Why Mapleshade and the Dark Forest Got Annoying 【SPEEDPAINT + RANT】

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Mapleshade is a character I've always loved and the Dark Forest was always such a cool concept to me. In fact, when these two things were introduced, all was great! So, where did it all go wrong? Today, I'll be giving my opinion on the matter and where improvements definitely could have been made.
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Hope you guys enjoyed! Until my next video

[@roseshards]

Rose slept through her alarm and her own video premiere, making her tonight's biggest loser.... Anyways, maybe you can make me feel a bit better about myself if you join Amino and enter my raffle using this link ;)) aminoapps.onelink.me/4eRt/roseshards

[@Songjay]

Rose made a reference everyone should appreciate, making her tonight's biggest winner

[@roseshards]

@@baziingus it's a meme lol, thanks though

[@dolphii9924]

Impractical Jokers is great

[@soursweets1140]

Ok ok ok this is late but ok I’m wheezing since I’m literally watching an episode rn

[@__xim_jadedx__1501]

Please tell me you read crookedstars promise by now because she does actually play a big part xd

[@tinywolfheart]

Man, I really love the concept of the dark forest temporarily taking over. It could have been so cool if we were to have like, an entire series set in a post-dark forest battle setting in which the forest is left in ruins and taken over by the dark forest cats while the clans work together to try and find a way to defeat them from within. But nope, instead we get a what, two, maybe three chapter long incredibly anticlimactic battle? Welp, I guess that’s what AU’s are for I suppose-

[@im_jupyter]

i still love the idea of lionblaze being evil and the dark forest winning- it just seems so much more interesting then a goody two-shoes kitty and a horrible battle

[@Dogwolf12]

I'm currently writing the first chapters of a fanfiction where the Dark Forest has subtly taken over the Clans and the DF's values have been accepted in the Clans. However, a kit gets a StarClan mentor and it is up to him to restore the Clans to what they once were.

[@clintdona4586]

Dogwolf12 Ooh, sounds interesting! Where can I read it (once you’ve released the first chapter)? :D

[@pleuviep2675]

SUPER into that idea!!! Readers going into the battle thinking the hero's will win, but having the dark forest take over for a little bit is MUCH more thrilling and interesting. Having to see the clan cats try and break down the system from within offers beautiful storytelling and many moments on edge where at any point the clan cats and their plans could be found out!! Yes!!

[@thatcrowkiddraws]

I really agree. It would be interesting to see evil win for once. Kinda a Avengers Infinity War/ Endgame feel.

[@redundantchannels8154]

Everyone: Mapleshade is the only female villain Sleekwhisker: Am i a joke to you

[@vulixee]

Raven: Am I an even bigger joke? Sparrowfeather: Excuse me?

[@eikomint]

Mapleshade: I'm the only female villain hahaha Sleekwhisker: I'm about to end this woman's whole career

[@skyshale]

Cough cough Raven Cough cough Rushtooth

[@Friedphesh]

Cough cough Also Bee, Beech and Fenneldust

[@kristenk777]

Sleekwhisker forever

[@darkfur9398]

Even though it's a bit overrated I want to see how mapleshade affected stormfur. Hes kin of appledusk anyway so there must be something that happened after the great battle.

[@skyshale]

Dark Fur :000 you’re so right

[@clydebauer43]

but wasnt mapleshades spirit killed by sandstorm in the great battle??? im like 99% sure she died

[@skyshale]

Finn Bauer No. Sandstorm chases her off but never, at least it’s never mentioned, kills her.

[@httylaeptym]

@@skyshale im suuuuuuupppppppppeeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrr late but she did not kill her, as mapleshade is mentioned attacking bristlefrost in a light in the mist

[@hydrashii]

I mean I think it started because she was a female villain, which was very rare because she was an ACTUAL villain not just a cat with questionable decisions, and so far we only had male villains up until that point. And in fact I find her backstory to be one of the most interestings! she felt that everyone had betrayed her and most importantly considered that Ravenwing, Appledusk and Frecklewish had contributed actively or passively to the death of her kits, and in fact, it's the death of her kits what triggers her madness, not just having been exiled, she looses her kits and just after that she's met with Appledusk's cold shoulder. It's believeable that she lost her mind and seeked vengeance and while reading I was like "wow yeah I can totally see a cat from this universe doing this in this situation". I wouldn't say she's overrated by fans, I think she does have the recognition she deserves and paying attention to a well-done job is a way of telling the Erins "hey we like this do more of this" EXCEPT it apparently translated into "keep adding this cool character everywhere" instead of "keep adding characters with this kind of strong motivations" Also I kinda don't like the idea of the dark forest as a whole honestly...? mostly because it's addition caused a lot of contradictions with the already stablished lore of starclan, and I feel like making the dead cats be basically spiritual version of their living forms takes out that feeling of "collective wiseness" starclan used to have. In The prophecy begins we never saw starclan cats discussing who or when or what to send a prophecy, a starclan cat just appeared and delivered a vague prophecy, like they could barely gather the energies to stay in the "living realm", but not anymore I guess

[@fadingviolet1382]

Mapleshade go annoying after the fact they used her for the villain of 20 million backstories. She was a good character, but she soon became an overrated character like other favorite warriors in the series.

[@fadingviolet1382]

Got* ;-;

[@foxgirl3917]

🙄

[@nycureamy]

An overrated character doesn’t make a bad character

[@fadingviolet1382]

Though overrated doesn’t make her a bad character, she was used so much that she became annoying. You can’t make one character a villain for a whole 60 book series. Her backstory was great and I loved her. The fact of the matter is that after the few character stories she was put in, there should be a different villain. The idea of a female villain was the reason she was very popular, but you have to realize that you can’t fill in everything with one person, or in this case, cat. It’s just a easy way out of making a whole new, original character from scratch. I understand the Erin’s want to get the books out as fast as possible, but the readers also like quality over quantity. Thanks for replying btw! I love ranting and arguing about stuff and seeing others POV on things!

[@Stirling-Shade]

I think they ruined her personality later on. I know she hated certain cats but her joining the war in the dark forest was kind of weird. Then for some character stories she is thrown into you just look at her confused and say why? Just why??? What is the point? The only story it made sense for her to be in was Crookedstar's story, that is about it though.

[@freecroissant311]

The Erins: Mapleshade is becoming overrated, we should pay attention to other DF Cat Also The Erins: Hey Maple, it’s me, ya boi

[@asherhaha3648]

"Its ya boi DJ Skinny Penis!"

[@spoopersss]

@@asherhaha3648 WhAt?

[@asherhaha3648]

@@spoopersss 😳

[@the_girlguy]

*Evil Goosefeather AU intensifies* Imma make that a map, unless anyone else will cough

[@inactivioli]

What song you thinking of?

[@the_girlguy]

RavioliCatti probably bury a friend or something

[@inactivioli]

@@the_girlguy is it bad I have never heard that song just because I don't have the want to look it up?

[@the_girlguy]

RavioliCatti w h a t

[@inactivioli]

@@the_girlguy hhhhhhh

[@Friedphesh]

I like Mapleshade, but I feel like she’s gotten a little too overrated. The majority of the fandom lables her as some ’tragic character’ who’s life was ”destroyed” by Appledusk when that really wasn’t the case. Mapleshade’s vengeance is from MAPLESHADE’S perspective, of course she will shit on the other characters or exaggerate the events. What I also don’t like is when she is used in backstories all the time, Goosefeather, Tigerstar, Crookedstar, Thistleclaw in Spottedleaf’s heart and possibly Brokenstar. I know the video hasn’t even premiered yet, but this is what I think atleast lol

[@thearcanestar]

This is why the CrystalxMapleshade AU is Canon in my eyes

[@panth3r806]

I Agree

[@mimikyu4640]

Well, I kinda think it makes sense for Crookedstar, 'cause of the whole kin thing, and I think it really worked well in his book because Crookedstar genuinely believed he was in starclan until he got his lives

[@eclipseisbmyt666]

Fishbreadz That’s true but we don’t see Appledusk’s perspective, we don’t see what happens to him while she was plotting. But I do agree that she’s gotten too overrated...

[@sketchycatdash]

I know that she's overated and I still like And have an au that I assume a lot of people have her being let into Riverclan

[@May-kb8yv]

The “Great Battle” wasn’t even that great, yes, firestar did die and so did many other cats. BUT it just honestly wasnt eventful to the extent that I wanted

[@briary_sketches]

Yeah I agree, honestly the dark forest “great” battle felt like an anti-climactic way to kill off Firestar in a Big way.

[@kristenk777]

20 CATS FROM HELL VS EVERY OTHER CAT WHO DIDNT GO TO HELL

[@julianmatthew9392]

@@kristenk777 seriously! Like it's only there do they can stop the df training! I felt it was their to shoo away old cats and keep a pause on the boring training and even though the next 2 arks after omen of the stars I feel should of had better plot! It's always the good guys win and the bad guys lose! I liked pot bc sol took over almost 2 even almost 3 clans! I acually wished sol was a girl so.

[@Lee-ss8yj]

Okay so I think i also think that the concept of the Dark Forest is really cool, but was used kinda badly. a) It should've been introduced earlier. Not necessarily the training sessions or whatever, but the concept of cat hell. The believe in StarClan is a big part of the first arc but if I remember correctly a cat hell was never mentioned. Only that atheists dont go to StarCLan. Already having a concept of cat heaven and cat hell could've lead to characters being torn and scared about being bad etc. The Dark forest is just randomly thrown in in the second arc like "yeah btw we also have hell". b) It should've been a bigger threat. Treat it like hell. Treat it like the big 'enemy' of StarClan! It was basically just a handul of cats planning to murder the clans, not much more than rogues (im pretty sure Darktail had a bigger group than the dark forest). Maybe they should've set more rules who goes to the Dark Forest (like Ashfur and Mudclaw e.g.) and give it more power (how about they could give a leader 9 lives as well?). So the Dark Forest would actually have been a big threat in our eyes c) At least one of our main characters that were in the Dark Forest should've wanted to be there. It was so boring that this whole "i was tricked into training here" thing was used for every character. Ivypool would've been perfectly: Dovewing was chosen by StarClan, what about as a revenge she wanted to be chosen by the dark forest? It feels so pointless because most of the cats training in the 4th arc, didn't support the ideology and wanted to fight to PROTECT their clans. We barely had any clan cats standing behind the ideology of the Dark Forest, so we knew it was gonna fail. d) the resolution shoul've been more clever. Okay that's not only Dark Forest related, more like the 4th arc. It's boring that the big fight basically was just "We gonna fight them until we win". WHY DID WE NEED CHOSEN ONES AND SPECIAL SUPER POWERS IF IT HAD NO RELEVANCY TO THE OUTCOME? I think they should've tricked it somehow, using their powers. I have no idea what exactly but the powers of our trio should've played a role in fighting them off and it souldn't just have been one big fight. It should've been a clever one (if you know what I mean? Maybe just going for Mapleshade/Tigerstar or giving DF cats the chance to redeem themselves and go to StarClan or whatever)

[@darkfur9398]

The only female big time villains I know are mapleshade and sleekwhisker.

[@polarwindthewarriorcat8966]

What about Raven?

[@dangerouslyapocalyptic]

Daimon Kitty Whose Raven?

[@cornercrescent9293]

VinePlayz Raven was another cat in Darktail's big gang.

[@inactivioli]

If nobody remembers Raven easily, she isn't that much of a big time villain

[@Stirling-Shade]

No one knows....Fang.... hold on gotta remember this name... something about fang emmmmm .... Oh! Rushtooth! Anyone remember her???

[@CuteFlare]

While I haven't read most of the novellas, I can honestly agree that having Mapleshade trying to influence Goosefeather, for example, sounds just so... Far fetched :/ If you haven't read Crookedstar's Promise, you honestly should! Since that book gives Mapleshade so much justice that blesses her being, haha xD But for real, Crookedstar's connection is the reason why I fell in love with Mapleshade's character in the first place! And while I haven't read OotS I'm honestly a bit disappointed in what I've heard how they have used her character... She has a lot of potential as you said and the fact that Erins have decided to use her more of fanservice (can we use that word???) just makes it sound even more disingenuine usage of her wonderfully developed character...I: But anyway, those are only two cents from my mind! Beautiful Speed Paint and drawing! It was fun to listen through again your opinions over the topic and the drawing turned out very nicely~ It really compliments Mapleshade's character much more than any of the novellas where Erins have tried to make her useful x3 All jokes aside, great job! I hope you are personally happy with the piece~ ^^

[@finnchii]

I love that beautiful art! I also agree with basically everything you said. Could you make a tutorial on that gorgeous shading?

[@dougwalker4313]

Now that i think about it i would've liked for The Great Battle to hapoen for about half the arc, the rest being tension build up for the charcters & readers. I would've liked it more if The Dark Forset had random raids to weaken the clans, with the trainees, building suspicion, Ivypool still being a spy, her being forced to fight against her clan, Dovewing still trusting her causing divisions in the Three & the clan, with the other trainees, & the Lionblaze & Cinderheart drama still being there & adding more tension, Hollyleaf also coming back & causing a few more subplots. Then the final battle & all the anger, tension, & hatered gets released into one battle, during The Last Hope, & boom much more death.

[@eachsecondweredying413]

I wanna have a lil manga dedicated to just a normal day in the dark forest, I think it'd be interesting.

[@tinyalie1]

Mapleshade is a great villain, but an AU where shes a starclan warrior who rescues drowining kits and guides outcast mothers would have been glorious Imagine her helping yellowfang, sasha, bluestar, leafpool, and dovewing, guiding brokenkit, saving yellowfangs other kits, saving mosskit, guiding hollyleaf, watching over shadowsight, Maybe even persuading starclan to change the warrior code to allow halfclan relationships I mean MAN bluestar and mapleshade are two sides of the same coin along with yellowfang and leafpool. They both had a riverclan mate, they both chose to give the kits to riverclan, they both lost a kit/kits in the process. They both had immense grief from the entire experience Yellowfang and leafpool were both medicine cats who had forbidden kits, both their kits had lives that would shape the clans futures,

[@alicjas.4052]

Mapleshade didn't really train Tigercaw, she was mostly just a voice in his head guiding him on a darker path and Tigerclaw didn't even know She was whispering in his head until near the end of Tigerclaws fury

[@historicmystery691]

The only thing I don't like about Mapleshade is that some people are convinced that she is this innocent little queen who never meant to kill the people around or isn't at fault for her actions. Yes, she is guilty and she is a murder. Get it right, kids.

[@purpleglamour9089]

She was driven down that past with grief of her kits, a tom who she thought would love her so happens to knocked up some other he-cat. Sure Mapleshade caused a lot of damage,but if you think about it in some way she was snitched on, exiled from her clan while still being a queen with defenseless kits(the kits could of been spared but oakstar had to be a d*ck and throw them out too even though the warrior code said all that there us about kits)then there's frecklewish who watched the kits drowned from a afar. I'm not saying Mapleshade's actions was the best but some people song get it from her perspective.

[@historicmystery691]

@@purpleglamour9089 okay. Let's bring this situation to the real world. A mother, who had children with the murder of the presidents son needs to lie about her kids dad. So she says that the presidents son is the father. Then, a monk finds out she is lying and does his job by telling the truth. Unfortunately, her kids die when she is trying to take them to there father. She then goes on a murder spree, killing a monk, an innocent bystander, attempts to murder a pregnant women and ends up killing her ex mate. She is not innocent because she had trauma in her past.

[@freezer7790]

Sweet Pebbles Frecklewish didn’t deserve to die. She isn’t going to risk her life and probably end up drowning for the kits of her brothers murderer. Oakstar was raged, and furious. Yes, it was wrong to exile kits, but imagine having your son die in a battle. You are upset, angry, and stressed. Then, a queen says she is having his kits. You’re happy that you will be having grandchildren, and that not all is lost. Then, the truth comes out that your supposedly grandchildren are the kits of the cat that murdered your son. Appledusk tried to save the kits, he tried. He was disgusted that Mapleshade would let her kits swim on their own in flood season. There was different routes to RC, not just the river. Or, she could have waited in the barn. Her kits dying was her own fault. While Appledusk wasn’t innocent, he was better, he cared for those kits. She murdered cats that didn’t deserve if. She deserved to be killed.

[@sinwolfe4868]

Barbaric Birds I’m not arguing but I’d like to point out one major flaw here MAPLESHADE NEVER SAID WHO THE FATHER WAS! Frecklewish assumed and at first Mapleshade attempted to deny only for frecklewish to continue to cut her off.

[@bulakabarquezwilliams6024]

Exactly! I've tried to tell so many fans that just because something bad happened to her doesn't mean she can go on a killing spree!

[@SepticShockAKAVin]

Actually, Mapleshade trained Tigerstar because he's the grandson of the leader who cast her out to die. However, I cannot find a connection between Goosefeather and her other than the fact that he has talked with Beetail, the deputy in Mapleshade's Vengance, and that his mother was unusually interested in the gory details of Frecklewish's death. It would have been cool if maybe it turned out he was related to Frecklewish somehow?

[@Tigermist12]

One thing from omen of the stars that I remember after re-reading it is just how terrifying and gorey it was written. Dark forest was overused at that point, but I recommend people to reread it and pay attention to all the little details.

[@AutumnsDusk]

LET ME IN LET ME INNNNNNNN

[@zoom640]

😂😂💀

[@GreyPetro]

Rose;"she's only in a handful of books" me;*gets all the books I can find to see how many I can hold *

[@silt59]

Maybe she visited Goosefeather because he's somehow related to Ravenwing? (thats his name right?) The medicine cat who exiled her from Thunderclan? Idk. GREAT art AND vid Rose, as always!

[@toastercat2898]

Imagine if the battle against the dark forest lasted for, like, a whole book. That would’ve been really cool! Edit: I made that mid video. Excuse my stupidity.

[@bearenheit]

I love Mapleshade as a character, but what's annoying to me is how she's portrayed by the fandom and how Mapleshade's Vengeance is constantly misinterpreted.

[@christinamcclendon5789]

Wait...you drew that! I found that on Safari! SO COOL

[@StarrChild.]

I feel Mapleshade’s whole appeal was the fact she was the only female villain. Her story and whole drive was honestly not that interesting. It was more interesting to see her mind twist and how she was battling her own mind but no one really jumps on that point. She’s been called the best villain and honestly I can’t understand why. I love her aaa villain but the best? Nah.

[@uglybbezefir9285]

Not that interesting? At still it was something except "blah blah take over the forest destroy the clans blah" that was the motivation of literally every other villain.

[@balianimator]

@I'll be back soon brokenstar ✊

[@jamesjacques9530]

Mmmmmmmm neeed NOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWW (waiting to premiere! It’s 22 Minutes away!)

[@PeachTIgerDraws]

Idk, the idea of her just grumbling about revenge and doing nothing in GC would have been even more pointless. And her attempting to be nice to Goose, just to manipulate him would literally just be another rehash of CT. It makes sense for her and Goose to have history considering he does know her in CP. He literally shows up in the Dark Forest to confront her while she's with Crookedjaw. Tigerstar is the apprentice of Thistleclaw, and Thistleclaw trained under Silverhawk. Mapleshade has been around since CP, which events were way back before any of her other appearances. Thinking Mapleshade didn't need "anyone" honestly doesn't make sense either since the first time we literally see her is when she's trying to get Crookedkit to join her, and she even lets him meet Silverhawk and Thistlepaw, who she was associated with too. With both Lionblaze and Brambleclaw, they trained with Tigerstar because they thought they were kin. Ivypool's training and arc were different, but similar I guess. I do agree that the Erins wrote the final battle poorly.

[@inactivioli]

I kinda wanted Forgotten Warrior to have the Great Battle, Dark Forest wins, Hollyleaf survives, and Ivypool gets killed. The Last Hope could be a book about the Clans trying to, like you said, take the Dark Forest down from within. Cats who probably would have died(previously living): Ivypool, Jayfeather, Lionblaze, Dovewing, Firestar, Brambleclaw, and everyone (except Hollyleaf) close with them, oh yea, + Breezepelt and the original deaths I believe that, because Dark Forest and StarClan were both unaware that Hollyleaf was previously in the tunnels, she might have been compelled to take some cats underground into hiding such as the medicine cats, Blackstar and Mistystar (Onestar is the guy who would never listen to ThunderClan blooded cats no matter what in my opinion) and after the Great Battle, she finds Dark Forest cats infiltrated the tunnels and they get captured, Black and Misty are killed as to prevent any cats turning to their Clan leaders. The medicine cats are told that if they don't help destroy StarClan at the half-Moon, they too would be killed. Hollyleaf gathers a group of ragtag warriors she has never met before + Willowshine, to create a secret group where they train on StarClan's hunting grounds to at least stand a chance. Warriors, who are tired and battle scarred, offer Hollyleaf their help and as the group gets to big for StarClan's grounds, they start training in the Dark Forest's now abandoned territory. With Hollyleaf in the lead, they ambush the Dark Forest warriors, killing Mapleshade, Tigerstar and Hawkfrost. Asserting their dominance, Hollyleaf's group is able to drive away/kill the rest of the Dark Forest cats. Hollyleaf is made the new leader of ThunderClan with Blossomfall as her deputy Nightcloud becomes the leader of WindClan with Harespring (who, in this AU is Harefire) as her deputy Reedwhisker becomes the leader of RiverClan with an unknown cat as his deputy Tawnypelt becomes the leader of ShadowClan with Tigerheart as her deputy (Rowanstar deserves no chances)

[@TheRibottoStudios]

I love that Mapleshade was like "gurl I DON'T need to follow you around you already fcked." lol oof.

[@vonkittywhiskers8731]

Spottedleaf: *Shows up in Approximately 6,000,000,000 books.* Everyone: 🛌 Mapleshade and The Dark Forest: *Shows up like 10 times* Everyone: 😱

[@painslut]

...No, everyone ever hates starclan cats who come up in dreams 900 times.

[@chaotic.nebula]

Yeah a little while ago I came up with an AU where the Dark Forest really DID take over, and in a desperate attempt to save the Clans the leaders all decide to send 7 cats from each Clan to go find somewhere new to live and restart the Clans. The main character finds out about her home's dark past and goes on an expedition to find the Lost Clans (which is what the new clans named the original) with three other cats from the other clans. They end up helping the Lost Clans to earn back their home and bring all the other cats back to the original home. Just an idea :)

[@wolfinsilver208]

In my story, I have a Dark Forest Civil War, but the cats that train there actually stay evil, and honestly I keep the trainee POVs to the side unless something important happens because it focuses on bigger plots.

[@ZirconiaGacha]

I have an AU where Mapleshade manages to break the StarClan-Dark Forest barrier and realized “Crap, I went a bit too far”, but it was too late to stop the Dark Forest cats she led there. And Ashfur kinda has to work with Mapleshade to just sort them back into the right areas. This led to my crackship Ash-shade, which I sorta use as a joke, but I may make crackship kit adopts with Ash-shade included. (I felt it might work somewhat, Ashfur’s fire scene basically was a yandere-love thing for Squirrelflight, and Mapleshade had love issues leading to her banishment to the Dark Forest.)

[@SepticShockAKAVin]

Actually, Mapleshade DID have a connection with kittypets! A kittypet named Myler helped her multiple times!

[@Shadowfate93]

I think the Dark Forest's plans changed over time. Originally they were trying to install leaders under their influence such as Crookedstar and Thistleclaw (the oldest two known trainees) Tigerstar attempted this too with Brambleclaw and Hawkfrost. Then their agenda changed from trying and failing to control the clans via leaders under their control to just outright destroying the clans completely

[@silverbreezews8254]

(oops I forgot to comment on your Dawn video, I have some ramblings that fit exactly with your idea there hah) Kudos???! for bringing this up, it's been on my mind since I finished The Last Hope. The Erins ware good writers but with this plot?? I mean, it got stretched for three arcs. And nah, I don't want to bring up another 2-page Firestar death rant. And on the Mapleshade topic, look I love her too, except she looks written very rushed and random, as you stated in the video. Good speech, it's very calming if you draw to it.

[@mcytfan1415]

"Despite having no connection to kittypets in her life" She mightve thought that Myler was a kittypet, therefore she does have a connection. Also I 100% agree with what you said about Goosefeathers curse other than that. The thing with training in Spottedleafs heart is I imagine it as her pretending to train them and then she's having them destroy the clans for her. Shes manipulative and sneaky and I love that about her. I read Tigerclaws fury just yesterday and Mapleshade only starts training him after he's exiled from ThunderClan and planning on destroying it. It really makes sense when you think about it. I honestly adore Mapleshade a lot and I love all her appearances other than in Goosefeathers curse

[@HopesLegacy]

your points make me wonder something if goosefeather is being watched by mapleshade because he is related to shellfur who is related to appledusk maybe that's why?

[@SUNF4LL]

When I read “Goosefeather’s Curse” and saw Mapleshade I was thinking “Oh this is gonna be great and Mapleshade will be really cool in it like she was before!” And then what did the authors do? 👏 THEY 👏 MADE 👏 HER 👏 USELESS 👏 I was pretty mad about this

[@rolleyarts8919]

There should be some kind of AU where the dark forests cats do overpower the forest cats, Tigerstar could have killed firestar, claiming the clans as his own, but maple shade is like “screw you imma run this joint” and kills him, making her the truly feared cat over Tigerstar, and the heroes run away and have to recruit skyclan and save the day Idk just an idea that popped into ma head. Be a lot more interesting than the books

[@coushiaj8980]

Ahh I love Mapleshade too! She is a great character! Also great speed paint!

[@purpleglamour9089]

And I have to say she's one of the first female villains to go as far as she has gone(even tigerstar's afraid of her, a bit.)

[@cadv7723]

i’m one of the people who make “edits” on insta, i edit warriors once and a while but g o o d g o d there’s s o much Mapleshade!

[@Sp1derMashyMash]

“Whatever you want honestly.” Bob.

[@omarhashmi7277]

I'm so excited to see this! 😀

[@iveoy]

Why do I have a feeling there’s going to be some Evil Goosefeather AU MAPs now? If I’m the only, plz we need that!

[@Shadow10201]

I'm now wanting to make a fanfic where The Dark Forest rules but there'll be chapters that lead up to it. *starts thinking over the plot*

[@starbullets]

i really enjoyed this video! i love hearing thoughts and opinions on subjects like this in warriors :D however, i think in some parts you were talking a little too quickly for me to personally keep up. it wasn't too bad throughout the video, but i just thought i'd mention it just in case! keep up the great work!

[@kisipone8166]

ERM WHEN IT STARTS SOS Edit: okay guys i change my pfpf u happy now ?? Edit: thx for 8 likes its the most i have got rlly i think i wished more ;-;

[@hayden2336]

Mapleshade is my favorite Dark Forest cat!!

[@olivedoodles-x6l]

This makes me think about the broken code arc… I’d love to see a video on it!

[@piratesbite]

Ahhhhh I have Warriors amino too! Imma follow yah on it! Amazing art work btw!!!!

[@arrawolf]

I love how you draw paws

[@amy_the_pastel_kitty2648]

Its satisfying to see you draw 😅 I love this art, period

[@drawqonic]

And then you look at how long Darktail’s clan stuck around...

[@raiguy9210]

I agree with you so much with pretty much everything. & I wish after building up Mapleshade's character & throwing her in every backstory they'd have made her defeat in the Great Battle better than what it was, like I get it, her killing Spottedleaf was kinda a big deal but then she just gets chased away (at least I think that's what happened) I was expecting so much more with her then Tigerstar vs Firestar wasn't any good either, you've made me realize just how underwhelming the Great Battle actually was

[@pop-starfirecracker.8478]

Since Tigerstar dad is pine star, He is related to Oak'Star so that's why Mapleshade targeted him.

[@pinky0558]

I have an AU where Mapleshade's son Patchkit Survives and grows up too be Sol Mapleshade Visits Sol and tells him to destroy the clans. She also tells him about all the cats who harmed her, and that she heard that Oakstar's great grandson half kits and to destroy them. Sol finds Jayfeather Hollyleaf and Lionblaze, the kits of Brambleclaw, great grandchild of Oakstar. And also the three gifted with powers. If Sol could manipulate them too the dark side, he could destroy the clans, then kill them when its over and bring his mother to justice

[@bailydrawz]

My friend was one of the features when you scrolled down on WA and she got really excited XD

[@abby3558]

I love these speedpaint/rants!

[@snazzy_clock]

She was probably training Tigerclawstar because he was the son of Pinestar, who was the son of Oakstar and half-brother of Frecklewish.

[@blossomieproductions7222]

I think Mapleshade appeared in Goosefeather's Curse to explain why he knew of her in Crookedstar's Promise? Idk, that's just my thoughts.

[@skyeshades6250]

I'm definately making a fanfic of Dark Forest cats taking over

[@FuzzyDreamin]

Mapleshade is one of those (many many) characters I love mostly based on potential, not how they were actually used in the books.

[@hollowdreams9352]

I still like MapleShade yes I know she's overrated, but I still love her...

[@purpleglamour9089]

Same

[@onikum4]

same

[@pemdii]

"no connection to kitty pets" Mylar: am I a joke to you

[@hcspaw2168]

I agree with you on how wasted the battle seemed to be. It was obvious that the power of three had the advantage as well, but they weren’t much useful. The power cats basically just went “oh, look, there’s danger. Better do something!” And they have perfectly normal cats help out, all throughout the series that they’re around. Normal cats, perfectly capable of fighting an army who planned for years, so what’s so special about the power cats and Firestar in the end? You have to admit though the end battle with Firestar and Tigerstar was pretty satisfying, but I feel like there could have been more Tigerstar could do while he still holds a grudge against Brambleclaw, Lionblaze, etc. Hawkfrost too, but he’s gone as well. Mapleshade as a character, I see a lot of people be mad about how she’s in the dark forest while Appledusk is in Starclan. In Appledusk’s defense, he did break the warrior code in being with Mapleshade, and acknowledged he was wrong, while Mapleshade went crazy and murdered a few cats including him. Mapleshade also claimed that Appledusk killed her kits, when technically she killed her own kits by putting them in the river. That she was forced to do, but then again she wouldn’t have gotten into this mess if she hadn’t broken the code with Appledusk in the first place. In theory, I think that’s why they put Appledusk in Starclan despite having broken a cat’s heart. Edit: also, Tigerheart. I just remembered the dark forest trusting Tigerheart because he’s Tigerstar’s kin. That angered me as I read the last hope, because that message was already sent through Brambleclaw and Tawnypelt: just that a cat is related to Tigerstar doesn’t automatically make him evil like Tigerstar. These cats are IDIOTS, no wonder they lost so quickly. 😤

[@nyangata7278]

The Erins need to learn a bit from the wings of fire villains. ALL OF THEM ARE SO BADASS!!!!

[@HAN130307]

Well, listening to his rant make me thought up an evil Goose'feather AU.

[@BangBang-jm5jx]

Here was born the best MapleShade draw

[@a_silentrose9045]

i know you posted this a while ago but i still wanted to comment ^_^ also i’ve never read Goosefeather’s Curse but bare with me)) i cant come up with a reason why Mapleshade appeared in the other books, but what if she wanted to use Goosefeather to contact her dead kits? She can’t reach them, and it destroyed her when they died. imagine living in the dark forest all the moons knowing you’d never be able to see them again. so what if she wanted to use goosefeather to communicate?

[@drknel3495]

Mapleshade was (and is) a cool and populare FEMALE villian cat, but...If we talk about SleekWhisker!? Talking about her is weird, bc yall not know about her past name and like her story. MapleShade is very rood for me bc at first thing she had kits with a diff cat of diff clan(AND OBVIOUSLY) thats like braking the warrior code, and for second a cat tell yall those kits werent from a male cat of her own clan, so she got banished from her main clan, then the last option was AppleDusk (BUT) he was already in love with another She-Cat from his own clan, so MapleShade got that like Infidelidy and before all that wen she tried to get to the otherside of the river, it just became like a lil Flood and got MapleShade kits, then leader of AppleDusk clan banished her from that clan she planned a Vengaence uppon her ex friends and the cat who told yall she had kits with other cat from diff clan, then latter she killed the cat who told yall about i talked and she go ahead to kill her most closer friend, latter killing both she remembered her (properly MATE) so she KILLED AppleDusk (But she remembered all the good things she had with him and she start crying) and didnt noticed a cat was already to pounce her got a juge Bite in her tufft, so...wen she gtg that clan cause she finnaly ended her revenge she died of the big bite she got... So HAPPY ENDING :P

[@lisairwin2331]

I love the speedpaint

[@sixeareddisaster]

Mapleshade did have something to do with kittypets if you look at the timeline. Oakstar led attacks on Twoleg Place when she was in Thunderclan, so maybe a cat got injured by a kittypet, but still- it is odd

[@hemeri279]

I really love this piece it's beautiful!

[@starcycle4308]

1:37 to skip to the amazingness that is this video.

[@stormiiart]

o.o im pretty sure mapleshade was talking to tigerstar in tigerclaw's fury

[@Rogue_ErrorXD]

Is it just me or have i just noticed how fast rose talks in her speed paints😂😂😂

[@frogge3417]

the erins hearing your rants: *WRITE THAT DOWN, WRITE THAT DOWN!*

[@rakokatakantu]

you know whats also annoying *glares at roleplayers who have their characters taken over by the dark forest*

[@mothman4102]

i only have one oc like this and it's bc he's a meddie who's mentor just died halfway through his training and he's stressed so his mom he never knew (who's a rogue that got yeeted out of starclan by some racist fuck) offered him help from "starclan" until he realized she was evil and his dead mentor beat the shit out of her when they met at the sc/df border. yyep.

[@luisa3696]

Ooh yes I love these rants

[@muichiwa9603]

0:29 IDK why but I got really excited and a super shocked when it showed my comment on her video XDXDXD

[@linsyleopard2425]

Can't waitttt

[@DawnCat-vy4ez]

Didn’t goosefeather see her take crookedpaw into the dark forest and talk to her in crookedstar’s promise? I think it makes that connect to the two knowing each other with that small detail from another book and how they know each other. I could be wrong but makes sense on why she was in goosefeather’s curse

[@piscespuppyXD]

Apparently the theory of Mapleshade being related to Bluestar is still strong, so maybe she’s also related to Goosefeather. Maybe that has some connection for her choosing Goosefeather like how she chose Crookedstar to torment because he’s Appledusks descendant.

[@LeafDoodles]

I-I-I I have to wait But I can’t OwO

[@doctorkwack101fan]

Wait for what? What is this "primeir" thing?

[@baileythewhitewolf1993]

This is amazing!!!!! I love to draw but I could never do anything like this!😃

[@yawninglion1677]

Yeah, I... Can't agree on Mapleshade ever being that interesting. She's always grated on me and the stuff you rant about here is exactly why. (Well, that and finding her novella to be overly dramatic trash...)

[@corpse4649]

Ik this was a long time ago but Mapleshade was in a lot of books but my favorite villian is Hawkfrost and I can totally relate to him because my life was almost like his accept that I had more then two siblings and most of them weren't in my life but they are still talking about Mapleshade today and ESPECIALLY Ashfur I believe that they should of put back the old Villians like Mapleshade Hawkfrost or even Brokenstar back

[@trest304]

Hey everyone! :D I hope you stay safe and have a nice day, God bless you!

[@samsonsongcat]

I also like Mapleshade, But Yellowfang is my 1st favorite.

[@justalemon8173]

I knew this would never happen but I think I would have been so cool for ivypool to stay evil and fight for the dark forest. Even take it so far for dovewing to have to seriously injure/ kill ivypool. I know it would effect the thing with her kits but it will have been alot more interesting.

[@ThunderEcho_Drawz]

10 mins away 0w0 I'm exited :D

[@krowsfries3525]

This was beautiful I love your art

[@tildsmayo]

She also trained Crookedstar/ Crookedjaw/ Crookedpaw.

[@maryposgay63]

Imagine what could have happened had Mapleshade decided to manipulate Hollyleaf and use not having a power against her

[@spiritblackpaw8435]

While her overabundance of appearances was quite annoying, I think one reason, other than her being a favorite, she made so many appearances WAS to hint that the Dark Forests attempt to take over had been looooong in the making. She was also meant to come across as this mysterious and manipulative cat that is the one of the sole reasons so many things went wrong within the clans. Also, the Kittypet line actually has some merit. When she was in Thunderclan, the current leader (if I remember correctly it was PineStar, but it's been awhile so I may be wrong) was sending out patrols to attack kittypets, which after awhile began to fight back, with some success. I think a lot of her appearances have these little connections that you have to remember about in order for them to truly make sense.

[@melanieagosto1207]

MAPLE’SHADE IS THE BEST MOTHER, WARRIOR, AND DARK FOREST CAT =D X3