#Bonefall reads dotc

[bonefall]

Here it is, lads.

I'm at the Bumble part.

My stomach dropped as soon as I realized this was the moment it was happening. I think we as a fandom know what's coming up next, but I do wanna make sure to ring it up again.

Bumble is violently assaulted by the father of Turtle Tail's kittens, Tom. She is a canonical... "survivor" of domestic violence. "Survivor" because she does not survive.

She is constantly called fat and clumsy through the text on these pages. It is up there with Spottedleaf's Heart as a shockingly insensitive portrayal of a serious, dark issue.

I will be tagging #tw abuse and #tw fatphobia, if you need those things filtered.

Be warned and be safe.

[bonebabbles]

Tom's Redemption

There's a special kind of brain rot out here, folks. Yes, Tom gets redeemed by the narrative.

In Blazing Star, the story has decided that Gray Wing is not the real father of the children he raised. Ever since Tom literally kidnapped them and got their mom killed, they've seen him as their dad.

Clear Sky brings Tom into the group despite knowing that he kidnapped the children a few weeks ago.

Sparrow Fur (child) runs away from the Moorland Group to go find out the truth about her Real Dad. Eventually One Eye attacks her and tries to kill her.

Tom jumps in to save her,

This is Death Equals Redemption. Denying that this is a redemption is a complete and total failure of literature analysis.

This is one of the oldest types of redemption in literature. This is fucking biblical. This is Gospel of Luke, penitent thief dying on a cross type shit. The term "redemption" was created to describe this sort of situation.

Just because this trope is (rightfully imo) unpopular does not mean it is not categorically a type of redemption.

Tom gets to die a heroic death saving his child as both of the women he battered are dead and cold in their graves, because of him. One of them couldn't even be buried.

And, no, the narrative doesn't just gloss over it. This is a major motivating force for Sparrow Fur later in the book, when she explicitly avenges "her father".

Tom is a character that the narrative redeems. The story that they are telling is that because Tom was her biodad, that does mean he truly did love her and was willing to give up his life to save hers. The kittens' immediate love for a man they 1. Never met before the kidnapping and 2. Beat the shit out of their mom and got her killed is a GOOD and JUSTIFIED thing in this narrative.

That's what is literally on the page. Read the book before you lace up your clown shoes.

[frostfour]

Fighting demons every minute of every day. (<- Debating reading DOTC)

[warrior-cats-rewritten]

I think my most controversial Warrior Cats opinion is that I actually really like the Cinderpelt-heart reincarnation plot. Or at least I would really love a version of it without all teh ableist implications. StarClan realizing that teh “no kits for medicine cats” rule is hurtful, and also that disabled cats are often pushed into roles they don’t want and aren’t suited for, and they reincarnate Cinderpelt for those reasons, not because a disabled life isn’t a full one. Cinderheart feeling pressure from teh clan, maybe even her family or even Lionblaze, to be a medicine cat when she finds out. It has potential idk.

I liked it at first, because... Admittedly, I read Po3 before I read TNP and before I finished TPB.

So Cinderpelt was this mysterious, not quite known character to me. I went and read TNP and thought "hmm. I wish it had been more 'this is happening because your life is going to be cut short now due to the move to the lake and that isn't fair because you were supposed to live a long time so go become your niece, really sorry about the badgers, xoxo PS sorry about your mom slowly starving to death in the forest'"

Instead it hinges on her having had "not a full life", which.... When I went EVEN FURTHER back and finished TPB.... She did. She loved Medicine. It was HER choice. The Erin's forgot, made a weird retcon that has become her entire character: "I loved my teacher and didn't tell him", and had Lionblaze be the... Reward for that?

I liked it, it was just done for a stupid reason. Another one of those "we wrote this plot point to make sure a character does xyz" instead of just... Writing it. Snowkit's death is the most egregious example of these writers pretending they have no control over these fictional cats.

I have some controversial opinions of my own.

The Lake territory is cool but also sucks. We need to either leave the Lake or start redoing things about it. It has no landmarks to hang out at or have what I call 'set pieces' whatsoever, and more importantly no threats (thunderpaths, snake rocks, gorge, the tree with a huge Owl, Carrionplace) and I'm pretty sure the writers feel this way too since we leave the Lake once an arc. I wouldn't mind moving territories again, to a more dangerous but still natural place.

Breezepelt should be a permanent Queen. I know it would mean seeing less of him (which I dislike) but him being a gentle parent and helping others raise their kits would be a PERFECT wrap up to his arc. As much as I desperately want Breezestar I think he would fit more as a perma-queen.

A trip to the distant future or past would be both good and bad. A whole new cast would be kinda cool but let's be honest, these writers suck. What is needed is a whole new writing team of people who actually LIKE the books.

I never really liked canon!Riverstar that much, we really didn't know anything about him because DOTC is less Dawn of The Clans and more "pwease like our power trip fantasy oc who knocks up a girl his son's age 🥺". I genuinely cannot remember anything River Ripple even does. He just... Isn't there. Maybe more prevalent in the last 2 books but I never got past the first 3 chapters of book 5 and never opened book 6 aside from looking at its last scene and rolling my eyes. Petal's death was where I drew the line, the narrative bending over backwards to make Clear Sky a poor sad baby crossed it.

• I've come around thanks to Bonefall but I genuinely hated Star Flower as a kid. The way she was described was uncomfortable, annoying and made it feel like the writers were trying to force you to think she's this gorgeous, perfect cat, it made her boring, bland, and anything with her in it a slog to get through because of the way Thunder spoke about her, going on and on about her beautiful she was, getting worse when Moth Flight's Vision described her with purple eyes to go with her star-shaped pupils... Also, I was really attached to Petal, who died suddenly when Star Flower entered the picture, and I was on the assumption Clear Sky and Petal were going to get together, while I didn't like Clear Sky, I just wanted my favorite to stay alive unlike every other female character. Starf also suddenly becoming a helples damsel in distress added to the annoyance so badly that I actually never finished DOTC, and it made me take a break from the series altogether. I really wanted her to be playing the long game. A sincere thank you to Bonefall for helping me reread who this character is, and while the way our 'Camera' describes hee is still annoying, I can at least look past that and see the roots of this character.

I love Leafpool, and Hollyleaf. Met a lot of Leafpool fans who seem to think Hollyleaf is this monster when she very much reads as someone who cannot handle their religious and emotional abuse based trauma and lashed out at the wrong person. What she did to Leafpool was awful but she was basically an irrational teenager. Just like apprentice does not always equal child, warrior does not always equal "grown ass adult who should get over it". Her own existence went against every single thing she believed in and was told by her own mentor to never ever question.

As sweet as the scene with Dandelionkit and Juniperkit in Starclan was... There was really 0 point in giving Squilf 2 dead kids, other than "the writers hate her". The only thing I can see a point for it is for a long-shot setup to Squirrelstar for some lives seeing as you just know they absolutely forgot about Squish's friends.

• I think Ivypool has somewhat of a right to be upset with Dovewing. HEAR ME OUT. She is allowed to be upset, NOT take it out on Dovewing. She also needs to learn that she helped drive her sister out, but the writers are allergic to that kind of thing in favour of "make character a background conservative. If female = mom. If mom = soft until politcal debate scenario." She is allowed to be sad and upset that her only sister is gone, she just needs to acknowledge she messed up, as well as lots of Thunderclan cats messed up.

It's time to kill Brightheart, Brackenfur, Thornclaw and Cloudtail. Enough is enough, start retiring cats who were full warriors when TNP started. Tawnypelt should be in the Elders den and Oakfur should be rotting in hell for what he let happen to Berrynose. On that same note, I hope Russetfur went on trial for that and her attempt on Firestar's life. I like her but good GOD, that was egregious, and looks even more pathetic when Yellowfang's Secret reveals she herself wasn't Clanborn.

Tigerheart's Shadow is a good book (aside from that one 'territory' bit, you know the one) and this series could go FAR if they embraced the mysterious mystical elements they set up, people are far too harsh on the experimental things.

Moonkitti makes good points sometimes but I need younger fans to stop taking everything she says as gospel and start thinking for themselves; case in point the recent Mapleshade drama that REEKS of "if I was Orpheus I wouldn't have turned around". The writers call the Moonstone the Moonpool every time we revisit the forest, do you really think they remembered The Bridge? Did YOU remember the bridge or did Moonkitti point it out? Also, with how cosmically doomed from the start the story was, the water probably would have overtaken the bridge and STILL swept them away. For every one good take Moonkitti has they seem to have more than a few bad ones.

My silly one. FERNSONG SHOULD HAVE BEEN NAMED AFTER HONEYFERN AND BEEN A HONEYFERN CLONE APPEARANCE WISE. No problem with him being named for Ferncloud but could they PLEASE acknowledge that Cinderheart is Honeyfern's sister too? Poppyfrost named her baby boy after Molekit and Lilyheart named her daughter Honeykit despite never having met Honeyfern, and those don't feel like coincidences.

I dislike the Tribe as its concept, but I like some of the characters that came from it, know what I mean? I like OG Stoneteller (though I always pictured him very differently. I saw him as gray tabby with white paws!) I think he is an interesting character, and Outcast was a huge letdown with having him be wrong. It would be a nice change in story if the Clan cats had tried to push their way, only for it to NOT work, for there to be a different way to do things, or a trick the Tribe used in the past that they "could give another crack at", and for the Clan cats to learn that their way of life is not a golden standard. Could you imagine Hollypaw learning this? I also really like Brook. I dismantled her and I know she is a play on the stupid "Indian princess" trope. I love how sweet she is, though I hate how it was painted against the Tribe. I plan to keep that wisdom and kindness, while also making The Tribes just as good a place to live.

I don't think Tawnystar would've been a good idea, as good as a name like that sounds. She, like Bramble, is too old, and the writers can't stand killing off Arc 2 characters in favour of killing off Arc 3 and 4, we would have been stuck with her and the writing for leaders atm SUCKS. Tawnypelt also just... Isn't that great. While I like her, I don't think she would be a good leader. Same goes for Mothstar, though I feel like they could have it done better if they do have it happen by making her not want the 9 lives. After the absolute Christian slog ASC has been about "non believers" it would be cool to see her prove that wrong and put this shitty arc's hinge point in the ground once and for all.

I'm tired of Med Cat protags. We've had one since TNP barring Dawn of The Clans when arguably it would have been the most beneficial from Pebble Heart or Dappled Pelt. Leafpool was cool because she was the first, Jayfeather was kinda cool still because of blindness and being part of the Prophecy, and while his POV in OOTS was a necessary evil, we did not need Alderheart. There is no reason to have Alderheart be the POV when Sparkpelt has the objectively more interesting setup and Alderheart's "anxiety" works better when we can't see through his eyes, as the authors don't know what actual anxiety is. Shadowsight and Frostpaw are alright, through Frostpaw's pov suffers around Nightheart and she does suffer from Camera POV Syndrome at times... Not helped by her being a Female Warriors Character with all the lovely things that come with it. Shadowsight was cool until the writers completely fumbled the bag and made him rude, argumentative, and dropped his epilepsy for no reason. All this is NOT helped by the new retcon that you're just "born different" with some kind of inherit special connection to Starclan, like it wasn't some kind of learned thing, hence Cinderpelt struggling with it as a lot of the time she was on her own!

Let Daisy retire and let Sorrelstripe take over the nursery. These new characters are in desperate need of personality, let Sorrelstripe be a feisty, confident midwife who won't let Queens be bullied into things.

[skyscratch-wc]

The Skyfall AU Masterpost

This post will be an archive of sorts for the information posts for the Skyfall AU.

The goal of this AU is to hammer out a solid timeline for warrior cats, emphasize the downfall of Skyclan and the aftermath as key drivers in the plot, and better flesh out the characters and clan culture(s)! Additionally, I hope to address some of the more problematic elements of the canon text to make a narrative that is more satisfying and lives up to the potential the warriors world has. I also want to pin down a setting (at the moment I am leaning towards SW Scotland) for the books in order to make the names and environment consistent and accurate.

This AU will focus primarily on the the time frame from the fall of Skyclan to the end of OotS, since those are the books I read as a kid/teenager and are the books I have the best grasp of. I stopped reading the series consistently several years ago, but have re-read TPB recently. As such, I probably won't do much work on anything post-The Last Hope. Perhaps later, but certainly not anytime soon.

I hope to tackle DotC at some point, since I got about halfway through that arc before stopping reading the books.

This project is roughly broken into a few categories that are subject to change:

History of the Clans and Timeline Work:

Timeline from The Skyfall to Modern Day [DRAFT]

Clan Culture:

Skyclan's Cultural Evolution

Clan Ranks and Structure

How to Become Deputy by Clan

Plot:

Skyclan's Downfall

Thunderclan Civil War (aka The Skyblood Conflict)

Disbanding of Skyclan

Characters:

ThunderClan Cats

ShadowClan Cats

RiverClan Cats

WindClan Cats

Ancient SkyClan Cats

Modern SkyClan Cats

Rogues, Loners, and Housecats

Family Trees:

Power of Five

Skykin Foundations

ThunderClan

WindClan

RiverClan

ShadowClan

Modern SkyClan

Clanmew Posts:

SkyClan Ranks in Clanmew

Geography and Ecosystems:

Flora and Fauna of SW Scotland

The Forest Territories

Allegiances:

Into the Wild: ThunderClan

Into the Wild: ShadowClan

Into the Wild: WindClan

Into the Wild: RiverClan

Skyfall Asks + Responses:

Can Clerics have mates/kits

Will I write this?

Goal of the rewrite

This AU is inspired not only by the canonical warriors books that I read as a kid/teen but also by the work of @bonefall and @cryptidclaw, both blogs I absolutely love reading through because the ideas in their respective AUs/rewrites are superb and get the creative juices flowing. In particular, I plan on using the clanmew language system developed by bonefall and @troutfur and drawing from the clan culture bonefall has numerous posts about. This is also inspired by other animal fantasy books I read in my childhood, including Tailchaser's Song, Guardians of Ga'hoole, and Wings of Fire.

[blimbo-buddy]

Absolutely sobbing over your praise. I am but a mere and chaotic writer of kitty angst. I'm so glad you're loving it because it's just- man, I like writing it. I honestly was just taking from the prompts and bonefall's snippets. It's been like - gosh, about 9ish years or so? - since I read DotC.

I am 20% sorry for putting you through this, 50% thankful, and 30% ready to do it part 3.

The part about Turtle Tail not saying sorry was something I subconsciously hammered in my brain. I didn't want her to apologize because that wasn't the goal. Turtle Tail's self-loathing of herself blinded her. She hated what she did, so she beat herself down and tried to fix this situation with more hate at first. Then, she threw all of her insecurities out there in hopes of explaining herself.

In my mind, her fatal flaw is that she thinks too self-centeredly. Notice how Turtle Tail, while she admits her flaws, thinks that's her apology. She thinks that pointing out how much Bumble means to her is apologizing.

Not once did she say, "I'm sorry for everything I said to you."

But several times she did say what she thinks and how she feels.

There's no empathizing with how horribly wounded Bumble is.

There's no apologizing for breaking her promises.

It's just hatred for herself and the world.

It was something I knew subconsciously, but it hit me when I checked for myself that she didn't. I was shocked despite my brain knowing before writing what the last sentence of the Bumble part would be.

Turtle Tail told herself she changed, but did she? Was this truly change?

Stay tuned for more of me as, once it is not 2AM and I am not running on questionably made tea, I will return for your ankles.

You've done this to me anon. YOU DID THIS TO ME

But in all seriousness I am ready for part 3. I really like the fact that, yeah, TurtleTail only spewed out self-loathing comments about herself, unknowingly making the situation revolve around her and not her… you know… dying friend. I feel extra bad for both of them in the situation (seeing as they are dotc women and get the short end of the stick), but extra EXTRA bad for Bumble. And this story exemplifies it, imagine Bumble just waiting for TurtleTail to actually say "Sorry", hoping that she does, silently begging that she does. TurtleTail acknowledge the horrible thing that led to this and says that she had been thinking back on it, but, she missed the most important part of an apology, the apologizing itself.

TurtleTail had lost the opportunity to change in Bumble's eyes. Bumble pitied TurtleTail's self loathing, she knew that TurtleTail's "apology" was unknowingly focusing all of the attention back onto TurtleTail without that bullshit "I wish you could have been happy with us but you could never have been a wild cat" canon line we get, like, damn TurtleTail what a fucking line to tell your dying friend. But in this story, TurtleTail is truly hurting, so badly. She genuinely feels bad for what she had done (or lack thereof) and she wants to atone for it, but her apology doesn't stick, it's not really an apology without the sorry. So it gives you a mixed perspective of TurtleTail, not so much morally grey though, I'm sure there's a word for it.

I love the open-endedness of the two stories (especially the Bumble pov one), does Bumble truly forgive TurtleTail? Will TurtleTail give a proper sorry? Will they reunite when they die and that's when TurtleTail apologizes? Will they try again? GAGH, it's all so great! I'm really excited for part 3, don't stress yourself writing it anon I'd gladly wait weeks and months for it

[yuridovewing]

If I had the strength, I would reread dotc and make a video about that arc because I don't think enough people talk about BAD it gets. Even as a teen, I knew it was worlds worse than anything that came before because it turned me off of the series for years. Still haven't finished the arc, I think I stopped when Starflower and clear sky were getting together because it grossed me out! It made me angry to read

I would love a video on dotc like that but of course that would take a lot of time and energy and. Driving yourself insane probably (I'm having a crappy time with AVoS overall despite liking Shattered Sky and Tigerheart's Shadow I can't imagine the slogfest it'd be like revisiting DotC. Especially since I did read it when it came out)

It does help to make posts pointing out it's many flaws. Like @/bonefall's posts on Bumble was the first time I actually saw someone point out and dissect all the nasty shit involved with her storyline

[sidglorious]

Yeah, in English versions Bumble is called Fat and lazy. Look up Bonefall, I think they're doing a read through of DOTCs right now but you may have to ask they what their read through blogs name is. They post certain paragraphs and their thoughts.

I will take a look to make my opinion !

Because if fat is used as a descriptive word I don't have issues with it.

[citiirose]

I did some scrolling through yours and @/bonefall's accounts last night after sending that ask and read up on Bumble- I'm planning to watch the Moonkitti video to hear more. I'm so apalled bc DOTC was the last series I read before I stopped reading and I didn't even remember all of this happening, it's so horrible :( And the fact that Clear Sky became some sort of legendary hero instead of being taken down and having SkyClan reinvented with a new leader is insane to me. I've always HATED Clear Sky but oh my god.

I guess it closely mirrors real history that the Clan founders were like. Kinda awful and Not Great At All, but why are they still heros in the series? I feel like with how terrible and prejudiced the Clans are at their roots and due to their beginnings, this should be a point of contention for the modern Clans and something to improve on. Like "we can't ignore our history or fix the past but we can change the future". It's just ughhh... not very good messages!!

I have always remembered just how disgustingly misogynistic the books are and how shallow most of the female characters are 💔 That's part of the reason I just engage with the fandom and their takes/headcanons rather than reading the books. My entire understanding of the two recent series are through Tumblr and Youtube and it almost makes me want to read them, but I just KNOW engaging in the actual books will ruin the fan interpretation for me

I want to draw Bumble now and do my own rewritten headcanons through art :( She should have joined the Clan. She would have made such a great Queen I think, even if she only took care of other cats' kits. I think the Clans need more accessible and diverse Clan roles (like the mediators in Clangen- I've ALWAYS loved that concept). Bumble would work great as a "mediator" or "counselor" for young struggling cats (and she-cats in general, due to her own trauma). Why are the only roles Doctor or Soldier anyways? Why does every warrior have to be skilled at hunting, fighting, AND building/construction? Surely a kittypet's know-how and how well-versed they are in life outside the Clans could prove useful? Why are these cats so racist 😭😭

I don't mean to sound ignorant but I stopped reading a long while back and still love Warriors, so I'm just curious- has there been an increase in fatphobia in the new books or something? I remember Cloudtail being sort of fat-shamed for eating kittypet food and I remember (or at least pictured) Graystripe and Daisy being lovely hefty cats. I also always pictured most RiverClan cats as being on the bigger side with their diet (and because fat provides insulation in colder waters).

I really don't understand how a Clan cat being "fat" would be bad? Isn't that a sign of success and good hunting? I guess the closest irl group you can relate to the Clans in Warriors are lion prides, and a healthy lion is usually very large, strong, and well-fed. More food = more energy to exert (but also less of a need to expend energy!)

I just don't understand how a fantasy world where starvation is one of the biggest threats to the characters could also have those characters be prejudiced against being overweight ? Like huh 😭

All good! Moonkitti released a video on Bumble and one of the segments discussed the way that the authors often incorporated nasty fatphobic messaging in the books and how a lot of it culminated very awfully in the Bumble scene. I noticed a lot of comments stating that it "actually made sense" and were filling in the gaps with headcanons and half-hearted excuses that, well, didn't make sense and felt like a way to justify shitty writing choices.

You hit the nail on the head: if we're talking in-universe, it doesn't make sense! But the authors don't like fat people, there is no in-universe reason why they portray fat people as useless, helpless, greedy, and more. We don't need to justify it! We can call it shit without conjuring sloppy in-universe reasons to justify it!

[bonebabbles]

Clear Sky: "My kingdom, your REAL dictator is back! I laid my life on the line to free you from the guy I let into the Clan against all warnings. It was the 2nd or 3rd worst mistake I've made in the past year and I vow I will spend the rest of the afternoon atoning. Yes, all of you are permanently scarred with the tyrant's tattoo and one of you died horribly of illness, but I've learned a valuable lesson and Petal was a woman anyway, so are you ready to accept my unquestionable authority again :3 ?"

Snake:

[bonebabbles]

The Infected Wound

"Yeah Clear Sky isn't perfect and he made some mistakes but--" Shut your mouth. Read this first;

Thunder is about 6-ish months old, the WC equivalent of a 13-year-old. He has the 'audacity' to confront his dad about all the murder he's been doing to pointlessly expand his borders, and in response, Clear Sky summons Frost, whose wound hasn't healed from a forest fire.

He publicly humiliates him, ordering him to flash his weeping wound to all the cats in the clearing, announcing that he is a danger to everyone now because he is weak and must be exiled.

And he finishes with,

Because, this is a test.

This is a mind game that Clear Sky is playing with Thunder for standing up to him. Once again, he's creating a situation that will HURT Thunder, to watch him follow his orders, to prove Thunder's loyalty and his own power over him, because he's mad. This is retaliation.

This is not a mistake.

This is abuse. Intentional, malicious, controlling behavior, involving Frost's life in the game he's playing for his own ego. This has NOTHING to do with the "wellbeing" of SkyClan. He did this in response to Thunder pointing out that the forest is healing and there is no need to murder more innocent people.

And if that wasn't enough, he even took his teenage's son's face and shoved it in the festering, reeking wound, telling him to lick it.

Was that an accident? Did he slip and a billion monkeys on a typewriter came up with "lick his wound clean"? Did Clear Sky effectively utilize girl power for the good of the Clan when he shoved a child's face in infected pus?

Next there's a fox quicktime event where a random fox is in the camp, because the writers have never heard of pacing, and Clear Sky blames Thunder for attracting the fox (somehow), shoving him off the rock to fight it.

Then Thunder leaves to bring Frost to a doctor.

What all of this says about Clear Sky, what we can observe all the way back to Sun Trail, is that we know what he wants to do with power. Even as early as the Sun Trail recruitment, he is trying to pressure Bright Stream into coming. Later, he's already getting in public fights with Storm and his controlling behavior is a reason why she leaves him. He does nothing as Fox mauls Gray Wing on his orders, squealing when Fox is killed in accidental self-defense.

Now he uses his power to neglect and harass people who are disabled and infirm, saying that the presence of "weakness" is a threat to his Clan, using Frost as a pawn in an controlling display over his child.

Power reveals. This is who he is. This is who he has always been.

[bonefall]

Clear Sky: *invents borders and gathers violent rogues to defend them*

Clear Sky: *acts controlling over his pregnant wife, giving her orders in public*

Clear Sky: *isolates his younger brother from the rest of his family, commanding he go hunt immediately instead of catch up with Gray Wing*

Narrative: "He's just protective guys!! He just cares a lot!!!! Everything he does is for his Clan be nice to him :(((((("

[bonebabbles]

Wind Runner gives birth a month early and loses a kitten to a seizure, indicated by the child having 'spittle' frothed at the corners of its mouth.

Gray Wing shuffles up with his Characteristic Wisdom,

"Maybe it's for the best that your weakest child died"

"Also maybe it would make your loss easier if you started believing in our religion just like we pressured you into taking a name like ours"

Harsh? Yes.

Deserved? Also yes.

Maybe next time he'll think twice about proselytizing to a mother of a different faith who just horrifically lost a child, still cradling its corpse, after going off about how "maybe only the strongest should survive"

At least Bumblestripe waited for the funeral! The dead baby is NOT EVEN COLD, GRAY WING!!!

[bonebabbles]

Tom kidnaps the children, Turtle Tail dies, etc etc, Thunder and Lightning Tail finally catch up to Tom where he has to keep the children hidden so the human doesn't find them. Once the twoleg goes away, they jump out.

?????????????????? what? "Now that they know he's their Real Dad™ we can't snatch them back"

Like it's a spell??? I actually don't understand what this is supposed to mean, will the children explode of confusion if you don't leave them with the domestic abuser somehow?!?!

"we have to leave them with the man who kidnapped them and beat two women bloody because Tom told them he's their dad"

[bonebabbles]

Reunion scene analysis

This scene in DOTC is fucking fascinating and such an interesting example of how the writer ableism gets in the way of their storytelling.

So this is right after the forest fire in Thunder Rising, when Proto-SkyClan is taking refuge in Proto-WindClan after they saved the aggressive forest group's lives. Bumble has already been exiled and Jagged Peak's only action during the entire ordeal was to agree that she was fat and useless.

Now, Clear Sky is buttering up to Thunder, seeing that he can hunt and has value as an able-bodied person and possible recruit. It's causing tension between Gray Wing and Thunder, though it's worth noting that the narration only uses "father" to refer to Clear Sky.

They have a tense meal where Proto-SkyClan sits at their little separate lunch tables and glares at their hosts. There's a Quiet Rainkin family reunion here-- Jagged Peak is hovering on the side working up the strength to talk to the brother that exiled him, Clear Sky compliments Thunder and then,

Clear Sky spotted his younger brother, too, and whipped around to face him. Jagged Peak jumped, startled. “And you? What have you done to prove yourself?” Clear Sky demanded, scorn in his voice and eyes. “Well,” he added sneeringly, “you survived. That’s as much as you can do, now.” Jagged Peak’s shoulder fur bristled. “Actually,” he began, “I was responsible for looking after the camp and the cats who—” “So you stayed behind, where it was safe,” Clear Sky interrupted. Gray Wing couldn’t ignore that. He sprang to his paws and padded up to the group. “Jagged Peak is being really useful,” he mewed sharply. “Injured leg or no injured leg. He protected the cats who stayed in the hollow, and in case you didn’t notice, he did an excellent job of welcoming your cats into our camp. We need him, Clear Sky.”

...he's not. DOTC can never refute this point, because it's constantly defining cats based on their ability to contribute, up until its very last book. Bumble was exiled for exactly this, sent back to an abuser, for the idea that she wouldn't be able to hunt and would be 'another hungry mouth.'

Jagged Peak can't do what he used to. He can't heroically lunge into a forest fire like his nephew Thunder. He is disabled. But the writer here DOES believe that everyone must do work for the Clan at large

And they express that by putting it into Gray Wing's mouth. "No no no! He IS helpful we swear! He... protected the cats who weren't in danger! He welcomed you into camp! We need him, really, promise"

It's hollow, and that makes this whole scene uncomfortable. Gray Wing does not actually refute Clear Sky's philosophy. He does fundamentally agree with it, he's only correcting Clear Sky on technicalities.

"It IS bad to not contribute, but actually, Jagged Peak does justify his existence."

So... what if he couldn't?

Turning toward Jagged Peak, Clear Sky gave him a long look from intense blue eyes. “I’m sorry,” he told the young cat. “I take back what I said.” But Jagged Peak’s gaze was still full of pain and anger. “It’s too late!” he spat, “You clearly think I’m a waste of space. Why else would you have thrown me out of the forest? And now that I’m beginning to prove myself, you need Gray Wing to tell you what I’ve done.” He shook his head. “Will I ever be good enough?”

What the scene is trying to get at is that Jagged Peak feels disrespected, and that his recovery isn't being acknowledged. That his self-esteem was destroyed by being exiled. But, instead, it reads like to me like Clear Sky very callously popped a comfortable bubble that Jagged Peak was living in

Jagged Peak ISN'T contributing like his Clanmates and THAT SHOULD BE OKAY. He is LOVED, He HAS innate worth, and that's the POINT of having a society in the first place.

Instead of challenging the notion of value being tied to contribution, this is about Clear Sky accepting Gray Wing's flimsy argument that Jagged Peak has 'proven' himself, and that he isn't acknowledging that 'progress.'

But why are we here? Why does Jagged Peak need to "prove" his life is worth living? Take note of this framing, and what sorts of values are treated as a given.

“I told you I’m sorry . . . ,” Clear Sky began. But Jagged Peak wasn’t listening. Turning his back on Clear Sky, he limped away to join Rainswept Flower. Clear Sky let out a sigh as he watched him, then turned to meet Gray Wing’s gaze. “I didn’t mean . . .” His voice trailed off. Gray Wing twitched his whiskers in exasperation. “You never do mean anything, do you, Clear Sky?” “I’m just trying to do my best for every cat!” Clear Sky protested, instantly defensive. “By humiliating your brother?” Thunder was watching the two of them, drinking in every word. Gray Wing couldn’t help feeling glad that the young cat was seeing firsthand that Clear Sky wasn’t perfect. But even thinking that made Gray Wing squirm with discomfort. Why do I care so much? Why shouldn’t Thunder be happily reunited with his father? “Well, I can’t help it!” Clear Sky snapped, his neck fur beginning to rise. “It’s not my fault Jagged Peak fell out of that tree. Every cat has to contribute, and weak cats just don’t count.” He gave a single lash of his tail. “It’s about survival!"

I drop the phrase, "Clear Sky's redemption arc was a mistake" a lot. What I mean by that is, the entire arc is built around the struggle for Clear Sky's family to help him become a better person. Instead of refuting what Clear Sky represents as a character, DOTC is stuck in a tar pit that can only focus on him as a person.

He doesn't mean to hurt anyone. He doesn't have any malice. Noo, he was a fundamentally good person the whole time, and Gray Wing is right to always always see The Good in him and fight against any nasty instincts to keep his family away from the eugenicist ghoul

But fuck, this arc could have been FANTASTIC if it didn't bother with trying to keep this character redeemable. If it was about toxic family, cutting off people that hurt you and continue to hurt you, recognizing and challenging the deep assumptions that you end up believing as a result of loving someone like this, breaking cycles of abuse and accepting that some people don't change no matter how hard you try...

But YOU can.

But instead, it's just the same trend we see every time that a male character hurts someone for a self-absorbed reason.

Sandgorse was a hero, actually, and that's why you should remember him uncritically Talltail.

Stormtail just wasn't present, Bluefur, but that's no big deal since he's here for you now.

Ashfur just loved your mom too much, Jayfeather, so him trying to murder you wasn't Hell-worthy

Bramblestar was just worried about ThunderClan, Squirrelflight, and you shouldn't have spoken over him at that meeting

Clear Sky actually loved his Clan all along and everything was hard choices, for survival and because he was so afraid, so you have to accept his apology (even though he never actually changes.)

[bonebabbles]

Tall Shadow: "I don't think negotiating with Clear Sky will work but I'll go on the negotiation patrol anyway, in the hopes we can settle this peacefully"

Clear Sky: "I'm soo stressed from clobbering this kitten, exiling disabled people, starving my hostage, murdering a mother and suggesting we kill her children, beating Bumble to death, mentally abusing my son, and commanding my cats to slaughter anyone who refuses to leave my territory. I think trying to murder a negotiation patrol unprovoked would make me feel better, make sure you kill everyone guys! Here's a freebie!"

*throws Tall Shadow into the murder crowd*

Tall Shadow: *kills someone who was attacking Thunder*

StarClan: "Tall Shadow and Clear Sky are both responsible for this."