Name: Hollyleaf – Sunny's Spiel | Warriors Analysis | 10,000 Subscriber Special
Uploaded: 2024-02-18T15:29:35.000Z
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Adverbs of degree

I'll be honest, I wasn't really expecting to reach this milestone so soon.

Adverbs of manner

Sorry this video is coming a little later than I actually hit 10,000 subscribers; I

did make my preparations as early as possible but I evidently miscalculated when I would

I suppose now, though, this can be a bit of a holiday treat!

Thank you all, so much for helping me get this far.

As something of a celebration, I'm going to be talking about a particular character

that is at the center of much of my love for the series as a whole.

It's going to be a bit of a long one, because of how much I have to say about it, both in

I don't think it's a secret that I adore Hollyleaf.

She is my favorite character, not just in Warriors but across all media I've consumed,

and my feelings about her have only grown as I've had more years to think about her

in her canon portrayal, potential alternative routes for her journey to take, and more recently,

how to go about changing her character and story slightly for Paws of Stars to make her

Fair warning that this video will talk about the direction I think Hollyleaf's story

was going in, the points that could have changed, and my interpretation of her character, and

all of that will very much be spoilers for what has already been released for Paws of

If there was one thing that kept me unquestionably tied to and in love with the arcs I'm now

rewriting in the decade leading up to Paws of Stars, it would be Hollyleaf, in the stories

I saw for her, the lessons she taught me, and the impact she had on my life and view

Even when we first met her as a kit, Hollykit already had a strong personality.

She was a stickler for the rules and pretty ambitious as well, wanting to be a medicine

cat primarily because of how prominent and essential it would make her in the clan.

Yet she also got into play fights with her brothers against her better judgment and followed

them to find a fox cub, outside of camp, even when she knew it was explicitly going against

orders from the warriors and warrior code.

As an apprentice, she finds the job of a medicine cat to be much more difficult and herself

to be more squeamish than she had expected, but she doesn't immediately give up, even

as she finds little to no satisfaction or success in it.

Her brute force method continues until Brook intervenes and explains, using an anecdote

from the Tribe, that maybe she should follow her talents rather than work endlessly at

something she both isn't good at and that doesn't bring her joy.

She also reminds Hollypaw that respect and importance come from proving yourself as an

individual, not by holding an important position.

In canon, Hollypaw had also been exposed to fighting at this point and found it to be

both exhilarating and something that she was naturally gifted in, which further pushed

her into agreeing with Brook, but even in my version where she was trying to spend as

much time in the medicine den as she could and was still failing, the idea of a life

that might be easier and more fulfilling for her is enough to finally convince her to train

However, in my version, this also comes with the promise that she'll still make herself

important, as a warrior, an arbiter of the warrior code like she had been as a kit, and

maybe even a mentor, deputy, and leader one day.

Canon then sees her, the strictest code-follower we've seen yet, disobey the code and her

leader to sneak onto Riverclan territory, talk to her friend Willowpaw, and find out

From what we have seen so far, Hollypaw is someone who cares deeply about following the

warrior code, but often breaks it herself if she can find some justification to.

She wants to help others but finds fighting and critiquing others to be much easier.

And, while she goes on quite a lot about wanting to do good and just help her clan as much

as she can, what she consistently places value and passion in isn't selfless aid, but importance

She doesn't just want to help, she wants to succeed and be looked on favorably for

This isn't even something she wholly recognizes herself, which can lead to a lot of hypocritical

behavior, such as her continuously berating Lionpaw for meeting Heatherpaw when she did

something that is at least similar, though not identical, with Willowpaw herself.

Now, some would say, even with some level of accuracy if we're referring to the canon

material, that Hollypaw's portrayal so far has been and continues to be inconsistent,

and a marker of the Erins' inability to grasp who she was yet; Vicky has openly admitted

since that she only came to understand Hollyleaf around the time of Eclipe or Long Shadows,

which was far too late to build up any foreshadowing or grounding in a character arc that could

I wholly accept all of that, but it's also the very reason I was drawn to Hollypaw this

Whether by accident or on purpose, Hollypaw has a series of different motives, some known

to her and some not, that are causing her to act in contradictory ways, and that is

The way I see it, Hollyleaf's core motive is being recognized, respected, or loved,

and different influences in her life have taught her the ways in which that is achieved.

Ferncloud & Dustpelt, who I believe could have both been larger parts in her life since

Squirrelflight didn't spend as much time in the nursery, taught her that respect came

Squirrelflight, Brambleclaw, and even Firestar showed her that heroism is what gets you respect,

and they also gave her a nobel legacy to uphold, one she is choosing to take on rather than

But clan culture itself also influences her.

It tells her that some roles are simply more valued than others, like medicine cats and

deputies, and that your value as a cat is in what you can give your clan.

As a result of this, Hollypaw ends up with a lot of ambition.

She doesn't, at least yet, have a motive to be anything in particular other than important

(much like Brambleclaw, actually) but she locks on to being a medicine cat primarily

because it's the earliest way to make yourself different and important.

Failing that, she finds she likes fighting.

Well then she'll get as far as she can with fighting!

She'll be the best warrior now and, again, in my version, the arbiter of the code.

Rather than even necessarily wanting a position of power, like Brambleclaw, Hollypaw grasps

tightly to what is unique about herself, which is why Brook's talk spoke to her so deeply,

as it showed her a path to getting her recognized and loved.

Her time as a medicine cat and refusal to give up even when she wasn't getting anywhere

also demonstrated that she's very stubborn, something she probably picked up from both

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Hollyleaf – Sunny's Spiel | Warriors Analysis | 10,000 Subscriber Special

ultimately

potential

individual

recognize