#cat contemplations

[sunnymoon-sunshine]

To continue on that question if I may: How exactly does Tigerclaw uhm "hides his tracks" in this I mean, it would be suspicious that he and Spottedleaf would be missing I assume but I think that he would have an excuse/alibi that makes him not the suspect of Spottedleafs murder, alas so I believe. So what is Tigerclaw going to say to the others when it's discovered that Spottedleaf was murdered?

Spottedleaf’s suspicion leads into the tipping point where Tigerclaw leads his small army of cats amassed from the twolegplace (be it rogues or former ShadowClan cats) into ThunderClan.

My idea of events would be something like:

Fireheart tells Spottedleaf of his worries about Tigerclaw, laying it all out for her to hear and judge. She takes this information, processes it, and becomes suspicious of Tigerclaw. Because of her high rank and very good standing in the clan, any claims she makes against him will be taken very seriously.

So he puts the plan he’s been forming together. A little early, very roughly, maybe he was supposed to have BloodClan backing and they backed out due to such short notice - either way, he has a good chunk of loners and former clan cats who have been promised land and good standing if they help dispose of the current problem cats - namely Bluestar and Fireheart.

But he takes care of Spottedleaf personally, drawing her out near the twolegplace and killing her. Maybe he was afraid that StarClan would show her a sign that proved him guilty? Either way, he knew it was impossible to trick Fireheart out of the camp, and Bluestar proved very difficult to kill.

But poor, poor Spottedleaf.

It’s very unfortunate for Tigerclaw that not all kittypets are nameless faces, assuming that kittypets are stupid and too lazy or fearful - he never would have guessed that Princess, Fireheart’s sister, would see the murder and his betrayal, and run to tell ThunderClan.

It’s a very rough idea of what might happen, but essentially, Tigerclaw didn’t plan on having to justify her death to anyone, hoping that it could be brushed off in the chaos of what happened after the rogues attacked. All of this would take place where normally, in Forest of Secrets, Fireheart and Cloudpaw were going to see Princess, and instead find Tigerclaw running with a group of cats into the forest.

I hope that makes sense! It’s very hard to tell if things make sense at 3am, but I wanted to take a crack at putting down my thought process for this.

Thank you again for the ask! It’s very fun to ponder the ideas and scenarios I might do if I had the pen

[sunnymoon-sunshine]

Indeed! I was trying to think back to how Yellowfang acted during Into the Wild, where she was genuinely devastated that he died (especially by Brokenstar’s paws), but my own flair led to an interpretation that they just, drifted apart. Still friends, Raggedstar still admired by Yellowfang, but more friends than anything. It at least makes their leader and medicine cat positions a lot easier to handle, with them being past loves.

I initially was going to write in how Raggedstar completely ignored Yellowfang after that, but I didn’t feel that was right. They just kind of went their separate paths.

Though that could change. Who knows, I might look at this later and go >:{ past me what is this

Additionally, I feel like Raggedstar should have already been leader when they hooked up, but OH WELL, IT HAS BEEN WRITTEN.

[sunnymoon-sunshine]

I used to hate Spottedleaf.

I threw the title of Mary Sue onto her, despised how she showed up in every book, and I was finally glad to be rid of her come The Last Hope, when she finally faded for good.

Now that I’m older with some writing experience under my belt, I feel as if Spottedleaf were robbed. To blame the authors seems like a waste of breath - the original series was kind of slapped together, and almost has a certain charm to it because of it, in my opinion.

But I do long for the lost connection Spottedleaf and Fireheart could have had. In the books, she fit the easy role of “long lost love and tragedy in a very sudden move with no buildup, and while she was quickly and rather bizarrely shoved into that role, she was never allowed to leave. Through all the books, she fit the roles of Firestar’s lost love, exposition and convenient shove in the right direction, and from what I remember of PoT, a mentor to Jayfeather.

But I wish she had gotten a chance to be her own cat. We saw it briefly in the first book, that charm she had, that unwillingness to back down. Stronger in spirit in that book alone than in any following. And she really didn’t deserve that. She was dragged through every book without given the chance to be anything other than the what could have been.

So with that in mind, I love Spottedleaf. I love what she could have been, and what she still could be. I hate how her character was handled, but I love her for who she is - a talented medicine cat who doesn’t hesitate to tell Tigerclaw to get out of her den.

[sunnymoon-sunshine]

I feel like OotS would have been really interesting if it followed a wild and out of control Breezepelt antagonist, who is slowly setting up the destruction of ThunderClan or something and is going to bring down all the clans with him. They did so much to build him up to be an antagonistic figure, and I would have loved to see his built-up fury at his half siblings mean something.

Then again, I hear he’s been done better in Crowfeather’s SE. But it still feels like they’re trying to clean up a mess after deciding he would only ever be a tool of the cats from hell, and never an antagonist of his own.

anything would have been better than massive catfight from hell on earth in the Last Hope

[sunnymoon-sunshine]

Additionally, while thinking about The Last Hope, I was so used to the idea of Snowfur and Thistleclaw facing off that I. Forgot it didn’t actually happen.

What I’m saying is I would have loved to see Snowfur confront Thistleclaw. If he was such a big bad, would’ve been awesome to see him confronted by the cat he loved the most.

I wonder if he was lonely when he awoke in the dark forest, and realized that he’d never see Snowfur again.