Name: Toadstep – Sunny's Spiel | Warriors Analysis
Uploaded: 2024-02-18T15:17:55.000Z
Duration: 10 min 18 s
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This episode will deal with a fair bit more personal interpretation and headcanon than

Moreso than Thornclaw or even Hazeltail, Toadstep doesn't have much time in the canon series

to establish himself, and he isn't put in close proximity to the main characters or

But he has become one of my favorite and most dear characters over the past couple of years.

I will of course still base my explanation in all the canon material that exists, and

then explain the reasoning for expansion upon it.

Toadstep doesn't actually live for very long in the books.

While he and his sister Rosepetal were born in Outcast, the third book of Power of Three,

they weren't old enough to show any character until Eclipse, and they remained kits until

Then by the beginning of Omen of the Stars, they timeskipped all the way to becoming new

warriors, and after that single arc of being a minor character, he caught an illness in

Dovewing's Silence and passed away between that book and Bramblestar's Storm.

In such a short time, how could he have enough content to captivate me?

Well, much like Hazeltail or Thornclaw, my fascination with him began with his relationships.

She is a former horseplace cat and, after joining Thunderclan, stays as a permaqueen

and keeps her original name, making her rather distinct from most other possible mothers

I always believed that the relationships between Daisy and her kits would be quite diverse

and interesting, an idea that I followed through on when designing Berrynose, Hazeltail, and

Mousewhisker's individual journeys through the clan and how being Daisy's kits would

I wanted to apply similar logic to Toadstep and Rosepetal.

However, there are a couple of large differences between the two litters.

Berrynose, Mousewhisker, and Hazeltail were originally born as Berry, Mouse, and Hazel

in the Horseplace, and in fact returned to the barn for a short time when Berrykit's

They were enamored enough with clan life to convince Daisy to go back, with Brambleclaw

and Cloudtail's help, but it doesn't change the fact that their much closer to their outsider

heritage than Toadstep and Rosepetal were, and they faced a great deal more of the complaints

from clanmates as well as the other clans.

Now let me be clear that neither Smoky nor Spiderleg were good mates or parents.

Daisy has had awful luck with toms, especially if you add in Cloudtail and his behavior in

But Smoky and Spiderleg were bad fathers in different ways.

Smoky never cared about Daisy, in fact he actively chose Floss over her time and time

again and barely noticed when Daisy and her kits left.

Berrynose, Mousewhisker, and Hazeltail grew up almost entirely without a father.

Toadstep and Rosepetal, by contrast, did know their father, and in Toadstep's case lived

his whole life with his father in the same camp.

Spiderleg actively rebuked and ignored them, and even after Jayfeather and Leafpool tell

him to spend more time with his kits, we never see them getting any closer once Omen of the

Stars starts, after the timeskip that made Toadstep and Rosepetal warriors.

They, even more so than Daisy's first litter, would have Spiderleg's attitude and active

refusal to be in their lives held over their heads.

Toadstep shows himself as a kit to be adventurous and self-assured, but with an overprotective

mother on one side and a distant, disdainful father on the other, many of his attempts

I imagine this having a couple of different effects, with the first being distance from

Berrynose, Hazeltail, and Mousewhisker had already carved out their own paths in the

clan as new warriors by the time Toadstep was born, so he already had distance from

But his relationship with Rosepetal is more interesting.

As early as Eclipse, when they are both still very young kits, they show their differing

Where Toadkit is energetic and impulsive, Rosekit is thoughtful and sharp-tongued, scolding

her brother multiple times for his actions and comments.

Rosekit's behavior reminds me, and may well remind Toadkit, of Spiderleg himself, and

whether intentionally or not, I think it's telling that Rosekit seems to imitate her

distant father, even when that imitation doesn't result in any more affection.

Still, despite their differences, Toadkit and Rosekit are practically inseparable for

the whole of their kithood, enough that when Rosekit becomes sick and is taken to the Twoleg

den, Toadkit desperately calls out for her and wants her to come back.

However, once they become warriors in Omen of the Stars, things change.

We don't know what their apprenticeship was like under Squirrelflight and Cloudtail,

but perhaps the lack of friendship between their mentors and the variety of other apprentices

to play with made them grow more distant from each other.

Whatever the case, Toadstep only does one patrol with Rosepetal in each of the first

three books of the arc, and after that their lives never cross again.

There are even signs in Fading Echoes with Toadstep paying more attention to Ivypaw than

Rosepetal and in Night Whispers with Toadstep having to specifically reach out to Rosepetal

to even go on a single patrol with her that the gap between them is growing.

Toadstep is a consistently energetic and affectionate tom, but his sister's attitude, along with

the different paths in their lives, seem to have drawn them apart over time.

Maybe having someone around who reminds you of your awful father isn't the best experience.

But Spiderleg's place in Toadstep's life had another, very different, and much better

effect as far as I'm concerned: Lionblaze.

As a kit, Toadstep witnessed the battle of Eclipse, with all four clans fighting on Thunderclan

territory and inside camp, right in front of him in some cases, but it didn't phase

In fact, it excited him, seeing how strong and talented cats were.

Soon after, Toadkit asks Lionpaw to teach him some cool battle moves in case Windclan

invades again, and watches the golden tom's warrior ceremony.

For my personal needs, I combine the purposes of these two events by having Toadkit witness

*Lionpaw specifically* saving the nursery during the Eclipse battle, which is an early

jumpstart to his idolization of Lionblaze.

With Spiderleg missing from his life, a strong and protective tom who does care about Toadkit

is the best possible dream, especially given how cold Rosekit can sometimes be and how

little Daisy understands the danger or excitement of being a warrior.

It makes perfect sense that, by the time of Sign of the Moon, Toadstep is able to enthusiastically

admit that Lionblaze is his role-model for being such an incredible fighter, and that

he is so happy when he is able to team up with Lionblaze to save Bumblestripe from a

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Toadstep – Sunny's Spiel | Warriors Analysis

incredible

imitate

esteem

character