If You View Warrior Cats As Being Human-like That's Fine.

I've never read WoF, I have no idea why I'm here, anyway here's me as a dragon, lol. I think the snowy ones are called Icewings, so her name is Shard.

Her horns are sharp and shiny. She breathes ice breath and guards a secret door at the bottom of a dark cavern that has a lot of gold behind it.

99% of my criticisms are not with the books, themselves, but rather, the fanbase. Which I feel is disproportionately filled with a loud, and angry majority who don't respect other people, and who take the books and their opinions on the books way too seriously.

What are you talking about? They absolutely do!

I feel like fans tend to ignore the line between "fictional kitty society" and "intentional veiled commentary of real world societal issues" when it comes to critiquing Warrior Cats.

When you read a piece of media, you will always come away from it with two seperate interpretations.

What the author intended

What the reader interpreted

Like, I don't think the Bumble thing was a commentary on abusive relationships in real life, and I don't think, based on how Kate or Vicky talk about and treat Warrior Cats, that it was intended that way, for instance.

—But, the parallels are there for those with eyes to see them, and I think it's worth noting that the fandom treats her situation as if it were supposed to be interpreted that way to start with— as an analogue for real abuse— and are incensed by the way the topic was handled.

Similar to Bumble, I see this with cats like Snowkit, or cats like Jayfeather, who, at the time of their being authored, were very likely not intended to convey the authors' stance on disability.

And, if Jayfeather were to do that then the best thing you can possibly say about his portrayal is that came from a well-intentioned, well-meaning place.

To summarize, I don't think Jayfeather or any other situation / character in Warriors is or was—

Intended to be an offensive caricature / stereotype

Purposefully demeaning to children or older readers with a similar disability, or in a similar situation as to what has been portrayed in Warriors thus far

That his character or any other character comes from a place of bad faith, or underlying bias

—even if some readers feel otherwise.

Is this anything? No? Okay

Has anyone played any of the Warrior Cats fangames out there?

I saw on Google that there's Untold Tales and Road to Immortality, amd apparently a few adaptations of the books into RPGmaker format.

Are any of them worth playing? Or does anyone have any recommendations for good Warrior Cats fangames? (Are there any official ones?)

Even with John stating outright that she's conventially attractive, I still picture Lilith as looking more like Jeff the Killer than Morticia Addams, lmao.

Bara furry UTAUloids are so iconic. Why does every single one have such a banger VB. It's literally crazy. I have never seen a bara furry UTAUloid with a bad voicebank. They are all so high quality.

I'm just so taken aback.

It's like learning that someone compares the experiences of deaf children to Snowkit, as the correct context in which we should read his story.

And not, as a cat, being born with a defect that inhibits your ability to do the thing you were bred for— which is to contribute to a society that values rearing as many children as possible specifically to have soldiers to defend their territory, resources, and colony with.

Purposefully anthromorphisizing and decontextualizing the characters from the worldbuilding and context they were originally viewed in, in order to make an issue out of nothing is just— baffling to me.

Even with Snowkit, Brackenfur and Speckletail's messaging is not— Snowkit is a valuable member of our Clan, whether or not he can hear— It's 'I can personally train him to be a soldier so he can fulfill his societal role in ThunderClan'.

The cats of ThunderClan are at war. They are fighting not to starve, not to die.

Why would you remove the context of them being cats?

I often see the fandom conflate plot points / set-up with whether a character is 'defendable' or not.

For instance, Ivypool lashing out at Dovewing in one of the newer books.

"I can't believe Ivypool said that!"

"She was so mean to Dovewing!"

Well, while I personally feel like Ivypool was acting out in a very understandable, and sympathizable way, I also think fans are ignoring the obvious elephant in the room.

—This conflict only happens in the book to set up the book's story arc about 'alternative' afterlives. Bristlefrost, who we assume has faded from the world entirely, is revealed to still live on, even if only symbolically, through a stag that appears before Ivypool.

In other words, Dovewing's grief over Rowankit is being juxtaposed to Ivypool's loss of Bristlefrost, so that the book can reveal that she's not really gone.

In other book series, a Series of Unfortunate Events, for instance, the choices a character makes say something about who they are as a person,

As an example, from a Series of Unfortunate Events, the character Violet Baudelaire purposefully writes with her non-dominant hand when signing a marriage contract to Count Olaf thereby nullifing her marriage to him.

This shows that she is both clever, and knowledgeable of marital law. She is an inventor, and sees all the possibilites before her, even ones that would require her to think outside the box, in situations where a solution might not seem apparent.

Contrast this to Warriors, and you'll find that most characters are mouthpieces for the plot with characterization on the side.

Cinderpaw getting hurt, leading to Jaypaw developing hydrotherapy, allows us to learn about Cinderpaw being Cinderpelt, furthers the relationship between Jaypaw and his connection to the stick, and allows for bonding time between he and Leafpool.

But, we don't get much overt characterization out of this. We learn that Jaypaw is smart. But, it doesn't really say anything about him as a character. This follows for every other Warriors character, too.

We are dripfed characterization through little moments, Whitestorm spending long hours with Bluestar as her health declines, Firepaw's crush on Spottedleaf, Ravenpaw being happy at the barn with Barley.

But, ultimately, the characters are written in service of the plot, and not the other way around, like in a Series of Unfortunate Events.

This is a book series about a plot with characters, and not a book series about characters in a plot.