#tigerclaw’s influence

[warriors-ideas]

Fireraven AU where after Firestar becomes leader he invites Ravenpaw and Barley into ThunderClan. Barley refuses but insists that Ravenpaw should go bc he needs to confess to Firestar. He does, the two become mates and Ravenpaw finally gets his warrior name! Suggestion: Ravenwing, Ravensong, Ravencry

🔥🐦‍⬛

[skuffypaw]

where’d you get those wounds, darkpaw?

[tangledinink]

SO, I WAS REREADING THE MAIN COMIC, AND I FOUND THIS-

AND IT REMINDED ME OF THIS

ARE THESE CONNECTED OR AM I LOOKING TOO FAR INTO THIS?

You're not looking too far at all! :3c

[wc-confessions]

i have a question for you. what’s your fav warrior cat. if so, tell me about them…

tigerclaw. ramble under the cut but basically hes a cool villain i think a lot about how he could have been better if the erins and the publishers werent pussies

anyway hes such a complex character and the result of how living by the code so devotedly can fuck up your views and just how terrible clan life is. there are many cats who are examples of this but tigerclaw is so special to me in his way of exhibiting this. if you really consider it, he truly believed he was doing something good and bringing the clans to how they should be. like he grew up with the code being heavily enforced and the adults around him that he idolized and trusted selfishly using the code to justify their actions and beliefs. like its not only thistleclaw if you think about the enviornment he lived in. whats more doesnt really help that he was already seen as a threat or a nuisance as a freaking kitten. of course hes going to grow older and assume theres a certain path for him, and that he should trust and encourage the code no matter what. i also dont believe him wanting to be leader or deputy was him being selfish or knowingly evil, rather, him believing he was truly meant for those roles. therefore it was only right for him to do what he must to get his way to make things as they should be. he viewed himself as someone rightously abiding by the rules established by his ancestors, someone worthy to set the clans in their places and lead them to rightousness. then having to witness changes to the clans def prbly set him off further, and he just knew in his head he was the one. i can admit that his actions seemed hypocritical considering his relationship with sasha and the way he went about things, but i truly believe they were like more than they seemed. for one i dont think he believed he was going against his beliefs or perhaps he recognized this but didnt think it was a bad thing if he was still making 'right'. then i think he also had this mindset that his actions were a part of a greater plan or what he believed to be a part of his plan, that he jad to do certain things make choices to reach his goal. additionally, becaise of the way he grew up, i think he believed it was better to sort of repress his emotions. like i think a lot of his actions were driven by his inner emotions and there are times where he kind of breaks the whole cold frame and we get kind of a different character (my Favourite scene is when he kind of expresses like a different, emotional side after meeting his kids again even if he doesnt outright share his feelings and for a moment as he witnesses this firestar sees him as a person not like the enemy in his story that drove him to that point. but then hes unsure if its some sort of ploy. then thats never brought up again bc the early wc the erins just Did That)(another scene i wanna talk abt is how prior to the reveal hes shown to be kind of fearful of ravenpaw giving away what hes done before he just plots to get rid of him does anyoneremeber when firestar catches him freaking out at the gathering and wonders why the fuck is he acting weird. i really think at some point he just got better at being evil lying cold etc it was never something he was good at or born with it it was developed and fed). it just makes you wonder if everything was better what kind of person would he have been. then his relationship with others ugh hes shown to be caring and hearty within the clan in the start even tho its SO MINOR. i believe it just says a lot about him. hes respected nd he likes his place he believes hes deserving of leading the clans to greatness he can do it and everyone makes him believe so but then there are those who want to change those ways theyre threatening him and his ideal way of the clans built so perfectly by the code and its pure people. i could go on and on but i dont want to make this too too long

but idk i feel like a lof of the things about tigerclaw early on are ignored because people focus on the depiction after tpb. in which hes another soulless power hungry bad guy also he hates his kids despite what we are shown before. because early on in the series you can see the erins wanted something interesting for him and his relationship with firestar with other characters, his way of thinking, the way he priorities the code, how his enviornment altered him. and yet thats all thrown away all the concepts are replaced its poorly developed and its just makes me go bangs my fist why why why we could have had it better fuck the erins

[cryptidclaw]

Star Tigerclaw

Design Notes:

Here he is!!! Tigerclaw based on a white tiger!!! love this design so much ??? omggg

he has his mother Snowstorm's blue colorpoint gene , but he has dark black stripes like his dad Thistleclaw!

Character Bio:

Star Tigerclaw

Straight; Cis Tom; he/him

Age as of 1st arc's beginning: 4 cycles, 4 moons; ~33 Hyrs

Title meaning: -claw =  a cat who is very skilled in battle; they fight ferociously with their claws; may have distinctive claws, most likely extra large or sharp.

Warrior -> Guard Charge -> Second of Thunder Order; he was in line due to being Star Bluefrost's nephew. He was banished for murder and an attempted takeover of the Order.

Leader of Shadow Order; was in no way in line for Shadow leadership, he convinced the Order that he would be their best choice for leadership, as he came from a long line of powerful leaders and he would keep the Order strong after their many recent losses.

Second: Vulturemask; was in line and should have been leader due to being the previous Shadow Leader (Star Brokentail)'s Second and mate.

Mentor: Star Sunfall

Mother: Snowstorm

Father: Thistleclaw

Siblings: Sky; Shine; Shimmer; Lynxstorm

Ex-Mates: Goldenflower; Star Leopardpelt (Political marriage, ended when Tiger died)

Kits: Swift; Brambleflower; Star Tawnyclaw; Mothwing; Tadpolefrog; Star Hawkfrost

Grandkits: Falconclaw; Jaywing; Dove; Dawnpelt; Goldenheart; Flamespirit; Dovesong; Ivythorn; Junipersnow; Dandeliondust

Other notable kin: Star Pineheart (grandfather); Leopardfoot (Grandmother); Sootfur (nephew); Sorreltail (niece); Rainwhisker (nephew)

Character notes: Tigerclaw actually did truly love Goldenflower, and he was actually a pretty good mate and father before this betrayal was revealed. Golden cat divorced him during his banishment and Tiger chose to become mates with Star Leopardpelt soon after as a political marriage, this relationship was loveless and only for political gain and a continuation of their bloodline through their kits.

Character Backstory:

Tigerclaw and Lynxstorm were Thistleclaw and Snowstorm's second litter, their first was one of three kits which all tragically passed due to a premature birth (their names, Sky, Shine and Shimmer were given in reference to the Stars, as they joined them almost as soon as they were born).

Thistleclaw took great interest in Tigerclaw, as he was the strongest, and most alike him out of the pair of brothers. Due to this Tiger was greatly influenced by Thistle, with his father trying to pass on as much of his ideals and attitude as possible. The tom often gave Tiger extra training sessions in the dark forest, or during the night, sometimes White would be included as well though he never went to the Dark Forest (Thistle knew that White would tell on them).

Snowstorm died early on into her sons' apprenticeships and as a result Thistle became even more rash and cruel which only increased the extreme extra training Thistle put Tiger, and sometimes Lynx under. Thistleclaw's cruelty and actions made his sons hate him (they had also noticed how cruel he could be to their mother before her death as well, and hated him even more for it), White stayed away from his father all together, however Tiger wanted to continue training with him to increase his power and skill.

Despite hating his father and denying that he would ever become a cat like him, Tiger took on much of Thistle's teachings, the tom is adamantly anti-outsider and codebreaking and is very bloodthirsty just like his father. Though maybe Tigerclaw never fully believed the anti mixed blood, outsider and adamant code following ideals, maybe deep down he just liked them because it gave him power over other cats, and a seemingly "devout" and "loyal" exterior.

The first cat Tiger ever killed was Thistleclaw, after Thistle's grooming of Spotted was revealed Tiger joined Bluefrost, Lynxstorm and Redtail in assassinating Thistleclaw. Tiger hated his father and despite him agreeing with many of his views, he was horrified by his actions towards Spotted. He had other motives as well, Thistle was a high ranking warrior who used his power to control Tiger for his own gain, Tiger did not want to be anyone's pawn, he wanted the power for himself. After killing his father Tiger realized how much he liked the power in killing a cat, which wasn't all to surprising, but it was all the more reason he was so willing to kill later in his life.

Despite being an obviously bloodthirsty and increasingly cruel cat, Bluefrost refused to believe that her nephew was anything like his father. She desperately wanted to trust her sister's kits, and Tigerclaw was apprenticed to Blue's pseudo father Star Sunfall who Blue was certain would counteract any of Thistle's impact on Tiger. Of course Blue didn't know about Tiger's extra training, nor did she know about his secret lust for power.

[mommyclaws]

The aspect that REALLY got me into Tigerclaw as a villian is the fact that Starclan decided there was no way to change his fate other than killing him as an innocent kit.

Not an omen to change his mentor, who's violence heavily influenced him.

Not guiding him in his dreams onto the right path.

Not warning those around him.

Not changing the very code and rules he abuses to get away with cruelty.

A MAJORITY of the time, Starclan does not believe in redemption at all. If you are "evil", if you break the rules even once... They look at the ending instead of how you ended up in the situation you did. Making the choices you did. All that matters is what you've done wrong. Such a haunting concept.

Was there TRULY no way to change the fate of an innocent kit or was Starclan just too afraid of him to try? They saw what he could become and decided his quick, quiet death was the only solution.

Could Tigerclaw have been something more if Starclan hadn't abandoned him from the start?

[thedawningofthehour]

hello! I‘m in love with your work!

How would the relationship between Draxum’s mother and Galois be, if they had met?

Also (a bit unrelated) we know Draxum would kill anyone who physically/mentally abused or assaulted Galois! But if Draxum was made to choose, between either Galois regaining his memory (and remembering he is Donatello) or Galois getting badly hurt (or abused/csa‘d) what would he choose?

Hi! Thank you for saying so! I'm in love with everyone who gives me attention. :)

Well, leaving out the fact that Galois just wouldn't exist if the deaths of Draxum's parents and sister hadn't happened as they did. And that his parents would be quite old by this point, probably around a thousand, so it's not out of the question that they would have died of old age by now.

But ignoring both those factors, she would have loved him. Basically all the chaos and bad influence of Bella, but completely unhindered by Draxum because she doesn't care if this is his house, she's his mother and she's the boss. She would absolutely encourage him to be his most chaotic self and drive his father crazy. And he'd find her very liberating, with the strict upbringing he would have had. They'd conspire together to set Drax up with Tigerclaw.

Honestly, that holds true for all the boys, and for Bella and Pax too to an extent. Their parents weren't strict, but I see Draxum's mother as being almost manic at times so she would have thrived in her 'crazy grandma' role. His father was much more reserved-he actually would have bonded with Galois more, now that I'm thinking about it, with a lot of their interests Gale now shares with Draxum. Now I'm thinking about Draxum taking care of plants with his son and thinking about how he used to do that with his own father not that long ago.

And, oof, that's a tough one.

Right now, I'd say Draxum would think he'd choose the latter. He'd do anything to keep his son from being hurt, of course, but if he was-Draxum's a healer, he can fix any physical injury and kill whoever's responsible, and then he can be there for his son and help him heal in any way he needs. Emotionally, physically, he'll be whatever Galois needs. They can come back from that. His son would be okay.

If Gale reverts to Donatello, then his son is basically dead. Draxum has no way of repeating the procedure he used, even if he found someone capable of performing the ritual he'd also have to cover up much of the last year and a half, overwrite a lot of the memories that were meddled with the first time, and every complication just drives up the chances of something going wrong and completely frying him. Not to mention Draxum did hurt him, very badly, and if he remembers what Draxum did to him then it's the same mental trauma he'd be getting in the other scenario, with the added emotional baggage of knowing it was Draxum who did it to him. And at the end of it all Draxum wouldn't be able to help, the very memory of Draxum ever helping him would turn to poison in Donnie's head. Gale learning what Draxum did to him would absolutely destroy him, and Draxum knows that. He doesn't want to lose his son, and he also doesn't want his son to have to live with that. It can't hurt him if he never finds out.

I can't really go into what his answer would be post Donnie-return without major spoilers, but Draxum is really going to have to confront how he compartmentalized Galois away from Donatello and how much of his decisions were made out of selfishness. Goatman is going to be doing a lot of thinking in Book 4.

[mud-castle]

Is fireheart still basically adopted by bluestar and yellowfang?

With Bluestar, yeah. Bluestar was the closest thing Fireheart had to a mother figure for the first year or so of his life. If you asked either of them, they'd probably assert that they have a normal mentor-apprentice relationship. But Fire is clearly much closer to his mentor than most cats. Pushed on by the fact that Tigerclaw encouraged it to help both their standings in the clan. Which made the fallout of his betrayal much worse.

Yellowfang no. Fire is not immune to clanborn influences so he's a lot less inclined to be around her. They have some sort of relationship where she mocks him and sneaks some advice in while he tries to ignore her. This is mostly when he becomes friends with Sandstorm. Not a mother so much as a sort-of-friend sort-of person he tolerates for a conversation in the end.

[bonefall]

tbh it makes no sense that mapleshade would ally with tigerstar considering the way he canonically wanted to murder stormpaw and featherpaw for being halfclan kits…you’d think she’d want to beat his ass for pulling that shit

Honestly I feel like Mapleshade's motivations as they follow through the books always feel wonky. She doesn't feel like a character with a consistent narrative, her personality and actions seem to wobble all over the place.

Unfortunately the most consistent trait about her, across multiple books, is that she is a Girl Villain. She makes a lot of comments about her looks, motherly pain, and romance. Her strengths are also not established, she's an active general-type in OotS, a bloodline curse in Crookedstar's Promise, a satan-like bad influence in Tigerclaw's Fury, and a minion desiring a young molly's pretty body in TBC.

I like the Mapleshade's Vengeance story and characterization of her above all the others, but I do feel like it's not super consistent with ANY of her alliances going forward in the timeline.

Her pain is that she lost her children, so it feels kind of odd she's tormenting Crookedkit. I can accept it as part of her grudge against Appledusk, though.

After all, the idea she's a vengeful spirit haunting his bloodline is super fun as a gimmick. Like she's blinded to the morality of it all at this point, dogged in her goals.

But still, it seems downright unfitting she'd be whispering into Tigerclaw's ear as a demon if that's the case. You'd think she would only start to get close when she realizes Tiger can be used to torment an Applekin (which storm and feather are through their mother's side) directly, not playing the long game.

Plus, mixed blood was the reason her kittens died. With the backstory they gave her, you'd think it would set her off more. Even if they are Applekin.

But a lot of the time they don't seem to know what to do with her. Like when she attacked Sandstorm, of all people, for having a husband. Felt absolutely random.

[doctorjoob]

Could I request SpottedTiger, either just as a pairing, or for a hypokit? :> If not, that's absolutely fine!

Oki!! This is of course in a universe where they aren’t weirdly retconned into being related (same for anything else I’ll draw. I refuse to draw anything incestuous. It’s icky)

Behold! Spottedtiger painting! I like to have them do this in shifting stars too. Tigerclaw tryharding and focusing super hard while Spottedleaf is just having fun and probably messing with him. Plus a bonus in the top left lol

And here we have Batfeather and Fenneltail!

Name explanation and such under break thing!

Bat for their ears and tendency to sit and listen rather than talk, with feather being from their stealth and being quiet, along with Featherwhisker and Goosefeather influencing Spottedleaf on that choice!

Fennel because it’s a sweet and fuzzy looking plant. I imagine fennel herself is a chaotic sweetheart really. Tail comes from Redtail! Maybe she was his apprentice, or just super close with him! I love legacy naming man

I made Spottedleaf based a bit off of a sick/infected leaf, while Tigerclaw is of course based off of a tiger (shocking I know)

Their dynamic is super fun to play around with tbh. The banter would be legendary. Even just as childhood crushes, the tragedy and drama of her dying as a result of his actions……….

[troutfur]

This might be very ramble because I have a lot of thoughts on ol Thistleclaw as a spirit.

Maybe Thistleclaw sorta has a weird position as a spirit due to his clan loving him, and everyone else fucking despising him. Usually one or the other is stronger, but here it is even enough that his soul got warped really weirdly from the energies. So what you have is some kind of border spirit.

Even Thunderclan acknowledges that he is far too violent and vicious to be a guardian spirit, but is instead maybe represented by a ever growing Thistlebush on the border

Like, a massive thicket along the border that grows the more xenophobic/anxious/tense Thunderclan is towards other clans. Making it far harder to enter.

Under Firestar when tensions are down, most of the thicket dies off and you can just walk into the clan, maybe loosing power as cats don't really want to remember him in a good light after the Tigerstar mess.

However, as Thunderclan maybe backslides or whenever tensions are high and war is on the horizon, he turns into almost a pseudo Starclan cat with Thunderclan being more reverent and treating him like spirit of protection rather than a ghost story. And that's when the thicket grows to encompass a LOT of the border.

Like, his position in clan culture, whether being seen as a dark blotch and something not to be talked about, or a respected ancestor and spirit of protection, varies wildly depending on how the Clan is, and his power and influence as a result.

YES! I love this yes!

In his afterlife Thistleclaw inhabits a bush that grew almost miraculously from the spot where his blood was shed in a battle over Sunningrocks. During Bluetar's early leadership the bush stays relatively small and contained. She warns people not to interact with it but some who still remember him fondly sometimes leave him a dead mouse or other piece of prey.

After Tigerclaw's betrayal and the paranoia she felt, the bush slowly but surely begins to grow and grow. But that growth is abruptly cut down just as Firestar comes into power. And it's downright moribund through the destruction of the forest.

Somehow its seeds travel with the ThunderClan caravan though. And as they set roots and begin setting the border it grows. Firestar dies to the fox trap (another Haneossia change I'm committed to) and as Brackenstar and his deputy Brambleclaw go in their leadership their diplomacy keeps the bush somewhat at bay but it certainly is gaining some strength. By now very few even suspect this is Thistleclaw's spirit, but the DF trainees know.

Time passes and by the time Bramblestar ascends the bush is rather healthy. And when the imposter is running things in ThunderClan the bush has become an outright fence encircling ThunderClan territory.

The most curious thing about the bush is that although it leaves nasty cuts on any outsider trying to cross, ThunderClan cats can pass through it without a scratch.

[brackenfur]

i’ve always been someone who rly didn’t care either way if swiftpaw is tigerclaws biological son or not - canon (where he isn’t) works fine for me, but aus where he is also interest me too. but i think as of late i actually rly have warmed up to the concept of swiftpaw being tigerclaws first born kit and how swiftpaws character would be influenced by it….as a kit and young apprentice he looked up to his father so much, but tigerclaw didn’t rly pay much attention to him. he was deputy, Scheming with a capital S - swiftpaw didn’t rly understand why his father claimed him but didn’t care to spend time with him, and then after tigerclaws exile he’s very glad to be under the radar and for everyone to have forgotten that he’s also tigerclaws kid because of the shame

[aiiria17]

I (re)read Warriors: Into the Wild

Hi I'm Ari.

When I was younger (like late elementary/early middle school) I absolutely loved the Warrior Cats series. Like seriously I loved these books to death. I actually have read the first three books of the original arc like 10 times as a kid because I didn't have the rest but still loved it so much. I remember liking the medicine cats (Yellowfang and Jayfeather were my two favorite characters as a kid).

Well anyways that was then. Today I am a grown adult who just was like "hey I wonder if I was right to have an obsession with the cat books" so I'm going to read the books (and probably do these write ups) until I get bored. Well that's it for an introduction here's my thoughts:

Firepaw is a really fun main character who's perfectly flawed

Look at him. He's so orange

I honestly remember Firepaw (and later Fireheart) being kind of an infuriating main character when I was a kid. He just kind of seemed, to 9 year old me, like he was super reckless about dealing with problems. As a not 9 year old Firepaw actually is pretty neat.

So one I now understand that his backstory is literally not wanting to get his balls cut off and that's super funny.

And two I just can appreciate his flaws now way more. Like why would he break warrior law or whatever? Because he's literally like under a year old it's not shocking he's going to break the rule of "no eating while hunting" on day like 2 of clan cating. His flaws are great at illustrating how he is still, deep down, having to adapt to a significant change to his life.

Also his handling of Ravenpaw's situation (kind of rushed as a arc but still good) is great at foreshadowing both his leadership ability which will... uh... be a little important for him later some may say.

I want to write more but the main things I didn't like as a kid came in the next two books so I'm going to hold out until then.

Tigerclaw is a banger villain like oh my god he's so good

yeah close enough

I think Tigerclaw is the perfect villain. He's manipulative in such a clever way. He is able to exploit the social structure the series is built around as part of his villainy. The reason he succeeds is because of the fact that he is plain and simple strong. He's meant to expose the flaw with the way clans function by showing that his extreme "earned" social influence and the loyalty of his clanmates are used to do evil.

He's also genuinely scary. We as readers see through Firepaw's eyes and, to him, Tigerclaw is this massive figure who seems impossible to beat physically and socially. Tigerclaw is the perfect insurmountable force for Firepaw to have to go against because he just feels impossible. Even though I know he's dealt with (again, read like 10+ times when I was a kid) as a current reader it makes me want to see how Firepaw (now Fireheart technically but whatever) is able to take him down.

I didn't expect my reaction to rereading would be seeing the beauty in how Tigerclaw functions in the story but oh my he's so so well done

Yellowfang was child me's favorite in this arc. I was spitting

She's simply so awesome.

It's everything. All of her dialogue is amazing. Her character is beautifully done. She's a cat who had truly given up on life after being kicked out but ended up being drawn by her innate though hidden desire to protect so much so that Yellowfang risks her life multiple times for the kits of cats that hated her. She's genuinely so strong and noble in the not boring way.

It's a unique look on strength. Normally strength is shown like Lionheart: a strong, steady, good decision maker who's meant to be an inspiration to the kids. You'd definitely let Lionheart raise your kids. But Yellowfang isn't that at all. She's shady, rude, but still shows the strength of heart is spite of her initial appearance. What a genuinely incredible character. I probably don't want to cover most of the big like 500 pagers but I remember loving Yellowfang's as a kid so I might do that one. Also the Bluestar one.

Why am I so invested in these books?? I am literally and adult why??

Is this fine literature? No.

Did Into the Wild make me, someone who doesn't read much, actually actively want to read? Somehow, yes.

I see how I would burn through these as a kid they are like incredible junk food. The twix bars of literature. I mean it's not like nutritious but wow is it just good on the heart. I liked the book quite a bit and couldn't put it down.

I don't care that I'm not the same demographic the book caters to. I'm having fun reading and that doesn't happen for me much. So I shamelessly will say I liked this book. I mean it's shameless because I'm putting this on Tumblr in the Warrior cats tag I wouldn't like tell my dad or anything.

Miscellaneous funny things:

There's a scene where an Ravenpaw hunts an adder and brings it back and it falls over his neck. For just one moment Ravenpaw was dripped out. I think about this scene more than any other in this book. I love Ravenpaw. I know he got his own book and I'll get to that eventually maybe. I didn't feel like writing a whole thing for him but I'm so glad he's living it up in the twolegplace. May my boy stay fashionable forever.

Also Riverclan were like massive cowards just Crookedstar being like "yeah take my hunting ground Shadowclan I don't even need to discuss it with my clan" bro if I was one of those weird webbed cats I'd be SOOO mad.

Also Also Firepaw was like super mourning Spottedleaf but they only interacted like three times and all of them were her doing her job. The mourning was kinda awkward cause like he didn't know her that well.

OKAY I'M DONEZO

I'm going to reread Fire&Ice next. Will post about that too. Thanks for reading I actually do appreciate it and would love to hear your thoughts, too. My plan is to at least read through Omen of the Stars because that's what I read through as a kid. Maybe beyond who knows

[the-owl-tree]

its so weird how each time tigerstar is shown now he gets retroactively made less and less subtle. like the whole point in tpb was that nobody suspected him because he was a trustworthy and loyal warrior. he manages to turn the entire clan on ravenpaw and scheme with brokenstar behind everybodys backs. hes supposed to be a skillful manipulator, but one you believe because he SEEMS trustworthy. blatantly evil living!tigerstar is so. it annoys me a lot

RIGHT!!! like what made tigerclaw threatening in the beginning was his influence, he was untouchable compared to newcomer fireheart and fireheart had to work twice as hard to find every shred of evidence, every loose end to build a case and even then it wasn't enough! he didn't even reveal tigerclaw through his investigation, tigerclaw struck before that could happen.

he does not need to be whispering about evilly changing the clans and new cats in charge and evil evil mcevil weevil

[wc-confessions]

I don't understand people who react to far fetched AUs or role reversal AUs or any kind of AUs that take characters and make them OOC with "at this point just make it an OC story".

Sometimes it's just interesting to take a character with a specific background you don't want to change, and wonder what could have happened to them if the writers took their character development in another direction (or gave them one at all in a lot of cases).

Nice Ashfur? Why not! After his trauma from Tigerclaw using his mom as a pawn in his plan, he could have a deep respect for a she-cat's independance and not get so controlling over Squirrelflight.

Evil Graystripe for some reason? Sure, his half brother's Darkstripe, he could have very well been taken under his wing young and been under Tigerclaw's influence.

Brackenfur leaving on a journey of self discovery with with Stormfur, Nightcloud and Russetfur, even though none of them have ever interacted with each other in canon or have anything in common? Why not, it's an AU after all! Have fun.

The rule of thumb of creating fan content is to have fun. And even if it's messy or far fetched or barely hangs on a thread of canon, if you enjoyed creating it with the media's characters in mind then you're all good and you shouldn't let anyone bring the mood down saying that it should be OCs because it doesn't make sense with canon. Fun doesn't always make sense!

.

[ittsbb]

Wait ya'll actually want my silly Runningwind protagonist??? I'll give you the bullet points

Runningpaw is still Bluestar's apprentice when she's Bluefur. She becomes Bluestar mid-way through his apprenticeship, and he gets a big ego about it

Mousepaw goes to Adderfang. When Adderfang dies, she's given to Patchpelt.

Runningpaw is excitable and a "act before you think" kind of character. Bluefur frequently scolds him for running off or having to haul him up by the scruff after he fell off a rock looking at that cool bird

He's closer to Sparrowpelt (Halftail) then White-eye (One-eye) but maintains a good relationship with both

He looks up to and respects Tigerclaw immensely.

He's close with the older Redpaw (Redtail, shifting the timeline a little) and it helps that his father is his mentor. Mousepaw is close with the gentler Brindlepaw (Brindleface). Frostpaw (Frostfur) is the oldest (by 10 seconds over Brindlepaw, so she claims) and is stuck up and rude. Mousepaw and her don't get along. Willowpaw (Willowpelt) is....there. Towards the end Darkpaw (Darkstripe) is apprenticed to Tigerclaw, but doesn't want to interact with the other apprentices at all.

Mousepaw is a social shut in and Runningpaw thinks she's weird but never stops trying to get her to open up.

He's generally friendly to outsiders and other clan cats, but he's easily influenced by who's with him. He's a bit of an idiot but we love him for it

His Warrior ceremony is delayed and Mousefur will never let him live it down

He's honored for his tireless energy and commitment to his clan

Redtail x Runningwind would start somewhere around here. They had been strictly friends before this but begin to see each other in a different light.

Runningwind is horrified to learn about Thistleclaw through Redtail, when Spottedleaf confesses everything to both Redtail and Willowpelt. Redtail spends alot of time plotting revenge, to the point that they almost break up over it, as its taken over his entire life. Before Redtail can act, Thistleclaw is killed during a RiverClan skirmish.

Redtail and Runningwind make amends. They talk about starting a family (Redtail is trans here. He was trans since he was apprenticed.)

They try. They have Featherkit and Cricketkit. Featherkit dies during the starvation era.

Due to the starvation killing a good chunk of the clan, Bluestar decides to make Redtail deputy, after losing Thrushpelt (ya he's deputy, it's my AU and I can do what I want)

Cricketkit gets his Warrior name, Cricketpounce.

The clan needs more Warriors. Their population hasn't gone back up since the starvation. Redtail and Runningwind decide to have another litter, resulting in Sandkit (Sandstorm)

Cricketpounce is just like Runningwind personality-wise. Redtail says "Bluestar I can either be your deputy or control my family. I can't do both."

Cricketpounce and Sandkit cause trouble and mayhem all the time.

Here's where I change things: Tigerclaw doesn't try to kill Redtail at the battle. There's too many cats around to witness. Instead, he tries setting all those traps that result in other deaths/injuries (ex. Cinderpelt)

Cricketpounce catches him setting prey for the dogs. Tigerclaw tries to kill him, a nearby patrol hears the scuffle and comes to try and save him, but Tigerclaw kills him in front of them. They hold a trial and Tigerclaw is exiled.

He still gets killed by Tigerclaw. That would be at the end of the 6th book instead of Rising Storm. Runningwind attempts to get revenge for his son. Tigerclaw taunts him before killing him.

Redtail becomes Redstar with Whitestorm as deputy.