MapleShade

Kit:Maplekit[6][7][note 1] Apprentice:Maplepaw[8][7][note 2] Warrior:Mapleshade[2] Queen:Mapleshade[2] Rogue:Mapleshade[3][4] Dark Forest resident:Mapleshade[3]

Current:The Place of No Stars[1] Past:ThunderClan[2] (exiled) Rogue[3][4]

Cause of death:Excessive blood loss caused by Perchpaw[5]

Former mate:Appledusk Daughter:Petalkit Sons:Larchkit, Patchkit

Mentor:Bloomheart[8] Dark Forest apprentices:Crookedstar,[9] Goosefeather,[10] Ivypool[11]

Mapleshade is a large,[15] tortoiseshell-and-white she-cat,[13] with a scarred[16] white muzzle,[17] white patches throughout her pelt,[18] and a white tail.[7] She is thick-furred,[19] and her pelt is ragged,[12] patched, and scarred.[20] Her fur is thick around her neck, like a mane,[21] and she has a broad muzzle[16] and face.[20] She has sharp white teeth[22] and amber eyes.[14]

The following is a chronological list of scars and/or major injuries that Mapleshade has gained: Scars and ragged fur occurred sometime during her time in the Dark Forest.

Mapleshade was a ThunderClan warrior that served under Oakstar's leadership in the forest territories and a Dark Forest member. She was apprenticed to Bloomheart and later became a warrior known as Mapleshade. She became mates with Appledusk, a warrior of RiverClan. Expecting his kits, Mapleshade gave birth to Larchkit, Petalkit and Patchkit, and the Clan assumed Birchface was their father. However, when her kits were picked up from the river by a RiverClan patrol, Ravenwing realized who their real father was after receiving an omen with three reeds floating in a small stream that appeared in his den. This led him to revealing the truth to the whole of ThunderClan. Oakstar banished Mapleshade, and her troubles became worse when her kits drowned in the river following her attempt to escape to RiverClan. Appledusk blamed Mapleshade for getting their kits drowned and turned Mapleshade away. Appledusk then chose Reedshine as his new mate, a fellow RiverClan cat who spoke up in Appledusk's defense to RiverClan. Darkstar denied Mapleshade a place in RiverClan, which fueled her anger even more.

She became obsessed with seeking vengeance for her kits' deaths, even hearing her kits' voices in her head, urging her to avenge them. Convinced this was her destiny, she achieved this by killing Ravenwing, Frecklewish, and Appledusk but not before being fatally wounded by Perchpaw, Appledusk's apprentice. She descended to the Dark Forest, and from there, Mapleshade continued to affect the lives of the living, such as attempting to ruin Crookedstar's life by making him give her a fateful promise, helping Tigerstar rise as ShadowClan's leader, and training Goosefeather. She fought in the Great Battle and attempted to kill Sandstorm, but instead killed Spottedleaf for protecting Sandstorm, where she was chased back to the Dark Forest. Seasons later, Mapleshade started working for Ashfur in the hopes of being able to live again. However, Mapleshade was forced to surrender after Ashfur

Mapleshade is one of the oldest members of the Place of No Stars and several of the senior members respect her word. She initially doubts Ivypool's loyalty to their cause, but grows to trust her. Mapleshade is still determined to settle scores from her past against the Clans and suggests killing kits in the final battle. During the Great Battle, Mapleshade attacks Sandstorm, jealous of everything she has, but Spottedleaf throws her off. Mapleshade kills her, and as Firestar mourns, Sandstorm chases Mapleshade away, and the Dark Forest she-cat disappears from battle.

Mapleshade was once a brave, compassionate and loyal warrior, kind to other cats and willing to fight any enemy she encountered. As a result, she was held in high esteem by her Clanmates. Mapleshade was ambitious and enjoyed their admiration. Despite this, when she became pregnant with the kits of Appledusk – a RiverClan warrior – Mapleshade did not appear remorseful, and was overconfident that ThunderClan would accept them even after learning about their half-Clan heritage. Mapleshade also strongly believed that StarClan would be okay with her RiverClan ties, and that they were guiding her. Mapleshade also intended to raise her litter to be equally loyal to both their parents' Clans.[26]

Initially, Mapleshade tried to keep her kits' RiverClan heritage a secret, planning on revealing her kits illegitimacy in due time. She misled her clanmates into thinking that Birchface was the father of her litter, firmly believing that StarClan were encouraging her to do so. However, when Ravenwing learned of the kits' true heritage and exposed it to ThunderClan, they were outraged. Mapleshade however, was blatantly unrepentant. Instead of expressing remorse, Mapleshade insisted that the Clan should respect her due to her status as a queen, and claimed that she had blessed ThunderClan with her kits. ThunderClan deemed Mapleshade's lies unacceptable, and banished her and her kits as punishment, leaving her heartbroken, angry and feeling betrayed. While trying to cross the river to RiverClan, a huge wave crashed on Mapleshade and her kits, and the kits fell in and drowned, despite her efforts to save them. Appledusk and Darkstar then rejected her too, denying her refugee status and time to mourn her kits. Now a rogue, these traumatic events left a huge mark on Mapleshade. She became cold, vicious, ruthless, manipulative and extremely vindictive,[23][5] her psyche distorting to the point of insanity.[27] Having lost everything she cared about, Mapleshade believed she had nothing left to live for, and that her only goal was to avenge the death of her kits.[5][24][23] She even turned her back on StarClan, whom she previously had great faith in, now deeming them weak for following the warrior code so strictly, and this combined with her egregious actions led to her residing in the Dark Forest upon dying.[5] Despite avenging the death of her kits, Mapleshade was dissatisfied and continued to try manipulate and influence living cats into undermining the warrior code from the Dark Forest,[1][20][10][11] fueled by the belief that the Clan cats had ruined her life.[28]

This list shows the victims Mapleshade has killed: Ravenwing[23] Frecklewish[24] (Indirectly caused) Appledusk[5] (Accidental) Spottedleaf[25] (Spirit)

Appledusk was once Mapleshade's mate, breaking the code to see her. At first, he loved Mapleshade, being relieved when she was unharmed after a battle at Sunningrocks, and proud to father her kits. He respected his mate's choice to raise them in their mother's Clan.[26] While separated for moons, Mapleshade poses as Birchface's mate without Appledusk's awareness, due to the fact that she needed a cover story for the safety of her kits. She remains silent when Birchface's sister plans to have the kits get revenge on Appledusk for their supposed father's death.[29] Later that night when his ThunderClan family was swept away in a flood, he risks his life to save them, though only his mate survives. He is shocked when Mapleshade admits they crossed purposefully, ultimately blaming her for their kits' deaths. He values his loyalty to RiverClan more than her, and refuses to support her when she asks for a place in RiverClan, stating that he never wanted to see her again.[8] For this, Mapleshade swore revenge on him, convinced he'd allowed the kits to die.[30] After a bit of time, Mapleshade spies Appledusk with his second mate, Reedshine. When she realised the ginger queen was in early pregnancy, Mapleshade angrily wonders when the kits were sired and how many lies Appledusk had told. [31] Despite this, he and Mapleshade still had complicated feelings afterwards. In their confrontation, Appledusk refused to fight his former mate, and Mapleshade attempted to kill the pregnant Reedshine in a twisted attempt to maintain ownership of Appledusk.[5]

Mapleshade loved her kits with all her heart, especially Patchkit, who she was the most attached to.[29] However, she was overconfident in her faith in StarClan, planning to reveal their half-Clan origins when the Clan had moved on from Birchface, firmly believing that both ThunderClan and RiverClan would accept them for who they were, despite their heritage. This extended to the kits themselves, as Mapleshade assumed they could be loyal to RiverClan and ThunderClan equally. To prove this point, she took her kits to the RiverClan border to swim and speak to Appledusk.[32] When this event gave Ravenwing evidence to unveil the secret prematurely, she initially remained optimistic for the sake of her kits; however, she and her kits were exiled from ThunderClan as traitors, due to their father's accidental paw in the murder of Birchface, Oakstar's son.[3] Mapleshade was both heartbroken and enraged by her Clanmates' reaction and vowed vengeance for their betrayal.[8] In her desperation to get her kits to safety, she attempted to bring them to RiverClan, only for them to be swept away in the river due to a huge wave crashing down on them. Mapleshade tried to rescue them, caring more for them than for her own life, but failed due to the strength of the current. When the RiverClan patrol attempted to save them, they were unsuccessful, and Mapleshade was devastated.[8]

After RiverClan then cast her out, Mapleshade went mad with grief, and had hallucinations of her dead kits crying out to avenge them. She killed three cats, one for each kit; Frecklewish, who watched her kits drown, and Ravenwing, who revealed her secret due to an omen from StarClan. For the third victim, Mapleshade had become delusional in her goal. She attempted to kill a pregnant Reedshine based on her own jealousy, rather than any connection to the kits' demise, to which Reedshine had none. Ironically, Mapleshade succeeds in her original plan by unexpectedly killing Appledusk, who couldn't save the kits, though she couldn't be satisfied knowing Reedshine's litter would live on. After succumbing to a fatal wound caused by Appledusk's apprentice, Mapleshade expected to be thanked by her kits in StarClan. Initially confused about being in the Dark Forest, Mapleshade quickly embraced it, as she could carry on targeting Appledusk's kin.

When seeking refuge with RiverClan, Reedshine stands up for Appledusk and states that she trusts him after his confession to Darkstar of his relationship with Mapleshade, and the two become mates.[8] This causes a hatred of Reedshine to manifest in Mapleshade, with the latter believing the former stole her mate. Mapleshade's vengeful nature leads to her going so far as to attempt to murder Reedshine and her unborn kits, in a twisted way of ensuring Appledusk was faithful to Mapleshade alone. However, Mapleshade instead accidentally kills Appledusk, amplifying Reedshine's mutual disdain towards the she-cat. The unresolved conflict between Mapleshade and Reedshine is part of what motivates the former to so devotedly work against the Clans from the Dark Forest.[5]