Monthly Archives: September 2025

Warriors Roundup: The Elders’ Quest

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Warriors, medicine cats, apprentices – lend me your ears.  I come to present the final Warriors Roundup, covering the Elders’ Quest, the first book of the current arc, Changing Skies.  Let’s see what we’ve got…

Plot Summary

The Elders’ Quest has three point-of-view characters – ShadowClan warrior and longtime secondary character Tawnypelt; SkyClan leader and longtime secondary character Leafstar, and ThunderClan apprentice Moonpaw – each with their own virtually independent plotline.  For convenience’s sake, I’ll recount each character’s plot separately.

Tawnypelt, now one of the oldest cats in ShadowClan, is frustrated by the lack of respect she gets from her younger Clanmates.  When Tawnypelt discovers her grandson Birchfeather is pining after SkyClan warrior Ridgeglow, she encourages him to tell his parents, Tigerstar and Dovewing.  He does, telling them that he is leaving ShadowClan to be with Ridgeglow.  Tigerstar and Dovewing are not happy about this and take out their frustrations on Tawnypelt.  Tawnypelt joins two patrols to investigate a Twoleg building site beyond SkyClan’s border (the titular “elders’ quest”) along with Crowfeather, whom she starts developing romantic feelings for.  Later, Tawnypelt dreams of a cat in distress at the Twoleg building site and goes to investigate with Birchfeather.  While investigating, she slips, falls, and wakes up in StarClan, where she is told that she alone can lead the clans through an approaching crisis and to “beware the two-faced cat with one paw in each world.”  She then wakes up in SkyClan’s medicine den, declares she needs to warn the clans about something, and immediately passes out again.

Leafstar, who has led the reformed SkyClan for its entire existence, is beginning to feel the effects of her advanced age.  Her eyesight is failing, which she is keeping a secret from her Clan.  Several SkyClan warriors come down with an illness, the source of which is traced to the water from one specific stream.  With SkyClan unable to hunt close to this stream for fear of catching tainted prey, Leafstar requests ThunderClan and ShadowClan allow SkyClan slightly expanded hunting rights; they refuse, but, suspecting the Twoleg building site is tainting the stream, Leafstar convinces the other clans to send a joint patrol to investigate.  A second patrol then discovers signs of Twoleg activity at the Moonpool.  Leafstar leads a SkyClan battle patrol to drive out a group of badgers; due to her failing eyesight, Leafstar misidentifies SkyClan apprentice Starlingpaw as a badger and almost attacks him, leading to confusion and forcing SkyClan to retreat.  After Kitescratch dies of wounds received from the badgers, his mate Reedclaw invokes the new provision in the Warrior Code to depose Leafstar.  Reedclaw’s faction falls narrowly short of the ¾ threshold required and Leafstar remains leader.  When Leafstar’s deputy Hawkwing leads a battle patrol that successfully drives out the badgers, Leafstar begins to worry if he is plotting against her.  Wanting to prove that she is still capable, Leafstar goes hunting on her own, falls down a ravine, and wakes up three days later in the SkyClan medicine den.  Reedclaw calls for another vote to depose Leafstar, and the vote is successful.  According to the Warrior Code, the other four clan leaders then must assent to deposing Leafstar’s before giving StarClan the final word; however, at the next Gathering, the other clan leaders are reluctant to rubber-stamp Leafstar’s ouster.  Realizing that she has lost the confidence of her warriors, Leafstar decides to voluntarily step down.

In ThunderClan, Moonkit is a cat who is expected to have a great destiny.  She has an unusual fur pattern: one half of her face has orange tabby fur, and the other half is black.  Since birth, Moonkit has also had a voice in her head, “whispering to her, making comments, asking questions.” (The Elder’s Quest, pg. 35) Moonkit is aware that this is unusual but hasn’t told anyone about it at the voice’s insistence. Because of her portentous half-moon-esque face, her parents believe she is destined to become a medicine cat; however, Moonkit doesn’t tell Alderheart and Jayfeather about the voice in her head and they conclude she has no special connection to StarClan.  Moonkit is made an apprentice under Sunbeam and begins her warrior training; however, the voice is a constant distraction.  While looking at her reflection in the lake, Moonpaw sees a mysterious orange tabby she-cat behind her; the voice in her head tells her to keep it a secret.  Making little progress with her warrior training, Moonpaw decides to try medicine cat work.  She takes to it impressively well despite the voice in her head’s insistence that it’s the wrong path for her.  At her first half-moon medicine cat meeting, Moonpaw again sees the mysterious cat in her reflection in the Moonpool.  Jayfeather tells Moonpaw about the events of the Broken Code arc, specifically the part where Ashfur appeared to Shadowsight as a disembodied voice in his head.  Sufficiently spooked, Moonpaw returns to the Moonpool to talk with the voice; to prove that she’s not just a hallucination, the voice tells Moonpaw that the following day “the sun will disappear” and “you will find the sun shining in a hollow tree.” (The Elder’s Quest, pg. 184) Sure enough, the next day, Sunkit goes missing and is found next to a hollow tree.  Sunkit claims that he followed Moonpaw to the tree, which Moonpaw does not remember doing.  Moonpaw finally concedes to the voice’s insistence that medicine cat training isn’t for her and returns to her warrior training, which she takes to it spectacularly well – perhaps preternaturally well – ignoring the voice when it tries to distract her.  Later, after some ominous and obviously supernatural things happen to her (turning around and finding objects suddenly missing, feeling unnaturally cold, the voice telling her “You can’t run from me” [The Elders’ Quest, pg. 252]) Moonpaw decides that maybe she should tell her parents about the spooky voice in her head after all.  After telling her parents about the voice and the cat she’s been seeing in her reflections, her parents tell her that she had an orange tabby sister who died shortly after birth and conclude that this (yet-unnamed) sister must be trying to contact Moonpaw from StarClan.  Moonpaw tries to convince her sister that she doesn’t belong in this world and should move on to StarClan, but her sister refuses, saying “if you won’t let me be with you in your world, you will be with me in mine.” (The Elders’ Quest, pg. 256)

What We Have So Far

This is usually the part of a Warriors Roundup where I would pass judgement on the arc in question.  Unfortunately, since the Elders’ Quest is the only book of Changing Skies released so far, I am in no position to pass judgement on Changing Skies.  There’s just too much about this arc that we don’t know – I’ve said in the past that Warriors arcs live or die based on the quality of their villains, but the only real villains we have in the Elders’ Quest are Moonpaw’s ghost sister and “the concept of aging.” 

What I do feel comfortable passing judgement on is the Elders’ Quest in and of itself.  As far as Warriors books go, it’s fine.  The first books of every arc since the Broken Code have followed a similar pattern – three point-of-view characters with plotlines that barely intersect – and I think it works well for Warriors.  It’s nice to see what’s happening in different clans in an era of relative peace before the “main plot” of the arc begins to dominate.  As far as the individual plots go, they’re fine enough.  My favorite of the three is the Leafstar plot; I don’t think we’ve ever had a clan leader PoV in a main series book since the first arc, and we’ve certainly never had one from one so elderly or in such a precarious internal political position.  It is true that Leafstar is no longer in any shape to be physically leading her clan into battle, but it isn’t clear whether that should matter.  Her deputy, Hawkwing, is obviously more than capable of picking up the slack in terms of physical leadership, and with her age comes experience and wisdom.  Besides, despite her concerns about him plotting against her, Hawkwing has no interest in taking over as leader of SkyClan while Leafstar still lives, being perfectly happy as a supportive deputy. While Reedclaw’s arguments against Leafstar’s continued leadership are sound, her motivation for ousting Leafstar obviously comes from personal grief over her mate’s death following Leafstar’s ill-advised expedition against the badgers.  It’s also fun to see the leader deposition process in action. The process was clearly designed to be used against leaders who were Obviously Evil as well as unpopular within their own clans – after all, if internal support is the only thing that matters, why require the other clan leaders to assent?  But Leafstar is obviously not evil, just old, and the other clan leaders really do not want to assent to removing her from power.  What would have happened if the clan leaders didn’t assent and Leafstar didn’t step down voluntarily?  Would SkyClan continue to respect her authority?  I guess we’ll never know.  Or will we…

The Tawnypelt plot is okay.  I like Tawnypelt, but the franchise has not been kind to her so far.  She was supposedly a major character in the New Prophecy, being one of the six cats to go on the big quest in the first half of that arc, but among the cats on the quest she was by far the least interesting – I believe in my New Prophecy roundup I called her the “token ShadowClan cat” and said her only job was to “wag her finger (paw?) at Brambleclaw for hanging out with his Obviously Evil half-brother.”  She had a forgettable novella and played a medium sized role for a few of the books in A Vision of Shadows, but overall I’ve never really felt that the series did her justice, so it’s nice to see her as a PoV character.  She’s a child of Evil Tigerstar, for crying out loud – give her something.  It’s nice to see Tawnypelt in the supportive grandmother role to Birchfeather, even if casting her in that role requires giving Tigerstar some bizarre characterization (“I don’t want my son to switch clans for love” – my brother in StarClan, your mate did that exact thing.)  I understand there has been some backlash against the idea of Tawnypelt falling for Crowfeather, but I don’t have a problem with it – they’ve known each other for a long time, both are widowed/cat-divorced, and their personalities seem like a good enough match.  Plus, I just think it’s funny that, if Crowfeather and Tawnypelt do get together, Crowfeather, a cat whose main personality trait is “abrasive,” will have been in relationships with four cats from four different clans. 

Were I to guess, I would predict that it is the Moonpaw plot that will eventually develop into the main series plot.  At this point, the text seemingly no longer considers it a mystery who the voice in Moonpaw’s head is – it’s her dead sister.  What is not clear to me is the nature of said dead sister’s existence.  Moonpaw’s dead sister (who, so I don’t have to keep typing the words “dead sister” I will refer to from here on out as “Ghostpaw”) exhibits three main supernatural powers: manifesting as a voice in Moonpaw’s head; appearing to Moonpaw in reflections; and affecting the physical world (she pulls Moonpaw’s tail at one point.)  Looking at these powers, my first thought is, “these are Dark Forest powers.”  In Crookedstar’s Promise, Mapleshade manifests as a voice in Crookedstar’s head, appears to him (and only to him) in both dreams and the waking world, and is shown to be able to affect the physical world.  Now, I don’t actually think Ghostpaw is a Dark Forest cat, for two main reasons:

  1. It would imply that an infant was sent to Cat Hell, which is beyond the pale even for StarClan under their least charitable characterization (although I suppose it could have been an accident); and
  2. Ghostpaw appears to be the same physical age as Moonpaw and it has been previously established that cats in StarClan (and therefore presumably the Dark Forest) don’t age.

I think whatever is going on with Ghostpaw is something we’ve not seen before in Warriors.  The best direct evidence we have for the nature of what is going on with Ghostpaw comes from her conversation with Moonpaw at the Moonpool.  Quoting directly from the book:

[…] it was with a serious look that it [i.e., Ghostpaw] meowed, I am you, and you are me.  We are two halves.

Moonpaw sat staring in confusion.  What does that mean? she asked.  Does every cat have two halves?  How do I know that your voice is real, and not just something I’m imagining?

Of course I’m real, the orange cat insisted.  And I live in a world few cats can see.  But I’m tied to you, Moonpaw.  We are part of each other.

That doesn’t help, Moonpaw snapped in frustration.  I could still be making it all up somehow.

The orange cat hesitated, its green gaze growing thoughtful.  Then I’ll prove to you that I’m real, it promised after a few heartbeats.  I’ll tell you something that you have no way of knowing.

Moonpaw found it hard to believe her.  How can you do that?  she asked suspiciously.

Sometimes, in my world, I can see slips in time, the orange cat explained.  It’s not quite seeing the future, but it’s close.  If what I tell you comes true, then you’ll know that I’m not lying to you, and that I’m real.  Okay? (The Elders’ Quest, pg. 183-184)

From this block we learn that 1. Moonpaw and Ghostpaw are in some sense “connected” or “two halves” of the same whole, and 2. Ghostpaw lives in some “world” wherein she can do something akin to seeing the future. The “seeing the future” part is something we’ve seen before as a StarClan ability, but Ghostpaw is clearly not a part of StarClan so I’m not sure what exactly “her world” is. As far as the “connection” between Moonpaw and Ghostpaw goes, while I suppose you could argue this just refers to their sibling bond, I think something more is going on here.  When I first read the “we are two halves” line, I immediately connected it to Moonpaw’s distinct fur pattern – the description of her as being half orange tabby, half black is consistent with her being a chimera.  According to my favorite social media platform Wikipedia, “Animal chimeras can be produced by the fusion of two (or more) embryos.” [1] Knowing this, heading into the final chapter of this book, my running theory was that Moonpaw is a chimera and Ghostpaw is the spirit of the secondary embryo that merged with Moonpaw in utero.  Then, in the final chapter, Moonpaw’s parents tell her about her dead infant sister, Moonpaw confronts Ghostpaw, Ghostpaw refuses to move on, and the book ends.  At this point, I thought to myself “okay, the voice is her dead infant sister, the chimera/absorbed in utero thing was just a red herring,” but the more that I think about it the more I’m genuinely torn as to Ghostpaw’s true identity.  For your consideration, here are a few arguments that Ghostpaw could still be the spirit of an embryo absorbed by Moonpaw in utero:

  1. Moonpaw could have had two orange tabby siblings – one absorbed in utero and the one that died as an infant – of which the one absorbed in utero is now Ghostpaw.
  2. Ghostpaw never confirms that Moonpaw’s understanding of her identity (i.e. that she was her sister that died as an infant) is correct.
  3. Ghostpaw’s frequent references to her and Moonpaw being “two halves” and “connected” imply that something beyond a simple sibling relationship is at play.
  4. It has been previously established that even infant kits who die go to StarClan; something else happening to Moonpaw’s infant sister (i.e. “becoming Ghostpaw”) would be a departure from the norm.  In a vacuum, it makes more sense that Ghostpaw’s strange situation happened to a cat who was absorbed in utero rather than a cat who simply died as an infant.
  5. If Ghostpaw is simply Moonpaw’s dead infant sister, then Moonpaw being a chimera is likely a red herring.

And here is are my best counterarguments – arguments that Ghostpaw is, as Moonpaw believes, the spirit of her dead infant sister:

  1. Occam’s Razor.  Taking Moonpaw’s beliefs as true does not require us to invent another orange tabby sibling for Moonpaw. 
  2. Ghostpaw’s only quote regarding Moonpaw’s understanding, “Now you know the truth” (The Elders’ Quest, pg. 255) obviously implies that her understanding is correct, even if she never directly comes out and says “Yes, Moonpaw, I am your dead infant sister.”
  3. This could easily be reconciled by circumstances revealed in later books.
  4. See counterargument 3 above.
  5. No counterargument, this is true.

Ultimately, while I think it would be a cool twist if Ghostpaw turned out to be a sibling absorbed in-utero, I think Moonpaw’s understanding is correct: Ghostpaw is her dead infant sister.  That said, I am fully convinced that Ghostpaw being an absorbed chimera sibling was at the very least an idea in an earlier draft of the story, and that is why Moonpaw is a chimera even if her being a chimera isn’t plot relevant in the final arc.

What Happens Next

While the whole “arc isn’t finished” thing means I can’t pass judgement on Changing Skies as a whole, what it does allow me to do is make predictions.  Here’s are some guesses of where I think this arc is going to go:

  • The Clans are going to lose their connection to StarClan again.  In the prologue StarClan is clearly worried about this and the Twoleg activity around the Moonpool does not bode well.
  • Leafstar will stay leader of SkyClan, at least for a while.  Crucially, this book ends before Leafstar has the chance to go to the Moonpool and get StarClan’s approval for her resignation.  I think the next book is going to open with Leafstar going to the Moonpool only to find that Twoleg interference prevents her from contacting StarClan, meaning she’s stuck as leader of SkyClan until the connection is restored.
  • Alternate afterlives will be used as a backdoor to StarClan.  In Ivypool’s Heart, Ivypool enters StarClan from the wildcats’ afterlife via the River of Spirits.  I think, when the clans lose their connection to StarClan, this will be tried again.
  • StormClan is going to be relevant.  In Ivypool’s Heart it was made abundantly clear that de-fading the StormClan cats was going to be important.  It wasn’t important in Ivypool’s Heart or the final book of A Starless Clan, so I think it’s going to be important here.  I’m thinking StormClan either helps with the backdoor into StarClan, or helps guide cats traveling through the same territory they traveled through in StormClan’s Folly.
  • The Clans will not leave the lake territories.  This book has a lot of callbacks to the New Prophecy, the first half of which was concerned with the clans’ relocation to the lake territories after Twolegs destroyed the forest, and the idea of leaving the lake territories is even mentioned a few times.  I just don’t think it’s going to happen.  Call it a hunch, I guess.
  • Tawnypelt will be rejected by Crowfeather.  Crowfeather has shown no signs of reciprocating Tawnypelt’s affections, and I think it’ll stay that way.
  • Ghostpaw’s intentions won’t be as sinister as one might expect.  She will be an overall antagonistic force, but she will be characterized as more of a petulant, selfish child than an Obviously Evil sociopath.
  • Moonpaw will be a villain protagonist. Tawnypelt’s prophecy to “beware the two-faced cat with one paw in each world” will turn out not to be a red herring and refer to the obvious candidate, Moonpaw.  Moonpaw will, under the influence of Ghostpaw, partake in some villainous behavior but ultimately be redeemed.
  • WarriorClan will save the day.  This is less of a prediction and more of a hope.  Erin Hunter – I have never asked anything of you before; I have no tongue for it.  No one, not even you, will remember if this was a good arc or bad; what new powers StarClan gained, or what minor characters died.  No – all that matters is which secondary characters make an appearance.  That’s what’s important.  Fan engagement pleases you, Erin, so grant me one request.  Grant me MONKEYSTAR.  And if you do not listen, then to the Dark Forest with you!

What Now?

And…that’s it.  That’s the entirety of the Warriors main series, novellas, and Super Editions all rounded up.  Had you told me in January that I would spend all summer reading a series aimed at middle schoolers and write nearly 50,000 words about it – well, in all honestly, I probably would have believed you; it does sound like the kind of thing I would do.

While there isn’t any more mainline Warriors content to be rounded up, that doesn’t mean that my Warriors journey is entirely finished.  I intend to write one more roundup summarizing my thoughts on the series as a whole, so keep an eye out for that, and I’m certainly planning on rounding up new releases as they come out.  The second book in Changing Skies comes out in a little over two months, so I’m sure it’ll be fun to look back on my predictions and laugh at how off-base I was.  Plus, while I don’t have any plans to cover them in the near future, there are several other pieces of Warriors media that could do with a roundup – field guides, graphic novels, the website, the Warriors Adventure Game (if I can ever convince my D&D group to humor me for a few a sessions.) 

For now, Zippy and I are going to take a break from Warriors. What are we going to do with ourselves, now that, for the first time in months, we don’t know exactly what book to read next?  Truly a conundrum, but I’m sure we can figure it out.  Thanks for reading, and, as they say in the lake territories, “may StarClan light your path.”  Actually, scratch that – with their track record I don’t want StarClan to lighting anything around me…

Zippy, my illustrious reading partner. I think he lost interest some time around Omen of the Stars.

References

[1] Wikipedia contributors. “Chimera (genetics).” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 18 Aug. 2025. Web. 4 Sep. 2025.

Warriors Roundup: Super Editions VI

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In this Warriors Roundup: our final three Super Editions. I’d like to apologize for the delay in posting this Roundup; I will admit that I have been deliberately slowing my rate of Warriors consumption as I get closer to completely catching up with the franchise. What will I do with myself when I run out of cat books to read? I’ve got a few ideas, but for now, let’s take a look at what those warrior cats are up to…

Riverstar’s Home

Riverstar was, as anyone with basic pattern recognition skills or who paid attention during the Dawn of the Clans roundup would already know, the first leader of RiverClan, and this Super Edition is effectively his biography.  Ripple lives an Edenic existence in a public park with several other cats including his mentor Arc and his mate Flutter.  When Twolegs show up and start bulldozing the place, Ripple escapes by riding a log down the river, which eventually takes him to what we readers recognize as RiverClan’s portion of the forest territories.  He renames himself River Ripple, meets friendly loners Night and Mist, and begins attracting other loners to come live with him through his sheer chill, relaxed energy.  Later, cats from the mountains move into the territory.  We then see the highlights of the Dawn of the Clans arc and Moth Flight’s Vision Super Edition from River Ripple’s perspective: Clear Sky getting up to his old nonsense; the First Battle; StarClan revealing itself; One-Eye and Slash causing troubles; and finally, River Ripple communing with StarClan, receiving his nine lives, and becoming Riverstar.  Later, Riverstar’s old mentor from the park, Arc, arrives at RiverClan camp to ask for Riverstar’s help.  Apparently, several other park cats escaped the destruction of the park and settled close by, but now they are being terrorized by minor Dawn of the Clans villain Slash.  Riverstar travels with Arc to the park cats’ new home.  Together, the park cats and Riverstar fight Slash and his rogues; while the battle initially goes poorly and Riverstar loses a life, he intimidates Slash’s rogues into fleeing upon being resurrected by insinuating that he has fabulous magical powers beyond coming back from the dead.  Slash gets a classic Disney villain death by falling off a cliff, and the park cats are saved.  While waiting to return to RiverClan, Riverstar falls in love with park cat Finch, takes her as his mate, and gets her pregnant.  Although tempted to stay with the park cats, Riverstar ultimately decides his duty to his clan comes first and leaves.  Thankfully, Finch decides that she loves Riverstar too much to live without him and comes along.  Upon arriving back to the forest territories, Riverstar learns that Skystar (the artist formerly known as Clear Sky) has been up to his old nonsense – apparently, a storm blew a tree across the river, creating a bridge between RiverClan and SkyClan territory, and Skystar has decided to interpret this as a sign from StarClan that SkyClan should conquer RiverClan.  Despite being a pacifist, Riverstar drives SkyClan off RiverClan land and destroys the bridge.

First and foremost, I’d like to say that it’s nice to return to the Dawn of the Clans continuity.  This Super Edition (released 2023) is the first time we’ve had a work longer than a novella set during or around Dawn of the Clans since 2015, when the final book of the arc and Moth Flight’s Vision came out.  Something I’ve always appreciated about the Dawn of the Clans continuity is its remoteness from the rest of canon: a lot of the canon of the main continuity can be a bit limiting.  The clans don’t really fight each other for no reason anymore in the main continuity; years of mutual defense against external threats have made them too integrated.  In Dawn of the Clans, however, we have Clear Sky, who is practically “starting fights for no reason” incarnate, so we can have clan vs. clan conflicts that aren’t tied in with some broader metaphysical conflict between the forces of good and evil.  Sometimes it’s nice to see cats fight just because.

Structurally speaking, this was a bit of an odd one.  Riverstar’s Home didn’t feel like a Super Edition so much as it felt like a Super Edition with two novellas appended to the end of it: the entire “Riverstar helps the park cats fight Slash” and “RiverClan vs. SkyClan” plotlines feel so independent of the rest of the Super Edition that they could have been published as novellas and I don’t think anybody would have noticed.  It’s not uncommon for these biography-style Super Editions to jump around a lot in the timeline, but this is the only Super Edition I can think of that feels this disjointed besides maybe Onestar’s Confession.  I think part of the issue is the lack of a strong thematic throughline, but then again this isn’t exactly a problem unique to Riverstar’s Home.  Honestly, I think a Riverstar Super Edition was always going to be challenging thematically; Riverstar’s defining character traits are his relaxed attitude and his love of peace, yet he’s a clan leader bordering Skystar’s SkyClan, so obviously peace was never going to be an option long-term.  Perhaps if this conflict was a central plot point of the book it would have felt more cohesive, but as it stands it’s something that is briefly brought up on a few occasions and then dismissed shortly thereafter.

It didn’t particularly bother me that much of this Super Edition was spent re-telling Dawn of the Clans.  For one, Riverstar is, for all intents and purposes, a secondary character in Dawn of the Clans; he is absent for virtually every major event in the first half of the arc and several major events in the second half, so it’s not just a blow-by-blow of the major plot points.  Arguably, Riverstar’s Home might be the best way to consume Dawn of the Clans, because his perspective doesn’t include Bumble.  What did bother me a bit was the entire “Riverstar goes to help the park cats plot.”  It’s yet another “Clan cat as white savior to primitive non-clan society” plot that has been plaguing Warriors since the New Prophecy arc, and it’s just as irksome here as it always is.  Oh, and while I’m mentioning minor annoyances, in this book we were treated to – you guessed it – yet another birthing scene. 

All in all, this was just a middle of the road Super Edition.  Nothing particularly offensive going on, but nothing to write home about either.

Ivypool’s Heart

Fifteen years after her introduction back at the end of Power of Three, we finally have a Super Edition following one of my favorite characters, Ivypool.  This Super Edition takes place during the events of A Starless Clan – Splashtail has just taken charge of RiverClan, Squirrelstar is the new leader of ThunderClan, and Ivypool is not having a good time.  She is still grieving the loss of her daughter, Bristlefrost, whom, since she died in the Dark Forest, Ivypool has no hope of ever seeing again, even in StarClan.  WindClan medicine cat apprentice Whistlepaw begins having disturbing visions indicating the clans must repay some long-forgotten debt lest disaster strike them all.  The clan leaders take these visions seriously enough to send a patrol to follow Whistlepaw’s vision.  This patrol consists of Whistlepaw, Ivypool, Rootspring, Dovewing, and Icewing.  The patrol experiences various misadventures (including running into some tough kittypets and the Sisters) before arriving at what readers recognize as a run-down zoo/exotic animal marketplace.  There, the patrol runs into two caged wildcats, Stalk Purr and Tumble Leap, who speak their language and claim descent from a group known as StormClan, whom the patrol has never heard of.  Seeking to understand what StormClan is all about, the patrol follow the wildcats’ directions to a holy site where they commune with the spirit of Galestar, the leader of StormClan and the source of Whistlepaw’s visions.  To make a long story short, a long time ago Galestar was a leader of WindClan who fell in love with Stripestar, who was leader of ThunderClan.  In order to be together without breaking the Warrior Code, they combined their clans into StormClan.  StarClan disapproved, misfortune struck, and ultimately StormClan left the forest territories.  During the journey, Galestar and her kits got separated from the rest of StormClan and they were taken in by a group of wildcats, and now Galestar wants the clan patrol to repay their kindness by helping the trapped wildcats. The clan patrol returns to the zoo/exotic animal marketplace, rescue Stalk Purr and Tumble Leap, and together they journey to find another group of wildcats whom they can live with.  On the journey, Stalk Purr gives birth to three kits, and Ivypool and Icewing continue alone to find the other wildcats.  They do, and after the other wildcats agree to accept Stalk Purr and Tumble Leap into their group, Ivypool and Icewing journey to the wildcats’ afterlife by means of their local holy site, a hollow log.  There, they meet with Galestar and the three travel down the River of Spirits to StarClan’s hunting grounds.  Once there, Galestar tells her story to the gathered StarClan cats, who had completely forgotten about StormClan.  When the StarClan cats remember StormClan, the StormClan cats who had previously faded from StarClan re-materialize, and Galestar reconciles with Stripestar.  Once Stalk Purr and Tumble Leap join the wildcat group, the clan cats set off to return to the lake territories.  Ivypool begins the return journey safe in the knowledge that, while she may never see Bristlefrost again, Bristlefrost’s spirit is all around her.

Ivypool’s Heart has probably the strongest thematic throughline of any Super Edition: grief.  Death in Warriors has never been much of a big deal; StarClan’s existence is so apparent to everyone in-series that atheism is untenable.  Every Clan cat knows with absolute certainty that they will see their departed loved ones in the afterlife, so long as they haven’t been sent to the Dark Forest or experienced spirit death.  Unfortunately, since Bristlefrost experienced spirit death, Ivypool knows for a fact that she will never see her again, and it affects her terribly.  At the beginning of this book, Ivypool is neglecting her duties as clan deputy and sneaking out in the middle of the night to commiserate with Rootspring.  She can’t laugh without feeling guilty: to quote, “Cats in mourning don’t laugh, she told herself.  What would Bristlefrost think if she could see me, chuckling away, with her dead and gone?” (Ivypool’s Heart, pg. 68) And Ivypool isn’t the only cat in the patrol dealing with grief: Rootspring is grieving his mate Bristlefrost as well, and Dovewing is grieving the loss of her son Rowankit who died earlier in A Starless Clan.  Meanwhile, Icewing has come to terms with the death of one of her children who also died in the Dark Forest back in Omen of the Stars.

During its exploration of Ivypool’s grief, this Super Edition does a lot to develop the Warriors afterlife.  Back in Omen of the Stars, we were introduced to the concepts of spirit death and fading – that dying in the Dark Forest/dying while already dead results in one being erased from existence, and that if all living cats forget about a StarClan/Dark Forest cat, said cat’s spirit fades into (presumable) nonexistence.  Neither of these concepts have really been explored in any detail until now, so I’m glad to see them finally get some attention.  This book gives us our first description of what is believed to happen to “faded” cats, at least according to the wildcats.  According to Claw Stretch:

“We wildcats believe that we go to an afterlife when we die, just as you clan cats do.  But when those cats are eventually forgotten by all the living wildcats, they become part of the earth, the air, the water – they spread out to become part of the whole world. Nothing is ever really lost.  Ivypool, can’t you sense, if you reach out, that Bristlefrost is still all around you?” (Ivypool’s Heart, pg. 321)

Later still, when Stripestar “de-fades” and re-materializes in StarClan, he describes his prior existence as follows:

“I wasn’t here,” he replied slowly, as if he was feeling his way.  “I was kind of everywhere, I suppose. I was part of the wind, the grass, the trees…everything.  I wasn’t watching over the Clans like StarClan does, but I was…aware of them.  It was sort of…wonderful.” (Ivypool’s Heart, pg. 352)

This gives us confirmation that “faded” cats still exist as individuals, at least in some sense, and that fading is reversible.  This also debunks the fan theory that “faded” cats are reincarnated.  The book is somewhat more ambiguous as to what happens after spirit death; from what I can gather, the implication seems to be that they experience the same “oneness with the world” thing that faded cats do, but that spirit death is irreversible.  At the very end of the book, Ivypool dreams of Bristlefrost:

[…] Ivypool found herself standing beside the lake in the quiet evening light with waves lapping peacefully at her paws. Bristlefrost purred as she pressed her cheek against her mother’s.  Her sweet scent wreathed all around Ivypool.

“Oh, Bristlefrost, I’ve missed you so much,” she mewed, her heart breaking all over again.  “I can’t stand losing you!”

“You haven’t lost me.”  Bristlefrost blinked at her affectionately.  “I’m everywhere.  You only need to look for me.”

As she spoke, her body and the lake and woodland around her began to fade.  Finally all that Ivypool could see was her daughter’s blue-green gaze, calm and full of love. Then even that disappeared, and Ivypool opened her eyes to find herself in her nest under the bushes. (Ivypool’s Heart, pg. 372)

Later, Rootspring confirms he had the same dream.  This could be interpreted as evidence that cats post-spirit death can communicate with living cats through dreams, but personally I don’t buy it for a few reasons.  One, if faded/post-spirit-death cats could just send living cats dreams, Evil Tigerstar would have started doing it three arcs ago. Two, this is not the first Bristlefrost dream Ivypool has had this Super Edition, but it’s the only one where Bristlefrost confirms that she is “one with the world.”  Notably, this dream occurs after Ivypool learns of the wildcats’ beliefs regarding post-faded/spirit death cats and after Stripestar confirms what really happens to faded cats.  It’s a classic case of “dreams aren’t prophetic if they don’t provide any new information.”  Had Rootspring not had the same dream, I would argue that Ivypool’s dream was just a normal dream – but since Rootspring did have the same dream, I have to conclude that it is supernatural in origin, but not directly from post-spirit death Bristlefrost – I’m thinking the most realistic option is the Cat Monad/the totality of existence.  Or maybe I’m giving the story team too much credit and it really is just from Bristlefrost.

On the topic of somewhat ambiguous metaphysical things that happened in this Super Edition: when Icewing and Ivypool are sailing down the River of Spirits (which, to be clear, has literally never been mentioned before) they pass by several afterlives, including the Tribe of Endless Hunting.  When they pass the Dark Forest, Ivypool is tempted to leap in and look for any trace of Bristlefrost, when, to quote:

Then a voice seemed to speak in her mind.  It was cool and quiet, and infinitely comforting.

“You have a mate, and kits, who love you.  You have a Clan that respects you.  You are Clan deputy.  You are needed.  There would be such grief and loss if you never returned.”

Could that be Bristlefrost? (Ivypool’s Heart, pg. 344-345)

This incident is never brought up again and the source of the voice is never confirmed.  Once again, the easy interpretation is, this is Bristlefrost communicating with Ivypool from her place as one with the world, but I don’t buy this because, again, if cats who have gone through spirit death can just communicate with the living, Evil Tigerstar would have been doing so for three arcs now.  I also suspect that, were this Bristlefrost, Ivypool would immediately recognize her.  The description of the voice as, “cool and quiet, and infinitely comforting” makes me think this is some higher power we have yet to really see in Warriors – perhaps Cat God, or the Cat Monad, or whatever the source of StarClan’s prophecies is, but once again I could be giving the story team too much credit and it’s just Bristlefrost.

Anyway, even outside the metaphysical, this Super Edition feels like it does a lot to expand the Warriors world.  Besides the new additions (the wildcats and StormClan) we also have more Sisters lore, a mention of my beloved WarriorClan (the first outside Graystripe’s Vow) and, perhaps most notably, a new map.  Most Warriors books contain a map of either the forest or the lake territories immediately following the Allegiances section, but in Ivypool’s Heart we are instead treated to a map showing various locales visited during the clan patrol’s journey.  I know this map is used again in the next Super Edition for reasons that will soon become apparent, but it still feels like a lot of effort to draw a map that will only be used twice.  With all the new additions to the Warriors world introduced in this book, I can’t help but feel like Ivypool’s Heart is building up to something.  What exactly is being built up to, if anything, I can’t tell you – and unless it’s featured in the next Super Edition or the first book of Changing Skies, we’re just going to have to wait to find out.

Overall, I really enjoyed this Super Edition.  Ivypool’s Heart gives Crookedstar’s Promise a run for its money as my favorite Super Edition.

StormClan’s Folly

Remember StormClan from Ivypool’s Heart?  Well, this is a Super Edition all about them.  Shortly after SkyClan’s departure from the forest territories, WindClan apprentice Galepaw and ThunderClan apprentice Stripepaw meet each other at a Gathering and immediately hit it off.  Seasons later, Stripestar and Galestar have become leaders of their respective clans.  After Galestar accidentally kills Stripestar’s mate in battle (which doesn’t bother Stripestar all that much) she decides to make it up to him by helping ThunderClan take Sunningrocks from RiverClan.  The two begin meeting in secret to discuss their alliance, fall madly in love, and Galestar becomes pregnant with Stripestar’s kits.  They decide to combine their clans into a new conglomerate clan, StormClan, so they can be together.  However, when they visit the Moonstone to get StarClan’s approval, they are told in no uncertain terms that StarClan will never condone the union of their clans.  Stripestar and Galestar insist on going through with it anyway, and in response StarClan strips them of their nine lives and refuses to offer their guidance any longer.  Later, after Galestar’s kits are stillborn and a forest fire results in all the Clans going hungry, Galestar and Stripestar decide to lead their new clan out of the forest territories towards greener pastures.  The journey takes them through the mountains, where they meet the Tribe of Rushing Water, and past what we readers recognize as the Moonpool from the lake territories.  StormClan attempts to settle in several locales – a Twoleg den, a marsh, high in the mountains – only meet disaster in each and are forced to move on.  Ultimately, StormClan settles on a beach, where Galestar gives birth to a second litter of kits.  When StormClan attempts to leave the beach to once again look for a better home, they are struck by a powerful storm and Galestar and her kits are separated from the larger group.  Despite frantic searching, Stripestar and the rest of StormClan are unable to find any trace of Galestar or her kits, who are presumed dead.  Galestar and her kits are found by a friendly group of wildcats, who take them in.  Convinced that she has been abandoned by Stripestar, Galestar eventually becomes a fully accepted member of the wildcat group, taking a wildcat mate and adopting the new name Gale Rise.  Meanwhile, StormClan mutinies, demanding Stripestar lead them back to the forest territories and then splintering back into WindClan and ThunderClan.  Upon his return to the forest, Stripestar grovels first to RiverClan and ShadowClan and then to StarClan, begging them to allow ThunderClan and WindClan back.  StarClan ultimately agrees under the condition that Stripestar be stripped of his leadership and no cat ever speaks of StormClan ever again.  Years later, under the leadership of Whitestar, ThunderClan successfully reconquers Sunningrocks from RiverClan.  Stripebark, now an old cat, thinks back to his victory at Sunningrocks all those years ago.  He realizes that he misses Galestar, that she was all he ever wanted, and that he will never forgive himself for losing her.

I really liked this one.  I do love a good downer ending, and I love stories about the haughty being brought low by fate.  It’s a classic tale of hubris – Galestar and Stripestar love each other so strongly that they defy StarClan to their faces so they can be together.  They lead their Clan through disaster after disaster, every lost clanmate a martyr on the altar of their love, and in the end, it was all for nothing.  Stripestar – or rather, Stripebark – spends the rest of his life atoning for his mistakes, trying to repair the damage he caused to his Clan, missing Galestar with his every waking moment, and Galestar – or rather, Gale Rise – dies thinking that Stripestar betrayed and abandoned her (although, to be fair, she does live a long and fulfilling life with her kits and her new hunky wildcat boyfriend first.)

Of course, the ultimate tragedy here is how eminently avoidable this all was.  All that needed to happen was for one leader to step down and join the other’s clan.  This was long before changing clans was made acceptable by the Warrior Code, but swapping clans has always had more social consequences than spiritual consequences.  Sure, your new clanmates might not fully trust you for a while, but you’re not going to be sent to the Dark Forest for switching clans – besides, who’s going to give a hard time to the clan leader’s mate?  But no – the thought never seems to cross either Galestar or Stripestar’s mind.  They’re too loyal to their birth clans to consider leaving them, but they love each other too much to be apart, so they try to have their cake and eat it too by combining their Clans and it ends disastrously.

Not to go off on yet another “disambiguating StarClan’s powers” tangent but, in this book, StarClan strips Galestar and Stripestar of their extra lives after they refuse to give up on uniting their clans.  This confirms that this is something that StarClan could always do (the first time this power was used in the main series was, I believe, when Rowanstar gave up his extra lives in A Vision of Shadows.) This is interesting, because in the Prophecies Begin arc, Evil Tigerstar does virtually the same thing as Galestar and Stripestar (unites ShadowClan and RiverClan into TigerClan) and he doesn’t lose his extra lives.  Why?  Well, from a meta standpoint, it’s obviously because the writers hadn’t given StarClan that power yet, but in-universe, here are all the possibilities I can think of for why StarClan didn’t strip Evil Tigerstar of his nine lives:

  1. They did, and Scourge “killing Evil Tigerstar nine times at once” was really just “killing Evil Tigerstar the one time”
  2. StarClan knew they didn’t need to for prophetic reasons
  3. Evil Tigerstar didn’t ask for StarClan’s approval, so they weren’t as mad at him (an “it’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission” situation)
  4. Stripping leaders of their extra lives is a proximity-based power that requires the leader to be present at a holy site (e.g., the Moonstone or Moonpool)

Ultimately, I think these are all reasonable explanations, but I doubt we’ll ever be given a truly canonical explanation as that would likely require either another late-The Prophecies Begin Super Edition or an explicit admission from StarClan.

I should also mention that this is the first Warriors book to be written by a new addition to the Erin Hunter team, Conrad Mason, and let me tell you, my man Conrad makes one hell of an Erin Hunter.  Maybe it’s because the past 85 or so Warriors books were all by the same small group of authors, but I really like Conrad’s style.  I know I haven’t talked much about the prose of Warriors – the two main ghostwriters Kate and Cherith have similar styles – but Conrad’s style is distinct enough that I feel the need to mention it.  Were I to describe his style as succinctly as possible, I would say it’s snappier and grittier than what we usually get in Warriors. 

Allow me to provide an example: here’s a description of minor character Shaded Moss being hit by a car in the first Dawn of the Clans book, written by longtime series contributor Cherith Baldry:

“Wait!” Gray Wing shrieked.

But his warning came too late.  Shaded Moss plunged out of the bushes, across the narrow strip of grass that edged the Thunderpath, and straight into the path of a roaring monster.  Gray Wing heard a sickening thud as Shaded Moss’s body was flung into the air.

The monster growled on, leaving nothing behind but a terrible, deafening silence. (The Sun Trail, pg. 169)

This is type of description is typical for Warriors – grievous injuries are described obliquely and with a considerable amount of discretion.  For comparison, here’s now a similar scene plays out in StormClan’s Folly:

The roar of a monster came rising, filling Galestar’s senses.  But there was nothing she could do.  She could only watch Kestrelwing flounder.  He half rose, his rheumy eyes wide with panic.  And the gigantic monster came rumbling over him, breaking his body against the hard ground of the Thunderpath.

Stripestar’s shriek split the sky.

In its wake, the monster left only a blast of scouring wind and a ragged bundle of fur and flesh and bone strewn across the grown.  The shattered form of what had once been Kestrelwing. (StormClan’s Folly, pg. 134-135)

Still not super graphic in absolute terms, but way gorier than what we usually see in Warriors.  Honestly, I dig it. Even outside of the more graphic descriptions, this book has a several lines that jump straight off the page.  Here’s an example – in this scene, Stripestar has just told RiverClan and ShadowClan about how StormClan left Galestar behind:

“You were her mate!”

“Did you care for her at all?”

“How could you have left her, Stripestar?  How could you have left your family?”

Stripestar bowed his head and endured it all.  Their hatred didn’t hurt because Stripestar hated himself already.  He was a rat.  He was a worm.  He was nothing. (StormClan’s Folly, pg. 421)

He was a rat. He was a worm.  He was nothing.  What a great line, I can feel the self-loathing seeping through the page.

Finally, there’s one other minor aspect of StormClan’s Folly that warrants a mention.  Here’s a quote from secondary character Pebblenose towards Galestar:

“But this has gone too far.  This…quest of yours, and Stripestar’s.  This dream you’re chasing…it can never be more than that!” Now that he had begun, the words seemed to be pouring out of Pebblenose, like the waterfall behind him.  Thrushcall stood close, in silent support of his mate.  “It’s changing you, Galestar.  Once, you would have seen it yourself.  But love has veiled the truth from your sight.” (StormClan’s Folly, pg. 171)

Did you catch that?  Check the pronouns – Pebblenose and Thrushcall are both toms.  Across 87 main series books, Super Editions, and novellas, this is the first canonical gay couple in Warriors history.  No more making do with Frederick the Great situations – we finally have cats who are out and proud.  A whole new world of plot possibilities has just opened in front of us.  What will Warriors do with this newfound freedom?  Only time will tell.

Overall, I really enjoyed StormClan’s Folly. While I didn’t like it as much as Ivypool’s Heart, it’s still an impressive Super Edition and a great addition to the Warriors franchise.

Conclusion

Another solid bunch of Super Editions.  Riverstar’s Home was kinda meh, but the Ivypool’s Heart/StormClan’s Folly duology shows that Super Editions are still viable as a format.

And…that’s it.  StormClan’s Folly is the latest Super Edition to date, having been published less than a week ago as of this writing.  Here’s my final ranking of all the Warriors Super Editions:

  1. Crookedstar’s Promise
  2. Ivypool’s Heart
  3. Tallstar’s Revenge
  4. StormClan’s Folly
  5. Crowfeather’s Trial
  6. Squirrelflight’s Hope
  7. Graystripe’s Vow
  8. Bluestar’s Prophecy
  9. Hawkwing’s Journey
  10. Leopardstar’s Honor
  11. Moth Flight’s Vision
  12. Yellowfang’s Secret
  13. Riverstar’s Home
  14. Tigerheart’s Shadow
  15. Bramblestar’s Storm
  16. Onestar’s Confession
  17. SkyClan’s Destiny
  18. Firestar’s Quest

So, what’s next for Super Editions?  Well, conveniently enough, the next Super Edition has already been announced – scheduled for release in fall of 2026, it’s Darktail’s Judgement.  I’m cautiously optimistic about this one – I like Darktail, and it’ll be our first Super Edition from a villain’s point of view (unless you count Onestar or Leopardstar, which you probably should); I hope it leans into the villainous aspect of his character rather than trying to portray him sympathetically.

Besides that, here are a few characters/time periods I’d like to see covered in future Super Editions:

  • WarriorClan.  #Monkeystar2027
  • Hawkfrost.  We haven’t really gotten a good look at Hawkfrost outside of Mothwing’s Secret; I think he could carry a Super Edition.
  • Clear Sky/Skystar.  I just really like Clear Sky and think he would have a fun Super Edition.
  • Any kittypet.  We still have never gotten a good look at what kittypet life is like.  What do they think of the Clans?   What kinds of misadventures do they get into?  What are their beliefs about the afterlife?  Maybe we’ll see a bit of this in Darktail’s Judgement since he grew up around kittypets, but I’m not holding my breath.
  • Power of Three/Omen of the Stars era.  We have Super Editions set before and after these arcs, but none set during them.  Surely something interesting was going on at the time besides the main plot? Not sure what a good PoV character would be – maybe Cloudtail/Brightheart?  They haven’t gotten any Super Edition/novella love.
  • StormClan’s Folly era, specifically post-StormClan’s return.  This seems like fertile ground for future books.  How did ThunderClan and WindClan reconquer their land from the other clans after StormClan split apart?  What do Stripebark’s clanmates think of him?  Inquiring minds want to know.

Next up, on our final Warriors Roundup: the first book of the next arc, Changing Skies…