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"Bigwig was right when he said he wasn't like a rabbit at all," said Holly. "He was a fighting animal—fierce as a rat or a dog. He fought because he actually felt safer fighting than running. He was brave, all right. But it wasn't natural; and that's why it was bound to finish him in the end. He was trying to do something that Frith never meant any rabbit to do. I believe he'd have hunted like the elil if he could."

Things have settled down after the battle, and Holly reflects on Woundwort. He points out that although the General was brave, what he did was not natural. What Holly means is that Woundwort strayed from the ways that rabbits were meant to live their lives. That is not to say that there is necessarily some overall purpose to rabbit existence, but rabbits are herbivores who attempt to evade their predators. Woundwort would rather fight than run, and he is so big, strong, and fearless that he often triumphs over larger animals. But that is not the way rabbits live. In the end, when he tries to fight the dog, Woundwort simply gives in to the urge to fight, but what is more important than winning a fight is surviving. Rabbits, like all creatures, seek their own survival above all else. Woundwort loses hold of that fact, and it leads to his downfall. Holly's point also means that all of the creatures in nature should stay within their roles. That applies to humanity as well, although just what that role should be is not clear.

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