Why Mosspelt is a tragic character and deserves more love by Eclipseshine

Hello! My name is Eclipseshine, and this is my first article on BlogClan! I’m going to write about Mosspelt, how tragic her character is, and how she deserves more love, because the community doesn’t pay too much attention to her, and I think she deserves more! Please leave your thoughts in the comments, I’m very curious to hear them! Now, let’s begin!

So, Mosspelt! She is a minor RiverClan cat. When I first mention her, what do you all think of her? Some of you might not know who she is, some of you might only know her name or some of you may only know that she took care of Graystripe’s kits. But, there is much more story to her character, and I’m here to write about her! But before that, there are spoilers in this article for Leopardstar’s Honor and the main books up until “A Starless Clan”, so proceed with caution!

Now, who is Mosspelt, really? In Leopardstar’s Honor, she appears as a RiverClan kit alongside her sister, Emberdawn [Embix edit: That’s me!]. There is not much to know about her for now, she’s just a kit who becomes an apprentice alongside her sister, but her character arc really starts from the moment she becomes a warrior. After Leopardstar’s and Frogleap’s relationship isn’t what they expected it to be, Frogleap becomes mates with Mosspelt. All is well, and they even have 3 kits: Dawnkit, Robinkit, and Woodkit.

Everything goes well, until the first important thing happens in Mosspelt’s life: Frogleap dies. Mosspelt is distraught, and she is mentioned to be more protective of her kits. But, soon after that, 2 of Mosspelt’s kits, Robinkit and Woodkit, die. This is pretty traumatic for any cat, so Mosspelt becomes more protective of Dawnkit, her surviving kit. We don’t see much of her grief, because the book focuses on Leopardstar, but she definitely grieved a lot.

During the first arc, Mosspelt agrees to take care of Graystripe’s 2 kits: Featherkit and Stormkit. And there are 2 kits. How many kits has Mosspelt lost until now? 2. Perhaps Mosspelt sees Featherkit and Stormkit as Robinkit and Woodkit, the 2 kits she lost who didn’t make it to adulthood. And maybe that’s why she loves those kits so much and sees them as her own. But, she sadly lost both of them: Feathertail died helping the Tribe, and Stormfur joined the Tribe, so the 2 cats that Mosspelt took care of and loved so much, the 2 cats that reminded her of her 2 kits with Frogleap who didn’t make it, are now gone. She had to be extremely saddened by this!

Now, everything goes well for the next few books, up until the second arc. Dawnkit has grown into Dawnflower, and she has kits of her own! Minnowkit, Pebblekit, and Tumblekit. Even Mosspelt has a second litter: Willowkit, but her father is unknown! I truly wonder who Willowkit’s father is, or if Mosspelt truly managed to move on from Frogleap and have another mate. What do you guys think?

All is well, they move to their new home, but something tragic happens: Dawnflower and her kits fall ill. And they all survive, except for Tumblekit. Tumblekit was Mosspelt’s grandkit, so she had to be pretty sad about her grandkit’s death, right? If not, she had to at least be there for Dawnflower. This is another important part of her story. And, another thing, sometime between Dawnflower’s apprenticeship and Willowshine’s birth, Emberdawn died. Mosspelt’s sister. Mosspelt had to be pretty sad after that, didn’t she? Mosspelt is still pretty young in the second arc, and yet she already lost 5 cats (with Tumblekit). She’s a very tragic character.

All is well, Willowkit and Mosspelt’s grandkits become apprentices, but in the fourth arc, Dawnflower dies. Dawnflower was born in Mosspelt’s first litter, and her only kit (from the first litter) who made it to warriorhood, and Mosspelt was noted to be very protective of her. This had to hit her, right? I mean, she only has one kit left now! And only 2 grandkits left. She only has 3 cats from her whole family alive, and she isn’t that old, either! Some cats her age have huge families, most of them alive, while Mosspelt only has 3 cats left!

Fast forward, Mosspelt mentors 3 apprentices, but she outlives them all. That’s definitely sad, isn’t it? Now, the Great Battle happens, and just a few moons after that, Pebblefoot, Mosspelt’s grandson, drowns. Another one of her family was gone just like that. And since she only had 3 family left until this point, she was definitely extremely saddened by this.

By this point, she is now an older cat, retired in the elders’ den. But her story isn’t over yet! Because, in “The Broken Code”, Willowshine dies. And she was Mosspelt’s last kit. That had to sadden her deeply, right? By this point, she only has one cat left: Minnowtail, her granddaughter. The only thing that reminds her of Dawnflower, one of her 2 kits that made it to adulthood. She has lost many, many cats until now, and some cats her age (or even older!) have lost lesser cats. But by now, Mosspelt outlived all of her kits. Take Daisy for example, she outlived almost all of her kits, and she was really depressed! Imagine how Mosspelt feels, outliving all of her kits! She is a really tragic character.

Before we move on to “A Starless Clan”, right before this arc, Graystripe died. Mosspelt took care of Graystripe’s kits, and they still talked quite a lot back in the first arc, so they had to still be friends, right? I mean, I’m sure that Graystripe would be eternally grateful to Mosspelt, and they’re also around the same age. And now he’s dead. Graystripe was the last cat who reminded Mosspelt of Stormfur and Feathertail, the kits she took care of, the ones that weren’t hers, and yet she loved them as if they were hers. The kits that reminded her of her ones, that did not make it. How sad is that, really?

Fast forward to “A Starless Clan”, Mosspelt is against the code changing. You might think: wow! She is close-minded! But let me remind you: she is the second oldest cat in the Clans, after Mistystar. She lived a long life, and she’s only known one way of life until now: the old warrior code. So she may, or may not, find comfort in that. Of course, she could still accept change, but I think she’s too saddened and longs too much for the past to be able to accept change.

Soon in the first book, Mistystar dies, thus making Mosspelt the oldest living cat in the Clans. That has to take a toll on her, I mean, think about it! All of the cats that Mosspelt grew up with are now gone. Her whole family is gone, except for her granddaughter, Minnowtail. She is such a tragic character, and she deserves more love.

And now, RiverClan, the Clan she is in and loves so much, is falling apart right around her, due to the lack of leadership and ShadowClan’s intervention. And there isn’t anything she can do, really. She doesn’t appear much, either, but she is the oldest living cat in all of the Clans, and her Clan is falling apart. I’m sure that she is sitting in the elders’ den, alone and scared, longing for the past. Of course, her Clanmates are definitely there to comfort her, but I’m sure she misses her family, and the past, and longs to see them once more. I’m sure that the cat who supports her the most is Minnowtail, her last kin.

And that concludes my article! I know it isn’t the best, and that I mostly just went throughout Mosspelt’s life, but I hope this article made you realize how tragic Mosspelt truly is, and why she deserves more love and attention. I really love her, and I hope she gets a super edition, or at least a novella, in the future. Let me know what you think in the comments! Goodbye, and see you next time!