#mapleshade is so cool ok

[xxvi0lent-vahlkampfiidaexx]

crookedstar's promise

[piereoglyphics]

i mean if you want dragons too theres one about dragons.... fighting

and war

morro i need to talk to someone about the cats (me who hasnt read any of the first series books in a few years)

hey morro have you heard of warrior cats

No. Is it another fursona thing.

[everybody-loves-purdy]

How would you rank the warrior cats villains?

I’m going to do two lists here I’m going to rank them from favourite to least favourite, and then rank them based on how objectively good villains I feel they are

I can’t fit every warriors villain or this list will go on forever but I’ll rank everyone notable (so not characters like Dodge and Stripe) and I won’t count cats I would consider henchmen (such as Bone and Darkstripe). And characters who have had a redemption arc I won’t include here either, this list is reserved for those with no regrets and went to the grave satisfied with their work (so no Skystar, Blackstar or Breezepelt here). Also cats that fit under the “antagonist” banner rather than “villain” won’t be included (I.e Berryheart, Tigerheartstar, Bramblestar).

I think I’ve got all the characters that can qualify for this list but if you feel I’ve forgotten anyone please let me know!

Alright all that out of the way, on with the list:

Fav ranking (Most to least)

Darktail. He’s just so cool, this guy is my second favourite warrior cat only behind Brightheart, he’s terrifying villain and an excellent character.

Scourge

Tigerstar 1

Hawkfrost. Fanon is probably influencing me more than canon here.

Mapleshade

Ashfur

Sol

Sleekwhisker

Brokenstar

One Eye. I honestly don’t remember much of him but I feel like he would rank higher if he was fresher in my mind. He should have lasted more than one book.

Fury. Wasted potential, cool backstory and appearance though.

Slash. Utter disappointment of an end of arc villain.

Thistleclaw. You know why.

Objectively best to worst

Darktail. I know I have a bias. And I know people are going to disagree here. But this guy brought 3 clans to their knees. He drove SkyClan out, ShadowClan literally stopped existing all together because of him. He has the highest known kill count of any warrior cat. And that’s just people he’s ended the life of himself, it’s not counting the many others who have died as a result of his actions. He’s physically strong and intimidating as well as a major manipulator and extremely sadistic. He uses kittypets as cannon fodder, he drowns cats to execute them, he ripped out his deputy’s eye just as a warning. There is just so much to say about this character that I won’t fit in here but he truly is excellent. And to top it all off, he actually achieved his goal, he got his revenge against his father. This current arc would absolutely not be happening without him.

Ashfur. Close second. I only say second because he failed in his goal to keep Squirrelflight to himself and all the other stuff was just kind of collateral damage. I also can’t get over the lack of explanation for how he actually achieves most of what he does. Oh well he almost destroys heaven and hell (by digging a tunnel, ok) and that definitely counts for something. His powers are scary and despite things being a little off the rails he’s still a scary and effective villain. Him as the imposter? Excellent and chilling.

Tigerstar 1. Close third.What can I say he’s a classic and serves his role excellently, what a fantastic first overarching villain for the franchise.

Mapleshade

Scourge

Brokenstar. Almost destroyed ShadowClan in his pursuit for conquest.

One Eye (again, I definitely need to read this guys book since I don’t remember too much)

Hawkfrost. Tigerstar lite

Sol. Very pathetic man but still managed to manipulate cats. He didn’t ultimately end up doing that much but still.

Thistleclaw.

Sleekwhisker. She barely qualifies for this list tbh, she’s definitely just another Kin henchman until River of Fire. Maybe one day she’ll come back and be great but what we have is just isn’t sorry. Conceptually she’s super interesting and cool but canon never quite delivers.

Fury. A massive waste of potential so now she’s just kind of forgettable.

Slash. I have to actively keep reminding myself he exists.

[kandidandi]

gently slams my hands on the table in front of u

KANDI do you have a favorite warriors map, like any, old or recent, anything

mine is hollyfawn, starclan's chosen, rory, everything moves, open your eyes, and !! that one mapleshade map from louixie that i forgot the name of

SLAMS HANDS ON TABLE BUT MAES A LOUD BANG SOUND YES I DO I DO ALSO YOU KNOW LOUXIE THATS SO COOL SHE'S ONE OF MY INSIPIRATIONS OK ANYWAYS

-Everything Moves - sol

-Man on the Moon - jayfeather

-Blame - cinderpelt (sobs)

-Anything You Can Do - brambleclaw + squirrelfight (one of the first ones i watched i didnt even know what warriors was then haghsda)

-Starclans Chosen (OF COURSE THIS ONE ITS SO COOL)

-Meet me in the Woods

[exocynraku]

For ask game: 1, 3, 6, and 22?

1: squilf/crow is very meh to me yes theyh are both a bit annoying when they are apprentices and are similar in age and have interacted much more than leaf/crow but STILL crowfeather sucks and squilfie is sooo much more cool 3: YES so so so many times!!! i dont have any specific people but there are tons out there who i have unfollowed for bad opinions 6: hmm this is kinda dissapointing but. not really LOL!!! there arent alot of ships that i hate hate 22: bramblestar (duh), lionblaze, nightcloud & crowfeather (yes BOTH of them crowfeather because he sucks and ok listen nightcloud isnt bad its just everyone argues about her and crow SOOO much its gotten me to dislike both of them because i just do not. want. to hear about them GRRR!!!!!!), mapleshade (for the same reason as nightcloud, i dont have an actual opinion on her since i refused to read her book), sharpclaw

[loomimoosh]

And that would go

Mousewhisker’s Home (theme of not belonging, show him and Minnowtail having their romance behind the scenes) SE preferably

Toadstep’s Path (theme of “life is what you make it”) could be just a novella but I’d like an SE

Ashfoot’s Exile (theme of sticking together through the worst) SE 100%, show everything from the ShadowClan battles to Gorsepaw’s death also tell me who killed Badgerfang and how they dealt with it

Sootfur’s Fear (theme of overcoming mental pitfalls and not letting trauma define you) novella would be fine tbh

Littlecloud’s Truth (theme of being who you are regardless of those around you) novella’s fine

Kestrelflight. I fucked his name up I’m sorry. Make the book Kestrelflight’s Name in honor of my fuckuperry

Birchfall’s Dream (theme of trying too hard, I imagine it’s about him running himself into the ground and forgetting who he is and what everyone loves him for and focusing too much on what he can “provide” to the clan, seeing his worth as utility alone) novella’s ok

Cherryfall’s Love (theme of…idk actually just make it a romance book) I want a slow burn SE

Icecloud’s Brother / Foxleap’s Sister (theme of caring for those close to you even when you disagree. And let them disown Spiderleg as a “family is who you love, not the other way around” kinda thing) I want an SE but I know it won’t be good so just make it a novella

Berrynose’s Forgiveness (show him forgiving Mousewhisker and learning to be a good dad and husband) just a novella pls

Hazeltail’s Journey (theme of being the driving force of your own story, not just surviving but living) SE, but only if she goes somewhere new and it’s not a fucking travel book. And make her gay.

The Pouncestep book would kind of give her a purpose so whatever it is make it cool. And make her gay also. Pouncestep’s Pride.

Longtail’s Worth (theme of “you are not just what you can give to others”) novella works but split it in 2, half from tPB and half from Po3/OotS

Frecklewish’s Regret (theme of grief, follows the DABDA model. Show her denial of Birchface’s death, anger at Mapleshade, bargaining for the kits lives and her own, depression and believing herself to be a villain, acceptance as she fades away) novella would be chill, show her basically putting herself in the Dark Forest using the rationale of the online arguments, saying “I’m the problem, I should have done more, I’m the reason they’re dead, I deserve punishment”

Juniperclaw’s Duty (hehe. Theme of death and reflecting on life, each chapter is him assessing a death, talking with the cat, asking them where they think they belong, talking over their life, and watching them walk off) novella is fine

Snowtuft’s Sin (theme of what the fuck did this guy do) novella works just TELL ME

Stonefur’s Payment (or something like that, idea is it’s the flip side to Redtail’s Debt) novella works

Darkstripe’s Lie (theme of spiraling into the worst version of yourself, cutting yourself off and letting empathy fall off in favor of success) I’ll let you get away with a novella, but I’ll allow an SE if and ONLY if you make him Ash and Fern’s real dad

Super Editions and novellas should be used for background cats.

And I don’t mean like Daisy and Spotfur. I mean like Sootfur and Cherryfall.

Give interesting stories to the cats without any. Fill out the universe. I find it hard to believe that death was the most important thing to ever happen to Rainwhisker. Or that Hazeltail never had any of her own adventures. Or that outside cats like Ivytail lived wholly uninteresting and boring lives with nothing to talk about.

Basically what I’m saying is I want a Mousewhisker novella

[bonefall]

I just..like the Snowbird anon wrote in the lawyer Mapleshade thing: just because Moth Flight couldn't handle raising her kits and doing her duty doesn't mean the others would be the same. I agree (can't believe im agreeing with Snowbird anon) that her losing her cool and yelling at Acorn Fur definitely had repercussions. I wouldn't doubt it led to Goose and Blue thinking Blue couldn't be deputy if she kept her kits. Moth Flight just sucks. I hate how she treats Leafpool, too. She's just an awful person who really shouldn't have been put in power and make laws regarding important positions while being that young. She was only like, what 8 months when she had her kits? Like she was young and dumb.

What I hate most about Moth Flight is that it isn't even true that she wasn't able to raise her kits.

All through her SE, she refuses help because she thinks "Only I can love them properly! My children are SPECIAL!" and extends this almost venomous spite towards other women around her. Then, after showing Moth Flight being unreasonable all book long, we get the completely insulting moment where StarClan and Moth Flight condescend Acorn Fur for like 5 pages

And then we got to see her mistreat Leafpool in that absolutely bullshit StarClan trial, "I made that rule so that you'd never suffer the pain I did! AND YOU BROKE IT YOU HORRIBLE LITTLE WENCH! YOU WILL SUFFER FOR BREAKING MY RULE!! HELL FOR YOU!!!"

Sincerely! What the fuck! The RULE ITSELF causes suffering in giving up kits and going through harrowing trials, when the suffering that Moth Flight wouldn't have had to go through in the first place if she wasn't such a nasty little git!

And the scene where she gives away her children really sums up everything about Moth Flight and her SE that makes me absolutely detest her;

She's giving up her kits, and it's traumatic for these poor children being separated. They rightfully start screaming and crying in protest (if you've seen the Moonkitti video, this is what she mentions), shooting down her complete lie that this is how it 'has' to be, and then? Right after? It's suddenly fine lmao.

She even looks at Spider Paw, the kid who almost drowned, and says, "and you're going to RiverClan :) theyll teach you to swim there :)" AND HE'S FINE WITH THIS. HE'S LIKE "water scary" "No It's Fine :)" "Ok mom i guess so :)"

ZERO BRAIN CELLS. MYOTRAGUS LEVEL WRITING.

[conarcoin]

whats the warrior cats ableism if you wanna share ive never consumed wc media so this is all news to me

okay so this is.. a lot. there’s a bunch of important disabled characters that are either horribly mistreated or just outright killed or walking ableist tropes

snowkit is one of the first disabled characters we meet, a deaf kit, and the other kids bully him and absolutely nobody in the clans give a shit. and then he just fucking dies. alright! cool! awesome! this would be like whatever if he wasn’t never fucking mentioned again

crookedstar is literally shunned by his own fucking mother for being disabled. cool. none of his clanmates see this as bad apparently. all his support comes from outside riverclan, with mapleshade (who is manipulating him) and the farm cats

brightheart loses one of her eyes and is horribly disfigured and is one of the few disabled cats to actually live a happy life and become a warrior rather than being forced into another role. but even then bluestar fucking renames her “lostface”. because yeah fucking sure that’s how we should be treating disabled people.

bluestar does this to numerous other cats as well and the only one that is seen as bad is brightheart. ok

cinderpaw is forced to become a medicine cat because having a broken leg means she can never be a warrior apparently, despite being able to get around just fine. she dies to introduce the worst fucking plot point ever which is that the erins decided she should be reincarnated into a cat that isn’t disabled because apparently her old life wasn’t worth living. okay.

jayfeather is literally a walking stereotype (blind character has magical powers that allow them to see in another way) and is also forced out of warrior training because disabled cats can never be warriors i guess. they even apprentice him to brightheart. she’s never given another apprentice iirc.

longtail gets blinded by a rabbit and forced to retire young because fuck blind people in particular

briarlight is paralyzed but can move around in other ways and is forced to basically do fucking nothing to help her clan like. she doesn’t even have a fucking role. she just spends her entire fucking life in the medicine den helping jayfeather. apparently she was killed off when vicky left the team because she was a burden. okay authors!

lilywhisker, an elder introduced in one of the spinoff books, tallstar’s revenge, gets her leg crushed by a tree and is forced to retire like longtail. and then is stated to go to cat hell because she couldn’t accept her disability. o-fucking-kay!

none of this is even realistic btw. deaf, blind and three-legged cats all can live their lives fine irl

yeah tldr if you are a disabled person in warrior cats just fuck you i guess 🤷‍♂️

[goosefeathercore]

(The Place of No Stars Spoilers!)

Ok I stg I was getting so emotionally attached to Snowtuft wanting to make his last deed a good one and I don’t know what to think about what’s going on in the ending. He is described as looking terrified so I’m really hoping that he didn’t willingly fight Rootspring. It’s just so damn cool because for literal years Snowtuft has just been ‘that one dude with the scar down his whole body in the dark forest, idk he’s just been here lol’ and I was actually pumping my fists when the Erins suddenly wrote in a real character arc for him and did it pretty well?!?! And honestly they even managed to spin the fact that he has no freaking backstory into some internal conflict that made me genuinely start loving him!! It’s really not that far fetched to believe that there are faded dark forest cats who are losing their own memories of their past. Actually, that would be a really sick way to work out the whole ‘when the memories of the cats who knew them are gone, their spirits fade away’ thing, since obviously something is going on given how MAPLESHADE was just still there despite being nearly transparent in OOTS! But in her little talk with Sandstorm, she doesn’t say anything about the fact that she watched her kits drown, which is supposed to be the moment that made her snap. So what if her memory was blurry back then as well? She remembers not getting to have a life with her mate and kits, and she remembers that she blames Thunderclan as well as some of Riverclan. In Crookedstar’s promise, it seemed like she was just intent on following Appledusk’s bloodline, but we haven’t seen that happen since then, and it’s been a really long time since Crookedstar’s promise. So what if that’s because she can no longer remember specifics, and she doesn’t know exactly who she’s mad at, just that she’s full of loathing? I think it would be a lot cooler, deeper lore if the faded spirits never cease to exist, but as the memories of them die out they become empty manifestations of their anger and they start to lose their own memories of life. It would open so many doors to keep the dark forest relevant and interesting. We can have cool characters like Snowtuft, who can no longer remember their lives or how long they’ve been dead, because the living clans have entirely forgotten about them. But they’re still vengeful spirits and all Snowtuft knows is that he was mean and hungry for power. So we get to see completely new character arcs moons and moons later when these dark forest cats can no longer remember who they were or why they’re so evil. Snowtuft hasn’t really known true ‘existence’ in a long time, and when he thinks that the dark forest may cease to exist entirely, he seems to just think ‘I don’t even know what I’m fighting for anymore, but I know I hate Ashfur and I can at least go out with a bang’.

[cypressbranch]

A mothwing for your troubles! Actually mainly cause I wanted to teehee

oo trans nonbinary tigerclaw or mothwing or briarlight maybe? tyyy!

Briarlight time baybee

[the-erins-forgot]

Ok so will the Milf cats {Mistystar, Yellowfang, Mapleshade, etc etc} still have their Grandma energy that they have in the books occasionally?

Well, Mapleshade never has those moments but she seems like she would be a cool aunt.

{also, note that I have seen human versions that make me question if I am really Demi lol}

I suppose that will depend on the cat.

Yellowfang has huge grandma energy just through existing, even without kits she'd have it.

Mistyfoot I haven't really planned out that far yet.

Mapleshade... Mapleshade gives me wine aunt energy.

[remade-stopframevevo]

😾 + 🌧️

😾 beat my ass take my blood and call me a fake lesbian but so many of the popular wuh lah wuh ships in this fandom are so hollow and “woahhh two womeeeen” that i dont even want to pretend to care. like maybe its because all of the female characters in warriors are flat and boring too (dont get me wrong; just like 90% of characters in warriors) but genuinely you all keep saying the names of two women at me and i just have to be like “ok... cool i guess”

oh also actually warriors related and not fandom but i dont hate reedshine. i think its very popular to hate reedshine and thats weird to me because she literally did fuck all wrong. like you guys realise that not only did appledusk cheat on mapleshade but he cheated on reedshine too since they were both essentially at the same stage in their pregnancy right lol

🌧️ yellowfang and leopardfoot are evil son having starclan girlfriends i think

[mallowstep]

cloudtail’s daughter: ivypool

i wrote this up a while ago, and i’m just queuing it for completions sake. it may or may not be accurate.

ivypool. it’s time. it’s time. i’ve been waiting for a long time.

i wrote about dovewing like. well okay it was only like two weeks ago for me. but it was a very long time ago in my brain. i’m pretty sure when i wrote the dovewing essay, i still hadn’t figured out a lot of relatively basic things? or like, i’ve just made a lot of changes? yeaaah. also, this is my last official warrior cats essay that i’m writing for this blog. so. yeah. uh. yeah. i’m excited for this. because this is, well, i have good good thoughts about ivypool. i don’t really like her like dovewing and jayfeather, but she’s up there with jayfeather and like, squirrelflight? for quality characters. she’s one of the best characters. possibly the best character. so. yeah. it’s time. let’s begin.

section one: ivykit

oh yeah baby. going back to basics. let us examine the life of warrior, via ivykit. ivykit is born. she has one littermate. dovekit. ivykit and dovekit vibe, aight? like yeah, sure, ivykit spends a lot of time playing with blossomkit and bumblekit, but like, less than in my other aus. ivykit is…well at first, she does not feel underloved. i mean, she’s on equal footing with dovekit for like, the first moon or two of their life, when they’re still all stumpy legged and stumbling, with fluffy coats and eyes that don’t work right.

and yeah, things are fine. i mean, sure, jayfeather is concerned about dovekit, but ivykit doesn’t care. dovekit is her sister. that’s what matters. of course, as they get older, this starts to crack. subtly, at first. ivykit feels like she needs to protect dovekit. she doesn’t know why or from what, or even when she started thinking this, but ivykit just knows that she has to be there for dovekit. that she’s going to be the person who doesn’t complain when dovekit doesn’t hear, etc., and that’s just her job.

and the cracks grow larger. cloudtail and brightheart are concerned for dovekit. ivykit can’t keep going she’s my sister, she’s just like that and so she does yeah she does start to grow jealous. and there’s this awkward rift and they can’t make it work, except that ivykit and dovekit are still sisters. (oh man oh man is dovewing’s silence gonna fuck ivypool up.)

but ivykit doesn’t really grow resentful until BB&B are apprenticed. because now she’s, well, alone. i mean yes, she still has dovekit, but dovekit is working with their parents, and her old friends are busy, and what’s a girl to do?

and then she starts to feel lonely. and this, while not when hawkfrost contacts her, is the weakness he will exploit. i’m not doing a mapleshade/crookedkit situation. wrong vibe. hawkfrost and ivypool should end as equals. but otherwise, that’s pretty much her kithood.

section two: ivypaw

alright, so we’ve heard this story 5 times by now. but that’s ok, that’s okay. ivypaw is given to lionblaze. this is chill, this is chill, this is some good vibery. you know? oh lord i’m meming again hold on someone needs to factory reset me.

right so ivypaw is assigned to lionblaze because he’s supposed to be encouraging and brave and loyal. and you know, ivypaw is fine with that. it’s fine. this is fine. she doesn’t mind. he’s chill. this is really cool lionblaze is a really good warrior ivypaw is internally screaming because she’s very happy but she wants to seem cool so she’s trying to keep it together.

yeah, she’s very hype. she’s like, mildly concerned for dovepaw, but dovepaw gets cinderheart and everything is fine and they’re going to be apprentices together and then. dovepaw catches a few mice.

and whoa, does this make ivypaw jealous.

because this means that dovepaw’s training with brightheart and cloudtail wasn’t making them equals, it was making dovepaw better. (this is wrong, obviously, but it’s how ivypaw feels, and that’s kind of the most important part.)

so ivypaw just sulks and about a moon or two in, i’d need to check notes for the specifics (yes, this au has finally gotten large enough i can’t hold the entire thing in my head), but a moon or two in, she gets contacted by hawkfrost. and i’ve actually already drafted their first meeting, so i can include some quotes. i know it’s unorthodox, but it’s one of my favorite scenes i’ve written. plus, it’s definitely not final form yet. so i don’t feel bad about including it.

Ivypaw didn’t know where she was. Her dreams were usually across the Thunderclan territory.

Now, a strange tom stood in front of her. He had no scent, but he looked like a warrior. But he sat still, saying nothing.

She could smell a mouse in the field, and she instinctively dropped into a crouch.

At least I can make a catch in my dreams.

But as she was preparing to strike, her back brushed the stem of a poppy, and the mouse squeaked, running off.

Ivypaw flopped to the ground.

“It’s not your fault,” the tom said, his voice low and gravelly.

Ivypaw’s ears flicked towards him instinctively, and she turned her head.

“You haven’t been taught how to crouch properly in this kind of field,” he said. “It’s a shame, but I’m sure your mentor is getting around to it.”

Ivypaw growled. “Sure, whenever he actually decides to pay attention to me.”

The tom didn’t say anything, only gazed kindly at Ivypaw. Feeling self concious, she stood up, and tried to lick the dust off her pelt.

“Do you want me to show you what you should have done?”

“Sure,” Ivypaw said.

The tom crept forward slowly, his back flat. He pounced, without giving a single sign he was about to move. “Did you see that?” he asked, calm. Ivypaw nodded. “Good. Now, you try.”

Ivypaw tried to copy his form. “Do you live here?” she asked, trying to make sure she was in the correct form. He didn’t say anything, just flicked his tail.

“Hold yourself a little looser,” he said, “but go on, give it a try.”

She leaped, but her belly brushed the ground, and she skid to a halt far closer than she meant to.

“That’s alright,” the tom said. “Here, aim for this.”

He hooked a ball of moss with one claw, putting it a fair distance in front of her. Ivypaw shook her head slightly, trying to think about what she needed to do.

She pounced, this time, moving cleanly, but when her spine flattened, her balence was thrown off.

“You’ve almost got it,” he said. “Watch again, then you try.”

He demonstrated the pounce again, and Ivypaw tried to pay attention to how he landed. He realigned the ball of moss. “Now you.”

She thought carefully about what she needed to do, then leaped. She moved through the air cleanly, and landed with the ball between her paws without even a whisper from the grass.

“Very good,” the tom said. “You must be quite the hunter.”

Ivypaw didn’t say anything.

“Oh, you must know you are. That’s an advanced move, and you picked it up in no time.”

Ivypaw felt flush. “Is it that obvious?”

The tom’s eyes were piercing. “No,” he said. “But I had a hunch.” Ivypaw had the sense he was waiting for something.

“My sister struggles with hunting,” she admitted. “We’ve been spending a lot of time with her.”

“It hardly seems fair,” the tom said, “that your training should suffer.”

Ivypaw didn’t know what to say.

“Let me show you one more thing,” he said. “Call it, evening the scales.”

The tom moved so Ivypaw could see his whole body technique. “A stalking technique,” he said, “one I doubt you’ve seen before.”

He drew his whiskers back and stuck his chin out, holding very low and flat to the ground. The tom weaved through the grass and snapped at the stem of a violet, impossibly quickly.

“That was so fast!” Ivypaw said, despite herself.

The tom licked his chest. “Comes with practice. Give it a try.”

She copied his technique, grabbing a flower stem, although she couldn’t move nearly as quickly.

“Very good,” he said. “You’ll get the speed with time. It’s a good technique for fish.”

Ivypaw tilted her head, quizzical.

“Or mice,” he ammended. “Anything fast.”

Ivypaw began to feel something pulling her.

“I think I have to go,” she said.

“So be it,” he said.

“What’s your name?” she asked him.

“Hawkfrost.”

“I’m Ivypaw,” she said. The pull was growing more urgent. “Why are you being so nice to me?”

“Because,” he said, calmly, “I think you deserve to succeed.”

and there you are. like i said, i don’t think it’s going to stay in this form. so i wanted to share it. it turns out the canon version of this scene is just. good. i don’t like a few key things about it, but for the most part, it’s good, so trying to redo it is hard.

anyway, so. ivypaw isn’t exactly kind about her feelings. she’s angry at lionblaze and at dovepaw. and dovepaw knows this and dovepaw feels exceptionally inadequate. so, dovepaw starts sneaking out.

section three: ivypaw II, ivypaw alone

so dove/holly/cinder leave to deal with beavers, and ivypaw is…salty. as i’ve made somewhat clear, i’m not 100% sure where this falls on the timeline: it could overlap with the hawkfrost incident. but. yeah.

lionblaze is very distracted, and she picks up on that hard. and hawkfrost is getting into her head, and she’s tired all the time, but she feels good.

ivypaw is…ivypaw is complicated. she wants to be good so badly it’s blinding, and somewhere i have notes on why she doesn’t figure out the hawkfrost deal sooner, but there’s a reason, but she wants so badly. she wants recognition, she wants to be good, she wants to serve her clan, she wants to protect dovepaw. and it’s all building to an almost unhealthy level, but like, what is she supposed to do? no one is paying attention to her because of dovepaw.

[everybody-loves-purdy]

I'm really nervous about the new series. I feel that, inevitably, it will fall back into the same patterns we've been complaining about for years. No hate to the Broken Code but I couldn't even bring myself to read one book because I was so frustrated with that contrived Ashfur plot (tho there are some genuinely cool/creepy scenes in that arc). Like with choosing Flamepaw as a protagonist- I literally don't care about him. It's hard to care when everyone is related to Firestar now and everyone feels the weight of his legacy- he's literally Special McSpecial, protagonist extraordinaire. I don't want more poorly done romances and young couples who have kits way too soon. I want something different. TBC was trying to be different but it made a lot of the same mistakes. I think that so long as greed rules the series, change will not come easily. Also the authors are middle aged women (mostly) and their views of society is probably really outdated. Their idea of empowering is having Ivypool be a cool spy and Mapleshade be an absolute evil queen, when in reality Ivy became a generic background cat after she got a mate and had kits and Maple's life just kinda revolves around a man. Didn't they say that they don't want any female villains apart from Mapleshade for whatever reason? Real nice. Sorry for the negativity, I'm just frustrated.

(Also did you get the very long Bumblestripe AU ask? If not I'll resend it, thanks.)

To start off about the Bumblestripe ask, if I haven’t posted it then I didn’t get it sorry, I’ll definitely answer it if you resend - sorry about that, tumblr just doing what it does best I guess

And onto your ask here

And yeah I agree with most of what you say here, although obviously I actually read TBC lol, and I am intrigued about Flamepaw, but I do feel atm he might be the weakest protagonist next arc

And yeah it’s hard to feel positive about the future of these books at times, especially with all the recent controversies surrounding domestic abuse, misogyny, and ableism with these books. I still remain hopeful things can change however, but I don’t think anything drastic will happen soon

Although I am pretty excited about these new books, but unfortunately it’s been a trend recently when we get a spectacular first half of an arc then an ok to bad second half, I really hope that trend changes

[sorrelstream]

entering “proper grammar” mode because I’m writing this on a google docs first and I don’t want to deal with all those ugly squiggles ahdfsdfds…

But!! Here’s the fully answered Ailuornymy question list, as requested by anon :D! More below the cut!

Favourite canon warrior name?

Hmm… let’s see… Honestly? Probably Silverstream! I don’t think we get many -stream suffixes anymore and there’s something soooo pretty about her name and the way it flows !!

Least favourite canon warrior name?

Snowbush. There’s something so clunky about the way this dude’s name reads in my head and I don’t know why!!! Also Harrybrook >:(

Warrior you’d most like to rename?

Harrybrook. I just!! It doesn’t sound nice at all please give him a better name :( Best name-change name? One-eye! I’m not sure if she asked for her name change or not, but I’ll admit “One-eye” is a pretty baller sounding name and I love that. Also Deadfoot has a cool name too (though I wish he had asked for that name change rather than saddled with it :/)!

Favourite canon character overall?

 Mousewhisker and Hazeltail! They’re two unimportant side characters that don’t really do anything ever but man do I love them with my whole heart <3!

Least favourite canon character overall? 

Thistleclaw and Crowfeather. I’ve talked about why I don’t like either of them a lot before so to keep it short they both make me incredibly uncomfortable nor do I enjoy reading about them at all.

Favourite Warriors book? 

The Darkest Hour! It was my first Warriors book that I read from the main series (Sasha's manga was the first Warriors book in general and how I got into Warriors), and MAN does it still stick with me! So many scenes from that book are just iconic. 

Least favourite Warriors book? 

Anything from Dawn Of The Clans honestly :'). I tried so many times to get into reading that arc and I never could get into it -- it just bored me any time I tried. Same for AVoS, eh.

Favourite canon scene or dialogue of all time? 

Such a random scene but there’s a scene I think about all the time from Power Of Three where Lionpaw has a nightmare about Hollypaw, and she just playfully (? ominously?) says “I’m going to get you” while hidden in the shadows before turning into a fox and attacking him. I think about it SO much…...

Favourite canon leader of all time? 

Crookedstar, followed closely by Tallstar! I love them…. 

Character you think deserved better? 

SO, SO MANY. IT’S UNREAL. Hollyleaf didn’t deserve to get killed off the VERY NEXT BOOK after she came back to ThunderClan, Snowkit didn’t deserve to get killed off just to push Speckletail into the nursery, Nightcloud didn’t deserve… literally anything she got both in canon and how the authors and fandom demonized her, Honeyfern…. Silverstream… the list goes on really :’/

Character you’d like to see “morally” flipped (made “bad” or made “good”)?

Leopardstar, kinda?? But not like. Morally flipped? I guess? I just mean I wish they had gone more into her redemption arc and why she allied herself with Tigerstar besides just “oh she was in love with him”. So it’s not that I wish she was morally flipped, but I wish they went more into her morality because she’s soo vague as it is (and, frankly, maybe I’m biased because I like her but I would’ve loved to see her overcome her initial prejudice or perhaps work for forgiveness for her Clan - perhaps her alliance with Tigerstar was out of worry for the entirety of her Clan since she saw him as the strongest cat and not just… because she “loved” him). Same for Breezepelt, honestly! They kept dancing between “he’s a troubled son of a negligent/abusive father” and “he’s evil :)” and personally? As a child of a negligent father who also abandoned me, it would’ve been way more … I’m not sure WHAT the word I’m looking for is but I think Breezepelt’s story would’ve been better if they focused on making him a troubled teen of a negligent, bad father and actually embraced Crowfeather being an antagonist in PO3 instead of not wanting to make him look bad. It’s just weird the erins flip flop between “this character is evil” and “this character is ok” so much it’s FRUSTRATING :/

Favourite AU (alternate universe) concept? 

Answered here! 

Warrior code rule you think is best?

Always help a kitten in need, no matter their heritage! I know that’s not the exact wording but anyways. Perhaps I’m biased because I, in general, don’t like reading about child death (I know it happens and I can handle it in some plots but sometimes it’s just so excessive), but in general I think it’s one of the best and genuinely helpful code laws, especially because kittens always deserve a chance at life. I think the second best rule would be the one that states a warrior does not need to kill to win a battle, because I think that adds a lot more depth (potentially) to how warriors value the lives of others and creates a bigger scene? scandal? when someone is killed in battle versus dying of wounds later on. It also, again, keeps the youngsters like apprentices safe!

Warrior code rule you think shouldn’t exist/should be changed?

If you know me, you won’t be surprised because it’s the same answer as always: the leader’s word is law. I’ve spoken a lot about that code before and even have a comic about its flaws, so I won’t go into it too much here, but I just think it’s a recipe for disaster.

Describe your ideal vision of Starclan/clan afterlife.

Hmmm let’s see… my ideal vision of StarClan/clan afterlife would be a little bit like what it’s like in canon at the moment but with a few twists. I think the borders would dissolve in StarClan so there’d be less in-fighting (though I imagine, after growing up your whole life hating your neighbors, a lot of cats have a hard time getting used to the no-boundary life-style of StarClan, and a lot of young/new spirits tend to stick within their own Clan cliques before venturing out and meeting former members of other Clans. Older spirits would be the ones most used to interacting with former members of other Clans). I think there’d be sections that mimic the corporeal Clan’s territories in theme, but with different landmarks and such so that new spirits have a new world to explore. I’d also take away the fading aspect because I don’t really think that’s… fair? I guess? It’s weird to me but I’d prefer not to go into it. I’d also make it so that there’s no great wisdom to these cats - or, at least, the wiser StarClan spirits are the ones that have been around for as long as anyone can remember. They wouldn’t be able to interfere with the living as much in canon and can only really visit medicine cats, or possibly leaders, in dreams; anyone else has to go to the sacred area to commune with the dead. Not sure what else though! This is just kind of a general idea.

Traditional or non-traditional naming. Thoughts?

I think both have their merits! While I prefer traditional naming systems because I enjoy seeing the way people develop suffix meanings and assign well-known meanings to them (and even connotations!), plus it helps me personally assign even the smallest trait to a side character so they feel just a little more real, I see why people would enjoy non-traditional naming systems as it does give more breathing room for individual name creation. Also, I’m not gonna lie, there’s some gorgeous lyrical names out there that flow beautifully. My heart will always belong to traditional naming, though, I think. 

If traditional: What non-traditional suffix would you include in your system? If non-traditional: What’s your favourite canon suffix?

Traditional! I actually have included some non-traditional suffixes in my system, just for variety! But those are: -throat, -pool, -belly, -fern, -bee, -berry, -chirp, and -tooth, for example. There’s actually quite a few more but I don’t wanna list every single addition shfbd!

Best thing about the clan system as a concept in your opinion?

Hard to pick, honestly! But I do think the best thing about clans as a system is their unity; they’re a little society that has each other’s backs, and the care for young and elderly a lot is touching!

Favourite Warriors fanfiction (or fanfiction writer)?

HA this might be an obvious answer, but 100% solacefruit on ao3 (also: @/ailuronymy and @/burnt-sycamore on tumblr!). His worldbuilding is to die for and there’s something so charming and attention grabbing about his writing style that always has me waiting for the next update. Seriously, probably one of my biggest writer inspirations. 

Favourite Warriors fanartist (includes animators)?

Answered here!

Most interesting villain?

Mapleshade and Sol, honestly. I’ve rambled about Mapleshade before, I think, but I think her story could have had a lot of potential to call out the misogyny and bias of StarClan and the code, and how mollies are often punished harsher than the toms for their code-breaking. Her story also features how weird the warriors are with the warrior code - it’s like they cherry pick what they want to believe? Oakstar sends three innocent kittens out of the Clan, presumably to die (which they do), despite the code speaking to never endanger a kitten’s life no matter their heritage, and no one ever questions him, or the rest of ThunderClan, for standing by to watch kittens die? Even Frecklewish outright stated she watched the kittens die and did nothing about it. Why? Why was everyone okay with punishing Mapleshade for breaking a rule of the code but no one questioned Oakstar or anyone else in ThunderClan for kicking out the kits alongside Mapleshade, when it was Mapleshade’s crime and not the kits? And why doesn’t Appledusk get punished or ostracized by his clanmates as severely as Mapleshade did? It had a lot of potential but it’s just a mess. Anyways - onto Sol. Another interesting concept kinda messed up by the Erins. In general, I really love villains that are just nuisances at best and no real threat - kind of like Heinz Doofenshmirtz - and with Sol’s backstory being the way it was, he was the perfect opportunity to have him be this little antagonistic shithead who, while annoying and causing problems, wasn’t actually a serious threat, and he of all villains would have had the best shot at redemption I think.

Favourite canon clan?

RiverClan! I love their aesthetic, their territory, and their general vibes. In love with water-based places <3!!

What would you ask Erin Hunter, if you could?

“Would you hand the series off to a new team of writers?” All good series must come to an end, but with Warriors being as broad as it is, I think this is a series where spin offs can be made and still thrive - just not with the current author staff we have at the moment. There’s lots of people with amazing, creative ideas for Warriors, and I know this is just a fantasy at best, but I would love to see a new writing team take over and weave brand new stories and worldbuilding with it in spin-offs. Hell, even I’d love to take a crack at publishing a Warriors spin off, but, again, it’s a fantasy at best.

Top five prefixes (canon or otherwise)?

Sorrel-, Chub-, Mink-, Rose-, and Vervain- (you can tell I like these prefixes considering these are all prefixes of characters featured in my webcomic besides Sorrel-, which is used for my wcsona’s name ha!) Honorable mentions to: Black- (or any color based prefix like Yellow-, Red-, Ginger-, Blue-, Gray-, White-, etc. I don’t know why but I’m fond of them), Beetle-, and Fidget- (which isn’t a traditional prefix, but I think it’s cute hehe.)

Top five suffixes (canon or otherwise)?

Just narrowing down for traditional because I need a smaller pool to pick from habdfsd but! -face, -flower, -stripe, -storm and -nose! 

If you were on Drunk Warriors Rants, what would you talk about?

I have no idea what Drunk Warriors Rants is actually but I’m assuming it’s something where you get drunk and rant about warrior cats so… I would absolutely rant about Hollyleaf and mainly the wild mischaracterization the fandom has made of her break down and the murder of Ashfur. It irks me to no end how so many people have pushed this weird concept that Hollyleaf was aware her parents were Crowfeather and Leafpool when she murdered Ashfur to the point that most people I talk to genuinely don’t realize this, because not only does it just make so sense narratively but I feel like it really does take away from the depth that is her character. I think Hollyleaf is one of the few characters we get, like, an actual depth to, who is developed beyond “typical protagonist with love interest”, and has an interesting arc, downfall, and redemption. When she killed Ashfur, she was totally unaware that Leafpool and Crowfeather were her parents - in fact, the entirety of Sunrise is about Hollyleaf, Jayfeather, and Lionblaze trying to figure out who their parents are, so I honestly don’t know where this whole “Hollyleaf knew about her heritage when she killed Ashfur” thing came from. It really ruins her arc by making her out to be some nonsense cat who killed to keep a secret she spilled anyways, and not a cat who killed to keep a secret she didn’t fully understand yet, who then completely unraveled once she discovered the origins and how her existence completely went against everything she was raised to believe in.

What would your warrior name be?

Pretty obvious answer but my warrior name would be Sorrelstream! Or possibly Sorrelstripe, but I lean towards Sorrelstream. I love to swim a lot actually but I wouldn’t say I’m a particularly strong or skilled swimmer but hey… It’s my warriors sona and I get to give him one (1) skill.

Bonus questions:

Describe your favourite original Warriors characters! 

HONESTLY this question is a little tough because I have such a huuuge cast of original warrior characters it’s hard to narrow down! I’d say if you’re interested in hearing more about my ocs or seeing them in action to check out my @/roseface blog, which is dedicated to my wc comic, or check out my ao3 account (kiittenteeth) because I’ll probably be posting warriors-centric original character stories there soon!

Describe your original Warriors clans! 

Heyyy fun fact! I’m actually working on a small novel fanfic (only about ten chapters long) featuring my fanclans! They’re a group of four Clans set in an abandoned gated neighborhood/area - FernClan (located in the local abandoned mall), PondClan (located in the abandoned golf course), GleamClan (located in the local abandoned restaurant/diner), and FieldClan (located in the abandoned K-12 academy school). I won’t go too much into them here since I want to explore their worldbuilding in my fic, but keep an eye out for them when I drop the first chapter of Ribs! 

Talk about your feelings about the Warriors series! 

Oh man. A lot. The series itself is… disappointing, at best, but I’m awfully attached to it no matter how many times I try to break away from it. It was my biggest media interest growing up (keyword: media), so it’s a pretty big part of me and the way I grew up. Plus I met a good chunk of my friends through warrior cats related areas, so :’)!!! It’s a series that despite all its flaws is incredibly close to me but I’m mainly here to read everyone’s fan content because MAN does the fan content go above and beyond!

(Asked by @/whocares-idont) What’s your opinion on fan made Clan pantheons? 

I LOOVE fan made Clan pantheons actually! Mythology was always something I loved learning about as a kid, and I’m particularly fond of the worldbuilding people make for the Warriors setting. I feel like creating a pantheon and mythos tied to it adds to the depth of the world and makes it all the more interesting and realistic, especially since mythology is such a huge part of so many cultures, both ancient and modern one. I think creating pantheons really adds to the setting people make with warriors, and, honestly, they’re always really fun to read about!!

[dovewingz]

good question!!!! i dont know

ok im kidding... sort of. 

at that point, the dark forest would’ve created 2-3 fake signs already that were “interpreted” by mothwing and that would’ve directly caused Something Bad to happen to the clans (nothing major, mothwing would not let the clan(s) be in any real danger, but enough to get some cats wondering why starclan keeps hurting them). 

during part of power of three + especially omen of the stars, cloudtail (and mothwing, sometimes) would’ve been kinda insulting/complaining about things in relation to starclan (more than usual). just questioning little things in the system. getting cats uneasy, getting them to question the system as well. (this idea was NOT tigerstar’s. he was def like “we should kill someone and then blame it on starclan!” and every1 else was like “no u idiot” and someone like mapleshade suggested the starting with small things idea)

ANYWAYS blah blah blah. the dark forest attacks starclan in starclan territory

there are lots of little things that affect starclan negatively in the battle... 

> living cats who just. couldn’t fuckin get to starclan cause they couldn’t fall asleep lol f

> mothwing and cloudtail’s supporters, who think that, yeah! the system does suck wtf starclan!

> those who were persuaded by the fake signs too

> trainees on dark forest’s side (which. remain the same... redwillow, breezepelt and possibly antpelt) 

> the starclan rebels and their whole existence obv lol 

alsooo some stuff that happens during the battle

> cats seeing kits in the dark forest and not wanting to fight them bc either a) they are still kits or b) they recognise them (like snowkit/tuft and mosskit/heart, for example)

> certain dark forest warriors refusing to attack living cats and only attacking starclan, which is Confusing to many

> mothwing and cloudtail straight up being like “they are DUMB DEAD CATS why are we fighting for them”

WOO OKAY SOO

as the battle goes on, more n more cats stop fighting or switch sides. 

just like in canon, ivypool faces hawkfrost, but he refuses to attack her. she’s a living cat, shes not the enemy. then, hollyleaf attacks him but this time its out of Genuine Fury rather than her protecting ivy. theres one of those overdramatic “kill me i dare u” scenes. hawk is probably just like tells her that even if she kills him she’ll still go to starclan after all ASHFUR is in starclan.

and bam boom chaos descends bc obviously, hollyleaf doesn’t think that ashfur deserves to be in starclan (shes right but whatever anyways). hollyleaf says he’s bullshitting but he swears he isn’t. hollyleaf and ivypool begin to doubt the system too now. 

i.... don’t know what happens after this. HOWEVER i do know it would be Very Cool if firestar himself switches sides and he and tigerstar fight side by side, not enemies for once, and defeat starclan. but. im not sure how possible that idea is

cool cool cool so this story has a Happy Ending. starclan is defeated!!!!!! oh heck yes. they find the root of the problem and i’d like to say the og leaders are like gods or something and theyve been twisting this Evil plan from the beginning cause thats funkyyy but who knows what i’ll do? i dont 

oh also. one last THING. since i headcanon that both the dark forest and starclan keep their wounds once they die (in different ways, tho, df is more gruesome), after stc is defeated, the dark forest cats’ wounds fade. like completely. theyre not longer the “”evil”” enemies of starclan, and theyre not... well, starclan cats, either. they become something else, something better, something good. so they dont have post-dead wounds anymore

that was a mess. 

one day i will return with a better plot and more thought out ideas, i swear.