TIM: To the north there lies a cave -- the cave of Caerbannorg -- wherein, carved in mystic runes upon the very living rock, the last words of Olfin Bedweer of Rheged make plain the last resting place of the most Holy Grail.
ARTHUR:
Where could we find this cave, O Tim?
TIM:
Follow! But! Follow only if ye be men of valor, for the entrance to this cave
is guarded by a creature so foul, so cruel that no man yet has fought with it
and lived! Bones of four fifty men lie strewn about its lair. So, brave knights,
if you do doubt your courage or your strength, come no further, for death
awaits you all with nasty big pointy teeth.
ARTHUR: What an eccentric performance.
Hello
my dears. I am the Raven who speaks to you.
Today
I'll talk a little bit about the rabbit of Caerbannog, also known as "the
grumpy rodent". This savage beast needs little comment for anyone who has
had any experience with Monty Python's english comedy. A style that contains so
much intellectuality, but manages to be silly at the same time. For those who
are not used to this type of comedy, it is natural to feel a certain initial
strangeness in the first contact. But it is something that will not last very
long, since Monty Python, among its qualities, has transparency as one of them:
in a few minutes, it will be clear to those who watch what kind of approach
they use.
We
can say without a doubt that Monty Python is a great legacy of british comedy.
And in my opinion “Monty Python and The
Holy Grail” is the best way to be introduced to them. It is a film where
the target of my comment can be found, the incredible rabbit of Caerbannog and
all his hellish cuteness. Don't be fooled by this adorable little thing: behind
this harmless appearance hides a rabid homicidal beast, whose life goal is to
kill everything in sight by making use of an absurd bestial force, capable of
causing dismemberment, decapitation and a bloodbath of abominable proportions.
Personally,
I think the rabbit of Caerbannog is amazing. And it's not simply a matter of
fact that I liked the kind of humor he represents: it's about the use of a
harmless, simple animal that, with just an artificial replica and a few shots
of footage, was converted into something of a fury without proportions, capable
of terrorize and ridicule the knights of the Round Table. The rabbit
demonstrates how, in a film or a comedy play, abominable monsters can be used
in a simple and creative way, without much refinement, and thus build a comedy
capable of breaking the feeling of grotesque, of intimidation caused by genocidal
actions of a traditional monster and capable of rousing collective laughter. It
is a technical example of cinema that approximates humor to horror, creating
what we call black humor or dark comedy. The rabbit of Caerbannog is one of the
crudest and best done things I have ever seen on a comedy film. Rough and
better made? Yes, that's right. Although it is a paradox, this is how I feel
when I review something from “Monty
Python and The Holy Grail”. It is the most well-made rough in its shear.
And that's why I think it's amazing. The movie or the scene won't have the same
effect if viewed in a short amount of time, unless you're an epic-level goof
who can't really contain the laughter. But the revisits to the film, over the
years, in the moments when it ends up fading into memory, are almost always
rewarding. The rabbit of Caerbannog, the great neck-crushing cutie, will always
be a guarantee of great entertainment and will please comedy and horror fans
alike.
Credit
must be given to creators: the rabbit was written by Graham Chapman and John Cleese
and even inspired “Spamalot”, a
musical based on the film. This cute harbinger of destruction finally appears
when the film is already running its course, very close to the end. King Arthur
and the other knights meet him at the entrance of a cave in Caerbannog, where
the rabbit was walking quietly and surrounded by human bones. To get there,
previously Arthur and the knights had instructions from the Mage Tim, who
warned them that, if they wanted to discover the whereabouts of the Holy Grail,
they would have to go through a horrible, vile and cruel monster first.
However, on occasion, Tim does not imply that the monster is in fact a rabbit.
When
the rabbit is first seen by the group Arthur, confused, asks where the monster
is, if he was behind the rabbit. And then Tim explains that the monster is none
other than the rabbit. Arthur and the knights make fun of him. So, Sir Bors is
sent to kill the chubby white animal and, in a matter of seconds, the
bad-tempered rodent from the depths of Hell leaps swiftly towards Sir Bors'
neck, tearing his head off in a very graphic way and shocking Arthur and the
others. In a burst of courage (or stupidity, depending on how you, my dears,
look at the scene), Arthur and the knights go after the rodent. Again, and
without much difficulty, the rabbit of Caerbannog beats the knights, this time
killing Sir Gawain and Sir Ector, causing the others to runaway. Dissatisfied
and lost, Arthur asks what they could do to get rid of the cursed rabbit and, thus,
is reminded of one of brother Maynard's weapons. They took The Holy Hand
Grenade of Antioch, which requires the user to remove the pin, count to three
and throw it at the enemy. The procedure is described in detail by Brother
Maynard, referring to the Book of Armaments. So Arthur, despite counting five
instead of three, is corrected by Patsy, his squire, throws the grenade and
finally blows up the rabbit of Caerbannog.
That’s
it. The big and terrible rabbit of Caerbannog, a creature that is apparently
cute on the outside, but who is quite unpredictable and turns out to be a killing
machine. It should be noted that, although the rabbit's thirst for blood is
enormous, he seems to be quite astute, as he dodges blows and seeks to attack precisely
the vital parts of his victims. Unlike common rabbits, Caerbannog has a mouth full
of pointy and sharp teeth, something that fits him within the group of
carnivorous animals. His performance on the battlefield is legendary, worthy of
the most gruesome tales left for future generations. Agile, deadly, thirsty,
the rabbit of Caerbonnog doesn't allow time for a breath. When he slays one
victim, he automatically jumps to the next frantically, grinding and tearing
until not a single living target is breathing on the battlefield.
As a
curiosity, it is necessary to say that the weapon used to defeat him, The Holy
Hand Grenade of Antioch, is a satire made on one of the items of the royal treasure of the United Kingdom, the
Sovereign's Orb. As for the term “Antioch”,
the most likely is the armament relationship that the item may have with
another weapon, the mythical Holy Lance of Antioch.
The rabbit of Caerbannog has always been considered a cultural phenomenon and, even though the film “Monty Python and The Holy Grail” was released in 1975, the rabbit is still honored in media productions. Some well-known examples that I can mention come from gaming industry. In “The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt”, by CDProjekt Red, Geralt can find the rabbit of Caerbannog near Benek, where there is a hidden cave that, when the witcher enters, finds a pile of skulls, skeletons and blood, and with them a white bunny. In Bethesda's Fallout games, the Holy Hand Grenade is an item that can be found in “Fallout 2” and “Fallout: New Vegas”. In “Minecraft”, we can find a white rabbit with red eyes. He is called Killer Bunny, also a tribute to the rabbit of Caerbannog. Unlike all other rabbits in the game, which are calm and peaceful, Killer Bunny always tries to kill the players as soon as he sees them. In addition, he also attacks other beings in the game, such as wolves and foxes. These are just a few examples of many.
Nothing more to say. Corvid greetings!
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