I NEED TO KNOW MORE ABOUT MARSHSCAR????
Sure! He's a supporting character in Ripplestar's Rot, and becomes leader of ShadowClan after the Great Pancakening at the Battle of the Gathering.
I wrote about him and every leader post-Ripplestar over here
Marshpaw was a little older than Ripplekit when he was brought to the Clan, just newly apprenticed. Their apprenticeships overlapped and they were teenage friends.
Marsh has always been a sort of quiet dude, he's never been a go-getter. More of a steady, practical guy.
He was friends with Spottedpelt and Gorseclaw too, him and Gorse were the more "level headed" people in the group.
His first name was Marshtail. "Scar" is an Honor Title.
Him and Ripplemoon were young warriors when they became mates. Marshtail could tell you that he liked his passion and drive, but, it would be a half truth. He can't really pick anything in particular that is his favorite trait
He could spend a day stuck in a tree hole with him and it would be enjoyable. He just likes his vibe, he likes to be with him.
There's not much to say about him before the ending of Ripplestar's Rot, because he's a mild guy. His ideal life would have been being a background character who goes on patrol a lot lmao
But at the death of Ripplestar and Spottedpelt, suddenly he was thrust into power he NEVER wanted, in the middle of mourning the loss of his mate and his extended family, and the end of a war he'd given everything to.
His heart broken, he had to clean up what Ripplestar left behind. The other three leaders blamed ShadowClan for everything, and the war had taken a chunk out of the population.
Especially in ShadowClan, with a ton of their warriors being slaughtered at the Gathering. Because of Gorseclaw, they'd seen the attack coming and prepared by only bringing their strongest warriors.
In fury, Dalestar of WindClan and Birchstar of RiverClan exiled many of the outed rebels within their ranks
So, Marshstar was dealing with the other Clans baying for a severe punishment of ShadowClan, adding a flood of new commandments to the code, and also a political refugee crisis
This was a mess. An exhausting, painful mess
It didn't get better, either. No matter what Marshstar did, someone was going to be furious. He couldn't appease the other Clans while maintaining ShadowClan, so, they started exacting revenge by attacking constantly.
(And, mind you, this was the age of Kit Stealing and pillaging. These attacks were high-stakes)
Eventually he stopped apologizing or even negotiating at all. ShadowClan became a sort of secluded, defensive nut that shared very little news, and even skipped Gatherings a few times.
But even that didn't please his warriors. They wanted the Gatherings. They wanted their own revenge. Even as the population recovered, Marshstar refused to do anything else.
The rest of his life felt like he was just biding time. 9 long lives without Ripplestar felt like a curse.
He did do one thing though-- when Houndfang was young, she was a goddamn punk. Little rebel without a cause, the Clan used to be frustrated that she was given such a ferocious name; she could have used a name to calm her down instead :/
She reminded Marshstar of a casual discussion about warrior names he had with Ripplestar, once. About how he liked names that simply made sense, and didn't need to be defended with prose. A Hound and its Fangs
He took a shining to Houndkit, in his melancholic way. She liked bothering him, he wouldn't snap at her or push her away. He would even sometimes enable her-- telling her little tricks for sneaking past the big warriors or giving her advice on how to persuade them to do what she wanted.
So the habit only got "worse." She had absolutely no fear of him as an apprentice and would just announce her opinion to his face.
thinking about it, Marshstar probably took her as an apprentice towards the end of her time as Houndpaw, after getting in too many fights with her mentor and the mentor trying to appeal for a delay of her assessment until she learned respect.
"Hm. No. I don't want her spirit broken. I think the other Clans deserve some hell, actually."
Houndfang didn't have ambition as a kid, she didn't know what she wanted. Marshstar gave her an outlet and it became electricity in her veins.
She quickly took over the Clan when she became deputy, and was more of a leader than he ever was. He just let her start running it.
I feel like he cast his name off, just before he died. He did not want to be Marshstar, he wanted to return to Marshscar, so he held a renaming ceremony for himself and passed on leadership officially.
ShadowClan was reignited in a way it hadn't been in years when Houndstar took power. In the passionate cheering of the crowd, Marshscar slipped away.
No one ever saw him again after that. He was probably sick and went somewhere he could pass away in solitude. Cat behavior
His heart remained with Ripplestar for the entirety of his long life, and for him, it was a relief when it was finally over.
When he got to StarClan, they tried to put him on trial. He got frustrated shortly into it. Ripplestar and Spottedpelt are not here so Literally Why Should I Care?
And they're going to throw this big bombastic ballyhoo, why? To posture? For who? This is pointless and quite frankly embarassing.
He actually interrupted the court proceedings with an Excuse Me. I Don't Want This.
"Thank you for your time. This has been a waste of mine."
It's kind of funny to think that if Houndstar knew about what her mentor did here she would flip her shit at him lmao.
Honestly, he does not mind being in Hell. Like, at all. He'll follow Ripplestar wherever, but in Skypelt I can imagine him making occasional statements about missing the taste of bloodsap or something.
