Why Not To Hate Dawnpelt by Foxtail

Foxtail shares their opinion on Dawnpelt.

My third article!

I am not trying to change your opinion (from OotS) on her but hear me out for this one time.

Let’s look at her in the past for a second:
She was a fun, quirky, and lively cat as a kit and an apprentice and she reminded me a bit of Squirrelflight. She was reluctant to be in ThunderClan but so were her brothers and mother. Dawnpelt was also reluctant to help make a sign for ShadowClan, but later agreed because it would help save them. I would like to think of her as similar to Hollyleaf, Flametail as Jayfeather, and then Tigerheart as Lionblaze. Dawnpelt is a clever, aggressive, loyal and quirky she-cat and lots of cats are like her. You may be thinking what does this have to do with defending her? Well she was a good cat and always was. She defended her Clan with the cost of her life and was extremely loyal to her littermates (like Hollyleaf, Jayfeather and Lionblaze). But then one of her brothers died.

This is the main reason why everyone hates her. Because she blamed Jayfeather for Flametail’s death and because it was her fault she convinced him to go on the ice in the first place. No. It was no one’s fault. Dawnpelt was only trying to be sympathetic and cheerful when she invited him onto the ice. She wanted him to lighten up and have some fun. You can’t blame someone for that. Actually, none of them should have been on the ice, but they are probably teenagers in the human world and humans do stupid things too. She probably knew it wasn’t a good idea but she and Olivenose were playing for a long while and the ice never broke so of course she’d believe it was safe (at least near the shore). Flametail willingly went onto the ice. He could have refused Dawnpelt’s offer but he didn’t because of course he’d want to have some fun too. Every cat does. While they were playing, the prey-stone went a little too far and Flametail raced after it. ‘Crack!’ Flametail crashed into the ice and plunged into the deep cold water. The main reason for Flametail’s death was to get Dawnpelt into the Dark Forest. But did she? No. Dawnpelt witnessed the entire seen. She saw Jayfeather there and thought he deliberately drowned Flametail because they might have gotten into an argument. Everyone hates her for this. But Dawnpelt didn’t know Rock. She didn’t now that Jayfeather tried to save Flametail because that was never how she saw it through her grief. She didn’t even know it would happen because it didn’t happen to her or Olivenose even though they were too playing on the ice. Dawnpelt is the kind of cat who jumps into situations and solves them. She must have been desperate and horrified that she couldn’t solve this one. She knew she had to be strong but his death tore her apart, especially seeing that Jayfeather was there and didn’t save him (because of Rock but like I said, Dawnpelt didn’t know that). So she blamed the ThunderClan medicine cat to hide her pain, and that soon turned into vengeance. She didn’t know what it was like to loose a littermate. Seeing something so precious to her being ripped out from under her paws and not being able to solve this problem made her confused and angry. Think about Mapleshade; this case is similar to hers. Dawnpelt and all the other Clans knew that Hollyleaf had “died” or disappeared in the tunnels. Jayfeather and Lionblaze were heartbroken when that happened. They both hated the fact that they were half-Clan and broke the code by being born. But did they accuse anyone? They did believe that Hollyleaf should have been one of the Three and that Leafpool and Squirrelflight shouldn’t have lied to them. So they kind of did blame a few cats for her death, but not openly cause it wasn’t worth it (I don’t know if this is true but Lionblaze could have blamed Heathertail for Hollyleaf’s death secretly because she discovered the tunnels). Dawnpelt did have a right because she witnessed someone “drowning” her brother. At least that’s how she saw it. Flametail himself thought his death was stupid and didn’t tell the truth cause he too blamed Jayfeather! This is not Dawnpelt’s fault because she didn’t realize it but she was still siding with her brothers. Tigerheart also hissed at Ivypool for trying to destroy Flametail. All three of them were confused, angry, and heartbroken. Dawnpelt had a small right to accuse Jayfeather openly in front of the Clans because she was there and it was what she saw and how she interpreted it. The other Clans however didn’t because they had no proof and weren’t there when it happened. You would expect her to just forgive and forget, but after all that? Watching someone die is painful and even more when there is another person there who is told to let them die. If I lost my sister, I would find it very hard to forget because I couldn’t just do that (like how Lionblaze and Jayfeather never forgot about Hollyleaf when she ran into the tunnels).

When she noticed that Hollyleaf was back, she had another reason to hate Jayfeather because he actually didn’t loose his littermate. She didn’t know what it was like until it happened, and that’s really hard to cope with, especially since Flametail was still young and should have lived a long time. Dawnpelt saw Jayfeather as a murderer because of the scene they witnessed and because now she knows he never really lost his sister and she never was actually deliberately killed.

When the truth was out, I believe she stopped blaming him since Flametail finally told the truth about his death. Dawnpelt did all she could to avenge his death, and Flametail let her. He kept the truth of his death a secret. If he had told the truth, Dawnpelt wouldn’t have been so vengeful. But they were all littermates and they were loyal to one another. They were littermates so of course they would be.

In the battle with the Dark Forest, she fought for the Clans. She fought for Flametail because she probably figured out what the Dark Forest does and how they wanted her. But Dawnpelt is a loyal cat and lives by the code. Seeing Jayfeather “kill” Flametail, that was against the code so that made her hate him even more. She is like Hollyleaf in so many ways. She does and says what she believes is right and is loyal to her Clan and family above all things. Yet Hollyleaf has lovers and haters, and Dawnpelt is just hated for grieving and seeing a death scene that she mistakenly interpreted. She had little proof but she saw the whole thing. If she ever saw Hollyleaf lying dead at Leafpool’s paws in the battle, she could be free of her pain and anger because Jayfeather had actually felt that pain and now knows what it’s like to see a littermate murdered for a stupid reason (I hated Hawkfrost for that small scene). I don’t think she was satisfied; I just think she finally understood. They were one Clan at that time and the death of a cat hurt all the Clans. I think she had small sympathy for Jayfeather because instead of, “Ha! She’s dead. Now you feel my pain.” since that battle was the battle of like everything, she would have thought, “Now do you see? You now understand what I did and why.” Loosing a sibling for anyone is sad and heartbreaking. Especially for siblings who are very close. She and Flametail were both at fault.

That quarrel is now past. The truth was out and Hollyleaf is dead (*cries*). She is now a regular loyal and fierce warrior of ShadowClan and always will be. Look at her in AVOS! She’s amazing! Too bad she died (that’s a spoiler for me sadly).

Thank you for reading!