Discussing Tallstar’s Revenge by Stormpaw

Stormpaw shares their opinion on Tallstar’s Revenge.

Growing up, Tallstar’s parents were both tunnelers, and his mother Palebird was shown as being lethargic because she was still getting over the death of her kit. Now let’s go deeper into that.. A lot of other queens have lost a kit, but Palebird seems to act like it drained all life out of her & she wouldn’t be able to live. I think she was being unfair to Tallkit. She never wanted to go anywhere outside of the nursery, she didn’t even try to stop feeling remorseful! I know she loved Tallkit, but she could have tried harder. Finchkit wasn’t the only kit she had! Palebird was kind of an absent mother to her son and seemed to care more about her 2nd litter with Woollytail.

Now let’s talk about Sandgorse. Sandgorse was a good father in the beginning, and very eager to share his tunnel talents with his son. But Tallpaw was meant to be a moor runner, and Sandgorse couldn’t seem to accept that.He practically disowns his own kit and accuses him of being a coward when the tunnel is flooded! But Sandgorse never heard the whole story and didn’t believe that it had been Woollytail, cause he’d rather accuse Tallpaw of being fox-hearted. Am I right? (Poor Tallpaw… )

Now onto the next thing! Did Palebird & Sandgorse have a healthy relationship? It’s never shown them having any arguments, but it’s also never shown them together. Sandgorse was always too busy with the tunnels to go check on Palebird, or even to comfort her. When Palebird was sad he sent Tallkit to go comfort her instead of doing it himself. So I don’t really think they spent enough time together to have a strong relationship. At least not after Tallkit comes, because I don’t know what they were like before. But hey! Not spending time together means they never argued much. But I don’t think I know enough to confidently answer that question… I’ll just leave that for you to answer.

What about the tunnels? Was Heatherstar right to stop it? Yes, ofc she was! The tunnelers were always working on the tunnels day and night it seemed, and for what? For a place to escape and hide from a battle? I guess they could have used them for a surprise attack, but no WindClan cat ever though of that. Besides, that plan wouldn’t have been of any help if they themselves were attacked by surprise. And it seemed like the tunnels were always collapsing! Lilywhisker was badly injured and had to retire to the elder’s den early; Leafshine died, Sandgorse died, and Sparrow & Tallpaw almost died. Also, half of the clan was gone tunneling when ShadowClan attacked. WindClan could have lost their home! What use would the tunnels have been then? They would have been left on that land for the ShadowClan cat’s to use or fill back up with dirt.

Ok, now how about Sparrow & Sandgorse’s death? Was Sparrow guilty or not? In the end of the super edition when Talltail find’s the rogues and attempts to kill Sparrow he hears the truth that Sparrow isn’t guilty and decides not to kill him. But is that really true? Sparrow had never paid any attention to the tunnels until Heatherstar announced there would be no more tunneling. And then Sparrow is seen talking to Sandgorse:
“You say Heatherstar’s forbid you from going down there?” Sparrow asked.
“Yes,” Sandgorse whispered. (…)
“What a waste,” murmured the rouge.
Sandgorse nodded. “All that paw-work for nothing.”
“You sound proud of the tunnel.”
“I know it better than I know my own pelt,” Sandgorse declared.
“Then surely you can go down there?” Sparrow reasoned. “

So Sparrow wasn’t only suggesting to go against Heatherstar’s orders, but for him to go back into a dangerous tunnel that he knew had flooded, and therefore ending up with Sandgorse drowning. But then after Sandgorse is dead; who drowned by saving Sparrow, the tom is acting like it was Sandgorse’s own fault that he drowned! He says: “I was lucky I made it out. There was no way I could have helped Sandgorse. He’s the one with all the skills. He shouldn’t have taken me down there. He should have known it was too dangerous.”
But he left out the part of him persuading Sandgorse to go down there, didn’t he? And his carelessness about the death of Talltail’s father is obvious. If it was me I would have killed Sparrow, (just saying), then Talltail could have stayed and become mates with Reena before going home. Anyway, then Sparrow leaves with the rogues and Talltail’s quest begins.
As Sparrow is clinging onto the rocks for his life, he tell’s Talltail that his father had died saving him. But that explanation doesn’t make any sense from his previous actions! Then he replies to Talltail when he asks why he hadn’t said that earlier; saying that it wouldn’t have made any difference. Yet he didn’t even try telling Talltail until he was about to murder him? Even if Sparrow was telling the truth and not a lie, then he was still guilty for helping Sandgorse to his death.
So was he guilty or not? Yes and no! He’s still to blame and didn’t deserve all the attention he received from WindClan, but he wasn’t truly responsible for Sandgorse’s death. Although I still think he’s sus… thx for reading!