polycule of dykes

My very precious kitty. She deserved so much better, the poor girl :( She went through so much, trying her very best all the time, literally always doing what StarClan told her to do, and then she had to explain herself to them? It's ridiculous, especially when they let cats like Mudclaw or Ashfur in with no problem... To make myself a bit less mad about it, I like to headcanon that every cat with questionable past has to go through a similar trial... Onestar kinda had one, he wasn't present for it though. He just had to wait for the decision to be made... And that sucks. Onestar is a cat that I feel actually should have been put on trial, but Leafpool? StarClan should have been apologizing to her, not judging and blaming her for things they told her to do!

But aside from the absolute unfair treatment Leafpool received from StarClan... There's also The Three's treatment of her. She lied to her kits, yes, and they had every right to be upset with her afterwards. I mean, Hollyleaf went too far with the deathberries thing, but let’s ignore that for now... Jayfeather and Lionblaze just kind of ignored Leafpool, were kinda mean to her sometimes, which, while incredibly sad for Leafpool, was a fairly reasonable reaction on their part. It took a while, but eventually they managed to forgive her, and while their relationship never became perfect, she still got to be on positive terms with them for a while before she died. And once in StarClan, she seems to be on good terms with Hollyleaf too. So despite the suffering, it seems like everything turned out well for Leafpool in the end.

Aside from all the tragedy, Leafpool has a lot of lovely, positive relationships. Like with her sister, Squirrelstar. They're probably the best, most meaningfully close siblings duo in the whole series. I wish their telepathy thing wasn't just randomly forgotten at one point, but even without it, they were still eachother's biggest supporters and best friends.

Another one is Mothwing. They're really close, trusting eachother and hanging out together just for fun, the medicine cat stuff aside. Mothwing, despite being technically older, looked up to Leafpool as a skilled medicine cat and asked her for help whenever she was struggling. Meanwhile Leafpool was constantly thinking of how beautiful and great Mothwing is... I know what you are, Leafpool.

There's also Sorreltail, Leafpool's big buff bodyguard and also bestie. Leafpool feels lonely and jealous when Sorreltail gets married, unfortunately... I know what you are, Leafpool.

And then there's Crowfeather, Leafpool's actual love interest, and... Well, sure, their romance worked as a young, immature love kinda thing, that resulted in a bunch of terrible things that proceeded to haunt them for the rest of their lives, but... Despite everything that resulted from their relationship, they are never close again after they break up, quite the opposite, with Crowfeather even being openly hostile at times. Once everything gets resolved and calms down, they do get some nice moments in Crowfeather's Trial, which felt like a good resolution to their relationship - they were in love once, they aren't anymore, but they can still support eachother and remember the feelings they once shared. Unfortunately, in the final book of The Broken Code Crowfeather visits StarClan for a bit, where it's heavily hinted that he and Leafpool will get together after his death... I hope that they won't - and not because "Oh Leafpool is a medicine cat, she can't have a boyfriend", but because the feelings they once had simply aren't there anymore. It's fine to fall out of love, it's fine for things to change, but they can still be close, they can still be bonded by their past! Just please don't make them get back together!

So my point is that they should let Leafpool kiss girls and never make her kiss Crowfeather ever again.

Super skinny and super grumpy. Love this guy.

He's kind of terrible in the ways that he treats others. After Feathertail, I'm pretty sure every other she-cat he's been with was just used by him to make himself feel better. It's not as obvious in Leafpool's case, but at the end of the day, he went after her because she reminded him of Feathertail. Their romance didn't work out, and once they went their separate ways he became super hostile towards her... Even more so when the truth about The Three's parentage came out. I guess he was trying to prove himself as a loyal WindClan warrior again, but I don't know... Taking responsibility for your past actions would probably be more honorable, I think. Not that the three even wanted him in their lives at that point, but still... He could have at least supported Leafpool somehow.

Then there was Nightcloud, very explicitly used to make Crowfeather seem like a good WindClan warrior. They were never in love, I'm pretty sure. Crowfeather himself seemed to respect Nightcloud as a warrior, but he didn't like her much as a person. And Nightcloud never seemed super fond of him either... But despite that, they did end up having a kit - Breezepelt.

Crowfeather's relationship with Breezepelt is a mess. He was completely absent in his son's life, and even if they interacted, it was usually just Crowfeather scolding Breezepelt, humiliating him, often in front of a bigger crowd.

So... That's some pretty terrible actions there... And yet, I still like Crowfeather, thanks to his superedition - Crowfeather's Trial. In this one book, Crowfeather attempts to redeem himself - to fix up his relationships with both his families. I genuinely adore his relationship with Nightcloud in this book - they're extremely divorced, but also somewhat bonded by their shared experiences. I like to think that their relationship managed to improve from that point and they ended up as friends, even if they still bicker or argue from time to time.

In that book he also had a few cute interactions with Leafpool, and even apologized to their two surviving kits - Jayfeather and Lionblaze. Jayfeather absolutely refused to accept the apology and basically rejected Crowfeather as his father, but Lionblaze actually sort of forgave him, which is nice, even though pretty undeserved.

Then there's Crowfeather's relationship with Breezepelt - probably the biggest part of Crowfeather's Trial. Though it was messy and complicated, by the end of the book they're actually on a good path to fix their relationship. And judging by the later books, it seems like they managed it pretty well. Obviously, the damage that Crowfeather caused Breezepelt in his kithood is still there and can't be reversed, but I like that they managed to finally form some sort of bond, even if a bit late.

I know that a lot of people didn't like this plot - Crowfeather's redemption was largely undeserved and Breezepelt's potential as a future villain was wasted, but... I actually really like it..? The whole thing where Crowfeather only really becomes a father when his kits are already adults is really familiar to me, and it's just something I relate to. So yeah, I might be biased, but I actually really enjoyed Crowfeather's Trial and the resolutions to Crowfeather's messy relationships.

There's also Heathertail, his past apprentice and now his daughter-in-law. And also apparently his cousin but let’s ignore that part... I really like their relationship! I like when mentor-apprentice bonds last even after the apprenticeship is over, and theirs very much did. I really hope that if Crowfeather ever becomes Crowstar he will choose Heathertail as his deputy, she deserves it.

He also apparently has a romance with Tawnypelt now, which I'm unsure about, but let’s see where it goes, I guess. Maybe they will make it into something nice. We'll see.

Right now, he's just an older guy, still bossy and serious, but he seems to be getting a bit softer and more sympathetic as the years go by. I'm curious where the current arc will take him, aside from his Tawnypelt romance thing. I hope that he won't die, and if he will, he better not get ghost-married to Leafpool after joining StarClan. Leafpool is destined for yuri, leave her alone 😔