#I love her and Hawkwing’s relationship too

[larkmousedesigns]

Plumwillow

[warrior-cats-rewritten]

Please tell me somwthing good happens to Hawkwing! I know a lot of his writing is crappy (with Pebblepaw especially, but the writer's views on romance in general is... iffy) but he is one of my blorbos. I love what he says about grieving, that he likes remembering her.

I just... wish he and Pebbleshine wwren't first cousins.

Well, quite a few things are going to happen to Hawkwing.

I need to properly read his super edition, but with the actual books?

He and Plumwillow are becoming mates! Sandynose is still the father of Plum's kittens, but they break up. She has fallen out of love with him. They get together during Squirrelflight's Freedom, noted by the Allegiances. Though, they aren't having more kits. They agree they have enough collectively. Also, side note, Plumwillow doesn't mentor anyone but Sunnypelt much later on. Just makes me feel a bit better.

He is featured more during The Broken Code, as he is Rootspring's grandfather, and I want Rootspring's family to actually get some focus instead of being props. He is a proper grandpa and spoils his grandchildren rotten whenever he can.

He gets a horrible wakeup call during his super edition, Hawkwing's Flight, when his father Sharpclaw joins The Kin. He is forced to kill his own father to protect those he cares about.

He and Pebbleshine have a different relationship story now. He is very awkward around her when they are young, but very kind to her. When he saves her, she is filled with guilt, but he lets her cry and grieve with him, as she and Duskpaw were incredibly close friends. His feelings are more consistent with what we see later on in AVOS. It hurts to lose his brother, but his brother would want to be remembered in a happy way, and his mentor helps him with that too. He isn't perfect, of course, and part of him WANTS to be mad at Pebblepaw. Hawkwing's Flight is about grief, and moving forward with it.

Speaking of Pebbleshine, no! He and Pebble are no longer related! Pebbleshine and Parsleyseed are now the children of Tinycloud and Canyonfang, an OC who joins the Kin... Or he would have if Tinycloud hadn't absolutely BODIED him. Tinycloud ain't no soft momma. (Also, while Sharpclaw x Cherrytail gives me the ick, Sparrowpelt x Tintcloud does as well. Age gap is shorter but unless it's a specific circumstance such as same age but one is just teaching the other, I'm never pairing apprentices and their mentors)

Hawkwing, Blossomheart, and Duskpaw are now the children of Sharpclaw and Ebonyclaw, who permanently joins Skyclan, but got into a very toxic relationship with Sharpclaw. He used her to appear better, as if he took a 'kittypet' mate, no one would suspect his hatred for them. (By the way, Cloudmist is now Cherrytail and Shrewtooth's kit, in case you wondered. She is so close with the SharpEbony litter she may as well be their sister though.)

He sadly is gonna have a rough go of thing's during A Starless Clan. Leafstar suffers a sudden heart attack due to the Starless Clan Curse activating, along with the fall from an incredibly high branch taking her final life. And just as he is about to step up and announce that he will take her place, Waspwhisker and the other missing cats enter the camp. So... Who has the rightful claim to leadership? Hawkwing has been deputy for a while now, sure, but it was always stated in the beginning that if Waspwhisker came back, it would go back to him...

Skyclan begins to split itself down the middle. One half vouching for Hawkwing, the other for Waspwhisker. The issues down in Riverclan and Shadowclan reaching their peaks as Hawkwing and Waspwhisker desperately try to keep the peace...

[northstarcoyote8]

my opinions on random “a starless clan” cats as i just finished river

thunderclan

-Nightheart: the angry mommy issues man himself. love him. this is probably the closest we’ll get to a trans character in warriors. also surprised no one mentioned Bristlefrost when he failed his assessments as i remember Bristlefrost failing at least once. they could’ve made a good connection there.

-Honeyfur: pretty design i think, got salty at twigbranch once and haven’t heard from her before or since. 

-Bayshine: a sweetie, good brother-ish figure for Nightheart in my opinion.

-Shellfur: never knew much of anything about him but yay he’s got a gf now. happy for him. 

-Bramblestar: just step down already man. (i know he does, i can’t wait till i get to it).

-Squirrelflight: can’t wait till i get to Squirrelstar!!

-Bumblestripe: a jerk as always.

-Finchlight: a lil too over enthusiastic about the “greatness” of thunderclan. really shows how arrogant they can be tbh.

-Ivypool: wish i heard more from her.

-Fernsong: i wish we saw more of Fernsong with Ivypool. or any Fernsong at all tbh.

-Sparkpelt: i’m not really sure how to feel about her and her relationship with Nightheart. it’s definitely interesting though and something new.

-Cloudtail: him as an elder is amazing.

shadowclan 

-Berryheart: Spireclaw’s relationship with her hits too close to home. all i gotta say. also (proceeds to say more anyway) totally Mother Gothel-coded, there’s a pmv of her with “Mother Knows Best” that fits so well. “i’m your mother, and i know you better than you know yourself” (226).

-Sparrowtail: i kinda like how he sorta initially was on Berryheart’s side but now he’s really uncertain about her beliefs. interesting in seeing more about this relationship.

-Spireclaw: love him!! a sweetie! wanna see more of him and Fringewhisker. also interested in the tension with him and Berryheart over this. lowkey kin him.

-Dovewing: she’s not deputy, but i see her as sort of like a clan “princess”, y’know?

-Sunbeam: relate to her a lil, also i think she has the cutest name ever. at first i thought her unrequited crush on Blazefire felt like a repeat of Bristlefrost and Stemleaf but at least Stemleaf was nice. Blazefire was straight up gaslighting her about being concerning about Lightleap “pffft she’s fine bro you’re not the clan leader” aughhh

-Blazefire: this is why you don’t do friends with benefits guys.

-Lightleap: augh she’s so terrible but i love her at the same time. i love how a protagonist’s sibling can finally be explored upon with how the previous events from the broken code affect her psychologically. doing a psychoanalysis on her hehe.

-Gullswoop: haha just a gal who loves gossip. glad a she-cat background character can actually have a personality now. 

-Pouncestep: wish we heard more from her tbh. there’s shadowsight obviously and now the whole lightleap thing but we don’t know much about Pouncestep or how things have affected her. she’s just kinda.. there.

skyclan 

-Leafstar: please just let her rest. i’m begging. 

-Hawkwing: i want him to be leader already, i feel like he would be a good leader with all the character development he’s had in his super edition.

-Fidgetflake: his name is so cute i love him. don’t hear from him at all though really, i just like his name.

-Uhhhh that’s about all the skyclan cats we hear from.

windclan 

-Hootwhisker: bro really just yeeted himself over a stream into thunderclan territory for a vole.  

-Whistlepaw: she’s so sweet i love her. please Erins let Whistlepaw and Frostpaw be together. please. please. i’ll give you all my warriors plushies.

-Crouchfoot: i know absolutely nothing about him but i just thought that’s a kinda funny name. 

-Songleap: what.. is a.. song ..leap..?? how do songs…. you know what, nevermind. 

-Fernstripe: with her and Fringewhisker, and also Dovewing from before, i’m really noticing a trend with typically she-cats leaving their clans for toms. not sure how i feel about that. 

riverclan 

-Splashtail: a nefarious lil guy from what i’ve heard? very interested to see more of him, he reminds me a lot of Hawkfrost. i also have a suspicion that he faked the curled feather sign on page 215. i mean, Frostpaw went with just Splashtail and she heard someone walking around above the moonpool then finds the feather on the path. is it a fake sign did bro just pull a Hawkfrost. —or what if the sign was real but meant for Icewing, as it was a white feather, and that night Frostpaw dreamed about the feathers turning into “birds, whirling around her head like a blizzard” (219).

-Owlnose: just a silly lil guy.

-Mistystar: was arguing and literally fell and died. best death ever. rip the queen. 

-Duskfur: still mad at her over Mistystar’s death tbh. 

-Reedwhisker: poor man. all i gotta say. 

-Havenpelt: i just like her name. 

-Mothwing: if anything happens to her, Blixemi is gonna lose it. 

-Icewing: haha Wings of Fire name. 

-Curlfeather: such a pretty name tbh. she seemed so sweet but i heard she’s actually evil? interested to learn more in the next books. it may make sense, she seemed a little overbearing at times, maybe a cover? also Curlfeather suggesting Frostpaw goes to her den and Frostpaw immediately finding the 5-pointed dock leaf sign there (124-125) is kinda suspicious, i feel like she might’ve faked a sign.

-Jayclaw: died of “unknown causes” is a lil suspicious. right after Curlfeather mentions his death, the book says “a heartbeat later Curlfeather went on more briskly-” (18) and she changes the topic. i’m wondering if Curlfeather killed him after maybe he disagreed with her evil plans? could’ve pulled a Hollyleaf and killed him to keep him mute.

-Frostpaw: poor lil fluffy kid is traumatized, i just wanna give her a big hug.

-overall, this book was amazing and so far i might like this arc even better than the broken code, we’ll have to see

[minie-mastermind]

The Crime Society first appearing in 52 #52 2007 before properly being introduced in Countdown #31 2007. All members and implications for the wider universe will be named left to right. Before beginning it is important to mention that it is implied that this is not the anti-matter Universe seen in the JLA earth 2 comic because Kyle Rayner who participated in that state so below. Do to be inclusion of the Crime Society it may be an analogue of the Earth 2 Justice Society or the main Earth Justice Society of America.

From left to right.

Johnny Quick joins Monarch's army and is abducted into the arena to fight otherworldly counterparts. He does not mention speed juice so assumably his powers are not related to it.

The Spectre's Earth 3 counterpart who is not named although it does imply two things. That he has a human house who maybe this world James Corrigan and he is always an incarnation of God's vengeance. A theory that I have is that it may be Eclipso because in his back story he was the original spirit of God's wrath and was only stripped of the role for being too cruel which very well may never have happened in world this cruel.

Superwoman is implied to be Lois Lane but we have very little else we know about her, in her appearances we don't even get an implication of the Ultraman and Owlman love triangle.

Power Ring they do not name which Lantern this is a counter part to I believe it is Guy Gardener's. Due to the visor replicating his bowl cut, his quickness to anger and his construct look like riot gear which would make sense if he came from a family of cops. Do to the Crime Society being a counterpart to the Justice Society it could be a counterpart to Alan Scott, but from there appearance this is unlikely.

Star Girl's Earth 3 counterpart who is not named although her predecessor Star Man counterpart Space Man outfit was seen in a display case during JLA Eart 2. With the lack of the Star Staff and the inclusion of a pair of pistols we can maybe head can and her name as we could potentially call her Spacegirl in honor of her predecessor or Shootingstar in reference to her pistols.

Ultraman is heavily implied to have the same origin as his JLA Earth 2 counterpart, this is the only information we are given on him.

Owlman is implied to be Thomas Wayne Jr., He has been know to collect protect payments. The only other relationships we are aware is Commissioner Wayne and the members of The Riddler family. That being Riddler, Three Face, the Jokester and Dual Dent. All these relationships being antagonistic, notably he took enough offence to Jack Napier's comedy about him that he killed his secretary Harleen Quinzel and mutilated him which made him become the Jokester.

Green Arrow's Earth 3 counterpart who is not named although we have previously seen a green arrow counterpart known as Dead Eye in Justice League Quarterly #8. In regards to names that came after I do not believe he could be known as the Blue Bowman due to his outfit and The Archer would fit any Arrow wielding analog. From appearance we can assume it's Oliver Queen and with that that Queen Industries exist as a competitor to Wayne Industries. The extended Arrow family may exist alongside his home of Star City.

Black Canary's Earth 3 counterpart who is not named in this comic although we did see a display case during JLA Earth 2 that displayed the same outfit with the name Whit Cat. We can assume it it not Dinah Lance or her mother do to the difference in skin colour.

Hawk Girl's Earth 3 counterpart who is not named is unnamed but we know she does late for have a partner in later continuity known as Skytirant who is the counterpart to Hawkman. A potential name for her is Hawkwing who is mentioned as one of the victims of Mazahs during forever evil but never seen. With the many different origins of the Hawk Heroes there is rather an implication of reincarnation or interaction from the alien Thanagaruan race and the wider implications for the cosmos that come with there inclusion or absence.

Wild Cat's Earth 3 counterpart who is not named although personally in my own head canon his name should be the obvious alternative name of Mad Dog. The biggest change in Canon would be many people he has trained from Blackwing to Catwoman depending on continuity.

Now going into those not in the above image.

Annataz Arataz appeared in Countdown to Final Crisis #23 2007 and was kidnapped by Superboy Prime, the only other information we can gleam from her is she uses the same sort of Magic that Zatana which remains reference. Given her outfit she is likely not a classical magician but more of a modern Chris Angel mind freak sort of type.

Booster Gold's Earth 3 counterpart appeared in Countdown to Final Crisis #16 2008 never named and does not show any physical differences to the original. Ray Palmer dubs him Dark Booster not knowing his real name and some fans have dubbed him Blaster Gold. Given his power set we can assume there is a version of the Legion in the future due to his Legion flight ring.

Supergirl's Earth 3 counterpart appeared in Countdown to Final Crisis #16 2008 and is not named, but is assumed to be Ultragirl by fans given the U on her chest. The low cut of the U could be reference to Power Girl. The main question that arises with her existence is how did she get her powers, Ultraman of this earth was an astronaut abducted by alien after his death in space. Was she also an astronaut, was she abducted from Earth and all her and Ultraman even related?

[wc-confessions]

my apologies if this seems like im trying to start a fight i swear that is NOT my intention but as soon as i saw an ask disrespecting violetshine i had to throw in my two cents and defend her honor AKDKDKD

ofc anon is allowed to have their own opinion and i agree the writing in wc is misogynist as hell and violets romance w tree could have been written a LOT better. but i will Not stand here and let her be accused of not having motivations/not being complex when she is SUCH an overlooked character w an intriguing arc and parallels to her father hawkwing

violetshine was separated from her family at an early age and felt isolated from the rest of shadowclan due to her origin. right off the bat she developed a fear of being abandoned and clung to needletail as a sister figure. she struggled to fit in and would often go along w needles plans simply bc she didnt want to be abandoned. her relationship w needle overall is very complex and in many ways unhealthy but for better or worse needle was pretty much the only person she could rely on for feeling "loved." this mindset led to her lashing out at twigbranch on several occasions, as she resents her sister for (in her eyes) abandoning her, first when she leaves shadowclan after staying there temporarily and second when she leaves skyclan.

violetshine later develops trauma related to the loss of her loved ones, especially after she watches needletail die. she has frequent nightmares about it and blames herself, wondering if her family will still love her if they find out about what happened even though its clearly not her fault. tree, despite the rushed way their romance is written, is one of the cats who helps her find closure by summoning needletails spirit.

violetshine decides to stay in skyclan bc it gives her the two things shes always wanted most: family and a place where she feels she belongs. she develops a close bond w her father hawkwing, who is understanding and sympathetic to her trauma bc he too has experienced similar things when he was young. after the death of his brother and father, he also used to lash out at others, including cats he cared about, which is what allows him to comfort her after she lashes out at twigbranch for wanting to leave skyclan. their relationship is just. very special and important to me for personal reasons 🥺🥺🥺🥺

ANYWAY. theres a lot more BUT i dont want to fill this ask w even more autistic rambling AKSKSK all this to say: ur allowed to not like violetshine/not remember anything abt her BUT pls dont assume that she is poorly written/a result of the erins misogyny bc of that. i promise u she is so SO much more but the fandom often sleeps on her due to needletail abd sleekwhiskers popularity overshadowing her 😔😔😔😔

(also. for the quotes thing. obvs thats a more subjective thing and i dont blame anon for not knowing any of her quotes but. i actually already happen to have a list of quotes from her that rly hit me in the mental illness AKSKSK idk shes quotable to me at least :,) sorry if this is annoying. my violetshine autism was activated. this is actually just a Violetshine Appreciation Confession oops)

.

[highladyluck]

Wifeswap AU: Mat/Faile and Perrin/Tuon

I kind of covered this in Perrin's Cursed Shadar Logoth Ax AU, in that I think Coyote Cauthon would end up with Berelain, and Faile would be his Birgitte-style galpal, and Gun!Perrin/Tuon is a hideous disaster that hopefully doesn't have all its shit hit the fan until after the Last Battle.

2. BUT. Someone on here (and I need to look up who) had a theory that the two birds fighting over a ta'veren were originally supposed to be Tuon and Berelain, and the ensuing choice would have been between allying with the invading descendants of Hawkwing vs the local descendants of Hawkwing. Part of the idea was that this would have tied into the Old Blood thing that Mat had early on, and Mat would have had the raising Manetheren plotline. 3. Aside from the bird thing as it currently is being kind of gross and thematically not super interesting, and the Mat's Old Blood plotline mostly ending up as Early Installment Weirdness instead of tying into the raising of Manetheren, I think there's evidence for this in the fact that Tuon and Faile have a lot of strange little similarities.

4. But keeping the setting and plot the same, and just trying to make it work personality wise... I could maybe see Mat doing like a slowburn friends to lovers thing with Faile? They've got the knife kink going for them & Mat loves a competent violent lady. Mat's a little bit in love with almost every woman, so the trick to getting Mat to fall hard in love is some combination of him being emotionally ready, and also kinda frog-boiling him in slightly escalating feelings that he doesn't notice until it's too late for him to escape. For her part, Faile seems very firmly not into twinks, but otoh that'll help; this is not going to work if Faile comes on too strong too fast. Faile admires competency but also wants a fixer-upper, and Mat does fit the bill.

5. I have to go with a variation on the Gunk Premise for Perrin/Tuon; Perrin has just killed Faile or someone else he loves sincerely, goes off the rails because he can't trust himself anymore, and ends up doing wetwork for Tuon because he wants to be punished, used, and eventually discarded by a professional. Tuon makes him a Seeker and loves him in the way she loves her tools, and I guess if Mat isn't in the picture and she needs to make an alliance she might marry him, but it's pretty unlikely to get healthier or more equal. UNLESS she gets made damane, and Perrin rescues her, and then probably someone else entirely gets them therapy and teaches them both how to be functional people somehow, and they have some sort of hint of a real relationship in the aftermath. Which would actually be kind of cool, but is not something I'm equipped to write, that's like several levels of whump beyond my skill or interest level.

[warriors-rewritten-chaos]

Major Arc 5 Changes/General Summary Part 1

This arc got way too long and I had to split it into two parts. This includes Bramblestar’s Storm and Hawkwing’s Journey stuff too (which probably accounts for its length)

Bramblestar names Squirrelflight as his Deputy. He later learns that his sister Tawnystar has now become ShadowClan’s Leader after Blackstar lost his final life from his injuries from the Great Battle. The Great Storm happens and Bramblestar and Tawnystar each lose a life. Many cats die or are injured, including Seedpaw, who was trying to rescue Fernkit, one of Cinderheart, Lionblaze, and Icecloud’s kits. She and Fernkit both drown. Squirrelflight is separated from her Clan in the flood. A group of kittypets named Jessy, Frankie, and Minty are taken in until the Storm ends and the flooding dies down. While Minty goes home, Jessy and Frankie choose to stay. Jessy is renamed Thrushsprout and begins a relationship with Bramblestar, while Frankie is renamed Stormcloud

While separated from her Clan, Squirrelflight saves a loner molly from drowning in the floodwater. She thanks Squirrelflight and introduces herself as Moonlight, the leader of a group of loners called The Sisters. While the two look for their respective groups, they become pretty taken with each other. When they reunite with ThunderClan, Squirrelflight requests a leave of absence to go hang out with Moonlight and The Sisters for a while. Bramblestar grants it and the two of them leave together

Later on the badger thing happens and Sandstorm dies taking on multiple badgers at once to protect her clanmates. Sorreltail is also mortally wounded in the ordeal. As she lays dying from her wounds, she makes a comment to Brackenfur about how ironic it is that she dies by a badger. She promises to be waiting alongside their other two mates Dustpelt and Ferncloud for him to join them in StarClan

Soon after, a confused and disorientated loner named Fern staggers into the ThunderClan camp and says they’re searching for a cat. She’s looking for her group’s missing leader, have you seen her, her name’s Moonlight. Bramblestar tells them that they just missed her. Fern is allowed to temporarily crash in ThunderClan to rest, but winds up staying after falling hard for Ivystrike and Blossomfall, who also fall hard for her as well. They are renamed Fernsong

Nightcloud vanishes from WindClan and they search frantically for her. The search party is of course lead by Breezepelt (mama’s boy lol). They find her having been captured by Twolegs and living as a kittypet with a cat named Pickle. While she is convinced to return to WindClan, she stays mates with Pickle. Crowfeather isn't jealous of this because he never really loved her and the two have been separated for moons now (Why was this even a plot point in Crowfeather’s Trial? Seriously Erins...). Breezepelt doesn't know what to do with his new kittypet stepdad

Several moons later, Squirrelflight returns to ThunderClan with three kits in tow: Alder, Spark, and Juniper. They also have another sister, Dandelion, who chose to remain behind with their other mother in The Sisters. Squirrelflight is welcomed back along with her kits, who are then made apprentices. Bramblestar and Thrushsprout also have two apprentice-age kits by this point: Driftpaw and Mintpaw (after Minty). Alderpaw begins his time in the Clan as a Warrior apprentice alongside his siblings and cousins, but finds that he isn't very good at hunting and fighting, often getting lost in his own thoughts and fears of failure and going on a panic spiral and fulfilling the self-prophecy by failing. Leafpool helpfully gives her nephew herbs to help with his anxiety issues, which do help. This causes Alderpaw to become curious about the other things herbs can do, and he changes paths to become a Medicine Cat apprentice

Around this time, the events of Hawkwing’s Journey happen, but Billystorm and Honeytail don't die (SkyClan needs a Den-Mother and Leafstar deserves to have more than one family members alive). Most other stuff happens in accordance with canon, except a couple things which will be revealed later on

Jayfeather and the other Seers all receive the same prophecy “Embrace what you find in the shadow of the needles of the alder tree, for only they can clear the sky.” Everyone is confused for a bit, because alder trees don't have needles, but Jayfeather and Littlecloud realize that the inconsistency is because needle and alder aren't referencing an actual tree, but are the names of cats in the Clans important to the prophecy: Alderpaw of ThunderClan and Needlepaw of ShadowClan. And shadows obviously means ShadowClan... so what is the sky a reference to? Is there going to be another storm?

After Alderpaw dreams of SkyClan, he and Sparkpaw, Juniperpaw, Molewhisker, Cherryfall, and Stormcloud leave ThunderClan and meet up with Needlepaw and a few other ShadowClan cats (Sleekpaw, and three other cats) and all make the journey to look for SkyClan together. When they get to the gorge that SkyClan is supposed to live in, there's no one there, and it looks like there was a massive struggle. A friendly tom approaches them, introducing himself as the Leader of SkyClan, Darktail. However the mask eventually breaks and the Clan cats flee, but not before Sleekpaw, who is unimpressed with Clan life after seeing The Kin in action and thinks the Warrior Code is stupid, secretly strikes a deal with Darktail and shows him where the other four Clans live

Alderpaw and Needlepaw get separated from the rest of the cats and stumble upon a gravely injured nursing molly and her two kits. She is very weak and seems like she will die, but Alderpaw knows what herbs she needs and Needlepaw keeps him calm enough to gather them and make a poultice for the molly and stop her bleeding without hyperventilating. After some rest, the molly recovers enough to introduce herself: she is Pebbleshine of SkyClan, and her two daughters are Twigkit and Lavenderkit. Unfortunately, she doesn't know where the rest of SkyClan is either, having been separated from them before they were driven out and returning only to find Darktail and his Kin occupying their former territory and her entire Clan gone. The rest of the cats finally find Alderpaw and Needlepaw, and Pebbleshine and her kits are introduced to everyone. Pebbleshine and her kits temporarily join ShadowClan when they return with the patrols to the Lake Territories, planning to wait until SkyClan is found. If they can be found...

Littlecloud dies without an apprentice to succeed him, so Leafpool is arranged to temporarily join ShadowClan to mentor their future Medicine Cat, Puddlepaw. Pebbleshine, Twigkit, and Lavenderkit have a hard time in ShadowClan because the cats are hostile to them as outsiders. Needlepaw is a devoted friend to them, and the other monarchs are at least begrudgingly friendly to Pebbleshine. Darktail and The Kin, having followed Sleekpaw’s directions, arrive at the Lake Clans and begin to harass them. Sleekpaw rallies the young ShadowClan cats and stages a massive revolt against Tawnystar and her Deputy Rowanclaw. With the help of the rebels, Darktail and the Kin take over ShadowClan. Tawnystar, Rowanclaw, all the ShadowClan Elders, Goldenheart, Pebbleshine, and Twigkit manage to escape to ThunderClan, but Lavenderkit is taken by The Kin and Leafpool is killed in their escape

An illness spreads through The Kin/ShadowClan, and some herbs are found as a cure but only after many cats die. Heathertail of WindClan’s kits are kidnapped by The Kin to increase their numbers to replace the dead cats and she goes on a rescue mission by herself to save them, but is captured alongside them. However, when she reveals the identity of her father and her name, Darktail... softens? He becomes genuinely happy and embraces her, calling her “sister”... Surprise! Heathertail is a OnestarSmoke kit and Darktail’s only surviving littermate! He vows to kill their bastard father and take over the Clans (much to Heathertail’s horror) and make up for lost time with his family and nieces

[redux-iterum]

Ok, here's a little challenge for you and the editors; roast for me 10 WC couples of your choice.

This was fun! We each took five with a bonus from the editor, and you can read our complaints after the readmore.

LYNX (editor)

Violetshine X Tree: I'm still trying to get through the latter half of AVOS, so I haven't seen their first time meeting up or them falling in love or anything like that. What makes me rather uncomfortable with this couple is that Tree's old enough to be Violetshine's father. Pebbleshine and Hawkwing were already young lovers, but with the release of Tree's Roots, one can calculate Tree to be born around the same time as Hawkwing. He even meets a heavily pregnant Pebbleshine when he's around fifteen months old. Honestly, if his and Violetshine's dynamic in late AVOS is good enough for a Warriors couple, I'm willing to just headcanon him as at most eight months older than her to make it more palatable. By the way, this has nothing to do with the ages when they meet up. Violet's a year old by Darkest Night and nearly an adult if her sister's warrior assessment is anything to go by.

Clear Sky X Storm: It's been some years since I read DotC, but the love drama in The Sun Trail was pretty stupid. Especially the insta-love thing. Maybe it was an insta-attraction? But this is Warriors and we can't have that, noooooooooo...

Clear Sky X Star Flower: Everyone's gone on with how Clear Sky getting with his son's ex is rather dubious, but what is often neglected is the fact that Star Flower can make choices too! She made the choice to go for her ex's dad which is about as questionable as Clear Sky's choice! My personal headcanon is that she's the kitty equivalent of a gold-digger.

Pebbleshine X Hawkwing: Alright, so you're either of these two nitwits who've recently become a warrior. Your very way of life has been drastically upturned by someone you thought you could trust. You've lost family and friends to your betrayal, and what's worse is you've lost your home. The world you've known for your whole life has been ripped form you and you have to keep ambling forward with the hope that the place you'll finally settle in will be worth all this hardship. The path ahead of you is long, uncertain, and dangerous, and you'll need to have a clear head to have a hope of surviving this season. SOUNDS LIKE THE PERFECT TIME TO BOINK AND START A FAMILY, AM I RIGHT?

Bumblestripe X Dovewing: Pushy, inconsiderate, trademark Nice Guy, from questioning why they haven't had children yet at some random meeting to suggesting they have children at her friend's funeral, everyone's said it already. Bumblestripe is not a good cat for Dovewing. I'm glad she's not with him since that makes her happy. But... Tigerfartstar X Dovewing: Yeah, Dovewing, your taste in toms is awful. This temperamental, arrogant, patronizing shipdit, while not as bad as Bimbostripe over there, is still pretty bad. It's been a long while since I read OotS and I haven't yet read Tigerheart's Shadow, but I probably should to get a refresher on why I hate this couple.

DULLARD

Bristlefrost x Rootspring: So ignoring that Rootspring as a -paw is a whiny, overly defensive putz that acts self-conscious about having Tree as his father, Bristlefrost does not ONCE show interest in him. Not once. Count ‘em, zero times. In fact, she’s aware of his crush on her and is embarrassed whenever he comes around and whenever people notice him staring at her. She actively avoids him and speaks curtly, even rudely, to try and drive him off. Then, out of buttfuck nowhere, she says she has feelings for him once he’s a warrior? When they’ve barely interacted beyond her spurring his affections? Fuck with that?

Crowpaw x Feathertail: Feathertail, you’re a nice girl. You’re team mom and almost a second in command to Brambleclaw. Everyone likes you. So why in the good god damn fuck does a pissant like Crowpaw (an apprentice at the time, by the way) deserve your recognition, let alone your love? You could get literally any other cat you wanted to, and you go for the fruit that was formerly hanging the lowest, but dropped off the tree and is now rotting on the floor. He is nothing but a dick to you and only starts being remotely kind two seconds before you die. Please love yourself and do better in StarClan.

Bluefur x Oakheart: Speaking of low hanging fruit, this is a very, very easy one to dunk on. It’s moreso the fact that this entire “relationship” is treated as one of the great tragic romances in this series than anything else. The two of them talk, what, two or three times? And then have exactly one night together before Bluefur kills one of their kits and shoves the other two on him and then that’s it. That’s all they had. A one night stand and child death. What a love story. Why does Bluefur think Thrushpelt is the worse option, again?

Dustpelt x Fernpaw: GOD, this relationship is creepy. I still get simultaneously unnerved and mad whenever I read the first arc, because Dustpelt initially seems like he’ll go with Sandstorm before she stupidly falls in love with Fireheart, but then he sets his sights on someone so much younger than him that he actually asks if he can mentor her instead of his original apprentice (her brother, fun fact). Let me emphasize that, because he is actively seeking a power imbalance in this relationship, and he clearly intends to eventually get with her. Bear in mind that she is still being treated like she’s a young kid, if not a teenager, by the narrative. I could be here all day on this fucking topic, but let’s move on.

Berrynose x Poppyfrost: We all know what I’m going to say here. Berrynose having the brass to say loving things to a dying, agonizing Honeyfern after she spent all this time pining after him, and then less than two months later, he shacks up with her sister. That is the coldest thing he could possibly have done to her. The fact that the writers decided that she’s totally okay with the relationship and takes care of her sister’s dead kits like they’re hers is extra terrible. Like, she still gets the scraps when she’s dead? Seriously?

[violetshine-appreciation]

HOOO ok lets talk abt this (more under the cut)

ive seen ppl call violetshine “abusive” or “selfish” or “out of character” for this. and while she IS definitely being selfish, no question there, she is NOT abusive nor ooc. in fact i think its very IN character given the circumstances of her life.

violetshine has trauma strongly related to being abandoned and feeling unloved. shes always resented twigpaw for not wanting to stay with her in shadowclan. now that theyre both in skyclan with their father, violetshine finally feels like she can heal w her family beside her.

but then, twigpaw says she wants to leave again. of COURSE violetshine lashes out. and im NOT defending her - obvs what shes saying is wrong and selfish, and she acknowledges that, shows clear signs of guilt, and apologizes - but just put urself in her metaphorical cat shoes for a second. can u IMAGINE how that must feel? right when she finally feels like she belongs, her sister says she wants to leave again. in violetshines eyes its not FAIR. she wants to be happy, she DESERVES to be happy, but ofc her sisters happiness matters too.

and lashing out like this does NOT make violetshine abusive!!! if she WAS abusive she would have tried to prevent twigpaw from leaving, or threaten her, or tried to manipulate or guilt trip her into staying. and while some might argue that what shes doing here is guilt tripping, i honestly dont think thats the case. she lashes out ONCE, immediately feels guilty and apologizes, but is genuinely hurt. YES she wants twigpaw to stay and shes being selfish here, but lashing out does NOT equal abuse. EVERYONE lashes out, even at ppl they love. what makes it abuse depends on many other factors within the relationship, and i would NOT call violetshines other behavior toward twigpaw abusive by ANY stretch of the imagination.

violetshine is hurting. she lashes out and says something she doesnt mean. we’ve ALL been there. i actually think this is one of the most powerful moments from violetshine, yes id even put it up there with needletails death. it shows how trauma is not something that is easily healed - how it can make you angry and bitter at the ones you love. we’ve even seen this with hawkwing in his own super edition, and i think thats why hes so gentle and understanding with both twig and violet here. hes lashed out at others due to trauma before, so he KNOWS how violetshine feels BUT he can still defend twigpaw because he loves her and wants her to be happy. violetshine is still growing and healing from what happened to her. and thats ok.

ANYWAY thats my ted talk thank u for coming. i kin this cat so fucking hard

[yarrowleef]

Read Darkness Within all in one sitting last night and then passed out so here are my scattered thoughts i wrote down as i read, (afterthoughts in parenthesis)

Darkness Within Spoilers, obv

UGH GOD THE SECOND HAND EMBARRESMENT FROM SQUIRREL FAKE FLIRTING WITH ASHFUR IT HURTS

Just remembered Sandynose died and got a small boost of happiness (will Hawkwing and Plumwillow ever be allowed to talk again now? I mean probly not b/c they aren’t protags and non-protags don’t rly have friends but I can hope. Sorry, Hawkwhing and Plumwillow’s short-lived friendship in Hawkwings Journey was one of the last times I felt something)

Ghost fleas lol

Mothwing: i’m rude now. (but more importantly, Fuck Tigerheartstar for forcing his son to be around the cat that hurt him so badly, like he HAS to know how upset everyone is regarding Shadowsight and his accidentally helping the imposter, and he’s making him be the sole one to tend to him??? There is NO REASON Puddleshine couldn’t have done it. You think Puddleshine is going to try and murder someone?? )

Oh no don't make this a traveling book, and a ROOTBRISTLE traveling book this is going to be insufferable

BACON AND EGGS

Lightleap Is Good (Hey didn’t Shadowsight have another sister? lets be real we all knew Pouncekit was going to end up as the forgettable 3rd one)

Bristlefrost’s crush continues to feel unnatural to me. It’s like she’s grasping at straws romanticizing the most generic things.....wow....I love how ur just so...bare minimum competent....being polite to the loner we came all this way to ask for help like any somewhat reasonable person would....How admirable...I love the way you just *clenches fist* exhibit some basic traits of loyalty and skill that literally every warrior has (I s2g I’m this close to head canon-ing Bristle as a clueless aromantic who doesn't understand what romance is actually suppose to feel like so she just looks at feelings of low-bar admiration and assumes “oh I guess this is that “romantic attraction” everyone’s always talking about? guess I must be in love???” because both her crushes have felt out of nowhere and like. Idk fake/forced sounding like she’s just telling me that that she’s In Love Now while I continue to not actually feel it at all from her end. I know it’s just that I hate the way Erin’s write female characters in love but this head-canon makes me laugh)

Got scared because I thought they were going to villainize Spotfur for not wanting kits for a minute, but also excited at the concept of maybe exploring a female character that doesn’t want to be a mother, but it turns out she was just pulling a Sparkpelt and actually DID want the kits all along and was only hesitant because she’s sad. Shrug oh well.  (the only female character in warriors that was distinctly upset about pregnancy and motherhood was Lizardstripe and as we all know she was eeeeeevil and abusive and “overly ambitious” because why else would you not come around to being happy about motherhood?? YES I’M STILL SALTY ABOUT YELLOWFANG’S SECRET, BAD BOOK)  Whatever it’s fine so long as Spot doesn’t lose her rebel leader spirit forever and default to “soft mom” personality for the rest of her life, I gotta have hope because I actually like Bristle and Spot’s current relationship. Also I am actually very grateful they never made Bristle resentful at Spot for getting with her crush, as lots of middle grade/YA media has a very bad habit of demonizing female romantic “competition” and its super gross, so I rly do like that Bristlefrost is so protective and caring towards her instead. )

This series is trying to tell me that Rootspring is actually Big but I refuse to accept that. he has dumb scrawny bitch energy and we all know it

Sunrise: “Thunderclan may be better with a new leader” lol go off (i mean........they right tho...It’s unfortunate that the tension in this whole plot is a bit dampened by the fact that i DO in fact want bramble to die v badly. I don’t even have special hatred for him, I’m just bored of him.)

Yes Lionblaze beat the shit out of Ashfur

*HOLY SHIT THAT’S FUCKED!!!! (I wrote this in reference to the ghost summoning scene, this was all I could manage at the time, that scene was WILD and I am VIBING WITH THE HORROR OF IT ALL)

* Brashfur: Oh yeah? Could Ashfur fake THIS? *stands up with slightly better posture* Shadowsight: oh damn you got me there...... (asdfhhfhhgh im sorry that was really funny, how did that prove anything?? ONLY A ~REAL~ WARRIOR COULD STAND UP STRAIGHT WE ALL KNOW ASHFUR IS INCAPABLE OF GOOD POSTURE!)

End of the book: *LAUGHING NERVOUSLY* WHAT THE FUCK??? (I thought he was just gonna kill Squirrelflight right there holy shit can you imagine the RIOTS that would ensue in the wake of all this Squirrel/Bramble discourse I was so scared for a second.  

 But it’s fine, she just....went to super hell instead......Warriors has come so far lmao WHAT IS HAPPENING

Final Notes:

*On Mothwing, I don’t think her behavior struck me as “CHARACTER BUTCHERING” as much as it did for other people? I mean.....Warriors fans will say that literally any time a character does ANYTHING less then perfectly nice I think her actions just seemed that much harsher because we are reading from Shadowsight’s POV, and Shadowsight is taking everything 10x more personally right now (understandably so, but Mothwing isn’t inside his head) she wasn’t trying to hurt him. Also... like... Shadowsight DID get his name too early. It’s not Mothwing’s job to put his feelings above everything else, she’s not even his mentor, Puddleshine on the other hand, as his main mentor, I don’t understand what his deal is ignoring Shadowsight, that’s not how you help an apprentice but I suppose I chalk many of his mistakes up to also not being the most experienced medicine cat (he barely even had his own mentor.) Maybe he’s distant because he feels guilty and actually blames himself for not guiding Shadowsight better?? the two of them haven’t communicated about it yet so idk

 any way I give Mothwing a pass to be a little short tempered right now as a cat who has had her abilities periodically questioned all her life no matter how hard she works or how much experience she has, just because she doesn’t vibe with the spiritual cult side of the clans, I can understand why she’s a bit defensive of being questioned and frustrated watching so much hurt happen Yet Again due to reliance on StarClan visions over common sense, and I for one still stan her for slandering StarClan and refusing to accept Mistystar’s bullshit banishing like everyone else. Sometimes a character is at the end of their rope and can’t manage to be 100% nice 24/7 and that’s maybe not inherently bad writing? idk just my hot take. At a certain point we all gotta reckon with the fact that our perception of most popular supporting characters in heavily colored by fanon and we can’t always get mad at the authors for not adhering to it

*The sisters magic shit is my fav worldbuilding warriors has had in AGES, I love the way it’s described and it actually feels like it adds something to this world. I love this horror imagery with the ghosts, very excited for that. 

*still won’t be thrilled if Ashfur is working alone, because his motive doesn’t make sense right now. I mean the trying to get Squilf thing, sure, whatever, but the “I will make everyone pay for what they did to me”???? cause like?? Who??? they didn’t do anything to him?? Ashfur’s grievance was very specifically JUST Squilf. He has no other cause for revenge, he had no other beef or complaints about the clans to my knowledge? The cat that killed him is dead, and she’s like, the only other one that I could see as having “wronged” him?? I guess he also didn’t like Firestar much according to Graystripe’s Vow (and on account of how willing he was to kill him w/ Hawkfrost) but Firestar is ALSO dead. I don’t understand his angle. Will have to see last 2 books to judge i suppose.

*All in all I am interested to see where this is going!! but also the pacing as I feared is becoming a major issue. It’s better then ending the main conflict on book 3 like Vision of Shadows did, but omg. Hardly anything happened in all these pages. I realized I was over half way through and nothing about the situation had actually CHANGED or advanced at all in all that time. Similar to the past 2 books which I believe could have been combined, this plot felt like it should have been the first half of a book. Discussing whether or not to kill the imposter isn’t much of a standalone plot, it’s just the set up to a plot. Finding the sisters didn’t need to be a whole long thing, the debates about the Imposters fate didn’t need to be repeated 10 times, all those chapters illustrating that “Shadowsight is sad” were also drawn out, repetitive, and interchangeable, we probably only needed 2 or so chapters showing his struggles to get the necessary information across. It felt like a lot of padding, it was really slow and I did a lot of skimming. I am still very interested in the overarching plot and mystery behind the ghosts so that kept me reading but man this “will they won’t they kill him” plot did not justify it’s own whole book. Alas this is a persisting issue that will never be resolved while they continue to force 6 books into 1 series that doesn’t need 6 books. I’m sure the writers are doing the best they can with these unfortunate constraints but still, it’s a wonder this slow padding isn’t more of a detriment to their younger readers that the books are supposed to be marketed to.

[twilights-800-cats]

Rewriting The Broken Code

I know it’s a little premature, what with there only being 4 of the 6 books out yet, but I wanted to jot down my thoughts on how I would improve The Broken Code.

Personally, I don’t think it’s a bad arc - the plot is the most unique by far and has a lot of potential to go into interesting places and it really feels like the Erins are pushing into those interesting directions - but there are things I would like to change about it.

No, this isn’t a promise that I will be rewriting tBC in the future, lol. These thoughts are put down without the need to change much from previous arcs.

The Protagonists

Bristlefrost - I feel like her role in the story would be more improved, and interesting, if she were to spend the first half of the arc as Bramblefake’s willing comrade. She wants what’s best for ThunderClan, like any other loyal warrior, and she wants to bring back StarClan by punishing the Codebreakers. That’s what her leader has ordered, and a Clan leader’s word is law.

I want her to be Bramblefake’s most loyal lackey, and then see the cracks in his façade and slowly realize the wrongs she’s committing. I want her to really work hard to put things right - and realize that loyalty doesn’t mean sacrificing one’s free will. Perhaps her relationship with Rootspring can help her come to see this, see that the warrior code needs changing and that the Clans need changing, too.

Perhaps Flipclaw or Thriftear could die and help push this? idk, but I really like the idea of “evil” Bristlefrost, who slowly begins to realize that she’s been the bad guy all along, and that Bramblefake was playing with her emotions after she was rejected by Stemleaf.

Shadowsight - not many changes for Shadowsight. Personally, I do like the idea of a medicine cat tricked by a malevolent spirit into delivering false signs - it has a lot of potential.

However, one major thing I would change about Shadowsight’s arc is that he is an only kit - Lightleap and Pouncestep? Nonexistent. This would intensify the isolation that Shadowsight feels when it’s revealed that he has been delivering false signs, and heighten the overprotectiveness of Tigerheartstar and Dovewing, who treat Shadowsight with no small amount of favoritism (to the chagrin of his Clanmates).

This would very easily push Shadowsight to a point where he seeks to befriend just about anyone - cats from other Clans, rogues, loners, and even a spirit that seems to be whispering prophecies in only HIS ears... 

Rootspring - not too many changes for Rootspring, either. I do like his character and how he grows from a petulant child to a rather mature, emotionally sound adult. I would do a lot more with his connection to the Sisters and his powers, and add in more conflicts with Tree and more bonding moments with Violetshine and Hawkwing.

Perhaps he’s trained as a medicine cat from the start? His little stint as a medicine cat was an interesting idea but it came far too late to really mean anything imo - plus, it might give him some cute interactions with Shadowsight.

The Villain(s)

Ashfur - I’ve been over this before, but I’m not in love with the idea of Ashfur being the villain - but if he has to be...

I want him to play on Bristlefrost’s feelings of rejection and court her to his side. After all, this is a pain they share! It would give Ashfur and Bristlefrost some interesting interactions, and definitely open up a lot of opportunities for him to be, y’know, creepy ass Ashfur.

I want Ashfur to bring up how abusive Bramblestar has been to Squirrelflight. I enjoy how frightening their dynamic is in the books, so I would want to keep that.

I want him to really screw with ThunderClan. Exile cats. Kill cats! Who are all these strangers to him, anyway? What do they matter? I want him to surround himself with loyalists and make it really, really hard for him to be deposed.

Other Ideas - I pointed out that a character could be made from wholecloth to take Ashfur’s place, and in some ways I really think that this is how it should go... but thinking more, I don’t think I want to get rid of Ashfur completely.

Hear me out - multiple imposters. Multiple spirits who have possessed the recently-dead and are manipulating the Clans from within, turning them against Codebreakers and the other Clans. Ashfur takes ThunderClan all for himself, and perhaps gets a little too single-minded in his pursuit of Squirrelflight.

This would get the other Clans in the picture. More Clan-on-Clan battles, more deaths - more spirits for this Grand Schemer to use. More chaos. Rather than spending two chapters of a book doing nothing but trying to figure out what to do with one spirit, there’s an infestation to try and figure out!

And when they finally reveal the true architect behind it all, it really doesn’t matter who they are or why they did it - the flaws have been revealed. The warrior code has been smashed, and it needs to be remade, or destroyed.

Other Stuff I’d Do

I want Bramblestar to DIE. Not just because I don’t like his character, but because I think it would be a great way to pit ThunderClan against the other Clans even more, for even MORE conflict - they killed Bramblestar, but this problem is still escalating. They thought removing him was the key, but it’s not, and Squirrelflight and ThunderClan are pissed. Take Mistystar too while I’m at it...

I want more cats to leave the Clans. It’s only natural! Things are going haywire, and not just in ThunderClan. Cats move off and form their own groups, or maybe just leave to become kittypets. Most that left don’t want to return. A good way to cull the Clan numbers without too many deaths, and maybe those that come back don’t always come back alone.

Each Clan copes with losing StarClan in their own way. Some still hold violently to their beliefs (WindClan or RiverClan). Others might seek different solutions (SkyClan or ShadowClan). Some might be lost (ThunderClan), and some might just fall apart. Either way, it would make Clan-to-Clan conflict have more depth, and show more insight into the other Clans’ problems... and maybe make RiverClan relevant again.

Rewrite the Code. Obviously, this would all end with the warrior code being rewritten and, possibly, the Clans themselves changing. Perhaps they become more open, more willing to accept one another while still doing what makes them unique. 

[ilpiubelbruttomisandro]

Russian Blue, Turkish Van, Scottish Fold and Ragdoll for the breed ask? :)

Ragdoll: Who are your favorite and least favorite characters?

Favorite characters: Breezepelt, Yellowfang, Squirrelflight, Twigbranch, Leafstar, Pinestar, Mothwing, Tree, Needletail, Hawkwing, Feathertail, Sasha, Onestar, Dovewing, Crowfeather, Redtail, Barley, Shadowstar and many more

Least favorite: Darkstripe, Lizardstripe, Jacques, Neetle, Redscar, Mapleshade, Thistleclaw, Spottedleaf, Sandgorse, Brightflower, Darkstar(Skyclan leader from cotc)

Love to hate(bonus: fav characters that I hate too): Appledusk, Ripplestar, Rowanstar, Bramblestar, Bluestar, Lionblaze, Brokenstar, Cloudtail, Ashfur, Skystar, Thornclaw

Russian Blue: What moment almost made you stop reading, or was just too ridiculous?

I never stopped reading because it was ridiculous, I always has been pretty good with cringe, until the scene where the Impostor confessed being Ashfur after Squirrelflight fake flirted with him, that was when I stopped reading and almost laugh hysterically

Turkish Van: What’s your favorite headcanon for the series?

I will always be fond of LGBT headcanons, like Trans Rowanstar or Lesbian Mothwing! But I also like family headcanons, like Whitestorm being Greystripe's father(relatives with colors as names together with Bluestar) or I just remembered one where peeing in the river was disrespectful for Riverclan cats! Another one is that Mapleshade is a distant relative of Bluestar

Scottish Fold: What’s one pairing you wish never happened?

I think every couple who didn't had interactions or straight up abusive but not called out, an example would be like Bramblestar and Squirrelflight, because Stormtail and Moonflower or Twigbranch and Finleap were meant to be bad(the first didn't recover and the latter get better), then also Raggedstar and Yellowfang!? The book intended it to being romantic(which is not, he bullied her since Kithood), while in the official warrior cats website they say it was meant to be abusive.... Idk who to trust anymore. Also any incest relationship that were obvious, like Snowbush or Lilyheart, because differently from Dustpelt and Ferncloud(it was never planned that way), it was in the text of the book their parents being siblings(brackenfur and Brighheart)

[notwarriorswiki]

What are your favorite background characters ?

A lot of my favorite characters… ARE background characters. This happens due to my little headcanon brain regularly exploding and creating entire novellas worth of content for a character who was maybe mentioned once.

Like my favorite warrior cats are Firefern, Flintfang, and Jayfeather. Jayfeather isn’t a background character but I’ll talk about Firefern, Flintfang, and some others

Firefern is literally my profile icon. She is shown to be very close with her family, as seen when she sits vigil for her father alongside Stormheart and Harrybrook. She is confident in speaking with authority and does not fear to bring forward ideas that may seem controversial to her clanmates. Not only that, Firefern is incredibly tough and shakes off any and everything that is thrown at her. Dog rips her pelt off? Firefern doesn’t care, she keeps moving along with her life. Finally, Firefern is selfless and has medicine cat knowledge that is essential to her clan in their trying time in Hawkwing’s Journey. She ends up succumbing to sickness (which was trash btw), but I believe Firefern has so much more going for her than people realize. She’s just this jack-of-all-trades with a tough yet kind heart. She’s simple and doesn’t do anything crazy, but I like that about her!

Flintfang I want to write about someday, probably when Power of Twelve is farther along. He had such a messy life. He grows up alongside his siblings, Fernshade and Blackfoot, and then his sister gives birth to Badgerkit. IT’S HIS SISTER’S KIT: HIS NEPHEW. Flintfang was close with Badgerpaw, but them being family makes it even sadder. Imagine Flintfang walking up to his sister and looking her in the eyes, telling her that her only son is dead, and seeing her head just fall. THEN Blackfoot is loyal to Brokenstar, the once causing this pain. Flintfang’s own brother is fine with letting his siblings suffer, and it only gets worse when Brokenstar forces the elders to leave ShadowClan. Notably, Hollyflower was in the elder’s den. That’s THEIR MOTHER. Flintfang literally has to watch as his mother is kicked out of camp and see as Blackfoot sits completely fine with this. This poor boy can’t catch a break and has to live his days seething with what his brother and leader have done to his family. I have more after that, but for now, that sums up how I feel about canon Flintfang. I love him, let him rest.

Willowpelt is driven by headcanon logic, but it’s hard to argue with. For one, Willowpelt is Spottedleaf’s and Redtail’s littermate, meaning she grew up to see her young siblings grow into top authority figures in ThunderClan. Willowpelt deeply wants to stand out like her siblings, so she interacts with older warriors to gain recognition, which results in her taking a step too far and giving birth to Tawnyspots kit, Darkstripe. Willowpelt feels shame and is distant with Darkstripe because of it, explaining why Darkstripe may have been more impressionable as a child. Overall, Willowpelt struggles with feelings of worthlessness and sees herself as lesser than her siblings. It causes her to be distant from them. So when Spottedleaf and Redtail are murdered, Willowpelt is left with feelings of regret for pushing them away. Struggling with emotional conflict and developing depression, Willowpelt feels alone and broken. This does change when her lifelong friend Whitestorm becomes her mate and Willowpelt realizes that what others think doesn’t matter and she can just be happy with those she cares about. She also learns to love and cherish her family, resulting in a more positive relationship with Graystripe, Sorrelpaw, Sootpaw, and Rainpaw.

Mosspelt is underrated. I’m a sucker for queen characters but gosh Mosspelt is such a good one. She raised Stormkit and Featherkit and was kind to Graystripe when he was in RiverClan. Just from this, we know that she is a kind and sweet she-cat who is anything but judgemental. I can only imagine her reaction seeing Featherpaw and Stormpaw at the Half-Clan execution. She was probably fighting tooth and nail and losing her mind trying to get to her kits. Finally, we know she is the mother to Willowshine (who is in my Po12 rewrite). While she wasn’t treated kindly in my rewrite by Reedwhisker, she is still going to be written as a loyal and loving mom who will do her best to mentor Pebblepaw

Whitewing is so pure and nice. Everyone likes Whitewing. There’s no reason to deny Whitewing. Lionblaze said it best when he thinks about Whitewing training in the Dark Forest: “Just…never”. Like, she’s that pure. She lives her best life with Birchfall and her daughters and is always trying her best. Keep being awesome Whitewing

[charlotte-cardonnel]

Raging storm thoughts

Guys... I've read The Raging Storm and I've things to say...

1. I kind of don't like books where the whole story is build around cats being individualist anoying little beings especially when starclan screamed at them to be unite for an entire cycle.

2. Having say that, I feel like this book wasn't a good conclusion at all. Because the all drama could easely have been avoid if they just... You know... Talked. Wich makes me wonder what was the point for the reader ? We all knew they were going to settle things. It's like they didn't want to make a book without spectacular action.

3. And what do you do when you need drama but don't have actual real threat? You create Tigerheartstar. (Oh and you put bad weather)

First, Tigerheartstar... Oh god. I had hope for him. I didn't really like his super edition but he was describe as a good cat (by the way, a little too similar to a brambleclaw or a Hawkwing) but HEY we need drama rememder? Soooooo turns out he's a complete jerk. I feel like they needed a new Onestar... No really. I totally understood why he wanted his territory back. It wasn't fair. But instead of just explaining calmly the situation, noooo, he has to be super agressive about it. Without even explaining himself to leafstar. It seemed so out of character! And me defending tigerheartstar's personnality is a thing.

And the Storm... Hhhh. It was so pointless. The Storm was the scenario. Nothing else. What can make our characters defend Skyclan? Starclan? Being good persons? The links beetween Twigbranch and Violetshine? Noooooo. The fear of death by magic storm. Also all the "you must unite to survive" was I guess just a threat to force them (for like, I don't even know many times in the serie) to be nice to one an other, because After that, bye bye Magic storm!

My problem with this book is that it was pointless. It was necessery to show Skyclan difficulties to adapt, but not like this. But of course, there is good points!

- Cloverfoot. Cloverfoot was suprisingly well written. Her character developpement was good and it was so nice to fully ressent that she was a good deputy choice at the end, even if she is such a background character. They succeed where they completely failed with Reedwhisker or with Crowfrost.

- Tree. I love you Tree. You're the only pacifist clever character in this forest. Tree needs to be listen.

- Tree and Violetshine's relationship. They were cute. And thanks god, Violetshine will stop worrying about being left behind.

- Flypaw was adorable. And the moment where she runs toward her mother seeking confort was an amazing touch. It felt real. We need more of that.

- pebbleshine's moment. Nice and touching.

- Puddleshine. Also I've Seen that a lot of people were making fun of the fact that Alderheart used deathberries to cure his infection but I think it's really a clever Idea! We often use toxic things in our medecine and they work. Deathberries as a cure isn't that out of places.

- ALDERHEART. Best POV. I still feel like they underuse him in this entire cycle but Alderheart was definitly great in this book. Him and puddleshine are so sweet (what was the point in making that Alder x velvet thing when you had faaaaar better couple / intime friends dynamics with Needletail and Puddleshine? ) he was the only one I've been really worrying about.

(I will try to forget Finleap being completely out of character. I just don't understand why the Erins choose to bumblestripezed him to narrate the real and interesting problematic Finleap faced. Again, there were other ways to do so. To me, Finleap isn't a bad person at all. The narration was just super clumsy)

Also, is anyone's going to mention Deus ex machina Spider? Guys... Don't use the bad weather / fire trop you use each two books if you need deus ex machina to solve it.

[neuxue]

Wheel of Time liveblogging: The Gathering Storm ch 12

In which no one expects Egwene to be made of awesome. Their loss. Or gain, depending how you look at it...

Chapter 12: Unexpected Encounters

I’m glad we’re seeing more of Egwene this book.

The poor Red sisters assigned to babysit her know all too well what they’re getting themselves into and they don’t like it.

It had been well over a month since Siuan had conveyed her disturbing news in Tel’aran’rhiod

Wait, really? A month? The frequent POV-switching is definitely giving this book a faster pace, but it’s wreaking havoc on my ability to keep the timelines straight. That’s never been a strong suit for me in the first place, frustratingly. The Cleansing was a nice catch-up point, but after that…even last book I felt like I was losing track a bit. Ah well. It’ll all converge eventually, right?

The events were a reminder that the world was coming apart. This was a time when the White Tower should have been a source of stability. Instead, it divided against itself while Rand al’Thor’s men bonded sisters. How could Rand have allowed such a thing?

Well…he didn’t. Except he sort of did, by basically ignoring the Black Tower and more or less everything that was going on there. But then, he also didn’t have anything to do with this directly. Except, that’s part of the problem. So in conclusion, it’s complicated.

I do think she sees the bonding as a bigger problem than it actually is, but it’s not hard to see why she reacts this way. Even in context, to a reader with far more information than Egwene herself has, the bonding of the Aes Sedai is a moral and ethical mess of a minefield. It’s a perfect example of how two wrongs don’t make a right, but the do make a right clusterfuck of things.

That’s with context. Egwene has a fair bit of the information connected with it, but she doesn’t have everything. Nor is she getting it from an unbiased source – and she herself is far from an unbiased observer. And at this point, she really doesn’t have a way of knowing what Rand is thinking, or how exactly he reacted to this or what he would and wouldn’t do. I also am fairly sure she doesn’t know that Rand was bonded unwillingly. It’s been a very long time since they’ve seen each other, especially in terms of how much has happened in that time. So it’s frustrating to see her thinking this, but it’s also not at all unrealistic. So much depends on perspective, and what information is available. And Egwene is Aes Sedai, and her entire focus right now is on the White Tower. So anything that interferes with that is going to get a strong response, and perhaps sometimes a disproportionate one.

There was obviously little left of the youth with whom she’d grown up. Of course, there was little of the youthful Egwene left either.

I like the balance in this, and the sense of acknowledgment that the blame doesn’t necessarily lie with one of them alone.

I’ve no doubt said before that one of the things I enjoy most is watching characters move along the friends/enemies ‘axis’. Rand and Egwene are a rather fascinating example, because they’re certainly not enemies, but they’re very nearly antagonists at this point. Yet there is still an underlying fondness, and an underlying familiarity. They think about how they don’t know each other anymore, but they did once, and that still comes through. Neither wants to hurt the other; the antagonism comes more from a difference of position and perspective and perception. They’ve essentially inherited opposing roles, and the more they come to embody those roles, the more strained their previous relationship becomes.

But that previous relationship is what makes this so interesting; it would play very differently if a random young Amyrlin were chosen, who had never met Rand al’Thor. Then there’d maybe be a sense of tension in watching them both, and wondering what would happen when they finally met or confronted one another. But the fact that Rand and Egwene do know each other – whether or not the Amyrlin and the Dragon Reborn do – and Egwene once tried to help Rand learn to channel and Rand once stayed to fight in a town full of Seanchan because he could not live with himself if he didn’t try to help free Egwene, and they once loved each other and in some way probably still do, and they’ve each had parallel but distinct and entirely excellent arcs in the interim, makes it all so much better.

Plus, I just like watching characters become enemies or friends or allies or antagonists out of circumstance, when it’s not what their original inclinations were. It’s one of my favourite things. (It’s why I just about died when Moridin saved Rand’s life in Shadar Logoth and then they reflexively fought Mashadar together while holding hands). All variations. Give them to me.

That, oddly, led her to thinking of Gawyn.

This is more disappointing to me than any of her thoughts about Rand, by a very long margin. You could do SO MUCH BETTER, Egwene. Like not having a romance subplot at all! Sigh.

Gawyn could look after himself; he’d done a competent job of that in the past. Too competent, in some cases.

Er. I mean, I don’t even hate Gawyn, but I think you’re giving him a bit too much credit there. The guy is a mess.

Siuan and the others would deal with the Asha’man matter. The other news was far more disturbing.

Okay, so maybe she’s not putting as much emphasis on it as it seemed. I am also rather amused at how both she and Rand have had their moments of outrage related to this whole deal, and then both delegated it to other people to sort out.

All in all, it’s probably best that they do delegate. The Asha’man and Aes Sedai are going to have to eventually learn to work together, and being able to carry out civil negotiations is not a terrible first step. At least in theory. In practice, given how the last book ended, it might be a bit more of…a mess.

But if it’s Dragon and Amyrlin calling all the shots there, it could end up being more complicated later, especially if one or both of them…isn’t around anymore. If there’s a way to establish actual working relationships between the two Towers (heh), that’d be ideal.

Egwene’s more disturbed by the fact that Halima was one of the Forsaken. Which, yeah, fair.

Egwene’s backside hurt, but the pain was growing increasingly irrelevant to her. Sometimes she laughed when beaten, sometimes not. The greater pain – what had been done to Tar Valon – was far more demanding.

A greater and more important focus, that makes other pain irrelevant and easy to…well, in her case, not ignore so much as accept without issue. I will spare you yet another rambling essay on how Egwene and Rand cope with pain, but suffice it to say the various similarities and especially differences of method and circumstance continue to fascinate me.

It wsa going to be a full day, with her appointments with sisters, her scheduled beatings, and her regular novice load of scrubbing floors or other chores.

And I thought my schedule was bad.

Bennae has asked for a repeat lesson with Egwene, which is apparently unusual. Eventually the Tower is going to run out of sisters to teach her, if they’re all only willing to do it once.

Egwene cleared off a stool, placing the dusty skeleton of a rat on the floor bewteen two stacks of books about the reign of Artur Hawkwing.

I was going to say this seems like an unrealistic caricature of an academic – those are very different fields of study, after all – but then I glanced over at my own bookshelf. Considering that I’m not even in acadaemia, nor am I nearly as old as Bennae…yeah, fine, I’ll concede this one.

“Let’s see…” Bennae mused. “Suppose that you were in a situation where you were in conflict with some members of your own Ajah. You have happened upon information you weren’t supposed to know, and your Ajah’s leaders are quite upset with you. Suddenly, you find yourself beign sentenced to some most unpleasant duties, as if they are trying to sweep you under the rug and forget about you. Tell me, in this situation, how would you react?”

Subtle as a brick, Bennae.

Egwene seems to share that sentiment, but does an admirable job of playing along and offering decent advice, rather than laughing or getting up to hit her head repeatedly against the nearest wall.

I suppose her time with the rebel Hall did give her rather a lot of practice in maintaining a front of polite patience. It’s a useful skill to have.

“Likely, she’s being ‘punished’ to keep her out of the way while the Ajah leaders search for a traitor. When they know there isn’t one, they’ll be more likely to look at the fallen sister’s situation with empathy – particularly after she’s offered them a solution.”

“Solution?” Bennae asked. Her teacup sat in her fingers, as if forgotten. “And which solution would you offer?”

“The best one: competence. Obviously some people among the Ajah know these secrets. Well, if this sister were to prove her trustworthiness and her capability, perhaps the leaders of her Ajah would realise the best place for her is as one of the caretakers of the secrets. An easy solution, if you consider it.”

So this is clearly the ‘next step’ in showing how the perception of Egwene within the Tower is shifting – her story last book ended with her having solidly won over the novices and with some of the Aes Sedai looking at her a bit differently. Now, she has a sister actually asking her for advice, in a manner that could only generously be called indirect. She is winning this part of her battle, winning the Tower over to her from within.

Still, I can’t help but find this particular conversation a bit…I don’t know. Too easy?

It’s not that it doesn’t reflect well on Egwene, because it does. The solution she proposes is very neat, and she presents it straightforwardly, without any veiled threats or demands. It’s not a ‘I will solve your problems but only if you make me Amyrlin’. She’s simply demonstrating her own competence, much as she is telling Bennae to do. Proving her trustworthiness and her capability, and offering a solution to the problems that plague the Tower, by showing that she is willing and able to help an individual sister.

No, the part that makes me sort of raise an eyebrow is that Bennae has to ask for help in the first place. Bennae is well over a hundred years old, and as an Aes Sedai she should be no stranger to manipulation. Or to thinking her way through things.

That said, Bennae does seem to be presented as not the brightest of the bunch, and I think part of the issue overall is that while Aes Sedai are very good at manipulating people and circumstances, many of them seem less good at dealing with change and uncertainty. The Tower is in crisis, and for the most part they’re not equipped to deal with that. And then along comes this girl who doesn’t fit anywhere – doesn’t fit into the rigid power structures and heirarchies and complicated webs of authority and position that the Aes Sedai put so much store by – to throw everything further into chaos. Except that instead of acting like a wild card, she walks calmly through the halls and gives advice to novices and refuses to break or even be visibly shaken by what is being done to her, and what is happening in the Tower and the entire world around her.

So she’s become something of a beacon of stability in a time of uncertainty. Not to mention, oddly enough, a point of unity in an increasingly divided Tower, wherein Ajahs and even individual sisters are more and more isolated. So from that angle I can definitely see how she’s drawing this kind of attention from not just novices and Accepted, now, but a sister who doesn’t know how to deal with a sudden change in circumstances, when so much is not how it used to be. When the old ways aren’t working and the rules aren’t as solid as the once seemed, and those unable to adapt or to push against the prevailing currents of chaos are struggling.

“Unjust punishments sometimes cannot be avoided, but it is best never to let others forget that it is unjust. If she simply accepts the way people treat her, then it won’t be long before they assume she deserves the position they’ve placed her in.”

Egwene’s turn to be about as subtle as Perrin’s hammer to the face.

But it’s a truth that perhaps needs to be hammered in, a bit.

And actually, this helps further explain why a sister with far more experience might be looking to someone like Egwene for advice. Aes Sedai carry their air of calm superiority easily when around ordinary people, be they commoners or kings. But amongst Aes Sedai, it’s rather more complicated. There is a strict heirarchy, and the various points of etiquette and authority and submission are thoroughly drilled into them, and so no matter how confident a sister might be outside the Tower, put her in a group of other Aes Sedai and she may find herself struggling to assert any kind of position whatsoever. So to even think of fighting against what’s happening in the Tower, or of standing up for herself to Ajah leaders, is probably close to unthinkable for your average Aes Sedai.

Egwene, though, was never even raised to Aes Sedai by the ordinary methods. She was brought in and raised for the sole purpose of being a puppet. She was supposed to fit neatly into her incredibly limited place. From the beginning, she was supposed to accept the way people treated her.

And from the beginning, she refused to. She defied those unspoken rules and manipulations, at first by outmanoeuvring them or appearing to submit to them, and eventually by showing them all too clearly that no, she would not be the puppet they wanted her to be. She refused to accept the way they treated her, and in the end she showed them that she did deserve the position they placed her in…but not at all in the way they expected.

She has never been an Aes Sedai in the Tower, subject to all the pressures and complexities of the heirarchy. It never had time to work its way into the core of who she is, making her unable to fight against it where necessary. Instead, she jumped in right at the point where everything was thrown into chaos, and she fought for her place from the word go.

To most other Aes Sedai, especially those who have spent a long time in the Tower, in this ingrained system, that’s something of an alien concept. And not one readily adopted. So to then see this girl not just fight the status quo but instead regard it calmly and then proceed as if it didn’t exist…perhaps it’s not so surprising at all that an Aes Sedai suddenly ‘demoted’ in some way would look at Egwene and wonder how she does it. Wonder if maybe she could help. Because she’s been demoted farther than anyone, and she appears to give exactly no fucks.

“I am always willing to help, Bennae,” Egwene said in a softer voice, turning back to her tea. “In, of course, hypothetical situations.”

It’s such a stark difference to Elaida – and a crucial one, especially in terms of appearances. Elaida is largely isolated, and takes a domineering position with regards to Sitters, much less individual Aes Sedai. She rules by edict and fear at this point. Whereas Egwene does not threaten, does not demand, does not even campaign, here. She just responds to a question, and offers her advice willingly – and makes it very clear that she is willing to give advice. She makes it clear that she still believes herself Amyrlin, but she also doesn’t set herself so untouchably far above the rest as to alienate them completely. She is Amyrlin, and the duty of the Amyrlin is to serve.

She could so easily fall into an image of desperate overconfidence or deluded arrogance, in her insistence that she is the Amyrlin Seat. Instead, she projects calm confidence, and combines it with a form of humility that only serves to highlight that confidence.

Turns out Bennae isn’t the only sister summoning her for advice, now. Things are changing. It’s time for the next step, whatever that is.

So a Brown praises her reasoning, a White praises her logic…

And now Suana is trying to recruit her to the Yellow. I see what you’re doing, there. Of all Ajahs and of none…

“Being of the Yellow isn’t about skill, child,” Suana said. “It’s about passion. If you love to make things well, to fix that which is broken, there would be a purpose for you here.”

And that, Egwene does have. She may not be a healer in the traditional sense, but she has taken on the task of healing the White Tower. In order to heal what the oncoming end of the world may bring. And she also has sought to find ways to unite all women who can channel, to close rifts there.

Nynaeve said of Egwene, early on, that “Egwene has the desire to heal, the need to.” And…she wasn’t entirely wrong, as it turns out. Just…Towers and maybe worlds, rather than people.

“My thanks,” Egwene said. “But the Amyrlin has no Ajah.”

This really is one of my favourite aspects about the exact manner in which Egwene was raised. There’s an echo of the ‘chosen one’ idea, almost, as ‘of all Ajahs and of none’ takes on a hint of prophecy.  Except it isn’t prophecy, it’s just Egwene and choices. So it’s a nice interplay.

And I’m liking this hinting of how Egwene fits or can be perceived to fit aspects of each Ajah. Especially as they are increasingly divided and set against each other, she stands as someone who can unite and embody all of them.

It was a shocking conversation. Suana obviously didn’t consider Egwene the Amyrlin, but the mere fact that she was recruiting Egwene to her Ajah said something. It meant she accepted Egwene’s legitimacy, at last to some degree, as a sister.

I’m getting the nagging feeling, now, that things are going too well. In the ‘something disastrous is about to happen’ kind of way. Things are going her way, she’s winning over sisters rather than just novices, the perception of her is shifting…when an arc hits this point of everything smoothing out, that’s when things tend to catch on fire.

“have the Sitters spoken of what to do about the tensions between the Ajahs?” “I don’t see what can be done,” Suana replied.

Well challenge fucking accepted, said Egwene.

Once she left the Yellow sector of the Tower and collected her Red Ajah attendants, she realised something. She’d gone through all three meetings without being assigned a single punishment!

Yep, definitely time for something to explode.

There is the looming threat of the Seanchan attack Egwene dreamed, hanging over their heads…also there’s Mesaana still in the Tower, and Aran’gar off somewhere…and the ominous way Tarna’s delegation to the Black Tower ended last book…and of course there’s always Elaida. So really, no shortage of places from which total disaster could strike. Excellent.

They were coming to accept her. Unfortunately, that was only a small part of the battle. The larger part was making certain the White Tower survived the strains Elaida was placing upon it.

But even in getting them to accept her, she’s working towards that. She’s providing them with a rallying point, and now with hints and pieces of encouragement dropped to reach out to one another across the walls that have gone up. And she’s giving them a point of stability around which to gather, when the Tower’s foundations shake. The more they accept her, and the more they listen to her, the stronger that position will be.

Now time to pay a visit to Meidani, who has quite an impressive collection of souvenirs. Cool.

“Besides, I’m still not certain how I regard you.”

“I don’t care how you regard me,” Egwene said evenly, seating herself on an oversized oak chair, bearing a plaque that identified it as a gift from a moneylender in Tear. “And Amyrlin needs not the regard of those who follow her, so long as she is obeyed.”

“You’ve been captured and overthrown.”

Egwene raised an eyebrow, meeting Meidani’s gaze. “Captured, true.”

*whistles softly* damn.

“The Hall among the rebels will have chosen a new Amyrlin by now.” “I happen to know that they have not.”

Man, Egwene is on a roll here. It’s been a while since she got to drop a solid one-liner on the Hall; she must have been getting bored.

Poor Meidani never even saw her take on the Hall, and thus is entirely unprepared.

“Even if that is true, you must know that they picked you to be a figurehead. A puppet to be manipulated.”

Egwene held the woman’s gaze.

“You have no real authority,” Meidani said, voice wavering slightly.

Egwene did not look away. Meidani studied her, brow wrinkling slowly,s tep by step, furrows appearing across her smooth, ageless Aes Sedai face. She searched Egwene’s eyes, like a mason searching a piece of stone for flaws before setting it in place. What she found seemed to confuse her further. “Now,” Egwene said, as if she had not just been questioned, “you will tell me precisely why you have not fled the Tower.”

Beautiful.

Never underestimate the power of silence and unwavering eye contact.

Also never underestimate Egwene al’Vere. Really. People have tried. Now they have regrets.

“Why not leave?”

“I…cannot say,” Meidani said, glancing away.

“I’m commanding you as your Amyrlin.”

“I still cannot say.” Meidani looked down at the floor, as if ashamed.

Curious, Egwene thought, hiding her frustration.

OH. IS SHE…if she can follow this, or put the pieces together, and figure out that there are Aes Sedai in the Tower working together to track down the Black Ajah…if she can join them and make it actually work…talk about healing the Tower.

So Egwene can get other information out of Meidani – that she’s not a traitor, that she’s trying to renew a relationship with Elaida on the orders of ‘the others’, etc. Which is enough to indicate that there is a stronger reason for her to not be able to speak of her reasons for not leaving. Come on, Egwene, find a way to get the answer to this one. That would be a major step forward, potentially.

“We will mend the damage that Elaida has done, and I will sit in my rightful place as Amyrlin. But we have work to do.”

“I can’t—”

“Yes,” Egwene said. “You can’t tell me what is wrong. I suspect that the Three Oaths are involved, though Light knows how.”

Not three, Egwene. But she’s getting there, and I also like how she stopped herself from just pushing Meidani the way Elaida would have done. She’s firm, but she’s presenting this instead as a problem for them both to approach. And also giving Meidani some indication of why, rather than just trying to force information out of her.

“You can’t tell me why you’ve remained in the Tower. But can you show me?”

YES. HELL YES. LET’S DO THIS.

Meidani’s not certain but Egwene’s already on to the next issue, which is how to get out of Meidani’s rooms without running into spies from other Ajahs. Because the Tower is fucked.

Oh. Okay. That’s one way to do it.

“What is that?” Meidani asked.

“It’s called a gateway,” Egwene said. “Used for Travelling.”

“Travelling is impossible!” Meidani said immediately. “The ability has been lost for…” She trailed off, eyes opening more widely.

Meidani is getting in about ten minutes what the rebel Hall got over the course of weeks. I almost pity her.

I like how the first person in the Tower Egwene has shown Travelling to is the woman who clearly has a lifelong love of travelling. It’s a nice touch.

“Yes, Mother,” Meidani said

Well that didn’t take very long. Just some well-placed silences, a steady glare or two, and a demonstration of trust in the form of a weave that, to Meidani, would be a true gift. Not to mention solid evidence of Egwene’s ability to casually do the impossible.

“I must warn you, however, that you may be surprised at what you are stepping into. It could be dangerous.”

Meidani. Please. Have you met Egwene? I can barely remember the last time she did something that wasn’t dangerous. Her introduction to the story was basically ‘I’m going to join you as you flee the Two Rivers in the middle of the night’ and she hasn’t slowed down since.

And HERE WE ARE. Four Sitters in a room, all of different Ajahs, not at all expecting to have Egwene al’Vere unleashed upon them.

“The al’Vere girl.” Ah. Right, well. This will be interesting.

So they’re berating Meidani for what they see as a breach of her Oath, and completely ignoring Egwene. We’ll see how long they can keep that up. I’m betting a page.

Oaths Egwene didn’t know about, meetings away from the upper corridors, a Warder guarding the door…were these women of four Ajahs, or of one?

Ha. So close, and yet so very, very far.

And just like that, Egwene’s figured it out. Part of it, anyway.

“You gave her a fourth oath, didn’t you?” Egwene interrupted. “What under the Light were you thinking?”

Yukiri glanced at her, and Egwene felt another swish of Air. “You were not given leave to speak.”

“The Amyrlin needs no leave to speak,” Egwene said, staring the women down.

Not even a full page. And so the fun begins.

“Has this entire Tower gone as insane as Elaida?”

Well someone needed to say it.

“It was only done out of necessity. This one couldn’t be trusted, not after siding with the rebels.”

Already explaining themselves, even if it is with a tone of dismissive authority. Still, that’s a far cry from just ignoring Egwene. And if they’re trying to justify their actions to her, she’s already won half the battle, as far as this conversation goes.

“Do not think we’re unwaware of your own involvement with that group, Egwene al’Vere,” Yukiri said. […] “If we have our way, you will not be treated with such coddling as Elaida has shown you.”

Egwene gestured indifferently. “Still me, execute me or beat me, Yukiri, and the Tower will yet be in shambles.”

She has somehow turned a situation in which everything is at stake into one where she has nothing to lose. She has made herself untouchable; there is absolutely nothing they can do to her, short of destroying the Tower itself. Because she has made herself into a symbol of a higher cause, and has dedicated herself to that cause: healing the Tower, and uniting the Aes Sedai to face Tarmon Gai’don.

So she can say things like this with absolute conviction, because she believes them now. She can sit here with these women and ignore their threats and stare them down, because what can they do to her? Nothing has worked so far, after all. And it throws them completely off-balance, because they have no idea how to deal with her. She’s outside their ‘system’, and refuses to be pulled into it. Yet she’s not working against them, either. She’s on their side, and she’s working for the Tower itself, and so long as they are doing the same, there is absolutely nothing they can do to her.

“Sometimes, difficult decisions must be made. We cannot have Darkfriends among the Aes Sedai, and measures have been taken to search them out.”

Little do they know that Egwene was one of the very first ones assigned to search out the Black Ajah, long before these Sitters even acknowledged its existence. It’s a nice way to weave that thread back in, after so long.

And the fact that Seaine has even told her this much shows that their attempts at ignoring her – and ignoring her authority – are already falling apart. You don’t waste your time justifying your actions to someone who doesn’t matter. You especially don’t do so if it involves divulging highly sensitive information.

So these women were using the Oath Rod to search out Black sisters. If you took each sister, removed her oaths and made her reswear them, you could ask her if she were Black. A desperate method, but –Egwene decided – a legitimate one, considering the times.

The question then becomes, how do they make it a widespread requirement? Not the fourth oath, of course, but the unswearing and re-swearing? Because if there were a way to do that, to implement it throughout the Tower…then perhaps we could end up with something like what Egwene ‘remembered’ in her Accepted test. Something that destroyed the Black Ajah.

“But swearing this woman to a new oath is unnecessary!” “And if the woman is known to have other loyalties?” Saerin demanded.

Oh, it’s well and truly over for them, now. The argument, I mean. It was as soon as they acknowledged her enough to start explaining, but now that they’re trying to argue back? I’m going to go ahead and call this one for Egwene.

Though she’s willing to put aside the issue of the fourth oath for now, perhaps because she knows she’s gained something of an upper hand. Or at least a position of equality, even if they don’t see it yet. So she’s going to press them for as much as she can get, because this is a rare opportunity: four Sitters, each of different Ajahs, who are also involved in something that could greatly benefit the Tower.

“What of Elaida herself? Have you determined if she is of the Black? Who gave you this charge, and how did your cabal form?”

“Bah! Why are we speaking with her?” Yukiri demanded, standing up and putting her hands on her hips. “We should be deciding what to do with her, not answering her questions!”

It’s a bit late for that, Yukiri.

“If I am to help in your work,” Egwene said, “then I need to be aware of the facts.”

Framing it as a given that she is going to help – she’s not asking their permission, she’s moving directly on to step two. It’s a very useful trick.

They’re still trying to shut her down. That’s cute.

“One more word, and I shall see you taking penance until you run out of tears to weep.”

“I doubt you can order me to any more of it than I already have, Yukiri,” Egwene said calmly. “Unless I am to be in the Mistress of Novices’ study all day each day. Besides, if you sent me to her, what would I tell her? That you personally gave me penance? She’d know that I wasn’t scheduled to see you today. That might start raising questions.”

“We could just have Meidani order you to penance,” said Seaine the White.

“She won’t do such a thing,” Egwene said. “She accepts my authority as Amyrlin.”

Every part of this scene is beautiful and I love it.

“That’s meaningless. “We’ll just order her to send you to penance.” “Will you?” Egwene said. “I thought that you told me that the fourth oath was meant to restore unity, to keep her from fleeing to Elaida with your secrets. Now you would use that oath like a cudgel, forcing her to become your tool?”

They handed her that one on a silver platter. But then, of course they did. They’re still thinking of her as a novice, or as a rebel, as someone they don’t need to take seriously. They’re still underestimating her, and she’s had far too much practice with using that against those who try.

Besides, they’re Sitters. They’re not used to having to justify themselves or explain themselves, especially to a girl in novice white. So they are stepping right into these traps without realising that Egwene can and will make full use of every misstep.

“No woman should have this much power over another. What you have done to these others is only one step shy of Compulsion. I’m still trying to decide if this abomination is in any way justified; the way you treat Meidani and the others will likely sway that decision.”

It’s not really shy of Compulsion at all. And yeah, okay, there is a reason for it. Whether or not that reason is acceptable, though, depends on where you’re standing. Much like the way in which the Asha’man bonded sisters – because that’s actually not far short of Compulsion either, and is justified from one angle but less so from another. It all gets messy fast.

Yukiri’s still trying to get the others to ignore Egwene, but that train has long since left the station. Meanwhile Saerin still thinks they can treat her like a child.

“You cannot continue this charade of being the Amyrlin Seat. We all know how often you take penance, and we all know what little good it is doing. So let me try something that I assume nobody else has tried with you: reason.”

“You may speak your mind,” Egwene said.

I LOVE IT. I also actually like that Saerin is taking this approach here, because she’s not that far wrong, really. Few have tried anything resembling reason with Egwene. They’ve just tried to force her back into what they think her place should be, despite that failing spectacularly at every turn.

But the very fact that Saerin is taking this approach means Egwene has taken control of the situation. They haven’t recognised it yet, but she has turned the focus of the room onto her, rather than letting them proceed with ignoring her. They’re addressing her now, and very much on her terms.

“All right. For one thing, you can’t be Amyrlin. With that forkroot, you can barely channel!”

Oh come on, you call that reason? That’s such a weak argument it actually starts slightly detracting from the scene. Not in a major way, but…she can’t possibly have thought opening with such an easily countered statement would work.

“You’ve been demoted to novice.”

“Only Elaida is foolish enough to assume one can remove an Aes Sedai’s rank.” Egwene said. “She should never have been allowed to assume she had that power in the first place.”

“If she didn’t assume it,” Saerin said, “then you would be dead, girl.”

Now that’s a far better point, because as Saerin sees it, Egwene’s caught by that one. Except…what she’s failed to understand is that Egwene actually has accepted that.

Egwene met Saerin’s eyes again. “Sometimes, I feel it would be better to be dead than to see what Elaida has done to the women of this Tower.”

Egwene isn’t fighting for herself, or for her position. She’s doing both as a way of fighting for the Tower itself.

And if I weren’t already convinced she was going to die, the honesty with which she embraces this would probably have done the trick.

“I must say,” Seaine said quietly, “your claims are completely irrational. Elaida is the Amyrlin because she was raised properly by the Hall. Therefore, you can’t be Amyrlin.”

Egwene shook her head. “She was ‘raised’ after a shameful and unorthodox removal of Siuan Sanche from the seat. How can you call Elaida’s position ‘proper’ in the face of that?” Something occurred to her, a gamble, but it felt right. “Tell me this. Have you interrogated any women who are currently Sitters? Have you found any Blacks among them?”

OH.

“Now tell me this. Were any of these Black Sitters among those who raised Elaida? Did any of them stand to depose Siuan?”

HERE IT IS.

There was silence.

“Answer me,” Egwene said.

“We found a Black among the Sitters,” Doesine finally said.

‘Answer me,’ Egwene commands, and one of them obeys. Full round to Egwene.

But more importantly…Egwene has now managed to create a moment not unlike some of those she’s pulled on the rebel Hall.

“Siuan was deposed by the bare minimum number of Sitters required,” Egwene said. “One of them was Black, making her vote invalid. You stilled and deposed your Amyrlin, murdering her Warder, and you did it unlawfully.”

“By the Light,” Seaine whispered. “She’s right.”

Boom.

I love these moments, and Egwene is so wonderfully good at delivering them.

And okay, by that same logic, I suppose you could say Egwene’s entire war vote was also unlawful, as it was decided by the minimum number and if I remember correctly, Delana was among them, and potentially other Black sisters as well. But Egwene was raised by a full Hall, and the declaration of war and seizing of the war powers was more a way of making them acknowledge the authority they elected to give her but then tried to withhold.

Besides, the technicalities don’t actually matter here. They only matter in the sense that Egwene needs to find something that will make them see her as Amyrlin. This, it turns out, is such a thing. Seaine chose to argue with her on the basis of legality, Egwene countered with truth, and Seaine at least has acknowledged it as legitimate grounds for her claim.

Now it’s time to cement it.

She had to remain in control. She had to.

Part of the reason she’s so good at landing these moments is because she sees them through. Not only that, but she knows how to pick her battles. She knows when to push, and when not to. And she knows that when she does press for advantage, she has to follow through.

“You call us false, Yukiri? Which Amyrlin would you rather follow? The one who has been amking novices and Accepted out of Aes Sedai, banishing an entire Ajah, and causing divisions in the Tower more dangerous than any army that ever assaulted it? A woman who was raised partially through the help of the Black Ajah? Or would you rather serve the Amyrlin who is trying to undo all of that?”

Well when you put it like that…

And she’s finally in a place where she can put it to them that directly. She isn’t dropping hints here, or giving advice. She is facing four Sitters, and she has just shaken their view of Elaida’s legitimacy, and so she is making them face the choice: her, or Elaida. Making them see that it is a choice, and that it’s one they can’t just ignore.

“Surely you’re not saying that you think we served the Black in raising Elaida,” Doesine said.

“I think we all are serving the interests of the Shadow,” Egwene said sharply, “so long as we allow ourselves to remain divided.”

Yes.

There’s really not much to even say to that, except that it is true even beyond the Tower. So long as the Light remains divided, chaos reigns and the Shadow triumphs.

And it’s such a great statement, because it does reframe the whole thing as so much bigger than a power struggle or a petty argument. The ‘we’ also frames it not as an accusation but as something they must all combat.

“As admirable as I find your work to discover the Black Ajah, I am far more encouraged by your willingness to work together to do it. In the current Tower, cooperation between Ajahs is rare. I challenge you to take that as your main goal, bringing unity to the White Tower.”

An interesting place to take the conversation, but actually a very good one. Because they really are pretty much the only multi-Ajah group functioning at the moment, and therefore they are a starting point. It also further emphasises that Egwene is not fighting them. She is working with them; they are all on the same side, here. The side of the Tower itself.

She stood up, and she half-expected a sister to rebuke her, but they almost seemed to have forgotten that they were speaking with a ‘novice’ and a rebel.

Funny, that. It’s okay, you get used to her. Sort of.

“Do you have the Oath Rod here?”

“No,” Yukiri said. “It’s difficult to sneak away. We can only take it on occasion.”

And now even Yukiri, who argued the longest against even engaging with Egwene, is answering her questions with full explanations.

“A pity,” Egwene said. “I’d have liked to take the Oaths.”

Huh. I would have thought saying that would just highlight the fact that she isn’t exactly Aes Sedai by the normal ‘rules’, but I suppose the statement itself also emphasises her commitment, and her complete confidence that she is Aes Sedai.

But I don’t think that, if Egwene swears the Three Oaths, it’ll be done in a hidden-away room in the basement of the Tower, with only five sisters as witnesses.

“Regardless, you will promptly take it and release Meidani from the fourth oath.”

“We’ll consider it,” Saerin said.

It’s not a full statement of obedience, but all things considered it’s really not that far off. That Saerin is even saying they’ll consider her order is more about saving face than anything else, at this point.

“Know that once the White Tower is whole again, the Hall will learn of this action you have taken. I would like to be able to inform them that you were being careful, rather than seeking unwarranted power. If you need me in the next few days, you may send for me – but kindly find a way to deal with the two Red sisters who are watching me. I’d rather not use Travelling within the Tower again, lest I unwittingly reveal too much to those who would be better left ignorant.”

She left that statement hanging before walking to the door.

Beautiful. I just love the chance to watch a character come in and own a room like that.

They were not expecting her, and what they got was not what they would have expected if they were. And, like the Hall after the war vote, they’re going to be seeing her very differently now.

Meidani is stunned, but Meidani hasn’t seen Egwene work before.

“You really are the Amyrlin,” she finally said.

Indeed.

Next (TGS ch 13) Previous (TGS ch 11)

[cloudmask]

reactions/thoughts on “shattered sky” chapters 3-5 (spoilers obvs)

chapter 3:

-violetpaw it’s okay you’re being manipulated it’s not your fault oh my sweet child

-”the elders need to start looking after themselves” this is ALWAYS a sign of a society gone wrong. i feel so bad for oakfur and ratscar. they deserve to have a restful time in the elders’ den like everyone else.

-needletail saying she’ll protect violetpaw parallels ivypool saying the same to twigpaw earlier but the relationships are soo different

-ughhh UGHHHHHH if needletail wasn’t manipulating violetpaw i would ship it so hard but they aren’t healthy together ahhh

-”violetpaw’s worried about wounding her littermate” umm needletail...darktail did not need to know that

-why are darktail and rain talking about the possible loyalties of their clanmates while violetpaw is standing right there??

-”rain was lying on top of darktail, his paws over the rogue leader’s nose and mouth.” JFC RAIN IS TRYING TO SUFFOCATE DARKTAIL TO DEATH IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DAY WHILE EVERYONE IS MILLING AROUND CAMP?? WHERE ANYONE COULD JUST WALK IN AND SEE HIM, LIKE VIOLETPAW DOES?? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME

-i’m sorry did darktail just fucking die

-who the FUCK is the villain of this arc then (i hope it’s onestar)

-OH NEVERMIND LMAO that honestly got me

-alright good riddance rain, i never liked you. darktail finally did something good.

chapter 4:

-”tell me again about blossomfall’s kits,” says briarlight? what?? she is completely capable of dragging herself to the nursery to go visit her sister and the kits, in oots she would drag herself around camp all the time…? why can’t she visit the kits?

-four of them, really? isn’t thunderclan big enough? i don’t think she should have had more than two tbh

-PLUMKIT!! one of them is named plumkit! ahh that’s one of my favorite prefixes...that’s adorable. i like the other names, too.

-yep purdy is definitely gonna die in this book

-damn bramblestar is savage

-ROWANSTAR AND BRAMBLESTAR TALKING DOWN TO TAWNYPELT AS IF SHE DOESN’T KNOW WHAT SHE’S TALKING ABOUT HOOO BOY I’M GONNA FIGHT THEM

-ivypool is still irritated about tigerheart being near dovewing and it makes my life

-yep hawkwing is violetpaw and twigpaw’s dad, not surprising but still good to basically confirm.

chapter 5:

-”all three medicine cats” that’s still so weird to read

-okay twigpaw just described lilyheart as “her foster mother when she first came to thunderclan”, is she suggesting that she isn’t her foster mother anymore?? just because she’s an apprentice now and doesn’t need to be in the nursery anymore? bc i’m pretty sure that’s,,not how it works,,,

-”I’VE NEVER HEARD SUCH A LOAD OF BAT DROPPINGS!” please please please tell me that’s a common shadowclan saying that the other clans think is weird af bc i love it

-WHITEWING!!!

-whitewing my cat wife is so smart...so level-headed...i’m love her...whitewing for deputy? whitewing for deputy.

-alderheart NO why would you announce the thing about hawkwing looking like he could be twigpaw’s kin!! you’re just gonna get her hopes up!!

-aww okay seeing twigpaw get all excited is really cute

-cloudtail you DUMBASS

-tigerheart is?? so obvious in his attraction towards dovewing?? how is ivypool the only other cat who knows about it jfc

-dammit alderheart you really shouldn’t have mentioned the kin thing lmao

-this is going to sound mean but it’s refreshing to see twigpaw suffering a little, considering how in the last book she was doing just dandy while her sister was being neglected and manipulated in shadowclan. it’s good to see twigpaw dealing with something other than “my sister doesn’t want to be friends with me”.