#Blackstar is allowed to keep the Reckoning and lead his Clan with repentance. Between them one of them had to NOT repent

[bonefall]

"Why does Mistystar have to be different though? I don't see how it would harm the story to have Mistystar not kill Leopardstar and to have her "follow the code to avoid being seen as an outcast/having all of that happen again" mindset, which I think is interesting."

@halogenwarrior​

I think it harms the entire Bonefall Rewrite if she doesn’t, honestly. In fact Mistystar’s killing of Leopardstar, I will argue, is the thesis of Hawkfrost’s arc in Bonefall TNP

RiverClan, in canon, never has a reckoning with the fact that they allowed Tigerstar to take over. They rapidly pivot Leopardstar and RiverClan as a whole to be regretful of the choice without showing ANY remnant supporters, refutation of the ideology, or even any sympathy for Feathertail’s retconned trauma in Shadow In RiverClan, a book I’ve spoken about strongly disliking.

Making Leopardstar’s character consistent, and fixing Shadow in RiverClan, preventing this ridiculous canonical post-hoc retcon that they’re just fine after TPB, is something I care immensely about.

So there is no situation anymore where Mistyfoot can just sit back and follow the code until the Clan stops following Thistle Law. You can’t appease fascists. These ideas do not die unless they are killed.

And TNP is now a story about the Tigerkin, split between their perspectives. As you know, Hawkfrost’s arc is that he is failed by RiverClan, becoming the inheritor of an ideology that should have been buried before he was born. She thinks that with his death things can maybe go back to normal... but it doesn’t. Because Hawkfrost was not the problem. He was a victim just as much as he was a perpetrator.

Mistyfoot kills Leopardstar, a thing that should have been done a long time ago, and rules the Clan in a way as to limit the influence of Thistle Law. As much as she can, she tries to prevent what happened to Hawkfrost from ever happening again, truly wrapping up his story for Bonefall TNP.

But of course, she isn’t perfect.

"I can't really see the Mistystar you have acting the way she does in TBC.

Then again the niche of "half clan cat who feels they have to prove themselves loyal to prove those cats wrong and goes to extremes" might already be taken by Hawkfrost and Reedwhisker under Skyheart's apprenticeship, and I guess I could still see her acting the way she does due to worry for StarClan

Maybe being conflicted by being terrified to be without her ancestors' guidance and never see the family and friends she lost again and hating StarClan that they would (supposedly) abandon the Clans unless they harshly enforce the code the way TigerClan did?"

I think it’ll help you understand this situation better if you keep in mind Traditionalism is a belief system in its own right-- and it IS a bloody ideology. Even before Brokenstar implements Thistle Law for the first time in his own way, the entire Chivalric Period is a testament to how brutal Traditionalism is on its own.

And Traditionalism actually describes the beliefs of both Bonefall Mistyfoot AND Bonefall Ashfur. Like the Honeysuckle Bush, the Clans come from the same root, but must help each other quash weakness in their society.

The fear of not seeing StarClan again DEFINITELY helps Mistystar squish her doubts, but she actually agrees with Bramblefake. Half-clan relationships ARE bad in her eyes, but punishing the products of them is what’s wrong. The Clans HAVE drifted too far from the Warrior Code and Codebreakers should be reigned in.

Both Thistle Law and Fire Alone are responses to Traditionalism; but all three are distinct positions. Opposing Thistle Law doesn’t automatically make you support Fire Alone.

Killing Bristlefrost at the Gathering would have shocked and sickened her, as that breaks the code in and of itself, but the full moon assures her that this must be what StarClan wants... so she doubles down.

How do you plan to deal with the end of TBC? I know it bugs a lot of people (including me) that Starclan just said they can make mistakes but also weren’t going to retrial the cats in the df who clearly have grown. I think maybe a retrial could fit in well with the whole Queen’s Commandment thing where all cats involved with Mapleshade’s kits were sent to the df. Starclan seeing how wrong they were on Frecklewish and Ravenwing’s fates finally letting them go where they should’ve off.

Also think this could lend to a heart splitting scene where Frecklewish finally gets to reunite with Barkface and Flowerpaw (another note I feel like she would’ve cared for her half nieces Mistkit and Nightkit especially seeing just how the poor kits brother became feeling that maybe if Tigerpaw had had some family around when Pine left he wouldn’t of turned out the same)

You're gonna be mad at me but right now I plan to leave the ending of TBC the same; I get the feeling that, hopefully, the Erins are setting something up about it.

I keep my standards low, fear not, but it would seem awful convenient that they set up backstories for Sparrowfeather and Silverhawk, gave Juniperclaw a role in defending the border between realms, and (ASC SPOILERS) tease that Curlfeather might not be in StarClan, only for none of that to be relevant in the next arc or two.

However I do plan for this to be a choice StarClan is sort of mixed about. Allowing Juniperclaw, + Bonefall Mudclaw + Bonefall Morningstar to guard the boundary was the compromise that people like Firestar were able to win for the Dark Forest Redeemers.

They continue to try and push StarClan forward on this issue

On that note I am planning for Breezepelt to be a Light in the Mist instead. He goes to walk his dad to the Sisters like he did in ALITM, and then knocks him out and goes in his place. He makes a good speech about the importance of second chances.

It's also worth noting that the Dark Forest isn't as bad as it is in canon, though.