A Light in the Mist.

It isn't sectioned off since its material is far more woven into my discussion today,

so if you're still avoiding spoilers, I would come back to this one at a later time.

At this point, it's difficult to find a single Warriors fan who doesn't know the

basics of the Warrior Cats afterlives.

We have Starclan, the body of most dead warriors who get to live in happiness and harmony forever

among endless high levels of prey and perfect weather and also where they get to receive

prophecies and omens which they can then talk about and pass down to the living if and when

they choose.

We also have the Dark Forest, a place where all the cats who were...excluded from Starclan

go, whatever the reason for that exclusion.

If you are sent to the Dark Forest instead of Starclan upon your death, you are doomed

to an eternity in a dark and barren forest with no prey, endless danger, and either the

company of various tyrants and murderers or, if you happen to be there before the Power

of Three arc, forced to be alone forever, unable to meet a single other cat.

This seems like a pretty darn awful situation to find yourself in for the rest of existence...or

until you fade away from being forgotten or are drowned in an insta-death pool depending

on what arc's lore you're working with.

So let's take a look at exactly how these worlds are utilised.

Obviously, the Dark Forest is meant to be a punishment.

No matter which incarnation of the world you find yourself in, the cats sent to the Dark

Forest are there because of something they did wrong.

They were deemed to be bad cats based on their actions in life, and were therefore punished

in death.

But, of course, we know that judgement isn't applied evenly or objectively.

Even before canon adopted the lore of literal trials where a few biased cats choose whether

or not to let someone into Starclan, it was clear from the fact that cats like Ashfur,

Mudclaw, and Clear Sky got into Starclan that there was more personal choice going on than

objective moral judgements.

Since it *isn't* an objective, all-knowing judgement of your soul that puts you in one

afterlife or the other, one should conclude that it is possible for mistakes to be made,

or even for changes to occur in a cat after death that would change how they would be

judged were they judged at that moment.

For this example, I think it's time I turned to what finally spurred me to make this video:

the Broken Code, especially its last two books, The Place of No Stars and A Light in the Mist.

While we saw that someone like Mudclaw stopped being a threat when he died and realized the

truth he had been unable or unwilling to see in life, Ashfur's warped views only got

stronger in death, and he never gave up on his singular goal of getting Squirrelflight

and getting back at everyone who he perceived as slighting him.

This, and the evil actions that followed, are things that would probably land a cat

in the Dark Forest, and after his death Starclan admits that letting him into their ranks was

a mistake.

However, a truly astronomical level of cognitive dissonance is clearly at play, because on

the other hand we have many of the Dark Forest cats, including Snowtuft, who has completely

forgotten whatever evil deed put him there in the first place and is now just a fun tom

who actively chose not to join with Ashfur and helps Rootspring, Shadowsight, and the

others take him down, Juniperclaw, who we actually saw redeeming himself *before* his

death, not unlike Hollyleaf, and who hasn't done a single bad thing since, and a boatload

of other cats who have long since abandoned or stopped caring about the evil drives that

brought them to the Dark Forest and work instead to help take down Ashfur and hopefully reunite

with their friends and family in Starclan.

These cats, by and large, *do not deserve* an eternity in the Dark Forest, but when the

question of actually allowing them into Starclan is presented at the end of A Light in the

Mist, it is considered just a fact of life that they won't ever be able to cross over,

and that the place where you are sent when you die is where you should and will live

forever.

This is absolutely ludicrous.

We have first-hand admittance that there can be mistakes made.

We have seen first-hand that cats can change after death, for better or worse.

There is no reason to believe that, in a world where those two facts are in place, the rules

for eternal prosperity or punishment should be finite and unchanging.

If a cat, even in death, is doing horrible things and disrupting the safety of the dead

and / or living cats, they should be punished accordingly, not given the same benefits as

every nice queen, medicine cat, or deputy who simply wants to live out their days in

peace.

Likewise, if a cat has proven that they have understood their deeds to be wrong and worked

to change, especially if, in the process, they actively helped to save the clans, then

they should be allowed into Starclan, not forced to experience eternal torment in the

Dark Forest for crimes long passed, and not guarding the barrier between the two afterlives

without actually being allowed into paradise themselves.

Assuming that cats are capable of change after death, and we have continuously seen proof

that they are, judgement should flat-out not be finite.

That is, simply, wrong.

I have heard arguments in the past that some of these cats don't deserve forgiveness,

either because their deeds were too horrible for them to ever deserve Starclan, or because

they personally slighted another cat and that cat wouldn't, and shouldn't be expected

to forgive them.

I'll go over these arguments individually but as an overarching point: *Forgiveness

is not the same as redemption.*

First of all, the idea that a cat is so evil or has done something so horrible that they

can never be trusted and should never be let into Starclan is...flawed.

Certainly there are some cats like Tigerstar, Mapleshade, or Brokenstar who never saw the

error of their ways and in fact only got worse and more eager for destruction over time,

but this isn't the case for all, or even the majority of the cats who end up in the

Dark Forest.

And if there is even a single cat (of the perhaps ten to twenty that may reside there)

who doesn't deserve to be tortured, should we keep this system in place without any alteration?

I would think not.

Redemption is not a matter of erasing one's past deeds.

That is an impossibility.

It's about moving past those mistakes, understanding why they were wrong, who they hurt, what led

you to them, and working to improve yourself until you wouldn't do those things again.

Knowing that cats can, and have changed, what should be judged isn't who they were, or

more accurately, who some sector Starclan thought they were, upon their death.

It is who they are today, in the present, how they have grown, and what they will likely

choose to do with the rest of their futures.

I can't see Snowtuft, Silverhawk, Juniperclaw, or the others going on to commit more atrocities,

given the cats we saw they were and the deeds they did in the Broken Code.

Punishing someone is really only helpful insofar as it keeps danger away and proves to the

perpetrator that something they did was wrong.

If the cat being punished isn't a danger, and already knows they are wrong, then continuously

punishing them by making them live in the Dark Forest is just an exercise in pointless

suffering.

Secondly, I must acknowledge the people who argue that one or more cats in Starclan were

personally slighted by a cat in the Dark Forest, and shouldn't be expected or forced to forgive

them no matter how much they say they've changed.

To this I say, yes, of course.

You're absolutely right.

If someone has hurt you personally, put you in danger, or just made you uncomfortable

emotionally or physically, then no one in the world should ever force you to forgive

them or let them back into your life.

You are allowed to have boundaries, and that choice isn't wrong or morally lacking in

any way.

However, I do think that in discussing whether or not Dark Forest cats can be allowed back

into Starclan after redemption, the question of forgiveness is something of an irrelevant

one.

As I said, forgiveness is not the same as redemption.

Redemption is about a person's own actions and steps they make to be better.

Forgiveness has nothing to do with the person themselves.

It is not owed, and it isn't in their control.

Forgiveness is an individual's choice of whether or not to let someone who hurt them

back into their life.

This shouldn't really have anything to do with whether you're allowed into Starclan

with all of your friends and family, all the prey you can eat and the opportunity to see

prophecies sometimes, or whether you are cast off to a dark forest of solitude, misery,

and danger where everyone around you is being punished for their misdeeds.

If it is forgiveness specifically which is required for a cat to get into Starclan, that

is, if you aren't let into Starclan if cats there would be uncomfortable having you there,

then why was Hollyleaf allowed in?

Did her death come and Ashfur cleared her?

Did he say he was a-ok with forgiving his murderer and the kit of the cats he still

hated beyond belief?

It just makes no sense.

Individual grievances are separate, and in a world as vast as Starclan, you could choose

to never see the cat who wronged you ever again.

You don't have to interact with them.

You certainly don't have to forgive them.

But that doesn't mean they haven't changed enough to earn a place in Starclan.

They are separate concepts, and should be treated as such.

Warriors has never been a series with a very strong handle on what redemption and forgiveness

are or how to do them properly.

It had Breezepelt wake up in Crowfeather's Trial and be a completely different, nice

character who apparently hadn't ever willingly attacked his own clan, along with a medicine

cat and a pregnant queen, and, dealing with the very example I brought up, it had Hollyleaf

just forgive Ashfur completely and act like it was totally fine for them to hang out in

Starclan together after he tried to murder her and she successfully murdered him.

Likewise, it has always been a series that is quite averse to change.

The ideals, dynamics, and even specific characters that existed in the first and second arcs

have been clung to tightly ever since, which includes the inherent benevolence of Starclan,

and the inherent evil of the Dark Forest.

Even if the cats in those places prove the ideas wrong, even if an arc's worth of time

is dedicated to pointing out the flaws in the system that is causing problems for the

living and dead cats alike, those ideas still won't be given up on, so at some level,

I'm not that surprised.

Warriors did what it always falls back on and took the safe route, not radically changing

their afterlives any more than they radically changed the warrior c-

Sorry what was that?

An official list of the new rules was released on the website to clarify what was never actually

specified in the new book?

They did more than just reorder and reword some things?

Oh three rules are gone you say.

Which ones would those be?

Oh, well “don't trespass” not being a rule doesn't really matter if “challenge

trespassers” still is.

Ah, good to see that one go.

Even Code of the Clans didn't portray it as being a good rule.

What's the last one?

...You're joking.

No...you have to be.

Why in the world is the “deputy must have mentored at least one apprentice” rule gone

now?

That was one of the most intuitive and actually useful rules in the code!

Deputies absolutely should have experience in leading a cat, making plans, giving orders,

and keeping track of another's safety before they take on the role.

I would have thought the number of bad leaders and deputies who just got thrown an apprentice

at the last minute if they got one at all, including in this arc, would prove that.

Why would you ever remove that rule?

No, no, I'm sorry, I got of track there.

Okay, well, I'm not that surprised that the Warriors afterlives were given only tiny

changes with no serious considerations to the possibility of change and redemption for

the cats who are already dead and judged.

However, I am far from happy about it.

While this may be the way to write a safe book series, it is not a good way to think

about real life.

Redemption is always possible, if you work at it, and change should be acknowledged,

especially when it's for something as important as your eternal resting place.

Warriors may never acknowledge it, but we don't have to follow in their pawsteps.

Thank you for watching, and always remember to redeem yourself for mistakes regardless

of who will choose to forgive you.