[Hexict]

Originally Posted by Splash

I think Squirrelflight was a perfectly acceptable choice for deputy. She works hard at it, and she's good at it. I don't see what reason there is to hate her. Graystripe would have been a much worse choice for deputy.

As we can see in what's come out in A Vision of Shadows, Squirrelflight is no worse than any other deputy. She organizes good patrols, and from what I can tell kept up with her duties even with Alderkit and Sparkkit. She dealt with the loss of her other two kits very well, showing that she's a strong cat, a good trait for the next leader.

There's no reason to hate Squirrelflight. Sure, she was energetic and stubborn as an apprentice, but I'm energetic and stubborn, and people don't hate me for it. She could be hated for her role in raising Leafpool's kits, but Yellowfang convinced her to. A StarClan cat convinced her to. Plus, she loved them like her own. She wasn't about to abandon them for no good reason, was she? She honestly believed that she was doing the right thing. I'm not about to hate a character for doing what the believe is right. She did break the Warrior Code, but so did Firestar, right?

Graystripe couldn't be deputy. He's an elder. We all saw what happens when you make an elder deputy when Nightstar was leader of ShadowClan, right before Tigerstar, and Cinderfur was his deputy. We saw the same thing with Russetfur. She wasn't an elder, but she was old enough to retire. Old cats just can't be deputy. It doesn't work.

Bramblestar forgave Squirrelflight because he realized that she had followed her heart. She deserved that forgiveness. He knew that, even if he was mad at her, there were no other cats he could trust as much. Squirrelflight deserves her position as deputy, and, someday, leader, as much as any other cat.

I'm going to first approach the fact that you are not suppose to actively be a leader or deputy when you are nursing kits. They are suppose to temporarily step down - deputy usually acts as leader if the leader is nursing, and when it's the deputy they usually aren't replaced. Not saying that this is why she shouldn't have been chosen, but rather just that she should have been with her kits and watched them instead of focusing on deputy duties.

And as I stated, just the fact alone that she was so quick to turn her back on the warrior code to raise her sister's kits proves that she shouldn't. I know that she was being loyal to Leafpool and the she cares for her family, but . And lets not forget the fact that she was barely even around Leafpool's kits when they were still in the nursery. They said in the books that she was rarely ever around them, so even though she took them in she actually barely even raised them she she was out patrolling and hunting instead.

Also, Yellowfang actually never told Squirrelflight to raise the kits. Of course, she did want her to since Leafpool couldn't, but never actually told her to. All she said to Squirrelflight was that she would never be able to have kits of her own. That was all. And that was the main reason why she took in Leafpool's kits. I believe that if she were to have her owns kits, she wouldn't have taken in Leafpool's and only cared for her own instead... I know you guys will argue against this, but I honest to god believe this statement since Squirrelflight had done nothing to prove that she actually loves the kits... I mean, she didn't even spend time with them when they were kits!

I honestly believe that she is a selfish cat since she rarely even bothered with the kits when they were in the nursery, and she forced Bramblestar to chose between her and his brother. That's another reason that I hate her. Sure she was energetic and stubborn, but she's selfish and every time she talks it's really annoying. At first, I simply didn't care for her and find her a bit annoying... but then as the series continued I realized just how terrible of a character she was. She isn't very smart and I do find her stupid and makes terrible decisions.

If she actually does become leader, then I'm quitting the books... I can't handle reading her being in charge of cats. I mean, she's actually my least favorite character (along with people like Lionblaze, Dovewing, Tigherheart, ect)... i'm not a huge fan of the idiots X3

Originally Posted by Equinox

I disagree. Squirrelflight is a loyal cat, loyal to her Clan, and loyal to her sister. The only reason she lied for Leafpool was because Leafpool is her SISTER. How could she turn her sister down? And yes, she lied to Bramblestar about Hollyleaf, Jayfeather, and Lionblaze being hers and Bramblestar's kits. But the reason Bramblestar forgave her and appointed her as his deputy is because that's what true love is.

Of course I would break the rules if my sister was to be in the same situation, but I wouldn't take the role as deputy. She knew that what she was doing was highly against the rules and still continued. She took on the role as deputy knowing that you have to be endlessly loyal despite how quick she is to bend rules and that she will most likely do it again if a situation comes up.

And he shouldn't chose a deputy based on if he loves them or not, it's on whether they will be loyal to their clan no matter what - which Squirrelflight has proven she can't do. It's about a cat who can not only take charge, but someone who can make good decisions. Just because she can snap at a bunch of people and can give orders, it doesn't make her a good deputy or right for the position. Choosing her based on love is a terribly thing to do... and he pretty much doomed his clan :/