Analyzing Ashfur: Does He Deserve A Second Chance? by Fawnpelt

Fawnpelt takes a look at Ashfur and his actions.

Hello, BlogClan! It’s Fawnpelt, and I’m here to talk about Ashfur! He has done some terrible things, but, does he deserve a second chance?
So, we all know of the many crimes Ashfur has committed- or tried to commit. But let’s start with before he went mad, all the way back in The Prophecies Begin. To start off, he and Ferncloud are the two surviving kits of Brindleface and Whitestorm. When Brindleface gets killed by Tigerstar and fed to the dog pack, Ashpaw and his sister convince Fireheart to let them lead the dogs away from ThunderClan. When the battle with BloodClan arrives and his father, Whitestorm, is killed by Bone, he and a couple other apprentices kill Bone. He played vital roles in helping the Clans in A Dangerous Path and The Darkest Hour, but that’s only a couple good things that he did. The New Prophecy is where everything bad about him begins. In the New Prophecy, when he was still a fairly young cat, he becomes quite fond of Squirrelflight- a little too fond. Although he and Brambleclaw were previously friends, when Brambleclaw and Squirrelflight become close, he is jealous and infuriated. Later, just when Ashfur thought he had won Squirrelflight’s love, she gets back with Brambleclaw and the two cats become mates. Ashfur later sends Firestar to the lake and the ThunderClan leader is caught in a fox trap and confronted by Hawkfrost and Brambleclaw. Later, in Power of Three, he gets one of the kits that Squirrelflight claims to be her own, Lionpaw, and the two begin a hostile relationship. He tends to be very strict with Lionpaw and is quick to criticize him, even though his apprentice is nearly as good of a fighter and hunter as Ashfur is. And then, possibly the most iconic scene in Warriors occurs. A fire breaks out in the camp and Squirrelflight and her kits attempt to flee, but Ashfur stops them. He tells Squirrelflight that he is furious and heartbroken since she chose Brambleclaw over him and that he wants to make her suffer. He also reveals his role in the attempt on Firestar’s life with the fox trap. As punishment, he decides to kill her kits, but she says that they aren’t her kits, but Leafpool’s. He then decides that he will reveal her secret at the next Gathering. The night of the Gathering, Ashfur goes missing, and his body is found in the stream. Skip forward to the Broken Code arc, and we see that he gives Shadowsight a Vision telling him to “Punish the codebreakers!” After Bramblestar becomes sick, he tells Shadowsight to take him to the frozen moor to cure his fever, but what he didn’t tell him is that it wouldn’t cure Bramblestar’s fever, but it would allow Ashfur to steal his body. Ashfur then begins his tyrannical rule of ThunderClan, abusing his former Clan and cruelly punishing the so-called “codebreakers.” He cuts off the Clans’ connection with StarClan and he kills many cats and is later taken as a prisoner. After his identity is later revealed, the leaders decide to kill him, but in hopes of possibly getting Bramblestar back and freeing the enslaved ghosts, Shadowsight allows him to escape. He and Squirrelflight get in a fight and, victorious, he drags Squirrelflight into the Moonpool where only the dead can reach her.

So, despite all of his awful crimes, does he deserve redemption? Well first off, he would have to free the ghosts and help the Clans regain connection with StarClan. He’d need to give up Bramblestar’s body and probably make some huge sacrifice. But even if he does all these things, would he earn his redemption? Well, as an example, first let’s look at Ashfur’s killer, Hollyleaf. She killed him, but she knew what she did was wrong, therefore sending herself into exile, and later, when she returned to ThunderClan, she gave up her life to save Ivypool and ascended to StarClan. But there’s one difference between the two: acceptance of their wrongs. Hollyleaf knew what she did was wrong, so she made sacrifices to redeem herself. But Ashfur, on the other hand, refuses to admit he was wrong. That’s a big problem. Unless he admits he’s wrong, he won’t try to redeem himself. It is even said in Graystripe’s Vow that he always wants things his own way and is very stubborn. A cat like that usually can’t be persuaded by other cats. He may not be delusional like her, but he’s a bit like Mapleshade with the whole driven mad by rejection thing. He’s also a bit like Sol where he can be villainous just by his words. Both of those cats either did or should go to the Place of No Stars. So I think, unless he really worked hard to be redeemed and made some big sacrifice, when he dies again or decides to go back to where he was before he stole Bramblestar’s body, he will be sent to the Dark Forest. So, seeing all he’s done- all the deaths and destruction and hurt he’s caused- I really don’t think he deserves another chance. Please tell me your thoughts on this and if you have any topic that you would like to see me write an article on, please tell me!