Ashfur: Dark Forest or StarClan? by Emberheart

Emberheart wonders where Ashfur really belongs after his death.

Ashfur. Many debate that he should not be in StarClan, but the home of evil cats; the Dark Forest.
From ‘The Prophecies Begin’, Ashfur has been a noble character. Here are some examples of his actions, his intentions, and much more!

Prophecies Begin: Ashkit is one of the two surviving kits of Brindleface’s litter, with Ferncloud being his sister. Later: Ashfur is currently known as Ashpaw, a loyal friend of Cloudtail. He defended Cloudtail when he was going off to eat twoleg food. Ashpaw also led ‘the pack’ a vicious group of dog’s toward the gorge to kill them, saving his clan from the bloodtrail Tigerstar had set to lead the dogs to the camp. This trail was set with Brindleface’s blood, who Tigerstar murdered. Poor Ashpaw lost his mother and grew up shadowed by revenge, growing with it, until revenge filled most of the young tom’s life. Ashpaw also fought with LionClan to defeat Scourge, where Bramblepaw, Tawnypaw, Stormpaw, Featherpaw, and him worked together to kill Bone.

“Actually, it’s not just Darkstripe who wants to know. I’m worried, too. Cloudpaw promised he’d be back by now. Whatever else he might do, Cloudpaw always keeps his word.” – Ashpaw to Fireheart about Cloudpaw

The New Prophecy: As a young warrior, Ashfur takes a liking to Firestar’s daughter, Squirrelpaw. He is also appointed mentor to his nephew, Birchpaw. Although he and Brambleclaw were previously friends, Ashfur becomes jealous of his relationship with Squirrelflight. When Squirrelflight has a major fight with Brambleclaw, she becomes close to Ashfur and spends the majority of her time with him. Ashfur, having thought he had won Squirrelflight’s love, is devastated and heartbroken when she rekindles her relationship with Brambleclaw and the two become mates.

Power of Three: When Brambleclaw and Squirrelflight have a litter of kits; Hollyleaf, Jayfeather, and Lionblaze, Ashfur is like: WHAT?! Later, when a fire starts in the camp, Squirrelflight, Jayfeather, Hollyleaf and Lionblaze are trapped. Then a branch falls, and they have a chance to escape, but Ashfur blocks it. This is where the whole “Ashfur is a monster!” thing starts. But you can’t blame Ashfur, he had love ripped from him at the winning moment, given to a cat that didn’t deserve it. Squirrelflight reveals that the cats are not her kits, so Ashfur lets them go. SO ASHFUR LETS THEM GO. Ashfur didn’t kill anyone, so why send him to the Dark Forest? He’s nothing like Scourge or Mapleshade or Tigerstar! Which brings me to the next fandom mistake; People ship Ashfur with Scourge. I mean, really? Scourge is evil. Ashfur slips up and half the fandoms ship him with Scourge? Ouch. Oh wait, back to it. Since Ashfur decides to reveal the truth about Squirrelflight’s kits, [which is reasonable] Hollyleaf kills him and drops him into a river. Guess what? People think Hollyleaf is great even though she killed a cat in her own clan and threatened her real mom by feeding her deathberries. Hollyleaf is… not the best character. Morally.

Ashfur was murdered by the effect of his broken love. Nobody remembers him for his loyalty and skill, only for that one night. That one night of the fire, that ruined a good warrior’s life. He dedicated all he had to the clans, but he is known for a single threat that lasted less than a quarter moon. It’s sad, really.

In my opinion, Ashfur and Squirrelflight are a better couple than Brambleclaw and Squirrelflight, because Brambleclaw mistreated her while Ashfur loved her for who she was, never doing wrong to her. Ashfur tried to protect her in ‘the battle against the badgers’ , nearly dying in the process, while Brambleclaw ran off doing other things. Another reason is that Squirrelflight always trusted Ashfur, but never Brambleclaw. She had the right not to trust Brambleclaw and Hawkfrost; Brambleclaw always argued he would never follow Tigerstar’s footsteps and neither would Hawkfrost, and Squirrelflight wouldn’t believe him. She was right not to because Hawkfrost and Brambleclaw trained in the dark forest with Tigerstar as their mentor! I really hated Brambleclaw and BrambleXSquirrel in the second series but Brambleclaw isn’t terrible in the third series. The other thing is, Brambleclaw is so quick to dump Squirrelflight, which happened in the second and third series. Pathetic! Ashfur would’ve stayed by her!