Warriors Addendum 2: Violetshine Sucks

Image credit: Artist Unknown. Origin: Taiwan

Spoilers for A Vision of Shadows

I’m gonna make some enemies with this post.

Do you guys know about the Plinkett Test? In their famous Phantom Menace review, Red Letter Media created this test where they ask people to explain characters from Star Wars without describing their costume or their role in the movies. “Describe this character to your friends like they ain’t never seen Star Wars. The more descriptive they can get the stronger the character.” Let’s apply this test to Warriors. Jayfeather is mean, sarcastic, no-nonsense, impatient, passionate, inventive, and talented. Firestar is righteous, brave, friendly, reliable and he always does what he believes is right. Mothwing is coolheaded, rational, opinionated, stoic, and capable (when she’s not bulling Shadowsight). Twigbranch is helpful, energetic, kind, dedicated, and works hard to prove herself. Violetshine is sad, lonely, and… that’s it. Violetshine is one of the weakest protagonists in the entire series. She’s genuinely poorly written. I say “genuinely” because Warriors fans will always say “__ is poorly written” whenever they personally don’t like a thing. “Me no like thing therefore thing bad!” I find that annoying and unhelpful. It’s fine to just say you don’t like something because you don’t like it. If you’re gonna argue a point, however, you gotta back it up. You gotta explain. Here, I’m explaining why I feel Violetshine is badly written. Fucking Violet Sorrengail from the horrendous Fourth Wing has more personality than Violetshine. That’s not even a joke. I’m serious. That’s bad, y’all. That’s real bad. I have a hard time seeing anything good here. I don’t get why people like her so much. She’s so damn flat!

Who is Violetshine? She’s a sad girl and that’s it. If you remove her from Needletail and Darktail, she’s nothing but a name on the page. Her arc is about finding a home in a place where she belongs, but it’s not done well. In ShadowClan, the cats around her treat her like shit for no good reason. She doesn’t fight back. She doesn't try to fit in. She doesn’t act out to get attention. She doesn’t suck up to anyone. She sits around and lets the world treat her like crap. With Needlepaw/tail, she follows her around and doesn’t adopt her mannerisms or copy her actions to fit in. Nothing. She’s just… following Needletail. Then she is forced to join the rogues and there she still doesn’t change. She is not swayed by Darktail’s words. She doesn’t find their more gruff way of life exciting. She just sits there until Rain gets gored. After that, she finally does something for herself: she flees and goes back to ShadowClan. Why ShadowClan, the Clan who treated her like shit, and not ThunderClan where her sister lives? I have no idea. Even after Twigpaw is captured and then rescued, she gets all mad that Twigpaw is leaving her when she had every opportunity to join her precious sister in ThunderClan! Violetpaw has no real loyalty to ShadowClan. She only went back because she wanted to be a part of a Clan, not because she loved ShadowClan. Then the rogues take over, Darktail tries to relate to her and she doesn’t buy it, Needletail dies (good riddance), she works with the others to take the rogues down, Darktail dies, and then the rogues leave. Violetpaw doesn’t change here either because the story isn’t about her at this point. Mixing plot and character growth? Nah. Too hard to write. She mourns Needletail and I feel nothing because Needletail is a horrible friend (see part three for that lengthy rant). Perhaps, after her death, Violetpaw could’ve reflected on how mentally abusive and manipulative Needle truly was and that could’ve given her some growth but nah. Needletail was the bestest, most bravest cat to ever live 😒. Then Violetpaw joins SkyClan, where she’s happy to be with kin. Then she gets with Tree in the most forced “romance” story since Crowfeather and Leafpool. And that’s it. Violetshine’s arc ends here.

Violetshine lacks agency and growth. An active character is always more interesting than a passive one. They’re the drivers of their own story. Now, I’m not saying you can’t write passive MCs. Sometimes a story works best if your MC is just along for the ride, but your story has to be built around that. A Vision of Shadows is not. Alderheart, as boring as he is, is active. Twigpaw/branch is very active. Violetpaw/shine is passive until book three where her arc stops dead to give us Darktail drama, and then after that she’s back to being passive! She’s so boring! She’s a camera like Leafpool in The New Prophecy, but some how even worse.

Why doesn’t Violetpaw try to be with her sister if she’s jonesing so hard for family and connection? Just go to ThunderClan! Twigpaw is right there! Unlike Violetpaw, Twigpaw goes out of her way to interact with her sister and tell her news about their birth mother and Clan, but for some reason, Violetpaw doesn’t engage with that. I blame Needletail for manipulating her into distancing herself away from Twigpaw, but Violetpaw never realizes that. I don’t think the Erins did either, but that’s a different discussion. Read part three.

Instead of going out of her way to be with her sister, Violetpaw gets pissy at Twigpaw for rightfully wanting to go back home after being fucking imprisoned! This pissed me off. Violetpaw is happy to have her sister near her in ShadowClan. However, she doesn’t see how being in ShadowClan makes Twigpaw uncomfortable. Plus, she was kidnapped! She wasn’t allowed to go home! When Lionblaze, Bramblestar, and the others came to rescue her, what was she supposed to do? Stay in the Clan that held her prisoner? Violetpaw could’ve gone with her if she was that desperate to keep her sister close. But no, instead she gets mad and says Twigpaw is abandoning her. This behavior doesn’t make sense nor does it mesh with her wants and desires. ShadowClan treats her like shit but she’s “loyal to them” and doesn’t want to leave. Why? No idea. Needletail isn’t even there at this point. Twigpaw, her real family, is right there in ThunderClan, a Clan known for adopting strays. She could’ve gone to ThunderClan. Perhaps, while there, Twigpaw can vouch for her to stay and while she is happy to be with her sister, Violetpaw still feels alienated in the Clan. Her sister is well liked while she is looked at with skepticism. She was a former rogue so it makes some sense for ThunderClan to be put off by her. She stays a while until SkyClan shows up. She meets her father and finds herself enjoying the company of the newcomers who are unaware of her rogue associations. After everything, she makes the tough choice to leave her sister behind to join her birth Clan. Give her some agency and logic in her own damn story. But no. Can’t have interesting characters. We have boring ass Violetpaw who doesn’t do shit to fix her own problems.

Violetpaw/shine is only active in Shattered Sky because she’s our POV in the rogues’ camp and Darktail. She’s not even the one who comes up with the idea to drug Darktail. She couldn’t even have that. She’s flat. There’s nothing else to her. She is the most boring protag we’ve ever had. I will never understand what people see in this character. She is worse than Lionblaze. At least Lionpaw dealt with anger issues and trust issues when it came to Heatherpaw. He almost murdered his own father (but he didn’t know that at the time) and felt guilty about that! After he murdered Russetfur, he felt immense guilt. Lionblaze worried about being a murderous monster because of his power and destiny. He was so full of angst that he fought a fox by himself in one of the funniest scenes of all time. He doesn’t do anything to progress OotS’s plot, but neither does Jayfeather or Dovewing, who are also pretty good characters. Omen of the Stars’ plot just doesn’t utilize them.

What infuriates me the most about Violetshine’s writing is that there is a good story within her, but the Erins don’t do anything with it! In Thunder and Shadow, we get this scene where Darktail tries to appeal to her isolation.

Darktail stared at her. “What’s it like living with Clan cats when you know you’re an outsider?”

Unease tugged at Violetkit’s belly. She wanted to be loyal to ShadowClan. She thought of Tawnypelt and Puddlepaw. What would Rowanstar say if he knew she was here? He was stern and distant, but she wanted to earn his respect. “I guess it’s okay.” She tried not to remember how lonely she felt in the Clan. How Pinenose’s kits ignored her. How she wasn’t allowed near Grassheart’s kits in case she passed on an infection. “They try to make me feel welcome.” Her breath caught in her throat. Don’t they?

Darktail leaned closer. “And yet you don’t.”

Violetkit backed away. How does he know?

Pg 138

However this scene is pointless because she never ruminates on this further. It would’ve been great to have our protag and villain relate to each other. Perhaps, after this, she reflects on how nice the rogues were and how she would rather be with them. Perhaps she could’ve been swayed by Darktail and may have even fought on his side during the ShadowClan takeover because it felt cathartic to put the cats who bullied her in their place. And when Needletail declares her intent to leave, have Violetpaw agree with her on ShadowClan’s weakness and have her follow her to the rogues camp instead of having Needletail force Violetpaw to join. Give her agency!

I think it would’ve been nice to see her adopt Needlepaw’s rebelliousness and hatred for authority. Let’s see her overcompensate and try to impress Needle and her friends to fit into the Clan. How about instead of having Needle ask a very young kitten to speak to her boyfriend on her behalf, endangering her life in the process, how about we have Violetkit volunteer. Have her check in on Needle as she’s complaining about not being able to see Rain. She can volunteer to see him and report back to make her friend happy.

Have her put on different masks to appeal to different crowds. She wants to belong so she pretends to be other people she thinks are cool because she feels like that is the best way to fit in. When she’s on her own, she’s quiet and kind, but when she’s with others, she pretends to be other people. She is susceptible to peer pressure and is quite naive. She is a kid after all so let’s play into kids pretending to be adults as they figure themselves out. Not only would that make her super relatable to the child audience of the series, but it would’ve made her more fun to follow and she could’ve taught a lesson about being yourself.

We get a small hint of this when Twigpaw meets up with her after she left to join the rogues.

“Spying?”

A mew behind her made her spin. Her heart in her throat, [Twigpaw] blinked at the young she-cat who was staring at her accusingly. She sniffed and smelled the unfamiliar scent of rogue.

“What are you doing here?” the she-cat demanded. The black splotches on her white pelt rippled as her hackles lifted.

“Violetkit?” … Twigpaw hesitated as Violetkit stared back. Was that suspicion in her gaze? “It’s me, Twigpaw.”

Violetkit narrowed her eyes. “I’m Violetpaw now.”

Twigpaw blinked at her. Isn’t she pleased to see me? “I came to find you.”

“Why now?” Violetpaw’s gaze didn’t betray anything.

“I found something out. All the other cats in ThunderClan were told that they sent out a patrol to look for our mother, but they didn’t. It was a lie. They never checked to see if she came back for us.” The words tumbled from Twigpaw, leaving her breathless.

Violetpaw shrugged. “Are you really surprised?”

“But they should have!” Shock pulsed through Twigpaw. What had happened to her littermate? Had her time with the rogues made her cruel?

Pgs 244-245, Thunder and Shadow

See how she’s being a bit shady toward Twigpaw? It’s very Needletail-esque. But then, as soon as her “friend” shows up, she’s more meek and soft. She even apologizes to Twigpaw as she leaves.

“Come on, Violetpaw.” Needletail headed into the bracken. “Our campmates will be expecting us”

“I’m sorry.” Violetpaw blinked at Twigpaw, then held her gaze for a moment before turning away.

Pg 247

WHY? Erins, no! It’s right there! Her story. Her intrigue. Her lesson. It’s right there! It’s so strange to me that Needletail doesn’t rub off on her at all. We get all this talk about how close they are and whatever the fuck, but we don’t SEE that. We have moments where Violetpaw thinks about how rebellious Needletail is and how she looks up to her, but why doesn’t she show that? Why doesn’t she emulate that? It’s not like she has strong convictions or a personality of her own that prevents her from doing what Needle does. She’s blank! Her “personality” is liking Needletail and nothing else. Their “friendship” is so bad because:

1) Needletail was an awful, manipulative and selfish person who only started caring about Violetkit after Alderpaw made her feel bad. And then after that, she used Violetkit/paw for personal gain and then once she was with her boyfriend, she kept Violetpaw away from her real family. And then, after her boyfriend died, she finally decided that she actually did care about Violetpaw so she sacrificed herself. Kitty Cat Severus Snape. I hate Needletail.

2) Their bond isn’t convincing enough. Their bond was told to us instead of shown. Compare their “friendship” to Fireheart and Graystripe, Thunder and Lightning Tail, or Leafpool and Mothwing. We see these guys bond, hang out, rely on each other, comfort each other and so on. We’re supposed to believe that Violet and Needle were close like sisters but they’re not. Needle treats her like shit! The Erins wanted us to see one thing but they wrote the opposite. How do you even do that?

Oh and don’t even get me started on her “romance” with Tree. That shit was so forced and cringey. Tree is like this old soul wanderer type and Violetshine is a blank slate with nothing going on. They have no chemistry whatsoever. Damn, at least Crowf and Leaf had angst. This “relationship” makes Tree look worse by proxy. Tree is a fantastic character! He’s a breath of fresh air but he gets with the most boring molly in existence. My man deserves better. Romance in Warriors is awful for the most part.

Violetshine is a terrible protagonist. She’s the flattest one we got. Her arc is stagnant, she’s not active in her own story, and she lacks a real personality for me to grasp onto. Just bad across the board. I feel like people like her because she was bullied by everyone around her for no reason and I suppose people relate to that and sympathize. But that’s not how you write a character. You can have them be bullied, but that can’t be their only trait. You gotta give them more! Tallpaw/tail/star was bullied, but it influenced his character and his arc! For Violetpaw, it doesn’t do anything.

Warriors fans, read more books because this is not it.