![[Mapleshade and her hallucinations of Larchkit, Petalkit, and Patchkit]](https://blogclan.katecary.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/dcle2z2-ae1153d7-2529-4e2d-ac52-a13665cf9a60-740x429.png)
Fan ArticlesAdderkit continues to defend Mapleshade.
“Mapleshade had no right to kill Appledusk!”
Appledusk killed her. Okay, yeah, this doesn’t make sense, so let me put some sense into it. He at LEAST killed Mapleshade’s kits, leaving them to die and drown. He didn’t jump in to save her. He was a RiverClan cat! He could’ve easily braved the waters. Meanwhile, we have Mapleshade, the poor ThunderClanner who got abandoned by Appledusk! Then the apprentice Perchpaw murdered Mapleshade, who was Appledusk’s apprentice (I think, maybe Reedshine’s, I can’t remember). Also, Mapleshade was not intending to kill Appledusk. (Yeah, about Reedshine … can’t justify that.)
“Frecklewish couldn’t swim after Mapleshade and her kits!”
In fact, Frecklewish easily could. Mapleshade made it all the way to the other side, and Frecklewish didn’t have kits to spare! Frecklewish merely stood by, watching, then left without a care. She didn’t do ANYTHING to help. She didn’t even shout for help, or encouraged the RiverClan patrol to save the kits.
“Ravenwing was just doing his job!”
He was doing a horrible job. He was letting innocent kits die. He knew that Oakstar would exile her. The poor kits would die; that much was obvious.
“She murdered three cats. Two of which had nothing to do with her kits!”
Ok, I’m not saying murdering cats is justified (I sincerely think Mapleshade’s choices were wrong), but yes, they DID have to do with her kits! Frecklewish abandoned them, Ravenwing caused them to die, and Appledusk…well, you know all about Appledusk. And Firestar murdered at least ten cats on purpose, maybe more. Hollyleaf murdered a cat, and Ashfur tried to kill four cats. They all got into StarClan. (Actually, I like Ashfur.)
“They were in a forbidden relationship! Everything would go wrong!”
Well, there are plenty of (overrated) forbidden relationships that went at least OKAY.
“Mapleshade was GLAD to be in the Dark Forest!”
Because she wouldn’t be with the annoying cats that killed her and caused her huge hallucinations! She’d finally be with friends, cats who understood her, cats who came to terms with her pain. Remember, she was already insane at this point, and was probably unable to discern from right and wrong.
“Ravenwing was inexperienced!”
Well, I can’t argue with this one. Still, Cinderheart was inexperienced, and yeah, the Silverstream situation was a bust, but otherwise she grew to be an extremely experienced, awesome cat who made good, MORAL decisions.
🎐🐚🫧 silverdusk (she/her) mentor to the stunning emberpaw/shine 💙⛲🦢 I try to live in black and white, but I’m so blue 🎵🐦🌊
🩵🦅 Eagleflight (Aquila)🍃🎶
⋆˚🫧˖° pineblossom (she/her) ✨🍓🪄 you're my favorite flavor, bubble gum 🌿👒 ⛅ mentor to skyshimmer! 🎨🫐🌷![[an orange-and-white cat tears at a newspaper with its teeth and paws]](https://blogclan.katecary.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/gok3h17lx9l51.jpg)
Embers of a Summer Dawn (Emberdawn)
![[Tigerstar stands proudly in profile while looking forward]](https://blogclan.katecary.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/tigerheart-tigerstar-readingwarriorsdesigns-385x300.png)
![[starry silhouettes of three cats float in the night sky in a forest]](https://blogclan.katecary.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/starclan-cat-wayne-mcloughlin.webp)
![[a full-body design of Rainflower standing]](https://blogclan.katecary.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/warrior-cat-designs-rainflower.png)
Defending Frecklewish: Her brother had been accidentely pushed into the river by the father of Mapleshades kits and his apprentice had ran in after him, they both ended up dying. She never had any swimming experience and I doubt she would want to go jumping into the river to save a she-cat who meant nothing to her especially after her brother died. She mostly likely saw the patrol of Riverclan warriors rush to them and probably saw Appledusk so she wouldn’t want to run up and make a scene. No one knows how long she watched for and Mapleshade didn’t make it to the other side, she was drowning until Appledusk saved her. “I thought your kits would be saved” [..] “I never meant for them to die”.
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Defending Ravenwing: He was a young and new medicine cat, his mentor had died and he was all alone. He got his first sign from Starclan and when he put the puzzle together he immediantly rushed to tell his leader because his mentor probably taught him to do so, he didn’t know what would happen to them and had no control over what Oakstar would do. “You have told me plenty. The truth must come out. [..] They are half RiverClan. Our Clanmates deserve to know. I’m sorry, Mapleshade. Sorry for you, but even sorrier for these kits. They will end up suffering for the lies that you have told.”. He never mentions that they would be exiled he just mentions that Mapleshade made a wrong decision and that the kits lives would be affected.
I agree with you, but I have to completly put the blame in Appledusk and Oakstar
Oakstar is the leader, he should have only punished the mother, not the kits, I think they are the murders of the three kits
Although I do agree that Oakstar had a part to play in their deaths I don’t think it’s fair to put all the blame on him, because people forget at the time he was a grieving father and all of a sudden his sons supposed kits (the only thing he had left of him) weren’t his kin. I agree that he shouldn’t of exiled the kits but I see his point of view and why he did.
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Also I don’t think it’s fair to put any blame on Appledusk because he cared for the kits and was excited to become a father, he didn’t know the kits were with Mapleshade (shown by the way he reacted when Mapleshade said that they were in the river) and he had warned Mapleshade about the river telling her it wasn’t safe to bring the kits to it.
I disagree.
NO YOUR DONE, NO DEFENDING THEM
I blame Appledusk… It’s Appledusk’s fault, I HATE HIM!
Mapleshade’s kits deaths are so HEARTBREAKING WHYYYYYY
I know right? 🙁 🙁 🙁
What ever happened to those kits? Did they get to Starclan?
I forgot all about this lol
I agree completely! Why do people think Mapleshade is all totally evil? I agree that she made some awful decisions, but she was still a good cat who only wanted justice. She just went about it the wrong way.
Mintpaw. They deserved it.
I would just like to add that Mapleshade also got visions of her kits after they died, telling her to murder the cats. 3 kits, 3 cats murdered. In the end, the vision of her kits was just a hallucination, but she had been driven mad, and thought it was a vision from starclan, and that the only way to save her kits was to avenge them.
Wonderful article by the way. i agree with all of it, and Mapleshade is still one of my favorite characters.
mapleshade’s vengeance is a really complex book, so it’s better to focus on one cat rather than blame all of them. i’ll focus on mapleshade.
mapleshade isn’t evil or innocent. that’s why i like her. but, adding to this article, everything that happened to her happened within a day. that’s a very extreme time frame for something so drastic.
also, it’s very useful to think of characters as real people, especially in a book series like warriors. if mapleshade were in real life, no one would look at this grieving woman and say, “she’s an evil manipulator who was crazy from the start”. you wouldn’t say that about any other character, either. thinking about characters as if they were real life people helps you understand them better.
nice article, btw 🙂 i just wanted to point out a few things!
I don’t exactly agree you and I don’t like Mapleshade but I do agree that she wasn’t the only one to blame. You do have some good points though.
Great article, but seriously, this whole Mapleshade thing has been going on for way too long. She’s either an evil psychopath, or a kind mother that did absolutely nothing wrong, which at this point is just tiring.
Mapleshade is an amazing character who ( and idk how people don’t see this ) could have been a good cat if Oakstar, Appledusk, Freackelwish, and Ravenwing haven’t completely RUINED her life also I think Darkstar had a play in this because if he had let he sta she wouldn’t have killed those cats so technically it all goes down to its Darkstars and Oakstars fault.
https://youtu.be/eKpDFm0S6C4
https://youtu.be/yRPFlEELLXU
All she saw was rain, mapleshade walking across, and a riverclan patrol coming! It is absolutely pouring down rain and it is hard to see and hear. She is thunderclan, so she 99.999% can’t swim. Also, her brother died in the water, so she is traumatized! WHAT ON EARTH COULD SHE HAD DONE TO HELP!!!????!!?!?!
I guess I agree. I would be traumatized if I were faced with a situation in which I had to do something which had killed my brother. (Yes a have a brother, but he is not dead)
Great article! I agree completely and your points are great! And to all frecklewish and ravenwing defenders, I understand and I think your points are valid, but I strongly disagree. Ravenwing has been through a lot, but that gives him no reason to stand by and let innocent kits suffer. Because if him and mostly Oakstar, they were all exiled. And he knew they were going to suffer. As for frecklewish..she could’ve yelled for help, and insulting Mapleshade only made matters worse. And I’m sure she could’ve seen through the rain. Definitely if she saw the RiverClan patrol.