Man, or humans, are a species considered to be elil (enemies) of rabbits, with many considering Man to be the most dangerous of them all.

Characteristics

Men hunt and kill various animals, including rabbits, with guns (sometimes referred to as "thundersticks"), snares, and ferrets. They are also known for smoking "white sticks" (or cigarettes).

Humans also have the unique ability to tame other elil, like cats, dogs, and ferrets. Most rabbits wonder how He accomplished such a task. Every other being, including other elil, fear these hunting companions and try to keep themselves away from them.

Role in the Watership Down series

Humans are notable for destroying Sandleford Warren as part of a construction project, which ends up killing nearly all of the warren's rabbits. Another man sets snares around Cowslip's warren to hunt rabbits. While helping Clover, Haystack, and Boxwood escape Nuthanger Farm, Hazel is shot by a farmer.

Some humans in the book, however, are friendly towards rabbits. When Woundwort is orphaned as a kit, a man takes him in and nurses him back to health. Near the end of the book, Lucy rescues Hazel from Tab, and with the help of Doctor Adams returns him to Watership Down.

Despite the generally feared nature of Man's presence among the rabbits, there is one tale told by El-ahrairah where Man is honored. There was a time many years ago when a great flood killed almost all life in the world, but he built a hutch which rose above those great waters, and he took every type of animal he could find, ensuring their survival until the great deluge ended.

Some rabbits, such as Cowslip and Buttercup, live close to men who feed them.

Gallery

Non-rabbit characters

Cross-media Badger • Bob (dog) • Cats • Crows • Dogs • Fox • Hawks • Hedgehogs • Kehaar (gull) • Owls • Tab (cat) • Stoat • Weasels Humans Lucy • Mr. Cane • Mrs. Cane • Schoolmaster Folklore Lord Frith • Prince Rainbow • Rowsby Woof (dog) Books/Graphic novel only Introduced in Watership Down Calico cat • Doctor Adams (human) • Hawock (pheasant) • King Darzin (beaver) • Unnamed Mouse Introduced in Tales from Watership Down Chief Rook (rook) • First Cow • Flairgold (glanbrin) • King of Tomorrow (deer) • King of Yesterday (bison) • Lekkri (gull) • Old Brock (badger) • Second Cow • Shindyke (glanbrin) • Third Cow • Unnamed Glanbrin • White Bull • Whitethorn (cow) • Zhuron (illip) Film only Cemetery Owl TV series only Bark (badger) • Calohki (puffin) • Darkling (bat) • Drumlin (mole) • Duster (dog) • Flitter (bat) • Frost (lamb) • Gluk (gull) • Hannah (mouse) • Hedge the Wizard (turtle) • Hyacinth (pig) • Kaka (gull) • Katerina (gull) • Parrots • Puffins • Ruffle (moorhen) • Skree (hawk) • Slate (turtle) • Tabitha (cat) • Tassel (squirrel) • Trill and Wobble (birds) • Weasel • Yona (hedgehog)