Mothpool

Mothpool is the femslash ship between Mothwing and Leafpool from the Warriors fandom.

Canon
Leafpool and Mothwing were best friends since they were apprentices. They were both medicine cats, meaning they met frequently at half-moon meetings. Leafpool dies in Squirrelflight’s hope while Mothwing lives.

Midnight
Midnight is Mothwing’s first appearance in the series, and the book where the two first meet. Leafpaw goes with ThunderClan to the gathering. When it is Leopardstar’s time to speak, she announces two new RiverClan warriors, Hawkfrost and Mothwing. Leafpaw is surprised to hear a few disconcerting growls coming from the RiverClan cats, and Leopardstar angrily spits at them, then explains that Hawkfrost and Mothwing were the kit’s of a rogue named Sasha, who’s kitting had weakened her so much that she needed help taking care of them. She had considered joining RiverClan but decided to leave her kits with the clan and left. A flood of protest fills the clearing, and Graystipe looks questioningly at Mistyfoot who shrugs and tells him they were good warriors. Leopardstar defends them as well, comparing their situation to ShadowClan letting in rogues and Firestar being a former Kittypet. When Leafpaw first sees Mothwing, she describes her as “startlingly beautiful”.

Fanon
Mothpool is a popular ship, being the most popular femslash ship within the Warriors fandom. There are many pieces of fanart and animations centering around the ship, with some ship content getting millions of views on YouTube. It is the 10th most popular Warriors ship on AO3.

Most Mothpool shippers headcanon that Mothwing is lesbian and Leafpool is bisexual. A common occurrence in Mothpool fanfiction’s is where Leafpool runs away with Mothwing instead of Crowfeather. In many AUs Mothwing is trans and is the sire the three instead of Crowfeather, although it is equally common for Mothwing to adopt Leafpool and Crowfeather’s kits after they break up and raise them with Leafpool. In the latter AU Crowfeather is often portrayed negatively as abusive or just not the right fit for Leafpool, and Mothwing comforts her after they’re relationship doesn’t work out. Occasionally Crowfeather is paired with another cat alongside this ship, usually CrowSquirrel or HareCrow, and this relationship is often portrayed as healthier than LeafCrow. Often Crowfeather and Mothwing will both be dating Leafpool in a polygamous relationship, or for Crowfeather to be in a mono-poly relationship with Leafpool while Leafpool, Mothwing, Feathertail, Nightcloud and sometimes Cody and Sorreltail date eachother.

Mothpool shippers have gained some infamy however, due to a particular situation where a fan of the ship, the controversial content creator Draikinator, told someone to get hit by a train because they said they didn’t like Mothpool. Draikinator, who was very popular at this time, also hated Crowfeather and portrayed him as abusive, and they spread this dislike to other Mothpool shippers. Many fans disagreed with this portrayal of Crowfeather. This gave Mothpool shippers the reputation of being overly aggressive over their ship.

Fandom
FAN FICTION

ART

Trivia

 * When asked by a fan wether Leafpool and Mothwing were more than friends or just “besties”, Kate Cary replied that they were besties.