Defending Feathertail by Mountainpaw

Art by Meow286

Mountainpaw defends Feathertail

Hello warriors, kits, elders, apprentices, medicine cats!
I, Mountainpaw, am back with yet another article. And yes, it is about Feathertail!
You probably know by now that I like (No, love) Feathertail. But many people hate, or dislike her.
So today I will be taking the most common reasons people dislike her, and proving them wrong. If I left out anything you feel is important, you can tell me in the comments and I’ll try to answer them too. So here we go!
The number one reason I think people dislike Feathertail is because she is a Mary sue.
Here is the definition of a Mary sue:

(originally in fan fiction) a type of female character who is depicted as unrealistically lacking in flaws or weaknesses.
“she was not a ‘strong woman’ so much as an insufferable Mary Sue”

In a Shadow in RiverClan, Feathertail is shown to have flaws. She cannot let go of old grudges, she works to push every cat away from her, she does not behave like a Clan cat, giving prey to ThunderClan and not hunting, sleeping, or doing any other Clan things with her clanmates. Then, when on the journey to the sun-drown place, she yells at Purdy.
Also, a Mary sue is unrealistic, also meaning that nothing bad can happen to her, she lives forever, she had the best of luck. Well, Feathertail grew up in RiverClan with no father or mother. Her father was in a different Clan, and her mother had died at her birth. Feathertail also dies, and she did not live for too long, which both deney the rules of a Mary sue. If you still think Feathertail is a Mary sue, then all I can say for you is that she did not have enough time in the books to prove that wrong.
Second reason is probably that she is just a minor character.
Sure. Feathertail is a minor character. But not as minor as Shrewpaw, who died due to a monster while hunting a pheasant, or Snowkit, who was only in one book and got killed by a hawk not long after his birth. And then, of course, when you think about what would have happened if Feathertail never existed? Bone might have not died. He was killed by Featherpaw, Bramblepaw, Tawnypaw, Ashpaw, and Stormpaw. Feathertail is clever, strong, quick on her paws. Would Bone have survived without Feathertail’s aid in his death? Or might have one of the apprentices died? All the apprentices listed play major roles in the following books, and one of their deaths would have also caused many, many changes. Then there would be no silver cat. Sharptooth would kill off the Tribe of rushing water, and then kill the journeying cats. They would not have made it back home, and the Clans would have died out or scattered as the forest was cut down. Hawkfrost would not be alive. Leafpool might have died, because it is possible that the memory of Feathertail’s death got Crowfeather moving. Or, Crowpaw would have died because of Shartooth. Then there would be no Jayfeather, Hollyleaf, or Lionblaze, no power of three, no Breezepelt, no Smokehaze and Brindlewing and so forth. So even though Feathertail does not play a huge role in the books, without her, a lot of things would not be as they are.
Third reason. She gets all the attention and not Stormfur.
No.
I don’t really like Stormfur. Not only is he boring, but I think he is a bad brother to Feathertail. In a Shadow in RiverClan, Stormfur shuts her down and pushes her away when she needs her most, only because he is happy in RiverClan. He is acting selfish, and unsupportive. He is too protective of Feathertail, not letting her shine. Sure, there is nothing wrong with being protective, but Stormfur goes overboard with it. And then he is mean to Feathertail about her relationship and love with Crowpaw, even though he falls in love with a cat from outside his clan too. All in all, he loves Feathertail a lot, but has a weird way of showing it. Then, Feathertail only gets about two chapters in Moonrise, while Stormfur is the main point of view.
And this is not a reason people hate her, it’s just something that makes me very annoyed. Crowpaw only loved Feathertail because she was pretty. No, that is not true at all. Crowpaw loved her because she was the only one who saw past his bitter, snappy core, to his warm heart. She was the only one who supported him, who stood up for him, who gave him the love he deserved. She was the only one who saw who he really was, and gave him a chance when no one else would. Crowpaw loved Feathertail because she was beautiful inside and out, not because of the color of her pelt and the shade of her eyes.
I hope you can see my point of view, and realize that Feathertail is not a Mary sue, she is not that much a minor character, she had a unique personality that shines bright as the stars and the moon. GO FEATHERTAIL!
Thanks for reading, may StarClan light your path!
(Also, if you have not read A Shadow In RiverClan, and would like to, please do so. I got most of my information from there, because that is Feathertail’s Stand-Alone manga, and most of her purrsonality is revealed there.)

Fan Articles

64 comments

  • I love Feathertail! <3 She’s an amazing character, and absolutely doesn’t deserve hate!
    What Comes Next

  • *gasps* someone hates Feathertail?
    Oh my gosh I absolutely adore Feathertail so much! She’s so amazing!
    Great article Mountain!!!!❤️

  • I never really thought she was a Mary Sue, this did convince to like her better,although it still didn’t convince me enough to make her my favourite character.

    • Yay!! Feathertail is great! <3 A Shadow in RiverClan is awesome, and I love Feather x Crow as well! 🙂

  • Hm, I didn’t know anyone hated Feathertail… I think she was definitely kind of a borderline Mary Sue before A Shadow in Riverclan, but still marginally more interesting than many, many, other Mary/Gary Sues in the series. This was a nice article. :]

    • I think she was having major Spottedleaf Syndrome. Spottedleaf Syndrome is my term for the issue when there’s two portraits of a character – what they do and how they are viewed like, and the second is separate from the first instead of being adjusted to it. Feathertail was in my opinion a pretty okay character, just that they would let her be, but instead they kept labeling her as “calm”, “kind” and “gentle” all the time, when she should just stay without description and do what she did. Also the way everything she ever did was swept to Crowpaw, Crowpaw and Crowpaw… I would find that more interesting if Stormfur or Tawnypelt were cornered by Sharptooth instead, it’d be either an act of sisterly love or friendship. Or she should realize that she didn’t love Crowpaw romantically, she loved him as a friend and mistook that love for a romantic one. They made a fine character with a few really good moments into a tragic heroine with no other purpose but RoMaNcE.

      Also yeah, there is a bunch of Feathertail haters.

  • I like your article, but does Feathertail REALLY need to be defended? Everyone seems to like her from what I’m seeing. Maybe Silverstream would be a better choice? But don’t listen to me. I would also like to say that I never thought she was a Mary Sue 🙂

    • Hmm, good question! I saw a few BlogClanners hate on her before, and a lot of people really hate her on other sites, so I thought I’d write one so people could see it from my perspective, why I think she’s a good cat a character.
      But a defense article on Silverstream is a brilliant idea! I could do one if you’d like to see an article on that. C: