Tigerstar II: a terrible leader by Nettlepaw

Nettlepaw takes a closer look at the second Tigerstar to lead ShadowClan.

Hi! This is Nettlepaw back with another article, and this time I’ll be talking about my extreme loathing for Tigerstar II. I appreciate that although this is quite a popular opinion by most of the fandom, some people will disagree with me. I would love to hear why, so please tell me in the comments!

Tigerstar is first mentioned in Power of Three. He, and his siblings, Flamekit and Dawnkit, were born to Tawnypelt and Rowanclaw. His mother, Tawnypelt, made the controversial decision of naming her firstborn after his grandfather, an immoral cat who is the antagonist of many elders’ tales.

He only becomes pertinent to the Warriors series in Omen of the Stars, where he is chosen as one of ShadowClan’s representatives to restore water to the lake and prevent further drought. The Clans needed adept warriors who would focus on the important task they had set out to do. Tigerheart, now a young warrior, used the trip as an opportunity to flirt constantly with a ThunderClan apprentice, which was both unhelpful and disgusting.

Later in Omen of the Stars, he continues to romance Dovewing, leading to a neglect of basic warrior duties. He also spent a considerable amount of time in the Dark Forest, and as soon as he was uncovered, he claimed that he was spying on them. However, this is a poor excuse for killing cats. For some reason, Dovewing, who had helped lecture many other cats who had supposedly done the same, believed his feeble excuse and never spoke of it again. Even after he took his girlfriend’s sister hostage for some herbs that both Clans needed, Dovewing still turned a blind eye to his many faults.

After the death of Crowfrost in Thunder and Shadow, Tigerheart is appointed deputy, which was a very nepotistic choice on Rowanstar’s part. He, and his parents, Rowanstar and Tawnypelt, left for ThunderClan when Darktail took over, along with many of their Clanmates. After ShadowClan is reinstated, Tigerheart forgets all about his important role as second-in-command, and runs away with Dovewing, leaving his Clan to suffer the consequences. His actions contributed to his father’s undoing, as Rowanstar could not lead his Clan after the abandonment of his son, and eventually disbanded ShadowClan to join SkyClan. By running away with his girlfriend, Tigerheart effectively destabilised an entire Clan.

While reading this, I was put under the false impression that Tigerheart had at least done some good while he was away. That is, until I found out that after abandoning his Clan, Tigerheart managed to undermine another society. The guardian cats were perfectly happy until Tigerheart interfered. Almost as soon as he arrived, Tigerheart began ordering cats around, like he was somehow unhappy with his old role as deputy and decided to have a career change, or maybe he was just being his old, domineering self. Either way, the guardian cats’ peaceful way of life was completely terminated. Instead, they had to patrol their new ‘territory’ Tigerheart had organised, and do countless other tasks that were entirely meaningless if you weren’t part of a large group.

In The Raging Storm, Tigerheart and Dovewing returned to the lakes, and to my astonishment, were welcomed back into their respective Clans with hardly any questioning. Tigerheart even got promoted to leader after his father, Rowanstar, stepped down, which was a horrendous decision on ShadowClan’s part. Tigerstar lacks any empathy for any cats who are not closely related to him, is extremely egotistical, fails to own up to any of his mistakes, and lacks any leadership skills whatsoever.

As soon as they returned, Dovewing made the difficult decision to join her mate in ShadowClan. Throughout Omen of the Stars, Tigerstar had pestered Dovewing to join his Clan, despite the fact that her entire family was in ThunderClan, and she played a major part of an incredibly important prophecy that cemented her place there. However, since Tigerstar is so wrapped up in himself, he fails to see that a decision like this one requires a lot of thinking over.

Tigerstar constantly proves himself as a terrible leader by picking fights with SkyClan over his decision to give them some of his territory, which he immediately went back on. His constant conflicts and bloodthirsty attitude led to his deputy poisoning the opposition’s prey pile, which led to the near death of a SkyClan queen.

He also demonstrates himself to be very nepotistic. His first choice of deputy was his nephew, who ultimately ended up in the Dark Forest. I do not agree with this decision, but the fact remains that Juniperclaw almost killed a cat. When his only son, Shadowsight, was revealed to have been unwittingly communicating with a dead murderer, Tigerstar would not hear a word against him.

Tigerstar also expects his children to be better than any other cat in the forest, which leads to them constantly wanting to prove themselves to him. His daughter, Lightleap, has become extremely reckless ever since her fear prevented her from entering the Dark Forest, but she feels that she can do anything because of her family, which is what she has been brought up to think. Even when she fell out of a tree, Lightleap presses Sunbeam not to tell anyone, in fear of the news of her injury reaching her father. When it inevitably does, Tigerstar punishes Sunbeam instead, as his nepotism has only increased since he has become leader.

In A Starless Clan, Tigerstar has taken over RiverClan by force, resulting in the injury of many cats. Instead of offering to help, which is what a sensible leader would have done, he decided that being leader of ShadowClan was not enough for him, and took over RiverClan in a violent coup. His arrogance and merciless attitude nearly cost him many cats’ lives, which is not a commendable trait in anyone, let alone a Clan leader.

In my opinion, Tigerstar is narcissistic, autocratic, is an expert at blame-shifting, and is simply not fit to lead cats. He has never cared for his Clan; as a young warrior, he has constantly flirted with a cat from another Clan, and as deputy, has abandoned his Clan for moons when his family was suffering under Darktail’s reign. As leader, he has consistently proven himself to be hypocritical, conceited and deceitful, with no thought for the thoughts and feelings of everyone else around him.

So, that concludes my article. I would really appreciate your views in the comments section, but for now, may StarClan light your path!