Crookedstar is the Best Character in the Warriors Series

Possibly a tall claim for a series that has more than 400 cats in it, but hear me out. (I swear I read one of the editor's blog posts that they had 400 cats, but I can't find it now! It's somewhere over here.)

To be clear, I'm only talking about the series before Power of Three, because I haven't read past that chronologically. For me, the Warriors series was about escaping into the world and learning about the ways of the clans, so when the world and the ways started to change so dramatically, it lost all the point and purpose for me. I slogged through Power of Three, but it wasn't the same, so I never read beyond that. (Also, I absolutely hated Hollyleaf. I thought she was selfish, judgmental, and cruel.) I have, however, voraciously devoured the Super Edition books that happened before the first series, which cover the early lives of Bluestar, Crookedstar, Tallstar, and Yellowfang. Of all of them, and all the cats, Crookedstar stands out as best character, not just because he is honorable and friendly, but because he is the character who broke the mold. 

So first, let's point out the mold that Crookedstar was in: he was the cat who was rejected by a parent, treated sort of "off" by his clan (for a while), and was on the receiving end of cruelty and misfortune. As a kit, Goosefeather chased him until he fell and broke his jaw, which led to his mother rejecting him (and favoring his brother with such phrases as, "He'll never be as good as you!"), his clan not being sure how to act around him, not being able to be an apprentice until he was nearly full-grown, and living with general unpleasantness. 

His story is remarkably similar to the other three antagonists of the first series: Brokenstar, Tigerstar, and Scourge. Brokenstar's mother never stopped loving him but had to give him up (to a she-cat who didn't want him and whose kits taunted and bullied him-- that was in Yellowfang's Secret), Tigerstar's father abandoned him and the entire clan to be a kittypet so that ThunderClan basically spoiled Tigerstar (that was in Bluestar's Prophecy), and Scourge was bullied by his littermates and threatened with drowning in the river (I haven't read that one). 

So it seems as though, because of this mold, Crookedstar should have been a tyrant. He should have been cruel, selfish, obsessed with strength, and so on. But he wasn't.

If we're to follow the rules of the stories--not necessarily the rules of reality, but the rules of the story--Crookedstar beat the worst odds of any character. When characters in this series are routinely subjected to unkindness, being outcast, or just different treatment, they have the risk of becoming Brokenstar. But Crookedstar didn't. 

My favorite part of Crookedstar's Promise (which, in a series renowned for being sad and emotionally painful, is both the saddest and the absolute happiest book all at once) is when Crookedstar discovers he hasn't been training with StarClan at all, but with the Dark Forest. In absolutely no time at all, Crookedstar turns his back on them, rejects their claims that they care more for him than RiverClan, and returns to care for his clan and protect them. It's such a powerful moment, because that is the moment where Brokenstar, Tigerstar, and Scourge all failed. They weren't all with the Dark Forest (were any of them? I'm not sure), but when they were told that cruelty, selfishness, and general evil meant more acceptance and respect for them, they all accepted it; Crookedstar rejected it. 

I kind of think that might have been the authors' point--first of all, that we aren't bound to a certain future because of our past, and secondly, that the three antagonists made their choices, and that they could have chosen differently, but didn't. 

That's not to say that Crookedstar didn't have support from his family. For example, at the second turning point, at the end of the book--where he's rejected Mapleshade yet again, but is in danger of doing the same thing to Silverstream that Rainflower did to him--his brother gets in his face and tells him to do the right thing. (Also a beautiful moment that makes Forest of Secrets even more agonizing than it already was.) But so did the other three, and it didn't save them. 

I love Crookedstar's Promise, I love the characters in the book, I love RiverClan best of the clans, and I loved reading more about Crookedstar. In the first series, he always came across as an honorable, discerning, responsible cat trying to fulfill his responsibilities without being capricious. Comparing him to the characters who he could have been very similar to just makes me like him even more.