Why Skystar is one of my least favourite cats by Nettlepaw

Nettlepaw explains why they don’t like the SkyClan founder.

Hi! I’m Nettlepaw, and this is my third article!

This is basically a rant about why I hate Clear Sky/Skystar. For this article, I’m just going to call him Skystar, so I don’t confuse anyone. I spell Gray Wing the British way, but in the books, it is spelt Gray Wing. For this article, I am going to spell it Gray Wing, like in Dawn of the Clans. I’m not sure there are many people who actually like Skystar, but anyone who does, this article might offend you. I would love to hear your opinions, so please put them in the comments!

(Spoilers for DotC and Moth Flight’s Vision)

I didn’t mind him until the point in The Sun Trail where he decided to split the travelling cats into two groups. I think that was a really bad decision, because it would be easier to tackle predators in a bigger group, and it would cause fights between kin (more of that later). I disagreed with his decision, but I didn’t hate him.

Later in the book, Gray Wing (Skystar’s brother), was in love with a pretty silver she-cat called Storm. Skystar then fell in love with her, and took her back to his camp, leaving Gray Wing distraught. Afterwards, Gray Wing accidentally strayed onto Skystar’s territory, and killed Fox when he realised he was fighting for his life. Skystar flew into a fit of rage, and he announced that he was no longer Gray Wing’s brother. Storm then ran away to Twolegplace and had Skystar’s kits. The next day, a monster demolishes the Twoleg den Storm is staying in, and she dies trying to protect her kits.

This is when I started to hate Skystar. What kind of cat would steal their brother’s mate? When Gray Wing introduced Storm to him, Skystar could clearly see that his brother was in love with her, yet he took her to his camp and separated her from the cat who truly loved her? I don’t think Skystar really loved Storm, as he let her run away to Twolegplace and didn’t look after Storm’s remaining kit. Instead, that fell to his brother, whose mate he’d stolen, and who he neglected after Gray Wing had accidentally killed Fox.

After Jagged Peak, Gray Wing and Skystar’s younger brother, fell from a tree in the second book, Thunder Rising, Skystar cast him out of his camp, claiming that ‘weak cats couldn’t contribute to survival.’ Sure, the Clans hadn’t heard of medicine cats yet, but at least Shadowstar’s camp were letting the sick cats rest until they were better, instead of casting them out. After he did that, he asked Thunder to join his camp straight after he banished Jagged Peak. He literally asked the son, who he had abandoned for Thunder’s whole life, to join his cats after insulting the tom who had brought Thunder up, and casting his uncle out of his camp.

A few days later, Skystar and Thunder were patrolling, and got into a fight with Riverstar when he mistakenly crossed the border of Skystar’s territory. Skystar viciously attacks, and when Thunder tries to stop him, he says that ‘he didn’t have an opinion.’ He was the one who invited his son to join his camp, and now he’s pushing him away. Why couldn’t Skystar just learn from his mistakes?

Another thing I hate about Skystar is that in his camp, his word is law. Thunder immediately goes right to the top of the pecking order because he has a relationship with Skystar, and the cats who are ill or injured are banished from the camp and are left to fend for themselves. This results in the death of many. Was I the only one who noticed that throughout the books Skystar repeatedly said he wanted to recruit more warriors? Instead of finding more, maybe he should keep the ones he’s already got alive?

On a patrol of their territory, he, Thunder and Petal find a cat called Misty, who Petal obviously had a history with. They start to fight, until Skystar steps in and kills Misty, for no reason other than she was on his territory. Thunder then discovers that Misty had kits, and is shocked at his father’s behaviour, especially when he says that maybe he should kill the kits, instead of letting them suffer. Now, a cat would go to the Dark Forest for that. Petal agrees to look after the kits, with not even a word of thanks for giving him more warriors, which is exactly what he wanted.

Skystar is a selfish, arrogant cat with no respect for anyone other than himself. He disowns almost his entire family and expects the cats in his camp to lay down their lives just for him, and when they don’t, they get killed. What sort of cat does that? Is he even fit to lead others? My answer is no. He is greedy for territory, and kills any cat who dares to set paw on it, while claiming more and more for himself. You’d think that was pretty bad, right? It gets worse.

Later, Gray Wing, Turtle Tail and Wind Runner find Bumble, a kittypet friend of Turtle Tail’s, lying dead on Skystar’s territory. They check, and find traces of Skystar’s scent on her. Skystar then leaps from the bushes, telling them he tried to warn her to get off his territory. She fainted, and then he heard a fox in the distance, and he claimed to be going to get help. If he was, why was he listening in on their conversation? He regularly kills other cats, so why couldn’t he have finished this fox off so it wouldn’t kill Bumble?

Back in Skystar’s camp, Fircone and Nettle, some of his warriors, ask Thunder if he would talk to his father about how Skystar treats intruders and the expansion of territory. Thunder does, and Skystar then asks him to abandon Frost, an injured cat, in the forest and leave him to die. Thunder then realises that this isn’t what it means to be part of a camp, and then he beats a fox that found their way in. Skystar immediately tries to get him back on his side, telling him he did a great job, and asking who he learned that from. Thunder retaliates by telling Skystar that whoever he learned it from, it definitely wasn’t him. Skystar then realises that there is no point trying, and banishes him from the camp.

What? Why would he abandon his son, then ask for him back, upsetting his brother, who has selflessly looked after his kit for his entire life. Almost as soon as he had him back, he banished him again! What sort of cat does that?

My theory is that Skystar was getting greedier and greedier trying to gain more territory, and had no time for Thunder. As he was stressed (being a leader is no easy thing – and Skystar is a perfect example of how sometimes, cats can get power hungry. See also: Hawkfrost) the smallest things upset him, and when he was confronted by Thunder, he snapped. However, the pressure of being leader gave him no right to do any of the things he did. And, stick around. There’s more.

When Thunder leaves with Frost, Falling Feather says she wishes she could go with them. Understandable, given Skystar’s recent actions. When he hears this, he flies into a fit of rage and claws Falling Feather’s muzzle. He then tells his camp to steal her food, and order her around. If you want someone to stay loyal to your cause, then this isn’t the best way of doing it. Also, when was Skystar given the right to control his warriors’ life choices? If she wants to leave, that is Falling Feather’s decision, not his.

He then kidnaps Jackdaw’s Cry, a cat from Tall Shadow’s camp and barely feeds him. This sparks outrage from Tall Shadow’s camp and a meeting is proposed.

Before I go any further, I just want to add; why would he not feed Jackdaw’s Cry, unless he was deliberately trying to start a war between him and Gray Wing? This confrontational trait is what turns cats evil. In this case, it definitely has.

They meet with Tall Shadow’s camp and she tells him that the forest did not grow just for him to claim it for himself. A fight breaks out between the cats, and in the process, Fircone, Hawk Swoop, Frost, Rainswept Flower (noooo), Falling Feather and Jackdaw’s Cry were all killed. Please note that all of the cats apart from Falling Feather, who also killed a cat, and Fircone, were from Tall Shadow’s camp.

Thunder notices that when Skystar kills Rainswept Flower, he was glad she was dead. What kind of evil cat does that? Rainswept Flower was also a cat he grew up with for his entire life, and he killed her, just like that.

He then attempts to kill Gray Wing (really?), leading to one of the most famous quotes in Warriors; ‘Kill me. Kill me and live with the memory. Then tell the stars you won.’

As I was thinking about this, I realised how much of this was true. All Skystar wanted…was to win. All the territory he stole. All the prey he caught. All the cats he killed. It was all for him to win. To be better, stronger than anyone else. To have a big group of cats reporting to him and carrying out his bloodthirsty orders.

Notice how only villains do that sort of thing? They take land, hoping to conquer it for themselves. They kill cats and take in others to support their cause.

Then, and only then, he releases his brother, declaring the battle over.

Later, his son Thunder is in love with a golden she-cat called Star Flower. She reveals herself to be One-eye’s daughter, and her father was an evil cat they were all fighting against. She betrays Thunder, and his kin by telling her father their plan. They banish her, but she comes back later to Skystar’s camp. They then fall in love, and then history repeats itself. Skystar takes a mate of one of his kin.

Seriously though, how many mates has Skystar had now? Three. How many did he steal, either from his brother or his son? Two.

He then asks Thunder to join his camp again – after abandoning him as a kit. After asking him to join them, before abandoning him again. After killing so many of his kin, nearly including his adoptive father and uncle. After stealing his mate, who he loved. He asked him to join them yet again, and…Thunder accepted.

Later, Thunder left his camp with Owl Eyes and a few other friends, to start his own, because his father mistreated him again. What does that say about Skystar, and his duties as a parent?

In Moth Flight’s Vision, Red Claw, one of Skystar’s warriors, accidentally killed Micah, his medicine cat and a close friend of Moth Flight’s. However, this was not Red Claw’s fault. It was the fault of Skystar, who sent Red Claw after him. Skystar killed his own medicine cat, and let Red Claw take the blame. The death toll must be very high now. Skystar has killed 11 cats, probably more – these are just the ones I’ve mentioned – including his own medicine cat, and many of his kin.

Skystar is a conceited, malicious cat with many awful traits. He has killed many cats, most of whom he grew up with, and abandoned his kin when they needed him most, especially his son. I have even begun to question whether he should have been allowed into StarClan.

I looked up a list of Dark Forest cats, and most of them, if not all, have been involved in, or have committed murders. Skystar has committed 11 – or more – and was sent to StarClan. I think Gray Wing might have fixed it so Skystar went there, instead of the Place of No Stars.
But was the Dark Forest even around in those times? I looked that up, and it says that One-Eye founded the Dark Forest, so it was most definitely around when he died. I think he should have gone to the Place of No Stars, for all the terrible things he did as leader. What do you think? I would love to hear your opinions, but for now, may StarClan light your path!