#tnp rewrite

[mothdapple]

how much of the canon relationships are you planning on changing in shaken roots?

Lots! Many of the romantic pairings will be changed (although I won't confirm yet what the new pairing are since I'd like for everyone to discover that for themselves as they read the story.) But I am also exploring a lot of friendships or other non-romantic relationships more deeply than in canon too.

I could ramble on forever about the relationships I've been most excited about between these cats, but I'll try to limit myself to a few examples :)

(Spoilers below for the first two fics in my The New Prophecy AU Shaken Roots: Midnight and Shaken Roots: Moonrise.)

Mothwing and Hawkfrost's sibling bond is one that I absolutely adore. For the longest time, they have such a deep, co-dependent connection to each other— they are the only other cat that they can truly trust and be themself with. They are the most important person in the world to each other. They would give up anything for the other. But then Mothwing starts making decisions Hawkfrost disagrees with. He feels like he's losing her, so he tightens his grip. But the harder he hold on, the more she pulls away, because his touch no longer feels like an embrace but a smothering. There's this slow, terrible decay over the course of series until they are almost unrecognizable to the other. I'm just crazy about these two, and I love to parallel them with Feathertail and Stormfur (who start out as another pair of very codependent siblings) but they end up in such different places.

Speaking of Stormfur, people are sleeping on the potential there with his friendship with Crowpaw! They start out as rivals for Feathertail's attention, but then after her death, when they are both absolutely devastated and at their lowest, they start to bond from the grief. They are totally ride-or-die bros by the end. Feathertail would have loved to see them such good friends in life, but the tragedy is that they would have never gotten that close without her death.

Fleshing out Feathertail's and Crowpaw's romantic relationship wasn't exactly something that I was excited about per se (I was never a fan of them together in canon) but I definitely found asking the question "what the heck did she see in him???" a fun challenge to puzzle out. And I'm quite happy with the results! I feel like leaning into the idea of them both feeling like outsiders in their own Clan (for very different reasons and with different reactions: Feathertail disliking her RiverClan Clanmates, while Crowpaw craved his WindClan Clanmates' approval) gave a nice balance of something that they shared/could bond over, while not being absolutely identical struggles.

Finally, something I'm looking forward to is diving more into the Tiger kid's relationships! I haven't gotten to dig into the pairings there that were unexplored in canon yet (as in: Mothwing and Brambleclaw, Tawnypelt and Hawkfrost, Tawnypelt and Mothwing) since I haven't yet reached the point in the story where Mothwing and Hawkfrost's parentage is common knowledge. But I am excited to get to it!

[mothdapple]

Stormfur in Shaken Roots: Dawn

for real though, this sort of stuff is why I think the Warriors series has such fertile ground for fanfiction/rewrites/analysis etc. The writers craft these characters with such fascinating potential, leaving you asking like “that’s such a cool premise for a character, what are you going to do with him???”

And then the writers answer like “idk, have him never think of TigerClan once after the fact, and send him to the mountains to live with his girlfriend.”

Of course the fans are going to respond with “okay… I suppose I will have to bring out the character’s potential by myself.”

you're born in a pool of blood and filth and death and you have no mother, not really. mosspelt is kind but no one ever lets you forget where you came from. you cannot understand why they look at you and your sister the way they do. you cannot yet identify that glint in their eye. it never goes away even after your father does

you're 7 moons old and you are surrounded by blood and filth and death. the bonehill stands high and stonefur is dead and you have to go because you have no home, not really. after a moon his sister finally cries, for him, and for you. you can't bring yourself to cry anymore

you come home

you are grown and your sister is leaving but you won't let her go without you. she doesn't put up a fight. you only have each other

she is trying and you cannot understand how she does it. you've never seen her smile like that, not since before you were 7 moons old and stuffed in a den reeking of blood and filth. you feel like you never left that den

your sister's body is lying broken on the ground. there is no blood, and it's beautiful, you never imagined a place like this could exist, but your sister is lying broken on the ground and her throat scrapes out a goodbye and you have not had to say goodbye in a long time. and the air reeks of death

you say goodbye

you have no home, not really

[javatello]

Wc rewrite doodles, my rewrite ideas can be found here!

[shummthechumm]

assorted (rewrite) designs that i never posted here? das crazyyy

[northern-passage]

clementine

[mothdapple]

I think people should be more open to exploring the different dynamics that can exist between (present and former) mentors and apprentices in general! Variety is the spice of life after all, and all these different relationships can led to really interesting stories.

Parental mentorship relationships often make a lot of sense, but I think an older sibling dynamic, maybe for mentors/apprentices closer in age, is also really fun and less utilized. Then there are the indifferent to unhealthy mentorship dynamics, which we don't see a ton of. I'm thinking like Ashfur and Lionblaze: "I trained you out of obligation, but I don't like you." Or, Tigerstar and Darkstripe, where Darkstripe ended up permanently, fanatically loyal to him since he became so attached, but Tigerstar barely cared. For some more examples, I feel like it would be interesting also to see a mentor and apprentice who are unhealthily co-dependent with each other. Or, one where the apprentice character is the more emotionally mature one, so the apprentice is often forced to be the "grown up," or the one taking care of their mentor.

As for Brambleclaw and Firestar specifically, I do sometimes find portrayals of their relationship as familial really cute, but my preferred interpretation of their relationship is just like you said— walking the razor-thin line between hero-worship and resentment. I feel like there is a lot of evidence for this in canon, and it's something that I also intend on exploring more in Shaken Roots, my TNP rewrite. I interpret it as a key component of Brambleclaw's character arc in Shaken Roots, since Brambleclaw eventually being pushed towards Hawkfrost and Tigerstar hinges on him feeling isolated and resentful of his Clanmates due to their unfair judgement of him. And, obviously Firestar plays a major role in that.

When TNP begins, Brambleclaw's warrior name (and specifically the fact that Firestar named him after his father, even though Brambleclaw up until that point made it abundantly clear that he didn't want anything to do with Tigerstar) is already one big part of that resentment that is sort of lingering in the background. Then on top of that, Midnight starts with Firestar being extremely distrustful of Brambleclaw due to a misinterpretation of the "Fire and Tiger" prophecy. So why wouldn't Brambleclaw be majorly upset that Firestar was suddenly being so unfair and cold, when Brambleclaw thought that they'd gotten over the whole "I am not my father" thing ages ago? But, then again, did Firestar really ever stop seeing him as a shadow of his father, since he burdened Brambleclaw with Tigerstar's warrior name? Wasn't it bad enough that Brambleclaw already looked so much like him?

But on the other hand, Firestar is a legend; Firestar is good. Firestar defeated Tigerstar, who was bad, and so for Brambleclaw to hate Firestar, that would make him like Tigerstar. So, Brambleclaw must love Firestar and be utterly devoted to him, because the alternative is entirely too unacceptable.

So... yeah, I think Brambleclaw's feelings for Firestar should be extremely complicated with a lot of (barely) repressed resentment lol

I know where people are coming from with portraying Brambleclaw and Firestar having a parental relationship, especially since many view mentors and apprentices in general in a parental light (very good headcanon! I don't portray it like that in my fics for a multitude of reasons but I still support it 100%). But for me I have always thought, due to the way Firestar treated him, the general circumstances during the latter half of TPB, and the fact Firestar rapidly developed into a living legend type figure, that their relationship would be a lot more distant. Hero worship and idolization at best, outright resentment at worst. If anyone felt any parental feelings there, it was for sure Firestar and I can only imagine it being unreciprocated and very awkward.

[glittergoats]

dead men tell no tales

[blood-choke]

hey how are you doing? We haven’t heard anything from you in a while and I wanted to check up on you

hi i'm doing okay :-) i'm still working on the next chapter! it's just a complex chapter so it's taking me a while. lots of dialogue, which personally takes me a lot of time to perfect, plus the romance routes will lock in this chapter, which are quite complicated due to all of the possible poly variations.

i'm also currently working on my other project (northern passage) which kinda has priority at the moment since it's been over a year since i've updated it. still writing, just slow :3

[bonefall]

I was never able to really get a feel for Leafpool's personality in the books, especially since she's always contrasted with Squirrelflight who has a pretty consistent personality (at least for Warriors standards). She's kind of like Hollyleaf where they change her personality depending on what they want to happen in the plot I think. How do you approach writing her? I'm really fond of your Spottedleaf, so I was wonder if Leafpool has any fun quirks like her.

[ID: Leafpool from Warrior Cats. She is chunky, has a mane, and green eyes. Her stripes are horizontal.]

I approach Leafpool as being VERY tired. Her life is characterized as never really being in control of her own fate, being punished for any simple pleasures she takes tenfold, so I write her as becoming very defeatist. Poor girl.

Because Leafpool is never in REAL control, somehow, it gives her this air that she's in total control. You can't scare her. StarClan can tell her that her kids are cursed, Hollyleaf can tell her to kill herself, Bramblestar can jump in front of her and snarl, she's never more than briefly phased. "Yeah sure this may as well happen."

In a way, she's almost the total opposite of Jayfeather, who never met a rule he wasn't willing to punch. It is interesting that each one of the Three has a unique relationship to the fate that chains up Leafpool.

Allows herself to love Mothpaw... war breaks out and Moth has to return to RiverClan.

Tries to warn Squilf about Brambleclaw in spite of StarClan wanting them to be together, first fight with her sister ever.

Runs off with Crowfeather, returns home to find out her mentor died before she could say goodbye.

Gives birth, allows Squilf to take them, eventually gets threatened by Hollyleaf.

(side note: i am considering leafpool's name being an honor title, with her old name being Leafstripe, and Squirrelpaw failing two assessments just like Nightheart)

But a big change in my rewrite is that the dramatic scenes that aren't consistent with that resigned sorrow go to Crowfeather. He's a complete and utter ham. Leafpool isn't out here trying to name Hollykit 'Crowkit' or confessing her unwavering love for him in front of his wife and child, THAT is Crowfeather making an ass of HIMSELF in front of that wife and child lmao.

Leaf's feelings are more complicated and repressed. Hard life.

On the bright side though, there ARE changes from canon so that the Clan has more nuanced feelings about her instead of her whole life being a nonstop beatdown.

Most of ThunderClan, which heavily leans Fire Alone, agrees that Leafpool did the right thing by giving her kits to Squilf to invoke the Queen's Rights. Sure she lapsed, but Fire Alone cats are softer on the Cleric's Vow in general.

Bramblestar demoting her in Cruel Season has a VERY mixed reception. It's Leafpool!! Leafpool Moonpool!!!

Her death many years later in the Sister Raid actually tanks Bramblestar's reputation. It was seen as cruel, pointless, and avoidable, and they lost a very popular and experienced Cleric.

(side note again: still considering how the 'unclear sign' plot beat is going to go in my rewrite, because i cannot imagine jayfeather not just lying about that. "yeah yeah yeah they said yes bramblestar, im supposed to heal this cat obviously. move.")

Misc Design Stuff:

She's got a mane that you can see on Dovewing too, since Dove is Leaf's grandchild now.

Like Sandstorm, uncle Longtail, and grandpaw Runningwind, Leafpool's stripes are horizontal.

I'm still doing research into what she has specifically, but Bonefall Leafpool is intersex. Those are stud jowls.

Considering the cat version of PCOS because it explains a lot; weight gain, a receding hairline that could be shared with Lionblaze, the jowls as a facial hair parallel, difficult pregnancy, etc.

Still doing my research though.

And lastly, Mothpool is endgame in this Rewrite. They can never be together officially, but it's about the yearning. It's about finding freedom with your escapist fantasy partner or being in shackles with your true love. She chose the CHAINS.

[mothdapple]

HI YES, I HAVE LOTS OF THOUGHTS. In my The New Prophecy fanfic rewrite, Shaken Roots, the lingering impact of Tigerstar on the Clans and specifically his impact on his kits (all four of his living kits) is a major area of focus. So my thoughts here come from my writing and brainstorming on that, and are from the kids’ POVs towards their dead/demon dad, and not the other way around. 

(Long post below the cut.)

Anyway though to get into it, at least at the start of TNP, Tawnypelt definitely understands Tigerstar far better than any of her siblings since she is the only one who really had any firsthand experience with him. (Tigerstar left ThunderClan when Brambleclaw was too young to really know him.) This means that Tawnypelt has the most complicated feelings about him out of any of her siblings, but she also has had the most time to process those emotions and her connection to him in a mature way. 

Hawkfrost and Mothwing had no direct connection to Tigerstar and so could only go off what they were told about him by others. And, for Brambleclaw growing up in ThunderClan with Firestar as his mentor, Tigerstar was some kind of larger than life, storybook villain. Tawnypelt was the only one who got to see Tigerstar for who he truly was— for better and for worse (a lot of it being for worse.) This also partly explains why Brambleclaw fell under Tigerstar’s influence and manipulations in the Dark Forest while Tawnypelt did not— all Brambleclaw knows are stories, which can be distorted and exaggerated, while Tawnypelt experienced cold, hard reality.

Also since Tawnypelt is in ShadowClan, she never experiences any alienation because of her relation to Tigerstar that Brambleclaw does in ThunderClan, or to a lesser degree, Mothwing and Hawkfrost do in RiverClan after the knowledge of their father becomes public. Tawnypelt’s Clanmates can’t blame her for her connection to Tigerstar because all of ShadowClan is complicit in some degree in his crimes, so blaming Tawnypelt for anything Tigerstar did would just be pointing the finger at themselves. ShadowClan is also by far the Clan with the most forgiving attitude towards Tigerstar, seeing him as “flawed,” but having fulfilled his promise to make ShadowClan strong again. Anyway though, this means Tawnypelt feels accepted in her Clan, which puts her again as the odd one out among her siblings, since the rest of them, to some degree, are insecure in their place in their Clans. Brambleclaw obviously feels judged by his Clanmates because he is the son of Tigerstar. And Hawkfrost and Mothwing have to deal with the discrimination from their Clanmates for having outsider blood from their mother, in addition to being looked at with suspicion because of their father.

During Tawnypelt’s time in ShadowClan with Tigerstar, I can’t imagine Tigerstar being a particularly close or loving father to her. I think he was far more concerned with his kits as extensions of himself and his legacy, than concerned with getting to know any of them on a personal level. Tawnypelt also got to see the up-close the horrors of Tigerstar’s reign, his manipulative nature, and his brutality, but Tawnypelt must have some fond feelings towards Tigerstar too, since she eventually names her son after him. I think most of Tawnypelt’s fondness comes from her feeling as if Tigerstar was the one who gave her a home in ShadowClan. Tawnypelt made ShadowClan her own, but she never could’ve had that chance if Tigerstar hadn’t opened the door for her. And, despite everything else he did, she can’t help but be grateful for him for that.

All together this means that Tawnypelt has a lot of conflicting feelings for Tigerstar. She is grateful to him in someways, but also repulsed and horrified by him in others. But, in the end, she has accepted that he is a part of her, which is something she can never change, and she has come to peace with that fact. 

As for Mothwing, if Tawnypelt is arguably the closest to Tigerstar, Mothwing is certainly the most distant. Her first introduction to anything about her father came from Sasha, who imparted on her the importance of keeping her father’s identity a secret, but gave her a conflicting perspective on him by telling her how she loved him, and he was a brave and strong warrior, but also that he was a “complicated” cat. 

The next Mothwing learns of Tigerstar is by finding out about TigerClan, but TigerClan is a majorly sensitive subject in RiverClan. It’s a “those were dark days, we don’t talk about it,” sort of topic. The reason for this is that Leopardstar is ashamed and embarrassed about her role in all of it, partly because she does genuinely regret Stonefur’s death/the whole situation, but also partly because she’s proud and nothing made her look weaker than Tigerstar, when she lost all control of her Clan to him. The events were also traumatizing for many RiverClan cats, obviously Mistyfoot, Stormfur, and Feathertail most of all, who might not want to talk about it for that reason. But, even a lot of cats who weren’t so strongly traumatized by it would rather forget about it and brush it under the rug than really acknowledge how wrong it was that they lived through that and didn’t do more to stop it.

Anyway, all of this to say, when TigerClan is talked about in RiverClan, it is done so rarely and in hushed tones. So I think the full extent of the truth of TigerClan was trickled out to Mothwing slowly over time, with her finding out more and more through her apprenticeship and then young adulthood. Mothwing would have first started out thinking that Tigerstar took over RiverClan by force and killed the former deputy, since that is the narrative that is most convenient for most of RiverClan, but Mothwing would eventually understand the full role that Leopardstar and the other RiverClan cats played in allowing TigerClan to happen, and how it was a targeted execution of half-Clan cats (like Mothwing herself, which just adds to her horror.) And, she’d find out that it wasn’t just Stonefur, but Mistyfoot, Stormfur, and Feathertail had also been imprisoned during the time.

Mothwing’s relationship with Feathertail was also complicated by Tigerstar, since Mothwing knows that the reason that Feathertail went from being so warm towards her when she was a kit, to suddenly so cold, was because she found out that her father was Tigerstar. Mothwing already had difficulty making many friends in RiverClan (outside of Hawkfrost, of course) because of her being an “outsider” from her rogue-blood, and so it would have petrified her to think that if any other Clanmate found out the truth, that they would hate her as much as Feathertail does. However, it’s only later when Mothwing found out that Feathertail had been targeted by Tigerstar that she realizes that’s why Feathertail acted the way she does.

There is one other cat that Mothwing did manage to become close to, though, who is her former mentor, Mistyfoot. So imagine Mothwing’s horror when she realizes that Tigerstar wanted to kill her too. If Mistyfoot also found out the truth about Tigerstar being Mothwing’s father, Mothwing would risk losing that one other extremely important relationship that she had, just like she did with Feathertail. 

This all means that Mothwing is extremely resentful of Tigerstar. She hates him for what he did, and she hates that she never even met him, and yet he still seemed to manage to ruin so many parts of her life. She cannot fathom even being curious about him, like how Hawkfrost is. Mothwing would much rather pretend that she has no relation to Tigerstar at all, and that’s how she lives her life. If Tawnypelt has accepted the blood she shares with Tigerstar, Mothwing has excised it. 

This sort of works out for Mothwing too, since her dismissal of StarClan also works for Dark Forest spirits, so dead-Tigerstar cannot contact her even if he wanted to.

As for Tawnypelt and Mothwing interactions, I will definitely be eventually including those in Shaken Roots too! But, to give a sneak peek of my thoughts, I think Mothwing and Tawnypelt would get along well despite their different feelings towards their father. They both have this air of practicality that the other appreciates, and I think they’d absolutely enjoy complaining (or worrying) to each other about their brothers.

Hi does anyone have specific thoughts on how Tigerclaw may have interacted with his daughters or how Tawny/Moth may feel about him that you would like to share with me in paragraphs because I am all ears right now

[mothdapple]

Hi! I found you through Shaken Roots, and the rewrite is amazing! You are extremely talented to have written it! A few questions/theories I’ve developed: Is Stormfur going to end up joining the tribe, and will we still be seeing him in the second half of the rewrite? Brook has character now, and might end up choosing to go with Stormfur? Also, will you diverge much from the canon plot line, or will the series follow the original’s plot. Bonus question: WHY is there Suicide Attempt in the tags?!?

hi!! I’m so happy to hear that you’ve been enjoying Shaken Roots!

I’m going to be vague about the Stormfur and Brook questions since those are plot points that will be revealed in later chapters in Shaken Roots: Dawn, and I don’t want to spoil it! I will say that Stormfur will still appear in some capacity in the second half of the rewrite. :)

For your more general question about how much the rewrite will follow the plot in canon or diverge— the answer is sort of both. My main inspiration for Shaken Roots was to take the interesting concepts of characters and plot beats in TNP and try to bring out their full potential that I felt like canon stumbled with.

So looking at the first two books, you can see that in broad strokes, the plot is the same between canon and Shaken Roots, in Midnight and Moonrise. In short, the plot of Midnight is about the six chosen cats finding the sundrown-place, and the plot of Moonrise is about them aiding the Tribe with fighting Sharptooth. But I also added a lot that wasn’t in canon— in SR: Midnight Crowpaw’s spiritual journey of opening up to and bonding with the other chosen cats (and thus acting like a model for the clans later to follow) is just as important as the physical journey the group goes on to the sundown-place to get the news from Midnight. And in SR: Moonrise, Feathertail’s spiritual journey of healing from her trauma of TigerClan and learning to trust and forgive again is just as important to the plot of that fic as fighting Sharptooth. You can expect the remaining fics to fall along similar lines.

To use a metaphor, the skeleton of the story is the same between canon and Shaken Roots, but everything else from the connective tissue, to the skin color, to the eyes, may be different.

As for your final question, it’s a scene from Shaken Roots: Dawn, chapter 8, so I will put it below the cut just in case you aren’t there yet and don’t want spoilers. (And I’m also putting it under the cut because obviously CW here for mentions of suicide attempt.)

It’s when Crowpaw deliberately runs out in a road in front of monsters knowing that it may seriously injure or kill him. It’s based off of a scene in Dawn, albeit in canon what happens is that Crowpaw tries to run out in front of tree-destroying monsters in the forest, and Squirrelpaw and Brambleclaw are the only ones there to stop him. So the scenes are different but both feature Crowpaw purposefully trying to hurt or kill himself. No one in canon or in Shaken Roots call it a “suicide attempt” in verbatim, but in my opinion, that is pretty obviously what it is, and with that being such an understandably sensitive subject, I tagged it as such.

[perenlop]

speaking of tawnypelt its so funny when people go “mothpool is bad because people reduce mothwings character to just this fanon relationship! why not focus on her relationship with her thunderclan siblings!!!” 

like. girl WHAT relationship?

[haveyoureadthisfanfic]

Summary: Over stone and water, toward the setting sun; No Clan will survive unless all are one. A WindClan apprentice with high expectations, a RiverClan dreamer with a paw in two worlds, a ThunderClan warrior struggling to get out of his father's shadow, and a defector to ShadowClan who shares his ambitious streak. When StarClan chose these four cats to guide the four warrior Clans to their new home, they knew their journey would not be an easy one. Overcoming distance and danger is one thing; learning to work together with rivals from other Clans is another. But these cats must find a way to set aside the differences and borders between them, or the Clans will be lost forever.

Note from submitter: A Very good tnp rewrite that has been heartbreakingly abandoned. Some of the latest chapters still stick with me 5 years later. Recommend reading what's there

[mothdapple]

Yes! I think the first arc's single POV is definitely one of its strongest aspects, which sets it above the other arcs. Multiple POVs can definitely be done well, but it's clear that the Warriors writing team struggles with it. Obviously the advantage of having multiple POVs is that we get to see inside the head of multiple characters, in multiple locations (in the cases of the different POVs being in different Clans. Or when one POV is traveling like in early TNP.) However, the drawback is that now instead of a single character telling a book's worth of story, a single character now only gets a third of a book. This is especially a problem in the newest arcs (TBC and ASC,) where, at least in the first books of the arcs, there is not a common plot thread connecting all of the POVs. Since each character only gets 1/3 of a book to tell their story, this just results in a rushed or shortened plot for each, and POVs that feel discordant from each other, when the POVs should be working together to advance an overarching narrative.

Take River for example. That book has Frostpaw struggling with a fragmenting RiverClan, Sunbeam dealing with romantic drama and her issues with her mother in ShadowClan, and Flamepaw/Nightheart trying to assert his independent identity in ThunderClan. Any of these plots have the potential to be an interesting story if fleshed out on their own, but it is only Frostpaw who is dealing with the main plot of the arc in this book— while Sunbeam and Nightheart are doing their own side-quests at worst, or supporting plots at best. This is further hindered by the strict Night/Frost/Sun rotation of each of the POVs— sure, splitting it up that way ensures that each character gets an equal amount of chapters. But the writers' priority shouldn't be giving each character an equal amount of chapters, but rather arranging the POVs/chapters to make the most compelling narrative. Sticking so strictly to a rotation means that the pacing might be break-neck for one POV but grind to the halt for the next. (For example, Frostpaw dealing with literal murders one chapter, while Sunbeam is lamenting her petty romance drama, the next.)

The POV problem is the most egregious in the later arcs imo, but it starts even back in TNP. Even though that arc only has 2 POVs per book, it feels like more lol because they weren't divided up well at all. For example, Leafpaw just acts like a "at home" camera in Midnight, not going through any sort of character arc herself. Her POV would have been much better suited being given to someone like Mothwing, who can provide the same benefits as Leafpaw (keeping the reader up-to-date on generally what's going on in the forest,) while also having her own arc around her struggles to become a medicine cat and her relationship with Hawkfrost, better establishing Hawkfrost as the arc's antagonist. (This is why I gave Mothwing Leafpaw's POV in my TNP rewrite Shaken Roots.)

The reason that background characters feel so flat in the recent arcs is also a symptom of the newest POV characters being so disconnected from each other. Since each POV has their own main plot to get through in a single book, there is just not enough page-space to squeeze in any background relationships. Because the only POV in Into the Wild is Firepaw, and the only main plot is investigate Tigerclaw (with the side plots of becoming a warrior and fighting ShadowClan,) there is plenty of time to also explore Firepaw's relationship with Dustpaw, Longtail, Yellowfang, Sandpaw, and so on. But in River, when now you have Frostpaw as a POV with the same number of main plots/side plots as Firepaw, but only one third of the page-time, we don't have the space to show Frostpaw's relationship with her littermates or friends, or any characters beyond the ones who are absolutely critical to the plot.

Is The Prophecies Begin truly better writing than some of the later series or am I just tempered by nostalgia? Looking back, they FEEL more enjoyable, but I'm not especially well versed on what would make them actually better than the later series.

[the-owl-tree]

Thoughts on Graystripe?

i'm so glad he's dead. once bramblestar is dead, i want the line of cats who are unnecessarily favored by the authors to end once and for all.

like i enjoy graystripe, he's cute and funny and i get why people still really like him....but he doesn't get to really ever deal with the consequences of his actions.

He routinely ditches his apprentice and puts the work onto Firestar -> Brackenfur never holds resentment towards Graystripe and for whatever reason despite doing jack shit this is still enough to make him qualify for deputy.

He ditches his Clan -> he barely gets any resistance, the bit he does get is from Darkstripe who is portrayed to be in the wrong.

He ditches his kids in RiverClan who nearly face execution because they're half-clan -> they never resent him despite their only real kin abandoning them and not being there to defend them when they were rounded up to be k i l l e d

he never defends briarlight or his other children against millie -> the narrative never blames him, his kids never hold resentment towards him. his absence puts more onus on the mother, he's a garbage father and the narrative never wants to address that

He'd be more enjoyable if he did face consequences! If his relationship with his mates and children was strained, his Clan didn't respect him, and he wasn't a good deputy. it's okay if he suck, male characters getting consequences is good!!!!!!

[fatal-rewrites-warriors]

r u changing the warriors universe in ur rewrite to remove anti native content? i love warrior rewrites but i feel like this is always overlooked in them (i havent read ur stuff yet btw)

Yeah as much as I can! I'm not native myself and only really familiar with Ojibwa culture, but I've gone ahead and removed the Tribe entirely in favour of a completely original group(s) of cats, and switched medicine cat to healer. Me and my brainstorm buddy have also worked out how to change plot points away from the white savior stuff involving outside groups as well

Which! I think it's weird that the clan was depicted as "better" even from a narrative standpoint? Maybe this was never actually canon, but it was always my understanding that the roadtrip cats were sent away to find a new home AND to learn skills necessary to make that home livable. It felt to me that they should've been learning new skills not enforcing the ones they already have onto other populatio--

Oh wait. Maybe that's just what the Erins think moving to a new place involves, given...the colonialism. Huh. Suddenly a lot more shit about TNP makes sense.