[various Dark Forest cats stare out menacingly from the forest's shadows]

The Dark Forest and why I think it’s flawed by Redblaze

Artwork by MossclawArt

Redblaze argues that the Dark Forest is flawed – do you agree?

This article is on a topic that I’ve been meaning to write about for quite a while now- is the Dark Forest really necessary?
This article will contain spoilers for The New Prophecy, Power of Three, Omen of The Stars, The Broken Code and Squirrelflight’s Hope. So, if you haven’t read these, please bear in mind that, if you continue reading, you are at risk of heavy spoilers.
The main reasons for the Dark Forest being created are arguably to punish “evil” cats and to keep them away from “good” cats. Already, I feel, there’s a problem here.
Who should have the right to doom someone to eternal suffering? It’s a huge responsibility to get it right (if it can even be argued that such a thing is right) and, surely, there’s a high chance that they’ll be biased.
This is shown perfectly in Squirrelflight’s Hope when Yellowfang (who, let’s face it, seems to be the one making the decisions) nearly sends Squirrelflight to the Dark Forest because she seems to have taken a disliking to her for some reason. Similarly, she gave Ashfur a place in StarClan because she seemed to have taken a liking to him.
Cats seem to just be dumped in the Dark Forest and basically left to rot- they’re just forgotten. They’re never even given a chance to change.
This is a huge factor in why I think the Dark Forest is so flawed.
Take Snowtuft, for example- he admitted in The Place of No Stars that the things he did in life were wrong and showed clear remorse for his actions. He’s not evil at this point and he certainly doesn’t deserve the Dark Forest.
Characters like Beetlewhisker and Antpelt were trapped in there for no reason other than dying and, in Beetlewhisker’s case, acting incredibly selfless and noble. This is entirely unjust and really sad to think about- we don’t actually know what happened to Beetlewhisker or where he is if anywhere. In The Place of No Stars, it’s also stated that “the Dark Forest can turn a good cat bad.”
What is the point of this? Why make a place so terrible that even good cats are irreparably warped by it? If good cats are twisted so much then how badly must this affect cats who aren’t “good”? It won’t help them become better at all.
This leads on to my next point. If StarClan does all these horrible things to cats who are rejected from their hunting grounds, then how does that make them any better? Two wrongs don’t make a right and shoving a problem under a rug does not make it go away.
The Dark Forest isn’t even that secure: as seen in Omen of The Stars when the Dark Forest spirits invade and in The New Prophecy and Power of Three when Tigerstar visits Bramblepaw and Lionpaw. Living cats like Breezepelt can be manipulated by spirits in the Dark Forest, leading to even more pain and suffering.
If StarClan is omniscient, then they cannot be blind to this. So, are they doing this out of callousness? Or are they not all knowing after all and are blind to what they’re doing? Maybe there’s even a higher power in the Warriors world that gives them no choice in the matter. Maybe there’s even a malicious spirit or powerful being who’s been pulling the strings all along.
I’m in no way suggesting that all cats should go straight to StarClan. I only think that everyone should have a second chance. Instead, I propose that anyone who’s been rejected from StarClan for whatever reason should be put into Ghost Residence. From there, they could observe the living world and their legacy. They could have time to think and reflect and, potentially, change. If a cat truly changes for the better then StarClan should welcome them. If not, then there’s no reason for them to be moved from Ghost Residence. The only cats they can even remotely affect are descendants of the Sisters, who are very few. Even then, they cannot actually harm a cat like they could to those who dreamed themselves into the Dark Forest. Ghost Residence is much more secure and ethical than the Dark Forest could ever be.
So, what are your thoughts? Do you agree? Do you disagree? I’d like to know what you think so please comment!!
Thanks for reading!!

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14 comments

  • 💥ᠻꪶꪖ᥅ꫀꫝꫀꪖ᥅ꪻ❤𝕗Lᗩя𝒆𝕡άW💥𝕱𝖑𝖆𝖗𝖊❤𝔽𝕝𝕒𝕣𝕖𝕪💥Belugasong💦 Oreo's are cool says:

    I agree I’ll actually be writing an article similar to this one, but I’ll be attacking Starclan full force. enyways Nice read, good job Redblaze

  • Without Dark Forest, OotS, PoT, and TBC would have literally no purpose… but otherwise, nice article!

  • Starclan & The Dark Forest are both flawed. ( Spoiler if you haven’t read the newest arc )
    Now with the tunnel in play, it’s obviously it is going to be used & abused, it wouldn’t surprise me if random starclan and dark forest cats become mates. Hahaha and that opens the door to “can spirit kittens happen?”
    We then could have a generation of Darkstars // Starforest then it might just be a arc of Starclan and The dark forest fighting each other. And they all kill each other, giving everything a massive reset, the Erin’s might then just pull a random clan ancestor out of thin air, and maybe just abandoned the lake, leave all the cats we’ve ever know to fend for themselves.
    And maybe have new clans sprout up in a new terrain. A desert or ocean, maybe artic setting. I just wanna keep seeing new arcs ¯\_༼ •́ ͜ʖ •̀ ༽_/¯ so it just seems sorta likely they’ll make new clans, with a empty starclan or just maybe one lone survivor, so the last remaining starclan cat, would be a forgiving sort. Or Just have twolegs discover the lake is infested with feral cats. But of course I’d prefer a outcome of the tunnel becoming the ‘ redemption tunnel ‘ lol go through some trials if you fail, you have to wait till next leaf-bare, haha a year between each attempts wouldn’t be so bad.

    • Woah, wouldn’t it be cool if like, the queen would pick a descendent, and ask if they will have their kits. If they do, woosh, ghost kitties

  • Yeah I think Star Clan is a bit whacky. They have done some BAD things. Yet they still all look to them for help, even tho7gh they make completely unjust decisions.

  • Agree agree agree! But of course they had to make the plot interesting 😅

  • Your ideas about ghost residence and another spirit is amazing! Maybe only Yellowfang can sense what the spirit does, and this is related to her “powers”(I put that in quotes because though it did make her a good medicine cat, it was more like a curse. Speaking of medicine cat curses, STARCLAN WHY DID YOU HAVE TO CURSE GOOSEFEATHER ;w; 🙁 )

  • Awesome article! I totally agree with you, but that would make a lot of the books disappear. 🙂 Keep writing