Fernsong! I generally believe his hate is misguided. With the way the fandom acts like he ruined Ivypool's character because she was nudged to the side and had kits while in reality, every character, post OotS, got nudged to the side(ex. Jayfeather, Lionblaze, Dovewing). All literally, got nudged to the side, so... I mean... :|.
I honestly wasn't even aware that Fernsong hatred was a thing until I joined Tumblr... I mean, he's such a fabulous cutie patootie, what is there to hate about him?
I don't really see how he would be ruining Ivypool's character either. Ivypool is still Ivypool, she just isn't the focus of the story anymore and has a ridiculous fluffy husband now. At the end of the day he's, of course, just a character, so anyone is free and valid to love or hate him as much as they want, but I just personally find him to be a lovable little critter.
We don't actually see a whole lot of him, but from the scraps we were blessed with he seems to be just a genuinely adorable kitty. His dynamic with Ivypool is really cute, even if they're just a background pairing with little to no focus. I loved the scene in which he expressed his desire to be a nursery dad. It's probably what he's best known for, and it's such a lovely idea! And he seemed genuinely excited to do it, to raise kittens, play with them and love them. I just wish we actually got to see him do it... He's briefly mentioned to be a dedicated father in Spotfur's novella if I remember correctly, but we don't actually see him staying in the nursery instead of Ivypool... Well, either way he's still a cutie, a good dad and husband and just a really sweet kitty in general. I love how supportive he is of Ivypool in her superedition. He tries to help her through her grief, being concerned about her and trying to comfort her. He doesn't get upset when she seeks comfort in Rootspring instead, though, doesn't even push for any explanation. He just lets her heal at her own pace while offering his support if she ever needs it.
I have this dumb little headcanon that he takes particularly good care of his fur because he knows that Ivypool finds comfort in his fluffiness and likes to cuddle up to it. He's on a mission to make sure that his wife has the softest, fluffiest pillow in all of ThunderClan. He's doing lovely so far, but Cloudtail is a big competition, despite his age.
Aside from his fur being very nice and fabulous, it's also decorated with a bunch of little flowers. I drew them in the colors of the pan flag, cause that's what I headcanon him as, but the flowers change colors regularly. They often fall out while he attends to his warrior duties, but the kits in the nursery are always happy to decorate him some more. And he's happy to let them!
He resembles Lionblaze in his colors, so to balance it out I gave him Cinderheart's tabby patterns. You can't really see them well on the drawing because of his pose, but they're better visible on Cinderheart's own art. His face markings are a blend of Cinderheart's face stripes and mask. He also has his mom's white neck fluff. From Lionblaze he got the white back legs and light underside of his tail. Some things that he got from both of his parents are white paws, muzzle and tailtip and tufted ears. He also has Leafpool's light eyelids and freckles, along with Sandstorm's green eyes.
Thank you for requesting him! I usually don't draw warriors with any decorations cause I believe they would be inconvenient due to their active lifestyle, but Fernsong can be an exception :3
