Is Millie The Better Mate? by Ebonypaw

Ebonypaw tackles the age-old question: Who is Graystripe’s best mate?

This is an argument that has been going for a long time: Who will Graystripe chose in Starclan, Silverstream or Millie? Most people have answered “Silverstream”. I however, disagree with this. I think Millie is the better mate.

First of all, Silverstream was NOT a good mate. Sure she saved him from a river, but any other cat could’ve. It’s not even that special considering Silverstream was Riverclan. SilverXGray was extremely rushed, even so that LeafXCrow looked well developed compared to SilverXGray. Silverstream would’ve been a horrible mother, and it’s pretty much proven here:

“Graystripe looked ready to burst out of his skin. “Fireheart,” he whispered, “Silverstream is going to have my kits!”

His heart thudding, Fireheart looked from Graystripe to Silverstream. She quivered with happiness, her green eyes glowing with pride. “Your kits?” his voice echoed with alarm. “Are you both out of your minds? This is disastrous!”

Graystripe blinked and would not meet his friends eyes. “Not necessarily. I mean, these kits will join us together forever.”

“But you come from different Clans!” Fireheart protested. From the uneasiness in Graystripe’s expression, he guessed that his friend knew very well what difficulties the kits would cause. “You can’t ever claim these kits as your own, Graystripe. And Silverstream,” he added, turning toward the RiverClan cat, “you won’t be able to tell anyone in your Clan who the father is.”

“I don’t care,” Silverstream insisted, giving her chest fur a quick lick. ” I’ll know that’s what matters.”

Graystripe looked as if he wasn’t to sure of that. “It’s stupid that they can’t know,” he murmured. “We haven’t done anything to be ashamed of.” He pressed himself against Silverstream’s flank and shot Fireheart a helpless glance.”

-Forest of Secrets, pages 142-143.
Lying about a kit’s parents is a horrible thing to do and has never worked out. Mapleshade and her kits were exiled, Leafpool was humiliated and gave up her medicine cat duties, Brokenstar was bullied, etc. Not only that, but Silverstream said “I don’t care”. If Silverstream actually stayed in camp, she would’ve still been alive.

Silverstream would’ve probably been miserable in Thunderclan. She had friends and her father treating her like a spoiled brat. Graystripe later ended up betraying Riverclan because his heart still belonged in Thunderclan. Silverstream and Graystripe’s romance ended up hurting themselves and other cats including Mistyfoot and Fireheart. Fireheart almost got in trouble for sparing Silverstream. Silverstream’s only excuse for standing up for herself was “Crookedstar’s my dad”. Silverstream is not a good mate and would’ve been a horrible mother.

Now let’s take Millie. Many take Millie to be harsh and abusive, but is that actually true?
Millie was friendly to Graystripe when they first met, trying to comfort him when Graystripe lost against Duke. Millie then took Graystripe to another forest that reminded him of Thunderclan’s forest. Graystripe then told Millie about the clans and taught her to hunt. After a while, Millie had to chose between her peaceful kittypet life and a dangerous life in the forest. She chose to be with Graystripe and made each other happy.

Graystripe was dying of thirst and starvation. Rogues and kittypets had no code, so they wouldn’t have helped Graystripe. Millie came back with Moss and took care of Graystripe until they were ready to go search for the clans. Millie almost died many times because she left behind her kittypet life. She gave up a lot to be with Graystripe and help guide him home. This shows why Millie is a great mate.

Millie also isn’t a bad mother. She had her right to yell at Blossomfall because she isn’t a kit anymore. Sandstorm didn’t care when Redtail died, Cloudtail and Ferncloud (Ashfur was traumatized) grew out of Brindleface’s death, Brackenfur, Brightheart, and Thornclaw weren’t jealous of Cinderpelt. Bumblestripe didn’t care about Millie’s attention even before he was with Dovewing.

Something I noticed in OOTS is that Millie later got used to and accepted Briarlight’s injury. In Fading Echos and Night Whispers, she thought Briarlight was going to die because of what happened to Wildfur. A true family member has to spend most of their time with the dying family member when a family member is dying. In Sign Of The Moon, Millie was upset Briarlight ran away and got so stressed that she yelled at Blossomfall (She still had a right to). In The Forgotten Warrior, she saw how Briarlight was doing and trusted Jayfeather, She even led a patrol! In The Last Hope, Millie fights for the Clans in the Dark Forest battle. In Bramblestar’s Storm, Millie is worried that Briarlight would drown and got angry at Bramblestar due to her worrying about Briarlight, but forgave him and trusted him when Briarlight survived. She also spent most of that book comforting the kittypets and even talked about how much she loved Graystripe and Thudnerclan. “I wouldn’t change a thing. Except that I wish my daughter Briarlight hadn’t been injured. I’ll never leave ThunderClan, but I’ll never forget that there’s another way to live, either.”-Bramblestar’s Storm, page 109. Then in VOS, she fully realizes Briarlight is okay and isn’t shown to check on her because she trusts Jayfeather.

Millie isn’t ashamed of her previous life and was NEVER rude to Firestar. “You can rely on my loyalty until the day I join StarClan, and you must believe that I will live and die to protect ThunderClan. But I don’t want to change my name. I have always been Millie, and I see no shame in it.” -Dark River, page 86.

If Graystripe really loved Silverstream, then why would he chose Millie to be his mate? If he does chose Silverstream over Millie, then honestly I won’t like him anymore because that is the action of a jerk. Silverstream also approved of Graystripe being with Millie and let her live when she was about to die. This is why Millie is the better mate and not Silverstream.