hermit the frog || spottedleaf & thistleclaw pmv (warrior cats)

song is hermit the frog by Marina & the Diamonds

so the story here is kinda split in 3 stages:

1. right after spottedleaf’s heart; spotted and thistle are tense around each other after spottedleaf gets away from him. spottedleaf seeks protection in her med cat duties and in starclan, but she still feels haunted by the cat she sees every day. still she doesnt know why he makes her so viscerally uncomfortable

2. flashback!! spottedpaw has fully caught thistleclaw’s attention, and she doesn’t know any better

3. spottedleaf, older now, has realized the situation she was in and feels angry at herself, thistleclaw, and even starclan for what happened. looking back, she feels helpless because no one would’ve suspected thistle to be a gr**mer—cats like bluefur knew he was a bad guy, sure, but not a predator. no one recognised it, but now spottedleaf does, and she recognises it when firepaw shows up

PS spottedleaf deserved better from the authors :-( she was a very interesting character in the books but didn’t get much focus other than being the “pretty girl love interest”

Characters:
Bluefur
Spottedleaf/paw/kit
Thistleclaw
Random starclan cats
Tigerpaw
Tiny

[Mothcat.]

YES I WANTED THE FACT THAT SHE TURNED FIREPAW BROUGHT UP!! I think her being in a position of power over Firepaw like Thistleclaw was with her made her almost fearful of her turning into him and realizing the trauma she went through.

I hate the people who completely brush it under the rug. I know if Spottedleaf brought up what happened to Bluestar Bluestar would have went right to the dark forest and murdered Thistleclaw on the spot

[annemeownie]

I love this. The way she frowns as an adult when she realizes she was in a position that reminded her of when she was an apprentice really hits hard

I used to love mah boi Thistle, but istg that book just ruined him and I couldn’t see him the same way again 😭💔

[BlueTalesWcue]

omg yes! the contrast between thistleclaw and spottedpaw to spottedleaf and firepaw. the way thistleclaw treated her, she thought it was okay to be attracted to firepaw.

[dreamfletcher]

I love this.

The way this narrative was handled in the books was fucking atrocious, but the fandom is honestly why I even care about these (tbf? shoddy, disorganized, half-baked) cat books still and engage with the material. The fandom collectively is something the Erin team could never be, and this piece exemplifies that.

I can't blame people who choose to reject Spottedleaf's Heart as canon but I always love portrayal of the story and its subject matter like you did here.

[fireworksforme]

Criminally underrated, the art is amazing and this is finally a take on spottedleaf’s character that ISNT JUST “pretty girl!”

[SharkyPopTart]

I absolutely love the portrayal of Thistleclaw and Spottedleaf here, as you can actually see Spottedleaf's guilt over something that wasn't her fault. And the cycle continues when Rusty joins the clan, but I've always liked Spottedleaf and I like how here you show her guilt over having feelings for Rusty.

[puppydogs]

Omg, FINALLY someone draws the connection between SpottedThistle and SpottedFire…I can’t understand how people hate SpottedThistle so much but like SpottedFire. They’re both HORRIBLE and have a huge p*do age gap. The Thistleclaw situation is obvious and Spottedleaf liking Firestar is like teacher x student. Maybe Spottedleaf, having been gr00m3d at a young age, thought it was okay to do the same thing on a lesser scale to Firestar.

Either way Sandstorm and Snowfur are rolling in their graves rn lol 😂

[glamourrock]

Woahhh that ending! Honestly, I think Spottedleaf's heart had th potential to explore such a dark topic in a meaningful way, but from what I hear it was the wring audience in the wrong way. This pmv is super good, looking into what happened to Spottedl3af and still portraying it as bad

[cosmichail]

OOOO THIS IS SO UNDERRATED!! What a lovey PMV exploring her character! I genuinely wish her character was explored like this in the books :')

[me-sgog]

spotted looking uncomfortable near firepaw at the end, , im crying, , ,
amazing job by the way!! your take on spottedleaf's heart is so unique!

[goosebackes]

Wow. I wasnt expecting the last frame and its actually super thought provoking

[Gendernt-Mc-Silly]

This is actually such a beautiful animation, and shows how tragic the story is

[Ghstface_animates]

This actually shows how awful age gap relationships are in real life aswell as warrior cats as we see a lot of apps falling for warriors spotted paw/leaf with thistle claw, Fire paw/heart/star with spotted leaf, Cinder paw/pelt with fire heart/star, fern paw with dust pelt, moon kit/paw/flower with storm fur, Bristle paw/frost with stem leaf and etc. it shows how terrifying and fucked up warrior cats can be when it comes to some parings that I mention and although some didn’t get with those warriors it was still scary and it’s a huge problem in our society today and I think it should be discussed with the government and taken to court if things get out of hand

[elitekitkat]

Good video, I like your designs, the song fits them, and I agree that Spottedleaf could've been more but female characters aren't allowed such things in warrior cats.

[Haihappn]

i'm so in love with this pixel art

[amycontreras]

I love this so much! I clicked because your designs and art style caught my attention, I love your use of pixel art! And your designs are so good!! Also great song choice, absolutely fits the situation. I really appreciate how you used it to help show that Spotted was hurt and ANGRY at what happened, as realistically that's what often happens in that type on ab*se (censored in case YouTube acts up)
And how even though she got away from stinky Thistle, he's still there. And she's still haunted by flashbacks and it gets worse at the end when little Firepaw rolls in..
This is how I feel like SpottedLeaf's ordeal with her trauma from ThistleClaw should have been portrayed!! The books did a terrible job augh. Thank you so much for putting this out, it's awesome! 💜

[kaysrandomchannel]

Poor Spottedleaf. Thistleclaw sure as heck deserved to go to cat-hell.

[Cat-therian-tz]

I came from another vid where it was Palethorn molesting a grey she-cat kit who wasnt even an apprentince yet who just wanted to learn how to be a med.. Spottedleaf did not die just for history to reapet itself..💔 Im FR crying rn

[muffinsaur.]

i like the parallel(?) between spottedpaw and firepaw, i don't really have anything major to say about the book since i havent read it i just like how they're being compared

[maplefoxxo]

This is so good ugh ive rewatched this two times and AGHH i loce this style!! You make such good videos??! So quickly too wow bruh