#I know everything that happens in tnp

[mothdapple]

Tigerstar's Legacy in RiverClan

The aftermath of Tigerstar and TigerClan is one of the topics I enjoy exploring the most in Warriors, especially TigerClan's impact on RiverClan. That is certainly reflected in my TNP rewrite Shaken Roots (and everything I say here can be considered "canon" to my rewrite,) but I also find this an interesting and relevant lens to examine the canon books through as well. And that is sort of my goal with Shaken Roots anyway— I'm not reinventing the wheel with my rewrite, just expanding upon the design canon has provided.

Now on to TigerClan. TigerClan feels like a quite momentous era— Tigerstar and Leopardstar unite ShadowClan and RiverClan into one, and four RiverClan cats are imprisoned for being half-Clan, one being their loyal deputy, who is then executed.

It should be a watershed moment in RiverClan's, and Leopardstar's, history. But one of the things that makes this so fascinating to me is that it's not. This is my main thesis on the post-TigerClan era— RiverClan as whole is still dealing with the same attitude/ideological problems that led to TigerClan in the first place. They have not truly changed.

I see TigerClan as something which RiverClan tries not to think or talk about in general. However you slice it, it's a shamefully moment for RiverClan, and RiverClan, like all the Clans, are proud. They would prefer to sweep it under the rug. But if pressed to discuss TigerClan, RiverClan cats will explain it using the framework of ShadowClan— and Tigerstar specifically— conquering and occupying RiverClan, and imprisoning their Clanmates. This framework firmly shifts the blame away from any RiverClan cat and onto Tigerstar— a palatable scapegoat given all his crimes.

That's not to say, of course, that Tigerstar is blameless for TigerClan (quite the opposite,) but regardless, this framework downplays the actions of other culpable cats. Still though, it's understandable why some cats, especially cats who were very young during the TigerClan time, might see it this way.

Take someone like Dawnflower for example. She is the same age as Stormfur and Feathertail, and they grew up alongside her, all cared for by Mosspelt. Like them, Dawnpaw was a newly made apprentice during TigerClan. When Stormpaw and Featherpaw were imprisoned, she likely understood less than the warriors about what was going on. All that she knew was that her two best friends— the cats who were fostered with her— were taken away from her. Even if she protested, as a powerless young apprentice, there was nothing she could do about it. She’d likely just have been told that she would understand why this was happening when she was older.

Knowing her experiences with TigerClan, it makes sense that when Dawnflower grew up, she would almost solely blame Tigerstar for what happened. So when Hawkfrost's and Mothwing's true parentage was revealed to the Clans, Dawnflower had a knee-jerk reaction to be wary of them. Why wouldn't she be worried when she knew how much devastation their father had caused to the half-Clan apprentices she once was so close to— especially when Dawnflower herself had just recently given birth (to kits with an unknown-to-the-Clan father no less) and has their safety to worry about now too?

But by assuming that Mothwing and Hawkfrost were dangerous just because Tigerstar was their father, Dawnflower is falling into the same prejudiced mindset that Tigerstar had used himself to justify imprisoning the half-Clan cats. Fundamentally, her reasoning is just as prejudiced even though Dawnflower sees herself as being on the "correct" (pro-halfClan/Mistyfoot/Stormfur etc) side.

Let's take a different RiverClan cat example now to explore the other side of the Clan— the more conservative cats who are more distrustful of half-Clan cats.

Heavystep by all accounts was one of TigerClan's supporters within RiverClan— he is one of the few RiverClan cats noted to be sitting by the Bonehill during Stonefur's execution, while the majority of RiverClan is absent. Heavystep also happened to be Dawnpaw's mentor. (I imagine he was probably the one telling Dawnpaw that she is just too young to understand why this is happening when Stormpaw and Featherpaw were imprisoned.) I see Heavystep as someone who didn't like Tigerstar taking power in RiverClan, but ideologically, he agreed with him. Heavystep of course wouldn’t have killed Mistyfoot, Stonefur, Stormpaw, or Featherpaw himself without reason, but he was content to be complacent in their imprisonment. Even after TigerClan, Heavystep probably still thinks that Tigerstar had some decent ideas, but he just went too far with them. And there are certainly several other RiverClan cats who think similarly (Blackclaw for an easy example.)

In Shaken Roots: Dawn, when Hawkfrost's and Mothwing's father is revealed to be Tigerstar, I have Heavystep argue against them staying in RiverClan. But Heavystep’s reaction to Hawkfrost and Mothwing doesn’t come from a rejection of Tigerstar’s ideals, but rather a continuation of them— he thinks that they are untrustworthy half-Clanners, and while their father had some good ideas he “usurped” power from Leopardstar and unfairly “conquered” RiverClan, so Hawkfrost and Mothwing also shouldn’t be trusted.

Finally we have Leopardstar, who sits in a bit of a unique place at the heart of this. She clearly carries a lot of guilt for her actions during TigerClan, and in her mind, I think she genuinely wants to change for the better (and believes she has.)

But she didn't actually put in the work, and like the rest of her Clan, she never truly learned her lesson. We can see this in that fact that every choice Leopardstar makes after TigerClan that seems accepting towards half-Clan cats is only performative. Firstly, there is her naming Mistyfoot her deputy, which seems like a responsible move on her part, until after Mistyfoot goes missing, Leopardstar's first response is to appoint Hawkfrost (who shares Tigerstar's/Leopardstar's values) in Mistyfoot's place.

Leopardstar's acceptance of Feathertail and Stormfur in RiverClan is also obviously surface-level— as soon as they go missing in Midnight, Leopardstar's assumption is that they were disloyal and left for ThunderClan. In Shaken Roots, I expand on both of these examples to fully highlight Leopardstar's hypocrisy, but the foundation is present in canon.

Then there is Leopardstar's reaction to the reveal about Hawkfrost's and Mothwing's father. Interestingly, she is one of their few defenders within RiverClan. Is this proof then that she has changed, learned to accept half-Clan cats and not judge them for the actions of their parents? No. Leopardstar clearly sees Hawkfrost and Mothwing as exceptions, not the rule. 

I think Leopardstar has a lot riding on Hawkfrost and Mothwing. Knowing that Tigerstar is their father, I think she has wrapped the two of them up in her own personal path to “redemption.” Leopardstar sees herself undoing some of the harm she caused with TigerClan by training Tigerstar’s kits to be powerful, loyal members of RiverClan— maybe even her successor in regard to Hawkfrost. There is also a lot of pride for Leopardstar tied up in the two of them. Hawkfrost was her former apprentice, and Mothwing was trained by her deputy and her medicine cat/father. Them being successful cases reflects well on her.

But Leopardstar's behavior towards other cats shows, fundamentally, that her views on half-Clan cats being untrustworthy are unchanged. Hawkfrost, Mothwing, (and to some extent, Mistyfoot) are just examples that Leopardstar can put on a pedestal and use as a shield to say “See??? I’m different now.”

This is why RiverClan is still as vulnerable to Hawkfrost's influence in TNP as they were to Tigerstar's in TPB. At a fundamental level, their ideology carries the same prejudice, so it's easy for Hawkfrost to sway them. In Shaken Roots some cats like Heavystep will even come to be one of Hawkfrost's staunchest supporters, since all Hawkfrost has to do is gain his trust— Heavystep already agrees with his ideals.

TL;DR TigerClan didn't end in RiverClan with Tigerstar. Tigerstar just provided an outlet for the prejudiced beliefs that festered in RiverClan long before him, and continued for long after him.

[bonefall]

I LOVED hearing about the Ripwater episode!!!! Could you discuss whichever episode that would include Jayfeather‘s warrior training perhaps? If not I’d LOVE to hear about any other!

Jay's warrior training happens across lots of them! He only pivots to being a Cleric near the VERY end of the arc. He's considered fully trained after "saving" Hazeltail by secretly kicking Moleflight's ass.

Jaypaw -> Jayfang -> Jayfeather

Blackstar's Bog Project seems to be the conflict so far that's going to be featuring Jaypaw's training the most, though, the way that most of these episodes end up being centric for one of the three.

Jaypaw will be dominant in ShadowClan-related episodes because his first rival shows up here; Owlpaw, later called Owlclaw.

If you recognize that name, it's either because you know he's the secret brother of Kestrelflight and Harestar, or you remember that he's the father of Weaselkit and Happyface which causes familial problems within Violetshine's adopted family. Noteworthy recurring ShadowClan cat!

Head's up this one's way less organized than Ripwater's

Pre-Bog Project; The beginning of Jaypaw's apprenticeship Ableism and Longtail

Before Blackstar begins the bog project, I want there to be a decent amount of battle between ShadowClan and ThunderClan.

At the time, The Three are kits or young apprentices. For the most part, they're born into a world where they mostly know ShadowClan as this kinda distant, scary thing that the older warriors fight a lot.

When they become apprentices, it doesn't help that ShadowClan's presence is sharp. They have a very dry, dark sense of humor which can mask bullying. They cite the Warrior Code a lot and take blasphemy seriously. It's not always obvious when they mean what they say or if they're being sarcastic

This is especially bad with ThunderClan cats. Tawnypelt had a REALLY hard time adapting to this culture back in TNP.

there's one major fight Jaypaw takes part in between the two, as a young apprentice. Enter Owlpaw.

It's REALLY important that in this fight, Jaypaw gets his ass kicked.

Owlpaw is the third oldest lakeborn cat. He's big, mean, and vicious. He is a DIFFICULT opponent, he really is an Owl to a Jay at this point. Bad Bad Leroy Brown type shit

This curbstomp messes with Jaypaw baaaadly, shaking any confidence he'd gained in the short time where he's started training with Longtail.

When Jaypaw FIRST becomes the apprentice of Longtail... it wasn't actually welcome. Jaykit's ceremony was nearly delayed, as if Firestar was just going to pass over him.

An objection was raised, as it was wondered what would happen with Jaykit. The poor kid was put on the spot, when he'd just been expecting to get given a mentor the same as his siblings.

When Firestar and Brackenfur had an awkward answer, Longtail leapt in heroically, demanding to be un-retired so he could come and mentor his grand-nephew.

While most of the Clan saw this as impressive, Jaykit did not. It was humiliating and embarrassing!

It was like they were just going to skip over him, and "the only mentor I could get was another useless cat, like me..."

Jaypaw is dealing with a lot of shame through internalized ableism. It's that kind of sticky misery where you just end up hating everything you touch. NOTHING is good or okay. Everything is awful and if you try to tell me otherwise I will double down.

The type that you can't reason with. So Longtail trying to get through to this kid was already hell.

He was trying to be motivational and uplifting. "We'll prove them wrong, together!" and "Stick with me kid, I'll teach you everything." and "There's lots of ways to be a warrior, we'll find what works best for ya."

It does not work. Jaypaw is determined to hate him, dismissing him as being insincere and fake-nice.

And when that first fight comes up, Jaypaw's spent however long as an apprentice being difficult and his first real matchup is against ShadowClan's Youngest Blender

So of course, Owlpaw toys with him like canon. Keeps dodging and taunting him, making little jabs, commenting on how weak ThunderClan must be to put him out on the battlefield.

After the fight ends, Longtail tries to let Jaypaw mope for a bit about it, lick his wounds, recover.

But he just ends up at his lowest point, and snapping at Longtail that he'll never amount to anything anyway, "a blind warrior isn't worth anything."

And Longtail's LOST his patience. That's IT.

"Get up right now and fight me."

"wh... what?"

"Maybe you're used to everyone else just letting you say whatever dumb thing, but when you insult yourself, you insult ME. And I've got the Right to Challenge over my honor. So GET UP."

Over the course of this fight, Longtail uses it both to coach him on how to properly move, and also to let Jaypaw blow off steam. He taunts him to just let his claws out, while keeping his own sheathed.

And during all this, Jay can barely get a hit in. The fight ends with Longtail easily pinning him to the ground, and he reminds him,

"Don't wanna be a blind warrior? Fine. I can't teach what you don't want to learn, you tell me and we'll find other options, but if I EVER hear those words come out of your mouth again, it's personal."

And after THAT, it clicks for Jaypaw. It's personal. Longtail didn't need to do any of it, stand up for him, mentor him, he wants to.

When he insults himself, or when he thinks of Longtail like he was some cheap option, it hits both of them.

Longtail is an excellent warrior-- and a warrior defends their honor.

Still, Owlpaw remains, and these aren't just internalized thoughts only he has, "don't get mad at me for insulting your honor. I was just repeating what Owlpaw said to me. He said a blind warrior isn't worth anything at all. And it's like the whole Clan agrees, but they just don't say it."

"Then we'll kick his ass," removes his paw from his apprentice's back, "We'll kick all their asses. But you're not going to go around agreeing with them before you even learn how to fight."

The grand irony of this is that after making this promise to kick Owlpaw's ass, having this as a goal in-mind, Firestar begins the fruitful negotiations with ShadowClan which will result in a period of sweet peace. There aren't any battles to get into between them for a while.

So Owlpaw continues to be this sort of "goal" on the horizon. Jaypaw wants revenge against this specific person, while also being forced to work with him at various points, as ShadowClan is their ally.

Something interesting I plan to do is to secretly write Breezepaw as being a MUCH stronger fighter than Owlpaw ever was. Owlpaw is big and strong, but it's BREEZEPAW who's the truly vicious fighter of the Po3 apprentice generation. A cat that Jaypaw faces off with several times, and has a difficult time fighting because of Breeze's aggressive, straightforward fighting style.

Jaypaw fights best against cats who try to get out of his grapples, because he can turn it against them. When a cat is so ferocious that they don't relent at all, meeting him with even more biting and scratching, it effectively counters his unique style.

Between his brawls with Lionpaw and Breezepaw, Jaypaw has no idea how overleveled he is lmao

Bog Project

There's two times that I want to zoom into the Bog Project in Po3.

The first one is when they FIRST construct the dam that destroys the pine plantation, including an altercation with human plantation workers who come to try and dismantle the dam. The Clan cats run circles around them as the humans are too heavy to not sink into the mud. I want someone to jump off the dam, bounce off a person and knock them over with a SPLAT, and then jump back on the dam in one smooth movement lmaoo

(Switch over to the researchers for a second and they're actually scrambling to get the area turned into a different classification of protected site during this. Unknown to ShadowClan, they really do just have to buy some time.)

The SECOND time is when they're simply repairing some damage, Owlpaw starts a fight with Jaypaw and swings the first blow, and Jaypaw realizes it's time to take this man to Clown Town.

The fight begins while they're up on the dam, trying to figure out where a leak is or some other minor thing.

Owlpaw starts REALLY getting into it with Jaypaw. "I can't believe they put me up here with you. It's like they want you to have a little accident so I can say I have no idea what happened."

I'm REALLY TORN between Jaypaw either playing this as peacefully as possible, so it's completely Owlpaw's fault they got into it... or realizing he can totally goad this fight and then be able to say it wasn't his fault because Owlpaw threatened him first: "Bold of you to talk about little accidents. Ur mom"

I'm leaning towards Jaypaw goading it after Owlpaw started it, realizing that snark is a very useful tool. Thinking back to how he used to call himself useless, how Longtail used it to make him unload all his pent-up anger and aggression. It has a purpose.

and that purpose, right now, is making an opportunity to put this git in his proper place.

But either way, when Owlpaw starts lashing out at him, SO much like that first fight, Jay notices something REALLY interesting

Owl always tries to stay out of the line of his whiskers. The blows are hard clobbers, but he's not really scratching because he doesn't want to get close

Jaypaw stays perfectly still, UNNERVINGLY still, and takes one, two whacks. Then he knows that his opponent favors his right paw, and he's about... 2 mouselengths away.

Owl lifts his paw again, and in one, smooth move, JAYPAW LUNGES

Caught square in the belly, they roll back along the wall

Owl recovers, twisting onto his opponent, hissing and scratching to untangle, and they tumble right off the side in a clattering shower of sticks and daub

They make a SPLORCH as their bodies splatter the mud below them

"THE GIRLS ARE FIGHTING" -Lionpaw probably

The entire construction crew gathers around. "FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!"

Owlpaw seems to be getting wise, trying to wriggle out of the grapple to win back distance, but Jay hears Longtail's words of wisdom echoing in his head

"To know his own limits,"

He never lets his opponent out of range of his whiskers, Owl breaks away only to expose his back to a vicious opponent

Jaypaw grabs his foe by the neck, rears up and dunks his face down in the mud. SPLAT!

"AND EXPLOIT THEIRS"

Owlpaw screeches in rage, snorting muck out of his nose, blinded

The big bully has no idea to slow down and think about where the blows are coming from, or anticipate how his opponent moves.

Jaypaw's jaws close down viciously on his shoulder, and in a flash, he's wrapped around him like a snake.

Trying to buck him off is only causing Owlpaw to sink into the mud

Jaypaw only releases his lock long enough to command; "SAY UNCLE"

Terrified, like a rabbit with a weasel with its fangs dangerously close to its pulse, he obeys; "UNCLE!!"

Jaypaw disentangles and hops off, and it's only now that he registers the size of the crowd.

Hazelpaw, Poppypaw, Cinderpaw, both of his siblings, every ShadowClan apprentice, plus all the warriors who were assigned to the project

Most are cheering, others murmur with awe or hiss with frustration, Owlpaw's mentor is helping him out of the mud, asking him what the hell happened back there

Jay is GLOWERING. He can't help the smug smile that paints his face, or the pride that washes through his veins, though he nonchalantly flicks the mud off his tail.

but the gloating is cut short. Longtail's rough tongue passes over a swelling lump next to Jaypaw's eye, and a little cut he didn't realize he'd gotten had started to sting.

"Knock it off!" He grumbles, doing nothing to stop him, "you're embarassing me!"

"Embarassing?! I'm so proud out of my fur I just might cry about it and embarass you even more!"

In the aftermath, Owlpaw is the one who gets blamed for the fight on the wall. Though Longtail freely admits that his apprentice can be rude, Owlpaw is the one who escalated it to blows.

That said, no one really "gets in trouble" for it. It's written off by both Blackstar and Firestar as an "apprentices will be apprentices" moment. BB!Battle cats can have battles without holding a formal hearing in parliament about it.

What DOES happen that Jaypaw finds bizarre is that when he gets home and the news spreads, Bramblestar is one of the first cats to start gloating. He feels odd about how odd he feels about it.

But after his father has given his ear a proud lick and explains the situation to Squirrelflight who gives a proud lick to the other one, Jaypaw examines the feeling. He tries to think of other times Brambleclaw has been this proud of him, and that's when it clicks; there are none.

Lionpaw is an accomplished fighter at this point, having landed the fatal blow onto Ripwater. Hollypaw is at the forefront of nearly every diplomacy meeting alongside her mentor, Brackenfur. But Jaypaw.. well, most of his brawls have been little skirmishes. Not really "achievements."

It's not like Brambleclaw has been absent or anything, so... he's not yet sure what to do with this feeling. It's quickly buried as the other apprentices dogpile him, begging for the full details.

Assorted closing thoughts for other episodes and such;

Jaypaw's power is plane-hopping. He can move freely between supernatural realms-- dreams, heaven, hell, Earth. He can interact, physically, with anything on these planes.

No more magic empathy. Society has progressed past the need for magic empathy.

He's going to get several little moments in other episodes where he helps to heal others, especially when Cinderheart breaks her leg.

Becoming a Cleric is a choice that should have significant build-up, since he chooses it over Poppyfrost.

I think the REAL inciting moment that he decides to commit to the bit is that he ends up having some kind of dream where Moleflight (Poppyfrost's ill-fated brother) visits him, just after getting his warrior name, and Mole says, "you will be an excellent warrior."

Jayfang: "theres no way youre just being nice to me. What are you trying to stop me from doing."

He also really likes giving advice and listening to people. Enjoys a good little debate, but I kinda want to show him visibly sharpening his emotional intelligence as Po3 goes on.

It starts with Longtail, who whittles that aimless cynicism into something earnest and constructive.

I also want to work in some scenes where Longtail explains to Jaypaw how much he reminds him of Swiftpaw, his "uncle."

Sootfur too, sometimes. In the humor.

Jay: "Great track record, two dead kids."

Longtail, very quiet... only to break the tense silence himself, "Sootfur, no. Swiftpaw... yes. I should have been a better mentor."

Everyone knows a mentor is meant to teach an apprentice. But Longtail realizes that an apprentice is meant to teach their mentor, too.

And he wouldn't be worthy to guide another paw if he hadn't learned his lessons from Swiftpaw.

"I taught him to ignore his limits. I made him think that he had to "prove" himself to be worth anything. It was something my mentor taught me, which was something his mentor taught him. Jaypaw, there's going to be things you can't do, and when they come, you'll hate me for stopping you. But I'm not here to raise another brave fool who dies to prove a point."

Jaypaw also meets Rock at various points through BB!Po3, especially when StarClan isn't being straightforward about answers or they end up in the tunnels.

Rock is VERY gentle with Jaypaw, but no one else. If Jaypaw hadn't been in the tunnels that time the WindClan kits went missing, he probably would have just left them all to drown lmao

The first hint The Three discover about their powers, and the prophecy at all, comes through Jaypaw inadvertently ending up realm-hopping. I'm keeping it on standby for him gaining access to information through dreams.

Before he eventually pressures Dovepaw to spy on other Clans, he was using his own powers to gather what info he could.

Thankfully, he doesn't discover how much power this actually grants him, or what he can consciously do with this, until OotS.

[ladybug-makes-warriors-gay]

brambleclaw and my issues with the new prophecy

i recently finished reading through the new prophecy, and. yikes. it was actively a chore to read a lot of the time, especially in the later books. a LOT of the plots and decisions the authors and characters made were frustrating and just bad. there were things about tnp that i liked, but they were heavily outweighed by my irritation at everything else.

before i go into it, i just want to say that this post will not be going into the tribe of rushing water and the racism and native american stereotypes present there. those are very important issues, which i will be delving into in a separate post.

first of all, i know a lot of people do not enjoy the earlier travelling books and the amount of walking happening in them. honestly, that didn't bother me too much. i felt like they did a decent job of having enough interesting character moments and interactions that i wasn't really paying attention to it.

crowfeather is one of my big issues with tnp. as a character, i think he's interesting and mostly well done, if a bit annoying sometimes. i wish they had explored his motivations a bit more. however, as a part of two separate romances that i either don't care about or actively dislike, i'm not a fan.

crowfeather and feathertail are one of those couples that are honestly just there. i think you can read interesting things into their relationship if you consider feathertail's experiences in a shadow in riverclan, but as they are in tnp they're just kind of boring. they're a device to make us care about each of the characters more, and to make it more tragic when she dies.

they're also there so stormfur can be mad at them and get over it because he has a crush of squirrelflight that comes out of nowhere and immediately disappears a couple chapters in to his pov. for some reason. this is an especially stupid plot that i think is absolutely pointless. it does nothing for his character and makes us dislike him for being mad at feathertail for no reason, and then immediately becomes irrelevant when he meets brook two seconds later. they didn't even have any weird love triangle or even any conflict with brambleclaw and squirrelflight, either.

stormfur and brook are also a couple that just exists so that stormfur has a love interest and a reason to stay with the tribe. she has zero personality besides "cute" and "interested in stormfur" and contributes more to the native american stereotypes (which, again, i will get into in another post). she does become slightly more interesting in the later books, but it would have been nice to see something else in the earlier ones as well.

back to crowfeather, it would have been a fine end to his arc to grieve for feathertail, name himself after her, and have to readjust to clan life. however, leafpool needs her forbidden romance (for some reason. please please please erins can we just have one prominent medicine cat who doesn't have a secret affair? yellowfang was the og and the only one that was fine, it got old immediately after that and just continues to be worse) so she gets shoved together with him. they have literally no chemistry. the only times they interact before getting together leafpool is annoyed by him and has zero romantic feelings of any kind. the only thing even resembling buildup is cinderpelt warning leafpool about him on a couple occasions where she genuinely was not interested in him and/or wasn't even looking for him. then crowfeather confesses to her and she's immediately in love with him?? like what?? their relationship after that isn't even shown on screen at all. the only scene we get of them being together and in a relationship is in leafpool's wish. after the entirety of tnp is already over. it's ridiculous.

one thing that i do think was done well about that situation was leafpool feeling isolated and left out by the couples and romance around her. that was actually interesting and good setup, but i think that would have been much better suited to be taken in a different direction. leafpool could have thought she was in love with crowfeather because of her desire for romance and affection, or that he was her only chance to get any of those things. she might have realized when they left the clans that she doesn't actually want this, or crowfeather might have pressured her into leaving so they wouldn't be found out. that angle would be significantly more interesting than their pointless and boring romance that we don't actually see any of. i also think that in this scenario, leafpool would be aromantic, and might just be sexually attracted to crowfeather and mistaking that for romance.

the other option i see is for leafpool to run away with mothwing instead, or at least have a forbidden romance with her instead of crowfeather. they have so so so so so so so so so much more chemistry, and an actually established relationship with on-screen time together. even if mothwing wouldn't abandon her clan, leafpool might have gone to riverclan and midnight could have come there to get help or warn them about the badgers.

my biggest issue with tnp is brambleclaw. in the earlier books, he's fine. he's a pretty standard protagonist who does pretty standard things, like argue with someone who he thinks is annoying and doubt everything he's ever known because he's in warrior cats and that's what they do to their protagonists. i don't really like the way he treats squirrelflight, but she's usually just as much to blame for their trouble as he is.

however, the moment that hawkfrost is introduced, he becomes unbearable. he doubts squirrelflight's intentions and constantly blames her valid concerns on his dad, when she has never and will never think that he's evil because his dad was evil. he does not listen when she tries to talk to him about hawkfrost like a normal person, and dismisses her attempts to make up or start a conversation about it. once he has decided that their issues are her fault, he becomes incredibly awful to her at every opportunity, taking out his power as a warrior when she's an apprentice and his assigned deputy powers once she becomes a warrior. he constantly harasses her and ashfur, when he is just trying to make sure brambleclaw isn't awful to her every second of every day.

even when hawkfrost is part of mudclaw's coup and mudclaw tells him what hawkfrost's intentions were, even when he literally trains with him under their evil dad, brambleclaw trusts his half-brother he barely knows over his best friend/love interest who he's known literally his whole life and went on a life-changing journey with. he also. trains with his evil dad. when the whole time he's been accusing squirrelflight, baselessly, of thinking he's like his dad. and somehow thinks that it's fine and harmless???????? even when tawnypelt tries to snap him out of it????? he is ridiculous and stupid and downright abusive.

on top of all this, when he and squirrelflight finally make up, he never apologizes. never! not once. they have a whole thing where brambleclaw is like "i'm glad we're so close again that we just know the other so well we don't have to apologize or even talk about our previous mistakes or acknowledge that they happened at all", which is patently stupid and and horrible to squirrelflight, again. no wonder squirrelflight doesn't trust him enough to tell him about leafpool's kits. also the fact that firestar forgives him for almost being influenced into murdering him so quickly is ridiculous. he should not go unpunished for that, let alone be allowed to continue to be deputy!

in conclusion, brambleclaw is stupid and forbidden romances are stupid and the new prophecy is just bad. in a lot of respects. not in all of them, but many.

[northern-passage]

i understand being disappointed when things change, and i don’t hold any ill will towards people that aren’t interested in siren’s call anymore. but i’ve been pretty transparent about regretting sharing sc publicly before & the game has been removed for over a year now, so i am surprised at so many negative reactions.

i don’t expect everyone to always love everything that i write, and i am aware that the majority of my audience is here for my IF writing (specifically tnp) but the fact is that i like to write other things sometimes and i would like to be able to share them without immediately receiving negative comments & guilt trippy messages about it.

it’s been disappointing for me this past year the way my work has been received; i’ve published four other projects and have had this kind of reaction almost every single time. i’ve held my tongue about it except for mentioning it briefly on my other blog after i published blood choke & immediately received a slew of 1 star ratings (most of which are the same people that have been rating all of my work that is not tnp in the same way)

i removed faith because of this same thing happening and quietly republished it without sharing it here. i’ve been using the kithj blog more in an effort to keep things separate but obviously i still shared siren’s call here yesterday because i like sharing my work with people! i want to be able to do that! and i know there are people here that wanted to see more of that story and more of Rome so i wanted to share it. but it’s been so frustrating this past year having to deal with this.

i am always open to feedback or genuine criticism; i am always looking to improve my work. but any messages or comments like this about being disappointed i’m not writing more IF or complaining about f/f are being ignored & i will block you.

[the-owl-tree]

I'm sorry if I've asked you this before, I genuinely don't remember, but why does everyone dislike yellowfang's secret? I like it a lot as a story, I find her powers silly but no one seems to have that issue... What is it?

It's been a while since I've read it so I'm going off of memory but my general reasons why I had so many problems getting through the book were:

Yellowfang herself isn't really Yellowfang? She's not snappy or grumpy and doesn't really act in the same way she does in TNP. She's just kind of the punching bag of the book without any of her signature sass to at least make her as a protagonist enjoyable.

The power in itself is an unnecessary retcon, it's only there to force Yellowfang into becoming a medcat and, well, there lies an even bigger issue: we are once again recycling the plotline of a cat forced to be a medcat when oooghgh they just wanna be average :( it's frustrating to me that Yellowfang gets so much of her own autonomy ripped away in this book, to the point where she can't even CHOOSE to be a medcat.

Her backstory in the original books was that she was a Warriors turned medcat and that's interesting. The life of the warrior is glamorized, it's the ideal life for Clan cats, so characters who CHOOSE to turn their back on it to heal are really interesting conceptually! The powers completely ruin this, it's a cheap cop out that's forgotten as soon as the book doesn't have to force Yellowfang into a job she should've wanted.

Why do books treat this position like a punishment or something embarrassing. It's Bad Writing above all because the position is important! It is a necessary part of the Clan to function, medcats should be treated with respect! But that's a whole other response.

That's also where Sagewhisker comes in, the mentor figure who, uh, pressures Yellowfang into doing something she doesn't want to do and yet the narrative continues to affirm is Correct.

I could go on but Bonefall has a good post on Sagewhisker that I personally agree with that adds screenshots and details.

It's just....miserable watching Yellowfang be dragged into a position she doesn't want and I don't know why they would choose the most miserable possible route with this character.

That's not even getting into Raggedstar, the good ol' abusive male love interest who's actions are swept under the rug as he guilt trips, berates, and generally treats Yellowfang like garbage! Despite an entire super edition of abuse and the website acknowledging he's abusive - his actions will never fully be held accountable and he will consistently be portrayed as the Nice Leader who just wanted what was best for his Clan <3

His own abuse of Yellowfang is never acknowledged and fuck's sakes the books play the Nightcloud card and go "well, guess what, it's a WOMAN'S fault that Brokenstar happened!"

In a book already swimming with misogynistic writing, the authors decided to up the ante and introduce Lizardstripe: the mean bitch mom who doesn't want to be a mom and that's all you need to be told to know she's an abusive evil woman.

The book will never actually show you scenes of her being abusive, they will literally just write scenes of her saying she doesn't want to be a mother as a shorthand of her being abusive.

I'm sure this definitely doesn't factor into the writing team's incredibly conservative ideology towards motherhood's and women's roles.

I'm gonna link Bonefall again, he's just good posts that really delve into the problems with this and I'd honestly just be reiterating a lot of his posts if I talked on my own lol

Yellowfang's Secret takes everything interesting about Yellowfang and just flat out ignores it or makes it worse. It's miserable to read, it's just page after page of Yellowfang getting beaten down.

And you could argue that's the point, that Yellowfang believes she deserves her troubles, but I don't think that's the case. I think the book is just troubling in its handling of motherhood and abuse, it handles them poorly.

Bad Book i guess. sucks! i think Yellowfang as a character could fill up an entire super edition, but the one they wrote is miserable garbage.

I can't even remember the plot outside the medcat stuff. Idk mean clan cat invasion time for no reason?? Uuhh kittypet attack?? i don't find it memorable outside of the stuff that actively upset me.

[ihazmunchies91]

"Do you know what the Hawthorne Effect is reader?"

"N-No I don't think-"

"It is the study of how one changes under the condition of being monitored or watched. Thier performance improves, their behaviors, their appearance, their body language. Before you entered this Parable, can you ever say you had anything profound happen to change your life for the better? I think not. Before this Parable, you were miserable. And Despite your happenings and events here, you have improved. You are happy."

Okay imma talk about Void here. I have brainrot about my boy.

Void Narrator is from a unfinished fanfic I did a year ago. It was a half life stanley parable crossover.

The Narrator was a Psychologist that worked for black mesa and was sent to infiltrate the facility that stanley worked at to study the mind control tactics they had. To him, this was the greatest opportunity to understanding how the mind worked in response to being controlled. And in his mind, this was the ultimate catalyst to him being the greatest psychologist. He felt as though he could use this tactic to become a better psychologist by mind controlling his patients somehow with the help of Black Mesa.

When the cascade resonance happened, he became mutated into an entity and is now a part of the void entirely. And he can be malicious and deadly. But he mostly watches everything. He erased stanleys coworkers including his closest friend (who later respawns).

I never finished the fanfic because I ran out of steam, and I didn't have a lot of information that I do now. So now he is in TNP (the narrative Parable) where he belongs.

Yes, He is aware of G-Man from his orginal story. He was a frequent visitor.

Voids name is yet to be spoken publically. It will be featured in the fanfic.

He can hear thoughts very easily, which is also how he's able to do psychology very well. he's also incredibly violent when it comes to intruders in his territory, however, he has a select few narrators that he tolerates in his facility, they come to visit him and play games, however, void tends to cheat when it comes to games. He can tranform the cards and dice to his liking.

He was a psychologist for workers at Black Mesa because many of the workers, mostly the scientist became frequently stressed about their work position and needing to get things done on time or else they would face expulsion from the facility.

When he was a psychologist to black Mesa, he would often spend his earnings on gambling, and he would never lose, often using his psychology to trick others into losing, and thus, when he was transformed into a void creature, he used his abilities to his full advantage, he could care less if he was caught.

He loves having a drink before he gets started on his work. he has various wines and decanters. he owns a parlor inside the void which looks like a bar in a casino. Clean green and red carpets. A poker table. several couches ro get comfortable on or rest. A fireplace. he also has his doctorates hangingon his wall above the wine cabinet.

I loves him. T.T

art by emiletb

[freshkillpile]

The narrative that Squirrelflight just doesn't like Hawkfrost for no reason is so stupid and ignores literally everything else that happens in TNP.

"wow I know he's training in the Dark Forest with his evil, genocidal father, helping his evil genocidal father manipulate his brother, and tries to murder Squirrelflight's dad, but Squirrelflight's a controlling bitch for telling Brambleclaw not to trust his own brother!"

You sound so stupid.

[vitalvulture]

This one's a ridiculously long read so strap in

Skyclan Firestar AU where instead of being ThunderClan's leader, he rebuilds Skyclan as a warrior and becomes Skyclan's leader with Leafdapple as his deputy, he brings them back to the forest territories and Skyclan's territory is the space around Mothermouth/Highstones

I really wanna write a fanfic with this premise so idk maybe i'll write a few oneshots with it to warm up for it (i don't typically write so idk if it'll be any good lmao but can't know til it's written)

Also it'll have a cross clan ship with Morningflower (i like MorningFire sue me) so if you don't like that ship or forbidden ships in general sorry; it'll probably have SandFire and RavenFire moments too (no FireGray bc it sucks)

⚠⚠ Major spoilers under the cut (literally the plot lmao)⚠⚠

Essentially the premise is that after Fireheart brought Windclan back and ousted Tigerclaw, Cloudstar comes to him in a dream and reveals it was him that laid out the 'Fire alone' prophecy, but that it wasn't meant to save ThunderClan, it was meant for Skyclan

He confronts Bluestar about it and he leaves to rebuild SkC like in Firestar's Quest except he's a warrior and Sandstorm doesn't go with him, instead she is made TC deputy and is the one to deal with Bluestar's increasing madness, (she's close to Bluestar in this as she was with him and Bluestar alot before he left)

Morningflower catches him on the outskirts of Windclan territory and when he tells her what's happened, she insists that she's going with him (they're also alot closer in this, also closer in age), they go through the plot of Firestar's Quest and bring back SkC who live either in the wooded area near Highstones , Fireheart becomes Firestar, he tries to help after hearing about the dogs, Bluestar insists that it's him and SkC killing and stealing their prey, Sandstorm takes his place in the espionage, and he ends up trying to help when they save TC from the dogs and Bluestar still sacrifices herself to save him and Sandstorm knowing that they didn't try to betray her they only wanted to do what they thought was right, Gorsepaw is killed by Tigerclaw like in canon and Morningflower decides to join him in SkC bc of it (they still aren't officially mates yet tho just slow burning), by this point it's following book 6's plot with him in SkC and instead of just Graystripe, Ravenpaw and him going to save the halfclan cats Sandstorm (Sandstar now, with Brackenfur as her deputy and Whitestorm as an adviser, Longtail is gonna end up her mate) joins in and allows the halfclan cats shelter in TC

Firestar still ends up witnessing Scourge take Tigerstar's 9 lives bc idc how weird it was, it was awesome, Still kills Scourge and saves the forest

Arc 1 done, pretty much everything is changed and swapped around with characters, this one probably has the most changes simply bc the most Firestar plot is here, if you're wondering about Cloudtail, he stays in TC with Brightheart and greets Fire at gatherings, showing off his children (Whitewing and later Snowbush) and grandchildren, and Spottedleaf was never in love with him and he gets over his crush quickly after she dies

Squirrelflight and Leafpool are LongSand kits, no ties to Firestar other than him being a loyal family friend, MorningFire kits are Alderheart (looks like Morningflower instead) and Sparkpelt (litter born in between PoT and OotS), and Holly, Lion and Jay are still LeafCrow kits, SquilfRain bio kits are Ambermoon and Dewnose

In TNP, Tinycloud is sent as the Skyclan representative on the midnight journey, Feathercrow is not romantic only friends Tallstar names him Crowfeather unrelated to her (Brambleclaw dies instead of Feathertail bc idk how the hell to write sunset with him in a way that makes sense so instead Hawkfrost tries to tempt Tawnypelt who doesn't fall for it and doesn't visit the DF and simply kills him to save Blackstar from the fox trap), Feathertail is distraught that Hawk did such terrible things and becomes closer to Mothwing as her older sister figure), Squirrelflight becomes mates with Rainwhisker (he doesn't die) since Brambleclaw is dead and SquilfRain is cute, Ashfur is not only pissy about Squilf not wanting to be with him but also that she's with his half brother

Arc 2 done (not much change but the changes have massive impacts)

In PoT, the three are just Sandstar's kin instead of Fire's too, before this Sol still becomes Leafdapple's (who is Fire's deputy btw) 'apprentice' and he still steals her kits to trick SkC into making him a warrior, getting exiled bc of it and tricking Shadowclan with the eclipse into abandoning Starclan, major difference in how they deal with Sol from in canon tho ( Tw// "witchhunt" (not exactly but they hunt him down, horror elements and character death ) Sol tries to escape ShC but instead of being sheltered by TC he's caught on his way to the Moonpool and is killed by a lot of ShC warriors who tailed him, they're....less than merciful, he endangered 3 helpless kits when he took them and hid them and he tricked ShC to forget what even makes them warriors, they aren't letting him leave alive; the fire scene, Ashfur's death and the resulting breakdown happens same as in canon, nothing to change bc it's perfect how it is, Sandstar isn't ready to get rid of her only fully trained healer but Leafpool steps down anyway so the other clans don't target her or TC, Morningflower lays Crowfeather out for how he treats his TC kits, he still has all his kits alive, how dare he treat them so poorly! Hollyleaf still does the deathberry thing and 'dies' in the tunnels

Arc 3 done, only truly major change is Sol isn't gonna be in Arc 4's plot bc bro got destroyed

OotS, Alderheart, here we find out that despite him being a healer, he is lured in by the dark forest, he wanted to be a warrior and yet only his sister was good at it so he was coerced, he meets Ivypaw/pool in the DF and they bond over their jealousy of their sisters, eventually both realizing through each other that they shouldn't be training there and both becoming spies, Dovewing pretty much doesn't change except that she's got more agency and doesn't humor Bumblestripe at all, Tigerheart is just a friend at first and their romance is more gradual, she will still leave TC in Dovewing's Silence, Lionblaze and Jayfeather realize how stupid it is that they hate Squilf over being their adoptive mom and get over it and reconcile (SquilfRain are still together, he is supportive as he acknowledges he would've done the same for his sister), when Leopardstar Dies, Mistystar chooses Feathertail to be the deputy, Reedwhisker is simply an advisor; Hollyleaf comes back, same as in canon except she saves Dove and Ivy from the tunnels collapsing instead of revealing herself to Sol (bro's dead af), she rejoins TC and Fallen Leaves is her silly ghost boyfriend; The great battle happens but the three actually do something (insane right?) Dovewing senses the location of the DF cats as they cross over so they're ambushed, Jayfeather uses his power to force empathy on the DF cats (this works on some but not all and they switch teams), and Lionblaze gets to be the one cat army he was meant to be - just whole groups of DF cats getting hurled away by the He-man cat (there would be like a hundred some DF cats to actually make the clans "outnumbered"; Brokenstar is killed by not ONLY Yellowfang and Ferncloud, but also all the kits and parents of the kits he killed, he stood no chance against his victims, Ferncloud is then killed saving Jayfeather and Dovewing who are focusing their powers, Thornclaw dies against some DF warrior bc he really doesn't need to keep going i'm giving his kids to someone else, Millie dies bc Briarlight shouldn't have to deal with her shit anymore (but fr get Millie away from her, Briar doesn't need that), Bumblestripe dies while fighting beside Briar too bc he's also a waste of cat space, Birchfall gets gravely injured - but doesn't die - protecting Ivypool from Hawkfrost (Hollyleaf finishes HF off and isn't killed bc that was stupid), Mousefur still dies, Sandstar dies taking down as many DF cats as she can, Longtail (who i forgot to mention is still blind and alive) kills Darkstripe and dies of his wounds later, Sorreltail still dies of her wounds like in canon, Firestar still kills Tiger like in canon and dies (no "ily spottedleaf 🥺" speech here, he mourns her death as a dear friend and guide but that's it), Morningflower dies a bit after his death but misses him dearly

Arc 4 done, i changed alot of the deaths bc it pissed me off who died in the battle in canon, Foxleap, Hazeltail and Toadstep aren't dying yet

Brackenfur -> Brackenstar, Rainwhisker is now his deputy (yes ik but squilf still needs to have a leader hubby in tbc)

Brackenstar's Storm is now instead of Bramble being pissed at his wife, Bracken is sad that his wife is dead, the kittypets join the clan for a bit, Jessy and Bracken kind of hit it off but he feels guilty about moving on, she realizes she really wants to stay a kittypet and leaves, the other events of BS still happen just without the BrambleSquirrel stuff

Arc 5 is getting skipped bc obviously it has nothing to do with the modern day clans

AVoS, SkC is already at the Lake so what's gonna happen?? Well... Alderheart goes on a wander bc he's doubting whether or not he should step down as one of SkC's healers - he did train in the Dark Forest after all - Sparkpelt joins him bc she sees him slipping out, he can't hunt for himself very well or fight so he'll need her help and they've both lost both of their parents so they're all they have left, on their wander, Needlepaw still tags along bc she's just like that, they meet Darktail and his Kin at the Gorge, they try to go back after they realize they actually do like being clan cats but Darktail tracks them without their knowledge, Twigkit and Violetkit are just a rouge's kits, ShC has it's massive fallout and Darktail still takes the opportunity to destroy ShC but only after messing with SkC's warriors a bit and killing quite a few cats (so Hawkwing's Journey kinda has stuff put in here), Needletail has more of a redemption arc and realizes everything is wrong but still dies saving Violet in Shattered Sky, Onestar still dies the same way as in canon, Brackenstar is killed by Darktail when he catches him out near the lake, leaving Rainwhisker to have to become TC leader and Squilf becomes his deputy, Twig still ends up in TC, the last book has mostly just the SkC stuff changed to focus more on the struggles in ShC after Tigerheartstar is made leader and Juniperclaw does his evil stuff and Violetshine's relationship with Tree, Alderheart joins TC after Leafpool dies bc Fidgetflake is able to take his place

Arc 6 done, main changes had to happen bc of SkC already being there in this AU, Darktail still is his evil self

TBC, has very few changes except obviously Sparkpelt isn't the one sent to be mauled by the dogs bc she's not even in TC in this, instead it's Ambermoon (remember she's a SquilfRain kid) and it kills her, Rainstar steps down as leader and Squilf is made leader at the very end

Arc 7 done, honestly probably the least changes lol

I haven't read ASC so i'm not even gonna attempt to change anything lmao except obviously Flamepaw would be Skyclan instead of Thunderclan

Tldr; Everything is fixed (at least to how I'd do it lol) jkjk

Essentially Firestar becomes Skyclan's savior instead of Thunderclan's bc he sees how fucked up it is that the clans would damn an entire clan just bc of some trees *everything after oots you can just ignore bc honestly i'm probably not even gonna write that far*

[director-yomi-hellsmile]

Okay so I did talk about Hal's wretched bastard clanboy son before but Red/Russetfur is also not so different. All of Hal's children turned to be aggressive enforcers of the Clans' hostility to outsiders, blood purity and the glory of dying in a war in over piss markers, regardless of whether he loved them or not, he and Red used to have a good (if not, at least positive in comparison to Raggedpelt; imo it was Complicated) relationship before when she was raised away from the Clans in Chelford with him, we can assume her mother wasn't in the picture then since she never appears and Red/Russetpaw speaks of her like she was from the past.

She did not buy into any of Chelford cats' warnings about the Clans, curiosity won over and she still left, and for ShadowClan at that, the same Clan that he also had that stupid fling with Featherstorm resulting in Raggedpelt and Scorchwind being born. And of course Hal did not believe she did that out of her own will, she had to be kidnapped because it's not possible she would be this stupid, so he assembled all the cats in his group that he could to lead an attack on ShadowClan's camp to get her back. We know what happened in it and Hal also died having never seen her alive ever again since she left and his entire mission simply failed and also Raggedpelt murdered him for no reason then lied to everyone that it was in defense of Yellowfang who he knew wouldn't say anything. So that's another major L for Hal

Russetfur ended up being raised in ShadowClan from that point on and stayed there until she died and turned out exactly like his son Raggedpelt did and became literally everything Hal has ever warned her against and more. She takes extreme pride in being a ShadowClan warrior now and never looks back on her housecat roots. The instant Brokenstar, Raggedstar's son and her nephew (though she never learns they are related) (Brokenstar also killed Raggedpelt/Raggedstar so that's something too) becomes the new leader and announces he loves murder and sending babies to war and will drive out or just kill all the other Clans she is happy to be one of his main followers. She participates in driving WindClan away from their home so they could steal their territory and possibly also in kidnapping ThunderClan kittens. She most likely killed some people in Brokenstar's many battles. Tigerstar, known cat fascist and War Crimes Georg is said to be impressed with her. Eventually, she becomes the deputy of ShadowClan under Blackstar, War Crimes Georg II who was even more of a Brokenstar & Tigerstar fan than her and had an unironic Nuremberg defense moment in his shitty novella once but I'm not delving into that. I can't state enough how loyal she is to ShadowClan and how much she Craves Violence

One moment that stands out to me the most, and is probably her most infamous one too, is when in TNP, she and her patrol just calmly sit and watch from a distance, a kitten getting his tail slowly severed by a fox-trap he caught it on as he writhes around in pain and tries to free it and Russetfur and her pals do nothing to help him. Her explanation, when calmly inquired? He wasn't a real Clan cat, because he had kittypet/housecat blood. The Warrior Code doesn't extend to Icky Outsiders, so they didn't want to and weren't in any way obligated to do anything. Russetfur watched a child almost bleed to death just to still prove to ShadowClan she was worthy of it again and again and how she's not a housecat anymore and she's one of the good ones she swears.

Russetfur's internalized- wait that's externalized. Lol, lmao even. Russetfur the proudest soldier of Clan kittypetphobia. Top two most miserable assholes to ever be brought to this earth by Hal Warrior Cats. Also she literally dies in a battle too and never gets to be the actual leader. What actually drives me completely insane about my terrible blorbo #578449948 Russetfur is her relationship to Sasha, another outsider, but that's for another post. I am so tired right now I wanna watch Better Call Saul. Do you think that if Hal ever got to meet his girl when she was all grown up would be punt her into the sun, or sigh and go grab another vodka not knowing what he was expecting honestly, or would he not even have a chance to get close to her before she feels threatened by potentially being seen with him and pulls a Raggedpelt

What's with Hal's fucked up genes always producing This specific kind of cat. What the hell did he do in his past life to deserve such weirdass poetic retribution. I mean I actually do have more thoughts but also it's 2 hours from midnight I forgot everything I'm so goddamn eepy

[everybody-loves-purdy]

Hot take but the new books are better. TPB was also great and TNP - PoT were decent-ish with some fun characters (thanks Hollyleaf, Crowfeather, Heathertail, and Squirrelflight), but OOTS is absolute trash. I actually like the Dark Forest trainees a lot (except Breezepelt) but when you consider it for more than a few minutes, the whole Dark Forest battle makes no sense! At all! I also dislike Brambleclaw, Leafpool, Lionblaze, and Jayfeather a lot. The whole Cinderheart plotline from PoT - OOTS was also not great, and came across as a huge insult to Cinderpelt’s character / story. Sol is also a boring character who could’ve been very interesting had he actually done anything of purpose.

And aside from Ivypool, we didn’t really get much character development for the Dark Forest trainees. Lionblaze and Jayfeather were just irritating to read about, and Dovewing… was fine. I liked her early characterization and all that, but damn it I hate Tigerheart. And Hollyleaf should’ve stayed gone, because bringing her back just to kill her anti-climatically a book later is…?

More characterization for Harespring(star), Applefur, Beetlewhisker, Antpelt, Hallowflight, Furzepelt, Larkwing, Ratscar, Minnowtail, Mousewhisker, Sunstrike, Redwillow, and Whiskernose regarding why they were there to begin with would’ve gone a long way. Also they had the perfect opportunity to make Hawkfrost interesting and give him a somewhat redemption, had he turned against Tigerclaw. But nope, let’s just leave him as a clone of his father but without any motivation… okay.

I have my issues with AVoS relating to the pacing and also Alderheart and Twigbranch for being boring (should’ve had Puddleshine, Sprkpelt, Violetshine, and Heathertail instead but whatever) but aside from that, DOTC and TBC - CS have all been good?? And I’m not a new fan either, I’ve been reading this series for 10+ years.

I also think that, bar the first arc, I find the new team arcs overall better. Ans I am in agreement with you that I liked TNP and Po3, but rereading oots for my ongoing reread really took the nostalgia goggles off and I saw that oots is extremely flawed and honestly I think I can say that oots is the only arc I overall dislike.

Don’t get me wrong there’s some cool stuff in there but while they managed to make the lack of planning for po3 work, I can feel it so badly in oots. I think probably the most egregious example is how Ivypool’s arc ultimately is pretty useless to the overall story despite the ongoing expectation it is the most important. She learns absolutely nothing of value during her spying. And I think the authors realised this because during the last hope they just have Dovewing listen into the dark forest and she finds out all the crucial information that Ivypool tried and failed to gather for half an arc. And it’s not like this is a plot point to increase the tension between the two sisters, it just happens and isn’t acknowledged that in one fell swoop everything Ivypool has done and sacrificed until this point has been completely undermined. I know she encouraged the trainees to fight for the clans but surely they could have reached that conclusion on their own?

And that’s not mentioning all about how the dark forest’s plan makes very little sense, the powers of the three ultimately not doing all that much compared to everything they were built up to be, especially Lionblaze’s, and how the forgotten warrior (to me) seems to be a hastily planned way to wrap up all the extra plot threads they’ve got going on, amongst other issues I have with the arc.

I think it can definitely be enjoyable, hell I enjoyed it for sure when I previously read the arc, but I’ve seen the cracks and I can’t unsee them now.

[mommyclaws]

it's fun hearing you livepost abt the first book because i never actually read it. i own the first arc now but when i was,,, idk 14 and wanted to get into warriors my library only had the hard copy of fire and ice so that was the first book i read. the only things i knew abt into the wild came from amvs or maps on youtube

Well nice to know other people are enjoying it I just like throwing out my thoughts somewhere! :3 My middle school only had books from Tnp and Po3 but I could never read them in order because the other kids swiped that shit before I could even figure out what warrior cats was all about😭

But! Ngl being in the fandom long enough I basically already know everything that happens but something... just feels so different between the fandom and the books. First of all because the books are kinda mid but theres alot of little relationship details and thought processes the characters go through that doesn't seem to make it into fandom discussion or art, so its interesting to read for myself!

[mothdapple]

Hi! I found you through Shaken Roots, and the rewrite is amazing! You are extremely talented to have written it! A few questions/theories I’ve developed: Is Stormfur going to end up joining the tribe, and will we still be seeing him in the second half of the rewrite? Brook has character now, and might end up choosing to go with Stormfur? Also, will you diverge much from the canon plot line, or will the series follow the original’s plot. Bonus question: WHY is there Suicide Attempt in the tags?!?

hi!! I’m so happy to hear that you’ve been enjoying Shaken Roots!

I’m going to be vague about the Stormfur and Brook questions since those are plot points that will be revealed in later chapters in Shaken Roots: Dawn, and I don’t want to spoil it! I will say that Stormfur will still appear in some capacity in the second half of the rewrite. :)

For your more general question about how much the rewrite will follow the plot in canon or diverge— the answer is sort of both. My main inspiration for Shaken Roots was to take the interesting concepts of characters and plot beats in TNP and try to bring out their full potential that I felt like canon stumbled with.

So looking at the first two books, you can see that in broad strokes, the plot is the same between canon and Shaken Roots, in Midnight and Moonrise. In short, the plot of Midnight is about the six chosen cats finding the sundrown-place, and the plot of Moonrise is about them aiding the Tribe with fighting Sharptooth. But I also added a lot that wasn’t in canon— in SR: Midnight Crowpaw’s spiritual journey of opening up to and bonding with the other chosen cats (and thus acting like a model for the clans later to follow) is just as important as the physical journey the group goes on to the sundown-place to get the news from Midnight. And in SR: Moonrise, Feathertail’s spiritual journey of healing from her trauma of TigerClan and learning to trust and forgive again is just as important to the plot of that fic as fighting Sharptooth. You can expect the remaining fics to fall along similar lines.

To use a metaphor, the skeleton of the story is the same between canon and Shaken Roots, but everything else from the connective tissue, to the skin color, to the eyes, may be different.

As for your final question, it’s a scene from Shaken Roots: Dawn, chapter 8, so I will put it below the cut just in case you aren’t there yet and don’t want spoilers. (And I’m also putting it under the cut because obviously CW here for mentions of suicide attempt.)

It’s when Crowpaw deliberately runs out in a road in front of monsters knowing that it may seriously injure or kill him. It’s based off of a scene in Dawn, albeit in canon what happens is that Crowpaw tries to run out in front of tree-destroying monsters in the forest, and Squirrelpaw and Brambleclaw are the only ones there to stop him. So the scenes are different but both feature Crowpaw purposefully trying to hurt or kill himself. No one in canon or in Shaken Roots call it a “suicide attempt” in verbatim, but in my opinion, that is pretty obviously what it is, and with that being such an understandably sensitive subject, I tagged it as such.

[destroya-mp3]

poppy, petunia, and laurel for the wc asks?

Poppy: What’s one of your biggest headcanons for the series?

OH definitely my conceit that mistyfoot/star is like. convinced she is destined to lose everything and everyone she’s ever loved. and it keeps happening so she keeps getting proven right. + the idea that she was basically given up by her mom so she could become leader and feels bitter about that and YET she continues to Be Like Her Mother, she is SO MUCH like her mom in so many ways, and ultimately she ends up going down the same path as her mom. and all of that comes together to conclude that she is Doomed By the Narrative and one of the most tragic characters in warriors. i could elaborate on this more because i have SO many thoughts about mistyfoot & she’s my favorite character but i’ll leave it there so this doesn’t get crazy long and it involves a lot of intertwining headcanons about her life. okay

Petunia: Which arc is your favorite? Which is your least favorite?

i have pretty standard opinions on this (best arc is arc 1, worst arc is currently standing at omen of the stars but asc is giving it a run for its money) so i’ll throw in my two cents that i think warriors as a series should have ended with arc 1

Laurel: If you could write the books, what changes would you make?

hoooooooly shit okay. there are almost an infinity of changes but i’ll try to hit the big ones, in no particular order:

1. LGBT representation (they would never do this i am aware that is why i would be implementing it myself)

2. firepaw has a crush on spottedleaf but she never sees him as anything more than (affectionately) a little brother, which is why she ends up as a starclan guide for him going forward

3. mistyfoot & leopardfur toxic yuri relationship is integral to the narrative

4. brambleclaw and squirrelflight are written well and are Cute. sandstorm and firestar of the second arc. they have a rough moment where brambleclaw feels lied to post-hollyleaf’s parentage reveal at the gathering but they get through it. sigh

5. the tribe does not exist was never written into the books and is not relevant. God.

6. general fixing of misogyny and abusive relationships UNLESS that’s vital to the narrative. but it HAS to be purposeful in the way it is not currently

7. that one headcanon about tawnypelt having brambleclaw’s deputy arc from TNP

8. mothwing as the three’s sire like SORRY i know it’s cliche for me to say that but genuinely fuck crowfeather (speaking of Fuck Crowfeather nightcloud gets a wife but that’s not particularly story relevant)

9. the series ends after omen of the stars. oots has decent bones at least. sorry to sparkpelt fans/twigbranch fans/frostpaw fans but i think all the books after that arc are stinky poo poo garbage and oots is like the OBVIOUS ending point. this would mean i would have to sacrifice the last little bit of mistystar’s Tragic Character Arc but that’s a sacrifice i’m willing to make

10. NO dotc. garbage trash dumpster fire of a book series. DIE (we can see the founders in starclan and get a sense of their personalities and such or whatever but that book series is agony to read. sorry dotc fans)

going to leave it there because there’s an insane amount of things i could fix with this series because after the first arc it becomes Genuinely Bad but hmu if you want the director’s cut

thank you thank you marz!!!! 💕💕💕💕💕

send me flower warrior cats asks from here!!

[wc-wild-rewrite]

Fire and Ice reread!

I didnt enjoy this nearly as much as the first book, so 7/10, i give my reasonings in the My Thoughts section. The writing is less clunky in the way its written, but the writing itself is, eh, its not terrible but its not book 1 standard.

On the bright side, i'm loving Windclan and the thunderclan apprentices.

Prolouge

Poor morningflower, having to give birth road-side without her mate

Its been nearly a moon since windclan was driven out, so they were there when rusty joined thunderclan

Deadfoot my beloved

Honestly ashfoot your complaining isnt unjustified, id be mad too

Chapter 1

They need to grow in their leafbare fur, interesting! Probably never brought up again though

"After many moons as an apprentice" its been 4 moons max, and you spent one of those moons not actually training, how did you even qualify for this

Ah yes, exposition monolouge on what happened the previous book

God i love how respectful whitestorm is

"Only been warriors for a few days" you literally just finished your vigil, dude, its not even been a whole day

Honor is a big thing for the clans

I like the idea of longtail just walking around camp giving the least subtle hints for days on end

Aww swiftpaw was so anxious for his ceremony, thats adorable

Way to have double standards, longtail. Still love you tho

And theres the full moon

Ah, more exposition, on lionheart this time. Thank you, erins, we get it, we did read the last book

Interesting how easily bluestar takes ravenpaw's leaving. I mean, not the tigerclaw part, but the leaving the clan part.

Chapter 2

Whitestorm still being respectful, even to the enemy

Oh no, whiteclaw, your not gonna see the end of this book

Yeah, so he did spend a moon looking after her

Im shocked Tigerclaw wants Windclan back

Chapter 3

Slow slug

Yellowfang seems rather chipper today

Chapter 4

As of the gathering, its been two moons since windclan was driven out

They have wood ants

They know what a year is

Apparently windclan doesnt patrol its borders often

Chapter 5

Ok so this generstion of windclan cats are DEFINITELY traumatised

I can't imagine tnp journey is gonna go well for them

I admire their sturdiness though, still willing to fight despite everything

Chapter 6

Ooo smart move, Fireheart, asking to go with them instead of offering help

Gorsekit is officially a little creature

Deadfoot!! My boy!!

I love fireheart's comeback to the apprentice

Aww barley likes sharing food with his boyfriend

Chapter 7

I love deadfoot so much, little blorbo man

Damn ok riverclan chill out

"Lame warrior" can we not

But also yess tigerclaw save my boy

Chapter 8

Oh no, whiteclaw!

Yess willowpelt protect your son

I wonder how much the story would've changed if sandpaw had dropped instead of whiteclaw, or both of them

Tigerclaw i see you trying to get your cronies new apprentices

I hope fireheart and greystripe share the story with the elders, i like them

Ok apparently brackenpaw is ginger now

Awww cinderpaw babie girl

Lil moody brackenpaw there, love him

But also they are like 4 moons didnt we just learn this was bad

Chapter 9

Honestly it is so irresponsible for bluestar to make these two mentors, they are like 10 moons at best, theres only 6 moons between them and their apprentices

Someone get Greystripe in therapy

Queens tell boogeyman stories of kit-snatching owls

Again, tree scaling, this time by smallear

Aw cinderpaw, my adhd babie girl

"When you brought them home" girl that was you, you were that kit. I know this is a writing error but i like to think its a mental disconnection due to the trauma of it

God, the "that cat in the forest...was his sister!" Is such a 2009 writing style

Chapter 10

Rip tulipkit, i think your the first of that litter to die

I wonder if fern and ash ever remembered their littermate

I love the difference between cinderpaw's wild bounding and brackenpaw's careful thinking

Awww princess and fireheart bonding is so cute

Chapter 11

Aw i like seeing them mentor, its so cute

Greystripe u kitten

Silverstream!!

"Cant you drown in your own territory" your honor i love her

Haha mischeivous cinderpaw

Chapter 12

Cinderpaw is a good liar confirmed

"Where were you when i was training" asked fireheart, the liar. "I found somewhere quiet to rest" said greystripe, also a liar

I cant tell if tigerclaw really is that observant or firepaw is just the king of overthinking

Brackenpaw's such a nerd i love him

Cinderpaw sweetie your adorable but please dont sneak up on your mentor

Chapter 13

They lost 5 kits to greencough last year, we never get info about them

Still very interesting that each prey has its own stalking technique

Chapter 14

"He was breaking the code by meeting up with another cat" oh really, sound familiar buddy?

Fuck it, im with greystripe, go see your code-breaking girlfriend

Since when the fuck has speckletail had a kit, but also hi mistlekit!!

Chapter 15

Dude your a hypocrite stop yelling at your bestie's girlfriend

But i do like how leader's daughter seems to be an important title

Silverstream's got a point, their love isnt affecting anyone

Ohhh the tabby kit was mistlekit

Ok damn why is dustpaw so aggressive

I wonder how dustpaw feels, technically being the cause behind cinderpaw's injury

Chapter 16

Explicitily described as twisted, noted

Chapter 17

Tigerclaw honestly didnt mean to, huh.

So now theres two kits with whitecough

Oh willowpelt absolutely heard that

Chapter 18

Unfortunately, fireheart, i gotta agree, its frustating watching people react to tragedies and just move on

Chapter 19

You've changed your tune awfully fast, Sandpaw, are we gonna get a reason for that or do we have to guess?

Willowpelt feels like shes covering for her son, but im definitely looking too far into it

These patrols are always longtail, darkstripe, and willowpelt. I know they probably just dont have any other warriors but its suspicious

Chapter 20

Oop, greystripe got sent to his room

Goddamn dustpaw chill out

Chapter 21

Princess honey you cant just spring this on a cat

Oh shes so sweet

Aaaand heres the ooc writing, this doesnt make sense

"It'll be at least 5 moons" would you rather he bring in a 5 moon old kit whos already adjusted to kittypet life?

Ah, there goes elderkit

At least the queens have some compassion

Ah, tom's first panic attack

Chapter 22

Has it been one moon or two? Im not sure

Cinderpaw i still love you

Asha and fern recently stopped nursing, meaning their about a moon old. Only a moon's differemce between them and cloud, then

"With all that white fur" what, like Frostfur? Or Whitestorm? Shut the fuck up, darkstripe

Chapter 23

Yeah, so its been 2 moons since the gorge fight

Deadfoot!!!

Yeah ya'll better shut up, starclan's displeased

Chapter 24

I still dont think fireheart would be this against greystripe's relationship

Ok no yeah fireheart's definitely overthinking this, he was talking about the mossball, dude

Chapter 25

Again! Willowpelt and Darkstripe in the same patrol

I can see Whitestorm being really pissed off at disrespect like this

Tigerclaw really doesnt think before he acts, huh

Good brackenpaw, run boy, run!

Hello brokenstar, you mangy motherfucker

Chapter 26

Spottedleaf's death was six moons ago, though this feels incorrect

Also fireheart, dude, you barely knew her

Kick their ass, frostfur! Kick their ass!

I nearly forgot yellowfang was a warrior before a medicine cat

Pathetic ass brokenstar, wheres your gloating now huh

Eugh can we not have this burden to the clan thing. Like shes allowed to feel like that, but only if the narrative shuts that shit down

Yay whitestorm back at it again being logical

Chapter 27

Yay, sandstorm and dustpelt!

I dont like dustpelt tbh but lets see if he redeems himself

Yeah, yellowfang, you shut that shit down!

Ok damn, greystripe, calm down, i dont even know why your angry anymore

Chapter 28

I might not like incredibly stubborn characters much, but i gotta give it to cloudkit, hes like a moon old and he caught a vole

Ugh i forgot spottedleaf is his messenger

Chapter 29

He just can't get it into his head that he's a hypocrite, huh?

What part of "dont leave the camp unguarded" was missed here, you just took every single warrior with you

Im not as fond as cloudkit as i am with cinder and bracken, but he knows what he wants

Chapter 30

Tigerclaw you arrogant bastard, i still love you though

I didnt see my boy deadfoot, where was he!!

About fuckin time these two reconcile, good god, this could've been sorted chapters ago

My thoughts

Eh, 7/10, a lot of it was just frustrating to read. Im really not a fan of miscommunication tropes or whatever hypocritcal shit was going on between fire and grey. Im also getting really sick of spottedleaf, The cloudkit being brought in scene was bad and weird, and dustpaw's just an asshole.

I liked the mentoring scenes, the apprentices, and yellowfang. I quite like brokenstar and tigerstar, even if their both bastards, and my boy whitestorm is still well written. I like that the queens are good fighters, and how supportive princess is of her brother. We didnt see much of runningwind but im fond of him. They still havent explained why sandstorm warmed up to him so suddenly, but its only book 2

Overall, a bit of a sour one, i definitely prefer the first book, out of the two, and i still think fire and ice should've been the name for the 6th book

[thegoodsideofinternet]

screen review: july

so this is a new thing. me using canva; no that's not new. me using canva for myself; yes yes that's the 'new-s'!

(yes sometimes i am too good with words, atleast in here, i'm the one writing and reading)

so this a new type of series, namely '''screen review: {month}'' is going to be a monthly thing where I will be making desktop wallpaper of my own with a complete breakdown of it

just wanted to register the foolish-est story behind a seemingly nice idea, so short story long:

the days have been busy, getting up-working on my stuff-tnp cell stuff-working on my stuff again-foolish meetings for tnp cell stuff again-watching something real good (to get real dreams of course).

it has been like this since the holidays, which am actually liking, but just feel getting disconnecting with the people than usual times. had the yearly meetup with a friend who moved out the city and finalyy got a photo of ourselves (yes we are proud of the photo more than the bike ridee). connected with a few more peeps and went great.

this is pure rant but part of the story, future me will probably skip this if he wisen-s up meanwhile there is one friend from college where something seems off. the messages seem to scream "nahi baat karni"; so have been trying to do that. yesterday, she asked about playing ludo and i actually got pretty hyped, but i guess i was late, so then was pissed. have been trying to be normal, but instances like these break the whole emo equilibrium. and the next day (today) sent something related to a story she posted and i pretty much guess (which can be horribly wrong) and i feel i spoilt that story for her(the story was removed after sending the movie shot). most probably this is a very exaggerated way of thinking it, but that is the problem, i want to reach a point where things like these don't effect me so so much; and the opposite seemed to be happening right now. still, i think am in a better place than before, and just feel i need to cut down and give some time to me and her. either no one talks or we do, but atleast it would be normal (she's normal, i'm not, so basically i need time to get normal)

coming back to the topic, to get my mind off of this, just picked up canva and had a look on my previous wallpaper i designed for the lap on canva; and then this idea struck, i should do this monthly, like those monthly story boards! and thus, i present you the july edition.

breakdown:

the couple (both were straight, but all love to the people not straight, pride month bhai)

left, bobby dylan. watched his biography acted by timothee; he was great. the movie really provoked how beatiful it can to be a man possessed, by the work he loves to do, music and talented women. was actually going to put just him on but found ali. he has been an inspiration through and through. being the best at what he does, being overconfident to a perfect level and also doing full stupid stuff when off. great people, great photo.

2. the background (not the black one, you dumb)

so this one is the only indian art style i know of and have done too much of it, its warli art, which one of those teacher in school who saw the smallest good in me (in my very bad kid days) and really got me doing a lot of these (shoutout christina ma'am). so picked up the best warli i could, will try using an actual on i did next month, but i would like to explore more indian and western art for the backgrounds, getting to know about one art on month at a time.

3. the casey touch (touch means my thoughtful touch on the wallpaper about casey, you dirty-minded fool)

can't go without the only person you look upto, cant you (you is me here, of course). the glasses are his trademark kinda thing, which i the opposite of what he does that for. he scrapes out the ray ban branding and removes some black paint to make it ones of his own.

"do more" is the motto that he follows, so i follow it too. just doing more of everything, doing more loving, doing more working, doing more of trying new things, doing more living.

(the only thing i don't like of this whole project is the text is in upper case, couldn't find the perfect(lower case) ones.

overall, a great start.

that's all for this week;

keep excelsior-ing!

wise man<3

[the-owl-tree]

One thing that I wish would've happened in TNP is Tawnypelt and getting Brambleclaw's arc. Thoughts?

i wouldn't personally give Tawnypelt Brambleclaw's arc beat for beat, but I do like the idea of her being a point of view character!! I actually really like the idea of Tawnypelt as somewhat of an opposite: confident in her loyalty and her ability to serve the Clan. She's the Tigerstar spawn that knows their father the most, the one who spent the most time with him when he was alive. I actually like the idea that she sympathized with him, was open minded when he began to appear in her dreams, and was about to bite into the apple he was offering....

Then Nightstar comes to her in a dream and she suddenly meets a group of cats from different walks of life and her original core beliefs are challenged. How can she call the cats she's walked with moons, hunted alongside, and looked out for her enemies when they come back? How can she see Feathertail and Stormfur as lesser, as deserving of death for who they are, when every night she would trust them to watch her back? I like the idea of Tawnypelt losing her faith in her father and begin to reject everything he stood for (instead of just Knowing Better like she seemed to in the books).

I'm not sure how this would fit in the latter half of the arc. Maybe she tries to talk Hawkfrost down instead? I don't know, I like the drama of Brambleclaw hesitating (WHICH SHOULD NOT HAVE LANDED HIM THE ROLE OF DEPUTY!!). But yes, maybe not like an exact recreation of Brambleclaw's arcs but one where she is given more depth would be fantastic! Like I said, BIG missed opportunity to make a POV when we know much less about her than her brother.