Warrior Cats Online - Thoughts on Mapleshade

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Thoughts on Mapleshade

Okay.
I was scrolling through the world of YouTube, and I came across a video called Mapleshade - Heart, heart, head.

I watched that.
Then that got me thinking...
Did Mapleshade really deserve what happened to her? Did she deserve to go to the Dark Forest? Was it really her fault?

In my opinion, I think she shouldn't have gone to the Dark Forest.

Re: Thoughts on Mapleshade

Perhaps she should have gone to a limbo. Kind of like how needletail is now. Needletail has stars in her pelt, but she isn't in StarClan. What if Mapleshade could have been like that?
Mapleshade was kicked out of her Clan and shunned.
Then as she tried to cross the river, her kits were swept away, and her own Clanmate stood by and watched.
Then she was rejected by her mate and his Clan.
Forced to life as a rogue, Mapleshade seeks revenge
She kills two of her Clanmates, one who shunned her, the other who watched. Next, she heads to RiverClan to kill her former mate, and kill his mate. She instead kills her former mate, gets mortally wounded by his apprentice, and crawls away to die.

Could this have been justice? Or was it cruel?
I feel like it was a mix of both.

(Psst! two good mapleshade things are
Marshal Dear MAP
And... Bust Your Kneecaps PMV)

Re: Thoughts on Mapleshade

@Flameleaf [there was a very good pmv (I believe that’s the acronym) of Mapleshade called ‘Dixie boy’ or something along those lines- there might have been minor language in it and a bit of gore, however. But I really loved the way everything was drawn and put together.]

Honestly, Maple went out of her way to kill so many others, that she deserved to go to the Dark Forest. Sure, some could pity her for the loss of her kits, but it was her who broke the code in the first place.

Re: Thoughts on Mapleshade

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gusty (Post 438445)

Precisely. She killed a medicine cat... (at Mothermouth, for that matter!). I can't imagine her as a StarClan cat.

Re: Thoughts on Mapleshade

okay. here are my thoughts. (and yes, i do rant about this to all of my friends as well)

I believe that, in the Mapleshade backstory, the Erins were really just looking for a good female villain since every single other villain is a male. So, with that weight on their shoulders and so many people wondering why she was evil, they completely rushed the entire short story and officially made my mind up. Sure, she seems all evil in the books, but looking at her backstory, I find no reason that she should be as evil as she "is", or in the Dark Forest. She was literally driven insane by being kicked out over, and over, and over again.
Here are some things I go more in-depth with-

Mapleshade is kicked out of the Clan for mating with someone from another Clan. Now let's back it up here- Oakstar, supposedly a mighty, mighty leader, exiles three kits. Kits. These kits had never hurt anyone, were adorable and loved by the Clan, but as soon as they're half-Clan? They become despicable, unwanted creatures, who would kill everyone in the Clans if they could. Getting back to the whole mating issue- Were they just super strict about that back then, or did her leader have some serious issues? You can look at the book, "Code of the Clans", and read the story of why there is the rule that cats can't mate with someone from outside his/her Clan. Literally nothing happened to them, but apparently Mapleshade's case was "worse". I mean, look at Graystripe and Silverstream. Possibly one of the biggest ships in all of Warriors, these two cats had no punishment whatsoever, save for Silverstream losing her life. Of course, that's punishment enough, but when Mapleshade's mate rejects her after the death of all three of her kits, it's a 100% reason to be thrown to the Dark Forest.

After being cast out, she tries to seek refuge in RiverClan. There happens to be a huge storm, the river floods, and all three kits drift away and drown. Devastated, Mapleshade crawls into the camp, only to be shunned and mocked by Appledusk, her "mate", who literally doesn't care that both of their kits just flat out drowned. Because this guy is obviously so loyal, he just has to say a few words and poof, he's the ladies man once more and the most popular cat in the Clan. But Mapleshade, who's probably about to die of hypothermia? Nah, feed her to the fishes. Or, in other words, she isn't a true RiverClan cat and Appledusk decides he wants a real woman, so they leave her for dead. Now she has her kits' "voices" in her head, screaming for her to help them over and over again. Appledusk then even has the nerve to blame her for the deaths of her kits, believing it was her fault they crossed the river in the first place. Technically, he has a point, but as a mate she should be able to go to him when she needs something. And she had a pretty good reason to cross the river, am I right?

As any sensible animal would, she seeks refuge in a barn owned by a kittypet named Myler. He nurses her injuries and her fever, eventually attempting to have her eat a mouse, but Mapleshade refuses the mouse, with the death of her kits still replaying in her mind over and over again. Now, keep in mind she's grieving. Grief is like a sickness. It makes people- and cats- do stupid, stupid things, and most of the time they do not mean it and apologize afterwards. For most of the book, Mapleshade is blinded by her grief, which is the whole reason she kills Ravenwing, Frecklewish, and Appledusk. Anyway, she flees to ThunderClan territory (again, grief= irrational thinking) and is found by Nettlepaw. When he tells her that Frecklewish had watched her kits drown, but claimed that she had thought they would be okay due to RiverClan cats on the bank, Mapleshade is furious.

Now, then you look to everything after the last part I mentioned. Mapleshade goes from grieving, to pure evil, in a snap of a finger. Why? Because the Erins realized that readers were going to take sympathy on her, so they went right into the gear every reader hates- killing off some characters.

~~~~<~>~~~~

As you can see, I've got strong feelings about this sort of topic, and it just shows how much the Erins are recycling ideas. What really sends me over the edge is when they rushed her into being evil. She was really just driven insane, as I mentioned before, and I think some pity deserved to be had when speaking of Mapleshade. I agree with @Roledolf , however. She might've been unworthy of StarClan, but she seriously should've not gone to the Place of No Stars.

Sorry for bothering everyone but aah this makes me so irritated I can't stop talking about it

Re: Thoughts on Mapleshade

Ash fur went to Starclan, Clearsky went to Starclan.

Enough said.

Maple deserves Starclan.

Re: Thoughts on Mapleshade

True. Although I still believe she should have gone to StarClan.

Re: Thoughts on Mapleshade

She shouldn't have.

I went over why Oakstar banished her and the kits here, but the gist is it was because Oakstar and the majority of ThunderClan believed Appledusk was responsible for the deaths of his son and Flowerpaw. He was repulsed by Mapleshade's deceit of their parentage (she fed the belief Birchface was the father) and felt betrayed. It was an act fueled by emotion, and he later came to regret his decision because the kits died in the process.

At no point were Mapleshade's actions justified. She murdered Ravenwing at the Moonstone in cold blood after Ravenwing exposed her treachery (revealed the identity of their biological father) to their Clan-mates, and led Frecklewish - a cat who felt personally betrayed due to Birchface being her brother - to her death.

Appledusk wasn't a great mate to Mapleshade, but you have to keep in mind at that point he had more to lose than her. Unlike Mapleshade, he wasn't obsessed with her. His love for his Clan and home was greater and he was already drifting away from her by the time she sought him out for refuge (see: he had some sort of relationship going on with Reedshine when she showed up).

He also had no obligation to help her. Despite her beliefs, she was the cause of their kits' death - she chose to go to the rapids with her kits instead of finding them temporary shelter outside Clan territory first. He denied loving her because he wanted to prove his loyalty to his Clan. Her arrival damaged his reputation and he didn't want to risk being exiled or lose what he had with Reedshine by admitting he still had feelings for her.

I don't think it was an easy choice for Appledusk, and I think he did what he thought was best for him. Did it leave Mapleshade in the dust? Sure, but you can't really blame him for prioritizing his Clan over a failed relationship. They didn't live in the time where half-Clanned relationships got off as easy as other forbidden partnerships did. The Warrior Code was actually held in high regard at the time, and Mapleshade broke several of them. Though Appledusk was selfish in his actions, at the very least he made some sort of an effort to save their kits from the river. He was far from perfect, but he didn't deserve to die.

Using the "Ashfur's in StarClan! Why can't Mapleshade be?" is kinda invalid considering he was coming from a place of hurt and genuinely believed Squirrelflight would be better off with him. He never actually hurt or killed anyone. Mapleshade revolved around "Revenge!!! How dare you put me in a position in which my kits were killed because I didn't think my forbidden relationship was imperfect!!!"

Re: Thoughts on Mapleshade

Quote:

Originally Posted by ~rattlesnake~ (Post 449058)

Ash fur went to Starclan, Clearsky went to Starclan.

Enough said.

Maple deserves Starclan.

Clearsky was just a stuck-up grump like Yellowfang, but he changed over time and became a good cat. Besides. He founded Skyclan. Ashfur was good until there was a fire, and cats normally aren’t themselves under a stressful sitution like a housefire not like a test you didn’t study for kind of stress. That was why he reacted the way he did, and he payed with his life anyhow, and he probably felt guilty by the end. He was a good cat his whole life until that moment. For example- say you were perfect your entire life, then one day you cheat on a quiz at school. And about a year later, you die. Should you go to hell for that? Ik that cheating on a quiz is smaller than attemping to kill your peers. But I rest my case. Mapleshade broke the code multiple times, Ashfur only once. Clearsky didn’t have a code, and if you were to put the code in his time, he only broke it twice taking mates outside his “clan” once again they didn’t have a code. Mapleshade took a mate outside her clan, and the murders (granted they weren’t her) but she had a relationship with the murderer. And once in the Dark Forest, how she manipulated Crookedstar from kithood and was seaking for revenge. That’s why she’s in the Dark Forest, for example, no one says Tigerstar I deserved to go to Starclan, he killed his own clanmates (both clans), showing a fake sign to the medicine cat to make himself clan leader, working with the evil rouges, welcoming Bloodclan to the forest, attempting to murder Firestar, forming Tigerclan, ECT.