Why is Thistleclaw in the Dark Forest?

[Charmer]

Let's start with what we know about Thistleclaw: according to Bluestar he thought that battle was the answer to everything, and he once ordered his apprentice to attack a kit, (Tiny aka Scourge) because he was in Thunderclan territory. And also he was training in the dark forest while alive if you count Spottedpaw's heart.

It looks like cats generally end up in the dark forest for breaking the warrior code.

The warrior code says that warriors can't neglect a kit in need, so the Tiny incident is a problem, but the code also says to defend your clan's territory, so though I don't think he made the right choice here, one could argue that he following the letter but not the spirit of the code here. And even if you want to call it a violation of the code and argue that this single instance bought his ticket to the dark forest, there's another cat who broke the code on at least three occasions who got into Starclan with no problem: Bluestar. She made Brackenkit and Cinderkit apprentices before they were six moons old, and of course taking Oakheart.

As for the Dark forest, Lionblaze, Brambleclaw, and Ivypool all used to train there, but I'm guessing none of them are going to be bared from Starclan because of that.

So what the heck?

[Crow]

if you want the actual reason, it's because the erins are honestly very bad writers, have no idea what they're doing, and leave gaping plot holes. since bluestar, a "good" character, viewed thistleclaw as a "bad" character, and that's how he was portrayed, he went to the dark forest.

the canon reason? i'm really not sure. i mean, bluestar killed her kit so that he wouldn't be deputy, so you can't play the ambition/morality card.

[Hexict]

It was implied that Thistleclaw had killed cats in battle, which is against the rule... and murder is bad anyway. But aside form that, they say that he was originally in Starclan (and gave Tigerstar one of his lives) but ended up getting ran out by Bluestar since he killed people and he was very violent - though that was later contradicted.

Besides, the thing with Tiny was wrong. You're suppose to defend your territory, but its from a threat and you are suppose to help kits - it's like if a lost toddler walk into your yard and you beat them up because it's illegal to trespass and you ignore the law that you are not allowed to beat people (especially children).

As for cats who trained in the Dark Forest, as long as they didn't break the code then they should be fine. They didn't even understand where they were training until later (since the Dark Forest lied to them). But they ended up standing beside their clan in the end and none of them - except Ivypool - broke the code.

[fresh]

if you want the actual reason, it's because the erins are honestly very bad writers, have no idea what they're doing, and leave gaping plot holes. since bluestar, a "good" character, viewed thistleclaw as a "bad" character, and that's how he was portrayed, he went to the dark forest.

the canon reason? i'm really not sure. i mean, bluestar killed her kit so that he wouldn't be deputy, so you can't play the ambition/morality card.
Ypur point is so very true. The hunters have many mistakes. One example is that the eye colors of some cats (take Dovewing and Heathertail, for example) change every now and then. Not to mention that in the first edition of Bramblestar's Storm, Graystripe apparently fathered Mistyfoot and Stonefur. At least they fixed that, but still.
Dovewing's eyes change a lot from color to color, and Heathertail's change from blue to purple.

Clearly, writing together can easily have its issues. The erins don't really even try to fix those issues sometimes.

[Seraphon]

It was implied that Thistleclaw had killed cats in battle, which is against the rule... and murder is bad anyway. But aside form that, they say that he was originally in Starclan (and gave Tigerstar one of his lives) but ended up getting ran out by Bluestar since he killed people and he was very violent - though that was later contradicted.

Besides, the thing with Tiny was wrong. You're suppose to defend your territory, but its from a threat and you are suppose to help kits - it's like if a lost toddler walk into your yard and you beat them up because it's illegal to trespass and you ignore the law that you are not allowed to beat people (especially children).

As for cats who trained in the Dark Forest, as long as they didn't break the code then they should be fine. They didn't even understand where they were training until later (since the Dark Forest lied to them). But they ended up standing beside their clan in the end and none of them - except Ivypool - broke the code.
Good point I never thought of that

[Charmer]

Good point I never thought of that

Yeah that's a solid argument, Hexict. Seems like being mean to kits is a pretty solid method for losing your Starclan privileges.

Isn't Rainflower in Starclan? I actually haven't read Crookedstar's promise but I understand she's was pretty awful to Crookedstar as a kit. Guess there's nothing in the warrior code about being a good parent though.

[Seraphon]

Yeah that's a solid argument, Hexict. Seems like being mean to kits is a pretty solid method for losing your Starclan privileges.

Isn't Rainflower in Starclan? I actually haven't read Crookedstar's promise but I understand she's was pretty awful to Crookedstar as a kit. Guess there's nothing in the warrior code about being a good parent though.

I think Rainflower is in StarClan. The REAL question is; Is LIZARDSTRIPE in StarClan?

[Momotaro]

I think Rainflower is in StarClan. The REAL question is; Is LIZARDSTRIPE in StarClan?
Maybe; http://warriors.wikia.com/wiki/Lizardstripe

[Socks]

In the whole warriors series things are often very jumbled. There are too many characters and stories for most people to understand and most information varies from book to book. There are so many mistakes you can't even count them, from misspelled names, to wrong fur/eye colors, once a character was killed off but then came back about a chapter later(Granted, it was a very background character and it's hard to notice.)
The whole thing with Thistleclaw is they probably need more well known cats to be dark forest cats, and since characters like Bluestar disliked Thistleclaw they threw him there.

[Brunch]

Well, in Crookedstar's promise, how Crookedjaw finds out that Mapleshade is in the Dark Forest is when he is supposed to train with Thistleclaw. He had seen Thistleclaw attempt to do the death bite with his mentor. The explanation is that he had been training in the Dark Forest while he was a warrior, and once he died he "earned" a place among them.