[a full-body design of Tigerheart mid-walk]

Defending Tigerheart (Spoilers!) by Butterflyflower

Butterflyflower argues the character flaws of Tigerheart.

Artwork by Lithestep

Hi! Butterfly here with my second article! (my first was really cringey :P)

I’ve seen a lot of hate on Tigerheart from Warriors. Now, I’m not trying to change peoples opinions. He is my favorite character, but that doesn’t mean everyone has to love him! I’ve just noticed that a lot of the hate he gets is for weird or ridiculous reasons, so now I’m going to defend him! ๐Ÿ˜€

Here are some of the reasons people hate him
-He’s “immature”
-He trained in the Dark Forest
-He was/is in a forbidden relationship with Dovewing
-He can be ambitious at times
-He blamed Jayfeather for Flametail’s death

He’s “immature”

I honestly don’t even get how this is even a reason people hate him so much!
He wasn’t that immature, and there are plenty of people in real life like this too! Sure some of them can be annoying sometimes, but that’s no reason to HATE them! And on the other hand, some of them (like Matthew West if anyone knows who he is) can be really hilarious and cute! X3 I personally think Tigerheart was more on the hilarious and cute side in Omen of the Stars, but then in A Vision of Shadows he became more mature, and that’s realistic too because sometimes people do mature as they get older! Some stay a little immature, but everyone has there own personality! No one should hate them because of that! Even though Tigerheart’s silliness was what first made me love him, I still love him even now because I also found he was actually an interesting and complex character (we’ll probably see more of his development in Tigerheart’s Shadow too!)

He trained in the Dark Forest

First of all, lots of cats trained in the Dark Forest, all for different reasons. We don’t really know what Tigerheart’s reason for it, but in the last hope, he said he was spying like Ivypool.
Some people say things like this though:
“He was lying to be with Dovewing!”
“He didn’t start spying until he realized they were bad!”
“He didn’t know they were bad until the battle, and he lied about spying!”

But are these things true?

Let’s look back at the things he said:
“That doesn’t mean I have to be like him (Tigerstar). He almost destroyed ShadowClan once before. I wasn’t going to let him do it again!”-The Last Hope page 292

“I’m a warrior. I fight for the Clans. Dark Forest warriors don’t belong here. This is Clan territory!”-The Last Hope page 292

“We can do this together.”-to Ivypool in The Last Hope page 296

(I found these quotes and page numbers on the Warriors wiki since I don’t own the book, but I have read it)

He most likely wasn’t lying just so he could be with Dovewing. By the looks of things, he was truly loyal to ShadowClan, and wanted to fight on their side in the final battle. He probably was telling the truth about spying as well, since Tigerstar is his grandfather, and even if he hadn’t known about the Dark Forest’s true plans, there were a lot of cats who didn’t, and they don’t get as much hate. (Well, at least, not all of them do.)

He was/is in a forbidden relationship with Dovewing

Lots of cats that don’t get much hate were in forbidden relationships. There are people who are tired of how many there are, or just like Bumblestripe more, but that’s no reason to hate Tigerheart. That would be like hating Graystripe because they don’t like his relationship with Millie (I actually do like them together, but this article isn’t about them. It’s about Tigerheart!) So yeah, whether you like TigerxDove, BumblexDove, or neither, there’s no reason to hate Tigerheart because of this. He’s his own cat.

He can be ambitious at times

LOTS of good cats can be ambitious at times, but that’s not always bad! It’s about how they control their ambition! Some ambitious characters were villains, but plenty of ambitious characters also became amazing cats! Tigerheart has a good heart though, no matter how ambitious he is! ๐Ÿ™‚

He blamed Jayfeather for Flametail’s death

“You don’t know what it’s like to lose a littermate. You want to blame anyone, anything. Not just a crack in the ice.”-to Ivypool in The Forgotten Warrior page 126

Yes, it was wrong of him to blame Jayfeather, but Dawnpelt blamed Jayfeather first. Tigerheart’s brother was dead, and his sister was accusing an innocent cat of murder. Who knows what was going through his mind at the time? Anyway, one mistake doesn’t make you horrible for the rest of your life. Dawnpelt is a much nicer cat in A Vision of Shadows. She was Violetpaw’s mentor. We don’t really get to see what’s going on with Tigerheart too much, but no one has ever talked about the Flametail incident since The Last Hope. They aren’t holding any grudges, so why hate Tigerheart for something that happened in the past? What’s done is done. We just have to wait till Tigerheart’s Shadow now to see where his future will lead him! (I can’t wait!)

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25 comments

  • Now, I gotta agree on most points, but I still find him a bit unlikeable. His relationship with Dovewing is not healthy and its mostly due to him for the most part. In Omen Of The Stars, he manipulates her as an apprentice. When they were both in the abandoned twoleg place and Ivypaw catches them together, which results in a ShadowClan patrol to catch them. He suggests that ShadowClan keeps her hostage, so they could milk some catmint from Jayfeather. That wasn’t his finest moment because if he truly valued Dovepaw’s trust, he would’ve convinced his clanmates to let her go. Some of you might say “he was putting his clan first!” If he was putting his clan first, he wouldn’t have ran off with Dovepaw now would he? I was glad that he broke it off with Dovewing in the end because he’s a tom that needs to value his clan.

    (SPOILERS AHEAD READ AT YOUR OWN RISK)
    Fast forward to A Vision Of Shadows. When his clan had been taken over by Darktail, instead of helping Rowanstar, his father, he decides to hook up with Dovewing again. This is one example where he actually needed to stay loyal to his clan because the fate of the clans was in danger and all that he could think about was his beloved Dovewing! Finally, in Tigerheart’s Shadow, when Dovewing reveals that she’s pregnant and runs off. He decides to not look for her (which was good), however, when things in the clans looked too hard for him, he decides to run off to find Dovewing.

    This was not good because Rowanstar was in a tight situation where his clanmates were beginning to question his leadership and instead of helping his father get through this, he decides to take the easy way out and run away. My point is further proven when it is revealed that Rowanstar had died during Tigerheart’s journey, leaving ShadowClan without a leader AND a deputy to take his place! Without leadership, ShadowClan would’ve crumbled and the five clans would be no more.

    Tigerheart was lucky that his clan was still intact by the time he got back, but really, it was on the brink of destruction! In conclusion, I believe that Tigerheart is a bad cat and doesnt deserve anything that he was given.

  • For me, he’s just annoying. I don’t know why. I just don’t like him that much. Now I don’t hate him, but still. I think a lot of people dislike him because he stopped a potential Bumble X Dove. Everyone (including me) loves Bumblestripe cause he acts so much like Graystripe. And we all want more Graystripe!

    It was a good article though. I agree with you, but I just inwardly cringe whenever Tigerheart appears in the books sometimes.

  • I actually rather agree with this article. I used to dislike Dovewing and Tigerheart, and hate the fact that they were mates. After Tigerheart’s Shadow I grew to love them both.

  • I like Tigerheart mainly because I HATE Bumblestripe. I know people like Bumblestripe, they’re manipulative, clingy, and are just plain simps.

    • I agree. Tigerheart is my favorite and Tigerhearts Shadow shows that he has amazing character development.

      • How exactly does it have good character development? All the characters did. was act completely differently and make stupid choices. Which is why I personally hate Tigerheart.

  • I agree. I do think at the beginning of their relationship in OoTS was a bit manipulative but I think it got better/healthier later on. I don’t think he was trying to take advantage of her on purpose.

  • HEHE I love this article, and tigerheart is my 2nd fav cat! (My fav is Bramblestar :3 many people hate him because he can be stubborn ๐Ÿ™ Ok nvm but Bramblestar is a great cat) I also love Tigerheart because his name and I love tigers but mostly I like the him because his humor when kit and his care for the clan when is grown up ๐Ÿ™‚
    And my name is Tigerheart lol

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