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1.10 A Dangerous Path Part 2
20 Plays1 month ago
Fireaheart is increasingly pressured with the responsibilities of ThunderClan, with Bluestar not in her right mind. We finally ask the ultimate question: is Blluestar a good leader?
ShadowClan now has a dark new leader, but will he be satisfied with his power now—or does his desire for revenge burn even more strongly? Fireheart fears that there is a connection between the rise of Tigerstar and the terrible dreams of danger that haunts his nights.Meanwhile, a mysterious threat has invaded the forest, placing every cat's life in peril. Fireheart's beloved leader has turned her back on their warrior ancestors, and Fireheart can't help but wonder if she's right. Has StarClan abandoned them forever?
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Find us online at glitterfoxmedia.com
Laura posts about Warriors and other books on TikTok as glomdii
Laura is glomdi on Twitch, Bluesky, and TikTok
Jerrica is on Bluesky as CosmicSparkleheart.
"Cloud Dancer " Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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Transcript
Introduction to 'Never Grow Up' and 'A Dangerous Path' Discussion Part 2
00:00:00
Speaker
you
00:00:09
Speaker
This is Never Grow Up, a show where two grown-ass adults discuss their love of middle-grade fiction. I'm one of your hosts, Laura. And I'm one of your hosts, Jerrica. And we have part two of A Dangerous Path for you, and we cut off right in the middle. Like I said at the end of the last outro, I was about to say the last intro, but we definitely didn't do that. And so we are going to go get right into it for y'all.
00:00:37
Speaker
Yeah, I need... i I need to know how this story ends. And you won't know because it is still going on 2026 or your cats is still being published.
00:00:54
Speaker
Person in the future.
00:00:59
Speaker
Let us. Well, guess I don't forget. I keep forgetting that that's not how this works. I'm sure that it's still going in the future. And you're listening to this as you're walking to your bookstore.
00:01:13
Speaker
o and Oh, my God. Buy a bunch of books for me, please. is They mean. Not. Well, actually, I don't know. What? What they mean. If you meant, like, literally to give to you or... Yeah, to give to me.
00:01:29
Speaker
In my honor. um I wish they would do both. Okay, well...
00:01:39
Speaker
Okay, but for now, here we go. Right into a Dangerous Path Part 2.
Longtail's Frustration and Fireheart's Explanation
00:01:46
Speaker
Longtail is pissed that Swiftpaw isn't a warrior yet.
00:01:52
Speaker
Because, i mean, yeah, it's been a long time. And he kind of thinks that it's because Fireheart doesn't like him. And Fireheart is like, listen, dude, there's only so much I can do. like i'm telling Blue Star that it's time for him to be a warrior.
00:02:11
Speaker
She just doesn't want to make him a warrior yet. But Longtail doesn't believe her. well Well, course not. No. Sorry, long tail is bleeding. They've had beef since day one.
00:02:25
Speaker
Uh, yes. Ever since Fireheart beat him in an epic battle. The next day, Bluestar goes missing.
00:02:36
Speaker
Oh, gosh. Nobody knows where she Fireheart is freaking out. ah Talking about, like, sending patrols to look for her. And Whitestorm says, okay, can we stop for a minute and acknowledge that she is a leader? So, like, she's allowed to leave.
00:02:56
Speaker
Like, you're treating her like a little lost kit, but, like, she is your leader. i mean, yeah, but she's also not in her right mind. ah Yeah.
00:03:08
Speaker
Nothing really happens between the time when she gone is gone and comes back. And she comes back like... um Nothing really happens in the camp, right? Because obviously she went somewhere for a reason.
00:03:23
Speaker
Yeah, nothing really happens in the camp. ah She comes back like... can't remember if it's super late that night. I feel like it's super. feel like she's gone for like a whole day. But she gets back and it turns out she had been to the Moonstone to talk to StarClan.
00:03:40
Speaker
Which she said she would never do, but she's doing now. Because she wants some fucking answers.
ThunderClan vs RiverClan: The Sunning Rocks Battle
00:03:49
Speaker
and they told her about the pack and the destr and said there's going to be more destruction than the forest has ever known.
00:03:59
Speaker
Which kind of solidifies her StarClan is out to get us claim. hey The next day, she leads a border patrol, which surprises everyone because they're like, wow, she hasn't done fucking anything in moons. And now she wants to go, you know, be on a patrol. it ah She leads a patrol past the RiverClan border.
00:04:24
Speaker
And she's kind of just gazing over into RiverClan territory, looking for something. i
00:04:35
Speaker
and she's on her last life, right? Yeah, she is. It turns out a RiverClan patrol is has come to take Sunning Rocks.
00:04:47
Speaker
So there is a fight between ThunderClan and RiverClan and, you know, chaos is happening because it's a fight. The situation happens where Mistyfoot and Stonefur essentially have Bluestar cornered. no.
00:05:07
Speaker
ah There's an area that's like a little bit away from the fighting of the the main cats. So it's secluded and they are confused why she won't.
00:05:20
Speaker
fight them essentially because they are uh they're noble warriors so they don't want to attack a cat who won't defend herself but also they're in a battle to take sunning rock so it's kind of their job to fight so they're kind of like looking at her and being like you know fight back and she's just refusing to fight them And Fireheart is very scared for her safety because he figures at some point they're going to actually just attack her because... Yeah. they Yeah.
00:05:55
Speaker
So he jumps in front of her and he tells them they can't harm her because she's their mother. Oh, man.
00:06:09
Speaker
And obviously they reject this and they're like, no, Greypool was our mother. And Fireheart says, nope, it's Bluestar. She had to give you up, but you can't hurt her because she's your mother.
00:06:26
Speaker
And what is Bluestar doing this during this? i Just kind of looking at them. Because she loves them. she She doesn't confirm nor deny.
00:06:39
Speaker
Well, she is confused that they don't love her. Oh, man. Because she thinks, well, now that they know, obviously we can be a happy family together. And she's very confused when that doesn't happen. Oh, man.
00:07:00
Speaker
and This is rough, Laura. This is rough. Yeah. Yeah. um Graystripe shouts down to them that Leopardstar is stalking them and about to i attack them. So Leopardstar's sneaky attack is ruined and Fireheart is ready for her.
00:07:27
Speaker
ah They fight RiverClan off and Leopardstar tells Graystripe, I fucking knew you were a traitor. Get the fuck out of here. You're not a RiverClan cat anymore. Which, probably being great at her for. And...
00:07:47
Speaker
Graystripe being banished from RiverClan wants back in with ThunderClan, but Bluestar has already told him no. But he asks again, and Fireheart is like, please let him in. And in front of everyone, in front of their whole patrol, Bluestar says...
00:08:05
Speaker
Well, you're all traitors, so I don't care what's one more traitor in the clan. Sure, he can join. Oh,
00:08:15
Speaker
Yeah. But the bright side is that they finally make Cloudpaw Warrior.
The Dog Attack on Swiftpaw and Brightpaw
00:08:25
Speaker
Just Cloudpaw? Just Cloudpaw. Cloudpaw is promoted to Cloudtail. And all of the other apprentices are kind of salty about it. And while they're like chanting, like the whole clan is chanting Cloudtail, the other apprentices just kind of chill by themselves and don't really participate. Fair.
00:08:50
Speaker
It's a shame because they have all been shown to really like Cloudpaw. Like, when he was missing, Ashpaw was all like, oh, I miss him.
00:09:02
Speaker
And so it kind of sucks now. They're all salty about it. Except for Brightpaw. Brightpaw, who, by the way, is an adorable little white and orange cat. um She's excited for Cloudtail.
00:09:20
Speaker
Oh. Mm-hmm.
00:09:24
Speaker
Okay. Cloudtail, really? That's the best they can do. i know. Imagine all the fun things that could have happened with cloud with the prefix cloud. Yeah.
00:09:36
Speaker
Like, I can't think of anything, but... What about, like, CloudSky? Would that make sense, or would it just be stupid? Well, and ah those are two different answers.
00:09:49
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, he could be CloudStrife. Ooh, that'd be cool. Cloudstrife. That would make sense also for his personality. Also, it's the main character of Final Fantasy VII, so.
00:10:04
Speaker
Oh, okay. ah Cloudtail and Fireheart go out hunting by Snake Rocks. And they find two apprentices having been attacked by what seems to be up Well, you know what they don't say ah at this point, but it's pretty obvious, I think, between you and me, what they've been attacked by.
00:10:29
Speaker
ah They find Swiftpaw, who has... This is ah a thing that the fandom really holds onto Swiftpaw and Brightpaw had gone out and only Brightpaw is just barely alive.
00:10:48
Speaker
So... um
00:10:52
Speaker
Cloudtail is extremely upset by this and very clearly just has strong feelings about Brightpaw. And they bring her back to camp. At first, they think that they're both dead. they'd like That's how badly injured they are.
00:11:11
Speaker
And then they realize that Brightpaw is still alive, so obviously they're going to do everything they can to save her. So they bring her back to camp. And there's like this really cute scene where Cloudtail is just like...
00:11:27
Speaker
you know, hovering over her, like taking care of her, touching her. And he's like, oh, you're still beautiful to me because like her face has been like ripped apart by these dogs. So one of her ears are gone and one of her eyes are gone. Like one side of her face has just been completely shredded. She's not going to be a warrior.
00:11:53
Speaker
Well, Bluestar's pretty sure she's gonna die, and so is also saying how StarClan hates them and sent these dogs to kill her clan.
00:12:07
Speaker
and she says that there's a ceremony that's rarely used for apprentices, and it's giving them a warrior name when they haven't reached their 12th moon yet, so that they can be a warrior in StarClan.
00:12:24
Speaker
And, yeah, Cloudtail is like, okay, do it then. Bluestar does not bat an eye at this attitude. She barely even notices.
00:12:37
Speaker
Blue Star
00:12:41
Speaker
gives her the warrior name of Lost Face.
Brightpaw's Warrior Name Controversy
00:12:51
Speaker
Laura, tell the listeners what is going on right now with me. Jerika is face palming. She can't believe this. not Not like Bright Tail or Bright Fur or... Nope.
00:13:05
Speaker
nope She specifically says because she wants Lostface to go to StarClan as a symbol of how they are tearing her k clan apart. Fucking cr- This cat's not gonna die, is it?
00:13:22
Speaker
And so Cloudtail is pissed and he's like, the fuck? Give her an actual name. Like, you're not gonna name her- after this horrible thing that happened to her and Bluestar is like, she'll go to StarClan as Lostface or not at all.
00:13:42
Speaker
Well, wait. her She's implying that either she'll accept her name or she won't get into StarClan. That's not for her to decide, is it?
00:13:56
Speaker
Yeah.
00:14:00
Speaker
But ah there's nothing they could do about it because that's what their leader said. So she's lost face now. Great. And yeah Fireheart.
00:14:12
Speaker
It's finally time for Bramble Kit and Tawny Kit to become apprentices. Fireheart gives Bramble Kit, well Bramble Paw, ah to himself to mentor because he doesn't trust him and wants to keep an eye on him.
00:14:26
Speaker
Yeah, we knew that was coming. Yeah, and he gives Tawnypaw to Brackenfur, which pisses Sandstorm the fuck off. And for once, I agree with her about being pissed because she was she is literally older than Fireheart and he has yet to give her an apprentice and he has given himself a second apprentice and given the cat that was essentially his apprentice an apprentice and still hasn't given Sandstorm an apprentice.
Fireheart's Mistrust and Reconsideration of Longtail's Warning
00:15:00
Speaker
Yeah. and so Also, yeah, you can't be made deputy without having an apprentice. So Sandstorm is essentially like you are like permanently keeping me here. Like I'm not allowed to advance because you won't give me ah an apprentice.
00:15:19
Speaker
Now, the reason that he doesn't give her Tawnypaw is because he is scared that Tigerstar is going to come get them, and he doesn't want to put Sandstorm in danger when that happens.
00:15:34
Speaker
Which pisses her off, if she knew.
00:15:39
Speaker
Yeah. Bramblepaw straight up just calls Fireheart out for not trusting him. oh Yeah, ah because Fireheart says something about, like, oh, the clan, you know, they have trouble trusting you since you're Tigerstar's son. And Bramblepaw is like, like you.
00:16:03
Speaker
So they kind of talk about that a little bit. And I think it i think both of them benefit from that conversation. Yeah.
00:16:14
Speaker
At the gathering, Graystripe learns that Featherpaw and Stormpaw are apprentices now. His children. Hi, kitty.
00:16:27
Speaker
Tigerstar demands that Pawnee Paw and Bramblepaw be sent to ShadowClan to live with him. Yeah, me we know. We knew that.
00:16:40
Speaker
Yeah. And Fireheart convinces him. You know what I can't remember if Blue Star is at that gathering now. But essentially he is convinced to wait like a moon for their decision. And he's like, okay, but just know that at the end of the moon, if they're not in ShadowClan, I'm going to like launch a war against ThunderClan for keeping my kits. Which like...
00:17:06
Speaker
Goldenflower is still in Thunderclan. Yeah. but So at this point, Tigerstar isn't even hiding that he does not care about being fair, you know? Yeah. i We've seen this villain before.
00:17:23
Speaker
yeah Fireheart decides that now he will bring... a few cats to meet his sister princess.
00:17:34
Speaker
Um, just like, uh, these cats are important to me, so I want you to meet them. He brings cloud tail, lost face and gray stripe.
00:17:45
Speaker
And the you really need to bring cloud tail. Like cause cloud tail is her son. i know
00:17:57
Speaker
What do you mean? Why wouldn't he?
00:18:01
Speaker
Well, they he brings him to meet her. Like, obviously, they've met. Oh, yeah. Yeah, it's kind of implied that Cloudtail doesn't, like, visit her on his own.
00:18:13
Speaker
Well, there may be a reason for that. Oh, okay. He hates her. I don't know. Maybe. For, like, abandoning him or something? i don't know. Well, he would have been taken away from her regardless.
00:18:27
Speaker
Yeah, that's true. And he loves his life in ThunderClan.
00:18:32
Speaker
Now? Yeah. ah
00:18:37
Speaker
So, ah he doesn't give Princess any warning about Lost Face's missing face and missing half of her face other than, be nice to her, she's been badly injured.
00:18:54
Speaker
And it's like, maybe you should go into... maybe Maybe if you think she's going to have a bad reaction to this, like, give her a little bit more of a heads up, you know?
00:19:09
Speaker
yeah also... i don't know. It's problematic in very many ways, yeah. Mm-hmm. And Princess is, like, shocked by her and tries to hide it, but is still pretty rude about it, which makes Lost Face sit tell Cloudtail, like, hey, I want to see my face because...
00:19:35
Speaker
she didn't react well. And I think it's worse than I thought. So they find like a puddle for her and she looks at it and she's, you know, horrified at what she sees. And Cloudtail is just like, I don't care. You're still beautiful and you're perfect. And he's really cute.
00:19:54
Speaker
What? No, no. so I mean, so, yeah.
00:20:00
Speaker
I'm not, I refuse to call her that. i'm gonna I'm gonna call her Brightface. Okay. Clearly did not die, so like... Yep.
00:20:12
Speaker
So is she a warrior, or does she just have a warrior name? how did that even work? They are not really sure what is the situation right now. For now, she's just living in the medicine cat den. Okay.
00:20:24
Speaker
Technically, she's a warrior, but obviously has not been fully trained, and... is still in a very fragile mental state right now, so like, she's not gonna be out doing warrior duties, you know?
00:20:40
Speaker
But technically she's a warrior, yeah. Okay, well, that's good at least. I guess. Fireheart gets another fucking obtuse message from Spottedleaf.
00:21:00
Speaker
Remember the enemy that never sleeps.
00:21:07
Speaker
we already You already gave me that one. yo Because last time it was beware an enemy that never sleeps. And now she's like, hey, the enemy is still out there.
00:21:18
Speaker
And all she's saying is, hey, Tigerstar is up to stuff. Which like, yeah, fucking obviously. Give me more details or this is not useful. I know he's up to something. hes all i've I've always known. Yeah.
00:21:35
Speaker
Longtail tells Fireheart that he scented Tigerstar by Snake Rocks and he's like, you need to go check it out. And Fireheart doesn't believe him. He says, no no, no, I'm not that stupid. I'm not going to like fall into your trap. Obviously, Tigerstar is trying to ambush me and you're part of it. So no, I'm not going to go there.
00:21:56
Speaker
and he talks to Cinderpelt about it and he's like, I know that he's just a traitor and I can't trust him and blah, blah, blah. And Cinderpelt's like, you know how much you sound like Bluestar right now?
00:22:14
Speaker
She's like, really think about this. Do you really think Longtail was actually trying to trick you? What has Longtail done since Tigerstar left to show that he's disloyal? Or do you just believe he's disloyal because of Tigerstar, which is exactly what Bluestar is doing to everyone else?
00:22:40
Speaker
Yeah. So Fireheart gets humbled and admits that, okay, maybe I should take it seriously. He goes to find Longtail.
00:22:52
Speaker
And Longtail's in the process of telling Whitestorm, and he's like, hey, Fireheart doesn't believe me. I don't know what to do Something's going on at Snake Rocks because I saw Tigerstar there, and he was feeding prey to dogs.
00:23:12
Speaker
Like, there's a pack of dogs living at Snake Rocks and Tigerstar is feeding them, and I don't know why something is up and Fireheart won't listen to me. And obviously then Fireheart is like, oh, shit. Well, I guess this needs to be dealt with. and for some reason, they don't immediately go. They say, well, let's go check that out at dawn.
00:23:40
Speaker
okay So he asks... Why is it always dawn? I know! Because they gotta They can see in the dark! They're fucking cats! That's true. ah He asks Sandstorm to go with him and they have a little conversation on the way there and they ah confess their... They share feelings and they confess their love for each other.
00:24:14
Speaker
Oh, so she doesn't get mad at him. She doesn't get mad at him in this scene. it would be hilarious if he's like, yeah, I've got feelings for you. And she's like, you fucking asshole.
00:24:27
Speaker
but She gets mad at him for it. And she's like, you don't you can't tell that I fucking hate you. Or like. i have feelings for you. Well, I have feelings for you, too.
00:24:41
Speaker
Or or it like she's like, oh, I have feelings for you. And he's like, oh, um And she's like, goddammit!
00:24:49
Speaker
So they take a patrol to Snake Rocks and they find a trail of rabbits and they realize that, oh, this trail of rabbits, like dead rabbits, obviously, this trail of rabbits are, it seems like they're heading back to camp.
00:25:10
Speaker
Cool. So, yeah it's going from the dogs to their camp, and they realize Tigerstar is trying to complete his promise of destroying ThunderClan.
Bluestar's Sacrifice to Save ThunderClan
00:25:27
Speaker
At the end of the trail, they find Brindleface, who was the cat who... took in Cloudtail when he was a kit.
00:25:41
Speaker
So obviously Cloudtail is very upset by this and Brindleface was a cool cat so it's really sad. They come up with a plan, though. The clan will go over to Sunning Rocks and shelter in the trees there, while a select few cats will lead the dogs to a gorge and essentially try to get them to just fall over the gorge and, you know, die.
00:26:14
Speaker
Not lead them into ShadowClan? No. Let's see. So Fireheart, Sandstorm, Dustpelt, Graystripe, Mousefur, and Longtail are going to be all the cats that are leading the dogs away.
00:26:30
Speaker
And Ashpaw and Fernpaw want to go too because Brindleface is their mom. And so Fireheart, yeah, Fireheart lets them go, even though like they're apprentices. But I...
00:26:42
Speaker
of honor is worth sending apprentices after dangerous dogs for but ah
00:26:52
Speaker
while the clan is escaping this like they're moving off to sending rocks he sees dark stripe leaving bramble paw and tawny paw away god damn it Uh-huh. And he's like, hey, what's up with this? And they're like, oh, Darkstripe told us, you know, to go. He has a better spot to hide. And Fireheart is like, well, last I checked, Darkstripe isn't fucking deputy. And your deputy told you to go to Sunning Rocks. So maybe go to Sunning Rocks. Because obviously he knows what Darkstripe is up to.
00:27:26
Speaker
And.
00:27:29
Speaker
Can't remember. I think he tells Brackenpaw to keep an eye on Darkstripe. He's like, I want to know if he even sneezes wrong. That type of thing, you know. Mm-hmm.
00:27:41
Speaker
Their plan goes as well with the string of cats leading them to the gorge until Tigerstar appears.
00:27:53
Speaker
And... yep He and Fireheart get in a fight and Fireheart is the last cat. So he's the one who's going to be leading them over the gorge. And Tigerclaw jumps out of the way just in time for the dogs to appear. And they are about to grab Fireheart when all of a sudden, out of nowhere, there's a flash of gray as Bluestar launches herself at one of the dogs.
00:28:26
Speaker
And and she leads them over the gorge and the whole pack of dogs goes over.
00:28:38
Speaker
All of the dogs and Bluestar go into the water. And Fireheart is freaking out because he's a Blue Star. And so he goes and he's trying to fish Blue Star out of the water, but he's struggling because he's not a swimmer in the first place.
00:28:56
Speaker
And...
00:29:00
Speaker
Fireheart feels other cats pulling them out and when they get on the shore and he's coughing and trying to make sense of stuff it turns out it's Mistyfoot and Stonefur and they pulled them out onto what yeah the Riverside clan of the ah Riverside the River cland side the river cland side of the territory and blue star is very badly injured And it's clear that she's not going to make it.
00:29:32
Speaker
And she is desperate for them to forgive her. For giving them up. And ah this scene is from, they copy it into the end of Blue Star's prophecy, which or it's the prologue. So that's why we skipped the prologue. oh it So we see from her side and that um she asked them to forgive her and they're kind of thinking about it. And Fireheart is like, please, she gave up everything for you. Like, please forgive her.
00:30:09
Speaker
And in the Blue Star side of it, when we see her point of view internally, she's like, stop, Fireheart. They need to decide by themselves or it doesn't mean anything.
00:30:21
Speaker
um But they do forgive her. And she tells Fireheart that...
Bluestar's Dying Prophecy and Acknowledgment
00:30:32
Speaker
When she saw the clan helping each other get away from the dogs and, you know, no cat left behind, everyone is looking out for each other, she just had, like, this moment of clarity and she's like, oh, my cats are good and loyal and it kind of just, like, snapped her out of everything.
00:30:54
Speaker
And she knew she fucked up and she had to go and save Fireheart. And she tells him about the prophecy. She's like, oh, you know, we had this prophecy that Fire Alone can save the clan. And Fireheart, being the smart cat that he is, thinks, well, what does that mean? Fire can't save... Fire is bad for cats.
00:31:20
Speaker
And Bluestar has to tell him that it's him. He's the fire that will save the clan. You dope. you And, uh... And then she passes away and that's the end of it.
00:31:35
Speaker
So how's StarClan gonna feel? Well, I guess we'll see. oh shit. Okay.
00:31:43
Speaker
Because Fireheart is a deputy, so we know that in the next book he needs to go get his nine lives from StarClan. Mm-hmm.
00:31:53
Speaker
He's gonna need them. Yeah, so that's the end of Blue Star, or the best cat. So, want to talk about Blue Star as a leader.
00:32:11
Speaker
Because... Okay. So, if you do you want my thoughts... Yeah. I...
00:32:25
Speaker
I have questioned her leadership since book one. Yeah, it was interesting to me when you did that, knowing this was coming.
00:32:35
Speaker
i she, she made, she. Bluestar is known as like a great and noble leader, except for her after book three. And so my question is, is Bluestar actually a good leader?
00:32:52
Speaker
she She's made some questionable choices. She, like, the people she should be listening to, she didn't. She's apparently a bad judge of character.
00:33:05
Speaker
ah like
00:33:14
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, so obviously I have made it clear from the beginning that I'm obsessed with Bluestar, and I love her dearly.
Discussion on Bluestar's Leadership and Trauma Response
00:33:24
Speaker
think she's a bad leader.
00:33:25
Speaker
i think she was a bad choice as leader, and I think that she was the only choice at the time, and that's why she's leader, because
00:33:36
Speaker
the At its core, a leader needs to be able to function under bad circumstances and stress. Of course you're going to be able to lead a clan when things are good. even I mean, that's not really fair because she did lead it when...
00:33:58
Speaker
There were some tough things that happened in the first three books, but like the fact that she completely shuts down anytime anything traumatic happens is a very reasonable thing and a very normal trauma response. But when you have a system like this set up where one cat gets to make the decisions about everything, like you need to be an extraordinary cat to be able to be leader because of situations like this. ThunderClan...
00:34:26
Speaker
could have very easily been essentially destroyed if any of the other clans had realized and taken advantage of it. And because these cats are so dependent on their leader being strong, like any time there's anything going wrong with the leader, the whole clan falls apart. So I think that actually Bluestar was not a great leader because of her response to all of this.
00:34:57
Speaker
I agree. and I wonder if after she found Fireheart, right? And she's remembered the prophecy. She's like, okay, it's him.
00:35:09
Speaker
And so she brought him in. Did she like think that, okay, I, I've done my duty and like, yeah and just sort of like, i don't know.
00:35:25
Speaker
i don't I don't know why she made Tigerclaw deputy in the first place.
00:35:31
Speaker
Especially after reading Blue Sword's prophecy and seeing that she was essentially the only cat who was aware that Thistleclaw was like this bloodthirsty monster. Like, she should have good judge of character because of that, but somehow she just didn't see it in Tigerclaw.
00:35:53
Speaker
Yeah, I don't... wish I understood her thought processes there and why she defended him so much. Like, what what what what would Fireheart have to gain by lying yeah about it?
00:36:07
Speaker
I honestly think that she her judgment was clouded by the fact that she gave up everything for the clan and that she needs everything to go well. like Like, she needed to be successful for it to all be worth it.
00:36:23
Speaker
Mm-hmm. Obviously we see in Blue Star's prophecy that any time she loses someone, she just completely shuts down, does not function as a clan cat. And i just think that you can't have someone like that as leader because of this exact situation. and Sunstar saw that and decided to make her deputy anyway.
00:36:47
Speaker
And I think that the reason was that the other choice was worse. Yeah. The choice between Bluestar is a great leader in most areas versus Thistleclaw is going to destroy the clan through war.
00:37:11
Speaker
Yeah, lesser of two evils, I guess.
00:37:16
Speaker
And that's part of why I love Bluestar so much, though, because there's so... I think she's such a complex character because of this. And, like, there's so much to dig into about her character.
00:37:30
Speaker
I love a flawed character.
00:37:36
Speaker
Really? Yeah. I would never have guessed. Now you know.
00:37:46
Speaker
So yeah, Bluzar is my favorite character and also I think she's not a great leader. I have doubts about Fireheart too.
00:37:56
Speaker
and That's reasonable. But he obviously is the main character so
00:38:07
Speaker
somehow he's gonna pull it off I guess. Right. Yeah. Do you want to know something weird that just realized? Tell me. I don't have a favorite character.
00:38:17
Speaker
What the fuck? I know, right? That pisses me off.
00:38:24
Speaker
You really like Cloudtail?
00:38:30
Speaker
If that's the right word. Like? I don't think that's the word. um You really like to call Cloudtail a punk? Yeah, he is. who ah That's not true. I really, i liked Goosefeather a lot.
00:38:46
Speaker
yeah Yeah, you did. this Which is funny because Goosefeather is so hated in the fandom. Nah. He just was misunderstood. Uh-huh.
00:39:01
Speaker
I mean...
00:39:05
Speaker
I haven't read his novella and I really need to because I think it'd be really interesting. Well, maybe we can read it together.
00:39:17
Speaker
Well, how can we do that and do the podcast?
00:39:25
Speaker
Sometimes you got to make a choice on a podcast. ah Okay. Yeah, that's true. Oh, man.
00:39:38
Speaker
is this Is this arc gonna have a happy ending? I'm not gonna tell you that. Is the question that I'm asking myself. Okay. Because it's been a fucking rough-ass time, this whole like, for five fucking books. I sure have.
00:39:58
Speaker
And it's just gonna get worse. Because we've got, like, fucking the evil empire evil emperor over here, like... Slowly, like, like ah um consolidating power.
00:40:15
Speaker
You've got ThunderClan, who's just so scattered right now. And...
00:40:26
Speaker
and don't forget, there was that meeting between Tigerstar and Leopardfur. Hence the consolidating power. okay. Yeah, I mean, it's just a matter of time before Tallstar gives in as well.
00:40:42
Speaker
We'll see. Or is... oft. ah Tallstar also has a super edition.
00:40:54
Speaker
does he? Yeah. ah You know what? All of the starter leaders do, except for Brokenstar. Which a Brokenstar super edition would be really cool.
00:41:07
Speaker
He was kind of a dick. Yeah.
00:41:12
Speaker
But then you'd have to like they would make you feel for him. I mean, i'm fully capable of understanding why someone does something and still hating them for it.
00:41:26
Speaker
Yeah, I guess you're right.
Episode Closure and Community Invitation
00:41:28
Speaker
Okay, well, um this has been a this has been a fucking ride. i was not prepared for this.
00:41:37
Speaker
Are you ever? Is it me or does ah theres a lot of the like. Love interest things in these books like just kind of come out of nowhere. Yes. Okay.
00:41:50
Speaker
Yeah, that's kind of that won't go away. Cool. but Kukul. health Well, dear listener, if you would like to talk to us about these books or any of the other Warriors books, you can get into our Discord, which you can find linked in the episode description, or at our website, glitterfoxmedia.com.
00:42:17
Speaker
where you can all Slide on in there. Slide on in. Where you can also find all of our other podcasts and, you know, become a part of the fam.
00:42:28
Speaker
Yeah. ah Become one of us. Sure. I have been Sparkleheart. And I have been Snowstorm. Just because you grow older doesn't mean you have to grow up.
00:42:42
Speaker
Bye. Bye.