#Always consumed by his pride and terrible lack of self esteem. Everyone wants you to be better. But you keep messing up

[bonefall]

Did Brambleclaw actually disown the Three when the secret is revealed? I don't remember this happening (then again, it's been a while) but it does bug me how all three go "Poor brambleclaw :(( He was such a good dad to us and he has to learn we're not even his biokits :(((( poor guy" while simultaneously shitting on Leafpool and Squirrelflight despite them showing them more care and affection before AND after the reveal. If he does disown them, then.... WOW is the double standard real here.

In-canon? It's something you have to approximate. They don't seem to have a concept of ""disowning"" because blood relation is taken as such an insurmountable, FUNDAMENTAL fact of life. He doesn't write them out of his little kitty will and testament, but his actions ARE disowning.

It's as if the fact he is not their biological father is an automatic disowning. From the reveal onwards, he is immediately cold, distant, and the "betrayal" is mentioned often. The Three also explicitly don't blame him for his behavior, like it's just to be expected that he's Not Their Dad anymore.

Lionblaze in particular stares longingly at him several times, really missing him. And like... that's kinda what gets my goat so much

I do believe Brambleclaw is entitled to his feelings of betrayal. I believe Squilf was ultimately in the right to lie, actually, but he's still allowed to be upset and angry that she didn't trust him enough to tell him something so important. THAT SAID, YOU ARE NEVER ENTITLED TO TREAT OTHERS POORLY.

And that's what GETS me. He isn't upset that it was all revealed in such a painful and embarassing way when this could have been avoided, or that his lover struggled with this lie for so long without him, or that he feels he's lost his children. Squilf points it out in The Last Hope-- He's so ANGRY at Squilf that he will THROW HIS FAMILY AWAY

Lionblaze seems desperate to be his son again. Hollyleaf is gone for months, and Brambleclaw is still huffing about the secret when she comes back from the dead. Squilf is fawning in the hopes it makes him talk to her again. Doesn't matter. Brambleclaw Is Upsetti Spaghetti so the narrative will never examine his role in hurting this family he apparently loved so much.

(Narrative seems to understand full well that when Squilf lies for a good reason, that doesn't invalidate the hurt Brambleclaw felt... but when Brambleclaw is upset for a good reason, it actually DOES validate what he put her and his kids through)

In BB it is explicitly a disowning. He cuts them off as his children, and they reciprocate. BB!Lionblaze does so in a ball of fury, vowing that he has ONLY a mother.

#It does start getting.... ''better'' after oots. On the disowning front #Lion seems to be fixing his relationship with him #Which... actually is something I dislike tbh #Can we pls get canon acknowledgement of the Little Pogchamp scene where he lets Ash beat his son #And downplays this to holly #Pls #Idk i just feel lion makes a better mama's boy #Really close to squilf and then like... tries to get close to Leafp too but it just. Cant click. #In this very sad but also kind of validating way #Leafp isnt his mom... she didn't raise him. But shes still his aunt. She still loves him as ferociously as she always did #The reveal changed nothing about his family. In the end. #It truly was just a reveal. #(And then he stares angrily and also forlornly at bramble) #Bramblestar is honestly a very interesting character if you choose to take him at face value #And wade through the writer favoritism #I keep coming back to him man. #Such an incredibly mundane and honest type of terrible #Always consumed by his pride and terrible lack of self esteem. Everyone wants you to be better. But you keep messing up #Your honor. I hate him. I have a picture of him in my heart shaped locket. #I am putting him in an exhibit. I am blasting him with a hose.