#and we fucking hate nightheart

[bonefall]

You may have answered this before, but how are you handling characters that don't believe in starclan, like mothwing and cloudtail? Personally I thought it was interesting when reading the books, considering cloudtail, but only to a point because it's very hard to write atheist characters in a setting where there's undeniable proof of the gods/spirits/etc. Like, how did they explain the literal forces of heaven and hell battling on earth??

As An Atheist Myself ™ I have a lot of feelings about the two of them. I think the short answer is just that in a setting where gods are literally undeniable facts of life, "Atheism" looks more like Dystheism, the belief that they exist, but are not worthy of worship.

That seemed to be the conclusion at the end of Mothwing's... i forgor the name of her novella 💀Mothflight's Blaspheme Boogie. It's actually why it's one of my favorite novellas, I really like the way it closes out with Mudfur trying to sales pitch StarClan's goodness to her, she doesn't buy a fucking penny of it, and ultimately concludes that the comfort it provides to her Clanmates is valuable to them but doesn't have to be for her.

So that's how I want to handle them. They have an outsider perspective to the fact that this is a theocracy, based on gods that can be vindictive and vengeful. Scourge/Iceheart is also joining these two, he actually is going to have a minor but important role in Squirrelflight's Horror as a ghost basically giving insight to what happens when you don't worship StarClan when you die.

With him and Mothwing I really know what I'm doing. Mothwing is insight to Leafpool, especially in TNP where she is now a POV, and observing how the though of StarClan influences the behavior of the cats around her. Scourge is killed in the Great Battle and serves as a ghost to witness their trial. Cloudtail...

Cloud's still evolving. He's going to be a supporting character with Ferncloud in her SE and exploring the feelings he has towards Ashfur, now his apprentice, becoming a villain. How he did his job perfectly, raised him with a deep respect towards the warrior code, and that lead to the person he is today. How he couldn't have done things "better" because this DID raise him the way his society expected him to.

But his dystheism is kind of secondary to that. I think the story I've got for him is fine so far, but it needs more of an 'ending' that I can't decide on until they finally kill him in the main books.

[amberberrystar]

man, one of my favorite things about nightheart as a character is that, as an apprentice, he went to a gathering where the adults were discussing the leader thing and he just pipes up from the kids table and says "hey, how about we try democracy" and everyone gets mad at him

like,,, it's so fuckin funny

[stickstone]

there is something so comedically perfect about chapter 22 of star providing a beautiful, poignant ending for frostpaw, one that the book absolutely could have (and should have) concluded on… and then you flip the page and the last chapter of the book is a fucking nightheart chapter where he looks at the camera and says “yep this arc was about me and the name thing all along. i’m not orange and this is the note we’re ending the book on. And Sunbeam Is Pregnant.”

i had almost forgotten about how much i hated him. we were so close to a final book where nightheart remains in the background where he belongs. and then the final chapter of the entire fucking arc comes in with a steel chair of nightheart

i cant even be mad. it’s so absurd. this is the perfect summation of what reading warrior cats is like. nightheart’s been a social experiment this entire time, goodnight

[eelclaw]

okay new arc... my thoughts.

leafstar:

leafstar was one of my favorite characters as a kid, but not because of anything she actually did. i liked her graphic novels, but only mostly because i was delighted by sol being a pathetic girlfailure.

also my copy of skyclan's destiny was misprinted and had pages out of order, and i loved having a fucked up book.

i liked her in firestar's quest, but... she's done nothing in every book since.

sharpclaw pushes her around in skyclan's destiny, then tells her he was just challenging her to make her a more confident leader. nothing comes out of this.

she's worried about female leaders not being allowed to have kits and about inviting daylight warriors into the clan, and it would've been great to just skip these plotlines entirely. skyclan had a chance to be a different kind of clan, a breath of fresh air from the shit we normally read about, and they didn't take it.

in ravenpaw's farewell she decides that skyclan hates outsiders. then ravenpaw proves her wrong by helping chase out some rogues that skyclan somehow couldn't chase out on their own, so she changes her mind, but only enough to take in bella and riley.

the general back-and-forth and nothing getting done in avos, tbc, and asc just annoys me.

her going blind is actually pretty interesting, but it needs to be handled well, and it's not going to be.

she's pretty old at this point, so i hope she dies, but the kid in me still hopes she gets an awesome death.

tawnypelt:

the way she's treated in avos and in her novella is incredibly uninteresting.

her clanmates don't take her seriously because of how closely she was associated with rowanstar. that's cool! that's interesting! but how long has it been since avos? she's far and away proved herself to be a valuable member of shadowclan.

the "kids these days" plotline is so fucking frustrating, i don't want it to come back.

i thought her novella had a nice conclusion. she accepted that her lost loved ones were lost, and that she could not go back to the way things were, but she could keep moving forward, and she would see her family in starclan some day. from the blurb, this conclusion is going to be completely trampled.

i'm also sick of tigerheartstar changing every book, just to drive whatever the current mess of a plot is.

moonpaw:

not many thoughts. betting her parents are nightheart and sunbeam.

hoping she's distinct from frostpaw and shadowsight. i can't take a third one.

it would be interesting if nightheart dies before she's born, paralleling larksong dying before nightheart was born. then nightheart might realize a bit of what his parents were going through.

overall. not hopeful. i'm super tired of the formula they've been using for the past few arcs. i don't care about "the end of the cats' connection to starclan". just because these books are about religious cats doesn't mean we can't have deep, meaningful, character-driven plots. why can't we get one of those.

[justapigeonn]

/// THUNDER EXCERPT THOUGHTS AND SPOILERS

aww man frostpaw and whistlepaw's friendship is so fucking cute i love how she still trusts her despite losing all trust in EVERYONE. i wish we got to see the two of them more often

also the fact that frostpaw would rather ppl assume she were dead rather than alive for her mere safety is just so fucking sad i wanna hold her :(

man they really couldn't have just committed to giving squilf the prologue showing her journey to the moonpool and her leader's ceremony (?) but instead decided to give nightheart pointless special protagonist treatment in having him accompany them to the moonpool for whatever reason

ivypool got chosen as deputy - not really stoked or surprised cause i'm not a huge fan of her but everybody saw it coming a mile off so yeah. i have no idea if she's finally decided to stop giving dovewing grief for having more agency than her and leaving stinkerclan and whether or not squilf's potential decision to go to war with shadowclan will play a role in some sort of conflict between the sisters again but eh we'll see

very nice to see sunbeam, finchlight and sparkpelt all getting along but i hate hate HATE how her whole sense of belonging revolves around nightheart like. girlie what happened to your agency. the whole 'insecure because male love interest is no longer interested' was your book 1 conflict get a grip you are more than what he deserves go back to your one true love lightleap

[mspaintisevil]

Regressing (warrior cats)

(also spoilers for asc wind)

But anyway I hate nightsun it’s boring and more cringe then rootbristle. Sunbeam is just so “girl so boy has a love interest”. From the start where the most annoying guy she had one convo with is like “we are boyfriendgirlfriend now” and she didn’t get to have any input on that? And then the Erin’s barely make her hang out with nightheart except for when they are talking about his stupid challenges and because she feels like she has to because he put her on the spot. Then he up an leaves the clan he was joining for her (again girl he just met), and then she’s suddenly so over the moon about him that she Has To Go After Him. AND THEN as she’s completing her tasks to join his clan (again she still isn’t sure about how she feels about him) HE LEAVES (not his fault on a quest from God but still). And then when he comes back they are madly in love and talking about babies???? I wanna know what med cat herbs Sunbeam is on and what dose I need to take for the same effect.

Atleast with RootBristle Rootspring and Bristlefrost were only just thinking about it atleast bristlefrosts random no buildup feelings for Rootspring was before they even talked about dating instead of Rootspring being “I like you, you are my girlfriend now”

I know these are kids books and I shouldn’t expect much out of romance plots but I really don’t like the message of “If a guy likes you and says you are dating you are just supposed to go a long with it” ESPECIALLY since girls/young afab ppl are the most likely to read these books

Aside from the most obvious flaw of Erin’s Are Incompatible With Writing Romance I really fucking like the current series especially wind, like this is the most excited I’ve felt about a warrior cats book in a hot minute

[the-owl-tree]

There’s so many toms that I hate because they were shoved into the plot to steal a she-cats story for themselves… it’s SO OBVIOUS when the Erins do this. The she-cats deserve to have just as much of an arc and character depth as the toms do, yet the writing team consistently devolves it’s female cast into accessories for their male counterparts.

Examples:

- Alderheart (blatantly having been written to strip sparkpelt of an arc that so clearly should’ve been her own - ie “the spark that remains” - sparkpelt is then twisted into a xenophobic jerk at the drop of a hat to make alderheart look better than her, when previously she was VERY MUCH in support of SkyClan’s return. What the fuck, Erins??? Sandstorm is also iced for this loser’s manpain.

- Nightheart (basically every she-cat has their personality altered to fit his victim complex, and we all KNOW that Finchlight would’ve been more interesting and deserving of a pov than him. If they kill off spark, finch, or sun to further his angst, I will be so pissed off…

- Tree (violetshine’s character growth, struggles, and arc completely disintegrates with his introduction. in tbc, she’s reduced to your typical background protag mother… while tree remains a major character, and is not only hugely valued by the plot, but also by its characters. violetshine deserved so much better than to be shoved to the sidelines by this random-ass character who was *totally not introduced just to make her into a a generic wife and mother*. that’s not even getting into how stupid the Sisters fiasco is, where ‘waaah tree was oppressed by all the women in his life and kicked out, isn’t he just so tragic and sad???’… good god. that was bizarre

- brambleclaw: probably one of the worst offenders of this, right alongside alderheart. Tawnypelt should’ve gotten his pov, considering her personality in TNP… it seems liked they flipped their stories around just because she’s a she-cat, and they just *had* to make the main protagonist of the arc a tom. very disapointing

- rootspring: bristlefrost’s character arc was absolutley DERAILED by this character, and it’s such a shame. even her most iconic scene, her sacrifice, was primarily focused upon rootspring and his pissbaby manpain. also… needleclaw, anyone? she’s the one who should have the sisters’ abilities, after all, but instead she has none… how does she feel about that? I think exploring that would be much more interesting than ‘whiny loser is upset and feels weird that he can see ghosts in a society that values the ability to see ghosts, gets a girl by being weirdly pushy and not taking ‘no’ for an answer, and goes through extreme manpain after she’s iced to further his development’.

- crowfeather: I don’t have any qualms with early crowPAW, but what I DO have an issue with is just how much feathertail’s death is twisted to revolve around *him*, when, in reality, it should’ve focused on Feathertail herself, as well as her brother. FeatherCrow was just awful in general though… especially considering that her name is only invoked later on as an excuse for crowfeather to be an abuser, implying that he’s justified in hurting his wife and son, as well as leafpool and her kits, ‘because manpain’.

real & true, it sucks seeing how many mollies in the series will have really interesting stories and potential conflicts then have the writing team choose whatever supports the main dude around them. more i think about tree the more annoyed i am that it wasn't violet, the big prophecy kitten who had survived the kin and would have more reason to want to keep the clans from tearing each other's throats out. the mediator role is a dumb one (i say with my mediator oc) but it would have been nice if it was actually a character who we followed who got the position instead of "my mommy is mean to me :(" rando dude who just shows up.

[blimbo-buddy]

i like seeing "least favorite" lists from that one warrior cats picker because every single time that NightHeart is on there, this is the icon that's used. Like I'm sure that the wc picker hasn't updated/added the proper asc!NightHeart but it's super fucking funny seeing this girl on everyone's hated characters list

It all just looks like we collectively started hating on this random female background rogue from dotc

[director-yomi-hellsmile]

reading the...... Preview....... My notes....... Heheheheh

We got a timeskip. By a little.. I see Bristleclaw (aka formerly Bristlepaw) as a warrior let's see about the siblings + if the wretched nightsun spawn are born. Also if Graypaw's not named Grayspots I'm slamming my keyboard (I'm on the phone)

Wafflepelt. I forgot Wafflepaw was a thing sdjjjgds imagine getting ur cat to win a contest to star in canon warrior cat and its got the -pelt suffix. Cheated and spat on

Stemtail and Graywhisker.... I guess Graywhisker's fineeeeee but come on he has spots. He's got spots.......

Nightsun babies are here. Named Goldenkit (golden tabby tom) and Shinekit (black molly). Hi kids I'm so sorry your dad is literally Nightheart

Oh wait Myrtlebloom also got a litter?????? Is this where Shyfrost's gonna come from.. Kits are Oakkit (pale brown tabby molly with white spots), Sunkit (orange tabby tom, is it after Sunbeam??) and Hazelkit (tortie molly with white spots). No Shyfrost in sight. Keep on looking

ThunderClan baby boom

This will affect the family tree.

Anyway checking out all the other adult names of the ASC kits lol. ShadowClan first

Oh they got: Birchfeather (Dovewing and Tigerstar kit which means I automatically like him), Bloompetal, Firbark, Whisperbreeze, Streamripple. I actually like those?? Firbark and Streamripple especially. Good job Tigerstar let me kiss you directly on thr lips

Who the hell are Redpaw and Sprucepaw huh... New spawn.... Also oh no I see Lightleap gave birth god forbid a single even a little prominent female character not get pregnant. The Curse has finally affected my girl. It was inevitable. I should have prepared

Lightleap spawn is Quickkit (ginger tabby tom), Beehckit (pale brown tom, haha typo the writers made a typo everyone point and laugh), and Poolkit (white molly). The cat genetics nerd inside me in crying and writhing in pain rn

SkyClan section. Fuck you Tree I hate Tree stupid stupid cat

Beetleshine for Beetlepaw... Good name good name but I already named an OC that earlier so I am not impressed. I was first. Beepaw is uhhh where thebhell is Beepaw. Oh they're Beesting. Actual good names I am satisfied with your work. Moving on

Duskshine and Ridgeglow also good however come on you already used -shine in the same generation come onnnn.......

Ok Who's pregnant. Was anyone pregnant

Needleclaw was.... Her kids are Robinkit (reddish-brown molly) and Starlingkit (black and white tom) Woohoo Starling prefix win. Also by any chance is the father Kitescratch. Just wondering

FINALLY. Sparrow and Cherry retired

WindClan timeeeee

Leafcurl yay. Nice girl nice name 9/10. Her less cooler siblings got Grassfur and Branchleap. Clearly there's a superior sister

Silkypaw and Fluffpaw??? Huhhhhh?? Who are they..... Also thanks for getting creative for once your efforts have been recognized by the great Yomi

Kicking my feet going hehehe at warrior cat website book preview. This is where I was supposed to be all this time. I found my calling

Stripeheart and Brookripple are also here. I revoke my praise of the authors getting creative come onnnnn you literally JUST named Streamripple I. I'm gonna make them kiss. Bond over being literal clones

Guys this is big. This is huge. Breezepelt is a grandpa now. I am going to shed tears

Appleshine's kits (Breeze grandkids) are: Rustlekit (white tom with a brown tail) and Stretchkit (brown tabby molly with white face markings). Giving the authors their creativity praise back. Do not dissapoint me again

WAIT NIGHTCLOUD RETIRED. o7

Still not over with how Owlnose is a deputy now for some reason. Didn't his entire small character arc a few books back center wholly around with how he should not be a leader. They literally only picked him because they killed off literally every other RiverClan character with a personality and he was the only fuckijg option because he's the only cat who got actually developed even if it makes no sense I. I'm. I hope he spontaneously combusts

Also I will prevent myself from going off on Podlight getting off scot free for his atrocities while. I will prevent myself I do not deserve this headache

Anywayyyy Splash siblings are adults now named Troutshine (WHAT'S WITH THE SHINES), Rapidsplash and Floatshimmer (who's also with kits now? you sure you aint too young..)

wait a moment. I just realized something about the timeline. Wait was Sunbeam already- yeah she was pregnant in like. Wait hold on does this make sense. If it doesn't then the timeline is broken if it does I'm just rightfully worried,

Anyway guess Hollowspring and Sparrowtail joined RiverClan? I thiiiiink it was mentioned in Star. Or not.

Amyway Floatshimmer kids are Heronkit (silver molly) and Eelkit (black tom)

Phew... That's the allegiances section. Holy fuck. That's a lot of cats. Kitten season

On to the actual chapters now lmao

Prologue:

Oh hii Leafpool is that Skystar GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM HERRRR LEAVE HER ALONEEEEEEE DO NOT TALK TO HER. HE SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED AROUND WOMEN THIS IS FUCKING TERRIFYING GET AWAYYYYYYY

"The Clans were unstable in my time, and if you ask me, they’re just as bad now.” Skystar. Skystar back in your times the Clans weren't unstable they were a tragic disaster that brutally murdered every single woman that came in contact with it. Also shut up get this man away from Leafpool

Why is Skystar here even. Get him out

Also. The writing here is so goofy can we get to Moonpaw already

Oh wait another journey?? Actually this is fine I hate the Lake territories. Change location NOW

Chapter 1

Why's Tawnypelt such a hater. What did Bloompetal do to you she's literally just frolicking she's just a girl

Why is she. Genuinely So mean to everyone.

Which don't get me wrong is not inherently Bad if this was any other media I love mean mean women however this is warriors. I don't remember the last time a wc character was genuinely just kind and nice to people, every single cat is just written interacting in such a mean-spirited way and them just being casually cruel to each other is supposed to be charming somehow, like everyone's an asshole already we don't need more. And also Tawnypelt is a Female Warriors Character™ which means that if this keeps up she'll definitely get disproportionately "punished" for it in some way later and. I'm just praying that Moonpaw is a ray of goddamn sunshine when we get to her please I can't do this anymore

Is. Is the entire chapter gonna be her being unreasonable and snapping at everyone younger. Is. Is

I actually genuinely do not understand her problem. Like I get she's sad I get it but. Was she deliberately written as making problems out of nowhere, or did the writers shart once again.

(don't mind me I'm just paranoid... I've been hurt by warrior cats before...)

Hehe Poolkit- oh wait that was it. That was the chapter. I mean its fine actually

Chapter 2:

Leafstar time. I don't like her but I will now mindwipe all my opinions I've had on her character to have somewhat of a good time now. Maybe she gets better!!

Praying they are gonna be normal about Leafstar's vision loss. Please warrior cats

I was correct lmao Kitescratch was the father

Mystery Sickness

Mystery Sickness epidemic plot!!! I got no idea what the hell these symptoms are supposed to be but. Ok❤️yay

There is people being loud at my house

Can be Mystery Sickness pleaseeeeeeeee spread to ThunderClan too. Can we have ThunderClan population culling this arc pleaseeeee

Anyway get out my way grandma it's MOONPAW TIME

Chapter 3

Baby.

Oh god another medcat apprentice that doesn't want to be a medcat. Can we stop.

Also idk about how they just took a look at Moonpaw (who's also a child) looking different (aka. having chimerism) and went "we're now gonna force you into a lifetime of celibacy" it's just. So weird to me I hope Moonpaw kills everyone especially her parents

Moonkit. Moonkit I'm speaking directly to you now you have to start killing

Oh fuck she's got that voice inside her head. Please writers I am praying for you to be normal. If this is her vengeful dead fetus sibling she absorbed in the womb that people have been theorizing I am also going to kill everyone. If this is also an Evil Plural plot I will get your spirits too

Oh no. Oh fuck. Chat I think it's. Oh no. Chat I think they're. Doing just that.

Oh fuck. Oh no. *sighs painfully* *cocks gun*

Thanks Jayfeather and everyone else in that den for being normal about Moonpaw and clearing up the fact that it's just her parents that are being Really Weird

I like. Moonpaw. I'm also taking her and her voice away from the warrior cat writers she is mine now get away from her

Yep that finally confirms it she's being deliberately written as plural

Unnamed Moonpaw Voice you're so silly. If you're evil later for some reason I will take your side

Unnamed Moonpaw Voice got a reflection-

Oh fucj is that. They're really. Is that really the spirit of her dead fetus sibling she absorbed in womb oh god oh fuck

VERDICT: I am officially taking Moonpaw away from the writers that's it. She is mine now get away from her what are you doing why am I actually somewhat affected by this

[fictionkinfessions]

Frostdawn, I'm so, so proud of you. Thank you for choosing to stay with us. No matter what anyone says, you are the bravest cat I know. No one else could've fucked up Splashtail like that so if you ever doubt yourself, remember that you saved your clan.

Sunbeam, thank you for putting up with me. I know I was annoying and self-absorbed, but it was your kindness and strength that allowed me to become who I am today. Your smile was brighter than the sun. I hope I was a good friend to you, too.

Finchlight, I miss you. My sister and best friend. I always hated how you were a little taller than me. If we ever meet again, I hope that I'm taller now.

Sparkpelt- mom, I forgive you. It felt like you weren't seeing me but just the ghosts of cats long gone. But even then, you always wanted the best for me. I'm sorry for being such a brat. Your love is something that I crave each and every day. I hope you're proud of me now, wherever you are.

-Nightheart, warriors. (off anon for the first time! wow)

w

[bonefall]

Thoughts on Wasp? I like the idea of cats joining that turn out that the Clans aren’t great… but also it feels… weird? Like it seems like another “lazy cat bad” on some levels. I don’t mind him not joining the Clans but these “outsider learns they’re not fit for the Clans” things always give me a pause from the Erins. Also interested in how you would handle him!

Moonkitti's video on him is really well worded, if you haven't seen it yet. I do think he's different from the way that other books tend to portray outsiders in that they are saying that he was driven away by the xenophobia of the Clans... but.

They still make him extremely disinterested in Clan life while he's in ThunderClan. I think that was a massive blunder to write, if the thing they're trying to say is "XENOPHOBIA PREVENTS OTHERWISE ENTHUSIASTIC MIGRATION"

It would have hit harder if it was Wafflepaw who tried to run to RiverClan, got assaulted, and then didn't want to be a Clan cat anymore.

Wafflepaw WANTS to be a warrior. Wasp did not. It reads more like Wasp getting hate crime'd was a "last straw" more than THE reason why he won't stay.

That's where you're getting that vibe they're saying "lazy cat bad," imo. It's a bit different from usual, but it still seems like the narrative is saying that Wasp really didn't belong here anyway.

(no, Nightheart's moment where he looks at the camera and says "he could have been fine!" doesn't change that they showed, in their text, with the actions they wrote, that Wasp was not enjoying being part of the Clans anyway. If that was their intended thesis, their writing was sloppy.)

It feels especially weird that Bee didn't go with Frostpaw. Bee was the character with a lot more setup and that strange dream. A lot of people were confusing Bee and Wasp when the book first came out and I don't blame them.

Most importantly, you can't talk about Wasp without also mentioning one of THE worst lines I think has ever been written into a Warrior Cats book. The part where tigerHeartstar says, "Those cats who just committed a hate crime were perfectly good people before the evil dictator took over. If we kill the evil dictator, I'm sure they'll CHANGE BACK"

I'm still REELING. Fuck you MEAAAN "CHANGE BACK????" CHANGE BACK? LIKE BEING A BIGOT IS UNCOMFORTABLE SHOES???

CHANGE BACK... me bringing my evil dollars up to the villain store and exchanging it for racism coins... change back...

So when I get around to it, I'm going to evaluate if Wasp is even actually necessary in the form he's in. BB is already about xenophobia and bigotry and the harm it does. Frostpaw has no shortage of examples to witness what Thistle Law is, and what it does to those excluded from Clan Culture.

When I first made my Family Tree for RiverClan, I actually ended up making Splashstar's MOM, Havenpelt, an ex-rogue. I think seeing him order a hate crime against his own mother would be a LOT more impactful here, actually.

What Frostpaw DOES need is allies and friends. I'm already starting by expanding her little "DND Party," a word I'm using to affectionately refer to some cats who will be following her home from her pilgrimage to the Park. 99% chance that Nightheart is going to become a permanent member of this party, joining RiverClan at the end of ASC. Waffle will be another. She'll probably also pick up a Tribe cat.

Wasp will be on this party, but I won't decide what happens to them until I see what that last book has in store. Who knows, he might come back (though I hope not, run as far away from these ghouls as possible Wasp!!)

[luxrayz64]

star thoughts after reading btw

i think something can be defined as good by virtue of quality (ie being well written) but still be really fucking awful. warrior cats is that to me

obviously they fumbled the end of this arc bad. splashtail is ultimately poorly characterised, flies completely off the handle into a complete fucking caricature.

like, we do know why; curlfeather was fucking with him Bad through the whole book. we see in the prologue that this is why he killed harelight. but cmon dude, the immediate jump to threatening kits? feels like there should've been more of an arc to get to this point.

also evil atheist as per usual. people who reject god for whatever reason will murder your children

the way riverclan immediately folds too... I stand by my bitching abt tigerbabygirlstars attempted annexing of riverclan. but holy fuck the way they were written to just fall apart is insane. he had maybe three hardcore supporters? it felt like a lot of riverclan became suddenly insanely crueller than they were - am i meant to believe gorseclaw was living in fear, when he was blocking the shadowclan patrol on the island and jeering at them?

like this happened overnight too. this was insane

anyway

i do love nighthearts growth through this arc. I love how intensely he is Best Friends with frostpaw throughout. her number 1 cheerleader. I do still kind of wish he and sunbeam had broken up but not as bad as i wish moonpaw of next arc was their kid instead

the conclusion of sunbeam and berryhearts arc..... I don't know really

berryheart is, i think, a very real villain, in that she is a horror story that has happened to a lot of people

she's been radicalised into a hateful husk of herself. the people around her are either encouraging this in her or dont know how to help her. she was, more than anything, probably just scared. she wasn't like this before.

it's the kind of thing that happens all the time in real life, watching your mother or another beloved family member get radicalised and not knowing how to reach them as they become hateful, knowing that this is not the person they used to be

i do kind of like that they treated berryheart with so much kindness. with her family choosing to remember the person she was, rather than the person she died as. sunbeams reckoning with just how far gone she was and struggling to remember the kind mother she'd known vs the cruel cat she knows.

she still went to hell. she cannot make up for what she's done. but she did still love sunbeam. the love was there. even if it was dulled and twisted and hard to see or feel. whether or not that matters is different person to person. and it was important to sunbeam

god i wish curlfeather got that much though

i do actually like that curlfeather was too stubborn to apologise. that she feels frostdawn should have been grateful. I love that characterisation for her. I love that frostdawn doesn't forgive her. I think that sunbeam and berryheart are a great mirror to frostdawn and curlfeather, being two radicalised mothers who hurt their children to fix a perceived wrong, fucked it all up bad and then died to save their children but never apologised for it.

the love was there. sometimes that doesn't matter. it didn't to frostdawn.

god i still want to know more about her so badddd. I wouldn't mind seeing her return somehow like how tigerstar haunted the series up til oots

as for frostdawn herself, holy shit i cheered when she got to take down splashtail. i fucking love that she had to choose to come back to riverclan. that being part of this clan is hard and difficult and that they ask too much of her and always have.

even after everything, she still just wanted her mum. cries.

getting to see jayclaw too!! oh i want to know his thoughts so bad. he just wants things to be easy for her. I love that both her parents are a little bit selfish in their own ways. wanting to be with his daughter instead of encouraging her to live......

was also just very happy with how fucking climactic this book was, with a full on war finally FINALLY breaking out. this arc has been ridiculous promising war and then not fucking following through.

idk im tired of typing i probably have more to say. I think i liked this arc overall even though it stretched a little thin and fumbled in quite a few ways. it was good for wc standards though. was never 'bristlefrost stands next to the moonpool for several chapters hoping her boyfriend who she fell in love with off screen' bad.

[dahliadove]

stuff i was thinking about while reading shadow;

(obvious spoilers)

cloverfoot does NOT deserve this shit. she can't even sleep in the warrior den because she doesn't feel safe with the riverclan warriors (for good reason!), and sunbeam's like "oh that sucks that they're blaming you for rearranging the fuckign shells and feathers on the wall in mistystar's den" like sunbeam? let's maybe focus on cloverfoot's safety?

why did sunbeam keep saying "are you fr"

fuck nightheart... made sunbeam care about him then left. and she goes running after him to thunderclan... she's been through so much recently

did sunbeam dream that silver cat that was mates with nightheart or was that like.. a vision? am i grasping at straws here for nightsun to not be endgame?

splashtail's manipulation is SO GOOD but i can't help but hate him for it

weird how tree is just? not present? same with birchkit.

pissed that dovewing went to visit ivypool and we got no content of that... ivypool just lost bristlefrost, dovewing just lost rowankit. a consolation scene would've been cool to see.

owlnose being temporary leader then fucking off is hella strange. he only made like 2 appearances this book and they were minor. what's going on with him

absolutely hyped for squirrelstar. we've genuinely been waiting so long and i thought bramblestar would be leader forever... him retiring and having squirrelstar is a dream come true i never thought the day would come. i hate the wc forums for being pissed at her for literally 0 reason other than "she appears often" yes she's a former protagonist! that's going to happen! hope this helps 💕💕

my eyes twitched at bumblestripe going "oh...😒 nightheart 😒" then "oh! 😁 dovewing! 😁". not that i like nightheart its just dumb to me that he's hostile to everyone BUT dovewing. get over her creep

the undoing of the demonization that sparkpelt and finchlight went through is heavenly to read thank you cherith baldry

kind of agree with berryheart's group trying to get tigertwo out of riverclan camp... i agree with tigertwo trying to help, not with the endangerment he's putting his clan in. rowankit just died do you seriously want more death

also congrats to havenpelt and sneezecloud love yall

[mineashthetrash]

I know what the new WC books remind me of now- its fucking Bravelands, the tone and mood is fucking Bravelands

I read bravelands when the first few books were out because i was bored and thought it looked interesting, but the feelings and 'vibes' were WAY OFF! The general mood is defeatism and tragedy, a suffocating, cloying feeling of nothingness and sadness. Very few happy things happen, and its not even imaginitive in its tragedy

like. Spoilers for like the first 3 books. The twist villan sucked ass. Nothing interesting happens with him, and 90% of the book is 'character who knows character b is evil' thinking about how evil character b is and how much character b sucks.

That's what the Frostpaw scene in Wind's preview reminded me of. The 'oh my fucking god not again, this guys clearly fucking evil, why is everyone either an idiot or a jerk'! THATS why i dont really want to read Wind, because ive read a whole book of nothing but that before and i hated it

Idiocy in warriors is nothing new, but it doesnt feel like anything else, either. Its hard for me to articulate exactly what i mean, but. P03, Avos, even OOTS had characters to like, scenes of banter or playfullness that broke up the seriousness, characters who liked each other. Meanwhile in ASC i dont blame Nightheart for wanting to leave, because his clan feels like a bitter, angry piece of cardboard. In po3 jayfeather was liked. Not everyone liked him, but people shared their prey with him, people tried too hard to keep him safe, his clan sucked towards him at first, but people eventually grew to appreciate and respect him.

But it genuinely feels like nobody likes our main characters. They dont have friends, people dont share prey with them, people dont even say 'hello, how are you'. it feels like everyones either being an idiot for the plot, being an asshole for the plot, or just generally being unpleasent. its one of the reasons i hate Lionblaze's rettconned personality so much. We need gentle giants, kind cats who can be a bit gruff or arrogant, cats who deep down are nice and playful, not another fucking POS who would rather kill you than look at you.

At least bravelands embraced this, and had a 'its nature, whatre you gonna do' kind of vibe. Everyone knew shit sucked, and they tried to make the best of it. god this is super incoherent. Sorry

[saffronscales]

anon from earlier, ngl you responded alot more nicely and maturely than i expected, im glad we could come to a nice conclusion here :3 im so used to warrior cats fans going crazy murder mode the moment you disagree w their takes so im sorry if i came off as a little nosy or pushy

i agree nightheart can be annoying as hell at times i just think she is a weird little character and like so pathetic failgirl and i like that abt her.......i dont condone her treatment of sparkpelt or anything tho. i just think shes a unique take on a protagonist esp since the last few wc protags have mostly been "traumatized little baby who sacrifices way too much and is hated by everyone for no reason" and its a nice change to see a character that has problems but way. lesser ones ig and yet they're still pissy abt it

also im a little desperate for cats that can be interpreted as transfem and ARENT fucking weird (thinking abt people who see tigerclawstar as a transgirl and shivering rn). sorry for rambling in your inbox btw

thank you! I’m just glad you were patient with me :3 anyways yea, ok!!! as long as you are like viewing nightheart’s actions with a critical view then I can say just do whatever,,,, nighthearts only just an angsty cat in a book anyways that’s not worth like. harassing people over if that makes sense

[wc-confessions]

It kinda boggles my mind how everyone in the fandom calls the writing misogynistic while the writers are all women-- like I get it, plenty of women are misogynistic, but my mind is still absolutely fucking boggled by how widely accepted it is in the fandom. It is like you say Erin Hunter and in the very next breath the word misogynist is there.

There are so many shitty rude stupid ass male characters (in the newest book!!! Sky!!!) and frankly the only female characters that looked overtly bad were Nightheart's two family members (who are just.... generic cats? I get they had some personality in other books but they're ultimately background characters; at least they're providing a conflict??? Which is needed??? In a story?????) and then of course Uhhh-- Berryheart yeah, Sunbeam's radicalized mother. Who gives me the vibes of a sort of female right wing extremist, of whom there are plenty and can deserve to be mocked a bit.

Squilf was actually shown to be super competent in stepping up in the wake of Bramblestar's depressive episode, who was made into a joke (yay!), and I think her butting heads with Nightheart was entertaining. She acknowledges his youth and is hard on him about it, but it's reasonable too-- of course he's given apprentice tasks, there are no apprentices. How is it fair for others warriors to get extra bedding duty? And of course he shouldn't have gone into ShadowClan territory-- he got lucky that it was Lightleap's boyfriend!! The books make you sympathize with Nightheart as his POV, but I never found Squilf to be disrespected or unreasonable, just hated by him. Maybe I am just a weirdo though! I drink respecting Squilf juice.

I would like less romance plots though. The lack of gay representation in the series is getting so damn distracting! I am too much of a lesbian to understand Frostpaw wanting to stop being a medicine cat and settle down with Splashtail who I barely even fucking know in the span of a few minutes-- Sunbeam rejecting Nightheart would've been interesting, but she's also falling for him, it seems. If Frostpaw really does quit to get with Splashtail I am going to be so disoriented, I CANNOT be reading three het POVs again. I am not strong enough. (I do think Frostpaw finding her resolve to quit after Owlnose did was interesting, though. I cannot blame her for quitting considering the stress she's under. But for the love of god PLEASE STAY)

Anyway in the end I kind of pity the writers who are forced to make up new stories and keep things fresh. Like how do they do anything without it being somehow wrong-- like oops, we wanted to pair these two characters, but it turns out they share a great grandma! At this point we need to kill everyone and start over unless fans of background character #12 get upset that they're ooc because of this one specific line they had in a novella I didn't read. And let's not forget killing a disabled cat being bad despite characters constantly getting culled for no reason. (I would REALLY like some fresh disabled blood though-- like, can we get some more cats losing eyesight and legs here??? It would make the incredibly generic background characters SO much more interesting, God. Like who the fuck is Sneezecloud?? I would respect Sneezecloud more if he was chronically ill but he is just a generic cat named Sneezecloud, OK.)

Anyway this is so badly written I don't even have a point here but this is called warriors confessions and dammit I am going to confess.