Midnight is the first book in the second Warrior Cats series, The New Prophecy, taking place after Firestar's Quest and the Ravenpaw's Path manga trilogy.
The plot starts out in late greenleaf, many moons after the events in The Darkest Hour. (Roughly eighteen moons - the book says twelve, but when you calculate how much time has actually passed, especially taking the side books into consideration, eighteen is more accurate. For one, TDH ended in late winter; Midnight takes place during the hottest part of the summer). Many apprentices and kits from The Darkest Hour are now warriors - among them Tigerstar's kits Brambleclaw and Tawnypelt, and Graystripe's kits Feathertail and Stormfur. Firestar has had two kits with Sandstorm: Squirrelpaw and Leafpaw.
The book begins with a prologue featuring StarClan sending a prophecy revealing that the forest is in danger. Four cats, one from each Clan, are chosen to go on a journey to face the coming darkness.
Brambleclaw dreams of Bluestar, the former ThunderClan leader, who tells him the prophecy, and that at the next new moon he should meet with the other cats chosen by StarClan and "listen to what midnight tells them". Upon awakening he chalks it up to having eaten too much the night before and puts it out of his mind. He patrols with a few other ThunderClanners, including Firestar's bratty daughter Squirrelpaw, who tagged along without being asked. The next Gathering is that night, and Brambleclaw meets his sister, Tawnypelt (who had joined ShadowClan in The Darkest Hour), who tells him that she has had the same dream. They aren't sure what it means or how "midnight" can tell them anything, but they agree to meet at Fourtrees at the next new moon.
Brambleclaw goes to Fourtrees at the new moon, as planned, only to discover that Squirrelpaw followed him there and that she refuses to leave until she knows that's going on. They are met by Tawnypelt, Feathertail and Stormfur of RiverClan (Feathertail was the cat chosen by StarClan to represent RiverClan; Stormfur insisted upon coming along to protect her), and a WindClan apprentice named Crowpaw (who Brambleclaw had met a few days prior while on patrol, catching the apprentice in the act of stealing prey). Nothing happens as they wait there, and they end up going back to their Clans, promising to meet at the next Gathering to see if they can figure anything out.
The following morning, Brambleclaw awakens from a dream about drowning in salty water. Ravenpaw - who had arrived that morning to visit the Clan - tells him that he knows the place is real, since he's spoken to cats who have been there. Brambleclaw thinks that StarClan is telling them to travel there, so he tells Feathertail, who agrees to go (Stormfur again insists upon accompanying her); they also manage to convince Crowpaw and Tawnypelt, and they decide to leave the day before half-moon.
While Leafpaw and her mentor Cinderpelt are searching for herbs, StarClan sends Cinderpelt a vision of a tiger leaping forward from fire. She concludes that the warning must mean that Squirrelpaw and Brambleclaw, the daughter of Firestar and the son of Tigerstar, will represent a danger to the forest, or to each other. Cinderpelt shares the warning with Firestar, who decides to keep Brambleclaw and Squirrelpaw apart. His plan fails when Brambleclaw and Squirrelpaw meet with Feathertail, Stormfur, Tawnypelt, and Crowpaw at Fourtrees. When Sandstorm points out to Firestar that the fire and tiger prophecy might have meant that Squirrelpaw and Brambleclaw could save them from trouble instead of brewing it, Firestar becomes worried, thinking he scared them away.
The six cats set off on their journey to the so-called "sun-drown place". Squirrelpaw's sister Leafpaw meets them and gives them traveling herbs before they go; she sensed through their Twin Telepathy that her sister was about to leave on a journey. She is told about the mission StarClan gave to the cats and promises not to tell any other cat. The traveling cats spend a night at Ravenpaw's barn, pass Highstones, and travel through farmland. Tawnypelt and Feathertail eventually taste and have dreams about salt water, which they take as signs from StarClan telling them that they are doing the right thing by trying to find the sun-drown place.
Back in the Clans, the medicine cats visit the Moonstone, and RiverClan's medicine cat apprentice is appointed: Mothwing, who had been born as a rogue and whose appointment had been disliked among the Clans until Mudfur received a sign from StarClan saying that she was the right cat. Leafpaw and Sorreltail discover while on a patrol that RiverClan has lost two cats as well, and Firestar decides to discuss it at the next Gathering.
The traveling cats are chased by a dog, and a voice calls them up into a tree to escape it; after the dog leaves, the stranger - an old loner - introduces himself as Purdy. They ask him to help them find food, and he leads them into a Twolegplace, to a pond filled with fish (where Crowpaw receives his saltwater sign). They tell him about their journey, and accept his offer to lead them through the Twolegplace, which will be faster than going around it. The next day, he brings them to a Twoleg nest where they can eat kittypet food, and a Twoleg kit picks up Feathertail, hoping to make her a kittypet; Tawnypelt and Squirrelpaw distract her by purring until she puts down Feathertail, and the cats make their escape. The next day or two don't go any better: they realize that Purdy appears to be lost, and they're attacked by rats, which leaves Tawnypelt with a fairly bad injury.
At the next Gathering, the Clans argue about WindClan allegedly stealing prey, and then discuss their lost warriors. They are uneasy, wondering why StarClan did not send them a message, and asking if there is some new enemy in the forest hunting them down. Leafpaw, having dreamed about Squirrelpaw being attacked by rats, decides to eat some burdock root - the treatment for rat bites - in the hope that Squirrelpaw will sense it and realize what it's for.
Tawnypelt's bite becomes infected, and she limps painfully for the rest of the journey. It takes the cats several days to get out from the Twolegplace with Purdy's "help", and they enter a forest where they find shelter, prey, and burdock: Squirrelpaw remembers upon seeing it that it is for rat bites, and they treat Tawnypelt's injury.
The next day, they reach the sun-drown place. The ground gives way under Brambleclaw, Squirrelpaw, Stormfur, and Tawnypelt, and the waves sweep them into the cave from Brambleclaw's dream. Feathertail and Crowpaw manage to climb down from an entrance in the cliff top. They discover that the cave is inhabited by a badger, but she is not aggressive: she's highly intelligent and can speak Cat, and she introduces herself as Midnight. She eventually reveals that all the Clans are in danger, as the forest is about to be completely destroyed by Twolegs to construct a new Thunderpath. The six cats must lead the Clans to find a new home.
In the book's epilogue, Firestar leads a patrol near the Thunderpath. The scent of the Twoleg monsters is stronger than normal, and they begin to hear a loud roar. Suddenly the biggest monster any of the cats had ever seen appears on the Thunderpath, and slowly approaches with more behind it, and then the monsters leave the Thunderpath to head into the forest. Before the ThunderClanners' very eyes the monster uproots a tree and continues onward, and the cats realize that the destruction of the forest has begun.
Tropes appearing in this book:
- Acid Reflux Nightmare: Brambleclaw originally thinks his prophecy dream was one of these.
- After-Action Healing Drama: The group desperately tries to heal Tawnypelt's infected wound from a rat bite.
- Artistic License – Animal Care: There's a scene where humans leave out a bowl of milk for cats to drink. While dairy is bad for cats' digestion in real life, Squirrelpaw, who drinks a decent amount, suffers no ill effects.
- Bad Ol' Badger: Subverted with Midnight, much to the cats' surprise. She has learned to speak the language of cats and is generally a neutral character.
- Band of Brothers: The group becomes true friends over the course of their journey, sharing a bond beyond that of Clan boundaries.
- Big Brother Instinct: Stormfur goes on the journey to protect his sister Feathertail, who was one of the cats who were chosen by StarClan.
- Breaking the Glass Ceiling: Mothwing becomes the first rogue-born medicine cat.
- Carnivore Confusion: For most of the series, this seems to be averted with the cats being the only sentient animals. However, in this book, it is revealed that other animals also communicate and are somewhat aware. They meet a badger who speaks the cats' language, as well as the languages of foxes and rabbits. You might think this would raise eyebrows about what the cats have been eating all along, but it's stated that, while badgers can be intelligent as a plot device, rabbits are stupid and don't talk about (read: think about) much of anything at all.
- The Chosen Many: Brambleclaw, Tawnypelt, Feathertail, and Crowpaw are all chosen by StarClan to go on a journey to learn how to save their Clans.
- Community-Threatening Construction/Doomed Hometown: The traveling group learns that Twolegs are about to destroy the forest, forcing the Clans to leave.
- Dream Intro: The first chapter starts with Brambleclaw dreaming and receiving a prophecy from Bluestar.
- The Drag-Along: Crowpaw doesn't want to go on the journey since he's about to become a warrior and the journey will interfere with it.
- Eloquent in My Native Tongue: Smart is Midnight, but she no speak cat good.
- Ensemble Cast: The chapters in this book focus on Brambleclaw's and Leafpaw's points of view.
- Exact Words: After Leafpaw sees Squirrelpaw leave for her journey, Cinderpelt asks if she knows where Squirrelpaw is. Leafpaw is able to say no because she doesn't know where Squirrelpaw is at that exact moment.
- Fire-Forged Friends: Some of the main characters were openly hostile to each other before their journey - Squirrelpaw and Brambleclaw didn't get along, and Crowpaw was aggressive to everyone (but particularly Brambleclaw due to a border conflict) - but in the end they become true friends due to everything they've faced together.
- Gender-Equal Ensemble: The journeying group is made up of three she-cats (Squirrelpaw, Tawnypelt, and Feathertail) and three toms (Brambleclaw, Crowpaw, and Stormfur).
- Happy Ending Override: The first arc ends on a pure happy ending. This book reveals that humans are about to tear down the forest.
- Help, I'm Stuck!: Played for laughs twice with Squirrelpaw. The first time, Brambleclaw finds her tangled in a bramble bush and she explains that she thought there was room to go underneath it, and he points out helpfully that there isn't. The second time, she gets stuck under a wire fence, and while the toms start arguing with each other about what to do, the she-cats Tawnypelt and Feathertail actually help her get out.
- Humans by Any Other Name: Purdy refers to humans as "Upwalkers".
- It's All My Fault: Firestar also blames himself for making Squirrelpaw run away because of how he treated her due to his interpretation of an omen.
- I Will Only Slow You Down: Tawnypelt is willing to let the rest of the group abandon her after she gets injured by a rat and the wound gets infected, but they eventually manage to heal her.
- Just a Kid: Even StarClan is skeptical of Crowpaw's ability to handle the journey, since he is just an apprentice. The same applies to Squirrelpaw, though she chose to go on the journey herself.
- Keeping Secrets Sucks: When Leafpaw is the only cat who knows where the traveling cats went, she feels the strain of being loyal to both her sister and to her father.
- Killed Offscreen: Several cats, mostly elders, died offscreen between The Darkest Hour and Midnight, though one death that got specifically mentioned in Midnight, Willowpelt's, was later written into Firestar's Quest.
- Look Both Ways: It is mentioned in this book that Sorrelpaw was hit by a car while trying to hunt a squirrel. Her shoulder was injured and took a long time to heal, so her warrior ceremony was delayed as a result.
- Looking Busy: Leafpaw notices her parents talking and crouches by the fresh-kill pile, pretending to choose what type of prey she wants while listening to them. Sandstorm clearly noticed this, because at the end of their conversation, she tells Leafpaw "You've had time to sniff every piece of fresh-kill on that pile" and reminds her that she'd promised to keep the fire-and-tiger prophecy secret.
- The Namesake: Midnight is named after the talking badger the cats meet at the end of the book.
- The New Adventures: The New Prophecy.
- New Season, New Name: This arc has the subtitle The New Prophecy.
- Ocean Awe: The group gets to finally see the sun-drown place at the end of the journey.
- Omniglot: Midnight the badger is able to speak Badger, Rabbit, Fox, and a few types of Cat, whereas everything else in the series can only speak in the language of its own species. Why and how she managed to learn all of these is never explained.
- One-Word Title: Midnight.
- A Pet into the Wild: Purdy became a loner after his Twoleg died. He didn't entirely lose his fondness for Twolegs, but he didn't live with any after that.
- Polar Opposite Twins: Squirrelpaw and Leafpaw. Squirrelpaw is sharp-tongued and energetic, and is training to be a warrior, while Leafpaw is calm and more reasonable, and training to be a medicine cat.
- The Promised L And: The Clans - having lived in the forest for countless years - are about to struggle due to the forest being destroyed by humans. Midnight, on StarClan's behalf, promises them that there's a place for them to live with oak forests and streams and plenty of prey.
- The Prophecy: This book has one foretelling the destruction of the forest: Darkness, air, water and sky will come together and shake the forest to its roots. Nothing will be as it is now, nor as it has been before.
- Prophecy Pileup: Shortly before the journeying cats leave, when the heat sets a bush on fire, Cinderpelt has a vision of a tiger leaping in the flames. She determines that it refers to Squirrelpaw (daughter of Firestar) and Brambleclaw (son of Tigerstar), and destruction to the forest; they think that it could possibly mean that the two young cats could somehow cause this destruction. The "destruction to the forest" is the same as the original prophecy, and the fire and tiger mean that Squirrelpaw and Brambleclaw will have something to do with it - they save the Clan from being destroyed when the forest is.
- Prophecy Twist:
- The "Midnight" the journeying cats have to listen to isn't a time of day, it's the name of a badger.
- The fire-and-tiger sign. It was clear that it concerned "Fire and Tiger coming together", somehow related to "Danger to the forest." Firestar and the others interpret this as Firestar's daughter Squirrelpaw and Tigerstar's son Brambleclaw causing great danger to the forest. Only after their meddling drives the two cats away together, do they realize that the prophecy most likely meant that the two would save the forest from this danger. Oops.
- The Quest: A group of Chosen Ones (plus two tagalong friends), following a prophecy, quest through unknown territory to follow the setting sun to the sea and "listen to what midnight tells them".
- Reformed Criminal: Blackstar. After doing things against the warrior code (stealing kits from another Clan, killing other cats needlessly), he lived as a rogue for a while, but eventually rejoined the Clan, became its leader, and hasn't done anything like that since.
- Rescue Introduction: The Clan cats meet Purdy when they're fleeing from a dog and he calls to them to climb the tree that he's in to escape.
- Series Continuity Error: This book claims that twelve moons have passed since The Darkest Hour. If you count out the amount of time that passes in Firestar's Quest and the Ravenpaw's Path trilogy, it really should be about 18 moons. Even ignoring those, 12 moons would be inaccurate: The Darkest Hour ended around early winter, while Midnight takes place in the middle of summer.
- Shortcuts Make Long Delays: Purdy leads the journeying cats on paths he says are shortcuts to the sun-drown place. It doesn't go as quickly as they hoped.
- Sneaky Departure: Midnight begins with a cat from each Clan getting an omen telling them that they need to go on a journey far away from the Clans. Since they can't let their Clanmates in on this, they have to sneak away from the Clans and meet up together for the journey.
- Spin-Offspring: Warrior Cats: The New Prophecy focuses on Leafpaw and Squirrelpaw, kittens of The Hero and his Love Interest from the first arc, as well as Brambleclaw, son of the Big Bad Tigerstar; Tawnypelt, Feathertail, and Stormfur (Tigerstar's other kit, and Graystripe's kits) are also major characters.
- Struggling Single Mother: Leopardstar mentions that this is why a rogue named Sasha had brought her kits to RiverClan.
- Switching P.O.V.: Brambleclaw and Leafpaw.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: One cat from each of the four Clans is chosen by their ancestors for a mission. Two more cats end up coming along on the journey. Since they are from different Clans, some of them are quite a bit tense around each other, even hostile at times, but after helping each other through numerous dangers, they become Fire-Forged Friends.
- Temporal Theme Naming: Most of the The New Prophecy books, including Midnight, are named after a time.
- The Unchosen One: Stormfur and Squirrelpaw were not chosen by StarClan but go anyway for their own reasons.
- Time Skip: There has been a 12 (or 18, it's not clear) month gap since The Darkest Hour.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: Squirrelpaw and Leafpaw fit this; the former being a fiery Action Girl warrior while the latter is a kind and gentle medicine cat.
- Twin Telepathy: Squirrelpaw and Leafpaw, while not identical twins, were of the same litter, and exhibit some signs of this: they can sense each other's emotions, and have shared dreams and sensations on occasion.
- Two Lines, No Waiting: For the the first two books of The New Prophecy, the point of view switches between Leafpaw, a medicine cat apprentice watching as the forest crumbles around her, and one of the six journeying cats, who are on a quest to find a way to save the forest.
- Vagueness Is Coming: Many prophecies in the series vaguely foretell destruction and danger without actually managing to tell the Clans what exactly is coming. This includes the one in this book: "Darkness, Air, Water and sky will come together and shake the forest to its roots. Nothing will be as it is now, nor as it has been before."
- Was Too Hard on Him: Firestar feels upset that his daughter Squirrelpaw ran away because of what he said. When he realizes that he told her she wouldn't be a warrior if she kept meeting with Brambleclaw (who's from the same Clan but he's keeping them away for a slight reason), he blames himself.
- Women Are Wiser: When Squirrelpaw gets stuck under a fence, the males of the group - Brambleclaw, Stormfur, and Crowpaw - start arguing aggressively about what to do. The she-cats Tawnypelt and Feathertail, meanwhile, actually come up with an idea to get Squirrelpaw out, and successfully free her. They even ask afterward if all toms do is fight.
- You Dirty Rat!: Some rats attack the traveling Clan cats.
