Permanent Queens – Why all the hate? by Skidfoot

Skidfoot wonders why permanent queens are not as loved as those who returned to their warrior duties.

2 years ago, on the Warriors Wiki, I posted a blog about permanent queens. For those of you who don’t know, a permanent queen is basically just a she-cat who decides to stay in the nursery and care for kits instead of going back to warriorhood. I’m pretty sure most people already know that but hey, might as well say it anyway.

I decided to share (and edit) my 2-year-old post here, because I still really like it. Without further ado, here it is.

I’ve always been so irritated about people saying that permanent queens, mostly Daisy and Ferncloud are useless. And my question is… why? Admittedly, I used to think they were useless as well, but honestly, I can’t judge. Yes, Daisy was very paranoid, and complained a lot. Yes, Ferncloud spent more time as a nursery queen than a warrior. No, neither of them are useless, and I’m very ticked off at the fact that Ferncloud was killed off because of fan demand. I really wish that she didn’t die, only because fans wanted her to die. However, it makes a little bit of sense because she was in series one and would have been pretty old by now. At least she’s in StarClan with Dustpelt now.

Here are the common reasons I usually see/hear of when people express hatred for at least one permanent queen.

Laziness/Uselessness – One reason why people would hate permanent queens is because they say the queens are lazy. All they do is lay around and “pretend” to take care of kits. Excuse me, do you even know how hard it is to care for mischievous troublemakers? I’m pretty sure a queen doesn’t lay around all day, expecting prey to be delivered to them and allowing her kits to escape camp or annoy elders/warriors. We don’t know what they do on a daily basis. Also, if queens are still pretending to take care of kits, then I’m guessing you call nursing for a queen who can’t produce milk “pretending.” If there were no permanent queens and a currently nursing queen couldn’t produce milk, guess what? One of two things will probably happen. The kit will die, possibly before it can even open its eyes, or, two Clans will have to make a huge decision of either a queen from a different Clan moves to the Clan with the kit(s) that needs milk which’ll make the kit think that the queen from the rival Clan is their mother, or the kit moves to the Clan temporarily and the biological mother has a huge risk of losing her kit because the kit will believe it is from the rival Clan.

Kit-machine – This is mostly directed on Ferncloud. I’ve heard that she’s a useless/bad queen/character because she’s a “kit machine.” I don’t get it. She’s considered a kit machine because she gave birth thrice. Why is she the only kit machine? Robinwing gave birth to three litters and nobody batted an eye, probably because she wasn’t a permanent queen. And then Ferncloud gave birth to seven kits, almost half (Because there can never be a half-kit) of which died before warriorhood and she’s hated on for it. Sorreltail gives birth to two litters/six kits in which only one dies before warriorhood and she’s loved. Don’t get me wrong, I like Sorreltail very much, but I don’t see why Ferncloud is bad for having nearly the same amount as Sorreltail. It’s a one kit difference. And “kit-machines” are actually good for the Clan. It means more warriors!

Over-protectiveness – I don’t see why people hate any kind of queen for being over-protective. It’s how all queens act, so why are they disliked for it? Should the queen just let her kit wander outside camp and get risk being eaten by a fox, snake, or badger? No! It’s better to be over-protective instead of not being protective of your kit at all. Plus, isn’t it common for mothers and fathers nervous about their children fighting their first battle? After all, battles are like a deck of cards. You don’t know what you’ll get. In this case, one of three possibilities: Ruffled up, badly wounded, or death. It’s painful to see your child go into their first battle, where they risk being killed. And before anyone says that they are so overprotective that they want to basically pamper their kits in lieu of letting them fight for their Clan, I believe that the kits’ll probably be old enough to tell their parents how they feel about being pampered.

So, to conclude, I’m pretty sure permanent queens are not a waste of time and space or are kit-machines. They are there to service their Clans. Yes, they should be a bit more participative, but we don’t know what they do on a regular basis. Besides, they’re technically like the cat-versions of stay-at-home moms. You wouldn’t give a stay-at-home mom (or dad) mouse-dung, would you? Also, if you disagree with anything I said above, please be respectful. The last thing I need is cranky users getting mad at my opinion!

Many thanks!