#anyway i both think lionblaze is potentially a really interesting character

[knockknockitsnickels]

"People are mean to Lionblaze his chapters aren't boring" You fools. I love Lionblaze because his chapters are boring.

[oliveheart-worldbuilding]

Aster, Bee Balm, Daffodil, Dahlia, Laurel, Petunia, Rose, and Violet? I'd also add Gardenia but it's impossible to escape murder cats.

Hi there! Thank you so much for the ask! Once again, I’m sorry for taking so long to answer!

Adding a read more because this one is pretty long.

Aster- Who’s your least favorite character? Why?

This one is a bit difficult for me, I read many of the books a long time ago and I’m sure if I were to read them again my opinion on a lot of characters would be very different. Going only by memory I would say that Bluestar is one of my least favorite characters but then I would have to add many female characters that I now feel were completely mistreated by the authors and whose entire arcs where thrown under the bus in the name of forbidden love or man pain. I never liked Silverstream, but nowadays I know that whom I actually hate is Graystripe. I used to not like Leafpool or Squirrelflight at all, now I don’t. What I’m trying to say is that my opinion changes constantly and a lot. I read the books a long time ago and did so with a completely different mindset (I was 16 when I read Omen of the Stars and oh man was I edgy and stupid back then), most of my opinions nowadays are based on the potential the characters have rather than the actual character. So bearing that in mind:

-Bluestar: I know, I know, a lot of you love her a lot but even after reading people’s opinions on her I just… eh I don’t like her at all. She feels incredibly detached in the first books. To me she always treated Firepaw rather coldly. I know a lot of people talk about Bluestar as if she had become Firepaw’s adoptive mother but I just don’t see it. Reading about her losing her faith was very interesting, so was her crumping mind health but, I just gotta draw the line on how terrible she was to Brightpaw. In this house we love and respect Brightpaw and Bluestar was just very nasty to her. I really didn’t like her novella at all either. Based on her relationship with Whitestorm in The Prophecies Begin I always thought that she might have played an important role in his life after Snowfur died but, it doesn’t seem that way at all? The only moment we see them interact is when she tells Whitekit, in a very distressing way may I add, that her mother is dead and never coming back. To me, she also comes in as selfish and power-hungry, she spends a huge part of the book complaining about Thistleclaw (bear in mind, back then he was only overly ambitious, not a pedophile) and his relationship with her sister, even though she herself is spending time with Oakheart, a tom from another clan. When Goosefeather tells her about the prophecy he never specifies that she must be the one becoming leader, only that Thistleclaw is not meant to become one and yet she goes out of her way to become the leader so much so that she’s willing to risk her kittens’ safety (killing one in the process) just so she can be available for the position. She could have just uuuuhmmmm told Sunstar about the prophecy? Also I’m pretty sure Sunstar assures her that Thistleclaw would not have made a good leader multiple times so… he could have chosen literally anyone else? Rosetail? Thrustpelt? Don’t get me started on the whole Tigerkit dilemma! She chooses to believe Goosefeather prophecies when they strengthen her own personal bias but when she’s told about Tigerkit’s she just goes “aw man Goosefeather sure is crazy hahaha anyway back on me becoming leader”. I don’t know, there’s more to it but this is getting pretty long. Personally she’s just not my favorite.

-Graystripe: He’s a terrible friend, he treats Fireheart like absolute garbage, he chooses a molly he has known for exactly 2 days over his best friend and his entire clan, he leaves Thunderclan to spend more time with his kittens just to abandon them 5 seconds later, and yet the son of a bitch was somehow always meant to become deputy to Firestar??? Just because they are friends??? Dude went against the warrior code, endangered his clan by refusing to fight Riverclan, was incredible close to causing an all-out war with Riverclan, abandoned his clan, refused to see what was wrong about his behavior just because he was in love… How in the f is he a good warrior??? Erins I want answers; this man is garbage. When he gets captured by the humans and comes back to the lake he gets so SO mad at Firestar for not “waiting for him”, my dude you were gone for seasons, you were deputy, you really expect the entire clan to stop working so that you can keep your friendship bracelet position? Everybody thought you were dead Graystripe!! Was everyone supposed to keep vigil forever?? He’s also a terrible father to both his litters, his reaction to being told that Feathertail’s dead is “aw man… she was so beautiful… like her mom…” that’s terribleeee. At some point in Omen of the Stars, after Briarlight broke her spine, Millie complains about Graystripe not helping her at all and then they start fighting about it, Graystripe’s only answer is something along the lines of “yeah whatever dude”. I hate him so much. I stopped reading after The Last Hope, so I can’t talk about the rest but, I’ve seen some parts of Graystripe’s Vows and let me tell I want this man gone for good. He’s lived for too long.

-Lionblaze: He’s the most flavorless character in the history of flavorless characters. What’s his arc? That’s right. He doesn’t have one. I literally have nothing to say about him. How is this character alive and in his way to become leader when Hollyleaf could have been in his place? Disgusting. Also, dreaming about killing your girlfriend and bathing in her blood? Bad. Not showing not even a bit of remorse about after waking up? Terrible. Badly hurting her mentor when you were trying harm her? Just straight up fucked up. He’s badly written, boring and kind of very misogynist at times.

I have many other opinions because I’m a very judgmental person but I’m gonna leave it at that because this is getting very long.

Bee Balm- What’s your favorite novella or super edition?

I’ve only read three! So Crockedstar’s promise I guess.

Daffodil- When did you first start reading the books?

In the summer of 6th grade, that’s when I was… 11-12 years old? I think? So in 2012-2013, I started reading them in Spanish but I read through them super-fast and the translations were super slow to come out so I just started reading the books in English. It actually helped my English level quite a bit! My first English book was The Forest of Secrets I think.

Dahlia- Has any death scene actually made you cry? What was it?

Snowfur’s (Reading about Whitekit screaming at her mother to wake up was super messed up), Yellowfang’s (I loved that old woman. I wish they hadn’t written about her in Starclan, she’s so out of character in later books) and Hollyleaf’s death (yes, first and second time, young me loved her to pieces. I still can’t believe they let her die a second time when Lionblaze’s flavorless ass was right there…).

Laurel- If you could write the books, what changes would you make?

I would contemplate the idea of just, moving forward in time? The warriors’ series feels very stagnant. Young characters die while having no personality at all and older characters from the first series are still alive and very much immortal at this point. We need new fresh blood.

I would just set up a completely new series: maybe the stories of Firestar and his family have been immortalized, maybe they are now revered as gods or something, I would create an actual religion system, one based in nature, the death and rebirth of all things and the need to remember those who have fallen. I would change their entire culture so that elders are more important; medicine cats are not regarded as useless (I’m looking at every character that forced in this position instead of choosing it themselves) and the warrior code actually makes sense.

The setting of this new series would be the lake territories but a long time has passed since the time of Firestar and things have changed a lot. A kittypet joins the clans and through their perspective we see how they work and act, what makes every single one of them different, their culture and laws, etc. It would be a nod to the first series while being completely new. It would also allow to add new characters from the start so they all have personalities and relationships with each other.

I would also contemplate creating one last series set up in the time of the original clans where everything just goes to hell. You guys remember rabies? I want that + Starclan going crazy. A full out massacre of old characters that ends in only a few surviving ones. I want blood, and I want it to be scary. If children can read about Tigerclaw’s horrible death, then they can read what in my opinion would be a zombie/ghost apocalypse. And then I would start anew with this completely new series set up in the future.

I mean, I would rewrite a looooooot of things, but that’s a talk for another day.

Petunia- Which arc is your favorite? Which is your last favorite?

My favorite is The Prophecies Begin when it comes to the plot and the Power of Three when it comes to characters. My least favorite is the New Prophecy.

Rose- Do you prefer traditional naming or creative naming?

Traditional all the way! I like when things have meaning and each name having its own really helps the feeling of there being a pre-established culture! Creative naming just doesn’t make a lot of sense to me in this context but that’s just my personal taste.

Violet- What do you think is the worst trope in the series?

Already answered!

Gardenia- Do you think you’ll ever leave the fandom?

Probs not, I’m in too deep, warriors is always at the back of my mind...

[canon-notcanon-warriorcats]

Thunderclan cats who should and shouldn’t die

I’m going to go by order of how they appear in the allegiances in the silent thaw, and also be warned that there are vague spoilers for the silent thaw in some of my reasonings, anyways buckle up cupcakes, this is gonna be a long one

Bramblestar- Kill him. Entirely. Both Bramblefake and Bramblestar. They kept mentioning that if they kill Bramblefake that Bramblestar’s ghost won’t have a body to return to, which i don’t really understand, but hope with that vague reasoning and gives them the excuse to just have bramblestar be dead forever, like it’s better to just kill bramblefake and also let bramblestar move on than to allow bramblefake to continue existing, unless they somehow just figure out how to do a cat exorcism or something but please don’t do that because bramblestar’s been leader for two arcs now and has only lost one life get rid of him and one fell swoop he’s been leader for as long as firestar was at this point.

Squirrelflight- If they kill her now i’ll riot. She needs to either become leader or retire and with either of those options bramblestar needs to no longer be alive. The only way I’ll accept her dying is if she fights to the death against bramblefake, killing him and her dying at the same time.

Jayfeather- it doesn’t even matter, i’d almost be interested in them killing him, but whether he stays alive or not he’ll never truly be gone because we all know he’ll become the new yellowfang

Alderheart- You touch one hair on that sweet baby’s head and i’ll go feral

Thornclaw- I want him to die fighting, I kind of want him to stand up to Bramblefake and he realizes just how wrong he’s been for being so conservative and an asshole, and then him and bramblefake get in a fight and he easily gets beaten and dies because he’s like 12 years old and much more feeble than he pretended he was

Whitewing-  Absolutely not i want her to contentedly die of old age

Birchfall- i’m kind of split between wanting him to be able to retire or for him to go out fighting, maybe trying to protect dovewing, ivypool, whitewing, or one of his grandkits

Berrynose- I want even Bramblefake to get tired and fed up with him and he be the first cat he directly kills

Mousewhisker- I want him to be the last of Daisy’s original kits to die, i want him to eventually retire but before that i want him to get in some sort of trouble because him and minnowtail slipped up and had kits together and everyone finds out

Poppyfrost- I want her to be a respected senior warrior who eventually retires happily and ends up hating berrynose, maybe she even has more kits with mousewhisker or something i dunno

Lionblaze- surprisingly i want lionblaze to retire too, i want him to basically become the next graystripe and be the goofy elder that doesn’t die until he’s like 20

Rosepetal- if they kill rosepetal for no reason or before she can be a canon lesbian or bisexual i will scream, she finally has character and i love her and i would die for her i want her to be deputy

Bristlefrost- i absolutely do not want her to die and we all know that she won’t

Stemleaf- no he’s a good boy and is like the only one of the patrol kits that matters

Lilyheart- I don’t want her to die yet, but if she does i want it to be her defending twigbranch as her kit

Bumblestripe- Die bastard

Cherryfall and Molewhisker- I’m putting them together because i want either one or the other to die but not both, they’re both the same character but with different pelt colors as well as daisy’s ONLY grandchildren, so i want at least one of them to have kits before they die so daisy’s lineage continues. i kind of prefer molewhisker for no specific reason, but i also kind of want cherryfall and stormcloud to have babies so it’s still really either or

Cinderheart- I want her to retire with lionblaze, but like graystripe, she still dies years before he does for no particular reason. I want lionblaze, poppyfrost, mousehwisker, and cinderheart to basically be the group of elders for their generation kind of like how brackenfur, brightheart, and cloudtail are now

Blossomfall- i want her to be the last of graystripe’s children to be alive, but i also don’t want her to reach retirement, she’ll probably die between arcs from greencough or something

Ivypool- she absolutely cannot die, i want her to be able to retire or become leader whichever comes first

Eaglewing- die, she has the most uninteresting appearance and name of thornclaw’s children

Dewnose- absolutely not, he’s the last of his litter and whitewing’s only sibling left and cloudtail’s and brightheart’s only surviving son and he’s starting to appear more in the books and get a little more of a personality

Thriftear and Flipclaw- putting them together because i want one or the other to die, i’m thinking flipclaw since he was only even mentioned like once in silent thaw and he wasn’t even on screen and i like how close bristlefrost and thriftear seem to be, on the other hand if they kill thriftear my heart will be ripped out of my chest and that may be exactly why they’re showing her on screen more than flipclaw, so we can get to know her a little bit and then the authors will destroy us along with bristlefrost

Stormcloud- absolutely not, he specifically came to thunderclan so he can’t just die without doing anything. he’s also been seen getting closer with sparkpelt, him having shared prey with her as well as trying to cheer her up and visiting several times when she was grieving for larksong. they’re either best friends, have a brother-sister like bond, or could even potentially become mates later on, he might even be like a father figure for sparkpelt’s kits. if they’re going to kill him off i hope it’s by him being brave and defending and protecting either sparkpelt or one of her kits

Hollytuft- They cannot kill hollytuft without her doing anything’

Fernsong- i don’t want him to die, i want him to become the new full time nursery queen, if he does die though it needs to be brutal

Honeyfur- i want her to live and be more fleshed out as well as be the ONLY one of her litter left

Sparkpelt- she cannot die

Sorrelstripe- i want her to die, but in a dramatic way, we still don’t know who the father of her kits are and they just kind of popped into existance suddenly and now that they’re apprentices i want us to find out that they’re half clan, i want their father to be like some random shadowclan or windclan cat, or it would be even better if it was like harrybrook from skyclan, maybe even just some rogue or loner we don’t know about, dewnose could just have been pretending to be the father or she even told him he WAS the father or something and then once it’s found out who the father really is bramblefake has her sentenced to death or kills her himself or something

Twigbranch- i want her to be able to retire eventually or die fighting but years from now

Finleap- i want him to die. we all know why, but i very specifically want berrynose to kill him. even with berrynose suddenly being a bootlicker to bramblefake, he seems to very specifically have a grudge against twigbranch and finleap, i’m pretty sure he never wanted either of them, especially finleap, to join thunderclan and with how he treated them in the silent thaw, it seems like he has some sort of grudge or even hatred towards them, maybe even finleap specifically because now he’s not the only one in thunderclan with a stump of a tail, so he’s not as “special”, all of this adding up to finleap making some sort of mistake or slip up and berrynose just straight up killing him, and then maybe that’s when bramblefake kills berrynose because he didn’t give berrynose orders to kill him and he’s tired of berrynose being a brown-noser

Shellfur- keep around if eaglewing dies, i kind of want him and cherryfall to have kits if she and stormcloud don’t

Plumstone- I kind of want to keep her cause i like her name, and maybe she and molewhisker can have kits i dunno, but then she die

Leafshade- kill her, she’s done nothing and would be easy kill-between-books/arcs fodder

Spotfur- maybe kill her for the Drama

Flywhisker- Flywhisker hasn’t even shown up in the latest series yet, please let her be more important don’t kill her until she can be important i even kind of want her to be a mom i think she’d be a good and cute mom

Snaptooth- he hasn’t done anything, but i kind of like his name and i want him to get a personality, i want to kill at least two of cinderlion’s kits and  i choose sorrelstripe and spotfur, but snaptooth can probably also go

Daisy- I want Daisy to die of old age and also a new full time nursery queen joins her before she dies, maybe one of lionblaze’s kits, she never retires she just stays in the nursery and is everyonebody’s grandma

Graystripe- please let him rest

Brackenfur- i want him to die

Cloudtail and Brightheart- I want them to be the last of their generation alive just because i don’t want to see cloudtail or brightheart die for a good couple of years, even if whitewing and birchfall end up joining them in the elder’s den eventually, i actually think it would be really cute for that little family to be retired together and dewnose hang out with them a lot, until cloudtail and brightheart pass away peacefully side by side

[idrawcats]

Hello it’s been a while so here are my thoughts on VEIL OF SHADOWS

Ok I’m gonna get this out of the way:

I’m loving The Broken Code

I think it’s really well written and it’s been one of my favorite arcs

Like I’d say that the first three (or really the second and third) books of AVoS are my favorite arc, then the original series, and then TBC

Now here come the spoilers

Be warned

First of all, I honestly think that Shadowsight should’ve died in the prologue

I think it would’ve been a really interesting twist to have him as a spirit for the rest of the arc

My favorite chapters were Shadowsight’s ghost chapters (ESPECIALLY the one where he talks to the imposter)

Like having Shadowsight in the world of the dead, Bristlefrost in the land of the living, and Rootspring bridging the gap would’ve been so amazing

Alas

HarperCollins are cowards

That said, I did like Shadowsight a lot in this book

Tigerheartstar is an amazing dad even if I don’t like him that much

Shadowsight’s connection to Spiresight was sweet but Spiresight was acting a little sus tbh

Telling Shadowsight that being a ghost is better

Maybe he was just lonely but idk it seemed a little

Shady

To me

(I’m sorry)

ANYWAYS MOVING ON

We have to talk about that scene

You know the one

Okay in all seriousness, I really think that the fandom blew the suicide scene way out of proportion

Like I was expecting it to be Stemleaf or one of the Rebels jumping off a cliff or slitting their throat in defiance of Fakestar but nope

It was just Shadowsight eating some berries with no real intention of dying

Was it insentitive to people with suicidal tendencies? Yes.

Was it poorly handled? Absolutely.

But Shadowsight wasn’t actually in any danger. He was in the medicine den with Puddleshine right next to him and, as a medicine cat, he likely knew that they had a full stock of yarrow

Obviously the Erins and HarperCollins treating suicide like an easily reversible decision was incredibly disrespectful

But I’ve seen a lot of people saying that there were other ways for Shadowsight to reach the Dark Forest and I completely disagree. The Moonpool was broken and StarClan/the DF were completely cut off. No one could reach them

The only evidence we’d actually seen of them at this point were Shadowsight’s visions, and those are involuntary

Now, I don’t think that it should have been necessary at all for Shadowsight to reach the Dark Forest. I honestly think it would have been better to keep the reason that StarClan is cut off a mystery

Something to keep driving the books forward

And I think that the explanation of DF cats cutting them off by making a barrier around their connection with the living kind of ruins the lore and mystery surrounding StarClan

Well, what was left of the lore and mystery anyways

Idk how I felt about the imposter trapping Bramblestar in the DF

Like I think it would’ve been a lot cooler if he’d actually faded so much that the living couldn’t see him anymore

REGARDLESS

My point is, I don’t think Shadowsight’s attempted suicide should have been in the book at all and I don’t think that the entire DF sequence should’ve been there either

But if the DF sequence existed

Then Shadowsight’s attempted suicide would have to exist as well

Moving on

I’d like to talk about Bristlefrost (can we talk about Bristlefrost, please? I’ve been dying to talk about Bristlefrost)

Overall, I think Bristlefrost had the strongest narration in this book

I loved seeing her relationship with the Rebels AND with Fakestar

I loved seeing her spy

And I loved seeing her build a relationship with Squirrelflight

It was sad to see her Clanmates hating her, but it felt natural and completely realistic for someone in her situation

Her scenes of seeing Fakestar complaining to Alderheart about pain, seeing his weakness, and seeing him talking to a ghost (whom Bristlefrost couldn’t see) were some of my favorite scenes in the book

They drove home that the Imposter isn’t invincible and that he’s weakening

And I loved how those scenes contrasted to seeing him fight off the Rebels and actually manage to kill THREE GROWN WARRIORS on his own

He’s completely unpredictable and has unchecked power and that makes him a great villain

Seeing his paranoia (which resulted in Berrynose’s exile) was really interesting

Bristlefrost got some nice development in this book

I liked seeing her struggle as deputy and I liked that she was relieved to step down at the end

The only thing I didn’t really like about Bristlefrost in this book was that she admitted that she had feelings for Rootspring

That felt completely out of left field

Like all of her narration felt like she saw him more as a friend or even a little brother

She never really showed any interest in him romantically

So I hated that

I feel like it’s only there to drive the plot forward and sacrificing character growth for the sake of plot is not! good! writing!

It’s kind of funny though — I think that each protagonist has had their own book to shine

Like I think that Shadowsight was the best protagonist in Lost Stars, Rootspring was the best in The Silent Thaw, and Bristlefrost was the best in Veil of Shadows

Wow and those were the cats on the covers of their respective books

Hadn’t noticed that

Anyways onto Rootspring

Oh Rootspring

Out of the three protagonists, I think Rootspring has shown the most character growth

He started out as a whiny apprentice in Lost Stars and grew into a complex, likable, but still flawed character

I loved seeing his relationship with his family in this book, especially his growing acceptance of Tree (more on that when I talk about Tree’s Roots)

Seeing Rootspring’s growing friendship with Shadowsight was great

I feel like, unlike in all the other arcs, the protagonists of this arc are pretty detached from one another

Like Bristlefrost and Rootpaw are friends, and now Rootpaw is starting to become friends with Shadowsight

But Bristlefrost and Shadowsight have no relationship (I don’t think they’ve interacted even once? Correct me if I’m wrong) and that’s strange because they’re actually kin

Rootspring’s relationship with Dewspring was also nice

I liked seeing Dewspring grow to respect his apprentice

I honestly thought that Rootspring’s little stint as a medicine cat apprentice was unnecessary

I was glad that he got to choose to be a warrior in the end (unlike other forced medicine cats), but I was frustrated that those chapters could’ve been filled with something else (and probably something more interesting)

Unfortunately, I didn’t think Rootspring’s chapters were very interesting without Brambleghost

The only chapters of his that I really enjoyed were his chapters with Shadowsight (especially when he rescued Shadowsight)

Rootspring is a likable character but that didn’t make his chapters any less boring

Here are some other notes:

The battle at the end was good but it felt a little rushed (especially since Bristlefrost didn’t actually fight)

I’m pretty upset that Rosepetal died bc I really liked her and I thought she had great character potential

Every scene in the rebel camp was great

I loved seeing these cats being forced to cooperate with each other

Like Bristlefrost said, I’d love to know more about Jayfeather and Mothwing’s relationship

Seeing Lionblaze and Crowfeather begrudgingly cooperating was fun

I think the real star of this book was Squirrelflight

She was a fantastic leader in the rebel camp (despite Crowfeather also being a deputy)

The scene where Squirrelflight and Mothwing faked Squirrelflight’s death was very clever and I completely understand why Jayfeather wouldn’t want to risk severely wounding his mother

I just wish we’d actually gotten to witness the actual wounding and not just the aftermath

I don’t think it’ll happen, but I really hope we get Squirrelstar by the end of this arc

I don’t like that she chose Lionblaze as a deputy though

Not just because he’s boring, but because he’s only trained one apprentice (and that apprentice broke the Code and switched Clans), and he’s never really shown any leadership potential

He’s always been more of a follower

Also i will always adore seeing Lionblaze and Jayfeather interacting with Squirrelflight

Some other standout characters in this book (there were a lot):

Alderheart:

Seeing him standing up to the Imposter was fantastic

My boy finally grew a spine

I just wish he hadn’t left Flipclaw and ThunderClan all alone

Flipclaw:

This poor boy

He was really fucked over in this book

But it was nice to see a side character getting some development and actual characterization (especially since he’s Bristlefrost’s littermate)

Berrynose:

It was nice to see that he actually thought that Bramblestar was a good cat (just misguided)

He was a good deputy (surprisingly)

In the end, I felt bad for him

He was completely taken advantage of and taken for granted

I never liked Berrynose but I was sad about his death

The way that Tawnypelt killed him was brutal (but great), and I hope that he’s at peace with his siblings and Honeyfern in StarClan

(Even though I know he’s not)

Mothwing:

Seeing her reject Mistystar’s invitation back into RiverClan was great and it felt completely in-character for her

I’ve seen a lot of people saying that Mistystar acted OOC in this book, but I disagree

We know from Mistystar’s Omen AND from her actions in AVoS that Mistystar is a proud cat and that she has great pride in both RiverClan and StarClan

I fully believe that she’d do whatever it takes to bring StarClan back, including exiling Mothwing (a named codebreaker)

Especially given that she’s forced Mothwing to step down once before

I also think that her old age might have made her even more proud and harsh (for example, exiling Icewing and Harelight due to codebreaking and burying Dappletuft without honors)

Back to Mothwing

It was nice to see her standing up for herself (especially after reading Mothwing’s Secret) and I liked that she was willing to do what was necessary to help Squirrelflight

Sparkpelt also had a great moment in this book

As did Graystripe

Stemleaf and Spotfur were also great and I was sad to see Stemleaf go

Their friendship with Bristlefrost was really nice

I’m actually kind of excited for Spotfur’s novellas

I hope we get to see her interacting with Lionblaze more

He’s her father and they were together in the rebel camp

I hope to see more from Ivypool, Twigbranch, and Violetshine in the coming books (ESPECIALLY Ivypool)

Another standout: Leafstar

She continues to be the smartest leader

And finally

The Imposter

We all know who it is at this point

It’s Ashfur

But he was fantastic in this book

His conversation with Shadowsight was so fun to read and his last words in the book were chilling

I still think he has an accomplice but we shall see

Overall I liked this book

It had its weaknesses, but I think it’s strengths greatly outweighed them

Warriors is never gonna be perfect but the books can still be pretty damn good

And this was one of the better ones

[kestrelblaze]

Cats I think Deserved Better

Basically the series is rife with cats that had interesting plot ideas/lines that got shafted by the Erin's and I've decided I wanted to list them more.

1. Leafpool

I had already made a post about her, but basically her entire character arc felt really squandered. She could have been used to show that the Code needed revision and some elements caused more harm then good, referencing former medicine cats that had kits as evidence along with the fact that having kits did not impact her ability at all.

They even could have used this to show Mothflight in Starclan realizing the code she made was inherently flawed and catered more to her than medicine cats as a whole.

2. Speckletail and Snowkit

If you don't remember them Speckletail was a queen during the first series and also the mother of the deaf Snowkit who was taken by a hawk during book 5: A Rising Storm and was used primarily as a plot device to show how far Bluestar had fallen.

A deaf character alone is wasted potential, but this gets really noticeable when you realize Speckletail had developed a way to to communicate with Snowkit (there being an implication that he wasn't completely deaf). If they kept dead Snowkit it would have been nice to see Speckletail come to terms with it instead of just being shoved off into the Elder's Den and forgotten.

3. Sootfur and Rainwhisker

Rainwhisker was my favorite side character for awhile, and being that they are implied to be the sons of Whitestorm, who was Firestar's first deputy, I felt they had a lot of wasted potential. We never had any scenes of them or their sister Sorreltail grieving over their parents, or talking about their POV of previous events and that always bothered me.

4. Stormfur and Brook

The Tribe as a whole is a missed opportunity to me, especially since its shown they arent that far from the clans and since their introduction they always have at least one book where the current PoV cat has to go deal with an issue. But to be more specific to these cats, I think Storm and Brook are more of a missed opportunity in terms of being Tribe cats that joined Thunderclan, mostly because Stormfur was originally a Riverclan cat and that after a few books with no use of them beyond being background characters they got sent back home.

It could have been an amazing way to bring attention back to Riverclan to have Stormfur go back and trying to reintegrate into his old clan, maybe him and Brook having to leave it for Thunderclan due to not fitting in to their particular clan again. The two in general had great ideas behind them, especially concerning Graystrip and Millie and they could have had some interesting interactions about Silverstream but....

5. Riverclan as a whole after TPB

As a whole, Riverclan heavily got the shaft after the cats moved territories. I blame this in part due to the borders shifting and Thunderclan sharing a border with Windclan and Shadowclan now but it is still glaringly obvious when you consider how much screen time they had in the beginning and how their part in the Alliances barely ever changes now.

6. Darktail, Onestar, and Sleekwhisker

Darktail was an amazing villain in aVoS, and he actually had an interesting backstory with Onestar that came.... out of absolutely nowhere. There was no hints to his existence and tbh it felt like an asspull (which it probably was tbh). Especially when you consider for him to exist he had to be born in the old territories, and the only logical time he could have been born without making him an elder would have been between book 6 and Firestar's Quest. Some more elaboration between him and Onestar would have been amazing, especially since Onestar really needed some development himself.

A way to do this in an amazing way would have been to make Heathertail a PoV character. She is heavily implied to be Onestar's daughter and thus Darktail's Half Sister and could have given us valuable insight into how Windclan was dealing with the Kin, giving us more hints to Darktail being Onestar's son, and fleshing out her romance with Breezepelt.

Add to this is his implied mate Sleekwhisker. Watching Darktail die, she could have easily been used to take up the mantle and become the overarching villain and leader of the Kin for the final 3 aVoS books instead of just... taking off. She would have made an excellent villain for how deranged she was and how the fandom already hated her, but instead she was a wasted potential. I am hoping in the theory that she took off because she was pregnant with Darktail's kits tho.

7. Hollyleaf

I know, dead horse here, but Hollyleaf in general was an amazing character and had so much potential. Her fanatical loyalty to the code could have been used in so many ways especially if she was given a power. A youtuber named Roseshard (I think) made the theory that her power should have been forcing cats around her to speak the truth when she questioned them and if you combine that with her fanatical loyalty to the code this could have made her a very compelling character.

If we kept it as is, her returning to the clan having matured in the caves was also a wasted opportunity, especially since she dies. I will admit this: Lionblaze should have died over Hollyleaf.

Now, I get what you are thinking: with Lionblaze's ability he couldnt, and Jayfeather is needed in his slot. From a narrative standpoint, it would have made a much better ending if Lionblaze put his ability to the real test and to save his clan took on the Dark Forest himself, a battle that would eventually end in his death but saving his clan (I'm not talking the whole of Dark Forest, just a big chunk of their warriors). Hollyleaf returning just to die did nothing for the narrative and after a full 5-6 books of Lionblaze and Jayfeather morning her it would have been better to keep her dead, or kill off someone else instead.

8. Twigbranch and Violetshine

Outside of Twigbranch having an amazing name and Violetshine basically being a teen mom and switching from Shadowclan to Skyclan (and them being Hawkwing's kits), can you tell me anything interesting they actually did in aVoS? I rest my case.

9. Ivypool and Dovewing

I know, both were POV cats but they felt so wasted.

I boil this down to having to share the spotlight with Lionblaze and Jayfeather tbh, especially in The Fourth Apprentice and Fading Echoes to the point we never got a feel of their characters. Both had really amazing qualities that were really easy to empathize with but the erins crudy writing in the series made it difficult to let them shine. Dovewing was a character who struggled to find her place in the world and focused on finding it through love, while hating her powers for making her different from her sister. Ivypool felt neglected and struggled to show she was just as capable as any other cat in the clan, getting only half the information to explain why her sister was more important.

To be honest, it would have been so much better if the books were rewritten so Dovewing was the sole narrator of The Fourth apprentice and Ivypook was the narrator of Fading Echos. Dovewing and Ivypool could switch in Sign of the Moon.

The fact the narration got split between them and Lionblaze and Jayfeather in each book really took a toll and left them underdeveloped.

10. Sandstorm

Sandstorm got a lot of screentime in the first series, but I will forever rage at the missed opportunity for Firestar to make her deputy. She showed all the qualities in the first series, and it's beyond obvious the only reason Brambleclaw was chosen was because of Protagonist Syndrome.

11. Goosefeather

Just Goosefeather.

Anyway, those are my thoughts. Feel free to add more

[blackbirdpaw]

Okay so when I first read The Power of Three/Omen of the Stars, it really bothered me that there were four cats in this prophecy, and four Clans, but all the prophecy cats came from the same Clan!! Idk why but this e n r a g e d younger me. Four cats. Four Clans. It made sense!! I decided that I wanted this rewrite to amend some of my issues with canon, such as the pacing, the characterisation, etc.

So I was thinking, what if I did a rewrite, where the prophecy cats were from four different Clans. Jayfeather would be a WindClan cat, born to Leafpool and Crowfeather. Nightcloud agrees to raise him as her own along with her son Breezepelt and keep it a secret. (But she is mad as hell, and makes sure her kits grow up to resent their father.)

Lionblaze grows up in ThunderClan, raised by Squirrelflight and Brambleclaw, biological kit of CrowLeaf.

Hollyleaf grows up a ShadowClan cat, the daughter of Tawnypelt and Rowanclaw, born in a later litter than Tigerheartstar and the lot. (Timelines are very messy! This au is set at later than in canon, and certain characters have had their ages changed for convenience)

Dovewing and Ivypool are RiverClan cats! They’re the kits of Rippletail and Shimmerpelt. (The recent Shimmerpelt, not the one in Crookedstar’s Promise. She just sort of popped up, a fully established Warrior, no info on her, in the recent books. She’s had a couple of lines and I decided I liked her. Weird choice but hey. I’m the writer, I have the power ;) )

I don’t want to make this too long, and I’m not sure how to organise my thoughts so I’ll just explain why I’ve placed them in the Clans they’re in.

Jayfeather is a very unique character. He’s bitter, he’s resentful, he’s an asshole, and rightfully so. He was a victim of ableism on a large scale, and his anger is justified. He’s the first negative protagonist we’ve had in Warriors, and while I may not personally like him, he’s going to he fun to write. Yet all this bitterness reminds me of someone…that’s right. Breezepelt. Breezepelt transcends asshole-ness into being, well, evil. He agrees with all the Dark Forest ideals, literally tries to murder Jayfeather and a pregnant Poppyfrost, just because Crowfeather fucked Leafpool. He fought with the Dark Forest and shows no remorse, or regret. Breezepelt shares an interesting relationship with both Lionblaze and Jayfeather, and considering how in a way, he parallels Jay, I thought the two of them being raised as brothers would be very interesting. However, because I’m not fucking ableist, our dear Jayman becomes a warrior. Kind of irrelevant but shhh.

Lionblaze being in ThunderClan has some potential, for sure. He’s very…dull in canon, in contrast with his siblings. He’s a cardboard cutout ThunderClan warrior, a walking stereotype. Keeping him in ThunderClan just makes logical sense. In one of his few moments of characterisation, he expresses the difficulty of being Brambleclaw’s son to Stormfur, which I think will be interesting to work with, especially since in this rewrite, Firestar has died and Bramblestar is leader. I don’t want to go too far into their actual character arcs and personalities and such in this post, but, Lionblaze deals with a lot of angst. His power actually has repercussions, and he’s terrified of loosing control and hurting someone. (*side-eyes that whole Heathertail drama*) He’s in a Clan that are supposed to be the noble heroes, his bloodline is full of highly respected warriors who are regarded as heroes, and he sees himself as kind of a monster. See the angst potential? (I promise it won’t turn out as a mary-sue, edgy angst.)

Hollyleaf being in ShadowClan was tough. Part of me wanted to out her in RiverClan with her girlfriend Willowshine, part of me wanted to put her in WindClan with Crowfeather (a popular au that I am so here for) but ShadowClan! Hollyleaf just has so much potential. The kiddo is very morally grey, she’s very ambitious, and has a very unhealthy obsession with the Warrior code. ShadowClan will absolutely harbour that. ShadowClan’s ideals are pretty questionable themselves, ambition is common (we need some healthy ambition in here!) and ShadowClan have strayed from the Code so many times, they need a leader who can really keep them on track. Spoilers but, come on. We were all expecting some good old Hollystar.

Dovewing got RiverClan because it was the leftovers. Not the best reasoning, but hey. I can work with this. RiverClan doesn’t have all that much of an effect on Dovewing’s character. She’s a medicine cat, and she just doesn’t feel like she belongs in RC. I absolutely love Dovewing, and I wish she’d been written differently. Guess I get to write her the way I wish she was written!

This really doesn’t explain much about the au, in fact there’s little I can say without giving away the whole plot, but I’ll probably do that anyway. The more interesting stuff will come under my next post about all of this - characterisation!