[image description: a brown tabby cat with green eyes and a scarred jaw sits facing the viewer on a dark green background]

Rip-Off Roads: Crookedstar and Tallstar by Falling Feather

Crookedstar by ClimbToTheStars on DeviantArt

Falling Feather draws parallels between Crookedstar and Tallstar, and asks some thought provoking questions

(Spoilers for Crookedstar’s Promise, Tallstar’s Revenge, Arcs 1-3, and 5)
Hello! It’s Falling Feather with a pirated Parallel Paths like most pirated movies, this is lower quality than the original. I will be taking a look at Crookedstar and Tallstar, two notable leaders from the first arc. They both take self-discoveringjourneys outside of the clans. As well as having a darker side to them yikes. Their differences appear in their decisions and values. Let’s examine their experiences. and listen to me talking to myself

CROOKEDSTAR

Heritage:
Born to a respected father (a deputy), Shellheart, and a caring ha ha, only to the handsome sons mother, Rainflower.

Traumatic Moment:
Storm(Crooked)kit falls on the Sunning Rocks breaking his jaw.

Losing a Parent:
Rainflower is disgusted by Crookedkitโ€™s jaw and removes herself from his life. *It is also debatable how present Shellheart mhm, i don’t remember and notable Shellheart moments after becoming a “paw” is in Crooked____โ€™s life regardless

Redemption Quest:
After living with the barn cats, Crookedkit returns to RiverClan and his apprenticeship is delayed. He meets Mapleshade in his dreams and she convinces him to train with her so he can get what he wants (power and the trust of his clanmateskinda ironic that he trains with a cat that betrayed her clanmates trust). By following Mapleshade, Crookedpaw becomes a respected apprentice. He then becomes a warrior for showing an act of bravery while fixing a problem he made.

Dark Side of Redemption:
Mapleshade starts pressuring him to give up anything that might interfere with his chances at leadership. looking back, it’s like Mapleshade was training Crookedjaw to be leader, but giving him med cat rules

Rejecting the Dark Side:
After becoming the leader of RiverClan, Crookedstar is summoned to the Dark Forest by Mapleshade. Crookedstar then realizes that the path of a Dark Forest warrior is not for him.

Death:
Crookedstar dies old. *cue sad music*

Personality:
Crookedstar was a strong loyal leader. He started out as a kit who was eager to please. He overcame that when he started doing his best because he wanted too, not for others. He showed that he cared for the cats he loved over his clanthis traight clearly passed over to Silverstream. Once Crookedstar lost those cats, though, he became much more clan-oriented. He doesn’t seem to be too proactive in his later years. Crookedstar chose to focus only on his clan and seemed to look away when it came to the problems of the other Clans. *cough WindClan territory cough*

TALLSTAR

Heritage:
Born to a respected tunneler, Sandgorse, and a protective mother for Woollytail’s kits, Palebird.

Traumatic Moment:
Tallpawโ€™s father, Sandgorse, dies in a tunneling accident. Tallpaw: it was no accident

Losing a Parent:
Sandgorse is dead and Palebird is no longer a parental figure in Tall____โ€™s life, choosing to pursue a new family.

Redemption Quest:
Tallpaw is increasingly intolerant of Sparrow and the rogues.

Dark Side of Redemption:
Tallpawโ€™s anger at Sparrow grows and stays with him all the way until he is a warrior. Talltail eventually decides he will kill Sparrow*. Talltail finds Sparrow (and the other rogues) with the help of a kittypet named Jake.

Rejecting the Dark Side:
After making scarily in-depth plans to kill Sparrow. But before Talltail kills (pushes him off a cliff) Sparrow, Sparrow convinces him not to if Hawkfrost has Talltail’s planning ability he would have gone much farther *shakes head*. Suddenly Sparrow slides down the cliff and onto the Thunderpath. Sparrow screeches for help. Hearing his pleas, Talltail goes down the cliff. Talltail saves Sparrow from death by monster and Talltail makes the diplomaticdecision to leave the rogues.

Death:
Tallstar dies very old. *cue sad music*

Personality:
Tallstar was a very respected and wise leader. He started out unsure of himself. He seemed to prefer peace over conflict as he was ready to give up becoming a moor-runner to please his father i don’t really like his father . He also appeared to be sensitive and easily hurt mean old Shrewpaw. Then when he accepted that he wouldn’t receive support from his parents, he became stronger. The lack of parental support and time spent in his clan also might have contributed to his independence. Tallstar was also fair and kind to those he respected.

* While Crookedjawโ€™s โ€œDark Side of Redemptionโ€/dark side was because of Mapleshade, Talltailโ€™s was caused by his own desire for vengeance

Questions for BlogClanners:

1. Tallstarโ€™s decision to revoke Mudclawโ€™s right to leadership was met with controversy, rebellion, and input from all the clans. Did the inter-clan war caused by Tallstarโ€™s cop-out outweigh the terrible idea of having Mudclaw as the leader of WindClan? Were Onestarโ€™s leadership and actions worse than what Mudclaw could have done?

2. Talltail decided against killing Sparrow and became a wiser cat because of it. What would have happened if Talltail had succeeded?

3. Crookedstar and Oakheart both face difficulties with their mates/kits. Who was the better father?

4. Crookedkit was desperate to recapture his motherโ€™s affections. How would Crookedstarโ€™s life have been different if his parental situation was the same as Tallstarโ€™s?

Fan Articles

13 comments

  • GXJFJVJDYWDYV I didn’t think parallel paths would be mentioned XD I feel like a famous writer >:3

    Okay, so my opinions!
    While Crooked and Tall certainly have similarities in their journeys, I don’t think they can be considered rip-offs of each other.

    Tallstar’s journey was about self control and making the right decisions even when nobody’s looking. Mostly abandoned by his parents at an early age (one dead and one strongly hinted to have post-partum depression), nobody was paying attention. He became consumed by his own thirst for vengeance and sought to find and kill Sparrow. He learned to weigh each side of the story and to not take his vengeance, even when it came to a point where he wouldn’t have to do anything more than stand back and watch.

    Crookedstar was about learning to adapt to life’s challenges and to not take the easy way out. It was easy for Crookedkit to run away to the barn cats. He could’ve stayed there forever, but he knew he couldn’t. It would’ve been easy for him to just follow Mapleshades advice. The leadership was laid out for him on a silver platter. It would’ve been easy for him to lash out at Oakheart, the brother everyone preferred, for having halfclan kits. After the death of his mate and other kits, it would’ve been easy to abandon Silverkit to be raised by the rest of the clan so he wouldn’t feel so much pain. He didn’t do any of that, because what is easy is not always what is right. He took a stand for his beliefs and became proactive instead of reactive.

    They’re somewhat similar, but teach different lessons.

    Now for the bonus questions! I never had much success getting people to answer these on my articles. C:
    1. The interesting thing about it is that it might not have been a real vision at all. Could’ve just been the fever dream of a dying cat. In any case, Mudclaw had a right to be angry. He’d served WindClan well, and only Onewhiskers friends were there to corroborate this vision. I feel like Onestars decisions were a lot worse, with Darktail at the very least, than anything Mudclaw would have done. For all his faults, Mudclaw was loyal.

    2. I don’t think Talltail would’ve become leader. He might’ve been haunted with guilt for the rest of his life. Or worse, thought he was justified and continued such behaviors.

    3. Oakheart was the better father. While both tried their absolute best, Crookedstar made the mistake of spoiling Silverstream. She became above everyone else and unwilling to follow the same rules as everyone else.

    4. Crookedstar would’ve had a similar life of trying to capture his mother’s attention, though additionally without a father. I don’t see it as making much of a difference, except that Palebird would’ve neglected Crooked and Oak equally because of her depression.

  • Also, some additional facts for Tallstar: He and Shrewclaw tried to take Cedarstar’s nine lives by driving him into the Thunderpath. (It resulted in Shrewclaw being killed by Newtspeck soon after)

    Then in Redtail’s Choice, Tallstar slashed Bluefur’s throat during a battle, almost killing her.

  • Christmas Turtle That Plays In Snow โ„๏ธโ„๏ธโ„๏ธ๐Ÿข๐Ÿข๐Ÿข says:

    Great article! ๐Ÿ˜€
    Iโ€™ll turn my back to you, both stars and blood alike.

  • 1. Tallstarโ€™s decision to revoke Mudclawโ€™s right to leadership was met with controversy, rebellion, and input from all the clans. Did the inter-clan war caused by Tallstarโ€™s cop-out outweigh the terrible idea of having Mudclaw as the leader of WindClan? Were Onestarโ€™s leadership and actions worse than what Mudclaw could have done?

    I actually don’t know. But I think Mudclaw would be a bit better.

    2. Talltail decided against killing Sparrow and became a wiser cat because of it. What would have happened if Talltail had succeeded?

    Guilty for life.

    3. Crookedstar and Oakheart both face difficulties with their mates/kits. Who was the better father?

    Oakheart maybe?

    4. Crookedkit was desperate to recapture his motherโ€™s affections. How would Crookedstarโ€™s life have been different if his parental situation was the same as Tallstarโ€™s?

    Desperate to re-capture Palebird’s attention maybe? Personally, I would hate Palebird and run away or something.

    Great article!!

Latest Art

More BlogClan Art