Defending Onestar by Nightpaw

Nightpaw defends Onestar.

Onestar has long been a controversial character with many people supporting and degrading him for his mistakes. However, being one of my favourite characters, I [Nightpaw/wish] have strong opinions about this topic and today choose to defend Onestar. Fandom members have long pointed out Onestar’s mistakes throughout his life along with the cats in the book–I think it’s time to secure and assert that Onestar did make mistakes, yet does not deserve the treatment from the Warriors fandom and is overall a cat worthy of his StarClan position.

Starting off, Onestar, when he was Onewhisker, frequently visited the Twolegplace and fell in love with a kittypet, Smoke. Though he soon cut off his connection with her, he was too late, and Smoke approached him sometime later and informed him that she was expecting his kits. The single kit that survived turned out to be Darktail, and the Clans were then attacked by Darktail who was seeking revenge for Onewhisker’s rejection. Onestar vowed to make up for his mistake and save the Clans; he gave his own life, drowning Darktail while also drowning himself.

Onestar’s actions drove multiple reactions throughout the fandom. Many insisted that Onestar should not have had kits with Smoke in the first place, and some even went as far as to say that Onestar deserved to be in the Dark Forest. Yet we can see near the end that Darktail had, “. . . True madness in those eyes. Madness that reflected the darkness in the rogue tom’s heart . . . There is nothing to be done for him. He cannot be saved now. If he ever could . . . Maybe my only purpose is to stop him” (Hunter 709). Every cat makes mistakes in the Warrior Cats series, and there have been many times where cats have broken the code to have kits with an outsider, whether it is from a different Clan or not in the Clans at all. We can see this example with Leafpool (with Crowfeather), Bluestar (with Oakheart), Silverstream (with Graystripe) and Cloudberry (with Ryewhisker). The only difference between these cats and Onestar is that the kits that these other cats had ended up becoming good cats. However, Onestar was struck with the misfortune of becoming the father of a kit evil from the start–a misfortune completely out of his control. Even though this was evidently not Onestar’s fault, he made amends for it in the end, sacrificing himself to save the Clans. This proves Onestar’s innocence and extreme loyalty as Darktail’s evilness has nothing to do with Onestar, yet Onestar still vows to make up for it and save his Clan.

Furthermore, Onestar showed compassion towards both Hawkfrost and Tallstar in the old forest. When Tallstar was dying, Onestar continued to support him even as Mudclaw, Tallstar’s deputy, abandoned him. Onestar was Tallstar’s protector during his last weeks, and even in his last moments as the only cats present during Tallstar’s death were Onestar himself and Firestar. The most important fact about this was that Onestar did not even expect to be repaid, and only acted with compassion. Unlike other evil cats, he did not cunningly suck up to Tallstar to become deputy. He was in fact surprised to become deputy and even doubted himself, essentially confirming that Onestar’s actions were rooted in loyalty. With Hawkfrost, additionally, who almost ended his life by conspiring with ambitious Mudclaw, Onestar forgave him, “I can’t blame you for having doubts, nor any of the other cats who supported Mudclaw. How can I, when I doubted myself? I forgive you freely, you and all the rest” (Hunter 378). Here, Onestar acknowledges his doubts, is honest with himself and Hawkfrost, stays calm, and forgives the cats that plotted his death, looking into their perspective. Rather than accepting clear facts in front of him, he digs deeper in order to figure out why these cats had acted the way they did and empathizes. A truly evil cat would have been furious to know that others had defied him and would probably gruesomely murder them.

Onestar. Is. A. Good. Cat. If Mudclaw is accepted into StarClan for acting for the Clan’s best, Onestar is right to have been accepted, too. He too only acted for the good of WindClan. Yes, he did make some mistakes that cost the lives of many warriors, but then again, it is not his fault that Darktail turned out to be so evil. It is also not evil to have kits with a cat you love. As many people in real life know, and maybe even some of you, love is not something containable. It can only be concealed.

Part of me thinks that is why Onestar’s Confession was such a sad story but proved what a hero Onestar was. He was a good cat forced to walk down the path of evil, but turned his back and walked back.