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The fandom (and Frostpaw) casts Curlfeather in this light where everything she ever said was a lie and she actually never cared about Frostpaw, only her own ambition, but I don't think that's true.

I don't even think Curlfeather thought she was 100% faking Frostpaw's suitability for the medicine cat role. Frostpaw literally says she was the one making stuff up to please her mother, which, whatever, many kids do, but I don't think we can in good faith claim that Curlfeather should have magically known that Frostpaw was lying (or at the very least embellishing). She talks about control here, but in context, isn't that the whole problem, the whole crux of this conversation??? RiverClan lacks control. Splashtail is rapidly losing control of the position he murdered her for, and she's telling him that he's about to be taken down. She's talking about effective leadership that he's literally not capable of on a fundamental level, not saying he should have manipulated her daughter better.

I think it's bizarre to interpret this as her secretly not loving or caring about her daughter, especially because every time we see her, she instantly gets angry and defensive when someone shit-talks Frostpaw or tries to hurt her. She literally got torn apart by dogs, and her last act was to get Frostpaw to safety, when she could have slowed the dogs down and saved herself by tossing her weak, unsuspecting daughter to them if she didn't care about her.

Curlfeather might have nudged her in the direction of being a medicine cat, but Frostpaw eagerly stepped into the role and was thrilled to be one until she found out that her mother wanted to use her position politically, and then suddenly she never liked it and was only ever trying to please her mother. Five seconds later, after she spends three seconds as a warrior apprentice, she wants to go back to being a med cat and is furiously trying to defend her legitimacy as one. Which is it???

Also, Curlfeather is furious here on Frostpaw's behalf. Frostpaw goes on and on and on about how her biggest comfort in life is her mom. The moment she gets vaguely stressed, it's "I wish my mom was here." "Oh thank fuck, my mom just showed up. I instantly feel better." "Wow, that situation would have been so scary without my mom." By the way the fandom talks about Curlfeather, I thought I was gonna be watching Curlfeather act way more like Hawkfrost acted with Mothwing, but we get... zero of that. Literally none. Curlfeather just legitimately loves her kid, who happens to be potentially SUPER politically useful.

I get a bit annoyed at the fandom as Curlfeather's nuances are often not spoken about in favor of a more clear-cut story. She receives the Draco in Leather Pants treatment, which isn't common with female villains in media and literature. There are countless fanarts drawing Curlfeather as an edgy wronged woman out for revenge that remind me of the Hawkfrost and Scourge fanarts of the 2000s. She's got the anime cat hair and everything.

And you know what? A friend of mine has helped me see that honestly, that's fine. Women in Warriors deserve their moment to be seen as an Ashfur or Scourge, especially a woman who is also a mother in a position of power. Let her be 2026's Warriors tumblr sexyman. I'm rooting for her.

But also, I want to give my thoughts about the nuance of her character, and how her love ultimately destroys her.

She loved RiverClan, and wanted to stop the stagnation that Mistystar had allowed RiverClan to experience. She wanted change, to make RiverClan better. And the reality is that she would have done it. She has the qualities of a good leader.

But her plan entailed removing the obstacles in that path to RiverClan's rebirth. She did not feel regret for her role in assassinating Reedwhisker. This is because she treated Reedwhisker as an object to remove.

She did not feel regret for pulling in Splashpaw to her plans, grooming a teenager to become her right-hand. Splashtail was set up from the beginning to be a tool to "repair" RiverClan.

She did not feel regret for using Frostdawn as a tool to legitimize her position as leader. She groomed her for this position since she was a kit.

She loves her Clan, loves her vision of a better future, and loves her daughter. But what does she love most?

It's her daughter. When she is there, on the path of victory, she is given a choice. Her vision, or her daughter. And she chooses Frostpaw. She gives her the tools she needs to solve her murder and Reedwhisker's murder, but in order to do so, she is treating her daughter like she herself is an object to use.

And therein lies the tragedy of Curlfeather. She loves so deeply and purely, and yet she cannot comprehend or realize how she has hurt the cats around her.

She does not understand Frostdawn's feelings about being used as a pawn, nor does she understand Splashtail's feelings about being seen as a weapon. Her objectification of others is what kills her, and is the obstacle to her place in StarClan. She cannot leave the Dark Forest, because she has no regrets. She cannot see other cats as people outside herself. She loves and loves without understanding that the love she feels is built around possessing things.

She regrets she was killed. She regrets Frostdawn got almost killed. She regrets trusting Splashtail and wants to see him humbled. But she does not regret the emotional trauma she has inflicted by the cause of her actions.