#i did like ivypool a lot tho

[rookflower]

you see, i don't hate ivypool, but i also think dovewing should be legally allowed to kill her if she ever wants to at this point because come on

[koras-human-warriors]

Fire family redesigns, arcs 1-4! (I don't have the strength for after that)

design notes under cut!

Jake is just your typical ginger white guy. He is probably of Irish descent and has insane levels of rizz and strong genes that are still present generations later. He gives his pink bow to Tallstar to toe his hair and never takes it back

Firestar is just a more muscular version of his dad (not shown since this is just a bust shot). However, he is still smaller than most leaders. His lander rodes help him look bigger

Took the controversial decision not to make Scourge a devientart oc. Hope yall can forgive me 😔. He is a grown man. Since the outsider villages are pretty much just 1800s British people, he has the typical style of that period. However, the difference is his nacklace covered in the teeth of his victims (and one from an old dog he killed as a kid and lied saying it was a dragon). He also wears Frsdy Kruger-esque knife gloves

Princess is pretty much just gender swapped Firestar, has a rounder face. She doesn't have a good family life in this au, which is why she sent Cloudtail away. Fun fact: this also makes Cloudtail's full name Cloudtail Mcleod

Squirrelfight gets a lot of Firestar's looks! Her hair is curly thanks to Sandstorm's genes. Wears a necklace that represents the three

Leafpool didn't get the ginger gene, but she did get the good looks that charms everyone she is not supposed to date. She is not wearing her ceremonial clothes here. As a medincine person, she has tattoos, but they are under her clothes

Whitewing gets her papa's white hair but Brightheart's skin tone. Her hairband resembles Marigolds, which Brightheart used to grow outside her house in the old forest.

When designing Cloudtail, it is HAD to make him look handsome but also like a smug asshole. Hope I did well. Obvious fur collar resembling cloud. Got his eye scar from a stupid childhood accident and gave Firestar a heart attack.

You know what is funny? Making it to where SOMEHOW Squirrelfight manages to get the whole clan think the Three- all of which having Asian features - are the offspring of her Irish ass and Brambleclaw. Thunderclan is either stupid or, for once, good at minding their own business.

Hollyleaf got hit HARD by Windclan genes. A female version of Crowfeather. Got the freckles, tho. While staying in the tunnels, she chops her hair off and loses a ton of weight.

Jayfeather also got hit hard by the Windclan genes but also got some stuff from Crowfeather's mom. He wears the obvious Jay feather (given as a gift from Sandstorm when he was little) as well as a fake Briar flower (made of paper on a rainy day while she was keeping him company). Has tattoos because he is a medical person.

Lionblaze just barely got any Windclan genes, mostly getting left over traits from Sandstorm. Originally, I had him being more Thor-like, but I decided to lean away from that. He is taller and buffer than most of his family but can not grow facial hair well. He hates it. (Update: he is a spitting image of Deadfoot now, just blonde)

Tried to give Dovewing a rounder, fuller face than everyone else to show her being a bit heavier built. Don't know if it shows, tho. Gave her cool Grey's and dove colors and a feathered shall- made from the hide of the first monster she killed solo- a griffin. Her ribbon was given to her by Tigerheart, and she thinks she is being subtle about it.

As a Sapphic ace, I decided Ivypool deserves butch rights. Her face scars were caused by training in the dark forest. For a while, she had a black star tattoo marking her as a trainee, but she burned it off herself (Jayfeather got very angry she would, so such a stupid thing)

[wormwiggle]

gonna do the warriors 20 questions thing just for fun woohoo!!! I did it a long time ago but my opinions have changed a lot since then and new blorbos have been gained

1. seri pixel biologist who i was really into as a kid did a sims 4 warrior cats challenge and thats how I first learned abt the existence of the books. when I looked it up I was super confused on who everyone was but it was still really interesting to me. eventually my school went on a field trip to the library where I picked up the first book of OOTS. I was confused asf cuz that was a horrible place to start reading but then I learned that it was the 1st book of the FOURTH arc. and I set out to find a guidebook and the first book of the first arc. the rest is history,,,

2. probably AVOS or TBC . or just the first one. I havent read the 2nd or 3rd arcs but I love the family drama that comes from them

3. lost stars

4. super edition is crowfeathers trail or crookedstars promise. I like way too many of the novellas to choose a favorite but pinestars choice and goosefeathers curse are up there. manga is a shadow in riverclan

5. shadowclan in AVOS

6. again I have way too many but briarlight, dovewing, longtail, brightheart, feathertail, and shadowsight hold a special place in my heart

7. thistleclaw

8. moonpaw

9. crookedstar, tallstar, or pinestar

10. darktail

11. shadowsight . mothwing got knocked out bc of her treatment of him im afraid. jayfeather is an honorable mention

12. ivypool

13. shockingly brokenstar? I feel like people don't appreciate kit to warrior him he was very interesting to me

14. snowfur is kinda like goldenflower jr to me

15. idgaf if they have to be canon moonpaw x the moonpool . objectum yuri has me acting unwise

16. squirrelflight and bramblestar. also sunbeam and nightheart sorry not sorry

17. jayfeather and briarlight I used to ship them tho

18. the ending of OOTS till this day I feel like that was the perfect ending to warrior cats and was so beautifully written but then they kept making more books

honorable mention is when violetpaw walked into that guy trying to kill darktail , and he went to kill her, and then darktail killed him, and needletail was shook as fuck after. I was staring at the book in horror for a min

19. briarlight was unnecessary and was one of the few deaths that made me cry

20. it wasn't really a fight scene but when violetpaw and twigpaw had to fight I was like damn

[lexysstorm]

Live thoughts while reading Thunder:

- why did frostpaw just use the word hours?

- please gay frostwhistle please

- goosegrass? I think thats a new one.

- AAAAAA i just want to read frostpaw pov shes the only one im interested in but ill give the others a shot

- LILYHEARTTTT queen

- if squif doesnt become leader i will be very unhappy

- OMG IVYPOOL DEPUTY????

- ok but why is night going with them i dont see a point

- i really really really hate the decision to pair sun with night it doesnt feel earned. Just let sun be in shadow its so much more interesting there

- ok sunbeam show me whatcha got

- stop being stinky lionblaze

- BAHAHHA BERRYHEART????

- ok she kinda right tho- does look kinda desperate sun im sorry girl you dont need no man

- ok i like spark and finch WOOO

- really love how berryheart trespassed just to whine at sun for leaving

- FROSTPAWWWW

- i dont remember smoky being this nice but ok

- FROSTPAW KIDNAPPED BY PEOPLE???

- FINALLY someone brings tree up in all this

- thats a HILARIOUS trial idea actually

- THE KIT SWEARING LMAOO

- finchsun please

- i think its kinda dumb that riverstar is here ngl- then again i didn't read his super edition

- OH MY GOD SHE GOT SPAYED?? IM

- theres goes my frostwhistle😭😭😭

- another traveling book im

- LMAOOOO NIGHTHEART IS SUCH A BAD CAT???? Hes going for fame😭😭😭😭BROOO

- oh my GODDDDD sunbeam girlie PLEASEEEEEE LEAVE HIS ASS AFTER THIS IM BEGGING

- OH MY GOD SQUIRRELSTAR????? HOLY FUCK

- STOP BEING A BITCH LIGHTLEAP

- i am actually very interested to see what tree comes up with for a solution

- what if frostpaw brings a cat back from the forest territories to be riverclans leader wouldnt that be STUPID

- OTTER MOMENT

- usual nightheart L

- ok i have a pool and a cat that goes outside and the pool cover does NOT bend under her weight💀💀💀theyre made to support a humans weight just in case (i think, dont try that)

- yeah frost is kind of carrying you night step up ur game

- dovewing ur right to be defensive queen- kind of shitty of ivy to be kind of trying to use her like that even if i do like ivy,,,

- omg "im not letting you manipulate me into manipulating him!" PERIOD QUEEN

- berryhearttttttt whatre you planninggggg

- cherry fall is right just give it a lil shove- im sure they could aim the rock to not hit a den

- i bet the black cat that refused to eat with the park cats will be rcs next leader but that's a crack theory

- meditating cats

- ok well. Why cant she just. Learn everything she needs to abt meditation real quick then go back to rc

- WERENT YOU SHADOWCLAN LAST WEEK HAHAHAHAH FROSTPAW

- YOURE NOT GOING TO SHOW US HOW SHE REALIZED??????????? HELLO?????

- oh nevermind okay

- "ive always known" SUREEEE unless im forgetting something from previous books, you didnt suspect a THING frost

- ok so her name is rook, ill remember that

- wait. Waffle. Waffle that won the contest? WAFFLEPAW????

- Worse than you imagined??? what does THAT mean

- READY AS ILL EVER BE

- cherrfall sus

- Cherryfall?????

- OH MY GOD QUEEN SHIT SUNBEAM HOLY SHIT

- sunbeam u really need to tell someone what youve seen and heard istg

- wow the big reveal nobody saw coming. HEY i DO like the idea though! Frost getting manipulated by her mother and a cat she loved is pretty fun to read, more interesting than nightheart. Even sunbeams pov has been pretty fun. Honestly if night didnt have a pov/wasnt a main character i would love this arc a lot more! And if sun didnt switch clans smh MAKE HER GAY HUNTERS

- ok well. Frostpaw. Dont. Do it. In rc camp??? Do it at a gathering- so EVERYONE knows

- oh my god is she actually gonna do that?? Lets go????

- oh my GOD NO WAY ARE THEY GOING TO VOTE HIM OUT??? TIGERSTAR II IMPEACHMENT????????

- wait dont the medcats have to be w the impeachment squad or am i misremembering

- ok good someone brought it up, but there should be a rule that if the medcat is closely related to leader they should be excused bc of conflict of interest right?

- YESSSS PUDDLESHINE

- uhuh SUREEEEE podlight

- NONONONONONONONONONONONONO

- THATS IT?????? BRUHHHH

[acatwithmanyfandoms]

I made my warrior cat oc with THIS picrew! Riverclan at heart tho... I ran out of tags bc I was lost in the memories

[indrawzcord]

warrior cat designs/remakes (pt1)

u can use any of them with credit

Designs here are:

Firestar | Mapleshade | Darktail | Dovewing | Sasha | Hawkfrost | Scourge | Sleekwhisker | Ivypool | Blackstar | Ashfur | Bumblestripe | Crowfeather | Cloudtail  | Ashfoot | Deadfoot | Swiftpaw | Redtail | Cinderpelt | Longtail (20 designs in this post! 20 so far)

based off of my old Firestar designs (i will post old designs separately). Made colors more soft! changed the pattern on head and removed the lighter underbelly.

didn’t change much from the previous design, i just really liked the old one. I did fix the stripes

found the old one ugly a bit all over the place (i rushed the old designs) so i decided to fix that. Made him a Siamese since that’s how i imagined him at first.

made the colors softer and work well together. stub tail.

The colors were too bright for my liking so i changed that. Her fur is more od a grayish purple since i found it pretty

the colors were too bright and didn’t flow well (it wasn’t my favorite design when i first made the old one) so i fixed it, giving him colors that flow well and his frosty eyes.

This is a design i didn’t have a design for previously. I originally was gonna make him half white and half black/dark grey but i just didn’t know how to do that and make it look good so i did this. his design is symmetrical except for what is shown that isn’t symmetrical

i liked the old design i made for her but i changed a bit made her fur a little less curly and made the colors softer

also really liked the old design but i just changed the face marking a little and the design on the back changed a bit. I was a huge fan of (Used to say Sagutoyas but uh after what she did nah man) so the design is inspired by her Ivypool’s design.

the old design was super rushed and ugly and i didn’t like it when i made it, probably my least favorite of the old designs. I also completely forgot what Blackstar looked like when i made it so i came up with this.

funky fire lad. 

i find him and Ashfur uncannonly similar so i made their designs similar

floofy boy! he’s my favorite. Has design aspects from his parents.

i was not about to make a cat one full color and add no other colors, i just don’t like that. (i don’t like when a character has only one color on the fur to work with, it feels bland an boring so i try to avoid that). I was going to make some grey markings but my brain told me to do this instead

Crow mama. Made her foot kinda bubbly/ashy. ovalish eyes (i started focusing on eye shapes after i made this one.

love him. I know his foot is twisted but I thought his foot was just injured badly when i first read the books and its gonna stay that way

Idk, just winged it and i like it a lot! this is definitely at top 5 designs i liked the outcome of. His color sceme is also similar to Cloudtail for some reason?  just wanted to do that. eyes are a bit pointy.

Stumpy tail! I hope his design is animation friendly enough. eyes point at the top.

BABEYYY! i messed up when i was coloring the lines but i already merged the layers so oh well

I think this is the most complex design i made but i noticed that a lot of Longtail designs are complex. Hope this is still animation friendly tho

-

and that’s it

[everybody-loves-purdy]

I'm really nervous about the new series. I feel that, inevitably, it will fall back into the same patterns we've been complaining about for years. No hate to the Broken Code but I couldn't even bring myself to read one book because I was so frustrated with that contrived Ashfur plot (tho there are some genuinely cool/creepy scenes in that arc). Like with choosing Flamepaw as a protagonist- I literally don't care about him. It's hard to care when everyone is related to Firestar now and everyone feels the weight of his legacy- he's literally Special McSpecial, protagonist extraordinaire. I don't want more poorly done romances and young couples who have kits way too soon. I want something different. TBC was trying to be different but it made a lot of the same mistakes. I think that so long as greed rules the series, change will not come easily. Also the authors are middle aged women (mostly) and their views of society is probably really outdated. Their idea of empowering is having Ivypool be a cool spy and Mapleshade be an absolute evil queen, when in reality Ivy became a generic background cat after she got a mate and had kits and Maple's life just kinda revolves around a man. Didn't they say that they don't want any female villains apart from Mapleshade for whatever reason? Real nice. Sorry for the negativity, I'm just frustrated.

(Also did you get the very long Bumblestripe AU ask? If not I'll resend it, thanks.)

To start off about the Bumblestripe ask, if I haven’t posted it then I didn’t get it sorry, I’ll definitely answer it if you resend - sorry about that, tumblr just doing what it does best I guess

And onto your ask here

And yeah I agree with most of what you say here, although obviously I actually read TBC lol, and I am intrigued about Flamepaw, but I do feel atm he might be the weakest protagonist next arc

And yeah it’s hard to feel positive about the future of these books at times, especially with all the recent controversies surrounding domestic abuse, misogyny, and ableism with these books. I still remain hopeful things can change however, but I don’t think anything drastic will happen soon

Although I am pretty excited about these new books, but unfortunately it’s been a trend recently when we get a spectacular first half of an arc then an ok to bad second half, I really hope that trend changes

[antpelts]

multiples of 1 for the wc asks :]

;;;; jgfdlkgjdl puts this under a cut bc itll be so long but,, ty

1. what color is scourge’s collar?

i think like.. idk i never really cared too much but my brain always went to red or purple i wasnt picky tho fkgkdfklgj

2. top 5 the prophecies begin characters

oh.. okay like.. im not gonna go thru everything otherwise i probably wouldnt be able to pick but! these also arent in order

1. bluestar absolutely.. god i love her sm;; ive already rambled about her to you but she makes me fucking ache sm 2. brackenfur/thornclaw gonna put these boys together here because like i liked both of them for.. almost no reason? FDGDFGDF idk!! i think i liked thornclaw just a bit more but.. my boys!! 3. cinderpelt ... no explanation required <3 no just.. yeah ;_; i cry over her so much just.. like.. the tragedy to like her accepting and loving herself and becoming an amazing med cat and and ;;;;;;;;; i love her 4. tallstar and crookedstar..... leaders of my two fav clans.... need i say more <3 (ive also told you about these two and why i like them ;; both their books made me cry) 5. barley and ravenpaw ...... yeah ;_; <3

special mention for littlecloud and runningnose.. i loved them-- OKAY I NEED TO STOP IM AT WAY MORE THAN FIVE

3. should hollyleaf have had a power?

i say no!! the fucking.. tragedy of it all.. like its been a while since i read but fuck dude the like.. feelings of uselessness that must come with that but like shes a fucking complete cat either way and when she comes back and fucking sAVES IVYPOOL OH IM MAKING MYSELF TEAR UP shes AMAZING and did not need a power

4. millie or silverstream?

both! ;_; they dont need to fight. tho i think i did like silverstream more at first i dont think i ever hated millie like others

5. favorite forbidden romance

oh god lmao gonna only go with canon stuff [side eyes moth/leaf] buttttttt i mean ;; bluestar and oakheart ;; itll always make me ache yknow.. -- WAIT CAN I ADD CLOUDTAIL AND BRIGHTHEART TO FAV CATS TOO ILL CRY OVER THEM SOBS... -- uhhhhhh i never super liked leaf/crow just.. shrugs. ig it wasnt forbidden but stormfur staying with the tribe for brooke.. ;;;;;;; and to stay where feathertail died.. GOD ;_; yeah.. idk does tall/jake count ;;;

6. favorite sss warriors design

tbh i didnt really watch sss warriors but we love a nice just.. orange boy firestar :3

7. realistic or sparkle designs for roleplay?

its about balance........ ive had both! i liked leaning towards realistic but to this day id say i fall between like.. not realistic wrt genetics but making designs that Seem plausible at least

8. first deviantart username

oh god i dont remember prolly something like.. with mossmask in it

9. favorite crack ship (ex. revengeshipping)

it.. Was revenge shipping but like i never knew the crack ships klfgjkfdlgj :sob: yeah tgat was the only one i like ever saw so

10. describe your first warriors oc

technically.. jaymoss who i dont remember much? gray tabby? very quickly was revamped into/replaced by mossmask who to this day is who i consider my first oc and sona.. theyre a calico :3

11. favorite amv prior to 2014?

oh god ill have to look.. hm okay so.. bones shatter was a fucking CLASSIC i loved it okay.. so off the top of my head here we go.. the one firegray one of course and bonus this firegray one too klfdgjdklfg AND I LOVED THIS ONE FUCKING ASHFUR FAIRYTALE i wanted to have art like that for a few months i tried to emulate it lkjgldkfgj and god i loved duckfeatherz stuff.. the why did you change one... AND THE SWIFT AND BRIGHT ONE FDGJDFLGK FUCKING [SCREAMING CAT] GOD I LOVED IT.. ;;;;; fuckin.. god.. they ..... ;; [IM WATCHING IT RN FUCKING THEY AND NOSTALGIA ILL CRY] okay okay fucking of course obligatory [what if ashfur wanted to break] of course god 9 year old me loved it.. kfdjgkdfg OH AND THIS ONE BROUGHT BACK SO MANY MEMORIES IMMEDIATELY.. SCOURGES FLAWED DESIGN YES KDLSFJSDKL and god.. ashfurs hurt.. i watched this so much the voice acting in amvs god yes... I STILL THINK OF THIS SONG AT RANDOM EVEN THO I NEVER LISTENED TO IT OUTSIDE OF THIS VIDEO!!!! THE FUCKING LKJFLKFJGDLKG !!!!!!! AHHHHHH fucKING AHH [HELP ME HELP YOU] [IT HURTS WHEN UR LONELY AND IM STANDING RIGHT BESIDE YOU AND IT HURT WHEN YOU TOLD M--] [ITS JUST A MATTER OF HOW MUCH U LET IT SLIDE!!!!!!!!] [HOPE U NEVER HURT HOPE YA NEVER CR--] GHFGHFG GOD ;;;; like i hate ashfur being a bitch but i loveddddd this amv :sob: also.. leafpool is sober of crowfeather i ;;; this song gets me to this day also i viscerally remember the voice acting god kljfg i loved this one so much.. i still think of tigerclaw is not one of thunderclan sometimes too klfjgdfg and,, okay

i hate to pick a favorite but i feel like this one changed the trajectory of Me...... like ive always loved the song but this amv cemented it as like one of my songs of all time and i loved the designs and video and... literally i love this one so.... of course... ashfur - mr brightside.. my fucking BELOVED

12. is brambleclaw a good main character?

i read the books like so young i hear he got shittier? like.. i liked him when i was like.. 10-13 reading the books i liked all the journey cats tbh so

13. rank the clans (excluding skyclan, including bloodclan)

windlcan/riverclan shadowclan thunderclan bloodclan

in my opinion <3

14. dovewing or ivypool?

i like.. liked ivypool a lot.. maybe related to her <3 but.. i like them both a lot up to where i read at Least

15. daisy: yay or nay?

i liked her!

16. did you ever use fanart as your pc wallpaper?

yes. including my own <3

17. what would your warrior name be and what clan would you belong to?

mossmask <3 of course <3 [rolling eyes] half clan river and windclan kljgdfklgj yeah.. could never pick.. honestly i mean.. shadowclan grew on me recently but in my mind.. mixed clan and it goes between whether moss would be wind or river

18. favorite medicine cat? (cutoff being oots)

ughhhh idk i liked a lot of em ;; runningnose cinderpelt brambleberry yellowfang.... thats without looking it up so <3

19. did you name/want to name a pet after a character?

i wanted to! never did.. still might name a cat moss in honor of mossmask

20. swiftpaw, gorsepaw, or shrewpaw?

swiftpaw.. like i dont remember the other two as much in my mind and swiftpaw really got to me as a kid ;;

[puppypaw-wc]

Please... wtf is happening to Warriors rn?

okay so basically tbc starts with the moonpool being frozen over so the clans can’t contact starclan. shadowpaw (dovewing’s son) starts getting messages from “starclan”, however, especially after bramblestar gets very sick. oh and also rootpaw (violeshine’s son) and bristlepaw (ivypool’s daughter) exist.

his messages say that in order to help bramblestar recover, they need to like. bury him in snow or some shit? idr. so they do that but he dies and everyone blames shadowpaw.

but at his vigil he wakes up and everyone just accepts this i guess? but then, back in skyclan, where tree wants to leave alongside violetshine, needlepaw and rootpaw, rootpaw sees bramblestar’s ghost and is scared (rightfully).

so next book, shadowpaw gets his full name of shadowsight and rootpaw tries to help bramblestar’s ghost. meanwhile in thunderclan, bramblefake’s trying to outroot codebreakers. sparkpelt speaks out against him and gets exiled for a day and has to find some herbs and gets attacked in twolegplace. anyways by the end of that book squilf’s exiled and goes to shadowclan and rootpaw shows bramblestar’s ghost to her before the ghost vanishes cuz his powers aren’t strong enough or smth. oh and did i mention berrynose was deputy while squilf was exiled, at least for the first bit? yeah. anyways, while on the way to the moonpool so they can show the medicine cats bramble’s ghost, shadowsight gets attacked and rootpaw’s sad (his reaction’s probably roughly “oh noooo my boyfriend :ccc”) but he and tree still go to the moonpool and show them bramble’s ghost but bramble’s ghost then disappears. for the entirety of the book. oh and did i mention that silent thaw ends with shadow getting attacked and we had to wait several months for the aftermath of that? cuz it was dumb.

anyways, rootpaw ends up getting his warrior name of rootspring after training under frecklewish and fidgetflake for a bit because of his ability to see ghosts but he’s not good at it so he becomes a warrior again. needlepaw also gets her warrior name of needleclaw. uh, rootspring, skyclan’s medicine cats, violetshine and tree try to perform some weird summoning ritual the sisters (tree’s former group) did to see ghosts in an attempt to get bramble’s ghost back? it doesn’t work but rootspring soon ends up seeing spiresight’s ghost who guides him to shadowsight’s body. also, this whole entire book we got povs of shadowsight having ghost adventures and he sees bramblefake’s spirit... all we know about him at this point in time is that he has blue eyes and came back for squilf. it’s already pretty obvious who he is.

shadowsight gets brought back but he does dumb shit and basically kills himself so he can go to the dark forest, where he sees bramblestar’s ghost trapped. he doesn’t try to help him though and just fucks off cuz of puddleshine helping him or smth.

ANYWAYS the book ends with a battle against the impostor where lots of cats die. berrynose is eviscerated killed by tawnypelt, rosepetal dies somehow, stemleaf (blossomfall’s son) died earlier in the book after a failed attack on the impostor, uh. other cats die. i’m mostly just sad about berrynose tho. :/

the exiled cats go back to their clans and bramblefake is kept in shadowclan as prisoner and at a gathering, squilf reveals that she thinks he’s ashfur. as if we didn’t guess during veil of shadows. thank you darkness within. also darkness within consistently spells “ThunderClan” as “Thunderclan” and i don’t know why because the other clan names are capitalized right, it’s JUST thunderclan’s.

um i didn’t read very much of darkness within but shadowsight abuse won’t stop mothwing please. also at the end of the book squilf gets dragged to the dark forest through the moonpool by ashfur and this happened like right around the supernatural finale stuff so the fandom’s just started joking that she was dragged to superhell.

uh yeah. place of no stars is coming out soon and the shadowsight abuse doesn’t stop it seems.

[raggydraws]

Crow fam headcanons (Crow, Night, and Breeze), please? Personally, I believe Crow loved Nightcloud but never showed it because he was afraid to love again because it only ever gets people hurt

Hewwo! Sorry this took so long, been real busy and also this is one heck of controversial family so I wanted to be careful with what I said. But I hope you enjoy!

I swear to the Erins that somewhere in a Field Guide Rock said that out of all his mates Nightcloud was the one meant to pad alongside him the longest. Now that probably meant that she wasn't going to die?? Or that she was going to remain his mate for a long time but my baby brain always thought it was because she was the one Crowfeather was going to love the most.

But I love it when people end relationships amicably and even though it took awhile for Night and Crow to become friends again I'm real glad they did.

Also this is gonna be really long (cause I both and hate this family) and probably needs a Trigger Warning for death mentions.

Imma do some individual headcanons for them and then the family together!

Nightcloud

Nightcloud is one of many Windclan cats who showed up out of nowhere during Mudclaw's coup, but I like to imagine she been there the whole time. Nightcloud is the niece of Barely, daughter of either Jump or Hoot, and was brought to the clan by her mother. She was promptly adopted by Tornear, a kind tom who was also the brother of the deputy Mudclaw. She was raised exclusively by her adopted father and uncle, but while the deputy and his brother loved and accepted her without hesitation, the rest of the clan was very weary. Nightcloud grew up feeling a little isolated from the clan and thus grew a thick skin and quick wit to defend herself with. After Mudclaw's death she was ostracized even more for following his coup, only being welcomed by her Father, her former mentor Ashfoot and her childhood rival Crowfeather.

Nightcloud had pretty bad anxiety after Crowpaw left on his journey, it left her feeling very alone and out of control, she started taking cues from her uncle Mudclaw to feel more in control of her life and emotions. After he dies she's left feeling out of control and

She was named Nightcloud for her fluffy fur and her usually calm personality, she likes her name but feels like it doesn't her very well.

Crowfeather

Crowfeather was born one to two-ish months after the battle with Bloodclan to his still living mother Ashfoot and his deceased father Deadfoot. Crowkit was born with two siblings, a sister with black fur whom he doesn't remember very well, and a sister who resembled his mother. Unfortunately his sisters passed away and left Crowkit, the runt of his litter, by himself. Almost all of Windclan merged on the nursery not long after to give their condolences to the high ranked queen, which only served to stress out both Ashfoot and Crowkit. Ashfoot basically put a ban on the nursery after that and keep Crowkit by her side at all times, she could see her own anxiety growing in him and didn't want him to be uncomfortable. Thus Crowkit was never properly socialized, something Ashfoot tried to remedy by introducing him to her friend's kitten, Nightkit. This lead to the childhood rivalry and uh 'friendship' between Nightcloud and Crowfeather, they pushed each to be better and shares their hopes of being welcomed by the clan. While Crowpaw was considered very reputable due to his mother's own reputation, his poor attitude and lack of social skills made him very unliked, even his mentor grew frustrated with him and spent little time teaching him to understand or control his emotions.

I also like to think that if he hadn't asked to be named after Feathertail, Tallstar would've called him Crowhop after his father's original name!

Breezepelt

Breezepelt was born 3 to 4 months after The Three, very weak and sickly to Nightcloud and Crowfeather. He doesn't really remember much from his childhood as he slept a lot and spent a lot of time in the nursery. What few he has are of his father, the two quietly sitting in the sunlight away from any loud noises. He's fond of those memories but it hurts to think about them sometimes.

I remember reading, like a prologue or something, of Breezekit seeing sunlight coming through a hole somewhere and thinking about how much he loved the color. Than Nightcloud found him and commented on how she hoped his eyes would stay the kitten blue color they were, while Breezekit hoped they'd be the color of the sun. So! Breezepelt loves to sunbathe and definitely has rusting on his stomach. It's the only time anyone would see the usually angry, resting b*tch faced tom relaxed and happy. Yellow in general is the fastest way to calm him down and to get on his good side. He hated the Dark Forest, the darkness made him feel trapped and amplified his negative emotions, he was there of his violation of course but a little voice in his head would always reminds him that he belonged in the sunlight.

I have somewhat thought of a better redemption arc for Breezepelt, at least a skeleton for one, but it involves his first 'mission' for the Dark Forest. When he goes to kill Jayfeather at the moonpool he wasn't expecting the heavily pregnant Poppyfrost to be there, he expects Brokenstar to call it off (he wants to believe that Brokenstar wouldn't make him attack a queen) but all he says is to not leave any witnesses. Afterwards when Honeyfern kicks his ass he's a bit shaken, he knows the Dark Forest isn't full of great cats but, his delusions of finally regaining his father's attention had clouded his judgement. As more and more cats start to join the Dark Forest the more he realizes that he isn't alone in the way he feels.

Antpelt, a friend of his, joined hoping his newfound strength would impress the cat he liked.

Harespring, the son of his leader, is even there because his own father ignored him too.

Hollowflight, a Riverclan cat he comes to respect, is bullied and ridiculed for his heritage.

Even Ivypool of Thunderclan is there for the attention and validation she so desperately wants from her own clanmates.

Cue Dark Forest therapy sessions. Cue the very awkward friendships of Ivypool, Hollowflight, Antpelt and, Breezepelt. Ivypool and Breezepelt bond over neglect and maybe Ivypool (after she realizes she can find happiness with herself) convinces Breezepelt that maybe he didn't need his father's attention to be happy. He had a mother who loved him, a clan that respected him "and hey, you've got us too, right?"

Alright now all family headcanons are post Crowfeather's trial cause I'm not touching OoTs.

Breezepelt and Crowfeather don't spend much time with each other. They're still very awkward with each other but they bond over watching Breezepelt's kits together. Sunbathing is their favorite pastime.

Nightcloud and Crowfeather are just friends, they do kind of rekindle their friendly appreticehood rivalry tho. Whenever hunting is good and over hunting won't hurt anything they compete to see who can bring the most rabbits back. Breezepelt joins them sometimes and gets praised quite a bit for smoking them both.

Brindlewing and Smokehaze know all of the New Prophecy Gang stories, ones Breezepelt never got to hear. Cue Crowfeather being surrounded by his grandkids and son listening to his horrible Squirrelflight impression from when she was stuck in the fence.

Breezepelt usually has the say for if he wants Crowfeather to be around for family things, when Heathertail got pregnant the first time he was real nervous and didn't want his father around her. Crowfeather understood and kept his distance. Second litter Breezepelt let him visit right after they were born and the two babies cried about how cute they were.

Family therapy with Kestrelflight. Just, someone telling Nightcloud she was reacting reasonably to a very bad situation. Crowfeather's issues with connecting with people and lashing out when he can't be with someone or to keep them away. Breezepelt being told that while his parents issues did influence his own he is still responsible for his actions as a grown ass adult and that it's up to him to break the cycle he was unfairly stuck in.

Breezepelt will probably take the moonpool incident to his grave. Tbh he may of thought of naming one of his daughters after Poppyfrost to somehow atone for it but chicken out.

Nightcloud adores that most of her family are girls now. She and all her granddaughters (Plus Heathertail) can and will chase the two Toms down and sit on them.

Nightcloud gets a girlfriend and excitedly tells Crowfeather about it. Crowfeather gets a boyfriend and excitedly tells Nightcloud about it. Breezepelt gets a new stepmom and stepdad and gets double the amount of parental validation he's been chasing after his entire life.

[need1etail]

How is is it that made you've made me want to cry for Twigpaw in the latest chapter? 😭 In the books, I found her annoying for the most part. I think it's because you've touched on her relationship with her adopted family, and how she still struggles to see they love her, even when they actively show they do. In the books, she doesn't seem to give two fucks about them, unless they can do something for her. It bugs me how the Erins shit on adopted family so much. In your AU, though, she hangs out with them (esp. her siblings!! I love all the lil conversations. That interaction between her and Snowbush before the meeting was ... *chef's kiss*) and stuff, so they're closer. Even so, you really highlight how much she loves them, despite how she feels this desperate need for more, and to have that connection with her blood related family. I think it will make it even more potent later if (and I hope you go canon's route, since that's the part where I began to like her a lot) you still decide to have her go to SkyClan for a while, then she realizes her heart truly lays in ThunderClan, and what she was looking for was there.

Btw, I'm seeing those GoldenDove signs, and fam, you got me WORRIED lol! I mean, Goldenheart is still clearly pining for Dovewing, while she obviously only has eyes for Briarlight now, but I get the sense that she wants kits? Judging by the conversation that happened in the medicine cat den, when they were talking about Ivypool and her mates deciding to hold off on a litter? Is Dovewing going to ask Briarlight if perhaps Goldenheart can be a donor so they can have kits? ...But then there's that whole "he still loves her thing" that can make that a big Yikes(tm) moment, for the drama. I wonder how Briarlight would feel about that, if she discovers Goldenheart still loves Dovewing. I detest TigerDove (it just feels so manipulative and yucky during OOTS and his super edition) in canon, so I'll be interested in how this pans out, seeing as how she's so devoted to Briarlight here!! I trust you'll make it ace and less gross than canon did 😌 I'm very hyped so sorry for the rambles! Haha

-------

AAAA I love reading your ramblings don't worry haha. Thank you so much for this lodnshdhbs I hate Twigbranch in canon tbh 😂 she's annoying and selfish and wants everything to go her way and everyone just? Lets her be that way? It's weird. I'm glad you liked the Snowbush scene I absolutely adored it as well. Snowbush and Lilyheart deserved better.

As for Golden and Dove their relationship is going to be. Weird throughout this whole rewrite. There's going to be unresolved feelings between the two of them and they're going to make mistakes, but I will say their relationship will be much different than it is in canon. I agree that their relationship was really. Ehh. Borderline abusive I suppose? Not horrible but Tigerheart was always so pushy and wanted Dovewing to do what he wanted. It was annoying. Briarlight and Dovewing will be okay in the end tho, that's all I'll say.

Anyway long story short thank you for your rambles 💓 You're so sweet I hope you like where everything goes.

[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

[matoitech]

😻😼😾 for ask game?

😻 - favorite cats? 

ivypool has always been one of my faves!! i dont think i used to like hollyleaf much but she’s become one of my all time favorites as well. brightheart, tawnypelt, sandstorm, leafstar, tallstar. firestar of course, i miss him and wish he was still alive, i trusted him a lot more than bramblestar. foxleap and icecloud for some reason have been my fave bg characters i was so sad when they died. theres so many wc characters i love a lot lol id write a big list and still forget some. these are my main faves tho i think. 

😼 - problematic fave?

hmm i guess it would be bluestar bc a lot of ppl seem to hate her for some reason.. she made a lot of bad decisions but i think shes one of the only wc characters who actually has a lot of depth. even when you dont agree with her you can still see why she reacted to something the way she did. shes been one of my favorite characters since i was a kid 

or mapleshade, problematic cuz shes a villain, but i always liked her. she has more interesting motivations than most wc villains lol. i havent read her novella in a long time but i remember being rly pissed on her behalf. she did some bad shit but her being sent to cat hell while the cats who were basically responsible for the death of her kits.. werent sent to cat hell?? doesnt make a lot of sense. starclans always been unfair abt shit like that. again i havent read the novella for years so my opinion may have changed but i remember liking her. anyway i do like that she just decided to become entirely evil. dedication. manipulating crookedstar was uncool but suitably evil. i understand why people might not like her bc of that specifically tho. 

😾 - unpopular opinions?

hm im not sure.. i only read avos once so my feelings may change about it when i reread, but i didnt like any of the pov characters. it kinda feels the same as the new prophecy to me, everyones vaguely out of character and all the pov characters are frustrating or annoying. i WANTED to like needletail but she felt like squirrelpaw 2.0 to me, maybe ill feel differently when i reread tho cuz ppl say shes a compelling character so maybe i just.. missed that the first time around. idk. luckily tbc has had pov characters i like a LOT more phew.

[sorrelstream]

Ivypool, Hollyleaf, Thitleclaw and Bluestar?? I really want to know your opinion!

((Lets hope my html works on mobile UUUUHHH))

((Also putting in a read more bc i Ramble a Lot so its kinda long!!))

Ivypool

Do I like them?: yes!!!!! I rlly love her a lot shes a good character!!! I only read up to The Last Hope so idk how she is in AVOS and its been Years since i read any wc book (like,,7th or 8th grade SJSKKSKS) but i remember liking her a lot and she was cool in my onion

How I picture them: i imagine she looks a lot like her grandmas, Brightheart and Ferncloud! She has Ferncloud's soft/round features and ivys color palette closely resembles fern+birchs, while she also has the curled ears and short but soft fur brightheart passed on (whitewing actually had cloudtails long fur but dovewing got that skdksks) . Her gray patches also resemble brighthearts !! Her fur was smoother/softer as a kitten but during her training her fur got messier/more ruffled up 

How I would write them: uhhhh make her the lesbian we deserved....or at least if she Had To Be Het i wouldve paired her w bumblestripe (hes her age and not related 2 her) or smthn,,, anyways i heard in AVoS she and her sister are on the rocks or smthn???? Id have them repair their relationship and if dovewing wants to leave thunderclan id have ivy have a convo w her where its like. Ivy tells her she loves her and will miss her bc shes her sister but if leaving thunderclan will make dovewing happy than she supports her! Ivy and Dove have been through a lot i wish they like actually talked through their problems :"( 

Unpopular Opinion: i wouldve rather seen ivy stay single and happy on her own like mousefur than see her get paired w her cousin whos half her age . 

Hollyleaf

Do I like them?: YES !!!! ABSOLUTELY!!!! I LOVE HER!! shes one of my long time faves and i love her a lot 

How I picture them: Shes the tallest of three and shes actually the tallest cat in thunderclan (she gets her Height from grandma ashfoot whos got legs for days). Shes solid black and blends into shadows pretty well, as well as very thick heavy fur and oriental cat features (Big Ears and Long Nose nya) 

How I would write them: i would Not kill her off thats for sure !!! I also wouldve made her part of the three (maybe even replacing lionblaze bc honestly his power and arc were. Super boring) . I would have kept her alive and have lionblaze or someone die in her place too; shed be happy w her gf hazeltail

Unpopular Opinion: ppl keep forgetting that hollyleaf didnt know crow and leaf were her parents when she killed ashfur?? She killed him when she thought she was like a rogues kids so i rlly hate the "she killed him to protect a secret she revealed anyways!!!!" Bc theres a Very Severe difference between those two events! Holly was freaked tf out bc she was the result of a romantic affair that literally went against everything she believed in 

Thistleclaw

Do I like them?: not at all. I didnt like him in Bluestars Prophecy and i certainly dont like him now that spottedleafs heart dropped

How I picture them: large, muscular, with ragged and bristling fur; hes a gray classic tabby with a fair amount of white spotting and tufted ears

How I would write them: eh. This is more of a writing issue w spottedleafs heart but i rlly dont like how the erins portrayed him as a villain bc he chose the dark forest over spottedpaw and not bc of how he Literally Preyed on a child. A while ago (before SH happened) i had an au where thistle was blues brother instead of snow being her sister and like he believed the other clans were evil bc they killed moonflower and he swore vengeance on the clans and anyone who was intimate w other clan cats for betraying thunder or smthn i dont rlly like it that much anymore tho) 

Unpopular Opinion: just bc he was nice to his wife doesnt mean he was a good character. In bp he actively sought the harm of kittens and apprentices and i dont. Trust like that. Anyways jskfkek 

Bluestar

Do I like them?: oooohh shes a complicated character!!! I like her but i want 2 acknowledge that she did some. Really fucked up things??? That arent excusable djskf 

How I picture them: oriental shorthair! Shes a blue ticked tabby and i imagine her eyes closer to green than blue sjxjd

How I would write them: ohuhsjdhsj theres a lot. I rlly dont like the lostface situation eh. Also i rlly dont think she had 2 give up her kits to riverclan? She couldve said she was a surrogate for thrushpelt who wanted to raise kits (even if he had no mate) and gave her kits to thrushpelt to adopt+raise while she returned to her duties. I think she was young+didnt feel ready when she had kids and i dont rlly take her as someone who even wanted to be a mother that young

(Also if she rlly had 2 give up her kits i wouldve written it so she gave birth like near sunning rocks or smthn so that oak could just take em right away and she could return 2 thunder camp and say there was only 1 kit and they were stillborn or smthn. Mosskit rlly didnt need 2 die but whatever ksjdksjdks) 

Unpopular Opinion: uUUUHHHH i understand why ppl wouldnt like her but ppl who say shes worse than thistleclaw make me a Bit newvous.... 

[briarsndoves]

welp river of fire is here

and once again the erins disappoint me

it wasn't a bad book? it was just kind of boring to me cause i already knew that tigerheartstar would come back, and the rest of the plot was kinda mehhhh (except jayfeather has Returned with all his lovely Sass and it makes me Happy)

where the hell did violetshine’s weird crush on tree come from???

finleap’s nice for twigbranch tho, at least they’re getting more development than most other couples

A+ for having ivypool and blossomfall raise their kits together, tho it’s SUPER weird that ivypool is raising cinderheart’s grandkits while she’s raising another litter of her own with lionblaze

why the hell would u tease us with tawnystar if that wasn’t what was going to happen?! also there’s no way in hell tawnypelt would still be dealing with rowanclaw’s bullshit. i get that she’s loyal and all but she would take things into her own hands if things got out of control, that just seems to be in her nature

SHADOWSTAR NOT DEALING W ANYONES BS IM GONNA CRY

Needletail is my Queen

why is yellowfang here? she’s a thunderclanner y'all 

why is blackstar here? he created this mess by making rowanstar leader

where are all the good female shadowclan leaders we’ve seen in code of the clans and other field guides???  wouldn't they be a part of this as well?? come on guys stop being lazy that would have been Epic

what is twigBRANCH? i wish we had violetshade and twigshine, violetshine also makes no sense for her character

i know leafstar’s getting a lot of hate but i really loved her in this book, finally another female leader who doesn't take any bullshit,, i wouldve thrown out yarrowleaf and sleekwhisker again if i were her

it’s interesting how harestar is just kinda in a backseat in this series?? like we’ve never had a leader who’s had so little characteristics in any series before, we’ve at least KNOWN SOMETHING about the other leaders before... but here we are with harestar i guess

my favorite moment in this book was when leafpool literally CUT OFF MISTYSTAR in her eagerness to volunteer to see mothwing, like I SEE WHAT UR DOING HERE

crowfeather needs to shut the Fuck Up at gatherings

velvet? who is she

fuzzball was iconic tho, i was kinda hoping he would join the Clan cause he got more development than any of the newer warriors in ThunderClan 

briarlight was THE WRONG CHOICE ERINS WHAT THE FUCK 

i still don't believe that dovewing is going to shadowclan??? like none of this feels real, it’s just so unbelievable that she’d actually care about tigerheartstar THAT MUCH

sparkpelt is one of those people who take opposing opinions just to trigger other people and that’s fine with me, at least she has a personality 

i kind of hope sparkpelt turns into a surprise villain at the end?? like idk how that would work but it would be really cool

[mallowstep]

For the love of god, please consider renaming some cats, I've seen names like

"One-Eye, Halftail, Oddfoot, FLIPCLAW (what kind of prefix is 'Flip'?) Twigbranch, Clawface etc. Don't get me started on those atrocious SkyClan names with KITTYPET PREFIXES

Harrybrook, Snookthorn, Rileypool

Like tf?

so i'm going to start with saying! as a general rule, i love these names. i will address them each in turn, but i don't have a problem with warriors having "bad names," i have a problem with names that don't make sense given their context.

it does not make sense for blackfoot to be named blackkit, when he's mostly white. (and, as a colorpoint cat, i assume, would be born entirely white.) etc.

but i have no problem with bellaleaf, because well, yeah! makes sense to me.

after all, leaf was named leafdapple, why shouldn't bella be named bellaleaf.

i'm going to discuss each name you brought up in turn, and then, under the cut, i'm going to ramble about naming philosphies.

one-eye: i'm fine with this. i don't mind cats being named after their disabilities, not when it's an established part of warriors culture. (even if it doesn't happen anymore because people would be pissed about it.) i don't know if i think it's right, or if i think cats would have a problem with it, but i think it's good. i'd like to think most cats wouldn't have a problem with it, though. that said, for one-eye in particular, her name was already white-eye, so it feels redundant. food for thought, i suppose.

halftail: i'm not okay with this, because he lost...half his tail? trust me, as someone who had a cat with half a tail, you don't notice it. doesn't make sense. he can keep sparrowpelt, altho tbh i almost always forget about him.

oddfoot: oops i forget him initially! i actually assumed he was named odd because of numbers or something, but apparently it’s a deadfoot situation. we don’t know his kit name, so i’ll assume he was named as either an apprentice or a warrior to fit. it wouldn’t make sense for him to just have the prefix odd, and i’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and assume that he didn’t. if he did, however, i would have a problem with it because that makes his name a compound name, not because his leader renamed him.

flipclaw: i don't have a problem with it. what kind of name is flipkit? the kind of name a mother would give who looks a lot like the cat who traumatized her, i think. more importantly, i think it's cute! doesn't bother me. would i name an oc flipkit? probably not, but that's just me.

twigbranch: oh no i love her name. i love it! it's so cute. it means something, too! it has meaning. nope. no one is taking twigbranch away from me. i love it.

clawface: mixed. i don't really have a problem with a cat being named clawkit, but it feels...violent. shrug. i don't like it, but like, i also don't like sandynose.

and i won't directly address skyclan because uh i already stated my thoughts on them.

skyclan in particular, tho, it actually makes a lot of sense for their names to be like that. there is no reason to apply any clan norms to skyclan names.

i really hope they keep their names, too. tradition and legacy of names is important to them (pebbleshine and violetshine for the most direct example, but it's everywhere), and i want that to stay. i love that leafstar named her kit harrykit. never change skyclan.

as always, i want to say that i do not have a problem with anyone's methodology of naming cats. i do not care. i support every single name in existence (barring certain combinations of color and "-face," and anything in that vein), and i do not want to come across as telling you what you should do.

that includes you, anon! i do not think you should listen to me when i say i like these names. i think you should rename them whatever you want. (i strongly suggest reconsidering skyclan renames, tho. there's established reasons in canon for them to have those names, and i think it's a cool cultural thing worth exploring. i keep meaning to write a funny lil one-shot about it.)

but you know! if you want to rename them, go for it! i support you!

that said, here is what i think (and i am not an authority on this in any way, shape, or form) about names:

i've written extensively about naming traditions in the clans. if you want to read that, "names. leaders. meaning" and "names part two" are where i recommend you look. (note: first link is to my main, before i migrated warriors content here.)

i'm not going to go over any of that in detail, because well, i'd rather talk about something new?

anyway, i don't think there's a reason to rename the vast majority of cats. i have very, very, few rules. heck, in ashes, i even had squilf come out and say that there's not even a problem with cats sharing a prefix.

the two cats i have renamed are yellowstorm and runningcloud, both for very specific reasons: -fang is a suffix that only makes sense if you're a warrior, and yellowfang names runningpaw runningnose, but in this au, sagewhisker names him, and she doesn't seem like the type to give that kind of name.

in yellowfang's secret, which i do generally treat as canon, yellowfang explains runningnose's name. i don't have a problem with her giving that name to him in the slightest. i just don't think sagewhisker would, and that overrode my general conservative approach to cat names.

but i do think, to an extent, cats are named for the world around them. i explored this in "without warning," where cats can be named after all sorts of strange things (elevator is my favourite), because well, they don't know what strange names are and are not.

so, for example, if there was a kit named, say, chaffinchkit, i would probably rename them, because i've set my warriors in the pnw, and there are no chaffinches in america.

i would just name the kit finchkit, because really, a chaffinch just a specific type of finch anyway.

i also refuse to name a kit maggotkit. there are probably other canonical prefixes in this nature that i refuse, but maggot is the big one that comes to mind.

but i don't care that ferns are green and cats aren't green. maybe it's a name passed down through the generations, one they don't even remember the origin of, but now, it is a thunderclan name.

or maybe, it is given to a riverclan cat simply because their mother thinks ferns are nice and soft.

none of that matters to me, because i personally find limiting name to appearance is incredibly boring, and gives up a really nice chance to worldbuild.

in "fair is the night," ivypool and tigerheart have a brief conversation exploring this.

"ThunderClan is different," he says. "You don't use names in the same way. You don't know the Ivy before you. But ShadowClan isn't like that. Dawnpelt knows Dawncloud and Flametail knows Flamefur, but...I have Tigerstar." "That seems ineffective," Ivypool says. "You can get more mileage out of your names. Here, Ivy is for grey kits, right? But wiry ones. We need strong roots. And Dove is for grey kits, or white ones, but its for the ones who are born soft."

they go on, but i would never pass up an opportunity to explore that type of thing. (and yes i see the typo)

similarly, i like the renaming system. i am like, this close to saying i love it.

the only reason i don't make brightheart lostface in everything i write is because it'd be too much of a headache to remind people, and i also don't want to needlessly invite arguments about it.

she keeps her name in "saccharine tithes of love and glory" because it's the kind of au where i can throw small things like that, without worrying, because it fits, tonally.

i wish it didn't set a fic in a very specific tone, but it does, and so, i usually use brightheart.

(also, it's clear that she prefers brightheart in the books, and i respect that. i don't think, in my culture, that makes sense for her, but i've talked about my works as being on a spectrum between canon and me, and most stuff is far enough away from me that i call her brightheart.)

anyway.

part of it is, renaming cats is imposing my rules over canon. i feel that saying "flipclaw should be named something else" asserts that my world is correct, and canon is wrong.

like, tallstar as a name does not make sense in my windclan. a kit can't be tall, and i've established that windclan names are very literal. but i've let it go, because i chose to make that a rule, and now i live with it.

i hope i didn't come off as prescriptivist, here, because i honestly believe if you want to rename cats, you should. i'd even be happy to discuss alternatives.

for clawface, might i suggest scorchface? (the suffix is malleable, frankly, but i don't feel like thinking much about it.) scorch deliberately has negative connotations in shadowclan, so you keep the same effect as clawface. especially since it just kind of sounds ominous.

but as for what i will do, it is not rename cats. i like their names (especially skyclan's), in all their idiosyncratic glory.