[headshots of Sparrowfeather, Snowtuft, Maggottail, Silverhawk, Thistleclaw, Rushtooth, and Houndleap]

Giving Sentences to Dark Forest Cats by MalusClaw

MalusClaw shares their opinion on Dark Forest cats.

Art by TRUNSWICKED

“StarClan will do nothing to stop me, old cat. I have made their Clan glorious! Let them try!”

– Brokenstar, infamous Dark Forest warrior

Well, hello, everyone. Itā€™s MalusClaw here. Iā€™ve come up with an interesting idea for an article: Iā€™ll be giving sentences to all of the Dark Forest cats (Tigerstar, Mapleshade, the like) as if it was like they were going to prison. Iā€™ll weight each of their crimes, then say how long they should have been sentenced to stay in the Place of No Stars and when they should be allowed back into StarClan. I wonā€™t be judging cats like Scourge and Darktail, because they didnā€™t go to the Dark Forest at all. I only judge them on what they did before they died, and the kill count is only who they killed while they were alive.

— SPOILER WARNING: MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR ALL ARCS–

Alright, so first off, letā€™s start with the original villain: Tigerstar the First.
Description: Tigerstarā€™s first crime was just a few hours before Rusty came to the forest: when he murdered Redtail for his own dark ambitions. Then he lied repeatedly to Bluestar, his leader, about what happened. He then constantly abused his apprentice to the point that poor Ravenpaw had to fake his own death to escape him. His next dark act was when he plotted with Brokenstar and attempted to kill Bluestar. But he failed. Tigerstar managed to become leader of ShadowClan, slaughters innocents to feed wild dogs, and attempt to murder children, before he was killed, ripped open by Scourge.
Crimes: Murder, treason
Kill count (directly): 5
Kill count (indirectly): 3
Sentence: Life in the Dark Forest

Next: Thistleclaw
Description: This is something Iā€™m going to stress a lot: Thistleclaw didnā€™t deserve the Dark Forest. Assuming that his relationship with Spottedleaf was acceptable for cats, he was a loyal warrior and always fought for his Clan. The worst thing he ever did was train with the Dark Forest warriors. His kill count was lower than Firestarā€™s.
Crimes: Murder (in self defense)
Kill count (directly): 1
Kill count (indirectly): 0
Sentence: No years in the Dark Forest, StarClan straight away

Next: Hawkfrost
Description: Hawkfrost didnā€™t deserve his bad reputation. In his life, he only killed one cat: Firestar, and he didnā€™t really even kill him. He just took one of his nine lives. Besides, Firestar was a rival cat, so it was understandable.
Crimes: Murder
Kill count: 1
Kill count (indirectly): 0
Sentence: 35 years in the Dark Forest

Next: Darkstripe
Description: Now, when you look at his kill count, he only killed one cat (Stonefur) and it was because his leader ordered him to. But, if you think about it, Darkstripeā€™s greatest crime was treason. He was perhaps the greatest traitor in all of the books, and thatā€™s what I mostly base his sentence on.
Crimes: Murder, treason
Kill count (directly): 1
Kill count (indirectly): 0
Sentence: 75 years in the Dark Forest

Next: Mapleshade
Description: Mapleshade, oh, Mapleshade. She was a tricky person to evaluate, but she was definitely a murderer. It all started when ThunderClan cast her out for having kits with a RiverClan cat, Appledusk, and lying by pretending that their father was a beloved, deceased Clan member. When trying to escape to RiverClan, she accidentally let her kits drown in the river, and then was turned out by RiverClan. Even her own mate said that she was a kit-murderer. She went on a path of vengeance- she would kill each cat that wronged her. Whatā€™s worse, she became so deranged that she hallucinated her own dead kits begging her to commit murder. She managed to kill the ThunderClan medicine cat, then her own close friend, then Appledusk, before she was killed by a RiverClan apprentice. Even though Mapleshade was more mentally unstable than evil, she did go to the Dark Forest and even masterminded the attacks in Omen of the Stars.
Crimes: Murder, treason
Kill count (directly): 3
Kill count (indirectly): 0
Sentence: Life in the Dark Forest

And finally: Brokenstar.
Description: Brokenstar deserved the Dark Forest. He was a complete tyrant, killing many innocent kits to achieve his dreams of utter domination. He murdered his own father to become leader of his Clan. He was later blinded and killed by Yellowfang, his mother. In the battle of the Dark Forest, Yellowfang kills him again, wiping him completely out of existence.
Crimes: Murder, treason, child abuse
Kill count. (directly): 6
Kill count (indirectly): 5
Sentence: Life in the Dark Forest

I hope you enjoyed todayā€™s article. I might write more articles where I judge other cats, but thatā€™s for another day.

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26 comments

    • Yes! He didn’t kill the cat in self defence either. He killed her in cold blood. he abused multiple apprentices including his own son and he groomed a minor from kithood. So we have murder, domestic abuse and child predation. That needs to be a life sentence

    • She deserve Dark forest, she is a bad cat, she caused her kits’ death, and blamed everyone but herself, she kill Ravenwing, Appledusk and Frecklewish, and tried to kill pregnant Reedshine, she kidnapped an apprentice, she ruined Crookedkit/jaw/star’s life, she tried to kill Sandstorm because she was jealousy and killed Spottedleaf, she lied to a whole clan, and used a dead cat and said he was the kits’ father. SHE IS BAD. And sorry but nothing can justify murder.

  • Yes! He didn’t kill the cat in self defence either. He killed her in cold blood. he abused multiple apprentices including his own son and he groomed a minor from kithood. So we have murder, domestic abuse and child predation. That needs to be a life sentence. Idkw the author said it isn’t

    • no offense but, didnt dustpelt practically groomed(?) his mate as well? it has been some time since ive read the first arc but from my memories i recall that he showed interest in ferncloud starting from her apprenticeship, and was also willing to take on 2 apprentices at once just so he could be her mentor? really i dont mean anything mean but i was simply wondering

  • About Thistleclaw:

    Maybe his relationship with Spottedleaf was “acceptable” to the other cats, so I understand that you don’t judge him for that, but he manipulated Spottedpaw/Spottedleaf since she was a little kit. And while he was alive: he murdered a she-cat in the Dark Forest, and I don’t think it was in self-defense at all, he grabbed the small old she-cat like prey and fatally wounded her without any regret. He acted horribly arrogant and threatened Bluestar on several occasions and he made Tigerpaw attack Tiny.
    And training in the Dark Forest without regret is practically enough to sentence him to that place, I mean: Antpelt trained there (but he didn’t kill anyone) and ended up in the Dark Forest when he died (killed by Thistleclaw)? And at first he didn’t seem like such a bad cat.
    If Antpelt was sentenced there, then Thistleclaw deserves it too. Not for life, but for a good long time.