This week on Warriors Roundup: four more Super Editions. Let’s dive in, shall we?
Hawkwing’s Journey
Hawkwing is, as of the end of A Vision of Shadows, the deputy of SkyClan and the father of Violetshine and Twigbranch. This Super Edition follows him from briefly before SkyClan departed their gorge to shortly before their arrival at the lake territories in A Vision of Shadows. Near the end of his apprenticeship, Hawkpaw’s brother Dawnpaw dies in a fire. SkyClan’s medicine cat Echosong receives an omen from StarClan directing SkyClan to reunite with the other warrior clans. Unfortunately, SkyClan has no idea where the other clans are. Shortly thereafter, Hawkwing meets a friendly rogue named Darktail, who claims to know where the other clans are. Leafstar sends a patrol following Darktail’s directions, but said directions lead them straight into an area infested by badgers and Leafstar’s mate Billystorm is killed. The patrol returns to the gorge to discover that raccoons had attacked while they were gone. A second patrol is sent to find the other clans and is similarly unsuccessful. Darktail and his band of rogues attack SkyClan, killing several cats including Hawkwing’s father Sharpclaw. Darktail gives Hawkwing the “we’re not so different, join me and together we can rule the gorge as leader and deputy” spiel, but Hawkwing, having just witnessed Darktail murdering his father, doesn’t bite and leaves the gorge with the rest of SkyClan. The remainder of the book follows SkyClan’s attempts to find the other warrior clans in the face of increasing attrition:
- Snipkit drowns trying to cross a creek;
- Cherrytail and Cloudmist decide to stay with Barley;
- Pebbleshine, Hawkwing’s pregnant mate, becomes trapped in a truck which then drives away;
- Parselyseed and Curlypaw, Hawkwing’s apprentice, decide to become kittypets;
- Waspwhisker, Birdwing, Clovertail, and Fidgetpaw are captured by twolegs;
- Firefern and Rileypool die of the plague
By the end of the book, Hawkwing is deputy. Despite SkyClan seemingly being no nearer to finding the other warrior clans, Hawkwing is heartened by a vision from Echosong that indicates that his and Pebbleshine’s kits (whom we recognize as Twigbranch and Violetshine) still live.
I wasn’t a huge fan of Hawkwing in A Vision of Shadows so I was a little skeptical of a Super Edition with him as the focus, but I have to say he was a good choice for a PoV character. He’s just fun to read. During the first half of the book, he’s incredibly impulsive and incredibly gullible. When he meets Darktail, he immediately trusts him and takes him straight to SkyClan’s camp. After the disaster of the first patrol to find the other clans, Hawkwing (correctly) deduces that Darktail intentionally sent them to Badger City and demands he be driven out, but Leafstar doesn’t listen to him. Then, Darktail flatters him by asking him to come on the second patrol, and Hawkwing suddenly trusts him again and continues to trust him after witnessing him partaking in some egregiously shady behavior. By the end of the book, Hawkwing is a far more even-tempered, responsible, and (unfortunately) boring cat, which is who we saw him as in A Vision of Shadows. Still, it’s hard not to like him, especially considering how much this book treats him like an emotional punching bag; he loses, in order, his brother, his father, his pregnant mate, his foster children, and his apprentice.
Darktail is fun to see again as well. In A Vision of Shadows we mostly saw the more overtly villainous side of Darktail, so it’s fun to see his more subtle, manipulative side. This book is light on additional Darktail backstory, but I’m not too fussed about that because I know there’s a Onestar Super Edition in my future and I suspect we’ll see more of that there.
As usual, StarClan is obnoxiously unhelpful. It’s clear from early in the book that StarClan wants SkyClan to reunite with the other warrior clans around the lake; however, for most of the book they are annoyingly vague re: how SkyClan is supposed to get there. SkyClan is smart enough to find their way to Barley’s barn which is adjacent to the old forest territories, but unfortunately, they don’t have any directions to the lake territories from there. This is both a blessing and a curse: it’s a curse for SkyClan because it leads them to wander around aimlessly for the better part of a year, but it’s a blessing for the reader because the most direct route from forest to lake seems to be through the dreaded mountains. Of course, StarClan does eventually give SkyClan some better directions, but only in the “exclusive manga adventure” appended to the end of this Super Edition (i.e., after the end of the book and therefore after half of SkyClan has died or otherwise left the clan.) This begs the question: if StarClan could give SkyClan directions to the other warrior clans, why didn’t they do so earlier? The text seems to hint that this whole ordeal might be some elaborate test of faith on the part of StarClan – I know StarClan’s characterization historically hasn’t been very consistent, but this is just way too far out of character for me. I’m far more inclined to believe that StarClan is simply bad at their job – or just accept the meta answer that “SkyClan needed to wander aimlessly for a year to make the timeline from A Vision of Shadows work.”
Overall, this was a middle-of-the-road Super Edition. It was better than I was expecting, but nothing groundbreaking.
Tigerheart’s Shadow
Have you ever wondered what Tigerheart got up to when he and Dovewing disappeared during A Vision of Shadows? Well, this Super Edition is for you. Darktail has been defeated and ShadowClan has returned to their territory. However, Rowanstar’s reputation as a weak leader persists and his warriors do not have faith in him. Dovewing meets with Tigerheart in secret and tells him that she’s expecting his kits. She also tells him that she’s been having terrible dreams which she interprets to mean she must leave the clans. Tigerheart initially agrees to go with her, but events in ShadowClan delay their meeting and she leaves without him. Several days later, Tigerheart regrets not leaving with Dovewing and goes off to find her on his own. He eventually makes his way to a large city, where he finds Dovewing living with a group of cats known as “the guardians” in the basement of a large church or cathedral. Tigerheart begs Dovewing to forgive him, and they make up. During their time with the guardians, Tigerheart and Dovewing assist them with several difficulties: driving foxes away from their herb patch, settling disputes with local rogues, etc. Several moons after their kits are born, Tigerheart and Dovewing decide to return to the clans so their kits can be raised as warriors. Several guardian cats who also wish to join the clans accompany them. On the way back to the lake they are joined by a group of former ShadowClan cats who fled Darktail’s terrible reign. When the group is nearly back to the lake, Tigerheart fights an owl and is killed. From StarClan, he partakes in the nine lives ceremony of all new clan leaders; because he now has eight extra lives, he comes back from the dead. Tigerheart, now Tigerstar, is acclaimed as leader of ShadowClan.
There are a few things I find interesting about this book. One is the “guardian cats.” Warriors is, understandably, mainly concerned with clan society – the society of the warriors. Most non-clan cats are usually referred to by generic labels like “rogue,” “loner,” or “kittypet” and are typically understood to not have complex societies. However, occasionally, we get tantalizing glimpses of alternate cat societies – cat societies that have cultures just as complex as but completely distinct from clan society. The most obvious example is the Tribe of Rushing Water, but I am thinking primarily of the Park Cats from the bonus scene at the end of Dawn of the Clans Book 2, Thunder Rising. A big portion of Tigerheart’s Shadow takes place in and around one of these alternate societies: the guardian cats. The guardian cats are distinct from Clan cats in several interesting ways:
- They do not have a strict social hierarchy
- Their primary mission is to tend to the sick and injured
- They don’t believe in StarClan (or, seemingly, any other supernatural prophecy dispensers)
- They do not have borders or mark territory
- Like other city cats, they primarily scavenge rather than hunt.
This is all good, interesting stuff. The issue arises with how our clan cats interact with the guardians. Unfortunately, as with most stories of interactions between Clan cats and outside groups, the main narrative with the guardian cats is white savior Tigerheart coming in and solving all their problems. Reading this Super Edition, it’s hard to not get the sense that Clan society is perfect and the guardians are backwards/primitive. It doesn’t surprise me that Tigerheart and Dovewing would think this – they are Clan cats born-and-raised, after all – but it’s a little strange that the text itself seems to be on their side. One would think that a largely nonviolent society of healers who has seemingly managed to survive for a long time might have a few things to teach the Clan cats, but this simply isn’t the case; any cultural exchange that does happen goes from the clans cats to the guardians. Apparently clan society is so superior that when Dovewing and Tigerheart leave to return to the clans, several of the guardian cats want to go with them. I get that this is Warriors, and the clans is kinda the whole point, but it feels strange to me that after 50 books we have yet to see a single extant, viable non-clan society in a context other than “we need the clans’ help.”
One other thing that annoyed me with this book was the fact that structurally, it’s a generic Hero’s Journey plot. At the risk of stating a controversial opinion, I am not a fan of the Hero’s Journey. I’m sure Joseph Campbell would argue there’s some deep-seated psychological reason why this is the case, but what it really comes down to is I find most Hero’s Journey stories overly predictable and narratively unsatisfying. I fully admit there might be a bit of personal bias involved as well – I think Joseph Campbell is a hack and Hero with a Thousand Faces is genuinely one of the worst books I’ve ever read. To be clear, I don’t hate all Hero’s Journey stories – I love Star Wars (1977) as much as the next guy – but I don’t buy the idea that it’s this Platonic ideal of storytelling evolutionarily ingrained into the human psyche. Often, if you hand me a Hero’s Journey story, I’d rather be reading something else – unfortunately, this book is one of those stories.
All that being said, there were still some things I enjoyed in this book. I really enjoyed Tigerheart’s character, especially during the first part of the book when he’s a piteous ball of anxiety and regret over Dovewing. Ivypool, another favorite of mine, has a brief but memorable scene near the beginning of the book – Tigerheart begs her to talk to Dovewing so Dovewing will have someone to confide in, but Ivypool (who hates Tigerheart’s guts) flat-out refuses unless Tigerheart agrees to break up with her. Tigerheart has another standout moment near the end of the book when he chooses to return to life and face the hardship of living rather than stay dead in StarClan, despite having just died in excruciating pain and clearly being terrified of the prospect.
In closing, this was an okay Super Edition. There were some standout scenes, especially early on, but overall, it didn’t do much for me.
Crowfeather’s Trial
This Super Edition takes place between Omen of the Stars and A Vision of Shadows – specifically, between the Dovewing’s Silence novella and Bramblestar’s Storm Super Edition. The Dark Forest has been defeated, but WindClan is having a difficult time forgiving the cats who trained in the Dark Forest – especially Breezepelt, who, unlike the other Dark Forest-trained cats, actively fought with the Dark Forest against the clans instead of immediately switching sides. Breezepelt’s father, Crowfeather, feels as though he failed as a father; after taking part in two Forbidden Romances all the way back in the New Prophecy arc, Crowfeather swore off love, taking Nightcloud as a mate and fathering Breezepelt only to prove his loyalty to his clan. WindClan starts having issues with a horde of stoats who have started living in the tunnels under their and ThunderClan’s territory. While on a patrol in the tunnels, Nightcloud disappears and is presumed dead. WindClan attacks the stoats but is unable to defeat them. Crowfeather goes behind his clan leader Onestar’s back to ask for help from ThunderClan. When a ThunderClan delegation arrives at WindClan camp, Onestar, furious with Crowfeather, antagonizes them. Onestar concocts a scheme to block the tunnel entrances, thus trapping the stoats. Crowfeather points out this is a stupid plan, and Onestar, thoroughly tired of Crowfeather’s nonsense, banishes him from the clan for a quarter moon. While banished, Crowfeather discovers that Nightcloud is not dead; he sneaks back into WindClan camp, assembles a rescue party, and together they rescue her from Twolegplace. Returning with Nightcloud, the rescue party discovers that the WindClan camp has been attacked by the stoats in their absence. Crowfeather finally convinces Onestar to ask for help from the other clans, and a combined ThunderClan/WindClan force finally defeats the stoats. Crowfeather, who over the course of the book has repaired his relationships with his son Breezepelt and his ex-mate Nightcloud, realizes that maybe allowing himself to love isn’t such a bad thing after all.
This Super Edition was mostly about Crowfeather and his relationships: mainly with his son Breezepelt and ex-mate Nightcloud, but also his ex-Forbidden Romance partner Leafpool, and his children with Leafpool, Lionblaze and Jayfeather. Really, more than anything in the above plot summary, this book is about Crowfeather slowly realizing what a jerk he’s been to all his kin and working to make amends. It’s a touching story, really – since the New Prophecy arc Crowfeather has been closing himself off emotionally, not realizing how much hurt he was causing himself and his kin. By the end of the story his relationships are in a much better place – Breezepelt doesn’t resent him so much, him and Nightcloud have agreed to be friends, and he’s even on somewhat better terms with his ThunderClan sons.
Speaking of Breezepelt, I have to mention how this book treats him compared to his earlier appearances. I don’t believe I covered this very well in my Omen of the Stars roundup, but cats who trained in the Dark Forest did so under the pretense of “being better warriors for our clans” and once the Dark Forest cats tried to get them to fight their living clanmates, they all switched sides. Except Breezepelt. Breezepelt kept fighting for the Dark Forest and tried to kill his half-brother. Let’s look at a direct quote:
Breezepelt ripped his claws along Lionblaze’s cheek. “You’re not as strong as I expected,” he gloated.
“Breezepelt, no!” Ivypool snaked through the throng. “Don’t do it! Please! Do you really want to destroy the clans for Brokenstar’s sake?”
Breezepelt pulled back Lionblaze’s head and smacked it hard against the ground. Growling, Lionblaze tried to shake him off, but Breezepelt held on tighter.
“This has nothing to do with Brokenstar.” His gaze flashed at Ivypool. “Lionblaze should never have been born. None of them should.” He flicked his tail triumphantly toward Hollyleaf’s body. “She’s dead; now it’s your turn, Lionblaze.” He bit into Lionblaze’s neck. (The Last Hope, pg. 308)
Then, in Dovewing’s Silence, it’s clear that Breezepelt is not at all remorseful for his actions and was only allowed to return to WindClan because Onestar, desperate to not lose another warrior, insisted that all Dark Forest trainees be given a blanket pardon. To quote:
Breezepelt was looking smug and Dovewing felt an urge to rake his ears. She was sure he hadn’t wanted to be a better WindClan warrior. He had wanted power and strength, that was all. (Tales from the Clans, pg. 234)
I suppose you could chalk this second quote up to Dovewing being an unreliable narrator, but my point is that everything we know about Breezepelt heading into Crowfeather’s Trial indicates that he’s just a bad seed who doesn’t feel any remorse for being an agent of Cat Hell. In Crowfeather’s Trial, however, Breezepelt is portrayed much more sympathetically – he’s a cat who’s good at heart but whose daddy issues led him to some dark places. This characterization of Breezepelt works well for this story of family reconciliation, but I think it’s undeniable that it conflicts with his earlier characterization. Not to mention it robs us of both a potential recurring villain and the opportunity for a real redemption arc as this book’s Breezepelt doesn’t even need redemption in the first place.
This book is also yet another poor showing for my least favorite clan leader, Onestar. I know there’ll be a Onestar Super Edition covered in a future roundup, so I won’t get too deep into it here, but Onestar is an infuriating character to read. Since about the midpoint of Power of Three his main character trait has been “hates ThunderClan.” To a certain extent, I can understand this – ThunderClan does have a history of meddling in the affairs of other clans – but Onestar takes it way too far. When a ThunderClan patrol visits WindClan’s camp to offer their help in dealing with the stoats, Onestar calls ThunderClan weak and useless even though they have almost twice as many members as WindClan, then accuses Bramblestar to his face of plotting with the ghost of his dead evil dad to kill Firestar. Onestar’s genius plan for dealing with the stoats is to block all the tunnel entrances on WindClan territory, meaning that the stoats could only exit the tunnels on ThunderClan territory, which will surely be great for interclan relations. It takes two crushing defeats, losing one of his lives and several of his warriors almost dying before Onestar finally swallows his pride enough to accept help from ThunderClan.
Besides all of that, there are a few other things I liked in this book. There’s a scene between Jayfeather and Crowfeather that shows how the former inherited his abrasive personality from the latter. This scene also makes it clear that Jayfeather does not forgive Breezepelt – for training in the Dark Forest, for saying he should have never been born, for trying to kill his brother, etc. – which I like; no matter how hard this book tries to make the reader forget it, Breezepelt did ally with the forces of Cat Hell and I’m glad some cat still has a problem with that. Stoats are an interesting choice of antagonist as well; I’m unsure if we’ve even seen stoats before in Warriors, but they work well as an intimidating horde of small, violent creatures prone to being underestimated by clan warriors. This book also has one of the genuinely funniest lines in the entire series so far, after Onestar has just finished explaining his obviously stupid plan for dealing with the stoats:
“That’s the most mouse-brained plan I’ve ever heard!” some cat exclaimed, and Crowfeather realized with horror that it had been him. (Crowfeather’s Trial, pg. 240)
Ah, Crowfeather. Never change. In short, Crowfeather’s Trial is easily one of my favorite Super Editions so far.
Squirrelflight’s Hope
This Super Edition follows ThunderClan deputy Squirrelflight after the events of A Vision of Shadows. The clans, having just shifted their borders to accommodate SkyClan at the end of the last arc, are now fighting over said borders; while the division of territory is now more equitable, several clans now have land that is practically unusable for them (specifically, moorland for ThunderClan, and marsh for ShadowClan.) At a special Gathering, Squirrelflight suggests SkyClan move into a new territory slightly farther from the lake that is not claimed by any clan. She and Leafstar investigate this potential new territory and discover that it is currently being occupied by a small matriarchal group of cats known as the Sisters, who take them prisoner. The Sisters are nomadic and are only settling there temporarily so their leader, Moonlight, can give birth. The clans send a rescue party who secure Leafstar and Squirrelflight’s release. Thus begins the political conflict that takes up most of the rest of the book: ShadowClan and RiverClan want SkyClan to move into the new territory as soon as possible so they can readjust their borders; SkyClan doesn’t want to drive out the Sisters through violence, so they refuse to commit to moving; ThunderClan supports SkyClan; WindClan just wants their land back from ThunderClan but otherwise has no strong opinions. Squirrelflight continues to advocate for the Sisters, much to the annoyance of her mate Bramblestar who starts to question her commitment to clan life. Eventually ShadowClan and RiverClan convince the other clans to drive out the Sisters. The night before the attack, Squirrelflight and Leafpool both receive prophetic dreams they interpret to mean Moonlight and her kits are in trouble; they sneak into the Sisters’ camp, where Leafpool assists with Moonlight’s birthing. The next morning, the clan patrol arrives; despite Squirrelflight’s attempts to mediate, a battle breaks out. In the battle, Squirrelflight and Leafpool are trapped in a landslide while trying to save Moonlights’ kits, and they both wake up in StarClan’s hunting grounds. StarClan informs them that, while they are not dead yet, they are dying and may not recover. Before Squirrelflight and Leafpool are allowed to join StarClan, they are made to answer for their codebreaking in front of a tribunal of StarClan cats. Leafpool is charged with having kits as a medicine cat and taking a mate from another clan; Squirrelflight is charged with lying to her clanmates about the true parentage of Leafpool’s kits. The tribunal ultimately decides not to send Leafpool or Squirrelflight to the Dark Forest. The two of them enjoy StarClan’s hunting grounds for a while, but Squirrelflight is eager to leave. Leafpool dies, making her residency in StarClan permanent; Squirrelflight chooses to return to the world of the living. Waking up in ThunderClan’s medicine den, Squirrelflight learns that Moonlight has died, SkyClan has moved into their new territory, and the Sisters are temporarily living in SkyClan’s new camp. The book ends with ThunderClan holding a vigil for Leafpool, Squirrelflight secure in the knowledge that Leafpool will always be watching over her.
One of the main overarching conflicts of this book is the relationship between Bramblestar and Squirrelflight. Bramblestar and Squirrelflight’s relationship has always been a bit rocky – first, there was the Brambleclaw/Ashfur/Squirrelflight love triangle in the New Prophecy; then there was their major falling out over the whole “lying about Leafpool’s kits being my kits” thing in Power of Three, which they worked out in the last book of Omen of the Stars; then there was the Bramblestar/Jessy/Squirrelflight love triangle in Bramblestar’s Storm. The conflict in this book has two main prongs: one, Bramblestar feels like Squirrelflight constantly undermines him in public and doesn’t respect his authority as clan leader; and two, Squirrelflight wants more kits, but Bramblestar doesn’t. The second prong is resolved when Squirrelflight realizes that, as deputy, she is effectively mother to all clan kits, even if they are not biologically hers. As far as the first prong is concerned, unfortunately for Bramblestar, Squirrelflight seems unambiguously in the right. It’s true that Squirrelflight often publicly argues with Bramblestar, but most often she does so because Bramblestar is making an obviously stupid or ill-considered decision. This is a recurring theme: the main conflict between Brambleclaw and Squirrelflight back in the New Prophecy was that Squirrelflight didn’t like Brambleclaw hanging out with his Obviously Evil half-brother Hawkfrost, and, sure enough, that arc ended with Brambleclaw and Hawkfrost having a fight to the death. In this arc, their main conflict is primarily about the treatment of the Sisters. Squirrelflight is opposed to driving out the Sisters by force on both moral and pragmatic grounds: it would be cruel to force an expectant mother into unfamiliar territory so soon to giving birth, and the Sisters are clearly planning on moving on shortly anyway. Unfortunately, Bramblestar’s clan pride and xenophobia keeps him from seeing the Sisters as anything better than rogues and he feels his paws are tied by wider political concerns (not wanting to alienate the other clans) leading him to disregard Squirrelflight’s wise counsel.
Speaking of the Sisters, this is the second Super Edition in this batch that introduces a group of outsiders. The Sisters is a nomadic group of large (as in, physically large) female cats and their young children. When their male children are old enough to take care of themselves, they leave the Sisters to live as rogues or loners; this is implied to be largely consensual on the part of the toms, but it is revealed that Tree was raised by the Sisters and he clearly resents what he feels was his mother abandoning him. The Sisters all seem to share Tree’s power of seeing ghosts. They don’t believe in StarClan or owning territory, but their culture is clearly deeper than Warriors’ typical “they’re just cats who live together.”
I like the Sisters. Unlike practically every other non-clan group we have seen so far in Warriors, the text in this book treats the Sisters’ society as a valid alternative to clan society. This book is not a story of Clan cats sweeping in and saving group of backwards savages from their own primitive ways; it’s a story of Clan cats being too proud and xenophobic to see an alternate society as anything other than a group of backwards savages who are standing in the way of their glorious destiny. When the clans fight to drive out the Sisters, we are supposed to understand as a reader that this is a bad thing, that it is a failure of the Clans to live up to the Warrior Code, and that Squirrelflight and Leafpool’s trip to StarClan is the clans’ karmic punishment for this failure.
Although it makes up a short section of the book, Squirrelflight’s time in StarClan is by far the most fascinating thing going on in this Super Edition. Easily the most memorable part of this section is the trial scene, which I find bizarre for several reasons:
- Leafpool is charged with having kits as a medicine cat and having a mate from another clan. On the tribunal are Yellowfang (had kits as a medicine cat,) Bluestar (had a mate from another clan and is explicitly stated to be living with said mate in StarClan,) and Moth Flight (had kits as a medicine cat with a mate from another clan.)
- Squirrelflight is charged with lying to her clanmates about the true parentage of Leafpool’s kits. Yellowfang, who is on the tribunal, lied to Squirrelflight to convince her to raise Leafpool’s kits as her own.
The funny thing is, if StarClan did decide to send Leafpool to Cat Hell, I’m almost certain she would be the first character in Warriors history to suffer any spiritual consequences for a Forbidden Romance. The only Forbidden Romance participant I can think of that went to the Dark Forest was Mapleshade, and I think that had more to do with the three murders. And two of Leafpool’s three kits were prophetically necessary to save the clans! Sure, Moth Flight claims StarClan could have chosen any cats for the prophecy but she’s wrong: the prophecy from Power of Three/Omen of the Stars is explicitly stated in those arcs to not come from StarClan. Quoting directly:
“What?” Bluestar rose to her paws again, waving her tail commandingly as if she still held authority over the old medicine cat. “Yellowfang, have you forgotten this prophecy isn’t even ours? It could be dangerous to interfere with it. I think we should leave it alone.” (The Fourth Apprentice, pg. 2)
According to ancient (pre-Dawn of the Clans) cat Rock and immortal ghost badger Midnight, the “kin of your kin” prophecy has existed since the dawn of time, long before the existence of StarClan. To quote:
Rock sat down on the cold stone. His blind blue eyes were round a white as moons. “We watched the first sunrise over the lake.”
“It burst water into flame,” Midnight recalled. “And in fiery reflection we see future of all cats: Tribe of Rushing Water, five Clan, four Clan, forest, and lake.”
“We saw your whole journey, from lake to forest and back.” Rock tipped his head as if watching the cats process in front of him. “The prophecies all came from that first reflected sunrise – the cat with a pelt of flame who would save the Clans, the silver cat who would save the Tribe of Rushing Water, and finally the four who would carry the last hope, not just of the Clans, but of light itself.” (The Last Hope, pg. 3)
I’m not going to spend too long speculating on the cosmology of Warriors world (because I don’t think Warriors even has a consistent cosmology) but from the above quotes it’s evident to me that the “kin of your kin” prophecy (and perhaps all prophecies) are not something created by or under the control of StarClan; rather, StarClan acts only as a conduit for communicating these prophecies to living cats. Therefore, Moth Flight is incorrect; Leafpool’s kits were prophetically necessary to save the Clans, and consequently, punishing her for having them would be unreasonable.
Anyway, the fact that Leafpool and Squirrelflight’s StarClan-worthiness was ever in question is even more absurd considering the presence of one particular StarClan resident: Ashfur. Ashfur, you may recall, tried to murder Squirrelflight’s presumed three children in front of her all the way back in Power of Three, and he’s just…allowed to be in StarClan. This is the second time we’ve seen Ashfur in StarClan, the first being way back in Omen of the Stars – back then, when Jayfeather understandably questions why the guy who tried to murder him and his siblings is allowed in Cat Heaven, Yellowfang tells him “His only fault was to love too much.” (Sign of the Moon, pg. 94.) So, attempted triple homicide is a-okay as long as it’s done out of love, but having kits as a medicine cat is grounds for potentially being sent to Cat Hell, even though doing so was necessary to save the clans and the afterlife itself from destruction? Who wrote this, Immanuel Kant?
It is, of course, sad to see Leafpool go – she’s been a series staple since the New Prophecy, and our first real main character death since Omen of the Stars. ThunderClan won’t feel the same without her.
Overall, this is another very good Super Edition – one of my favorites so far.
Closing Thoughts
Some solid Super Editions this time. Here’s my current ranking of Super Editions:
- Crookedstar’s Promise
- Tallstar’s Revenge
- Crowfeather’s Trial
- Squirrelflight’s Hope
- Bluestar’s Prophecy
- Hawkwing’s Journey
- Moth Flight’s Vision
- Yellowfang’s Secret
- Tigerheart’s Shadow
- Bramblestar’s Storm
- SkyClan’s Destiny
- Firestar’s Quest
Coming up next: our penultimate arc, The Broken Code. Will the Warrior Code be broken? Judging by every book in the series so far, absolutely – but will it be broken more than usual? Stay tuned…
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