Bad Parents in Warriors by Wavepaw

Wavepaw discusses some not-so-great role models in young warrior lives

Hey guys! It’s Wavepaw here with an article on the top 5 bad parents in the Warriors series! 😀

#5 – Spiderleg
ThunderClan
Dead (as of TAQ/TAS)
Mate: Daisy (formerly)
Kits: Rosepetal, Toadstep
Why he’s a bad parent: He neglected his kits, simply because he didn’t want kits and didn’t want to be mates with Daisy. He treated them only as Clanmates. This was very apparent when they were younger (not so much when they were warriors) and cats would urge him to spend time with his kits and Daisy, but he always refused.

#4 – Stormtail
ThunderClan
Dead
Mates: Moonflower, Dappletail
Kits: Bluestar, Snowfur (with Moonflower)
Why he’s a bad parent: You could argue that Stormtail is more of a bad mate then a bad parent. But honestly the fact that he basically cheated on Moonflower makes him a bad parent because of the way he went about it. On the day of the battle, he flirted with Dappletail literally RIGHT IN FRONT of Bluepaw. He also ignored and neglected his kits, only treating them as Clanmates until they were warriors, when he did grow closer, but still not as close as a father should be.

#3 – Sandgorse
WindClan
Dead
Mate: Palebird
Kit: Tallstar
Why he’s a bad parent: Sandgorse probably never set out to be a bad father. He was pretty involved with Tallkit when he was a kit, even though making a kit do a lighter version of what apprentices and warriors do was probably not a very good idea. However, when Heatherstar made Tallpaw a moor-runner instead of a tunneler, Sandgorse was furious and partly blamed it on Tallpaw, ignoring him, neglecting him, staying away from him, and making his life miserable. And Talltail went on a quest to try to kill the cat who “killed” him in return!

#2 – Crowfeather
WindClan
Alive
Mates: Feathertail, Leafpool, Nightcloud
Kits: Lionblaze, Jayfeather, Hollyleaf (with Leafpool), Breezepelt (with Nightcloud)
Why he’s a bad parent: Crowfeather never loved Nightcloud, only mated with her to make the Clan think he was loyal after the Leafpool scandal. Then he probably didn’t love Breezepelt. He pretty much hated Breezepelt and Nightcloud because he was still in love with Leafpool. He stayed away from Breezepelt and their split was very apparent. It ended up causing Breezepelt to train in the Dark Forest and be one of the only cats who actually knew – and approved of – what they were planning. In the Dark Battle, Crowfeather stops Breezepelt from killing Lionblaze, showing his favoritism for Leafpool over Nightcloud, but also accepting that Breezepelt’s decline was his fault and saving his other son. He saved Lionblaze’s life, but most likely hurt Breezepelt even more.
As for his ThunderClan kits, he either did not know they existed/who they were or was unable to acknowledge them. When they approach him on the border about it, he doesn’t believe them, but Leafpool did tell him that she was expecting kits, so we have no idea how much he knew. Even after he knew, he ignored them until the Dark Battle, where he saved Lionblaze from Breezepelt.

Aaaaaand

(Drumroll please)

The #1 Bad Parent in Warrior Cats goes tooooooo…

RAINFLOWER!!

RiverClan
Dead
Mate: Shellheart (formerly)
Kits: Crookedstar, Oakheart
Why she’s a bad parent: At first Rainflower seemed like a great mother, sometimes favoring Stormkit a little, but nonetheless an awesome parent. Then her “handsome little warrior” snuck out of camp with his brother, got scared by Goosefeather, and broke his jaw. Of course none of the blame belonged to Oakkit, Goosefeather, or herself and the other warriors for not noticing. It was OBVIOUSLY all Stormkit’s fault. Suddenly he’s not handsome anymore, even though virtually nothing about him has changed except he has a twisted jaw. He heals, but his jaw is forever twisted. Rainflower hardly ever visits him while he’s in the medicine den and when she does, she refuses to look at him. When Brambleberry clears him to return to the nursery, Rainflower makes him sleep in his own nest even though Oakkit is still sleeping in hers. She also makes Hailstar rename him Crookedkit. She obviously favors Oakkit and he is apprenticed before Crookedkit, making Crookedkit run away. He comes back and as he grows up she continues to favor Oakheart and ignore him. (This resulted in her split from Shellheart back when she wanted to rename him Crookedkit.) She makes snide comments and this results in a confrontation with Crookedjaw, Oakheart, Willowbreeze, and Shellheart. When a dog attacks her and her patrol Crookedjaw doesn’t defend her but fights the dog instead, which ultimately results in her death and Oakheart (and himself) blames him. When Hailstar dies and Brambleberry takes him to the Moonstone, Rainflower does not give Crookedstar a life.

Honorable Mentions:

-Palebird
-Brightflower
-Raggedstar

Thank you so much for reading my article! Tell me what you thought! 😀