Goosefeather, the Misunderstood Med by Adderkit

Adderkit shares their opinion on Goosefeather.

I think Goosefeather is underrated. Some imagine Goosefeather as a cranky, lazy medicine cat who does nothing right and almost killed Crookedkit. I don’t believe that is so.

Here I’ll be taking the most often presented arguments about Goosefeather and answering them with my own. Goosefeather is a cat that deserves to be talked about. With praise.

“He went along with Bluefur and lied to his Clan!”
It’s not Goosefeather’s fault Bluefur had kits! If ThunderClan knew, they would kick out Bluefur, and Firestar would not exist (Bluefur let him into the Clan, we all know Thistleclaw would definitely not), Squirrelflight would not exist, the Three would not exist, even the Clans would not exist! Goosefeather knew this; remember the prophecies? So Goosefeather was saving Firestar, saving Squirrelflight, saving the Three, and saving the Clans.
“Goosefeather told Pinestar to kill Tigerkit!”
Yes, and Pinestar should’ve listened. Even if Goosefeather tried to make Tigerkit good, Mapleshade would not be stopped. StarClan said that they don’t control the weather (I think, please correct me if I got it wrong). So they would not be able to stop Mapleshade; Flametail WANDERED into the Dark Forest without knowing he was in it! And no, Tigerkit was not an innocent kit. Goosefeather knew Thistleclaw, being bloodthirsty and evil, would mentor Tigerkit to be diabolical and, well, evil.
“He tried to kill two kits!”
Here’s some copy-and-pasted content from a Mellowix article (which is NOT in Goosefeather’s defense):
“The tom’s gaze narrowed. ‘How dare you?’ His ears flattened. […] ‘He’s going to kill us!’ Oakkit croaked. ‘Run!’ Stormkit turned and scrambled through the mallow. He skidded to a halt on the first stone, then leaped again. Oakkit landed beside him. ‘Help!’ he wailed as his hind paws slipped off the stone. Stormkit grabbed his brother’s scruff before Oakkit could slide into the swirling river. ‘Thanks!’ Oakkit regained his balance and jumped for the next stone. The tom yowled behind them. Stormkit hurtled after his brother. ‘You don’t get away from Goosefeather that easily!’ the old cat snarled. Stormkit felt hot breath on his heels and jagged claws spiked his tail. Unbalanced, he leaped for the final stone. His paws hit water as he plunged into the river.” – Crookedstar’s Promise.
Let’s look at the evidence in Goosefeather’s defense:
-The kits are young and they misinterpret many things. That ‘snarl’ could’ve been a ‘playful growl.’
-Goosefeather would NOT kill the kits. Evidence would probably be seen. And also, Goosefeather knows that without Crookedstar becoming Crookedstar, Silverstream would not be alive, which means Graystripe would not become mates with Millie, which means Bumblestripe wouldn’t be born, which means Dovewing would feel no pressure and wouldn’t become Tigerstar the Second’s mate, which means that Shadowsight wouldn’t be born, which means that the entire Broken Code wouldn’t exist! Goosefeather knows this. And guess what? He let Crookedstar be Crookedstar! Therefore, whatever you do you can’t say Goosefeather is evil.
-Goosefeather didn’t kill Crookedkit/Stormkit! Think. Those jagged claws could’ve ripped into his pelt and killed Crookedkit! Instead, he just gave Crookedkit a little nudge which was just enough to save Silverstream, Graystripe, Millie, Bumblestripe, Dovewing, Tigerstar the Second, AND Shadowsight!
“He knows about the relationship between Spottedpaw and Thistleclaw, and did nothing to stop it.”
Goosefeather actually mentions Spottedpaw “loves foolishly.” That hint probably made Spottedpaw (though indirectly) realize about Thistleclaw and it might’ve even made her stop training in the Dark Forest. And that led to her saving Sandstorm! If Sandstorm was killed by Mapleshade, Firestar would go into a frenzied rage, and kill Mapleshade, but not before ending his final life, catching Brambleclaw off guard, which leads to the Dark Forest winning, cats dying, and even the possible destruction of Twolegs and some other things! (Sorry, I had to go deep here. But if you think about it a LOT, you might even kind of see my logic! *cheerful grin*)
“He isolated Whitekit from Thistleclaw, his very own father!”
If I remember correctly, Whitekit grew to become Whitestorm, the DEPUTY of THUNDERCLAN. Thistleclaw influences Tigerpaw, a reckless apprentice who never listened, was vicious, and was only MENTORED to Thistleclaw! (Sorry about all the capital letters, I couldn’t find a way to use italics so I’m going with capitals.) Whitekit is a listener, and Thistleclaw is his FATHER! Thistleclaw would train Whitekit to be cruel, evil, and to kill Bluestar and become Whitestar, His Evil Taco-Loving Highness. Instead, because Goosefeather isolated Whitekit, we get a kind, benevolent deputy, Whitestorm, His Peaceful Taco-Loving Deputy, in which cats are heartbroken about his death!
“Goosefeather is mean and grumpy.”
In the words of a BlogClanner named Maplekit: “He [Goosefeather] had a tough life. He had a power to deal with seeing StarClan cats everywhere, Having no friends and being hated by other cats, hear the mentor he loved say she had to die to help the clan, and have his sister’s mate be his enemy, Man, I’d be grumpy too. It’s not like he TRIED to HURT or KILL the cats that were affected by his omens/prophecies/medicine cat shtoof [stuff].” I agree. Goosefeather is hardly remembered, and yet here I am, writing a 1,000-something-word article about defending him! Jayfeather only had to see StarClan cats in his dreams, and even then he KNEW who were the StarClan cats and who was living, and even HE is endlessly grumpy and rude! (Don’t get me wrong, I love Jayfeather and he’s the cutest baby ever.) And Jayfeather didn’t have a mentor basically saying “I’m fine with dying, yeah, whatever, I don’t even care if this will crush you forever and make you depressed, a grump, and rude,” or Brambleclaw hating on him! If I saw, like, Mark Twain or Charles Dickens or Jane Austen or Laura Ingalls (What? I’m a writer; it takes one to know one!) just walking around and talking to me, and if my parents said “Welp I’m going to war and I’m going to die” and if the husband of my sister (if I had one) hated me, then I would flip out and become a female Jayfeather for life!!

So, yep, that concludes my article! I’m sorry for this extremely long defense and I thank you for bearing with me. I can’t wait to hear your very own opinions on this misunderstood med, Goosefeather!