#i'm really sorry for the yap session and probably unintengible words

[saltsongwc]

thistleclaw is very involved with both of their original stories … how is he related to them in this rewrite?

@mrcow101 (sorry for not answering separetly but together fits better)

No art here, don't know what to put sorry

Okay so, tw for mentions of grooming, I gotta mention Spottedleaf's Heart because a lot of the divergences from the au would directly take place in the timeline of the book, TLDR if you don't want to read my "This is why Spottedleaf's Heart fails as an expansion of her charcter in a satisfying way, this is the trope and why it's in use both in the book and in the au, this is what happens, this is what I would change, this is why 'Thistleclaw is a horrible person even without Spottedleaf's Heart', and this is the end" yap: Spottedpaw is not groomed by Thistleclaw in the mate sense, he does groom her into his idiology of "Thunderclan above the rest" much like he did Tigerpaw, there is no Dark Forest training, and Tigerfoot kills him because Thistleclaw tried to kill him as revenge.

Yap session below

If Thistleclaw did the same thing he did to Spottedleaf in canon to Spottedstem in this au, then I would've have her kill Thistleclaw, my script teacher would say "that's not positive and shouldn't be good" but justice is not given to the characters in warriors they gotta take it for themselves.

The thing is how warrior's treated Spottedleaf's story is that it pushed her into the trope of Taking the Veil, there are historical reasons related to this trope (often used as a way for women to escape from the oppressive world by one, maybe as oppressive but in sisterhood than alone), Warrior's does not escape from tropes, especially not this one (the whole medicine cats not having mate or kits is an enforcement of this).

Tangent: Tropes are not necesseraly negative, depends on how they're written

The way I see it, Tigerfoot in this case also falls into this trope, the subvertion is that he, male, decides to take refuge into what the universe of Warriors classifies as a very feminine leaning job, the healer and the priest, both in fantasy to be read as very 'un-masculine', in his build and in his appearance he looks warrior like, and yet he chose otherwise for the same reasons Spotted did in Spottedleaf's Heart, it's ironic.

However the Spottedleaf in arc 1 and in Bluestar's Prophecy did not choose to become a healer just to escape from the world, rather to embrace another side to it, medicine cats in warrior's work best when they are treated not as a separation and an exclusion from the clan but as a crucial part of it that must work in tandemn. At the same time, I love putting medicine cats as "messangers of the eldritch being that is probably Starclan", so the separation makes sense. And I'm basing this au on the latter so yeah-

WITH WHY SPOTTEDLEAF'S HEART IS NOT GOOD OUT OF THE WAY-

Thistleclaw in this is au was Tigerpaw's mentor much like in canon, and planned to become leader to bring Thunderclan into war with the other clans, he wanted Thunderclan to control the forest, all under his rule, he was charismatic to many, and tried to push this ideology of violence to his clan mates, which during the time when they lived in (of constant battles and famine for short periods of time), was very appealing.

He was very liked among apprentices because he was the "Cool mentor" that let us eat what we caught whenever he was in charge of training, Tigerpaw was very proud of being his apprentice up until one of these "chest out, Thunderclan rocks" outings caused him to miss Leopardfoot's passing, he wasn't the same after that, and instead of being the stable supportive figure one should think a child should have he pushed Tigerpaw further into anger, taking his anger out on others, Tiny (ask about what pushed Tigerpaw into being a medcat here).

When his apprentice began giving him the cold shoulder, and it became unlikely Tiger would return to his duties, he turn his focus in other places, Spottedpaw was just beginning her training, and despite trying to beg Sunstar to give him another apprentice, as Tiger had not technically resigned by that point the leader was reluctant. It didn't stop Thistleclaw from butting into lessons as he was still, technically, a mentor. Spottedpaw was thinking of becoming a medicine cat apprentice (by her intial desires as a kit) before Tigerpaw took it from her.

Thistleclaw enters the picture, both very pissed at losing his shot of being leader, and now apprenticeless, that he decides that if he can't force his way of thinking into the clan, he should take a shot at the next generation, Spottedpaw.

So Thistleclaw is the dark mentor, the one that pushes out your worst qualities and makes you believe that they are your best, the one that has always been objectlively wrong in his way of thinking and is not a victim of poor wife syndrome, he is evil because he in canon wanted everyone but Thunderclan dead, and anyone who doesn't agree with it dead. He does not view other clans the same as Thunderclan, rather lesser.

This is bad. There is no other interpretation and there is no other excuse, he is bad both by his intetions and who he trained others to be.

One day, while escorting Tigerfoot, he planned to murder the medicine cat and make it look like an accident, he monologued about his plan, about the revenge, about in the cusp of victory how he would force the clans to his will.

So he did the clan a favour.