***WARNING: Slight spoilers for Omen of the Stars, Crookedstar's Promise, and major spoilers for Bluestar's Prophecy***

Thistleclaw, probably a commonly hated character due to the fact he was accused of being evil. But was he really as evil as he's thought to have been?

So Thistleclaw is supposedly evil and a cat who only wanted to spill blood. Well, did you even ever think that maybe he wasn't as evil as Bluestar accused him of being? Thistleclaw always wanted to be loyal to his Clan; he wanted to fight to protect his Clan and would have been willing to die during the process. That's something a warrior who means their loyalty does.

Thistleclaw's whole, "You're in my sight so let's fight!" was encouraged by Adderfang, his mentor, who taught him that backing off from a fight showed cats you were a coward. Thistleclaw and Bluestar were known to be rivals but Thistleclaw didn't show such rivalry towards any other cat. Sure, he's arrogant, but so are other warriors. All Thistleclaw ever wanted to be was loyal to his Clan and protect it with his life.

The fact he wanted to mark borders with his enemy's blood was because he was willing to protect and defend his Clan a lot, not because he was evil.

Thistleclaw, as you may think, was probably thought of being emotionless and caring only for himself, but he showed signs of caring for cats who got close to him. When his littermate, Sweetpaw died, he offered to bury her, which must have meant he cared for his sister. If he didn't, he'd have never offered. He also clearly showed he loved Snowfur and cared about his own kit.

From the moment he was a kit, Bluestar decided she'd hate him automatically just because he was arrogant. Thistleclaw only ever tried getting Bluestar to like him, which she failed to do because she immediately thought he was "evil" without getting to know him well enough. All she ever did was judge him harshly without even knowing him unlike Snowfur, who always defended him.

When Snowfur was killed by being hit by a monster, with Bluestar the only cat to have witnessed it, Thistleclaw blamed her for Snowfur's death. Wouldn't you if that cat were to have seen the cat who understood you out of any cat and cared about you the most die? That's how Thistleclaw would have reacted, building up an actual hatred. He wasn't emotionless at all; he showed depression and let his anger out on any cat, which we know Tigerpaw had to suffer from Thistleclaw's pain. Snowfur was the only cat who cared for him, understood him and accepted him for who he was.

As shown in Crookedstar's Promise, he was in the Dark Forest and wanted to train to be a better fighter. His depression would have gotten him lured into the Dark Forest. If you think that's a disloyal thing, then you're practically calling Ivypool and Crookedstar disloyal cats. Were they disloyal? No, they showed loyalty, and Thistleclaw did, too--more than most cats in the series could have.

Towards Whitekit, his son, Thistleclaw wanted him to grow into a fine, loyal warrior, in which he did in the end. His true intentions for his son was for him to be a great warrior to ThunderClan, not to be what Tigerstar turned out to be. Thistleclaw was actually caring towards his son, which was rare for him to be after Snowfur's death since he was shown to be depressed about it and angrier than he had been, and possibly more rough on any cat who tried to speak to him. The fact he made sure Bluefur never went near Whitekit was because he believed that Bluefur would make him hate him for life and never want to know him (Bluefur was pretty depressed about Snowfur's death then).

Towards Tigerpaw, he could have been a bit less soft since he wanted his apprentice to pay attention to his training, not stray off it. Because Tigerpaw was shown to be powerful and ambitious, Thistleclaw knew that Tigerpaw would be able to stand stronger moves other apprentices wouldn't have been taught, which Bluestar thought was supposedly really rough.

Talking about Tigerpaw, people blame Thistleclaw for Tigerpaw being evil. Even if Thistleclaw had never mentored him, Tigerpaw would have ended up the same since he was clearly rather ambitious and was ready to spill blood in an instant. Thistleclaw only taught Tigerpaw to the point he'd be able to handle, which to his apprentices' strengths, would be better than the other apprentices in the Clan.

The fact Thistleclaw's only answer was to fight was mainly because he was provoked at first and that his mentor had taught him backing from a fight wasn't good. He didn't pick it up himself. Perhaps Silverhawk, who trained him in the Dark Forest, taunted him about being a coward and could have made him think that fighting was a good thing.

Thistleclaw was never disloyal. He had never broken the warrior code and was still thought of being evil by Bluestar when he clearly wasn't. He had never broken the warrior code when Bluestar did. In fact, he was more loyal than her himself. To the Scourge situation, Thistleclaw didn't specifically ask for Tigerpaw to almost kill him, let alone attack; he stuck by the warrior code and intended for Tiny to get shown out, not almost killed. It's not even Thistleclaw's fault Tigerstar's evil; it's Tigerstar's choices that made himself evil.

The Thistleclaw with blood vision could have meant anything. Goosefeather was mentally unstable himself, as the Clan admitted. Most prophecies and visions have meant something else entirely different than what was seen/heard. How could anyone know that it was nothing to do with Thistleclaw being evil? It could have meant something to do with protecting his Clan or even his own death since he died in a pool of blood.

Thistleclaw was clearly good if he was let into StarClan before Bluestar joined. He would have been happy to be reunited with Snowfur and the rest of his kin, knowing he would no longer feel depressed and alone. But when Bluestar came she had to ruin it for him by "chasing" him out of StarClan. How'd you feel if one cat who looked down at you and judged you throughout your whole life forced you to be lonely again, never seeing the cats you cared about?

Thistleclaw would have felt angry yet sad about being separated from the ones he loved. To be honest, he's the softest cat in the Dark Forest. He never actually killed a cat except from Antpelt when he would have had to do it otherwise he'd most likely get killed himself. He never actually killed a cat in the Great Battle either. Thistleclaw didn't do anything bad to earn a place in the Dark Forest. He had to most likely force himself to show the other Dark Forest cats he was on their side otherwise he'd have to suffer from the consequences.

Overall, Thistleclaw is simply a misunderstood character and shouldn't have been sent to the Dark Forest just because Bluestar couldn't stand him. This is all my opinion so don't bash on me for stating it. I actually think Thistleclaw has shown more loyalty than the majority of most cats. His true intentions were to just be a loyal, dedicated warrior, which he actually was in the end.