Wilddeoren

Wilddeoren
Family	Giant Rodent
Affiliation	Hengist
Appearances	Lancelot and Guinevere The Darkest Hour: Part Two

“They're like giant... baby rats."
"That doesn't sound too bad."
"They have a taste for Human flesh.”

— Arthur and Merlin^[src]

Wilddeoren are very large, dangerous rodent carnivores which infest the Caves of Andor.

Biology

As Arthur Pendragon said, Wilddeoren look like giant baby rats, and have a taste for Human flesh. Wilddeoren have giant teeth and are completely blind, they use their sense of smell to find their prey. Arthur and Merlin used this to their advantage by smearing themselves with foul-smelling gaya berries.

History

A pair of lethal Wilddeoren were kept as pets by Hengist to dispose of unwanted guests. Hengist was in charge of the capture of Guinevere who he mistakenly believed was Lady Morgana. She witnessed her old acquaintance, Lancelot, fight against a fighter for Hengist's and his court's entertainment. When Lancelot defeated his opponent, he was shown mercy and his life was spared. However, when Lancelot introduced himself to Hengist, Hengist ordered a Wilddeoren into the cage, and killed the fighter. The same fate befell Kendrick when Hengist found out that the woman he captured was a serving girl.

Arthur Pendragon and Merlin were on the move to find Gwen. They had to travel through the Caves of Andor, which were infested with Wilddeoren. Arthur took advantage of the Wilddeoren's reliance on their sense of smell by having him and Merlin smear themselves with foul-smelling berries. They went into the caves and a Wilddeoren passed them, though not before slobbering all over Merlin. Arthur later admitted that he didn't know for certain that it would work, to Merlin's irritation. When Guinevere tried to escape with the help of Lancelot, she was recaptured and she and Lancelot were sentenced to death. Fortunately Merlin and Arthur arrived in time to rescue them. Hengist fought in the Wildeoren's cage to kill Merlin, Arthur, Lancelot and Guinevere, but Merlin locked him in the cage and he was devoured by a Wilddeoren. (Lancelot and Guinevere)

Over two years later, while on their journey to the Isle of the Blessed, the Knights of the Round Table took a shortcut through tunnels infested with Wilddeoren, Arthur tried the same trick a second time, and had them smear themselves with foul berries This worked until one Wilddeoren, got to close to Gwaine. He was able to kill it, but alerted the rest of the pack to the group's presence, so they promptly escaped. (The Darkest Hour: Part Two)