#This ended up looking like Ashfur

[kinda-daily-warriorcat]

[yuridovewing]

as much as i really dont care for what ive seen from the new team, i dont want to come across as a shill for vicky either because she’s also guilty of some gross stuff in these books. iirc wasnt bumbledove actually intended to be endgame and super wholesome because “bumblestripe got dovewing into an easier relationship and he needed to calm her down” or something like that

[billymayslesbian]

Before Lionblaze could argue, another shape burst through the billowing smoke to stand beside Squirrelflight. His eyes glared; his gray fur was matted together and stuck with bits of burnt leaf and twig. Confused by the smoke and flames, Hollyleaf almost thought she was seeing one of her warrior ancestors, until she recognized Ashfur.

Squirrelflight dropped the branch. “Help me push it into the fire!” she yowled.

Grabbing the branch in strong jaws, Ashfur thrust it past the wall of flame and into the ever-narrowing patch of ground where Hollyleaf and her brothers huddled. But Hollyleaf didn’t feel any sense of relief. There was a look in Ashfur’s eyes that she didn’t understand: the look of a cat who had just spotted an unexpected juicy bit of prey.

The branch made a bridge through the flames, but Ashfur stood at the other end of it, blocking the way to safety. Lionblaze nudged Jayfeather to his paws; Hollyleaf took a step toward the branch, then paused. She felt a cold weight in herbelly when she looked into Ashfur’s glittering blue eyes.

“Ashfur, get out of the way.” Squirrelflight’s voice was puzzled. “Let them get out!”

“Brambleclaw isn’t here to look after them now,” Ashfur sneered.

Hollyleaf felt her fur beginning to rise. What did Ashfur mean?

Lionblaze’s golden pelt was bristling, too. “What have you done with my father?” he howled through the flame.

Ashfur looked at him pityingly; his eyes were twin points of fire amid the burning forest. “Why would I waste my time with Brambleclaw?”

The main branch was too solid to catch fire easily, but the leaves on it had shriveled and the twigs were beginning to smoke. Hollyleaf realized that they didn’t have much time before their bridge to safety would be ablaze.

Squirrelflight staggered up to Ashfur. Hollyleaf had never seen her mother so angry. Her fur bristled with fury; she looked like a warrior of TigerClan. Yet it was obvious that the climb to the top of the cliff, followed by her struggle with the branch, had weakened her, and she was exhausted.

“Your quarrel with Brambleclaw has to stop,” she hissed. “Too many moons have passed. You have to accept that I’m Brambleclaw’s mate, not yours. You can’t keep trying to punish Brambleclaw for something that was always meant to be.”

Ashfur’s ears flicked up in surprise. “I have no quarrel with Brambleclaw.”

Hollyleaf exchanged a shocked glance with Lionblaze. “That’s not how it looks to me,” he muttered.

“I couldn’t care less about Brambleclaw,” Ashfur continued. “It’s not his fault he fell for a faithless she-cat.”

Faithless? A growl began to build in Hollyleaf ’s throat, but then she stopped and watched the cats on the other side of the blazing branches. Something ominous was taking place in front of her, and even with flame roaring around them she felt a sudden chill. She shrank closer to Lionblaze and Jayfeather, whose head was up, his sightless eyes intent, as if he could see the confrontation between his mother and Ashfur.

“I know you think I’ve never forgiven Brambleclaw for stealing you from me, but you’re wrong, and so is every cat that thinks so. My quarrel is with you, Squirrelflight.” Ashfur’s voice shook with rage. “It always has been.”

Horrified, Hollyleaf took a step back and felt her hind paws begin to slip on the edge of the cliff. Her head spun as lightning stabbed out and thunder drowned all other sounds, even the roaring fire. For a heartbeat she dangled over empty air, and she let out a strangled yowl.

Then she felt firm teeth meet in her scruff; blinking against the smoke, she realized that Lionblaze was hauling her back to safety. But there was no safety: only the hungry flames, and Ashfur blocking the end of the branch with fury in his eyes. Fiery sparks floated down on all three young cats, scorching their fur, and flames licked the underside of the branch; fear flooded afresh through Hollyleaf when she saw that it was already beginning to smolder.

Ashfur has to let us get out! But Hollyleaf couldn’t find any words to plead with him. What was happening here didn’t have anything to do with them, even if they died because of it.

“All this was moons ago.” Squirrelflight sounded puzzled. “Ashfur, I had no idea you were still upset.”

“Upset?” Ashfur echoed. “I’m not upset. You have no idea how much pain I’m in. It’s like being cut open every day, bleeding onto the stones. I can’t understand how any of you failed to see the blood. . . .”

His eyes clouded and his voice took on a wild, distant tone, as if he could see the blood spilling out of him now, sizzling on the burning ground. Terror burst through Hollyleaf and she pressed closer to her brothers. This cat was more dangerous than the storm or the fire, or the fall lurking perilously close to her hind paws.

Desperately she tried to step onto the end of the branch. At once Ashfur rounded on her, fully conscious again, his teeth bared in a snarl.

“Stay there!” Turning to face Squirrelflight but keeping one paw on the branch, he hissed, “I can’t believe you didn’t know how much you hurt me. You are the blind one, not Jayfeather. Who do you think sent Firestar the message to go down to the lake, where the fox trap was? I wanted him to die, to take your father away so you’d know the real meaning of pain.”

Hollyleaf ’s shocked gaze met Lionblaze’s. “He tried to kill Firestar?” she gasped. “He’s mad!”

Determination glittered in Lionblaze’s eyes, and he bunched his muscles for a giant leap. “I’m going to fight him.”

“No!” Hollyleaf fastened her teeth in his shoulder fur. “You can’t!” Her words were muffled now. “He’ll just push you into the fire.”

“Brambleclaw saved Firestar then,” Ashfur went on to Squirrelflight. “But he’s not here now. He’s not here—but your kits are.”

Squirrelflight’s eyes blazed. For a heartbeat Hollyleaf thought she was going to pounce on the gray warrior, but she knew that exhausted and in pain, her mother would have no chance. Squirrelflight seemed to realize it, too. She drew herself up, head high; she was trembling, but her voice was clear and brave.

“Enough, Ashfur. Your quarrel is with me. These young cats have done nothing to hurt you. Do what you like with me, but let them out of the fire.”

“You don’t understand.” Ashfur looked at her as if he was seeing her for the first time; his voice was puzzled and petulant. “This is the only way to make you feel the same pain that you caused me. You tore my heart out when you chose Brambleclaw over me. Anything I did to you would never hurt as much. But your kits . . .” He looked through the flames at Hollyleaf and her brothers, his eyes narrowing to dark blue slits. “If you watch them die, then you’ll know the pain I felt.”

The flames crackled threateningly closer; Hollyleaf felt as if the heat was about to sear her pelt into ashes. She edged backward, only to feel the edge of the hollow give way under her hind paws. The three of them were pressed tightly together, so close that if one of them lost their balance, all three would be dragged off the cliff. Hollyleaf couldn’t control the trembling that shook her whole body as her glance flickered between the cliff and the fire.

Jayfeather was crouched close to the ground, looking tinier than ever with his pelt slicked flat by the rain. Lionblaze’s claws were unsheathed, glinting as the lightning flashed out again, but the tension in his haunches didn’t come from preparing to leap at Ashfur; it came from the effort of keeping himself on the top of the cliff.

Squirrelflight raised her head, her gaze locked on Ashfur’s crazed eyes. “Kill them, then,” she meowed. “You won’t hurt me that way.”

Ashfur opened his jaws to reply, but said nothing. Hollyleaf and her brothers stared at their mother. What was Squirrelflight saying?

Squirrelflight took a step away from them, and glanced carelessly over her shoulder. Her green eyes were fiercer than Hollyleaf had ever seen them, with an expression she couldn’t read.

“If you really want to hurt me, you’ll have to find a better way than that,” Squirrelflight snarled. “They are not my kits.”

[kudossi]

Tigerclaw and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Senior Warrior Position AU

In a world where deputies can only be named after their first apprentice has been granted their warrior name, Tigerclaw struggles to keep an apprentice alive long enough to earn their name.

or, a comedy-tragedy AU in which having an apprentice isn't enough — you have to see them to their warrior name, and Tigerclaw cannot fucking get any of his goddamn apprentices to live, damn it.

—

It starts out mostly normally, except for the fact that Tigerclaw hasn't gotten any apprentices to their warrior name, and he needs that so he can accomplish his (very noble, of course) kitty genocide goals. And also be the supreme leader of the world or something. Darkpaw died stupidly, he hasn't had a chance since, and now he's got some tiny thing that's afraid of his own shadow.

Well. It'll have to do.

So naturally this man is so protective over Ravenpaw that Ravenpaw barely even leaves his sight. Firepaw and Graypaw think that this is adorable. Look how much Tigerclaw cares about his apprentice!!

Ravenpaw, of course, is fucking terrified and also slowly losing his mind, just in a different way.

—

"Redtail assigned us to go on a patrol to Snakerocks." "OH NO HE DID NOT. WE'RE STAYING IN THE SANDY HOLLOW WHERE IT'S SAFE."

"Nothing matters more to me than making you a warrior, Ravenpaw. Nothing." And the terrible thing is that Ravenpaw is sure he's being sincere.

—

Ravenpaw disappears and Tigerclaw nearly fucking has a conniption because the timing was all RIGHT and he was going to finally get the position AND HE NEVER GOT HIS DAMN NAME FUCK.

"Do you think I could convince the elders that Fireheart was my apprentice?" "Fireheart was Bluestar's apprentice, as approved by StarClan. You're going to have to wait for the next litter to be apprenticed."

So he begs and begs and gets Cinderpaw and then she accidentally falls into the trap he'd set for a better deputy candidate at the Thunderpath. Fuck.

—

Well. Time to resort to drastic measures.

"I was thinking that Darkstripe would have been a good name. Because he had dark stripes." "Again, Tigerclaw, it's admirable that you loved your apprentice so much, but I cannot grant him a name." "Are you sure?" "Honestly, Tigerclaw, I'm not sure he ever would have gotten a name. Missing quite a few feathers from his nest, that one..." Fuck. The worst part was that she wasn't even wrong.

— Swiftpaw and Brightpaw get mauled by the dogs he set up to happen like right after he got the title and they sprang it before and he's like FUCK NOW WHAT DO I DO WITH THESE DAMN DOGS? His world domination plans literally never come to fruition because he cannot keep his apprentices alive/in the clan/his own.

— "Brightheart counts. She HAS to count." "Actually, Cloudtail took over her training…" [demented noises]

—

Turns out that Ravenpaw is alive and no one — no one — in the Harper Collins Extended Universe is happier than Tigerclaw.

"You're alive! …You deserve your warrior name!" "Actually, I've come to peace with my name and my way of life. I have no need for a—" "GET YOUR FUCKING NAME RIGHT NOW RAVENPAW OR SO HELP ME STARCLAN—" "I know you really wanted Ravenpaw to become a warrior," Barley says gently, "but he's made his decision. It's very kind of you to acknowledge that he deserves it, though. You must have been so close as mentor and apprentice." Tigerclaw's eye twitches. "Yes. Close. Very... close." —

He finally, finally retires as an elder after his plans go absolutely nowhere for years on end. And maybe StarClan is still like "Brambleclaw would be chill actually, we can forget that pesky little law" and Tigerclaw is sitting there like "excuse me what the actual fuck?" —

But at this point Tigerclaw is about as dangerous as Ashfur without a freak forest fire. Which is to say about as dangerous as using a leaf as a weapon. Which is, incidentally, how Darkpaw managed to get himself killed in the first place.

—

"Is this the Dark Forest? This has to be the Dark Forest. It doesn't look like Thistleclaw described it, but it must be. This Clan is all an elaborate punishment meted down by StarClan for my sins." "Tigerclaw, sir, I'm just here to help you with your ticks. See? I have the mousebile right here." "…Yes, thank you, Alderpaw." — Graystripe joins him in the elder's den and he's like, "You know, Ravenpaw thought you were up to some… scheme, back in the day. Crazy, right? You've been a model Clanmate as long as I've been alive." [muffled screaming] "Huh, what do you think that is? It sounds almost like someone killed a rabbit, but they know not to come this close to camp…"

[bonefall]

It’d be interesting to have the whole “kits die commonly” thing be important too. Like Bristle died a war hero and will be remembered, but rowankit was just another young death in the grand scheme of the clans, which means dovewing probably faced cats saying “oh that happens all the time, it’s just how life is out here”

so Ivypool trying to relate would probably set her off

There's also an angle here where it's clear that the other Clans are ready to brush off Rowankit's death as "just a sickly kit" when THEY had no losses. Like the whole world wants to treat her son like he was born doomed instead of a preventable tragedy.

TigerHeartstar was sounding this alarm for MONTHS before the epidemic hit. Everyone knew stocks were low, and they were rolling their eyes like it was a future problem. It was only when people got sick that they sent a patrol out to fetch catmint. There were so many moments where, if they'd treated the situation with the urgency it required, Rowankit would still be here.

But instead, her son is dead, and people try to tell her it's not a big deal because in like 40 cat years she can look foward to also being dead, so she can spend eternity with a permanent baby who will never have a chance to grow up.

It's like the only ones who actually understand Dovewing's grief is her family..... except Ivypool. And that should hurt.

So for BB,

I still need to wait for the ASC arc to wrap up before I rewrite it (S O O N) but, this whoooole situation is going to be a LOT crazier even with JUST the changes I made to BB!TBC.

In BB!TBC, Bristlefrost dies twice. First, she's executed by the Impostor early on for being in a relationship with Rootspring. Then, at the end of the arc, she dies knocking Ashfur out of heaven to burn him up in orbit. Both times, Ivypool failed to protect her daughter even when she'd vowed to do so.

I plan to use this SE as a major opportunity to get into Ivypool's head again, and explore how she's dealing with that. I've also been hanging onto an idea for a few months now; that Rosepetal will actually be Squirrelstar's first deputy, but die either on this mission, or during ASC.

I need a couple more books to come out before I start cooking, but the ingredients smell reaaaal nice right now.

[willicebattlecatsblog]

chemicals in the lake are making the cats GAY >:(

Basically a masterpost about this specific AU

-Lionblaze transman, autistic and won't pick up any social cue.

-Lionblaze is not a calico, he is a chimera

-Lionblaze big guilt and OCD over his power

-Lionblaze fears he will end up like Scourge as a part of his OCD (i have to find a way to let everyone know that Scourge is related to Firestar tho....)

-Lionblaze and Toadfoot only aknowledge each other in The Fourth Apprentice when they are on their way to the beavers and they become gay

-Lionblaze keeps his personality from late po3 (kind of dumb, can't pick up any clue, very ocd, is socially very awkward and clumsy, clearly needs help to navigate social situations properly)

-Lionblaze is very much the same as in canon, very flawed, he is still the most forgiving of the 3 and does try to talk it out with Squirrelflight and Leafpool, he feels very isolated in his clan due to the prophecy, the lies around his birth and Hollyleaf being presumed dead, which makes him more prone to have a relationship with an outsider instead of a thunderclan warrior

-Toadfoot also went through losing a sibling (Marshkit), he doesn't have a canonical father so I think he would be very attached to his mom (Tallpoppy) and remaining sibling (Applefur), he is also seen being playful, friendly and understanding towards Flametail I love toadfoot

-Lionblaze and Toadfoot have big rivals to lovers energy and it was my favorite weird "crack" ship when I was 13

-The AU also centers around the flaws of StarClan and their weird mechanic that keeps changing over time (ashfur goes to starclan because he just found his way there, and leafpool gets to go through a whole trial somehow???)

-Living cats and StarClan fight dark forest first, and then living cats turn more or less against StarClan for being as incomprehensible as possible, doing blatant favoritism, letting bad seeds get in and throwing out overall good cats, and the warrior code will also be reformed because it's way overdue grrrr

-Maybe Dovewing and Ivypool are the babies of Hollyleaf and Cinderheart instead of Birchfall and Whitewing ? I never really liked that Dovewing was indeed linked to the 3 but she was so far away in family tree tbh :((

-Lionblaze will have babies with Toadfoot as some point (Maybe adopted ? I don't know yet) and they won't have many children, and I will do everything in my power to get rid of all the current incest in the books >:(

-I think the babies of Lionblaze and Toadfoot will look like Tallpoppy and Leafpool because i love them

-Leafpool, Squirrelflight and Tallpoppy will both be aware of the relationship at some point, but they will keep their mouth shut and be supporting mothers because they are very cool and progressive

-I don't know if I will ever write fanfiction about this, I am already working on a clangen project, so if I do anything about it it will only be a small side project ! I use this AU to rewrite things that make me happier than the canon version (like making transman OCD autistic lionblaze, i find it easier for me to relate to him) :)

I hope you like it, I shall disappear again for a while now, I have art fight attacks to work on >:)

[sparrowsoupp]

so a ‘swiftpaw lives’ au is nothing new here BUT hear me out:

in this au, everything happens as it does in the first arc up to the night where swiftpaw and brightpaw sneak out of camp to fight the dogs. as they are leaving, cloudtail somehow sees/hears/notices and is obviously suspicious so trails them into the forest secretly.

as they get closer to the dogs’ den he realises their plan and confronts the pair, trying to get them to return to camp. swiftpaw is defiant and argues back, escalating into a fight as cloudtail tries to physically knock some sense into swiftpaw. brightpaw looks on in horror trying to break up this fight. this is obviously not a very quiet battle, considering the participants are two bullheaded teenage boys, and so the dogs are woken up anyway.

swiftpaw leaps into action as brightheart freezes in paralysing fear. as a dog lunges at her, cloudtail notices and leaps into the dog’s jaws, pushing brightpaw out of the way in the process. in a burst of fear and strength, brightpaw notices swiftpaw unconcious and unable to move with a missing leg and grabs him to run away, escaping from the dogs and leaving cloudtail to bleed out and die (hence the main catalyst for differences in this au: cloudtail dies in swiftpaw’s place). she doesn’t realise this at the time, hoping cloudtail will understand since he is still up and fighting, and not thinking about the consequences of leaving one cat alone to fight a pack of dogs.

bluestar renames them in the same way lostface was named in the original arc, brightpaw being renamed lostface and swiftpaw being named dogleg, and fireheart is ANGRY with the pair (and himself) for the needless loss of his nephew’s life. no renaming ceremony is held, and they are made to keep their names in rememberance of their foolishness. (sidenote: i think this would also spark a major shift in fireheart’s good nature and personality, leading to MAJOR knockon effects for the rest of the series, but i haven’t thought about it too much yet and also i need to reread the books) and because cloudtail isn’t around to advocate for lostface’s warrior retraining, she is relegated to be a medicine cat and never really emotionally recovers in the same way she could in the books because cloudtail isn’t around to offer her that emotional support. she also very much blames herself for letting him fight a battle that he never signed up to fight and dying in the process, the overwhelming levels of guilt weighing on her constantly to the point where cats are a little creeped out by how empty even her remaining eye looks.

on the other hand (paw?), dogleg is left seething with anger and bitterness towards his clan. (i imagine him after the attack as a somewhat ashfur-like character, except much more extreme) a lot of his toxicity and anger would be taken out on lostface, one of the only cats he talks to anymore, and instead of brightheart and cloudtail entering a very healthy and positive relationship instead lostface ends up in a secret (VERY toxic) relationship with dogleg. she remains attached to him i think because of the trauma they experienced together. i have to think more about that, though. (maybe even kits?)

in the end something something dogleg forces lostface to start poisoning food as the clan’s medicine cat to take revenge on other cats like bluestar or fireheart. i think this culminates in dogleg turning very traitorous somehow.

that’s what i have so far! feel free to sends asks/tag with suggestions or ideas of knockon effects of this change. thanks for reading this big ol paragraph of me rambling about cats lol, appreciate y’all 🦭👍

[official-darkforest]

Sorry I would love for you to explain all of your rare pairs. I love deep warrior cats thoughts pls if you want to do so

ThornRat (Thornclaw x Ratscar) Dark Forest trainee pairing. They're also both old enough to remember the Old Forest . The whole dynamic I have in mind is Thornclaw being rather oblivious to his sexuality and also being a huge fucking hypocrite (he's one of the more conservative warriors of TC, ironically). Ultimately his relationship with Ratscar, if you can even call it one, is doomed from the start and Ratscar is stuck yearning for someone that's not worth pursuing for multiple reasons.

BrambleFern (Bramblepaw x Fernpaw) I specify -paw because I see them as a bit of a tragic pairing where it doesn't end up working out because Dustpelt swoops right in and inserts himself in Bramblepaw's place. Also, in the context of my rewrite, Brambleclaw is the one to run away to ShadowClan instead of Tawnypelt so whatever spark he and Fernpaw had going never gets to go anywhere. I imagine they're still friends but have some moments of 'what if' every now and then.

BrindleFlint (Brindleface x Flintfang) Honestly I just wanted to give Ashfur and Ferncloud a father that already existed in the series and also didn't fuck up the family tree any more than it already is. I think I got this idea from someone else but I can't exactly remember who - but it's a very interesting concept considering the events of the first arc and how Flintfang was still alive for the events that happened (according to Tigerstar's Fury and Blackfoot's Reckoning). I headcanon that Ferncloud is named after her aunt Fernshade, too. Additionally, in the anthro AU, their story is a lot sadder but that's another story...

LongWind (Longtail x Runningwind) Childhood friends to almost-lovers! They're around the same age and would've definitely trained together. As mentioned in my HalfOne family tree post, they had a budding interest but it was cut short by Runningwind's death. Sad :(

IvyBreeze (Ivypool x Breezepelt) This one is just funny. "You wanna kiss me so bad it makes you look stupid" kind of shit. Breezepelt would be fucking fuming over it because he doesn't want to be like his dad.

HalfDove (Half Moon x Dove's Wing) Another one that's mostly in the context of my rewrite! I'm imagining it's very one-sided since I also love HalfJay, but it's a very complicated thing where Jay's Wing is very focused on saving their colony and too scatterbrained to really put any serious commitment to Half Moon (something he tells her explicitly, but she pursues anyways). Dove's Wing is embarrassed of her crush and knows it was never meant to be, not only because she's a prophecy cat but also because Half Moon doesn't even like her that way.

IceApple (Icewing x Applefur) Another Dark Forest Trainee pairing! I have a lot of these because I got attached to them. Not my only Applefur ship but certainly one that's kinda fun to think about. I don't have much to say about these two sadly but I thought it was a cute idea that I could maybe build off of later.

MinnowMouse (Minnowtail x Mousewhisker) I don't actually think this one is that much of a rare pair, I've seen a lot of ppl talk about this but I was kinda running out of ideas since there's a lot of characters idgaf about sorry LOL anyways this one is based on a scene in Dark River and the fact they were both Dark Forest trainees in their adulthood.

[the-owl-tree]

have you seen the newest version of the Have it out Hollyleaf animatic? I really love the expression work and I was wondering what you thought about it. I like how it shows Hollyleaf struggling a bit

Link for anyone who hasn't seen it! Go watch it, it's fantastic!!! (and certainly watch it before you read the rest of this, it's just me gushing over the fantastic direction of this piece!)

I had not until I got this ask so thank you!! I absolutely LOVE Cameron Collar's work, his Ashfur AMV is one of my go to inspirations for background work - just look at these colors!!

Have It Out is fantastic, big agree on how it depicts Hollyleaf's struggle to track down Ashfur. The little detail where she swings so hard she gets her claws stuck in a tree?? It's fantastic, I like the way it shows the build up to the big moment of when she actual does the deed.

This has to be up there in my top 5 favorite depictions of Hollyleaf killing Ashfur. Messy and brutal, it really is just Hollyleaf taking out her frustrations by battering his body. Even without seeing anything, the fantastic direction through just shadow and blood splatters on a rock tell you everything you need to know. It's an incredibly welcome departure from the usually more simply assassin-style single throat bite/claw kills - which there's nothing wrong with them, but the messier, angrier depiction here is sooo tasty to me. Fantastic work all around.

Then the pan out where she starts to come to her senses, the fantastic use of the environment to depict her isolation while simultaneously using the composition of the cliffs to have her almost squished in with the sky looming overhead, not a cloud in sight. Aaah, it's so good! I especially love the almost horrified and guilty expression as she looks back at his body - which may I add I love the way it's positioned to hide any of the above brutality inflicted from the above scene, it's sooo so good. Literally taking in what she's done, something not privy to the audience. Love it!

Ended up gushing longer than I thought I would lol anyways thanks for the heads up! This animatic was an absolute treat, hope it gets all the love it deserves for how fantastically directed it is.

[skyclan-funny-name-squad]

I think the fact the erins can write abuse so well but never call it abuse and even think its right isn't some weird quirk but in fact, a natural progression. Most abusers think they're in the right after all, that they are justified in their actions no matter how horrific. So if you take a character who is abusive and are determined to write them in a way that gives justifications to their actions and you want show they arent actually that bad, you'll write realistic abuse because that's how actually abusers present and view themselves.

If you think a character you write is just troubled and misunderstood or not that bad even if they do horrific acts of violence and abuse, you're going to write them like that and try to convince the audience to agree with you, which requires the character to use actual abusive tactics to try and keep the audience on their side by downplaying and hiding their actions, in ways real life abusers will.

This isn't to say I think the erin's are abusive of course, just that abusive tactics don't come from a playbook that Evil People tm just get one day and no one else has, it comes from rationalizations and excuses. Which a writer can easily end up tapping into if they want to justify why this character they like did that domestic abuse to the audience.

If an author needs to rationalize why a character like Clear Sky is good and misunderstood secretly while still having him do a lot of crimes and have the protagonist like him, it's going to end up looking like realistic abuse just because theres that cognitive dissonance from what's actually happening that reflects reality of how abusers get away with it.

It's a lot harder to actively write abusers because you have to fight your brain more to get into that mindset when you already know the character is terrible. If you don't believe the justifications, they become flatter to write other characters believing it without a lot of skill.

If you believe a character is secretly a hero or misguided but not bad or even the one who was wronged actually, it's easier to make up and implement the justifications for their bad actions because you are looking for those same justifications in the same way as the abusive character would be, while if you know a character is abusive, you're not going to inherently dig as deep to find the reasonings and justifications the character would use and want to make it more obvious to the audience and characters, which isn't how abuse works so it can come off as flat or over the top. Not doing that requires genuine skill and practice, it can be done obviously, but its a tricky skill to learn to be subtle when actively writing abuse.

TLDR: See Ashfur defenders pulling out 300 pages of notes to justify or remove blame for his every actions vs people who view him as a clear villain but just go "ashfur's an abusive asshole who wants to control women" and leave it at. The defender ironically has a better grasp on how abusers actually think and act and justify

Erin's writing such realistic abuse isn't a bug of their seeming inability to recognize it, it's a feature

[olliethecat13]

Someone I think about a lot is Lionblaze. Not necessarily because he did a lot, or was an exceptionally good character (in his own point of view, at least), but rather because of the POSSIBILITY that could've been met with him. He had so much potential, and I think about that a lot.

He's an arrogant little boy whose grandfather & half-uncle who are both notorious for their crimes, but ALSO for their strength. They want to train Lionpaw and see what Lionpaw wishes everyone else would- That he's the son of the clan deputy and he's just as strong as his kin! He has greatness in his blood, he's Firestar's grandson and also Tigerstar's.

He must battle with all that, wouldn't he? He must feel bad for being violent and training with Tigerstar and Hawkfrost, but its really all he grows to know.

When the rest of the clan treats him like a little kid, like Ashfur, it wouldn't be a shock to see him turn to some cats who seem to treat him as more than a little kid.

Think about how cool it could've been if his morals began to crumble because he was becoming strong with his kin. Slowly he would stop feeling bad. It would just feel natural. Berrypaw's teasing wouldn't mean too much, when Lionpaw was being trained by some of the strongest cats in clan history, would it?

And when Heatherpaw comes along, just think about how differently things could've went down if it was not only Hollypaw who found out, but Tigerstar. Maybe by then Lionpaw would've been too far gone. Maybe Heatherpaw would've been meant to stay in the tunnels she had found.

Lionpaw can't be defeated, maybe he thinks he's just strong. Heatherpaw might've struggled, but in the end he left without a scratch, hadn't he?

He could grapple with the guilt. The looks from cats would always feel like they knew something. Slowly he'd learn about the prophecy, and realize that Tigerstar and Hawkfrost didn't define him anymore.

Think of the arc he could've had. He could've done bad things & lived his life in remorse, giving his ALL to defend the clans in the final battle, to make up for the wrongs and to avenge the childhood he and others after him were robbed of. Think of how he'd feel when he watches Hollyleaf spiral into the same shell of guilt he did. Think of how much worse he'd feel when he couldn't save her.

I do like him in the Broken Code, though. I think he's much colder than we've ever seen him and that is so much cooler than the cardboard cutout of a character we were reading about for so long.

Morally challenged Lionblaze for the win!!!!

[wc-confessions]

The Great Battle ending the way it did was a crime. The only Dark Forest spirits that actually died are Tigerclawstar, Hawkfrost, Brokenstar, and Shredtail. Not even Darkstripe or Mapleshade! The Erins really just said 'this is the end of Evil Broad-shouldered Tabbies' and that's it.

It was labelled as this end to the Dark Forest, so I thought that pretty much everyone we knew was going to die in it, but... no. Sure, Tigerclawstar was probably one of the main leaders, but even he looked up to Thistleclaw (still alive). Brokenstar was always just kind of there, so it's not like he was a huge loss for them. Hawkfrost is just a Tigerclawstar lackey, and Shredtail... he existed?

What Ashfur did to the Dark Forest was far more destructive than the Great Battle ever was. Thistleclaw and Mapleshade still being alive means that like the majority of the big evils in the Dark Forest are still alive and plotting. If the Great Battle was supposed to be the end to the Dark Forest, Thistleclaw and Mapleshade should have died too.

Also, Hawkfrost should've lived. Man is hyped up as this big villain and he didn't even kill anyone. We deserved a better Hawkfrost villain arc. TBC would have been MUCH cooler with him possessing Bramblestar instead of Ashfur.

.

[nanistar]

i saw ur nightheart posts and i noticed u hate him quite a lot and im curious for the reasons why! i hope it doesnt sound rude! its a genuine question out of curiousity not an attempt for you to justify ur opinion, personally im aloof when it comes to nightheart i think hes just an edgelord tbh

nah you're not rude dw i get it. tbh i don't hate HIM as a character, i mean he's kinda annoying but whatever. instead i hate everything about him as a written extension of the authors and their views. nightheart isn't real, and doesn't have opinions but they authors do and they speak thru him to a young and volatile audience that might not know better. (which is also why i don't buy the "unreliable narrator" thing)

they twist the female characters around him to fit their narrative of "poor misunderstood sadboy" surrounded by "cruel mean women". squirrelflight, sparkpelt and even finchlight already had personalities, squirrelflight especially is known for bending rules for what she views as "the right thing", so why would she turn around and scream at him for wanting to change his name? why would finchlight, in one book, support his name change and stick up for him, only for in the next book to completely turn around and call him disrespectful and selfish. they needed to create more drama for him. before his warrior ceremony, he pulls off dangerous stunts trying to show off during his test, and it ends up blowing up in his face and fails, and he doesn't see this as HIS failing, he blames squirrelflight and his mentor for "expecting more of him because he's related to firestar" which??? and for that plot point to be given to him instead of his mother sparkpelt who is multiple times described as the spitting image of firestar? but she's like, totally fine with it. she's never given anything to do ever until she becomes a mother, (except disagree with alderheart like once and be the "rude misunderstanding woman" for his story too.)

and speaking of mothers... sparkpelt lost her mate as she gave birth, two heavily traumatizing things happening simultaneously. she had post-partum depression for a while, which is a serious and debilitating illness that KILLS people. yet she was still able to feed the kits, she didn't abandon them. they had plenty of attention from their family and from the other nursery cats. they were never once neglected. she was only out of commission for about a month before squirrelflight helped her back on her feet but that doesn't matter, because for the narrative, (and by the fandom) she is treated like a horrible abusive mother who neglected her kids on purpose. which. first of all crookedstar couldn't even LOOK at his daughter for the first week of her life and he is heralded as nothing but a loving father. second, nightheart goes on and on about how she left him and how she is hardly his mother because (lilyheart? i dont remember) one of the other queens helped raise them for the first month. the erins tie the worth of their female characters to how good of a mother they are, and any deviations from the nuclear family with a working husband and a housewife are automatically bad in their eyes,( yet they killed off ferncloud because she was "too annoying" for being a loving nursery mom.) (also think about how anti-adoption they are. the second the po3 secret was out, suddenly brambleclaw and squilf were never their parents despite literally raising them) they are horribly misogynistic, and their female characters are just pawns for either manpain or to be baby machines. this doesn't even begin to touch on how boy crazy the female protags have been lately, bristlefrost was interesting at first but eventually just turned into a wife for rootspring and then fridged for manpain, and sunbeam suddenly deciding shes in love with nightheart even though he stalked her and creeped her out???

adding on to this point, during ashfur's takeover, sparkpelt is EXILED from thunderclan (after being mauled by dogs, and by who she believes to be her father btw) she BEGS imposterstar to let her stay because of her family but he refuses. finchpaw chooses to go with her mother but flamepaw stays behind. then in his POV parts, he goes on and on about how she walked out on him!

again, nightheart the character: not real. he's a puppet for the authors to speak their misogynistic rhetoric. i would LOVE if he was just kinda a whiny emo dirtbag, or an actual unreliable narrator and whenever he complained everyone around him rolled their eyes and was like "ok nightheart" . remember that scene in meet the robinsons where bowler hat guy is telling his tragic backstory and he's talking about ppl at school and his narration says "they alll HATED me" while everyone in the scene was like "hi goob cool binder!" or "hey wanna come hang out with me later?" THAT'S (hilarious) but also what an unreliable narrator is. if that was nightheart it would be so funny. but instead, he HAS to be right, he HAS to be mistreated by all these mean horrible women. sorry for ranting, i promise im not mad at you.

[camellia-salazar]

Happy March, guys!

I forgot to post this last month so please count it as a February piece. Also Larchkit, Petalkit and Patchkit's designs aren't gonna stay like that for the most part. Idk why I changed the designs I already have for them into these but just know that I've tried to stick to the right designs.

(Also scratch out the Mapleshade and Ashfur from January's drawings since I've changed their designs a bit too). Thank you.

Was thinking about drawing this after realizing the similarities between the shows and their fan bases, mostly their opinions on these characters. I'm not gonna explain it all on here.

Colored doodles of characters I felt like drawing, Idk I just wanted to see my progress on getting better at mimicking the respective art styles of each thing for the most part. Mostly because I'm into both Bob's Burgers and Ed Edd n Eddy rn, and pretty much everything else shown on here (besides Orel and Greg I just thought they'd be friends, and Bluey cause i never get tired of drawing her im also excitedfor more Bluey).

I drew this basically as concept for an AU where Mapleshade was good. I know exactly what goes down but for now I'll just post whatever and probably talk about it more with some more drawings of this AU.

Also my designs for warrior cats are never consistent.

Since my birthday I started drawing certain characters playing Lazer Tag (since that's what my family, my youngest sister's friend and I did on that day). So I included the characters that had their birthdays (that I at least saved on my calander) and also other characters I really like recently.

Read more for more explanation on this last piece since i thought up a whole story for it basically:

So Leafy and Teardrop was teaming up until TD betrays her and Leafy tries to get revenge but keeps on getting shot by her (based on personal experience).

The thing about Kenny is that Sniper headshot him with a real gun somehow, and Crocker was teaming up with him so he's unaware of Kenny's death here.

Don't mind ARG he ain't hating Mickey he's just in the zone and looking out for himself and possibly Mickey, they're friends cause I said so.

Also 2-D is here because I like Gorillaz rn. Frank is here because there's a whole thing that I can't explain here but that's why he's "alive" here. Also he wasn't really caring about the game until the tension was getting to him. He turns into a ghost and flees at the end.

Logan here is looking up at Louise and Joe who were at a high point. Joe isn't even really playing, he was practicing his swing with the baseball nets next door to the Lazer Tag arena, but joins in with Louise at the last minute. They're looking down on him and making faces.

So that's basically it. Thanks for reading it all if you did! 👍🌟💝

And thanks for looking at my fan art! Hope y'all had a great March and will have a great April! 💖✨️

(Also I can't tag every character so bare with me)

[bozawarriorsposting]

Following up from my last post about this AU, this is some info about the four damned souls on 'probation' and their Overseer

Mudclaw

The ““““Leader”””” of the group

Spent his entire life with the ambition of becoming leader, grew up with stories of his great ancestors and what a Warrior should be

Devoted himself to his clan and lived every second of every day as the ideal Warrior cat, revered the Stars and it seemed it payed of as he was made deputy

Stolen from him and given to some sniveling coward making googly eyes at a Thunderclan kittypet

VERY bitter

Tries to take charge in every situation, the other three tend to fight him on this depending on how dire it is

Gruff, blunt, cold, and easily irritable

“Ends Justify the means” as a lifelong motto, and they are doing Starclans will, so the Ends MUST be good

Despises the other three, but this goes for all of them

Does find some enjoyment in these missions, it's something to do, a chance to prove himself,

makes it feel less like his life is over

Can manipulate mud and physical matter as a spirit, very good for dropping trees on cats, Starclan has a sense of humor

Ashfur

Felt fully vindicated by Starclan’s decision to let him in, and was happy to watch as Squirrelflight and her wretched family suffered

Yet… they did cope with it, and while everyone back in the real world recovered, Ashfur was still dead, still alone

His obsession emerged again as Ashfur found that his death was as empty as his life

He HAD to do something…

Yeah, Starclan decided to nip that one in the bud

PISSED at them for shunting him here

He thought he was proven right with his entry into Starclan, then they let his murderer in too

WILL try and take revenge on the stars… at some point

Dubious honor of being the most amoral out of the four

I mean, its neck and neck all the way down

Tends to keep his unhinged nature in check

Pretty good liar,  capable of disguising his true self

Still gives everyone else the creeps so they still don’t trust him

Thinks he is far more clever then he actually is

Generally acts as a moody, if very vindictive. Will sometimes just get very Overdramatic about something tho.

Ability to possess living cats, that and also limited emotional manipulation for more discrete methods

Needletail

Out of the four, the one that most recognizes she messed up

Which isn’t saying much, she still sees her rebellion as justified, and Rowanstar as being more culpable just because of how weak he was

Rebellious teenager turns into a very rebellious ghost

She isn’t doing this for Starclan’s approval, she wants to be in Starclan when Violet dies so she can apologize for everything

Has something resembling a moral backbone

Still self serving in the end, and it’s not hard to have moral standard higher then zero

She tends to go along with the plans, but makes her displeasure abundantly clear

Is very caustic, snapping at everyone more than the others usually do

On the lighter end, she might play pranks on the rest of them, the others will find it funny as long as it doesn't happen to them.

Sometimes plays contrarian just for the sake of it

She is surrounded by stuck up fanatics that will do whatever Starclan tells them to, so why not screw with them a little?

Doesn't actually mind this As much as the others, She was bored and tired in Starclan with nothing but constant reminders of her mistake, now she is a ghost and gets to do spooky stuff occasionally, kick ass.

While Needletail is bothered by some of the stuff they do, doesn't mean she doesn't enjoy scaring some apprentices out of a forest because "Starclan's Will" or something.

Power is either luck control or something that similarly is unpredictable and upends everything

Appledusk

Is having the worst time

Was looked down upon in Starclan, he was an average warrior, and is now solely remembered as a consequence in what is the equivalent of an old wives tail

He wasn’t particularly ambitious or anything, but it does sting to be known as nothing more than what happens when you have a cross Clan relationship

Then suddenly THIS happens

Out of the four, he is the most afraid of ending up in the dark forest, for obvious reasons

Would have the thing most resembling a moral compass, but has absolutely zero spine

Is essentially resigned to doing whatever Starclan tells him so he can get back up there

Has also been dead the longest out of the four, so there is some disconnect between him and actually living, more like a loose memory at this point

In life was a smooth talker, real womanizing charmer, a real sleazy asshole

And he still acts like that occasionally

But under the surface he is just exhausted, wants to go back up to starclan and rest until he fades

But nope, he is going back down to the mortal plain, risk getting murdered by his ex, and have to work with a bunch of War Criminals

His power is warding of some kind, while the other three affect the physical world, he makes sure they don’t get attacked by the things lurking in the forest, or for other starclan spirits to find them and ask exactly what they are doing

Clear Sky

Very much enjoying getting to lord over other cats again

This was more or less his idea with what to do with at-risk Starclan cats, is trying to keep it on the down low in terms of activities

Not a secret, he did get the thumbs up from the rest of Starclan, but he does keep their operations vague in terms of what exactly happens

Starclan gets what it wants, prophecies come true, who is paying attention to the details

What does it matter if some mortal lives get ruined

Been dead for so long that the idea of a mortal life is almost unimaginable to him

Is proof of why Fading exists

Represents Starclan at both its most self righteous and amoral

He is morally right because he is the stars

You know the Vast from TMA? that's essentially what he can do

If you piss him off, you will be getting the worst case of vertigo of your life at best

Falling forever in a pocket dimension at worst

Falling from the very real sky and into the very real ground as a sort of midpoint between experiences

On the mortal plain, a clear sky means that he can observe almost everything from above

The Four learn to fear a bright sunny day and a cloudless blue sky, for it means that their “Benefactor” is watching

[bonefall]

So, I'm writing an essay on the whole STATE of misogyny in WC for one of my university classes, and I was wondering if I could ask you a couple of things! No pressure of course, please feel free to say no!

A) Could I reference your good takes with appropriate harvard referencing and links back to your blog?

B) Are there any specific moments from the books that you think should be covered the most?

C) The end result will be a visual essay, so it's like those fun infographics people on Tumblr make on like ADHD and stuff, so when it's done, would you like to be tagged to read it?

(Sorry for anon, I'm nervous lmao, but if you'd be more comfortable I'll resend this off anon)

AAY good topic! You've got a lot to work with. Absolutely feel free to reference anything I've written, and tag me when you're done.

While you're here and about to write something so legitimate, I'm also going to recommend you check out Sunnyfall's video on gender in Warrior Cats. She breaks down the arcs into numbers, directly comparing the amount of lines mollies have to toms, and examining the archetypes women are usually allowed to be.

I think it's a must-have citation in a paper about WC misogyny.

...and, I think it's insightful to look at the WCRP Forum thread about the video. Note how the respondents immediately come into the thread to complain about how the video is too long so they didn't watch it, dismissing Sunnyfall as not being entertaining enough to hold their attention, even whining that she starts with statistics to prove her point, which I'm convinced she did exactly because they would have cried that she "had no evidence" if she didn't.

I am not a scholar, so I don't know how to document or prove that the books have an impact on the audience outside of anecdotes. But I think if you do write a section about fandom, it would be worth mentioning the in-universe and metatextual apologia for Ashfur and its reflection in the real world discourse, the authorial killing of Ferncloud because of fan complains, and the utter defensiveness against the discussion of misogyny you see outside of Tumblr.

You may also want to check out Cheek by Jowl, a collection of 8 essays about sexism in xenofiction by Ursula K. Le Guin. There's a very unique manifestation of authorial bias in animal fiction, having a lot to do with how the author views "the natural world," and it's worth understanding even though Warrior Cats are so heavily anthropomorphized.

So... Warrior Cats Misogyny

I think discussing individual instances can be helpful, but I'd implore you to keep in mind what's REALLY bad about WC's misogyny is framing and the bigger picture.

Bumble's death is shocking and insulting, but it's not just that she died. It's that the POV Gray Wing sees her as a fat, useless bitch who took his mate so she deserves to be dragged back to a domestic abuser, and he's right because the writers love him so much. It's that Bumble's torture and killing only factors into how it's going to hurt a man's reputation.

It's how Clear Sky hitting, emotionally manipulating, or killing the following women,

Bright Stream (pressured into leaving her home and family)

Storm (controlled her movements and yelled at her in public)

Misty (killed for land, children stolen)

Bumble (beaten unconscious, blamed nonsensically on a fox)

Alder (child abuse, hit when she refused to attack her brother)

Falling Feather (scratched on the face, subjected to public abuse and humiliation)

Tall Shadow (thrown into murderous crowd, attacked on-sight in heaven)

Rainswept Flower ("blacked out" in anger and murdered in cold blood)

Moth Flight (scratched on the face for saying denying medical treatment is mean, taken hostage in retaliation against mother for the death of his own child, which he caused)

Willow Tail (eyes gouged out for "stirring up trouble")

Is seen as totally understandable, forgivable, or not even questioned at all, when killing Gray Wing in an act of rage would have been "one step too far" with the ridiculous Star Line.

"Kill me and live with the memory, and then let the stars know it would only matter if a single one of your murder victims was a man."

It's the way that fathers who physically abuse their kids out of their ego (Clear Sky, Sandgorse, Crowfeather) aren't treated anywhere near the same level of narrative disgust and revulsion the series has for "bad moms", even if they're displaying symptoms of a post-partum mood disorder (depression, anxiety, and rage), an umbrella of mental illnesses 20% of all new mothers experience but are heavily stigmatized with (Sparkpelt, Palebird, Lizardstripe).

It's Crookedstar's Promise giving him two evil maternal figures in a single book, while bending over backwards to make every man in a position of power still look likeable in spite of the fact they're enabling Rainflower's abuse. Leader Hailstar is soso sorry that he has to change Stormkit's name for some reason, in spite of leaders being unaccountable dictators the other 99% of the time, and Deputy Shellheart functionally does nothing to stop his own son from being abused or even do much parenting before or after the fact.

It's the way men's parental struggles are seen sympathetically, and they don't have to "pay for it" like their female counterparts (Crookedstar's PPD vs Sparkpelt's PPD, how Daisy and Cinders are held responsible for Smoky and Whisper being deadbeats, Yellowfang's endless guilt for killing her son vs Onestar's purpose in life to kill his own), even to the point where a father doesn't have to have raised their kids at all to have a magical innate emotional connection to them (Tree's father Root, Tom the Wifebeater, Tigerstar and Hawkfrost).

It's less speaking lines and agency for female characters, being reduced to accessories in the lives of their mates and babies, women getting less diversity in their personalities, with even major ex-POV characters eventually becoming "sweet mom" tropes.

You could zoom in on any one of these examples and have an amoeba try to argue with you that "Oh THIS makes sense because X" or "Ah well my headcanon perfectly explains this thing" or "MY mother/girlfriend was abusive/toxic/neglectful and I've decided that you are personally attacking ME by having issues with how a character was written or utilized," but the beleaguered point,

That I keep trying to hammer in, over and over, across books worth of posts,

Is that these are trends. More than just a couple one-off examples. It's the fabric that has been woven over years, showing a lack of interest in, or even active prejudice of, women on behalf of the writers.

LONG STANDING trends, which have only gotten worse as the series progressed. From Yellowfang being harshly punished with a born evil son who ruins her life in TPB and the mistreatment of Squirrelpaw that begins in TNP, all the way up to the 7 Fridgenings of DOTC and Sparkpelt's PPD being a major character motivator for her son Nightheart.

So, I would stress that in your paper, and structure it less as "the Sparkpelt slide" and "the Yellowfang slide," and more as "The paternal vs maternal abuse" slide, and "the violence against women" slide. They're really big issues, there's tons of examples for each individual thing.

Anyway to leave off on a funny, look at this scene in Darkest Hour that I find unreasonably hilarious,

"Everyone who matters to me; my truest friend, my sensible and loyal warrior, the wisest deputy I've ever known, and 2 women." -Firestar, glorious idiot

He can't even think of a single trait for either of them what the hell does "formidable pair" mean lmaooo, when I finished a reread about a year ago this line killed me on impact.