Why Mapleshade Deserves the Dark Forest by Marblerose

Marblerose argues why Mapleshade should remain in the Dark Forest.

Hello, my name is Marblerose, and this is my article about my opinion on whether or not Mapleshade should stay in the Dark Forest.

My opinion? Yes, she DOES deserve the Dark Forest. Actually, I think all of you got that from the title. But many, many people in the Warriors fandom think that she actually deserves StarClan. I don’t agree; this doesn’t make sense at all.

So, let’s first summarize Mapleshade’s Vengeance:
– There is a battle between ThunderClan and RiverClan. One of RiverClan’s warriors, Appledusk, accidentally pushes one of ThunderClan’s warriors, Birchface, into the river. Birchface’s apprentice, Flowerpaw, dives in to save him, but they both drown.
– Mapleshade tells Appledusk that she’s expecting his kits. When she returns to ThunderClan, Frecklewish asks her about the identity of the father, to which Mapleshade does not reply. Frecklewish assumes that the kits are Birchface’s – her brothers’ – and feels really happy.
– Mapleshade has three kits – Patchkit, Larchkit and Petalkit. She takes them to RiverClan’s territory to have them meet their father.
– Ravenwing, ThunderClan’s medicine cat, receives an omen about three reeds in ThunderClan. He tells Oakstar about the omen, who exiles Mapleshade and her kits.
– A storm starts as Mapleshade and her kits leave. She takes them to cross over a flooded river, and the kits drown. Mapleshade tries to join RiverClan, but is rejected. Appledusk takes on a new mate, Reedshine.
– Mapleshade hallucinates with her kits. She decides that Ravenwing is one of the cats that is to blame for her kits’ deaths. She goes to the Moonstone and hides behind it. As Ravenwing visits it to consult with StarClan, she brutally murders him and brings him to the hawks to eat.
– Mapleshade hallucinates with her kits again. She then decides that Frecklewish is to blame. She finds her at a patrol at Snakerocks, and lets an adder attack her. Frecklewish gets blinded and dies soon after.
– Mapleshade hallucinates with her kits again. She goes to spy on RiverClan, where Appledusk is training his apprentice, Perchpaw. Mapleshade attacks Perchpaw and forces him to stay quiet.
– It is revealed that Reedshine is expecting Appledusk’s kits. Mapleshade attacks her, but kills Appledusk instead. Perchpaw wounds Mapleshade in the neck, and she dies soon after. She then awakes in the Dark Forest.

Alright, so I’ve summarised Mapleshade’s Vengeance. Now, let’s move onto the reasons on why she deserves the Dark Forest.

“She just went crazy with grief!”
That doesn’t justify her terrible actions. Yes, she did go crazy, I understand that, but murdering three people who had very little to do with her kits’ deaths is too far. And before you say “but that was the only option she had, she couldn’t control herself!” let me tell you: Bluestar also went crazy with grief. But she didn’t murder innocent cats.

“She didn’t know her kits would drown!”
Yes, of course she would. How does one think that crossing a river that’s flooded with their children would NOT result in their deaths? And there was a BRIDGE that went over the river; she could’ve just used that and avoided murdering people who the fandom views as the actual villains of the story. But NOPE. What she chose is to cross a flooded river, without thinking that it would result in her kits’ deaths! So she’s partly to blame for the deaths of her own kits.

“It was Oakstar’s fault that her kits died!”
I actually… agree with this statement. He could’ve just exiled Mapleshade, and let the kits stay. But what kind of leader exiles innocent kits? So, I partly blame Oakstar for this.

“Ravenwing should’ve been wiser!”
Ravenwing was a really young, inexperienced medicine cat. His mentor died a few moons ago, he had nobody to depend on, he had to take care of his clan by himself. When he received the omen, he had no choice but to tell his leader. He didn’t know that it would lead to Mapleshade’s exile. Yet a lot of people want him to go to the Dark Forest! For what? Simply making a mistake?!

“Frecklewish should’ve saved the kits! Instead, she did nothing but watch them drown!”
Frecklewish could clearly see a RiverClan patrol near the river. What would a person in her place normally do? In this case, she just assumed that the patrol would save the kits. If you feel like this point isn’t convincing you enough, here’s another one – she was traumatized by Birchfacel’s, her brother’s, who she thought was the father of the kits, death. Maybe that river reminded her of him, that’s why she didn’t go near it. That’s what I think.

“Appledusk is an unloyal, cheating mate! He unfairly blamed Mapleshade for their kits’ deaths and mated with a much worse cat!”
I sort of agree with this one. But Mapleshade isn’t better than him. She was the one who took the kits over the flooded river, when she could have just used the bridge or waited for the storm to pass. And he didn’t mate with Reedshine after their deaths either. He actually was mates with her long before Mapleshade had her kits. So he sort of cheated on Reedshine, but not Mapleshade. And he broke the code less than her by choosing to mate with a cat that was in his own clan.

But why does she deserve the Dark Forest? Here are my reasons:
– She murdered three innocent cats due to her grief, but that doesn’t justify it. Other cats went through grief too and ended up in StarClan.
– She was partly to blame for her kits’ deaths. She took them over a flooded river, when there was a bridge, and she only used it after her kits drowned.
– She murdered a medicine cat and left his body for the hawks to eat.
– She still would’ve turned out evil even if she wasn’t grieving. At the start of the novella, I knew Mapleshade would be evil anyway.

Yes, she did go through grief. But, even though she thought that killing those cats would make her feel better, it seemed to be like she enjoyed murdering them. She wasn’t completely satisfied until those three cats that she thought were responsible for her kits’ deaths were killed. And before she died, she refused help from Myler, and snapped at him. And after she went to the Dark Forest, she enjoyed it here. Throughout her moons in the Dark Forest, she went and ruined many cats’ lives.

Hope you enjoyed this article. Hope you think about it every time you consider Mapleshade innocent, and may StarClan light your path.