Why Ashfur Deserves the Dark Forest

Brightkit argues why Ashfur should’ve gone to the Dark Forest.

Art by baimon2000

Members of BlogClan, I am extremely tired of hearing Ashfur fans try to make excuses for this character. Here’s something you can’t deny: there’s a lot of things he did wrong, and he went unpunished. StarClan decided that Ashfur join them as if he hadn’t attempted multiple murders (and succeeded once, if you think Firestar’s lost life counts). They sent him to StarClan as if he had committed the tiniest crime. Before I make my points on why Ashfur is my least favorite character, here is a quick summary of him:

In Into the Wild, Ashkit is born to Brindleface, along with Fernkit and another kit, who dies shortly after birth. Later on, in Rising Storm, Ashkit is apprenticed to Dustpelt. In A Dangerous Path, Ashpaw’s mother is killed. Then, later, in the battle with BloodClan, Ashpaw and the other apprentices kill Bone to avenge Whitestorm. In the Warriors timeline, Ashpaw is made a warrior just before Firestar’s Quest. After all that, Ashfur is a pretty good background character that I liked. But then, in Dawn, Ashfur expresses his first sign of liking Squirrelflight (Squirrelpaw at the time). When Squirrelpaw and Brambleclaw return from their quest, Ashfur reaches out and touches his nose to Squirrelpaw’s, purring. Later, in Starlight, it becomes apparent that Ashfur is in love with Squirrelflight. This outraged me because it was completely out of the blue. There was almost zero development between the two (No offense, Erin Hunters). This article is about Ashfur, though, so I’ll get to the point and discuss why I disagree with some common defenses of him.

“Ashfur went through a lot of trauma as a young cat.”
The first death that Ashfur experienced was his littermate’s, Elderkit. He was too young to be able to remember anything about the kit later, and the kit hadn’t really developed any sort of close friendship with Ashfur for Ashfur to mourn. Then, his other littermate, Tulipkit, died as well. Ashfur was old enough to feel grief for Tulipkit. When Ashfur was an apprentice, Brindleface died as well. I understand how these deaths can affect Ashfur. However, even though a lot of his family died, it’s not okay that he attempted four murders. Cloudtail and Ferncloud were able to move on. Why couldn’t Ashfur?

“Squirrelflight rejected him, and it really hurt him.”
No, Squirrelflight didn’t really “reject” him. She never thought that they were in a romantic relationship in the first place. All she wanted was a good friend to help her get through her issue with Brambleclaw. When Ashfur told her he wanted to be more than friends, she kindly told him that she did not feel the same. She never tried to be enemies with Ashfur. It was Ashfur who was being cruel. He never really loved Squirrelflight. He was obsessed with her, and would NOT result in a healthy relationship.

“He practically didn’t have any kin or other cats to love him.”
I can clear that up easily. Almost every cat in the Clan believed his was a worthy, honorable warrior. He was fairly popular and had friends. Ferncloud didn’t just abandon him, either. Plus, when he died, Yellowfang supported him and the decision that he belonged in StarClan. Ashfur had supporters.

“He had issues with self-esteem, and he really just loved too much.”
If Ashfur had problems with his self-esteem, that doesn’t mean he should turn into a murderous lunatic. And he didn’t just love too much. As I said before, his feelings toward Squirrelflight were not real love. Would you call attempting to kill Squirrelflight’s family ‘love’? I wouldn’t.

“No cat actually died.”
Attempted murder is just as bad as murder. His intentions were evil, and cannot be justified.

Now, I understand that everybody has their own opinions, so please don’t hate me (but if you do like Ashfur, it may be interesting to hear why). Thank you for having the patience to read this article! 🙂

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43 comments

    • I disagree.
      His death ended up being pointless because she blabbed at the gathering.
      I also think Ashfur was just a plot device to make Squirrelflight reveal that Hollyleaf, Jayfeather, and Lion(something) were not her kits.

    • Honestly, I think ashfur is a great character. But yes, he may have went a little (a lot) over the top. Also, their is such thing as instant love. Then again, he shouldn’t have tried to kill.

  • Ashfur will forever be a missed opportunity as a crazy obsessive villain, (or maybe even a dark forest cat who comes to regret like Darkstripe). They could’ve made him into a villain, a good villain.

    Instead they stumbled and tripped over themselves trying to say Ashfur just ‘loved too much’. Trying to take back the drama of the fire scene.

    Well like someone said the argument could be made Tigerclaw/star loved ThunderClan too much that he refused to see anyone else leading the clan into what he saw as ruin. He just loved too much!

    Or Mapleshade she loved her kits and those cats caused their unfair deaths. Her kits died! Not to mention she lost her home AND was really rejected by her mate. Where’s her sympathy StarClan?

    But I’m glad to see more people understand why Ashfur is bad

    • Hey, plz don’t bring up Mapleshade. She was extremely reckless crossing a flooded river and it was actually her fault. Yes, Appledusk was harsh when he found out the depressing news, yes Ravenwing was a total tattle tale (hey, this is the only time it should be used) and he probably deserved it, yes Freckle-something (agh can’t remember her name!) was trying to kill Mapleshade for no good reason, but Mapleshade is a little over the top. (I really like this argument)

      Ashfur is also over the top, I may see where you’re going with this.

      • I think OP was trying to make a case for Mapleshade like the one with Tigerstar because she’s more like Ashfur but it’s more of a “well I can make the same case for them why aren’t they in StarClan?” and not a genuine case. Since Mapleshade was at fault for her kits’ deaths (I made a case for it.)

  • I’m not sure if Ashfur deserves to go to the Dark Forest, but I’m completely sure he doesn’t belong in StarClan. People say he loved to much, but that doesn’t mean he should start killing cats for revenge. Just because he didn’t really succeed in killing any cats (if not including Firestar’s life) doesn’t let him go to StarClan. He already had the intention of killing, and that makes him an evil cat to me. But since Ashfur might have been facing a lot, I don’t really think he should go to the Dark Forest either. I feel that when he died, his soul shouldn’t have gone to StarClan or the Dark Forest. All in all, I completely agree with you except for the little part about how he should go to the Dark Forest. Great article!

  • I don’t think Ashfur should have gone to the DF. But, I also genuinely believe that he deserved his place in Starclan. Every time he was about to do something that earned him a place in the DF (Ex: Killing Firestar or Killing Holly, Lion and Jay) he instead chickens out because he’s not truly bad enough to commit a murder of that level. He never killed a cat with his own two paws (unless you count Bone) because Ashfur did absolutely nothing to help Hawkfrost take one of Firestar’s lives. I rest my case, Ashfur belonged with Starclan. Compared to cats like Shredtail, Thistleclaw or Hawkfrost, Ashfur was practically a saint.

    • But ashfur did cause Firestar to lose a life, he didn’t kill Holly Lion and Jay because he found out that they weren’t her kits.

  • The worst part about saying he loved too much is that, when he aided Hawkfrost in taking one of Firestar’s lives and tried to let 3 cats burn to death, he didn’t love Squirrelflight: He resented her. He hated her for not loving him. He wanted to hurt her for hurting him. But even though rejections hurt, it’s her right to say “I don’t feel the same” to someone she doesn’t feel the same toward. He doesn’t own her. And she loved Brambleclaw instead. It didn’t hurt him as bad as he wanted to hurt Squirrelflight. He didn’t love too much, he hated too much. He allowed himself to be bitter and angry for years. It wasn’t impulsive like Hollyleaf or even Mapleshade (who I don’t find much better than Ashfur). He had seasons to change his mind, to not want to kill the Three. But after so much time he was still so bitter and resentful, and tried to trap them until they burned.

  • I don’t believe what ashfur did was right, but even so, much like with mapleshade (tho i wouldn’t put him and her on the same level), I can’t shake how much I really like him. I can’t shake that “innocent misunderstood boi” feeling. I have no Idea why. I’ve always found him an interesting character, much more than anyone else in the series (again, with the exception of mapleshade) and this is accentuated by the fact that I find squilf to be obnoxious and brambleclaw to be just kind of a jerk and I really dislike those two as characters, even though morally speaking they are much better than ashfur.

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