Blackstar’s Evolution by Crookedmoon

Crookedmoon looks back on Blackstar throughout his life.

Blackstar’s Evolution
In this article we will be talking about…. Blackstar’s Evolution! Big surprise! I found myself thinking about my Mistystar article when I started thinking about who killed Stonefur, Blackstar did. Just a refresh, he has grown into a fine, fresh leader now, so let’s look closer at his evolution, and walk through his life. At the end of the article we will discuss what were his lowest and highest points of his life.
The Beginning:
When Nightstar died, and Cinderfur also died, and then Tigerstar became leader of Shadowclan, Blackfoot had a whole new life in front of him. When he was chosen to be deputy, he obviously wanted to prove that Tigerstar had made the right choice. He had to be strong for his Clan that had just gone through so much. He would do anything for Tigerstar, at first he was like Darkstripe, just with a little bit more respect for himself. He trailed after Tigerstar, like there was a string keeping them together. He cared so much about gaining respect from Tigerstar, that he ended doing things that he regretted in his later life.

TigerClan:
Aaahh…. TigerClan, the Clan that destroyed almost everything. Almost. Tigerstar and Leopardstar joined forces to create TigerClan. Leopardstar was blindsided by her crush, that she did these foolish things, but we’re not here to talk about her.
During TigerClan, Tigerstar decided that he hated half-clan cats, so he banished Mistyfoot, Stonefur, Featherpaw, and Stormpaw down into a deep hole, to await their deaths. Some of them were lucky enough to escape with some help from Firestar, but Stonefur wasn’t one of those lucky ones. Stonefur died while he was standing up for Featherpaw and Stormpaw, but his bravery cost him his life. Tigerstar ordered him to be killed, so he gave Darkstripe the job to kill him. Blackfoot must have been raging, he probably thought that he deserved to have Darkstripe’s job to kill Stonefur. So, when Darkstripe failed to do so, and the job was handed over to Blackfoot, Blackfoot gladly jumped in. He then dealt the killing blow to Stonefur. This was definitely one of his lowest points in life, a murderer of an innocent cat.

The Legacy:
Blackstar had this image of a perfect new leader for Shadowclan. A leader that would make Shadowclan invincible, Shadowclan would once again be seen as Shadowclan. He realized he had to keep the legacy for Shadowclan going. Shadowclan is supposed to be the most feared clan of all. Blackstar did his best to get that legacy up and going again. He just didn’t have the right plan. He was too busy trying to get people to see his new image, not the murderer he was before. He hadn’t found his true self yet, he was trying to be someone he was not. He tried to be like Tigerstar, but then he didn’t want to be too much like Tigerstar, his mind was all over the place. We didn’t know that he could be a better leader, so we thought that he was alright. He wasn’t. He tried to be a strict leader so his clanmates wouldn’t end up like him. He was too afraid of his past, that he spent the early lives of his leadership trying to stop cats from being like him. He needed to accept that cats would forgive and forget when he forgave himself, and forgot his past.

The Lake:
Over time Blackstar became the leader he is known for today. I love Riverclan, so I was pretty mad at Blackfoot when he killed Stonefur. Funny thing is, I completely forgot that Blackstar had been Blackfoot. He had a whole new attitude, whole new life, whole new role. He lived up to that role, and he was an amazing leader once he knew how to take it on. He led his clan through ups and downs, and they always made it out okay. In Starclan, you can tell that he’s respected, and he is known. He makes his presence known, and you can tell that he is of high authority. He has that ‘aura’ that you know he is of importance.

Beliefs:
In this section we’re going to be discussing how he stopped believing in Starclan. Many cats, and readers saw it as a foolish mistake. Writing this article I have come to respect Blackstar. I have seen this “mistake” as Blackstar branching out instead. He was willing to believe in new things, he wasn’t set on one thing, he wasn’t that stubborn. Sometimes Starclan can really mess up, so the possibility of not believing in Starclan sometimes can be life-saving. You’re not blocking out any other choices, you’re not just sticking to one thing every single time. You’re willing to try new things, you’re willing to believe in other things. For example, how Mothwing doesn’t believe in Starclan at all. When Starclan told them to close their borders completely during the Dark Forest attack, she didn’t believe that it was the right thing to do. She saw beyond just listening to Starclan every second. She believed that you can not believe in Starclan. Blackstar saw this too, and he might’ve not gone the right way about it, but he branched out. After that he was willing to try new things. He knew that there’s another choice to not do everything according to Starclan, he had experienced it. That’s why Blackstar is an amazing leader, and will always be known as that.