Mapleshade Series 1: Appledusk & Mapleshade by Crowfrost

Crowfrost takes a look at Mapleshade and Appledusk’s relationship.

WARNING! MAJOR SPOILERS FOR MAPLESHADE’S VENGEANCE!

Mapleshade is a widely displayed and discussed topic, as well as Appledusk. And from the articles I’ve seen discussing both, most side with Mapleshade, though the odd article agrees with or discusses Appledusk’s point of view.
On that note, I agree more with Mapleshade, but like in the real world, everyone’s point of view is valid and important, whether you agree with it or not. The same goes for Appledusk. I’ve seen some beautifully written articles defending Mapleshade, especially the one I have read most recently by Ravenflight, entitled ‘Mapleshade and the Five Stages Of Grief’. I would strongly recommend reading that article if you haven’t already, as it displays a concept and point of view I haven’t seen before. Ravenflight talks about the five stages of grief, but I’ll let her explain it.

I would like to do a series of articles on Mapleshade and her relationships, and I might recommend an article or two about her in mine. I’ll try to delve a bit deeper into the different cats, so it may take several articles to finish them all. I may touch on the grief stages in them, so credits to Ravenflight for the list of stages, well done Ravenflight 🙂

This article is the first one, so I’ll start with the main debate: who was right, Mapleshade or Appledusk?
I’ll change the question, because I want these articles to be focused more on points of view, and review the facts only, setting aside my own opinions so that everyone can draw their own conclusion.
So the question is now ‘What were Mapleshade and Appledusk’s points of view?’

Mapleshade is a well known villain in the Warriors series, responsible for many crimes, most of which helped progress the books and the villains. She was at least partly responsible for the revolt and the Great Battle of the Dark Forest, and she was a voice in Tigerstar/claw’s head urging him on in the crimes he commited. She was directly responsible for Ravenwing and Appledusk’s deaths, and partly to blame for Crookedstar’s life, though not fully. But in this article, I’ll focus on Appledusk, and why Mapleshade hated him enough to murder him.

Mapleshade was a diligent warrior, loyal and strong, until she met Appledusk. The two fell in love, which is fine, except their relationship was one of those ThunderClan – RiverClan ships. Different Clan pairings were forbidden of course, but it didn’t deter Mapleshade and Appledusk. Soon enough, Mapleshade bore Appledusk’s kits. There is a bit of drama and scenes worth discussing between this and my next part, but I’ll be delving into those in different articles.

Mapleshade was banished from ThunderClan. Here is where I start to look at the facts more deeply.
Everyone, or most everyone, hates on Appledusk for disowning Mapleshade, no matter their opinion on Mapleshade herself. Yes, Appledusk turned her away, and Darkstar, the leader of RiverClan, refused to accept her into her Clan.
Mapleshade’s kits had drowned at this point, and Appledusk became a RiverClan she-cat’s mate, even during his and Mapleshade’s…. I’ll call it courtship, just because.
This infuriated Mapleshade further, and (again, credit to Ravenflight) she was stuck in the anger stage of grieving.
So, this just made Mapleshade want revenge, so she decided to murder Reedshine, Appledusk’s mate. But she missed her blow, and hit Appledusk instead, killing him.
That’s the end. I’ll now briefly explain Mapleshade’s point of view, and then Appledusk’s.

Mapleshade was grief stricken, and blamed Appledusk for a lot of the bad things. So she decided to get revenge. It’s that simple. Mapleshade vowed revenge on all of Appledusk’s descendants for all time. How would you feel if your kits drowned, you were kicked from your Clan, your mate disowned you and his/her Clan also rejected you? That’s how Mapleshade felt, and she channeled all her grief and pain into anger and vengeance.

Appledusk turned Mapleshade away because he blamed her for their kits drowning, because they fell off the stepping stones as Mapleshade tried to bring them over to RiverClan. Also, if you knew you were breaking the code with your mate, but a beautiful she-cat from your own Clan loved you, what would you do? I am not saying it was right, I am writing down Appledusk’s point of view.

Neither cat was right in what they did, and their actions, no matter why they did what they did, cannot be entirely justified. Murder doesn’t solve anything, and niether do grudges or blame. Revenge never really helped anyone, so Mapleshade and Appledusk both made mistakes in their actions. As to which deserves the Dark Forest, I’ll leave that up to you.

Until next time,
.:Crowfrost:.