My opinion on Mapleshade by Jackdawpaw

Jackdawpaw shares their thoughts on Mapleshade.

Okay, so, to be honest, I know this is a basic plot, everyone writes about this, and to be honest I’ve pretty much stopped reading articles about Mapleshade just because they’re so many and I’m just tired of all these different opinions. But, here I am, anyway, cause I still have my own opinion and as all these other people, I want to support it.

So, let’s just look at Mapleshade’s reasons to to what she did. I hope I’m not missing anything right now:

1. She got exiled from her Clan.
2. Her kits drowned.
3. Her mate betrayed her by taking a new mate and blaming Mapleshade for the death of the kits.

So, I think these are all very terrible things, of course, and I understand she was angry at all the three cats she murdered. Ravenwing, cause he told Oakstar about the kits, Frecklewish, cause she let the kits die, and Appledusk, cause he betrayed her. But before I tell you my opinion about Mapleshade, I’ll start like this: Did they deserve to die in the first place?

• Ravenwing: No, I don’t think he did. After all, he just did his job. StarClan sent him a sign and he understood what it meant, so it was his duty to tell his Clan leader. Oakstar was the one who kicked out Mapleshade, not Ravenwing.
• Frecklewish: Yes, she deserved to die and enter the Dark Forest, cause she watched three helpless, innocent kits die without lifting a paw to help them, just because she was angry at their mother.
• Appledusk: I’m not sure here, but I’d say he deserved to die but maybe he didn’t deserve the Dark Forest; I think the Dark Forest is only for truly evil cats, like cats who murder and stuff, while Appledusk was just really mean.

So, now we can see that, according to me, there were cats Mapleshade murdered who actually deserved to die, but is that enough? Does the fact that they deserved death (at least some of them) give her the right to murder them? My answer is:

No. Mapleshade had a tough life for sure, but that doesn’t mean you can kill three other people! Look at Crowfeather. Look at Yellowfang. Look at… I’ve run out oof examples for the moment but there are lots of cats who had tough lives! But they moved on eventually, or at least, they didn’t become bloodthirsty maniacs who thought it was a dang good idea to extinct all the warrior Clans because they’re angry.

Note also, that her novella says that Mapleshade was actually happy to be in the Dark Forest.

I think there are some reasons why many people support Mapleshade and her actions. Mainly, I think many people’s minds were strongly influenced by Mapleshade’s point of view, which made everything kind of make sense and seem more okay (no offense, it happened to me too). Plus, many people like her because she’s one of the few female villains in in series, and I totally agree that we need more of those.

By the way, I think the only really likeable character in the novella is Myler.

So, I think that’s it. I believe Mapleshade deserved to die and definitely deserved the Dark Forest. Jackdawpaw out!