Analyzing Characters #1: Skystar by xxravenshadexx

xxravenshadexx shares their thoughts on Skystar from Dawn of the Clans.

It took me a long time to figure out whether I like Skystar or not. After reading the first DOTC book, I was blown away by his cruelty, especially when it was directed towards Gray Wing. Then, when reading Thunder Rising, I saw he had the potential to be a good character, although that changed at the beginning of the next book where he threw Frost out of his group. In the First Battle, there were some parts where he seemed OK, but he seemed like quite a jerk for no reason for the most part. In the Blazing Star, I thought he finally changed and was a good cat once more who had learned from his mistakes. He seemed genuinely guilty. In A Forest Divided, I was sort of confused as to how he acted in terms of becoming mates with Star Flower while he knew Thunder was still getting over his own feelings for her. It also seemed as though he still didn’t fully trust Star Flower until closer to when she became due with his kits. Although I haven’t yet read the last book in the DOTC series, I saw how he acted in Moth Flight’s Vision, and came to a conclusion after I read that book. Let’s face it: he was a total bully in that book. He acted malicious towards WindClan due to the accusation of one cat, who claimed to have seen Red Claw hunting on WindClan territory. One might say Skystar acted immature based on how he felt toward that one cat. Not only that, but he was reluctant to let Micah join his group, despite letting several cats join it without an issue before, and despite Micah being able to prove himself as a worthy cat to have. It got to the point where Micah (SkyClan’s very own medicine cat) DIED because Skystar insisted on acting childish due to his grudge against a WindClan warrior. Micah’s death affected both SkyClan and WindClan. It affected all the Clans in a way.

Now, I’m going to explain what I think of Skystar based on four things: personality, backstory, actions, and character development.

1. Personality:
Skystar’s personality is shown as distant, withdrawn, cold, and controlling. An example of each one of these points would be when he makes Frost leave the group due to his injury. His distance is shown because he refuses to listen to his son’s reasoning, and barely acknowledges that Frost was a cat who had dedicated lots of time helping Skystar run his group. He seems to withdrawn to listen to any cat, and believes only his judgement is best. He is cold and pretty much heartless, and defends his actions most of the time by saying everything is “for the good of his group” no matter how bad his actions may be. And he is controlling to the point where his own mate, Storm, felt like she needed to leave the group because he was always telling her, along with everyone else, what to do.

2. Backstory:
Although not much is known about Skystar’s life in the mountains, what IS known is that it was tough. He saw cats starve, and was constantly stressed about how he was going to keep the cats he cared for fed because of that. It was hard to survive in the mountains, and he had to be strong for everyone he loved. He saw his own young sister, Fluttering Bird, die of starvation before his very eyes. So he was very excited when Stoneteller told the Tribe that some cats should prepare to go find somewhere else to live. It didn’t take him long to decide that he wanted to leave and start a new life somewhere better with his mate, Bright Stream.

But she died at the beginning of the journey, and he was forced to finish it without her. Even with his two brothers at his side, Skystar was having a hard time recovering from her death, as well as the deaths of many other cats he had witnessed. So when he came to the forest and met Storm, along with many other cats in his group, it was natural for him to become overprotective. But he was relentless, and at most times his cruelty just seemed unnecessary. He just seemed power hungry, and at times he was no better than Tigerstar or Darktail.

After he realized his mistakes, he was genuinely guilt-stricken and shaken. He tries to do stuff to make things better, but he has a hard time of doing it.

Star Flower was good at giving him advice, which I think helped him later on, but he still seemed pretty affected by everything that had ever happened to him.

3. Actions:
There are about six different things he did that I’ll point out. These things are what drives me to make a decision. It is these actions that I will use to help judge how he is as a character.

-Leaving to start a new group: The idea to start a new group was actually quite cool. After all, the cats could visit each other at any time while living in the places they felt most comfortable. However, his obsession with borders is what tears that idea of “peace” and “maintaining friendships with old friends” to shreds. If he had just started the group while staying close to the others, though, I think that would’ve been cool and made him a good cat.

-Throwing Jagged Peak out of the group- This seemed a little harsh and unnecessary, seeing as Jagged Peak looked up to his brother quite a bit, and it was unfair of Skystar to just throw him out of his group like a piece of crowfood. In my opinion, Skystar should’ve realized that he was causing his younger brother a lot of emotional and mental stress, and that his brother would struggle to recover from it. In fact, it takes his brother nearly the entire series to value himself after what Skystar did, and he was only able to do so with the help of Holly.

-Not going after Storm- This just shows that Skystar didn’t really care about their relationship too much. He simply…well, just lets her leave and goes back to controlling his cats. It was Gray Wing who worried about her enough to go after her, even though she didn’t want either in her life anymore. At that point Skystar just seemed to care about ruling over his group and maintaining power. This is also shown when he rejects Thunder.

-Throwing Frost out- ONCE AGAIN Skystar threw an injured cat out of the group because he deemed them as “useless” and “unable to contribute anymore.” He did that to both Jagged Peak and Frost, without caring how much emotional damage he would cause them. Frost even died fighting Skystar’s own cats later on. This was a habit Skystar had, and a nasty one at that. His reluctance to accept Micah in his group even showed that. Sure, he could’ve done it out of distrust due to One Eye’s actions after he let HIM join, but I don’t think that was the case this time. Micah was much younger and clearly innocent, making his intentions clear as ice. Skystar was simply a bully, and was bitter for many reasons. He often didn’t care that his rejection hurt others.

-Becoming mates with Star Flower- I don’t think he felt too much for Star Flower at first other than curiosity. He didn’t understand her love for One Eye, and was still very distrustful of her when he started meeting with her and talking to her away from the camp regularly. I also don’t think it was fair of him to stay close to her while Thunder struggled with his own feelings for her. Heck, he even goes as far as to call him JEALOUS of his relationship with Star Flower. He only seems to start to show any love for her closer to when she’s pregnant with his kits. Although I think they’re a good couple later, I don’t agree with how Skystar started the relationship, seeing as he was very distrustful of her at first, even thinking she only liked him for the power she’d get by being mates with the leader of his group.

-Causing Micah’s death- Again, he defends himself by saying it was “Micah’s choice” to attempt to give WindClan the bark for Rocky’s throat, but I disagree. After all, it was SKYSTAR’S choice to be a big baby and send his cats to chase Micah up a tree because he was too childish to let WindClan get a hold of the bark based on the little grudge he had against them at the time. He also seemed overly controlling of Micah while he was alive, with little sympathy for Moth Flight being his mate until the end of the book.

4. Character Development
I feel as though Skystar’s character simply fluctuates. He seems to change depending on his current mental state or mood at the time of events in the book. He’s less friendly towards other Clans when he’s bitter towards them, but will be fine if he’s feeling happy or not bitter toward anyone. It seems as though his personality and overall development is based on both his selfishness and his selflessness, Unlike Gray Wing, Skystar had a hard time dealing with emotions. He would just push them aside, along with any feelings of empathy he felt for others. He would bottle up his emotions and take his negative feelings out on other cats, whether he knew he was or not. By keeping his feelings inside, he attempted to be selfless, but only ended up accomplishing the opposite instead, appearing outwardly power hungry and cruel. Despite this, though, he seems to have changed as a parent and has a better grasp of how to be a good father.

My final conclusion:
There is ONE heartwarming redeemable thing he does, other than feeling guilty for his sins. This is when he takes in one of Moth Flight’s kits and raises them like he would raise his own son. As I mentioned, he became a better father figure to his kits later on, and he regrets not being able to be one to Thunder. I think it was sweet how he tried to be a better father, even if he wasn’t ever the greatest cat himself. In fact… his fatherly love is so good that I actually had a hard time deciding whether I like him.

So my conclusion is: I’m just… unsure. There are times when I have a soft spot for him, and times where I genuinely hate his guts. For the most part, I don’t like him. He simply seems like a “business over family” kind of character. Well, at least until he has kits with Star Flower. After that he seems to soften up, although he had no need to literally bully Micah to death.