Hazel and Cowslip's Warren

[florapaw]

So if you've seen my Watership Down meme tumblr (which, let's be honest, you probably haven't) you'd have seen my latest couple of posts talking about something that's really bugged me about the book: Hazel while he was at Cowslip's Warren.

I'm not going to repeat everything from my tumblr, but it really boils down to the fact that Hazel acts extremely out of character in this particular warren. He had blindly trusted Fiver saying that Sandleford was done for, but yet ignores all the warning signs he picked up on in the Warren of the Snares and disregarded Fiver's warning.

Someone pointed out to me that he liked the warren too much to really accept that it was dangerous, and that Richard Adams probably wrote it like this because most of the other characters probably wouldn't follow Hazel and Fiver out. But even they agreed that it was way OOC for Hazel to act like that. Not only was the beginning of the book proof enough, but Hazel even gives outright statements saying he's believed him before the book started.

'Well, sir,' said Hazel rather hesitantly, 'it's because of my brother - Fiver here. He can often tell when there's anything bad about, and I've found him right again and again. He knew the flood was coming past autumn and sometimes he can tell where a wire's been set. And now he says he can sense a bad danger coming upon the warren.'

And

'You're sure, then, that there's really something to be afraid of?'
'I'm quite certain. I've always known Fiver, you see.'

I strongly hate this little fact, because it really is so completely out of character for Hazel. Of course Fiver wouldn't be right all the time, but I feel like anytime your seer brother says that you're going to die, you should probably take that as a hint to get your little bunny butt out of there.

[Acacia Heartstrings]

Is that there are enough things to consider ... The position of Hazel before the site, a rabbit hutch that is apparently 100% safe, where there are no predators, the food is abundant, there is peace and there are no dangers, that is, a huge amount of benefits. Taking this into account, it seems the ideal place to live, besides that his group was tired of traveling so long, he would lose the respect of his companions, if he did not accept the invitation to live in the Cowslip burrow.    
The only one who opposed was Fiver, however, the premonition of danger was much more vague, as if entering the haze, not even Fiver knew if it was dangerous. Very different from his prediction of the annihilation of Sandledford.

For this reason it is that she did not want to ignore her brother's vague and unclear warning.
You have to put yourself in the place of the character, their problems and circumstances, they are not easy decisions.    

[florapaw]

I totally understand what you're saying, but I'd like to mention that while Fiver didn't originally know what the danger was, he was ready to clear out without any other rabbits, and you'd have to be pretty urgent to do that. Sure, Fiver isn't the most reasonable rabbit in these times where food and shelter sounded so much better than walking in a direction and hoping to get there, but if he's that desperate to get out that he'd risk his own life to walk out of there, you can tell that something's up.

[Chipster-roo]

It was reasonable to go to Cowslip's warren at first.  It's raining, the scrapes Hazel and the others have dug aren't very comfortable, so it would make sense for everyone to go to the warren despite Fiver's bad feeling.

But the next morning, the rain has stopped and Fiver still has a bad feeling.  Surely Hazel should have listened, and everyone would have left?  Especially since Hazel did notice several odd things about the warren, such as their refusal to answer "where" questions, and how they make shapes on the wall, tell creepy poems, and sing to get their kittens to sleep.