So what do Squirrelflight and Peter Pan have in common?
Jul 20, 2021 1:03:10 GMT -5
❅Maplefrost❅, whiteflight, and 2 more like this
Post by nowarriornameshere on Jul 20, 2021 1:03:10 GMT -5
I'm gonna lay it down on the ground here; I like a lot of Squirrelflight's character, but if there's something I think that isn't really talked about, it's that she never really grew up in some ways.
To start with, her attitude towards rules, breaking them, and "following her heart". She does that shit way too much and never really thinks about it. I'm not saying "the law is the law, and you must follow it even if it's unjust". But a lot of the time, she just handwaves it with impunity. Contrast how she handles breaking the rules with when her father did it, like when he and Graystripe tried to feed Riverclan or when he went behind Bluestar's back to ask Tallstar to attend a peace talk. Fireheart realized both times that he couldn't in good conscience do otherwise, but also accepted that he was breaking the rules (which are in place for a reason), breaking the trust that he's supposed to have with his clan, and that he still deserved some judgement. Squirrelflight's reaction to breaking the rules is "f*ck you, I'm right!" The closest she ever really gets to seeming to feeling bad is when Brambleclaw literally walks out of a Gathering after learning she lied to him, and that wasn't her regretting the decision, it was regretting the aftermath and realizing that the mate she loved might never forgive her. (You could argue "Starclan made her do it", but she literally said to Leafpool "I'd do it again" without an iota of regret.)
Then there's her tendency to mask the truth to keep in line with her goals. She never lies MALICIOUSLY, sure, but she has - in multiple instances - flat out lied to people she's supposed to have established trust with in service of achieving what she wants to, without really thinking of how it affects them. It's the same sort of short-sightedness that you could expect of a kid, thinking that they can tell a lie for the plan without realizing that this REALLY hurts the people who love and trust them.
And can we talk about her relationship with Bramblestar? I don't think I find it toxic like many say, but she really IS incredibly immature in a lot of aspects in their relationship.
Like, sure, in the first case of her telling him that she loves him, she literally just lays it out on the floor without thinking... not because she thought about it or how to approach the subject, but because she thought he might be jealous of her friendship with Stormfur. Okay. It's kind of... silly, but I guess she's an apprentice still. Apprentice going on warrior soon, but maybe it's fine. It's not like anyone was hurt by it.
But you know what did end up hurting both of them? Her approach to his wish to bond with Hawkfrost. Yes, WE know the guy is the second coming of his father, and if I recall correctly, she picked up on Leafpaw's very real and reasonable misgivings about the guy, especially after he attempted to take her best friend hostage. But it's how she acts about it with Brambleclaw instead of trying to see his side or be a bit more reasonable when trying to persuade him. She throws a hissyfit after their first argument and yells "If that's what you think, you don't know me at all!" before running off. And then after their second argument on the subject? "We're not going to work out, are we?" BECAUSE THEY ARGUED LIKE TWICE ON THE SAME SUBJECT AND CAN'T SEE EYE TO EYE ON IT. Ladies and gentlemen, this is supposed to be a fully fledged adult.
And if that's not bad enough, we get the next book with the POV split between her and Leafpool. The POV switchups are actually interesting, because the view on Brambleclaw shifts dramatically depending on who's got the reins. When Squirrelflight holds the POV, Brambleclaw is Satan in a tabby fur coat; he's cruel and cold and ambitious and evil and Tigerstar Jr. and very clearly doesn't care about her or anyone besides himself. When Leafpool holds the POV, Brambleclaw is... a kind of reserved, obviously somewhat stressed and upset, but otherwise mostly inoffensive guy. Note that between the two sisters, LEAFPOOL actually has more reason to be suspicious of Brambleclaw; she actually saw him receiving tutelage from Tigerstar in the Dark Forest. Yet her narrative doesn't warp to turn him into Kitty Hitler in the slightest; hell, she literally sees him in the waking world a few minutes later and he seems genuinely concerned about her well-being because he can tell that something's on her mind. Meanwhile, Squirrelflight is breathing poison at Brambleclaw at basically every opportunity, picking fights with him basically whenever she can, and rubbing her current opinion of him in his face when given the slightest opening. Unlike what some others say, I don't know if I'd say she was FLAUNTING her new relationship with Ashfur with him, because it's not really something that she attempts to bring up as far as I recall. However, there is a moment when Brambleclaw, despite being still sour, notices that Squirrelflight just got mad at Ashfur for something or another and attempts to point out that Ashfur was just acting that way because he cares; this is by all accounts pretty generous and even arguably reads as him extending an olive branch, or at least accepting that Squirrelflight is in fact with somebody else now and trying to give her some insight into Ashfur's actions that will make things better between them. Squirrelflight's reaction is basically another "f*ck you" and to tell him once again that she can't trust him at all. It's no wonder that when Squirrelflight - exuberant over their victory over the kittypets - bounces over to him in intoxicated glee over the moment to talk about how great they did, he immediately cuts off the conversation and bails. All this over a disagreement on whether or not he should trust his half-brother.
And you know the worst part of it is the fact that Squirrelflight is right to not trust Hawkfrost. Sure, it's good that the villain hasn't really won over everybody, but the problem is that being right validates her as far as many are concerned. "So what she was shitting on Brambleclaw for wanting to give the guy a chance? She was right that he was a piece of work!" Which misses the entire point that even if she was right, her approach to the whole thing was really pretty juvenile.
Sure, sure, okay, she was still kind of young! Just a fresh warrior. She was definitely not as young when Starclan came down and told her to lie to everybody about the parentage of her kits. Make no mistake, a good part of that is on Starclan - Yellowfang especially. I know of married women who desperately wanted children but are barren, and I will not try to pretend that their grief is "no big deal" - because for some, it matters a lot. Squirrelflight was hurt pretty badly by Yellowfang's lie, too. But at the same time, she just went along with the lie, deceiving even Brambleclaw, and even later telling Leafpool that she'd do it again. She's strongly impacted by both a wish to help her sister and her own despair at the idea that she may not ever be able to have children of her own, and there's nothing wrong with THAT. But again, she just ignores what would be right to break the rules and "follow her heart" again. This is still probably the most easily overlookable instance of this, though; even if it was also the cruelest deception, Starclan still not only gave the okay but even basically ordered it. It's very easy to say "okay, if the ancestors said it, it's probably okay?" Obviously, it wasn't, but it's a way to look at it.
Squirrelflight is at her most mature when she is... being a mom to her nephews and niece. She basically never gets immature when interacting with them, tries to give love and advice and guidance when they need it, and later on, when Jayfeather and Lionblaze are still basically on non-speaking terms with Leafpool, she at least tries to intercede and improve relations between them. Part of it is sticking up for her sister, sure, but part of it is also trying to get her sons out of their permanently asshurt funk when the subject of their birth mother comes up. Though there is a moment or two when she slips up. Jayfeather and Lionblaze, while they shouldn't have held grudges for that long, DID have legitimate reasons to be angry, and Squirrelflight comes across as fairly unsympathetic towards them in favor of her sister. It's almost like a child just sticking up for their sibling "no matter what!", even if their sibling screwed up bad.
Aaaaaand then there's Squirrelflight's Hope. Holy shit, Squirrelflight's Hope.
This really doesn't need much explanation, though I'll admit that part of my reluctance to dwell on this Super Edition is because my one guilty series headcanon is to NOT consider this SE canon. Even if most of my case hinges on it because Squirrelflight is no longer anywhere close to young when the SE takes place and yet she ACTS like it. She's practically a teenager in an adult's body in this book. Just casually throwing trust to the wind to do "what her heart told her"? Breaking the rules like she's some Sonic the Hedgehog teen rebel? Telling somebody to lie to her dad about the truth for the goal? (Yes, it's HER F*CKING DAUGHTER that she's telling to do this, but it still smacks of teenage rebellion while also being a lot worse because this is not just another young, impressionable figure she's getting in on it, it's her own daughter, who will be a lot more easily influenced because Squirrelflight is both the deputy and her mother.) And let's not forget her angsting over the idea that her beloved might outlive her. (I actually did forget this. Whatever brain bleach I bought must've been high quality.) I watch cheesy romance anime in my spare time. Squirrelflight had enough immaturity and teen-level melodrama to put the worst shoujo protagonist to shame. And let's not forget that this is supposedly someone who has raised two litters of young cats to adulthood.
And then last but not least, there's her stalling in TBC. Whether or not she's right about the decision to try to keep Bramblestar alive isn't the point; the point is her very clear reason for doing so. It isn't really about "making sure the best interest of the clan holds out", especially considering her actions near the end of the fourth book. Her actions pretty much entirely revolve around her agenda of trying to do anything she can to save Bramblestar, no matter the cost, because she takes the "I can't live without you" part of romantic backs-and-forth WAY too literally. She actually CANNOT seem to accept or comprehend the idea of a life without Bramblestar and is willing to keep stalling and risk others with her gaze set on the goal of being reunited with her beloved. This isn't even just "f*ck you I'm right, my heart determines my choices" anymore; it's "my heart has literally taken over every last scrap of rationality and sense in favor of driving forward towards a destination that may not even be possible to reach". The nicest thing I can say about Squirrelflight here is that she was EVENTUALLY persuaded to back down. In just about every other case, she just kept right on going. But she had to be talked down by two characters who were literally young enough to be her grandchildren and wouldn't have made the right decision herself.
And then there's the smaller but still noticeable stuff. Acting like a kicked puppy when the guy she likes is pissed with her. Getting pissy with people who don't agree with her. Having just about every issue with clingyness that people accused her mother of having.
Really, Squirrelflight doesn't just act rashly or immaturely. It's almost as though she has an actual child's mindset. "If I'm right then screw the other person!" "If I'm right then anything I do is also right." "I can't be in a relationship with somebody that I can't agree with." "My sister, right or wrong!" "I love him and I'll do anything I have to for him!" Is it unfair for me to say that it feels like Squirrelflight's morality is informed by Saturday morning cartoons?
To start with, her attitude towards rules, breaking them, and "following her heart". She does that shit way too much and never really thinks about it. I'm not saying "the law is the law, and you must follow it even if it's unjust". But a lot of the time, she just handwaves it with impunity. Contrast how she handles breaking the rules with when her father did it, like when he and Graystripe tried to feed Riverclan or when he went behind Bluestar's back to ask Tallstar to attend a peace talk. Fireheart realized both times that he couldn't in good conscience do otherwise, but also accepted that he was breaking the rules (which are in place for a reason), breaking the trust that he's supposed to have with his clan, and that he still deserved some judgement. Squirrelflight's reaction to breaking the rules is "f*ck you, I'm right!" The closest she ever really gets to seeming to feeling bad is when Brambleclaw literally walks out of a Gathering after learning she lied to him, and that wasn't her regretting the decision, it was regretting the aftermath and realizing that the mate she loved might never forgive her. (You could argue "Starclan made her do it", but she literally said to Leafpool "I'd do it again" without an iota of regret.)
Then there's her tendency to mask the truth to keep in line with her goals. She never lies MALICIOUSLY, sure, but she has - in multiple instances - flat out lied to people she's supposed to have established trust with in service of achieving what she wants to, without really thinking of how it affects them. It's the same sort of short-sightedness that you could expect of a kid, thinking that they can tell a lie for the plan without realizing that this REALLY hurts the people who love and trust them.
And can we talk about her relationship with Bramblestar? I don't think I find it toxic like many say, but she really IS incredibly immature in a lot of aspects in their relationship.
Like, sure, in the first case of her telling him that she loves him, she literally just lays it out on the floor without thinking... not because she thought about it or how to approach the subject, but because she thought he might be jealous of her friendship with Stormfur. Okay. It's kind of... silly, but I guess she's an apprentice still. Apprentice going on warrior soon, but maybe it's fine. It's not like anyone was hurt by it.
But you know what did end up hurting both of them? Her approach to his wish to bond with Hawkfrost. Yes, WE know the guy is the second coming of his father, and if I recall correctly, she picked up on Leafpaw's very real and reasonable misgivings about the guy, especially after he attempted to take her best friend hostage. But it's how she acts about it with Brambleclaw instead of trying to see his side or be a bit more reasonable when trying to persuade him. She throws a hissyfit after their first argument and yells "If that's what you think, you don't know me at all!" before running off. And then after their second argument on the subject? "We're not going to work out, are we?" BECAUSE THEY ARGUED LIKE TWICE ON THE SAME SUBJECT AND CAN'T SEE EYE TO EYE ON IT. Ladies and gentlemen, this is supposed to be a fully fledged adult.
And if that's not bad enough, we get the next book with the POV split between her and Leafpool. The POV switchups are actually interesting, because the view on Brambleclaw shifts dramatically depending on who's got the reins. When Squirrelflight holds the POV, Brambleclaw is Satan in a tabby fur coat; he's cruel and cold and ambitious and evil and Tigerstar Jr. and very clearly doesn't care about her or anyone besides himself. When Leafpool holds the POV, Brambleclaw is... a kind of reserved, obviously somewhat stressed and upset, but otherwise mostly inoffensive guy. Note that between the two sisters, LEAFPOOL actually has more reason to be suspicious of Brambleclaw; she actually saw him receiving tutelage from Tigerstar in the Dark Forest. Yet her narrative doesn't warp to turn him into Kitty Hitler in the slightest; hell, she literally sees him in the waking world a few minutes later and he seems genuinely concerned about her well-being because he can tell that something's on her mind. Meanwhile, Squirrelflight is breathing poison at Brambleclaw at basically every opportunity, picking fights with him basically whenever she can, and rubbing her current opinion of him in his face when given the slightest opening. Unlike what some others say, I don't know if I'd say she was FLAUNTING her new relationship with Ashfur with him, because it's not really something that she attempts to bring up as far as I recall. However, there is a moment when Brambleclaw, despite being still sour, notices that Squirrelflight just got mad at Ashfur for something or another and attempts to point out that Ashfur was just acting that way because he cares; this is by all accounts pretty generous and even arguably reads as him extending an olive branch, or at least accepting that Squirrelflight is in fact with somebody else now and trying to give her some insight into Ashfur's actions that will make things better between them. Squirrelflight's reaction is basically another "f*ck you" and to tell him once again that she can't trust him at all. It's no wonder that when Squirrelflight - exuberant over their victory over the kittypets - bounces over to him in intoxicated glee over the moment to talk about how great they did, he immediately cuts off the conversation and bails. All this over a disagreement on whether or not he should trust his half-brother.
And you know the worst part of it is the fact that Squirrelflight is right to not trust Hawkfrost. Sure, it's good that the villain hasn't really won over everybody, but the problem is that being right validates her as far as many are concerned. "So what she was shitting on Brambleclaw for wanting to give the guy a chance? She was right that he was a piece of work!" Which misses the entire point that even if she was right, her approach to the whole thing was really pretty juvenile.
Sure, sure, okay, she was still kind of young! Just a fresh warrior. She was definitely not as young when Starclan came down and told her to lie to everybody about the parentage of her kits. Make no mistake, a good part of that is on Starclan - Yellowfang especially. I know of married women who desperately wanted children but are barren, and I will not try to pretend that their grief is "no big deal" - because for some, it matters a lot. Squirrelflight was hurt pretty badly by Yellowfang's lie, too. But at the same time, she just went along with the lie, deceiving even Brambleclaw, and even later telling Leafpool that she'd do it again. She's strongly impacted by both a wish to help her sister and her own despair at the idea that she may not ever be able to have children of her own, and there's nothing wrong with THAT. But again, she just ignores what would be right to break the rules and "follow her heart" again. This is still probably the most easily overlookable instance of this, though; even if it was also the cruelest deception, Starclan still not only gave the okay but even basically ordered it. It's very easy to say "okay, if the ancestors said it, it's probably okay?" Obviously, it wasn't, but it's a way to look at it.
Squirrelflight is at her most mature when she is... being a mom to her nephews and niece. She basically never gets immature when interacting with them, tries to give love and advice and guidance when they need it, and later on, when Jayfeather and Lionblaze are still basically on non-speaking terms with Leafpool, she at least tries to intercede and improve relations between them. Part of it is sticking up for her sister, sure, but part of it is also trying to get her sons out of their permanently asshurt funk when the subject of their birth mother comes up. Though there is a moment or two when she slips up. Jayfeather and Lionblaze, while they shouldn't have held grudges for that long, DID have legitimate reasons to be angry, and Squirrelflight comes across as fairly unsympathetic towards them in favor of her sister. It's almost like a child just sticking up for their sibling "no matter what!", even if their sibling screwed up bad.
Aaaaaand then there's Squirrelflight's Hope. Holy shit, Squirrelflight's Hope.
- Goes behind Bramblestar's back and shits on the rules multiple times because F*CK YOU I'M RIGHT
- Tells Sparkpelt to lie to HER F*CKING FATHER
- Has a little freak out over the idea that her beloved might just outlive her
This really doesn't need much explanation, though I'll admit that part of my reluctance to dwell on this Super Edition is because my one guilty series headcanon is to NOT consider this SE canon. Even if most of my case hinges on it because Squirrelflight is no longer anywhere close to young when the SE takes place and yet she ACTS like it. She's practically a teenager in an adult's body in this book. Just casually throwing trust to the wind to do "what her heart told her"? Breaking the rules like she's some Sonic the Hedgehog teen rebel? Telling somebody to lie to her dad about the truth for the goal? (Yes, it's HER F*CKING DAUGHTER that she's telling to do this, but it still smacks of teenage rebellion while also being a lot worse because this is not just another young, impressionable figure she's getting in on it, it's her own daughter, who will be a lot more easily influenced because Squirrelflight is both the deputy and her mother.) And let's not forget her angsting over the idea that her beloved might outlive her. (I actually did forget this. Whatever brain bleach I bought must've been high quality.) I watch cheesy romance anime in my spare time. Squirrelflight had enough immaturity and teen-level melodrama to put the worst shoujo protagonist to shame. And let's not forget that this is supposedly someone who has raised two litters of young cats to adulthood.
And then last but not least, there's her stalling in TBC. Whether or not she's right about the decision to try to keep Bramblestar alive isn't the point; the point is her very clear reason for doing so. It isn't really about "making sure the best interest of the clan holds out", especially considering her actions near the end of the fourth book. Her actions pretty much entirely revolve around her agenda of trying to do anything she can to save Bramblestar, no matter the cost, because she takes the "I can't live without you" part of romantic backs-and-forth WAY too literally. She actually CANNOT seem to accept or comprehend the idea of a life without Bramblestar and is willing to keep stalling and risk others with her gaze set on the goal of being reunited with her beloved. This isn't even just "f*ck you I'm right, my heart determines my choices" anymore; it's "my heart has literally taken over every last scrap of rationality and sense in favor of driving forward towards a destination that may not even be possible to reach". The nicest thing I can say about Squirrelflight here is that she was EVENTUALLY persuaded to back down. In just about every other case, she just kept right on going. But she had to be talked down by two characters who were literally young enough to be her grandchildren and wouldn't have made the right decision herself.
And then there's the smaller but still noticeable stuff. Acting like a kicked puppy when the guy she likes is pissed with her. Getting pissy with people who don't agree with her. Having just about every issue with clingyness that people accused her mother of having.
Really, Squirrelflight doesn't just act rashly or immaturely. It's almost as though she has an actual child's mindset. "If I'm right then screw the other person!" "If I'm right then anything I do is also right." "I can't be in a relationship with somebody that I can't agree with." "My sister, right or wrong!" "I love him and I'll do anything I have to for him!" Is it unfair for me to say that it feels like Squirrelflight's morality is informed by Saturday morning cartoons?