[Mapleshade lays on a tree branch with a insidious smile]

Exploring Mapleshade’s Character by Leafsky

Leafsky takes a closer look at Mapleshade’s actions in her life.

Artwork by Lunarkisa

Hey guys, Leafsky here for another article! Today I’m going to be talking about Mapleshade. Of course, if you’ve read Mapleshade’s Vengeance, and the Omen of the Stars arc, you’ll know who I’m talking about. Please click off if you haven’t read any of these and don’t want to have spoilers. For those who have read these books, then… enjoy the article!
Sadly, Mapleshade’s parents are unknown. She has no known littermates, too. Her purrsona is a orange, white, and black she-cat with amber eyes. Luckily, though, it was known that her mentor was Bloomheart. She seemed to be confident, brave, and a rebel. Alright, now to the beginning of her story: Mapleshade’s Vengeance.
It starts off with her carrying a RiverClan tom’s kits. That RiverClan tom was named Appledusk. This was the crime that Mapleshade had done; breaking the warrior code by becoming mates with a cat from another clan and expecting his kits. Mapleshade, though, also lied to her clan and said Birchface was the father; a tom that had died by Appledusk, and his apprentice, Flowerpaw, diving after him into the river in a vain attempt to save him that had cost her both their lives. When Mapleshade’s kits were born, she named them Larchkit, Petalkit, and Patchkit. She loved them, but one day the medicine cat, Ravenwing, saw her kits swimming in the river. Ravenwing confronted her and said that he would tell Oakstar that Mapleshade’s kits were half RiverClan. Okay, let’s stop here. This is where Mapleshade gets mad. She planned to raise them as ThunderClan, right? Well, she got mad because she didn’t want the truth to be revealed so soon. She didn’t really seem like a bad cat, but when Ravenwing revealed her secret, she was exiled along with her kits. She went to RiverClan in a final attempt to seek shelter and join them, but her kits died. This is where she becomes insane, especially when Appledusk says Reedshine is his new mate. She becomes a rogue and then later on, she attempts to kill Ravenwing, Frecklewish, and Appledusk. All three of them died, but she was stopped when Perchpaw, Appledusk’s apprentice, fatally wounded her. That’s when she died and got sent to the Dark Forest. But the story doesn’t end there. She trains other cats later on and is driven to madness by losing everything she loved; her mate, her clan, and her kits, so she wanted vengeance on the clans. Who knows if she was still alive after the battle with the Dark Forest?
I’m sorry that this was very short, and I wish there was more information on her backstory. Have a good morning/afternoon/evening!

-Leafsky

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46 comments

  • She did deserve to go to the dark forest, if sjhe went to StarClan, she would’ve been a threat since she still wanted vegenace while she was dying

  • I love this article and I think Mapleshade will be back, perhaps in the next arc or later, maybe in a super edition. But I really think that she did what she did when she was mad with grief. Maybe Frecklewish was a bit too far, but really she was just trying to get her kits to peace.

    • lol i think so too that mapleshade is pretty cool
      but just a heads up shouldn’t you be tigerstar the third
      there’s already a tigerstar ii in the last books that have been written so far

  • Honestly the way she tried to stay in ThunderClan was not very smart. She should have told everyone right away then lied about how wrong she thought it was a how Appledusk deceived her.

    • two reasons:
      1:when OakStar kicks her out, Frecklewish agrees, saying: “You have betrayed my brother’s name! You have betrayed us all with your lies and disloyalty. You don’t deserve to be called a warrior and nor do these… half-Clan creatures. Their father killed Birchface and Flowerpaw! Get them out of here!”
      2:Freacklewish saw Mapleshade’s kits drowning and decided not to help. (I think she made that up as an excuse and she really let them die because they were appledusk’s kits)

  • i love mapleshade! i think that if MY kits had died and no one tried to save them, i’d want SOME revenge! (prob not killing but you get it) also, does anyone else HATE reedshine/appledusk?? cuz i sure do!

  • Honestly Mapleshade, before she murdered some cats, is kinda like Ashfur: her only fault was she loved too much, if she never murdered she might even have joined StarClan. But

    (SPOILER)

    Ashfur turns evil too (yes Ashfur is Bramblestar’s imposter, conspiracy theories)

  • Great article!
    I personally dislike Mapleshade. Actually that’s an understatement. I despise her, and I believe she deserved the Dark Forest more than anything.
    Her actions are irredeemable. Tell me, if a person killed three people, regardless of what other people did to them, would they not go to jail for the rest of their life? Her taking the lives of three cats, no matter what they did to her, is wrong. Very wrong, and a horrible thing to do.
    I believe Ravenwing did nothing wrong. He told his leader the sign which was sent from StarClan out of loyalty. Frecklewish was lied to, manipulated, and betrayed. And she initially tried to kill a pregnant queen out of sheer spite. Does a cat who did that sort of stuff deserve StarClan?