Sign of the Moon is the fourth book in the fourth Warrior Cats series, Omen of the Stars.
Tropes appearing in this book:
- Alliterative Name: The ancient cats Stone Song and Chasing Clouds.
- The Bait: Jayfeather volunteers himself as bait to lure an eagle down to the ground so that the ancient Tribe cats can learn to hunt birds of prey.
- Cave Behind the Falls: The Tribe lives in one of these.
- A Child Shall Lead Them: Jayfeather realizes that Half Moon, who isn't yet considered a sharpclaw (an adult cat, to the Ancients), is the rightful cat to lead the Ancients and transform them into the Tribe of Rushing Water, due to her wisdom and her ability to read supernatural signs. The Sun Trail shows that Half Moon is still leader into her old age, and is considered great and wise.
- Died in Ignorance: Half-Moon lived a long life, waiting for Jay's Wing to return to her, never knowing where he went or why, and died alone. Subverted in the afterlife, however, as she becomes aware that Jay's Wing is Jayfeather. Due to time travel shenanigans, it is unclear whether the Jay's Wing in the past was always controlled by Jayfeather, although it is likely considering it is said Jayfeather led them to the mountains and overall is responsible for the existence of the clans.
- Disney Villain Death: Ancient cat Dark Whiskers is mentioned to have been killed this way when blown off a cliff during a storm.
- Dramatic Dislocation: Icecloud falls into one of the tunnels and has to be rescued; during this, her shoulder is dislocated.
- Ensemble Cast: The Omen of the Stars arc features four main protagonists: Jayfeather, Lionblaze, Dovewing, and Ivypool.
- The Faceless: Ivypool and Blossomfall encounter a mysterious cat in the tunnels. Ivypool can't see any of the cat's features, and is unable to determine its gender. In The Forgotten Warrior, the cat is revealed to be Hollyleaf, alive and well, but reluctant to return to ThunderClan.
- Failure-to-Save Murder: While at a Gathering, Dawnpelt accuses Jayfeather of murdering her brother Flametail. In reality, the death was a tragic accident (Flametail had fallen through the ice, and Jayfeather dived in and tried to pull him out of the water but would have drowned himself if he hadn't let go), but Dawnpelt was too consumed with grief to see the obvious.
- Gender Bender: Troutstream is called male once:"Troutstream is even more of a pain in the butt since he was made a warrior."
- Hair-Trigger Avalanche: Somehow an avalanche is triggered by the cats fighting off an eagle that was trying to carry one of them away; Jayfeather, Stone Song, Chasing Clouds, and Half Moon get swept up in it but survive.
- Help, I'm Stuck!: While hunting, Half Moon gets caught in a thorny bush. While her father gets her out, it gives Jayfeather time to miss catching a shrew and Stone Song to comment about how even though he missed it, it's a good sign that there's prey around.
- Idiot Hero: Deconstructed with Foxleap, whose stupidity inadvertently causes the death of another cat and causes him to start feeling immense pain.
- It's All My Fault: Foxleap does this when his plan to save the rogue cats gets a Tribe cat killed.
- I Was Named "My Name": Dovewing's name as a ThunderClan warrior is almost exactly the same as when she was an Ancient.
- I Will Wait for You: This is the very line Half-Moon says to Jayfeather as the last sentence of the book.
- Kidnapping Bird of Prey: Jayfeather acts as bait for an eagle to steal, so that the Ancients can learn how to hunt them. As well, at the end of the book, Swoop, a Tribe cat, is taken by an eagle while saving one of the Tribe Invaders.
- Leeroy Jenkins: Foxleap decides to save the rogues from an eagle attack, so the Clan and Tribe cats drive the eagle off, but it results in one Tribe cat getting taken away by a hawk. Foxleap feels guilty about this, but as one Tribe cats puts it when scolding him, the damage had been done.
- Literal Cliffhanger: A strong gust of wind blows Half Moon to the edge of a cliff, leaving her only hanging on by her forepaws, but Jayfeather and Chasing Clouds pull her back up to safety.
- Medical Monarch: The leader of the Tribe of Rushing Water is called the Tribe-Healer (or just Healer). They serve as leader, spiritual leader, and medic for the Tribe.
- Name That Unfolds Like Lotus Blossom: Tribe cats, although most of the time they use shortened versions of their names.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Two Tribe of Endless Hunting ancestors named Fall and Slant are mentioned in this book. We never hear their full Tribe names, just their nicknames.
- Prophecy Pileup: On top of the "there will be three" and "dove's gentle wing" prophecies, a third gets piled on: "The end of the stars draws near. Three must become four to battle the darkness that lasts forever." The "fourth" cat is Firestar, who doesn't really do much in regards to the prophecy, but he does end up making the Big Bad of the entire Warriors series, Tigerstar, Deader than Dead.
- Retcon: Ever since the first book in the series, Blackstar has had four black paws. However, starting with Sign of the Moon, they began to retcon this and say only has one black paw.
- Screaming Birth: Shy Fawn's kitting. They fetch a stick for her to bite down on when the pain comes, and it snaps in two when the first kit is born.
- Series Continuity Error:
- In Long Shadows, Fallen Leaves' mother was named Broken Shadow. In this book, she's repeatedly called Broken Shadows.
- Hawkfrost claims that Hollowpaw is new to the Dark Forest. Ivypaw acts as if she's never seen Hollowpaw before - Hawkfrosts introduces the apprentice, and Ivypaw asks if it's Hollowpaw's first time there. Hollowpaw says that it is his second. However, in Night Whispers, Hollowpaw and Ivypaw knew each other in the Dark Forest - they trained together and knocked down Darkstripe once - and he had already gone to the Dark Forest twice in that book.
- Stable Time Loop: In Outcast, Jayfeather met the Tribe Of Rushing Water, and learned their customs. Then, in Sign Of The Moon, he travels back to the Ancient Cats and teaches them the Tribe's customs, allowing them to become the Tribe.
- Strong Family Resemblance: Stormfur's daughter Lark looks a lot like him.
- Tempting Fate: While training with Lionblaze, Rosepetal actually says, "What could possibly go wrong?" in response to Lionblaze saying that Toadstep shouldn't be so loud when he trains. Immediately after she says this, Bumblestripe appears and says that a dog is attacking his crippled sister, Briarlight.
- Time-Travel Romance: Jayfeather travels to the past taking the place of Jay's Wing who he is a reincarnation of, and who Half-Moon is in love with. Later, they come to genuinely love each other.
- Title Drop: The last series' title, Power of Three, is dropped: after Jayfeather realizes that Lion's Roar and Dove's Wing are reincarnations of Lionblaze and Dovewing, he says that the Power of Three has begun. And it is capitalized.
- 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: "The end of the stars draws near. Three must become four to battle the darkness that lasts forever."
- What the Hell, Hero?: Foxleap's plan to save a group of a cats from a hawk goes wrong and one Tribe cat gets killed. One Tribe cat scolds him harshly for not listening when he was told to not interfere.
