Is Twigbranch a likeable character? by Rosefern and Echoheart

Rosefern and Echoheart discuss Twigbranch.

Heya, BlogCats! I’m Rosefern, and this is Echoheart, and today we’re going to be debating on whether Twigbranch is a likeable character. We hope you enjoy!

Echoheart: I’ll start! Twigbranch is a fun character! She was a great addition to the ThunderClan medicine den, and I loved the dynamics between her, the medicine cats. She sort of gives Squilf vibes: passionate and always following her heart. She’s just a sweet cat and I enjoyed her chapters more than Violetshine :3

Rosefern: I don’t think Twigbranch was a fun addition to anything. She had a loving stepmother and plenty of people fawning over her, but she just needed to demand attention from Jayfeather too. The only reason she was being in the medicine den in the first place was to be an attention hog and a show-off even though she really didn’t need to be. As an apprentice she was being the annoying younger sibling character and following Violetpaw around even when Violetpaw asked her not too, I completely understand Violetpaw’s frustration with that.

Echoheart: I was under the impression that Twignranch hung out in the medicine den because Alderheart was there. Although I admit she could be annoying, I still enjoy those scenes because they were entertaining and slice-of-life-y.
But in her defense, Twigbranch was just a kit. One who had lost her mother and family and was trying to cling to the one she had left. Plus, Lilyheart’s kits at the time (Larksong, Leafshade, and Honeyfur) were pretty ahead of her (already play fighting when her eyes first opened). So it makes sense that she would want to spend time with the only cat in the same boat as her. In my opinion, Violetshine was a little too dismissive of her sister for me to enjoy her as much.

Rosefern: She did want to spend time with Alderheart but when Jayfeather told her repeatedly to leave she didn’t instead she tried to “help” him and almost drowned because, why? She wanted attention! Waaaah waaaaah waaaaah poow wittle Twigkit 😛 even if she was trying to cling to the family she had that still doesn’t excuse her behavior in her later life she should’ve learned by then. Despite everyone telling her not too she ran away to find SkyClan because she wasn’t getting enough love. Then she decided Hawkwing loved Violetshine more than her (not true) and ran back crying back to ThunderClan because her biological family (something she’s wanting her whole life) didn’t life up to her impossibly high standards. Wow!

Echoheart: The reason that she tried to help was, according to the Warriors Wiki: “she overheared Rosepetal and Mousewhisker voicing their doubt on whether Twigkit is the cat StarClan told them would clear the sky, and seemed like just another belly to fill. This made Twigkit anxious, wondering if the Clan would make her leave if she wasn’t special.” She didn’t specifically want attention as much as she was understandably insecure about being kicked out of the Clan. Obviously it wasn’t a good solution, but keep in mind this typical little kit logic was also what led the original three to trying to chase out foxes by themselves in The Sight.
As for the SkyClan thing, Twigbranch reasonably thought she belonged with her kin. After all that time of trying to keep her relationship with Violetshine, and finding SkyClan, of course it made sense for her to think that was her rightful place (although her heart said otherwise). Her struggle with where she belongs is actually why I like her. I find it quite relatable: it’s normal to change your mind a lot when you’re figuring out what you want in life. And eventually, Twigbranch follows her heart back to ThunderClan. Not only because of her kin ‘not living up to her standards’; she found she was genuinely just not as happy in SkyClan. And that’s okay!
Overall I just love her bubbly, albeit impulsive, optimistic nature <3

Rosefern: Y’know I actually agree that she’s relatible not just the one-sided other characters, I like that, but I still don’t like some of her decisions I don’t agree that she got to leave ThunderClan, and then, while SkyClan was doing their best to be welcoming to her, just rudely announce that she’s leaving and then just leave. I don’t really see what would justify that, and why she was unhappy there in the first place except with that whole deal with Finpaw, but yeah those I feel like are little things and similar things happened in ThunderClan apparently, which is why she decided to leave.

Echoheart: To be honest I sort of agree with you. Twigbranch still has a lot to learn about how her actions affect other cats. I’d say that this could be a unique character quirk however, as no cat can be perfect. From her perspective, it does read like she just wants somewhere that she can prove her whole loyalty to, and it’s understandable at least why she made the decision. Living unhappily in SkyClan for moons just for her kin wouldn’t be a much better option.
I do wish that the story showed more obviously why she wanted to leave SkyClan and ended with Twigbranch learning to empathize with others. But there’s a lot that I think AVoS could improve on (Alderheart’s character arc cough cough) 😛 so I love her from what we’ve got! :3

Rosefern: Agreed, I am glad she has flaws because we’re having some issues with characters being mary sues and stuff so yeah. From a real world standpoint I do hope she learns pretty soon that she needs to empathize with others in order to be successful.

That’s the end of our debate! Thank you for coming to our TEDTalk 😉 hope you enjoyed, and tell us what you think about Twigbranch in the comments!