This week, on Warriors Roundup: our fifth batch of Super Editions. Let’s see what we’ve got…
Graystripe’s Vow
In a first for Warriors, Graystripe’s Vow is split into two plots, referred to as “Then” and “Now.” While this Super Edition alternates between plots from chapter to chapter, for ease of understanding I’ll summarize them independently.
The Then plot takes place in the old forest territories, between the first and second arcs and contemporaneously with Firestar’s Quest. Firestar and Sandstorm have gone off on their quest to reform SkyClan, leaving deputy Graystripe in charge of ThunderClan. Graystripe’s leadership is questioned by several cats who think he’s unqualified or disloyal, due to the whole “joining RiverClan for a bit to be with my dead mate’s kits” thing. Complicating matters further, Firestar has instructed Graystripe to not tell anybody why he’s left beyond saying he’s “on a mission from StarClan” as to keep the existence of SkyClan (and the other clans’ complicity in their exile) a secret. A delegation from ShadowClan arrives to warn ThunderClan that they’ve scented BloodClan on the ThunderClan border. “Who is BloodClan?” I hear you cry. Well, to make a long story short, they’re a group of street cats from Twolegplace that Evil Tigerstar brought in as muscle to force WindClan and ThunderClan into joining his conglomerate clan, TigerClan; after BloodClan’s leader Scourge killed Evil Tigerstar, the four forest clans faced BloodClan in battle, killing Scourge and scattering BloodClan. Anyway, with Scourge dead, the BloodClan remnants have united under a new leader, Fury, who has set her sights on ThunderClan’s territory. While on patrol, Graystripe is attacked by BloodClan and nearly killed, but he is allowed to escape by a BloodClan cat named Gremlin. Gremlin doesn’t like how things operate in BloodClan and is willing to become a double-agent if her and her brother are allowed to join ThunderClan. Graystripe eventually convinces the rest of ThunderClan to go along with this plan. Using intel from Gremlin, ThunderClan successfully fights off a BloodClan ambush. After the battle, a grievously wounded Fury agrees to leave ThunderClan alone in exchange for medical treatment; meanwhile, Gremlin decides to try her luck as a kittypet instead of joining ThunderClan. Firestar returns from his quest, and Graystripe concludes he never wants to be clan leader; he isn’t comfortable with making so many important decisions.
The Now plot takes place during the Broken Code arc, specifically during Book 4. The False Bramblestar has been identified as Ashfur; Squirrelflight is acting leader and Lionblaze is acting deputy. Tensions within ThunderClan are running incredibly high due to several factors – the divide between the former False Bramblestar loyalists and rebels; the continued silence of StarClan; all clan leadership positions being monopolized by Firestar’s kin – and eventually several cats decide to leave ThunderClan on a “wander.” Among these cats is Graystripe, who is mourning the loss of his longtime mate Millie (died between A Vision of Shadows and The Broken Code) and is unsure of his place in modern ThunderClan. The wandering cats split up, with Graystripe heading to visit the Tribe of Rushing Water. There, Graystripe meets up with Stormfur, his son by his first dead mate Silverstream, who has been living with the Tribe since The New Prophecy. Graystripe then decides to return to the old forest territories to visit the Moonstone, the means through which the clans communed with StarClan prior to the move to the lake. On his way there, he encounters WarriorClan – a group of overeager young kittypets who, upon hearing stories about the old forest clans, decided to start their own clan. WarriorClan, under the leadership of Monkeystar, insists on coming along with Graystripe. Graystripe visits Barley, and when he arrives at the Moonstone, it is struck by lighting and destroyed. Graystripe then meets Fang, Gremlin’s son, who asks for his help in rescuing some other cats from a Twoleg with a hoarding problem. Graystripe, Fang, and WarriorClan succeed in rescuing the cats. Most of the rescued cats agree to join WarriorClan, which establishes a territory in the old RiverClan territory. Monkeystar makes Fang her deputy, and a cat named Petunia becomes WarriorClan’s medicine cat. Graystripe returns across the mountains to ThunderClan’s territory, believing that despite how it may have changed, ThunderClan is where he belongs.
I think splitting this Super Edition into the Then and Now plots was a good choice; while both plots are interesting, I don’t think they would be enough to carry an entire Super Edition on their own. Focusing on ThunderClan while Firestar and Sandstorm were off reforming SkyClan was a good pick for a Super Edition because it gives us a very manageable number of recognizable characters to work with. One big issue with Warriors in recent arcs has been the sheer number of cats in the clans – the Allegiances section for Lost Stars, the first book of the Broken Code, lists 48 members of ThunderClan compared to only 25 in Into the Wild, the first book of the first arc – not to mention there are now four additional clans instead of three. The large number of cats makes it very difficult to keep track of who’s who, especially since many cats barely get any characterization. A lot of the Then plot of Graystripe’s Vow has to do with Graystripe trying to convince ThunderClan to respect him as leader and trust Gremlin, and because there are only 21 members of ThunderClan in Graystripe’s Vow (19 if you exclude Firestar/Sandstorm) we as readers know exactly who opposes Graystripe and why. All that being said, the Then plot was fairly standard Warriors fare – respectable, but nothing earth-shattering.
I found the Now plot to be far more enjoyable. It starts off very slowly – the first several chapters of the Now plot is essentially just Graystripe moping about how he’s miserable and ThunderClan sucks now. Once Graystripe leaves on his wander, things pick up quickly. In the brief period before they split up, the wandering cats have a fun dynamic – Thornclaw is a grumpy, no-nonsense old guy; Flipclaw is only there because he has the hots for Flywhisker, who rejects him immediately; Snaptooth thinks the Flipclaw/Flywhisker dynamic is hilarious (he’s right); and Graystripe doesn’t really know why he even left. The Tribe is not nearly as obnoxious in this book as they have been in the past, probably because the story doesn’t linger there too long and the emotional weight of Graystripe’s reunion with Stormfur.
And then WarriorClan enters the picture. I love WarriorClan; they are by far the best part of this Super Edition. In their own words:
“So you’re all kittypets?” [Graystripe] asked.
“Well, yes…” Monkeystar sounded reluctant to admit it. “We’re kittypets when we’re with our housefolk, but when we get out of our gardens – and that’s most of the day – we’re fierce warriors. Except that Fireface’s housefolk feed him at midday, so he goes home for that.” (Graystripe’s Vow, pg. 206-207)
This is a type of character that I’m personally very fond of – the overly-enthusiastic fanboy who doesn’t quite understand the source material. Graystripe is seemingly a fan as well considering how fondly he treats WarriorClan despite their obnoxious habit of never leaving him alone.
What I think is most fascinating about this book’s treatment of WarriorClan is how it leaves them off. In the main text, Graystripe leaves WarriorClan as sort of an unofficial clan. They have a leader, a deputy, a medicine cat, a camp and a territory – all essential elements of a functioning clan. What they lack, however, is any connection with StarClan: the medicine cat Petunia is just a cat who is good at healing, and Monkeystar (presumably) does not have nine lives. Well, this book, like every Super Edition since Bluestar’s Prophecy, contains an “Exclusive WARRIORS Comic” (side note: these comics used to be called “manga” for some reason.) These comics are typically 10- or 12-page bonus stories that act as epilogues to the main Super Edition, often covering the main character’s death (see: Crookedstar’s Promise, Tallstar’s Revenge, Moth Flight’s Vision.) The comic in this Super Edition follows WarriorClan. To make a long story short, Petunia, WarriorClan’s medicine cat, is missing her Twoleg, so Monkeystar has her go to the shattered fragments of the Moonstone, where she meets the spirit of Gremlin. To me, the implications of this are fascinating. For one, it’s clear that Gremlin isn’t in StarClan, but one of the alternate afterlives for non-Clan cats – Gremlin never officially joined a clan, and she mentions being in whatever afterlife she’s in with another non-Clan cat. Therefore, we can infer that non-clan afterlives are able to communicate with the living the same way that StarClan does. This is consistent with what we’ve seen in past books; the afterlife for Tribe of Rushing Water cats, the Tribe of Endless Hunting, has been established to be able to communicate with the leader of the Tribe, the Teller of the Pointed Stones. What is not clear, however, is what else non-Clan afterlives can do. Can Gremlin’s afterlife see the future, like StarClan? Can they grant Monkeystar nine lives, like StarClan? If not, will they be able to in the future? We know from Dawn of the Clans and the Moth Flight’s Vision Super Edition that StarClan is not something that existed a priori; rather, it came into being as a direct result of the actions of the early settlers in the old forest territories. Will the dead of WarriorClan eventually develop into their own StarClan franchise, one with the same fabulous mystic powers of the main StarClan? We can only hope that one day, the answers will be revealed in a Monkeystar Super Edition.
Overall, I really enjoyed Graystripe’s Vow. It’s one of the better Super Editions so far.
Leopardstar’s Honor
“Who is Leopardstar?” I hear you cry. Well, Leopardstar was the leader of RiverClan between Crookedstar and Mistystar; in book terms, that means from the last book of The Prophecies Begin to about the midpoint of Omen of the Stars. The first parts of this Super Edition are what we’ve come to expect from a biographical Super Edition: Leopardkit is believed to have a great destiny; she becomes an apprentice, then a warrior; several cats close to her die. The book is then effectively a recap of the Prophecies Begin from RiverClan’s perspective. After Oakheart is killed in a battle over Sunningrocks, Crookedstar makes Leopardfur deputy. As deputy, Leopardfur repeatedly butts heads with Crookedstar over what she perceives as his lack of aggressiveness – both acquiescing to demands from Brokenstar and allowing ThunderClan to retake Sunningrocks. Over the course of several Gatherings, Leopardfur strikes up a friendship with ThunderClan deputy Tigerclaw, who admires her spirit and clearly has big ideas for when he becomes clan leader. Several other first arc events happen – a battle over WindClan; a flood; Graystripe and Silverstream’s Forbidden Romance; a fire which destroys ThunderClan’s camp – and eventually Tigerclaw becomes leader of ShadowClan as Evil Tigerstar. After Crookedstar dies, Evil Tigerstar convinces Leopardstar to unite her clan with ShadowClan, creating TigerClan. Evil Tigerstar initially pays lip service to the idea of joint leadership in TigerClan, but it’s soon clear that he will tolerate no dissent from Leopardstar. After being forced to assent to the murder of her own deputy for the crime of being half-clan, Leopardstar realizes she’s made a terrible mistake. When Evil Tigerstar plans to attack WindClan and ThunderClan, Leopardstar orders her former RiverClan cats to switch sides as soon as the battle starts; however, before the battle can start, Scourge, the leader of BloodClan (whom Tigerstar has brought in as an ally) kills Evil Tigerstar. The book ends with Leopardstar preparing to lead RiverClan into the final battle against BloodClan.
To start off, I’d like to look at what is, to me, Leopardstar’s most memorable scene in the entire series. This scene comes about halfway through the Darkest Hour, the final book of the first arc. Evil Tigerstar, sitting on a literal pile of bones, orders Stonefur, half-clan deputy of RiverClan, to kill Stormpaw and Featherpaw, two half-clan apprentices. Here’s how the subsequent exchange goes in the Darkest Hour:
The blue-gray warrior [Stonefur] had turned to face Leopardstar. “I take orders from you,” he growled. “You must know this is wrong. What do you want me to do?”
For a heartbeat Leopardstar looked uncertain, and again Firestar began to hope that she would take a stand against Tigerstar and stop the destruction of her Clan. But he had underestimated the strength of her ambition, and her misguided faith that Tigerstar offered an invincible future. “These are difficult times,” she meowed at last. “As we fight for survival we must be able to count on every one of our Clan mates. There is no room for divided loyalties. Do as Tigerstar tells you.” (The Darkest Hour, pg. 168-169)
From this scene, it’s clear that, at least from Firestar’s perspective, Leopardstar is perfectly on board with what Tigerstar is doing. Sure, she may hesitate at ordering Stonefur to obey Tigerstar, but her ambition and her faith in Tigerstar lead her to relent. Leopardstar’s Honor, however, offers a different perspective:
Stonefur was battered and starved from his confinement, but as he turned his gaze to Leopardstar, his eyes seemed to bore right through her. “I take orders from you,” he growled darkly. “You must know this is wrong. What do you want me to do?”
For a moment, Leopardstar could only stare at her deputy. What do you want me to do? What could she say? She risked a glance at Tigerstar, and was chilled by the hatred in his eyes. Not only for Stonefur, but for her. If I say no, she wondered, how much longer will I be alive to protect my Clan?
“These are difficult times,” she rasped finally, struggling to keep her voice steady. What would Tigerstar say? She felt sick. “As we fight for survival we must be able to count on every one of our Clanmates. There is no room for divided loyalties. Do as Tigerstar tells you.” StarClan, forgive me. (Leopardstar’s Honor, pg. 2)
This excerpt paints a very different picture. Stonefur is correct – Leopardstar does know that ordering him to murder two innocent apprentices is wrong, and she desperately doesn’t want to do it. What leads her to give the order is not ambition, it’s fear – fear that, if she defies him, Evil Tigerstar will kill her, and then she won’t be able to protect RiverClan from him. Never mind that her decisions are the reason why they need protection in the first place.
I’m not bringing this scene up to accuse the Warriors franchise of contradicting itself (StarClan forbid that ever happens.) Nor am I bringing it up to demonstrate the tendency of these biography-style Super Editions to treat their subjects with nigh-hagiographic deference. I am bringing it up primarily to point out that, even with the most charitable framing possible, Leopardstar is a war criminal. No matter how she tries to justify it to herself, in this scene Leopardstar is enabling Evil Tigerstar’s genocide against half-clan cats. She may be a regretful collaborator, but she’s a collaborator nonetheless.
This is why I personally find Leopardstar so fascinating. Warriors has this tendency to make its protagonists moral paragons. Sure, they may break the Warrior Code on occasion, but usually only the parts of the Warrior Code that we as readers recognize as nonsense anyway. We don’t often get protagonists who are just straight-up bad dudes – the only prior examples that come to mind are Mapleshade and Evil Tigerstar in their novellas and Clear Sky in the first half of Dawn of the Clans – so we never get that subset of bad dudes, “bad dudes who feel bad about it.” Which is a shame, because “bad dudes who feel bad about it” is one of my favorite kinds of characters.
As explained in the plot summary, most of this Super Edition is spent effectively recapping the first arc from RiverClan’s perspective. I don’t necessarily have an issue with this – at this point it’s been over three months since I’ve read the first arc, so I don’t mind a bit of rehashing. Leopardfur’s sideplots – mostly occupied by her relationships with her potential mate Frogleap, her father Mudfur, and her clan leader Crookedstar – are okay, but nothing special. Then, there’s Leopardstar’s time as a collaborator of Evil Tigerstar, which I love. Unfortunately, this part of the book is very brief, and the book ends shortly after Evil Tigerstar’s death and before Leopardstar has really had time to reflect on and atone for her crimes, which I found a little disappointing. I think the only Warriors media where Leopardstar confronts her past sins is the A Shadow in RiverClan graphic novel – maybe I’ll cover that in a future roundup.
In conclusion, a middle-of-the-road Super Edition. The parts that I liked, I liked a lot, but most of it was nothing special.
Onestar’s Confession
Onestar’s Confession, like Leopardstar’s Honor, is a biography-style Super Edition that follows a clan leader of questionable moral character. During Onepaw’s apprenticeship, two young kittypets join WindClan – Tansypaw, aka Melody, who doesn’t adapt well to clan life and returns to becoming a kittypet, and Brushpaw, who dies from infected wounds following a skirmish with ShadowClan. This convinces Tallstar (and Onepaw/Onewhisker) that kittypets are never suited for clan life. Nevertheless, Onewhisker enjoys hanging out with the local kittypets, especially a pretty she-cat named Smoke. Much later, as Twolegs are beginning to destroy the forest territories, Onewhisker takes his former apprentice Whitetail as his mate. He breaks things off with Smoke, but she’s already pregnant with his kits. As the clans are preparing to leave the forest territories for the lake, Smoke tracks Onewhisker down one last time and makes him promise that he’ll come back for her and his son Darkkit, threatening that if he doesn’t, she’ll teach Darkkit to hate him and the clans. The clans successfully arrive at the lake territories, and WindClan goes through a succession crisis when Tallstar on his deathbed strips Mudclaw of the deputyship and appoints Onewhisker in his place. After Mudclaw is killed and Onestar is recognized as the legitimate leader of WindClan, Onestar decides that he can’t maintain his friendship with Firestar and begins intentionally antagonizing ThunderClan. Much later, shortly after the events of Crowfeather’s Trial, Onestar remembers that he promised Smoke he’d come back for her, so he finally journeys back to the old forest territories. When he arrives, he realizes he’s too late; Smoke is dead, and Darktail is nowhere to be found, but based on descriptions from local kittypets who remember him, he’s Obviously Evil. Much later, Onestar’s worst fears are realized when Darktail arrives at the lake territories, hell-bent on destroying everything he loves. What follows is an abbreviated recap of the first half of A Vision of Shadows from WindClan’s perspective: Onestar closes WindClan’s borders out of paranoia over Darktail; most of ShadowClan defects to Darktail’s Kin; the clans fail to defeat Darktail in battle; Darktail conquers RiverClan; SkyClan returns; Onestar tells the whole sordid tale of his history with Darktail; in the final battle, Darktail and Onestar both drown. In StarClan, Onestar questions if he deserves to be there; Firestar assures him that despite his many mistakes, he was a good leader.
In past roundups, I have made no secret of my disdain for Onestar. He can be an infuriating character to read; he’s arrogant, he harbors an unreasonably strong hatred for ThunderClan, and he’s seemingly allergic to making smart decisions. However, as this Super Edition reminds us, Onestar wasn’t always like this; in early books, he was a good friend to Firestar, and he was usually characterized as a reasonable cat. What changed? The main series has never made it particularly clear. The only time I can remember Onestar ever giving an actual explanation for his strange behavior is in Power of Three, when he leads WindClan into battle against ThunderClan for (seemingly) no good reason. In his own words:
“How dare you?” Firestar roared.
[…]
Starlight glittered in Onestar’s eyes. “We dare because we are true warriors,” he meowed evenly. “This battle has been too long coming. ThunderClan must learn that they are not the most important Clan in the forest.”
Firestar listened, still as a rock.
“You watch the suffering of others, waiting to be begged for help like you belong to StarClan.” Onestar lashed his tail. “We will not beg. We are warriors! We will fight for the prey and the territory we need to survive.” (Eclipse, pg.176-177)
This exchange has baffled me since the first time I read it. If I’m understanding him correctly, Onestar doesn’t have any objective for this battle. He doesn’t want to drive out ThunderClan, or seize any territory, or depose Firestar – he just wants to fight ThunderClan for the sake of fighting ThunderClan. He’s practically using the Humiliate Rival casus belli from Europa Universalis IV. We know from Thucydides that honor is a perfectly valid reason for war (along with fear and self-interest) but typically, battles in Warriors are fought with a less abstract purpose in mind (seize territory, depose a leader, drive out an enemy, etc.) Honor alone hardly seems a strong enough reason to drive Onestar to such extremes; surely something else is at play here.
Somewhat understandably, then, I expected to leave this Super Edition with a better understanding of exactly why Onestar behaves so differently from Onewhisker. It seems that the canon explanation truly is, as leader of WindClan, Onestar felt obligated to antagonize ThunderClan. From his perspective, there have always been four clans, there must always be four clans, and because the clans are so culturally similar, the only way to ensure they remain separate is to ensure they are constantly at odds, even when there’s no good reason for it. Personally, I think this is incredibly silly, but whatever – it’s believable enough.
The other thing I was really hoping for going into this Super Edition was some extra backstory on Darktail. Unfortunately, Onestar’s Confession didn’t deliver. Darktail shows up as a kit with Smoke, and later when he arrives at the lake territories with the Kin, but we don’t really get any information about what he was up to in between besides a bare “he was a bad dude” from the kittypets in the old forest territory.
The other weird thing about this Super Edition was how much it jumped around. It follows Onepaw as an apprentice, before the Prophecies Begin; then, it skips to the beginning of the New Prophecy when the twolegs threaten the forest territories; then, it skips straight to Crowfeather’s Trial, completely skipping over Power of Three and Omen of the Stars. I guess part of the problem is Onestar’s life has several time periods with potential for a Super Edition, but as is, most of this book is just recapping information we’ve already learned from the main series; the only portions that contain truly new material are the portion with Tansypaw/Brushpaw and Onestar’s trip back to the forest territories. Honestly, I’d have preferred it if the authors made one of these two events the focus of the Super Edition instead of the A Vision of Shadows recap.
I honestly wasn’t a huge fan of this Super Edition. I was hoping to come out with a greater appreciation for Onestar, but I only came out bored.
Conclusion
Not a great batch of Super Editions this time. Graystripe’s Vow was by far the best, and Leopardstar’s Honor was okay, but Onestar’s Confession was almost a total wash. Here’s how I’d rank the Super Editions so far:
- Crookedstar’s Promise
- Tallstar’s Revenge
- Crowfeather’s Trial
- Squirrelflight’s Hope
- Graystripe’s Vow
- Bluestar’s Prophecy
- Hawkwing’s Journey
- Leopardstar’s Honor
- Moth Flight’s Vision
- Yellowfang’s Secret
- Tigerheart’s Shadow
- Bramblestar’s Storm
- Onestar’s Confession
- SkyClan’s Destiny
- Firestar’s Quest
We’re getting close to the wire here, folks. Next up: our last completed arc, A Starless Clan, then our last novellas and Super Editions. Which clan will be the eponymous Starless Clan? I hope it’s WarriorClan, but somehow, I doubt it…
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