Why it Didn’t Have to be Bristlefrost by Floofpaw

Floofpaw discusses the ending of A Light in the Mist.

WARNING: SPOILERS FOR THE BROKEN CODE AHEAD! IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THE BROKEN CODE IN ITS ENTIRETY I RECOMMEND YOU STOP READING NOW!
Howdy fellow Blogclanners! It is once again Floof with an article! Today I will be debating that Bristlefrost should not have died at the end of ALitM. Before I begin, I would just like to make a suggestion to anyone writing an article around Bristlefrost’s death (Or the death of any character for that matter, but I feel Bristlefrost is the best example.). Bristlefrost does not appear until very late in the Warriors series and many readers do not yet know that she dies! So I recommend putting an adequate spoiler warning before you start talking spoilers (Even just ‘Spoilers for TBC’ would suffice!) and to do your best to avoid spoilers in the title like I have. Anyway, let’s begin!
The reason I feel Bristlefrost should not have died is that I believe she still had more to offer the plot. From the start, she was portrayed as a clever, ambitious cat who is deeply loyal to Thunderclan and takes great pride in doing what she perceives as being best for it, which is part of why she was easy for the impostor to manipulate at first. But these same qualities could have made her an amazing deputy or even leader once she had more experience. In fact, she has already been deputy for a time! And purely as a deputy, I don’t think she did half bad given her amount of experience. I believe Bristlefrost could be an amazing leader of Thunderclan and I would have loved to see a Bristlestar one day.
Another reason I believe Bristlefrost should still be alive is that she promised Spotfur that she would help take care of her kits! It was why Spotfur was able to come to terms with being a mother despite her grief in the first place, and I was very disappointed that Bristlefrost sacrificed herself and broke her promise without any internal debate or discussion after she was dead. It could have been interesting to see Bristlefrost’s internal debate and see her decide that she cares more about defeating Ashfur than her promise to Spotfur, and also to know if Spotfur feels betrayed by Bristlefrost in any way. But I would prefer that she got to live and keep her promise.
Alright, so you see my reasoning. But one important thing remains: Who will save Shadowsight? I don’t know about you, but after Bristlefrost returns Rootspring’s feelings I like Shadowsight more than the both of them combined and would have been devastated if Ashfur had succeeded in drowning him. I think the next best candidate is Rootspring. Think about it: Bristlefrost is mentioned to be a good bit faster than Rootspring and Ashfur was on the verge of tipping Shadowsight into the water, but the Erins could just as easily have said Ashfur was close enough for Rootspring to stop him. Maybe Bristlefrost tried to do it instead and someone else, friend or foe, grabbed her and stopped her. The Erins could easily have pulled it off. And what does Rootspring have left to offer the plot? In ASC, he is moping, and rightfully so. He was ready to give up everything for the cat he loved and abruptly lost her. But knowing Rootspring, he’ll keep moping. Forever. But Bristlefrost, I feel, would be different. She would probably never take a mate, but she would pick herself up and get back on her feet because moping wouldn’t be what Rootspring would have wanted. And do you know what I would love to see? Bristlefrost helped Spotfur through her grief over Stemleaf, and I would love to see Spotfur have a chance to return the favor. Wouldn’t that be a wonderful character arc? I also feel that Bristlefrost’s death scene was very well done, and I would hate to lose those wonderfully well-written few paragraphs. If Rootspring were to die instead, it could be mirrored from his perspective.
In conclusion, I believe that Bristlefrost has much more potential that could be explored were she to keep living and that Rootspring quite frankly doesn’t. I think it would have been a much better choice to kill him off instead and that Bristlefrost should have continued to live up to her amazing potential as a character!
-Floofpaw out! Hope you enjoyed this! :]