#stoatfur

Stoatfur! This description got long so here's the character part. Stoatfur has no living relatives, he was not originally listed in the Allegiances of the Last Hope, so we don't know who his mentor specifically is, but it was likely one of the four cats he was on a patrol with during a scene when Lionblaze picks a fight with Ratscar to prove he can change his destiny to Cinderheart by losing a fight, so either Ratscar, Smokefoot, Dawnpelt, or Olivenose. It does seem it was meant to be Ratscar though, as Stoatpaw is seen on a messenger patrol with Ratscar again later. He is also seen in the final battle, as a messenger seeking help for Shadowclan. She appears again in bramblestar's storm during the fight against the badgers, and on a patrol later on in the book.

I have to admit I didn't notice Stoatfur on my first reading of The Last Hope and Bramblestar's Storm, but they are a pretty interesting cat. As Stoatpaw he is described as a ginger and white tom in The Last Hope, but as Stoatfur she is described as a tortie and white she-cat in Bramblestar's Storm. plus to make the change more interesting, in their other two allegiances descriptions, the descriptions are tied-one each-and out of order chronologically and according to publish date, so while it would be totally valid and very cool to see Stoatfur as a canon trans femme cat, I think the story could also be more complicated as they are described as ginger tom, tortie she-cat, tortie she-cat, ginger tom in order. Maybe Stoatfur is bi-gender, maybe Stoatfur is fluid, maybe stoatfur does whatever the hell Stoatfur likes. I'm here for every headcanon. As result of this I debated how to depict Stoatfur, as I've been leaning into the weird british shorthair genetics for Shadowclan I spent a considerable amount of time researching what a golden tortoiseshell might look like, as I felt like the ticked golden tabbies are closest to the warm summer coat of a stoat, with the red coat and darker tipped tail feet and face markings. I don't think I totally know whether I want them to be a ticked tortie for animation reasons, but I know I wanted to present it as an option (shoutout to the design I saw where she transistioned and dyes her fur with mud to be a tortie). Either way as I was doing the research I found its actually Really Hard to find and identify golden tabby tortoiseshells, partly because most people interested in the golden genes are because of the effect it has on non-red cats thus excluding red genes and torties for the most part, but also because when you push the black tip of the tabby pattern all the way out of the hair with the golden wide band genes it all starts to look really ginger. Here is a smattering of golden torties (and one silver shaded/ticked tortie for comparison) for your viewing pleasure:

Stoatfur is a skinny ginger tom or a tortoiseshell-and-white she-cat.