The Mapleshade Debate Debunked, Did She Deserve the Dark Forest? by Briarpaw

Briarpaw shares their two cents on Mapleshade.

Hello!
Briarpaw here, with my idk how many articles I’ve made, article!
I just saw this really good Youtube Short that shows both sides of the Mapleshade debate(I’ll link it down at the bottom btw), which I decided to write an article about!
Now, I know this isn’t an original topic, but it’s been debated for so long, and I understand both sides
Spoiler warning for Mapleshade’s Vengeance!
Also, before we get started, I do not condone cheating whatsoever. It is against my religion, and even if I weren’t religious, I would still hate it. Cheating is wrong, don’t do it, and I do not support it, even though I am going to talk about how Mapleshade wasn’t innocent and I will speak about that.
Anyway, let’s get started!
First:
The Mapleshade Was Innocent Side
Her own Clan abandoned her just because her kits were HalfClan. It was mainly Ravenwing and Frecklewish’s faults that she was abandoned, but her kits weren’t very old! And Frecklewish went and called them HalfClan creatures! Mapleshade’s kits didn’t do anything wrong, it was Mapleshade who did! Then, those very kits died when she tried to transport them to the only place she could think of: RiverClan, their other half. After that, she found out that her mate, Appledusk, was cheating on her with Reedshine! Mapleshade was completely betrayed, and Appledusk didn’t even apologize. After that, Mapleshade was banished from RiverClan as well, which is when she murdered Ravenwing, Frecklewish, and Appledusk. I’m not saying they deserved it, but from the Mapleshade’s innocent view, they were the reasons Mapleshade was banished and her kits died. Mapleshade just wanted to be happy, but everyone told her that she didn’t deserve it. Then, when she was sent to the Dark Forest, she wasn’t allowed the closure of getting to see her kits. They could have had scheduled meetings at the border with lots of guards from StarClan to protect the kits in case Mapleshade did anything bad. I think that perhaps if she had gotten that chance of closure, maybe she wouldn’t have done what she did to Crookedstar and all the other cats in the Clans.
And now, for…:
Mapleshade Was In the Wrong
It was her fault that her Clan abandoned her. She shouldn’t have expected that they would love and respect her after her kits were revealed to be HalfClan, and with the cat who had killed the current Leader’s own son! Ravenwing was the one who revealed her, but it was just out of concern for his Clan. And Frecklewish called the kits HalfClan creatures because she was upset and grieving. She shouldn’t have done that, but she didn’t do it for no reason. Then, Mapleshade’s kits died, but they shouldn’t have even been alive in the first place! Then when she went on a psychotic rampage, it seems as if she was already a psychopath long before. She thought of her kits as a way to prove that Appledusk was hers, and sure, she did love them, but she saw them more as pawns in her game. And murdering three cats was not ok. Appledusk cheated on her because he wanted to be with someone from his Clan. He should have broken up with her first instead of cheating, but what’s done is done.
And that’s it.
I would love to know what you think, but I must say, Mapleshade deserved the Dark Forest.
She should have scheduled meetings with her kits with lots of StarClan guards at the border for closure, but either way, she deserved what she got in her death.
And, as promised, here is the link to the short!

All right, that’s all for now!
Byeeee!