Darktail and Onestar (SPOILERS!) by Cinnamonpaw

Cinnamonpaw talks about Darktail and Onestar during the events of AVOS.

Art by WarriorCat3042

Hey guys! It Cinnamonpaw here with a second article! I wrote The Mystery of Redstar as Hibiscuspaw, and I’m so glad you all liked it. Anyways, that’s off topic. Lets start!

So, Darktail is the main antagonist in A Vision of Shadows. And I’m sorry if this upsets everyone, but he my absolute favorite antagonist in all the Warriors books. I mean, we don’t learn of his his full story until Shattered Sky, but I still found him very interesting in The Apprentice’s Quest. He clearly was powerful enough to take over the entire gorge with his rouges, and then both Shadowclan’s and Riverclan’s territory by the lake. And looking into Shattered Sky, we find out about his past. According to Onestar, Darktail WAS HIS SON!!!! Which totally made me burst! He has the perfect character development, just like both Tigerstar and Scourge had in The Prophecies Begin. The son of a clan cat and a rouge, “rejected” by his father and taught to reject the clans and their ways, I mean, his reasons for his choices finally made perfect sense, as of Onestar’s in fleeing the battle in the first chapters in Shattered Sky. It finally made all perfect sense, and led me to absolutely making Darktail my favorite villain. And the epic father-son battle at the end of the book became my favorite battle of all time! It shows how much blood of kin does not always matter. Onestar was so loyal to his clan that he ended up sacrificing his life to save his clan- well, in that case, ALL the clans. He terminated Darktail to save everyone! I know most of you hated him as leader, and in the last arc, but he had his reasons, and ended up turning right around and killing himself and his son for the good of the clans.

Well, I am done pleading Onestar and Darktail’s cases. Their character developments made all the events in Hawkwing’s Journeys and A Vision of Shadows make sense. These two are now my favorite father-son pair. But what do you think? Do you love, or hate these two? Do you think their resons were good enough?

Thank you for listening to my frantic meowing about Darktail and Onestar! I hope you all liked this article and I’ll be sure to write more articles in the future!

Cinnamonpaw is out! *mic drop*

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20 comments

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  • Nice article! I think Darktail is a really interesting villain and probably one of my favorites. However, I’m not much of a fan of Onestar.

  • I really like Darktail as a villain and liked the Onestar-Darktail thing. I would love to know what Whitetail and Heathertail thought of all of it too. They must have had a couple choice words.

  • This moment in the story was important because it showed that Onestars change after becoming leader wasn’t out of nowhere. It shows how much focus Onestar puts on image, and while yes image as a leader is important as we saw in ShadowClan what happens when a leader isn’t respected. They shouldn’t be willing to toss everything out in pursuit of that image of the mighty leader who stands alone.

    Onestar made a point of pushing away Firestar and cultivating a rift between ThunderClan and WindClan so he could emulate the cold and aloof personalities of Leopardstar and Blackstar. Rather than simply letting things be and trying to show WindClans strength in some other way, he decided to get rid of what cats often said. Since they ‘saw him as Firestars kittypet’ he made a point of being hostile and closed off. All in efforts of cultivating this image of the strong leader of WindClan who doesn’t need no friendship in ThunderClan.

    His whole relationship with Smoke was all because he thrilled her with this image of a mighty and noble warrior living it up in the wild. And once she tried to glimpse behind the curtain and become a part of his world after she’d become pregnant with his kits. He tosses her aside. Thus making her kit all alone and lose all but one cat. And then when Darktail was old enough to live without her, Smoke tries once more to give Onewhisker a chance to be a father to his son, and Onewhisker turns them away the second time.

    I feel so bad for Smoke, she was willing to deal with all that pain and still try to give Onewhisker a second chance. And he threw it in her face.

    I will give Darktail credit, he was definitely the most effective villain we’ve seen in a while. While the Dark Forest was a major threat and what not in the POT and OOTS arcs it was built off villains who’d been threatening IN THE PAST, we haven’t had a really good threatening flesh and blood villain like this since Scourge or Tigerstar, I’m not saying Sol was bad, but he was nowhere near as effective or as genuinely dangerous as Darktail. Darktail was like all the strength of Scourge with all the cunning of sol and dang was it dangerous.

    I will say his duel to the death with Onestar was a good ending for both characters, but I’m just glad Onestar is gone. His posturingcaused way more harm than good for the clans and he needs to spend a long time in StarClan thinking about his mistakes.

  • Darktail was a powerful and important warrior! I agree with Jetty about Darktail.

    And I like Onestar. Don’t will me, but I do. He had some great character development and twists that we haven’t seen in any warriors character really. Not even Darktail had development like Onestar did. It’s Smoke’s fault mostly, not Onestar’s, but Onestar is to blame a bit. I still ship OneXWhite.

    • I won’t get upset with you liking Onestar but how is it Smokes fault?

      Onewhisker led her to believe that he was the equivalent of being a knight in shining armor in a fairy tale. So of course when she got pregnant with his kits, she gave up EVERYTHING to try and be with him. Because from what he’d told her clan life was like a dream.

      So this pregnant she cat leaves home and searches him out, a dangerous enough journey as is especially when you’re expecting kits. But Smoke perseveres and finds him, and just when she thinks she’s moments from her fairytale ending, Onewhisker sends her away and tosses her aside. Doesn’t take her to WindClan so she can kit safely, doesn’t escort her back home, just tells her to go home and leaves her.

      Then, Smoke goes and kits all on her own, and she loses all but one kit. She’s practically dealing with a similar situation to Mapleshade. Mate abandoned her, admittedly Smoke gave up everything but that’s partially because she was fed false promises and stories from Onewhisker, so she has no home anymore like Mapleshade. So I’d be completely understanding and feeling sympathy for her getting upset kinda like Mapleshade did.

      But! Smoke does not do like Mapleshade. Instead, she endures raises Darktail till he’s old enough to live without her and she decides she wants to give Onewhisker one last chance to be in his sons life. Like you and I know Mapleshade would be at the ‘vengeance on you! Vengeance on your children! Vengeance on everybody!’ Stage, but Smoke no, she’s no warriors villain, she gives Onewhisker a second chance to do the right thing. To take her son into this fairytale world he told her about, despite him abandoning her and costing her all but one of her BABIES!

      And Onewhisker denies her again. So of course for Smoke, by that point Onewhisker and the clans names are mud, so she tells her son these clans are awful, they’re terrible they’ve abandoned us. Even if she did raise Darktail to enact her vengeance, Darktail could’ve said no. SkyClan took him in with open arms, they had no connection to WindClan or his father at the time, so Darktail hurting them, then hurting the other clans was on him.

      Like Tigerstar tried to turn Brambleclaw into a vessel for his vengeance and Brambleclaw denied him. Ivypool was nearly turned into a tool for the Dark Forests vengeance and she denied them.

      Darktail made his choices, and while I’m sure Smoke made him hate the clans, you can’t say Smoke is the root of everything or blame her when her HATRED is so justified. Heck she gave Onewhisker and the clans a second chance! Most she cats would’ve put the fear of StarClan in you if you were part of the reason they lost some of their babies. But she wanted her son to have a father and live in this fairytale she’d been told and she was once again denied. So of course she’d spit venom about the clans, of course Darktail would grow up with his mother bitter. But unless Smoke suddenly shows up as this mastermind behind it all cat, she was just a bitter mother who lost everything and spewed hatred of the clans to Darktail.

      Darktail could’ve had a place in SkyClan, he could’ve decided he liked it and chosen that path instead but he didn’t instead he chose murder, betrayal, and destruction and that’s on him. If you want to blame anyone for his start blame Onewhisker not smoke. Smoke was simply burned too many times to let her son believe anything less

      • But it’s still Smoke’s fault for being so naive as to journey to WindClan when she KNOWS she’s about to kit. It’s stupid and naive, and no cat but herself can be to blame for making that choice and doing that.

        She didn’t lose everything. What about her Twolegs? Her kittypet family, which I’m sure she has? Seriously, it’s like saying that Ashfur was justified.

        Onestar was a coward, yes, but he didn’t say, “Smoke travel to me when you’re about to kit!” and he didn’t say that he wanted her to join the Clan. Plus, he was trying to keep Smoke safe because she was too soft for Clan life.

        • You comparing Smoke to Ashfur is like comparing apples to oranges. Smoke is guilty of nothing but an extreme hatred against the clans. Her sons actions are not her actions. Ashfur however actually took actions that nearly killed cats, there’s a difference between attempted murder and being hateful.

          She told Onewhisker ‘I will raise our son to hate you and your clans’ which means she fostered Darktail extreme hatred yes, but Darktail made the decisions that cost the clans. And the only reason she fostered such hatred was because Onewhisker and his clans caused her so much pain.

          You claimed it was mostly Smokes fault and she shouldn’t have been so naive to leave hom to be with Onewhisker and WindClan . Well hmm, what other kittypet decided that based on the word of someone she trusted and loved, she should give her firstborn to him to raise in the clans?

          Princess gave CloudKit for Fireheart to raise in ThunderClan, even after hearing all Fireheart’s struggles. Because she wanted her son to be like him. Smoke however, did not get an honest recounting of clan life, and believed Onewhisker loved her. Thus she decided that rather than have her kits grow up as kittypets, and never know their father she went out in search of him. She also could’ve done this because kittypet mothers are separated from their kits by the twolegs so Smoke might’ve also not wanted to lose them. She likely left as soon as she knew and figured she’d find Onewhisker before she kitted.

          Several cats have shown they can travel while pregnant, Dovewing went to the city and was fine. So as long as they’re mindful of how pregnant they were they’d be fine. Smoke would’ve been completely fine if Onewhisker had been the cat she thought he was, and taken care of the cat pregnant with HIS kits rather than throw her aside like trash.

          Onewhisker didn’t say not to come either, he never told her he didn’t want to join. And honestly if someone’s talking about how great their lifestyle/organization is that typically draws people in and they desire the same. Onewhisker talked about how great he was and how great it was to be a part of WindClan. If someone came up to me and told me all these great things about a place, like London for instance I’d be enticed to visit and see it. If they never mentioned any of the bad, and brought up things that interested me, why wouldn’t I go? And if that person was someone I was interested in romantically I’d go to be with them.

          Next you bring up Onestars excuse of her being too soft. If he was THAT concerned about her why didn’t he escort her back? While yes he’d likely have been missed in WindClan, this was a cat he claimed was too soft for the wild… so his response is ‘to keep her out of the wild, I’m going to abandon her while she’s pregnant out here, that’ll keep her safe! No possibility of foxes, or dogs, or surprise kitting you know KILLING HER’. And she was the mother of his kits, she’s more than just a friend by that point. By that point you can’t pin this on Smoke’s naivety, he convinced her he loved her enough to mate with her and betrays her by not only telling her she wasn’t wanted but abandoning her to the wild he was supposedly protecting her from.

          And maybe she did get her twolegs back and most kittypets don’t have strong family ties because they get separated after a young age. But that all pales to one thing, nothing’s stronger than a mothers love and look what Smoke loses because of Onewhisker tossing her aside. She loses all but one kit! And again this isn’t just naivety by this point because she met with Onewhisker the guy that apparently knew she wasn’t strong enough to survive and he abandoned her to die.

          It’s like, if you followed me out on a dangerous hiking trail and you had like a flu or something. I knew you were sick and thus your immune system was compromised, and that you were not capable to traverse the hiking trail we were on. If I then told you, to go back all on your own and you got really sick and wound up dead that’s my fault. I was negligent. And that’s if we’re like two friends. I should be invested enough in your wellbeing that I would go back with you to make sure you got back safely, because I’m aware of the dangers, you aren’t. And you’re sick and that could potentially worsen to the point where if you got really sick you might need someone to either carry you or administer temporary care to keep you alive.

          So his whole, ‘oh yeah I abandoned her for her own good was a loud of fox dung,’ he abandoned her to avoid being missed by his clan, to. Avoid explaining that he’d mated with a kittypet, and to avoid the trouble of her being in WindClan and all the issues that would bring,

          One last thing why I will never see Smoke as this horrible cat, she gave Onewhisker a second chance! She took Darktail her only surviving kit and brought him to Onewhisker hoping he’d give her son the good life he’d told her about at length. She was willing to put aside losing all her kits, getting turned away while pregnant, even learning Onewhisker didn’t really love her despite mating with her, if he took her son to be raised in WindClan in the good life she was told about.

          And Onewhisker denied her the second time.

          And so Smoke developed a hatred for him, and the lies he fed her, and she made sure Darktail knew about it. She made sure Darktail hated the clans like she did.

          But hating is not a punishable offense, and considering what she dealt with she’s JUSTIFIED in hating Onewhisker.

          All Smoke ever Did was feel a powerful bitter emotion because of what happened, and spread this feeling to Darktail. You cannot blame anyone for their emotions. Or their thoughts. Only their actions.

          The only ones whose actions caused these emotions was Onewhisker who abandoned Smoke when she needed his help and consideration. And again when he refused to take on Darktail so he could grow up in WindClan.

          Smoke is not a villain, she’s a bitter she cat who let hate into her heart after she was burned twice by Onewhisker,

          • The truth is, Jetty, is that my opinion is my own. You won’t be able to change that, no matter how long of a reply you write. In my eyes, Smoke will forever be to blame for Darktail.

            Onestar was a coward yes, but readers of warriors are so used to cats choosing other cats before their Clans that they can’t take in the fact that ONESTAR CHOSE HIS CLAN BEFORE ANOTHER CAT. He knew that he needed to be in his Clan, as this was probably around the time where the two legs had come to the territories.

            I never said that Dovewing wasn’t naive to travel when pregnant. But she, at least, traveled as soon as she could, to reduce the possibility of kitting on her journey. Smoke, meanwhile, goes, “Oh I’m about to kit let’s travel!” She could have kitted, left her kits with her twolegs, and then traveled by herself. Kits aren’t allowed to be give away until they are eight weeks old, so she had eight weeks.

            Either way, Onestar would have refused her. And it makes sense, sort of. With the end seeming to draw so near(twolegs destroying territory, or perhaps Lion versus Tiger), it was a smart choice.

            Anyways, Onestar denied her for a second time because he was a coward and also saw the end drawing near. Smoke WAS too soft, and there’s a reason the authors made Daisy part of ThunderClan AFTER the journey.

            It’s really not Onestar’s fault that his ex-mate couldn’t join the Clan. She was too soft, and he obviously felt guilty for feeding her lies. Wasn’t rejection enough to let Smoke get a hint of what he was saying?

            Still, I feel a reserved amount of pity for Smoke. But the truth is is that if I were her, I wouldn’t feel angry, I’d feel disappointed. And I wouldn’t be so silly as to try again, because one clear-cutting message is good enough for me to stop wasting my time on it.

            Jetty, you seem to assume that I consider Smoke to blame for what happened with Darktail. But that’s not true, and I never said anything of the sort. I think Darktail takes the blame for making a killing force. But it is Smoke’s influence is what make him start thinking like that. Smoke is not a villain, but she is the reason why Darktail made his killing force to destroy the Clans.

            • You’re welcome to dislike Smoke but you can’t blame Smoke completely for Darktail.

              Cause she had to mate with Onewhisker to have him in the first place. So regardless of how much or how little you want to blame Onewhisker for Darktail becoming who he is. Onewhisker doesn’t get to be blameless cause he made him, and had a paw in creating him by abandoning him. Your opinions on Smoke are your own, but you can’t blame her entirely for Darktail, cause it takes two to tango.

              Also if the risk of kitting alone was great, that’s too far for a queen to travel to be away from her kits. Plus by the time her kits were old enough to travel the twolegs would’ve likely taken them. She was best off going when she did if that was the only chance she had, and she planned on kitting in WindClan, which she would’ve if Onewhisker hadn’t been a butt.

              So putting Smoke aside now, let’s focus on Onewhisker. You claim that by turning away Smoke he did what was best for his clan because this was where the twolegs started encroaching on their territory. There’s no proof. The only basic working time we could have is I’d say roughly forest of secrets to midnight for Onewhisker to start visiting Twolegplace. There’s a lot going on within that range and a lot of bad that could possibly be happening, but also a good deal of peace time for WindClan at least.

              Plus he never says ‘the twolegs were coming’ or ‘the tensions were running high before bloodclan’ he just brings up the general struggles of warrior life he felt Smoke would be too soft for. Pretty sure if he’d brought up the instability of those times it’d garner sympathy and a greater understanding from those speaking to him because most of them remember those days.

              So there’s no ‘his clan needed him right that moment’ to justify him not helping a queen ready to kit, and now that you mentioned that this would be well after fire and ice, why didn’t he at least point her in the direction of Barleys barn? I mean if he wanted to shove the problem of a queen ready to kit on someone else at least send her to someone who was semi close who could help her.

              And again when she comes with Darktail to give him to his father to raise, there’s no proof this is when twolegs are around (plus if they were I doubt Smoke would want to leave her kit in what looked like a mud torn wasteland, which would’ve been what it wasstarting to look like if Twolegs were there). For all we know this is when Leafpool and Squirrelflight are kits more likely.

              So there’s no proof there’s this ‘end in sight’, Onewhisker was just a coward as you said.

              Also we don’t know Smoke is like Daisy, she could’ve been like Firestar, or Cloudtail, or Scourge and none of them were soft despite being presumed as such for being kittypets. And even if she was soft like Daisy if given proper training she’d have likely been like Clovertail then perhaps. And we know Darktail wasn’t a weak kittypet, so really Onewhisker denied a strong young cat his place in WindClan. Imagine all of Darktail’s strength and charisma but as a WindClan cat.

              • Good points, but she is mostly to blame in my opinion and nothing will change that.

                I never said she should take her kits; she could leave them with the twolegs when they were, per say, one week old. Then she could travel herself.

                Onewhisker wasn’t like that. He didn’t just want to shove her to someone else. I believe that he was doing what he thought was right for his Clan, and also, a lot was going on.

                And Onewhisker was going to know that Darktail was strong how?

                • She can’t leave them at a week old, t hats what I said. If the distance was far enough she’d have to kit alone, it’s too far for her to be away from her kits if they were born. And by the point she could travel without them, being gone for too long could allow for something to happen. She was best off trying to join WindClan while she was pregnant rather than with the kits. As traveling without them would poise issues along with carrying them with her.

                  You keep saying a ‘lot was going on’ but for all we know this is during the skip between 1st series and second series where nothing of note really happened in WindClan. So there wasn’t a lot going on. And you know him saying that’s not him, you’re right it’s like how he told ShadowClan to suffer without his help. He turned away from the problem and blocked them out. Rather than work out a compromise or point them in the direction of help. I doubt Barley or Ravenpaw would mind helping Smoke, if Onewhisker had shown a semblance of care or foresight.

                  He saw what Firestar could do, Smoke was clearly tenacious and persistent enough. To not think that his son could provide a meaningful contribution was foolish.

                  In the end it was all about Onewhisker saving face don’t paint it as anything but. He didn’t want the image bed cultivated to Smoke to break, he didn’t want to face the music of mating with a kittypet, and he didnt didn’t want to accept responsibility for taking care and raising his child.

  • *Holds up hands*

    I’m staying away from this one 😛 As a neutral observer 😛

    But it’s a good article!

  • Darktail!!!!!!!
    I love villains!
    Hawkfrost: You know you do!
    . . . really?
    Darktail: Hi.
    GAH! WHAT?
    Darktail: What?
    Hawkfrost: Hey! Get outta here!
    Darktail: Not a chance!
    *yowls, scratching, biting*
    Boys! Down!
    *silence*
    Hawkfrost: We are not dogs.
    Darktail: Geez, woman.
    Oh shut up.

    • Yeah I agree with you
      Ivypool : You agree with HAWKFROST
      No I agree with Bluefire
      Ivypool : Oh that is ok then
      Pebblewind: I loved this article !!
      Onestar: Yeah I agree apart from the bit that says I am a hated leader……
      NOOO ONESTAR PLEASE LEAVE
      Onestar : No
      PLEASE GO
      Onestar : * Jumps into battle with Hawkfrost and Darktail* Fine
      Ivypool : Hawkfrost I’ll get you!!! * Also jumps into battle*
      Your still here Pebblewind aren’t you
      Pebblewind: Ya
      Finally some one who actually listens to me
      Pebblewind : Ya
      Right there is something suspicious going on here
      Pebblewind : Ya
      With YOU
      Pebblewind : Na *looks over shoulder
      Pebblewind: Jaysky do you want a cookie ??? 🍪
      PEBBLEWIND !!, NO !!!

  • My favourite character was actually Scourge so i hear what your saying about how Darktail is awesome.

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