Chief Rabbit

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In the novels Watership Down, and Tales from Watership Down by Richard Adams, the chief rabbit is the top-ranking rabbit in a warren. He (occasionally she) is generally the most respected - Hazel (Watership Down) for example - and/or feared - General Woundwort for example - of the rabbits. The Owsla served the chief rabbit and he/she was expected to make important decisions for the entire warren. In Watership Down, the Sandleford Warren chief rabbit's refusal to take Fiver seriously led to the destruction of the entire warren. Hazel, however, became a chief rabbit in the spirit of El-ahrairah and accepted council from other rabbits as well as testing new ideas. This led to their survival and prosperity on Watership Down.

Chief Rabbits take the style -Rah (Prince or Lord). Thus the Chief Rabbit of the Sandleford warren was Threarah (or Threar-Rah) whilst the final part of Watership Down is entitled Hazel-Rah as Hazel takes on the leadership of the Watership Down warren. The title does not seem to have to be conferred ceremonially; Hazel is referred to as "Rah" by Blackberry (Watership Down) causing Bigwig (Watership Down) to interrupt and declare "The day I call you Chief Rabbit, Hazel, that'll be the day, that will! I'll stop fighting that day." El-ahrairah, the mythical first rabbit, is actually "elil-hrair-rah" or "the prince with countless enemies."

Richard Adams' Watership DownEdit
Novels: Watership Down - Tales from Watership Down
Adaptations: Feature film - TV series
Characters: Bigwig - Blackavar - Blackberry - Campion - Cowslip - Dandelion - Fiver - General Woundwort - Hazel - Hyzenthlay - Kehaar - Vervain - Minor characters
Mythical/story creatures: El-ahrairah
Locations: Efrafa - River Enborne - Railway line - Redstone - River Test - Watership Down
Other: Chief Rabbit - Concepts in Watership Down - Lapine - Owsla