#I THINK I COVERED EVERYTHING i am notoriously bad at reading askdhjhdjkff

[amethyst-halo]

Being 100% honest here, I feel like a lot of the recent fandom hate towards Sunbeam and/or Nightheart seems to be very… overblown?

I think Night was well within his right to leave ThunderClan, personally - Sparkpelt, Squirrelflight, Finchlight, and Lionblaze have all been shown so far to have put needless pressure on him to conform to a VERY high standard set by someone that he never even got the chance to know before he was born, and is lambasted for it when he dares to request a name change as a means of carving out his own sense of belonging within the clan. That is toxic. Is it a bit too self-loathing about it for my taste? Absolutely. But he’s still being reduced down to someone else’s identity by his family + being shunned by them for expressing any sort of individuality outside of it, which is not a healthy living situation to be in at all. I feel like some of the fandom is making it out as if Night openly believes that everyone around him hates him, when that’s simply not the case - he openly acknowledges that he has been shown nothing but respect and support by Alderheart, Jayfeather, Bayshine, Sorrelstripe, Finleap, Brightheart, and Twigbranch. It’s really just his immediate family that’s the problem - and I think that, in such a case, it would be the healthiest option for him to get away from them. With Sunbeam, I don’t think that it’s ooc for her to be a little bit insensitive with Lightleap’s feelings - she’s been previously characterized to be a bit oblivious and aloof, in my opinion. She doesn’t seem to pick up on that stuff as easily as others do, and that’s something that she’ll probably have to work on. She still has good intentions at heart, but just goes about expressing her feelings rather poorly - and really doesn’t give herself time to process her thoughts before acting. I just think that people have judged these protagonists a bit too harshly considering how early on we are into the arc - I highly doubt that Nightheart’s angst or Sunbeam’s obliviousness will be something that isn’t improved upon as the series goes on. Jayfeather, Hollyleaf, and Ivypool are some examples of this - characters grow and develop throughout the books, overcoming their flaws to some degree, if that makes sense!

hi!! yea i can definitely see where ur coming from here. i think for sure there are some harsh judgements this early in the series, yea.

i personally don't have- and i think most others don't have- a problem with nightheart's reasons for doing what he does. it's absolutely toxic for him to be put under the pressures he's facing and it's probably the healthiest for him atm to leave that situation. most of my and others' problems from what i understand is that a: the characters around him are being forced out of character solely for nightheart's arc- specifically female characters i.e. squirrelflight sparkpelt and finchlight (and also lionblaze who is honestly completely in character imo), and b: his arc COULD have gone to his mother, a noted firestar clone, instead. he Shouldn't have to be put under these pressures and he Should be allowed to carve out his own place in the clans. the erins just think the only way to do that is for everyone to bully him even if they never would, and they won't give the arc to someone who could have had it earlier and would possibly fit the role better. and ig i don't know for sure bc i don't have the book yet, but iirc he does think a few times that everyone hates him, whether or not it's true and whether or not there are exceptions. idk if he ever Says it outside of the end of sky, but i feel like i remember seeing a few places where he thinks it at least; it's pretty open to the reader imo, i just dunno if its open to the characters

i agree with u on sunbeam! she feels like she's in her own head a lot and not picking up on everything around her. i think her feeling bad about lightleap and blazefire makes sense bc (from what i understand) romantic feelings are just Like That sometimes. she might like... be feeling them at a bad time or something, but she isn't acting on them from what i can tell rn. she was, kind of, when she got herself hurt, but she feels like she's trying more to keep it to herself now. some of her reactions are out of place, but she seems to know that and is trying to minimize her outward responses. she's juggling her feelings for blazefire with her argument with lightleap with her stress from literally everything else going on, and i think it's understandable if her feelings get a little mixed up in there somewhere.

yea though, i agree with u! i'm willing to give both of them a little more time before solidifying my opinions i think- granted, am already biased but askjdhjs y'know

ty for ur thoughts!!!! i like having convos