General Woundwort

General Woundwort is a fictional character in the Richard Adams novel "Watership Down". He was the hard, brutally efficient Chief Rabbit of Efrafa.

Woundwort in the Novel

Orphaned at a young age when his mother was killed by a weasel, and after his careless father had been shot by a farmer, Woundwort subsequently grew into a famously brutal fighter and cruel leader. He founded the authoritarian warren Efrafa, and because he felt that the greatest enemy of rabbits was man (unsurprising considering the manner of his father's death), he and his Owsla took extra-special care to conceal its existence. This included picking up any strangers that the Owsla happened to come upon during their patrols and forcibly adding them to the Efrafan population. Rabbits who attempted to escape his regime were brutally punished; when one, Blackavar, tried to do so, Woundwort had both his ears torn to shreds.

However, for all his brutality, he is not fearless, case in point being when Bigwig told him that his chief rabbit had ordered him to guard the tunnel. Because Woundwort has founded Efrafa, and indeed his whole life, on the concept of 'power through strength', it does not enter into his mind that Hazel may be a good leader because of his cunning or motivational skills. He backs away in fear at the thought of a rabbit strong enough to command Bigwig. Ironically, Woundwort has already met the chief rabbit, Hazel, as the latter had approached the General just before the attack on Watership Down in an attempt to negotiate for more peaceful terms. Hazel had not provided either his name or his status in that meeting.

Woundwort was thought to have been killed by a dog, following the botched invasion of Watership Down after being defeated in underground battle by the heroic Bigwig, who proved to be at least as aggressive and resilient in combat as Woundwort himself. However, because his body was never found, his death cannot be confirmed. In the epilogue to the story, it is revealed that, as the years passed, the General assumed the status of both a legendary fighter-rabbit of mythic proportions, and a bogeyman among rabbits:

:"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 " [predators] " like mice and sometimes went to silflay " [eat] " in the sky. If ever great danger arose, he would come back to fight for those who honored 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" [the Grim Reaper of rabbits] "himself. Such was Woundwort's monument: and perhaps it would not have displeased him."

Woundwort in the Movie

"Watership Down" was adapted into an animated film in 1978, and Harry Andrews provided Woundwort's voice. Woundwort of the movie remained largely the same as Woundwort of the novel with the exception that he is blind in his left eye (a detail not mentioned anywhere in the book). He is, in addition, even more savage, killing Blackavar (who had been freed from Efrafa) during the attempted invasion of the Watership Down warren.

Woundwort in the TV Series

In 1999, when "Watership Down" was adapted into an animated children's series, John Hurt played the evil rabbit in the first two seasons and was replaced by another (unknown) actor for the show's third and final season.

This Woundwort was quite unlike the one in either the novel or the movie, although he did share some traits of both. Like the movie version, he was blind in one eye, and like the novel version he saw his mother killed in front of him by a weasel. In his own words, pain and suffering hardened his heart, turning him into the hateful and fierce rabbit he grew into.

He was the son of Hemlock and Laurel, and still the Chief of Efrafa as in both previous versions. Woundwort was thought to have been killed when a bolt of lightning hit close to him while he was on a cliff in Efrafa overseeing the fighting between his Owsla and the invading Watershippers, causing him to fall into an enormous crack in the ground. He survived, however, and began a campaign of revenge against Hazel and Watership Down. He and Vervain went to Redstone, using the aliases of Weedstalk and Chaff, and took it over when Hickory made him Chief.

However, after discovering that humans planned to bulldoze Redstone into the earth, "Wheatstalk" betrayed the former members of the Warren of the Shining Wire, selling them out to Cowslip in exchange for his seer, Silverweed. He then travelled to his former home of Darkhaven, wresting control of it from Campion after Silverweed used his powers to look into Woundwort's future and predict that he would lead Darkhaven to glory (and, indeed, the Darkhaven rabbits had long been expecting the return of Hemlock's son, whom they called "the Dark One").

Everything seemed to be going Woundwort's way until Campion, who was secretly aiding the Watershippers, finally betrayed him in order to get Silverweed out of Darkhaven and warn his true allies about Woundwort's plans (with some help from Blackberry). Woundwort then sent Spartina to infiltrate Watership Down, but she too turned against him after she fell in love with Bigwig. Following this, an enraged Woundwort convinced Campion the Darkhaven rabbits to invade Watership Down.

After a lengthy battle between the two opposing forces, during which Woundwort bested Bigwig, Woundwort and all of the Darkhaven rabbits were killed by the dark power of the Black Rabbit himself, sucked up into a dark vortex in the sky called forth by Silverweed. Woundwort swore he would return, but has not been seen since.

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