Top 5 Least Favorite Characters by Leafypaw

Ashfur did not burn down the ThunderClan camp. The fire was started through a natural cause. Ashfur simply took advantage of it. But I do agree that Ashfur is an incredibly frustrating read. Not just because of his fanboys/girls, but because of the character himself. I’m disappointed he didn’t go to the Dark Forest, not just for moral reasons but for stories reasons as well. They could of gone two main directions with Ashfur: A redemption arc where he’s simply bitter (not a murder) and he learns to forgive Squirrelflight. Or full-blown villain. But by going with this strange hybrid of the two, it means Ashfur is written off as this ‘loyal’ and ‘well-meaning’ warrior who was sent Starclan, when he doesn’t deserve it. It’s only then constantly assuring us that he’s somehow ‘good’ and coming up with awful excuses for his crimes. It’s honestly just worrying when I see his fangirls blaming the innocent victim, Squirrelflight, and excusing his actions because he was friend-zoned. I understand that those are mostly the younger readers of the books and hopefully they’ll grow out of it, but any of them were to ever apply this logic to real life, that could be dangerous.

The prime reason I hate Ashfur is not because of his actions, but simply that he got away with them. Tigerstar killed way more cats then Ashfur, yet I don’t hate him mainly because I’m satisfied he got what he deserved by getting sent to the Dark Forest. If Ashfur was treated like the villain that he is, then maybe I could even find him interesting: a villain driven by emotions rather than ‘ambition’. However, his character is just so unsatisfying, without a proper conclusion. You can’t just show a cat an attempted mass murderer and then have them instantly killed off and shoved into Kitty Heaven, hoping the reader just completely forgets about them. It feels like they literally just turned Ashfur evil only purpose of uncovering the secret and to kick start Hollyleaf’s downfall to get her out the way too and once he’d served his purpose, have Ashfur killed off. There wasn’t build-up to his villainy and he barely got started as a villain. He’d be so much better in the Dark Forest.I’d be willing to accept Ashfur’s motive, only if they set it up before that Ashfur is extremely pretty/overdramatic. Sadly, Ashfur is eerily similar to some real-life cases. So if they want to tackle this type of character in a Children’s story, they must do it with care. But it can reach a harsh yet very true lesson that needs to learned, the ability to tell the difference between a healthy and unhealthy relationship. Ashfur should of displayed more of those obsessive behaviours, stalking, possessive etc. And made it abundantly clear that those are abnormal behaviours for the average person. And when Ashfur does his crime, it’s made abundantly clear you should sympathise with the victims, much before you even consider pitying the attempted mass murderer.