Non-binary
flipwish
my kitten can shake hands. can brambleclaw do that? no
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Post by flipwish on Apr 16, 2024 12:53:48 GMT -5
Right off the bat I should clarify that this isn't because I think it's too sad and I liked her too much or whatever. Bristlefrost is yet another warrior cats protag that just Exists to me. I might have opinions on how she's written or something but I can't say I particularly like or dislike her.
My issue with her death is how poor a sendoff it feels to her character.
I think the basic idea is fine, in theory. I think that the idea of her death could be really dramatic and memorable and bittersweet...
if it weren't the fact that the whole thing is mostly just a "feel bad for ROOTSPRING!!!" scene.
Bristlefrost doesn't feel any regret or sadness for anything else she could have done in life, just pity for Rootspring.
She doesn't think of any of her other friends and loved ones- nothing about her parents or her siblings or anything like that, just about how sad it is that Rootspring won't get to be with her.
It just sort of focuses on exclusively one aspect and relationship in her life and that's her obligatory kitty boyfriend. It feels to me like Bristlefrost is the afterthought in her own story's ending in favor of Rootspring again and again.
I'm not saying there should've been no focus on him at all- as much as I don't care for him or BristleRoot he IS still a significant part of her life - it's the way he's the sole focus that bothers me. Like, the scene is still sad, just not in the intended way for me- it's more of a "really? that's the dramatic conclusion to this character?" moment.
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Post by Sunleap24973 on Apr 16, 2024 13:13:31 GMT -5
I forgot who said it on these forums but I remember seeing a while back that if Shadowsight sacrificed himself to kill Ashfur it would've made a lot more sense.
Bristlefrost's death didn't seem like an organic and natural end to her story, which yes, could've made it more shocking and sad but for me, it just felt like a cheap shot. A sad moment for the sake of having a sad moment. But if Shadowsight died it would've made sense for his character and still have been sad.
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Post by moongloweevee on Apr 16, 2024 15:15:31 GMT -5
You have to remember that it wasn't just Shadowsight that was affected by Ashfur but Bristlefrost as well. Both of them got manipulated by him and taking Rootspring out of the equation, she didn't WANT Shadowsight to die. She could have cried out for help but I think it was a spur of the moment thing for her and she felt like she had no options. She was willing to fight to stay alive to save Shadowsight once she realised another cat was in the water with her only to realise that it was Ashfur in there with him. So she dragged him down into the abyss with her.
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Post by Katanaheart on Apr 16, 2024 15:36:52 GMT -5
Now that I think about it, it would have been very interesting to have both of the cousins die. Failing to save Shadowsight but both of them then drag Ashfur into nonexistence.
Not to mention Tigerstar II and Dovewing would likely have been far more ruthless in TBC as they would have lost two sons at that point. (I mention Dovewing as maybe she’d be more prominent with two dead sons instead of sad mom but still unlikely.)
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Post by Saint Ambrosef on Apr 16, 2024 15:53:06 GMT -5
I remember that prior to her death, Bristlefrost was generally seen (at least here) as a kind of meh protagonist. Most people just had vaguely neutral opinions of her. I get the vibe that the only reason a lot of people like her is because they thought her death was so tragic.
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Post by Purdyisbestboi on Apr 16, 2024 16:22:56 GMT -5
I remember that prior to her death, Bristlefrost was generally seen (at least here) as a kind of meh protagonist. Most people just had vaguely neutral opinions of her. I get the vibe that the only reason a lot of people like her is because they thought her death was so tragic. I think that instead of it being generally her death, it was ALitM in general. She wasn’t a well written character in the two books before it and it was nice to see her actually do something other than, “I love Rootspring so much” when she was with Maggottail and the other dark forest cats in their side
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Post by iceheart on Apr 16, 2024 18:49:29 GMT -5
Couldn't agree more. Shadowsight should have sacrificed himself to save the Clans. He was the one who brought Ashfur in, he should have been the one to take him out. Bristlefrost's death was a calm acceptance and honestly, like OP said, it really feels more tragic for Rootspring than it does anyone else. Her death was cheap and poorly done, especially since she did it saving Shadowsight, whose father was very well content letting her rot in the DF so long as Shadowsight was alive. Not to add that he really didn't provide much use in the final battle. Had he not been there, Bristlefrost would have lived. I would also imagine that she should've thought more about ThunderClan in her last moments rather than Rootspring, her 2 month relationship boyfriend. It's really cheap and just kills off another female protagonist for the sake of the male protagonist going through ~pain~
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Post by Sunleap24973 on Apr 16, 2024 20:23:10 GMT -5
You have to remember that it wasn't just Shadowsight that was affected by Ashfur but Bristlefrost as well. Both of them got manipulated by him and taking Rootspring out of the equation, she didn't WANT Shadowsight to die. She could have cried out for help but I think it was a spur of the moment thing for her and she felt like she had no options. She was willing to fight to stay alive to save Shadowsight once she realised another cat was in the water with her only to realise that it was Ashfur in there with him. So she dragged him down into the abyss with her. But I would still say Shadowsight was definitely affected/traumatized by Ashfur more though.
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Post by dandelions on Apr 16, 2024 21:03:49 GMT -5
I really wished they'd let her think about Spotfur in particular while she was dying. She had promised to help her with her kits/essentially be her support system in the absence of Stemleaf, which was a super meaningful promise to then (to my memory) never be mentioned again. It seemed like the writers were trying to go for loyalty as one of Bristlefrost's core character traits, so I would have expected her to have some regrets about how that commitment would go unfulfilled and she'd never even meet the kits. Her reflecting in-depth on all the characters she was close with might risk bloating the scene to the point it loses impact, but I think at least a passing thought of her other loved ones even if Rootspring is the focus would have been a fine balance.
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Post by vectoring34 on Apr 18, 2024 20:38:36 GMT -5
The death would have been worse for me if she went down an itemized list of people important to her. To fixate on just one thing as it happens helps to center its dramatic arc as well as make it appear much more violent. She isn't being given the luxury of a slow death where she can think about all the proper things to say and do, just enough time for one last thought and that's it.
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Post by ✲ριкαƒυєу✲ on Apr 18, 2024 21:16:52 GMT -5
Tbh the whole arc was badly written imho.
I wasn't really sad she died. I had zero attachments to any of the POV characters. Like yeah it's sad, but....it was just like, "oh okay she's dead"
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Post by Purdyisbestboi on Apr 20, 2024 13:15:01 GMT -5
I knew someone had to die at the end, and Bristlefrost seemed like the best option.
It wouldn’t be good for Rootspring to die. Do we really need 60 pages of Bristlefrost going… “I miss Rootspring so much” when we spent the entire book showing she can be capable and basically fixing her character from the Rootspring Stan she was in books #4 and #5?
If Shadowsight died, it would in no way be a satisfying conclusion to his character arc. He’s suffered physically and mentally so much with basically everyone in the clans despising him at multiple points, being beaten half to death, and failing to save Antfur (not as important but still affects him)
Bristlefrost dying is the best option in my opinion.
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Post by lightfur on Apr 26, 2024 14:15:10 GMT -5
I agree. We don't get much focus on Bristlefrost's relationships outside of her love interests. and I probably could remove the "s" there because she basically stops caring about Stemleaf after he dies. We didn't ever get to see her react to the death of her own mentor! There's even a point where she has a brief platonic interaction with Snaptooth and then immediately decides she doesn't want to be with him. (Which good, he's her uncle but how did that suddenly jump to romance?)
Plus in the times does react to Steamleaf's death, its just her thinking about that she could have been his mate. The whole scene of her finding out about his death is basically here's some dead background characters- "OH NO, THE GUY I WAS IN LOVE WITH IS DEAD!" *faints*
I don't have a problem with her dying however, I don't think any other character could have died besides her.
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Post by dandelions on Apr 26, 2024 15:41:05 GMT -5
Plus in the times does react to Steamleaf's death, its just her thinking about that she could have been his mate. The whole scene of her finding out about his death is basically here's some dead background characters- "OH NO, THE GUY I WAS IN LOVE WITH IS DEAD!" *faints* This got a laugh out of me, that's painfully accurate to how that scene goes. I agree Bristlefrost's relationships go painfully underexplored. I think they tried, but it was too little to late for the most part. They briefly address her lack of reaction to Stemleaf's death, later on she tells Rootspring she feels guilty she hadn't mourned him more. But then they take that question of why she stopped caring about him as much once the possibility of romance was gone, and spin that to elevate her relationship with Rootspring instead of meaningfully exploring the value of her non-romantic relationships. As for Rosepetal, she finally feels remorse about her fate when she sees her trapped in the dark forest, which I liked well enough on its own (I believe she thinks about how supportive Rosepetal had been during her apprenticeship/Stemleaf-related gloom, which was nice to see remembered), but it came so late.
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Bisexual
#64C7FF
Name Colour
finland
Porgs are love
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Post by finland on Apr 27, 2024 21:57:54 GMT -5
I cannot stand the scene and think it’s one of the worst things the series has done
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