Warrior Cats Explained: Rainflower, Why Did She Push Crookedkit Away? by Dawnlight

Dawnlight takes a look at Rainflower’s actions.

Hiiii and it’s Dawnlight BACK with ANOTHER article!
Today I’ll be continuing my Warrior Cats Explained (WCE) series with another controversal character! Rainflower!

Now, disclaimer, I don’t like Rainflower but since I’m doing WCE, it feels right to include her. Note that everything I’m saying is through my teeth but I guess I now have to explain her!

Comments down below! Let me hear your ideas!

SPOILER: This article contains spoilers for Crookedstar’s Promise

On with the Article!

Who is Rainflower?
Rainflower was a Riverclan Queen under the rule of Hailstar. Her mate was Shellheart and she gave birth to Crookedkit (Stormkit at the time) and Oakkit. She later hit her head on a rock after being attacked by a dog and acsended to Starclan.

Why do they hate Rainflower?
Well, mostly because of her obvious favoism towards Oakkit after Crookedkit broke his jaw as well as her barbed comments saying that Crookedkit would never be as good as his brother causing Crooked to temporaliy be influenced by Mapleshade.

Now, time for me to defend Rainflower!
First things first, let’s talk about Rainflower’s kitting. Riverclan had been flooded and the cats were being evacuated when Rainflower suddenly started kitting. Now, think about how Rainflower felt about the whole situation. She’s a young queen about to give birth to her first litter. Like any other queen, she hopes and expects to give birth in the nursery with a medicine cat with a stockpile of herbs next-door and over 20 warriors outside in case something happens. Now, think about what really happened. She was forced to flee the safe camp because of flooding and forced to give birth in an oak tree with a medicine cat with very limited herbs and no warriors to help her if something goes wrong. Let’s also think about why she would be worried, simply said, what could have gone wrong? Well, maybe blood loss and without good herbs and medical care, she would have the same chances of survival as Silverstream which aren’t very good. Maybe she’d have a tough birth like Leopardfoot, kitting for over a day. If that had happened, maybe while she was kitting, the tree was flooded causing her and her kits to drown, or maybe the medicine cat didn’t have the correct herbs such as the raspberry leaves used to help Leopardfoot. So naturally, once the birth was a success, she was relieved and loves her kits with a burning passion. She also is worried about them getting injured due to the dire circumstances of which they were born, remember that for later.
Now fast-forward to when Stormkit broke his jaw! Now, Rainflower goes complete cukoo on poor Stormkit and shunts him away. Terrible right? Let’s take a look at what Rainflower could have been thinking. Like I said earlier, Rainflower is super crazy worried that her kits will get injured to naturally when Stormkit does get injured she’s terrified. Now think back to the time your parents nailed you for getting a bad grade (maybe, maybe not, if not good job because I did), was it because they hate you? No. It’s because they love you so much, they want a better future for you. Rainflower pretty much was like that. She was terrified and angry, worried that because of his injury Stormkit would be affected later in life and blames herself for not doing her duty as a mother. So naturally, she blames Stormkit. Now before you start throwing those tomatoes you saved, think back at how your parent blamed you, like “oh, you got a bad grade cause you didn’t work hard enough!” but really they are like “I should have helped you and walked with you when you had trouble.” Rainflower was pretty much the same. Her stress and fright blinded her and she desperately tried to push the blame and guilt away from her. I’m not saying this was right, but it wasn’t necessarily “evil”. She was just doing what some parents do when they love their child too much.
What about the separate nest? And the name change? Well, she’d probably wanted to distance herself with her kit because he reminded her of her failure as a mother. She was driven by fear and tried to calm herself by ignoring Crookedkit. Was this right? No! But was it morally, legally wrong? No as well! Furthermore, Shellheart mentioned during Crookedjaw’s deputy ceremony that Rainflower regretted pushing him aside and, pay attention now, had a hard time admitting she was wrong , not because she hated Crookedjaw, but because of her own personality. You probably also know someone who has a hard time saying “sorry, I was wrong”, Rainflower was like that too. She didn’t have the courage to admit to her neglected son that she was wrong, so she continued the act, making it harder and harder for her to admit her faults.

My Opinions
Personally, I still dislike Rainflower. But while writing this article, I did get to see a new side of her. This is why she made it to Starclan. Logically speaking because she never ‘did anything legally wrong’ but I think it’s more because of the remorse she felt at neglecting her kit. But then again, many other cats have showed remorse for their actions, why didn’t they get into Starclan? Can Starclan even be trusted? Well, that’s an article for another time!
Show some compassion towards Rainflower. She was a stressed, worried mother who just didn’t know how to properly help and guide her kit, worried she’d make his condition worse, worried he would hate her even if she apologized, worried that he might not live a normal life… She had the love of a mother, but struggled to express it properly. Think about it, I will too, and maybe you’ll also start to understand Rainflower.