The Love Triangle
Conludes
Many avid fans, especially those shippers, followed the love triangle between Ashfur, Brambleclaw, and Squirrelflight carefully in The New Prophecy. All three were important characters; and one may be an even more important character in The Power Of Three. Many fans were not satisfied with the conclusion of the story, while others where. Some love BramblexSquirrel, and some detest it. The same is true with AshxSquirrel. And we won't get into BramblexAsh; because that's fairly irrelevant.
What was the conclusion? Brambleclaw and Squirrelflight got their perfect ending. Squirrelflight was right all along--Hawkfrost was evil. Even though Brambleclaw hesitated when faced with the decision to murder Firestar or save him, he still became deputy. The descendants of Tigerstar and Firestar; the two greatest cats in the forest, have kits who star in The Power Of Three. Everything works out wonderfully for them.
Ashfur receives just the opposite. Squirrelflight toys with him then leaves him for Brambleclaw. He is now alone; with no foreseeable mate in the future. A cat who was nothing but loyal and kind to his Clan, as well as Squirrelflight and Brambleclaw, is now hated by some fans because he "gets in the way" of SquirrelxBramble, and is "mean to them".
The thing that irks this fan the very most, is that Erin Hunter could still not make her PERFECT character the slight bit nasty. Squirrelflight is absolutely perfect. Her obnoxiousness is turned into charming humor and feistiness within the books. But the Erins have confirmed that Squirrelflight was not using Ashfur to get back with Brambleclaw. Instead, we're given the explanation that "she wasn't sure of her feelings". She just feels awful that Ashfur is now hurt because of her. I'm sure Ashfur feels a bit worse. Why couldn't she just be a bit imperfect? Firestar's daughter can't have a mean streak? For me, it makes her character much less.
The sad part of this is that half of the fandom accuses Ashfur of being the one in the wrong here. Because many people like BramblexSquirrel better, they accuse Ashfur of getting in the way of their favorite pairing. A common argument is that "Brambleclaw and Squirrelflight are perfect for each other!" How so? Through the entire series, Brambleclaw and Squirrelflight are endlessly bickering, which turns into huge arguments in the end of The New Prophecy, including ignoring each other, intentionally trying to hurt each other, and use of poor Ashfur. Meanwhile, Ashfur is very kind to both Squirrelflight and Brambleclaw, and (before he is used) never waves being with Squirrelflight in front of Brambleclaw's face. He defends Squirrelflight against Brambleclaw's accusations and his support is unwavering.
Many fans think that Ashfur is the alleged "traitor" in The New Prophecy, because he was upset over Squirrelflight treating his feelings like they didn't exist. We don't yet know who the traitor is, but I would be very disappointed if it was Ashfur. This would only contribute again to Squirrelflight and Brambleclaw being perfect; while Ashfur looses it all.
The conclusion to the best-known love triangle in The New Prophecy was met with mixed opinions. Some loved it, and some did not.