Let’s Look At: Hawkfrost by Bearpaw

Bearpaw takes a look at Hawkfrost, son of Tigerstar I. What are your thoughts on this fickle feline?

Out of all of Tigerstar’s kin, Hawkfrost has also intrigued me the most. A half rogue born from a warrior that hates half-Clan cats? Suspicious, yet trustworthy? Easy to get to know, quick to stab you in the back?
No matter how many times you look at Hawkfrost when you first see him… you kind of want to trust him. Sure, he’s kind of shifty. Yeah, he’s Tigerstar’s kin, but remember: so is Bramblestar, Tawnypelt, and Mothwing!
And he’s ambitious. Very ambitious. But that’s what makes him so interesting. He’s so much like Tigerstar, so that makes you think they are the same.
Hawkfrost has tricked cats. Multiple times. He tricked Bramblestar, Ivypool, and the entirety of RiverClan (except maybe Mothwing?). And you can even find a pattern here.
Let’s look at how he catches his ‘prey.’ And how close it is to his infamous father.
Step 1: Gain their trust. Hawkfrost does this easily. With Bramblestar, they were kin, so they were willing to trust one another. He assured Ivypool and taught her a few tactics that eventually led to her spiral downward. With RiverClan, all he had to do was prove himself as a great warrior to get a few followers.
Hawkfrost finds a ‘weakness’ in all of this. Ivypool was jealous of Dovewing. Bramblestar wanted to have a brother. Warriors from RiverClan flocked after him because they were ready to follow someone that seemed to be one of the greatest warriors in their Clan.
But you can find a distinct connection here with Tigerstar.
Although we don’t see it as much. Tigerstar TOTALLY did this. He was a father to Bramblestar in dreams. And being so strong and powerful easily got a few followers. Longtail and Darkstripe were ready to follow him to the ends of the earth, and he almost got Dustpelt there too.
Step 2: Abuse this trust, slowly. Hawkfrost’s next step is to slowly get them to do things for him they wouldn’t normally do.
Planning how to get Bramblestar his deputyship. Bramblestar was also ambitious, but just not as much. Hawkfrost used that to get Bramblestar into the deputy position using tactics that cats normally don’t use.
Although what determined it was Leafpool’s vision of brambles protecting the camp, you can tell Hawkfrost had a hand, or rather paw, in this.
For Ivypool, he slowly introduced her to the Dark Forest. Little things at first. Introducing a cat here, teaching a slightly more viscous move here. He had her, easy.
RiverClan was also relatively easy for Hawkfrost. Although we don’t get to see how Hawkfrost deceived them, they did make him acting deputy. Hawkfrost was just so close to leadership. They trusted him, but it was Mistystar they were loyal too above all else.
How did Tigerstar do this? Again, we don’t see as much for him, but he definitely did do this. He spread the lie of Ravenpaw betraying ThunderClan way back in Into The Wild. A few quick lies, and the whole Clan was hating the apprentice. He tricked Bramblestar with Hawkfrost, so that’s self-explanatory.
Step 3: Use them. This is the most important phase of Hawkfrost’s (and Tigerstar’s) method. After making sure their catch will follow them at all costs, it’s time to use this opportunity.
For Bramblestar, all he had to do was catch Firestar in a fox trap. Since Hawkfrost is a bad guy, of course this fails, but he almost had Bramblestar there. He was totally ready to let Firestar die, but changed his mind at the last second.
He failed with Ivypool as well, but was still so close to getting her. She had destroyed the relationship with her sister, and was fully prepared to keep going with this. The Three and death of Antpelt finally dragged her out of there, but Hawkfrost wasn’t keeping as close of an eye on her. If he had worked a little harder… I’m convinced Ivypool would’ve been gone.
Again with Ivypool, the goodness of her heart managed to save her. But Hawkfrost still managed to trick an entire group of cats.
If Hawkfrost hadn’t died, he would’ve taken over RiverClan, hands down. He was planning to take over anyway, perhaps by killing Mistystar. Hawkfrost had the entire Clan under his paw, and was going to use that to get himself the deputy position. He had them, hook, line, and sinker.
How’s Tigerstar doing this? Easy enough. The kin worked together to get Bramblestar to do their bidding, but ThunderClan was once again with him. Firestar managed to hear him attacking Bluestar, but do you remember when he was brought for a trial?
Not a single cat believed Bluestar. Of course, they did later. Tigerstar did confess, after all. But he had them in a hold so tight, they were dumbfounded at the idea that he could be bad. The great Tigerstar? Of course not!
But know that we’ve looked at how similar they are, there’s still another question. Why did Hawkfrost act this way?
You could chalk it all up to the idea that Tigerstar is his kin, but that’s only part of it.
Tigerstar used this method to get Hawkfrost. Sure, they were both ambitious, but Tigerstar was trying to get both of his sons to lead. Not just one. Hawkfrost was much more taken to the idea than Bramblestar.
Tigerstar used his connection with Hawkfrost and his ambition to get him how he wanted him. The dark warrior abused this power to get Hawkfrost to try to betray RiverClan, and then got Hawkfrost to help him trick Bramblestar, and betray RiverClan.
Remember how we saw Hawkfrost before Tigerstar started to meet him and Bramblestar. He didn’t actually seem that bad. He was overprotective about borders, but… isn’t everyone? Hawkfrost wanted to become leader, but everyone else does too.
One of the tactics to get Dark Forest members was to use their darkest feelings and feed them like wood to a fire.
Hawkfrost used this. But so did Tigerstar, on his own son. Hawkfrost was ready to prove himself a good and noble warrior to RiverClan. But Tigerstar pulled the tom into his shadow and started to mold him into a copy of himself.
Both Bramblestar and Lionblaze managed to break free of Tigerstar’s pull. But Hawkfrost may have been the one that didn’t make it out.
Hope you enjoyed this! Bearpaw, signing off.