My Opinions on Rainswept Flower by Mallowpaw

Mallowpaw shares their thoughts on Rainswept Flower.

Mallowpaw here! I read DotC again pretty recently, and Rainswept Flower was one of my favorite characters. So I decided to write an article about her.

Rainswept Flower was born to Shaded Moss and an unknown she-cat, and traveled on the Sun Trail to reach the new territories. She acted as a sort of medicine cat, specializing in mental and nursing health rather than herbs specifically, and was a trusted and loyal member of Tall Shadow and Gray Wing’s group. In The First Battle, she was killed by Clear Sky to show how much he had changed from the innocent cat he was in the mountains. She was portrayed as kind, hard-working, and considerate, and had a teasing sense of humor.

I think she was an interesting variation of the normal medicine cat, because instead of knowing all the herbs and medicines like every med ever, she didn’t really know them, but instead knew how to make a grieving, depressed, or mentally ill cat feel better. She was also mentioned to be kind of like an informal always-queen like Daisy, as she was mentioned to have been involved in raising Gray Wing and Clear Sky to an extent.

Rainswept Flower’s relationship with Shaded Moss was shown a bit in Sun Trail, especially when Shaded Moss died and Rainswept Flower grieved. She was shown to be rather resilient, as she quickly got over Shaded Moss’s death. Perhaps she had dealt with grief before, in her unnamed mother? Rainswept Flower was, again, said to have helped in raising Gray Wing and Clear Sky. Therefore, she was not a kit when the brothers were, so her mother could’ve died a while before the birth of Quiet Rain’s kits. I think that she learned to deal with grief from the death of her mother.

I also noticed something interesting in A Forest Divided. When Quiet Rain was dying, she was told by Shaded Moss to forgive Clear Sky for killing Rainswept Flower. I wondered, why Shaded Moss? This could be drawn down to Shaded Moss being the cat most closely connected to Rainswept Flower, and therefore being the ideal cat to tell Quiet Rain to forgive Clear Sky. But the issue was mainly about Clear Sky killing a Tribemate, not specifically Rainswept Flower. So it could have been any cat, as long as their words were impactful to Quiet Rain. So still: Why would Shaded Moss in particular tell Quiet Rain to trust Clear Sky (I know I seem off-track but just trust me)?

Well, I noticed that, in DotC, Gray Wing’s father was never mentioned, hinted at, questioned, or implied. Gray Wing never questions or reflects on his parenthood other than Quiet Rain at all. It can be assumed that his father is either dead or that Gray Wing doesn’t know who it is, and doesn’t care. I have a theory.

I think that Shaded Moss is Gray Wing’s father. This would explain why Shaded Moss was the one who told Quiet Rain to forgive Clear Sky. This would also make Rainswept Flower and Gray Wing half-siblings, assuming that Rainswept Flower’s mother died and Shaded Moss mated again with Quiet Rain. I think that Rainswept Flower knew about this, and that is why she was so concerned about Quiet Rain’s kits’ lives, shown when she acted rather interested in Gray Wing’s relationship with Storm in Sun Trail, and of course being so kind to Jagged Peak (I’ll get into that more later).

The other two options are either Quiet Rain was mates with a Tribe cat who died slightly before Sun Trail (He would have to have been alive shortly before because Jagged Peak and Fluttering Bird were young kits at the time). This could possibly be Broken Feather, a cat who was mentioned to have died a bit before Sun Trail. The other option is that Quiet Rain mated with a rogue, loner, or kittypet. But this is highly unlikely, considering no cat ever goes up the mountains. Twice, for Quiet Rain had two litters.

But I’m getting off track. One of the main things notable about Rainswept Flower is her relationship with Jagged Peak. After Jagged Peak broke his leg and moved to WindShadowClan, he interacted heavily with Rainswept Flower. Cloud Spots and Dappled Pelt healed his wound, but Rainswept Flower went out of her way to make new hunting and fighting exercises specifically for Jagged Peak, tried to make him feel important, and was mentioned to have worked harder than any cat to free him when he got trapped in a collapsed cave. Some people consider this love, and ship the two. The first time I read DotC, I also shipped them. But the second time, I considered everything more and came up with the conclusion that Jagged Peak and Rainswept Flower had more of a doctor-patient relationship than a lover-lover one.

I also think that Rainswept Flower had missed potential. As I said earlier, she was killed in the first battle by Clear Sky to make him reconsider his choices. I think that she should’ve lived beyond this. Any cat from or related to someone from the Tribe could’ve been in her position. I think the best cat for this is Acorn Fur. Acorn Fur, after the Great Battle, moved to Clear Sky’s camp and later became its first medicine cat alongside Micah. I think that Acorn Fur dying could wipe out literally all of Lightning Tail’s kin in one fell swoop, therefore making him even more wary of outsiders and therefore have more of a reason not to trust Star Flower. Sparrow Fur could replace her in moving to Clear Sky’s camp early, and Rainswept Flower could choose to move to Clear Sky’s camp as well, to try to help the cat she helped raise in his mental struggles. She could then replace Acorn Fur as one of the first medicine cats of SkyClan.

I also think that Rainswept Flower could’ve replaced Moth Flight, getting her own super edition. With Rainswept Flower specializing in mental healing and nursing, Skystar could exile her for not knowing all the herbs and she could find Micah, then replace Moth Flight completely and make the no-kits-for-meds rule.

Overall I think Rainswept Flower is an interesting character with a lot of missed potential. I hope you liked this article!