[painted headshots of Leafpool facing the left and Crowfeather over her shoulder]

Defending & Loving CrowXLeaf by Icemist

Icemist defends Crowfeather and Leafpool’s relationship.

Artist unknown

Hi! I’m Icemist, and today I will be defending my favorite ship, CrowXLeaf! I will go over points that most people hate CrowXLeaf, and try to contradict them. Then I’ll be stating why I love it. So, the first point is…

CrowXLeaf was rushed
I disagree with this. CrowXLeaf started in half of Dawn, because Crowfeather states in either Secret of the Clans or Code of the Clans,


“I thought that when we reached the lake and went our separate ways I’d be able to forget her. But first she came to our camp to bring watermint to our sick cats, Morningflower and Darkfoot. And the way I felt when I saw her—it made me so angry to realize how little I could control my feelings.”

CrowXLeaf then ended halfway into Sunset. Even though they weren’t together the whole time, they still thought of each other a lot. So that’s like 3 books of development. Meanwhile, CrowXFeather started in Midnight, and ended ¾ of the way in Moonrise. Though they were together most of the time, they still had a shorter time period together. For example, GrayXSilver could be considered rushed too, since they had meetings and weren’t together for the whole time. But we can see how much they love each other, they had kits, and Graystripe was heartbroken after her death. So I believe that however long the ship is isn’t that important, but how much they love each other.

Crowfeather “forced” her into leaving with him
This statement is wrong. Leafpool was conflicted whether she should stay or leave. But multiple things happened which convinced Leafpool to leave. 1. Leafpool felt replaced by Brightheart and felt she wasn’t needed anymore. 2. Leafpool had that argument with Cinderpelt. 3. Leafpool saw that Squirrelflight was occupied with Bramblestar & Ashfur, and Squirrelflight wasn’t really spending time with Leafpool that much anymore. Not really sure about the 3rd one but whatever. So even though Crowfeather did try to convince Leafpool, he definitely didn’t force her.

Crowfeather was mean and rude to Leafpool after their break up.
Well I mean this is true. But, right after their break up, Crowfeather met Leafpool one last time. He talked about how he missed her, and stuff like that. At that moment, Leafpool was carrying his kits, and she was angry at herself, and she was mean to him.


“But we can’t change anything, Crowfeather. It’s over. I am ThunderClan’s medicine cat, until the day I join StarClan.” She felt Crowfeather pull away and stare at her. Did he think he could go back to the way things were? Whatever happens now is my destiny, and mine alone. He cannot be part of it! “I think you should leave,” she meowed. “Your patrol will come looking for you soon. Do you want them to doubt your loyalty all over again?” Crowfeather blinked. “I thought we didn’t care what our Clanmates believed about us.” “Well, I do,” Leafpool meowed. “Go back to your Clan, Crowfeather. I won’t let you ruin everything again.” It was as if she had struck the WindClan warrior a physical blow. He flinched away with hurt in his eyes. “If that’s what you really want,” he murmured. “It is,” Leafpool growled. Inside her, the kits squirmed so fiercely that Leafpool was convinced Crowfeather would see. Can they hear me sending their father away? Oh, little ones, what choice do I have? If I lose my place in ThunderClan, we will have nothing!”

Leafpool didn’t really have a choice. That’s why Crowfeather was mean to her later. But, in ALitM, Crowfeather wasn’t mean to her, and he really loved her.

CrowXLeaf faded
Well.. TECHNICALLY… yes, BUT, as of the second latest book, it didn’t. So in Crowfeather’s Trial, he states,


“Leafpool hadn’t loved him for seasons, and if he was honest, his love for her had faded, too.”

So… yeah. But two things override this. 1, in Squirrelflight’s Hope when Leafpool dies, Squirrelflight states, “


“Just then a breathless Crowfeather appeared at her side. “Did you say Leafpool is in a cave?” His blue eyes were wide and full of concern. Of course he was concerned. Squirrelflight realized- they had once been forbidden mates, and while both cats had moved on with their lives, Squirrelflight knew that those feelings had never completely went away.”

Squirrelflight, Leafpool’s sister, states that “those feelings never went away.” Also, in ALitM, there is a quote:


“Beside him, Leafpool and Crowfeather were talking softly together. He could barely make out the words, but Leafpool’s mew was warmer now than it had been in the Dark Forest, and she was leaning affectionately against the WindClan tom. Had she been waiting for Feathertail to leave? Her mew thickened as she touched her nose to Crowfeather’s ear.“Despite everything,
I never stopped missing you.” As Crowfeather touched his nose to Leafpool’s muzzle..”

This proves that Crowfeather & Leafpool still love each other, and that they still miss each other even after everything. I feel like this especially contradicts the Crowfeather’s Trial quote because it’s more recent. (Also I feel like the authors must be debating between themselves, like they said CrowXLeaf is faded in Crowfeather Trial, but then show them to love each other in ALitM lol)

CrowXLeaf is unhealthy
I got this from seeing Mountainpaw/storm talking about this, so I’ll try to contradict this. 🙂
You’re not afraid to speak up
They weren’t. Leafpool spoke up against Crowfeather when Breezepelt & Lionblaze were fighting, and also told him that she couldn’t stay away from the clans. She wasn’t afraid.
You encourage each other to go after your goals
Yes Crowfeather did. He understood that Leafpool had to return to the clans. And yes, before you say that Crowfeather was angry at her choosing her clan over him, it was Leafpool that treated him like that.
You feel happy & supported
Leafpool AND Crowfeather both were very happy in their relationship. Here is a scene:


“They were on the other side of the ridge from the lake, out of sight of any of the Clan territories. In front of them, the land unrolled in dips and curves all the way to the dark line of the mountains on the horizon. Here and there, Twoleg dens clustered in small reddish groups, but mostly the view was empty.
Leafpool shuffled closer to Crowfeather and leaned her head against his shoulder. His pelt smelled of grass and the breeze, with a faint hint of rabbit underneath. “There is so much land beyond our homes” she whispered.
Crowfeather rubbed his chin on the top of her head. “Somewhere out there is a place where we can be together all the time. You know that, don’t you, Leafpool?”
Still ticked against him, she nodded. “I wonder if we’ll ever find it.” she murmured.
She felt the dark gray cat tense beside her. “I would give my last breath trying,” he vowed.”

Even though they weren’t happy with each other after breaking up, I think that’s normal. If you break up with your bf/gf, I’m sure you’d be sad about it.
You’re comfortable in your own skin
Again, using that scene I was talking about in 3, they both were happy together and as I said, they were comfortable with each other.
Trust is at the core of the relationship

I’m sorry I can’t defend this well. All I can say is that they trusted each other, and even Leafpool didn’t meet him that one day, it wasn’t her fault, and she went to meet him the next day. (I think? I’m sorry this part is bad..)

Leafpool reminded Crowfeather of Feathertail
Ok, so there are some quotes that show why he might, but then I’ll explain why he doesn’t.


“The two ShadowClan cats had fallen to their deaths, but Leafpaw was clinging desperately to the edge of the cliff, her claws scrabbling on the slick, wet rock. Her wild amber eyes met mine, and she called for help. I was frozen…all I could think about was how I failed Feathertail, how she had died because I couldn’t save her.”


“Crowfeather stood as if frozen. A hoarse whisper came from him, but his gaze was blank, and Leafpool realized he wasn’t talking to her at all. “Feathertail! I’m so sorry! It was all my fault. I shouldn’t have let you fall.”

Crowfeather was reminded of Feathertail because they were in a similar position. But, he didn’t want to lose another cat he loved, and that’s why Crowfeather was reminded of Feathertail.

Also, first of all, Feathertail & Leafpool look completely different. I know this isn’t why they are thought to be similar but just wanted to say that. Second, even though their personalities are similar, it doesn’t mean Leafpool is a Feathertail 2.0. It just shows that Crowfeather likes cats like that. Also, I just want to say that Graystripe was reminded of Silverstream when he was with Millie, and now THAT’S similar. They both are silver – light gray. (Also quick side note: Gray or Grey?)

I think that’s it for the reasons why people hate CrowXLeaf! I’m sure there are more reasons, but I can’t think of any more at the moment. So now I’m going to go on to why I love CrowXLeaf,
and this will be short.

I love CrowXLeaf because it’s cute and beautiful. I always love ships where they start out hating each other(such as BrambleXSquirrel, FireXSand, OakXBlue, etc) and I really love how Crowfeather saw her personality and fell for her. I really like how we can see Leafpool’s thoughts about Crowfeather, and the scenes in the books.
They really care about each other and think Crowfeather loves Leafpool more than Feathertail.

So, this concludes my article! It was my longest article, even though it wasn’t that long(compared to Mountainpaw’s article about analyzing CrowXLeaf where the estimated time read was 32 mins…) I love CrowXFeather as well, so I hope I don’t sound like I’m attacking CrowXFeather. I know I mainly spend most of the article defending, but whatever. So what do you guys think, do you like CrowXLeaf or not?
Bye!

Btw, this article was written on 5/23/22. 😀

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