Is Breezepelt Evil or Not; by Bramblefire

Bramblefire examines the character of Breezepelt and whether or not he is an Evilpaw.

Inside the Warriors fandom a small controversy has arisen: is Breezepelt, the son of Crowfeather and Nightcloud, evil?

breezepelt_of_windclan_by_therealbramblefire-da6aiui

I’m not going to say he’s innocent as he’s far from it; I will, however, say that he made very bad choices. Yes, I did say choices, as no cat forced him to go to the Dark Forest, he chose that. Breezepelt did feel like it was the only way to get back at his father who never really cared for him. It didn’t help him that his own mother brainwashed him to believe that Crowfeather would never care for him. It has been proven that Crowfeather did care for Breezepelt but not Nightcloud, but he never showed it. I have explained before that I believe Crowfeather had some psychological issues as he had lost almost everything, thus making him seem to ignore Breezepelt.

Breezepelt only really knew about Crowfeather’s history from Nightcloud, which was very biased therefore this knowledge helped make Breezepelt furious at ThunderClan as it contained Leafpool, his father’s former mate. Breezepelt simply couldn’t handle the fact that his father betrayed WindClan and he vowed never to do betray the Clan. Part of him still wanted to get Crowfeather back and that part of him started to consume him. Eventually he was approached by the Dark Forest, and his hunger for revenge had claimed him. Breezepelt was furious when the truth came out about Hollyleaf, Jayfeather, and Lionblaze’s parentage, and he felt even more betrayed. The Dark Forest used this to manipulate him to attack Poppyfrost and Jayfeather. This wasn’t really him being ‘evil’ but him making a very bad choice.

He made another bad choice when he fought on the Dark Forest’s side. Breezepelt also later attacked Lionblaze who was saved by Crowfeather. Breezepelt retreated and he realized what he had done and tried to be a loyal warrior after the battle. He found himself in his father’s paws as many of his clanmates refused to trust him, just as they had done with Crowfeather. Heathertail, Breezepelt’s only friend, was quick to defend him and Breezepelt was soon able to find a new purpose in his sorrow filled life. Heathertail and Breezepelt later became mates and Breezepelt was able to redeem himself.

Due to Breezepelt being able to redeem himself and find his own light I do not believe he was evil, just lonely and misguided.

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46 comments

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  • Yeah I don’t think he was evil, maybe just misguided like you said. Especially with Crowfeather not being a very good father to him, or a very good mate to Nightcloud. I think that maybe that was part of the reason he joined the Dark Forest side. Very interesting!

  • He may not be completely evil, but I think he’s a sociopath. For many reasons, I hate him with a burning passion. But that’s just my opinion 🙂

  • Finally, someone who doesn’t just straight up blame Crowfeather for Breezepelt’s behavior. This article basically spoke my mind. 🙂

  • How are we defining evil, though? After all, if we look at it in terms of bad choices and influences, Tigerstar made bad choices and was influenced to do so by his mentor Thistleclaw. Hawkfrost made bad choices and was influenced by Tigerstar. Scourge was influenced by Tigerstar’s attack on him, and the bullying from his littermates, and made bad choices – you could even go as far as to say that Scourge didn’t have the positive influences that Breezepelt benefited from, namely the rest of the Warrior-Code-following, StarClan-believing WindClan compared to the cat-eat-cat BloodClan. In this way, you could say that Scourge was less to blame for his actions than Breezepelt.

    When it comes down to it, Breezepelt fought against the Clans in the battle with the Dark Forest and tried to murder several cats, including a pregnant queen and a blind medicine cat who did not provoke him, attacks which, as far as I recall, are completely forbidden by the Warrior Code – as subtext if not text – and he didn’t repent for any of it, until he loses the Battle and it’s do that or be driven away from the Clans. The only thing that really separates him from Hawkfrost, Tigerstar and Scourge is that he was less effective. Should he really be forgiven, both in and out of the narrative, just because he failed?

    • You just said almost every reason why Breezepelt is my LEAST favorite cat! You have no idea how much I agree with you!! 🙂

      • Ah, thank you! 😀 I never liked him, and I’ve seen a disproportionate number (way more than the other villains get) of people on other sites excusing his actions, so I suppose the things I wanted to say about Breezepelt were a long time coming.

        • I’m not excusing him or his actions. He’s horrible. I’m just saying he isn’t super evil but he is horrible for what he did to his clan. I really do dislike him.

          • Oh, nah, sorry, I didn’t mean to imply that you were – I meant that people on other sites like tumblr do excuse him fairly frequently, blame everything on Crowfeather etc. To be honest, I would say that one of the plus points of Warriors is that most of the villains are well developed and have excellent reasons for being what they are, to the point where “evil” feels far too simple a word for any of them.

  • Hmmm, interesting article Bramblefire. I don’t like Breezepelt, but I like Crowfeather and realise that Breezepelt had a very hard childhood.

    • I like Crowfeather too, but that might be because I love Leafpool and I want her true love to be awesome.

  • I’ve always felt one thing toward breezepelt: pity. Now that’s even more so but I’m glad that he left the dark forest. I’m happy that he found a mate in Heathertail but poor lionblaze he and heathertail would have made a great couple. ( even though they r from different clans )

    • But think about iot. I mean, I totally agree, but think about how hated Heathertail’s kits would have ended up. I mean, she might turn out like Mapleshade and then Lionblaze would have been dead.

  • You’re very right – but I’d still say he’s evil in the mildest sense of the word. To say that him being neglected is the cause of this, though, doesn’t really hold up when you look at some of the other cats is the series, such as Crookedstar. Breezepelt was neglected by his parents and became this salt monster fighting with the Dark Forest – Crookedstar had his life ruined by Mapleshade and remained a nice guy. It was very much his decision to do what he did, and so I think he’s evil in the nicest sense of the word. I don’t know, though. Bash me in the comments if you think I’m being a heartless monster. I do appreciate your article, and the points you made are very valid, but I put them together to a different conclusion.

  • Well, if Crowfeather ignored him and Nightcloud didn’t let him prove himself more forget that Crowfeather “hated” him, of course he’d push him away. He was influenced by her and influences and make big changes on cats. Breezpelt is very misunderstood and he let his anger consume him because of how hard his life had been and how he hated his half-siblings because Crowfeather loved Leafpool more and barely cared for him or Nightcloud. This is probably attacked Poppyfrost, a pregnant queen. He was blinded by his anger and Dark Forest influences and hates Jayfeather so he attacked her to show Jayfeather that he hates him and would kill a pregnant queen just to show how much he ruined his life (well not really but you get why because…..well whatever) and that he would go that far to express his hate. He forgot about the warrior code because…well many cats have broken the code and his own father had broken it. Well anyway, that’s my rant on that.
    Great article!

  • Also, Crookedstar still had a father he loved him (I believe). Mapleshade may have ruined his life but those deaths would have happened if she didn’t come into his life. Breezepelt might have been a good cat if his father at least noticed him kind of and his mother let him prove himself. Maybe then he would have not hated Jayfeather and his siblings so much. But then again, he may still have. But maybe he might have taken it easier. But who knows? Breezepelt made his own choices and sometimes choices can be based off of influences which can mess with your mind and make you think things that aren’t true.

  • If you say Breezepelt only made bad choices, that means Tigerstar and Brokenstar aren’t evil either. Tigerstar and Brokenstar were really just too ambitious, and made poor choices, but if Breezepelt is not evil, Tigerstar and Brokenstar aren’t either.

    • Oh boy I remember this article. Rip.
      Honestly I really don’t like him as much as I used to and Breezepelt really did make a lot of bad choices. So did Tigerstar and Brokenstar. All of those cats made a series of bad choices that made them “evil” in that sense. Morality isn’t a black and white issue as a whole and shouldn’t be treated as such but these cats all had a chance to make a choice and make choices throughout their life. They chose poorly most of the time and many of these actions are morally wrong and evil. I think that these cats were really all in the wrong with what they did and I wouldn’t suggest that cats should be murdered or attacking a pregnant woman is something everyone should be doing. But I think that Breezepelt is a little bit more complex with the addition of Crowfeather’s Trial and that he’s trying to redeem himself. If that’s possible for him or not is really up to everyone’s interpretation of him. Do I think he, Tigerstar, or Brokenstar should be redeemed? I’m not completely sure. Tigerstar and Brokenstar completely chose to be “evil” and to kill cats and be tyrants but Breezepelt is still alive and working on himself. He’s a new character pretty much now and he’s changed in that aspect but looking back and if he didn’t try to redeem himself, I don’t think I’d see him as worth redeeming. I’d also like to point out that Brokenstar and Tigerstar committed far more evil acts than Breezepelt did so he can’t really be compared to them as much. There’s a bit of a difference. Not to say Breezepelt is innocent, he’s not, but he didn’t commit the crimes of Tigerstar or Brokenstar.

  • Breezepelt is evil! He tried to kill Jayfeather and Poppyfrost! Jayfeather is a medicine cat- a blind one at that- with limited fighting skills! And Poppyfrost was a queen expecting kits! Breezepelt has tried to kill his half siblings more than once and is rude, snappy, and EVIL!

    • I would tend to agree with you. Killing cats and attempted murder is wrong and Breezepelt can’t be seen as an exception despite his reasons. He made poor choices and the wrong choice each and every time before Crowfeather’s Trial. I would agree that that Breezepelt is irredeemable and that he is “evil” in the most general sense for his actions. However, Breezepelt in the current is a different character. He’s someone who is care more caring and his reasoning is far different. I would consider this Breezepelt, which seems to be almost written as a different cat, as one that can, through massive amounts of effort, be redeemed since several of his actions have been retconned away. He now suffers and feels remorse. Remorse doesn’t excuse what he did but it at least shows that he wants to and intends to better himself. This Breezepelt is bad or problematic but evil might be a little too much for him.

  • I love Breezepelt, and this was what I was looking for, but I do kind of have to disagree. It was his choice to attack and nearly kill several cats, including a queen and medicine cat which is against the warrior code, and he was basically forced to say sorry or be forced out. In Dovewing’s Silence, he didn’t seem remorseful at all, but still said the oath because he didn’t want to get kicked out of his clan. And even though he’s trying to redeem himself in Crowfeather’s Trial, I still have a burning feeling that its all an act.
    Sorry for stating this, I’m gonna.. go-

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