Leafpool: The Complete Guide by Sorrelpaw

Sorrelpaw takes a look at Leafpool’s character throughout the series.

H e l l o  a g a i n !!! I am Sorzii. In this article we shall take a look at LEAFPOOL and whether she’s a good cat or not. Whew, I haven’t done these in a while!

The method of character analyzation in this article follows what I call the “OMEGA” Character Analysis. O= Others’ Opinions, M= Meant To Be, E= Essence, G= Guide, A= Argument. OMEGA. It’s not a real part of english essay writing, though, I think. I kind of made it up when I first did my analysis of Mapleshade…

We’ll start with O, a look at others’ opinions. Looking at what I see on many discussion forums and what I get from my friends, it seems that there are three main ideas on Leafpool:
1. She isn’t bad, but she is like a Mary-Sue.
2. She’s epic and marvelous.
3. She is a necessary character for the plot; I do not have any particular opinions about her.
Mainly these three. Especially the Mary-Sue one. I’ve seen that one around quite a lot, and two out of five of my friends said so.

Moving on to what she is meant to be. What did the Erins think when they created the character of Leafpool? My GUESS is that they meant for her to be an important part of the story, vital to the plot of the Three and Hollyleaf’s escape. They did NOT, however, intend for her to be regarded as a Mary-Sue! At least I’m QUITE sure.

Onto E, Essence. By essence, I mean the natural type of ‘aura’ that goes with the character. (Of course, I could’ve used ‘A’ for aura instead of E for essence, but it would turn out as OMAGA which seems a bit, well, weird.) Leafpool in general is a calm, usually composed character. She has a good memory for herbs. This is probably the reasoning behind why readers think she is Mary-Sue: because of her composed manner and her good sense for herbs.

For the Guide, I will provide you with a short and brief overview of Leafpool’s life. Leafpool was born to Sandstorm and Firestar. She trained as Cinderpelt’s apprentice to become medicat, and had a natural instinct to StarClan’s signs and omens. She witnessed her sister Squirrelpaw leave on the journey to find Midnight, and after they returned set out with the others on the Great Journey.

At her new territory, she found the Moonpool. Cinderpelt took this to be sign that StarClan approved of Leafpool’s abilities, and gave her her full name. She did well as a medicat until Crowfeather revealed that he loved her, after which she became less gentle, and met with Crowfeather. Later she went off with him, but returned when Midnight came to warn the Clans about the invading badgers. She returned to her Clan and witnessed Cinderpelt’s death. She resolved to dedicate herself fully to being a medicat and not meet Crowfeather again in secret. Then she discovered she was expecting his kits, and after she gave birth to them in the hollow tree Squirrelflight brought them back to camp and lied saying they were her kits.

Leafpool mentored her son Jaypaw, and later on Jaypaw became Jayfeather, part of the three, Hollyleaf revealed the secret of the littermates’ birth and announced that Leafpool broke the Code at a Gathering, which caused Leafpool to become a warrior. Afterwards, she became a medicat again just before the great battle with the DF.

I shall go no further than this, for the above are the only information that is useful.

I now present the final A, Argument. Our question is: was Leafpool a good cat? And the definite answer is, yes.

I shall destroy first the weapon of accusing Leafpool of being Mary-Sue. Because she was not a Mary-Sue. During the time she loved Crowfeather, she became irritated and not as gentle as before. Squirrelflight observed this. Ask yourselves, “Why did Leafpool’s temper become so bad?”

One answer is that she fell under the hone of love. She was unable to resist the new feeling, and as a result became increasingly short tempered. This falls far from the perfection standards that mark a typical Mary-Sue.

Leafpool is a good cat, I say. But she deserted her Clan for a cat, you respond.

Yes, to be technical, she did desert a Clan for a cat. she deserted ThunderClan for Crowfeather. But she was not 100% certain. As aforementioned, she fell for the hone of love. She was not completely sure, as a matter of fact she hesitated quite a bit before leaving with Crowfeather. And when Midnight gave her warning, Leafpool was quick to turn back to her Clan.

Another point of extreme argument is that it was HER fault that Lionblaze, Jayfeather and Hollyleaf got the fates they did. HER fault that Hollyleaf nearly died in the tunnel. HER fault that Lionblaze and Jayfeather were part of the Three. Her fault, her fault, her fault!!

I don’t deny it. I really don’t. It WAS her fault, all of it, but she knew it too, and she regretted it, tried to mend it. She served her best as a warrior, never sulking or cursing Hollyleaf for practically stripping her of her rank. She apologized profusely, and defended Squirrelflight saying that it was her own fault not Squirrelflight’s.

She was a good cat. That is my point, And let that be the final words you see in this OMEGA Character Analysis (aka Sorzi’s English Lecture on OMEGA essays) 😛

XD Hopefully you did indeed enjoy that article. Quite some effort was put into it, you see. And remember to thank me for offering a free English Writing Lecture, too, if you enjoyed it 😉 Aaanyway, bye! And enjoy your day. Or night. 再会！(That’s goodbye, see you next time in Chinese)

She was a good cat.