battle cats

warrior cats blog, many ocs here

[jesse-pinko]

Still screaming crying beating my fists at Bluestar and Yellowfang and Leafpool being so personally and intimately tormented and jerked around and shat on by their own loving God in life only to become reduced to just another Starclan mouthpiece for misogyny upon their deaths losing all of their individuality and agency and ruining the lives of their female descendants in the exact same way… she would not fucking say that!! She would not fucking say that!!

[brackenfur]

i have a lot of feelings abt brambleclaws character bc he was legit my first ever like, Favorite Character EVER and dont even talk to me abt what he became in the later arcs bc it still stings, but nowadays when i think abt how i (who is not an erin hunter and does not claim to be) would have written him and im like.............okay, so hes born in thunderclan and his father is exile. he looks just like his father, and his clanmates therefore are wary around him and watch him constantly for anything else that resembles tigerclaw. does he have tigerclaws gruff and direct nature? his ambition? is he too rough and rowdy? he plays with sorrelkit and rainkit and sootkit and sometimes, when he pins them for too long - and hes a little bit older and bigger than the three of them, dont tell sorrelkit that, though - they squeak and he gets reprimanded much, much faster than tawnykit does, and much more harsher. and he sees the way everyone looks at him, and its difficult.

ashpaw doesnt look at him like that, though. when ashpaw becomes an apprentice, he takes bramblekit under his wing and starts teaching him basic hunting and fighting moves - look, bramblekit!! look what dustpelt taught me!! - and bramblekit is soo exicted bc theres someone other than goldenflower, tawnykit, and sorrelkit (since sootkit and rainkit are a tiny bit afraid of him, just bc hes bigger) who dont look at him with that Lingering look. bramblekit looks up to fireheart, though - fireheart saved him from the fire. he thinks fireheart is so cool; hes not really that old, in fact he's one of the youngest warriors, but he became DEPUTY, even though he was a housecat - and goldenflower says thats a very big deal, but fireheart is a very good cat. and that bramblekit just needs to show fireheart that he wants to be a good warrior - and then fireheart wants to be his mentor!!!!

everything changes when brindleface dies, though. ashpaw's not his friend anymore, swiftpaw - his big brother, his really cool and funny big brother who shouldve become a warrior, why didnt that happen?? - dies, and bramblepaw learns the truth about his mysterious father all in like. a few weeks of each other. and bramblepaw realizes that he has two paths he can go down, and when tawnypaw leaves, hes REALLY alone now, and when tigerstar calls him out in front of everyone, he has to make the decision quick: he can go to shadowclan to be with his father and tawnypaw, leaving goldenflower behind, and know that he'll have an easier life. shadowclan cats dont look as mean as everyone says, and his father clearly cares about him - or, at least tawnypaw says he does - and tawnypaw is there. his best friend (since ashpaw started ignoring him) next to sorrelkit and fernpaw, that is. his littermate. he can have a great life and become a warrior in like, a moon, maybe two moons, tops.

but he'll be leaving goldenflower behind. he'll be turning his back on thunderclan when they need them the most. and even though firestar will probably respect his decision, he'll be letting firestar, his mentor, someone who's taken care of him and who's started to believe in him - REALLY believe in him, not because he has to, but because he wants to - down. sure, he'll have an easier life in shadowclan, but it won't make him happier. it wont be home.

and i think that brambleclaw doesnt regret his decision, not ever, but as a warrior, hes not really happy. he still has friends - sorreltail, ferncloud, brightheart - and he has his mother, aka his first real best friend, but he still doesnt know what his place actually IS. he loves thunderclan, and he loves firestar, and its home for him, sure, but he feels like something is missing. and then he goes on the journey and, although they know each other, of course, since goldenflower nursed him and feathertail after silverstream died and they killed bone together, he and stormfur become friends again. real friends. they talk all the time; brambleclaw shares with him how he doesnt really like being the de facto leader of the journeying cats, even though everyone will grumble that they dont actually think he is, but in hard times, they always look to HIM, and that's....stressful for brambleclaw. he doesnt really like power. its not just because of tigerstar - and wow, tigerstar tried to kill stormfur, didn't he? - not all the way, but its also because brambleclaw is so, so tired of being overly visible. of having everyone looking at him. its stressful to be in charge; he knows he can be a know it all at times - its hard not to with squirrelpaw ragebaiting him at times - but its not...fun.

stormfur in turn tells him about being half-riverclan, of knowing what its like to be watched and perceived all the time for all the wrong reasons. about not growing up with the one parent who seems to define everything for you - silverstream was riverclans darling once upon a time, and now, riverclan looks at stormfur and feathertail and sees the ones who took her from them. no one has ever said that - mosspelt wouldnt let them - but its there, he feels it. and brambleclaws like yes!! you understand!!

wow this got long lmafo. i need to finish this up in a pt 2 or something

[brackenfur]

ok pt2 bc im brambleclaw brained tonight

but stormfur and brambleclaw become like really close on the journey which is like........Huge since stormfur doesnt make friends that easy, ever. it feels like no one in riverclan really Gets it, but all the cats on the journey have been so welcoming and accepting, but w/ brambleclaw its just. nice to have someone to talk to, and someone he feels like he can help. he thought that he might be uncomfortable around brambleclaw bc of tigerclan but its weird - when he looks at brambleclaw, even though he LOOKS like tigerstar, he doesnt act like him at all. and brambleclaws eyes remind stormfur of goldenflower's - actually, so much of goldenflower is present in brambleclaw, much more than maybe brambleclaw realizes

feathertail dies, though, and stormfur feels himself closing off from everyone. even though squirrelpaw and brambleclaw try to cheer him up, he has to tell graystripe what happened. how he failed to protect his sister, the ONE cat he promised to protect and care for above all else. and its a very lonely pain.

brambleclaw can't help his friend, and stormfur chooses to stay w/ the tribe - he tries to understand it, and he DOES get it, of course, but brambleclaw just feels so lonely again. great, a friend he made as a warrior, someone who got it, someone who brambleclaw liked spending time with, is gone, and then poof, hawkfrost and mothwing are here and are his half-siblings.

squirrelflight doesnt like hawkfrost, and brambleclaw will never say this out loud, of course, bc who tf do u think he is, but he trusts her judgement - squirrelflight is very perceptive and honest, but she also doesnt really get this part of it. she doesnt get what it's like to have such a complex family history like this; leafpool is in thunderclan, and both of her parents are alive and well-liked. and tawnypelt is trying to be the best shadowclan warrior she can be - which brambleclaw loves and admires about his sister, of course - but its at the sacrifice of their relationship; blackstar wouldn't like seeing her get so close to her thunderclan brother again, since her loyalties have always been questioned. but hawkfrost is interested in talking to brambleclaw - hawkfrost has SO many questions, mostly about tigerstar, but about the thunderclan side of his family, too. and even though hawkfrost's personality clashes with brambleclaws - hawkfrost is very self-assured and direct; there's so much of his personality that brambleclaw was taught was negative, since those were very much tigerstar traits - brambleclaw thinks about swiftpaw, weirdly enough. his older half-brother who brambleclaw looked up to so so much as a kit and apprentice; he thought swiftpaw was indestructible. swiftpaw looked out for him and tawnypelt, he loved them, and maybe brambleclaw can be hawkfrost's swiftpaw. right?

and oh man, the df plot. the df plot. personally, i just cant see arc1 brambleclaw doing it. and i cant see my Idealized version of him doing it, either; i think how i would do it, is that hawkfrost is training in the dark forest with tigerstar - but only hawkfrost, until eventually, hawkfrost comes up to brambleclaw and is like. hey. so. you know our father isnt really gone, gone, right? like you can still talk to him and ask him all the questions you've always wanted to know. he's there, and he wants to train us - like he should have done when we were kits. hawkfrost is DYING to know their father, even though brambleclaw gave him the gist and told him that tigerstar being a present father isnt really something brambleclaw had experience with - maybe tawnypelt did, but tawnypelt just shrugs her shoulders and prefers not to elaborate, as is her way sometimes. i think brambleclaw only goes to like, a few training sessions every few nights because he wants to protect hawkfrost. maybe brambleclaw is a little curious about tigerstar, but his father is- well, hes not really the imposing and regal leader that apprentice bramblepaw thought he was. he seems off - angry and vengeful, very empty. and brambleclaw thinks its very sad that hawkfrost - and maybe brambleclaw a little, too - are so desperate for a familial connection that they pretend to overlook it.

this is so long so im gonna keep it quick, but i can see stormfur coming back to riverclan around this time, and brambleclaw is SO happy to see his friend - even more so when stormfur joins thunderclan. his friend is back, and squirrelflight's back to being his friend, too; it's not as weird between them now, even though ashfur is still lurking in the background. brambleclaw doesnt really know why he hates him so much, but- whatever, not his problem, because stormfur is here.

stormfur's here, and he fits into thunderclan well. he and brambleclaw talk all the time; brambleclaw shows him around and talks to him about everything thats been going on. everything that he's been going through, and the more they talk, the more brambleclaw thinks that this isnt just...friendship, not really. squirrelflight straight up just asks him "you have a thing for him, don't you?"

and he does. brambleclaw's never really had a thing for anyone before, not a molly or a tom, but he thinks this is what it feels like - goldenflower pretty much tells him that it must be.

tigerstar doesnt like that, though. oh, tigerstar is not happy at all. he'd rather have brambleclaw be with someone of firestars lineage than stormfur, of all cats - stormfur is half-riverclan. he's graystripe's son. he went from going to the tribe, to riverclan, and crawling to thunderclan - he has no loyalty. stormfur goes against everything that tigerstar stands for.

i love the idea of a dramatic showdown sometime in sunset w/ them - "you can have any tom or molly; you're my oldest kit, my spitting image, any thunderclan cat would be honored to have your kits. but you're choosing a tomcat with a riverclan mother and a thunderclan father, a thunderclan father who couldnt even train an apprentice properly, who let himself get taken by twolegs. stormfur will never give you children, will never choose you - he cant even choose his own clan! your sister is choosing a loyal, shadowclan tom - hawkfrost knows he has to choose a riverclan cat! why are you such a disappointment?"

and brambleclaw realizes that he's been an idiot. he's his father's firstborn, yes, but he's nothing like tigerstar - and this disappoints tigerstar the most. hes his fathers biggest disappointment: tawnypelt is a loyal shadowclan cat, who will choose a shadowclan mate and is both talented and level-headed. mothwing, even though tigerstar's never met her, at least has kept her head down and done her duty as a medicine cat. and hawkfrost is practically tripping over his paws to do whatever tigerstar asks of him - he values his father that much, despite only knowing him as this shadow.

brambleclaw, though. brambleclaw's always been his softest kit. he was supposed to be his greatest achievement - his prodigy - and brambleclaw doesnt want power. he let firestar choose another cat as deputy over him; he values friendship and love over power. hes best friends with firestars daughter, and views firestar as his psuedo parent - brambleclaw wont hear a negative word about firestar.

but worst of all, brambleclaw cant even choose a mate right. he's fallen in love w/ a half-clan cat who flipflops between loyalties and, worst of all, has no ambition. they'll have no children, no one to carry on tigerstar's legacy. all the moons tigerstar has spent trying to reach his son, and its a goddamn fucking waste. his son is soft. he looks like tigerstar, but he's just like firestar.

brambleclaw realizes that all of this was for nothing; he wants hawkfrost to get out of here. he wants to take his little brother and just fucking leave - his father is dead, and brambleclaw knows that he spent the past few moons chasing the idea of a place in thunderclan, of trying to find his purpose, and all along, he was falling once again into tigerstar's grand fucking scheme. worst of all, he almost betrayed firestar: firestar has believed in him, cared for him. firestar wanted him to be deputy, until brambleclaw told him no and told him to give it to someone else, someone more experienced and who wanted power. brambleclaw doesn't know if he'll become leader one day, but it'll be on his own terms - and if he wants it which, fuck, he barely likes organizing patrols half of the time.

he just wants stormfur. he wants to go back to thunderclan, to his friends.

and then boom, hawkfrost confrontation. hawkfrost is so, so fucking angry that brambleclaw walked away from everything. he's angry that even though HE was the one who was spending all this time w/ tigerstar, the only one that tigerstar valued was brambleclaw - soft, weak-hearted brambleclaw, who never chases after what he really wants. who thinks he knows best.

hawkfrost doesnt think that brambleclaw will kill firestar; brambleclaw nearly faints at the sight of his mentor at hawkfrosts claws. no, he knows he wont - but its two birds, one stone. kill firestar, and then brambleclaw - maybe pin it on brambleclaw, since hawkfrost thinks thunderclan would probably believe it, and gain tigerstars true respect. all hawkfrost wants is his fathers love and respect - he has nothing else.

brambleclaw still kills hawkfrost, and brambleclaw doesnt know what to do. his friends find him, standing over his brothers body, and brambleclaw realizes that in some way, he fell into his fathers plan - he killed someone, murdered his brother. he couldnt save hawkfrost. somehow, tigerstar has still won. he's still won, and brambleclaw has to go on and pretend like everything is okay. he has to go on and pretend like he wants this - to be a warrior, when all its done in the past few moons is bring him confusion and pain.

and i think, a few weeks later, when hes curled up alone in the warriors den, stormfur finds him. stormfur likes thunderclan, sure, but he really only came here for one reason: brambleclaw. and stormfur wants to take care of someone; its in his nature. and more than that, fuck it, he loves him. hes known it for the longest - squirrelflight and shrewpelt have been the most annoying little fuckin' matchmakers on that.

but stormfur finds him, and sits down next to his nest. and quite simply goes: "we can leave if you want, you know."

"leave?"

"sure."

"and go...where? to riverclan? shadowclan?"

"we can leave the lake."

"to the tribe?"

"no. im thinking it can just be the two of us. we saw the sundrownplace; have you ever wondered what else is out there?"

in short, brambleclaw and stormfur leave thunderclan - promising to return one day soon, when they both find what they're looking for - and become wanderers. wow. phew.

[ferncloud]

if it doesnt kill you its sure to leave a horrible scar

[toonful]

Doomed meowi

[assorted-soups]

Faithless healer x pious practitioner. I freaking love mothpool…

[papajoolia]

When you're a little cat but you're evil

[ewwww-what]

The childhood warrior cat oc is a parasite that inhabits in the brain

[sethdomain]

what a bunch of lovely young Toms

[bonefall]

"watch how hard I can give birth" is absolutely weird but there's also a canon gay couple now so you win some you lose some

A single gay couple is not enough. Unless the gay cats are sucking face on screen and one of them looks at the camera and says "Trans rights are human rights" before 3 pages of nothing but "I'm sorry women" followed by a full page color spread of Bumble, there cannot possibly be enough in this book to justify the "Sharp Shooter Cooter" scene.

We need to start demanding better, The Gays

[brightlycloudy]

Happy pride month canon ravenbarley

[rookflower]

there at least seems to be a general consensus nowadays, at least in a post squirrelflight's hope world, that squirrelflight and leafpool were not "bad people for lying about the kits" (hooray, whoop tee doo, etc), but i still see a lot of "well it was still kind of shitty of them to not tell brambleclaw at least" and im sorry but i wholeheartedly disagree. even in a generous assesment of brambleclaw's character, from an in character perspective going off of the new prophecy, he is judgmental and insecure and quick to anger. he makes up assumptions about squirrelflight's beliefs in his head and then holds them against her. he does not tell her about training in the dark forest and how that lead to him having to make the decision to kill her father or not. he is very ambitious and proud of his standing. he just became deputy.

considering that this is warrior cats where a good chunk of their community is cruel and conservative, that people are always saying horrible shit about daisy around this time, that just shortly before squirrelflight and leafpool's lifetime (and during brambleclaw's) there was an incident where three cats were put to death for being half clan and two of the major parties involved in that are currently comfortably clan leaders- no i don't think it would have been the wiser kinder and safer move for squirrelflight to put her sister's life in the hands of her insecure and aggressive boyfriend and hoped for him to play along with secretly adopting her half clan medicine cat children as his own at his own risk. even if he'd *maybe* help them out with no issue, i still fully believe that that chance is signiiificantly less than 100%. hell even if he did help them I think he'd be horrible to them about it

[1seele7-deactivated20260203]

(Doodles) One never recovered from the cultural phenomenon that was SSS WC

[spageddy]

leafpool warrior cats is like if god called mary a dirty slut for having jesus outside of wedlock and wouldn't let her into heaven despite saying her child was necessary to save everyone

[seroquelstar]

[natalieriess]

Warriors: The Prophecies Begin Volume 2 comes out NEXT WEEK!!!! Here are some more sketchbook paintings, this time featuring Silverstream.

Does anyone know if they eat crayfish in RiverClan? Apparently they can be found in the UK, so it could be possible…either way, I made myself hungry for shrimp drawing this!

Ink with watercolor (and a tiiiiiny bit of colored pencil)

[garlicpaw]

bluestar and mosskit :']

[harriertail]

how much do you remember