Questions tagged [watership-down]
For questions about Watership Down, the novel by Richard Adams. Use in conjunction with [richard-adams].
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What is the significance of General Woundwort injuring his leg?
During the battle of Watership Down towards the end of Watership Down, when Bigwig is fighting General Woundwort, Woundwort is injured on his leg:
He struck out and felt his claws score deeply along ...
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What is the significance of referring to Hazel as "the lame rabbit" in "Watership Down"?
In Watership Down, when Hazel comes out to talk to General Woundwort, the text first frames him as a "rabbit":
At that moment a rabbit came out of the grass and sat up in the middle of the ...
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What did the men use to destroy Sandleford Warren?
In Watership Down, Chapter 21, Holly describes what happened back at Sandleford Warren. He does not understand what the men were doing. I don't either. Here's the relevant text [with a lot of side-...
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How can "Salamandastron" be considered "In the Tradition of 'Watership Down'"?
I dug up a copy of Salamandastron and noticed something about the cover:
On the U.S. PB cover is:
In the Tradition of Watership Down
I know the definition of "in the tradition of"
having ...
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What does "skimmish" mean, in this eye dialect?
This is perhaps a surprising instalment in my sequence of Watership Down questions, being about human dialect and nothing to do with rabbits at all. Of course, it comes from the chapter "Dea ex ...
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Do "rain and elder bloom" signify anything in Hazel's last dream?
At the end of Watership Down, in the Epilogue covering
just before this happens, he has a final dream which is something about "rain and elder bloom":
One chilly, blustery morning in March,...
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How long does the story of Watership Down take?
I'm doing a re-read of Watership Down, and it seems that the action of the story is taking place over much less time than I remembered: e.g. from the start of the story to Hazel and Bigwig meeting ...
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Why is the encounter with the rats not covered in detail?
In Watership Down by Richard Adams, the band of rabbits face a number of ordeals during their journey from Sandleford Warren to Watership Down: crossing a river while there's a dog loose in the woods, ...
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What does Silverweed's poem signify?
Richard Adams's novel Watership Down has a memorable episode in a warren full of big, healthy rabbits ("Cowslip's warren") who are kept in good shape by a man leaving food for them, have ...
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Does the warren of the snares function as a critique of a specific group or behavior?
While journeying to Watership Down, the Sandleford refugees encounter the warren of the snares. This warren has some distinctly odd ways of living, all stemming from how they accept that, in exchange ...
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What is King Darzin?
One of the El-ahrairah stories told in Watership Down features someone called King Darzin, but it's not clear what sort of animal (or even human?) he's supposed to be.
Now, King Darzin ruled over the ...
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Why do some Lapine words have pronunciation guidelines as footnotes?
My copy of Watership Down has many asterisks in the text to direct the reader to footnotes. Some of these footnotes are definitions of Lapine words:
*Nearly all warrens have an Owsla, or a group of ...
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Was Lapine ever developed beyond the small glossary in Watership Down?
One of the interesting features of Richard Adams's novel Watership Down is his invented language "Lapine" spoken by rabbits in the story. Mostly, of course, the rabbits are shown speaking in ...
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Why are primroses emphasized at the start and end of Watership Down?
The first paragraph of Watership Down:
The primroses were over. Toward the edge of the wood, where the ground became open and sloped down to an old fence and a brambly ditch beyond, only a few fading ...
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Identification of Kehaar's accent
In Richard Adams's novel Watership Down, the seagull character Kehaar is written with a distinctive accent unlike all other characters. Here's an example of a conversation between him and Hazel:
&...
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Why is Kehaar written with an accent?
In Watership Down the bird Kehaar is written with an accent and poor grammar when talking with the rabbits. A representative excerpt:
"Meester 'Azel, vat you do? You no stay 'ere?"
"...
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What does this simile about Fiver rounding up Efrafan prisoners mean?
In Watership Down, after the battle with the Efrafans has ended, there is this confusing simile:
It so happened that Bluebell was the first through into the Honeycomb; and for many days afterwards he ...
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Why the Alice epigraph in the epilogue of Watership Down?
Each chapter of Watership Down bears an epigraph, a quote from some other source which is relevant to the chapter at hand. In the epilogue (and nowhere else?) there are two epigraphs, one from ...
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What is the significance of Blackberry's name in Watership Down?
In the novel Watership Down, the character of Blackberry is the "clever rabbit" among the original group migrating from the Sandleford Warren. He's the one who comes up with innovative (for ...
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Why is Dandelion named so?
In Watership Down, one of the rabbits is named Dandelion. The explanation given for the name in the Fandom wiki is this:
He is a yellow-furred rabbit, hence his name [Dandelion].
But while that ...
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Is Doctor Adams a self-insertion in Watership Down?
In chapter 48, "Dea ex Machina", of Watership Down, we meet Doctor Adams.
Watership Down is of course written by Richard Adams.
Is there any indication besides the surname that this character is a ...
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Why is it called Watership Down?
I am an American, so to me the title "Watership Down" sounds like it is about a boat that is underwater, either a submarine or a sunken surface ship. I now understand that a down is a term for a hill ...
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What is the foundation of the religion in Watership Down?
In Watership Down, El-ahrairah is essentially the father of all rabbits. He interacts with Prince Rainbow who seems to be a god.
From where do the religious history and/or deities in the story come?
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