#blackclaw

first of all, blackclaw being the father of mistyfoot’s kits (perchkit, pikepaw, primrosepaw, reedwhisker) is almost certainly a retcon.

he does sort of get picked as one of the riverclan Recurring Characters in forest of secrets- he’s on every patrol, in every scene, he’s there to play the role of the overtly hostile guy. he’s usually with leopardfur, stonefur and mistyfoot, who are the other main three important riverclan characters in every scene. they’re there for actual plot reasons though; he’s there as padding and to stir things up because everyone else is reasonable. (you will notice that when POV characters get retired to being supporting cast, they will often find themselves in this role. sorry lionblaze lol)

here’s every mention of him during the scene where the kits (reedkit and likely perchkit) are recovered. they’re only ever referred to as mistyfoot’s, and he never shows any personal interest in them or her. unsurprising, fathers were mentioned a lot less in the first series- it was never going to be relevant as the series wasn’t intended to continue.

Beside her, Blackclaw stood with his lips drawn back in a snarl. “Why are you trespassing on our territory?” he demanded.

Stonefur paced forward until he was close enough to sniff the two kits. “It’s true!” His blue eyes widened. “They’re Mistyfoot’s missing kits!”

Leopardfur looked thoughtful, but Blackclaw stalked up and thrust his head aggressively into Fireheart’s face. Fireheart snarled, ready to counter a blow. “Blackclaw!” Leopardfur meowed sharply. “Back off! We’ll let these cats explain themselves to Crookedstar, and see if he believes them.”

Leopardfur led the way along the bank, while Blackclaw picked up one kit and stalked threateningly alongside Fireheart and Graystripe.

“They found Mistyfoot’s kits,” Leopardfur told him, nodding to Stonefur and Blackclaw to bring forward the kits. “They claim they pulled them out of the river.” “I don’t believe a word of it!” spat Blackclaw, setting down the kit he carried. “You can’t trust a ThunderClan cat.”

A loud yowling interrupted him. Mistyfoot broke out of the bushes and came racing over to them. “My kits! Where are my kits?” She crouched over the tiny scraps of fur, staring wildly around as if she thought the other cats would try to take them away from her. Then she began licking them furiously, trying to comfort both of them at once. Stonefur pressed up close against her and mewed comfortingly into her ear.

“Since when have ThunderClan cats risked their lives for us?” Blackclaw broke in contemptuously as Fireheart described how he had pushed the kits through the torrent to the riverbank. Fireheart bit back an angry retort, and Crookedstar hissed at the warrior, “Quiet, Blackclaw! Let him speak. If he’s lying, we’ll find out soon enough.”

Crookedstar nodded slowly, and Fireheart realized that the hostility of the RiverClan cats was fading—all except for Blackclaw, who turned his back on the ThunderClan warriors with a snort of disgust.

after forest of secrets, blackclaw only gets mentions during battles, except he is one of two riverclan cats hanging out next to the bonehill in the darkest hour:

Mistyfoot and Stonefur weren’t there either, Firestar realized. In fact, most of the cats in the clearing came from ShadowClan, though he spotted the RiverClan warriors Blackclaw and Heavystep. There was no sign of either medicine cat, and Firestar wondered if that was significant.

that doesn’t bode super well! heavystep was blackclaw’s apprentice, for some trivia. anyway, that is literally it for his appearances in TPB.

i’m not sure when exactly blackclaw was retconned to be mistyfoot’s mate? i would personally assume sometime during power of 3. however, i don’t think they’ve ever actually had a positive interaction in canon. blackclaw is a really strange pick for her kits’ retcon father, because out of basically every cat in riverclan, their canon interactions have been the most outwardly hostile. let’s have a look!

66 pages into midnight, we have blackclaw’s first appearance in TNP:

Leopardstar nodded. “That is true.” Coming to the very edge of the rock, she looked down into the clearing and asked, “What do my warriors think? Mistyfoot?” The RiverClan deputy rose to her paws, but before she could speak one of her Clanmates cried out, “We can’t trust them! Let WindClan set one paw over our border, and they’ll be taking our prey as well as our water.” Leafpaw could see the speaker, a smoky black tom, sitting a few fox-lengths away, but she did not recognize him. “That’s Blackclaw,” Feathertail murmured into her ear. “He’s loyal to the Clan, but . . .” She trailed off, obviously unwilling to say anything bad about her Clanmate. Mistyfoot turned and fixed Blackclaw with a clear blue stare. “You forget the times when RiverClan has needed help from other Clans,” she meowed. “If they had not helped us then, we would not be here today.” To Leopardstar she added, “I say we should allow this. We have water to spare.”

he doesn’t get another appearance (except a vague mention for hunting rats) until 2 books later, in dawn:

Mistyfoot, the RiverClan deputy, stood at the top of the slope. She had her Clan’s finest warriors beside her: Stormfur, Blackclaw, and Mothwing, and beside them the imposing shape of Hawkfrost. Next to him stood Brambleclaw, the outline of his head and shoulders matched with Hawkfrost’s against the pale sky.

i think this one’s interesting because he’s once again the padding in a group of main characters, and in this arc his role as the antagonist dickhead is scaled up.

“And what about Twolegs?” demanded Russetfur, the ShadowClan deputy. “The journey has left us all tired and weak,” Blackclaw of RiverClan added. “Foxes and badgers could track us down easily when we’re all out in the open like this.”

he’s just being used to fill the negative voice role here there’s not much to say

Several mews of agreement came from the RiverClan warriors, and Blackclaw called out, “Well done, Hawkfrost!”

“Yes!” Hawkfrost’s eyes gleamed. “RiverClan has set its scent markers already. Yesterday Blackclaw and I drove out a badger that was living in our territory.”

in starlight now, they’re setting up his support for hawkfrost.

Cloudtail and Dustpelt were standing in the shelter of the bushes farther around the circle; after a shared glance they went over to Mistyfoot and Blackclaw of RiverClan, dipping their heads in greeting.

this is in twilight, and i’m pretty sure it’s the only interaction mistyfoot and blackclaw have that could even be interpreted as not hostile, just because they literally don’t tell you what they’re doing LMAO

Hawkfrost and Blackclaw were waiting a few fox-lengths away, in a small clearing enclosed by brambles. Hawkfrost swung to face them as they approached, neck fur bristling, then relaxed when he saw who they were. “Nothing to report,” he meowed. “Everything’s been quiet since you left.” “No sign of ShadowClan,” Blackclaw added. Leafpool wondered why the RiverClan warrior was so worried about ShadowClan. They hadn’t crossed the border between the territories. Perhaps he wanted to blame ShadowClan for the sickness. “This has nothing to do with ShadowClan,” Mistyfoot mewed sharply. “It’s a Twoleg thing, just like you said, Leafpool. Come and see, but don’t get too close.”

“I don’t get it,” Blackclaw argued. “Surely no cat would be mouse-brained enough to drink that.” “Mouse-brain yourself,” Mistyfoot retorted. “Can’t you see cats must have picked it up on their pads? You tread in it accidentally, you lick yourself clean, and there you are.”

Mistyfoot nodded. “I’ll tell Leopardstar right away.” “It’s about time,” Hawkfrost commented in a low voice to Blackclaw. “If the patrols had been properly organized, we would have found this long ago.” Leafpool froze. Patrols were the deputy’s responsibility; Hawkfrost was criticizing Mistyfoot practically to her face. She remembered that back in the old forest Mistyfoot had been trapped by Twolegs, and while she was away Hawkfrost had been made RiverClan deputy in her place. Becoming an ordinary warrior again when Mistyfoot returned must have been hard for Hawkfrost, but that was no excuse for undermining Mistyfoot’s authority to other cats. What he said wasn’t even true; a Clan’s territory was too big for patrols to find every single hazard right away. Blackclaw was nodding agreement, with a hostile glance at the blue-furred she-cat; did he think Hawkfrost should still be deputy? Leafpool wondered. Was Hawkfrost trying to gain followers who were loyal to him alone, and not to the Clan? Mistyfoot had begun to pad away, back to the camp. If she had noticed the exchange, she gave no sign of it. “We’ll find some thorns and build a barrier around the thing,” Hawkfrost offered, calling after her. “Come on, Blackclaw,” he added more softly. “We don’t want any animals coming near it, cats or prey. Some cat has to look out for the Clan.” He bounded over to the nearest thicket and started clawing at a dead thorn branch. Blackclaw followed and helped to drag it back to the Twoleg thing with its stinking pool.

this scene in twilight is like….. well it speaks for itself :)

Hawkfrost whirled on him, unsheathing his claws, and his Clanmate Blackclaw shouldered his way through the crowd to join him, his neck fur bristling and his tail fluffed up to twice its size. Three or four WindClan warriors , Crowfeather among them, jumped up to support Tornear. “Stop!” Mistyfoot ordered, leaping from the root where she sat. “This is a Gathering! Have you forgotten that?” One or two cats, including Crowfeather, stepped back, but most ignored the RiverClan deputy’s order.

we’re in sunset now!

“It shouldn’t have happened even once.” Brambleclaw’s heart sank as he saw Blackclaw thrusting his way to the front of the crowd. He was one of the most aggressive RiverClan warriors. “Even a kit knows that you don’t cross Clan boundaries.” “Did any ShadowClan cats see this?” Leopardstar asked. It was Stormfur who replied. “I don’t think so. I didn’t spot any, and you can’t scent anything down there except for Twolegs and their monsters, so they’ll never know we were there.” Leopardstar nodded, but before she could speak, Hawkfrost broke in. “It doesn’t matter whether ShadowClan saw her or not. It’s still against the warrior code. No cat has a place here if they don’t know that.” A murmur rose from the listening cats; Brambleclaw sank his claws deeper into the tree branch when he realized most of them sounded as if they agreed with Hawkfrost. “We should send her back where she came from,” Blackclaw declared. Stormfur whipped around to face him. “If she goes, I go.” Blackclaw didn’t reply, just opened his jaws in an insolent yawn. Stormfur unsheathed his claws, only to freeze at a sharp command from Mistyfoot. “Stormfur, no!” The deputy stepped forward until she stood facing the gray warrior. Her blue eyes were regretful as she continued, “Think carefully, Stormfur. How long do you and Brook plan on staying here, anyway? We are all glad to see you again, but perhaps it’s time you went back to your Tribe.” “Yes, get rid of her,” some cat meowed from the back of the crowd. “Stormfur can stay if he likes, but what use is she?” “She can’t even fight,” Blackclaw added. “My apprentice could rip her fur off.” Stormfur’s eyes gleamed with fury. “Where Brook comes from, the cave-guards fight, and the prey-hunters feed the Tribe. Brook was a prey-hunter. She never had to fight until she came here.” “I’m doing my best to learn,” Brook added. “You’re doing fine.” Stormfur touched her shoulder with the tip of his tail. “You’ll fight as well as any cat soon.” “If she gets the chance,” Blackclaw mewed. “Can’t you see the Clan doesn’t want her here?”

mistyfoot stand up for him man. im embarrassed

“Enough!” Leopardstar snapped. “Mistyfoot, Blackclaw, pull them apart.” The RiverClan deputy leaped onto Hawkfrost’s shoulders and wrenched his head back. Blackclaw pushed Brook aside and raked his claws across Stormfur’s nose; the gray warrior reared back, losing his grip on Hawkfrost. Both cats scrambled to their paws and stood panting, glaring at each other. Blood was oozing from Hawkfrost’s belly and his side. Stormfur had no obvious wounds, except for blood spattering his muzzle from Blackclaw’s blow.