Feathertail is NOT the cat you think she is! by Fawnpaw

Fawnpaw criticizes Feathertail – what do you think?

Feathertail. *Grimaces*

TURN BACK NOW IF YOU LIKE/LOVE FEATHERTAIL OR/AND FEATHERXCROW PASSIONATELY.

Seriously I am NOT joking about this. It is a big criticism article with some character bashing and ship hating. It might also be biased (I tried my best).

Feathertail, the character we all know for her bravery and selflessness. The cat we know sacrificed her life for her friend. But the truth is (wait for it…), she is not the cat you know.

Well, let’s go into it.

First of all, her character is really confusing. (Maybe for me?) She hated Leopardstar in the beginning of the Shadow in Riverclan because she watched her brother’s mentor die by Tigerstar. This is reasonable. She also didn’t trust her clanmates because they had also watched the trial without intervening to stop it. I get it. And she didn’t feel like she belonged to this clan because of it. But why did you even choose to go to Riverclan when you clearly have a choice to join Thunderclan? It doesn’t make any sense. Is not like she suddenly experiences this after she joins Riverclan again. In the novel she is reflecting on the experience of her brother’s mentor being killed, meaning that she probably already felt this conflict even before she was made a warrior. It gets more confusing later on. She and Leopardstar finally solve their problem at the end of the book. After one book later, she suddenly becomes kind and nice to everyone. Uh…just because you solve your loyalty problem doesn’t mean you are nice all of a sudden to strangers. It actually means she is contradicting herself, as if you solve your loyalty problem you become more loyal. And a book later, you are acting like nothing happened. Really her standalone graphic novel doesn’t help to push the story forward. It rather creates confusion in the flow of the series and really I don’t understand why this graphic novel is praised. It brings new stuff up about her character and it doesn’t affect or explain her actions later on. If I rated it out of 5 stars, it would be a 3.

Why am I ranting about the graphic novel? Well, because it is like 75% contains her character development.

As well, she has some undesirable traits that I want to mention that go against her “supposed” character.

Feathertail is extremely reckless. Feathertail had completely forgotten that she had nearly died as a result of her parents’ forbidden romance. Of course, I’m not saying it’s bad, but she should be aware that this frequently results in punishment. She witnessed her mentor’s death because he was half-clan like her, but she refuses to accept it. When Stormfur informs her of this, she responds, “Well, Tigerstar isn’t alive, so I’ll be fine.” Which is strange, because her clanmates were fine with Feathertail and Stormfur almost killed because they were half-clan. This means that when she does a forbidden romance, they will also punish her too. And she just had another novel right before the first book in New Prophecy that showed her character development on this. Yes, she resolved her issues with her leader and clanmates, but her issue was troubled loyalty as a result of what her leader did to her, not about whether or not forbidden romance should be allowed. If she really solved the problem, she should be loyal instead of thinking about being together with an apprentice. In a society where there are borders and codes to follow, I think she should know about the consequences of having this romantic relationship. But all of her responses are,” Tigerstar is not here.” Who cares about Tigerstar? He is dead but the code didn’t change. This literally goes against her “wiseness” because if you are wise, you should have known like Stormfur (your brother) that forbidden romance has many consequences. Except she just ignores it.

Feathertail believed she and Crowpaw could be together just because they weren’t in the Clans. But the truth is, the code still applies here too. She just had a whole book about being loyal. And now she is not being loyal? Wow, is this just me but it sounds like bad writing or Feathertail being a hypocrite all along. Love changes people, you can say. But love changed Feathertail in a bad way, and I don’t know why people still like this version of Feathertail. Not only that, she is very naive and biased when it comes to decisions. When Ferncloud “accidentally” crossed the border because she was trying to catch a squirrel that came over Riverclan’s borders, she was like “You can pass.” Something that really struck me was how she could assume Ferncloud was just trying to catch the squirrel she was chasing. There are other possibilities, such as Ferncloud seeing a squirrel running towards Riverclan territory and simply going there. Thunderclan cats are not saints, and they are the clan with the highest number of violations of the warrior codes. Friends are not an excuse. When her clanmates bring up a very valid point, she just dismisses them. And I think she was being unjust because of her biased view on Riverclan but I think Feathertail still has to listen to them. It is not their fault she got punished; it was her fault all along and she should have defended Ferncloud with valid reasons. Instead it is just, “Ferncloud says so”. You can’t defend someone with a valid reason and she is arguably biased. I don’t know why people say she gives others fair chances cause looking at this she isn’t.

I’m not sure why people hate Leafpool for “guilt-tripping” her sister, but they seem to forget that Feathertail was also involved. She lied to Squirrelflight indirectly by not telling her the truth about Yellowfang’s lie. Following the same logic, Feathertail should be blamed as well. Mapleshade is hated because she indirectly lied (by saying nothing to Frecklewish) about her kits being Birchface’s, but I don’t know why Feathertail isn’t hated. She still tried to get her to lie despite Squirrelflight’s protests. Furthermore, Feathertail expresses deep affection for Hollyleaf, Jayfeather, and Lionblaze because they are “Crowfeather’s kits.” I believe she is using Crowfeather’s name to make Leafpool feel guilty about not being able to care for her kits. Leafpool has wanted to be a mother of her kits but has been unable to do so due to her status as a medicine cat. That is quite unreasonable of her to say. There’s one more catch. Why didn’t she ever say anything about Breezepelt? She promises to look after Crowfeather’s kits. Breezepelt is Crowfeather’s other kit. What is the truth in that? Did she prefer Leafpool’s kits over Nightcloud?

After Leafpool and kits, she is still meddling affairs with Crowfeather and Leafpool’s broken relationship. When she describes Leafpool and Crowfeather’s kits, she uses the term “Crowfeather’s kits”. Why does she never use the term “Leafpool’s kits”?
The truth is, she only cares about Leafpool’s kits because they are Crowfeather’s kits. In my opinion, she doesn’t care what Leafpool thinks or feels. She even confirms that she considers them as her kits, implying that she, not Squirrelflight or Leafpool, is the mother. Feathertail never accompanied the Three on their journeys or gave them prophecies to help them guide their destinies. Squirrelflight was the true mother (which I agree with), and simply “watching them grow ” does not imply she is caring for them. Leafpool is watching them grow and cares for their safety and health, and everyone is hating her because she apparently “didn’t care about her kits, only her medicine cat status.” Am I the only one who noticed this but I feel like Feathertail has an obsession with Crowfeather? I mean, yes, it was love (at first sight *whispers*) not a crush but it hasn’t been so long since Feathertail died. I mean, Crowfeather’s Trial is like 3 series and four books away from when Feathertail died and that is soooo long. And Feathertail still has affection for Crowfeather? I get it, but that is like roughly 30 to 40 years in human years.

Just because someone’s feelings last a long time does not imply that it is true love. Spottedleaf’s feelings for Firestar lasted a long time, and they say it is just a crush. Yes, they had feelings for each other, but Crowfeather’s feelings for her were mutual rather than romantic. Can authors please make Feathertail stop acting like Spottedleaf 2.0? It bothers me, and every time they meet, I get Spottedleaf vibes. Instead of scent, it is appearance. I have to read “beautiful silver cat stuff” in every book they meet. She is jealous of Leafpool when she sees her close to Crowfeather in Light in the Mist. If FeatherXCrow was truly her true love, she needed to accept and move on. Instead, it’s just her jealousy. And I don’t understand it. I’d understand if she died just a few years before, but she died during their relationship, which was before 30 to 40 years. That’s a long time to be envious, you know. Just because Feathertail had feelings for Crowfeather doesn’t mean she can enter into a Starclan relationship with him or expect him to love her passionately after so many years have passed and he has a mate who he spends more time with than her.

(Clarify: I only justify jealousy if it wasn’t that long Feathertail died. In my opinion, it is bad writing.)

She also made a part in Hawkfrost being evil. Hawkfrost, in my opinion, wasn’t evil-born. He was affected by his fear of not able to be accepted by his parents, Sasha. (Vicky confirmed it.) I think when Sasha just took back everything she said bad about Tigerstar, I think Hawkfrost thought Sasha left because she did not think he was being like Tigerstar. I don’t justify his actions, but I kind of understand him. I mean, I live in a country where there is the highest sucide rate of all the developed countries especially in the topic of students that fail to live up to their parents’ and society’s expectations. After realizing that Hawkfrost and Mothwing are Tigerstar’s kits, Feathertail simply ignores Sasha’s kits. Do you know what’s ironic? Feathertail was also judged because of her background, and now she is judging them. Is it their fault that their father is a serial cat murderer?” No. And why is she ignoring them so casually if she was the fair, sweet cat we all knew? She could have stir Hawkfrost out of the path to be the next serial cat murder or helped Mothwing adjust to Starclan and the clan’s religion. These kits looked upon her and her response after knowing one fact about their heritage; she just completely gave up on them. When Hawkfrost shows her the fish she caught, she is like I don’t care. This was pretty sad. It is like you got A+ in a subject (like math, for instance) and show it to your parents then your parents say “Good. Bye, I am very busy.”

Cats can be hypocrites. I know. But the truth is, there is a difference between contradicting yourself by accident and contradicting yourself when you know it is not right. In my opinion, Feathertail isn’t a saint. She is actually a pretty jerkish cat. I am not persuading people to hate her, it is just I wish people knew more insight about her character that goes against her likeable purrsona that we all choose to believe in.

And also, please don’t kill me Feathertail lovers.