Disclaimer- I do not own Warriors, but I'm sure Erin Hunter would be pleased to own Warriors, even though she already does.

So many evil cats have amazingly sad pasts. Scourge, teased for being the runt of the litter, turned into a bloodthirsty cat, a "murdering psychopath with reinforced claws". Brokenstar, born to an illegal mating of a medicine cat and his leader, became cruel and forced kits under six moons old to become apprentices. Tigerstar, born so weak he could barely move, let alone suckle, killed so many cats. Without Tigerstar, many stars in the night sky wouldn't have been there until a while. Hawkfrost, born outside the warrior code and the clans, attempted to murder both his half-brother and the ThunderClan leader, following his father's pawsteps. Mapleshade, wanting revenge for that very moment Shellheart's grandfather ditched her for a RiverClan she-cat, breaking his promise. But there's one cat, with an excuse...

Darkstripe.

What would his excuse be? Does he count as an evil cat, or is he just... misunderstood and looking at Tigerstar as a role model? Yes? No? Maybe?

Let's take a look at the others:

Scourge. While he is very evil and bloodthirsty, he has "the saddest past to go with his murdering." Scourge just held a strong impression, making him seem to be evil. This is arguable too, as Scourge, did murder in his time, yet, Scourge had a much more heart-breaking past than mainly any cat in the series. I know that Scourge cannot really be excused for his evil actions, nor can any of the cats, just for having a hard past. Yes, I strongly agree that Scourge was dark and evil. He also, in my opinion, had the strongest pain in his history to have turned him into a villain.

Brokenstar was born an outcast by the rest of his litter. He didn't know who his mother was, and usually was picked on because, the clan assumed that his father and mother were both born rogues or kittypets. Brokenstar grew up, desperate to prove himself, and gained an ambitious personality through heartbreak and being bullied by other clan mates.

The same sort of thing happened for Tigerstar and Hawkfrost, except they were slightly different. Tigerstar was considered to weak. If he hadn't lived, maybe none of the misfortunate cats who were killed by him would have died. (Read "You Have A Killer's Mind to see all crimes). And yes, Tigerstar was the classic, easily identifiable villain of the series. He was the most ambitious and probably the most evil leader ever, yet, he had a rough past too, yet- the crimes he committed shouldn't be excused just because of it. Hawkfrost was born half-ShadowClan and half-rogue. He had to "fight twice as hard, catch twice as much fish, and prove his loyalty over and over again."

Now, Darkstripe. Should he really be there? His past was fine. Should Darkstripe be in the Dark Forest at all? You decide.

Now, I was dead serious when I said, "You decide." If you have an answer, review and tell me why. Bye!