#Gray Wing The Wise

[bonefall]

Clear Sky Killed Bumble; Gray Wing's Desperate Defense

The "analysis" I've seen out there is beyond bananas. We are out there on state-of-the-art exploratory vessels, sailing the 7 seas into brand new lands, discovering new kinds of fruits to compare to the absolute lack of sanity people are displaying.

Clear Sky definitively killed Bumble. Gray Wing does not want to believe reality.

While some try to argue this death down to "negligent homicide," that Clear Sky essentially beat her unconscious and left her in an unsafe area where she got killed, that's so unlikely I'm confident in saying it's wrong. The evidence shows that Clear Sky tormented her to death with a ferocious, sadistic beating which caused her to bleed out, which is second degree murder, and used the smell of a fox and Gray Wing's blind adoration to lie his way out of consequences.

There's not a lot of ambiguity in the evidence that is presented. There is fox scent but no fox bites, and the preceding chapter provides a comparison between the wounds on Misty vs the wounds on Bumble. Clear Sky's story is so convoluted that not a single part of it makes any sense. Quite frankly it's only been topped recently by the "I can confirm this woman is evil because she snored her evil plans in their sleep" fib of ASC.

In either case, Gray Wing believes neither. He does not believe this is Clear Sky's kill in any way.

This moment is an excellent example of how Gray Wing continuously prevents anyone from taking any action against his dear brother's violence until it is too late. By convincing the moor cats to all calm down when they're rightfully furious, and treating the lives and perspectives of native cats as lesser, Gray Wing becomes complicit in some of the harm this tyrant manages to carry out.

To shield a person from the consequences of their own actions is enabling, regardless of if it's direct or indirect, wittingly or unwittingly.

We are going to go over the whole of the 26th chapter of DOTC Book 2: Thunder Rising, from Bumble's death scene to Gray Wing's downplay of it. A meticulous, step-by-step analysis.

Leading-up context

The Scene

The Immediate Response

Incredible suggestions that have been made that I had to read with my own eyes

Leading-up Context

Let's start from square one by introducing the cast, with the assumption you have not read DOTC or are just vaguely aware of it due to its reputation.

Bumble is a kittypet who regularly visits the woods without issue. She is a small supporting character in the first book, The Sun Trail, whose purpose is mostly to be a friend to Turtle Tail, who is the future wife of the main POV character, Gray Wing.

As the two girls become closer friends, Gray Wing becomes more controlling of Turtle Tail and more hostile towards Bumble. This culminates in Turtle Tail leaving "The Settlers" to live with her friend over the winter. All is idyllic until the humans adopt a third cat, known to the fandom as Tom the Wifebeater because of what happens next in Book 2; Thunder Rising.

Turtle Tail becomes pregnant, but notices that her roommates are keeping some kind of secret. She begs Bumble until she reveals that humans tend to take kittens away when they're old enough to be weaned. Turtle Tail leaves to return to the wild, and Tom the Wifebeater begins methodically torturing Bumble over the next month as punishment, leaving scratches, bruises, and "dried blood" all over her when the humans are not looking.

When Bumble tries to seek help from the moor cats, Gray Wing is frustrated that the battered woman has interrupted his walk with his new wife. It is stressed that Gray Wing hates her for taking his love interest away, and he believes she is too fat and clumsy to live in the wild. The leader of the moor cat settlers, Tall Shadow, has a hard time throwing Bumble out, until two outsiders, Wind and Gorse, who are trying to get accepted into this group themselves, take the initiative and drag Bumble back to her domestic abuser.

Gray Wing is biased against Bumble. This is a fact. He explicitly does not like her.

Shortly afterwards, the forest cat settlers, led by Gray Wing's brother Clear Sky, experience a fire and begin to expand their borders. They are already known as a violent group, their leader is a manipulative liar, and Gray Wing himself was once viciously mauled as Clear Sky sat by and watched.

Yes, Gray Wing is aware that Clear Sky sat there and watched, too. He called out to him and Clear Sky did nothing as Fox, a man who knew full well that this cat was his leader's brother, was shredding him.

Gray Wing doesn't want to believe his brother is a bad person. This is also a fact. He explicitly feels guilty when he has thoughts otherwise.

On-screen, through the POV of Gray Wing's nephew Thunder, we see a native woman named Misty slaughtered by Clear Sky for her land. Her children are taken, and her body lays unburied and rotting for two days before Wind Runner and Gorse Fur (sporting new names at the request of the moor cats) find her.

They describe the wounds they found on the corpse in detail and make an accusation,

Now, before this point, Wind Runner and Gorse Fur have been doing everything in their power to endear themselves to this group. Gray Wing himself trusted them, because they've taught him methods for living here, caught and shared food, and even saved the life of his other brother, Jagged Peak, when a burrow collapsed on him.

But now his xenophobia towards them is coming back-- because they're calling for action against his brother. He's only ever uneasy about them when they seem to have an ounce of influence over his group.

Turtle Tail's conclusion is completely sound, and if it hadn't been for someone else, would be correct. Clear Sky DID move to kill the children-- he was stopped by his underling, Petal. Turts was able to understand what Clear Sky was going to do without seeing it firsthand.

The crowd is shocked and furious, for logical reason. They ARE in danger. Clear Sky IS escalating his violence and expanding his territory. It's starting with the native population, and the moor cats are able to understand and predict what will happen next.

Except Gray Wing.

The Scene

While investigating ONE confirmed murder, as there is no reason to doubt Wind Runner and Gorse Fur except for conveniently xenophobic ones, and TWO suspected murders of children, the patrol hears the sudden shriek of a cat in pain.

Bumble is found bleeding to death on a previously unclaimed patch of land, at the very center of a circle of trampled grass. There is the reeking smell of fox, and under that, there is the scent of Clear Sky.

Her wounds are described in great detail,

Completely consistent with the way that the wounds were described on Misty. Nearly word-for-word.

The only evidence of fox is the smell. No one heard it bark, there is no note of it bounding off, there are no bites or wounds consistent with those of a canid. They were described exactly the same as Misty's.

Slits are cat claw wounds. Not fox bite wounds. She was not being bitten, she was cut all over her body, prominently down her belly and sides.

Unless this fox shapeshifted into a cat and then meticulously created wounds consistent with the ones left on Misty, Clear Sky did this.

Where did the fox go? Probably came to investigate, maybe licked at the bloody cuts expecting a meal, and then was scared off by Bumble suddenly waking up and screaming. It's possible, but unlikely that the patrol's clamor scared it off, considering they didn't see or hear any fox noises.

There are also signs of a struggle-- and Bumble was not able to fight in the condition she is currently in. It's most likely it was the struggle from when she was being tormented and trying to get away, unless there was a fight with a fox while Bumble was still unconscious and she was dragged to the middle of it, for some reason.

However, a fight with a fox is still unlikely, as the patrol was able to hear the whimpering of a cat in pain as they approached but not the furious sounds of a battle with a large predator. If there was this whole epic brawl with a fox that trampled the grass around Bumble, why was there only a single shriek?

Gray Wing, expert on the smell of Clear Sky's armpit, confirms it's his brother. His whole world spins when he realizes his Dear Brother is involved in this, feeling horror and disbelief.

(Also note that Gray Wing implies Clear Sky's involvement is the prophetic bad thing his adopted son mentioned in the previous chapter, not the shredded woman dying in front of him lol)

The rest of the group is able to acknowledge reality, coming to the obvious conclusion. Clear Sky is expanding his territory, including the very patch they're standing on. He has been violent in the past, even against other settlers. Misty was slaughtered in a way consistent with the victim dying in front of them, so he is killing cats who stand in his way. Gray Wing's immediate, literally DESPERATE response is first to jump to Clear Sky's defense.

Gray Wing asks Bumble directly if it was a fox, and she is too weak to answer... until she finds the strength, as a domestic abuse victim, to blame herself for the way a cat beat her bloody. She thinks it's her fault for hunting here, because she was hungry, not thinking straight, and stupid.

I have seen this described as Bumble "making a defense of Clear Sky." I will leave it up to you, the reader, to determine if this sounds like Bumble is trying to say he's not guilty of hurting her or if it's the sort of infamous self-blame that domestic violence victims lapse into after a furious thrashing.

When Clear Sky returns to the scene of the crime, he cuts her off while admitting he did assault Bumble, then glares at everyone to challenge a fight.

Gray Wing swoons over him like he always does.

I have heard it said, without examples, that this is normal because this happens all the time in Warrior Cats. That it's a normal thing to be standing next to a domestic abuse victim who is bleeding out and watch her murderer daring all of your friends to do something about it, and admire how brave he is. That, again, without any examples, this is just something that every character does when the Villain of the Week exists in front of them, so it's not even special that it was Gray Wing's first response.

If you believe that, I have a bridge in London to sell you.

Desperation is under all of Gray Wing's feelings which immediately follow. His voice "cracks" when he has to ask if his darling brother did this. He wants to scream when he takes his sweet time answering. He shrinks under Clear Sky's gaze, because he reads that he's "accusing him of betrayal."

But somehow, that FIRST response for him to fawn over his brother is not part of that, because in unquoted books of other arcs a hero has admired a villain?? Context doesn't exist because in some other book the same emotion was described maybe. Incredible.

No mention of how casually he brushes off this sight that makes his eyes show "guilt and horror," either. No talk of how he made a little ""joke"" about how no one greeted him nicely at a tortured woman's deathbed. Almost like he was caught red-handed and the wounds don't actually unsettle him as much as the crowd's reaction.

Even the glare-- Clear Sky is trying to get Gray Wing to do his bidding. He wants him to protect him, be his flying monkey, and control his furious people.

So at the next opportunity, Gray Wing jumps to his defense again. Second time in this exchange.

FIRST he was described as "desperate." Now he takes a deep breath and BRAVELY licks that boot.

Turtle Tail steps forward and posits the obvious truth. Clear Sky is going mad with power, doesn't care who he hurts, and is completely capable of doing something like this to Bumble. This was already done to Misty, and even earlier, Clear Sky stood by and watched as one of his minions savaged Gray Wing in a similar way.

The whoooole crowd can see this. It is Gray Wing, and Gray Wing alone, who prevents there from being any consequences for Clear Sky's actions.

He hypocritically believes that attacking Clear Sky for the murder of Bumble would make them all "no better than he is" when he had no qualms about coming to blows over the exile of Jagged Peak much earlier. "Attacking Clear Sky for Murder" is morally equivalent to "Actually Doing Murder."

This is only for Bumble though, a "foreign" woman he does not like. He did not believe this for Jagged Peak, and he will not believe it later when he watches Clear Sky strangle Rainswept Flower to death. They are worth physical consequences.

He even physically shields him.

"he stepped between Clear Sky and his own cats, not sure which of them he was trying to protect." It's Clear Sky. Bumble's life means nothing to Gray Wing, so he is trying to protect Clear Sky from the fury of the angry mob he has earned by killing her and Misty.

He CANNOT let there be any doubt. Not even from himself. His brother must be protected at all costs. To that end, he is trying to make some kind of opportunity for Clear Sky to escape accountability.

If you are "neutral" in the conflict between victims and their abuser, you have taken the side of the abuser. If you provide opportunities for a perpetrator to escape accountability, you are an enabler. If you allow a suspect to escape the scene of a crime, since every cat in these books seems to be a lawyer the minute anyone wants to react to violence, you could be charged with accessory fleeing and eluding-- a felony.

Before you try to say this is all in the noble pursuit of peace, let's not be dense.

DOTC is not committed to non-violence for any other tyrannical leader. Especially not One Eye, even believing that an underhanded ambush that breaks the terms of a duel Clear Sky set is the good and righteous thing to do. Killing him was the correct action, as it was with Slash in Riverstar's Home. Outside of DOTC this logic is casually applied to Brokenstar, Tigerstar, Scourge, Hawkfrost, Darktail, and Ashfur-- with only Leopardstar and Blackstar being "exempt" for following an evil ringleader.

Gray Wing himself has no moral dilemma about One Eye or Slash, either. Nonviolence is not his goal.

It is Clear Sky, and Clear Sky alone, who the narrative of DOTC will conclude "deserved" a million second chances. That torturing Bumble to death, slaughtering Misty for her land, and countless offscreen cases of attacking natives didn't push him past the "fundamentally evil" threshold into an irredeemable monster, as is the case with Slash and One Eye later in this arc.

The difference between Clear Sky and DOTC's other two tyrants, to me, is obvious. Clear Sky is the POV's brother and a member of the in-group of The Settlers. The lives of his victims, as mostly "foreigners" and entirely women, are worth very little to the notoriously xenophobic and misogynist writing team.

If the moor cats had shredded Clear Sky right here and now, dozens of lives would have been saved. The First Battle wouldn't have happened. Justice would have been served for Bumble, regardless of if the cause of death was 2nd degree murder or negligent homicide. He wouldn't have smacked and beaten any of his other victims.

Gray Wing prevents this, giving Clear Sky an opportunity to tell a lie.

(He even whines about the idea of Wind Runner challenging Clear Sky about boundaries, the whole thing that started this incident in the first place. This is the perfect time to start arguing about boundaries, actually, when he's in the middle of establishing new ones.)

In the past, I'd been too charitable to this exchange. This lie is obscene and anyone who believes it is ignorant. No frills, no bells, you either can't think critically or just didn't want to so Clear Sky can be innocent or Gray Wing can seem "reasonable."

Clear Sky's visibly eager to start his story, "glad of the chance" now that he's had time to concoct a story. He could have explained earlier but didn't, sizing the group up and glaring at his brother to crack a whip, asking if they believed he was capable of it, so he could gauge what he can get away with.

"New part of my territory" = Freshly annexed land he has violently conquered, confirming the patrol's fears of expansion.

"I wanted to give her a warning, just a little cuff" = No one leaves his territory gently. Confirmation he thrashed her, downplay of how severe.

"How was I to know she would faint?" = Bumble is visibly emaciated, and he's blaming her for not being able to stay conscious through the whole beating.

"I could see her paws twitching, and I knew she would come around" = He would not care, Misty's body was unburied for two days.

"So I left" = Leaving Count: 1

Pauses, wincing, because this is another act. Every time he's putting on a little show for other cats, he takes dramatic pauses and plays up his pain and regret. Seen earlier in this book.

"But heard a fox bark" = no barking was heard by the patrol, only a cat's shriek.

"And ran back" = Was apparently so close that he could hear barking the patrol didn't, but so far away that a fox had time to cut her to ribbons, AND this was so long ago the patrol wasn't close enough to hear the fight? Returning Count: 2

"But I was too late" = Wounds inconsistent with fox attack. Leaving Count: 2

"I was going to get help" = There is no medic in proto-SkyClan. When Jagged Peak broke his leg, they had to borrow Dappled Pelt. What help? Who?? Even as he says this, Frost's wound is going completely untreated. If Clear Sky was going to get help, why wasn't he telling Cloud Spots to do something when he got back?

"But then I heard you all arrive" = He left to get help but was still close enough to hear running? Just abandoning his noble quest to get that "help" he apparently has? Returning Count: 3

Not a single part of his story adds up. EVERY aspect of it has a problem, in that it's either deceptively worded to downplay his abuse, doesn't line up with who he is, or just doesn't make logistical sense.

It's not JUST a lie, it's a BAD one.

Even worse, Clear Sky is a known liar at this point. He does this when the truth would not benefit him, like earlier in this book when he fibbed to Thunder about why he abandoned him right in front of Gray Wing's face. The story doesn't make sense and there's not even any reason to give him benefit of the doubt, because he is known to be dishonest.

He's offended when Turtle Tail calls him on being full of baloney, and once again shoots a sharp look over to his flying monkey, expecting Gray Wing to dance on command and defend his honor like always.

But Gray Wing seems to be perfectly capable of being "wise" when it would directly benefit Clear Sky.

I have seen the question begged, "if he's such a bootlicker then why he no verbally bootlick a third time in a single exchange?" and I would tell that person to read the text because it says why. Right there. Here, I've underlined it. So you don't miss it again.

If Gray Wing licks that boot again, THIRD TIME, in front of an angry mob who wants to skin Clear Sky alive, they will lose patience and make the clearing look like Bruce's Eating Dome. So he shuts the fuck up and gives his ungrateful brother the chance to indignantly slip away, even though he desperately wants to cry out and tell him how shiny and lickable those boots are.

"What can I say?" Nothing. "I'll only make things worse" Correct. "If I don't let him leave now there will be a fight" im literally just quoting the text verbatim

He is NOT doing this because he does not believe him, NOR because he doesn't want to defend him. It's because this the best way to protect his brother from consequence.

And then Bumble uses her dying breath to apologize for ever hurting her friend, showing Bumble is still just blaming herself for everything, with Turtle Tail still repeating the same malicious excuses that were used to deny her asylum from domestic abuse.

"I wish you could have found happiness, even though I was unwilling to help you. It sucked to learn that our shared wifebeater started wifebeating you, but we didn't want you in our camp so really this was unavoidable."

I've voiced my ire before, gone on long rants about how angry this exchange makes me and even campaigned for more recognition of the misogyny in this subplot. The fact that the last words Bumble hears are just more excuses from a person who could have done something disgust me, and I think I'm right to feel that it's vile that this sits unexamined in a book for young readers. But it doesn't change what happened.

She senselessly died in intense pain and despair, for the crime of existing. All that's left to say is that I wish Bumble could have found a better friend.

But ultimately, Turtle Tail is another woman in the notoriously misogynistic arc of DOTC. She's just a supporting character for Gray Wing's conflict, and he's got some opinions about what, exactly, is making this so sad.

He doesn't give a fuck that this woman he hates has been murdered after slowly starving to death, for months, since he watched her be dragged back to a domestic abuser. She "stole" his romantic interest for a few months, after all.

It's stressed he "never especially liked Bumble" at her deathbed. It's not JUST "the death of a kittypet," a group of people he is bigoted against. It's about his piece of shit brother.

It's about how HIS REPUTATION HAS BEEN TARNISHED.

"It changes the way my cats think of Clear Sky," THAT HE IS NOW A KNOWN MURDERER, "and that changes everything" IT'S GOING TO BE A LOT HARDER TO DEFEND HIM NOW

This is completely consistent with Gray Wing's behavior into the rest of the chapter, and even the books beyond.

The Immediate Response

Gray Wing explains what happened to the other moor cats. He has to hide his actual belief that Clear Sky didn't actually do anything wrong so that the moor cats don't dismiss him for the biased, brother-obsessed little minion he is. He admits how he really feels about Bumble's death to Turtle Tail at the very end of the chapter-- so what he says here is a lie.

Not a delusion. A lie. He withheld the full truth of his bias when questioned. If he's honest about his conflict of interest, this group will trust his judgement less. He has a goal; to prevent his cats from retaliating.

Wind Runner is, again, the one who is rallying the other cats into action. She's seeing that Clear Sky is murdering innocent cats, possibly even her friend considering how much she knew about Misty, and that this will only escalate. Gray Wing doesn't like that.

So when Tall Shadow starts suggesting the things he agrees with, like how Bumble's life was less valuable anyway so this is no reason to start a fight with his Dear Sweet Brother, and they should all just sit on their butts until no one's angry anymore, he decides she "deserves" his support.

It's a political move.

"After all, she was only a kittypet... omg why are you so mad?? I didnt mean it like that, all im saying is that we should just calm down ugh dont be so sensitive" -Tall Shadow, channeling your racist aunt

If Gray Wing can get the other cats to waste their time on useless half-measures, like more patrols or perhaps writing a strongly-worded letter, he can make them feel like they're doing something when they're actually doing jack shit. Wittingly or unwittingly, this is a measure to stall the inevitable, making them miss their chance to strike while the iron is hot.

He's either an idiot or he's subconsciously acting from a place of loyalty to his brother. Bias resembles the former but is born of the latter, and either way the result is the same.

After this, there's a brief conversation where Tall Shadow makes it clear that there is absolutely no reason to be mistrusting Wind Runner. They both agree "when this is all over" she's a good cat to have around-- they just don't seem want to listen to her now, when she wants something done about the sadistic lunatic next door.

Gray Wing's talk of "working together" is laughable. His idea of "working together" includes the cat who just slaughtered two people for existing on his newly annexed land, who long ago stopped listening to reason. Tall Shadow herself starts preening and announces that her response to all this is that Clear Sky must absolutely be stopped by some cat.......................... so she'll think abt it.

tomorrow maybe. we'll put a pin in it. set a little reminder on her phone or something.

(the genius plan she comes up with in the end is a nonsequitor babble about how rocks don't exist to be sat on, so clear sky should just stop conquering all the land or something. he listens intently and then throws her into a tank of piranhas.)

But anyway, it's time to smooth things over with Turtle Tail, who had been struggling with that uncomfortable truth that the moor cats, and Gray Wing specifically, were also culpable in some way for the slow, painful death of Bumble.

He'll fix that with a big display of affection.

"Don't be mad at me it's nobody's fault :) She wouldn't have been able to cope so it's inevitable she wound up dead :) I'm sorry you're hurting bc i like you, not that i give a damn that your friend was shoved into a blender and shredded alive after starving for months :) Thanks to you I am now ready to lead this clan directly off the side of a cliff." -very endearing conversation i assure you

It works because Turtle Tail is not allowed to maintain her own opinions as a girl in DOTC. Obviously. Her husband licks her ears and tells her that he likes her and that's the end of any examination that they have any responsibility here. god forbid she re-examine her feelings towards the writers' favorite in light of how much of an ass he made of himself at her friend's deathbed.

Just in case it slipped your mind though, once again it is made clear that Gray Wing is reacting with leisure because he does not believe (or care) that Clear Sky killed Bumble. No, not even in the negligent homicide sense, that Clear Sky's actions allowed Bumble to die through beating her unconscious and leaving her alone in an unsafe location. He does not think this was something to blame Clear Sky for.

He believes that the fox did it-- he was lying earlier when he said he "didn't know what to believe." He does. He didn't reveal his bias when he was being questioned, because he wants to prevent the moor cats from fighting Clear Sky over Bumble's death.

Also note the sneaky little turn of language Gray Wing makes there. In denial of Turt's claim that "innocent cats are being slaughtered," Gray's counter is Bumble alone before the pivot. The patrol was originally about Misty's murder and her missing kittens as Clear Sky expanded his borders-- but Misty's apparently not an "innocent cat" who's been slaughtered. She's absent from that category, implied to be part of Clear Sky's hypothetical "good reason" for expansion that Gray Wing needs to get to the bottom of.

Bumble's murder is denied. Misty's is implied to just be collateral damage for the unknown plan. He's unbothered about the death of either one.

Gray Wing: "No one else can get to the bottom of this! theres only ME! I AM THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN STOP CLEAR SKY"

Also Gray Wing: (leaps in front of an angry crowd to defend his brother. cries that he doesn't believe hes capable of such terrible violence. actively prevents anyone else from doing anything about him)

Anyone with a vague awareness of DOTC knows how this ends. Gray Wing is going to lead them astray with his bad judgement, so purposefully delusional about his brother that they will have to dig a mass grave at Fourtrees. Gray Wing thinks he's a *~special boy~* who is the only one who can truly get through to his brother, and maybe he is, but not before dozens of people have to suffer and die for it.

This is enabling. To enable is to directly or indirectly support another's harmful actions, such as addiction or abuse. He did it here, both during and after Bumble's death, giving Clear Sky the cover to escape consequences for his actions and halting any attempts to do anything concrete. Because of him, Clear Sky never pays for what he did to her.

In the book 3, Clear Sky denies all wrongdoing, and in Bumble's last mention in book 4, her torture is described in passive voice. A terrible "happening" which seemingly couldn't have been avoided. No one is held accountable. Not the moor cats for turning her away, not Clear Sky for her killing, and even Tom the Wifebeater is redeemed after being given a chance to live in a clan for not being "soft" like his female victim.

All so sweet, beloved little Gray Wing never has to confront that he let a killer get off scot-free because the uncomplicated childhood memory of his brother as a lovely good boy was wrong. That he was so consumed by spite that he smugly watched Bumble get dragged away from the only people who could have helped her. That he was complicit twice.

Incredible suggestions that I have had to read with my own eyes

fucking ✨Bonus Round✨

"If clear sky fought bumble, why bumble leave no scratches?" I'll let you sit there and think about why the DOMESTIC ABUSE VICTIM did not fight back against a large, violent man who was beating her. I'll give you a minute. I'll play some jeopardy music.

"he's quote 'horrified and guilty' at the wounds which means he didn't make them himself" Clear Sky has a repeated habit of "blacking out" when he butchers women (Rainswept Flower, Willow Tail). He's also a liar and an actor, even according to his own account he'd seen these same wounds before when he came back a second time. Most importantly, what fucking part of "horrified and guilty" implies he didn't make those himself, does a toddler not look "horrified and guilty" when it spills chocolate milk on a couch and its parent sees it? Does that mean the toddler didn't do it? If you wouldn't accept this logic for a toddler why the fuck will you accept it for a suspected murderer?

"Maybe Clear Sky fought the fox off?" He doesn't actually say that, it's just implied during his lie when he says he showed up too late, but it's hypothetically possible. Even if he did fight this fox off, he must have still mauled Bumble because she is covered in claw wounds, even if he doesn't remember it because he "blacked out." There's also still the problems of Bumble being in the middle of the trampled grass, the patrol not hearing the sound of battle, his framing that he just tapped her and she passed out, and him apparently running to get help he does not have. Occam's Razor still suggests the solution is that this fox was scared off when Bumble screamed, with Clear Sky just using the convenient smell to lie his way out of consequences

"How'd Clear Sky get fox scent on him?" Probably from showing up to the crime scene that absolutely reeks and prowling around like an axe murderer, which we saw him do. Bumble had no fox bites and no one heard a fight. did you know that if you stand in a sewer you smell like shit

"Gray Wing just doesn't want to think his dear sweet brother could ever do such a thing :("

"What if the Erins are just so incompetent that they created a crime scene completely inconsistent with the very true and real story that Clear Sky told, it just happens to look like a lie on accident, they unwittingly made him a liar earlier in this book because they forgot the events they previously wrote, and don't know anything about a type of predator that appears in nearly every entry of warrior cats and happens to be one of the most popular animals of all time" what if i tripped and fell and a shawarma with extra tahini sauce fell into my mouth, followed by an apple slice, and 3 litres of water. should i continue my fast or has Allah fed me.

All of this is why I am adamant on saying that Clear Sky killed Bumble by beating her to death. In order for this to have been the cause of a fox, you'd have to take a liar at face value and ignore every other detail. That's what Gray Wing does, described on the page as "desperate to believe in his brother's innocence."

Unfortunately, this will also not be the only time that Gray Wing's obsession with his brother and shockingly horrific judgement will put other cats in danger or get them killed. It's just the most deliberate example, and thus imo the most upsetting.

[clanslist]

[kirwell]

best father in warriors, our man Gray Wing I,,, I love him so much <3 him and River Ripple,, my heart just cannot Dotc is my second favorite arc, mostly for the characters, but also it was just refreshing to read, seeing the clans from their roots and getting to enjoy some good old fashion conflict without a dominating mystical presence. We see spirits for the first time, but they don't take the reigns of the whole story. Don't get me wrong. I love our superpower havin' cats and the mystical worldbuilding of warriors, but I live for Into the Wild vibes where things just felt more...down to earth? Cats just tryin' to survive and make their homes, and dealing with the hardships of the wilderness and building (or losing) relationships. honestly, Gray dying from asthma, which he suffered from during most of the story when things were just going well for him, is so tragic yet so real. It was devastating. Dotc was made different idek

[shallowbreeze]

Gray Wing

Gray Wing��is a sleek, dark gray tom with golden eyes, and a torn ear-tip

[shreksstepfather]

Liking Gray Wing not in the "he's wise and did nothing wrong" kinda way but in a "characters who sabotage their interpersonal relationships and defend heinous actions for the sake of someone who doesn't care if they live or die are really interesting" kinda way

[bonebabbles]

Gray Wing, Successfully Beating the Wise Allegations

Gray Wing: "Great googly moogly! I have discovered a nefarious plan from the newest evil foreigner villain! There is a spy reporting on our location and way of life in order to prepare for an invasion, no one is safe!"

Gray Wing: "Eh, not like we can do anything about a sneaky teenager anyway. I'm not gonna get all debbie-down on the clown town."

[celestralferretdesigns]

Gray wing

[smokeygrayrabbits]

imagine some major timeline fuckery au throw canon out the window bullshit that ends with snow being gamemaker during katniss's hunger games and she and peeta and the tributes meet him and they're like wtf he's not much older than us what a dick but no being a game maker forever was his punishment for saving Lucy gray instead of being a peacekeeper and cuz he was always under highbottom and Dr Gaul he was never able to get any power and he's still just their broke pawn and Lucy gray is a mentor and as punishment for cheating theyre being forced to be on opposite sides forever but they like join the rebellion amd their besties and mhm they live happily ever after

[lionblaze03-2]

personally I don’t hate gray wing nearly as much as everyone else because he’s a great example of having rose colored glasses just because ‘well, he’s family’, and not realizing until far too late that that essentially ruined his life and made him amount to almost nothing. Because clear sky is his brother, he wants to assume the best of him. Surely, my brother would never. Surely he didn’t mean it like that. Surely he’ll do better next time. He’s my brother. He COULDN’T be a bad guy. So he keeps giving him chances, over and over and over again, until it’s completely destroyed him. Until he can no longer breathe, his lungs full of toxic smoke that clear sky abandoned him to breathe in, until he is under his claws, nearly killed under the moonlight, until his people are battered again and again, until borders become inevitable. But he never, ever realizes, because- it’s his brother. Surely, his brother will do better next time. Surely, he didn’t mean it. Surely, he will change.

And believing that is the death of him.

[canonmisogynyvictimstournament]

PROPAGANDA

BUMBLE (WARRIOR CATS) (CW: Domestic Abuse)

1.) Back with another Warriors submission, I bet you’ll be getting a lot from other people too LMAO. Bumble is a kittypet (housecat) who befriends the male protagonist Gray Wing’s girlfriend, Turtle Tail, and lets her stay in her house. This gets Gray Wing all pissy because he’s controlling of Turtle Tail and shares most of the wild/clan cat’s proclivity for looking down upon kittypets. Turtle Tail gets pregnant by another kittypet, Tom, who tries to control her by hiding the fact that humans take away kittens after they’re born. Eventually Bumble comes clean about it so Turtle Tail returns to the forest. Some time later, Bumble is found in the forest seeking refuge because Tom has been physically abusing her, scratching her where the humans can’t see. So, she’s CANONICALLY ACKNOWLEDGED as a domestic abuse victim (unlike Squirrelflight who meets all the textbook signs but the narrative and authors deny it). How do you think our good guy protagonists, i.e. Gray Wing “The Wise” and Turtle Tail, respond to an abuse victim seeking refuge? They tell Bumble to go home, thinking to themselves that she’s fat and soft and therefore would be useless in their group. Bumble stands up for herself and asks to speak with the leaders of the group. One of them asks if Bumble could just get along with Tom better (bro???) and when Bumble says it’s not within her control, the leader suggests being nicer to the humans instead. Another rival leader butts in and verbally abuses Bumble again by ripping into how fat and lazy and useless she would be. Despite Turtle Tail having been friends with Bumble and Bumble had helped her through her own hard times, to Gray Wing’s approval Turtle Tail chooses not to intervene as Bumble is forcibly escorted back to her abuser. But that’s not all. Later Bumble is found in the forest maimed and dying, and it seems likely that Gray Wing’s brother Clear Sky, a male with a long history of violence, is the culprit. Rather than mourn the dying innocent cat, Gray Wing’s primary concern is how other cats might be mean to Clear Sky if they think he’s a murderer, and reassures himself that refusing to help Bumble in her time of need was still the right decision.

2.) I have no idea how she managed to be written so horrifically from an abuse victim and woman (/she-cat I guess) standpoint but here we are. Okay so my memory is a bit fuzzy but basically Bumble was a character in Dawn of the Clans and a close friend to Turtle Tail, a major character, as well as a character who lived close to Tom, an abusive dickhead of a cat. Bumble was largely depicted as just a really sweet cat. Turtle Tail was very briefly the mate of Turtle Tail, but once she got pregnant, he became super violent towards both her and our gal Bumble. Tom actively hid the fact that, once her kits were old enough, Turtle Tail’s kits would probably be taken from her, and made Bumble keep quiet about this too, but Bumble eventually told Turtle Tail the truth, Turtle Tail left and Tom became extremely violent towards Bumble because of this, and was extremely abusive towards her. Eventually, Bumble ran away from him to where Turtle Tail and co were and begged to stay, since the wilderness as a whole was genuinely more safe than being around Tom was. Naturally, this meant kitty xenophobia from cats who had only arrived in that area recently, because everybody was insistent than, since she was a kittypet/house cat, things wouldn’t work out, and even her friend Turtle Tail denied her on this, insisted she was too soft to live in the wild and only sent her towards a cat Bumble wanted to convince because she was absolutely certain she’d be denied. Also our good old protagonist Gray Wing got to spend this scene being all upset about this soft cat wanting to join them to escape an abuser and was all bitter about the fact that Turtle Tail lived with her for a short period of time, and he also got to have a sweet romantic moment with Turtle Tail after denying an abuse victim an escape from her abuser. Also as much as I like Tall Shadow usually she sucked ass in the following scene because she was essentially telling Bumble to go find a way to make peace with Tom as if she was not the one being abused (Bumble pointed out that Tom was the one who would need to make peace for it to happen, not her) and that she should just make life better by going back to being a housecat and being spoiled despite the fact that she was actively at risk with her owners because of Tom. Then she leaves after being threatened by several cats there and is called soft on the way out. The next time she appears she is literally dying, and her death is just a plot device to create a stupid little mystery which is solved in a very stupid way. Also her abuser does continue to be a shithead and for some reason is fully permitted to kidnap his own children but he also gets a heroic death and the only reason I will not rant more about him is because this is too long already. Long story short Bumble deserves the world and everybody who decided not to let her escape her abuser just because they thought she was soft sucks

3.) Is nice to the group of starving, feral wild cats that left the mountains so their friends and family could have more food to eat and befriends one of them to the point of opening her home to her after she leaves the group because the guy she likes is too dumb to notice she likes him and keeps falling for his brother’s love interests.

Unfortunately, because Bumble is a house cat who lives in a house with people and not a Wild and Free cat, this is a grave and horrible crime (luring a wild cat into the safety and comforts of domesticity) and is villainized for the rest of the arc, including for things wildly out of her control

I.E.

Her owners taking in an aggressive male cat that bullies and abuses the two female cats already living there

When Bumble’s friend leaves and goes back to the wild cats, Bumble leaves her home (as the abuse as has gotten worse) to see if she could either get help or have her friend return so the abuse isn’t as bad again)

Bumble eventually dies in the wild because the feral cats all hate her for ‘stealing’ their friend and tricking her into becoming a kittypet for awhile and refuse to help Bumble adjust to wild life or even teaching her how to hunt.

They are littl e to no hard feelings at her death beyond ‘good riddance’ but the aggressive tomcat that chased her out of her home is later regarded with good feelings and regret at such a ‘good, heroic cat’ passing when he dies despite him literally never doing a good or kind thing in his life and actually causing trouble for the wild cats right before dying

ALEX DEWITT (DC COMICS)

1.) The term “fridging” is literally based on Alex and what happened to her. She was killed off violently by a bad guy trying to get at her boyfriend only a couple issues after she was introduced (making it obvious they only brought her in to kill her off for shock value). Her death did very little to the narrative other than hurt her boyfriend Kyle and was done in an exceedingly horrifying and violent way. (Bad guy came to the door with flowers and threatening note, broke in and attacked her, choking her to death, before [off panel] chopping her body up and sticking it in the refrigerator as a “surprise” for her boyfriend. This obviously is really fucked up and she deserves better and should win this actually (a vote for Alex is a vote for all fridging victims [in spirit])

2.) It doesn’t get much worse than being the character whose death originated the “fridging” trope. In Green Lantern Vol. 3 #54, Kyle Rayner comes home to find that Alexandra, his girlfriend, has been killed by the villain Major Force and stuffed into the refrigerator.

Alexandra DeWitt is the character whose misogynistic treatment coined the term where a character, usually female, is killed off purely to make the main character, usually male, feel bad. Even if there are other characters who have been subjected to similar levels of misogyny, Alexandra DeWitt’s treatment has been essentially immortalized.

3.) I know she’s not going to win but shout out to my home girl, literally the trope namer for women shoved in fridges. All anyone ever knows about her is that she was Kyle’s girlfriend and got murdered for his character development, even though she had plenty of potential to be her own character.

[warrior-cats-rewritten]

Clear Sky then proceeded to not listen to him

But ugh, when will Jagged Peak learn to just get over the ableism and abuse and exile he was put through, right guys?

Rolls eyes I just- come on- Gray Wing is just a dumb fuck the dumbest of all fucks 

[bonefall]

i like how you show how abuse can warp someone’s judgment and make them do things they don’t really believe in gray wings arc in this feels much better then in canon and actually sets out to show him how they intended too

It's easy to sympathize with victims of abuse and products of toxic families when they're "innocent" and blameless. There's this idea, spoken or unspoken, that if you ever lashed out, or begged your abuser to stay, or went on to hurt someone in a similar way, that you're LESS of a victim

People get locked in those cycles, thinking that their abuser, or their toxic family, is the only one who will ever "tolerate" them. Sometimes people don't want to believe they've been hurt, or that their family could be toxic, because confronting that is painful. Sometimes it's just love. Sometimes you really can love someone too much.

Sometimes you REALLY fuck up and hurt someone else. You do stupid, mean shit. Abuse isn't logical and pain isn't either. There are times where you realize it too late, and only realize it when you're staring at the smoldering ash of a burned bridge

And I want to write that. People who are hurt and hurt in turn, people who perpetuate those cycles, people who break them. You deserved better, and the people around you do too.

Sometimes I legitimately worry about the writers of these silly cat books. They keep writing the realest, most harrowing depictions of toxic family/abuse I've ever seen in my fucking life and then turning around and saying, "and then it was all fine :)" like... are they okay?

Gray Wing would mean a lot to me if this was intentional, but he's RIGHT in the end in canon. "Ohhh he wasnt greedy he was just scared and had too much responsibility :))) i dont have to reckon with anything i said ever :)))". Clear Sky's "redemption" drags the entire arc down with it.

So I am here. Furiously writing foe fiction. Feeding myself.

[clanslist]

[aspoonofsugar]

Vaggie's Design

This is both an appreciation post and an analysis of Vaggie's design! It will combine ideas from other metas and will try to show that not only are Vaggie's looks gorgeous, but also telling of the kind of person she is.

A FLUTTERING MOTH

As many other Hellaverse characters, Vaggie has an animal motif. Specifically, her hair resembles folded moth wings. Even her bow is loosely butterfly-shaped, in a subtle allusion to these insects:

Why is that so? Vaggie's link with moths has a double meaning:

1-Moths are attracted to light. In fact, one hypothesis is that they use bright celestial lights (like the moon) to navigate. Well, our angelic moth has found the brightest star of all. The morningstar to be precise:

Charlie inspires and guides Vaggie with her idealism, hope and kindness. Vaggie is lost, but through Charlie she finds a new path.

2- Moths are associated with the cycle of death and rebirth (just like butterflies). They start their lives as caterpillars, enter cocoons and come out as moths. Not only that, but many moth caterpillars go through their transformations in holes dug in the ground. This is exactly what happens to Vaggie:

She is robbed of her wings and abandoned in Hell, the deepest chasm on Earth. There she heals and grows stronger, until she gains new wings:

Interestingly, these two aspects of Vaggie's story can be found in her design, as well. In fact:

Vaggie's looks are complementary to Charlie's, as a symbol of their strong bond

Vaggie has (obviously) some angelic imagery, which comments her metamorphosis

Let's explore these two visual motifs!

CHARLIE'S PARTNER

Just like moths, Vaggie is linked to night, shadow, moon and the color silver.

Charlie is instead associated to day (she is the morning-star), light, rainbows and the color gold.

The complementarity of their color-palette is even in their respective eyes:

Vaggie has red sclera and golden irisis

Charlie has yellow sclera and red pupils

The girls' interconnected aesthetic mirrors their internal compatibility, highlighted also by their body-shapes and styles. As a matter of fact Vaggie and Charlie are opposites body-wise. Vaggie is short, while Charlie is tall. Vaggie's design has mostly angular shapes, whereas Charlie’s uses softer lines. However, Vaggie's clothes are more loose and comfortable, in juxtaposition to Charlie's which are stricter and business-like. As this analysis suggests, that is because of the two partners' different personalities:

Charlie is kind and sweet, but wants more respect and needs to grow tougher

Vaggie is harsh and distrustful, but wants to be a good person and needs to show her sensitivity more

So, both girls choose the kind of clothes closest to who they want to become:

Charlie wears androgynous tuxedos to appear masculine and self-assured. She wants to be respected as an inspiring and competent leader. So, she chooses power-suits to look professional.

Vaggie instead usually sports a short skirt and loose long hair to appear feminine. Why is she so intrigued with femininity? The answer lies in her past as an exorcist.

THE FALLEN EXORCIST

Exorcists all wear the same gray and black uniform, which resembles pigeon's plumage. Vaggie used to be the same:

Not only that, but Vaggie's hair in the flashback is similar to Lute's:

Both girls have their hair short in a masculine and practical attire. In general, their outfits are functional, but anonymous and their faces are hidden behind masks. That’s because they are not allowed to be people, but are prisoners of a repressive cult led by Adam. The First Man teaches them to hate and kill, so their sense of self gets intertwined with strength and violence. They are trapped in toxic masculinity.

So, the moment Vaggie is freed, she starts expressing her most feminine side. This happens both aesthetically and psychologically. On the one hand she dresses like a girly girl. On the other hand she starts working on her own interiority. Vaggie is superficially masculine, as she is a good fighter and aggressive. However, she has many feminine traits hidden within her. For example, she is very emotionally intelligent and emphatic, even if she masks these qualities with her brash persona. So, her choice of clothing metaphorically represents a deeper transformation she is undergoing.

At the same time, this restyling is an attempt to leave her past self behind. In fact, Vaggie hates who she was:

Vaggie: Those angels' minds are hard to change They're bloodthirsty and deranged!

And wants to become someone new:

Vaggie: When I saw your face You made me feel like a stranger in a brand new place And it felt so good to be understood But there's so much I wished that I could say So I, I'll be your armor Do whatever it takes, I'll make the mistakes I'll spend my life being your partner

Her exorcist side, though, is still there and comes to the surface in the way she looks. Let's consider the X over her eye, for example:

Vaggie: Wait… you know I'm an exorcist? How? Carmilla: You have a giant X over your eye and wield an angelic spear. It's not rocket science.

Vaggie's current appearance both negates and alludes to her angelic nature. Her hair is a great example of this.

Vaggie changes her hair and lets it grow. In this way she reaches two goals. She embraces her femininity and hides both the scar on her eye and her missing wings. It is a way to start anew and to cover up her vulnerability.

Vaggie's hair resembles her angelic wings, both in shape and in color. It even has the two darker stripes typical of exorcists. Moreover, the locks over her eye is similar to a wing. It is a call back to her past self.

So, Vaggie's hair is both a camouflage and a hint of the truth. Both something new and a link to the past. Why is there such a contradiction?

That's because Vaggie needs to accept who she was in order to grow into who she wants to be. A moth starts as a larva before she can gain wings of her own. The same goes for our rebellious angel.

In order to protect her newfound loved ones, she needs to hone her past abilities. In order to redeem herself, she needs to forgive herself and to come to terms with her angelic nature:

Vaggie: It's not her fault. Angels are just-- Angel Dust: Liars? Vaggie: …Difficult.

It is only through this reconciliation that she can complete her beautiful metamorphosis. This process is shown through her wings:

As an exorcist, Vaggie's wings are black and white like her sisters', but she only has one black stripe, while the others have two. This shows how Vaggie is able to resist Adam's brainwashing to an extent. Her leader exhibits two lines, but Vaggie dares to only have one. This makes her different and not perfectly fitting. In particular, the black and white vision she was conditioned to believe is not fully rooted into her. She can still empathize with a sinner.

As a fallen angel, Vaggie's wings are silver because she is starting to reconcile her different parts. She is integrating her past as an exorcist with her present as a demon. She is realizing the world isn't black and white, but gray. Just like she is. At the same time, she still has her darker stripe. It is just that now it has a much lighter shade, which is similar to the one in her hair. She is slowly growing into herself.

This development shows fully in Vaggie's looks in the Finale.

VAGGIE'S BATTLE OUTFIT

Vaggie's battle outfit is a synthesis of her development in season 1, so it is meaningful on all the three levels addressed in this analysis:

Vaggie's complementarity with Charlie

The integration of masculine and feminine

The reconciliation of past and present self

1- During the final battle Vaggie keeps being complementary to Charlie:

The princess of Hell wears a mini-dress with a heart decoration and wields a shield. Moreover she unties her usually braided hair to enter her demonic form. Finally, her color scheme is red and black with golden weapons.

The fallen exorcist fully covers her body with a practical attire and fights with her signature spear. Moreover, she keeps her hair tied, so that her angelic wings can come out more easily. Finally, her color scheme is blue and white with a silver weapon.

2- Vaggie usually appears feminine, but she chooses a more masculine outfit to fight. Her clothes are simple and easy to move in. She even ties her hair, so it won't get in the way. In short, she appears much more androgynous than she usually does. Despite this, she still retains some girly elements, like the red/pink decorations and her signature bow. She is a mix of girlish (pink) and boyish (blue).

3- Vaggie's looks put together elements of both her demon and angel self.

On the one hand several people have noticed similarities between Vaggie's battle uniform and Carmilla's appearance. Specifically, Carmilla has an X motif going on in her design, just like Vaggie:

Moreover, she tells Vaggie to "harness her heart" and in the final fight Vaggie puts a giant "harness" over her chest.

On the other hand it is obvious Vaggie's outfit is a deliberate call back to the exorcists' uniform. Vaggie's boots, gloves and overall silhouette are similar to Lute's:

And she exhibits a giant white X, which makes the reference crystal clear.

Vaggie both harnesses her heart and wears her past on it. She doesn't need to hide her exorcist self anymore:

Vaggie: I mean, personally, I'm excited. It's been a while since I stabbed anyone and really meant it, you know what I mean?

But this is precisely why she is free to change:

Lute: Do it, then. Correct your mistake. Vaggie: Seriously, you're pathetic, you know that? Ready to die rather than accepting mercy? No, live. Live, knowing that you only do because I let you. A failure.

Vaggie's choice to spare Lute is the pinnacle of her character arc up until now:

She chooses to embrace Charlie's ideology over Adam and Lute's (there was no mistake to correct)

She expresses values, which are traditionally feminine (she has mercy)

She lets Lute live, which is metaphorically Vaggie sparing her past self

She doesn't kill Lute because she is strong enough to forgive herself and live on. Her empathy and mercy are not flaws to correct, but traits to embrace. Finally, she has now someone she is free to fly to and that accepts her for who she truly is.

WHAT DOES "X" STAND FOR?

There is still a detail in Vaggie's design to discuss: her "X-eye".

Vaggie's X eye starts as a joke. In the pilot both it and Vaggie's tits are barred because she lacks both:

Angel Dust: Did you ever think maybe she's sensitive about her lack of wings, just like her lack of tits?

However, in the series it becomes a hint to her background as an exorcist:

Exorcists have an X over their eyes because their vision is heavily biased and simplistic. They can't see clearly, but understand the world in black and white:

'Cause the rules are black and white There's no use in tryin' to fight it They're burnin' for their lives Until we kill 'em again!

Still, why does Vaggie truly lose an eye? There are two thematic reasons.

1- Vaggie's loss alludes to the saying "an eye for an eye", which can be completed in two opposite ways:

"An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" - Or in this case, an eye for an arm, as Lute cuts off her left one to free herself. This phrase is associated with revenge, which Vaggie deep down desires:

I know you'rе thirstin' for vengeance, Vaggie You're out for blood

"An eye for an eye makes the world blind" - This phrase means that if you answer violence with violence the end result will be bad for everybody. This is Charlie's belief:

Sir Pentious: Who could forgive a dirtbag like me? I don't deserve your amnesty Angel Dust and Vaggie: Can't we just kill him? Shoot him and spill his blood? Charlie: That's an… option you could choose Angel Dust and Vaggie: Works for us! Charlie: But, who hasn't been in his shoes? It starts with sorry!

In season 1's climax Vaggie has to choose where she stands, as she defeats Lute and tops over her. Her answer is to give up hate and to choose love:

You're gonna fight without gloves And when that push comes to shove Yeah, you just might rise above Long as you're out for love

2- Losing an eye is often symbolic of gaining knowledge. This stems from Odin's legend, where the god trades his eye (outside knowledge) for infinite wisdom (inner knowledge).

In a sense, Vaggie does the same. She trades her left eye for a deeper knowledge of good and evil. Her sisters might see better, as they have both eyes. However, Vaggie develops a clearer understanding of the world. Not only that, but she is even given a very special apple to do so. Charlie is Vaggie's very own Fruit of Knowledge. It is not by chance that the Princess of Hell's first action after meeting Vaggie is to bandage the fallen angel's missing eye:

An eye and a halo for knowledge and love.

THE FUTURE

Vaggie's design is deep down all about:

Her bond with Charlie, their complementarity and their parallel integration of masculine and feminine traits

Her journey of death and rebirth, where she heals and forgives, so that she can bloom into her real self

So, I am expecting her future outfits and physical changes to mirror these two aspects of her story. Who knows? Maybe she will even gain some new visual motifs. Here are three examples:

1- Vaggie's design is loosely inspired by Zoophobia Lollygag:

This character has a pirate motif and interestingly Vaggie is seen dancing on a ship in season 1:

Will the ship and Vaggie's pirate influence get some more exploration later on? Could the ship become somehow symbolic of Charlie and Vaggie's relationship? So, of Chaggie as a ship?

2- Vaggie has a dancer motif already, as her fighting practice with Carmilla is nothing, but a dancing lesson:

Vaggie is supposed to learn how to express herself more and dance is set up to become her preferred language to do so. So, maybe this will influence her appearance, as well.

3- Finally, I am curious to see if Vaggie will end up getting a full demon form, similar to Lucifer's:

After all, Vaggie and Lucifer are strong parallels and share some similarities design-wise, as TV Tropes highlights:

They are both very short, but stronger than what they seem

They have retractable wings. Not only that, but their wings mark them as different from other angels. Vaggie's have one single line instead of two, whereas Lucifer's are red instead of blue/light blue

Both of their hairstyle resembles their respective animal motif. Vaggie's hair is similar to a moth, whereas Lucifer sports a ducktail cut. Moreover, both have a head accessory, which is animal-shaped. Vaggie's bow is meant to look like a moth, while Lucifer's hat has a golden snake on it.

So, it is possible Vaggie too will end up transforming herself into a form, which combines her angelic and demonic traits more. This might happen as Charlie instead starts exhibiting more angelic traits inherited from Lucifer. In any case, Vaggie and Lucifer's similar head accessory is especially interesting to me. After all, Lucifer's golden snake turns into a fake halo when he transforms. So, will we see Vaggie gain a bright pink halo made of her signature bow? If so, I am looking forward to it!

[the-owl-tree]

clear sky: i cuffed her around the ear and she passed out (translation: i beat the shit out of her so bad that she passed out). not my fault she got mauled by a fox.

gray wing with bumble dying right beside him: wow....so brave. why is everyone being so meeaaann to my poor brother? don't you guys know that he's sad because his wife died? he's good deep down i know it <3

I'm getting angrier the more I think about DOTC/Bumble and one of the many things I can't get over is sticking to my mind:

the fact that it's SO obvious Clear Sky killed her?? When she's basically dying of a thousand cuts and everyone is like "oh this was 100% Clear Sky", he comes out of fucking nowhere like a supervillain, claiming he only warned her, and acts like a kicked puppy when everyone accuses him of causes her injuries, being all like "you really think I'd do that? 🥺" Yes, Clear Sky, after all, you did murder a queen in the exact same book.

It's just so mind-boggling that Gray Wing still tries to support him. Like. ?!?!?!?!

The whole scene is ridiculous, he blames it on a FOX. Might as well be twirling his mustache and holding a bloody axe to be any less obviously lying.

to which cue Gray Wing gushing about how brave he is and not being concerned his brother is just slaughtering anyone who comes into his territory, but being more concerned that what if no one likes his bwother anymore :(

[1anxiousbeancrying]

It honestly makes me so happy to see people leaning away from the vaggie moth idea to the vaggie bird idea.

Like in the pilot I agree vaggie was definitely a moth and like that was cool, but after her re design for the show that's definitely not the case anymore (in my opinion). I think that's why vaggies re design got so much hate at first, because it didn't look like a moth.

And like her new design fits so much more with her being an angel now. With her hair looking more like bird wings than moth wings the gray stripes in hair hair even looking like the patterns on birds of prey she's got a pointy nose which people tend to give to bird characters.

Like moth vaggie was definitely cannon in the pilot but it's obviously not the case anymore because the pilot is now semi cannon which means a lot of stuff was changed. So can people stop says she's based on a moth now please because she was in the pilot but she literally has feathers now she's a bird (well until it's said other wise).

Also bird vaggie is so much cooler than moth vaggie and I'm not apologizing for that. Lmao