General Woundwort

General Woundwort is a savage, powerful rabbit who is the dictator of the warren Efrafa. He serves as the main antagonist of both the book and film Watership Down.

He is voiced by Harry Andrews in the film and John Hurt in the TV series.

Childhood, and early years
As a kitten, Woundwort had a mother and father called laurel and hemlock. One day, a weasel killed his mother and his siblings, but he himself was rescued by an old man, who took him home and raised him. As Woundwort grew older, he became aggressive, and eventually escaped, and almost killed the old man's cat, severely maiming it. He arrived at a warren, killed its leader, and took over. He went to some neighboring warrens and killed their leaders, personally. Thus, Efrafa was born, and for several years, he reigned supreme. Until the Watership down rabbits appeared on the scene...

Watership Down backstory up to Efrafa
In the Sandleford warren, Fiver, a young runt rabbit who is a seer, receives a frightening vision of his warren's imminent eradication. When he and his brother Hazel fail to convince their chief rabbit of the need to evacuate, they set out on their own with a diminutive band of rabbits to probe for a new home, scarcely eluding the Owsla, the warren's military caste.

The travelling group of rabbits find themselves following the leadership of Hazel, previously a nurgatory member of the warren. They travel through dangerous territory, with Bigwig (also known as Thlayil) and Silver, both former Owsla, as the only significantly strong and vigorous rabbits among them.

Fiver's visions promise a safe place in which to settle, and the group eventually finds Watership Down, an ideal location to establish their new warren. They are soon reunited with Holly and Bluebell, additionally from the Sandleford Warren, who reveal that Fiver's vision was true and the entire warren was eradicated by humans.

Although Watership Down is a placid habitat, Hazel realizes there are no does, so making the future of their new home dubious. With the help of a seagull designated Kehaar, they locate a nearby warren, Efrafa, which is overcrowded and has many does. Hazel sends a small emissary to Efrafa to present their request for does. While waiting for the group to return, Hazel and Pipkin prosperously raid the nearby Nuthanger Farm to rescue a group of hutch rabbits there, returning with two does. When the emissary returns, Hazel and his rabbits learn Efrafa is a police state led by the despotic General Woundwort; Hazel's rabbits marginally return alive. However, the group does manage to identify an Efrafan doe named Hyzenthlay who wants to leave the warren and can recruit other does to join. Hazel and Bigwig devise an orchestration to rescue the group of rabbits from Efrafa to join them on Watership Down.

Bigwig's plan
Bigwig and Hazel, along with help from Kehaar and a genius rabbit named Blackberry, devise a plan to "rescue" several does from the police state warren of Efrafa. Bigwig is sent to Efrafa, and Woundwort immediately promotes him to the Owsla's (military caste)ranks for his strength and rugged fighter's appearance. He then manages to contact several does and a maimed rabbit named Blackavar and tells him his plan to escape Efrafa.

On the day they are suppossed to escape, one of the does is captured by the Owsla, and betrays Bigwig's plans to Woundwort as Bigwig jumps one of the Owsla and gathers the does and Blackavar. They are chased by Woundwort and his patrol to a river, where a boat is docked and the other rabbits are waiting. Kehaar attacks Woundwort to buy Bigwig time, and they barely manage to escape on the boat.

The seige of Watership Down
Days later, the rabbits of Watership Down are alerted of the presence of Woundwort and a patrol from Efrafa who are approaching Watership Down. Woundwort demands that they hand over Bigwig and the does, or he will kill every buck in the Watership warren.

Hazel, Watership's chief rabbit has all the rabbit holes filled in. When the siege starts, Woundwort and his patrol would have to dig into the warren. Bigwig is ordered to guard one of the tunnels as Hazel and Dandelion hatch a plan to lure Nuthanger Farm's dog (encountered earlier in the story) to Watership Down to chase off the Efrafans.

Woundwort's patrol eventually manage to dig their way in, and Woundwort moves into a narrow tunnel where he is ambushed by Bigwig. They engage in a fierce fight and both become severely wounded and exhausted. When Woundwort asks Bigwig why he won't surrender, Bigwig responds that his chief rabbit (Hazel) instructed him to guard that particular run. This startles Woundwort, who thinks that a chief rabbit would have to be even stronger then Bigwig. Succumbling to exhaustion, Woundwort leaves the tunnel. Just then, Hazel's ruse succeeds and the dog attacks the Efrafans, killing many of them and chasing off the rest. However, Woundwort, in a berserk rage, leaps towards the dog.

What exactly happens to Woundwort is not known; his body is never found, but he is never seen or heard from again, leaving his fate a mystery.

Personality
This despot is a cruel and sadistic overlord of Efrafa, and is very cunning and also very good at leadership. He is willing to face many dangers himself, fighting animals such as weasels, stoats and at one point, even a savage guard dog. He inspires his fellow rabbits to do the same; the General's refrain is that such animals "aren't dangerous." He seems to feel more comfortable fighting threats than running from them. He is capable of keeping his courage and wits about him when danger and the unexpected occur. However, his rage clouds his judgement, and sometimes, he lacks common sense, such as when he launched himself at a labrador. (Allthough we never saw the outcome, it is assumed the dog killed him.) He does have his limits, and wouldn't take on a fox, and kehaar the seagul was a bit more than he could handle. However, he is suspicious to the point of paranoia and inflexible; even when Efrafa faces a desperate situation because the population continually increases beyond the warren's ability to contain it, he refuses to allow further digging to expand living space or any of its inhabitants to leave, and Efrafa appears on the verge of explosion or collapse.

Woundwort, being the savage brute he is, lives by a concept of "power from strength", believing that leadership be given to the strongest rabbits. This is seen in the scene when Woundwort discovers that Bigwig is not Watership's chief rabbit, and Woundwort is afraid of a rabbit that could be stronger than Bigwig.

The general is also very manipulative, offering rewards to those who serve him, such as does, and giving his powerful thugs freedom and privileges. This is done so that they won't feel tempted to betray him.

Afterstory
General Woundwort lives on in the minds of the Watership rabbits of later years as a kind of supernatural bogeyman:

"And yet there endured the legend that somewhere out over the down there lived a great and solitary rabbit, a giant who drove the elil (predators) like mice and sometimes went to silflay (eat) in the sky. If ever great danger arose, he would come back to fight for those who honored his name. And mother rabbits would tell their kittens that if they did not do as they were told, the General would get them - the General who was first cousin to the Black Rabbit (the Grim Reaper of rabbits) ''himself. Such was Woundwort's monument: and perhaps it would not have displeased him." ''