Why Ashfur is the most successful villain by Pebblepaw

Pebblepaw takes a look at Ashfur’s villain arc and what became of it.

Hello! Pebblepaw here! Today I’m going to be explaining why Ashfur was the most successful villain while trying VERY HARD not to rage-rant. Without further ado, let’s get into it!
(Quick note: I hate Ashfur with a burning passion but this article is strictly factual. I don’t want anyone to get the wrong idea that I’m defending him or something lol)

So a little explaining about Ashfur for those who haven’t read TNP (and probably shouldn’t be here)
So Ashfur was in love with Squirrelflight, who sort of accidentally led him on. She got back together with Brambleclaw and told him she just wanted to be friends. He couldn’t accept the fact that Squirrelflight didn’t love him, so his mind essentially snapped like a piece of raw spaghetti. This is what started his life as the most successful villain in warriors.
So lets start with his first crime. All the way back in TNP, he helps Hawkfrost lead Firestar into a fox trap. He wanted Squirrelflight to ‘feel the same pain he did.’ This causes Firestar to lose a life, though thankfully nothing more than that. Hawkfrost is killed by Brambleclaw fulfilling the blood will spill blood prophecy, and Ashfur gets off scot-free.
Moving on to POT, Firestar makes a very bad decision and assigns Ashfur to be Lionpaw’s mentor. Ashfur is not a good mentor to him for the sole reason that he is ‘Squirrelflight and Brambleclaw’s kit’, even going as far as unsheathing his claws during a training session. But this is nothing compared to what happens next. Fire breaks out in ThunderClan’s territory, and like any sane person, he decides to take the opportunity to try and murder his ex-girlfriend and her three grown children. He corners Squirrelflight along with Lionblaze, Jayfeather, and Hollyleaf, and he tells Squirrelflight that he is going to murder her ‘kits’ in front of her so that she will feel the same pain he did. Totally sane, right? So, this forces Squirrelflight to reveal that they’re not her kits as it is the only way to keep Ashfur from murdering them. Thankfully he lets them go, but keep in mind this is only because he could use this information to his advantage. But then, before he can reveal everything at the gathering, Hollyleaf kills him to stop him. Honestly, I don’t really blame her because Ashfur DID threaten to murder her and her siblings. So, for some reason, Ashfur goes to StarClan. According to Yellowfang, it was because “he only loved too much.” (Yellowfang what in StarClan is wrong with you.) After this he is only seen for very brief moments in StarClan where he seems to be sane and forgiving.
But as we find out during TBC, he spent two entire series making a complicated plan to get back at Squirrelflight. He pretended to have forgiven his murderer, pretended to have put his life behind him, pretended to be even remotely sane.
So moving on to AVoS (Sort of, more like Tigerheart’s Shadow SE) He decides to make Shadowkit (Later Shadowsight) A main pawn in his plan. He sends him visions, such as the one showing them the way home. The poor kit doesn’t know it’s Ashfur though, and instead thinks he is having visions from StarClan. (Which I guess he technically was because Ashfur was a StarClan cat, but you know what I mean) Anyways, he makes Shadowkit think he is special and chosen by StarClan, which he will later use to his advantage.
Now onto TBC, this is where things really start to get messy. When Bramblestar gets sick, he sends poor Shadowpaw a vision of how to “cure” him, which is basically freezing him to death. This kills Bramblestar, and Ashfur manages to steal his body before Bramblestar can reunite with it. Before the first book of the arc is even over, here Ashfur has done something most of the Dark Forest cats can only dream about. He has become leader of his clan, which not even Tigerstar succeeded with. (The only other villain to become leader of their own clan so far is Splashtuft) So now Ashfur has an entire clan of trained cats under his control. He sends Shadowsight the vision of the “codebreakers”, which he says must be punished. During this time, hiding his true identity under pretending to be Bramblestar, he changed rules such as saying he and Squirrelflight eat before anyone else. He used ridiculous punishments, such as saying no one could speak to Spotfur for a half-moon or sending Sparkpelt to her death (almost). This causes the rebels, consisting of Stemleaf, Breezepelt, Smokehaze, Dappletuft, Icewing, Harelight, Tree, Rootspring, most of ShadowClan, and soon Bristlefrost, to begin meeting in secret to figure out how to stop him.
Ashfur, AKA The Imposter or The False Bramblestar, keeps exiling cats. He has Mistystar and Harestar wrapped around his paw with the promise that this will bring StarClan back. The three leaders begin exiling “codebreakers.” These cats are Squirrelflight, Lionblaze, Jayfeather, Twigbranch, Berrynose (eventually), Spotfur, Sparkpelt, Blossomfall, Bumblestripe, Cinderheart, Finchpaw, Finleap, Crowfeather, and Mothwing. All fourteen exiles become part of the rebel group. Then, against Squirrelflight and Tigerstar’s orders, a few of the rebels attack. This results in the deaths Stemleaf, Dappletuft, and Smokehaze.
These are the first victims of Ashfur’s that he’s actually killed, and for once it was their own fault. This leaves him paranoid, and he makes life even harder for cats in ThunderClan. This right here one of the main things that sets him apart from other villains. Most of them have a sense of arrogance that makes them think they’re the strongest warriors in the forest. Cough cough-Tigerstar-cough. Ashfur however, knows he is not invincible. He knows there’s a very real chance that Bramblestar’s body could be killed, and he would be left as a powerless spirit once again. So, he goes to extreme measures to keep this from happening, such as attempting to kill Shadowsight as soon as he speaks up against the vision. (SHADOWSIGHT MY POOR BABY)
Then, after finding out that ShadowClan and SkyClan were housing the rebels, Ashfur and ThunderClan, along with RiverClan and WindClan, attack. This would have been a smart move on Ashfur’s side since he had two other clans with him, but then Harestar loses a life and the rebels win. They capture “The Imposter” and he is exposed as Ashfur.
Shadowsight, who has been blamed for this whole mess and demoted back to apprentice, is tasked with caring for Ashfur. Ashfur uses this to his advantage and starts manipulating poor Shadowsight. Shadowsight, having already suffered so much, is manipulated into freeing Ashfur so that Bramblestar’s body will live. Ashfur kidnaps Squirrelflight and drags her through the moonpool into the Dark Forest. Sometime during all this, though it is unknown exactly when, Ashfur starts possessing stranded spirits like Stemleaf and Spiresight. He gets most of the Dark Forest cats on his side under the fake promise that he can give them new bodies in the living clans too. Willowshine sends herself into the Dark Forest to rescue Squirrelflight, but Ashfur kills her before she even has a chance to get away.
Then, quite a bit later, in the Dark Forest, Shadowsight attacks Ashfur and Bramblestar and Squirrelflight escape. He posses Snowtuft and captures Rootspring. Firestar possesses Rootspring and kills Darkstripe and escapes, (why did they do that, it was so weird like Firestar isn’t even that great.) Finally, the lights in the mist, Dark Forest cats on their side, and StarClan warriors find Ashfur and attack him. Ashfur fatally wounds Graystripe, then once again tries to murder Shadowsight. He fails however, and Bristlefrost sacrifices herself and pushes him into the dark water. He pulls her down with him. Finally, Ashfur is gone for good.
Now you might be wondering, “how does this prove that Ashfur is the most successful villain?” Well let me explain. Ashfur succeeded with everything he did with no major consequences (Hollyleaf killing him doesn’t really count), up until he was revealed as an imposter and captured. Even then, he managed to manipulate Shadowsight and escape. He nearly succeeded in destroying both StarClan and the Dark Forest but is only stopped when Bristlefrost sacrificed herself and finally killed him for good.
If you look at other villains, none of them got this far without any major consequences. Tigerstar 1 only managed to become deputy before he was exiled. All of Hawkfrost’s plans failed. Mapleshade only managed to kill three cats before she was killed herself, and the entire time she was known as a villain anyways. Darktail got the closest, having gotten control over ShadowClan, but he was quickly defeated.
So, to conclude, Ashfur was such a successful villain for a few reasons. One, he lacked the “I’m invincible” ego that many other villains had, which meant he was much more paranoid and able to keep himself safe. Two, he was smart and managed to get away with multiple things while he was alive before he was killed by Hollyleaf, but even then he got into StarClan. He was smart in pretending to have changed, but in reality he was patiently forming a complicated plan. And last but not least, Three, he was a master manipulator. He literally tricked Shadowsight, whose life he pretty much ruined, into freeing him. Not to mention how he was able to convince both Mistystar and Harestar along with their clans to go along with his punishing “codebreakers” thing.
Thank you all so much for reading! Do you agree? Tell me in the comments! Thanks again! Pebblepaw out! :b