neurodivergent warrior cats: why clear sky/skystar has ocpd
clear sky is one of my favorite characters in dotc. i think he is a perfect example of a morally gray antagonist done right. warrior cats as a series has often struggled with one-dimensional villains. as much as we love tigerstar (heh) his motivations are largely unrelatable. same goes for brokenstar, sol, thistleclaw, etc. so having a villain (or rather anti-hero) with clear, understandable motivations, was a breath of fresh air. i’m going to make another post focusing on clear sky’s role as a villain another time, so stay tuned!
i struggled to pinpoint an exact condition on clear sky for the longest time. npd didn’t feel right to me, but after analyzing him further, i landed on obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (ocpd), a condition that often goes unrecognized. so, let’s go over it!
typical disclaimer, absolutely no ableism is tolerated. also, spoilers for dotc if you haven’t read it yet!
the first symptom clear sky displays is rigid obsession with rules and organization. his main, defining trait early on in the series is his obsession with borders. it gives him a sense of comfort and control, though, problems arise when he begins to strictly enforce them at the detriment of others. this can also be interpreted as perfectionism, as we see that his main goal is power and protection for his group. this could partly be why he exiles jagged peak and frost.
another thing we blatantly see within clear sky is his aversion to criticism and extreme scorn for others’ flaws. when storm and thunder dare to question his authority, instead of trying to reason with them, he simply kicks them out due to his own pride getting in the way. when it comes to jagged peak especially, he perceives his limp as a threat to his group. we also see him being highly critical of other cats’ actions, such as gray wing and tall shadow, despite his own apparent weaknesses.
the next symptom is excessive devotion to work. it is also noted that said devotion tends to result in the neglect of loved ones and recreation. well, take jagged peak and gray wing for example! his relationship with them crumbles due to his obsessive tendencies, and his never-ending cycle of hunting and establishing boundaries. he even pushes away his mate, storm.
the next two symptoms i’ll be discussing are: excessive doubt and indecisiveness and extreme caution to avoid perceived failure. the best example i can give of this is his arc with one eye. because he struggles to act quickly when one eye takes over, he ends up losing his leadership. we see his internal struggle when deciding how to handle the situation, and it’s this faltering moment that weakens his authority. he is always so preoccupied with what he’s doing wrong, that he struggles to do what’s right. i believe this is a perfect example of these two symptoms
the last symptoms i’d like to go over are unwillingness to compromise, fixation on a single idea, and black/white thinking. when fluttering bird sends him a prophecy, he immediately comes up with his own interpretation (notably, the one that puts him in control) and is stubbornly set on it. despite the other founders making it clear that they aren’t interested in his plan, he tries to force it anyways, because he believes his way is right. not only that, but he has a tendency to see things as all good/all bad, thus, black/white thinking. his opinion of gray wing in particular is constantly changing, depending on how agreeable he is. he sees certain things and other cats as either good/evil.
while i might have missed some things (i’m just now starting book 5 of dotc as of writing this) i feel that clear sky’s behavior perfectly matches the symptoms for obsessive-compulsive personality disorder. leave your thoughts in the replies!
I was initially surprised when I found out that Clear Sky ended up becoming Theful in Clan myth, but as I thought about it the more it made sense. Assuming that the guy is about as controlling as he was in canon, it's not hard to see cats making jokes about how he'd control the wind itself if he could, and things just kind of spiraled from there.
To be clear: I have not read the fifth arc of Warriors, and I know very little about Clear Sky's character, other than he's a major douche. If I'm to make a statement on Theful now, I would say that his connection to Clear Sky is purely through name (as he can also be called "Bluesky"). Theful is playful and nice, if a little stupid. Our Clear Sky was indeed a control freak and a poor leader. A modern cat would not be able to connect the two at all.
I think that’s the first time the SkyClan tag was ever used on Iterum wowie-
And the Clans having stories of one more group potentially being there in the beginning but unsure if it’s fact or fiction… but from what you’ve written down it appears to be more true then fiction, and looking at the Lore and Worldbuilding about the Founders- sure enough it’s mentioned a lot. Need to do my homework on iterum smh at myself
Clear Sky I’m guessing was Uplands Colony, and I’m guessing from skimming those sections… he was booted out for the same cruelty he had within the source material- called shrewd in Brawn’s section, Dewdrop’s section referring to him exiling a cat named Frost for not being capable of hunting, Tall Shadow’s rivalry with him (and her being killed by a Uplands Colony Cat later) and it being listed in Grey Wing’s section about his cruelty.
So yeah- a group that was highly aggressive, headed by one that is commonly described as cruel by each founder page (except Riverlands so far since it isn’t posted)… I can imagine *why* Claar Sky was booted out and his group eventually disbanded afterwards.
Overall, Clear Sky was immensely incompetent more than he was cruel. He had ambition and nothing else to his name, and it really showed when he led his colony. He was chased out in time for various reasons, cruelty being one of them, and now the only way he's connected to Clan history at all is through the feline name of Theful.
honestly grey wing sucking up to his brother isnt even unusual he just loves both his brothers a lot. ignore the fact that he said jagged peak didnt deserve to be a father ok
