#OWLSA | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

pbaintthetb · 4 years ago

Text

Watership Down rant pt.5/On Hazel/How Hazel helps Bigwig

One of Hazel’s biggest strengths is his compassion. But Hazel is also incredibly pragmatic as I’ve mentioned before with him and Pipkin, which contrasts him nice to BIgwig.(and how that shows both his compassion and pragmatism).

Hazel, with his beautiful mind, comes up with the idea of helping other animals in need. Though his offers to help others are not altogether altruistic, he is fundamentally kind. Whereas Bigwig holds grudges, Hazel is willing to give pretty much anyone a chance, including people he doesn’t really need to- this is a good trait good for a Chief Rabbit. This is seen when he allows Strawberry to join them (despite Silver wanting to kill him on Bigwig’s behalf) and to not kill Campion. Strawberry is a better example of compassion, but Campion shows a far more pragmatic nature- they want Efrafa to be led by someone competent, who knows them, and who can be reasoned with. The devil you know and all that.

Hazel gets Bigwig to allow Strawberry, and Bigwig, despite his reluctance agrees, if “sulkily” probably in part because he respects Hazel, but also because he knows this is more a gut instinct for him. He’s pissed off because Strawberry’s complicity nearly killed him, but he backs down to Hazel- who wants Strawberry because he’s big, knows the area slightly better, but mostly just because Strawberry has had his world destroyed and Hazel is good. Later in the book, this is very good when they’re under siege and need all the strength they can get. This is a minor example of the things Hazel does later which pay off big time- Kehaar and the mice. Hazel sure is good at obtaining loyalty.

Equally, Bigwig’s later objections to Hazel’s tendencies, in the case of the mouse is less- you’re dumb, and more “okay, I respect you and I know you’re smart, but why, explain it please. We don't have resources.” Bigwig also picks his battles with Hazel, he’s not just constantly arguing-he lets it go when there's a situation with Holly requiring both of their attention, and doesn’t bring it up agan.

Similarly with Kehaar- as much as Bigwig is personally opposed to befriending non-rabbits, this time, upon discovering Kehaar, he alerts Hazel as soon as he’s determined Kehaar isn’t going to be a threat because he knows Hazel will want to know about anyone they could potentially indebt- ah help. Then, while Bigwig is clearly reluctant and mildly irritated at Hazel ordering him to find food for Kehaar as soon as Hazel starts, Big does join in- if grumpily- without being forced. This not only shows how Bigwig listens, but how Hazel leads by example- but it’s also because he knows that’s the only way to get Bigwig to do certain things. They keep each other honest. When they can't find worms for Kehaar it’s Bigwig who suggests an alternate food source, when he could simply give up if he were truly insubordinate. The point is, unless Bigwig has an actual valid reason, he does always follow along and listen to Hazel’s plans, even if he doesn’t like them. Also #KingMoment, Bigwig literally digs up shit and brings it towards Hazel- and upon being praised goes “please don't tell anyone”. He’ll do a lot for Hazel

Regarding Holly: When Holly is asking questions to the duo, they answer together. It’s very coordinated and sweet with no talking over each other or contradictions. Further displaying how they present an image of a team (even if neither of them openly acknowledge this) Holly asks to talk to Silver (he knows him from Owsla)- and specifically not Hazel or Bigwig (who he also knows from Owlsa). He explains he doesn’t want to say certain things to Hazel as not wanting to create trouble for the Chief Rabbit- but it’s not explained why he doesn’t want to talk to Bigwig. The reason that seems most clear to me is that the rabbits sort of default to Bigwig being 2ic/Owsla Captain because it’s so obvious and just how Hazel & Bigwig naturally function, and Holly picks up on this. This is also why Hawkbit sasses Bigwig far earlier- they cooperate almost from the get-go because they compliment each other very well, as both being strong personalities with caring sides. (Bigwig is less compassionate than Hazel, but he’s also fiercely protective.)

Bigwig is good for Hazel in the sense he tells him he’s wrong. The other rabbits mostly idolise Hazel (after the one early hiccup with Hawkbit co), Fiver and Bigwig excepted. Unfortunately Fiver’s reasons for objecting are mostly “my sixth sense told me so” which is like... actually valid in the context of everything but like, there’s no way for Hazel to grow, no compromise. So while Hazel should listen to Fiver, their relationship/criticism doesn’t really allow Hazel to become a better or expanded version of himself.

Bigwig offers advice and suggestions based on experience and knowledge (gained from being and Owsla) and allows Hazel to get his plans implemented- but also focus on other pressing issues without having to micromanage because Bigwig has the talent to organise and mobilise. Not that Hazel doesn’t- but it allows Hazel to be getting on with other stuff because he knows Bigwig’s paws are safe paws.

Secondly- and this is why Bigwig needs Hazel and how Hazel helps Bigwig- Hazel’s mind is glorious. Like sure, Blackberry is probably smarter objectively, but it doesn’t always feel that way because A. he’s inventing things that seem obvious to us- like floating, and B. none of the characters really understand what he’s doing, so it can come across as underwhelming to the reader.

Additionally, while Blackberry is more of a technical/mechanical genius what Hazel does is schemes. Now, Bigwig is quite a straightforward kind of rabbit who admires tricks, but isn’t super tricky himself. Note- this is more or less exactly how the Novel describes Holly, down to saying he’s a born second but could never lead. Hazel pulls off an incredible scheme that I’m still kind of in awe of at the end of the book involving Dandelion- their fastest runner- and a tied up dog. He also pulls off the heist of the Hutch Rabbits (if for the wrong reasons) he considers making friends with animals for the purpose of recalling favours. Bigwig sort of takes these ideas, and makes them make sense (not entirely, Hazel does some of that himself) and works to implement them/get the other rabbits working. But without Hazel BIgwig would not be nearly so good as he is. Bigwig needs someone who’s smart and tricky and brain is just. mwah. It’s Hazel who organises and leads the escape from Sandleford, as much as Bigwig makes it actually able to happen. Hazel also is smart enough to play to Bigwig’s ego at the beginning to defuse situations- which then cements Bigwig’s loyalty.

#watership down i guess #PB's long rant on watership down #Bigwig Supremacy Agenda

4 notes · View notes

davinciandwilde · 4 years ago

Text

El-ahrairah and the Black Rabbit of Inle: A Poem

Word traveled around, as these things oft do, and King Darzin found he had been made a fool

“I declare war on El-ahrairah and all he all he loves and his people. Whatever is left will be mine to rule

However they are too clever for me to trick them out of their homes, and so I will wait outside

They will come to eat but I will starve them, he cried

They will come for sunlight and I will chase them back into darkness

They will try but I will rip them of their fur and feast off the carcass!”

El-ahrairah tried every trick in his body, pushed his cunning and wit and charm

But no matter what he tried, or plan devised, it only raised that forsaken brass alarm

There was no solution to be found for King Darzin and finally, he realized

There was only one other now with the power to bring his enemies demise

Now, The Black Rabbit of Inle is fur and everlasting darkness

When the snare is set, they know where the peg is driven, the grain of the wood, and the hardness

When the weasel dances, the Rabbit watches, induces foolishness and madness and sickness too

Some say they hate rabbits, but they serve Lord Frith and no more than their appointed task do they pursue

To bring about what must be and only by his will, they go by Frith’s promise

Though starless and cold, unyielding and grievous, a rabbit’s life, one way or another, is their providence

And they will protect and avenge any rabbit who may chance to be destroyed without the consent of himself

Though their name invokes fear, they are not of the Thousand, and they may be the last one who can help

All through the night, El-ahrairah thought and thought, and when morning came, to Rabscuttle he confessed

“No rabbit has tried, and my mind may be addled by hunger and fear, but it may have a chance of success

I will seek out the Black Rabbit and offer my own life in return for the safety of my people

If they won’t take it, I will find something else, whichever it may be, no matter how evil

You must bring it back, Rabscuttle, with or without me, to the save this warren.”

And so, they devised a plan; Later than even the last of twilight, the rabbits charged out roaring

The soldiers distracted, El-ahrairah and Rabscuttle flew into the grave-dark ditch and ran

They limped through a bad dream to that terrible place they bound for, where life is all but banned

Where they travel, the sun and moon mean nothing, and winter and summer less

The scrambled over splinters of slate among gray rocks bigger than sheep, upward over a crest

No sound but the trickling of water and sometimes a cry of some great evil bird

The mist got so thick that they couldn’t see and yet had no option but to endure

Above them, the cliffs hung like a dark roof, below a gaping grave that must be what they seek

Waiting still as lichen and cold as stone was the Black Rabbit of Inle, and El-ahrairah for the first time, felt meek

Carved from the mountain with their giant claws, the Black Rabbit’s burrow reflects its monarch

They speak with a voice of water that falls in echoing places in the dark

Their eyes were red with a light that had no light he had ever known

Like shadow, like mist, like stone, they smelled as clean as last year’s bones

“El-ahrairah why have you come? You are a stranger here.” They spoke, soft but regal

“My Sovereign,” he whispered, “I have come to give you my life. My life for my people.”

“Bargains, bargains,” The Black Rabbit drawled, “There is no day or night that I do not listen

To some honest Captain of Owsla for his chief rabbit or a doe offers her life for her kittens

Sometimes it is taken, sometimes it is not. But there is no bargain, for what is is what must be.”

El-ahrairah refused to leave, for if he could trick them into it, he knew the Black Rabbit would remain true

“You are my guest,” The Black Rabbit insisted, “if you refuse all else, at least let me entertain you.

My home is free and I will make you as comfortable as I can. Come let us play Bob Stones.”

“If I win, perhaps you will be as good as to accept my life in return for my people’s safety and home.”

The Black Rabbit paused but nodded. “I will. But If I win, I will have your tail and whiskers.”

So they sat in the cold and silence, and El-ahrairah tried not to flinch as the shadows hesitated and flickered

Under the eyes of the Owsla, even with Rabscuttle trying to ground him, his wits failed, then his spirit

But the Black Rabbit played without sound or change, like falling snow burying the sharp thicket

“You may pay your stakes to the Owsla and they will lead you to a burrow to rest, but remember this

If you are here tomorrow, I will see you, but you are free to leave whenever you wish”

In a hollow stone burrow with an opening to the mountain outside, Rabscuttle urged him to leave,

But El-ahrairah was convinced he could get the promise that he desired, that his people need

Rabscuttle returned and from clematis and ragwort fashioned whiskers and a tail

El-ahrairah returned and sat across from the Black Rabbit, weak in body but resolved to not fail

The Black rabbit sighed through their broad nose, though he could not tell if they were disappointed or scowling

“You must understand. I have no wish to make you suffer. I am not one of the Thousand”

“You may stay or leave as you please” they spoke, shaking their great coat, “But perhaps you might care to share a story.”

“If I tell as good a story as yours, perhaps you will accept my life and grant my people their safety and territory”

The Black Rabbit huffed with a bittersweet smile, “I will, but if not, you will forfeit your ears.”

They told a tale of fear and darkness that froze them where they crouched on the rock

And not even the warmth of Rabscuttle could stop the icy clouds in which his senses were locked

His wits turned, this body tharn, and the blood fled from his cheeks

When at least the Black Rabbit finished his dark and true tale, El-ahrairah was not able to speak

Dashed about like a mouse, twisted like a snare, the cords, the muscles of his neck taut

He awoke to see Rabscuttle weeping over him, shoulders shaking and far past distraught

“What good is this suffering? For the sake of Frith and Green Grass, let me take you home!”

“Nonsense,” he whispered just above his breath, “Two big dock leaves. They will do very well for ears of my own”

“They will wither” implored Rabscuttle, “As I am withered now, like a worm in the nut”

“For what I have to do, I cannot find the way, but I only need them to last long enough”

He kissed Rabscuttle’s tears away before he left through the maw of the cave

El-ahrairah racked his brain for a trick, any way to secure a weapon or the Black Rabbit’s aid

The Black Rabbit of Inle would not accept his life, and there is no wager he can win

Then why inflict these sufferings if they truly feel no ill will? What do they intend?

Why break him? Why not just send him away? Why not make a wager to force him away?

It hit him quite suddenly, for it was as obvious as can be: that was how. That was the way

They would not help him, perhaps could not, would break him if they must

But if he were to find a weapon, could they stop him? The thought was so simple, so blunt

His own consent. Nothing had happened, nothing taken, nothing bartered, without his own consent.

Except with his own consent, they could not hurt him or sent him away. But could they prevent it?

With two weak dock ears dragging on the floor, he turned towards the narrow runs of the warren

The Owsla watched him crawl but he was past being afraid and finally one did gently caution

“Turn back, El-ahrairah; you have no business in this pit. You are alive and have suffered much already.”

“Not as much as my own people,” He proclaimed. His head felt light but his thoughts were heavy

“Oh, El-ahrairah,” The Owlsa breathed “There is enough suffering here for a thousand warrens

In these holes lie all plagues and diseases –fever, mange, sickness of the bowels, twisting of the organs

Look, They pointed, nearest to you is the White Blindness. Not even the Thousand will touch that body

This is our task, to see all ready for the use of Inle-Rah. For what is is what must be.”

El-ahrairah gave himself no time to think but plunged into the pit faster than a raindrop to the ground

The shadows flickered and gibbered, for except by fear for they had no power to move him from this ground

He did not know how long he lay, only that surely the infection had already began

He would have to be fast, he crawled out, To get to Rabscuttle and begin to plan

How to save his people, how to get home, how to infect the King’s army and his soldiers

He blundered into stone, cool against his burning skin, and it gently his shivering shoulders

“El-ahrairah,” a quiet voice whispered, reaching beyond senses, “where are you going?”

“You said I might go when I wished, my sovereign” He breathed, “so home I am going”

“You have some purpose, El-ahrairah. What is it?”

“I have infected myself with White Blindness, there, in that terrible pit

I knew the price would be my life, one way or another but I must go before I am too wearied”

“El-ahrairah, do you know how the White Blindness is carried?”

Silence

“By the fleas in rabbit’s ears.” The Black Rabbit confessed. “You can neither catch nor carry the White Blindness.”

El-ahrairah broke against their chest, the last of his senses bubbling with tears as a broken sob filled the silence

The Black Rabbit said nothing, held him, their claws gentle against his thin fur despite their appearance

“This is a cold warren. A hard place for the living and no place at all for warm hearts and brave spirits

You are a nuisance here. Go home. I myself will save your people.

Do not have the impertinence to ask me when, for time’s power here is, at best, feeble

“They are already saved, El-ahrairah. They are already saved.”

The moment came when King Darzin and his soldiers were jeering down into the land they razed

The falling darkness crept upon them like twilight, choked them with confusion and terror

From the darkness, red eyes stalked them from the thistles, an idea of a rabbit, but a shape of horror

Too tall and too short, hunched inward and protruding, prey with a predator’s gait

But the sound, the sound, it made a sound no rabbit should be able to make

King Darzin and his soldiers fled. The rabbits, whatever creatures they were, were never seen again

When at least El-ahrairah was able to rise, the Black Rabbit was gone, and Rabscuttle was calling his name

Together they went out those icy mountains, down the stone-rattling gully in the mist, back where they came

Away from the Black Rabbit, away from Inle-Rah’s silent Owsla, away from cold and stone

But El-ahrairah was sick with shock, even Rabscuttle’s muscle and fur were thin where it had once shown

They dug a scrap and laid down for several days, the green grass and dirt ‘neath them a renewed treasure

Later, they lost their way a few times, though they had many adventures,

Of course, El-ahrairah, even with wits and tricks, was still without whisker, tail, or ears, and so Rabscuttle became his all

Together, finally, they made it home, greater and greener than they ever recalled

The warren was bigger, with more holes, more families, and rabbits they could not recognize

When asked, they realized that many years had passed, the war a story told to kittens to terrorize

They were only legends, him and Rabscuttle. All those they fought for were old or had died.

El-ahrairah sat down under a nut bush, looking out across the red fields in the dying light

“Are you angry, El-ahrairah?” Frith asked softly beside him, knowing they both saw the same bloody sight

“No my lord, I am not angry. I have learned that with creatures one loves,

Suffering is not the only thing for which one may pity them, or rather they have stopped or still run

A rabbit who does not know when a gift has made him safe is poorer than a slug, though he may think himself otherwise”

Frith sighed, knowing what he spoke of, how glamorized and dramatic it all became when truly, one had to only decide

“Wisdom is found on the desolate hillside when none comes to feed

And the stony bank where the rabbit scratches in vain before he will concede.”

But speaking of gifts, I have brought a few trifles for you.” He smiled softly,

“Here is a tail and a set of whiskers too. The ears you will find a bit strange

A bit of starlight in them, though it is quite faint, really a small change

Not near enough to give away a clever thief like you

Is Rabscuttle coming? Could you bring him? I have a gift for him too.

#Watership Down #Black Rabbit of Inle #El-ahrairah #Rabscuttle #my poems

6 notes · View notes