#hazelrah

[vixymix101]

Hazel x Bigwig doodle bc I'm bored--

[skrumbly-booplo-incorporated]

Winners' Reset – Match 2

[applesandpavenders]

I went to see the real life location of Watership Down last weekend! And not only is it a beautiful place and we had beautiful weather, but I found an unexpected gift waiting for me

Now, the old beach hanger mentioned in the story isn’t there anymore, but there’s a new tree planted in honour of the story. Someone has even carved the names of the rabbits into the fence. And under this tree, I found a box with a little packet of stickers.

I cannot tell you how delighted I was that @lyndseyillustration had thought to place a treasure box full of her merch under the tree. I literally have her pin badge of El-ahrairah on my Etsy account and on a Christmas wish list.

Finding these stickers made the whole trip magical. There’s not a lot of people in this fandom, but boy do we have quality!

Unfortunately, my packet was the last one in the box, so I took the box home, as instructed. I will be reusing it, and just having it on my shelf makes me smile every time. Mainly because Bigwig is scowling back at me.

It was a lovely trip, and I would recommend. Take a picnic and just go watch the birds, I saw a kestrel and so many kites up there. If anyone wants directions, I can make a post of how to get there.

[vixymix101]

This is what I live for

Not ready to get up yet...

[pouroverpaloma]

paloma I have revivified my tumblr from its decade-long sleep to beseech you: please talk about Rolan with me because I have Thoughts® and Feelings™ such as: As the eldest sibling do you think he has an oversized and detrimental sense of responsibility that continues to impact him negatively? like during his apprenticeship, do you think he actively avoided Cal and Lia to stop them from either storming the tower themselves or worrying over him when they were supposed to be enjoying being safe in the city, etc. do you think that sense of responsibility extends to Tav or is Tav the person that makes him feel like he doesn't HAVE to be in charge and on top of everything.

also this is hazelrah on ao3!!! I cannot stop commenting on your fics to save my life

Omg hi Hazel!!! ♥️ both Thoughts® AND Feelings™, what a treat you’ve brought for me

As a preface, I���m of the opinion that Lorroakan intentionally isolated Rolan. That’s one of the reasons Lorroakan didn’t let Cal and Lia stay in his fuck-off massive tower. Narcissism and disdain for others also drove that decision, because he’s an asshole, but I really think Rolan can’t be the first apprentice he’s abused. He knew he could never break Rolan’s will if his siblings were there to support him, and, let’s be real, Lia would clearly kill him with hammers the moment he raised a hand to Rolan. He had to get him completely alone.

As for Rolan—I think his gut knew right away that something was very, very wrong with his apprenticeship, even if intellectually he’d talked himself into staying. I think he did the time-old dance of hiding abuse from your loved ones because you don’t know how to explain it, you think you can’t leave, and you’re frankly embarrassed it’s happening to you at all. Imagine him talking about his apprenticeship back in the grove, right? Now imagine him behind the counter in act 3. The whiplash between his aspirations of greatness and the awful reality of life in the tower must have been extraordinarily soul-crushing, on top of everything else. And he just couldn’t let them see that he’d dragged them all to Baldur’s Gate on a false promise.

All that to say: I imagine Rolan told himself that hiding the truth from Cal and Lia was for their own good, but really, he was ashamed and afraid of failing to make them proud.

Because yeah, he feels way more responsible for them than they could ever know or understand. He’s convinced that he has to earn his place in their family by demonstrating his utility. Rolan is caught in that awful trap of trying to deserve what he already has. It’s a self-defeating cycle because there’s no end state: he already has Cal and Lia’s unconditional love from the very start, so nothing he does can ever make him feel like he “achieved” it. He can run himself into the ground trying to earn their love, but he already has it and he’s too caught up in his own self-loathing to see it.

The thing that finally gets his head out of his ass, of course, is Tav. We see him starting to make the turn at the end of the game, when he’s master of the tower and stepping into his confidence, but from there, I think falling in love really shakes his foundations. It forces him to begin to self-reflect in a way he’s never been emotionally safe to do before.

As for how all of this plays out once they’re together! I think their dynamic is a case of unstoppable force versus immovable object. I think he’s going to devote himself to taking care of absolutely everything for them (because nothing could ever be Good Enough for Tav but goddamn it he’s going to try anyway) and Tav is going to devote themselves to taking care of absolutely everything for him (because Rolan deserves rest and gentleness and adoration maybe more than anyone ever has). This kind of all-consuming care manifests in different ways for each of them, some complementary, some adversarial. They get nauseatingly competitive about it but the sex is phenomenal.

And finally—after a while—he begins to understand that he doesn’t have to handle everything by himself in order to be lovable. He can let go of the reins and let Tav be capable sometimes, and it actually makes Tav happy when he does. Somehow, the sex gets even better.

[yurious-george]

The final passage is my favorite part of watership down. Hazel’s death is not framed with the finality of the black rabbit, but with the transcendence of becoming a story- of fully embodying the prince of rabbits. Throughout the whole story big, strong rabbits are praised, like bigwig and woundwort, but the truly prized traits of rabbit culture are compassion and cunning - all hazelrah’s strongest traits. I truly think the last section’s title is not meant to be read as “chief rabbit hazel” but as “prince hazel”. Ahhhh your body may die but you’ll live on forever as a story… it’s trite but it’s executed with such dexterity (and as a culmination of the story’s core themes) that I wouldn’t have it any other way

[yourfriendhare]

[therabbitof87]

Ah yes, this. This was the seed from my childhood that would lead me to my rabbit fixation.

“And when they catch you, they will kill you. But first they must catch you;”

[madamechocobo]

Inner peace 😌

[neon-night]

Hazel-Rah from Watership Down.

Speedpaint will be posted tomorrow.

[naylte-bryhlath]

Sorry to butt in but I think the part @hazelrah mentioned about Pipkin is in regards to this passage, when Hazel and co are entering Cowslip’s warren:

So it looks like he does make the conscious choice to prioritize the others over Pipkin, but he still puts himself at more risk by going in first.

I like approaching Watership Down through a firmly non-human lens. Yes, the book is flawed and carries its author's intent through the writing. But I choose to interpret the novel strictly through the rabbits' eyes or I'll go insane trying to justify why they forgot to bring any females with them. Luckily the book makes a lot of effort to put us on the level of the rabbits, so I feel comfortable acknowledging the bigotry of Richard Adams (an old white British dude) while also separating him from the text. The rabbits simply do not think like humans do.

[skrumbly-booplo-incorporated]

Winners' Round 3 – Match 3

[draghinsart]

couldnt sleep so i did some color concepts for watership down

[rejected-transboy]

"you needn't worry about them," said his companion. "they'll be alright- and thousands like them. If you'll come along, I'll show you what I mean."

twitter 

deviantart

[cozy-possum]

Hazel: I’m always down to overthrow the government, are you in?  know it’ll take a lot to convince you and-

Hyzenthlay: yes, whats wrong?

Hazel: I’ve never gotten this far before

[sugarberryyy]

MMMM I’m gonna try to draw most of the Sandleford/journeying (which includes Strawberry) rabbits! Maybe I’ll draw some other characters, but idk.

First up, we’ve got Hazel!

I took inspiration of the coloration from his 1999 counterpart, and his markings from his 2018 counterpart. I’m pretty proud of how Hazel came out. c:

And then we have Fiver!

I pretty much gave him a bigger head, and lighter colors compared to Hazel. His eyes are supposed to look a little odd since he’s a seer, plus he also has the black and red spots on his tail because I like to believe that he gets his visions from the Black Rabbit. c:

Next up: Blackberry and Bluebell

You’re free to use these designs if you want! Just be sure to credit me! :D