Purebreds - Ashfur

One kitty down, only one more and we're done with our first round or requested warriors, woot~ I'll likely launch a new request later once Mothwing's done too, so stay put.

Hello Ass,- oups, I meant Ashfur, of course~ UvO

He's... more or less himself, if I dare say so myself. Still shorthaired, still a blue spotted tabby, still an assho,- ah oups forgetting myself again - buuut, hello there, where did your "dark blue eyes" go? You know the drill by now; not realistic on a coloured coat! Yes he could be a one in a million mutation or whatever, but meh; not this time. So hazel, here we go. Also, he's an European Shorthair, which is a recurring thing in his family and not really much of a surprise. The curious scarring on his shoulder are from either of the badger attacks - hell if he got out of both those cases unscathed, I refuse to believe that. -.-

His genetics work, so long as we keep his parentage somewhat stable - and by that I mean submitting to the idea that Redtail and Brindleface are and were still a couple by the time Ash and Fern were created~ <3 (Which kinda makes sense seeing as Brindleface was already in the nursery again when Redtail was murdered) A father like Whitestorm (which I will never in any universe support because NO) would screw his looks over with white as we all know. 
So he gets his colouring from either parent - black diluted into blue/grey - and the spots... well, there are genes which "break" up tabby patterns so he got those from somewhere, I haven't decided yet. ^^'

Now, onto my... personal feelings about this character. I warn you, Ashfur lovers; brace yourselves or turn away. This is a warning, so don't come blaming me if you feel inclined towards ill feelings upon reading my opinions here. 

I hate him. I despise him. I looooathe the character that is Ashfur. 
Why? Because he is, among even the evil/bad characters in the books, one of the absolute worst. He has NO redeemable features, nothing to commend him, and the Erins passed off the severity that was his story as almost a joke. 
I liked Ashpaw, adored Ashpaw even - the kind, supportive brother to both a blood sister and a foster brother, and his character in general. What happened?
Erin drama, that's what. 
We shall study his character, and his development, a little bit closer. At first, Ashfur was the kind, wallflower-boy in Firestar's Quest who just "hi Brambleclaw you new warrior you I am totally going to be your friend" and was just going back and forth between being nice. 
He's more or less the same for the first books in the second series too. Nice, but oh-so boring. He's just another cat in the "background cast." 
It's in Dawn we start to see "affectionate Ashfur" - who's pushing his face up in Squirrelpaw's and purring like that wasn't kind of awkward in the least. But hey, that's okay, he was geniunely glad to see friends returning. It's only after the infamous first quarrel of Squirrel and Bramble that he gets more... aggressive, with affection. 
He's pushy. Overprotective. Extremely possessive. Practically ignoring that 'his damsel' isn't even a fucking damsel (and the feminist in me really ignited at that), and trying to answer 'help I had a falling out with my friend/crush and need emotional support' with undying love - he doesn't read Squirrel at all, only SUPPOSES that is what she's after. And getting even more protective. Frankly, he doesn't care. In the least. There's only 'her', not 'real her'. 
Then comes the crash, with Squirrel's rejection, and POOF we have a 180 and suddenly all we think about Ashfur is "who is this crappy guy?" At first, he's the desperate sort "we're totally meant to be why??" Then he gets darker, snappier, and tries to blacken his rival's name - because Brambleclaw is obviously to blame for his dad's murders, duh~ (This from the same guy who some books earlier states the opposite, well sh*t) And as topping to the muffin, he plots with his rival's half-brother leading to the murder of Firestar (who loses a life), because rejection equals revenge and "loving too much" is obviously dangerous business...
Then he spends a year planning his revenge inbetween sulking and glowering and punching Lionblaze now and then.
The rest is history. 

What I'm left with, is this - I hate Ashfur even more. Know why? Because, if you look at the second series, and see how his character spirals downwards into becoming a maniac, you realise something; he was crazy from the very beginning. What you see here, is the story of a sociopath. He's kind and ever-supportive at first - once his target, Squirrel, starts spending time with him, his extreme possessiveness starts to show. THEN - when she rejects his advances, the true character emerges; this evil, manipulating bastard who is more than ready to do everything necessary to either get what is 'his', or destroy it. The "nice Ashfur" is a scam, it doesn't exist. And that he spent so long between initially being hurt to executing his revenge shows that he is cold-blooded to the core. He could've done a lot of shit already - instead he waited until the worst possible moment, in order to hit as hard as possible. Again, pure cruelty, and a wicked show of madness. 

I know that deducing stuff like this from Erin writing isn't the easiest, partly because shitty authors can only do so well, but these are still the thoughts that wake in my head whenever I debate on the Ashfur issue - because he is an issue in the books. 

"He loved too much" - and with those few words, these shitty authors excuse a murderer, a psychopath, a cruel sadist, from ALL OF HIS CRIMES. How can you expect me to react differently? Is this how you see justice, Erins? Or was this fanservice? Either is just as bad, that's plain enough. And WHY is it that so many fans actually AGREE? 

Don't answer that question - it can never be answered in a way that leaves me satisfied in any possible way. I have tried - several people have tried - and I'm still lost. 

Holy shit however this got long... sorry 'bout that, just... go back to enjoying my drawing, that would... ahem, yeah. 

(c) Dearly disliked Erin Hunter
Art: Me

EDIT: Watermarked because I am goddamn tired of finding these all over the internet without so much as a puny link back to me.