Anyone who knows me in private life or has read any of my gamer fanfiction already knows how much I love the novel “Watership Down.”

The most adaptation from Netflix caught my eye waaay back in 2017, and it has since fallen down the memory hole.

I was unimpressed. I could live with the poor computer graphics if the characters I love weren’t so maligned in this interpretation. Hazel is defined by his problems with females, which is silly for a rabbit. It’s one of the few advantages to being a rabbit. Ask Donnie Darko, from one my favorite movies, partly because it references this book.

Bigwig, the great and gallant hero who fought off the fearsome Woundwort, is portrayed as, to put it bluntly, a fucking asshole.

There’s this crucial scene in the Netflix adaptation when Hazel and Bigwig first meet. Bigwig actually threatens him. This isn’t something Bigwig would do, this is something Toadflax would do. That’s why Hazel and Fiver have their encounter with Toadflax first, to emphasize that Bigwig, unlike other Owsla officers, has some redeeming qualities.

In the novel, Bigwig has a mocking tone, but it’s friendly and totally non-threatening.

I’m not sure how or exactly when the trend to make jerks into the heroes got started, but pandering to the worst human beings for popularity and money is a tale as old as time.

I’m reminded of other leading men in the media like Christian Grey, people like Varian Wrynn from World of Warcraft, and the new incarnation of the Beast from the recent live-action remake of “Beauty and the Beast.”

These are not good people. They are abusive jerks. The original characters had redeeming qualities and acted on them. Varian Wrynn is an interesting case, and I think a more sinister one. That deserves its own WoW essay about how they got away with all the cultural appropriation and laundering a villain into a hero because he happens to be a white guy.

That might be the topic of my next essay. The point of this one is that Thlayli-rah is a hero.

The Evolution of a Hero :

Bigwig from “Watership Down.”

By Kristy Ambrose

It might be a children’s story, an adventure book, or a chilling vision of a dystopian society. Richard Adams seems to have combined them all in “Watership Down.” The characters that we meet in the course of our journey across the English countryside are familiar literary figures. Many groups of adventurers have among them an archetype who starts as a rebel but evolves into a hero.

In “Watership Down,” this role is filled by the irrepressible Bigwig, a typical fighting man, or rabbit in this case.

The character’s introduction is important. It takes place during a crucial moment at the beginning of the novel.

The readers learn that the name Bigwig has two connotations. His fellow rabbits mean it literally to describe him using the distinctive tuft of hair on his head. The first translation from the Lapine word Thlayli is actually given as “Furhead.” (Adams, 6) This is an interesting call-back to insults like “hairbrained.” This term denotes a character of lesser intelligence, and we soon find out that although Bigwig is compulsive and rebellious, he isn’t stupid.

This might be why Adams adopts the name Bigwig as a translation instead. This is a slang term from English that means a person in charge. Other terms like “Boss” or “Big Cheese” might be used in this case, and neither has anything to do with intelligence.

Classical References

Bigwig is similar to other characters that are written in the same mold. The rabbits follow the same journey as many other human heroes from both ancient and modern times. The long journey of The Odyssey has been retold many times, and the destruction of the Sandleford Warren echoes the ruins of Troy in The Iliad.

Shakespeare’s Kent meets King Lear much like Bigwig meets Woundwort, as a mercenary in disguise.

Joseph Campbell himself compared Bigwig to Han Solo of Star Wars, arguing that both are pragmatic and materialistic, but essentially compassionate. (Campbell and Moyers, 129) The essential difference between the two is that Bigwig has more agency. He volunteers his skills and energy to the adventure with more enthusiasm at a much earlier time in the story, even if it means he bullies his way in as the easiest path to leadership.

The picture of Bigwig as a hero isn’t a happy accident. Richard Adams was inspired by Joseph Campbell’s work on the hero’s journey. (Bridgman, 108) By the time the rabbits assault Efrafa in the second part of Watership Down, Bigwig has learned to defer to Hazel based on brains instead of brawn. A mission like this would have been impossible for him to complete earlier in the novel, as he would have relied on sheer force.

Although strong and loyal, this heavyset rabbit does not volunteer his trust lightly. Despite his strength and prowess, his natural instinct to do the right thing for himself and those around him keeps him from becoming an elitist like the Thearah or a tyrant like Woundwort.

Adams describes Bigwig, or Thlayli in the rabbit language, as having a “warm and impulsive nature” that is defined by compassion and sympathy. (Adams, 189) It’s because of these core traits that he can evolve. He starts as little more than a practical and selfish buck, but by the time the story concludes, he’s an essential and renowned member of the community.

Bigwig rejects authority generally and acts impulsively when left on his own. This indicates that he isn’t afraid to act against the Thearah, but it also means Hazel will have to work that much harder to earn his respect. The leader of the lost band of rabbits sizes up Bigwig early in the journey.

Hazel realized wearily that Bigwig was probably going to be troublesome. He was certainly no coward, but he was likely to remain steady only as long as he could see his way clear and be sure of what to do. To him, perplexity was worse than danger; and when he was perplexed he usually grew angry. (Adams, 18)

Hazel compliments Bigwig’s character instead of clashing against it. Although he is dismissive of Hazel initially when he asks for an audience with the Thearah, Bigwig does remember his name and deduces that Hazel should speak to the Chief. He is not overbearing, nor is he rude, unlike the rough and angry Toadflax.

The Lapine Shakespeare

Bigwig is the Shakespearean idea of the model knight. He quotes Kent from King Lear when first speaking to General Woundwort, “I can run and fight and spoil a story telling it.” (Ibid, 186) This is a slight variation of the original quote from the play, “I can keep honest counsel, ride, run, mar a curious tale in telling it…” (Shakespeare, 1. 4. 564-565)

A mix of warrior, rebel, and sometimes the joker, Bigwig’s rebellious and compulsive nature is both beneficial and detrimental to the group as a whole.

Until the appearance of Bluebell, it is Thlayli who acts as the comic relief. We laugh at him when he “growls appreciatively” at a reference to El-hrairah’s sexual prowess, (Adams, 16). Like a proper Shakespearean hero he always seems to have a few creative insults to hurl. “Moonstruck field mouse” (Adams, 66) and “U embleer hrair” (Prince of Stench) (Ibid., 267) are only two stellar examples.

Bigwig’s attitude changes towards leadership from the beginning of the novel to the end. Initially, Bigwig values size and strength more than intellect, but he eventually comes to love and respect the much physically weaker Hazel.

This touches on one of the novel’s themes, that intellect is more powerful than strength. It culminates in a dramatic victory when Hazel crafts the ultimate trick to foil the strongest rabbit they’ve ever encountered. Bigwig’s role in this final battle is essential, and by the time it happens, he is ready to admit that strength is not the last true authority.

When Bigwig gets into trouble, it’s often because he ignores Hazel or Fiver’s advice. This attitude almost costs him his life in the Warren of the Snares, where he learns the peril of ignoring both the hard way.

Bigwig, a character that symbolizes physical strength, is the only rabbit from the Sandleford to get snared at Cowslip’s warren.

A snare is a device set and fastened by brains, not brawn, and it is the intellectual power of Blackberry and Fiver that frees him. Once again, this stresses the theme that might does not always make right, and intellect is more important than strength. As Bigwig himself confesses to Fiver later. “You’ve bitten through a bigger peg than the one I’m dragging.” (Adams, 70)

This is the first time that Bigwig defers to a physically weaker rabbit. Up until now, he did what he wanted regardless of what Fiver or Hazel thought was best. They were more like equals in the chain of command. After experiencing this vulnerability, Bigwig asks Fiver, one of the smallest and weakest rabbits in the group, to give them an order.

Several other rabbits will out-think him throughout the novel, and he supports their efforts.

Bigwig is set up in direct contrast to three other rabbits in positions of authority. The Thearah, the Chief Rabbit of the Sandleford Warren, Holly, who is of a higher rank in the Sandleford Owsla and more authoritarian, and Woundwort, a paranoid and sadistic tyrant.

Two of these are introduced in the initial chapters, while the final and most intimidating is saved for last. As a leader, Hazel could be compared to these characters in a separate essay, in particular, the brutal and iron-fisted General Woundwort.

Woundwort never understands how a rabbit as strong as Bigwig can defer to a weaker one for any reason. Thus, we have Woundwort’s fatal flaw, and this blind spot is his undoing. He is badly shaken when Bigwig confesses that he is not the Chief Rabbit of his warren.

Thlayli’s reply, when it came, was low and gasping, but perfectly clear.

“My Chief Rabbit has told me to defend this run, and until he says otherwise, I shall stay here.”

“His Chief Rabbit?” said Vervain, staring.

It had never occurred to Woundwort or any of his officers that Thlayli was not the Chief Rabbit of his warren. Yet what he said carried immediate conviction. He was speaking the truth. And if he was not the Chief Rabbit, then somewhere close by, there must be another, stronger rabbit who was. A stronger rabbit than Thlayli. Where was he? And what was he doing at this moment? (Adams, 269)

In this crucial moment, Bigwig permanently declares that he defers to the power of the intellect. He’s no longer the sassy rabbit who sneered at Hazel or called Fiver names, the careless rabbit who questioned crossing the river in Chapter 8, or disregarded Fiver’s advice in Chapter 17.

Woundwort, on the other hand, always assumed that he was the Chief Rabbit because of his size. The only conclusion he can draw with his myopic view is that there is another rabbit nearby, even bigger and stronger than Bigwig. Woundwort is a Shakespearean villain to match a Shakespearean hero.

Bigwig, The Hero

When news arrives of the incoming Efrafan assault, many rabbits argue that they should run away. Hazel is adamantly against this and cites two main reasons: Clover and Hyzenthlay.

Clover is currently nursing a litter of kittens, only hours old, and can’t move from her burrow. Hyzenthlay does not have any kittens yet, but she is “heavy with young.” (Adams, 245) Even if they run, he argues, Hyzenthlay and other does sharing her condition won’t make it very far. In the final scenes, the duty of protecting the new, fledgling warren falls to Bigwig.

This doesn’t just mean the greater macrocosm of the community. In a detail that gets overlooked, as Adams never explicitly states it, Bigwig and his companions have their own families to protect at this point. The next generation and their home, Watership Down, must be protected. (Adams, 245-246).

Any number of does could also be carrying kittens at this time, but it is interesting that Hazel points out Hyzenthlay, a rabbit close to Bigwig, to drive his point home. It’s never explicitly stated, but it’s fairly obvious that Bigwig is the bunny daddy, making the stakes higher for him.

Protecting the new home they forged symbolizes the culmination of the effort made during the hero’s journey. The defeat of Woundwort and the survival of the next generation represent the emergence from the Underworld. The symbolism of the underground in the daily life of rabbits is used by Adams numerous times throughout the novel. Despite the dangerous path, the quest must not be abandoned.

Like the classic hero, Bigwig does not emerge from his battle with Woundwort unscathed. He gets the best of his opponent, but he is “scarred from head to foot” (Adams, 267) emotionally as well as physically. The reader might recall the price that Blackavar had to pay when he was mutilated for trying to leave Efrara, or how El-ahrairah lost his ears and tail to the Black Rabbit.

As the story comes to a close, we learn that Bigwig is the Captain of the Watership Owsla, and happily trains young bucks who have never seen cats about how to fight cats. There is some echo here of how the children of peacetime can’t understand war, and how the younger generation might take their safety for granted.

At the same time, the innocence of the young bucks, who love him dearly, is touching. This is Bigwig’s gift to them from the Underworld, an existence of peace and idealism.

Not every hero can enjoy a happy ending. Rabbits have a different idea of the value of life than humans do, another important theme in the novel, and Bigwig understands that he is now more than he ever asked to be. The gallant captain lives happily ever after, so to speak, as a scarred veteran in a world of children who know nothing of war.

Works Cited

Adams, Richard E. Watership Down. Rex Collings, 1972.

“Archetypes.” Hillsborough Community College Home, http://www.hccfl.edu/media/724354/archetypesforliteraryanalysis.pdf.

Bridgman, Joan. “Richard Adams at Eighty”. The Contemporary Review (The Contemporary Review Company Limited) 2000.

Campbell, Joseph, and Bill D. Moyers. The Power of Myth, Harmony, 1988.

Shakespeare, William. “King Lear: Entire Play.” The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, shakespeare.mit.edu/lear/full.html.

Snider, Clifton. “Brief Outline of Jungian Psychology with some Archetypal Images, Themes, and Symbols.” California State University, Long Beach, web.csulb.edu/~csnider/jungian.outline.html.