Does Hollyleaf deserve Starclan? Analyzing Hollyleaf by Moonpaw

Moonpaw takes another look at Hollyleaf’s actions and afterlife.

Official art by Wayne McLoughlin

Here’s a question I asked myself after writing an article like this on Ashfur; Does Hollyleaf deserve to go to Starclan? In writing this article, I will use facts to determine myself whether Hollyleaf deserves the luxurious Starclan afterlife, or the horrible Dark Forest.

So, first, let’s review the points of her life that can state evidence for our question.

Hollyleaf is born to Leafpool along with Jayfeather and Lionblaze. In order to keep them safe, Leafpool lies to the clan, stating that Squirrelflight and Brambleclaw are the parents. Hollyleaf and her siblings are raised believing the lie as well, since they can not remember.

She and her siblings meet Sol, and he then proceeds to stop Shadowclan’s belief in Starclan. She joins forces with some other cats to create a fake omen, later turned real, to help Blackstar believe again.

Later, in the camp, when lightning strikes a tree a fire starts. The clan evacuates camp, and while Hollyleaf, her siblings, and Squirrelflight are escaping, they are stopped by Ashfur. He is now in a position where he controls if Hollyleaf and her siblings live or die, and he’s threatening to kill them. Squirrelflight is forced to admit that they are not her kits, shocking not only Ashfur but Hollyleaf and her siblings as well. Ashfur then leaves, stating that he will reveal their secret at the next gathering, and sparing their lives. Hollyleaf quickly comes to resent Squirrelflight.

Hollyleaf wants to keep their secret hidden, as she fears the other clans will resent Thunderclan even more. To do this, she chooses to stalk Ashfur and then ambushes him by a stream, murdering her clanmate. She goes on multiple search parties for possible murder suspects, hiding her secret well.

Hollyleaf later goes to Leafpool’s den do demand answers about her true parents, and then reveals her murderous secret. Leafpool reveals that she is their mother, and Hollyleaf hates her for it. She also later learns that she is Crowfeather’s daughter, encouraging her to reveal her true parents at the gathering. Leafpool steps down as medicine cat, and Hollyleaf later tries to force her to eat deathberries. Leafpool states that she’s already lost everything, and it would be worse for her if she stayed alive. Hollyleaf lets her go, but then decides to leave the clans.

She runs for the tunnels, and her siblings find out she was the one who murdered Ashfur. The tunnels collapse behind her, and her clan believes her to be dead.

In the tunnels she is kept company by a spirit named Fallen Leaf. She helps her clan while in the tunnels, and after a long time of hiding, decides to come back to the clans.

She reveals that she killed Ashfur to the clan, but Bramblestar lies to keep her safe, stating that it was an accident, and that Ashfur attacked her first.

She later teaches the rest of the clan how to fight in the tunnels. During the battle against Windclan, Hollyleaf gains a position where she could easily kill Sol, she lets him go, but threatens to kill him if she ever sees him again.

During the battle with the Dark Forest cats, she sacrifices her own life to save Ivypool, and spends her last moments forgiving Leafpool.

So, based on these major events in her life, I’d hesitantly say that she belongs in Starclan. Though she killed her own clanmate, revealed her true parents at the gathering, ran away from her clan, and tried to kill her mother, she made amends and redeemed herself. She helped her clan in many ways, and is a hardcore believer in the Warrior Code. She trained her clan for the Windclan attack, saved Molepaw and Cherrypaw from foxes, helped lead lost clanmates out of the tunnels, and died to save one of her clanmates

This is definitely a debatable subject, and it wouldn’t be too hard to convince me that she belongs in the Dark Forest. But another factor that may have a role in my decision is that I genuinely like Hollyleaf’s character, and her complicated life. I think that the Erins did a very good job at writing her character, kudos to them.

Please leave comments on what your opinions are on this subject. And it’s completely fine for you guys to disagree. But please realize that whatever you may think, this is entirely based on my opinion. I worked hard to get evidence and facts that support my opinion, and I would like to enjoy the result.

May Starclan light your path,
Moonpaw

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48 comments

Leave a Reply to Teaflower Cancel reply

  • Yeah but that would be brutal, but she was needed. If she had died, Ivypool would have died. She intercepted the killing blow

  • Wonderful article!

    I think that Hollyleaf deserves Starclan. 😀 Honestly, it’s not ’cause excusing her wrongs or anything. She killed Ashfur, planned it out and everything. She tried to force Leafpool to commit suicide. All that, wrong. We can say self-defense, broken mental state, righteous cause, whatever whatever. It was still wrong. To me, the difference is that she one, regretted it, and two, actively tried to make up for her actions.

    What sets her apart from all the other evil kitties out there, whether they succeeded or not, is she felt remorse. Mapleshade killed for an um, more understandable reason like Hollyleaf, yes? Hawkfrost never killed anyone. Etc etc. (there’s bajillions of cats I could use as an example tbh) But they liked where they ended up. They felt no remorse, they didn’t do a thing to make-up for what they did. Hollyleaf spent the rest of her life actively trying to right her wrongs, and understanding that she messed up and was sorry about it. I think that’s why she deserves StarClan- not for any specific deed or whatever, but because she felt remorse and did everything she could to make up for it.

  • The only reason Hollyleaf’s actions are excusable is because she did it all relatively soon after she was told Squirrelflight and Brambleclaw weren’t her parents. It wasn’t premeditated or long thought of like Ashfur. Killing Firestar, causing him to lose a life, was rather spur of the moment too, but after that, he had plently of time to think about it. And Hollyleaf’s telling and threatening of Leafpool was all fairly soon after finding out her existence was breaking the one thing she valued most. And when she secretly helped ThunderClan along with when she rejoined and helped them defeat WindClan, even saving Ivypool, she proved she was good all along. That’s why Hollyleaf was not sentenced to eternity in the Dark Forest.

  • I think Hollyleaf should be in Star clan bc she did get a second chance from the clan plus she punished herself and she saved Ivypool from Hawkfrost so yeah.(I’m only on the book The Forgotten Warrior)

  • I think Hollyleaf should be in Star clan bc she did get a second chance from the clan plus she punished herself and she saved Ivypool from Hawkfrost so yeah.(I’m only on the book The Forgotten Warrior)

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