#like what the fuck is up with tawnypelt

[skyclan-funny-name-squad]

Sometimes I think about how wild tawnypelt was as a character

Local girl who looks nothing like her father goes to join her exiled murderous fathers bloody dictatorship because she was being compared to him while her brother who is identical to him doesnt, she witnesses her father’s regime do public executions and multiple war crimes, never really ever comes out against him or mentions regret for leaving or fear at any of this, named her son after him after he died and supposedly rejected him in her dreams, none of this is really connected at all and she does nothing of relevance ever

[buddicat]

has anyone remembered that smallear is tawnypelt's grandpa (smallear - goldenflower - tawnypelt). has anyone remembered how he was one of the driving forces behind tawnypaw leaving thunderclan. has anyone

[eelclaw]

okay new arc... my thoughts.

leafstar:

leafstar was one of my favorite characters as a kid, but not because of anything she actually did. i liked her graphic novels, but only mostly because i was delighted by sol being a pathetic girlfailure.

also my copy of skyclan's destiny was misprinted and had pages out of order, and i loved having a fucked up book.

i liked her in firestar's quest, but... she's done nothing in every book since.

sharpclaw pushes her around in skyclan's destiny, then tells her he was just challenging her to make her a more confident leader. nothing comes out of this.

she's worried about female leaders not being allowed to have kits and about inviting daylight warriors into the clan, and it would've been great to just skip these plotlines entirely. skyclan had a chance to be a different kind of clan, a breath of fresh air from the shit we normally read about, and they didn't take it.

in ravenpaw's farewell she decides that skyclan hates outsiders. then ravenpaw proves her wrong by helping chase out some rogues that skyclan somehow couldn't chase out on their own, so she changes her mind, but only enough to take in bella and riley.

the general back-and-forth and nothing getting done in avos, tbc, and asc just annoys me.

her going blind is actually pretty interesting, but it needs to be handled well, and it's not going to be.

she's pretty old at this point, so i hope she dies, but the kid in me still hopes she gets an awesome death.

tawnypelt:

the way she's treated in avos and in her novella is incredibly uninteresting.

her clanmates don't take her seriously because of how closely she was associated with rowanstar. that's cool! that's interesting! but how long has it been since avos? she's far and away proved herself to be a valuable member of shadowclan.

the "kids these days" plotline is so fucking frustrating, i don't want it to come back.

i thought her novella had a nice conclusion. she accepted that her lost loved ones were lost, and that she could not go back to the way things were, but she could keep moving forward, and she would see her family in starclan some day. from the blurb, this conclusion is going to be completely trampled.

i'm also sick of tigerheartstar changing every book, just to drive whatever the current mess of a plot is.

moonpaw:

not many thoughts. betting her parents are nightheart and sunbeam.

hoping she's distinct from frostpaw and shadowsight. i can't take a third one.

it would be interesting if nightheart dies before she's born, paralleling larksong dying before nightheart was born. then nightheart might realize a bit of what his parents were going through.

overall. not hopeful. i'm super tired of the formula they've been using for the past few arcs. i don't care about "the end of the cats' connection to starclan". just because these books are about religious cats doesn't mean we can't have deep, meaningful, character-driven plots. why can't we get one of those.

[wc-confessions]

i hate every heroic, misunderstood, or cool blackstar interpretation out there. he's just so pathetic and lame. he has no backbone. he needs a pretty man to bat his eyelashes at him and go "hey! do you want to horribly abuse your friends and family for me, hotstuff?" and he fucking will. he isn't morally grey he's submissive until he dies. when russetfur died he was upset because he ran out of red based cats to tell him to do shit. no one abuses children like russetfur so who the fuck else is he going to turn too ? he loves hurting the elderly. dude he fucking HATES Old people. brokenstar was like lets abuse the elderly and he went oh boy! i love abusing the elderly! and he was so so sad when he couldn't do it anymore. he went oh ho hum.. the elderly aren't able to be abused anymore.. and then sol rocked up like hey.. i heard what you said about abusing the elderly.. thats so cool? they locked eyes. they were fucking in this. they were gpoing to starve granpa. and the kids. russetfur was the best at being mean to children and blackstar LOVED IT. once i saw blackstar kick my dog because it was elderly and a child. anyway it was such a fucking farce when stonefur came down from heaven to tell him not to be a bitch anymore and he went oh gee ok i wont because then SOL FUCKING ROCKED UP AND PUT HIM BACK ON HIS PATH OF BULLSHIT like even without sol he was playing hopscotch with russetfur who falls asleep soundly to the thought of berrykit screaming. i guess tawnypelt does too since she sliced him in half. shes based though. he knew rowanclaw was a good replacement for russetfur because rowanclaw also loves torturing the youth. he didnt Need to take violetkit he just thought russetfur would approve. and she did. anyway if you like blackstar rowan and russet thats cool hehe i like them too. i fucking hate them though

.

[official-darkforest]

Sorry I would love for you to explain all of your rare pairs. I love deep warrior cats thoughts pls if you want to do so

ThornRat (Thornclaw x Ratscar) Dark Forest trainee pairing. They're also both old enough to remember the Old Forest . The whole dynamic I have in mind is Thornclaw being rather oblivious to his sexuality and also being a huge fucking hypocrite (he's one of the more conservative warriors of TC, ironically). Ultimately his relationship with Ratscar, if you can even call it one, is doomed from the start and Ratscar is stuck yearning for someone that's not worth pursuing for multiple reasons.

BrambleFern (Bramblepaw x Fernpaw) I specify -paw because I see them as a bit of a tragic pairing where it doesn't end up working out because Dustpelt swoops right in and inserts himself in Bramblepaw's place. Also, in the context of my rewrite, Brambleclaw is the one to run away to ShadowClan instead of Tawnypelt so whatever spark he and Fernpaw had going never gets to go anywhere. I imagine they're still friends but have some moments of 'what if' every now and then.

BrindleFlint (Brindleface x Flintfang) Honestly I just wanted to give Ashfur and Ferncloud a father that already existed in the series and also didn't fuck up the family tree any more than it already is. I think I got this idea from someone else but I can't exactly remember who - but it's a very interesting concept considering the events of the first arc and how Flintfang was still alive for the events that happened (according to Tigerstar's Fury and Blackfoot's Reckoning). I headcanon that Ferncloud is named after her aunt Fernshade, too. Additionally, in the anthro AU, their story is a lot sadder but that's another story...

LongWind (Longtail x Runningwind) Childhood friends to almost-lovers! They're around the same age and would've definitely trained together. As mentioned in my HalfOne family tree post, they had a budding interest but it was cut short by Runningwind's death. Sad :(

IvyBreeze (Ivypool x Breezepelt) This one is just funny. "You wanna kiss me so bad it makes you look stupid" kind of shit. Breezepelt would be fucking fuming over it because he doesn't want to be like his dad.

HalfDove (Half Moon x Dove's Wing) Another one that's mostly in the context of my rewrite! I'm imagining it's very one-sided since I also love HalfJay, but it's a very complicated thing where Jay's Wing is very focused on saving their colony and too scatterbrained to really put any serious commitment to Half Moon (something he tells her explicitly, but she pursues anyways). Dove's Wing is embarrassed of her crush and knows it was never meant to be, not only because she's a prophecy cat but also because Half Moon doesn't even like her that way.

IceApple (Icewing x Applefur) Another Dark Forest Trainee pairing! I have a lot of these because I got attached to them. Not my only Applefur ship but certainly one that's kinda fun to think about. I don't have much to say about these two sadly but I thought it was a cute idea that I could maybe build off of later.

MinnowMouse (Minnowtail x Mousewhisker) I don't actually think this one is that much of a rare pair, I've seen a lot of ppl talk about this but I was kinda running out of ideas since there's a lot of characters idgaf about sorry LOL anyways this one is based on a scene in Dark River and the fact they were both Dark Forest trainees in their adulthood.

[girltigerclaw]

breaking into ur house rn

top ten characters and bottom ten. reasons are optional

I just finished this chart thing i think i actually stole from your blog a few months ago <3 Slightly edited to my own prefs.

If anyone wants the template check the reblogs, and feel free to add you own. I'd love to see. I'm just rambling under here:

Leafpool: She is more special and sacred than the virgin mary. She has everything. Daughter of the first protagonist, ex boyfriend for me to hate, TONS of wlw situationships<3, a lifetime of tragedy, and some of the most gorgeous canon art to exist.

Crookedstar: Crookedstar is a trans woman to me. Her life is genuinely just so tragic and fucked, I love it. The erins asked: “How much truama, death and misfortune can you fit into a single cat?” and then they wrote Crookedstar’s promise.

Tawnypelt: GIRLS WHO HATE THEIR FATHERS. The erins dont love her like I do.

Tallstar: I love old men… I fucking love seeing older characters and how much they’ve changed from their younger selves. Tallstar is considered one of, if not the most peaceful leader in the clans. But also when he was like 19 he went on a quest to fucking murder a guy :3

Cloudstar: I rlly do not care abt anyone in Skyclan(I like Leafstar but she's not a fav yknow?) Cloudstar... he was based as fuck. Why did Starclan get away with this shit for real??

Scourge: It’s fucking Scourge. He’s awesome

Briarlight: I’m disabled and I love her. She has such a consistent fun, sweet personality and she makes me happy!!<3

RavenBarley: It deserves all the attention and hype it gets. Though I wish mlm ships didn’t overshadow wlw ones in this fandom, RavenBarley is genuinely well written and makes me very emotional even if the publisher didnt allow it to be explicitly canon.

CrookedBlue: TRANS WOMEN CROOKEDSTAR YURI. Two leaders having a forbidden relationship and kits is way more interesting than Oakheart. The angst of Crooked and Blue sitting next to eachother every gathering while the entire forest has their eyes on them. Don’t look for too long, don’t let the mourning slip into your voice. You have to pretend your lover is a stranger. You… have become strangers. You can never be together again. You're enemies now. This is what we wanted, isn’t it? …We’ll never be happy again.

Mothwing: Her novella delving into her relationship with Hawkfrost was so good and heartbreaking.

Heathertail: Daughter of leader, sister of a major villian, and former love interest of a protagonist! Why did she fall off the second po3 ended. She’s shown to be very compassionate and willing to put her own feelings aside for the sake of others. Would’ve honestly prefered her as a mate to Lionblaze or get a pov herself over the nothing we got.

Blackstar: *Murders an elderly woman trying to stop me from kidnapping children. Supports a dictator openly abusing/neglecting children and the elderly. Murders a man for refusing to kill mixed raced children- then tells said man’s sister that she will never be safe.* Man…. i sure do feel bad for abusing and killing all of those people…. Good thing I will face no consequences and proceed to be made leader, where I will have even more power over the wellbeing of others.

I hate. This guy.

The New Prophecy: A classic. My first series was actually tnp! i feel more attached to first arc cats tho, if you couldn't already tell by my list lmao

Johanna Map- Best Tawnypelt content out there

BlueQuince: My personal handcrafted, homemade Yuri. Bluefur feels terrible about Tiny going missing and promises Quince she’ll help her find him. They never did, but they had a very… fleeting but intimate relationship. Quince is grieving and Bluefur feels so overwhelmed by the duties in her clan. They’ve always thought of eachother since but never met again.

Tigerclaw: My name sake<3 The angst of his earlier life is so, so facinating to me. Starclan being straight fucked up and decided killing him is their only option? He was a kid and they saw him as a lost cause from the start. They never tried any other methods, never tried to steer him in the right direction or… even just take it into their own hands and kill him themself, which they have SHOWN they’re capable of.

They watched all the the horrific crimes he commited, entirely aware they were going to happen. Thats. Fucking. Horrifying. Starclan is scary as shit… and his death? FANTASTIC. I only wish he’d gotten lives from cats he killed so that him coming back to life to suffer over and over was an actual curse from Starclan and not blessings. They knew how he would die and they gave him the lives to torture him for his sins…

Flywhisker: Adhd girlies. Painfully relate to that feeling of the constant scolding for never being “good enough” because I prefer to do things a certain way or struggle to focus. So, SO happy for her when she left the clans! You don’t have to prove yourself to anyone! Hope she’s happy and warm indoors with her brother💕

(P.S. I was very suprised to find she actually had an official art piece!)

Bluestar: Get behind me women with mental disorders. I will defend you. Beautifully complex and tragic character, my favorite written in the series. Literally can't think of a single other female character in handled as seriously and with the complexity of Bluestar. (Although her super edition was a bit of an L with how others treated her, it ultimately makes her breakdown even more painful.)

Exile from Shaodwclan: Nightstar my beloved! He's such a great guy. The rightful leader of Shadowclan, always and forever.

Ravenpaw's Farewell: HE DIED IN BARLEY'S ARMS, TELLING HIM HE WILL FIND HIM, NO MATTER WHERE HE IS. FUCK.

Crookedstar art: So beautiful. I genuinely think she's one of the prettiest cats in the series. This along with her official art by Wayne Mcloughlin.

Leopardstar: As a kid I hated her and loved Blackfoot, now I hate Blackfoot and love her. #feminism. But seriously I think she has way more going for her than he ever has. Her father is a medicine cat who hates violence, the DRASTIC change in Riverclan's view of outsiders upon Crookedstar's death and her leadership. Her already having a position of power before proving she's unworthy of it. (Unlike Blackstar who gets rewarded for his racism and violence by being made leader afterwards) and the fact she has to interact with her victims on a daily basis after what she did.

The writings attempts to redeem her are really lame and dismissive of the actually damage she did, but at the very least they TRIED to do something else with her. Personally, I would have loved to see her assassinated by Mistyfoot. Just like her mother Bluestar was almost killed all those moons ago by Tigerclaw... The parallels of violence for power and violence for peace. A victim repeating the actions of the very man who killed her brother to put an end to what he started in Riverclan.... A shadow in Riverclan, if you will. (<-Pretending erin hunter has hired me to rewrite their series)

Windclan: Tunneling as a concept and inviting outsiders into their clan so friendly and casual makes the clan seems so much more diverse than the others. It always stuck out to me!

Andddd there are my current warrior cat options as of 2023! If someone actually read this whole ramble ily<3

[bonefall]

bones……. please …….. spare words for mushrooms? i cant find any in the lexicon …. also love the clanmew stuff :)

I wrote a whole guide and then Tungle crashed OTL

I'll have to make a whole entry on shrooms at some point but for now, I'm going to give you the most basic words for various mushrooms. Know these things;

Cats can taste mushrooms, they describe the flavor as wrale, savory.

This is because mushrooms are full of glutamate, an amino acid that tastes like meat.

Even some poisonous mushrooms taste good. It is very important to teach apprentices of all Clans about mushrooms they can and can't eat, and to never eat a mushroom they haven't identified.

ShadowClan, however, finds this more culturally important because they live in a wetland. Mushrooms are used in more of their cooking than the cuisine of other Clans, ergo, ShadowClan warriors generally know more than the cats of other Clans.

That said, you can actually expect Exampleclaw of any given Clan to generally know more about mushrooms than flowers, on average.

Fungus = Molf All things which grow in moist, dark environments, typically on rotting things. Mold, mushrooms, lichens... AND also moss. The cats aren't working with phylogeny here. Fuzzy mold = Gross moss.

Edible Fungus = Lelof Stuff you can eat. Chicken of the woods, blewit, bay bolete. Smells soooo good, really pungent, rich specimens are shredded, dried, and used as toppings. Yumyum!! Yellowfang's pe-dishonor title name, Shroompelt, was Lelofborrl.

Mushroom-shaped Mushroom = Skubi If you're not in ShadowClan, this is any fungus with the characteristic shaft and cap. ShadowClan will mock you relentlessly if you look at a stinkhorn or funeral bell and call it this, and call you Skubi for the rest of the night. It's a ShadowClanmew-exclusive word for an "undiscerning" or "know-nothing" person. Especially if you ARE a ShadowClan cat and you forget the right word. You say the wrong word ONCE and you see your clanmates' eyes go wide like they're about to get zoomies. Like, it's over. "I'm skubi-dubi-doo for the rest of the night i guess." -poor tawnypelt Even MORE confusing, Skubi Yaywi, "Bright/Intensely Colorful Mushroom-shaped-Mushroom," is ShadowClan slang for someone who is extremely attractive. ShadowClanmew is an ENTIRE dialect just dedicated to fucking with outsiders, honestly.

Polypore = Cholf Shelf-shaped mushrooms without stems that grow directly off trees. Usually pretty hard in texture and not very delicious at all, but often boiled as medicine.

Jelly = Oogaw BIZARRE, squishy, tarry shaped fungi that seem to "ooze" out of trees. Has all sorts of shapes-- cups, clusters, cakes, wavy bunches. Ends up as an "other" category of sorts when they have no idea what to call it. Examples of this is Jelly-Ear, King Alfred's Cakes, Witch's Butter, Poor Man's Licorice, etc.

Ball = Pulf Puffy, solid fungi that balloon right out of the ground. The most well-known of this type is the giant puffball, which gets as big as a cat and is used for eating, wound-dressing, or playing games with.

[the-owl-tree]

There’s so many toms that I hate because they were shoved into the plot to steal a she-cats story for themselves… it’s SO OBVIOUS when the Erins do this. The she-cats deserve to have just as much of an arc and character depth as the toms do, yet the writing team consistently devolves it’s female cast into accessories for their male counterparts.

Examples:

- Alderheart (blatantly having been written to strip sparkpelt of an arc that so clearly should’ve been her own - ie “the spark that remains” - sparkpelt is then twisted into a xenophobic jerk at the drop of a hat to make alderheart look better than her, when previously she was VERY MUCH in support of SkyClan’s return. What the fuck, Erins??? Sandstorm is also iced for this loser’s manpain.

- Nightheart (basically every she-cat has their personality altered to fit his victim complex, and we all KNOW that Finchlight would’ve been more interesting and deserving of a pov than him. If they kill off spark, finch, or sun to further his angst, I will be so pissed off…

- Tree (violetshine’s character growth, struggles, and arc completely disintegrates with his introduction. in tbc, she’s reduced to your typical background protag mother… while tree remains a major character, and is not only hugely valued by the plot, but also by its characters. violetshine deserved so much better than to be shoved to the sidelines by this random-ass character who was *totally not introduced just to make her into a a generic wife and mother*. that’s not even getting into how stupid the Sisters fiasco is, where ‘waaah tree was oppressed by all the women in his life and kicked out, isn’t he just so tragic and sad???’… good god. that was bizarre

- brambleclaw: probably one of the worst offenders of this, right alongside alderheart. Tawnypelt should’ve gotten his pov, considering her personality in TNP… it seems liked they flipped their stories around just because she’s a she-cat, and they just *had* to make the main protagonist of the arc a tom. very disapointing

- rootspring: bristlefrost’s character arc was absolutley DERAILED by this character, and it’s such a shame. even her most iconic scene, her sacrifice, was primarily focused upon rootspring and his pissbaby manpain. also… needleclaw, anyone? she’s the one who should have the sisters’ abilities, after all, but instead she has none… how does she feel about that? I think exploring that would be much more interesting than ‘whiny loser is upset and feels weird that he can see ghosts in a society that values the ability to see ghosts, gets a girl by being weirdly pushy and not taking ‘no’ for an answer, and goes through extreme manpain after she’s iced to further his development’.

- crowfeather: I don’t have any qualms with early crowPAW, but what I DO have an issue with is just how much feathertail’s death is twisted to revolve around *him*, when, in reality, it should’ve focused on Feathertail herself, as well as her brother. FeatherCrow was just awful in general though… especially considering that her name is only invoked later on as an excuse for crowfeather to be an abuser, implying that he’s justified in hurting his wife and son, as well as leafpool and her kits, ‘because manpain’.

real & true, it sucks seeing how many mollies in the series will have really interesting stories and potential conflicts then have the writing team choose whatever supports the main dude around them. more i think about tree the more annoyed i am that it wasn't violet, the big prophecy kitten who had survived the kin and would have more reason to want to keep the clans from tearing each other's throats out. the mediator role is a dumb one (i say with my mediator oc) but it would have been nice if it was actually a character who we followed who got the position instead of "my mommy is mean to me :(" rando dude who just shows up.

[snailchasers-den]

What about Tigerclaw x Spottedleaf has made you like the ship so much? I don't dislike it but I don't quite understand it either.

Well, the thing that kicked off my initial interest was the scene they had together in the first book, which I read as some type of flirty banter as a kid, and it later on snowballed from there the more I thought about it nowadays, I think LMAO Since then it's been like, my all time biggest ship in warriors, and I think about them all the time, even if I can't post about them a ton, I check the tag regularly and kinda just rotate them in my brain LMAO

It's customary at this point to mention I'm writing this while extremely tired, as I do most of my asks, so fair warning if any of this is kinda clunky. Other people have explained it WAY more eloquently than me, so if you're curious, I recommend looking in the SpottedTiger tag, cause others explain it in way more concise and understandable ways. I write most shit like I'm a madman at a whiteboard, but if that's your jam, you've asked the perfect person.

It's really a mixed bag why I started liking it-? A whole lot of things added up and got me hooked.

The difference in demeanors is fun, with Tigerclaw being threatening and ambitious and dramatic, while Spottedleaf is sweet and compassionate, yet extremely sassy, I feel like they'd play off of eachother nicely even in just comedic, non-romantic scenes.

Depending on how you want things to play out, you can basically sway how they effect eachother in however many different ways you want- Want an evil Spottedleaf AU? Tiger manages to convince her to join his side and we have a fun evil medicine cat. Want a however good Tigerclaw and a fluffier AU? Spotted is what he needs to soften him up just enough to not go feral and try taking over the clans. Want to tear them apart and have it be super tragic and kinda fucked up? Tiger still gets Clawface to kill her because he knows he can't bring himself to do it and knows she's his weak point. Something more canon-compliant? They were had a secret relationship before she died, and he sees her in Tawnypelt (I have a fic based on that idea, I love it. Obsessed with Tawnypelt resembling Spottedleaf by coincidence.) They're super flexible in that you can basically tweak and twist their story in so many different ways depending on how much you adjust the scenarios or their actions.

Make them mushy and sweet! Make them a badass medic/leader villain couple! Make them divorce eachother 3 different times and be bitter exes who throw snark and cold one liners! Make them be a tragic failed love story! Make them somehow make it work? Make them gay toms! Make them lesbians! Make them polyamorous with a cat of your choice! They're so versatile, and I love seeing anything people do with them.

I also like to throw a lot of religious/Starclan related things into the mix personally, because in different ways they both have connections with it in ways a lot of cats don't, and it can be both a good connecting point, and make it have an extra air of tragedy which I play VERY hard into in my False Prophecy AU. LMAO Spoilers for the AU that aren't really spoilers since I've drawn it before, but Tigerclaw doesn't actually commit a lot of his atrocities in that AU (Hence why I don't call him Tigerstar) and still goes to the Dark forest primarily due to literally lying about Starclan's word when they already wanted him dead from the moment he was born and 'corrupting a medicine cat', (And whatever else they could get him on, probably him being a bad mentor or having bad thoughts. They just wanted him in hell.) meanwhile, Spottedleaf, the golden girl of Starclan, despite being the one who ACTUALLY directly lied about their word and broke the code, is given a second chance and let in because 'She only loved too much'. (Because if they're going to say that line for someone like ASHFUR, I can twist it and use it for my AU in a more sinister manner, since Starclan is morally questionable here.) The ending of the AU's story also heavily relies on the afterlives, and though I won't go into it here since that's not what this ask is about and I genuinely do want to write it someday, I think it's a really fun way to twist things for them. It has such a poignant, vivid energy it carries with it, and I don't think it would feel the same with really any other pairing.

They're closer in age than most ships with them seperately, which is super nice, and makes it really fun to imagine them interacting as apprentices and their feelings building from those times into adulthood-

If you want to consider Spottedleaf's Heart, that could actually add to it too, seeing as they were both victims of Thistleclaw, likely even around the same time, and could seek solace in eachother over it- They're the only ones that truly understand, and that could drive them to want to protect eachother from other threats because they know they've been hurt in similar ways and don't want that to happen again.

I tend to imagine Tigerclaw to be a big ass Maine Coon while Spottedleaf is fairly small, and that just adds to it for me, since I think it makes the fluff between them 10 times better. My favorite warriors ship dynamic is when one of them is very, very fluffy and the other can basically just. Sink into their fur like a pillow. Hence why I also like MothCrow. I'm both unpredictable and incredibly predictable.

I also just don't really like a lot of Spottedleaf ships? She's one of my favorite characters, but I don't like basically any of the other pairings I've ever seen for her. Definitely don't like SpottedFire and never did, I see Mousefur as very very aromantic and relate to that, so SpottedMouse is very much not my jam- Anything else tends to be a rarepair or just something I don't really vibe with- She's not shipped with as many people as you'd expect. SpottedTiger was like striking gold for me- (Though Spottedleaf/Runningnose is also a nice one I think about from time to time, and is where I got Snailchaser as a character from LMAO)

Tigerclaw has always stood out to me and registered in my mind as being a romantic in a way too? It's a unique trait for a villain, especially in warriors, so I love emphasizing it, since god knows the Erins don't and won't. I know a lot of people like to joke about him kinda sleeping around or being a womanizer with him having two mates, but I love taking his multiple mates and interpreting it in more of a romantic sense- (And also I headcanon him as Polyamorous, but that's just me) He wasn't a good partner at all in canon, but something about imagining if he was makes him 10 times more compelling to me. He's a romantic! He's a family man! And he's a sadistic wanna-be dictator with the ambition needed to wreak havok and take over Shadowclan! Those traits 100% clash and that's the point. Putting him with Spottedleaf further complicates that by pairing him with a compassionate medic who does not at all share his lust for power. (Or might deep down, who knows! It's up to the writer!) I think it'd be fun to see internal battles and how the actual good traits he has fuck with his plans.

Though, if you know me at all, I'm also just really weird and love rarepairs and crack ships for Warriors. Hell, I basically made up the MothCrow tag on here by cautiously posting about Mothwing x Crowfeather- Even if my stuff's not completely canon accurate, I write in much more 'what if' scenarios and heavy AU usage. It's more fun and interesting to me to write in a more speculative "I love the version of this character that exists only in my brain" way, and out comes the stuff I make.

[bodacious-energizedprotodermis]

the conversation that Lionpaw and Brambleclaw have about Lionpaw being upset with Hollypaw is fucking weird.

was it always supposed to be Hollypaw who caught on to Lionpaw sneaking out with Heatherpaw? or was something else supposed to happen, possibly in addition to that, that would have some cat who was not Hollypaw doubting Lionpaw's loyalty?

because.

Brambleclaw talks about Hollypaw like he would any rando cat in the Clan. not like Hollypaw is Lionpaw's sister, and Brambleclaw's daughter. he doesn't even ask why his children - or even just why two of his Clanmates - are having such a serious disagreement. he's the Clan deputy, this sounds like something he should care about.

I recall in New Prophecy Sandstorm confronting Squirrelflight about squashing the arguments between her and Brambleclaw if only for the sake of them being able to work together for the good of the Clan (Brambleclaw also should have received a similar talking-to, but whatever).

instead, Brambleclaw draws comparisons between himself and Lionpaw and having to prove himself over and over to his Clanmates because, yknow. Tigerstar.

but...it falls kinda flat if you remember that Hollypaw is ALSO Tigerstar's kin???

"You can't force Hollypaw to believe in you. You have to show her that you are worth believing in."

what??? would he say something similar about Tawnypelt???

this book is fucking weird about kin btw. Hollypaw keeps thinking about potentially fighting her newborn cousins in ShadowClan someday and gets very conflicted about it. she also thinks about her friend, Willowpaw, and how having relationships in other Clans is messy (something she relays to Lionpaw about his relationship with Heatherpaw).

but, fuck Mothwing, I guess. so far she's never brought up in the context of kin in another Clan or loose relationships with a cat in RiverClan. she meets both criteria!

on that same note, after all of Lionpaw's wonderings about Hawkfrost's death in the previous book, he hasn't thought about it at all even though he gets to talk to the ghost himself all the time. not a big deal, it's just odd that he totally forgot. he hasn't once thought of Hawkfrost or Tigerstar as being his kin. did he forget? did he read ahead?

I'm not done with the book yet tho, so catch me next time when all my gripes have been refuted and I look stupid. it's gonna take a little while, Dark River is a bit of a slog with the crushing ableism and weird character choices.

[warrior-cats-rewritten]

🔥 for Tawnypelt Brambleclaw Crowfeather and Feathertail. The road trip gang

Tawnypelt

I will take heat for this, anon.

She is not a great person. She willingly joined Tigerclan for god's sake and insists on people seeing what a "great warrior" Tigerclaw was. Like... Girl, please. She also has a major boomer moment and is very mean towards Dovewing during her novella. (I know it's misogynistic boomer writing from the authors but I still have the right to be a tad annoyed with her behavior). And saying her son, who SHE names after her fascist dictator father, reminds her of him, is beyond fucked up. I like this morally gray woman and I want her and her kids to have a more strained relationship, more complicated.

She also should have been more involved with TBC, tbh, preferably on Bramblefake's side BUT turning on him towards the end.

Brambleclaw

I will NOT take heat for this and I refuse to hear anyone out. Brambleclaw looks better with green eyes. I KNOW he is supposed to be the exact spitting image of Tigerclaw, but I can't stop seeing him with green eyes due to the OG Midnight cover. It just looks better.

Crowfeather

We will never know if he would have been a good father to the 3. Both Good Dad and Bad Dad interpretations are valid. His treatment of Breezepelt is abhorrent and has no excuse, but he also never wanted to be with Nightcloud in the first place. Him not having to have even wanted to create Breezepelt at all, and doing it so the both of them can avoid being exiled from their Clan... Well, I can't say I blame him for not being overly enthusiastic to have Breezekit, when the children he probably would have wanted much more are locked in another Clan with another couple.

Note: I am NOT excusing his behavior, that was horrific, and abuse is never justified, even in cases like this where the child was not wanted, it does not excuse abuse. But the Clans banning cross-clan (and Medicine Cat) relationships is absolutely a guilty factor here. Banning a form of relationship is disgusting, and the fact that the new team actually seems to think the Warrior Code IS supposed to be the basis of morality is frankly gross.

Feathertail

Feathertail should have been a POV, not Stormfur. Also her graphic novel sucks and she should have been best friends with Ferncloud. I actually like her being Ace.

She should have felt pressure to replace the "hole" her mother left in Riverclan, while also struggling to find her place there and trust those around her. She wants to make others happy, as it is her nature, but how happy do you want to make others who sat and watches you and your close friends and family be starved and tortured because "leader's word is law"? How many of them enjoyed it? Will it happen again?

[skyclan-funny-name-squad]

tawnypelt was robbed frfr

SHE SO WAS and it looks like she might get a bit less robbed in the next arc but my god how do you do so much work setting up a character like her then make her do nothing for a million years!!! Like she followed Tigerstar! She willingly joined tigerclan! Then this never gets followed up on! Like Tigerstar does seem to genuinely care for his kids, or at least bramble and tawny. What was it like to be the princess of tigerclan! Doted on and loved by your father who condemned other apprentices your age to death with no remorse!

Did the other cats hate her for getting special treatment? Did they fear her because they thought she could get them killed if she simply asked?! To then see him gutted like a fish! Did she fear cats would use her to get revenge for who her father killed because she was complicit? Why was she given the name tawnypelt?! It’s such a boring name did she ask for it? Did she want to blend in? Was it a slight? To say that the only unique thing about her that was handed to her was her pelt? Why wasn’t SHE given the claw suffix?! Why does she reject him so hard later on? What did he do to make her change her mind so hard on following him? Was it just horror at what she saw or something more?? Why doesn’t her choice really have ANY effect?!

She is the favorite daughter of the cruelest man, shouldn’t that mean something?! Why doesn’t more cats have mixed feelings on her? How complicit was she?! Tigerstar essentially runs cults, in what’s ways was she manipulated by him ‘for her own good’?! Cats like blackstar and leopardstar still get dragged to this day for working with Tigerstar, why is tawnypelt exempt? She had so many other options after all! Does she have nightmares? She’s clearly an extremely skilled fighter from how she gutted berrynose, did tigerstar personally be her mentor? Does she shake after she uses the skills he taught?

Why is she painted as the reasonable half to brambleclaw when she essentially RAN AWAY TO JOIN A HATE GROUP BECAUSE SHE WAS BULLIED, like I get she’s grown up and changed but like???? This should have SOME impact right??? She clearly hates him but he named her son after him to try and give him strength???? SHE’S THE MOM TO TIGERSTAR TWO!!! WHY DOES NONE OF THIS HAVE ANY NARRATIVE WEIGHT

And like, i don’t want to condemn her, I don’t want to paint her as a monster when she was a scared teenager who made a bad choice. It’s just….so WEIRD it never has a narrative payment, no moment where she really gets to address what a fucked thing she did was even if she did it out of partial ignorance and a desire to escape the fact she was pushed away because of her relation to him. Like bramblepelt and tawnyclaw would have been better, like that small change alone would save so much grief.

[blimbo-buddy]

HI HI i think you have requests open or maybe not. im not sure but this isnt about that i dunno if this is a weird question but did you wanna talk about why you love tigerheartstar?? im genuinely curious cuz i dont hear ppl talking about it at all and i personally have barely rid a few books with him in them and i figure talking about ur favorite cat might be fun if you feel like it !! cheers

Not a weird question at all! I really like TigerHeartStar because, well, I just think he's super neat and interesting. The entire thing with him being named after his grandfather on his mother's side adds on a lot of layers to his character I think, especially now that he shares a name with TigerStar letter-for-letter. I like his beef with IvyPool because as much as the narrative wants you to think that it's IvyPool who's in the right, I'm still easily able to look right through that and see that TigerHeart's disliking towards her is justified. He literally witnessed IvyPool almost destroy FlameTail's spirit forever, I think he's going to hold a grudge towards her

His stuff in AVoS is pretty neat too, even if I barely remember anything about the arc. TigerHeart's Shadow isn't as bad as people say it is, it definitely has it's infuriating moments, but, what warrior cats book doesn't have that? Also to clear things up, no, TigerHeart never "colonized" The Guardians, you guys just love to toss that word around like candy. I love the idea of him having a strained relationship with his parents, RowanStar for being, well, RowanStar, and TawnyPelt for naming him after TigerStar to try and separate the Tiger prefix from TigerStar 1, only to then keep going "Wow you're being just like TigerStar". Like, yeah I don't think RowanStar or TawnyPelt are the best parents

And this isn't even to begin talking about his relationship with DoveWing. I know that forbidden love is a trope that Warriors fans are tired of seeing, but, I genuinely think that this forbidden love is an exception, it's great. They actually start off not immediately being in love with each other, they both become friends at first but slowly they begin to grow feelings for one another. It feels genuinely natural. TigerHeart and DoveWing are the best canon couple in warrior cats, they actually talk and communicate to each other, they let the other know how they're feeling about the things that the other one is doing and they work their way through solving the issue at hand. When do you see this with couples like FireSand, when do you see this level of communication with any canon couples or even friendships in warrior cats? (Don't say TallJake, you know damn well those two barely communicated and barely got to know each other)

In TBC he's just, a fucking powerhouse, willing to defend his son with every ounce of energy in his body and willing to hide secrets from everybody else so that his son can be protected. TigerHeartStar loves his family so much and we especially see this in TBC. And in the recent books of ASC, he's even better. TigerHeartStar needs Riverclan to get their shit together, he realizes that if nothing is done about their situation, then their clan will shrivel away forever and disband, just like Shadowclan in AVoS. The common argument is that TigerHeart is "taking over" Riverclan, but that's just not true, he literally just needs Riverclan to get their shit figured out and he takes up the leadership role for them temporarily because CLEARLY they can't pick a leader for themselves without sitting on their asses, waiting for Starclan to spoon feed them information. What sucks is that the books keep trying to make us hate TigerHeartStar, but really, every attempt at doing so is just making me like him and making me go "He has a point though, why are you booing him, he's right". Once again, this is another situation that makes people claim he's colonizing Riverclan, but that's just stupid fucking talk because clearly this fandom made up of primarily white fans has this skewed idea on what colonization is and what makes a colonizer. They think LeafStar is "getting his ass" but they just want even a shred of stuff to praise LeafStar for. LeafStar sucks in this situation, I don't care if I lose more followers for this.

I'm going to stop myself from rambling more and more about TigerHeartStar, but hopefully my… essay-long ramblings have helped with your question!

[cryptidclaw]

Sam!! Character you thought had potential in the books but wasn’t used the way you hoped? Any characters like that?

ok, obviously Ravenpaw... I just really think he fits as Scourge, like it works so well for the plot, its a waste to me that it's not canon >:(

also just like Scourge and Bloodclan in general?? they only appear in one book during the main series and then disappear, its pretty random. Though bloodclan is very cool the way they were written into and used by the plot was just bad writing lol.

Some other characters I can think of are Feathertail and Stormfur, I think there was so much potential for exploring their trauma with everything that happened to River in the first arc. I kno its explored a bit in Leopard's super edition but I wish it was explored more in the main series.

Another pair of siblings: Mothwing and Tawnypelt, I know they have had more of a part in the plot, Moth especially, but they seriously have so much potential and are both far more interesting than both their brothers, especially Brambleclaw!!! I feel like they are often forgotten and pushed to the side and their brothers and other male kin get more spotlight then they do >:(

Oh also Brambleclaw/star. They just absolutely fucked up what they were going for with him and his plot, he was supposed to show that he is not his father and more than him, and become like a super good leader and good guy. He is not that, he is just an asshole and abusive, and the writers failed in making him likable at all. Instead of making him earn his leadership position they just state that he deserves it for no reason and in the process make him act all intitled to a role he has not earned. He could have been a really interesting character!!! but they absolutely failed with him and it really annoys me.

there are like tons more, like Ferncloud, would have loved to see her have more of a part in the plot, she's like the anti-Asfur. Snowkit obviously should have lived. I could go on for ages and just keep coming up with characters LOL

[wc-confessions]

I think ppl downplay Tigerheart taking control of riverclan too much. Like even if he he had good intentions, it was fucked up.

"Well riverclan attacked first" do you hear yourself?? Shadowclan broke into their house and demanded riverclan let Tigerheart take control of the clan. Genuinely how was Riverclan supposed to take that?

And then, Tigerheart literally holds Duskfur down and threatens to kill her if they don't comply. Is it any wonder Tawnypelt was reminded of Tigerstar?

And then! Tigerheart's "help" was largely ineffectual. Riverclan didn't want shadowclan there, shadowclan didn't want to be there, they were fighting more than working, etc. But Tigerheart was too stubborn to back out

And later, even after all the clans obviously don't want to attack Riverclan, Tigerheart claims he's protecting them from outside threats, WHEN HE IS LITERALLY THE ONLY OUTSIDE THREAT THEY'VE HAD TO DEAL WITH.

You can say he was just following the code by helping another clan, but what he did didn't help. It just made situations even worse.

I don't know, i think people are just too accepting of his actions because they view him as "silly wifeguy". I even saw people say his actions here were out of character. If anything, he's surprisingly consistently written.

Manipulating Dovewing for herbs and holding Ivypool hostage, giving Skyclan land and then imedetly turning around and chasing them off again, attacking and killing peaceful nomads who weren't on his territory and would be leaving in a few moons, having the gall to still be disrespectful to those nomads when they came back to help, and now the riverclan situation.

He's always been a stubborn prideful ass, who resorts to claws before thinking

[sun-showr]

Ok, again, I liked Shadow and I should probably do my bullet point thoughts on the whole book before this but

literally what are they doing with Mothwing?

After River, I thought “ooh hoo hoo! Wouldn’t it be delicious if Mothwing became leader?” but it was mostly for fun (especially since I don’t love having another old leader, especially after Mistystar, and now especially if Squirrelflight hopefully survives to be made leader). But then after Sky it looked more like they were actually going for it with the “choose an unlikely cat” thing

But now in Shadow...Mothwing is a background cat, even more background than other formerly background characters? Despite being, by about halfway through the book, the only cat in RiverClan with any actual authority that doesn’t come from Tigerstar?? And she says and does almost nothing. She barely even does any healer work, off screen apparently suggests not even going to the Moonpool meetings anymore, she doesn’t even really fight with Frostpaw - she’s just kind of terse with her, she’s right about telling Tigerstar the truth causing problems, she snarks about Jayfeather, and attends Gatherings but says very little, despite essentially speaking for RiverClan in the two previous books. Otherwise it seems like she went from an incredibly chaotic experience having everyone in the clan look to her...to somehow having a lot of free time, and very little to say, despite losing her apprentice.

And I love getting to see more interpersonal drama in RiverClan and seeing Icewing and Harelight get more character development and the reveal of Splashtail’s machinations, but it’s bizarre how much should bring to mind Mothwing for the characters but instead she fades to the back and I genuinely don’t know if this is on purpose or not.

like

a ton of this book contrasts Tigerstar’s misguided leadership and Bramblestar’s decline

multiple characters bring up Tigerstar I and directly callout Tigerheartstar for also taking over RiverClan

multiple characters also talk about Bramblestar’s legacy, in addition to Firestar apparently always being on everyone’s mind

both of these characters are put in positions where they are trying to regain their sense of power/control, and are challenged on if they are doing the right thing

the book ends with the tension of one Tigerstar descendant deciding to do the right thing and willingly give up power, while the writing on the wall is that another will soon be fighting to keep his

HOW IS THIS ALL NOT SUPPOSED TO MAKE ME THINK OF MOTHWING, WHO HAS RECENTLY SHIRKED OFFERS OF POWER IN RIVERCLAN, AND WHO IS ALSO A CHILD OF TIGERSTAR

like it could be so good

her brother tried to take over two Clans essentially in the hope of getting one scrap more of power

but she is so dedicated to service to her Clan that she won’t risk anything that could possibly cause them harm, which she thinks includes her leadership

with so many cats constantly being like, “you’re just like tigerstar the first, taking over RiverClan, aren’t you worried about being compared to your evil kin”

why is iT NEVER MENTIONED THAT MOTHWING AND TIGERSTAR II ARE KIN ANY TIME HE’s IN RIVERCLAN?? Does she not have any #thoughts or feelings to share???

we have juicy callouts for Icewing and Harelight spending a lot of time in ShadowClan, but suddenly, mysteriously absent in this book, is anyone casting doubt on Mothwing for also spending that time there and oh yeah, also being related to both Tigerstars who have taken over RiverClan?

it would be such an amazing arc for her to lead the Clan her kin could never

to begrudgingly assume power, but then fucking kill it in a way not even Bramblestar or Tawnypelt could

like Splashtail is talking about faking a sign to appoint a malleable medicine cat

that is literally what happened to Mothwing am I not supposed to immediately think about her. why is she then barely a character in this book. why are they deliberately paralleling another Tigerkin���s attempt at taking over RiverClan

also Mothwing should be the one cat Frostpaw confidently knows did not kill Reedwhisker and was not involved in any plot. Like both Frostpaw and the reader should trust Mothwing and no one else in RiverClan at the moment lol so she should be more of an actual character goddamnit

if nothing else, shouldn’t RiverClan/Mothwing be deeply concerned now about the lack of Medicine Cat apprentices? I know they have a lot going on, but that just proves how much they need a med cat. Mothwing ain’t getting any younger (unless she gets 9 lives), there are no kits in the nursery, and Leafbare is around the corner. And also something terrible keeps happening to RiverClan leadership lol Mothwing should have a lot to say and do in the main plot, and she just doesn’t for some reason this book