Should Ashfur really be in Starclan or not? by Featherstar

I agree that we need a place in between, in warriors we’re stuck with two extremes good or evil, yet Ashfur is hardly good.
I am very weary of people making the point that ‘he was so good he made a mistake!’
Wrong. I could maybe understand if he’d done some of these things in a heat of the moment anger, like him lashing out at leafpool and questioning the integrity of her dream telling her that Brambleclaw would be deputy that’s the only REASONABLE reaction he’s ever had in response to Squirrelflight dumping him, and she didn’t even dump him she just told him she did not see him as more than a friend he got FRIENDZONED which let me tell you is not worthy of any response
Also I noticed in the article the argument ‘have you ever been mad and want to get back at someone?’ yes, if Ashfur wanted to retaliate against Squirrelflight by, giving her the cold shoulder, putting thorns in her or Brambleclaw’s nest, spread mean rumors about her or yes even learning her and leafpool’s secret and revealing it would all be ways he could get back at her while not commiting an attack that I feel would bar him from StarClan. He wouldn’t be right in doing any of the above acts, as his obsession with Squirrelflight (and yes it’s an obsession) is extremely unhealthy and he should’ve just accepted her response and moved on.
Instead he tried to kill Firestar (I have no doubt that Ashfur was the one who helped Hawkfrost lure Firestar into that trap), set up Brambleclaw to be seen as a traitor should Firestar not pull through, tried to kill Hollyleaf, Lionblaze and Jayfeather. Just because he didn’t pull it off doesn’t make him any less evil. Let’s say for instance Tigerclaw DIDN’T manage to kill Redtail but he made a clear attempt on Redtail’s life, you want to know what still would’ve happened? He would’ve been exiled or severely punished and likely still would’ve walked the path of no stars unless he changed and decided to learn from his punishment which he could have we don’t know.
There are two things to keep in mind here, these weren’t passionate attacks, the attempt on Firestar’s life was PREMEDITATED Ashfur went in knowing he was leading his leader to be killed and set up Brambleclaw to be put in a position where he could be considered a traitor depending on how things played out. So he is guilty of attempting first degree murder both in the case of Firestar and in the case of Squirrelflight’s kits which in our world equals life in prison.
I don’t care if Ashfur was the equivalent of freaking Firestar before he decided to try to kill a cat. Heck if Firestar had decided to do the things Ashfur had done, I’d throw him in the Dark Forest too!
The main reason I’m so sick of Ashfuir being defended is you point out how ‘Good’ he used to be. IT doesn’t matter. If someone tried to kill someone you knew and cared about and it was pre meditated where that person had gone in with a plan and ever intention to kill the person you loved, would you really want that person to get away with it just because he was such a swell guy before the murder attempt? I sure wouldn’t! Ashfur escaped retribution for his crimes twice and then a third time when he finally got accepted to StarClan, Hollyleaf earned her path to StarClan, Ashfur did not. Ashfur belongs in either purgatory or the place of no stars for his murder attempts and doing absolutely nothing to pay for his crimes.
I mean think about it, for killing him Hollyleaf left her clan, spent time in a solitary tunnel in the dark (prison), went back to her clan fought her hardest in the battle against the Dark Forest died in protecting her clanmates! How did Ashfur die? Plotting to use Squirrelflight’s secret and holding it over the heads of her and her kits, until Hollyleaf was pushed to kill him in a murder of passion.
Here’s another key difference, Hollyleaf didn’t go out planning to kill Ashfur, while she may have known and wanted him to die she didn’t plan it out as thoroughly as Ashfur’s first attempt on a cat close to Squirrelflight (Firestar) I think it was an act of passionate emotion brought on by the stress of Ashfur psychologically holding his knowledge of the secret over all their heads.
So no, Ashfur will never belong in StarClan in my eyes. Any cat who’s willing to sink to murder just because they got FRIENDZONED (say it with me everyone he did not get dumped, he was not Squirrelflight’s mate, he was only and would always be just a friend to her). Like Squirrelflight or not. Think they should’ve hooked up or not, Squirrelflight is guilty of nothing, it is in fact her, Firestar, and Leafpool’s kits who are the victims here.
Let me add one last thing, we’re often told not to judge someone by their past, and instead focus on where they’re going now. It’s a key element in most redemption stories, they made a mistake BUT they’re doing everything in their power to overcome it. That’s another reason Ashfur is so undeserving of StarClan, all he had to do was respect Squirrelflights wishes, if he honestly loved her he should’ve been willing to let her go and be happy. But no, he wanted her to be HIS, he was so obsessed with the fact that she wasn’t HIS, he demonized her in his head, he saw her as a monster who came in and ripped out his heart, when he could’ve easily found a she cat who would love him for him and that he could be happy with. But just like how Tigerstar got obsessed with power, Mapleshade got obsessed with vengeance, Ashfur drowned in his obsession to have Squirrelflight be his or for her to feel just as alone as he felt she’d made him. He never did anything to redeem himself for any of his deeds, and even now in StarClan he probably maintains that HE’S the victim. So no, just like I won’t judge a formerly evil character who’s turned themselves around by their past, nor will I judge Ashfur by the cat he was in the past.