Defending Hollyleaf’s Choices by Stormpaw

Stormpaw takes a look at the choices Hollyleaf made.

There’s a lot of opinions about Hollyleaf. Some hate her and think she deserves the df and some really like her, while others are just neutral on her. I myself really love her, so in this article I will be excusing Hollyleaf’s faults and explaining why it makes sense that she did the things she did.
So the first thing most people don’t like about her is because she killed Ashfur in an attempt to keep him from revealing the truth, but then she herself told the gathering. But imagine if you were Hollyleaf and had everything; loving parents, a loving clan, a life that made sense… but then you find out that all of that was actually false and your life actually didn’t make sense. As if it was all an act or something, and you’re not sure anymore if your parents ever loved you because they’re not actually your parents, are they? Plus you think that your actual mother didn’t care enough about you for her job because she gave you away, and your father refused you when he found out that you were his kids. How would that make you feel? I bet it made Hollyleaf feel unloved, scared of criticism, and thinking she couldn’t trust anyone anymore.
And sometimes if you’re not sure of anything anymore it can make you a bit panicked, and so in her panic Hollyleaf killed Ashfur. And her excuse was that she wanted to keep him from telling the truth at the gathering, but I bet she was just telling that to herself to feel a bit better.
And then she herself told the gathering the truth because she was angry. Angry at Squirrelflight for lying to her, angry at Leafpool for not wanting her enough, and just angry at the world in general! But then there’s the question of why Lionblaze and Jayfeather didn’t react the same way? Well, their boys. If a guy and a girl break up, the guy will be sad for a little but will move on. And what will the girl do? She’ll think her world is ending and that she can’t find anyone else because she was certain that he was her soulmate. Do you get my point?
And so after Hollyleaf did all that, she then tried to force Leafpool to eat deathberries! I love Leafpool too, so I was horrified when Hollyleaf did that. But remember, she’s still full of anger and doesn’t really know what she’s doing. She’s just doing all of these things in hope that she’ll feel better, but it’s actually messing her up. So then after she realizes what’s happening, and what she did, and what she’s doing, she runs away to the tunnel’s because she suddenly can’t cope with all that’s happening. And that’s totally understandable! Don’t some of us think of running away now and again when times are hard? Well, it was hard for Hollyleaf, and she didn’t know what to do. And in a time of panic you don’t think of what will happen when you’re gone, you just think; I really need to get out of here, I need a break.
But while she’s in the tunnel’s she has time to think and feel remorse over what she did. Hollyleaf had a good heart, she was just confused for a moment and unsure of what to do. And Fallen Leaves helped her see that. He helped her see what a good cat she was, and aw- I’m so glad their mates in StarClan. So now Hollyleaf feel’s so guilty, and has bad dream’s of what she did and she’s scared. She’s scared of what would happen if she went back to ThunderClan, scared that she’ll lose control of herself again, and scared that no one will accept her. And everyone’s afraid of all that at some point! (Well, not the “lose control of herself” one, but you get what I mean). So she help’s Ivypool and Blossomfall, and blah blah Lionblaze finds her anddd she returns to ThunderClan with him.
And this is where I really started to love her! She show’s a ton of her true colors after returning. She show’s wisdom, leadership, and a new kind of humbleness. Hollyleaf make’s things right with her brothers and her adoptive parents, and she gains ThunderClan’s respect by instructing them how to fight in the tunnels. She doesn’t demand their respect, she wants to earn it, and she does. And when she attack’s Sol she’s about to kill him so that he won’t make trouble with the clan’s anymore, but then she remembers Ashfur and stop’s herself from killing him in an act of mercy because she was so merciless to Ashfur.
So she lets him go and later participates in the Great Battle where she gives her life to save Ivypool’s and makes thing’s right with Leafpool right before dying. I just loved it, and now all the clan’s remember her with honor and respect. This is one of my favorite maps about her ​​I’ll Be Good || COMPLETE Hollyleaf PMV MAP – Bing video Warning: blood/gore
But before I end this article I wanted to say that Ashfur actually did deserve to be killed. He’s freaking crazy! He was going to murder 4 cat’s because of his obssesive love over Squirrelflight! Why is there a place for crazy ex’s in StarClan? It’s odd.