Adder (Farthing Wood)

Adder is a fictional character from the novel series The Animals of Farthing Wood, written by Colin Dann. He appeared in all of the sequels in the series. Adder also made appearances in the animated children's television series The Animals of Farthing Wood based upon the books. Adder is, as his name suggests, an adder.

In the TV Series

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In the TV series, Adder is female. Of the characters, she is the most morally inscrutable to the other animals. She rarely shows kindness and often shows complete indifference to the other animals, although she never approaches traiterous behaviour. She is disliked by most of the other animals because of her sarcastic wit and unserious attitude towards the Oath, which she detests but upholds. The other animals seem to hold a prejudiced view against her species, and most of the smaller animals seem geniunely frightened of her.

Adder seems to be a bully toward the smaller animals, but there are times when she acts selflessly, most notably when she saved Vixen from a fox hunt. She keeps this quiet as she does not like to appear soft. In reality, Adder often uses the smaller animals fear of her for their own good. In the episode "So Near And Yet So Far", she purposely approaches them so that they move out of the way of a lawn mower, and is then forced to hide in a golf hole to avoid being killed herself. Although it appears she has died, the Voles are uncaring.

Adder also seems to develop a close friendship with Owl, after the incident at the farm. They go hunting together and often share opinions on situations, though these conversations take place out of the other animals' hearing. For example, they are both negative about Badger's leadership after Fox's disappearance at the river, and agree Whistler and Toad are showing off in "Whistler's Quarry". However, Adder does not always agree with Owl, and once turns her sharp tongue against her and teases her for being pompous. Adder seems to be Owl's peer in terms of intelligence and cynicism, though sometimes surpassing her in wit. In contrast to Owl, Adder shows no interest in being a leader or imparting advice on others.

Adder is usually found behind the other animals, being slower than most. She is one of the last to arrive when the animals stop to wait at the marsh and misses the discussion about the Motorway entirely. When everyone else is celebrating getting across safely and grieving the loss of the Hedgehogs, it is discovered that Adder hasn't even started across. Weasel and Owl both comment on her slowness. Being a proud character, Adder takes offense at their comments. Owl in particular asks, in "Between Two Evils", if Adder is so slow "how slow is a slow-worm", to which Adder replies that slow worms are just "lizards without legs". Owl then accuses her of being "as proud as Toad". Adder's pride is shown in both her reluctance to acknowledge saving Vixen and her anger at being carried over the road by Whistler.

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In the second season, Adder shows interest in the Edible Frogs and is pleased when she eats one. Toad protests, but she upholds her right to eat any non-Farthing Wood animal.

She kills the blue fox Bounder, on mistaken orders from Weasel. Scarface determines to have revenge on the creature that attacked his cub, and so he retaliates in a sneak attack against Adder. She manages to escape, but loses the end of her tail in the process. She eventually has the last laugh by killing Scarface with a poisonous bite.

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In the third season, Adder falls in love with a male adder named Sinuous, and eventually becomes her mate. They become inseparable, and the couple is merciless toward the rats that invade the park. They are not seen fighting rats together (in fact Sinuous is not seen killing rats at all), but it is quite obvious that they are an excellent team attacking rats.

In "Scared Silly by Snakes", Adder and Sinuous attack the rat base. Before doing so, they have a small argument over who will attack the rat base and it turns into a one-on-one vote. Sinuous gets a rat (and tells him what they are going to do!) and Adder is picked to lead the attack. Soon, they find Bully, but he escapes. They tried to follow him, but they were chased out by rats separately.

Both snakes get out and attack a second time, but they are separated. Adder makes it out of the base, but she gets captured by the rats. They could have killed her, if Fox's grandson Plucky had not saved her. Adder has an unseen reunion with Sinuous when he escapes the rat's base. She is one of the last things Sinuous sees before being chocked to death by a gang of black rats.

Adder is devastated by the loss of her mate, and in anger at his murder goes on a killing raid on the nest, emptying them. She mentions him in every episode after his death. "In The Worst Kind of Hurricane", Adder tried to kill Bully in his base when she is saving Mossy from the rats. At any mention of him, Adder is heartbroken, especially when Owl came back after finding a mate, suggesting that she should help Adder find one.

Changes between seasons

She is seen crying only twice in the series, and that was when Sinuous had been killed. Adder changes color in each season. When she is first seen, she is grey, and in the third, she is green. She seems harsh in the first season, but becomes more affectionate in the second, still finding the need to look cruel. Her emotions were brought out by Sinuous, and she was very emotional after his murder.

It is unknown if Adder and Sinuous had any young.