[a chibi design of Mapleshade]

why I love Mapleshade and why she shouldn’t be in the dark forest by Ocean-reed

Ocean-reed shares their opinion on Mapleshade.

Art by DrakynWyrm

hi! Ocean-reed here! I am new and this is my first post!
so, the reason I love Mapleshade and think that she shouldn’t be in the dark forest is…
1. She only did bad things because she was driven by grief
2. She will have been heartbroken so many times. Firstly, she gets driven away from her birth clan, then she tries to find her mate, but her kits drown in the process and everyone blames her for the kit’s death. SERIOUSLY! WHAT ELSE COULD SHE HAVE DONE??? She had to go to her mate! He’s got to support her! Nope. That’s wrong. Her mate has lied to her and has taken another mate, and had kits with them, while going out with Mapleshade.
3. SO MANY CATS BETRAY HER! Like seriously! Frecklewish and ravenwing, this is aimed at you! Do you not want then kits to be safe? Do you want to drive a queen and her helpless kits out into the forest?
4. Oakstar is mad at her because she was saying that his son was her mate and the father to the kits. NO! she never said that! All that other cats said that, she never said that ._.
5. Yes, I know she killed cats, but them cats betray her and caused the deaths of her kits! He could have kept it a secret and given their clan 3 new warriors, who one day could become leaders/medicine cats! They would serve their clan well and it wouldn’t matter that they were half clan! ONE OF THEM COULD HAVE EVEN BEEN MED AFTER RAVENWING!

~breathes deeply~ ok, calm down Ocean-reed. Get a hold of yourself!

But yeah, I think I have proven a pretty valid point. And let me point this out, what she did when she was in the dark forest, made her deserve her place their, but she wasn’t that bad when she was alive.
In conclusion, I love Mapleshade and she didn’t deserve the dark forest, she deserved to live in the afterlife with her kits somewhere, as everything she did was to avenge their deaths, and in the end, she can’t even see them. But yeah, I think she had unfair treatment for what she did.

That’s all!
Thanks for reading! :3

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61 comments

  • This is an amazing article Ocean-reed, but I disagree on a few points. That’s like saying that a serial killer who killed people because they were sad, is free. Ravenwing didn’t do anything wrong, he just had an omen, and saw Mapleshade with her kits+Appledusk. All he did was tell the leader, which any medicine cat would do, but, for example, if Cinderpelt did it, it would’ve been different. I do agree, Oakstar and Frecklewish were acting based on grief for Birchface, and, like you said, Mapleshade never said Birchface was the father, but there’s no excuse for Mapleshade’s actions, they were rash and stupid, and she could’ve handled it a lot better. Sorry for writing a mini-article on my opinion, but it’s 8:00 AM and i’m bored and tired

  • Nice article! But I disagree.
    So, Mapleshade was driven by grief. Okay. But wasn’t Oakstar driven by grief as well? And Oakstar’s crimes were better than Mapleshade’s, because at least the kits had a chance to live with their mother! He never outright killed them!
    I don’t like Appledusk, I’ll have to admit. However, would he really support the cat he thought had killed his kits? Mapleshade was making them cross a river in a storm when none of the kits or her were experience swimmers! So of course Appledusk thought Mapleshade caused the kits’ deaths.
    Frecklewish didn’t even know how to swim and there were already RiverClan cats there. Did you expect her to risk her lives to save kits she thought were being saved?
    Ravenwing was doing his job. He got an omen from StarClan, so chances were it was important. Of course he had to tell Oakstar; what if the kits were a danger to the Clan when they grow up?
    Although she never said that, she let the rumor go around. Though I understand why she didn’t say anything, because if she denied it, then her Clanmates would start questioning the father.
    Frecklewish and Ravenwing didn’t deserve to die (like I said before). For Appledusk, cheating is bad, but murder is worse. And was he supposed to stay mates with the cat that he thought killed their kits?
    Anyway, great points! 🙂

  • She did deserve Dark Forest to be honest. Unlike Hollyleaf and Blackstar, she never regretted killing cats.

  • I’d like to kindly disagree.

    While I do understand what might have driven Mapleshade to commit those murders, she is not justified in her actions based on her grief.

    Many cats in the series have been betrayed once or twice, it be in love or in trust. Examples would be Reedshine, Jayfeather, Dovewing.
    While some of them might not have been betrayed to the same degree of Mapleshade, none of them committed murders or attempted murders. Others who had (Hollyleaf, Breezepelt) felt guilt for what they had done and tried to make up for their mistakes.
    Mapleshade never felt any grief of guilt for what she had done, thus she ended up in the dark forest.
    Betrayal and grief is not an excuse for murder, it only gives reasoning onto the actions of mapleshade.

  • Great article! I totally agree! Mapleshade is my favorite villain. I love Mapleshade sooo much!

  • Number 4 is right… and Wrong. You see she let them beleive that even though she never said it.

    But it is still a great article and i agree with everything other than number 4

  • SHe was bad before she lost her kits she was a maniac she killed cats for no reason! Like RavenWing. FreckleWish, AppleDusk, and her kits. Your probably like how did she kill her kits? She took them into a raging river even after her kits said it looks dangerous its her fault the drowned! She leapt at a pregnant cat with the intent to kill her but appledusk like a brave cat he saved reedshine. SHe tricked poor CrookedPaw and she did deserve what she got. (I LOVE MAPLESHADE!!!)

    • Wait are you just joking about those things and like Mapleshade, or do you hate her? I’m sorry, I can’t tell

      • They probably love to hate her (I’m in the same boat, I think she’s a fascinating character.)

        • i love her but she is evil and people defending her probably didnt see the perspective right

  • I so agree with you that all of her actions were out of grief and those cat’s kind of did deserve to be killed. (Although I don’t understand why Oakstar wasn’t killed too). But I think Mapleshade did deserve the df, because she was happy to be there and never regretted killing anyone. Nice article!

  • I feel like Mapleshade is sooo overrated… First of all you can’t ignore the fact she remorsely murdered 3 cats! And 2 of those 3 cats had little to do with her kit’s death! Plus, after she murdered that med cat, Thunderclan was left without one and a Riverclan cat had to come and take the job! Plus, she deliberately blinded and later killed a cat with snake poison. Ok, the Appledusk murder was sort of deserved, but she didn’t have to kill him! Plus, after her death ol’ Maple continued to wreak vengeance against the clans, encouraging Tigerclaw, ruining poor Crookedjaw, and killing multiple other unnamed cats!

    • Some people disagree here, but I agree everything. I feel bad for mapleshade, beacuse she isn’t truly evil. Her heart was just broken. Maybe Ravenwing did his job, but Appledusk was horrible. And Oakstar is my top disgust, and Appledusk is 2th. Mapleshade is my top favorite, so that’s why I agree. I feel like Mapleshade deserved starclan.. I mean, her kits are there. I just can’t understand people who hate Mapleshade… When I was reading comments, MANY people disagree, but good that even somepeople agree.

  • Oh. My. goodness! WE R BOTH OCEAN-REED! :0 AMAZING! great article btw! AAHH AND WE THINK ALIKE! I AGREE WITH THIS ALL! 😀 SO AMAZING

  • Nice article!… but I disagree. When you say she was “driven by grief” that’s going against your point that frecklewish betrayed her. Here is another grief-stricken she-cat, who didn’t go on a murdering rampage. And ravenwing did his job with the prophecy, it’s not his fault.

    • If all grief-driven she-cats went on murder sprees, then the clans would be filled with mass murderers.

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