How Darktail shows(once again) the clans's xenophobia.

Well, with a title like that, I should perhaps make it clear that this isn't some kind of defense post for Darktail. He's obviously a deranged serial killer, no doubt of that. 

What I want to talk about here is how the clans, because of their prejudice against strangers, have, during Thunder and Shadows and the begining of Shattered Sky, taken many decisions that were, in my opinion, morally wrong based on the information that they had at the time. I also will talk about how the authors do their best to demonize the rogues to the audience too during the apprentice's quest.

When we are first introduced to the rogues in the Apprentice's quest, the authors immediately try to manipulate the reader's emotions by mentionning that the rogues apparently don't clean themselves. Despite that the fact that cleaning yourself is a natural behavior among every cat, big or small. It directly contrast the ''civilized'' clans and those barbaric rogues. Soon after, there is this little scene where every cat has to fight for their preys. This is technic that the Erins have used all accross the warrior cats books when trying to convey that a group of cats suck(we can see something similar with Brokenstar, when he sends the elders away), and it definitively makes sense for Darktail's character to impose laws like that, but it fits into the trend of making rogues look awful. 

Next, there is this scene where a she-cat(of course) is sick, and Darktail is rude to her. When Alderheart comes over and says he can cure her, Darktail immediately agrees and is eager to access Alderheart's knowledge. It seems a bit silly that none of the rogues has ever heard of medicinal plants, but besides that, we can see that Darktail doesn't have anything against helping his ''kin'', unlike for example Clear sky, he literally just didn't know how to help, but the damage is already done:when I first read this, it was yet another reason for me to hate the rogues.

Finally, there is the scene where he kills this guy from skyclan. This is the first time we see Darktail's sadistic impulses and also his paranoia, since he accuses the clan cats of conspiring against the Kin with little evidence. I mention it because Alderheart and his buddies actually never tell thunderclan, much less the other clans, that they saw Darktail murder this cat, which would have been a justification for the actions of the clans against the rogues. They also don't tell the clans that Darktail chased away skyclan, in fact they don't even tell them about the existence of skyclan until after their attack at the begining of Shattered Sky. So, the clans had zero idea what his agenda was. 

Let's move on to Thunder and Shadow, when Onestar and his warriors are attacked. After they saw a few member of the Kin walking on thunderclan's territory, they went to ask what the heck the rogues thought they were doing. Darktail immediately orders the Kin to attack them. Thunderclan shows up and saves the day, but not before Darktail f___ up Onestar's mind once and for all, while also taking his second to last life. And also not before Furzpelt dies.

So, Furzpelt. Onestar pretends that the rogues killed him, but when you read this passage closely, Alderheart mentions that he died from an injury on the head, when he hit a rock. That could absolutely be a complete accident and not an intentionnal kill by the rogues. Also in this scene, we have Jayfeather saying that he hasn't seen cats so vicious since the dark forest. Which is obviously nonsense:how is this little agression in any way comparable to a group of murderers that have the explicit intention of exterminating the clans? Once again, a very clever way to manipulate the readers, by reminding them of one bad thing so they hate this too. Sidenote:Furzpelt, according to his wikifandom page, was apparently one of the many dark forest's apprentices. So this comparison is beautifully ironic. 

Let's move on to another crucial plotpoint:Darktail's rogues begin to interact with several shadow clan apprentices. They also take advantage of Violetpaw's little adventure by bringing her home personally to make themselves look good to shadowclan, which is maybe a little manipulative, but not wrong. Eventually, some shadowclan cats are pissed and decide to join the Kin. 

Now, what does our genius Rowanstar do? Respect their decision and wait until they change their mind, if they do? Or maybe go talk to them, acknowledge the valid complaints that they may have while also trying to make them understand the older warrior's point of view, and promising to find compromises? 

Of course, he does neither. Instead, he attacks them. Rowanstar and those that supported him are so full of themselves that they think that trying to chase aways their old clanmates's new friends will somehow convinced them to switch sides for no other reason than because, well, they're rogues, barbaric, strangers. ''Xenophobia, or fear of strangers, is a broad term that may be applied to any fear of someone who is different from us''

How do the other clans react when they learn the news? Do they say that Rowanstar's plan was both moronic and morally wrong? Nope. They're just mad that he couldn't keep his warriors from leaving in the first place. Yikes. 

So, afterwards, sickness strucks shadowclan. Onestar, being the little shit that he is, refuses to give away the medicinal plants that shadowclan needs, while also turning into a dictator back in his clan. Funny how in Thunder and Shadows, Darktail is overall a better leader and a better person than his father. Sure, there is this little fight with Rain, but honestly, for once, Darktail had a point there. Rain disobeyed multiple times, refusing to contribute to the group while still benefiting from it, then he challenged Darktail to a duel. After something like that, I think I'd have understood if he banished him, so taking one of his eye is almost merciful in comparison, since Rain might starve on his own. 

In desperation, Crowfrost is convinced to keep Twigpaw hostage, then gets huge backclash from his warriors for giving her back when Bramblestar shows up. I definitively agree with his decision, but I can also see why his clanmates are angry because of it, as they watch their friends and family die around them.

This is the event that makes Rowanstar lose all credibility, and when Darktail walks into his camp, almost the whole clan falls to his knees. Then, Rowanstar says that Darktail will only take his clan over his dead body, as if he hadn't already succeded lol. Darktail of course welcomes this opportunity to hurt somebody, and after a while, Tigerstar and Tawnypelt join and beat up Darktail in 2 vs 1. How honorable and loyal of them. I can't imagine why almost every cat in this clan wants to join the Kin.

Rowanstar then goes to the gathering and whines about this embarrassing situation for a little while. A couple weeks later, the clans agree to attack the Kin.
They attack their camp.
Without warning. 
Without any good reason. 

After all, Darktail hasn't done anything wrong to become the leader of shadowclan. They chose him freely, without any threat of violence. Bramblestar says that after the last hope, they had promise to help another clan if it was in danger, but that's not case here. The only thing that is perceived to be in danger here is the clan's culture. Can't let those evil strangers change their oh so good traditions, can they.

So, yeah, they fail, and not that long after, Rain attemps to murder Darktail. I think those two events are what finally cause Darktail to lose his careful self control and give in to his paranoia and sadism, as he drowns anyone attempting to leave his Kin, which obviously makes everyone even more willing to leave if they can. He also chases away Riverclan, and creates what are essentially concentration camps. At this point, chasing away the Kin and killing Darktail is finally justified and the clans are the good guys again. 

Ouf, this turned out to be much longer than I initially intended! Congrats to anyone who's made it this far lol.