#threarah

[fantasywatershipdown]

Woag!! Last doodle before I dove completely into making refs :0

It's the Threarah of Sandleford! :D Interesting character.. I had a lot of fun doodling him and then designing him :) His spots got simplified a lot for his official ref, haha

[yourfriendharewsd]

[transtundras-fr]

Progen then vs now!

Their colors/breeds haven’t changed, so instead showcasing their original genes vs what they have now :3

[owsalfa]

Hi, I'm writing an essay about leadership and authority in Watership Down for a final grade- do you have any thoughts on the presentation of it by Hazel, Woundwort, Cowslip and the Threarah?

Hmm..I have some ideas you could expand on! I'm rubbish at writing it all out, so I'll bullet point it!

Hazel;

Seems to be a classic, good leader type! He seems to have a talent for it, but had to learn and hone them!

Over the book he learns what to say and how to act to really bring out the best in his team. Hes not the strongest nor the smartest rabbit, but he makes up for it by utilizing his team effectivley. He knows the smartest rabbit is Blackberry, and consults him for ideas. The fastest is Dandelion etc

I think the power balance between him and Bigwig is something you could mention. Bigwig seems to lead with more force and bit more bullying then Hazel, who does use force when it needs it but is more encouraging.

Woundwort;

Woundwort leads by force. He is the boss because he is the biggest, strongest and the most feared rabbit out of the warren. I don't remember the specifics, but when he came to Efrafa he made himself Chief.

He isn't stupid, he also knows when to apply praise, which team members skills to use and when. But he doesn't use this like Hazel does.

He seems to be the opposite of Hazel. In the book Woundwort had the opportunity to cease the raid on Watership and save his rabbits but he didn't. He decided on instead of being compassionate to his rabbits and the Watership warren, he was going to follow through on his plan to destroy.

They are two sides of the same coin. "Good" and "evil"

Cowslip;

If I remember rightly, I think its dubious as to whether hes the actual leader? The nature of the warren isn't like the others. Its survival doesn't hinge on its Chief and the teachings of Elahrairah. The most unnatural thing, Man, looks after them. The Warren of the Shining Wire has no realy need for a leader.

The Threarah;

Theres not really much said about Threarah as a leader. We know that he was very selfless and daring in his younger years. Again I've forgotten the specifics but he almost gave his life so his warren could be safe. (Did he lead a man to shoot a fox?) He also seems to know his Owsla well and where and how to use them effectivley - I'd say this is very Hazel like! But in his old age he seems to of gotten complacent and lazy. He doesn't listen to Fivers warnings, even when he knew Fiver has been right in the past, berates Bigwig for letting someone bother him in his tunnel.

[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

[lepurcinus]

One thing I noticed (and well I did read some people say it) is that the Watership Down adaptations ignore the small detail that Bigwig actually DID believe Fiver. He tells him himself that he does believe in that sort of thing and doesn't understand why Thearah doesn't.

If he later gets upset with him in Cowslip's it was because up to that point Bigwig thought that was already his destiny and saw it as a good place. He had not yet put his faith in Fiver completely so he felt annoyed to see him so insistent on leaving when to him there didn't seem to be any problem with that den, yet he was also a dissatisfied and somewhat hardened Buck looking for a better life and he seemed to have found it. Then when he is saved from the snare his first action is to APOLOGIZE to Fiver and for him to now tell him what they should do.

The movie doesn't dig into that and you assume Bigwig left because he trusted Hazel and didn't like Threarah and the miniseries works much the same only it makes Bigwig much more aggressive and doubtful. The TV series is...weird. As you have Bigwig constantly trying to belittle Fiver and quite dubious. Moreover, the fact that he looks so Simp with Holly and his pride in being "Owsla" makes you doubt why the hell he went with them in the first place.

[godzilla-reads]

WATERSHIP DOWN BOOKISH ASKS

El-ahrairah: How many followers do you have?

Rabscuttle: Who is your bookish bestie IRL?

Frith: Do you think audiobooks are real books?

Hazel: Who is your bookish bestie online?

Fiver: What makes you more nervous- running out of things to read or dying before you finish your TBR?

The Threarah: Have you ever changed your initial opinion about a book after writing a review?

Bigwig: Do you have a book you enjoy that not many people do?

Dandelion: Do you write at all? How do you share your stories?

Speedwell: How fast do you usually read?

Silver: How many books do you average a month?

Acorn: How many books did you read in 2023, 2022, 2021- if you remember or have records?

Blackberry: What book would you recommend to a child?

Captain Holly: What book are you avoiding reading at all costs?

Bluebell: Have you ever laughed out loud while reading?

Strawberry: Do you think trigger warnings are helpful in the book, even if it might spoil it?

Pipkin: Do you tend to read bigger or smaller books? Or are you averaging in the middle?

Keehar: What’s your opinion on translated books? Do you have a favorite country that you read a lot of books from?

Clover: What book has fundamentally changed you?

General Woundwort: What book do you hate that everyone seems to love?

Campion: What does it take for you to change your opinion on a book you’ve already read?

Hyzenthlay: Do you think reading is a rebellious act?

Thethuthinnang: What book do you want to recommend to everyone you meet?

The Black Rabbit of Inlé: How do you feel about Death of the Author?

Have fun!!

[transtundras-fr-archive]

Threarah’s cane using swag 🤎

[ash-of-ruins]

Watership Down Aquired

I have obtained the book! Library finally had it.

I've never read Watership before this, hence why I wanted to read it before writing my fic, and only ever watched the old animated movie and the BBC 3D animated show.

I'm 4 chapters in, barely 11 pages, and already there are so many details and character changing aspects not explored in the show and movie that I am impressed by.

I am going to love the book so much. Thoughts and mild spoilers under the cut.

A couple things I noticed about Bigwig's characterization I like:

Bigwig chose to heed Fiver's warning early on. In the versions I've seen he seems reluctant to trust Fiver's visions at all, but in the book he straight up admits to believing in prophetic visions.

He left the Owsla due to Threarah being an old grump and because he felt like he could be doing more.

Bigwig is actually the one who independently wants to try and get junior Owsla to evacuate with them, and Hazel warns him that's risky.

Also also, Threarah, the Sandleford Chief Rabbit, gets actual context about who he is and why he doesn't heed Fiver's warning.

He's coolheaded and doesn't like to move the whole warren drastically if he can avoid it, preferring to think critically with as much information as he can get and acting accordingly. Of course a nebulous bad feeling wouldn't persuade him, it's not his nature. He didn't even budge when there was a myxomatosis outbreak, he just isolated the sick rabbits, and it worked, so why should he worry about a gut feeling. It's tragic, but it makes sense.

[catanddragons]

Next physical book to knock off of my TBR; Watership Down!!

The old 70s(?) animated film is one of my favourite films of all time. If you haven’t seen it please I beg of you go watch it, it’s so good. (I’ve only seen half of the Netflix one and I don’t remember anything of it)

Anyway, I’ve had the book for ages but never actually read it, but now I am!!

I’m looking forward to seeing all of the story play out. I’m obsessed with the rabbit words, they all have just the best mouthfeel. Owsla. Threarah. Hrairoo. Incredible.

Also stan Bigwig 🐰👑

[nonbinary-weirdo]

Watership Down but with Warriors characters casted

Longtail as Holly

Fireheart as Hazel

Ravenpaw as Fiver

Graystripe as Bigwig

Bluestar as Threarah

Tigerclaw as General Woundwort

Brackenfur as Pipkin

Mousefur as Blackberry

Whitestorm as Hawkbit

Barley as Dandelion

Silverstream as Clover (hutch rabbit)

Sandstorm as Hyzenthlay

Dustpelt as Blackavar

Darkstripe as Captain Campion

[fantasywatershipdown]

The Threarah/ Lord Rowan Tree himself... took his palettes, shapes, and patterns from his rowan namesake of course, and also tried to make him feel old. Because he is. Lol.

Interesting character.. feels like there's a lot of history to him, but we don't see a lot because the story's not about him. Fascinating nonetheless.

(Okay after this post it might get funky, I think for my sake I'll upload by location first, so you're probably going to see a mix of really obscure background characters versus very prominent characters :'') ahaha not that it wasn't already happening)

[lobo-chan]

So I started rereading Watership Down, which I last read like 20 years ago. The copy I bought is used and from the 90's as far as I can tell looking at the copyright info. But as I'm reading, I found some highlighted passages. I wonder if I can reverse engineer what the previous owner was no doubt writing a paper on. So far I've got...

"Because the Threarah doesn't like anything he hasn't thought of for himself," (p 30)

(among creatures who think of themselves primarily as part of a group and only secondarily, if at all, as individuals) (p 32)

If I find more as I'm reading, I'll come back and add them to this post to keep track.

[transtundras-fr]

My progens, Frithyeer and Threarah, are also kind of fail married. They’ve gotten divorced once or twice but it’s a sort of No Children by The Mountain Goats situation

[lit-erary-memes]

[fuckyeahwatershipdown]

The Threarah when Fiver tries to warn him of the destruction: