Tawnypelt’s best moments
BY THE EDITOR
Tawnypelt is one of the oldest characters in Warriors. While she’s rarely been directly in the spotlight, she’s had a firm say over her own destiny since The Prophecies Begin, and has always been willing to speak out against anything she disagrees with, even if it’s something her own Clan is doing. With her slated to be a point of view character in the upcoming arc Changing Skies, let’s take a look at the books already behind her. Today, we’re counting down the top Tawnypelt moments!
5 – Into the mountains
We’re starting our countdown in the very recent past, when Tawnypelt was already starting to feel the divide between herself and the younger warriors of her Clan. As deputy to her son Tigerstar, she butted heads with him frequently over how ShadowClan should be run and how to rebuild the Clan after Darktail nearly destroyed it forever. All of that was thrown into even more chaos when Shadowkit started having visions of the Tribe of Rushing Water. Even with all of this uncertainty with her position and her relationship with her son, she was willing to risk losing all of it forever to suppot her grandson and get him where his visions needed him to go. It is this strength of character, the will to do what’s right no matter what it will cost her, that make her such a compelling cat.
4 – Not her ShadowClan
Tawnypelt has never been the sort of cat to just go along with whatever the rest of her Clan is doing if she doesn’t agree with it. If ShadowClan is turning down a path she doesn’t agree with, she won’t follow them down that path. Nowhere is this more clearly demonstrated than in Long Shadows, when she left ShadowClan because of Blackfoot’s decision to follow the advice of the loner Sol and turn away from StarClan. Even though their time away from the Clan turned out to be extremely temporary when the false sign partly created by her own kits convinced Blackfoot to reclaim his leader name and return to following StarClan, it’s hard not to admire the strength it took to turn away from the Clan she’d been so loyal to and try to make a place among the birth Clan that may not have easily accepted her back.
3 – Avenging Whitestorm
Tawnypelt’s time in ThunderClan wasn’t long, but it was enough to get to know what a brave, noble, and wise cat then-deputy Whitestorm was. His death at the paws of BloodClan cat Bone was a great loss for every Clan, not just his own. Tawnypaw joined together with her brother, the halfClan apprentices Stormpaw and Featherpaw, and Whitestorm’s son Ashpaw to kill Bone and avenge the death of this noble warrior. Having another cat’s death on one’s conscienece from such a young age is not small thing, but at least they have the comfort of knowing it was in service of a truly great cat, and that a powerful enemy of the forest had been stopped from every harming another cat.
2 – Choosing the shadows
One of Tawnypelt’s absolute greatest moments of strength came when she was still just an apprentice. Like her brother Bramblepaw, she faced scrutiny from as early as her kithood simply because of who her father was. While Bramblepaw wanted to put in the work to make ThunderClan see him for who he was rather than who his father was, Tawnypaw had no desire to have to constantly prove herself because of something that had never been her fault. She made the hard decision to leave her home and family behind and start from scratch in ShadowClan. She’d still have to fight to prove herself, but at least there she could be seen for who she was, and not just as a part of her father’s bloody legacy.
1 – Refusing Tigerstar
Tawnypelt knew the struggles of being accepted as well as her brothers – she had just as much reason as them to feel tempted by an offer of suppot from beyond the grave, of help from a spirit who would be able to guide and help secure the respect of her Clanmates. But of all of his kits that Tigerstar ever made contact with, Tawnypelt was the only one who ever refused him. She had seen for herself the devastation her father’s quest for power had caused, and she had no desire to hurt cats for her own gain the way that he had. She faced the cat others had trembled before with her head held high and told him there was nothing he could offer that could ever make her want to ally with him. That takes commendable strength.
