by Arcaii » Tue Apr 28, 2015 6:48 am
Honestly, if I was to write the series over, I wouldn't eradicate StarClan completely. Rather, I'd involve them more in folklore.
This is going to get long, pardon me.
One of the biggest issues with the series is the lack of mythology and folklore. Ignoring the second series onwards, these cats are not magically endowed with all the knowledge of the afterlife. All they have is the faith that one day, they will reach heaven if they've been a good cat. The Hunters don't go nearly where they should with this - the fact that StarClan is so certainly real makes every cat who doesn't believe both an idiot and an unnecessary addition to the story.
Imagine, if you will, a group of cats that don't know at all what's going to happen when they die. The fear of nothing after death (especially no reward for a good life) affects everyone, even animals. To comfort themselves, they promise each other that there is a good place waiting for them to reward them for enduring so many hardships. Over time, the story evolves into a big Clan in the stars, with cats from all Clans converging together in peace and harmony, and the mysterious silver path in the sky being the road that takes the newly dead there.
There was a post on Ailuronymy that discussed the possibility of cats fearing their disappearance after they die, and so they tell stories about themselves and each other to ensure that they will continue to exist, even in the heavens, and not fade away into simply another star in the sky. I bring this up because of the potential for a nonbeliever's conflict - if a cat stalwartly refuses to believe in the heavens, their Clanmates might fear for their soul, and try to encourage them to share stories about themselves, because a cat who does nothing notable will fade away forever, and to live an average, unimportant life while not believing is essentially willing yourself out of existence.
On the other hand, perhaps they could view StarClan more like Valhalla, where only the most notably brave and clever cats will go. There are many cats there from before the two-part naming system - the Clan founders, folk heroes, inventors of important medicine, etc. In order to be a part of StarClan, you have to do something to earn it, whether it's dying in a fire to save a kit, defeating a wild dog by yourself, coming up with an excellent battle tactic, or preforming an impossible feat (or at least making it look like you did). Debates rage over whether this action needs to be for the Clan or simply a notable and impressive act.
If this sort of heaven is the case, there are no doubt dozens of historical figures turned into mythological beings. Perhaps a molly who once made a friend of a fox is now the matron of animal alliances who could speak every animal's language and has birds to serve as her eyes on the physical plane. A huge, battle-ready tom who hungered for power would become a monstrous beast who tore up the earth with his badger-like claws and could kill three cats with a single swipe. Maybe a young, fairly pragmatic but good-natured ginger tom who started life as a kittypet and eventually became leader of ThunderClan is eventually said to have fire in his fur and a heart of goodness so strong that anything with a shred of evil in it could not touch him, or else be burned.
The possibilities are absolutely endless, honestly. And we ended up with pretentious ghosts.
tl;dr: Hunter could have done better with the mythology of the Clans and I have way too many ideas.
