Rainflower’s Relationship with Crookedstar: Why it’s worse than you think by Ghostwhisper

Ghostwhisper talks about Rainflower’s relationship with her son, Crookedstar.

Everyone who’s read Crookedstar’s Promise knows about how much Rainflower’s neglect and hurtful words towards him shaped his path into training with a Dark Forest cat-even though he did so unknowingly. For those who are unfamiliar with his story, I will sum it up.
Stormkit was born along with his brother, Oakkit, in the middle of a thunderstorm in a hollow oak tree. One day, they are both playing at Sunningrocks when Goosefeather comes up to them and gives Stormkit a scare. He slips, hits his jaw on a rock, and Mudfur carries him back to the camp. A moon later, he notices Rainflower doesn’t even look at him anymore when she comes to visit. Stormkit is allowed to go back to the nursery, but he has his own nest where Oakkit shares with Rainflower. This causes an argument between Shellheart, his father, and Rainflower. Later, Stormkit is renamed to Crookedkit, and Crookedkit looks in a puddle and sees his deformed jaw. Crookedkit runs away a little while later in search of the Moonstone, but returns when Mapleshade, a Dark Forest cat who Crookedkit believes is a StarClan warrior, tells him that he can’t stay away from his Clan for any longer. A little while after that, Crookedkit is made into Crookedpaw. His mentor is Cederpelt. While an apprentice, he saves Willopaw’s life, he is made into a warrior a day later. His new name is Crookedjaw. When his father, the deputy, retires, Mapleshade sends a sign that Crookedjaw should be deputy through a squirrel with a crooked jaw. When Hailstar, the leader, dies, he recieves his nine lives and breaks contact with Mapleshade.
So now, we get to the point of this article, Rainflower. In the beginning of the story, she was a perfect mother. She cared about her kits, calling them things like “little warrior”. There didn’t seem to be any competition over the brothers about who would be the favorite before Stormkit’s accident. But, when Stormkit broke his jaw, that all changed. Rainflower now had the ugliest kit in the whole Clan-possibly the world. What had happened to her handsome little warrior? Many people try to defend Rainflower as just being in grieving because one of her kits is now deformed. Being in grieving is, in my opinion, no excuse for her behavior towards her son. Take Millie, for example. Millie is the direct opposite of Rainflower. When her daughter, Briarlight, was crushed by a falling tree and her hind legs rendered useless, she gave all her love to her injured kit, pushing away her healthy ones. It is almost impossible for Millie to have not been in grieving, since in a cat world, being paralyzed is probably a death sentence. Briarlight’s injury was much worse than Stormkit’s. Rainflower became borderline verbally abusive to her son, and heavily favored Oakkit from the accident onwards. Take this quote from the book for example.
“Rainflower pressed against her warrior kit. ‘I’m so proud of you.’
Oakheart caught Crookedpaw’s eye. ‘It’s your turn next.’ he purred.
Rainflower flicked her ears. ‘Does that matter right now?’ she murmured. ‘He’ll never be as good as you.’
From this excerpt only, I think it’s safe to say Rainflower preferred her non-injured kit better. I have more, though. Crookedkit always felt guilty he couldn’t please his mother. He would do anything to make her proud. Right after a Sunningrocks battle, Rainflower says, “Well done, Crookedpaw.” He was thrilled when his mother said that. Crookedkit trained in the Dark Forest because he thought it was StarClan. He wanted to fight, be the best warrior ever, and make his family proud of him. We know as readers that Mapleshade is a Dark Forest cat and Crookedkit made the wrong decision to train with her. I want to ask you something. Would Crookedkit have trained in the Dark Forest if it weren’t for Rainflower? What if she had been loving and accepting of the accident and treated her poor son with kindness? Maybe instead of Crookedstar, we would have had a Stormstar. A stable leader who wouldn’t dream of training with wicked cats. Thanks for reading my Crookedstar and Rainflower article. What do you think of Rainflower? Tell me in the comments!