Analysing Minor Characters 3 : Rushpaw

Maplepaw examined another minor character, Rushpaw. Spoilers for Battles of the Clans!

Hey ! So today, Maple is back with another minor character analysis because I don’t like controversy !

And those will be famous last words as my Breezepelt article will probably come out before this. So consider this a peace offering for all the other train wrecks I’ve been giving you recently.

So first off, who is Rushpaw, and why don’t I say her warrior name ?

Well first off I should probably say that this article contains spoilers for Battles of the Clans, so if you haven’t read that, leave now and go read it, it’s great.
Now back to Rushpaw.

Rushpaw is a RiverClan apprentice, whose whole description is a small she cat with short legs. And that’s all we get. Also, another sad things is that Rushpaw never gets a warrior name.
Neither do her siblings Duckpaw or Tanglepaw, at first I thought Rushpaw and Rushtail were the same cat, yet I was wrong.

So why do I like Rushpaw ?

Because she is only in canon for 6 and a half pages, yet she has more personality then some cats who have been in the books for whole series’ have.
In her whole six pages, she shows to be not very confident in her swimming abilities, asking her siblings to swim slower during a training exercise. And one of the first things she says, is about how cold the water is.
This may not seem a big thing, but how many RiverClan cats have we known to not like the water. Well, we know Leopardstar was a drypaw, but other then that, Rushpaw is the only cat in RiverClan to show and discontent at having to swim.
The poor apprentice seems to have a lot going against her, she’s clumsy, doesn’t like the water.
Even Mistystar thinks to herself that she’s doesn’t have the makings of a RiverClan warrior, being even shorter then other cats, and have struggles swimming.
Yet what I love about Rushpaw, is that she goes through a whole character arc in a few pages. And it doesn’t seem forced, everything that happens to her is believable !
She starts off the apprentice who always seems to fail in excercises, and everyone is skeptical about her abilities. By the end of this short story, Mistystar is incredibly impressed with this apprentice, and I can see Rushpaw putting more effort into training and being respected by the other apprentices because of this incident. I like how this story shows cats immediate doubt in Rushpaw.
Tanglepaw is about to call her clumsy, before realising that Rushpaw might have just saved them from having to do the whole thing again ! In the end it was Tanglepaw who nearly gave them away.

Rushpaw is one of the few cats in the series that I feel really struggles with stereotypes about them. Everyone thinks that she’s clumsy, and in my mind this is what contributes to her lack of seriousness and enthusiasm in training.
I also like how her size really affects her, too often are cats called small, just so they seem different, then have it affect nothing in their lives.

Thanks for reading !