#i like him as a stepping stone for the arcs of leafpool and breezepelt and nightcloud

[rookflower]

honestly most of my least favourite warrior cats could be salvaged if they didn't always have to be in the narrative right (despite when they do heinous things, and/or are presented in opposition to characters the narrative has unjustly placed in the wrong. usually for gendered reasons). like if brambleclaw's part in firestar's attempted assassination was some huge scandal, and the way he treated squirrelstar was textually recognised and remembered as cruel and abusive at times then he would be wayyy more of an interesting and nuanced character to me than "this guy is really good and heroic and noble just ignore all of the bad shit he's done". if nightheart was worse, if he really was an unreliable narrator at first, if the books didn't require finchlight and sparkpelt to turn around and belittle him for real to justify his feelings, if sunbeam didn't talk about having babies with him immediately after feeling abandoned by him twice back to back, and his impulsivity and selfishness were character flaws and not just funny quirks (that would be UNFORGIVEABLE were they placed on a female character. i really need to emphasise just how different the gender standards are in this series and fandom in terms of consequences) then yeah honestly i would maybe genuinely like and be invested in him. lack of consequences or flaws being recognised for flawed (primarily male) characters where (primarily female) characters frequently see unlimited fucking miserable consequences for less is like, my number one issue with characterisation in these cat books. but yet it is so damn prevalent