#He's an interesting character to me and I feel very satisfied in how Thornclaw will be dying instead of him

[bonefall]

Why is Spiderleg so into the title, is his method of coping with any amount of guilt and a publicly shaming by self flagellating himself back into the clans good graces and so he doesn't actually have to think about things too deeply?

That might be the deeper psychological reason, but on a more surface level, he feels like shame is repentance, and really does equate piety with guilt. So he performs it like an actor.

What is "accountability"? Truly? Can you define it? If you've done wrong... how do you DO it? Spiderbite answers that question with this.

"See how I'm being punished? Watch how I perfectly obey my leader, a blessed envoy of StarClan, whose word is the code. I am so righteous now, I am holy through trial. Let StarClan fill me as their vessel, for I am but a humble servant." -Spiderbite, in his thoughts

And that feels good. It's simple. Having agency over your difficult emotions just feels fantastic. Every winceful word to tone it back a bit, every twinge of discomfort in anyone else's face, is a sign of persecution-- because they don't have, "the connection I have." They just don't 'understand'. They aren't as strong, in their faith or conviction, as he is.

He was Thornclaw's apprentice, and was given Thistle Law as an ideology from adolescence... and yet, he went on thr Great Journey, made Paw Soup with the other apprentices of the time. Lost his brother Shrewpaw to human destruction. Followed his mentor into the Dark Forest and felt intense guilt over the (unwanted) kits he accidentally sired with Daisy.

Basically. This guy is messed up in a lot of ways. He's got an unsettling coping mechanism about it.