On the Subject of Moonflower
Jun 16, 2023 23:32:31 GMT -5
✲ριкαƒυєу✲, Twilight Sparkle, and 6 more like this
Post by cable on Jun 16, 2023 23:32:31 GMT -5
Preface:
Moonflower is a character I've had a complicated history with. She seems to garner a great deal of disdain on the forums, or at least did, and I can understand why- it's easy to take offense to Moonflower's rude comments to Goosefeather, especially when the behavior she commented on was was him being... well, weird and asocial.
However, I've found that on closer examination I actually... like her quite a bit! She's in that exact area I tend to enjoy, where you can peel back layers for a more complex character. That being said, I wanted to indeed examine her here because I do think she deserves more love.
This will probably be long. And, as a disclaimer, I will be saying that Goosefeather is my favorite character, but I do like Moonflower quite a bit!
Analysis:
We'll be going through Goosefeather's Curse, since it's the appearance that flared tempers with her. Moonkit is introduced as playful and rambunctious, in sharp contrast to her brother's more worrisome, socially awkward nature.
The second thing we learn about Moonkit is her crush on Stormpaw, a much older cat. What I find immediately concerning here is that Moonkit is pretty obvious about her feelings for Stormpaw, giving him excessive attention and trying to gain his praise, but then also wants to be his apprentice.
During a game of hide-and-seek, Goosekit receives tips from the spirit of Beetail about where the others are hiding, causing the other kits to accuse him of cheating. Moonkit doesn't gang up on him like the others, nor does she voice agreement with their exclusion, but she does quietly affirm their accusations against him, albeit apologetically.
The next time we see Moonkit is during Goosekit's early apprentice ceremony. Despite her surprise, she cheers his name, though Stormtail and the other kits show open anger and distaste. Moonkit continues to congratulate him in private, and expresses pride in him.
Side note, unhinged behavior from Stormtail here. He's a grown ass man scowling at a toddler for something outside his control.
The next time we see her, there is a very noticeable shift in how she speaks with Goosepaw. She is unaware of his ability to speak to spirits, and refers to him speaking to himself as "freaky". Goosepaw is tense due to not being permitted to properly communicate the issue with her.
Then this happens, and this is a sticking point for a lot of people.
Moonpaw has been stated to be spending a lot of time around Stormtail. As shown later on, Stormtail isn't a fan of Goosepaw, and the feeling is very mutual. And yeah, there's a lot to hate about the guy. But Moonpaw is in a position of obliviousness to Stormtail's many flaws. Goosepaw seems to be becoming distant, and he's voiced his dislike of Stormtail fairly often before this. Moonpaw is going to pick up on Stormtail's dislike for her brother, and it's only going to make her angry when Goosepaw then criticizes Stormtail.
Don't get me wrong, this is a really shitty thing to say. As an autistic person, this ripped my heart out the first time I read it, because I saw myself at the receiving end. But it's important to keep in mind that Moonpaw is young and impressionable, and surrounded by people who think Goosepaw is very, very odd, and Goosepaw's situation is only making him more irritable by the day.
In the next scene we see her, Goosepaw has just had a frightening vision, and ran out into the clearing. The other apprentices tease him, and state that he doesn't know how to look after himself. Remember that. What I think is interesting here is that Moonpaw doesn't verbally add to the teasing. While she does laugh at the initial comment, she seems to become more thoughtful at the implication that Goosepaw can't care for himself, and doesn't make any jabs.
At the end of this chapter, Goosepaw is promoted. In sharp contrast to his apprentice ceremony, Moonpaw is now openly agitated, but voices her comment after Poppypaw.
Also, based on Moonpaw's comment, she and Goosepaw are only 7 moons old. Stormtail continues to be extremely weird about #owning a literal child.
Goosefeather notices he is being treated very distant by nearly everybody, including Moonpaw. It's important to notice the attitude he takes here- he has basically been having to support himself emotionally, with how few cats are in his corner, and he's had Doestar and Cloudberry singing his praises at a young age. He is 7 moons old, and the route he is going to take about it is going to be, well, unapproachable.
Moonpaw helps rescue Goosefeather from an angry badger, after Stormtail inadvertently led it to him. Now, let's first acknowledge that medicine cats don't often learn to fight, and that Stormtail leaving Goosefeather, an underage medicine cat, alone with an angry badger is messed up, regardless of if he was getting help or not- I'd be peeved, too!
But also consider that Moonpaw did just save his life. Consider that Moonpaw has heard many of the things she just said constantly stated by others around her, and that her main friend circle don't really like Goosefeather. Consider that Goosefeather, who has been stressed lately, has become irritable and difficult to approach. Consider how frightening the fact that her brother was almost horrifically mauled would be to her, and I think it puts this into more context.
Remember how quiet Moonpaw got when he was teased for not being able to take care of himself. Remember that Moonpaw has been spending so much time with Stormtail that Goosefeather jokes that he could be mistaken for her mentor, and that Stormtail is openly hostile towards Goosefeather (which, again, weirdo behavior).
This is a very hurtful thing to say, especially since Goosefeather doesn't have control of many of the things that occurred to push them apart, especially his early ceremonies, but it also doesn't come out of nowhere.
And this serves to validate this view. Moonpaw does love Goosefeather, and worries about him. However, Goosefeather, who has just experienced another disturbing vision and is already pretty short on temper, lashes out, pushing his sister away. It's a long series of miscommunications and poorly worded concerns and tempers flaring that pulls the siblings apart, and inevitably validates, in Moonpaw's mind, what others say about Goosefeather.
And then right after Stormtail acts weird about Moonpaw again. Just making you understand how much I'm suffering right now.
This is the last direct interaction between Moonpaw and Goosefeather in this book.
Final Thoughts:
Moonflower loved Goosefeather, but due to him being lauded as a prodigy, she sought validation from others, and those others didn't think much of Goosefeather. She was being actively groomed by Stormtail, a grown man who was bullying a literal child (????????), and her friend circle was jealous of Goosefeather's early promotions. She tried her best to refrain from harsh comments, but still noticed and absorbed what others were saying, and Goosefeather made it difficult to mend the bridge.
Goosefeather was undergoing intense stress and trauma, and it made him irritable and short-tempered, on top of his already anxious and asocial personality. He behaved strangely due to his curse, and this caused others to judge him and made Moonflower feel put off, and by the end, he finally snaps and pushes away her attempt at reconciliation, driving her into the arms of Stormtail, who would go on to be a distant father who would abandon her for a younger woman because he's a goddamn creep.
Moonflower was not just a mindless bully to Goosefeather. Their relationship was actively worn down by a series of miscommunications, flaring tempers, and traumatic events, all encouraged by the harsher influences in her life, until they became the very distant relatives seen in Bluestar's Prophecy. Moonflower is more complex than she's given credit for and honestly reading this book again reminded me why this is my favorite novella. Appreciate Moonflower's layers for anxiety-free sleep.
As a reward for reaching the end of this here's something my friend who's never read warriors said after I infodumped this.
Moonflower is a character I've had a complicated history with. She seems to garner a great deal of disdain on the forums, or at least did, and I can understand why- it's easy to take offense to Moonflower's rude comments to Goosefeather, especially when the behavior she commented on was was him being... well, weird and asocial.
However, I've found that on closer examination I actually... like her quite a bit! She's in that exact area I tend to enjoy, where you can peel back layers for a more complex character. That being said, I wanted to indeed examine her here because I do think she deserves more love.
This will probably be long. And, as a disclaimer, I will be saying that Goosefeather is my favorite character, but I do like Moonflower quite a bit!
Analysis:
We'll be going through Goosefeather's Curse, since it's the appearance that flared tempers with her. Moonkit is introduced as playful and rambunctious, in sharp contrast to her brother's more worrisome, socially awkward nature.
The second thing we learn about Moonkit is her crush on Stormpaw, a much older cat. What I find immediately concerning here is that Moonkit is pretty obvious about her feelings for Stormpaw, giving him excessive attention and trying to gain his praise, but then also wants to be his apprentice.
During a game of hide-and-seek, Goosekit receives tips from the spirit of Beetail about where the others are hiding, causing the other kits to accuse him of cheating. Moonkit doesn't gang up on him like the others, nor does she voice agreement with their exclusion, but she does quietly affirm their accusations against him, albeit apologetically.
The next time we see Moonkit is during Goosekit's early apprentice ceremony. Despite her surprise, she cheers his name, though Stormtail and the other kits show open anger and distaste. Moonkit continues to congratulate him in private, and expresses pride in him.
Side note, unhinged behavior from Stormtail here. He's a grown ass man scowling at a toddler for something outside his control.
The next time we see her, there is a very noticeable shift in how she speaks with Goosepaw. She is unaware of his ability to speak to spirits, and refers to him speaking to himself as "freaky". Goosepaw is tense due to not being permitted to properly communicate the issue with her.
Then this happens, and this is a sticking point for a lot of people.
Moonpaw has been stated to be spending a lot of time around Stormtail. As shown later on, Stormtail isn't a fan of Goosepaw, and the feeling is very mutual. And yeah, there's a lot to hate about the guy. But Moonpaw is in a position of obliviousness to Stormtail's many flaws. Goosepaw seems to be becoming distant, and he's voiced his dislike of Stormtail fairly often before this. Moonpaw is going to pick up on Stormtail's dislike for her brother, and it's only going to make her angry when Goosepaw then criticizes Stormtail.
Don't get me wrong, this is a really shitty thing to say. As an autistic person, this ripped my heart out the first time I read it, because I saw myself at the receiving end. But it's important to keep in mind that Moonpaw is young and impressionable, and surrounded by people who think Goosepaw is very, very odd, and Goosepaw's situation is only making him more irritable by the day.
In the next scene we see her, Goosepaw has just had a frightening vision, and ran out into the clearing. The other apprentices tease him, and state that he doesn't know how to look after himself. Remember that. What I think is interesting here is that Moonpaw doesn't verbally add to the teasing. While she does laugh at the initial comment, she seems to become more thoughtful at the implication that Goosepaw can't care for himself, and doesn't make any jabs.
At the end of this chapter, Goosepaw is promoted. In sharp contrast to his apprentice ceremony, Moonpaw is now openly agitated, but voices her comment after Poppypaw.
Also, based on Moonpaw's comment, she and Goosepaw are only 7 moons old. Stormtail continues to be extremely weird about #owning a literal child.
Goosefeather notices he is being treated very distant by nearly everybody, including Moonpaw. It's important to notice the attitude he takes here- he has basically been having to support himself emotionally, with how few cats are in his corner, and he's had Doestar and Cloudberry singing his praises at a young age. He is 7 moons old, and the route he is going to take about it is going to be, well, unapproachable.
Moonpaw helps rescue Goosefeather from an angry badger, after Stormtail inadvertently led it to him. Now, let's first acknowledge that medicine cats don't often learn to fight, and that Stormtail leaving Goosefeather, an underage medicine cat, alone with an angry badger is messed up, regardless of if he was getting help or not- I'd be peeved, too!
But also consider that Moonpaw did just save his life. Consider that Moonpaw has heard many of the things she just said constantly stated by others around her, and that her main friend circle don't really like Goosefeather. Consider that Goosefeather, who has been stressed lately, has become irritable and difficult to approach. Consider how frightening the fact that her brother was almost horrifically mauled would be to her, and I think it puts this into more context.
Remember how quiet Moonpaw got when he was teased for not being able to take care of himself. Remember that Moonpaw has been spending so much time with Stormtail that Goosefeather jokes that he could be mistaken for her mentor, and that Stormtail is openly hostile towards Goosefeather (which, again, weirdo behavior).
This is a very hurtful thing to say, especially since Goosefeather doesn't have control of many of the things that occurred to push them apart, especially his early ceremonies, but it also doesn't come out of nowhere.
And this serves to validate this view. Moonpaw does love Goosefeather, and worries about him. However, Goosefeather, who has just experienced another disturbing vision and is already pretty short on temper, lashes out, pushing his sister away. It's a long series of miscommunications and poorly worded concerns and tempers flaring that pulls the siblings apart, and inevitably validates, in Moonpaw's mind, what others say about Goosefeather.
And then right after Stormtail acts weird about Moonpaw again. Just making you understand how much I'm suffering right now.
kill die explode attack
This is the last direct interaction between Moonpaw and Goosefeather in this book.
Final Thoughts:
Moonflower loved Goosefeather, but due to him being lauded as a prodigy, she sought validation from others, and those others didn't think much of Goosefeather. She was being actively groomed by Stormtail, a grown man who was bullying a literal child (????????), and her friend circle was jealous of Goosefeather's early promotions. She tried her best to refrain from harsh comments, but still noticed and absorbed what others were saying, and Goosefeather made it difficult to mend the bridge.
Goosefeather was undergoing intense stress and trauma, and it made him irritable and short-tempered, on top of his already anxious and asocial personality. He behaved strangely due to his curse, and this caused others to judge him and made Moonflower feel put off, and by the end, he finally snaps and pushes away her attempt at reconciliation, driving her into the arms of Stormtail, who would go on to be a distant father who would abandon her for a younger woman because he's a goddamn creep.
Moonflower was not just a mindless bully to Goosefeather. Their relationship was actively worn down by a series of miscommunications, flaring tempers, and traumatic events, all encouraged by the harsher influences in her life, until they became the very distant relatives seen in Bluestar's Prophecy. Moonflower is more complex than she's given credit for and honestly reading this book again reminded me why this is my favorite novella. Appreciate Moonflower's layers for anxiety-free sleep.
As a reward for reaching the end of this here's something my friend who's never read warriors said after I infodumped this.
DBZ fans reading anything about negative sibling dynamics: getting a lot of frieza and cooler vibes from this