StarClan gradually slid down to this over the franchise, due to fans being irritated with how they act like deities when they're just dead cats and have manipulated and screwed over several cats for their agendas, and one particular instance of doing this is when they, most notably Spottedleaf, nudge Leafpool to elope with Crowfeather for the sake of a prophecy, only to shame her for doing so. Then Leafpool becomes pregnant, and in Leafpool's Wish StarClan's solution to the problem is to lie to Squirrelflight about her infertility to make her adopt Leafpool's kits, while Leafpool herself cannot stop them because as a medicine cat it's her job to trust StarClan's word. This leads to the secret getting out, Brambleclaw breaking up with Squirrelflight, Leafpool losing her job and one of her kits, and said kit, Hollyleaf, attempting to kill Leafpool and then vanishing in the tunnels. The direct consequences continue to haunt both sisters until the end of Omen of the Stars, whereupon StarClan is never admonished for setting up the sisters to break the code, and even has the gall to put Leafpool and Squirrelflight on trial for a crime StarClan manipulated them into committing, again without facing consequences for their actions. For many fans, this was a step too far and they cite the trial scene in particular as a negative of Squirrelflight's Hope.
Mapleshade's three victims in Mapleshade's Vengeance. Her revenge on them is painted as a cruel Moral Event Horizon, but because of the suffering they caused her in the first place, many fans do not have much sympathy for them.
Ravenwing is meant to be seen as a medicine cat who was only doing his duty to the Clan, but his actions of immediately outing Mapleshade's secret to the Clan, causing her and her kits to be exiled, make it clear that he did not care one bit about the welfare of his Clanmate or her children. He knew that if Mapleshade's relationship with Appledusk were to be exposed, she and her kits would almost certainly be thrown out, yet he outed her anyway, and he even cites the kits' half-Clan blood as a reason to reveal the secret, saying that they aren't truly ThunderClan. He looks especially bad compared to Sagewhisker, Cinderpelt, and Goosefeather, medicine cats who knew their Clanmates were involved in forbidden relationships, yet cared enough about them to keep their secrets. Even Mudfur knew that his apprentice Mothwing didn't believe in StarClan, but he didn't tell anyone about that, either. Compared to these characters, Ravenwing looks like even more of a Lawful Stupidasshole by comparison.Note However it is worth considering that Ravenwing precedes all of them. It could be argued that he was too bound to the warrior code to uphold the lie, and that the medicine cats listed above learned from his mistake.
Frecklewish is painted as a cat who was grieving over her brother and heartbroken to find out that her brother's kits were actually his killer's children, with Nettlebreeze even describing her as a "poor and helpless" victim of Mapleshade's cruelty. Frecklewish's anger at Mapleshade for allowing her to believe she was her brother's mate is understandable, but her viciousness towards Mapleshade's innocent kits when she finds out they aren't her brother's, spitting at them, calling them "half-Clan creatures", and shouting for them to be kicked out of the Clan, is unjustifiable. Because of that, many fans didn't feel very sorry for her when a snake spit venom in her eyes.
Appledusk is supposed to be considered an honorable and loyal RiverClan cat who died heroically by saving his mate from being killed by Mapleshade, but his actions make it very hard to see him in any kind of positive light. After their kits drown in the river, he calls their relationship a "mistake" in front of his Clan to get back in their good graces, casts her out of the Clans to live as a rogue, and takes Reedshine as his new mate, just to really hammer it in that they're through. Even worse, it's implied he was seeing her even before he broke up with Mapleshade (as Reedshine was flirting with him at the start of the novel and is seen to be pregnant with his kits almost immediately after). Even though he's technically not a villain, many fans despise him with a passion for what he did to Mapleshade and blame him for her downfall. Some even believe he should have been exiled from his Clan, sent to the Dark Forest, or killed twice.
Bramblestar qualifies for this big time in Squirrelflight's Hope. After Squirrelflight disagrees with him during a Gathering, he accuses her of making him look weak and is paranoid over the possibility of Squirrelflight not listening to him, which gets worse when the Sisters arrive in what is supposed to be SkyClan territory and Squirrelflight goes behind his back to try to find a solution. He spends much of the book making Squirrelflight miserable, humiliates her by restricting her duties, repeatedly uses Squirrelflight's insecurities about kits to upset her, intimidates Leafpool from doing her job, endangers an injured cat's life to spite Squirrelflight, and leads the other clans except SkyClan to violently force the Sisters out even though one of them is kitting and they would've left in a few moons anyway. His actions lead to Leafpool and Moonlight's deaths, as well as Squirrelflight's nearly dying. He's supposed to be at worst misguided but ultimately well-meaning, and Squirrelflight concludes that both her and Bramblestar are at fault for their marriage woes, but many fans instead see Bramblestar as a controlling abuserexploiting his power to hurt Squirrelflight and her loved ones for minor slightsand, despite his attempts to deflect blame from himself, is entirely at fault for his and Squirrelflight's problems, and the Super Edition caused a noticeable decline in his popularity. In fact, the sheer drop in popularity of Bramblestar led some readers to reexamine his behavior in previous books, retroactively tainting them and establishing his poor behavior as a Franchise Original Sin.
Gray Wing, Tall Shadow, Wind Runner, Jagged Peak, Turtle Tail, Gorse Fur, and the rest of the moor group with respect to how they treat Bumble after she flees her home due to Domestic Abuse. Despite her desperate situation, everyone's consensus is that she sadly can never survive in their group because she's a fat, lazy kittypet, and really her situation isn't that bad compared to what wild cats go through, even Jagged Peak, who was kicked out by the villain Clear Sky due to the same logic of his disability making him useless. This gets to the point of Tall Shadow saying that she doesn't have to worry about returning to her abuser Tom because he might be able to see reason and she can just cozy up to the twolegs to make it all better. Gray Wing justifies his dislike for her by how she kept from Turtle Tail the secret that the twolegs would take away her kittens, and Turtle Tail is treated as extremely forgiving and kind for still wanting her sent back to her abuser, but being nice about it - in spite of the fact that she only kept the secret under threat of violence which was indeed actualized. Bumble ends up suffering from starvation and later being killed, likely by Clear Sky (though he denies it and says it was a fox, and he "merely" beat her into unconsciousness) due to being forced back into this dangerous situation, but none of the cats involved regret their actions at all or give any indication that this was a moment they weren't very different from the villains they are fighting against, and the narrative continues to treat them as heroes.
Moth Flight is another example. At the end of Moth Flight's Vision, she separates her kits to different Clans even though they beg her not to. Why does she do this? Because of a vague omen about the blazing star. Then she establishes the "medicine cats can't have mates or kits" rule, much to Acorn Fur's dismay, and then she and StarClan pressure her into obeying. This already rubbed fans the wrong way, but it gets worse in Squirrelflight's Hope, where she nearly condemns Leafpool to the Dark Forest for a crime Leafpool was manipulated into committing. Needless to say, afterwards her popularity took a noticeable decline.
