#there's just not enough info to gleam. and the bits we do have paints a....idk it's certainly a Picture

[the-owl-tree]

did berryheart seriously get exiled because she spoke out against tigerstar. is that. is that why fr

we don't know all the details as the summary doesn't give us the specifics of the conversation (and it may be unreliable altogether. don't take my haranguing about the scene as fact lol im just ranting about hypotheticals) but we do know:

[big big big thunder spoilers under the cut. obviously]

-none of the other ShadowClan cats protest when Berryheart brings this up except for tigerheartstar's kin. i'm inclined against this as a misreading so i'm hoping we get more to this...

-the silence is interesting but it does read as both of them not having support to me. Berryheart doesn't seem to have enough vocal support to pass the code test (seventy five percent support according to the wiki's summary lol) from the sounds of it.

"Berryheart reaches the Great Oak with Whorlpelt, Snowbird and Yarrowleaf and says they have an announcement to make - they want Tigerstar removed from his position as leader of ShadowClan, to everyones shock. Sparrowtail looks at Berryheart with a satisfied expression and Sunbeam realizes he knew about this. All the ShadowClan cats remain silent and just glance down at their paws and nervously at each other except Shadowsight, who protests."

-Berryheart's issue is....with RiverClan and ShadowClan current occupation of it. We think. This is vague but quite frankly with the fact her foreshadowing to this moment was her agreeing with Sunbeam that she doesn't like ShadowClan in RC, I'm inclined to think this is what the issue is. I'm hoping that's it more because I would be REALLY disappointed if this is the case:

Berryheart rants about how Tigerstar only cares about RiverClan and Tigerstar defends himself and tries to reason with her.

-Puddleshine only agreed to it because he wanted to point out a ""flaw"" in this new addition that a leader could be overthrown for "one disagreement" to which.....okay. still bad. I don't like that one cat can take away this code addition's power. I wanted to see this part of the code in action where Tigerheartstar had to step back and see what his Clan wanted. What's the point of this code if Puddleshine or Tigerheartstar can just say "not good enough!" and overrule you?

-but like. i don't want to discount a cat being concerned with their Clans presence in another. Like once again, obnoxious Tigerheartstar defender here, but I don't like that this concern can be so easily shot down. Yeah yeah Berryheart is bad she's not saying this out of concern, she's saying it because she's a xenophobic bigot, but it's still such a weird major issue to present this conflict as the one where she gets taken down a peg. You know? i like when cats disagree with their leaders, i like that ShadowClan is apprehensive about what their leader is doing. It's good drama!

-maybe the issue will be that Berryheart's reasoning is shot down because the books acknowledge her as a violent bigot but we don't have enough info to gauge. From what it looks like, the conflict seems to be that she's bringing up her problems with RC. That bothers me, i don't like that. Hoping the scene sheds more light.

Berryheart tells him he has the support of Puddleshine too, who confesses to have agreed to support Berryheart. Berryheart, clearly enjoying this, tells Cloverfoot she needs to travel to the Moonpool to get her lives, but Puddleshine interrupts, saying he hadn’t finished. Eyes glowing, he tells Tigerstar he only agreed with Berryheart to show the Clans how easily the new part of the code can be exploited simply because of a disagreement over one decision.

-Dovewing suggests she goes elsewhere and well, it may be an official exile and it may be a "warning" that Berryheart took literally. We don't know what happened here, I think we need the actual scene to tell.

Berryheart is full of rage and hurt. Dovewing suggests she leaves and joins another Clan, but Berryheart says she’d rather live as a rogue first. Tigerstar says that is perhaps what she should do. Tigerstar asks her clique if they want to follow Berryheart in leaving but Whorlpelt, Snowbird and Yarrowleaf retreat back to their Clan.

yeah obviously berryheart has it coming but it does like the issue is that she's challenging sc being rc...but i'm really really really hoping there's more to it. we don't know if he throws her out for being a violent xenophobe or if the authors are doubling down on him being Big Bad. Here's to hoping the leaks (and me) are wrong and the books handle it better!

i just also find it a very underwhelming climax. the book is building to this big plan Berryheart has and then it's just uh *waves to the summary* this and we are on the fourth book it is too early for the triumphant everyone clapped moment where the big bad gets kicked. Hoping for more but We Will See.