Leaf/Crow

[vbfdoee]

Ah, Leafpool and Crowfeather. I've never understood this pairing, and this is the perfect platform for me to whine about it dissect its shortcomings.

It's just like Romeo and Juliet, and I don't mean that as a compliment. Romeofeather is upset that he can't be with Rosalinetail, but he completely forgets about his woes the exact instant he meets Julietpool. Sure, they're from rival Clans and everything, but who cares? They can always run away to someplace far away, where all these dumb societal rules don't apply.

Everyone's so hopped up on dopamine and serotonin and all those lovely neurotransmitters that they never even stop and think "hey, given the precarious position the Clans are in, what with having just moved to the lake and all, maybe people are going to care that one of WindClan's warriors and ThunderClan's medicine cat both suddenly disappeared. Then we get a nice Midnight ex machina, and Leafpool, who was previously so adamant about running off with Crowfeather, has a change of heart and returns just in time to see her mentor get torn apart by badgers.

Now Leafpool is pregnant with three little children of destiny, no one trusts her anymore (or at least no one should), and the father would, understandably, like to forget that this ever happened.

Love story of the century, eh?

[mistytail]

Literally the dumbest pairing ever. Even 12-year-old me, who forgave a lot of BS in the story, was like "Really? ... Really???"

Seriously, he "fell in love with her" by watching her dangle off a cliff.

How truly romantic.

[celestialsquared]

The relationship was just so....Silly?
At the time it happened, all I could remember thinking was "Um...Okay?". Like Crowfeather, I tried to forget that it even happened. And yet there are people convinced that they were in love. It's like when people date a person for a week and then claims that they're madly in love with each other. Just, what?

[mistytail]

I was so angry when it turned out that the Three were actually Leafpool and Crowfeather's. I was like, "No, that's so dumb, they were together for a /day/!! There's no way they [the Erins] would do that!"

Surprise.

[Grey]

How truly romantic.

The relationship was just so....Silly?

This could all be sorted out if the cats were more cat-like in their approach to "romance". In making them so anthropomorphised, Erin Hunter has a kind of contract with the reader - she must make them think and feel like humans do in a (realistic) way that humans can relate to. Obviously, the Leafpool and Crowfeather relationship doesn't really do this and that's where the issue is.

If, for example, the cats of the clans were more like actual cats, the plot makes slightly more sense (at least from a realism point of view). Leafpool and Crowfeather's motivation is honestly just, "I want to jump your bones, right here, right now", and that's the end of thinking about it. They're cats who happen to be mildly compatible at the time. Instinct tends to overwhelm common sense.

Since Warriors is a children's series, themes of a sexual nature are treated delicately, which is suitable for the age group. Because of that, this train of thought is never really explored in the books. There is only "love".

Still, I wonder if the Leafpool and Crowfeather relationship is actually an Erin Hunter attempt at writing a feline response to a human condition, in the sense that there is purposefully no legitimate reason for the couple or their "love", because they are cats doing things that sexually-frustrated cats do. Or it could just be lazy plotting, I don't know. Thoughts?

[celestialsquared]

So, I found this, today: www.warriorswish.net/index.php/warriors-novels/bonus-materiel/505--after-sunset-we-need-to-talk

There is one part in particular that set me off:

LEAFPOOL: Crowfeather, wait!
CROWFEATHER: What?! Leafpool, what are you doing here?
LEAFPOOL: I...I wanted to see you.
CROWFEATHER (Wary, glancing around him to check no one's watching): Why?
LEAFPOOL (surpised): Because it's moons since I spoke to you! And...and there's something I think you should know.
CROWFEATHER (bitter): No, there isn't, Leafpool. You don't have to tell me anything any more. We belong to different Clans, remember?
LEAFPOOL: Why are you being like this? It was hard for me too, you know. But ThunderClan needs me to be their medicine cat. I don't have any choice.
CROWFEATHER: You did have a choice, and you chose to stay with them! Look, I shouldn't be talking to you. What if someone sees us? My Clanmates have only just begun to trust me again, and that's mostly thanks to Nightcloud.
LEAFPOOL: Nightcloud? Why?
CROWFEATHER (looking uncomfortable): She...she had my kits last moon. Onestar's going to announce it at the next Gathering.
LEAFPOOL (stunned, in a small voice): Oh. I didn't know.
CROWFEATHER: Well, what did you think I'd do? Let my Clanmates go on thinking I was more loyal to ThunderClan? Nightcloud's a great cat, and a good mother.
LEAFPOOL (cutting him off): You were right, Crowfeather. We don't have anything to say to each other now. Goodbye.

Oh, so you're mad that he moved on when you clearly stated that you wanted to follow the warrior code? You can't have your cake and eat it too, Leafpool. Did she expect him to mope about it?

[mistytail]

Well, Crowfeather mopes about everything else.