In Dark River when the other clans want to drive RiverClan out, the loudest protesters are Firestar and Sandstorm. Although at first, it seems like them acting normal, they're actually remembering what happened to SkyClan and they don't want RiverClan to become forgotten like SkyClan. — Lightflame
In The New Prophecy, it makes no sense that StarClan sent a group of cats to find out about the impending destruction of the forest when they could have just told them. Then, when thinking about what the series would have been like without said seemingly pointless journey, I realized it did have a point. All the clans needed to unite to find a new home, and StarClan sent out cats who would learn to trust each other on the journey so that when they came home, they could unite the clans together without fighting! A much better solution than simply telling them to unite. —Lightflame
Plus, it also paved the way to their new home; they would have had a tougher time finding their new home if the sent cats hadn't gone to sun drown place first and then acted as guides to their Clans. —Reika
Also, recall the whole "unite or die" thing from the very beginning of the Clans? Yeah, look at how that worked out. StarClan would have known that if it didn't work the first time, when the divisions between the cats weren't as strong, then it certainly wouldn't work when they'd developed loyalty to their own Clans and animosity toward the others. —Flametail von Karma
If Tigerstar's plot was to unite all the clans by force anyway, then what was the point of executing Stonefur, Feathertail, or Stormfur based on them being HalfClan? Easy: He either was going to wipe out ThunderClan anyway and wanted to get rid of any ancestral links, or he really wanted to take make dirt on Bluestar and Firestar (by the proxy of Graystripe), since Mistyfoot and Stonefur were the former's kits and the deaths Feathertail and Stormfur would hurt Graystripe (and by proxy Firestar) —terlwyth
Many fans wonder why in the Clans' mythology, there are only three Great Clans and not four. Some add in a fourth, CheetahClan or JaguarClan. However, the reason there are three is that lions, tigers, and leopards are all members of the genus Panthera. Neither of the two common fourth Clans would work, as cheetahs are from the Acinonyx genus, and thus are no more related to lions, tigers, and leopards than a house cat, while jaguars, although they are members of the Panthera genus, are New World animals, and until the New Prophecy made it into a fictional location, the series was set in England. —Goldenpelt
I was wondering why Mapleshade, as part of her plan to get back at her victims’ kin (Frecklewish and Appledusk’s; Ravenwing has no known kin), only went after Crookedstar and Tigerstar and no one else. Then I realised why that there’s actually a cycle of manipulation and suffering rippling through generations (Tigerstar to Hawkfrost, anyone?), and Maple’s only knocking the first domino of it.
Another example is Mapleshade’s manipulation, which causes Crookedstar to neglect Silverkit out of fear of losing another loved one. Just like how Crookedkit was neglected by his own mother after he broke his jaw and fell prey to Mapleshade soon after, Silverkit (now neglected by her father) was also open to Mapleshade’s trap, had Oakheart not talked to Crookedstar about it.
Remember how Reedshine said that ‘[Appledusk] will be part of RiverClan forever’? Well, his most recent RiverClan kin now have ThunderClan blood in them, and not to mention his now living kin (the rest are in StarClan) live in the Tribe. So technically Mapleshade won against his kin.
Stormfur’s kits aren’t even half RiverClan anymore! They're 1/4 RiverClan, 1/4 ThunderClan, and 1/2 Tribe. And if they keep living in the Tribe and take mates, their descendants will be more Tribe and less RiverClan with every generation that continues.
On the contrary, a lot his kin have the same colour/appearance as him (similar appearances, or informally called ‘clones’ are heavily emphasised when it comes to being kin of an important cat, such as Firestar or Tigerstar), such as Breeze, Lark, and even Primrosepaw.
Brokenstar’s name isn’t just about his broken tail, or even Yellowfang’s heartbreak over giving him up. The prefix ‘broken-’ (as in originally ‘Brokenkit’) highlights how ‘broken’ the then-kit is (being bullied, abused by his foster mother and potentially having already been born evil/a broken state of mind). Cut to moons later, the name ‘Brokenstar’ comes off as if he’s ‘broken’/corrupt enough to use StarClan’s will in a horrible way. Like how it gives off fallen angel vibes (if you look at the Dark Forest’s symbol, it’s literally a broken star).
In Warrior Cats, the character Darkstripe was always an interesting point of story to me. Darkstripe had established himself as loyal to Tigerclaw until Tigerclaw’s treachery was exposed, and Darkstripe chose not to follow him only because Tigerclaw had left him out of the loop regarding his plans; he was offended that Tigerclaw didn’t let him in on his planning, despite establishing himself as loyal to Tigerclaw. A few books later, Darkstripe becomes the eyes and ears for Tigerclaw after he becomes the leader of ShadowClan. After getting kicked out of ThunderClan in the next book, Darkstripe joined Tigerstar and the RiverClan-ShadowClan alliance, only to be beaten by a weakened RiverClan cat and likely losing favor in Tigerstar’s eyes as a result. Next thing you know, Tigerstar’s dead, and Darkstripe now has nowhere to go, and dies in the final battle not long afterward, with nothing left for him after Tigerstar’s death. Why? Because Darkstripe had seen Tigerstar as a father figure throughout the series, which is made even more interesting by the fact that Darkstripe’s biological father was stated by Word of God to be a character that was dead before the series had officially started, so there was no other cat for Darkstripe to look up to other than the one that was once his mentor. That was why Darkstripe was offended by being left out of the loop, that was why Darkstripe was so eager to prove his loyalty to Tigerstar after joining the alliance: Darkstripe was a "Well Done, Son" Guy that just wanted the approval of Tigerstar. This makes his last words all the more brilliant – without Tigerstar, there truly was nothing left for him to live for. – Battra 09416
Mapleshade is almost an Evil Counterpart to Bluestar. Both started in ThunderClan only to fall in love with a RiverClan tom. But Bluestar stayed with her clan while Mapleshade left. - LOAD
Ivypool is the normal one of the Warriors protagonists. While all the other ones get their Warrior Names from doing an exemplary act, she gets her from doing a hunting assessment. - Lightflame
Similarly, every cat used to get warrior names from doing exemplary acts in the first series, but then later on it was usually a hunting assessment. This seems like another example of Early-Installment Weirdness, but it is actually because Firestar was trying to atone for Swiftpaw's death, which would have never happened if it had not been required for him to show heroism in battle to become a warrior (thus why Longtail blamed him for using Swiftpaw as a messenger). Thus why cats get assessments under Firestar's leadership, but not in the first series or the prequel Super Editions.
A lot of the anticlimactic villain deaths in Warriors can be explained if you approach the series with this in mind. "No villain deserves to go out in a blaze of glory." - Lightflame
Great StarClan, this was actually confirmed in The Last Hope. - Lightflame
Many of the leaders suffer the loss of many of the cats they loved, and grieve heavily for them. This is so they can all come back one last time to give the leader their nine lives.
Harveymoon of all cats is a Foil to Sol. In After the Flood, Harveymoon becomes genuinely helpful instead of a Lazy Bum, and he proves his worth as a SkyClan warrior. Meanwhile, Sol becomes worse, and is exiled at the end. The difference is how one grew up and the other didn't. - Lightflame
Jayfeather almost instantly likes Dovewing, and rarely finds himself annoyed by her, despite how much she bothers Lionblaze, and how he doesn't think of Ivypool nearly as fondly. Since Jayfeather places a high value on the bonds between siblings, its likely that he subconsciously remembers her as his sister Dove's Wing, causing him to naturally feel a bond with her. -Lightflame
Considering that his sister Hollyleaf, whom he was close to, was presumed dead at the time, he may have been subconsciously wanting a connection with another sister.
Jayfeather's name, in light of The Reveal that Leafpool and Crowfeather are his parents. Leafpool named him after his father. -Bio Safety
Why was Cloudtail Cinderheart's mentor? Because Cinderpelt's original mentor was Firestar, who like Cloudtail, was mentored by the current leader, was thought of as the leader's surrogate son, and was born a kittypet!
I think I know why Jaggedtooth betrayed ShadowClan and joined BloodClan in The Darkest Hour. He helps Tigerstar become leader in Tigerclaw's Fury, but Tigerclaw basically goes "Screw you, Jaggedtooth! I don't own you anything!" So Jaggedtooth must have felt so betrayed at the moment that he waited for the time to join BloodClan. -Wildstar93
Tigerstar's issues might be explained (partially) by his kithood: His father, Pinestar, was on his ninth life when Tigerstar's mother, Leopardfoot, was born. Tigerstar's sisters, Mistkit and Nightkit, die early in their kithood. Pinestar leaves ThunderClan to become a kittypet. As the only kit in the nursery until Whitekit's birth, he was spoiled by the rest of the Clan. Goosefeather says that Tigerstar never should have survived. The only cat who acted like a father for Tigerstar was the ruthless Thistleclaw.
The disastrous vole omen Goosefeather receives in Bluestar's Prophecy seems like a misinterpretation on his part, but it actually is accurate. In the battle, ThunderClan is flattened by WindClan, just like the vole predicted. The shred of catmint, a medicinal herb, on the vole's flank? It was a medicine cat who murdered Moonflower.
Brambleclaw's and Tawnypelt's reactions to being told the truth about their father Tigerstar's crimes are representative of the Clans they end up with. Brambleclaw stays with his birth Clan and trains himself to be the most noble, loyal and hardworking warrior he can possibly be, as fits a ThunderClan cat. Tawnypelt does the more pragmatic thing; instead of spending her whole life with cats who will never fully trust her because of her parentage, she finds a place where she will be judged for the warrior she is instead of the tyrant her father was, in ShadowClan.
Aside from the fact that Greypaw said that Lionheart was more experience at being a warrior than Tigerclaw, there is another, deeper reason why Bluestar didn't appoint Tigerclaw deputy: he said he killed her mate, Oakheart!
You may not realise it, but let me run through the deputies of ThunderClan in Into The Wild. Redtail, a deputy who we hardly know, is killed in battle against a rival clan. Lionheart, appointed deputy after that, is shown to be very diligent, loyal and noble, the ideal future leader when Bluestar looses her remaining lives. Sadly, he's killed too. Enter Tigerclaw, who is the Big Bad for this arc and is exiled later on. Prophecy for the end of this season? "Four will become two, Lion and Tiger will meet in battle, and blood will rule the forest." Red is the colour of blood, and Scourge appears out of nowhere to kill Tigerstar. TigerClan is ruled by the ambitious Tigerstar, and LionClan is lead by the noble Firestar! -Thomasfan
Everyone's saying that Mapleshade was cruelly kicked out of ThunderClan for having a tom's kits from another Clan. And, I do agree that it was cruel. But... they say that cats like Bluestar/Oakheart, Graystripe/Silverstream and Leafpool/Crowfeather had done the same thing and they were not kicked out. Well, here's the thing. All those cats were born after Mapleshade's time. Stories have likely been told to the cats of the four clans about it. In other words: the Clans have learned from what happened to Mapleshade and her kits and don't wish to make that same mistake again!
When he was a kittypet kit living with his mother and siblings, Scourge (then called Tiny) wasn't adopted when his siblings were. When looking to adopt a pet, potential owners are commonly advised not to choose one that may have health issues, since it may lead to expensive vet bills later on. Since Tiny was the runt of his litter, the Twolegs who came to visit his owner's house chose the healthier and stronger-looking kittens over him.
Take note of the names of Appledusk's two mates: Mapleshade and Reedshine. His relationship with Mapleshade was the one that was forbidden and kept a secret due to them being from different Clans, ultimately ending in catastrophe when their kits died and Mapleshade went on her insane killing spree. His relationship with Reedshine was the one that everyone was aware of and socially acceptable because they were both from the same Clan, and their kits survived to adulthood. Mapleshade = darkness, Reedshine = light.
In addition, Appledusk’s name represents him being in the morally grey. While Appledusk left Mapleshade after their kits’ deaths, he does it out of loyalty and shame.
Each of the ancient Clans shares a trait with one of the modern Clans that are supposedly descended from them. LionClan were big and fierce hunters like ThunderClan. TigerClan cats hunted in the night like ShadowClan. LeopardClan cats were swift and slender like WindClan, and hunted in the river like RiverClan.
Fans have called out and complained about StarClan’s flaws and hypocrisy, but that’s the whole point! The Erins include many real-word themes in their series, and religion is no exception. If you look at real life religions, their god(s) have not always been and will never be as perfect as they seem, even if the people believe so.
StarClan being composed of many cats might explain why they can be so contradictory or seemingly hypocritical sometimes (different cats tell cats different things).
Why did Scourge simply banish Socks and Ruby rather than killing them after everything they put him through? Think about it: they mocked him for being weak as a kit and said he'd never be adopted by Twolegs, so now that the tables have turned and they're the ones who are starving on the streets after being abandoned, Scourge probably felt they're were getting an ironic punishment for their past statements, and it would be more fitting (and probably crueler, since the only way Ruby and Socks appeared to know how to get food was to beg for it instead of hunting or scavenging) to leave them alive.
The cause of Bramblestar and Squirrelflight's relationship issues can be traced back several generations. Thistleclaw instilled within Tigerpaw a powerful and dangerous ambition. When he grew up into Tigerclaw, he and Fireheart fought, he seems to have traumatized Fireheart quite a bit, which continued into Firestar's early deputyship and leadership, where he can't even look at Bramblekit without feeling he's somehow dangerous. Then when Bramblekit grows up into Bramblepaw, he grows up under a mentor who has to keep himself from flinching every time he looks at him, which definitely gave him issues with his image. Bramblepaw struggles throughout his life worrying about whether cats only think of his evil father when they see him. Even after he grows up into a warrior then becomes a leader, Bramblestar is constantly worried about what other cats think of him, hence, even though he picks Squirrelflight to be his deputy because he knows she will speak up when he's wrong no matter what, he very rarely actually listens to her at first because he's concerned about what others will think when they see him come into conflict with his deputy and mate.
Berryheart's negative feelings about the changes to the Warrior Code, and her son, Spireclaw, becoming mates with Fringewhisker, a non ShadowClan cat, make a degree of sense if you take the events of A Vision of Shadows into account. Berryheart's daughter, Needletail, was the first cat to join Darktail's group, and part of the reason for it was because she was in love with Rain, and very soon nearly all the ShadowClan cats, including Berryheart, followed Needletail into Darktail's influence for their own reasons. Now, Berryheart worries that if the Code allows cats to defect for love, they will start finding any reason to change Clans, which she fears will lead to History Repeats.
On the surface, Nightstar and Shadowclan being so furious as to attack ThunderClan with WindClan to kill Brokentail is completely understandable. Brokentail did a lot of damage, and just because Bluestar thought keeping him alive was in the warrior code doesn't mean they saw it the same way. However when we find out in the next book that Nightstar couldn't receive his additional lives while Brokentail, formerly Brokenstar, still lived, there is an extra layer. Nightstar needs Brokentail dead so he can have the lives needed to keep ShadowClan stable.
Frecklewish admits to Mapleshade that she watched Patchkit, Larchkit, and Petalkit drown in the flooded river, but didn't jump in to save them. Was this her being callous towards Mapleshade for her crime, or her remembering that her brother Birchface (and additionally Flowerpaw) drowned in the very same river? It would make sense for the trauma of her losing her brother to the water would also make her fear it.
In Rising Storm, Fireheart is sterner with his new apprentice, Cloudpaw, than he was with his previous one, Cinderpaw. Why is that? Remember that a few books ago, Cinderpaw ran off to deliver a message by the Thunderpath (despite him telling her not to) and got hit by a car, leaving her with a permanently crippled leg. It's possible Fireheart feels guilty for that happening because he was responsible for looking after her, and resolved to be more firm with any future apprentices he took. Cloudpaw being his nephew, and the promise Fireheart made to his sister/Cloudpaw's mother, Princess, to raise him well, gives him more motivation to want to keep his new apprentice out of danger. Not to mention that he is also shouldering the new responsibility of being ThunderClan's deputy, at a time when Bluestar is reeling from Tigerclaw's betrayal and starting to suffer from Sanity Slippage and paranoia about all her Clan being traitors. The Chains of Commanding weigh heavy indeed...
Was Ravenpaw suddenly being bolder in Redtail's Debt really out of character? Possibly not; Bluestar notes that Ravenpaw was so meek and timid as a kit that it took his mother Robinwing two weeks to coax him out of the nursery, so she gave him Tigerclaw as his mentor to toughen him up and teach him courage. Fast forward to the Sunningrocks battle, perhaps Tigerclaw had begun to influence Ravenpaw in this fashion, as the apprentice is shown to be eager to fight and refuse to back down in the face of conflict...but then Ravenpaw sees Tigerclaw killed Redtail, which was the defining source of his nervousness in the main story. The trauma of witnessing Redtail's murder and seeing his mentor's true colors drained that conditioning out of him.
Despite his coldness towards his son Raggedpelt during the rouges' attack in Yellowfang's Secret, there was a good reason for him to be a part of the raid: Red was his daughter, and she had been missing for awhile. Red / Russetfur was likely the only kit of Hal's that he cared about, hence him joining the in rescue attempt.
In River, Frostpaw finds a curled feather, and later has a dream about curled feathers which she believes was a sign Curlfeather should be the next leader. While the one she found is confirmed to have been planted by Splashtail, the dream was instead a sign from StarClan warning her not to trust Curlfeather, who was working with Splashtail to become leader.
After her kits are born, Mapleshade thinks they will end the feud over Sunningrocks. While this doesn't happen, the actions of Mapleshade resulting from their deaths do bring RiverClan and ThunderClan together somewhat, in that due to Mapleshade killing Ravenwing, the ThunderClan medicine cat, RiverClan sends one of their medicine cats, Cloudberry, to join ThunderClan, which presumably helps heal the rift between the Clans.
Unless they sent her because they felt guilty about the role of Appledusk, one of their own warriors, in these events.
It's established that dead cats fade away if they aren't remembered. StarClan never seemed all that invested in keeping SkyClan's memory alive. They were knowingly condemning SkyClan's cats to a gradual, total death.
However, according to Word of God, Cloudtail would probably go to StarClan but be very surprised, which also applies to Mothwing.
When one realizes that before Tigerstar, if you were condemned to the Dark Forest, you were stuck to wallow in isolation for the rest of your existence.
This is the point of the Dark Forest. Clan cats only go there if they have committed extremely severe crimes, and being forced to walk alone in a cold, dead forest forever is part of their eternal punishment.
In Secrets of the Clans, a kittypet/loner named Floss has her newborn kits taken from her by the Twolegs who own the barn she lives in. Since they didn't let the kits stay with their mother until they were old enough to eat solid food, it's very likely that they were taken away to be euthanized.
Scourge's soul disappeared after he died, because he didn't believe in StarClan. Which is all well and good, because he was a sadistic murderer. But what about all the friendly kittypets and loners that don't believe in StarClan or are unaware of its existence, including Princess, Smudge, Barley, Cody, Jake, and others? Are they also condemned to Cessation of Existence when they die, assuming there isn't a separate afterlife for them?
I'm pretty sure it's been confirmed that kittypets and loners have a separate afterlife. We do see Jake as a spirit at the end of Tallstar's Revenge and it was stated on Kate's blog that she believes Tom is in the kittypet afterlife.
The Clans live in relatively close quarters together, and each individual group has a fair number of cats. Diseases like greencough are shown to tear through the territories quickly and relentlessly, now imagine if the Clans ever faced a rabies outbreak...
There was a roughly two-book period during which Ashfur was possessing Bramblestar without Squirrelflight knowing. Given his obsession, what are the chances they were completely celibate during that period?
Due to the…er…somewhat limited gene pools in each of the Clans (especially ThunderClan, given that it’s the Clan that receives the most focus throughout the series), there is a LOT of incest and inbreeding between characters. There’s nothing like finding a ship (canon or otherwise) you think is cute, only to find out that they’re actually cousins or that one of them is the other’s aunt/uncle or something else along those lines. When you think about that, it’s really no wonder so many cats have relationships with cats from other Clans or current/former kittypets and loners; they gotta bring in some new blood every once in a while!
Getting neutered would be the equivalent of Crippling Castration for a Clan cat. What would happen if they got caught up in a Twoleg trap-neuter-return program?
So, get this: we have Stormtail, who favored Moonflower when he was an apprentice and she was a kit, and the two become mates by the time they both become warriors. Seasons pass, they have two daughters together, and Stormtail has now become greatly disinterested in the prospect of having a family, and starts padding after the recently-promoted Dappletail instead. Even when Moonflower is struck down in battle, Stormtail seems to just shrug and move on without so much as a sniffle, as though he were silently focusing on wooing Dappletail in order to win her over. Stormtail was more than just a stiff, unfocused mate and father; it made it seem like he purposefully chose younger, inexperienced she-cats, moving on to another when he got what he wanted or got bored of them.
Spottedleaf's whole ordeal with Thistleclaw in her youth suddenly makes her interest in Firestar (especially when he was an apprentice) pretty uncomfortable in hindsight.
Sooooo...in Fire and Ice, Tigerclaw whips up a plan to lure Bluestar onto the Thunderpath so a car will hit her in order for him to become leader. This becomes more chilling when you remember that Bluestar's sister, Snowfur, also died from being hit by a car, and said event was a huge portion of Bluestar's lifetime trauma. Becomes creepier when you think about that.
Tigerclaw was a kit when Snowfur was killed. When Bluefur comes to inform Whitekit of his mother's death, Tigerkit bounds up and wants to come too, but thankfully doesn't once he's told no. He likely either saw Snowfur's body and was told what happened by his mother or another Clanmate, but what if Tigerclaw remembered that moment, and came up with the Thunderpath plan based on that...? Not to mention, he was mentored by Thistleclaw, who was Snowfur's mate and he blamed her death exclusively on Bluefur. Thistleclaw was bound to have brought it up to Tigerpaw at least once.
Lizardstripe was vocal about her displeasure towards her pregnancy, and was shown being very unhappy in the nursery with her own kits, and becomes even more bitter when Brokenkit enters the picture. While we got a front row seat to her expressing her immense dislike of him, how did she treat Runningnose, Deerfoot, and Tangleburr? If she was abusive towards her unwanted foster son, leads you to wonder how she treated the rest of her kits.
Given how the three of them bullied Brokenkit and often excluded him from their games, it's safe to say they picked up the hints from Lizardstripe. Bullies often - while not always - come from broken / abusive families. Lizardstripe probably took out her frustrations on them too, and the mutual animosity towards Brokenkit within the family bled over to them outwardly venting it the same way their mom did.
At least Runningnose seemed to break away from it after being scolded. We don't know if Tangleburr and Deerfoot broke the cycle, however, especially if they went on to have kits of their own...
In The Darkest Hour, Tawnypaw runs away from ThunderClan when Smallear says that she'll grow up to become just like her murderous father Tigerstar. Although it's not pointed out in the books, supplementary material reveals that Smallear is Goldenflower's father. That makes him Tawnypaw's grandfather. No wonder she ran away — a random ThunderClan cat saying that to her would be bad enough, but if her own grandfather had such a low opinion of her, she had that much more reason to assume that her Clanmates shared the same sentiment.
Cinderpaw is devastated when she cannot save Silverstream from dying in kitbirth, feeling as if she personally let Silverstream die. It's possible that she was already feeling useless to her Clan because she couldn't be a warrior due to her leg injury, and failing to save a cat (even if it was out of her control) compounded that because it made her feel like she was a failure as a medicine cat, too.
Not trying to make Rainflower sympathetic here, but what if the reason she pushed Crookedkit away and started treating him so badly was not because he "didn't meet her standards", but she figured he wouldn't survive his injury so she tried to force him out of her life so his potential death wouldn't hurt as much? On Crookedstar's side, imagine having a mother beginning to abuse you because she gave up on your ability to live, yikes.
In Rising Storm, ShadowClan begins to suffer from the Great Sickness when an apprentice accidentally brings back an infected rat from Carrionplace. The resulting plague kills many cats, including at least four kits, their deputy Cinderfur, and their leader Nightstar. Imagine being the apprentice who brought the rat back. Unless his Clan was gracious enough to forgive him and understand that it was an accident (or he died in the plague), he was probably ostracized for moons, if not the rest of his life.
