[image description: a dark brown tabby cat with amber eyes sits with a paw over the back of a dark ginger cat with green eyes and a white paw]

My Opinion on SquirrelXBramble in Squilf’s Hope by Bengi

Bengi shares their opinion on Squirrelflight and Bramblestar’s relationship in her super edition.

[image description: a dark brown tabby cat with amber eyes sits with a paw over the back of a dark ginger cat with green eyes and a white paw]
Art by Spirit-Of-Alaska
[image description: a dark brown tabby cat with amber eyes sits with a paw over the back of a dark ginger cat with green eyes and a white paw]

*Warning* Spoiler Alert for Squirrelflight’s Hope and This SUPER-LONG Article
Hi, Bengi here, there are a lot of mixed opinions on Squirrelflight and Bramblestar’s relationship. Some say Bramblestar is abusive of Squirrelflight, while others say it’s their favorite ship. I personally have never paid much attention to the ship, but after re-reading Squirrelflight’s Hope, the ship stuck out to me a lot.
In my opinion the ship is pretty well-developed. Just like Squirrelflight’s father with Sandstorm, Bramblestar and Squirrelflight start out bumpy, Squirrelflight as an apprentice and Bramblestar as a new warrior. Bramblestar dislikes Squirrelflight for her stubborn, I’m-always-right attitude and Squirrelflight dislikes Bramblestar for his arrogant, I’m-always-right attitude. But then Squirrelflight, Squirrelpaw at the time, finds out about Brambleclaw’s destiny and his connection with StarClan, and desperately wants to be a part of it. Stubborn as always Squirrelpaw manages to accompany Brambleclaw and the other chosen cats + Stormfur on their journey to the sun-drown place, and her relationship with Brambleclaw warms up as they face adventures together. On this trip I’m pretty sure Stormfur also developed a liking for Squirrelpaw, and even a crush, but in the chapters with his perspective he remarks that he’s from RiverClan, and Squirrelpaw is from ThunderClan, and Brambleclaw would make a much better mate for her anyways. I haven’t read all the books though so now we’re moving on to the relationship in Squirrelflight’s Hope.
Here Squirrelflight is Bramblestar’s deputy, but their relationship is pretty bumpy because of the border disputes and SkyClan. Then the Sisters come in, too, and suddenly Squirrelflight and Bramblestar only engage in heated conversations and have mixed opinions on everything. Squirrelflight wants to do what she thinks is right, but Bramblestar has the responsibilities of a leader and doesn’t want the Clan to be split apart by opinions. He gets annoyed that Squirrelflight doesn’t follow his orders, wants to have kits here, there and everywhere and does stuff behind his back (mini Firestar, huh?) because that makes them seem like a weak pairing. They get super angry as things continue. One time Bramblestar tried to make the peace (they’re always so nice around Sparkpelt, one of my FAVORITE characters) but Squirrelflight snapped at him. She regrets this only sentences later, though. And then Squirrelflight decides she doesn’t care anymore and she has to do what’s right and she goes to help the Sisters. In the battle Sisters against the Clan they actually seem to warm up a little bit towards each other, but they only get over things and love each other fully again when Squirrelflight’s life is at stake. Squirrelflight wishes she could have apologized and they could have forgiven each other, and Bramblestar desires the same, as now they finally understand what was going through each other’s brains – Clan responsibility, doing what you think is right…
But I’ve said a lot that might make you think I don’t ship Bramblestar and Squirrelflight. What matters is they come around in the end, and besides everyone, loved ones, friends or despised enemies, argue a lot with each other…just in the Warrior Cat world, it’s much easier to die or get sick. (Like really though, we don’t slice each other’s bellies open with dog teeth-enforced fingernails. We don’t separate into small groups with leaders and apprentices and warriors. We don’t stuff leaves into people’s mouths or give them cobweb casts.) So it’s understandable that their arguments are bigger and mean much more to them. I personally think Bramblestar and Squirrelflight are a good match.
Recently I also read through some ‘Is Bramblestar Abusive to Squirrelflight?’ articles. I’m going to list a few points made by these articles and try my best to defend the ship.
1. Bramblestar always has to be right
Alright, yes, he does like being right more than being wrong, that’s understandable, of course. And he may as well complain a bit about being right too but as far as I’ve noticed Squirrelflight, especially as an apprentice, always wanted to be right too. So if both of them really want to be right, but only one of them is apparently abusive to the other…is that absolutely fair? (This is only my opinion, mind you.)
2. Bramblestar doesn’t listen to Squirrelflight that much
I will admit that Bramblestar sometimes turned down Squirrelflight’s ideas, but as far as I’m concerned, he did it for the Clan. He put his Clan before the Sisters – there’s not necessarily something wrong with that. He also waited for StarClan’s approval, which was annoying but also he might have felt like that was expected of him. He was pressured by his leadership responsibilities (I’m focusing mainly on Squirrelflight’s Hope here) but he did listen to Squirrelflight. He just didn’t do it. (There’s a difference, right? At least that’s what I’m trying to explain to my parents XD). And besides, he did try his best to do them…ish. He stalled about the Sisters matter, not completely doing Squirrelflight’s idea but doing as much as he could without splitting the Clan in half.
3. Bramblestar sometimes ignores Squilf
Okay, hmmm. Let’s see, in Squirrelflight’s Hope BOTH of them don’t understand how the other is feeling about Clan responsibilities and doing what’s right. So yes, Bramblestar did not always understand everything that was going on in Squirrelflight’s brain, and ignores her and acknowledges her wrongly about it, but yet again, is it fair to judge Bramblestar on something Squirrelflight is doing too, and yet she basically never gets any blame?
4. Bramblestar Decides When Squilf is Forgiven
This one confused me a bit…like, if I were mad at my friend and my friend was mad at me, some random teacher coming by wouldn’t get to decide when I forgive my friend. This is Bramblestar’s own choice, isn’t it?
5. Bramblestar is Overall Very Forceful
Yes, that is kind of true. Bramblestar is kind of used to getting his way, though he’s not the only one like that *cough cough my little sister cough cough*. This article actually has an example from the book I’m focusing on too, Squilf’s (I’m getting tired of writing Squirrelflight – oops 🎵i did it again🎵) Hope. Bramblestar is treating Squilf like a ‘paw’ and robbing her of the deputy’s honor. But I think that the writer of this article (no offense to the writer) didn’t say WHY Bramblestar was acting like this. It is because Squilf was being a bad deputy. The Clan appeared weak and split due to their arguments and as a warrior cat leader yourself would you really have strayed so far from Bramblestar’s choices, especially if you didn’t know what would happen if you did them?
Now we’re finally at my overall opinion. I do not think that Bramblestar is abusive of Squirrelflight and that it’s actually a pretty good ship. Then again, I have not read all of the books and do not know if something bad happens.
Bye bye!
P.S. One thing is certain though…Bramblestar is probably better for Squilf than Ashfur…right? And with that comes the trailer for my next article!

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37 comments

  • I’m gonna bring 2 fandoms into this. One is Warriors (obvi) and the other is Harry Potter.

    The Bramble/Squirrel/Ash triangle is a lot like Lily/James/Snape. Both the boys were in a war for the girl. In Harry Potter, both James and Snape are crushing on Lily. But Lily ends up with James, much to her best friend Snape’s annoyance. But he doesn’t go psychopathic, but does hate Harry in his Hogwarts years.

    The same thing happens with Bramble being James, Squilf being Lily and Ash being Snape, only Ashfur gets well, pissed when Squirrelflight chooses Brambleclaw/star. As much as I hate Bramblestar in Squirrelflight’s Hope, Ashfur is not the kind of tom anyone wants to go out with. Sure, he was good in TNP, but in Long Shadows, he actually threatens to murder, Lion, Jay and Holly. JUST BECAUSE SQUILF CHOSE BRAMBLECLAW!!!! Great StarClan. Spotted didn’t make a fuss when Firestar chooses Sandstorm. But he does. And he just takes things to a whole new level in TBC, which, if you’ve read up to Darkness Within, I’m sure you’ll know.
    So, all in all, even though Bramblestar was abusive towards Squirrelflight, he is the better tom.

    I know this isn’t topic related, but I also have my own theory about why Ashfur was so abusive towards Lionpaw/blaze. I’m thinking of writing an article about that. Bye for now!