Defending unpopular characters pt. 2: Appledusk by Fallowpaw

Fallowpaw defends Appledusk.

Hi! So, I’m making this a series so if you haven’t read my previous article on Millie, check it out!

But today, I’m defending a very disliked cat:

Appledusk.

The main reason he’s hated for is cheating on Mapleshade and blaming her for the death of their kits.

But what if he was kinda right in doing the latter?

Mapleshade crossed a flooding river with her kits, in a storm.
Like, you can expect something will go wrong if you do that.
She could’ve used the bridge, or sleep in twolegplace for a night and come back the other day, when it’s less dangerous.
But she didn’t, so Mapleshade is partly to blame for her kits’ deaths.
And that’s the conclusion Appledusk came to too.
Also, it must be really scary to speak up to your leader, and since Darkstar decided Mapleshade should go, it’d be hard to protest.
Appledusk already broke the Code, he couldn’t risk angering his leader.

So now about cheating on Mapleshade.

It was pretty mean to do, but killing three mostly innocent cats is far, far worse and Appledusk does absolutely not deserve the Dark Forest.
And also, I think it’s possible he loved both Mapleshade and Reedshine at the time they were both his mates.
I truly believe he loved Mapleshade, but realized they could never be together, so when he started falling in love with Reedshine, it was hard for him to let go of Mapleshade but he eventually did when she wanted to join RiverClan.
And by the way, he died for Reedshine!
So I can’t prove that he loved Mapleshade, but I can prove that he loved Reedshine.
So can we please remember that one noble deed he did instead of saying he should swap afterlives with Mapleshade?
He cheated on his mate, but let go of her after he rejected her, which was not really nice but understandable, and then sacrificed his life for his new mate and unborn kits.
While she killed three innocent cats and tortured another one after her death!
I think you get the point, right?
Also, let’s compare Appledusk to Juniperclaw, the cat we all want justice for:

They both did a pretty small wrong deed, and then sacrificed their lives for a pregnant queen.

And still we love Juniperclaw and hate Appledusk, which makes no sense if you think about it.

So that’s why I think Appledusk doesn’t deserve as much hate as he gets! I hope you enjoyed this article!

Bye! Fallowsy out!