[fresh]

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.

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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