Post by scarletflames on Dec 1, 2019 18:00:01 GMT -5
Are there any characters you had sympathy for when you first read warriors, who now you either don't have sympathy for or not as much sympathy for?
For me, as a kid I felt so terrible for Bluestar after Tigerclaw's betrayal and she started to become depressed and have memory problems, as well as her lashing out more in general and just not thinking clearly. I suspect she probably had a mental illness and possibly dementia (or at least she showed signs of a possible mental illness and memory problems, especially with the depression, agitation, hostility and not thinking rationally.) I felt so sorry for her that she gave up her kits to become leader, only to be betrayed by one of the cats she trusted the most and have bad things keep happening afterwards.
As an adult, though, I actually have a much harder time sympathizing with her, even though I could relate to feeling depressed, having rough things happen to me and having moments of not thinking clearly. I think why I feel more apathetic towards her pain now than as a kid is because she was a leader of a clan-not an ordinary clan member. Her inability to think clearly anymore and making poor decisions caused the clan to suffer, especially Fireheart. I feel the right thing to do if at all possible in the Warriors series would have been for her to step down as leader. She almost caused battle with Windclan that was unnecessary, constantly lashed out at Fireheart, named Brightpaw "Lostface" as a symbol of her war with Starclan, openly called members of her clan traitors and didn't exactly hide her war with Starclan from her clan, and made bad decisions like those that caused her whole clan to suffer on top of everything else Thunderclan was going through. Maybe I'm being too harsh on her, but the fact that she became incompetent as a clan leader really makes me mad, despite the fact she may have had mental illness and dementia. Her clan should have been put first, whatever was going on with her-isn't that what a leader is supposed to do? The fact she made such poor decisions felt like an insult to the old Bluestar and even the sacrifices she made in order to become leader in the first place.
Another cat I don't have as much sympathy for is Hollyleaf. I still have a lot of sympathy for her in general, just not as much as when I first read Warriors. After I realized how horrifying it was that she tried to force Leafpool to commit suicide (not simply threaten to murder her, but make Leafpool kill herself so Hollyleaf wouldn't get traced back to the crime), I never fully got past my negative feelings about that, even though I like her redemption and reconciliation with Leafpool in the end and still feel general sympathy for her (though I wish she hadn't died so soon, I really would have liked more scenes of her in the clan and reconciling more with everyone, maybe even having a mate and kits). While not nearly as dramatic, something had been kept from me most of my life and I felt like Hollyleaf when she found out about her heritage-devastated and like I was going off the deep end so to speak. I can forgive everything she did except for the Leafpool deathberries scene, although it probably doesn't help that Leafpool is one of my favorite characters.
Are there also characters who you now have sympathy for that you didn't previously?
After I read the super editions with Tallstar and Crookedstar, while I liked them before the super editions, I felt a ton of sympathy for them since I never knew about their past.
For me, as a kid I felt so terrible for Bluestar after Tigerclaw's betrayal and she started to become depressed and have memory problems, as well as her lashing out more in general and just not thinking clearly. I suspect she probably had a mental illness and possibly dementia (or at least she showed signs of a possible mental illness and memory problems, especially with the depression, agitation, hostility and not thinking rationally.) I felt so sorry for her that she gave up her kits to become leader, only to be betrayed by one of the cats she trusted the most and have bad things keep happening afterwards.
As an adult, though, I actually have a much harder time sympathizing with her, even though I could relate to feeling depressed, having rough things happen to me and having moments of not thinking clearly. I think why I feel more apathetic towards her pain now than as a kid is because she was a leader of a clan-not an ordinary clan member. Her inability to think clearly anymore and making poor decisions caused the clan to suffer, especially Fireheart. I feel the right thing to do if at all possible in the Warriors series would have been for her to step down as leader. She almost caused battle with Windclan that was unnecessary, constantly lashed out at Fireheart, named Brightpaw "Lostface" as a symbol of her war with Starclan, openly called members of her clan traitors and didn't exactly hide her war with Starclan from her clan, and made bad decisions like those that caused her whole clan to suffer on top of everything else Thunderclan was going through. Maybe I'm being too harsh on her, but the fact that she became incompetent as a clan leader really makes me mad, despite the fact she may have had mental illness and dementia. Her clan should have been put first, whatever was going on with her-isn't that what a leader is supposed to do? The fact she made such poor decisions felt like an insult to the old Bluestar and even the sacrifices she made in order to become leader in the first place.
Another cat I don't have as much sympathy for is Hollyleaf. I still have a lot of sympathy for her in general, just not as much as when I first read Warriors. After I realized how horrifying it was that she tried to force Leafpool to commit suicide (not simply threaten to murder her, but make Leafpool kill herself so Hollyleaf wouldn't get traced back to the crime), I never fully got past my negative feelings about that, even though I like her redemption and reconciliation with Leafpool in the end and still feel general sympathy for her (though I wish she hadn't died so soon, I really would have liked more scenes of her in the clan and reconciling more with everyone, maybe even having a mate and kits). While not nearly as dramatic, something had been kept from me most of my life and I felt like Hollyleaf when she found out about her heritage-devastated and like I was going off the deep end so to speak. I can forgive everything she did except for the Leafpool deathberries scene, although it probably doesn't help that Leafpool is one of my favorite characters.
Are there also characters who you now have sympathy for that you didn't previously?
After I read the super editions with Tallstar and Crookedstar, while I liked them before the super editions, I felt a ton of sympathy for them since I never knew about their past.
