I have recently became acquainted with Watership Down, and the franchise gained another fan. Lol I've read the book, seen the movie and watched the whole TV series, and thought they were all awesome! =D (I'm still waiting to get my hands on the second book though. XD)
I'm a bit of a villains' fan (although I do like the heroes too, most times) and after watching the TV series I knew the Plot Bunnies (see what I did there? Lol) would never shut up and let me continue with my other story til I'd scratched out at least a couple oneshots about my favorite characters. So I did. Hopefully this is the pilot of a small group of oneshots I'll be doing for Watership Down. I hope I succeeded in capturing Woundwort's character. =)
Interesting random fact: John Hurt (who voiced Woundwort in the first two seasons) in addition to voicing Hazel in the film, (which I'm sure every WSD fan knows) /also/ voiced the Horned King from the Black Cauldron, who happens to be the main character of another fanfiction I'm writing. What are the odds, huh? =D Lol
As usual, any reviews or favorites or anything would be very much welcome and deeply appreciated. =D
This oneshot is Woundwort's thoughts during the last episode of Season Two and the beginning of Season Three. Takes place right after Season Three's first episode.
I know what I am now.
All this time, I saw myself as a savior to rabbits everywhere. (a power-hungry one true, but a savior no doubt) Who cared that I was feared and hated by everyone, even by my own captains in my warren? I kept them all safe. Secure. No elil bothered us, no sickness ravaged us, nothing ever opposed us for long. And it was all because of me. Even Man, with all his tools and cruelty could not harm us, for how can you harm something you cannot find?
Under my instruction, Efrafa was the greatest warren to ever exist, from the moment I arrived and conquered them all myself. Tunnels and burrows were masterfully dug, and all openings hidden so well they could not be discovered.
I alone killed the current Chief Rabbit and Owsla captain and took over the entire warren using nothing but my strength, wits, and the terror I instilled in the very souls of everything I drew near. When I arrived, there were only a few rabbits, sick, weak and hungry. Elil were everywhere. But I saved them all. I brought them safety, health, order, and meaning. I alone built this place. I alone am responsible for it. And if fear is what it takes to keep my control, then so be it.
I refused them freedom of will, but the security encouraged long lives among the faithful. The unfaithful were made examples of, increasing their terror of me. When breakout attempts became too common, the rations were simply halved. And then quartered, if they still resisted.
No one can escape from Efrafa. No one can escape from me. And nothing can get into Efrafa if I do not permit it. I am everywhere.
My system was flawless. Impenetrable. Strict, orderly, and meticulous. My spies were all about, innumerable, telling me every single thing that went on in my warren. Nothing was secret. Nothing was unknown to me, from a broken grassblade to a tuft of fur in a burrow. If whispers of treachery or mutiny arose, I dealt with them personally. I heard all. Seen all. Knew all. I was a god.
I had complete control. The ones who dared rebel against me were...dealt with in varying degrees of severity, from mutilation to death as the sentence.
I gave them safety. I trained my Owsla personally, and they were the best. No rabbit could touch them, not in speed, not in strength, not in wits, and certainly not bravery. Their fear of me heightened their courage to where they would attack anything without hesitation if I ordered it, be it dog, stoat or cat. Everything they know they learned from me. I led a band of them against a homba that dared trespass into Efrafan territory...and killed it. The skull now lies in a tree hollow on the border of Efrafa as a trophy, to keep out any others who may have thoughts of catching an easy meal here.
No rabbits were lost in the battle. Some minor injuries, but hardly serious. Through them, I had yet again proved myself superior to any foe we may face, be it inside or outside the warren.
Nothing can kill me. Nothing in the air, nothing on the earth, and nothing in the sea. I feared nothing. I was all-powerful. To my warren there was nothing else in existence. No one else to follow. And nowhere to flee.
There was only Woundwort.
And then...They came. From the high hills that masked their scent and made them impossible to track or to find, that insolent band of hlessil came down into Efrafa, and to the warren my authority became questionable. My magnificent, glorious empire, so impenetrable from any other foe, and suddenly I realized how delicately was the balance that I had rested upon and controlled for all of these years. And a soft voice in my heart that I could not silence whispered that there was indeed something I feared.
My people, upon realizing there was, in fact, not only Woundwort, began to take rebellious, hopeful thoughts. Because they knew now they had somewhere to go if they could ever leave here.
More escape attempts than ever. Rations cut to practically nothing. Weak rabbits cannot run, now can they, dear reader?
I doubled the patrols. Doubled the security, the spies, the terror. The outsiders must be destroyed if my power was to live on, and everything I had created here was to survive.
The solution was simple. Destroy the outsiders, as I had done with every surrounding warren in the area to ensure my power and control. Rip out their throats, one by one. Massacre them. Perhaps take some prisoners and make them examples of what would happen to other rabbits if they dared attempt escape any more. If properly crushed and reshaped, perhaps some fine new owsla could be acquired.
But it did not come to pass.
And then, as if they could not goad me enough, they turned Campion away from me. Campion, my most loyal, trusted, faithful Captain of Owsla in the whole warren, the best fighter, tracker, runner, and spy, a rabbit I'd trained from kittenhood...betrayed me. The only rabbit I've ever held any amount of respect for.
And the last rabbit I ever expected to turn soft.
Using the very skills I myself had taught him, he became their spy in my own ranks. I never suspected it. He hid his intentions so well...even had I not been so trusting of him I doubt I could have caught him at it. He covered his tracks with all the cunning subtlety of a fox.
Captain Vervain, that cowardly, sniveling fool, stable as water in his ways, he knew from the beginning Campion was a traitor, but I would not hear his multiple accusations against my finest Captain. My pride of Campion blinded me where Vervain was not. But that rabbit had always detested Campion, always seeking to usurp him in any way possible. I think he alone, of all in my warren, knew that Campion was my favorite.
And he betrayed me. Who knew how many moons he lay as a spy in my ranks, telling those outsiders my every move, before Captain Vervain finally found their warren and I led a raid against them. And he deserted me in the heat of battle, just as I was winning and had one of my most hated enemies in my grasp.
And then...I was set to kill him. In my rage I didn't notice the massive stones of the cave raining down. Until he shoved me aside, out of the way, and in my place was crushed to death beneath them.
Oh, Frith, what have I done?
How could I have been so blind? So oblivious to the suffering of my people? So heedless of what I had become? It was in the night following his demise-after I had ordered my other officers that my whole warren would fight against the rabbits of Watership Down at dawn, from the captains to the kittens, til all the outsiders were dead to avenge my captain's death-that I understood for the first time in my life what I really was.
Monster.
Not a savior. A destroyer. Not a protector. A warlord.
Campion betrayed me. But he sacrificed himself for me almost in the same instant. He died for me, and me alone. So...he didn't...hate me. Did he? He hated what I'd done to my people. He knew I was better than what I had been, because he was there from the beginning.
He hated what I had become. To establish an empire, you need force. To maintain it, you need...kindness. Something I never gave them.
His name will be legend. I will make sure of that.
I understand now. I understand everything.
I will make it all right. Somehow. But how? How can I change something I built to be unchangeable?
I will call off the attack. We will not fight Watership Down any more. I will serve my warren as a leader, not force them to serve me.
It is what Campion would have wanted.
The outsiders had already attacked in retaliation when I made it outside my warren. All was madness. But I could end it. I could change my ways, change my fate, alter my destiny, everything.
But it was not to be. Frith himself struck lightning down from the heavens and destroyed my warren in one blast. Everything I had spent years making, the burrows, the security, everything...gone. All the rabbits fled or were killed and I was temporarily buried under a wall of mud and roots.
Tell me, how can one longing to change their fate do so if the very gods themselves declare otherwise? The answer is simple. You can't. And if you try, well...they have ways of correcting you, as Frith has just shown me. And if others interfere, as Campion did, they are removed.
Do you know what it's like to be cursed by a god? Nothing else compares to it. You can do nothing but follow the destiny they have appointed you, regardless of your own desires.
The gods killed Campion to keep me on this path, of this I am sure. Everyone's path is written in the stars, are they not? They are unalterable. Even mine.
I was made to be a monster. This much is clear. From the beginning, everything that has ever happened to me and everything I have done has twisted and molded me into what I have become. There is no second chance for me, no hope of another type of life. What I told Pipkin all those moons ago was right. I can still hear his little kitten voice timidly, but firmly, speaking the truth to me.
'War isn't the way, General.'
And I can still hear my reply, as truthful as his, resigned, cold and bitter...hopeless to defy my fate.
'It's the only way I know.'
I was made to be a monster. The gods have made that clear. And so a monster I shall be. Til Frith falls from the sky, I swear it!
Many years ago, when I was young, I vowed I would never run again like other rabbits do. From anything, no matter what it was. I would fight instead. I would fight til I triumphed. I would crush any fear that tried to well up within me, and it would make me strong. I refused to run anymore. I would be undefeatable, and I would never, ever flee. But even I cannot battle against a god. And so I shall embrace my destiny with all fervor, fulfill it, and make them weep.
I.
Will.
Not.
Run.
...The outsiders think they've won, no doubt. They believe I am dead. All the better. They'll never see me coming.
Nothing in the air, nothing on the earth, nothing in the sea can prepare or protect them for what I shall unleash upon them now. What was before was just a taste of what I shall do next.
I shall bring all the horrors of the Black Rabbit of Inlé down upon them in his name. And when they are vanquished from the earth, I shall slaughter anything else that movies, be it hawk, weasel, homba, dog, rabbit, hare, mouse, or anything else that dares to cross my path.
Nothing can kill me. But I can kill anything I like.
I shall do what the gods intend. And it will be glorious. I will follow my destiny and fulfill it, and more so, til the gods themselves tremble at what they have created and hate themselves for the path of darkness and blood they made me follow.
And that will be the most satisfactory bit of all, now won't it, dear reader?