Yes, Mapleshade DOES deserve the Dark Forest, and here’s why by Shadeleap

Shadeleap argues why Mapleshade’s placement in the Dark Forest is right.

Hey BlogClan! For the longest time, I forced myself to remain neutral on the Mapleshade debate, but a little while ago I picked a side, and now I believe wholeheartedly that Mapleshade deserves her spot in the Dark Forest. Here’s why.

Probably the most widespread argument for her to be innocent was that she was mad with grief and she wanted her kits back. But there is another cat who wanted his kits back and went to extreme measures to do so. Another argument is that she murdered Frecklewish, Ravenwing, and Appledusk to help her kits, but another cat did that too. There is one cat in the Dark Forest that did nearly the same things as Mapleshade, yet no one questions his place there.

That cat is Tigerstar.

After Tigerstar was banished from ThunderClan, he did anything to get his kits with him. The most memorable thing he did was leading his half-trained pack of dogs to Snakerocks, resulting in the deaths of Brindleface and Swiftpaw, and the injuries of Brightheart. Tigerstar did this and then told everyone at the Gathering everything that had happened in the last few moons, just to get his kits back. He murdered cats for his own agenda, which is what Mapleshade did, he murdered cats and attempted to murder other cats for his kits, which is just what Mapleshade did, and he went to the Dark Forest for it, which is exactly what Mapleshade did.

Now, there’s one argument for Mapleshade that I haven’t talked about, and that’s how most Mapleshade defenders use the argument “She was mad with grief and didn’t know what she was doing,” but… How do we know that Tigerstar was sane? We didn’t see him leading the dogs to ThunderClan from his eyes because it happened after the events of Tigerclaw’s Fury, but through the book we see through his eyes and we see how much he wanted his kits to be with him. His kits were alive, sure, but he couldn’t see them! He couldn’t talk to them at all, not even at Gatherings! They weren’t apprentices yet and he was completely cut off from them.

Sound familiar?

Mapleshade is a very controversial cat, but I believe firmly that she deserves the Dark Forest. Tigerstar’s longing for his kits is mostly overlooked by the story, and the plot moves along quickly, but you can’t deny that he wanted his kits back and he went to very extreme measures to do that. Yet no one ever questions Tigerstar’s place in the Dark Forest. Why? Because he had other crimes? Like what? Attempted murder? Didn’t Mapleshade attempt to kill Reedshine? Treason? Didn’t Mapleshade prove that she had no loyalty to ThunderClan after killing their members and training Thistleclaw, Tigerstar, Goosefeather, Ivypool, and many others? Be in a forbidden relationship? Squirrelflight’s Hope shows us that this is condemnable! And Sasha and Appledusk were both outside of Tigerstar and Mapleshade’s Clans. Try to destroy all four Clans? Well, here’s a list of the cats Mapleshade trained from each Clan.
From ThunderClan: Thistleclaw, Ivypool, Goosefeather, Blossomfall, Tigerclaw/star, Mousewhisker, Birchfall, Thornclaw
From RiverClan: Crookedstar, Hollowflight, Icewing, Beetlewhisker
From ShadowClan: Tigerclaw/star, Tigerheart/star, Redwillow, Ratscar
From WindClan: Breezepelt, Larkwing, Sunstrike
The only Clan she didn’t try to destroy was SkyClan, but she didn’t even know they existed! It sounds to me like Mapleshade was planning the downfall of the Clans…

That’s it for me, guys. This is only part of the reason I believe Mapleshade deserves where she is, but I don’t want to bore you with a 2000 word article so I’ll leave it here. Have a good day/night and may StarClan light your path!
-Shadeleap