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69: Religion, Folklore and Seership in Watership Down
69: Religion, Folklore and Seership in Watership Down
Scripted by Mateus Ramos, Ronny M Worsey, Andrew Stevens, Leea Mäkelä and Newell Fisher
The Rabbit Religion
What kind of religion do the rabbits of WD have?
Mateus Ramos 11/4/22:
"The rabbits' religion draws from many sources. Some things look like ancient myths, like the Sun is the major god as in the Egyptian mythology and others, also El-Ahrairah is both a god and and a hero, like the demigods from Greek mythology such as Hercules, Perseus and Theseus; but also other heroes from other mythologies and religions like Gilgamesh, Moses and even Jesus.
El-Ahrairah on the other hand is a different breed in the way that he's the main hero but is also a Trickster.
So, long story short, at the same time Frith is Rah the Sun-God, Zeus, Helios, Odin, Alah, Jehovah and God
El-Ahrairah is at the same time Gilgamesh, Hercules, Moses, Noah, Loki, Jesus and Adam
And The Black Rabbit of Inlé is Thanatos, Hades, Satan and the Angel of Death"
Andrew Stevens 19/6/22:
“In "El-Ahrairah and Black Rabbit of Inlé", Adams draws on the Judeo-Christian tradition and pagan myths of suffering, maiming, sacrifice and rebirth of heroes, messiahs and gods, again starting with archetypes but quickly building on them.
With his rabbits losing a long-running siege waged by King Darzin, El-ahrairah journeys to the warren of the Black Rabbit of Inlé and offers his life for his people’s salvation but learns that the Black Rabbit makes no such bargains.
When Dandelion explains the nature of the Black Rabbit to his audience, it is easy to interpret the first view as him as a sort of rabbit devil, but the storytellers own understanding of him as a servant of Frith is more convincing. Rather than a Judeo-Christian Hell, his warren is more like Hades, a necessary place performing a role in the world with a steward ultimately answering to a higher power.”
Ronny M Worsey 11/4/22:
"Cowslip's Warren represents, to me, a closed community completely obsessed by religion. A cult, basically. You can't leave, you can't ask certain questions. Pictures on the wall are worshipped and everything is ritualised, even saying hello. There's also a patronising attitude to outsiders.”
Rabbit Folklore
Leea Mäkelä 11/5/22:
"The stories of El-Ahrairah in the world of Prince Rainbow and King Darzin seem indeed to be part of same continuum - like it had been another, larger rabbit story going on in a different world than the Sandleford/Watership rabbits, but intertwined with it.
El-Ahrairah seems to be the dominant character of rabbit folklore, attracting also motifs of stories that were originally stories of other rabbits. So who knows, if the Tale of Rowsby Woof was something that happened to (a) now un-named rabbit from Sandleford's owsla.
It seems to me that especially in the first part of Tales from the Watership Down the stories are written to formulas that have been inspired by some theories on folklore.”
Rabbit Seership
We now move on to the subject of seership in WD, a theme that was much developed in both the 1999 TV series, particularly in series 3 as I recall, as well as in the role-playing game Bunnies and Burrows.
Leea Mäkelä 22/6/22
"In the beginning of Watership Down Fiver is the weird kid, smaller than others and lacking in social skills so he needs Hazel as a mediator between him and others. He has extraordinary skill, that comes and goes in a way he can't control.
TheWarren of the Snares is some kind of turning point in how others don't see what Fiver sees, and how he needs to learn to communicate in ways that also others understand.
In 'Tales From Watership Down' he is already presented as a religious specialist of his community.
It seems that it might be Silverweed, who sets the process moving in Fiver to come (to) better terms with his own special skills and learning to use them”
View all episodes
By Newell Fisher
4.7
1414 ratings
69: Religion, Folklore and Seership in Watership Down
Scripted by Mateus Ramos, Ronny M Worsey, Andrew Stevens, Leea Mäkelä and Newell Fisher
The Rabbit Religion
What kind of religion do the rabbits of WD have?
Mateus Ramos 11/4/22:
"The rabbits' religion draws from many sources. Some things look like ancient myths, like the Sun is the major god as in the Egyptian mythology and others, also El-Ahrairah is both a god and and a hero, like the demigods from Greek mythology such as Hercules, Perseus and Theseus; but also other heroes from other mythologies and religions like Gilgamesh, Moses and even Jesus.
El-Ahrairah on the other hand is a different breed in the way that he's the main hero but is also a Trickster.
So, long story short, at the same time Frith is Rah the Sun-God, Zeus, Helios, Odin, Alah, Jehovah and God
El-Ahrairah is at the same time Gilgamesh, Hercules, Moses, Noah, Loki, Jesus and Adam
And The Black Rabbit of Inlé is Thanatos, Hades, Satan and the Angel of Death"
Andrew Stevens 19/6/22:
“In "El-Ahrairah and Black Rabbit of Inlé", Adams draws on the Judeo-Christian tradition and pagan myths of suffering, maiming, sacrifice and rebirth of heroes, messiahs and gods, again starting with archetypes but quickly building on them.
With his rabbits losing a long-running siege waged by King Darzin, El-ahrairah journeys to the warren of the Black Rabbit of Inlé and offers his life for his people’s salvation but learns that the Black Rabbit makes no such bargains.
When Dandelion explains the nature of the Black Rabbit to his audience, it is easy to interpret the first view as him as a sort of rabbit devil, but the storytellers own understanding of him as a servant of Frith is more convincing. Rather than a Judeo-Christian Hell, his warren is more like Hades, a necessary place performing a role in the world with a steward ultimately answering to a higher power.”
Ronny M Worsey 11/4/22:
"Cowslip's Warren represents, to me, a closed community completely obsessed by religion. A cult, basically. You can't leave, you can't ask certain questions. Pictures on the wall are worshipped and everything is ritualised, even saying hello. There's also a patronising attitude to outsiders.”
Rabbit Folklore
Leea Mäkelä 11/5/22:
"The stories of El-Ahrairah in the world of Prince Rainbow and King Darzin seem indeed to be part of same continuum - like it had been another, larger rabbit story going on in a different world than the Sandleford/Watership rabbits, but intertwined with it.
El-Ahrairah seems to be the dominant character of rabbit folklore, attracting also motifs of stories that were originally stories of other rabbits. So who knows, if the Tale of Rowsby Woof was something that happened to (a) now un-named rabbit from Sandleford's owsla.
It seems to me that especially in the first part of Tales from the Watership Down the stories are written to formulas that have been inspired by some theories on folklore.”
Rabbit Seership
We now move on to the subject of seership in WD, a theme that was much developed in both the 1999 TV series, particularly in series 3 as I recall, as well as in the role-playing game Bunnies and Burrows.
Leea Mäkelä 22/6/22
"In the beginning of Watership Down Fiver is the weird kid, smaller than others and lacking in social skills so he needs Hazel as a mediator between him and others. He has extraordinary skill, that comes and goes in a way he can't control.
TheWarren of the Snares is some kind of turning point in how others don't see what Fiver sees, and how he needs to learn to communicate in ways that also others understand.
In 'Tales From Watership Down' he is already presented as a religious specialist of his community.
It seems that it might be Silverweed, who sets the process moving in Fiver to come (to) better terms with his own special skills and learning to use them”