He's undeniably an antagonist, but he doesn't have nearly as large of an affect on the world

as some other antagonists, never rises to power through either literal strength, the

formation of an army, or taking up some position of power in the clans, and also never serves

as the primary antagonist of any arc or even book, as he only appeared sparsely through

the latter half of Power of Three and a single book in Omen of the Stars, followed by an

origin story in the Skyclan manga series.

Despite all of that, he is a massively popular character among the fandom, which mostly stems

from the *type* of antagonist he is.

Among the Tigerstar's, Hawkfrost's, and Darktail's, Sol is unique because of his

methods of getting what he wants.

Fighting is rarely if ever something he gets involved in.

He prefers to use his words to manipulate other cats into keeping him safe, trusting

him, or taking actions against their own interests.

This on its own isn't unique to him at all.

Tigerstar manipulated Bluestar along with all of Thunderclan and Shadowclan.

Hawkfrost manipulated Brambleclaw, Mudclaw, and, later on, Ivypool and the other Dark

Forest trainees.

Darktail manipulated Needletail, Violetshine, Hawkwing, and most members of the Kin.

But in all of those cases, manipulation was only part of their plan, and striking out

with violence was always the end goal.

Sol, meanwhile, tries to avoid fighting when at all possible.

The concept of the master manipulator who makes events play out exactly the way he wants

and tears the protagonists apart without ever lifting a claw to stop them himself is quite

appealing.

The strongest of warriors wouldn't be able to stop someone who they don't ever think

to fight.

With that said, Sol's execution doesn't make him a master manipulator, so much as

it makes him out to be a petty and sometimes stupid selfish cat who does whatever he wants

to with little thought given to the consequences.

Ultimately, especially in the context of Power of Three and depending on your perspective,

he is either a waste of potential or a waste of time.

Let's delve into the few appearances he has had so I can explain why.

We first meet Sol in Eclipse, where he gets a very powerful and mysterious entrance, being

mistaken for a lion by Hollypaw and then strolling into camp as a bewildered patrol which even

includes Thornclaw is unable to think of a reason why they brought a strange loner into

the heart of Thunderclan.

He quickly makes an impression not only on most of Thunderclan, but on the reader as

well.

What could he have said to the patrol to make them take him to camp when they didn't really

want to?

What sort of power does he have?

This was an arc where superpowers were introduced, so he could have had some sort of oration

power for all we knew, or he could have simply been a very good and malevolent speaker.

Sol quickly weasels his way into taking Leafpool and Jaypaw away alone to tell them that a

darkness is coming, nothing will ever be the same again, and that the sun will go out.

This immediately speaks to Jaypaw, who had a dream concerning a choking darkness recently,

but Leafpool is put off by his abrasiveness and disrespect for Starclan.

It turns out, though, that Jaypaw's favor was all he needed, as that caused Jaypaw to

bring Hollypaw and Lionpaw along to see him, find out more of what he knows, and perhaps

get his help with the prophecy that still, four books into the arc, was a mystery to

them.

Sol's lies have already, at this point, given him access to one of the most powerful

and well-kept secrets around the lake at that time.

Sol being a confidant or mentor to the three could have made for the foundations of a really

good story, but unfortunately this is about as far as it went.

As soon as he met them for the first time and agreed to mentor them, he caught a Shadowclan

patrol and asked to go to Shadowclan instead, where he could manipulate Blackstar in front

of the three and not only immediately abandon them but also immediately lose their trust.

Any power he could have had over them is lost in an instant, only a chapter after he got

it.

Not a great start.

And all he gets to do for the rest of the book is convince Blackstar to give up on Starclan

and the clans.

This very minor, unthreatening plot that is already disconnected from all of our main

characters continues into the beginning of the next book: Long Shadows.

Somehow, offscreen, he convinces Shadowclan to essentially become a band of rogues that

hisses to any cats they find at the border and no longer feed the kits and elders.

Tawnypelt and her kits, Flamepaw, Tigerpaw, and Dawnpaw, flee to Thunderclan and, with

zero convincing since our protagonists already know about and don't like Sol, the six cats

band together to fake a Starclan sign and convince Blackstar that Starclan is still

real actually, which instantly makes Blackstar return his clan to normal.

Shadowclan then drives Sol out, Tawnypelt and her kits return to their own clan, and

our protagonists go on as normal, having learned nothing from a cat and event that had practically

nothing to do with them.

The one exception is a quick conversation Sol has with Hollyleaf where he says that

she needs him, she says no, and then drives him out of Thunderclan too.

Despite the amount of focus Sol's presence gets in Sunrise, the last book of the arc,

he didn't do much there either.

The clan concluded that he was the most likely cat to have murdered Ashfur so they spend

a great deal of the book going on a Sol Patrol to look for him and bring him back for interrogations,

which they do, yay.

He doesn't have any answers for them and is just kept as a prisoner that no one likes

or trusts until Lionblaze offers to help him escape in exchange for Sol telling him who

their birth parents were, which he eventually sort of agrees to as he and his siblings do

let him escape and tell him to leave them alone, even though Sol doesn't ever give

them information on their birth parents.

The siblings have a climatic scene where they tell Sol that their powers aren't his to

control, which would probably be really powerful if he ever had any control over them or their

powers and didn't immediately give it up and make enemies of them when Shadowclan came

around.

He then leaves, never to be seen again and having made no impact on the story.

In the Forgotten Warrior, he returns, taking credit for saving Molepaw and Cherrypaw and

suddenly becoming Thunderclan's hero, despite them never once trusting him before and still

considering him as the most likely suspect in Ashfur's murder which was never solved.

However, it turns out that Hollyleaf was one who actually saved the apprentices and Sol

was secretly working with Windclan to start an attack on Thunderclan, which Hollyleaf

helps them to fend off.

Despite the hatred she has for him, Hollyleaf decides to spare his life when she has the

chance to kill him as a symbol of how she will now stick to the warrior code and has

changed since she murdered Ashfur.

And that…is the last time we've ever seen him.

The only other story material he's in is the Skyclan mangas which, as it turns out,

tell his origin story before he ever came to the lake.

In brief, Sol was originally a kittypet named Harry who lived in the house Leafstar was

kidnapped into.

While he doesn't understand Leafstar's desire to get out, he does respect it, and

helps her escape with her kits.

He joins the clan, but doesn't want to do much work, is both untalented and unmotivated

in training, and keeps looking for workarounds, some of which have disastrous results for

Skyclan's safety.

We learn that his mother, Cinders, had told him and his siblings stories about the brave,

strong, legendary clan cats and, even once he heard that those stories were fake, he

always wanted to be a warrior too.

But when he doesn't become a full warrior as quickly as he wanted to with no effort,

he decides to prove to Leafstar that he's ready by stealing her kits with the intention

of pretending to find them later.

However, his plan is discovered and Leafstar banishes him, an act so horrendous that he

went on to go manipulate the clans out of spite for the clan who wouldn't accept him.

This is a…pretty horrendous backstory for Sol to have.

It makes him out to be stupid, lazy, untalented, impulsive, and someone who hates the clans

only out of petty vengeance after he was banished for an obviously wrong, intrusive, and dangerous

decision.

None of his manipulation tactics or ability to lie his way out of troubles is explored

except in that he lied to Leafstar to gain her favor, after he already had it for saving

her and her kits.

No one else in the clan was fooled, and it is only Sol who comes out looking like the

fool for believing that stealing someone's kits, taking fox prey, and skimping out on

training was a good way to become a warrior.

Sol would have honestly been better served by not giving him a backstory at all, so that

he could be more mysterious.

And with any hints to a backstory he did drop, we would never know if those were the truth

or just more of his lies.

Although, it isn't as if his main series appearances painted him as a single-minded

smooth-talker either.

This type of master manipulator really needed to, first, be at least partially centered

on the protagonists so we can see the result of that manipulation, and second, succeed

in some of his ambition so that we could learn the power he holds with his words.

Through immediately leaving the protagonists behind and going to Blackstar in another clan,

where he didn't successfully do much of any damage, he has a very shallow effect on

the story and our heroes.

And with no consistent goals or any permanent effects on the story or characters, his entire

plot seems like more filler for already filler-heavy arcs.

In that way, he is a waste of time, especially considering his very very small Shadowclan

plot goes on over two different books when it didn't even need one.

But there was also a little spark of potential in him, even in the story as we were given

it.

There is one particular relationship that he and the story keeps coming back to, and

one character that he keeps being pitted against: Hollyleaf of course.

Like Hollyleaf, he doesn't actually have any power, and yet seeks to gain it mostly

through his words and the trust of other cats.

Like Hollyleaf, he is a bit of a hypocrite and sometimes compromises on his morals in

service of achieving his goals.

And like Hollyleaf, he believes he is ultimately more powerful and important than Starclan

and must make his own decisions about how to proceed rather than relying on ancestors.

Sol doesn't care about or follow the warrior code, which would make Hollyleaf feel superior

to him, but what about when she became a murderer, and went against the code herself?

Even if he wasn't the real culprit, Sol was nearby when Ashfur's murder happened,

and being a loner, he certainly could have wandered over and seen what happened.

What would Hollyleaf do then, finding herself morally inferior to and even similar to a

tom who tore Shadowclan apart and stands for everything she thought she didn't?

How would she confront that?

And if this tom was actually important to her, how much more satisfying could it be

when he returned after she had finally redeemed herself and come to terms with all that she

had done?

I don't know.

I just think it could have been interesting.

And it is in that particular scenario where I do, like many others, really enjoy Sol.

Thank you for watching, and always remember that I'm your friend.

You can trust me, I *promise*.