Adder (Farthing Wood)
Encyclopedia
Adder is a fictional character
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...

 from the novel series The Animals of Farthing Wood
The Animals of Farthing Wood
The Animals of Farthing Wood is an animated series created by the European Broadcasting Union between 1992 and 1995 and based on the series of books written by Colin Dann. It was produced by Telemagination, based in London, and La Fabrique, based in Montpellier in France, but also aired in other...

, written by Colin Dann
Colin Dann
Colin Dann is an English author. He is best known for his The Animals of Farthing Wood series of books, which was subsequently made into an animated series....

. He appeared in all of the sequels in the series. Adder also made appearances in the animated children's television series The Animals of Farthing Wood based upon the books. Adder is, as her name suggests, an adder
Vipera berus
Vipera berus, the common European adder or common European viper, is a venomous viper species that is extremely widespread and can be found throughout most of Western Europe and all the way to Far East Asia. Known by a host of common names including Common adder and Common viper, adders have been...

.
style="font-size: larger;" | Animals Of Farthing Wood Character

Name: Adder
Species: Vipera berus
Vipera berus
Vipera berus, the common European adder or common European viper, is a venomous viper species that is extremely widespread and can be found throughout most of Western Europe and all the way to Far East Asia. Known by a host of common names including Common adder and Common viper, adders have been...

Seasons: 1, 2, 3
First Appearance: The Wood In Danger (1x01)
Last Appearance: Bully-Bully-Bully (3x13)
Mate: Sinuous
Offspring: Various unnamed adders

Season 1

In the TV series, Adder is female. Of the characters, she is the most morally inscrutable to the other animals. She rarely shows kindness and often shows complete indifference to the other animals, although she never approaches traitorous behaviour. She is disliked by most of the other animals because of her sarcastic wit and unserious attitude towards the Oath, which she detests but upholds. The other animals seem to hold a prejudiced view against her species, and most of the smaller animals seem genuinely frightened of her.

Adder seems to be a bully toward the smaller animals, but there are times when she acts selflessly, most notably when she saved Vixen from a fox hunt. She keeps this quiet as she does not like to appear soft. In reality, Adder often uses the smaller animals fear of her for their own good. In the episode So Near And Yet So Far, she purposely approaches them so that they move out of the way of a lawn mower, and is then forced to hide in a golf hole to avoid being killed herself. Although it appears she has died, the Voles
The Voles (Farthing Wood)
The Voles are two fictional characters from the Colin Dann series The Animals of Farthing Wood.- Life On The Journey :Mr. Vole was most infamous for his role as the boss of the Fieldmice and Shrews...

 are uncaring.

Adder also seems to develop a close friendship with Owl
Owl (Farthing Wood)
Tawny Owl is a fictional character in The Animals of Farthing Wood and its many sequels, written by Colin Dann. Tawny Owl also appeared in the animated children's television series of the same name based upon the books...

, after the incident at the farm. They go hunting together and often share opinions on situations, though these conversations take place out of the other animals' hearing. For example, they are both negative about Badger
Badger (Farthing Wood)
Badger is a fictional character from the animated children's television series The Animals of Farthing Wood, based upon the books of the same name by author Colin Dann....

's leadership after Fox
Fox (Farthing Wood)
Fox is a fictional character from the animated children's television series The Animals of Farthing Wood based upon the books of the same name by author Colin Dann....

's disappearance at the river, and agree Whistler
Whistler (Farthing Wood)
Whistler is a fictional character from the animated children's television series The Animals of Farthing Wood based upon the books of the same name by author Colin Dann. In the TV series he was voiced by Ron Moody but in the audio tapes he was voiced by Peter Woodthorpe. His name comes from the...

 and Toad
Toad (Farthing Wood)
Toad is a fictional character from the animated children's television series The Animals of Farthing Wood based upon the books of the same name by author Colin Dann....

are showing off in Whistler's Quarry. However, Adder does not always agree with Owl, and once turns her sharp tongue against her and teases her for being pompous. Adder seems to be Owl's peer in terms of intelligence and cynicism, though sometimes surpassing her in wit. In contrast to Owl, Adder shows no interest in being a leader or imparting advice on others.

Adder is usually found behind the other animals, being slower than most. She is one of the last to arrive when the animals stop to wait at the marsh and misses the discussion about the Motorway entirely. When everyone else is celebrating getting across safely and grieving the loss of the Hedgehogs, it is discovered that Adder hasn't even started across. Weasel and Owl both comment on her slowness. Being a proud character, Adder takes offense at their comments. Owl in particular asks, in Between Two Evils, if Adder is so slow "how slow is a slow-worm", to which Adder replies that slow worms are just "lizards without legs". Owl then accuses her of being "as proud as Toad". Adder's pride is shown in both her reluctance to acknowledge saving Vixen and her anger at being carried over the road by Whistler.

Season 2

In the second season, Adder shows interest in the Edible Frogs and is pleased when she eats one. Toad protests, but she upholds her right to eat any non-Farthing Wood animal.

She kills the blue fox Bounder, on mistaken orders from Weasel. Scarface determines to have revenge on the creature that attacked his cub, and so he retaliates in a sneak attack against Adder. She manages to escape, but loses the end of her tail in the process. She eventually has the last laugh by killing Scarface with a venomous bite.

Season 3

In the third season, Adder falls in love with a male adder named Sinuous who eventually becomes her mate. They become inseparable, and the couple are merciless toward the rats that invade the park. They are not seen fighting rats together (in fact Sinuous is not seen killing rats at all), but it is quite obvious that they are an excellent team attacking rats.

In Scared Silly by Snakes, Adder and Sinuous attack the rat base. Before doing so, they have a small argument over who will attack the rat base and it turns into a one-on-one vote. Sinuous gets a rat (and tells him what they are going to do!) and Adder is picked to lead the attack. Soon, they find Bully, but he escapes. They tried to follow him, but they were chased out by rats separately.

Both snakes get out and attack a second time, but they are separated. Adder makes it out of the base, but she gets captured by the rats. They could have killed her, if Fox's grandson Plucky had not saved her. Adder has an unseen reunion with Sinuous when he escapes the rat's base. She is one of the last things Sinuous sees before being choked to death by a gang of black rats.

Adder is devastated by the loss of her mate, and in anger at his murder goes on a killing raid on the nest, emptying them. She mentions him in every episode after his death. In The Worst Kind of Hurricane, Adder tried to kill Bully in his base at one point, but she is forced to escape, although she also saves Mossy from the rats in the process (Although it is unclear if this was intended, as she showed no signs of acknowledging his presence in the base and he merely grabbed her tail as she fled). At any mention of Sinuous, Adder is heartbroken, especially when Owl came back after finding a mate, suggesting that she should help Adder find one and later apologising for her 'foolish beak' when told about Sinuous's fate.

It is believed by many fans that Adder was pregnant with Sinuous's kids when he died, considering all the time they spent together.

Changes between seasons

She is seen crying only twice in the series, and that was when Sinuous had been killed. Adder changes color in each season. When she is first seen, she is grey, and in the third, she is green. She seems harsh in the first season, but becomes more affectionate in the second, still finding the need to look cruel. Her emotions were brought out by Sinuous, and she was very emotional after his murder.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK