Weasels are a species of mustelid and are considered elil in the Watership Down series. They are notorious for being bloodthirsty killers, able to easily slip into a warren and clear out burrows thanks to their long and slender bodies. They are known to be able to kill a full grown rabbit. Some weasels, at least in the television series, even speak broken Lapine.
TV series[]
In the television series, weasels appear several times as minor antagonists.
One weasel, who appears in the episodes Home on the Down and The Vision, was the first danger the rabbits of Watership Down encountered when they first arrived on the Down. He is eventually either driven off or killed by the Watership Down Owsla.
A weasel, which appeared in flashbacks in the episodes The Shadow of Efrafa and Prisoner of Efrafa, killed Woundwort's mother Laurel.
In The Wanderer, a weasel attacks Vervain and Aspen by a pond, succeeding in killing Aspen. At the end of the episode, a weasel (likely the same one) attacks Vervain again, but is driven off by General Woundwort at the last moment.
In The Secret of Redstone, another weasel is seen attacking Redstone Warren and threatening to invade the burrow, but it is attacked by General Woundwort and chased away.
A weasel appears in The Beginning of the End, running down a log and disappearing out of sight while following the Darkhaven rabbits when they are trekking the woods to Watership Down. It was mentioned that the elil in the surrounding area, including the weasel, are aware that the Darkhaven rabbits are going through the woods in the open, in which Woundwort is informed of by Vervain. That night, the weasel attacks Hannah, planning to kill her before making a meal out of the rabbits. He nearly kills her, but he is tackled by two of the Darkhaven Owsla, who are joined by two others to assist in fighting the weasel. The weasel manages to escape the scuffle when Darkling's bats began attacking the Darkhaven rabbits to provide Campion, Blackberry, and Spartina a means of escape. The weasel briefly takes cover in the same log Hannah was hiding in; he looks at her with a menacing snarl but then runs off to escape the confusing chaos.
Trivia[]
- The physical appearance of the weasels in season three are much closer to that of stoats, due to their large size and black-tipped tails, the latter of which weasels lack.
Gallery[]
Film[]
TV series[]
Seasons 1-2[]
Season 3[]
| Non-rabbit characters |
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