Pricklypear

Tigerstar, in the first arc, was very much so a fascist. His rise to power is easily comparable to the way real world fascists were able to get power. If you want to know why I think that: click here! I don't want to repeat myself too much. But what's Darktail have to do with all of this? I think you already know. The generic story I just told was not just the story of Nightstar's ShadowClan, but Rowanstar's as well. Cinderfur and Crowfrost can be switched, as can Runningnose and Littlecloud and Littlecloud (wow he really WAS old) and Puddleshine. The individuals aren't important though. There were times when ThunderClan has been hit with similar issues, take Bluestar in literally the same book, but they never fell into the same trap ShadowClan does twice, so what is the difference?

I'm not going to talk about the apprentices yet. First I want to look at Scorchfur. He's the most vocal about the ideas that lead ShadowClan to accept Darktail, though he's not a minority at all. When he announces that Darktail was invited in, he's joined by four others. As a matter of fact, Spikefur is the one who seems most involved in the coup itself. Scorchfur's ideas are what's actually important.

What I'm trying to get at is that Rowanstar fails because the cats decide to blame him for practically all of their problems. He can't really respond appropriately either, partially because he's deathly ill and partially because he is undeniably a weak leader. The issue is logistic: what could Rowanstar have done? Scorchfur is specifically mad at Crowfrost's decision to return Twigpaw to ThunderClan, it's the moment that seemed to radicalize him specifically. But ShadowClan is not even close to strong enough to fight ThunderClan, even when they're healthy. The same applies for WindClan. The obvious answer would be to steal the herb, but that never gets brought up for plot reasons (I can excuse it because there are in-universe justifications). ShadowClan isn't strong enough, and Scorchfur and his sect blame that on Rowanstar.

Let's get back to those apprentices for a second.

nursery stories aren’t so scary now.”

Sorry for having to add the last line myself. The pdf giveth the pdf page breaketh away.

The apprentices bring up the ShadowClan of "back then" when they were "feared." And what ShadowClan was that? Ratscar's earliest spot in the allegiances (that I could find) in in Tigerclaw's fury, where he's a warrior under Nightstar. Given that he was a warrior for Nightstar, we can reasonably assume that he grew up in Brokenstar's ShadowClan. His nostalgia is from the era of ShadowClan that was violent, evil and undeniably fascist. The apprentices envy a time when ShadowClan was feared because their leaders were vicious, when ShadowClan was feared because of the horrifying violence they inflicted on the other clans. What the apprentices are asking for, unknowing, is a clan led by murderers.

I actually think Ratscar's character here is very interesting (as well as potentially the other elders who would also have been alive for Tigerstar but Ratscar is the most involved). Tying into real life for a second, I'm easily reminded of how right-wing figures in current day America (and historically) always make the way history is taught and what history is taught an issue. Specifically, a lot of the history of civil rights is always shoved to the end, coincidentally making it so most history teachers will have to rush through it before exams. I personally never learned about the gay rights movement at all in high school despite it being extremely historically important (Stonewall was on my AP US history exam but not actually taught to me. Wonder why). A lot of the reason hate is able to get through the education system is because minority voices and their history are shoved off to the side to make sure hate is never challenged and is in fact made comfortable. In the south where I grew up, homophobia was more acceptable than homosexuality.

But what's that have to do with Ratscar. Admittedly, I did get a bit rant-y, though it's not entirely irrelevant. Ratscar seemingly shoved off the horrific violence of old ShadowClan in order to promote the nationalistic ideology he had. If he had explained that ThunderClan feared them because their leader killed Brindleface, or sent dogs to massacre them, or brought a maniac into the forest to end the clans, or try to kill any cats not of "pure blood," then the apprentices might actually have ended up being more sympathetic to the other clans. And their lack of sympathy to the other clans is central to the worldview they find. Juniperpaw mentions how he wants to be so feared the other clans don't even speak to them.

The apprentices have been sold on an idea of their clan being superior to all others and isolationism is fits perfectly within that view. They want ShadowClan alone and ShadowClan strong, just as Ratscar did, just as Tigerstar did. So they go to Darktail, someone who is feared by the clan for reasons very similar to the leaders from the "good old days." And they get exactly what they asked for. ShadowClan is feared or, rather, Darktail is.

I actually love how interconnected the story of ShadowClan now is with the story of ShadowClan then. The last thing I want to highlight is actually something that's never mentioned, in spite of how much I brought it, or rather him, up in my analysis: Tigerstar. It's very likely that the elders didn't teach that part of ShadowClan's history out of shame for their involvement, though they did pass on the feelings that let the events take place. Darktail is a consequence of a ShadowClan that was unwilling to face what they did. Blackstar was the leader for years between the two eras and he's similarly guilty. In TNP, he wants ShadowClan to leave the forest one their own before being persuaded by Firestar to go with the other three clans. Blackstar for years was obsessed with isolating ShadowClan seemingly out of guilt for his deep involvement in Tigerstar and Brokenstar's leaderships. That obsession spread through the culture of his clan, even to Rowanstar as was seen in Bramblestar's Storm, and led directly to Darktail. There's so many dominoes that fell to bring about the exact plot line that's happening currently.

Twigpaw and Family

Twigpaw goes off on a journey to try and find her mother. She's been hanging on to the idea that she's still out there somewhere out of hope that maybe, somehow, she can have a family within the clans.

The clans have a cultural obsession with biological relation that has undoubtedly rubbed off on Twigpaw. She and Violetpaw (more on her later) both feel very insecure about their role in the clan because they lack any blood ties to their clanmates. Twigpaw gets to see a bunch of the cats she knows with their mothers: Alderheart and Squirrelflight, any of her adoptive siblings and Lilyheart, and, probably most impactful but it's 100% head-canon, Jayfeather and Leafpool. She wants to be able to have the same bond that she witnesses every day.

So what does Twigpaw have? Why is that not enough?

The first cat she has in her life that tries to be like family to her is Alderheart. He's really good at trying to make her feel included in the clan but just can't be the person she needs. Unlike Needletail, he's too held down by his responsibilities to devote significant time to her, so she's forced to spend a lot of her childhood either in the nursery or the medicine den. With Jayfeather. Oh joy.

Well there is Lilyheart (and Daisy to an extent) in the nursery. While they are kind to her, they never seem to offer Twigpaw the specific personal bond that other cats get from their families.

Ivypool is her mentor, and a pretty caring one. She goes with Twigpaw on the journey with the goal of sincerely helping her, not just out of obligation. But at the end of the day, they have a student-teacher relationship, which is different, though still important to Twigpaw.

Last up is Violetpaw, who Twigpaw can't see frequently. While she does care for her sister, the whole "living in different clans" thing means that for Twigpaw to visit her, she has to sneak around which leads to her getting caught. While captive their bond develops, sure, but eventually that time ends. Twigpaw can't have a long-term relationship with Violetpaw because of the circumstances of their lives (especially now that Darktail's in charge).

She's extremely lonely. There's no family for her to have. Her mother is dead and her sister is inaccessible. While her clan is good to her, and she does appreciate them, there's still something missing. And I think there's truly just nothing she can do. She has to find her own strength and her own family through the clan she's been placed into. Her mother isn't going to spontaneously appear. Violetpaw isn't going to suddenly join ThunderClan. Alderheart, Lilyheart and Ivypool may not be her family but there the ones she'll have to settle for.

After a failed attempt to reconnect with Violetpaw, Twigpaw finds herself being treated by Alderheart. He's trying to help connect with her though not really succeeding. Before she leaves, he asks one last thing:

I think Twigpaw realizes in this conversation that, right now, Alderheart's what she's got. And that isn't a bad thing. The "only thing she's got" is a cat who sincerely cares for her and wants to see her succeed. He's not family but he values her as if they were. Building relationships in a community takes a lot of time, especially when it's already so pre-established like the clans are. Alderheart was able to grow up with his sister and parents. Twigpaw doesn't have those, but she can still find sincere connections within her community just as Alderheart did.

I like that there's no solution to Twigpaw's issues beyond time. Building bonds is slow. Reallllllly slow. Getting to a point where you have someone you can truly trust with your feelings takes a lot of time and even more luck. I think Twigpaw's reached a point of acceptance with her state of being, and, though she'll never find what she's looking for, I think she can find something just as valuable.

Harespring and Onestar

Onestar's going nuts. He's very prickly about the rogues in the forest because Darktail took what was likely his second to last life. He's in constant fear of his own death and is making it everyone's problem.

ShadowClan, as I mentioned earlier, has been ravaged by sickness. Littlecloud and Crowfrost die, while Rowanstar loses at least one life. The only plant that can cure the disease, yellowcough, is lungwort. It only grows in WindClan territory. Onestar is completely unwilling to help because ShadowClan is allowing the rogues to live near their territory.

Brief aside for AUing: pro move from Rowanstar would be to ask for the herb and promise to fight the rogues once the clan was in the state to. Basically make it Onestar's fault the rogues remain instead of his. It would make the most since if not for Needletail, who would spill the beans immediately.

Onestar is so caught up in his own fear and hatred that he's willing to let the cats of ShadowClan die, despite there being zero consequence to helping. I wonder what Tallstar would think?

I find Onestar's character fascinating. He's completely at odds with Tallstar's hopes for him. He was appointed for the purpose of maintaining peace but ends up becoming the most aggressive leader at the lake by a longshot. Remember when Onestar started the Eclipse battle? He is now deciding to let ShadowClan die out of spite towards a band of rogues adjacent to them.

Tallstar's last life was also pretty tough for him. Unlike Onestar, he was very unhealthy, with his aging being brought out by the famine in his clan. He was the first leader to want to leave the forest because of how inhospitable it had become, and yet he waited. He waited for Blackstar. The cat who had been deputy when his clan had been driven out and had been deputy again when Scourge was brought into the forest. Tallstar was given every reason to throw ShadowClan to the side and let them burn but he never even considers it. He waits, at the cost of his own health, Blackstar, of all cats, to agree to leave. That was the legacy he wanted Onestar to carry on. He wanted a cat who could maintain peace even through personal slights. Unfortunately, he really misjudged.

Harespring has an idea. Onestar sends him with Kestrelflight as an escort for the moonpool meeting. While walking he recommends that Kestrelflight steals the herbs for ShadowClan tonight with the other medicine cats. After StarClan approves, they go through with the plan and are able to save the sick cats still remaining in ShadowClan.

I find it interesting that StarClan approves, not because it's shocking but because of the implications it has on the future leader of WindClan. While he's one dead cat, it's hard not to see Harespring here as the type of cat Tallstar would've wanted as a leader. He's willing to work past himself to put the health and safety of others first. Onestar had no risk of losing anything if he were to allow lungwort to be gathered, but Harespring risked everything. He put his position as deputy and the respect of his clanmates on the line to help ShadowClan. There is no personal benefit to his actions. Even if ShadowClan truly had died out, Harespring would likely still be allowed into StarClan because he never violated the code. There is sincerely no downside. Yet Harespring still chooses to do what he does because it's right.

StarClan's approval seems two-fold. They were pretty much always going to approve the plan but, in a way, they approved the direction WindClan was to go under Harestar.

Did they fix Jayfeather?

I think the Erin Hunter hivemind realized how poorly Jayfeather was in the first book because they tried to fix him. But did they succeed?

I was expecting, after they started to change him around a bit, for it to be another complete switchup. Like they just pretend that book 1 Jayfeather didn't happen and that he's good now, but they actually acknowledge how his overly harsh attitude is harmful to Alderheart.

Jayfeather motivates Alderheart by making him afraid to make mistakes. He learns herbs not purely for the sake of learning but for the sake of Jayfeather not getting mad at him. Jayfeather never intends for that though. The main issue he runs into is nobody actually confronting him on his behavior other than Leafpool, who was booted out of the medicine den for over a year. She keeps her son in check and is the only one who can actually do so. Alderheart learns to eventually just dismiss Jayfeather, but by that point the effects of his poor mentorship have already come into play. He's insecure not due to lack of knowledge but because Jayfeather makes him feel insecure.

That's Alderhearts perspective, and that's where the first book lets Jayfeather rest.

In Thunder and Shadow, we're given more insight onto how Jayfeather views his actions. He never intends to cause harm to Alderheart, he actually seems to really respect him. He actually has nothing against Twigpaw, who he's openly aggressive to for the bulk of her childhood. So why is Jayfeather grumpy? Referring to the quote above, Jayfeather doesn't seem to think his rudeness is an actually problem and instead sees is as a way of making sure Alderheart tries. He wants to put pressure on him so that he can reach his potential, not knowing that the "pressure" he is putting on Alderheart is significantly more detrimental than motivating.

Pressure in education is a good thing, to an extent. Due dates make students actually engage with material in a timely manner instead of whenever they feel like it, which is important for course structure. Additionally, providing critique on something a student does is an indirect way of motivating them to improve. Pressure is a necessary form of extrinsic motivation to a point.

TO A POINT

Alderheart never needed Jayfeather to put pressure on him, he already put enough on himself. He wants to be able to help his clanmates and is already intrinsically motivated enough to have effective training. What's Jayfeather's doing isn't helping Alderheart but adding unneeded anxieties to his training. And he's got plenty already.

I don't think Jayfeather knew that until Leafpool pointed it out to him, though. It's not surprising that her apprentice was progressing so fast when Puddleshine had a mentor that understood that he was already pressured enough to train and didn't press him beyond that. It's why Leafpool was harsher with Jayfeather, a cat who was absolutely not intrinsically motivated to learn when he was young (and side note - Jayfeather constantly calls himself old when he's, like, 4. The person he calls himself old to is literally his mother).

Towards the end of the book, Jayfeather tells Alderheart he's willing to give him his full name after he speaks up and throws out the idea of invading WindClan at a moonpool meeting (and calls himself old again in the process). Glad to know Jayfeather never lost his love of recommending to invade clans. At the next meeting, he gives Alderheart the name... Alderheart. He names Alderheart after the strength he found in himself and his principles, being able to stand up to the older cats from other clans without any doubt. He specifically highlights Alderheart's kindness, something Jayfeather's previously criticized him for. I think Jayfeather realizes towards the end how he went astray in Alderheart's training and honors him because of how he worked through it. Alderheart never became like Jayfeather and never abandoned himself even when his mentor made it hard.

Let's get back to the topic at hand: did they fix Jayfeather? Kinda. They didn't make him act dramatically different and instead made him grow to realize the effects his actions had on those around him, which is more effective than two consecutive books of radical character shifts.

Conclusion

"Hey you didn't mention Violetpaw?" I didn't but also I'm assuming she's going to have more going on next book and there was a lot of overlap with Twigpaw's character in this book. Also I'm tired and wanted to finish writing this cause I don't start the next book until I finish the post (just so it's a more honest interpretation of the story so far without knowing where it goes). I like Violetpaw a lot and will talk about her later I pinky promise.

I wrote the Jayfeather section on like Nov. 16th or something, got busy and bam now I'm doing the rest Thanksgiving night.

I went ahead and read the prologue/chapter 1 of Shattered Sky just to see what was coming up and it seems fun. Like it just starts with a battle, no wasting time. I love this arc so much literally why is this where I stopped it's so sincerely good.

Also Kestrelflight was important a little bit. Yay!

See you in three years when I finish whatever lots I have to say about Shattered Sky. My goal is to finish the arc by the end of the year but that likely ain't happening.

If you have any thoughts/questions feel free to lemme know. I run into clarity issues sometimes when I write so I understand if something didn't make much sense (I'm trying to get better).