(Spoilers for the Power of Three, Omen of the Stars, and possibly Sunset in The New Prophecy)

I know a lot of people hate Nightcloud, but for what? She did nothing to deserve all the hate she gets. Was the fact that she tried to make sure Crowfeather got his mind off of Leafpool to be loyal to his Clan bad? She just wanted to make sure her Clanmate didn't get himself into more trouble and wanted him to do some good for once. The other reason people hate her so much is because "she stole Crow from Leaf and broke them up".

Since when did Nightcloud force them apart? She was just in the background doing nothing for the whole time. Leafpool decided to leave Crowfeather while Nightcloud never did anything. If you want to blame someone for ending CrowXLeaf, blame Leafpool. She's the one who ended it all, not Night. Night just didn't do anything to stop them because she wasn't part of the relationship despite acting jealous so don't blame an innocent cat for ending that shipping and just go blame Leafpool. Nightcloud doesn't deserve the hate just for Leafpool's own choice.

Perhaps Nightcloud was jealous in the first place despite The Ultimate Guide stating that she resented him. I don't trust field guides that much since some of the information can be wrong/is mostly contradicted half the time. We only really see Nightcloud from Leafpool's side and we see her as some aggressive cat who acts affectionate to Crowfeather. Nightcloud may have always secretly loved Crowfeather and tried to make sure he was loyal to WindClan because she did care about him but refused to admit it. Nightcloud's just a complicated character.

Nightcloud didn't like Leafpool because she was Crowfeather's former mate, resulting in why she acted the way she did towards her. She knew Crowfeather "loved" Leafpool more and that she was just some last choice. It's not like she'd be like: "Hey Leafpool! Do you want to go hunting with me since I like you for being Crowfeather's love? Oh, and welcome to the competition". That would be pretty unrealistic and a bit odd. Perhaps Nightcloud only wanted to be loved and only be loved by Crowfeather but finding out he ran off with Leafpool would have absolutely angered her, giving a reason as to why she hates Leafpool. It's kind of like Ashfur except she doesn't go off killing everyone and decides to live with it. And then they break up and she'd be pretty happy.

"Nightcloud's older than Crowfeather". No one knows how old Nightcloud is since it's never been stated. She's never even been listed in the allegiances until Twilight so how does anyone know she could actually have been older than him? Maybe she had been born when Crowfeather was a kit, too. And I'll add in that Feathertail was a lot older than Crowfeather and a lot of people like her with Crow-Cinderheart is older than Lionblaze, but there's no problem with them together until it comes to Night and Crow (there's no proof that she's older than him though) and that's used. If Nightcloud is older than Crowfeather, then basically all the people who hate she-cats being older than the tom will actually hate the shippings they like that may have the she-cat older than the tom.

Nightcloud had to be the mother and father towards Breezepelt because Crowfeather never bothered to help. She was left all on her own and just dealt with it rather than falling to self-pity. I like her for that because she's a strong character and never gave up on raising and loving Breezepelt no matter how much bad he may have done. Nightcloud was noted to have had a bigger litter but those kits were never talked about again, presumably dead. This could be why she's overprotective over Breezepelt because she didn't want to lose him like she did with her other kits and Crowfeather. Nightcloud was always a lonely cat; no one ever liked her. Her Clan even doesn't seem that fond about her.

Nightcloud could have easily done something horrible to Crowfeather but the only thing she did was tell Breezepelt how badly he thought of him. She did try to get him to pay attention to Breezepelt but forced him into nothing he didn't want to.

"You should have more faith in our son, Crowfeather." - The Sight, page 293. She didn't scream at Crowfeather to have faith in Breezepelt; she just told him that he should, not had to. She didn't seem to want him to be forced into doing anything.

Nightcloud loved him and tried to accept it no matter how much it annoyed her and hurt Breezepelt. She could have easily left Crowfeather when finding out he already had a family in ThunderClan but stuck by his side even though he has hurt her in the past. She helped Crowfeather be loyal to his Clan even if he did use and abuse her. She was the only cat who did something to get his mind off Leafpool. Did any other cat do anything for him? No, they didn't. And I actually like Nightcloud for that because Crowfeather's a hard cat to like and she's stuck by him despite their past no matter how much he may hate her. Feathertail and Leafpool may have liked him, but they haven't done as much as Nightcloud has. Nightcloud hasn't made him suffer unlike the other two. Nightcloud obviously cares deeply for Crowfeather if she'd be willing to stay with him and help him with his problems. She's not as heartless as she's shown to be.

Nightcloud was partly responsible for Breezepelt's dark path since she never let him defend himself since she always defended him. She did tell him the truth about Crowfeather hating him; Crowfeather's hate for him was pretty obvious in the first place. Breezepelt may have believed that Crowfeather wasn't wanting to admit that he liked him, but Nightcloud may have actually pointed out that there was no way Crowfeather would like him but she'd always be there for him. Breezepelt was the only cat who liked her.

People tend to hate Nightcloud due to her personality traits: possessiveness and aggression. There are some cats who have her personality traits but are absolutely loved and pitied while Nightcloud gets all the hate and no love. She deserves more credit than she gets. Nightcloud's only possessive towards Crowfeather and Breezepelt; they're her only close family and the ones that don't seem to avoid her. She doesn't want to lose Crowfeather because she loves him; she doesn't want to lose Breezepelt because he's her only surviving kit and a mother is protective over her child, especially when the others died. Nightcloud's just like any normal mother by being protective. She's still protective now because Breezepelt's all she had left after the lie was revealed. Crowfeather clearly still loved Leafpool and not her. Nightcloud's more aggressive towards Leafpool over anything because she was once Crowfeather's mate, as I had talked about before.

We don't know who Nightcloud's parents are; we don't know how they treated her during her kithood. They could have been tough or harsh on her unlike any other mother. They could have hated and neglected her for all we know. Maybe that's why she's more protective of Breezepelt; she might not want him to suffer what she could have as a kit and wanted her son to be loved and not treated like dirt. Nightcloud's not the perfect mother since no one is, but at least she tried to make sure Breezepelt had one to bring him up. At least she didn't ignore him like Crowfeather and acted like he was the worst thing ever. Nightcloud's nothing like that; she's the opposite.

Yes, Nightcloud has a pretty bad attitude, but that makes her different. At least she's not one of those perfect she-cats and isn't nice like the majority of them. She gets hated for that while people like Squirrelflight, who did have a bad attitude but matured later on. The way Nightcloud could have been treated may have caused a big impact on her. We never see WindClan well enough to know how her Clanmates act towards her. All we know is that they're not keen on her and don't like her so maybe they talk behind her back or something and that's made her act meaner towards others besides Crowfeather and Breezepelt. But we've never seen Nightcloud properly until she became part of the CrowXLeafXNight triangle where the books portray her as a jerk, horrible and plain-out annoying. Her life's nowhere near perfect; that made her turn horrible towards cats since she most likely feels as though no one cares about her.

1. The love of her life left WindClan with the medicine cat of ThunderClan and was disgraced when he had to come back. He then used Nightcloud simply to reinstate his standing in his Clan and got her pregnant pretty much just when he came back. She then finds out that he still moons after Leafpool and had kits with her. This could make her feel like she's not good enough for him and made her upset about it. She could have thought that maybe one day Crowfeather would think differently of her.

2. Crowfeather has emotionally abused her and refused to be there for her when she needed him. He could have led her into thinking he might love her but when she finds out she feels completely horrible about herself and has nothing left but Breezepelt. Nightcloud still tries to love him even though it hurts her so much.

3. Her whole Clan seems to hate her by their actions towards her. We don't know for sure if they've been treating her like dirt or not, but that could be possible.

4. Her parents could have treated her coldly and/or ignored her. We know nothing about Nightcloud's family but Crow and Breeze, so there's another possibility that her parents hated her, leading her to believe even more that no one will ever like her at all. This could be why she's aggressive and horrible to others.

Recapping all of that, Nightcloud has her reasons of being the way she is. She's been compared to Blossomfall but she's nothing like her. She doesn't wail and complain that she doesn't get attention and just deals with everything that's happening. I'm not trying to imply that I hate Blossomfall because I do like her. Nightcloud actually has reasons on why she's jealous and everything else. I honestly like how Nightcloud doesn't complain about her problems like certain cats. She doesn't go: "Oh, Crowfeather doesn't love me! I want Leafpool to die and I want Crowfeather to die for using me! My Clan hates me so I want to plot against them! My son is the only thing that likes me, that's not fair, etc". She just deals with it and I like her for being strong about it and everything else.

Nightcloud's never done anything wrong in her life but fall in love with a cat who resented her. Even after everything, Nightcloud just won't stop loving Crowfeather even if he had hurt her so much. She actually truly loves him unlike any other cat, and not like Leafpool or Feathertail. That's just my opinion and I know a lot of people would disagree with me. But it's just an opinion.

I've honestly always felt so bad about Nightcloud after how much I realised she went through. She just wants to have a happy ending with Crowfeather and doesn't want to feel miserable. But she'll never get that for sure. She'd do anything to get Crowfeather away from Leafpool. She'd even drag him away by the scruff back to the camp if she literally wanted to.

I've even seen that Nightcloud "deserves to go to the Dark Forest". No, just no. Nightcloud's not evil; she's majorly misunderstood. Antpelt did nothing and didn't want to hurt anyone but he got sent there. I bet Leafpool will do something when they get to StarClan and force Nightcloud to go to the Dark Forest because she doesn't want Crowfeather near her. I'm not saying it'll be true or anything, but Leafpool is selfish and will most likely want Crowfeather for her own because she has to get everything she wants. And this is just my opinion.

Nightcloud has an ambition to keep Crowfeather and Leafpool apart just because she wants her happy ending with Crowfeather and her family even if it's full of hatred.

"Get away from her!" Nightcloud had crossed the ditch. She sank her claws into Crowfeather's pelt and dragged him away from Leafpool." - Night Whispers, page 203. Nightcloud couldn't stand seeing them near each other because of her hatred for Leafpool and her love for Crowfeather.

Leafpool's point of views portray Nightcloud as "stealing Crowfeather away and that affectionate she-cat who I'll hate, and everyone else should. I messed up and lost my special mate" while any other cats' portray her as a plain-out jerk just like her son and mate. She's not anything any cat claims she is. She may not be portrayed as misunderstood, but she is and always has been. And honestly, Crowfeather is at way more fault than her for Breezepelt. At least Nightcloud cared about him and acted motherly. Nightcloud's not one of my favourite cats, but she's close enough to being one of them.