Mapleshade or appledusk? Who deserves dark forest? by Lunaheart

Art by senely

Lunaheart analyzes Mapleshade and Appledusk.

This isn’t another article defending one of these two historic cats. I’m going to be reviewing who should have gone to the dark forest, Mapleshade or Appledusk. Let’s take a look at appledusk. He was a good warrior, chose his clan in the end, and some fans say that taking reedshines death blow is brave and honorable. However, he also had kits with another clan, and betrayed his mate. So because I’m trying to be fair, appledusk might win starclan. Mapleshade will be harder to summarize because she had more POVs and discussions tend to take her side. She was a good warrior, and she probably would have become thunderclan leader if they hadn’t found out. But she killed three cats, and presumed to have killed off much of Crookedstars family and more in the dark forest. But taking Mapleshades side, it was confirmed that it wasn’t Mapleshades fault Crookedstars family died, she knew it would happen anyway and claimed it was a curse. And Mapleshade was having nightmares of her kits unable to reach starclan without killing appledusk, ravenwing, And frecklewish. This leaves the debate on if the kit visions were only the product of her imagination, or were they really true? Appledusk also desperately needs a POV, as we see only what other people think of him, and not his actual thoughts. It would be nice to get a novella containing oakstar, frecklewish, ravenwing, And appledusk POV. But there will always be team Mapleshade and team appledusk, so if appledusk is sent to the dark forest, appledusk fans will complain, and because Mapleshade was sent to the dark forest, Mapleshade fans complain. This is my same argument with why was brightflower sent to the dark forest, because I believe that Brokenstar corrupted her, and it wouldn’t make sense to pit her with him. Anyway, I think there are so many Mapleshade fans because people pity her, and her opinions are expressed a lot more then appledusk ones are. So I actually pity the Erins, because they have to choose one or the other, because it wouldn’t make sense for them to both be in the dark forest or in starclan. And whichever one they pick, warrior fans will complain.
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65 comments

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  • Mapleshade is a beautiful villain who was artfully corrupted, and one would think that instead of cheating on her, Applebutt could have shown her some empathy and love when she lost her kits. His heart may have supposedly been in the right place, yes but what’s the use of having a good heart when it gets you in bad positions or dead? Anyway, I personally think that Mapleshade doesn’t deserve the Dark Forest, because she wasn’t really a murderer-she’d just been driven dillusional by grief and anger and if she’d been in her right mind she wouldn’t have killed. And whose to blame for driving her to madness and dilusion? Your friendly neighborhood Applejerk. That, in a way that makes him the true murderer.
    On the other hand, maybe we should forgive Applejerk. I truly believe that he loved Mapleshade, but when he realized Reedshine a gorgeous she-cat from his own Clan loved him…how would you react in his situation? Be honset. Plus it’s clear that Appledorkface, was scared that someone would find out about his affair with Mapleshade so he did something utterly human-he gave in to fear. And fear controls you and makes you do things you’d rather not do.
    In the end though, I think they both should have known better then to love each other. But hey-love is blind.
    What I’m trying to say is that neither cat deserves the Dark Forest. Haha.

    • Yeah…maybe Mapleshade deserved the Dark forest for a bit, but I think now it’s time for her to fade away…and I hope both Appledusk and Mapleshade make up where ever they go next.

    • Obviously Appledusk! He is the one who caused the death of 3 innocent kits, then immediately moved on from Mapleshade. Plus, Frecklewish and Ravenwing wouldn’t have been killed if Appledusk had just offered her help! It is stated that the ghosts of Patchkit, Petalkit and Larchkit are haunting Mapleshade- which wouldn’t happen if it weren’t for Appledusk! Besides, he never once shows sympathy for Mapleshade or her dead children. Messed up, so messed up. So yeah, Appledusk and Mapleshade should trade places.

      • HE caused the deaths?!? NOnononno. He didn’t do nothing to cause that. He tried to save them! Hey, what do you expect? Mapleshade broke her promise to protect the kits! Wouldn’t have been killed? Blame the starclan cat that kept giving Mapleshade visions of her kits for Frecklewish and Ravenwing’s deaths! Appledusk isn’t even in starclan at that point! WHAT SYMPATHY DOES HE GET EITHER? Okay, NO MORE ARGUING ABOUT MAPLESHADE! (just for the record, I love Mapleshade. But that doesn’t make me want to tear Appledusk apart like you are! Those are HIS kits too! Ugh.)

    • I completely agree, I love the various names you called Appledusk, he’s a total jerk. Mapleshade is my all-time favorite warrior cat tho, such great villain!

      • Fenneldawn, do you like her because she’s interesting or because she is a good character who didn’t deserve anything? If so, HOW MANY TIMES DOI HAVE TO SAY THIS, SHE DESERVED TO GO!!!!!!!!! SHE KILLED AND WAS EVIL SHE WAS A PAIN IN THE TAIL SHE WAS STUPID SHE WAS….UHHH NO!!!! Sorry I hate Mapleshade.

    • Mapleshade deserved to go to the Dark Forest. Totally. She was evil and cruel. Yes, Appledusk should have not cheated on her or at least show kindness towards HIS kits dying, but overall she killed cats and her becoming evil was HER decision. She killed and was horrible to everyone. She deserved to go. She definitely deserved to go. Not trying to start a fight but I think Mapleshade deserves to rot in h- oh wait she’s already there!
      Sorry Mapleshade fans I had to say that.

  • Could Mapleshade possibly have had anything to do with the all the deaths of Appledusk’s descendants, who always seem to be dying young in the series? For example, could she have given Tigerstar the idea to order Stonefur to kill Feathertail and Stormfur? Whether or not he agreed, either way at least one of Appledusk’s descendants die, which she would like. And whatever happened to Mistyfoot’s kits, anyway?
    Sorry if this isn’t quite the right topic for this page, I just wasn’t sure where else to put it.

      • I know Crookedstar is my favorite character, but I respect Mapleshade. Crookedstar probably wouldn’t be who he is today if it weren’t for Mapleshade, there were so many cats that shaped his life, mostly him, but others too. Rainflower shaped his life, too. I hate to say it, but she did play a part in him following his destiny. He wouldn’t strive to perfection if it weren’t for Rainflower. I don’t like her, but I decide to give her a bit of credit.

    • I wonder if she had anything to do with Feathertail’s death, somehow……And what about Pine, Lark, Breeze, and Feather? What will Mapleshade do to them?

  • Cat court time!
    Let’s start with Mapleshade. Sure, she was dillusioned due to the kit visions. I get that. But don’t forget, she swore vengeance on Appledusk’s descendants. After that, she was totally conscious of her desisions, and should be held accountable.
    To sum it up: I declare Mapleshade… guilty of Murder.
    Next is Appledusk. Mapleshade acused him of not getting there in time on purpose, which would be murder. But we don’t exactly know that. He could of…. or didn’t. I agree, it was cruel to turn his back on Mapleshade, but look at it this way: You are standing in the middle of the camp. All eyes are on you. You see your mate, crying, begging you. You are faced with a choice: Go with her and most likely starve or get in trouble that will end in death and loosing your reputation for a forbidden love, or stay with your clan and the cat who has a crush on you. You feel me? It was harsh.. but not murder.
    So, I declare Appledusk…. innocent of- whatever he was accused of.

  • Oh, also @Brillig, in The Ultimate Guide, it stated: “…finally another cat knew what it was like to achieve everything they wanted, and lost everything that mattered.” Or something on the lines of that. So I think Mapleshade got her revenge, but maybe I’m wrong. Maybe she is not satisfied. After all, she survived the Great Battle. But let me just say this- she can’t effect Stormfur’s kits because where they are is across their boundary line and is in another dark spirit’s territory. They are safe unless she figures out how to cross..

    • I wouldn’t put it past her…
      And what about the other descendants of Appledusk? Didn’t she vow vengeance on all of them?…….

  • Hmmm
    in the article, the author says that taking the blow was honorable.
    But in a way, it was also kinda cowardly like now he doesn’t have to deal with his mistakes.
    He also could have been more empathetic and I think he should have definitely gone to the Dark Forest if he didn’t save Reedshine.
    It also makes me annoyed that Bluestar is like a luckier version of Mapleshade.

  • I think Mapleshade deserves the dark forest, for kill cats. Even though her kits drowned, he shoulder have killed three cats. Also even though Appledusk doesn’t act nice or good, he still is loyal to the warrior code, and no dark forest cat is.

  • I mean, Appledusk is responsable for Birchface’s death, and he could of maybe done something to help him, like dive in after him and not let Flowerpaw kill themselves trying to help them.

  • I think both should be both justified, and spoken against. Mapleshade has killed many cats, has broken the warrior code, but then again, she killed only those who made her suffer. Frecklewish, appledusk and ravenwing were the cats who were killed, who made her suffer. Now, I’m NOT saying she did the right thing, but she did it for her kits.
    Appledusk, on the other hand, was loyal to his family. Unfortunately, for those apledusk fans out there, I’m against him. He abandoned mapleshade in her worst of moments, and if he would have atleast invited her into riverclan, none of the murder would have happened.

  • I think it was right that Mapleshade went to the Dark Forest though she was a good character in the beginning of the book she did pretty much break the warrior code by having mates with another clan, (though Appledusk did too) but she killed the Thunderclan medicine cat which was well pretty terrible but it was partly ravenwing’s fault that she turned evil. And she suffered from the lost of her kits becuase of the river which I feel bad about. And finally Appledusk cheated on her which made her heart shatter to litterally pieces, but with Appledusk, I think he did the right thing, which was putting his clan first. And when Mapleshad was about to kill Reedshine Appledusk bacically sacrificed himself for her, and that’s what a clan cat should do. So Mapleshade turned evil cuz she was heartbroken, and Appledusk, well, I can’t really think of what he did wrong. He just abandoned Mapleshade cuz it was best for his clan. And when the kits died, some ppl thought he didn’t care, if you actually think about it he was actually pretty upset. I think that’s part of the reason he chose Reedshine over Mapleshade

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