#dovewing being a cat in a prophecy . a position expected to be loyal to the code and starclan

[thylacid]

dovewing and ivypool make me sick because nobody understands them like i do

[star--seeking]

Imagine if the Po3 Hadn’t Been Used for Good

(Forewarning this is going to be long and also contain a lot of spoilers for every series up to OoTS !!) Okay so I’m rereading The Power of Three and honestly, Hollypaw Lionpaw and Jaypaw’s behavior is sort of surprising to me, it’s been a while since I read the books and I had originally skipped the second arc due to my library not having it and went straight to Po3 so I didn’t think much of it but holy crap are the three intolerant towards cat’s with unusual backgrounds. Now I know Leafpool and Crowfeather are their biological parents but for the sake of this post I’ll be referring to Brambleclaw and Squirrelflight as their parents, considering they raised them.  After having just read TNP for the first time I’m really surprised by all of the snide comments and thoughts the three have about cats, even cats they know and love, who aren’t clanborn or follow the code. Considering it was a big thing in TNP for Brambleclaw and Squirrelflight to be forced to see past the circumstances of one’s birth and being tolerant towards cats from other clans and cats that weren’t even clanborn, I would have expected their children to reflect these views. Now, I imagine they did this to sort of have the big reveal of the three’s biological parents be so much more impactful but I think if we look at things a tad differently they become really interesting.  So first we have Lionpaw, who makes the usual comments here and there notably being surprised that Daisy’s kits were chosen over Sorreltail’s to go to the gathering since they weren’t really Thunderclan as they were born in the horseplace. Aside from this he doesn’t seem too ambitious outside of the usual apprentice mentality of “I’m going to be the best warrior there ever was!” He does however seem oddly battle hungry for a cat who only just became an apprentice. At his first gathering he hints at hoping that ShadowClan would start a fight, Hollypaw only scolding him because that would be against the warrior code. He then remarks that his sister wouldn’t understand the rivalries amongst the clans due to her training to become a medicine cat. Now say what you will about it just being due to Lionpaw romanticizing battle and not understanding that the other clans aren’t bad per se, but then we get to Lionpaw’s first fight; the border skirmish with ShadowClan and that’s where things get kind of odd. The battles goes as expected with ThunderClan coming out as winner, but afterwards Lionpaw is outright overjoyed about his first real fight, even having enough leisure in battle to stop and assist Jaypaw not by throwing Owlpaw off of him, but instead guiding him word by word on how to defeat Owlpaw.  Then we have Jaypaw, who’s sick of being patronized and urged into becoming a medicine cat apprentice. A cat who, his entire life, has only ever dreamt of one day being as strong and powerful as his father, Brambleclaw. He holds the same prejudice against cats not born pure ThunderClan and even has the gall to suggest to Firestar that ThunderClan take advantage of WindClan during the dog attack after spying on Barkface in a dream. He was offered to be trained by Tigerstar and Hawkfrost and almost accepted, only becoming a medicine cat because he realizes the power he holds and being very vocal about how disappointed he is with the day to day life of a medicine cat. (Applying poultices, collecting herbs, etc etc.)  And finally we have Hollypaw, who’s most notable among the fanbase for being ambitious. She holds the same views as her brothers only having more respect for the warrior code which led to her insinuating that her own father shouldn’t be deputy because Graystripe was revealed to still have been alive. She ultimately becomes a medicine cat apprentice solely because she wants to be important to the Clan, not because she enjoys healing. Plus, they somewhat all have superiority complexes, as their father is the Clan deputy, their mother’s sister is the medicine cat, and their grandfather is the Clan leader. Jaykit notes at the beginning of the book that the clan worked hard to make sure they weren’t treated differently because of this, which seems fair, yet he notes “Sometimes it felt like the rest of the Clan went out of their way to make sure he and his littermates never got special treatment. It wasn’t fair!” Which ??? seems pretty fair to me and makes it feel like Jaykit expected more for being kin with Brambleclaw, Leafpool, and Firestar. Now, it’s interesting in and of itself to note that Brambleclaw fathered them as he struggled with his own ambitions in his warriorhood, but it’s even more interesting to imagine what could have happened if the three hadn’t been so loyal to StarClan. For the sake of the post, let’s just say Hollypaw is one of the three and has the powers Dovewing gets in OoTS. Imagine if the three had become somewhat antagonistic during the series, especially after learning of the prophecy which, in this case, only serves to further their mentalities of being superior and reaffirms their faith in the warrior code. Fast forward to Eclipse and to the introduction of Sol, a cat who knows of StarClan and, presumably, the Dark Forest, a cat who has enough faith to know they are real, but who doesn’t seem to value them all that much. Originally the plan was for Sol to help train the three to learn to control their powers and to use them for the sake of their Clan, but we all know Sol only seeks to benefit himself and thus chooses to stray their paws from the path of serving their Clan in StarClan’s name. Now, the three, frustrated by StarClan’s refusal to elaborate on the prophecy eat this all up. So Sol twists the words of the Warrior Code and makes it seem as though it were their destiny to lead ThunderClan, with Hollypaw as the leader, Lionpaw as deputy, and Jaypaw as the medicine cat. He suggests they overthrow their kin and expand ThunderClan’s territory, claiming that if their rival Clans couldn’t defend their territory then that was their problem and that in expanding their territory they could provide so much to ThunderClan, enough that they would never have to worry about anything again. They could rule the forest if they wanted.  But the three aren’t evil, they think they’re doing the right thing. This is their destiny, after all. They reveal their abilities to their clanmates and demand Firestar, Brambleclaw, and Leafpool step down from their respective duties, referencing times in which they strayed from the warrior code and how that impacted the Clan. Leafpool, having run off to be with Crowfeather and having been too late to warn ThunderClan of the Badgers. Brambleclaw, who nearly killed Firestar so that he could become leader not out of respect and devotion to ThunderClan or the Warrior Code, but because of his own selfish desires. And Firestar, who in giving territory to ShadowClan and allowing so many cats that existed outside of the code into ThunderClan sparked the battle which led to the Sun being covered. The battle which nearly killed their mother. And ThunderClan has reason to doubt their leaders at this point, they were never keen on what ThunderClan was becoming and now, due to the Eclipse, have reason to believe that StarClan is angry with them. And they have a completely viable solution, the three who hold the power of the stars in their paws can set them on the path that will lead ThunderClan to glory. It’s almost as if it’s too good to be true.  Things get more aggressive quickly, due to their lack of experience the three make sure its known that those who disobey the code will be punished, they make it known that they hold a power cats can only dream of, and they make it known to their neighbors that they are not to be challenged. While they can’t have been happy about it, Firestar, Brambleclaw, and Leafpool all are the types of characters that would pity themselves, and they do, the Clan’s support of the three and the apparent prophecy about them leads them to believe that yeah, maybe they’re right. But Squirrelflight? You’d best believe that when she finds out she is pissed. And so, during the fire, it’s not Ashfur that blocks the Three’s path out of camp. It’s Squirrelflight. She expresses that she loves them and that they’re young and don’t know what they’re doing but that they are messing with powers they don’t understand, powers that could lead to the downfall of ThunderClan. The three don’t want to hurt Squirrelflight but things do get heated until ultimately Squirrelflight reveals that she is not their biological mother. Shocked and hurt, Squirrelflight flees with the three following. Suddenly, everything is different. The powers they have, the role they thought they were meant to play, if their biological parents had followed the warrior code that they are so heavily trying to enforce they wouldn’t even exist. How can they be anything but a danger to the Clan. A curse meant to cause the downfall of life as Clan cats know it. Confused and upset they flee the forest and Firestar, Brambleclaw, and Leafpool regain their positions and no cat sees the three for some moons.