History Sandbox / WarriorCatsAshfur

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* EvilCounterpart: Ashfur is this for at least three characters:
** Thrushpelt. They both love she-cats who only see them as friends. Thrushpelt understands and vows to love Bluestar's kits as if they were his own, and genuinely mourns their "death". Ashfur, on the other hand, goes crazy from Squirrelflight's rejection, collaborates with a power-hungry cat to kill his own leader, finally tries to murder three cats, gets killed by one of them, and ''comes back from the grave'' to continue his obsessive pursuit of Squirrelflight.
** Lionblaze. In ''Eclipse'' and ''Long Shadows'', Lionblaze has terrible visions of brutally murdering his former friend Heathertail. He eventually manages to overcome his hatred and vengeful desires. Ashfur, on the other paw, is completely consumed by his vengeance.
** Bristlefrost: They're both pale gray cats with blue eyes and start out as energetic apprentices eager to serve their Clan. They both suffer the tragedy of falling in love with a cat who doesn't return their feelings and ultimately passes them over in favour of another, leaving Ashfur and Bristlefrost understandably heartbroken. However, whereas Bristlefrost accepts Stemleaf's decision and eventually finds the strength to move on, Ashfur refuses to accept Squirrelflight's decision and ultimately allows his pain and bitterness to consume him to the point that he is willing to ''destroy everything'' if he can't have her.

* TheMentor: To Lionblaze. He was also the mentor to Birchfall in ''The New Prophecy''.

* SatanicArchetype: Ashfur invokes this trope in a rather symbolic way. He started out as a fairly normal individual before Lust combined with {{Envy}} led him to betray his leader, and eventually, his fellow spirits in [=StarClan=]. His obsession with Squirrelflight and inability to see her as anything more than a possession is similar to Satan only understanding Lust. During his time manipulating the Clans, Ashfur shows himself to be charismatic, deceitful, manipulative, and narcissistic. Also, a lot of Ashfur's scenes involve fire; a motif associated with the devil.

* VillainHasAPoint: '''Not''' about Squirrelflight. He goes on a massive rant about [=StarClan=]'s pretentiousness, SmallNameBigEgo, hypocrisy, and flawed judgments in ''A Light in the Mist'', and is for once ''in the right''. [=StarClan=] display double standards in their decisions of who they let in, injustice in their condemnation of Leafpool and Squirrelflight for following their orders in ''Squirrelflight's Hope'', and place too much importance on the warrior code as an infallible, inflexible thing when it was created by fallible, flexible cats. All of these factors mean Ashfur, while fully responsible for his actions, had the opportunity to take them at all, and ''The Broken Code'' ends with several living cats questioning their ancestor's wisdom and discussing reformations.

* WickedStepmother: Inverted and played with, oddly enough. After stealing Bramblestar's body and posing as him in ''Lost Stars'', Ashfur has no genuine care for his kits or grandkits within [=ThunderClan=]. He openly bullies and verbally abuses Lionblaze, Jayfeather, Alderheart, and Sparkpelt, exiling them all during his reign of terror in [=ThunderClan=]. This also carries on to Lionblaze's and Sparkpelt's descendants, who unfortunately are still a target for Ashfur because they're simply ''related'' to cats he hates. He does this ''all'' while posing as their father and grandfather/great-grandfather. Lionblaze, Jayfeather, Alderheart, and Sparkpelt have no clue why their dad is suddenly treating them so terribly. Interestingly enough this factor is actually a clue as to the imposter's identity. In life, Ashfur despised Squirelflight's and Brambleclaw's children on the basis that they were their kits. In ''The Broken Code'', Ashfur's obvious bias towards them compared to the rest of the Clan was a hint. '''I think this is misuse'''
* WomanScorned: Gender inverted. Ashfur has had a huge grudge against Squirrelflight ever since she tried breaking it off amiably. This results in him trying to murder Squirrelflight's father Firestar and her children solely out of spite. And when she reveals her children were actually adopted, he decides to humiliate her by announcing this at a Gathering. '''Is this misuse?'''

* WouldHurtAChild: He has no problems with killing young cats, like Squirrelflight's children or Shadowsight.

* TheStarscream: Hawkfrost's plan in ''Sunset'' hinged on Brambleclaw killing Firestar in secret, but Ashfur arranged for help to arrive. Taking his [[NeverMyFault lack of remorse]] and [[FamilyExtermination grudge against Squirrelflight and Brambleclaw]] into account, it's implied he did so not to try and save Firestar, but to ensure Brambleclaw would be caught in the act. Unfortunately for him, Firestar's daughters arrived to find Brambleclaw trying to ''save'' their father, [[NiceJobFixingItVillain which erased any possible lingering doubts the sisters may have had about his character]].

* TheMole: He's Hawkfrost's traitor in [=ThunderClan=].

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: In ''Veil of Shadows'', Ashfur is genuinely heartbroken when Squirrelflight [[FakingTheDead fakes her death]] and blames himself for it because he exiled her. It's his one moment of something halfway approaching decency, [[IgnoredEpiphany but he immediately goes right back to]] [[NeverMyFault shucking responsibility]] and hurting others.

* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Three times.

* PlayingTheVictimCard: During ''Long Shadows'', he ''blames'' and ''bemoans'' other cats for "ignoring" his pain and getting what he wants. He does this ignoring that [[StepfordSmiler he is extremely good at masking his feelings]] and isn't entitled to another cat's affections. He keeps this up in ''The Broken Code'', except now he's added being "forced" into villainy as one of his ways to make his Clan suffer.

** In ''Veil of Shadows'', the normally quiet Alderheart gets enraged after Ashfur, as Bramblestar's imposter, exiles both Twigbranch and Finleap. Alderheart reprimands the false leader for demanding the unqestioned obedience of the Clan, and that sometimes it's right to question orders. Ashfur gets angry at his comments and exiles Alderheart from the Clan, calling him a faithless medicine cat. Alderheart retorts back "what about a faithless leader?", and ''that'' ends up making Ashfur scream at him to get out of the Clan. Considering this came from ''[[OOCIsSeriousBusiness Alderheart]]'' of all cats, it's really telling how awful Ashfur's leadership of [=ThunderClan=] was.
** Once more in ''Veil of Shadows'', as the false Bramblestar, Graystripe tells him off for his poor leadership, demanding the blind obedience of the Clan, and general poor treatment of everyone. This results in Ashfur attacking Graystripe, which Graystripe then uses to proclaim that the real Bramblestar would never have harmed his own warrior, and outs Ashfur as an impostor of Bramblestar.
** In ''Darkness Within'', Lionblaze confronts him while Ashfur is imprisoned in [=ShadowClan=]'s camp, condemning him for stealing Bramblestar's body and reminding his old mentor that he tried to kill him and his littermates years ago.
** Again in ''Darkness Within'', Squirrelflight condemns him for everything he's done after Ashfur confronts her and pleads that he loves her. She angrily tells him that she could never love him after he killed and stole Bramblestar's body and has nearly torn [=ThunderClan=] apart. Ashfur seems to take this a bit more personally, and his immediate reaction is to incapacitate Squirrelflight and drag her into the Dark Forest.

** In ''A Light in the Mist'', Shadowsight denounces Ashfur, telling him that he is nothing but an evil fiend who doesn't understand what love is because if he truly loved Squirrelflight he would accept her decision to be with Bramblestar rather than try to destroy everything she loves.
** Once more in ''A Light in the Mist'', Graystripe confronts Ashfur and delivers a pretty harsh speech given to him from Squirrelflight, once more condemning him for all he has done and how Squirrelflight does not, or ever will, love him. Ashfur at first is bewildered, if not outright ''confused'' as to why Squirrelflight would want him to hear this, but as Graystripe continues on, Ashfur's reaction turns to anger and assaults Graystripe.
%% * TheRival: To Brambleclaw in the second part of ''[[Literature/WarriorCatsTheNewProphecy The New Prophecy]]''.

* RomanticRunnerUp: When Squirrelflight passes him over in favor of Brambleclaw. [[LoveMakesYouEvil This does not bode well for his mental health]]...

* SatanicArchetype: Ashfur invokes this trope in a rather symbolic way. He started out as a fairly normal individual before Lust combined with {{Envy}} led him to betray his leader, and eventually, his fellow spirits in Cat-Heaven. His obsession with Squirrelflight and inability to see her as anything more than a possession is similar to Satan only understanding Lust. During his time manipulating the Clans, Ashfur shows himself to be charismatic, deceitful, manipulative, and narcissistic. Also, a lot of Ashfur's scenes involve fire; a motif associated with the devil.

* SourOutsideSadInside: Downplayed, but still present. ''Veil of Shadows'' makes it clear that no matter how unjustifiably cruel, selfish and petty he is, Ashfur's inner torment about Squirrelflight is actually genuine. After he exiles her, he quickly becomes depressed, doing things like putting on weight, not grooming, sleeping in her old bedding because it smells of her, and even taking poppy seeds to dull his "pain."

* SmarterThanYouLook: Despite Ashfur's one-track mind, he's actually one of the smartest villains in the series, and that's a factor ramped up in ''The Broken Code'' where he serves as the main antagonist. '''This is definitely misuse'''
** While a prisoner in [=ShadowClan=], Ashfur knowingly goads and manipulates cats into attacking him and provoking him in Bramblestar's body. He's ''very'' aware they all hate him and want him dead, but uses it to his advantage as he knows they won't actually kill him.
** His plan to kill Bramblestar and pose as him actually worked for a bit! Key words here being "a bit" as it wasn't long until cats began to get suspicious as to why "Bramblestar" had suddenly changed so drastically in personality.
** He's able to successfully manipulate Hawkfrost and Birchfall in the second arc. In the seventh arc, Ashfur is able to pry at the young Bristlefrost and Shadowsight in order to become his unwitting accomplices. He also successfully manages to stir up conflict between the Clans just by merely ''existing'' at the time.

* FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse: Ashfur lost his mom in an absolutely horrible way while he was still a young apprentice, and then later lost the she-cat he loved to the son of the cat who murdered his mom, but not a single one of the cats he hurts considers this to be justification, with Jayfeather even being incredulous that [=StarClan=] did. After Ashfur is revealed to be the imposter, virtually everyone agrees that Squirrelflight rejecting him ''absolutely does not'' justify bringing so much pain and suffering on all the Clans. In ''A Light in the Mist'', Shadowsight mentally and verbally lambshapes this. '''Do we need both quotes?'''

-->'''Shadowsight's ReasonYouSuckSpeech to Ashfur:''' "Squirrelflight loves Bramblestar. She'll never love you. She chose Bramblestar and she always will. They are happy together and you can't chage that. If you truly loved Squirrelflight, you'd want her to be happy. You wouldn't be trying to destroy everything she loves. You have no idea what love really is. How could a warrior like Squirrelflight ever love a warrior like you? No wonder she chose Bramblestar. He's brave and loyal. He's a true warrior in a way you could never be."

* HeroKiller: He indirectly kills [[TheLeader Bramblestar]] via playing Shadowsight, personally kills [[RebelLeader Stemleaf]], [[TheMedic Willowshine]], and [[TheAtoner Snowtuft]], and delivers the terrible wounds that kill [[CoolOldGuy Graystripe]] even after Ashfur's demise. [[TheHeroDies Bristlefrost]] [[HeroicSacrifice also sacrifices herself]] to kill him. ''Furthermore'', Snowtuft and Bristlefrost are rendered DeaderThanDead due to dying as spirits.

** In ''The Place of No Stars'', Ashfur insists that he loves Squirrelflight and doesn't want to hurt her...but then minutes later he mind-controls Bramblestar and later Stemleaf into attacking and physically hurting her (the latter is described as ''beating'' her). He also conveniently forgets that he has ''already'' hurt Squirrelflight, both emotionally and physically.
** In the same book, Ashfur berates Squirrelflight for "forcing" him to hurt her and the Clans, despite the obvious fact that he is willingly choosing to do it all and is currently planning to ''force'' the innocent spirits under his control to attack and kill their loved ones against their will.

* IRejectYourReality: By ''The Broken Code'', Squirrelflight has been mates with Bramblestar for years, had kits with him, and given Ashfur increasingly-vitriolic tongue-lashings for his actions and obsession. He continues to think she'll ever want to be with him, going so far as to drag her into the [[AloneWithThePsycho nearly-deserted]] [[{{Hell}} Dark Forest]].
* IcyBlueEyes: Dark blue ones, to be precise. This detail is a [[{{Foreshadowing}} hint]] as to him being the imposter. '''PCE'''

* KarmaHoudini: In-universe, Jayfeather doesn't buy Yellowfang's explanation that Ashfur made it to [=StarClan=] because "His only fault was [[LoveMakesYouEvil loving too much]]", despite his numerous murder attempts on himself, his siblings, and Firestar. This is later deconstructed, as him getting let off the hook allows him to return as a vengeful, lustful ghost who possesses Bramblestar, cuts off [=StarClan=] from the Clans, and throws the Clans into chaos and battle. Even [=StarClan=] asks themselves what they were thinking after that.

* LightIsNotGood: Because he was accepted into [=StarClan=], he has stars in his fur, which he retains even as the psychopathic BigBad of ''The Broken Code''.
* LoveMakesYouCrazy: After being dumped by Squirrelflight, he attempts to kill her father and adopted children to make her feel the same pain he did.
* LoveMakesYouEvil: Went mad essentially just because the cat he loved didn't love him back.

* FamilyExtermination:
** PlayedWith. After Squirrelflight turns him down, Ashfur's response is to try and kill Firestar, who is Squirrelflight's father, and later tries to kill Squirrelflight's adopted children. He also tries this in ''The Broken Code'' arc, where he lists Lionblaze and Jayfeather as codebreakers for their half-clan heritage and later exiles them for it. He targets Squirrelflight's biological children, Sparkpelt and Alderheart, by trying to kill the former and verbally abuses the latter, exiling both of them from [=ThunderClan=] during his reign while possessing Bramblestar's body. He also makes veiled threats to Sparkpelt's children, Flamepaw and Finchpaw, and even yells at Finchpaw before also exiling her from [=ThunderClan=] later on.
** Ashfur also takes this another level and shows a dislike of other cats who have ties to Squirrelflight's family. He exiles Cinderheart (Lionblaze's mate) from [=ThunderClan=], shows a dislike of Leafpool (Squirrelflight's sister), and even goes out of his way to bully Lionblaze's grandchildren, such as forcing Flipclaw to become a medicine cat, exiling Thriftear from the Clan, and threatening Bristlefrost if she ever stops spying for him.

* FauxAffablyEvil: Acts kind to everyone but Squirrelflight, Brambleclaw, Lionblaze, Hollyleaf, and Jayfeather. But by the end of TPOT, you know it's an act.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: There are several hints in ''The Broken Code'' arc as to him being the identity of the imposter possessing Bramblestar's body. '''Can this be condensed?'''
** In ''Lost Stars'', as an unnamed [=StarClan=] spirit talking to Shadowpaw, the imposter reveals his contempt for Bramblestar by mocking him. Ashfur ended his friendship with Bramblestar back in the second arc when Brambleclaw and Squirrelflight got together, and has hated him ever since.
** In the same book, after possessing Bramblestar's body, Ashfur remarks how good it was to see Squirrelflight again. In the following book, the imposter notes how he missed her "fire", and is extremely clingy to her, almost as if he hadn't seen her in years.
** A more minor one, but several cats comment on "Bramblestar's" sudden change in personality after losing a life, an early-on clue to the current Bramblestar being a fake.
** Again in ''The Silent Thaw'', the imposter mistakenly calls Dewnose "Dewtail" and thought that Flipclaw was Dewnose's apprentice (Dewnose had Flipclaw's sister, Thriftear). After Dewnose corrects him, the imposter snaps that he knew that. Ashfur had died several years before Dewnose's birth and therefore wouldn't have known Dewnose in his life. It's also worth mentioning that Dewnose was one of the first warriors that the real Bramblestar made back in his early days of leadership, something that would have certainly stuck with the real Bramblestar.
** Yet again in ''The Silent Thaw'', Bristlefrost observes that the imposter was inspecting [=ThunderClan=]'s camp as if it were unfamiliar (Bristlefrost calls his interest "intriguing") to him despite knowing Squirrelflight quite well. While Ashfur had known the lake camp in his life, it had gone through several changes prior to the start of ''The Broken Code''.
** In ''The Silent Thaw'' and ''Veil of Shadows'', while the imposter doesn't care for, if not outright dislike, [=ThunderClan=], it becomes increasingly obvious that he holds a special hatred for Lionblaze, Jayfeather, Alderheart, and Sparkpelt, for apparently no reason at all. However, considering that Ashfur in life targeted Squirrelflight's children to kill them, it makes sense that he would do the same to the four of them while possessing Bramblestar's body. Ashfur is verbally abusive to Alderheart, tried to kill Sparkpelt, and bends over backwards to humiliate and berate Lionblaze and Jayfeather. In fact, Ashfur made sure to exile all of them during his reign of [=ThunderClan=].
** In ''The Silent Thaw'', it's revealed that the imposter set up a trap for Sparkpelt in an attempt to kill her. The trap? Luring a pack of dogs with bloodied prey to a place on [=ThunderClan=] territory. It's alarmingly similar to how Tigerstar killed Brindleface, Ashfur's ''mother'', back in the first arc.
** As ''The Silent Thaw'', as the imposter is about to drag Squirrelflight out of their den and throw her down the Highrock, Bristlefrost overhears "Bramblestar's" voice suddenly change as he's yelling at Squirrelflight.
** In ''The Silent Thaw'', Tigerstar and Squirrelflight deduce that the imposter must have been a Clan warrior once considering he knows quite a bit of Clan culture and customs, effectively ruling out the possibility of it being some rogue.
** The imposter in ''Veil of Shadows'' is noted to have dark blue eyes by Shadowsight. Ashfur is the only male cat in the series to be described with them. Bristlefrost later comments to herself that "Bramblestar's" eyes flashed blue briefly.
** Once more in ''Veil of Shadows'', after he's been deposed of and exposed as a fake, the imposter croaks out to Squirrelflight that he came back for her specifically. This is the final clue that Squirrelflight needed to deduce his true identity.

* EntitledToHaveYou: He feels this way about Squirrelflight, even speaking of Brambleclaw "stealing" her from him.

* EvilGloating: Engages in some good old-fashioned evil taunting of Hollyleaf, Lionblaze, and Jayfeather in ''Long Shadows''.

* FallenAngel: "Angel" in this case refers to him once being among the ranks of [=StarClan=], but it counts.

* CrazyJealousGuy: He was willing to murder four cats (one of whom was ''his own apprentice'') to hurt Squirrelflight — who had rejected him two years ago. To say nothing of him ''possessing her mate's body'' and later dragging her into [[{{Hell}} the Dark Forest]] so they could be together.

* DespairEventHorizon: Being dumped by Squirrelflight was the start of his FaceHeelTurn.

%% * TheDragon: To Hawkfrost in ''Sunset''.

* EtTuBrute: Ashfur invokes this by angrily telling cats that ''nobody'' [=ThunderClan=] noticed how he was feeling when Squirrelflight turned him down the first time, and has come to resent the Clan for it. '''Is this misuse?'''

%% * BigBad: Of ''Long Shadows'' and ''The Broken Code'' arc.
%% * BitchInSheepsClothing: Becomes this.

* CommanderContrarian: In ''Graystripe's Vow'', Dustpelt comments that Ashfur has always argued about and questioned everything, for no apparent reason. '''Is this misuse?'''

* BedTrick: A G-rated, but still dark and creepy, version. He possesses Bramblestar's body in ''The Broken Code'' so he can finally be Squirrelflight's mate. She's justifiably furious when she finds out. '''Is this misuse?'''

* BigBad: Of ''Long Shadows'' and ''The Broken Code'' arc.

* BlamingTheVictim: He blames Squirrelflight, and eventually everyone else, for ''anything'' he does to them.

* DerailingLoveInterests: As explained [[https://blogclan.katecary.co.uk/2020/11/27/ashfur-a-cat-whos-biggest-crime-was-becoming-a-plot-device-by-lavenderbreeze/ here]], he goes from a loyal warrior whom doesn't hold grudges against the son of his mother's killer, to a psychotic ex of Squirrelflight willing to kill her kids out of spite over the course of the book series. '''I don't like the external link, feels like it's leaning too hard on Word of God'''