Characters / Watership Down

Spoilers are unmarked below.

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Sandleford Warren rabbits

Hazel

1978 film

1999 TV series

Voiced in English by: John Hurt (movie), Ian Shaw (TV Series), James McAvoy (Netflix miniseries)
Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Ismael Larumbe (movie), Wolfang Galindo (TV series), Irwin Daayán (Netflix miniseries)
Voiced in Japanese by: Toshio Furukawa (movie), Tokuyoshi Kawashima (TV series), Chikahiro Kobayashi (Netflix miniseries)

The protagonist, Hazel is the leader of the Sandleford Warren group.

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• Anger Born of Worry: Towards Bigwig, who uses himself as bait to drive away a fox. Also towards Fiver in the early parts of the story, when Fiver's visions cause him to act in worrying ways.
• Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: At the end of the book, El-ahrairah invites him to join his Owsla. He leaves his body behind and does so.
• Badass Normal: Is not extraordinarily strong or big, and certainly nothing against Bigwig or Holly. Still becomes Chief Rabbit and even keeps the position after he has a permanent slight limp from being shot, just by having earned the trust and respect of his fellow rabbits before and keeping up to it. Hell, even Bigwig follows his orders without hesitation even though he would only call him Chief Rabbit the day he would stop fighting. In the usual warren structure, he would have been kicked out or even killed by a stronger opponent.
• Big Brother Instinct: Hazel is very protective of Fiver, especially given that his brother's small size and visions leave him more vulnerable than the others.
• The Captain: Pretty much falls into this position in the early parts of the book, and then throughout the rest of the story he just keeps proving himself in the role.
• A Father to His Men: Hazel never gets challenged as leader, principally because he leads from the front and will risk his life for any of his followers. This turns up early when he refuses to let Fiver and Pipkin fend for themselves when the group has to escape a dog and they're too tired to swim the river.
• Founder of the Kingdom: He is the Chief Rabbit of the group that founded the Watership Down warren.
• Handicapped Badass: After he gets shot, his leg causes him infrequent pain and makes it difficult for him to run for the rest of his life. Within the plot he notes that this would normally end his rule as Chief Rabbit, if not get him exiled or killed, so the fact he keeps on acting as Chief is impressively badass. When they meet, Woundwort doesn't even consider that Hazel could be the Chief Rabbit because he is of average size and walks with a slight limp, and this mistake ultimately dooms Woundwort.
• Heart Is an Awesome Power: Arguably the entire point of the character. Hazel is entirely unremarkable in most ways, not as smart as Blackberry, fast as Dandelion or strong as Bigwig. What makes him so formidable as a Chief Rabbit is the empathy he shows to other rabbits and the incredible loyalty they give him in return. Empathy for his little brother Fiver is what allows him to save so many of the Sandleford Rabbits and found Watership Down. It's what inspires Bigwig to make his pivotal last stand against Woundwort. Hazel beats Woundwort because the latter rules through fear and the former through compassion.
• Jack of All Stats: He's not as clever as Blackberry or preternaturally gifted like Fiver, but he's the only one who's able to understand either of their big ideas that fly over other rabbits' heads. He's not as fast as Dandelion or as strong as Bigwig, but he's plenty gifted in both areas and pulls his weight. The two areas where he is genuinely talented are his ability to come up with plans that make use of his friends' strengths, and in his charisma and ability to keep the group cohering together without too much internal strife.
• Jerkass to One: He's normally a pretty reasonable rabbit, but Bluebell is the one rabbit who really tries his patience. Hazel usually answers the frequent japes with a sarcastic reply or direct order to shut up.
• Meaningful Name: The hazel tree is a symbol of wisdom.
• Non-Action Guy: He's not very strong to begin with; and after his injury, he'd be pretty much useless in a fight.
• Not So Above It All: Hazel plans the hutch raid purely as a lark to show up Holly, despite Fiver warning him against it.
• Officer and a Gentleman: He was actually modeled on a British officer the author knew.
• Shrouded in Myth: By the end of the novel, the adventures of Hazel-rah have become incorporated into the tales of El-ahrairah.
• Take a Third Option: Several times. In fact, one of the main reasons why he makes such a good leader is his willingness to think outside the box and try new solutions.
• The Men First: If the group as a whole can't escape, he'll remain with the ones that can't, to protect them as best he can. Though in the TV series Spartina calls him out on letting Bigwig go off to fight Woundwort one on one.
  Spartina: You'd send your best friend to his death? What sort of leader are you!?
  Campion: He'd go himself but he knows Bigwig has a better chance. That's what sort of leader he is.
• Wide-Eyed Idealist: Many characters view him as this; even his own followers sometimes think he's too naive in his belief in the good of everyone. However, when it comes down to it, he's usually right when he decides to trust someone.

Fiver

1978 film

1999 TV series

Voiced in English by: Richard Briers (movie), Anthony Falvey (TV series), Nicholas Hoult (Netflix miniseries)
Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Ricardo Mendoza (movie), Carlos Alberto Gutierrez (TV series), Víctor Ugarte (Netflix miniseries)
Voiced in Japanese by: Kazuko Sugiyama (movie), Kōki Miyata (TV series), Yujiro Kakuda (Netflix miniseries)

Hazel's smaller brother, a prophet whose visions spur Hazel to leave.

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• The Cassandra: Richard Adams has stated that he based Fiver on the original Cassandra from Greek mythology. It's a Zigzagged Trope however; while the protagonists believe Fiver and leave Sandleford Warren before it's too late, the rest either don't believe him or figure staying put is a better solution. Then Hazel twice ignores his brother's warnings (about Cowslip's warren and the Nuthanger Farm raid) even though he should know better. After that, everyone takes his warnings seriously.
• Cowardly Lion: While he cowers, shakes in fear and has to be coaxed going everywhere, it's also a Moment of Awesome when he goes down to Nuthanger Farm in broad daylight, risking men as well as innumerable other enemies, because he's the only one convinced that Hazel's wound was not fatal.
• Dissonant Serenity:
  • His little chat with Vervain. Dear God. Fiver says this all in a very calm, serene, soft voice... while Vervain sees him surrounded by ghosts of "rabbits done to death months before in the tunnels of Efrafa..."
    Fiver: I am sorry for you with all my heart. But you cannot blame us, for you came to kill us if you could.
    Vervain: Blame you? Blame you for what?
    Fiver: For your death. Believe me, I am sorry for your death.
  • When told Hazel's been shot, and is probably with the Black Rabbit, Fiver becomes unnaturally calm.
    Fiver: No. Hazel's not dead.
• Dream Land: Fiver discusses the concept with Hazel, as Fiver travels in this land in a vision to find out what’s happened to Hazel after he goes missing. No one doubts its existence because in Lapine mythology El-ahrairah moves between this place and "Another" at will, and Fiver is well aware of its existence from his visions, and claims that this spirit world is, in its own way, just as dangerous as the mundane one most rabbits know.
• Fainting Seer: He's usually disoriented after visions. The one at the climax of the book leaves him unconscious, forcing the others to leave him at the mercy of the Efrafan invaders because they can't rouse him.
• Herald: Fiver's visions call Hazel to action.
• Intellectual Animal: He's not on Blackberry's level. But he's almost always the only other rabbit to understand the concepts Blackberry tries to explain. Indeed, sometimes the others refer to him and Blackberry collectively as "the clever rabbits."
• Seers: Usually in the form of Dreaming of Things to Come, but he has psychic abilities when he's awake as well.
• Sherlock Scan: He's able to tell Hazel has snuck off to Nuthanger Farm despite his denials from Hazel's smell, his wet fur, and out-of-context behavior.
• Waif Prophet: He was the runt of the litter.
• You Are Number 6: His name, "Hrair-roo," is essentially their word for The Runt at the End - he's "littlest of many," the smallest of his litter.

Bigwig

1978 film

1999 TV series

Voiced in English by: Michael Graham Cox (movie), Stephen Mangan (TV series), John Boyega (Netflix miniseries)
Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Humberto Vélez (movie), Antonio Puentes (TV series), Alejandro Orozco (Netflix TV series)
Voiced in Japanese by: Yasuo Muramatsu (movie), Joji Nakata (TV series), Masaki Aizawa (Netflix miniseries)

An ex-member of the Sandleford Owsla, Bigwig is the best fighter of the group.

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• Adaptational Jerkass: The Netflix series really plays up the "Jerk" half of his Jerk with a Heart of Gold characterization. As opposed to the book and movie, which has him being gruff and stern yet having a kinder and nobler side, the Netflix series has him being more aggressive and confrontational.
• The Big Guy: One of three Big Guys, in fact, but he's definitely the Biggest.
• Boisterous Bruiser: By far the most gung-ho and willing to fight of all the rabbits, with the possible exception of Woundwort.
• Blood Knight: He's a fighter and by Frith he'll be damned if he leaves this world doing anything else.
• Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu: Bigwig's You Shall Not Pass! stand against General Woundwort takes everything that he has in order to succeed. And while Bigwig does survive, the ordeal nearly kills him and even takes all of the fight out of the usually hot-headed rabbit; so much so that Bigwig opts to become a Retired Badass in the aftermath of the battle.
• Brought Down to Normal: After his misadventure with the snare he spends some time too weak to throw his weight around, and has to learn to be a more pleasant fellow. Luckily even after he recovers his strength the lesson sticks.
• Colonel Badass: The biggest, toughest and strongest of the rabbits, bar none. As an officer in the Sandleford warren, he's usually a Reasonable Authority Figure, but can occasionally slip into Drill Sergeant Nasty.
• Determinator: Shown several times - in getting away from Holly at Sandleford, in surviving the snare at Cowslip's warren, and so forth - although the pinnacle of this trope is shown when he places himself bodily between Watership Down and its complete destruction.
• Establishing Character Moment: In the film, he first appears guarding the Threarah's burrow and speaks gruffly to Hazel. However, he knows and addresses Hazel by his real name and goes to ask the Threarah's permission for Hazel and Fiver to see him after Hazel reasons with him, despite thinking that he'll probably get his ears bitten for it. This demonstrates that he's a good guy, despite his insensitive side.
• Fake Defector: Pretends to be a refugee from the Sandleford warren who's specifically come to Efrafa due to its reputation. As General Woundwort is short of quality officers at the time, Bigwig ends up being promoted straight to junior officer.
• Heroic BSoD:
  • Despite his bravery, Bigwig starts to crack up under the strain of being The Mole and contemplates just grabbing Hyzenthlay and fleeing. Fortunately, he pulls himself together.
  • He gets a Deer in the Headlights look when he thinks the Black Rabbit is calling his name and tries to go to him. Hazel tells him to stay put and goes himself, which Bigwig appreciates even though it turns out there was no danger.
• Hidden Depths: It's easy to write him off as Dumb Muscle, but you'd be doing him a great disservice. He's quite a bit smarter than he would appear and his gruff demeanor hides a Jerk with a Heart of Gold.
• Hot-Blooded: He's the most hot-headed rabbit out of all the characters and will not simply let you push him around. Even more so in the remake where he's very brash and way more aggressive in the original.
• Interspecies Friendship: With Kehaar the gull, as they are both straightforward and cantankerous.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's temperamental, contrary, impatient and insensitive, but he's not a bad rabbit at heart and is capable of great acts of kindness.
• Jumped at the Call: He found Fiver to be very persuasive and joined the group with little additional prompting.
• The Lancer: Even though he technically outranked all the other rabbits who left the Sandleford Warren, he becomes this to Hazel as he recognizes Hazel's intelligence and knack for leadership.
• The Mole: He infiltrates Efrafa and joins the Owsla for the express purpose of bringing its does to Watership Down. Even though he's not temperamentally suited to cloak-and-dagger work, he succeeds admirably.
• Not Quite Dead: On two occasions, his injuries are so terrible that he's momentarily thought to be dead.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Becomes nervous at the thought of infiltrating Efrafa as The Mole, so he ends up baiting a fox just to settle his nerves with some gratuitous recklessness. This turns out to be for the best when Bigwig accidently leads it onto a Wide Patrol that's tracking them.
• Pardon My Klingon: "Silflay hraka, u embleer rah!"
• Sarcastic Devotee: He can get quite sarcastic if he's being given orders that he thinks are ridiculous. He'll still carry them out though.
• Sergeant Rock: At times he slips into Drill Sergeant Nasty mode as well.
• Take This Job and Shove It: He gets so mad at the Threarah scolding him for allowing Hazel and Fiver to see him that he quits the Owsla right there, saying he doesn't care for the privileges that much.
• Tempting Fate: Loses his patience with Fiver's vague premonitions about Cowslip's warren and runs back...straight into a snare that almost kills him.
• Took a Level in Kindness: In the book, during the early chapters he's a jerk most of the time. It isn't until he has his run-in with the snare and for several days afterwards is too weak to throw his weight around that he starts mellowing out.
• Tuft of Head Fur: Hence his name; Thlayli ("furhead") in lapine.
• Victory Is Boring: He becomes very restless in the TV series when it seems that Woundwort is defeated.
• You Shall Not Pass!: During the battle between Watership and Efrafa, he blocks the tunnel leading to back of the warren where the does and kits are, and tells Woundwart that he shall not pass. And unlike many examples, he survives.

Blackberry

1978 film

1999 TV series

Voiced by: Simon Cadell (movie), Sue Elliott Nicholls (TV series), Miles Jupp (Netflix miniseries)

A friend of Hazel, Blackberry is the closest thing the group have to a mechanical genius.

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• Big Brother Mentor: He's the person Hazel turns to for advice.
• Gender Flip: The TV series made him a doe, for some reason.
• The Smart Guy: Has a dim grasp of buoyancy, leverage and other technical matters that go completely over most rabbits' heads. He's the rabbit that discovers the concept of floating, a bit of insight that comes in handy later in the book.
• Team Mom: In the TV series as a result of a Gender Flip.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Bluebell in the Netflix series. Bluebell thinks they're best friends — Blackberry doesn't quite agree, even though he doesn't dislike Bluebell as much as he lets on.

Pipkin

1978 film

1999 TV series

Voiced by: Roy Kinnear (movie), Elliot Herderson-Boyle (TV series)

The smallest and most timid of the rabbits, Pipkin is a friend of Fiver who is persuaded to go along on the journey.

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• Adapted Out: The Netflix series is the only adaptation in which he doesn't appear. Some of his traits have been given to Bluebell.
• Age Lift: He was already the youngest of the rabbits, but the tv series made him a child.
• The Baby of the Bunch: Especially in the tv series, as a result of an Age Lift.
• Character Development: Though it mostly happens in the background, and in small ways, Pipkin does change and develop a lot over the book, starting out as afraid of everything and gradually becoming a loyal and steadfast companion.
• Cheerful Child: The TV series not only portrays him as very young, but removes his timid nature as well, making him this.
• Cowardly Lion: Timid and easily scared he may be, but thanks to his fierce loyalty to Hazel and Fiver he'll show surprising courage at times.
• Friend to All Living Things: Excluding elil (predators), Pipkin is known to be exceptionally good at befriending animals of other species in the TV series.
• Tagalong Kid: More in the TV series than in the book.
• Took a Level in Badass: Replace "Pippin" with "Pipkin" and you get the idea.
• Undying Loyalty:
  • Towards Hazel. At one point Hazel is considering a suicide-mission into Efrafa to rescue Bigwig and Pipkin responds simply "I will go with you."
  • Towards Fiver, as well. He's willing — heck, he begs — to try to save Fiver, despite knowing he would likely be killed in the attempt.

Dandelion

1978 film

1999 TV series

Voiced by: Richard O'Callaghan (movie), Phill Jupitus (TV series), Daniel Rigby (Netflix miniseries)

A fast runner and gifted storyteller, whose stories of El-ahrairah keep the spirits up among the rabbits (as well as giving the reader insight in Lapine mythology).

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• Adaptational Comic Relief: He acts much more goofy in the TV series.
• Composite Character: In the TV series, he has taken on most of Bluebell's character traits. Interestingly enough, this is inverted in the Netflix series, where Bluebell takes on Dandelion's role of being the group's storyteller.
• Lightning Bruiser: He's more noted for his speed than for his fighting ability, but when things get physical he'll throw down, and is the fourth toughest of the group behind Bigwig, Silver and Buckthorn.
• Out of Focus: In the Netflix series, thanks to losing his role as The Storyteller he's much less prominent and has only a few lines.
• Spoony Bard: Averted. Although he's their most entertaining storyteller, he's invaluable to Hazel's group for his exceptional speed. (Exceptional even for a rabbit.) In the climax, it's explicitly stated that he had to run faster than even he ever had before to stay ahead of the dog they're leading onto the besieging Efrafans, meaning that if he had not been there, and Hazel had to make do with a slower rabbit (i.e. any other rabbit), that rabbit would have been caught and killed, the plan would have failed, and the warren would have been destroyed.
• The Storyteller: The primary source of Lapine mythology in the books; he's a masterful storyteller with a story for every occasion. There are occasional hints that he possesses some faint traces of a Fiver-like insight into the unknown, and his stories sometimes reflect this.
• Those Two Guys: With Hawkbit in both the TV series and the Netflix series.

Silver

Voiced by: Terence Rigby (movie)

One of Bigwig's friends from the Sandleford Owsla, who is almost as big and good at fighting, but more placid and less hotheaded. He has gray fur, hence the name.

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• Adapted Out: He's absent from both the tv series and the Netflix series.
• The Big Guy: He's the muscle of the team when Bigwig is incapacitated, not available, or just not willing to follow orders.
• Composite Character: The movie combines him with Hawkbit, giving him a similar dim personality and omitting his connections to the Threarah and the Owsla.
• Deadpan Snarker: Even more so than Bigwig. Silver might actually be the snarkiest of the rabbits, with a biting comment for most situations. He's particularly unpleasant to Strawberry when he asks to join them.
• Determinator: He certainly has shades of this, particularly when it comes to the defeat of Efrafa.
• Noble Fugitive: Although Silver is the nephew of Threarah (the Chief Rabbit of the warren where the story begins), he joins Hazel's exodus and proves himself a skilled fighter and reliable follower.
• The Reliable One: If Hazel needs something done, odds are Silver will be involved.

Buckthorn

Described as a "decent, straight-forward fellow", Buckthorn is an outskirter from Sandleford with a tough, sturdy and sensible nature.

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• Adapted Out: No adaptations ever seem to be able to fit him in, until the 2023 graphic novel where he makes his first appearance outside of the original book.
• The Big Guy: Along with Bigwig and Silver.
• Flat Character: He's the kind of dependable fellow any group would want to have in it, but the most characterization he gets is very early on when Hazel speculates he might be too impatient about getting into the Sandleford Owsla.
• The Generic Guy: In the best way possible. Buckthorn is tough without being overly irascible, sensible enough to never screw anything up without being brilliant enough to stand out, and pleasant to everyone without being the type to get involved in emotional situations.
• Gentle Giant: Of the three Big Guys, Buckthorn is the gentlest and least inclined to fight.
• The Lancer: At the end of the novel he actually leaves Watership Down to become this to Groundsel in the new warren Vleflain.
• Simple-Minded Wisdom: Though he doesn't play the classic trope completely straight, since nobody thinks of him as an idiot and Hazel in fact deliberately labels him as the most sensible one in his crew. At the end of the book, he and Strawberry become Groundsel's chief advisors in the new warren.
• The Worf Effect: Twice gets injured in a non-critical fight to demonstrate the dangers of the situation (first by rats during the journey, then in the escape from Efrafa).

Hawkbit

Voiced by: Lee Ross (TV series), Mackenzie Crook (Netflix miniseries)

One of the outskirters from Sandleford who joins Hazel's crew. Described (by Hazel) as a rather slow, stupid rabbit, he is the first to complain and express doubt in Hazel's abilities as leader, but soon develops into a loyal follower — after which he's barely even mentioned by the narrative for the rest of the book. In the TV series, he has a dramatically increased role as the resident Eeyore.

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• Adaptational Intelligence: He's described as being a "rather slow, stupid rabbit" in the book. In the TV series, he's shown to at least possess a dry wit.
• Ascended Extra: He's an extremely minor character who is left out of every single adaptation of the book except the TV series, where he's one of the main characters — and the Netflix series, where he forms Those Two Guys dynamic with Dandelion.
• Deadpan Snarker: Not in the book, but in the TV series he's developed a notable talent for sarcasms.
• The Eeyore: He grows out of it in the book. In the TV series, not so much.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He may complain and say mean things, but he proves to ultimately be a loyal and dependable rabbit.
• Knight in Sour Armor : No matter how cynical he may seem he still cares deeply about his friends. In "A New World" he goes out of his way to save Dandelion from drowning even though the two had previously been fighting for Heather's attention.
• Morality Pet: Even he can't help but crack a smile when looking after Hazel's kids in "Tale of a mouse".
• Took a Level in Jerkass: In the ninth episode of the TV series, he harshly blames Fiver for the destruction of the old warren. But after Bigwig gives him a "very serious talk", it's shown that he was so angry at Bigwig earlier that he took his anger out on Fiver. Fortunately, he goes back to normal.
• Sarcastic Devotee
• Sour Supporter

Speedwell and Acorn

Two outskirters from Sandleford who join Hazel's crew. Apart from a few scenes and lines here and there, they don't get very much attention in the original novel — though Speedwell got A Day in the Limelight in the sequel, Tales From Watership Down.

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• Adapted Out: Have never appeared outside the original book, until Acorn finally appears in the graphic novel. Speedwell is still left out however.
• Character Death: Not in the original novel, but in the sequel Acorn dies of old age and winter conditions.
• Cloudcuckoolander: In Speedwell's Story the story he tells makes Speedwell come across as this.
• A Day in the Limelight: Speedwell's Story from the sequel, a nonsense tale which Speedwell tells the other rabbits, is easily the book's Funny Moment (and usually the one part that even fans who didn't like the sequel enjoy).
• Deadpan Snarker: Speedwell has traces of this.
• The Generic Guy: Acorn doesn't get much characterization.
• Red Shirt: Along with Hawkbit, they're really only in the story to fill out the number of rabbits — though it can be argued that Speedwell, thanks to the sequel has been upgraded to Mauve Shirt.
• Those Two Guys: Or those three guys, with Hawkbit.

Holly

Voiced by: John Bennett (movie), Freddie Fox (Netflix miniseries)

Ex-captain of the Sandleford Owsla, he initially tries to stop the group from leaving but survives the massacre and joins the group.

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• Death by Adaptation: Holly is killed in the siege in the miniseries.
• The Good Chancellor: Reliable, unambitious and not prone to mischief.
• Heel–Face Turn: At the beginning of the book, Holly tries to arrest Bigwig and Silver for desertion when they try to leave with Hazel's group. He eventually ends up joining the group himself.
• My Master, Right or Wrong: He is the Watership counterpart to Campion; intelligent, efficient, and loyal. He stuck by the Threarah and defended his decisions, and after the Threarah died he stuck by Hazel, making it clear that he accepts Hazel's role as Chief Rabbit and has no intention of challenging him.
• Number Two: Described in the novel as a born second-in-command. He was the Threarah's Captain of Owsla and kept discipline in the Sandleford Warren. While serving Hazel he is still a loyal, no-nonsense, officer.
• Officer and a Gentleman
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: His two adventures—escaping the destruction of Sandleford Warren and escaping from Efrafa—are only related via the story he tells afterwards.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: He's disciplined, serious, and self-controlled. When he turns up at Watership exhausted, injured, and nearly out of his mind, everyone knows something terrible has happened.
• Sole Survivor: In both the '78 film and Netflix series, he is the only rabbit from Sandleford not to go off on Hazel's expedition that survives its destruction at the hands of the meddling land developers (as opposed to the book, where a couple other rabbits survived as well but died shortly after, such as Toadflax).
• Pair the Spares: Holly and Clover end up as mates while most of the other characters are on the expedition to Efrafa.
• Supporting Protagonist: Holly gets this duty twice in the book. And neither story is a happy one.
  Hazel: Don't make it too grim, Holly.
  Holly: Grim? I haven't even begun.
• Zen Survivor: He weathers two of the book's major catastrophes but doesn't take any psychological harm from it. In the book he forms an attachment to Blackavar, who is similarly resilient.

Bluebell

Voiced by: Daniel Kaluuya (Netflix miniseries)

Another ex-member of the Sandleford Owsla, Bluebell survives the Sandleford Massacre and is the only one of Holly's group to make it to Watership Down.

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• Adapted Out: Despite being a major character in the latter parts of the novel, as well as the sequel, he did not appear in either the animated movie adaptation or the TV series, the latter of which instead gave several of his character traits to Dandelion. With the advent of the Netflix miniseries, however, his character finally makes a proper appearance, voiced by Daniel Kaluuya.
• Ascended Extra:
  • Within the novel itself. He's literally a nameless extra in the first part of the book, but upon his re-introduction along with Holly in the second part, he gets not only a name and a characterization, but becomes one of the major characters. In the sequel he's also a constant presence, constantly joking and lightening the mood for the other rabbits when things get difficult.
  • The Netflix series gives him a larger role from the start, as in this version he's one of the rabbits who join Hazel's crew at the beginning.
• Court Jester: He's one of the Owsla rabbits under Holly's command when he tries to arrest Bigwig and Silver, but we never see him do any fighting and so he just fulfils this trope for Holly.
• Composite Character: In the Netflix series, he's taken traits from both Pipkin (being a Cowardly Lion and a big fan of Hazel) and Silver (silvery-gray fur). He even takes on Dandelion's role as the storyteller of the group, even though Dandelion is still in the series.
• Mirth to Power: Though he annoys many of the rabbits with his jokes, Holly notes that if it wasn't for Bluebell's joking, both of them would have given up and died long before reaching Watership Down.
• Motor Mouth: He's a chatterer, constantly joking and rambling on about nonsensical things — though his constant talking has a clear purpose, namely to relieve tension and encourage the others to forget how dire their situation really is.
• Plucky Comic Relief: Pretty much his main function as jester.
• Rhymes on a Dime: It becomes a minor Running Gag in the novel that Bluebell makes up some nonsense poem and Hazel, in Deadpan Snarker mode, finishes it with a biting final rhyme.
• Spoony Bard: Perhaps even more so than Dandelion.
• The Storyteller: When Dandelion isn't available, or in the mood, for telling stories, Bluebell is the one who steps in. He easily shares Dandelion's way with words and may even be slightly better at engaging his audience, but he doesn't quite have Dandelion's range when it comes to story themes. Where Dandelion's stories vary from the silly to the serious to the downright tragic, Bluebell's stories are always lighthearted and comical.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Blackberry, of all rabbits, in the Netflix series.
  Bluebell: Did you just give me a compliment, Blackberry?! I didn't think you liked me!
  Blackberry: I didn't say I liked you, I said you were a good storyteller.

The Threarah

Voiced by: Ralph Richardson (movie), Tom Wilkinson (Netflix miniseries)

The Chief Rabbit of the Sandleford colony; he dismisses Fiver's visions out of hand in the beginning of the book and pays the price for it.

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• Accidental Misnaming: Keeps calling Hazel "Walnut" or "Acorn" to the point where it's hinted he's doing it on purpose.
• Asskicking Leads to Leadership: The Threarah makes a point of cuffing around one of his followers when it's suggested that he might be getting too old, just to prove he isn't.
• Corporal Punishment: Hits Bigwig for allowing Hazel to waste his time.
• Dead Guy Junior: One of Fiver's children is named Threar, after him.
• Genius Bruiser: Was this in his prime; his physical strength combined with his wits and his capabilities to think outside the box was what made him Chief Rabbit in the first place. At the time of the story, he's getting old, but isn't quite the Retired Badass just yet.
• Head-in-the-Sand Management: Can seem like this to the reader when he refuses to listen to Fiver's warnings, but as Holly later explains, his reasons for doing so were actually quite sound — most self-proclaimed prophets are frauds, and even if Fiver is genuine the warren will lose more rabbits from a mass evacuation than from a flood or hunters. Tragically, the oncoming disaster is more massive than anyone could expect.
• Meaningful Name: He's named after a tree, therefore he's stolid yet unmoving.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: He gives Hazel and Fiver a hearing, even though they're nobodies and Fiver is nearly incoherent with fear. He doesn't dismiss their warning offhand either, even though he concludes that it's safer to weather a disaster than to try to escape it.
• Spell My Name with a "The": He's always referred to as the Threarah, though nobody can really say why — the narrator theorizes that it might be "because there happened to be only one threar, or rowan, near the warren, from which he took his name."

Toadflax

One of the officers of the Sandleford Owsla; he's a jerk and a bully — which unfortunately seems to be rather common for Sandleford Owsla members. He escapes the warren with Holly and Bluebell but his brain has been addled by the humans' poisons and he dies shortly after.

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• Alas, Poor Villain: Not exactly a villain, but his bullying behavior represents everything wrong with Sandleford warren. Nevertheless, his death as described by Holly is treated as a tragedy that could have been avoided.
• The Bully: He picks on outskirters like Fiver and Hazel mainly because he's bigger and stronger than they are.
• Final Speech: One of the few characters in the novel to get one, in which he displays an accurate understanding of why the humans destroyed the colony:
  Holly (narrating): Bluebell had been saying that he knew the men hated us for raiding their crops and gardens, and Toadflax answered: "That wasn't why they destroyed the warren. It was just because we were in their way. They killed us to suit themselves." Soon after that he went to sleep, and a little later, when we were alarmed by some noise or other, we tried to wake him and realized he was dead.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Notorious for knocking you down first and asking questions later.
• Jerkass: This is his primary characteristic.

Violet

A doe from Sandleford who accompanies Hazel and Fiver's group in the movie.

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• Canon Foreigner: She was created for the movie.
• Flat Character: We never learn too much about her, and she gets only one line before being killed by a hawk.
• Sacrificial Lamb: She only exists to get killed on the journey to prove how dangerous it is (a change from the book, where they don't lose anyone on the way to the Down), as well as to deprive the group of its only doe, setting up the dilemma of the Watership Down warren having no does later on.

Cowslip's warren

Cowslip

1978 film

1999 TV series

Voiced by: Denholm Elliott (movie), Stephen Fry (TV series (Season 1-2)), Anthony Jackson (TV series (Season 3)), Rory Kinnear (Netflix miniseries)

A prominent rabbit in his unnamed warren, Cowslip is the rabbit who takes the group to the warren.

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• Adaptational Villainy: In the original novel, Cowslip is merely the first rabbit the party meets from his warren. Adaptations tend to give him some kind of leadership role for the warren, simply because so few actual characters from his warren exist.
• Berserk Button: Anyone speaking of the wires.
• The Captain: Averted as his warren has no Chief Rabbit; he's simply their chosen spokesman.
• Composite Character: In the film, he takes Siverweed's role as the one who recites the poem that freaks out Fiver.
• The Fatalist: He emphasizes dignified acceptance of death as one of the main principles of his warren, and sees it as useless to try to avoid dying.
• Intellectual Animal: Along with the rest of his Warren. Their warren actually has a mural, which is something the other rabbits can in no way comprehend.
• Karma Houdini: Downplayed. The reader never actually witnesses him getting his comeuppance. However, given how the nature of Cowslip's warren guarantees a shortened life expectancy, it's practically a given that his time will come eventually.
• Kick the Dog: He has no logical reason for ordering the attack on Holly's exhausted refugees. Cowslip does it simply because they're connected to Hazel and the others, even though Hazel's group have long since left for Watership Down, as Cowslip well knows.
• Large Ham: Tends to be played as this in the adaptations, particularly in the TV series where he's voiced by Stephen Fry.
• Not-So-Harmless Villain: Sissy Villain quirks aside, Cowslip does prove that he and his followers can pose a physical threat in their own right when they ambush Holly's group in the novel, managing to kill one of them and forcing the others to flee.
• The Quisling: On what turns out to be a Vichy Earth.
• The Scottish Trope: Never mention the wires, and if someone disappears, never ask where they have gone.
• Sissy Villain: Prissy and physically unimpressive, but still manages to threaten the heroes through his deception.
• Spare The Villain: Holly gets the better of Cowslip and is about to finish him off, when he blurts out where Hazel and the others have gone to save his own life.
• Starter Villain: He's the first of the villains (not counting the elil) encountered by the Sandleford rabbits. Overcoming him and his deception is the last major trial that the heroes must pass before they reach Watership Down and begin the next stage in their adventure.
• Wicked Cultured: Poetry, rudimentary cave art, and other human-like mannerisms. And in every dramatization he speaks with a posh accent.

Strawberry

Voiced by: Robert Harper (TV series (Season 1-2)), Paul Panting (TV series (Season 3)), Olivia Colman (Netflix miniseries)

A rabbit who befriends the Sandleford group. He joins them when they depart.

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• Adaptational Nice Guy: Not that he was ever less than nice in the book, but the Netflix series, in addition to the Gender Flip, Strawberry has become a lot more actively friendly from the get-go.
• Adapted Out: Absent from the movie.
• Default to Good: After Nildro-hain, his mate, dies, Strawberry joins the heroes because he realizes that they're his best chance to stay alive, and he doesn't want to stay in the place that would ignore the fact that his mate died.
• Defector from Decadence: At first he doesn't question the way of life in his warren. Hazel's crew (and the death of his mate) makes him re-think his life and leave for something better.
• Gender Flip: In the Netflix series, Strawberry is a doe and voiced by Olivia Colman.
• Genki Girl: Introduced as one in the Netflix series, though it's very quickly revealed that she's a Sad Clown.
• Gentle Giant: Like all the rabbits of his warren, he's pretty big, but he's not at all a fighter thanks to his upbringing.
• Heel–Face Turn: While never actually a bad guy (he's polite and friendly to Hazel's crew from the get-go), he did aid in the deception and at first pretended he hadn't heard when asked to help Bigwig in the snare. When his mate dies, he realizes just how oppressive his old warren was and leaves with the outsiders, soon proving himself to be a loyal and steadfast friend.
• I Just Want to Have Friends: In the Netflix series, where Nildro-hain has been Adapted Out, this is Strawberry's main reason for wanting to come with Hazel:
  "I don't have any friends. People don't like to make friends here in case they get...!"
• Lazy Bum: At first in the TV series until Character Development kicks in. In Season 3, you can tell that he's worked hard.
• Non-Action Guy: In the TV series to start off with but after some rigorous training by digging he become competent enough to subdue Hawkbit.
• Unskilled, but Strong: He lacks many basic survival skills the other rabbits have thanks to the nature of the warren he grew up in, but the rich diet he enjoyed for most of his life makes him very, very large, and he has a great deal of stamina.

Silverweed

Voiced by: Tim McInnerny (TV series (Season 1-2)), Stephen Mangan (TV series (Season 3)), Peter Guinness (Netflix miniseries)

The poet and prophet of Cowslip's warren.

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• A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Read: Which is why he just wants to be normal.
• Ascended Extra: A curious version in the TV series; he's not present for his original scenes, but in the third season he appears and gets a large role.
• Evil Counterpart: Although he's not actually presented as evil, he's clearly the dark counterpart to Fiver, who is terrified at the truth of Silverweed's poetry. In the TV series, he has more of an antagonistic role, though as we find out, he's actually just misguided.
  Fiver: He smells like barley left out in the rain to rot. He smells like a mole that's wounded and can't get underground.
  Hazel: He smells like a big fat rabbit to me, with a lot of carrots inside.
• Rapid Aging: The price he pays by using a Forbidden Technique in the TV series. He remains content knowing that Watership Down is now safe from General Woundwort and that he has been Brought Down to Normal.
• Telepathy: His power in the TV series.
• The Fatalist: Most prominent in Silverweed's poem.
• Trapped in Another World: After Fiver travels in "another place" to find Hazel after he's gone missing, he tells Hazel that the “other place” exists, and is just as dangerous as the mundane world, if not more so. He then mentions Silverweed and states that:
  "He knew where he belonged, and it wasn't here. Poor fellow, I'm sure he's dead. They'd got him all right—the ones in that country. They don’t give away their secrets for nothing, you know."

Efrafan rabbits

General Woundwort

1978 film

1999 TV series

Voiced by: Harry Andrews (movie), John Hurt (TV series), Ben Kingsley (Netflix miniseries)

The Big Bad of the story, General Woundwort leads the Efrafa warren.

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• Adaptational Villainy: Not that he wasn't always a villain, but the Netflix series also makes him into an explicit rapist.
• Asskicking Leads to Leadership: His great size and total ruthlessness in battle make him The Dreaded. He's very much aware of this trope as well, rejecting the idea of starving Hazel's warren because his reputation depends on a fighting victory. When he fails to defeat Bigwig in single combat, Woundwort starts to feel his authority slip away.
• Berserk Button: Deserters and traitors.
• Big Bad: Though he doesn't assume this role until about halfway through the story.
• Blood Knight: His eagerness for battle gives him the advantage over those rabbits who fight only because they have to.
• Dark Is Evil: In adaptations he has gradually taken on a darker coloration. In the 1978 film, Woundwort was brown, neither light or dark. In the tv series, he was a dark brown, at least until the third season where he was suddenly grey. The miniseries features the darkest coloration by having Woundwort have black fur.
• Disabled in the Adaptation: He is portrayed as half-blind in screen adaptations.
• Dying Moment of Awesome: In-universe example. Defeating Watership Down would have left him a tyrant: being defeated would have marked him a failure. Taking a Third Option made him a legend.

  Such was Woundwort's monument; and perhaps it would not have displeased him.

• Evil Counterpart:
  • He manages to be one to both Hazel and Bigwig. Like Hazel, he is a visionary who will gladly go away from tradition if he finds that the new ways work better, but where Hazel uses cleverness, forms alliances and basically treats everyone with kindness, Woundwort is a military rabbit who bullies and intimidates his followers. And like Bigwig, he's a strong and suicidally brave Lightning Bruiser, but where Bigwig uses his strength to aid his friends, Woundwort uses his to oppress his enemies.
  • He's essentially a younger, more brutal version of the Threarah, the Chief Rabbit of the Sandleford Warren. Like the Threarah, Woundwort is a Genius Bruiser who relies on a heavily militaristic Owsla to keep order. Also, both rabbits adhere to a Head-in-the-Sand Management when confronted with a crisis. However, unlike the Threarah – who is later revealed to be a Reasonable Authority Figure who only wants the best for his warren – Woundwort uses his resources to oppress the rabbits under his rule.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: After Bigwig informs Woundwort that he's standing against him on orders of his chief, Woundwort runs at the prospect that there's someone out there even stronger than Bigwig commanding him. It never occurs to Woundwort that Bigwig serves his chief for reasons other than fear or strength, let alone that the chief he fears is the unassuming limping rabbit that he ignored earlier.
• Evil Sounds Deep: All three adaptations give him a guttural, growly voice with a British accent.
• Exit, Pursued by a Bear: In the battle at Watership Down, he is attacked by a dog that was lured there by Hazel. He fights back, and we never learn the outcome of the battle.
• False Friend: Invokes this as part of his plan to take over Redstone Warren rather than rule through fear
• Fearless Fool: The only damn rabbit to jump into battle and attack a dog head-on knowing he will die, but his fearlessness from his past make him a stone cold but brave warrior.
• Founder of the Kingdom: Darkhaven await his arrival as the "Dark One".
  "Call me General Woundwort, Dark One sounds a bit melodramatic."
• Four-Star Badass: Discontent with the ordinary title of Chief, Woundwort has created a police state and given himself the rank of General.
• Freudian Excuse: His family was killed trying to run from humans, leading Woundwort to prefer fighting and dying to running. It also led to an obsession with the threat presented by humans that he uses to justify his dictatorial rule.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: He was the last survivor of an isolated rabbit family shot by a farmer, and was taken in by a kindly human. Once he felt strong enough to make his own way, he escaped, survived the perils of a lone rabbit in the wilderness, found a warren and fought his way to the top.
• Front Line General: Is the first one through the breach when the Efrafans assault Watership Down.
• General Ripper: He bears the title "General", and is an iron-fisted and warlike leader of the Efrafa warren.
• Genius Bruiser: He's physically by far the most intimidating rabbit in the whole story, but he's also got a sharp mind and a capability to think outside the box shared by few other characters in the story. This combination of cunning and sheer brute strength allowed him to gain control of a warren he entered at the bottom rung.
• Hair-Raising Hare: He's pictured on the main page for a reason. Holly says this about him in the end: "He was a fighting animal - fierce as a rat or a dog. He fought because he actually felt safer fighting than running. [...] I believe he'd have hunted like the elil if he could."
• Handicapped Badass: In adaptations he has only one working eye, but kicks ass regardless.
• Head-in-the-Sand Management: His obsession with keeping Efrafa secure leads him to completely ignore its rampant overpopulation, and his desire for control causes him to reject solutions like encouraging immigration or an alliance with Hazel's warren.
• Hero Killer: A ferocious combatant renowned for his brutal and effective fighting prowess. All of the Watership Down rabbits, including Bigwig, are terrified at the prospect of facing him. The guy's been known to successfully drive off rabbits' natural predators like birds and stoats with nothing but his teeth and claws. Even the dog that supposedly eats him doesn't get away without a few scars.
• Ignored Epiphany:
  • In the book he's offered the chance to make peace with the Watership Down rabbits, and considers it for a moment before stubbornly deciding to forget it. In the series, he gets a Heel Realization after he witnesses Campion's Heroic Sacrifice for him out of loyalty. Just when he is about to consider changing his ways, Effrafa is destroyed in a counterattack by the Watership Down rabbits. So he decides to remain a villain, as he believes that's what the world wants him to be.
    "If destruction be my legacy, then let it begin!"
  • He also ignores Hyzenthlay's warning that the does are infertile because of him, leading to his downfall.
• I Owe You My Life: He spares Campion in Darkhaven for saving his life even allowing him to leave in spite of his betrayal.
• It's All About Me: All his achievements are about satisfying his personal drives—power, aggression, control, vengeance. He never does it for the sake of Efrafa itself.
• It's Personal: Woundwort takes Bigwig's betrayal and escape very personally.
• Killer Rabbit: One of the few rabbits who has managed to slay a weasel, by himself.
• Knight Templar: Publicly he orders everyone in Efrafa around for their safety, but he's actually just driven by a lust for power.
• Lack of Empathy: Woundwort basically has no empathy for anyone or anything. His lack of fear towards attacking the dog really shows how emotionless he is.
• Large and in Charge: Woundwort is probably the largest and strongest rabbit in the entire novel and he rules Efrafa with an iron fist.
• Line-of-Sight Name: Takes up the name "Wheat-stalk" when infiltrating Redstone, and "Chaff" for Vervain.
• My God, What Have I Done?: After losing the battle against Watership Down and being haunted by the memory of Campion's death he finally has an epiphany. Unfortunately it doesn't last too long as mentioned above.
  "He saved me... So he didn't hate me, did he? He hated what I'd done... to my people. To establish an empire you need force... to maintain it you need kindness. Oh what have I done...?"
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: The irony being that, while the word "wound" certainly bears negative connotations, the woundwort plant is actually a widely-used medicinal herb.
• Never Found the Body: General Woundwort's body is never found, so Efrafans are convinced that he didn't die, but went away to find a more worthy warren. Eventually, he becomes Shrouded in Myth—part Bogeyman, part King in the Mountain.
  And yet there endured the legend that somewhere, out over the Down, there lived a great and solitary rabbit, a giant who drove the elil like mice and sometimes went to silflay in the sky. If ever great danger arose, he would come back to fight for those who honoured his name. And mother rabbits would tell their kittens that if they did not do as they were told, the General would get them – the General who was first cousin to the Black Rabbit himself. Such was Woundwort's monument: and perhaps it would not have displeased him.
• Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: Presents himself as a visionary but when he has the means for actual peace, he dismisses it as "I haven't time to sit here talking nonsense".
• Oh, Crap!: When he is fighting Bigwig at Watership Down and finds out that Bigwig is in fact not the chief rabbit. Because he can't fathom a warren where the chief isn't the biggest and strongest, the idea of a rabbit larger and tougher than Bigwig gives him pause, albiet only briefly.
  "Your... chief?"
• Right for the Wrong Reasons: In the TV series, he goes mad with power thinking he can scare off the human poacher, while the others see this as a suicide mission. Predictably, he gets caught; however, the noise he makes coincidentally causes a police officer to find and arrest the poacher, allowing Woundwort to escape.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: When Bigwig betrays him, Woundwort goes on a warpath fueled by anger and vows to kill every last one of Bigwig's warren.
• The Stoic: Woundwort doesn't really emote much. The only thing that he is able to feel is probably anger, as when Bigwig betrays him.
• Sedgwick Speech: "Dogs aren't dangerous!"
• Unskilled, but Strong: As effective as his battle prowess is, there doesn't seem to be much technique to Woundwort's fighting style beyond using his abnormal size and strength to overpower and kill his opponents. One of the reasons (if not the reason) why Bigwig is able to defeat him is because he lures Woundwort into a small, enclosed space, thereby robbing the latter of his advantage.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: The flashback in the Netflix miniseries depicting how he got his first scar paints him as this, showing the transformation from frightened, innocent kitten to battle hardened veteran.
• Villainous Valor: A severe case, possibly even a mental illness. Even his determination to keep Efrafa hidden from humans is based not on fear, but on his knowledge of humanity's abilities.
  • This was cranked up to 11 in the Netflix adaptation, Rather than doing it out of instinct like in the original and the 1978 film, he stood there waiting for the dog to lay eye on him, as if he wanted to challenge the canine despite the havoc it cause
  "We fear no elli. I fear no dog. I, fear, nothing." (Netflix version)
• Visionary Villain: Although this is explicitly rejected by Adams in a crucial scene, when Hazel tries to convince him they can co-exist peacefully:
  At that moment, in the sunset on Watership Down, there was offered to General Woundwort the opportunity to show whether he really was the leader of genius and vision which he believed himself to be, or whether he was no more than a tyrant with the courage and cunning of a pirate. For one beat of his pulse the lame rabbit's idea shone clearly before him. He grasped it and realized what it meant. The next, he had pushed it away from him. The sun dipped into the cloud bank and now he could see clearly the track along the ridge, leading to the beech hangar and the bloodshed for which he had prepared with so much energy and care.
  "I haven't time to sit here talking nonsense," said Woundwort.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Knowing his backstory, it's hard not to feel sympathy for the little rabbit kitten crying over his dead mother.
• Worthy Opponent: Regards Campion as this, which is why he lets him stick around.

Hyzenthlay

Voiced by: Hannah Gordon (movie), Anne-Marie Duff (Netflix miniseries)

A smart and sensible doe from Efrafa, one of Bigwig's main helpers in the revolt against Woundwort. Like Fiver, she is a prophet who sometimes has visions of the future, though unlike him she isn't always certain she's right.

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• Action Girl: Less so in the novel than in the film, though she has her moments.
• Adaptation Name Change: In the TV series, she's named Primrose.
• The Cassandra: In an interesting variant, she manages to dismiss her own visions as being too ludicrous, even though they turn out to be completely accurate.
• Defector from Decadence: Hyzenthlay helps lead the does out of Efrafa.
• Heroic BSoD: When Bigwig first encounters her, he thinks she's on the verge of a Death by Despair from being trapped in Efrafa with all their hopes of escape dashed. Fortunately she's got enough Hidden Depths to rally to the opportunity that Bigwig offers.
• Living Lie Detector: How she knows that Bigwig isn't a spy sent to entrap her, thanks to her Psychic Powers.
• Love Interest: Not so much in the original book; she bonds with Bigwig and it's implied, rather than outright stated, that she eventually becomes Hazel's mate, but this is notably downplayed. In the TV series, she is definitely Hazel's Love Interest. In the film, she appears to be Bigwig's Love Interest. In the miniseries, she is apparently Holly's Love Interest. Of course, these are rabbits we're talking about here...
• Seer: Though having her spirit broken in Efrafa dampens her abilities, she's able to foresee several things that happen during a rambling dialogue with Bigwig.

Captain Campion

1978 film

1999 TV series

Voiced by: Nigel Hawthorne (movie), Rob Rackstraw (TV series), Lee Ingleby (Netflix miniseries)

A prominent rabbit in Efrafa, Campion is an enemy of the Watership Down rabbits and an important soldier of Woundwort.

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• Adaptational Heroism: In the TV series, he is very conflicted, because his loyalty to Woundwort clashes with his awareness that he's a tyrant. He ends up siding with the Watership Down rabbits a lot and eventually decides that killing Woundwort is a necessity. Contrast with the book and film, where he's still one of the more honorable and reasonable Efrafans, but is completely loyal to Woundwort and becomes friendly to Watership Down only after Efrafa loses the battle with them and a truce is established.
• Big Brother Instinct: Feels this way towards Primrose after seeing her plight.
• Defector from Decadence: TV series only.
• The Dragon: Subverted; more stereotypically The Lancer than Bigwig.
• The Good Chancellor: Vis-a-vis the other Efrafan leaders.
• Heel–Face Turn: At the end of the novel, he becomes the head of Efrafa and establishes good relations with the Watership Down rabbits.
• Heroic Sacrifice: In the books, he eventually dies saving his subordinates from a pfeffa.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: Why he never tries to fight Woundwort one-on-one; he knows he would lose. Ironically enough, Woundwort keeps him around not because of this, but because he considers Campion to be a worthy foe if ever they should come to blows.
• Love at First Sight: In the TV series, with the doe Blackberry. Though they act like they've known each other for ages when separated.
• Make It Look Like a Struggle: In the TV series, he has to fake a fox attack to explain his absence to Woundwort. However there is only one way for him to fake injuries, and he asks for Bigwig's help. Bigwig orders the others to leave at once.
• My Master, Right or Wrong: In the TV series he eventually begins to realize that Woundwort isn't the ideal leader he once thought however he feels it's his duty to stay loyal to him as Captain of Owsla.
• Noble Demon: Even though he serves Woundwort he has his standards, such as scolding Vervain for his treatment of Primrose.
• No Place for Me There: Hazel and Primrose repeatedly try to convince him to settle down at Watership Down however he declines on the ground that he broke the Owsla code by betraying Woundwort thus he doesn't deserve peace. However he remains content Primrose is living a better life.
• Punch-Clock Villain: He is just doing his job in the book, and Hazel and Bigwig grudgingly admire him for it.
• That Man Is Dead: In the TV series, after surviving his Heroic Sacrifice and seeing his scarred visage he instructs Pipkin not to tell anyone that he's still alive, believing his final mission to be to kill Woundwort.
  • Even when Blackberry finds him alive, he insists the Campion she knew is gone forever and that she should just forget about him.
• Worthy Opponent: To Bigwig.

Captain Vervain

Voiced by: Derek Griffiths (movie), David Holt (TV series), Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Netflix miniseries)

The chief of Efrafa's Owslafa (Council Police).

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• 0% Approval Rating: Woundwort calls him the most hated officer in Efrafa, and points out that all Vervain's authority comes from him and he won't last a day if the General goes.
• The Bully: Keeps cuffing a doe during her interrogation even though she's already blurting out everything they want to know.
• Break the Cutie: In the TV series, tries to invoke this on Primrose much to the disgust of Campion who threatens to kill him if he ever treats another rabbit like that.
• Death by Adaptation: The Netflix miniseries has him killed by a train.
• Defiant to the End: In the TV series, he is about to drown and the only ones who can save him are the Watership Down rabbits, but he arrogantly refuses to beg for his life. Fiver convinces the others to spare him anyway on the grounds that if they let him die they'd be no better than he is.
  "I won't beg for my life! Go, leave me in peace!"
• Dirty Coward:
  • In the TV series, even Spartina a doe challenging him to a fight frightens him.
  • In the novel his response to finding an open run during the Watership Down siege is to order two of his rabbits down it, instead of leading from the front like any other Efrafan officer would. His rabbits get sent packing and he's noticeably reluctant to force the issue after that.
• Disc-One Final Boss: In the Netflix miniseries, where he does not survive the Watership Down rabbits' initial (failed) escape attempt.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • When Woundwort mockingly assigns him the task of killing Fiver, it's noted that even Vervain can't get much pleasure from killing what appears to be a helpless rabbit half his size.
  • He does show a hint of sympathy upon watching Redstone get destroyed by bulldozers, on the pretense that "they're still rabbits" whether their allies or foes.
• Evil Chancellor: Made out as such in the TV series.
• Jerkass: He has few, if any, positive qualities.
• Lean and Mean: TV Series only, he's a large but scrawny and oddly shaped rabbit. He even has a beard. The book on the other hand describes him as a 'heavy, savage looking rabbit.'
• Never Found the Body: In the novel Vervain goes missing on the return journey to Efrafa, either taken by elil or murdered by the other Efrafans given that he's so hated.
• Pet the Dog: In the TV Series, after the fall of Efrafa he agrees to be "the best of friends" with fellow rabbit Aspen to cheer him up, though he does it more out of necessity than anything else.
• Phrase Catcher: A running gag involves Kehaar calling him ugly.
• Properly Paranoid: In the TV series his constant suspicions about Kehaar and Campion and their relationship to Hazel make him sound like a raving madman at times, but he was correct in almost every instance
• What Have I Done: The only time he ever shows a hint of remorse is when he leaves Aspen to die at the hands of a weasel while he runs away.
• Would Hurt a Child: In the TV series, when Efrafa had captured and held Pipkin as prisoner, Vervain was quick to offer killing him if Hazel and the others didn't surrender.

Captain Orchis

Voiced by: Jason Watkins (Netflix miniseries)

As a Captain in the Efrafa Wide Patrol, Orchis initially captures Holly, Bluebell, and Blackberry. He oversees those enslaved and imprisoned by Woundwort's forces, determined to break their will.

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• Adaptation Expansion: Was absent from earlier adaptations, in the miniseries he's a prominent supporting villain.
• Arch-Enemy: Bigwig, who he blames for the death of his brother.
• Ascended Extra: His character was only mentioned in the book, in the Netflix series he's a major antagonist.
• Composite Character: Elements of the TV series version of Vervain have been worked into his character, as have some of Captain Chervil and a bit of Bartsia from the book.
• Dirty Coward: Zigzagged. Goes into Revenge Before Reason territory with Bigwig, but he doesn't quite have the courage to fight Campion on equal terms.
• The Dragon: To Woundwort in the miniseries, since Vervain gets punked out a little earlier.
• Evil Sounds Deep: At his lowest when he's trying to break Hyzenthlay, going into Creepy Monotone territory.
• If You're So Evil, Eat This Kitten!: Orders Bigwig to execute Hyzenthlay. Bigwig refuses.
• Related in the Adaptation: In the miniseries he is Vervain's brother.
• Sociopathic Soldier: Orchis and Campion arguing over "being an ideal soldier" versus "being an ideal rabbit" seems to paint Orchis as this.
• Wardens Are Evil: Physically cruel and psychologically manipulative to the imprisoned rabbits, even when it serves no practical purpose.
• Yank the Dog's Chain: Offers to commute Hyzenthlay's execution if she agrees to spy on her fellow does for him. She agrees only to save them from a suicidal plan which was sure to get them killed, but then Orchis reveals that it was never a genuine offer, as he already has spies everywhere. He made it partially as a Secret Test of Character, and partially because he was a little bored that day.

Blackavar

Voiced by: Clifton Jones (movie), Stephen Gately (TV series), Henry Goodman (Netflix miniseries)

A former member of Efrafa, severely punished for an escape attempt. Bigwig takes pity on him and works Blackavar into his rescue plan.

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• Adaptational Wimp: Is much more meek and timid in the TV series than in the book.
• Badass in Distress: Turns out to be one of these in the book at least. Whereas most Efrafa escapees are stopped by sentries, Blackavar beat up two sentries at once. However, Campion ran further out into the field and intercepted Blackavar when he was tired. Then he was tortured, which lead to him being in the depressed state Bigwig found him in. Also, when Bigwig provides another chance to escape, Blackavar quickly collects himself. He even gets the better of Campion during the escape, and he beats the crap out of Groundsel during the siege at Watership. The book version of Blackavar was a stone cold badass.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Disappears with no mention in season 3 of the series.
• Death by Adaptation: He's killed in the movie, although he survives in the book.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Combined with Composite Character in the Netflix series. In the book, a passing hare warns Holly against going to Efrafa — in the Netflix series, Blackavar gets this role, showing up very briefly in the beginning of the second episode as a very nervous rabbit who pleads for Holly to get away before the Efrafans catch him. We don't learn who he is until later on, when Holly, Blackberry and Bluebell meet him in Efrafa.
• Ignored Expert: In the novel there's a scene taking place during the journey back from Efrafa, where he spends some time trying to convince the others that they're in fox territory. Since there's no physical sign of a fox around, Bigwig tells him to drop it. Then a fox kills one of the does.
• Make an Example of Them: The Council rips up his ears and orders him displayed to every Mark on silflay. By the time Bigwig encounters him, he's started to crack up.
• No Indoor Voice: In stark contrast to his more soft-spoken counterparts from the book and other adaptations, the TV series version of Blackavar is much louder and often sounds like he's shouting most of his dialogue. This is especially jarring when he's loudly talking to Primrose about their secret escape plans while in clear hearing range of the Efrafan guards, yet is somehow never caught out for it.
• The Resenter: Blackavar's father was originally from the Nutley Copse warren that Efrafa destroyed. It left him feeling, as the novel put it, that Efrafa "should have no more of him than he chose to give." Because of this detachment he was passed over for promotion to Owsla, which is what lead to him deciding to leave.
• Scars Are Forever: The Efrafans tore his ears up so badly that they're not just scarred, but physically damaged, and his hearing is a bit weak for it.

Groundsel

An Efrafan officer, who despite his obvious hero worship of Woundwort, is a skilled, sensible and decent rabbit. He eventually becomes Chief Rabbit of a third warren, which in Tales from Watership Down gets the name Vleflain.

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• Heel–Face Turn: He surrenders to the Watership rabbits towards the end and eventually becomes the Chief Rabbit of Vleflain, a new warren that's established between Watership and Efrafa and is populated by rabbits from both warrens.
• Hero-Worshipper: To Woundwort (even after his Heel–Face Turn he speaks of Woundwort with awe), although he is far more competent and practical-minded than most other examples of this trope.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: As Chief Rabbit of Vleflain.

Thethuthinnang

Voiced by: Rosie Day (Netflix miniseries)

An Efrafan doe, Hyzenthlay's friend and co-conspirator. Implied to later on become Bigwig's mate.

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• The Generic Girl: She doesn't really get much of a personality and has very little screen-time.
• Red Shirt: She doesn't have much of a role in either book and is notable mostly for being one of the Efrafan does that are named.

Nelthilta

Voiced By: Charlotte Spencer (Netflix miniseries)

A very young and rather silly Efrafan doe, who basically opposes the authority figures for the thrill of it. Originally lauded by Bigwig for being one of the few non-officer Efrafans who still has a bit of fighting spirit, but proves to be too ditzy and unable to take things seriously to be entirely reliable.

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• Adaptation Name Change: In the Netflix series, she's named Nettle.
• Brainless Beauty: She's noted as being very pretty, but rather short on brains.
• Deadpan Snarker: "May we have permission to go, sir? The company of officers absolutely overpowers us, you see: we find a little of it goes an awfully long way."
• The Ditz: Hyzenthlay warns Bigwig against trusting her too much because she never realizes the gravity of a situation.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Still thinking it's all a big game, she gives one too many gleeful hints of the upcoming escape to the officers of Efrafa, upon which she is imprisoned and tortured into giving out the details.

Vilthuril

An Efrafan doe who's a friend of Hyzenthlay and Thethuthinnang, and who becomes Fiver's mate. She's stated to be one of the few rabbits who understand Fiver's burden and is hinted to have visions herself. This hint is more or less confirmed in the sequel, where she has a larger role.

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• Ascended Extra: She gets a larger role and more character development in the sequel.
• Granola Girl: Can come across as this sometimes, insofar as a rabbit is able to.
• Mauve Shirt: Like Speedwell, she's upgraded from Red Shirt to this in the sequel.
• Nice Girl: Despite Bigwig's claims that she's impossible to understand, she gets along with everyone and is well-thought of all around.

Mythical characters

Frith

Voiced by: Michael Hordern (movie), James Faulkner (Netflix miniseries)

The Sun God and creator of the world.

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• Adaptational Jerkass: In the miniseries, he doesn't ask El-ahrairah to restrain his people before he gives the predators their skills.
• Do Not Taunt Cthulhu: Even the wily El-ahrairah pays severely for goading Frith.
• God: He's the Creator in lapine myth.
• God Is Displeased: When he makes the world his original vision was an idyllic paradise where all the animals were friends that eat grass. El-ahrairah however, refuses to behave like a leader and control his people who are consuming all the food. The other animals begin to starve, and Frith is unable to ignore their suffering and prayers for help. When Frith's requests for El-ahrairah to be a prince and show authority fall on deaf ears, he's pissed off with the trickster rabbit and condemns creation to a fight of the survival of the fittest, with rabbits now firmly at the bottom.
• God Is Good: Frith gives El-ahrairah and his people the ability to survive the predators that now hunt them and gives him a new set of ears, whisker and a tail after his encounter with the Black Rabbit.
• God of Light: He's the god of the sun, and the ultimate creator and source of order in the world.
• God's Hands Are Tied: While Frith is more than willing to settle disputes between species, he's Fantastically Indifferent to the affairs of his creations should they choose to wage war on themselves. Hazel's bargaining to stop Woundwort is shut down immediately in the movie.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: He did try to politely warn El-ahrairah to take the other animals into consideration when he and his people were scavenging for food, and made all of the other animals the enemy of rabbits only because El-ahrairah was unwilling to compromise and they would have likely starved to death. Frith even gives the rabbits survival skills to help them.

El-ahrairah

Voiced by: Taron Egerton (Netflix miniseries)

An Anglicized rendering of the rabbit term elil-hrair-rah, "thousand-enemies-prince". The rabbit folk-hero, El-ahrairah is the protagonist of most if not all of their stories. His name itself is one ("Prince with a thousand enemies"), but he also has the honorific "Lord of the Starlit Ears".

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• Adaptational Heroism: The 2018 version leaves out the key formality of Frith first simply asking El-ahrairah to be more considerate of the other animals, thus it seems the curses put against him were more down to unknowing ignorance rather than him acting like a selfish elitist that taunted a God. He's also less of a Miles Gloriosus in this version, calling out Frith for his harshness and refusing his gift in a defiant tone.
• Composite Character: The book implies that the stories of previous Chief Rabbits, have been incorporated into his legend over time. The ending of the book has a doe telling her kits, a story of El-ahrairah based on Hazel's own adventures.
• Create Your Own Villain: A less direct case, but El-ahrairah's kind taking all nourishment from the other animals that leads Frith to empower them into carnivores to keep balance. Frith even asked him to keep things under control as a first strategy, but El-ahrairah was apathetic, and pretty much dared Frith to do something about it.
• Cursed with Awesome: "All the world will be your enemy, Prince of a Thousand Enemies. And when 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 will never be destroyed."
• The Determinator: His main character trait apart from being The Trickster. El-ahrairah does not give up, ever. No matter how hopeless the situation, or how impossible the task, he carries on until he's achieved his goal.
• Expy: In-universe, the narrator speculates that Br'er Rabbit might be an Expy of El-ahrairah.
  "Uncle Remus might well have heard of him, for some of El-ahrairah's adventures are those of Brer Rabbit."
• Fatal Flaw: Hubris. Seriously, bragging to God that your people are the best around and can do what they want, and there's nothing God can do about it?
• Jerkass: He was once friends with many animals in the beginning of the world, but refused to keep his own kind in-line as they consumed all resources, condemning his friends to starve to death. He shows no restraint or remorse. Once Frith blesses those animals to become predators of the rabbits, any kinship they once had, is forever severed.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Sometimes lapses into true Jerkass status, especially in the first story, but as a rule he is genuinely concerned with the well-being of his people.
• Locked into Strangeness: When Frith restores his body in 'El-ahrairah and the Black Rabbit of Inlé', his new ears have a glow of starlight.
• Meaningful Name: His full name in the lapine language is Elil-hrair-rah. Elil means "Enemy", Hrair is any number bigger than four (but normally taken to mean "a thousand"), and Rah is an honorific applied to chief rabbits. So his name means "Prince with a Thousand Enemies".
• The Men First:
  • Although some of his adventures are merely for his own amusement, most of them start with his warren in trouble. This gives him a more sympathetic motivation than most tricksters.
  • Also a more negative case since it stems as the whole reason for his downfall originally, as he let his people overproduce and consume Frith's land, leaving the other animals with little food of their own. In the original story when Frith points out the unfairness of this, El-ahrairah scoffs, reasoning that his people deserve the lion's share since they are the strongest and most responsive to Frith's gifts on the land. At this point Frith realizes El-ahrairah had come to care about his people, but cares nothing for anyone else.
• Miles Gloriosus: Prior to Frith blessing him with his skills, El-ahrairah arrogantly snubbed him, claiming his people were too powerful for him to intervene with. When Frith proves him wrong in the deadliest of manners, El-ahrairah panics and hides pathetically in an unfinished burrow. An amused Frith blesses his bottom sticking out.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: His arrogance is what curses the rabbits to be hunted in the rabbit mythology.
• Rascally Rabbit: It's why he's the idol and hero of all rabbits. He's inclined to mischief and uses his wits to get what he wants. No garden is safe whether guarded by an Angry Guard Dog or King Darzin's entire army.
• Refuge in Audacity: His whole schtick.
  • When Frith first warns El-ahrairah that his people are overpopulating, the latter scoffs and says that the fact they eat and breed so much only conveys how much they love Frith, as they are the most responsive to his gifts on the land, and thus Frith should feel they deserve to flourish as much as they want. Unlike later cases however, this attempt does not work on Frith.
  • When Frith comes by (after giving some animals the power to become elil) and wants to give El-ahrairah's people their blessing, El-ahrairah (then knowing of the other animals' gifts and desperately digging a burrow to hide in) basically says "I am busy digging a hole, so you can just bless my backside". Frith likes El-ahrairah's spirit and indeed gives rabbitkind a white tail to flash warning, strong back legs and the speed to evade predators.
  • In other stories, he goes on to sass Frith's lieutenant Prince Rainbow and other earthly kings and powers... who usually don't like it but have no way to punish him for it. Even the Black Rabbit eventually yields to El-ahrairah's sheer persistence.
• The Social Darwinist: When Frith calls him out for taking food and resources from the other animals that were his friends, El-ahrairah shows No Sympathy and points out since his people are the strongest of all animals that they have all the right to take the lion's share. Frith punishes him by turning the other animals into powerful carnivores that eat his kind, testing his faith in this ethic.
• The Trickster: He's considered a role model for it, with his schemes including acquiring King Darzin's lettuce and Prince Rainbow's carrots.
• Victory by Endurance: How he convinces the Black Rabbit to save his people from King Darzin; no matter how many games he lost or what it cost him the Prince would not give up — either out of pity (or annoyance) the Black Rabbit finally granted his request just so he would leave him alone.
• With Friends Like These...: He was initially friends with the other animals, but when his kind multiplied and robbed the other animals of their food he had become too arrogant to care. Frith hands him a bit of karma in this regard.

Rabscuttle

Captain of El-ahrairah's Owsla, as well as his closest friend and ally.

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• Composite Character: Like El-ahrairah, he is every great Captain of Owsla or faithful companion to the Chief. By the end of the book, some deeds of Fiver's are credited to him.
• Deadpan Snarker: Not the most prominent of examples, but he can sling sarcasms with the best of them when in that mood.
• The Determinator: Second only to El-ahrairah in this respect, though where El-ahrairah is determined that the goals should be reached, Rabscuttle is just determined that El-ahrairah shouldn't die.
• Only Sane Man: He's more sensible and level-headed than El-ahrairah and will (with varying success) try to be the voice of reason when his Chief Rabbit's schemes and ideas get too far-fetched.
• Rascally Rabbit: He's almost, but not quite, El-ahrairah's equal when it comes to tricks. It gets to the point where Prince Rainbow tells El-ahrairah that the two are not allowed to share a burrow because that would be "altogether too much of a good thing" and they'd be "stealing the clouds out of the sky before the moon had changed twice."
• Undying Loyalty: He follows El-ahrairah to the land of the dead and back without hesitation.
• The Unreveal: We know Frith gave him a gift after the journey to the land of the dead, but we never find out what this gift was because the story is interrupted.

Prince Rainbow

Frith's deputy and right-hand man on Earth, who has "the power of the sky and the power of the hills." He has the job of keeping El-ahrairah in check, which lands him the role of antagonist in some stories, but in others he's more friendly and even helps El-ahrairah out with good advice.

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• Energy Beings: Rabbits seem to picture him as the actual rainbow, which gives him power in the heavens and power on earth. For example, he can talk to both Frith and the humans and let them know what the rabbits are up to.
• Hero Antagonist: He opposes El-ahrairah in many of his stories, but he's really just trying to do his job as Firth's deputy on Earth, and El-ahrairah keeps causing trouble for him.
• Friendly Enemy: It depends rather heavily on the story, but he and El-ahrairah seem to settle in on this dynamic after a time. In a couple of stories they even talk like old friends.
• Remember the New Guy?: He doesn't appear in the first El-ahrairah story, shows up without warning in the stories in the middle of the book, and then is absent again for the late-book "The Black Rabbit of Inlé" and "Rowsby Woof".
• Sympathetic Inspector Antagonist: He's genuinely trying to keep the peace and be a good ruler for everyone in Frith's stead, though he develops a personal vendetta against the unreformed troublemaker El-ahrairah.
• Took a Level in Kindness: In Tales from Watership Down, is more of a stern but ultimately benevolent figure of authority.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: At least from the rabbits' point of view, a lot of his attempts to keep El-ahrairah in check are unnecessarily cruel.

The Black Rabbit of Inlé

Voiced by: Joss Ackland (movie), Rosamund Pike (Netflix miniseries)

The rabbit Grim Reaper.

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• Adaptational Nice Guy: The Netflix series presents a far gentler, softer Black Rabbit who speaks in a friendly and comforting tone.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Mortal rabbits regard him with terror and awe, although they concede that he is not one of the elil: he was assigned his duty by Frith.
  The Black Rabbit: I have no wish to make you suffer. I am not one of the Thousand.
• The Dreaded: The Black Rabbit of Inlé is not evil, but in the book he is terrifying. In his presence even El-ahrairah cannot think straight, and therefore loses all of the Black Rabbit's games. In the film, Hazel doesn't react with fear, but with reverence.
• Every Body Hates Hades: Subverted in the first TV series. At first it seems like he's a Satanic Archetype being summoned left and right by the villains. However, the third season reveals he's extremely pissed off by this and uses Campion as his champion to bring down Woundwort.
• Gender Flip: Male in the book and most other adaptations, female in the Netflix series.
• Greater-Scope Villain: Not he himself, but a line from the original novel implies that he serves Inlé - that is, the Moon.
• The Grim Reaper: Not malicious, but merciless.
• Living Shadow: The Black Rabbit's Owsla takes this form. El-ahrairah realises they can't harm him physically so tries to steal the white blindness from them.
• Moon Rabbit: He is associated in rabbit-lore with the moon and shares its name. The association is presumably because most rabbit predators hunt at night.
• No-Sell: El-ahrairah's efforts to defeat the Black Rabbit are completely futile. He only half-succeeds because the Black Rabbit eventually gets tired of dealing with him.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: The Black Rabbit is a servant of Frith and bears no malice whatsoever toward El-ahrairah or any rabbit. While he brooks no argument when it is a rabbit's time to die, he simply calls that rabbit’s name; he is neither cruel nor taunting, avenges all rabbits who are killed before their time, and never causes them pain when he takes them.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Has red eyes that glow with a light that gives no light.
• Summoning Ritual: Silverweed does one to summon him, in the finale of the TV series.
  Woundwort: I am your servant. Black Rabbit of Inlé, I am here to do your work.
  The Black Rabbit: My empire is not of this world, Woundwort, and no creature invokes my name for their own dark ends!
• Uncanny Valley: Invoked. Dandelion's description makes him rabbit-shaped, but distinctly not a rabbit. He digs a burrow like any rabbit, except that it's through solid stone; he sniffs like any rabbit, but "thrusts his nose forward, like a dog" rather than wiggling it side-to-side.
• Villain Teleportation: When our heroes first see the Black Rabbit, they instinctively flee down a nearby rabbit hole, only to find the Black Rabbit waiting for them inside.

Hufsa

A rabbit who is planted in El-ahrairah's warren as a spy for Prince Rainbow, and thwarts many of El-ahrairah's plans before he's found out.

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• Cassandra Truth: El-ahrairah invokes this in order to get rid of him. How do you discredit a spy? By implying to everyone that he's crazy, and then have him "prove" to them that he is when he tells of the many unbelievable situations he's been in, that you secretly set up.
• The Quisling: To rabbits, his name is synonymous with "traitor."
• The Starscream: Prince Rainbow drops a strong hint that Hufsa will be made Chief Rabbit if El-ahrairah should defy him. El-ahrairah plays on this to lure Hufsa into his trap.
• Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: El-ahrairah considers killing Hufsa, but realizes this will just bring the wrath of Prince Rainbow down on their heads. Instead he decides to discredit Hufsa so the Prince won't try the same trick again.

King Darzin

Ruler of a large animal kingdom, he's a recurring antagonist in the El-ahrairah stories.

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• The Bet: The trouble between them starts when El-ahrairah bets Prince Rainbow that he can steal the lettuces from the king's extremely well-guarded garden.
• Do Not Taunt Cthulhu: When the king finds out he's been tricked by El-ahrairah, he lays siege to the warren with his army, forcing El-ahrairah to take desperate measures to save it.
• Shrouded in Myth: Presumably an animal but his species is never confirmed. Dandelion, when telling the story, even says that there's no animal alive today who knows what sort of creature King Darzin really was.
• Uncertain Doom: Nobody knows his, or his people's, final fate after the Black Rabbit intervened to save the warren. All that's certain is that they are no longer around.

Rowsby Woof

A bad-tempered and incredibly stupid dog who serves as the villain for one of the El-ahrairah stories.

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• Dogs Are Dumb: A prime example.
• Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: Rowsby Woof is easily the least threatening and most comical of all El-ahrairah's villains.
• Small Name, Big Ego: Renowned as a tremendous ratter, Rowsby Woof has become incredibly conceited and arrogant with the praise, believing himself to be the finest dog in the world.

Yona the Hedgehog

A minor character in several of the El-ahrairah stories; an unrepentant gossip who sometimes causes trouble for El-ahrairah by informing his enemies of his plans, but who occasionally helps him out as well.

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• A Dog Named "Dog": "Yona" is the Lapine word for "Hedgehog."
• Gender Flip: Is depicted as female in the TV series.
• Lovable Traitor: As opposed to Hufsa, who gets no sympathy from the rabbits, Yona is on fairly decent terms with them, even after having spilled their secrets to King Darzin.

Other

Kehaar

1978 film

1999 TV series

Voiced by: Zero Mostel (movie), Rik Mayall (TV series (Season 1-2)), Anthony Jackson (TV series (Season 3)), Peter Capaldi (Netflix miniseries)

A black-headed gull who is befriended by the Watership Down rabbits, becoming a very important ally.

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• Adaptational Nice Guy: He’s much friendlier and agreeable in the tv series. At worst, he is occasionally Innocently Insensitive.
• Adaptational Wimp: The film plays up his Funny Foreigner aspects but plays down how incredibly useful he really is to the protagonists, and what a dangerous combatant he is when he gets involved with directly fighting rabbits.
• Androcles' Lion: An Invoked Trope; knowing they need a scout to find other warrens with does, the rabbits help Kehaar when he's wounded and hostile, in the hope that he'll reciprocate.
• Beware the Silly Ones: Kehaar has a ridiculous accent and several habits that seem strange and funny to the rabbits. He is also an ace up the protagonists' sleeves for most of the Efrafa story arc, not only providing them with aerial intelligence but serving as an anti-personnel combatant who can take on any rabbit one-on-one—even General Woundwort—with ease, and escape just as easily.
• The Dreaded: Among the Efrafan Owsla; even Woundwort is secretly afraid of him.
• Feathered Fiend: Subverted. Aggressive and disagreeable, but firmly on the protagonists' side.
• Funetik Aksent: His pidgin speech is often rendered in dialect, making him take effort for readers to understand, just like the rabbits.
• Funny Foreigner: Heavily accented speech, strange habits, and goofiness. Adams claimed to base him on a Norwegian resistance fighter he knew during the war.
• Giant Flyer: Sort of. Black-headed gulls are quite small birds, but he's huge from a rabbit's point of view.
• Odd Friendship: He and Bigwig form an unlikely pair.
• Plucky Comic Relief: In the movie and TV series; to a lesser extent in the novel.
• Predator Turned Protector: While he's not exactly a true predator of the rabbits, in the TV series he becomes very protective of the Watership Down rabbits after they save him to the point where his fellow gulls call him out on becoming soft.
• Precision F-Strike: When he's first approached by the rabbits, his first reaction is "Piss off!"
• Put on a Bus: As a way of Holding Back the Phlebotinum, he leaves for the Big Water after helping the rabbits escape from Efrafa, and so isn't there to help them in the last battle. In the movie, his departure doubles as Shoo Out the Clowns.
• Speech-Impaired Animal: He's using his own dialect of the pidgin 'hedgerow' speech and isn't too proficient with it. Presumably he's fully fluent in Black-Headed Gull.
• Stranger in a Familiar Land: When he returns to the “big water” in the second season of the tv series, he quickly realizes that, following his time with the rabbits, he no longer fits in with the other gulls, who are all greedy assholes and bullies who only look out for themselves and mock him for showing empathy towards other creatures.

The Hutch Rabbits

Clover

Laurel

Voiced by: Mary Maddox (movie), Joanne Rodriguez (TV series), Gemma Arterton (Netflix miniseries) (Clover)
David Holt (TV series) (Boxwood)
Lizzie Clark (Netflix miniseries) (Haystack)

Clover, Boxwood, Laurel and Haystack are four tame rabbits from Nuthanger Farm, who are freed by Hazel and the others to become part of the Watership Down warren.

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• Ascended Extra: Clover gets a much bigger role in the Netflix series, even becoming Hazel's Love Interest.
• The Generic Guy: Apart from being tame rabbits and not knowing a lot about life as wild rabbits, they don't really have much in the ways of characterization. Only Clover gets an actual personality.
• Locked Up and Left Behind: Happens to Laurel during the escape; he's the only one of the hutch rabbits who's caught by the humans and returned to his hutch. The other rabbits leave him behind because they know that they have no fighting chance against humans — and besides Laurel isn't going to suffer at their hands.
• Odd Name Out: Perhaps as a reference to the fact that they're tame rabbits, Clover and Haystack are the only rabbit does in the book whose names are translated to English rather than kept in Lapine.

The Mouse

Voiced by: Jane Horrocks (TV series (Season 1)), Maria Darling (TV series (Season 2))

The first non-rabbit animal befriended by Hazel; he is saved from being eaten by a kestrel when Hazel warns him and allows him into the burrow. He later on helps the rabbits out on a couple of occasions, providing what turns out to be vital information.

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• Adaptational Nationality: In the novel, he speaks with an Italian accent. In the TV series, Hannah speaks with an English regional accent.
• Adapted Out: He does not appear in the animated film and the Netflix series, leaving Kehaar as the only non-rabbit ally for the rabbits of Watership.
• Ascended Extra: Is a main character in the TV series, where he is turned into a female and given the name Hannah.
• Funetik Aksent: A Super Mario Bros. style Italian accent, no less.
• Gender Flip: In the TV series.
• Spanner in the Works: By passing on a rumor that more rabbits have arrived on the Down, he unwittingly foils Woundwort's plan to take Hazel's warren in a surprise attack. Bigwig very nearly dismisses the rumor, but fortunately Hazel coaxes the details from him and sends someone to check.
• Yes-Man: To the rabbits, which ironically enough makes them less inclined to listen to him, because he tends to tell them what he thinks they want to hear rather than the actual truth.

Flyairth

A doe introduced in Tales from Watership Down; she was originally Chief Rabbit of a doe-dominated warren called Thinial, but was overthrown and expelled from it because her obsessive fear of the White Blindness was consuming her.

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• Action Survivor: Very much so.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: In her backstory, she and a rabbit named Prake established Thinial. Somewhere in the backstory Prake just vanished into thin air, leaving the whole story about Flyairth.
• Humans Are Bastards: The most vocal supporter of this view in either book; while most other rabbits do regard humans as cunning, unpredictable and impossible-to-understand enemies, Flyarth is convinced that any human spotting any rabbit will at once try to infect said rabbit with the White Blindness.
• Take a Third Option: Like Hazel and Woundwort, she is good at thinking outside the box and come up with new solutions, which is why she's an effective Chief Rabbit at Thinial — at least until her growing obsession with the White Blindness starts losing her supporters.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: She's willing to do anything to avoid an outbreak of the White Blindness.

Stonecrop

A young but big and strong buck introduced in Tales from Watership Down, who was born in a hutch but escaped to the wild. Having grown up in a sheltered environment, he lacks the other rabbits' survival instincts and fear of predators — which would normally have meant he wouldn't last for long, but, since he smells so strongly of Man, predators don't dare come near him.

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• Berserk Button: He functions as one for most of the other rabbits; his strong smell of human means they automatically dislike and distrust him. Several of them even try to kill him, and Hazel loses a lot of respect and support when he doesn't want to let them do it.
• Big Damn Heroes: He single-handedly rescues the entire warren of Vleflain by chasing away a group of attacking weasels, which is how he's ultimately accepted by the rabbits.
• The Big Guy: Despite not having much experience in the wild, he's definitely big, strong and tough.
• Fearless Fool: He refuses to run from any danger, and fearlessly charges a group of weasels (who luckily for him run away because of his smell).

Spartina

A tough doe from the warren of Darkhaven.

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• Canon Foreigner: Like all the Darkhaven rabbits, she was created exclusively for the third season of the TV series.
• Heel–Face Turn: Sent to spy on Watership Down, she finds their happy ways so different and more appealing than those of Darkhaven, and can't bring herself to sell them out to Woundwort. However, Vervain tricks her into giving herself up, and Woundwort learns where the Down is anyway.

Granite

An enormous Darkhaven buck.

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• Because You Were Nice to Me: He's told by Spartina to kill Blackberry as a fallback plan. After Blackberry saves him when he gets hit by a rock, Granite can't bring himself to hurt her and even defends her from the other Darkhaven warriors.
• The Brute: He's one of the biggest rabbits in the series (and the entire canon). He's at least as big as Woundwort, if not slightly bigger.
• Canon Foreigner: Like all Darkhaven rabbits.
• Dumb Muscle: In addition to being one of the largest rabbits, he's also one of the stupidest.
• The Dragon: For one episode, after he "wins" the position from Vervain. He loses it back to Vervain, though, and thereafter is reduced to just being a Mook.
• Heel–Face Door-Slam: It looks like he's going to turn good after Blackberry helps him, but even though he returns the favor by saving her life and treats her nicely afterwards, he never entirely comes over to the side of good. During the siege against Watership Down, he laments that he wishes he'd sided with them, which makes Woundwort yell at him and threaten to kill him. After this, he's too afraid of Woundwort (despite being bigger than he is) to even consider switching sides. As a consolation prize, however, he's one of the only two villains to survive the series when the Black Rabbit kills Woundwort and his army.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: With a dash of Hidden Depths. Despite his brutish stupidity, Granite can be very gentle with those he cares about.
• Klingon Promotion: In Darkhaven, you advance in the ranks by challenging someone to single combat (usually in the Battle Pit). When he's first introduced, Granite is the chief of Darkhaven. However, Campion defeats him and becomes the new chief. When Woundwort arrives and becomes chief, Granite, eager to serve as his lieutenant, challenges Vervain. He wins (by dint of Vervain simply giving up), but eventually Vervain uses sneaky trickery to make Granite admit defeat. Poor Granite is thereafter reduced to just being The Brute.
• Proud Warrior Race Guy: More than any other rabbit in the series, Granite lives to fight and finds immense pride in being Darkhaven's biggest and strongest buck.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: When the Black Rabbit appears, Granite joins Vervain in sneaking away. This saves him from being Dragged Off to Hell.

Shale and Feldspar

Two Darkhaven bucks who serve as Granite's lieutenants.

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• Advertised Extra: Shale is built up as being pretty important due to prominently appearing in Campion's nightmare about Darkhaven, but when he actually appears he's just one of the Mooks.
• Amazing Technicolor Wildlife: Shale is green for... some reason.
• The Brute: Shale is not as big as Granite, but still pretty beefy.
• Canon Foreigner: They were created for the series.
• Dragged Off to Hell: The Black Rabbit drags all of the Darkhaven rabbits away to the land of the dead after being summoned by Silverweed. Shale and Feldspar are among them when this happens.
• Flat Character: They're just big, mean and violent. Shale gets more characterization than Feldspar, though, who seems to have been tragically born without a personality and is essentially just "the one who isn't Shale."

Bark

Voiced by: Janet Dale

A lonely female badger that befriends Fiver and subsequently becomes an ally to Hazel’s warren.

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• Bad Ol' Badger: Subverted, as she’s revealed to be a Gentle Giant and nurtures Fiver back to health after the latter gets injured. She plays the trope straight when facing enemies though, as the Efrafans find out the hard way.
• The Big Guy: Out of all of the protagonists’ allies, she’s easily the most powerful, and they recruit her to help fight Woundwort’s warren twice in the third season.
• Brawnhilda: She is a big, burly badger after all.
• Canon Foreigner: Exclusive to the TV series.
• Hulk Speak: She's not stupid but like many other non-rabbit characters, she tends to speak in broken English.
• I Just Want to Have Friends: Bark is shown to be very lonely, as all the other animals are terrified of her because she’s a badger.
• Sole Survivor: She tells Fiver that she's the last surviving member of her clan, which may be true, as European badgers are social animals.

The Weasel

Voiced by: Matt Wilkinson

A sinister predator that menaces Hazel’s warren during the first season of the tv series.

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• It's Personal: Following his first defeat, where the rabbits trap him in an underground tunnel, he makes a comeback several episodes later, now looking for payback.
• Killed Off for Real: Heavily implied at the end of his second appearance, where he gets attacked by Bigwig and the others while trying to kill Fiver, and we never see him again.
• Smug Snake: He comes off as very smug and conceited, and is not above taunting his prey.
• Soft-Spoken Sadist: He always speaks in a calm, neutral tone, even when frustrated.
• Wicked Weasel: As is obvious from the other entries, he plays this trope straight.

Humanity

In general

• Bait the Dog: One human is leaving out food for the rabbits of Cowslip's warren. It turns out he's only doing this because he's also setting out traps for them, and they get nice and fat before he catches them.
• Cosmic Horror Story: Humanity's power over the animal kingdom results in this, in particular Cowslip's and the protagonist's original warrens.
• Did We Just Have Tea with Cthulhu?: Sometimes, for reasons no rabbit will ever understand, humans will treat them with kindness without any apparent ulterior motive and then let them go. Most notably, the farmer's daughter Lucy saves Hazel from certain death at the hands of the farm's cat towards the end of the novel.
• Greater-Scope Villain: Lampshaded in that they are ascribed the title of "elil above the other elil". It carries a double meaning: Humans are dangerous even compared to other elil, and a single one can easily wipe out an entire warren given the right tools. They also, uniquely among the elil, command other elil for that purpose; dogs, cats, and other predators. For both reasons, a human is the single greatest threat any one rabbit can face, and the rabbits know that.
• Humans Are Cthulhu: Portrayed by the rabbits as a mix between a race of elil, Greater Scope Villains and Eldritch Abominations. Other elil have understandable motives and aren't that different from rabbits in their own way; they kill rabbits for food, or sometimes because they plain don't like them, and they use their Frith-given natural weapons and muscles to do it — but humans are totally incomprehensible as they are insanely dangerous, and they use powers no one really understands to enact their bizarre will on the world.

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