![[a stylized drawing of Spottedleaf in a pink-purple colour scheme]](https://blogclan.katecary.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/spottedleaf_by_magic_pistachio-dbez54t-740x540.png)
Fan ArticlesShysong shares the issues they have with Spottedleaf’s behaviour.
![[a stylized drawing of Spottedleaf in a pink-purple colour scheme]](https://blogclan.katecary.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/spottedleaf_by_magic_pistachio-dbez54t-300x219.png)
[a stylized drawing of Spottedleaf in a pink-purple colour scheme]
Hey guys, Shysong here😀
So, I just wanted to rant about Spottedleaf because there are so many things that I think are really just disturbing. This is my first article, so please don’t mind any grammar mistakes! Here we go!
1. Spottedleaf’s Weird Generation Shift
So, most of you know that Spottedleaf was almost mates with Thistleclaw, AN EVIL OLD DAD! And remember the fact that Thistleclaw was mates with Snowfur, AND trained in the dark forest. To be honest, Thistleclaw didn’t even truly love her, because (in cat age) 14 – 16 so it would’ve been easy to make an impression on her. Besides, he probably loved and cared about Snowfur more than her anyways. And the fact that he’s actually old enough to be her dad is REALLY creepy.
And not to mention her and Firestar.
It’s the same as before, but the roles are switched. Spottedleaf is old enough to be Firestar’s mom, and Firestar is young enough to be her son. You would have thought she’d realized the age difference problem when SpottedThistle almost happened, but NO! She does it again, but now as a medicine cat! Sure you can’t control who you love, but she could have at least taken that into consideration. You’d just be starting all your troubles all over again. But the thing that makes this even more awkward is that she also happens to be Sandstorm’s aunt! Just before Firestar chose her as his mate, he almost became mates with her AUNT! I don’t even know how Sandstorm would react if she found that out. It’s creepy.
2. Her love for Firestar is just plain mentally unhealthy
You guys can recall that Spottedleaf was Firestar’s first love. When she died, her last words were “Take care, Firepaw.” All her life, all those cats, and her last words are spoken to the new kittypet who just joined the clan? What about her parents, her siblings, her clanmates, maybe even her mentor? No, it’s Firestar. And if they truly had that “Special Bond”, why didn’t they show it? All their conversations literally consisted of “Here are your herbs, Firepaw, now get going and out of my den!” or “How’s it going Firepaw?” They never even TRIED to express those feelings they felt for each other. It tore them apart and distracted them from everything. Even when she died, she still wanted to be with him, even though his mate (who I personally think he deserved much more) was. Right. There. aNd PrEgAnAnT WiTh HiS kItS!!!!!! Like, get a grip! your crush has a new life, just move on! It also caused a giant rift between him and Sandstorm in Firestar’s Quest, with the words following below (NOT EXACT WORDING):
Sand: Firestar, would you rather have me or Spottedleaf down here with you?
Fire: (Says nothing)
Sand: Don’t answer, I know what your answer will be. (SHE THOUGHT HE WANTED SPOTTEDLEAF)
So in my opinion, Spottedleaf is just really creepy and jealous. BUT, this is my opinion so please don’t hate me in the comments. That’s me and my Spottedleaf rant done.
Shysong out!
Goldenfawn
Embers of a Winter Dawn (Emberdawn)
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Great article, but I strongly disagree. I don’t think she’s creepy at all.
First of all, Thistleclaw kind of manipulated her into being with him, so that’s totally on him and not on Spottedleaf. She was a kit/apprentice and was not aware of the danger.
Secondly, Spottedleaf was never stated to like Firepaw/star. Sure he liked her, but there is not much evidence of Spotted liking him back. I believe she was just overly caring and friendly towards him. The only ‘romantic’ thing they ever did was touch noses or rub against each others muzzles, which is quite common in the warriors series. An example of this is touching noses with mentors, and more commonly, using it to greet each other. And for the muzzle thing, cats do it all the time in a friendly manner, and Firestar’s done it with lots of other cats like even Graystripe. It’s very hard to prove that spotted ever liked him. In addition to that, we never really got her perspective of Firestar, just his side.
I honestly think that she’s more of a parental figure, and it’s only natural that she wants to be with him even when she’s dead. Sure Spottedleaf was a little bit overprotective, but there’s a lot of other instances of that.
pretty sure it’s basically confirmed that spottedleaf likes firestar in spottedleaf’s honest answer ^^ (i hate that short story by the way, i honestly feel like they ruined her character in it and i think it’s a lot more creepy since she specifically says she started liking firepaw when he was an apprentice)
Please don’t hate on me or my article, it is just an opinion.
I agree with your second point: firestar might have mistaken her over affection as attraction. We never really got to see how she thought of him. And, if Spotted was old enough to be Fire’s mom, she could have cared for him like a mother bc he didn’t have one close by.
Overall I think it’s a good article, but I’m not too familiar with Spottedleaf anymore. It’s been a couple years since I read Into the Woods and so on.
I mean, there’s literally a whole, canon, like interview thing where she confesses that she does indeed love him. I don’t remember the name of this particular interview thing but she definitely does have feelings for him.
Hello! I think you might’ve gotten something a little wrong, Spottedleaf is confirmed to be in love with Firestar/heart. She calls him ‘my love’ on multiple occasions and openly reciprocates, to the point it gets in the way of his relationship with Sandstorm in Firestar’s quest.
She seems to continue to be in love with him despite Firestar moving on and having a family, which is the main issue with her being ‘creepy’, since she sort of behaves like a stalker.
Of course, everyone is free to perceive as they desire, and they don’t have to find her actions creepy! I personally find it to be pretty weird, but it’s fine if you disagree. Just note that she is confirmed to reciprocate feelings for Firestar/heart.
You are right about the Thistleclaw situation, though. Spottedleaf was just a child, Thistleclaw was very much the perpetrator, though that book is pretty awful…
well, kits/apps probably would know not to just like an older warrior like that, human kids wouldn’t do that so why should a kit/app in the warriors world? spottedleaf should have had more sense. although she was really a plot device, i hate it when authors make characters do silly things for the plot that they wouldn’t normally, like turtle just not holding the stick along with anemone to hide them from darkstalker in wings of fire……
WeEeEll – If you get over that fact, SpottedLeaf is plain normal – and besides, at least she’s not like AshFur, who would’ve killed cats for his love! SpottedLeaf does understand she can’t be with FireStar, as she later expresses, and besides- your also saying FireStar is creepy, since he actually did love SpottedLeaf. I mean, who wouldn’t, if she smells so nice- good article btw!
Firestar’s crush is more like a student’s crush on a teacher- odd, but not borderline pedophilic.
(Just to clarify for readers, because the wording is a little ambiguous in Blazey’s comment, it’s not Firepaw’s crush that was borderline pedophillic ^^ Pedophillia is specifically an attraction to children, which Firepaw’s crush on Spottedleaf does not fit since Spottedleaf was older than him.)
I also think Spottedleaf is creepy. On top of that, she stalks Firestar in his dreams!
Not necessarily stalking. Spottedleaf is a cat from StarClan and Firestar is the leader of ThunderClan. StarClan cats can also communicate with the Clan Leaders
Nice! I honestly kind of agree with you. You brought a lot more points to the table! And I didn’t know Spotted was old enough to be his mom… (That’s very weird…)
Her age is kind of unclear, as, going by Bluestar’s Prophecy, she would have been four or five when Firepaw arrived (and at that point in the series, cats typically retired to the elders den at about 8 years old), but in Into the Wild, it seems to be implied that she’s about two, at the most. People usually go by Bluestar’s Prophecy though, since Into the Wild had a lot of things that didn’t get further fleshed out until later in the series, and some ages even were retconned (Mousefur).
I love this <3333
Great article, I agree Spottedleaf is way too creepy and needs to move on. Tbh I was kinda happy when (spoilers) Mapleshade killed her spirit.
Yeah, I have always had an issue with this too. Spottedleaf was a medicine cat (which all this I am going to explain in an upcoming article too) which means that she had longer training to go through than a warrior does. If you remember, Spottedleaf was also a full medicine cat making her quite a bit older than a 6 moon old warrior apprentice. While I feel like Spottedleaf was a good character, her an Firestar’s relationship shouldn’t have been romanticized. I also don’t really care much for Sandstorm, as she is just hot headed and annoying to me, I really think Spottedleaf should have left Firestar alone after they became mates.
Amazing article! I agree with some of your points but some not. In the first part, I don’t think Spottedleaf and Thistleclaw is a bad age gap at all. The problem with them is that their relationship was very unhealthy and was an imbalance of power. I don’t think large age gaps or in some cases varying ranks between mates is that bad (I’m fine with ThornclawXBlossomfall and DustpeltXFerncloud). But ThistleSpotted was both. Like, Thornclaw and Blossomfall had a large age gap, but they were both mature adults who were perfectly capable of making their own decisions and choosing who to mate with. Dustpelt and Ferncloud were different ranks, but they were very similar in age and therefore had little variation of wisdom and experience. And they became mates only as adults. But ThistleSpotted was an age gap and a variation of ranks, and that’s just a bad idea, because their wisdom, experience, and maturity varied heavily.
SpottedFire was bad, I agree, because Firepaw was a young apprentice and Spottedleaf was a senior medicine cat. That’s a variation of age and ranks, like ThistleSpotted. But what you said about Spottedleaf being Sandstorm’s aunt does not really matter or make sense, because Spottedleaf died before Sandstorm even began being friendly to Firestar (Spottedleaf died in Into The Wild and Firestar saved Sandstorm from falling off the gorge in Fire and Ice). There’s no way Firestar could’ve foreseen that he would mate with his crush’s niece. And in the Warriors world more distant relatives (even siblings, usually) usually don’t really have as much as a relationship with each other as in real life. I doubt Spottedleaf even knew she was related to Sandstorm, simply because cats don’t keep track of that stuff.
And for the last part, about how Spottedleaf’s relationship with Firestar is unhealthy, I agree for the most part. “What about her parents, her siblings, her clanmates, maybe even her mentor?” Well, Spottedleaf’s parents and mentors were all dead at that point. And she probably didn’t have much of a relationship with her siblings, because she was always busy as a med cat and what I said about how siblings usually don’t have much of a relationship with each other. And as for her Clanmates, Firestar was her Clanmate. And he was her friend. Why not have her last words be to him? She didn’t really have many friends, being a sole medicine cat, so Firestar would be one of the ideal cats to speak to last.
And what you said about Firestar and Spottedleaf not showing much romantic interest in each other, Firestar did show romantic interest in Spottedleaf. She just didn’t show it back. And they definitely didn’t have many romantic interactions onpage. That’s absolutely true. Moonkitti, a Warriors YouTuber, made a detailed video on that called ‘Spottedleaf’s Feelings are Probably a Retcon’ (I think). It was a retcon, because Spottedleaf seemed to show no romantic feelings to Firestar in life but in death she was absolutely in love with him. And (forgetting about the retcon) with her getting jealous of Sandstorm in the afterlife, that’s a character flaw. Warriors needs more of those, so it’s nice when a ‘perfect’ character such as Spottedleaf shown one.
So yeah, I don’t think Spottedleaf was ‘creepy’, but she did make some strange decisions.
I don’t know if you read Spottedleaf’s heart, but the age gap there is a very big issue. It’s worse than Spottedfire by a long shot, not that I don’t also think that Spottedfire was weird either.
Thistleclaw was a grown warrior of many seasons, and already had had a mate and a kit. His kit, Whitestorm, was already an adult if I recall, too. Their messed up ‘romantic’ situation all takes place while Spottedleaf is still Spottedpaw, his interest beginning when she was still Spottedkit. Spottedleaf removes herself from Thistleclaw when she becomes a medicine cat apprentice, so she is still very much young. If I recall, apprentices are usually considered to roughly be a teenager.
Just a little correction!
I know, I probably should’ve said that better. It’s been a while since I read her novella, I forgot how bad the age gap was. Sorry!
you know what? ThistleXSpotted is kinda like StormXDapple, if we’re being honest here.
Oh wow, that’s drawing further parallels that I never noticed. Guy with a dead wife and who had kid(s) with that wife goes for a woman MUCH younger than him. Is that Stormtail or Thistleclaw? Furthering my point, the younger woman, upon growing up, perpetrates that same behavior, with a tom MUCH younger than she is. Is that Spottedleaf and Firepaw or Dappletail and Runningwind?
Of course, StormDapple and RunnningDapple are both much better, given that both parties of both relationships were grown adults at the time.
Regardless of age gap, SpottedThistle is bad. She was a child, while he was an adult. It’s not about the age gap, it’s about the ages themselves. For instance, BlossomThorn is fine, because they were both fully grown warriors, but Spottedpaw was a child, so regardless of “how bad” the age gap was, it was still wrong.
That makes almost perfectly healthy relationship #1, DustFern, also a MAJOR problem, but he’s also her uncle, so there’s a lot of problems in that relationship beyond their ages.
wow Mallowpaw you should make that comment into an article
Great article! This is kinda weird the points u made but I still think she’s a good cat! She was my first ever fav warrior cat… gotta show her some love.
I totally agree! Like, you had a crush, she died, now you have a wife and kids, SO GET OVER IT!
Great article! I sort of agree, Spottedleaf is ok except she helps too much which is annoying.
Between Bluestar’s Prophecy changing her age to make her much older than she orignially was in the first arc, and the fact that they changed her age for certain events of Spottedleaf’s Heart, it’s unclear how old she actually is. Bluestar’s Prophecy age is the generally agreed age, so your point on her being much older than Firestar is fair.
I will say, Spottedleaf’s Heart wasn’t a very good representation of any of the characters in the series. Bluefur felt very out of character to me, she was always angry with Spottedpaw for some reason or another. And the portrayal of the Thistleclaw/Spottedpaw “relationship” could have been done better. Particularly because there was no moment of “Thistleclaw is bad for Spottedpaw because he’s much older than her and she is a child currently, so he should not be making love declarations”, instead, it’s made out to be that the reason Thistleclaw is bad for Spottedpaw is because he’s training in the Dark Forest, not because he’s being a predator.
I also don’t like the way that they show Spottedpaw being preyed upon, then have her fall in love with Fireheart. Admittedly, she did only fall in love with him after her death and he was made a warrior, but when they were both alive, he was an apprentice. Spottedleaf’s Heart gives a message of “victims of abuse often become abusers”, which, while statistically true, is also something that pushes abuse victims away from getting help, which is what leads to them repeating the actions of their abusers. By spreading a stigma like that around abuse victims, it’s preventing abuse victims from seeking the help they need.