Mapleshade – Last Grasp at Sanity by Maplepaw

Maplepaw analyzes the reasoning behind Mapleshade’s actions. 

Artwork by Wildberry

Hi, it’s Maplepaw with another article!
Ok so this will be my second article and I have chosen to do it on Mapleshade!

Now this article is purely a theory I have had, having not read Mapleshade’s Vengeance based on the events of Crookedstar’s Promise

Ok so hear we are
The Theory :

When Mapleshade helped trained Crookedstar through his life she was trying to do something good before the Dark Forest took over her mind.

The Evidence :
When you first see Mapleshade in Crookedstar’ Promise she is kind to him, helping him with his injury and keeping his hope’s up when his mother turns his back.
Then when she makes him promise to put his clan above all else, this seems to me like she is trying desperately to keep Crookedstar away from the same thing that she suffered, exile because of love.
As the book progresses you see that Mapleshade steers Crookedstar back on the path of his hopes and dreams , to be the leader of RiverClan.
Also you see that Mapleshade is beginning to become more and more aggressive in training as her sanity starts to slowly slip away from her. She makes Crookedstar leave his mother’s side , as she thinks this is what he would want her to say but then turns it into a plot for revenge later on in the book.
Her training seems to slowly get more malicious until Crookedstar sees Thistleclaw training and he realises what he is doing.
When Mapleshade realises that she can not guide Crookedstar like she wanted to, she snaps.
Immediately after this she seems to become crazy , like most members of the dark forest and we see a side to her that could not have co-existed with her kind personality at the start of the book.

The Problems :
Hawkfrost has also been know to trick cats with a seemingly kind personality
From what I have seem about Mapleshade’s Vengeance she was already mad (but she could have regretted what she had done after some time in the dark forest)
Looking back everything seemed to have an evil intention

So what do you think ??
Was Mapleshade helping Crookedstar really just her plotting revenge or was it her last grasp at sanity?

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26 comments

  • Interesting theory, but I feel like the only reason Mapleshade was nice to Crookedstar was to lead him into her trap. I think Mapleshade only wanted another cat to suffer like she had.

  • I have read Mapleshade’s Vengeance and I don’t need to read any other novellas or super editions to know that the main series is often better at making you understand the story, and better at characters. Actually, Mapleshade’s Vengeance is horrible, and I’ll tell you why. It’s not about tiny details, it’s the POV. Mapleshade is not sane at this point. And then tons of readers think it’s okay to do what Mapleshade did! She was, though, abused by her clanmates because she followed her heart, yelled at by two leaders in one day, and having an argument with her mate and having a bunch of nobodies ruin their love for each other. And not to mention a mysterious vision. So she was not obligated to make a good decision in this, and many other things! But we can’t see how angry Appledusk is. I mean, there’s a Mapleshade side and a Appledusk side, which makes me sick. They love each other so much and then SUPER NATURAL powers start pushing each other away! Goodness the book is forced, I mean, Starclan obviously gave Mapleshade visions to make her think to kill three cats and not one, like she thought she had to. But who made her go to the dark forest? Starclan! Ugh. I feel that in the last few chapters is when she snapped. But I can see it being in Crookedstar’s Promise. I only know about Crookedstar’s Promise from youtube videos. I feel Mapleshade’s Vengeance would be better with a different POV, even though it’s about Mapleshade. Mapleshade and Appledusk deserve justice!