Very very minor Crowfeather's Trial spoilers.

Heathertail is one of my favourite Warriors characters. But lately, I've been noticing she gets a lot of hate. And that's been confusing me because she hasn't done anything to deserve such a large amount of hate. Sure, it's fine to dislike a character. But why does Heathertail receive such an immense amount of unjustified hate? Let's be real, it's utterly unjustified.

"She was angry and annoying after Lionpaw broke up with her!" You mean she was a teenager upset because her boyfriend broke up with her? Wow! It's almost like she experienced normal human emotions. You're telling me if the person you were dating suddenly broke up with you over something they hadn't previously cared about that you wouldn't be upset and angry? Funny thing I've noticed in this fandom - we get mad at characters for experiencing certain emotions because those emotions are irrational. That's normal. Literally, everyone is illogical sometimes. But what's even more interesting about this whole "Heathertail was angry Lionblaze and it was so annoying!" is people hate her for being angry at him later on in the series for a few scenes where she wanted nothing to do with him after he almost murdered her mentor for no reason at all. She didn't want him anywhere near her and told him to back off. How on earth is that a bad thing? If my ex tried to steal medicine from my family and I had to stop them from murdering someone I cared about I'd want them to stay away from me too.

"She betrayed Lionblaze and told her Clan about the tunnels!" This was never confirmed and has actually been disproven in Crowfeather's Trial when Crowfeather had no idea Heathertail used the tunnels as an apprentice until she told him. But of course, we didn't know this until recently. That being said there was no proof that she told her Clan except her word against Lionblaze's. She said it was Sedgekit, which sounds pretty likely to me. A kit bragging about their big adventure? That's not so unbelievable, is it? And of course, it could easily have been Breezepelt as well because he knew about the tunnels and how far they stretched as well. It's funny because people also dislike her for being disloyal to her Clan by being in a forbidden relationship (except literally most of the characters have done that so far) while still condemning her for actually being loyal and telling her Clan about something that could give them a huge advantage. (Though we know she didn't actually tell her Clan.)

Why do so many people really hate her for no real reason? Is it misogyny? I don't want to be fake woke or anything or overanalyze anything but it's pretty common knowledge that this fandom and the books themselves have some sexism issues. With female characters getting punished while male characters get off scot-free (looking at you, Crowfeather and Leafpool) and with female characters getting hated on and judged for things male characters can get away with, it's worth applying the knowledge that sexism is an issue in the fandom to this case. Think about it: Heathertail gets hated on for being in a forbidden relationship. Lionblaze doesn't. They were in the same fucking relationship. Graystripe's forbidden relationship is described as "cute." Heathertail gets hate for being angry at Lionblaze for breaking up with her. Lionblaze doesn't get hate for being angry at her over their relationship when he was the one who broke up with her. She gets huge amounts of hate for the horrendous crime of being annoying while people just ignore the fact that Lionblaze had violent intrusive thoughts towards killing Heathertail when he was the one who broke up with her. And don't get me wrong, he didn't want those thoughts. But he still acted on them, which is so wrong. Cool motive, still attempted murder. (I mean, take an extreme example. Jeffree Dahmer. The man believed he was a monster. Hated his sexual fantasies that he couldn't control. He still acted on them and what he did was incredibly wrong.) She gets hate for her emotions after breaking up with Lionblaze because she was angry and upset. No one says anything about how Lionblaze went out and attacked a badger in order to get hurt to show Cinderheart he wasn't too special for her. In other words, he couldn't handle his crush's rejection so he self-harmed to prove a point or manipulate her into being with him. When you think about it, that's gross.

What I'm saying is that Heathertail gets blamed for things other characters get away with and especially with Lionblaze who has done a number of very creepy things, yet she's the villain? Is it misogyny? Maybe. Clear character bias? Absolutely.

Heathertail is such a great character. She doesn't play the most major role but she's just? God, I love her. In my own personal opinion, she's so damn likable. I just love her personality. Friendly reminder that despite Lionblaze attempting to murder her mentor while visualising murdering her and her being terrified out of her mind, she still gave him the catmint he stole from her Clan so that no one in ThunderClan would suffer.
She stood up for Breezepelt when others didn't for something he was being unfairly blamed for and treated like shit by his Clan. (He did awful things but WindClan was so harsh in Crowfeather's Trial.)
When she realised Sedgekit, Thistlekit and Swallowkit were missing she instantly went back to the tunnels without thinking of the consequences for her if she was found out.
Heathertail didn't hesitant to volunteer to put herself in dangerous situations to try and find Nightcloud multiple times in Crowfeather's Trial. 

But she comes down to a product of her romantic interests. Heathertail is so underappreciated and faces a weird amount of hate for doing so little. It's so unjustified. In fact, I'm ready to throw half this fandom into "we're a bunch of assholes jail" for their crimes. If you don't like her personality, that's fine! If you think her getting with Breezepelt is problematic, that's fine too. But acting like she's the scum of the earth for pretty minor things is gross and I won't stand for this Heathertail hate any longer!