I am having a loooot of brainrot on my warrior cats aus. a lot of it is me agonizing over the plots, family trees, povs, and goals of the rewrite, but a lot of it is also on the characters. the silly guys!! and right now, that silly guy is Lionblaze.
decidedly not silly in canon (sucky guy ngl) but I wanna talk about the character arc he's getting from me.
(Now, I am not very far into the canon books, but years of being in the fandom, atching maps, and not giving a damn about spoilers has basically filled me in on everything.)
Depending on the au, Lionblaze is either born to Crowfeather and Leafpool with his siblings, or Ashfur and Leafpool with Jayfeather. Either way, sucky father. He is raised basically the same, and still sneaks out to meet Heatherpaw. He still trains, and still has the same powers.
However, when he fights with the tribe, he fights to kill. Influenced by training with Tigerstar, he cuts down many of the poor rogues, and is only shaken from this haze when Hollypaw is, unfortunately, killed. Her death, while it does not change him immediately, does play a part in his arc. For one, it frightens him away from Tigerstar. So, he never really is as bloodthirsty as he was in that battle, but he is still a fighter, and a powerful one.
Lionblaze may not do it consciously, but he still does take some of what Tigerstar taught him to heart. He is a loyal cat to his clan, and still fights for them, and still uses his powers for them. And he is very gruff with any non-ThunderClan cats, including Breezepelt. He only reluctantly accepts Breezepelt’s involvement with him and Jayfeather when he learns of the sign Jayfeather was given about Breezepelt. Though he eventually does grow closer to Breeze, it isn't until Breeze helps him cure ThunderClan’s greencough outbreak.
Still, they grow close, enough that Lionblaze is devastated by Breezepelt’s presumed death after the tunnel collapse. It is made worse, though, because Leafpool was also trapped in the tunnels and presumed dead. Lionblaze had been angry with her, but the fact that she died without them ever getting to talk greatly upsets him.
And, to make things even worse, Jayfeather bitterly renounces StarClan and allows himself to be driven out of ThunderClan. Lionblaze escorts him to the mountains, but does not stay with his brother. He returns to ThunderClan, alone.
Entering into oots, Lionblaze is at a very low point. All of this grief is not dealt with, and it sort of consumes him. He becomes an angry cat, lashing out constantly at others. Especially so when, with Squirrelflight mourning her sister, and Brambleclaw stepping down as the deputy, Lionblaze feels that responsibility falls on him to rebuild his clan. He is StarClan’s chosen cat, after all, even though he isn't even sure there can be a prophecy now that the three are fractured.
This affects both Dovekit and Ivykit, because Lionblaze is made Ivykit’s mentor, but takes up being Dovekit’s, too, since ThunderClan has no healers. All of his anger does not help him treat Dove and Ivy well. Constantly, he lashes out at Ivypaw, and punishes her twice as hard for any little thing that affects Dovepaw at all. Take, for example, the paralysis of Briarpaw. Instead of a tree falling in the camp, Dovepaw, Blossompaw, Ivypaw, and Briarpaw are hunting with some warriors. Blossompaw creates an ill-advised competition with the others, and Ivypaw eagerly joins in, thinking she could impress Lionblaze and finally get her mentor to look at something other than Dovepaw. It doesn't go well, though. As the two apprentices race up a precariously old tree, Briarpaw follows them up to get them to come down. The tree falls, and Blossompaw is the only cat to get out with only scrapes. Briarpaw suffers paralysis, like in canon, and Ivypaw’s pelt is torn up and she suffers a mild concussion.
Lionblaze, instead of showing care for her well-being, starts to scream at her for the danger she was putting every cat in. He puts emphasis on Dovepaw, of course, which only fuels her resentment of her sister. Upon returning to camp, he doesn't allow her to be checked up by Dovepaw, or anyone else, and gives her extensive apprentice punishments. Lucky for him, she recovers mostly fine (especially after Mothwing helps her out).
Now, Dovewing. Lionblaze didn't treat her very well, either. Constantly, he ignored her struggles and shut down her protests. At her ceremony, she very loudly expressed she did not want to be a healer. But he got louder, until she got scared and gave in. He kept her very separated from Ivypaw and the other apprentices, often pulling her away from fighting and hunting to learn about herbs or whatever else. It was only when Mothwing came to ThunderClan to help did Dovewing get a true mentor (and a namesake), and even then, the moment she realized she could, Dovewing moved to RiverClan. She felt bad, leaving Ivyfang, but she was happier in RiverClan. She was much happier with her girlfriend, mentor, and position.
Lionblaze still kills Russetfur, though it’s accidental, and is blamed for the death of Flametail. He gets put on suspension, and becomes a sort of assistant in the nursery. Without his warrior duties, he has no distractions, and so he has to confront his grief. Especially so after he has a talk with Cinderheart, and he realizes that he’s just sad. Deeply sad. And he realizes what a horrible cat he’s been acting as.
So, he decides he’s going to work through this. He doesn't want to be this cat, and while he may have screwed up with Dove and Ivy too badly already, he’s still going to work on himself.
Of course, Breezepelt and Leafpool return to the clan, with Jayfeather (who’s changed his name to Galestream) and a fox Breezepelt has named Cardinal in tow. Lionblaze gets to talk with them, and he comes to realize he doesn't want to be a warrior anymore. He’s fought so much, shed so much blood already, and he doesn't want to do that anymore.
So, he settles into the nursery full-time. Helping the queens with anything they need, and assisting the healer when necessary.
He doesn't like to fight, even in the battle during The Last Hope, it brings him great pain to be fighting the spirits. So he won’t anymore.
He apologizes to Dovewing and Ivyfang, who’ve now both moved away, and he recognizes that it's likely they won't ever forgive him. And he thinks that they don't have to. He would understand why they wouldn't, after all, he was terrible.
They recognize that too, and they don't forgive him. But, they recognize he is trying, and they thank him for apologizing.