Tigerstar: Heart of Evil?

Tigerstar: Heart of Evil is an essay that was written by Victoria Holmes, explaining the different attributes of Tigerstar's character.

Summary
Tigerstar: Heart of evil, or misplaced ambition?

written by Victoria Holmes

Tigerstar stalked his way onstage in Book One: Into the Wild with a curled lip and his amber eyes narrowed in a sinister fashion. Even before Ravenpaw revealed the horrid truth about Redtail's death, we knew that this was a Bad Cat, one who would be Firestar's implacable enemy until his dying breath. The scene was set for a classic tale of hero versus villain, ending in a bitter and bloody fight from which the hero emerges triumphant and the villain is, well, dead.

But fast forward to Book Six: The Darkest Hour, and what is this? Tigerstar has been killed in a breathtakingly savage battle, but not by Firestar. Instead, our hero is left staring at his old enemy's body, wishing with all his heart that he was still alive because the Clans need fearless and battle-skilled warriors to defeat BloodClan and save the forest. What happened to the classic tale of good versus evil? Perhaps Tigerstar was never the forest's biggest villain after all…

There are few things that are absolutely certain in this world. Plenty of things seem to be certain -- my dog is the cutest creature in the world, chocolate brownies are the best food ever, heavy metal music is the quickest way to give yourself a headache -- but if you stop and think about it, it all depends on your point of view. Lots of people would think my dog is scary looking, one of my closest friends really doesn't like chocolate (I know, he's very strange!), and heavy metal bands have a huge following of dedicated fans. For all those people, their certainties are completely different.

Tigerstar seemed to be nothing but evil from the moment Firestar set paw in the forest -- and it's impossible to deny that he did some pretty awful things, from bullying Ravenpaw and killing Redtail to trying to murder Bluestar and luring the pack of dogs into ThunderClan's camp with a trail of dead rabbits. Firestar wasn't the only cat in ThunderClan to fear and hate Tigerstar in equal measure, and it seemed that all their fears came true when he appeared as leader of ShadowClan and launched his bloodthirsty campaign against half-Clan cats. But wait a moment! If he achieved his ambition to be the leader of a Clan, StarClan must have given him nine lives. That's a pretty big sign of approval from the warrior ancestors! Didn't they notice the bloodstained trail of havoc he'd left in ThunderClan?

The cats in StarClan have never willfully done anything to damage the Clans before, so they must have had their reasons for allowing Tigerstar to become a leader. And what about the cats in ShadowClan? Tigerstar clearly had their support, at least at the start of his leadership; even Tawnypelt left ThunderClan to be with her father in his new Clan. Perhaps Tigerstar wasn't entirely bad, and maybe even quite good, from a different point of view.

If you look past his murderous plots to overthrow Bluestar and destroy Firestar's credibility, you'll find a brave, skilled warrior, utterly committed to protecting his Clan, proud of his kits, respectful of his ancestors, and loyal to the things that are most important to him. He was the strongest, most fearless fighter in ThunderClan and taught Firestar pretty much everything he knows about battle techniques. He had high standards for his own apprentices, and it's not hard to imagine how much Ravenpaw must have frustrated him, being suited to neither fighting nor life in a busy Clan. When he joined ShadowClan, they were reeling from Nightstar's death from greencough, which had revealed that he had never been given nine lives by StarClan. The former leader of ShadowClan, Brokenstar, was still alive, albeit blind and held prisoner by ThunderClan, and the warrior code does not permit to cats in the same Clan to have nine lives simultaneously. The cats in ShadowClan were scared, defenseless, and desperate for a proper leader that would make their Clan strong and proud once more. Tigerstar must have seemed like the perfect candidate, with his bold plans, his reputation as a brilliant fighter, and his loyalty to whichever Clan gave him the best opportunity for achieving power.

He inspired enough loyalty among his adopted Clanmates to launch his astonishing plan to take over the whole forest, with the help of BloodClan. Part of this plan was a private battle against half-Clan cats, leading to the death of Stonefur in RiverClan, when he tried to defend Graystripe's kits. But when Tigerstar lost all his nine lives one after the other in a deadly clash with Scourge, Firestar felt nothing but grief. The biggest certainty then, from every Clan cat's viewpoint, was that the forest had lost its greatest warrior, and the battle against BloodClan might be over already.

So much was wrong with Tigerstar's path to power, it's surprising he didn't leave a trail of bloody paw prints behind him. Cats died and were wounded badly enough to prevent them from becoming warriors, one cat had to leave his Clan in secret to save his life, and Bluestar was almost driven mad by the depths of Tigerstar's betrayal. But one cat's enemy is another cat's hero, or at least the answer to some of their problems, and Tigerstar deserves respect for what he achieved as much as he deserves to be punished for his crimes.