#'you're really doing this to your son? your little boy? what will starclan think of that? kill me and live with the blah blah blah...'

[warrior-cats-rewritten]

i fucking hated it when Gray Wing got that one badass line ("kill me and live with the memory") it should've been someone else

IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN ONE EYE IN A MOCKING TONE TO ALL THE AWFUL SETTLERS WHO TREATED THE NATIVE CATS LIKE FODDER

IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN FIRESTAR @ TIGERSTAR IN OOTS

IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN LEAFPOOL @ HOLLYLEAF DURING PO3

IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN SOL AT LITERALLY ANY POINT TO TRY AN MANIPULATE SOMEONE INTO NOT KILLING HIM

IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN LITERALLY ANYONE ELSE

Gray Wing was never "badass" he was a culmination of everything WRONG with this series. The pro colonial themes, the extreme misogyny, the xenophobic and racist rhetoric, the blatent fatphobia, the ableism, even the inconsistencies between one book right after the other due to lack of communication, and right down the blatent Writer Projection and Bias. The writers see themselves in this awful character, and while he WAS supposed to die in The Sun Trail (which would honestly have made for a pretty interesting twist) the writers/this weird editing team that actually makes the real choices loved him too much, which you know wouldn't have happened if Gray Wing was female. Any character this team grows attached to can do no wrong. Bramblestar, Alderheart, Nightheart, Clear Sky, Jayfeather, Rootspring, and Gray Wing. Notice a pattern here? Squirrelflight, Tawnypelt, Sparkpelt, Finchlight, Sunbeam, Every Woman Clear Sky Slaughtered or had Die For His Arc, Leafpool, Violetshine, Twigbranch, Needleclaw, Bristlefrost, Turtle Tail, Storm, Tall Shadow, Wind Runner, BUMBLE, Star Flower, I can keep going.

All of these female characters suffer for them. Whether narratively through bad writing (Turtle Tail, Tall Shadow, Needleclaw, Finchlight, Sparkpelt) or through the story needlessly putting them through the wringer (Leafpool, Squirrelflight, BUMBLE) or just straight up killed, all for the express purpose of a Sad Boy Character Arc.

He will not even be TOUCHING that line, anon. He isn't even part of that SCENE. It's Jagged Peak leaping up to knock Clear Sky off the boulder like a little kitty headbutt missile, saving Rainswept Flower's life inadvertently and proving his pathetic sycophant brother wrong. The shock of the big bully falling on top of the pile of writhing cats is enough to make it stop, just for a moment long enough to realize the carnage that has just been committed.

Sorry for the vent, been feeling passionate about Battle Cats misogyny. 1000% agree with you anon!