He's a very nice tom and a strong warrior to boot that looks especially good when comparing

him to other toms in unrequited relationships over the series.

However, because of how kind he is, there are times where the fandom can wish more for

him than he deserved.

Today I would like to highlight what a great character and cat he is, and where his faults

lie.

But it should be said, no matter where I have occasional issues in his interpretation, I

always have and always will love Thrushpelt.

For the great majority of Bluestar's prophecy, Thrushpelt is just a good warrior and friendly

guy to Bluefur when they are put in scenes together for patrols or duties.

He shows concern and care for her but doesn't make any open attempts at becoming anything

more than her friend, which is what she considered him to be.

The friendliness he displays amounts to polite but caring check-ins on Bluefur.

For example, cleaning her nest when she's out all day, offering to carry things for

her, which she says yes to with no hesitation, and sometimes checking that she's coming when

she lags behind in patrols, especially when she does so *in Riverclan camp,* enemy territory.

They have casual conversations a lot and Bluefur shows no problem with this, consistently calling

him a good friend.

This is already a stark difference from many other unrequited lovers in the series.

Cats like Bumblestripe, Finleap, and Ashfur were quite pushy, and despite their respective

love interests' clear disinterest they kept pursuing them.

An additional thing that sets him apart is that he has a life outside of Bluefur's

love or lack thereof.

He is quite good with apprentices, spending plenty of time with them and training them

well, is always dutiful and talented in battle parties and hunting patrols, and is generally

a good and well respected warrior of the clan.

Even when Bluefur is around, he isn't laser-focused on her.

He cares for her, but there are other things he cares about too, like his duties as a warrior

and the care of his clanmates.

This establishes him not only as a cat who is capable of accepting rejection, as he has

other things in his life to fall back on, but also as a genuinely nice cat.

He's a good friend, and not just to Bluefur.

He doesn't go out of his way to endlessly pursue her.

He just gives what care he can and indicates he will be there for her, whatever their relationship

is.

I should note even at this point that while this makes him a good cat and character, it

shouldn't make him worthy of as much praise as we give him.

The only reason we find this behavior so enticing is that we as a fanbase have been exposed

to so, so many awful relationships in warriors, and toms that were only concerned with their

own pleasure, regardless of their love interest's wishes.

Thrushpelt has used functional cat decency, but he doesn't deserve a medal for this.

Now on the other hand, you are absolutely allowed to like him for his other qualities.

He and Bluefur have great chemistry as friends, before anyone says a word about romance, and

his compassion to every cat and skill as a warrior without the strong ambition that grips

so many talented cats makes him a refreshing addition to Bluestar's Prophecy, a book

full of cats who give up on their personal connections to pursue their ambitions.

However, midway through the book many warriors around the two of them tell Bluefur that Thrushpelt

likes her, without Thrushpelt telling her himself.

This is an aspect of their story I really don't like but it's become a Warriors

staple at this point to tell romance second-hand rather than show it.

You can think of Dovewing and Bumblestripe for a particularly egregious example.

In Thrushpelt's case, with the amount of time they spent together being friends without

him saying anything outright, it seemed clear that he was making a conscience choice not

to push their relationship unless Bluefur showed she was comfortable with it, something

backed up by his reaction to everyone telling her about his feelings.

Thrushpelt very much loved Bluefur, likely since they began spending time together as

warriors, and those feelings never changed.

However, Bluefur's feelings *towards him* changed when she became very close to Oakheart,

and as she simultaneously heard verbatim that Thrushpelt liked her.

At this point, she began to see the casual conversations they always had as awkward,

because she didn't feel for him what she did for Oakheart.

When she begins carrying kits, Rosetail assumes they're Thrushpelt's before Thrushpelt even

knows they exist and Rosetail is the one to tell him he's a father.

This would have been a huge overstep, even if they were mates.

Bluefur should have been able to tell him, especially considering they weren't actually

his.

Regardless, even as the clan assumes them to have kits together, Thrushpelt doesn't

go along with the clan.

Instead, as soon as he hears about the kits he goes straight to Bluefur to clear up the

confusion and ask what story he should be telling.

He doesn't probe.

He specifically says he's not going to ask questions about where the kits truly came

from.

But since everyone is assuming it anyway, he gives her the option of telling them he

is the father, *if it would help her.*

This is probably the biggest strike against him for people who don't like Thrushpelt

at all.

His offer to act as the kits' father could be seen as intrusive, especially since Bluefur

has been acting more uncomfortable with their closeness lately due to her relationship with

Oakheart.

However, I think it's important to consider the circumstances leading to this moment as

well as Thrushpelt's honesty in his reaction.

He hadn't ever admitted his feelings for her, but now that the whole clan assumes them

to be mates, he gives Bluefur the *option* to use that to her advantage if it would help.

He still gives her the choice, but along with it, he finally tells his whole truth.

He says he likes her and that his goal is just to make her happy.

He doesn't need to be with her but if she needs him, he can be there.

Bluefur doesn't end up taking his offer, and instead avoids ever telling any cat who

the father is, but she does let the clan assume Thrushpelt to be the father.

Going along with her judgement, Thrushpelt never says he's the father either.

He acts the part only enough to relieve suspicion, but gives her all the control over her reputation

and kits.

He doesn't intrude on her life.

As far as I'm concerned, he handled the situation with the utmost care and did the

best job he could of helping Bluefur without overstepping his boundaries or making her

situation worse.

Bluefur herself appreciated his efforts, and called him a good faithful friend that she

was lucky to have until he passed.

Like Bumblestripe, Finleap, or Ashfur, I don't believe Thrushpelt ever loved another cat,

which isn't something anyone has a choice over.

But he treated the situation well by staying friends with Bluefur with her permission and

never asking for more when it was clear it wasn't what she wanted.

All he wanted was her happiness, and that's a selfless kind of love.

That type of care is the best one could hope for in the story of an unrequited love.

Now, with that said, Thrushpelt's story is not a tragic one as I've seen it portrayed

sometimes.

He still got to be close with the cat he loved, and even got to be seen by the clan as her

mate and the father of her kits.

He didn't overstep his boundaries and he didn't get to be as close to the kits as

Bluefur was, but he did get a good outcome for the short period where Bluefur was nursing

her kits.

It should really go without saying, but it would also be wrong to say Bluefur *should*

have loved Thrushpelt, or that Thrushpelt made a sacrifice to suffer beside her, never

getting to be more than friends.

Bluefur had every right to keep up her boundaries.

She was not obligated to love him back anymore than Squirrelflight or Dovewing were obligated

to love their suitors.

And Thrushpelt did get to be close with her, as a friend she loved and trusted deeply,

and even got to be seen as the father to her kits by the clan.

Those were all things he wanted, so the mere fact that they didn't have romantic or physical

attraction specifically between them shouldn't stop it from being a relatively happy ending.

If ever being near her without being romantic were truly painful for him, he had the opportunity

to step away and end his friendship with Bluefur.

Fathers often weren't very active in their kits lives in the first arc anyway, so soon

it wouldn't even matter to the clan.

He may have wanted more, but he had enough, and it would be wrong for him or us to expect

Bluefur to give him more.

But I do have to add the word “relatively” to his happy ending because, as everyone knows,

Bluefur gave up her kits when they were only a half-moon old so that she would be chosen

as deputy instead of Thistleclaw.

Thrushpelt barely had a chance to be a father to them even in the restrained way he was

allowed before they were gone, so the “good dad” trait he's often given is more of

a guess of how he might have been as a parent than anything else.

It's not necessarily a bad guess based on his work with the apprentices and his care

for Bluefur and her kits, but it's not something we'll ever know for sure.

However, in this category, you are also free to imagine AU's where Bluefur didn't give

up her kits, and even where she fully accepted his offer, and in that realm his relationship

with Mistykit, Stonekit, and Mosskit would be quite cute.

However, this situation also presents a point in favor of the tragic Thrushpelt angle, because

when Bluefur does give away her kits, she doesn't tell Thrushpelt the truth about

them: that they're safe and alive in Riverclan.

She keeps that secret through to Fireheart's time, long after his death.

That was her choice to make as their sole parent, but in this particular area, with

the book's description of him crying and grieving for them as though he were there

real father, it's clear he went through a lot of pain that Bluefur chose not to ease,

despite fully trusting Thrushpelt as a friend.

Thrushpelt is a really sweet character, and he's refreshing as a break both from the

other characters in his book and from our other options for toms in the Warriors universe,

but it's important to remember never to use his kindness to get mad at Bluefur for

keeping her distance in all the ways she chose to.

Ultimately, it was her life, her kits, and her choice.

Thank you for watching, and always remember any truly good relationship, romantic, platonic,

or familial, is one built on trust and mutual desire, but a little compassion won't hurt.