![[a fluffy design of Mapleshade sitting with her tail curled around her paws]](https://blogclan.katecary.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/mapleshade___fanart_by_dragonwarriorcat_dbgix57-pre-740x687.jpg)
Fan ArticlesCedarpaw shares the reason why Mapleshade can’t go to StarClan.
Hi fellow Blogclanners! My name is Cedarpaw. This is my first article and as you can see I am already digging deep into the dirt, because I’m talking about Mapleshade!
It’s become a rite of passage of sorts for a fandom member to share their opinion about Mapleshade’s Vengeance, and in the end it all comes down to two questions: Is Mapleshade evil? And: Should she go to Starclan?
First of all, I don’t like the term evil, it’s not very, well, practical… How do you define evil, how do you know a person (or cat) is evil? After all a common excuse for Mapleshade’s murdering is that she experienced hallucinations telling her to kill after the death of her kits. If you are that mentally unstable and you kill someone, is that evil ?… I don’t know.
So let’s make it simpler, is she guilty of murder? Yes. Whether or not Mapleshade is good or evil, she has murdered. And that is wrong.
But more importantly- that is dangerous. That’s why she can’t go to Starclan. While Starclan isn’t all seeing or all knowing- far from it actually, they were probably smart enough to see that Mapleshade was willing to hurt more cats after her death. After all, you can die a second time in Starclan, and even if Mapleshade redeemed herself in the end it’s pretty likely that she would kill Starclan cats before that. It’s not about whether Mapleshade’s actions where wrong, but whether she would be willing to do them again and yes she would.
This is the difference between her and cats like Hollyleaf, who proved they were no longer willing to murder when they died.
So the question isn’t: “Does Mapleshade deserve to be in Starclan? It’s: ” Is it
safe for Mapleshade be in Starclan?” And I say no, it’s not.
A possibility fans sometimes talk about is Mapleshade going to some sort of purgatory place between the Dark Forest and Starclan. It’s an interesting concept, but this is where things get kind of open-ended in my opinion. Because we don’t know how powerful Starclan is or how much control they have over reality, and those are questions that deserve their own article. So bye for now!
Thanks to everybody for reading! I never covered whether or not Mapleshade actually deserves to be in Starclan, so let me know what you think in the comments! 🙂
Goldenfawn
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great article (first comment?)
I like your idea of the purgatory place. I think it would work well for Snowtuft.
Great job writing that article I really enjoyed it! However, I have an argument for Maple going to Starclan. My understanding is the dark forest corrupts it residents making them more evil. Maple’s joy in being forced into cat hell, I believe is caused by the forest. Throughout the book, she desperately wants to get her kits into Starclan. If she thought it was such a bad place why would she fight so hard for this? In Starclan cats gain their appearance from when they were happiest and are the best versions of themselves. This could bring Maple back to her senses and give Maple the opportunity to redeem herself. Also, Maple’s kits are in Starclan I am sure she would want to stay with them.
Yeah!
There is still the matter that if my memory serves me correctly she killed Ravenwing before making the connection between the hallucinations and the murders, meaning she still murdered one innocent cat which could still send her to DF. Allowing Mapleshade into Starclan would also cause tremendous unrest among the parents of those murdered and their families and friends, especially if Frecklewish still goes to DF.
Agreed. It makes the ‘fact’ that Frecklewish is in DF even stranger.
The thing is, if Maple truly did deserve to go to StarClan, we’d see more of a Snowtuft-esque situation, where, she does eventually redeem herself in the end, and is never really a bad cat. However, Maple is shown to want to be in the Dark Forest the moment she got there and enjoy being evil, which I feel is why she does not deserve StarClan.
I understand what u mean, but could her supposed joy at getting into the dark forest could have been influenced by the DF. I get that Snowtuft was nice and all that stuff, but there is a key difference between him and Mapleshade. Mapleshade is far manipulatable. From what I can tell, Snowtuft got into the DF for being to ambitious. A person can learn to be less ambitious which is what probably what happened to Snowtuft. However, Mapleshade was broken. There is no real recovery ahead, especially without support. This could have allowed the DF to manipulate her. Starclan I believe, has the opposite effect on its residents. We could have a really awesome redemption arc for Mapleshade, who learns to heal herself with the support of Starclan
Great article 🙂 I agree
Great article! I agree, Mapleshade has proved herself to be very dangerous, even after her death! Also, she felt very happy to be in the dark forest at the end of her novella… and i don’t think she was being manipulated because then Snowtuft wouldn’t be kind at all in tbc
Great Article! I agree, Mapleshade doesn’t deserve to be in StarClan, but I’ve always seen her as an evil cat, and I don’t think anything is going to change my mind.
If Starclan had a mental hospital then Mapleshade should have gone there and once she gets better she could be in Starclan
This is a really awesome piece of writing ! You were really to the point and I can’t wait to see more of your articles!
Great Article! Very well written.
edit:speedy dodo is speedy!
i certainly am 😉
Mapleshade is currently my favorite character in the warrior series, because unlike all (most) of the other villains she has a reason for her evil actions REVENGE!!Even though I absolutely love her character,I absolutely agree with you that she is not safe.she would absolutely kill again. I loved your article, have a great thanksgiving!
This article is so well thought out, great work!
I think that Maleshade should go to that in-between place too.
I like the point you made about the fact that Mapleshade felt noremorse and would do it again vs. Hollyleaf did. Great article!
Great Article!!