Warriors Addendum 1: Mapleshade’s Vengeance
Welcome to what will probably be many addendums to the Warrior Mega Reviews. Warriors is a massive series and I have a lot of opinions. If you have not read my reviews or any of the cat books, I highly recommend you skip this one. I’m not re-explaining anything.
Recently, I’ve been thinking about Mapleshade. Mapleshade is a fan favorite and I don’t understand why. She’s quite bland, but she’s one of three prominent female villains we got so 🤷🏽♀️. In the first part, I talked about how I found Mapleshade’s Vengeance funny. I stand by that. It’s a very funny, illogical mess of a story with dumb characters and events. What I’ve learned since then is that a lot of people take Mapleshade’s Vengeance strangely seriously and have gotten into huge arguments about it. A while back, the Warriors Website team put Frecklewish in the Dark Forest which caused an outbreak of discourse in the fandom. There’s a lot of people who think Frecklewish deserved to be there because she broke the code when she “watched Mapleshade’s kittens drown.” She didn’t but since Mapleshade’s Vengeance is a bad story and the fandom is mostly made up of children, there are kids out there who genuinely believe a cat who would have drowned if she tried to save the kittens deserves to be in Hell. This is old drama I know, but I’ve been thinking about why this mix-up happened in the first place. My theory is that Mapleshade’s Vengenace is a bad backstory for a cat like Mapleshade and it’s poorly written grayness created all of this confusion and drama. Let’s break it down.
First, this novella is written from Mapleshade’s POV. This is a good decision because we see how vain and delusional she is. She believes her RiverClan lover Appledusk belongs to her and get violently jealous whenever another molly walks past him. She believes their kittens will somehow merge RiverClan and ThunderClan together. When her kittens die, she hears their voices urging her to kill the ones who wronged her. She’s an unreliable narrator. In a better book, this would’ve been great but Mapleshade Vengeance sucks so… Her being the narrator coupled with the book’s stupid events is THE reason why there is so much discourse surrounding this book. Children (hell, adults too) cannot differentiate a reliable narrator from an unreliable one. I can go on a whole rant about the death of media literacy but that’s a different discussion. Children, by default, lack media literacy and thus need to be taught. Therefore, a morally gray children’s book following a murderer who is twisting the narrative is not a good idea if you want your audience to see how cruel your villain is and why they are that way. You need to make it more obvious lest you have a bunch of 14 year olds arguing about why murder is a justifiable act.
Let’s go through the story’s events. During a battle for Sunningrocks, Appledusk, accidentally pushes Birchface into the river- drowning him and Birchface’s apprentice Flowerpaw, who dived in to save him. Fast forward, Mapleshade is expecting Appledusk’s kittens. She tells the ThunderClan deputy that she is going to raise the kittens alone. Seconds later, Birchface’s sister Frecklewish barges in a bit later and says:
“Is . . . is that because their father is dead?” She lifted her gaze, and Mapleshade almost winced at the blaze of hope in her eyes. “Are these Birchface’s kits?” Frecklewish whispered. “Is my brother going to live on through you?”
MV, pg 33
Mapleshade says nothing. Instead she thinks:
Is StarClan offering me a way for my kits to be accepted by their Clanmates? I can’t lie, not if I want them to know the truth later.
She stared at Frecklewish, unable to speak.
MV, pg 34
I made fun of this last time and I still find it funny. I get that Frecklewish is grieving but it is so unhinged to assume that some random pregnant woman who, as far as we know, had no prior history with your brother, is carrying your brother’s children. I can’t take this seriously. I have a hard time feeling bad for Frecklewish. I know everyone grieves differently but no one does this. I refuse to believe that. It’s too weird. Reminder that these are Cats in Name Only. If warrior cats behaved like real cats (and had estrus cycles and multi-father litters) this would make more sense.
Mapleshade sees this as a sign from God. Now, she can use Birchface as a shield, allowing her half-Clan kittens to be accepted by ThunderClan. I like this bit. She is willing to utilize a man’s death and his sister’s grief to cover her ass. Good villain shit. However, I wish she was the one who said the kits were Birchface’s to begin with. She does lie to keep up the ruse later, but have her be the one who brings up Birchface first, not Frecklewish. A big problem with this novella is that it makes Mapleshade too sympathetic. Her actions later on feel justified because the characters surrounding her are dumb, cruel, and/or weird.
Mapleshade manipulates Birchface’s father, Oakstar, and Frecklewish. Then one day when the kittens are older, the medicine cat Ravenwing confronts Mapleshade and talks about this omen he saw,
“A tiny stream appeared in my den, in a place where no stream has run before. It carried with it three pieces of water reed.” He swept his paw over the ground as if he was tracing the path of the rivulet. “Water reed doesn’t grow in ThunderClan territory,” he went on. “It doesn’t belong inside our boundaries. Do you understand?”
MV, pg 83
He figures out that Birchface is not their father and leaves to inform Oakstar. I find this entire thing strange and convoluted. Why is StarClan so against the kittens’ existence? This is such a cult, oh my god 😒. Oakstar, the piece of shit that he is, exiles Mapleshade and her children for having an affair with the tomcat who “killed” his son. What kind of leader exiles kittens?! That goes against the warrior code. It’s shit like this that makes you feel bad for Mapleshade. I get that she lied but it is not the kittens fault they were born! Oakstar is being extremely cruel here.
Afterwards, Mapleshade tries to cross the river with her kittens during a flood which drowns them. Mapleshade is saved by Appledusk.
“I’m sorry!” Mapleshade wailed. “I was trying to find us a new home. I didn’t know where else to go.”
“What are you talking about?” Appledusk sounded stunned. “Do you mean that you deliberately tried to cross the river? In the middle of a flood?”
Mapleshade twisted around to look at him. “ThunderClan threw us out,” she explained. “We had nowhere else to go.”
MV, pg 115
The RiverClan patrol brings her to their camp. We get this:
Reedshine stayed where she was, her gaze flicking to Mapleshade and back again. “Why is she here? What’s going on, Appledusk?”
…Darkstar stepped out of the reeds. All the cats fell silent.
Appledusk stepped forward. “Three kits have drowned in the river,” he announced. Ask me their names! Mapleshade screeched silently.
Appledusk looked at his paws. “I... I am their father.”
Mapleshade held her breath. This was Appledusk’s chance to plead for mercy on her behalf, to explain that Mapleshade deserved to be given a place in RiverClan because she had borne his kits.
Darkstar ’s eyes narrowed to tiny slits. “What do you mean, Appledusk? What are you talking about?”
“I’m so sorry, Reedshine,” Appledusk whispered. “Please forgive me.”
Reedshine twitched the tip of her tail. “Forgive you for what?”
Mapleshade looked at the concern in Reedshine’s eyes and felt something inside her turn to ice. This was not just a Clanmate to Appledusk.
Appledusk bowed his head and went on. “Many moons ago, I met with Mapleshade in secret.”
There was a gasp from his Clanmates… Mapleshade kept her gaze fixed on Darkstar. She has to take pity on me. I have lost my home and my kits. I have nothing left except Appledusk.
“You knew about these kits?” Darkstar asked. The tip of her tail was twitching.
Appledusk nodded, and Reedshine let out a soft wail. “Mapleshade told me she would raise them in ThunderClan,” Appledusk meowed. “I . . . I knew I had made a mistake so I said nothing to my Clanmates.”
A mistake? Mapleshade almost winced at the pain in Appledusk’s pale green eyes. Almost, but not quite. The ice was spreading through her faster than a leaf-bare frost. Soon I won’t be able to feel anything, she thought.
“I should never have betrayed my Clan by meeting with Mapleshade,” Appledusk went on. “I will regret it for the rest of my life, and I can only beg for your forgiveness.”
“What brought these kits here tonight?” Darkstar queried, looking down at the three pitiful shapes.
Mapleshade opened her mouth to explain but Appledusk spoke first. “Mapleshade’s Clanmates learned the truth and she had to leave. The river is flooded and the kits were too young to swim across.” His voice faltered. Mapleshade stared at him. You’re making it sound as if this was my fault!
…
[Darkstar] “This is not the season for losing warriors. Appledusk, I believe that you are sorry for what you did, and that you have been punished enough by the death of your kits. I will allow you to remain in RiverClan—but know that I and the rest of the Clanmates will be watching you. You will have to earn back our trust.”
Appledusk dipped his head … “I will never forget your mercy, Darkstar,”... “Thank you. I promise my loyalty lies only with RiverClan, and my Clanmates.” He glanced sideways at Reedshine, who blinked at him.
…
Mapleshade struggled to find her voice. “What . . . what about me?” she croaked. “May I stay here with my kits?”
The RiverClan leader stared at her. “No, you may not. You will leave this territory at once and never set foot across the border again. Like Appledusk, I believe that the loss of your kits is punishment enough. Otherwise, rest assured my warriors would have clawed your fur off for what you have done.”
“But night is falling!” Mapleshade protested. “Where will I go? Appledusk, help me!”
The pale brown warrior shook his head. “Why should I? It’s your fault that these kits are dead. I never want to see you again.”
…
Mapleshade looked down at her drowned kits. “I cannot leave them,” she whispered. “They are everything to me.”
“And now they are dead,” Appledusk growled. “Be thankful we have shown you some mercy, Mapleshade. Get out, before we make you leave.”
Mapleshade stared at the cat whose face had occupied her mind for so many moons. She thought she had known every swirl of his fur, the angle of every whisker, but now she didn’t recognize him at all. The coldness swelled inside her until she felt it burst out of her eyes, and there was a jolt of satisfaction as Appledusk flinched away from her gaze.
“You told me you loved me!” Mapleshade hissed. “I went through the agony of bearing your kits! And now you treat me worse than prey. You will regret this, Appledusk. That is my last promise to you.”
MV, pgs 118-127
Appledusk sucks. While it is true that the kittens’ deaths were Mapleshade’s fault (she really didn’t need to cross the river during the flood. There was a bridge she could’ve taken), she did it out of desperation. She had no where else to go. Her children die and the man she loved openly calls the kittens and her “a mistake.” Like… damn girl…
Mapleshade goes back to ThunderClan territory where an apprentice tells her that Frecklewish saw her cross the river. She thinks Frecklewish let the kittens drown. This shit right here is why the Website Team put Frecklewish in the Dark Forest but not Oakstar. It was storming and the river was flooded. Frecklewish saw Mapleshade and the kittens attempt to cross the river. She also saw the RiverClan patrol on the other side, moving toward Mapleshade to save them. Frecklewish did not allow the kittens to drown. If she had tried to save them, she would have drowned too. It is widely known that you do not jump into the water to save a drowning person because their panic may bring you down too. Instead, you throw out a buoy or whatever else that floats so that the person can hold on and be pulled out. Frecklewish, a ThunderClan cat who cannot swim, would have died if she tried to save the kittens. Besides, she saw the RiverClan patrol. She was shocked when Mapleshade told her otherwise at Snakerocks.
“You let my kits die!”
Frecklewish stumbled backward in shock. “Mapleshade! You shouldn’t be here!” She arched her back. “Leave or I’ll call the rest of the patrol.”
Mapleshade lashed her tail. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a tiny flicker of movement from the pile of stones. Was that a snake slithering into the light? Mapleshade took a step closer to the rocks. “Too scared to fight me yourself, Frecklewish?” she hissed. “You prefer watching helpless kits drown, don’t you?”
The brown she-cat stiffened. “I thought your kits would be saved,” she rasped. “I never meant for them to die.”
MV, pgs 176-177
She didn’t know. It makes zero sense for Frecklewish to go to Hell for this. I think the Website Team did not read the novella and just took the fans’ discourse as gospel when they updated the family tree. Oakstar was the one who exiled the kittens and Mapleshade was the one who brought them across the river. Frecklewish did not do anything that led to the kittens’ deaths.
Anyway, Mapleshade’s murders Ravenwing at the Moonstone (she did this before confronting Frecklewish) for revealing the truth. After murdering him, she confronts Frecklewish at Snakerocks and watches her get bit by a snake and die. She then stalks off to RiverClan, launches at Reedshine, but is intercepted by Appledusk who she kills. She escapes but later dies from bloodloss. Blah blah blah the end.
It’s a dumb story. Mapleshade, the murderer who we’re supposed to dislike, is shown to be a tragic figure. This would be fine if it wasn’t written so weirdly. Frecklewish charges into her life and makes wild assumptions at no fault of her own. StarClan hates half-breeds for some reason so they sent their medicine cat signs about the kittens’ forbidden parentage. Oakstar openly breaks the warrior code and exiles kittens for being born. Mapleshade crosses the river with her family in the hopes that their father would accept them but they end up drowning due to her desperation. Appledusk, the fuck boy, calls her “a mistake” and rejects her. The only bad things Mapleshade does is indirectly and directly kill three people for wronging her. Ravenwing was just doing his job so he didnt deserve to die. Frecklewish, despite being weird, didn’t deserve to die. Appledusk sucked, but he didn’t deserve to die either (However, I totally understand why Mapleshade killed his ass albeit accidentally). No one deserves death. I don’t believe in that. Killing people is flat out wrong and you cannot convince me otherwise.
Some people argue that she lied about the kittens’ father and yes she did after Frecklewish barged into her life, but, honestly, did she have any other choice? She lives in a theocratical, xenophobic cult that hates cross-breeding. Even if she told Frecklewish no and kept the kittens’ father secret, Ravenwing would have gotten the omen from StarClan anyway because StarClan sucks and Oakstar would have exiled them because Appledusk is their father. Mapleshade couldn’t have done anything to prevent this. I guess she didn’t have to mate with Appledusk, but that fuck boy told her that he loved her. She thought they were mates. Appledusk sucks.
It’s hard for me to feel anything toward these characters because they all suck in different ways (except for Ravenwing. He did nothing wrong). I’m supposed to dislike Mapleshade (and I do but for different reasons), but all the Erins did here was make me feel bad for her. Yes, she is narcissistic and unhinged. This story does a good job showing that. However, her circumstances are awful. Mapleshade’s story does a better job showing just how fucked up the Clans’ stupid rules are. No wonder so many people think she did nothing wrong! The Clans fucking suck!
For a character like Mapleshade, there really shouldn’t be any ambiguity in her story. I know it’s popular to give villains tragic backstories but you gotta do it right. You have to make the character multifaceted if you want that tragedy. If they’re as shallow as Mapleshade, let them be evil. No ambiguity. Villains are supposed to be morally black and rooted against. Your audience can understand why they are the way they are, but we shouldn’t be siding with their actions. See Azula from ATLA for an excellent example of how to do a complex villain. Azula is the product of child abuse and societal pressure. She’s a phenomenal character.
Remember that “antagonist” is not synonymous with “villain.” Antagonist = story convention. Villain = character archetype. Not the same thing. The antagonist of a story isn’t always a villain. There’s a lot of nuance here. Perhaps one day I’ll talk about it in detail.
Mapleshade's Vengeance is bad in that Mapleshade is a flat villain who is too sympathetic and doesn’t have a lot of agency in her story. Everything that happens to her could’ve happened to anyone else because the cult she is stuck in forbids cross-Clan relations. She is not the driver of her downfall. Her society is. If she started off as an innocent who then got repeatedly beaten down by the cult’s rules, I feel like this story would’ve worked. I think that is what they were going for, but they failed because they made the events and other characters weird as hell and convoluted. I don’t think the Erins are good enough, self-aware writers to pull off a slow downfall caused by outside events. Since Mapleshade is so flat and novellas are so short, I would have her be the cause of her own problems. There’s nothing wrong with flat villains. Mapleshade is already vain and unscrupulous so play into that more.
My rewrite: Show Birchface, before his death, crushing on Mapleshade like how Thrushpelt was with Bluefur. Make her play along and manipulate his feelings. She doesn’t love him. She loves Appledusk, but she will use his feelings to cover up her “crime.” Plus, Birchface is Oakstar’s son. Getting into the good graces of the leader is a net positive for an ambitious, self-centered cat like Mapleshade. Have her manipulate Birchface into believing the kittens are his before his death. When Birchface dies in battle, Mapleshade can pretend to be upset so that his family could help her raise the kits. She thinks her kittens are the best and thus deserve nothing but the best. Anything less is an affront to her.
When Ravenwing eventually gets his sign, Oakstar exiles her but not the kittens. They did nothing wrong. Mapleshade could try and bring the kittens with her, but the leader won’t let her because he hates her. I know it’s pretty fucked up to seperate a mother from her children, but in this case I feel like it would be more interesting if Oakstar did that to further punish her for lying and manipulating his son. He can still be cruel but I want his cruelty to make more sense.
Pissed off, she waits a bit until nightfall to steal the kittens back. Frecklewish is taking care of the kittens because she’s a good person. I really hate the original scene where she rejects the kittens and calls them “half-Clan creatures.” I have a hard time feeling bad for this character because she says shit like this. I get that she’s angry, but she was the one who wildly assumed the kittens were her brother’s so... In my theoretical rewrite, she realizes that the kittens are innocent and that they still need a good role model in their lives. She already has a connection with them because she helped raised them so she continues to do so, despite the rest of the Clan cats’ xenophobic grumblings. Besides, she hates Appledusk for “killing” her brother so it’s karmic justice to raise the kittens to be anti-RiverClan. Give her that grayness if you want.
Mapleshade shows up later that night. Only she can raise her kittens. No other molly is worthy enough. She sneaks in, kills Frecklewish, and tries to coax the kittens to follow her, but they yowl in horror. They just saw their birth mother kill their adopted mother. The kittens run out of camp in fear. Ravenwing shows up, Mapleshade kills him too while cursing StarClan for ruining her, and then chases after her kittens. The rest of the Clan is freaking out at the chaos.
Beetail, the deputy, chases Mapleshade. The kittens unfortunately run into a fox which kills them. Mapleshade watches in horror as the fox eats her kittens. Beetail and three other cats catch up to her. They fight off the fox and then face Mapleshade. Mapleshade snaps, murders Beetail and severely injures two cats. Mapleshade is said to be a strong warrior so let’s show that off. The remaining cat runs off to get reinforcements because Mapleshade is fucking dangerous. Mapleshade runs toward RiverClan territory but is stopped by a patrol. Appledusk is there. He sees her covered in blood and asks questions. Mapleshade reveals that a fox killed their kittens. The other RiverClan cats are shocked and disgusted to find out Appledusk was hooking up with a ThunderClan cat. To save face, he rejects her and then denies that the kittens are his. Pissed, Mapleshade kills him for lying which gets her jumped by the other RiverClan cats. They kill her. She is thrown straight to Hell, no trial. There she vows to destroy ThunderClan and RiverClan for wronging her.
Like many Warrior Cats villains, Mapleshade has the bones of a fantastic character. I’m not pleased that her story revolves around a mate and kittens like the majority of female characters in this godforsaken series but hey, if you’re going to use that to show why she’s a villain, go all out. Don’t make her sympathetic at all. The other characters can be gray, but she needs to be fully black.
As written, Mapleshade’s Vengeance is convoluted and silly. No wonder there’s so much discourse around her.
I’m not sure if I’m going to do more addendums. There’s so much I want to say about this stupid battle cat series. I’m trying to put all of that into my mega reviews but sometimes I forget things. Idk. We’ll see.
