An Analysis of Breezepelt and Crowfeather by Stormtail

Stormtail takes a look at Crowfeather, Breezepelt, and their relationship.

Art by ScoutieSaurus

HIYA! Stormsong here! This would be my second article! Woot woot! (My first is titled “A Defense of Dovewing and Why I Don’t Like Ivypool”, in case you want to check that out after this one, but it’s entirely up to you, of course!)

My favorite cat in Warriors has somewhat recently become Crowfeather. This change of my top-favorite cat came after “Crowfeather’s Trial”, in which I agreed with almost literally everything he did, related to Crowfeather, liked his character development (for SURE!!), sarcasm (DEFINITELY his sarcasm!!), and dynamics between him and others; I was, like, “Finally! A cat who makes realistic and smart decisions! Onestar needs to be told off!” (At least, all of this is in my opinion.) “Crowfeather’s Trial” also made me like the NEW Breezepelt. More on that shortly.

Before “Crowfeather’s Trial”, I disliked Crowfeather, because I always shrugged him off as being lame, overly snappy, or a terrible parent. During his romantic relationships with Feathertail and Leafpool, I simply didn’t care on his part or was indifferent, but was at least interested in his relationship with Leafpool (but this was probably just because I actually liked Leafpool). I never truly thought about him, outside of being another boring, annoying (- come on, he was definitely annoying -) character, who wasn’t worthy of becoming deputy of WindClan. This was far from the case. (I can’t keep trashing on my favorite character in particular so much! Haha! This was my OLD opinion! So, basically, I also FORMERLY thought Breezepelt and Nightcloud were boring and stupid characters who were poorly written, and I just wasn’t interested, so I also read their parts in a way where I just didn’t care other than either being annoyed by them or “Meh”. And, I know, WindClan has always been my favorite Clan. But there are annoying or “Meh” aspects of every Clan.)

I also actually hated – a word I never used when describing my feelings towards Crowfeather -Breezepelt back then. (Yes, Breezepelt was even more annoying, especially when young, than Crowfeather, but it wasn’t even that, of course.) After all, Breezepelt attacked an innocent pregnant queen (which is the one thing I can’t get over and still hate about Breezepelt’s past), a blind medicine cat, and, later, another of his half-brothers! He also – even after fighting with the Dark Forest – continued to hate on his half-siblings, saying they should all DIE. He truly only decided to become loyal to WindClan again AFTER being DEFEATED. He didn’t decide to change in the middle of the battle, or beforehand (like literally all of the other trainees), only AFTERWARDS. I mostly agreed with Dovewing in “Dovewing’s Silence” when she thought that Breezepelt didn’t deserve another chance, since I had my doubts about Breezepelt (aaaand I like Dovewing, but I digress).

Breezepelt truly seemed irredeemable. Crowfeather seemed like he would never get any better.

HOWEVER.

The books had told me things that weren’t precisely fact, and I’d forgotten all of these little details that proves the authors were somewhat wrong or wanted to paint a certain image in our minds. I realized, especially after watching videos on it, that it’s true: Crowfeather always DID care about Breezepelt, and made an effort to be there for Breezepelt (it’s in the books, but it’s generally ignored), but he wasn’t good at doing it AT ALL, since he’d lost so much. Some examples of this are when Crowfeather tries to walk near Breezepelt, but Breezepelt gets angry, or when Crowfeather wants to talk to Breezepelt, but Nightcloud pushes Crowfeather away, being the (for good reasons, since Crowfeather was a cold father) overprotective mother that she is. (You’ll get the actual textual evidence if you watch a video I mention later on.) Yes, Crowfeather’s behavior did, admittedly, begin the entire Breezepelt-turning-bad thing. Crowfeather and Breezepelt had a pretty awful relationship. HOWEVER, I truly believe it was never the main factor…

Phase one started from the beginning. Nightcloud influenced Breezepelt to push Crowfeather away, because it would seem that, at the time, she wanted to get back at Crowfeather for liking Leafpool and not her. At least, there is actual evidence of this, I’m just too lazy to look for it right now. However, I like Nightcloud; in her defense, by “Crowfeather’s Trial”, Nightcloud seems to have changed for the better, and is a better cat. Plus, another reason she encouraged Breezepelt to push Crowfeather away, as she mentions in the Super Edition, is so that she could protect Breezepelt (perhaps through her anger at Crowfeather, she also convinced herself that he was this “completely nonexistent father”, which wasn’t ENTIRELY factual).

Then phase two came. As the last straw, the Dark Forest cats outright manipulated Breezepelt into truly believing that Crowfeather hated him or always shoved him away, because Breezepelt already had his doubts due to Crowfeather’s coldness and admittedly not-the-best parenting. All of those things Breezepelt and the Dark Forest cats said came from them, and NOT from Crowfeather’s actions, leading readers to believe (- BEING MANIPULATED THEMSELVES, DUN DUN DUNNNN -) that Crowfeather truly did always ignore – or was harsh on – his son. And, like I said before, I can’t really defend Crowfeather AT THIS POINT IN THE STORY. It’s not like Crowfeather didn’t need to work on their relationship. Heck, he definitely needed to! That’s why “Crowfeather’s Trial” was heavenly, and gives me a chance to defend Crowfeather, because Crowfeather had character development (as did Breezepelt and Nightcloud). But you have to admit that it was more the Dark Forest’s manipulation of Breezepelt and of the readers than Crowfeather’s actual actions to prove this to be true that caused all of this damage and these opinions in the fandom.

Moving on to the true defense of these amazing characters!

In “Crowfeather’s Trial”, whether Breezepelt deserved it or not (I think not), he got a redemption of sorts. But just because I don’t think Breezepelt deserved a redemption doesn’t mean I don’t think it was executed quite well in the Super Edition; on the contrary, I do. Now that I have read the Super Edition, I like Breezepelt and will decide to forgive him (because I genuinely appreciate the new and improved Breezepelt), and Crowfeather is now my favorite Warriors character.

I encourage you all to look at the stories from all perspectives, and reread parts where Crowfeather is shown to be worried about Breezepelt, yet Breezepelt still thinks Crowfeather hates him (and there are YouTube videos that have put all of the parts together, like “Everything Breezepelt Has Ever Done” by Moonkitti – which was posted before “Crowfeather’s Trial”, just so you know… but Moonkitti is very, very correct in her analysis)!

Ahhh, “Crowfeather’s Trial”… It made me realize that I was wrong about Crowfeather; he wasn’t a jerk as I’d thought for the entire book series (besides in his romantic relationship with Leafpool), he just ACTED like a jerk. (I will say that, in this way, this situation is kind of like Jayfeather’s – where he acts like a jerk but isn’t really one at heart, perhaps – but they are still obviously completely different characters with different opinions, and I like Crowfeather a bit better, because I agree with him more often… but it’s true that they have similar attitudes; I’m telling you this so you can begin to consider whether or not you believe me when I say that Crowfeather perhaps isn’t so bad).

If you haven’t already, I now encourage you to READ “Crowfeather’s Trial” – it’s my favorite Super Edition – before you decide whether or not you hate Breezepelt, and/or Crowfeather, and/or Nightcloud. I found it exciting and refreshing, with a character I agreed with in almost every single sentence, and who was in no way boring as the POV. There were also lots of refreshing and exciting restoring / growing of bonds between SO MANY CHARACTERS (not just the obvious ones). It will tie things up, and make readers more satisfied. This next sentence may be a slight spoiler, of just how the ending felt to me: And yet, admittedly, by the end, not everything is still perfect in any relationship. It’s such a realistic story, and so it’s heartwarming.

Thanks for reading!

Share your opinions towards these characters and thoughts on this article in the comments, if you want to!

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