[a realistic and primarily black-furred design of Mapleshade walking with her head low]

Why Mapleshade deserves to go to the Dark Forest by Aspenclaws

Aspenclaws shares their opinion of Mapleshade.

Artwork by Lithestep

Hello, I see so many “Defending Mapleshade” articles, so today, I will discuss why you SHOULDN’T defend Mapleshade (Feel free to disagree in the comments)

Alright, first point. Let me state the obvious. None of this would’ve happened if she hadn’t of mated with Appledusk. I know people say “True Love is Irresistible” but that is false. She could’ve made a better choice of mate.

1. She let the clan believe Birchface was the father. And I will say, she never explicitly said that her mate was Birchface, but she never denied it either. She could’ve told Oakstar immediately and things could of gone differently. This is not for certain, but there is a chance. ON TO THE NEXT!

2. She met with Appledusk on ThunderClan territory, and yes, she didn’t know that Appledusk would be there, but still. She could’ve left. This is a some-what short/minor reason, but it is worth mentioning.

3. She begs Ravenwing not to tell the clan. That makes him want to tell even more. When we were kids, our parents would say something like, “Don’t touch _____” and you would touch it. It was like that with Ravenwing. The more she protests, the more he’ll want to tell.

4. She goes to the river. She could’ve gone to fourtrees which, I admit, might have had problems, but a lot less than a flooding river! There were many bridges she could have crossed to get there safely. It is foolish to believe that a kit, even a RiverClan kit, could swim in overflown rapids. Think about it….

5. She kills 3 cats. I saw a bunch of people saying that “She killed them out of grief so it doesn’t count”, but that is not how the global justice system works. SHE LITERALLY MURDERED A HELPLESS MEDICINE CAT! And I know people are going to get mad, but i’ll discuss the Frecklewish/Appledusk/Ravenwing thing later.

6. After she kills them, she had no remorse. She killed 3 cats, and didn’t even care. Enough said.
Also, don’t forget.
Mapleshade was killed by an out-of-shape fat apprentice…..

The Freckle/Raven/Apple/Oak/Dark situation.

1. Ravenwing: Any medicine cat would’ve told the clan leader. However, if it was Cinderpelt or someone else, y’all wouldn’t feel the same way.

2. Frecklewish: She could’ve handled it better, same with Oakstar, (More on him shortly). People say she was bad because she didn’t save Patchkit, Petalkit and Larchkit, but why would she risk her life to save the kits of the cat she hates? And, she thought that the RiverClan cats had rescued her kits.

3. Appledusk: Can you people stop saying he deserves the Dark Forest??? He realized his mistakes and corrected them. Mating with Reedshine was just him restarting. He DID feel sad about PK, PK 2, and LK, but had another family to care about at the same time. He became loyal again. He deserves StarClan in some ways, but the whole cheating problem was terrible.

4. Oakstar: You can’t get mad at him. How would you feel if your son is killed, and you think that a woman might be the carrying the rebirth of your son’s legacy, only to find out that the father is the murderer of your son. Anyone would banish her, to be honest, he could’ve done a lot worse, but chose not to.

5. Darkstar: You can’t say he told his warriors not to help the kits like I keep seeing. RiverClan warriors tried, and failed to help them. And why would he take in a ThunderClan warrior? Keep in mind, RiverClan and ThunderClan were arch-enemies.

So that is my reasoning on why MS should be in the DF.

Fan Articles

36 comments

  • Ahem? Mapleshade never deserved StarClan, and that’s what makes her Mapleshade. We Maplelovers like her because of her evilness or her….well, just being there. Her novella is a fuel to the fires of revenge, and it’s good to have characters like that! I strongly disagree that Mapleshade shouldn’t be defended. You did have some good points, though. But I see no discussion on Myler! He knew that Mapleshade needed someone, helped her when she was hurt, but he’s practically non-existent! Ravenwing wasn’t exactly helpless. Don’t all med cats have to have some form of battle training? But Appledusk doesn’t deserve the DF. He deserves to go to StarClan and watch his decendants suffer because of something he did. (Sorry if it was too much brutal honesty, I’m already in a bad mood.) But it was an interesting article! (Sorry for the mod who has to mod this)

  • I believe Mapleshade is evil. And that is what make her special as the first independent villain. I agree with most of your points. However, I disagree with your The Freckle/Raven/Apple/Oak/Dark situation.

    1. Ravenwing: Yes, any medicine cat would’ve told the clan leader. However, he had the choice to stop Oakstar from exiling innocent 2 moon kits. He didn’t. He hated them, just like he hated Mapleshade.

    2. Frecklewish: People say she was bad because she didn’t save Patchkit, Petalkit and Larchkit, but why would she risk her life to save the kits of the cat she hates?
    -> Warrior code alert! The code says that you have to save kits no matter who they are- even if it is your greatest enemy’s children. If she couldn’t swim, she could have alerted anyone or go more closer to help them.
    And, she thought that the RiverClan cats had rescued her kits.
    -> Is that even a excuse? Do you leave a child behind in the river when they are drowning with a excuse, “Oh I don’t care about them they will survive anyway.”

  • 3. Appledusk: Of course, he does not deserves the Dark Forest. But he did in fact cheat on her. And here is when it is complicated. He cheated on her before the incident happen. How could Reedshine get pregnant so quickly? It didn’t took Mapleshade that long to kill Ravenwing. Isn’t it weird that Appledusk said to regret his mistakes after Mapleshade got exiled? If he was already like that, he should have told the leader earlier. Forbidden romance takes a lot of trust between them and he breaking the trust….it is not good. He is not innocent.
    4. Oakstar: I get mad at him. Why? Not because of Mapleshade but because of him exiling kits that are not responsible for their parent’s actions. How does Mapleshade get exiled while Appledusk don’t? There wasn’t any planned murder that night, it was just a battle and Oakstar’s son died by accident. He decided to have no mercy for the kits and that is breaking the warrior code and showing that he is not innocent.

    5. Darkstar: I don’t care about him.

  • I’m gonna have to disagree…
    1. REALLY!? APPLEDUSK KILLED TOO, MAPLESHADE FELT BAD TOO, THEY LITERLY DID THE SAME THINGS, APPLEDUSK MET UP EITH HER TOO, SHE DID NOT FORCE HIM TO, THEY DID THE EXACT SAME THINGS, THEY BOTH DESERVE STARCLAN, CONVINCE ME OTHERWISE!!!!
    2.OH, and, BY THE WAY, MAPLESHADE NEVER GOT THE CHANCE TO FEEL BAD AND FIX HERSELF, SHE WAS KILLED AND IF YOUR IN THE DARK FOREST THERES NO HOPE, ITS NOT FAIR TO SAY SHE COULD HAVE CHSNGED IF IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE, YOU CANNOT GO TO THE DF AND THEN SWITCH TO STARCLAN, YOU JUST, CANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    (It’s a good article in general I just get riled up about the subject.

      • NOOOOOOOO THIS IS UGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
        1.) IF DARKSTAR HAD HELPED POOR MAPLESHADE NONE OF THE KILLING WOULD HAVE HAPPENED SO DONT SAY THIS ISNT DARKSTARS FAULT I WILL DEFEND MAPLESHADE 😤 AND I AM A LOYAL DARK FOREST WARRIOR!! ….. *realizing she revealed secrets*

        Ummmmm did I say that out loud???… he he he [0<0]

    • I feel like too many people divert attention onto Appledusk and how he’s oh so bad and such a villain when Mapleshade was much, much worse. Oh wait, hold on, they both deserve Starclan? Okay, that’s a pretty uncommon opinion right there. And Mapleshade WANTED to be in the DF. She was happy when she died and came there. Plus, she’s also insane.

  • I cringed when I saw this 🤣
    And no Appledusk dose deserve to go to the Darkforest. And I love Mapleshade because she needs support, not because she evil! We all re,ember the bad things about her, but what about the good things, huh? Everyone that was bad to her, DF. Starclan deserves her.

  • No. I Strongly disagree. Mapleshade DOESNT deserve DF. She loved her kits, that’s all. Do you blame someone for loving their kits? It wasn’t her fault that she began hallucinating her kits were telling ther to seek revenge. It’s just the same as Tallstar’s Revenge, except that he didn’t kill sparrow. Yes, Mapleshade shouldn’t have seeked vengeance, but she loved her kits, and she felt betrayal, and that she had to avenge her kits. She needed someone to love her, she thought that Appledusk loved her. He told her so, and since i’m talking about Appledusk, i think that he deserves DF, because:
    .1 He told Mapleshade that he would only ever love her
    .2 Though he told Mapleshade he loved her, he mated Reedshine
    .3 Yes, both of them broke the warrior code, but it was entirely his choice, he chose to meet with Mapleshade and promise that he would only love her

    Besides, A LOT of (thunder)clan cats had kits with other cats outside the clans and went to starclan