling me in a footnote that rabbits don't count past four and that basically Fiver's name is technically incorrect because it's all basically a thousand after that.

I'm no doubt also expected to have flashed on Fiver's name being Hrairoo (little thousand), which contains the same root as El-ahrairah (Prince with a Thousand Enemies). As I have arguably no knowledge about this book, in terms of its themes or its overall story, I cannot be certain what to expect, but I'm definitely expecting my little runt to develop further into a fearsome rabbit, to complete the parallel.

I adore the prose here. So much time is spent lovingly describing the landscape, the plants, the wildlife. There's a very passionate love for this simple wild country that's not too verbose that it becomes tedious, but more vibrant than is strictly necessary. It feels naturally pleasant, and you can easily imagine this story being read aloud to his children. We are dealing with a mature voice that feels like it wants the reader to read this story to someone younger (perhaps in a Princess Bride sort of way).

While not much has happened, I can tell reading further will not feel too tedious, which is a pleasure I seem reluctant to give myself these days. I'm content.

[neo-kajatrash]

Apparently I haven't shared these here... It's my Watership Down fanart from 2022 (first two) and 2020 (last two)!! I'm still proud of these, and I can't overstate how much I love Watership Down ❤️✨

[augment-techs]

Watership Down graphic novel reaction/icon images: PART I

[saturncoyote]

Started missing drawing rabbits so here’s a bunch of em

[astrogriffinart]

Am I the only one who absolutely adored the Netflix adaptation?

[doxiedreg]

So I read the watership down graphic novel a few days ago (it was very good, great adaptation of the original book though some things were missing/lacking) and it gave me the itch to draw bunnies again. So instead of, idk, cooking or eating dinner I drew a bunch of watership down bunny rabbits :) Its almost 12 am and im starving but I just needed to get it done today, i wanted to share the watership down love. Who knows, maybe if I had stopped, it would have ended up in wip limbo/hell and i didnt want that to happen Anyhow, I sadly wasnt able to fit everyone but I tried to include most of the main bunnies. I was gonna squeeze blackavar in there but i was all out of brain juice and also canvas space. I used photo references of wild rabbits to try and get the shapes right but the ears were very challenging. Im afraid some might have turned out looking more like hares instead but I really tried my best! (this took me like over 4 hours rip) I also tried really hard to make their coat colors and patterns varied but still believable/natural-ish. Vervain is a lil random because honestly i didnt know what to do for him so i just let the vibes guide me. To fill the empty space beneath pipkin i included tiny El-ahrairah, the black rabbit of Inlé and frith because i despise having empty space on sketch pages. Anyhow im gonna try to figure out what to eat now, hope you guys enjoy!

[blueylovesssanimating]

Hazel and Fiver (Watership Down) as WoF dragons :)

Both are Skywing/Nightwing hybrids!

[sandytrish008]

Fanart I did of the english novel Watership Down, specifically the 1978 animated movie 🐇🐰

[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!

[elegy-illustration]

One of my favorite projects from this last semester was getting to design book covers, and I had been dying to make my own Watership Down cover for forever. It’s probably my favorite novel, so I hope I did it justice!

The mock-up templates I used were from Free-PSD-Templates!

[opanchu]

yeah i've been reading the bunny book. 1st pic is based on this

[sambirdyanim8]

Watch "Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade 1977 B-Roll" on YouTube

This is so cool. Of all th8ngs I would've never expected to see a float promoting the movie at the Macy's day parade!

[blimbo-buddy]

Wanted to try drawing some Watership Down characters just to get used to drawing rabbits differently

[augment-techs]

Watership Down graphic novel reaction/icon images: PART III

[sketch-shepherd-art]

WaterSHIP down hehe amirite?

Anyway these sketches are really shitty but I've wanted to draw some of my favorite gay WSD ships for pride month for a while

Also some of these ships are VERY specific to certain versions of characters in various adaptations so I might as well clarify them:

Hazel x Bigwig (1978 movie)

Hazel x Campion (1999 series)

Fiver x Silverweed (1999 series)

Bluebell x Blackberry (2018 miniseries)

Clover x Hyzenthlay (2018 miniseries)

[cibguts]

Hazel and Fiver ! Some more fanart :]