Characters / Warrior Cats ThunderClan Leaders and Deputies

Warrior Cats Main Character Index
ThunderClan (Leaders and Deputies | Medicine Cats | The Three and Their Allies | Warriors and Apprentices | Other ThunderClanners) | ShadowClan (Leaders and Deputies) | RiverClan | WindClan | SkyClan | Tribe of Rushing Water | Others | Dawn of The Clans

"Only some leaders and medicine cats are remembered by the Clans. Their names cast long shadows over the forest; their deeds-good or evil-are told and retold by each generation until they pass from history to legend. Of the others, the ones whose names and deeds have been forgotten or, in some cases, banished from living memory, only StarClan knows."

—Secrets of the Clans

Over the course of Warrior Cats, ThunderClan has seen a variety of leaders and deputies. Some were brave heroes, while others were cowardly fools. As long as there were cats to lead, the leaders would come.

Beware of unmarked spoilers!

Note: Please add character tropes exclusive to Dawn of the Clans to the Dawn of the Clans character page, not here.

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Due to the series' spoiler-filled nature, including Spoiler Titles and even character names, all spoilers aside from the newest main-series book and side book may be unmarked.

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Main Characters

Firestar

Firestar (Rusty/Firepaw/Fireheart)

"Surely it is our struggle against hardship that makes us true warriors. You think fresh blood in the Clans will weaken us? A life without hardship will weaken us more."

"Just remember, the final responsibility is mine. You don't hold the whole Clan in your paws. I just need you to do what you can. I'll take care of the rest."^{Image source}Firestar in The Ultimate Guide

The protagonist of the first six books, and a major character in most later books. He was originally a kittypet, but was accepted into the Clan after feeling mysteriously drawn to the forest his whole life. His name comes from his fur, which is bright orange. He originally faced prejudice due to his non-Clan heritage, but has long since proven himself a brave and highly capable warrior. From time to time, however, his leadership decisions (in particular, letting more non-Clan cats into ThunderClan, as well as interfering in other Clans' business) have been a source of controversy among the Clans.

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• A Death in the Limelight: In The Last Hope, he dies after coming back into the spotlight one last time.
• All-Loving Hero: Shows nothing but kindness to everyone around him, and is willing to give his lives for the Clans.
• Amateur Sleuth: He went out of his way to solve several crimes in the original series, such as Redtail's death and some kit-killings in ShadowClan.
• Apathetic Pet: He was born and raised a pet but took the Call to Adventure without a second thought for his owners and didn't once worry about leaving them.
• The Apprentice: To Bluestar.
• Audience Surrogate: In the first arc he is a Naïve Newcomer ex-kittypet who joins ThunderClan in the first book. Being raised as a pet, he has no understanding of how Clans work and has to be taught alongside the reader.
• Authority Equals Asskicking: He is a Clan leader, and one of the more badass cats in the series.
• Awesome Moment of Crowning: His leadership ceremony.
• Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: With Sandstorm in the first arc. Sandstorm hates Firestar until he saves her life in Fire and Ice, when she starts to like him.
• Back from the Dead: Comes with being a leader. He has nine lives, so he can come back from the dead eight times before dying for real.
• Batman Grabs a Gun: In A Clan in Need, it's proof of how (supposedly) dangerous Neo BloodClan is when Firestar tells ThunderClan to show no mercy.
• Battle Couple: With Sandstorm.
• Bavarian Fire Drill: In Forest of Secrets he manages to give an order to a RiverClan apprentice simply by acting like a warrior. Which he is. In ThunderClan.
• Because Destiny Says So: He is told that he is the subject of a prophecy, "Fire alone can save our clan".
• Berserk Button: At first, saying that he's weak because of his kittypet roots. Later on, saying that anyone is weak because of their bloodline.
• Best Friend: Graystripe was the first Clan cat he ever met and they quickly become the best of friends.
• Big Damn Heroes: In Forest of Secrets he saves a kit from drowning.
• Big Good: From The Darkest Hour on, due to becoming the leader of ThunderClan.
• Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: A variation of ginger/black/gray:
  • In the first series the best-friends trio consists of Fireheart the ginger cat, Ravenpaw the black cat, and Graystripe the gray cat.
• Borrowed Catch Phrase: He uses Lionheart's catchphrase, "Surprise is the warrior's greatest weapon" on Graystripe in Into the Wild. His internal narration assures us that this is indeed Lionheart's catchphrase.
• Breaking the Bonds: Snaps his collar in the fight with Longtail in the first book.
• Broken Pedestal: He used to idolize Tigerstar. That changed by the end of the first book.
• Cain and Abel: The Abel to his half-brother Scourge's Cain.
• Call-Back:
  • In The Last Hope, when he finds out that he's the fourth cat in the prophecy, his response is, "I guess fire will save the Clan once more."
  • In the final chapter of The Last Hope, he is escorted into StarClan by the cats who gave him his nine lives in The Darkest Hour, minus Spottedleaf.
• Cassandra Truth: Bluestar ignores his warnings about Tigerclaw until he ends up trying to kill her.
• Caught in a Snare: The climax of "Sunset" involves him getting caught in a fox trap.
• The Chains of Commanding: Most apparent in The Darkest Hour, when he has to lead his entire Clan into a battle where the odds aren't in their favor.
• Chaste Hero: In the first arc. He doesn't get it until Cinderpelt directly points out to him in book 5 that Sandstorm loves him. He also never realizes that Cinderpelt herself has feelings for him. In the words of Vicky, "Stupid man-cat."
• The Chessmaster: Becomes one by Omen of the Stars, where he is able to take on the gambits of cats like Sol with his own plans.
• Chick Magnet: He has had at least three she-cats fall for him.
• Child of Two Worlds: Fireheart struggles with this in the first series; Fireheart was born a kittypet but joined the Clan when he was young. He has to deal with prejudice from Clanborn cats, Fireheart feels torn between loyalty to his kittypet sister and his loyalty to the Clan.
• Childhood Friends: With Graystripe and Ravenpaw.
• The Chosen One:
  • He is the subject of the first major prophecy in the series, that being "Fire alone can save our Clan."
  • In The Last Hope, Jayfeather realizes that he is the Fourth cat in the prophecy, being an ally who would be strong enough to overcome the Dark Forest.
• Chronic Hero Syndrome: If there's someone in need, he'll do his best to help them. As a warrior this often manifests as him breaking the rules to help other cats and do the right thing, such as feeding an enemy Clan after a flood, or going behind his leader's back to prevent a war. As a leader, his frequent desire to help results in the other Clans considering him nosy and meddling, and turns his old friend Onestar against him because Onestar's naysayers think he can't stand on his own paws as leader without Firestar helping him.
• Clueless Chick-Magnet: He didn't know Sandstorm and Cinderpelt were in love with him until the latter tells him about the former.
• Depending on the Artist: Sources seem to vary on whether he's a tabby or not.
• Disobeyed Orders, Not Punished: In A Dangerous Path Fireheart goes behind his leader's back to speak to an enemy Clan in order to prevent an unjust battle. He is fully expecting to be punished, possibly exiled, but in Bluestar's deteriorating mental state she claims that the best punishment is to do nothing and let him lead their Clan of "traitors" one day.
• Don't Ask: In Into the Wild, Firepaw jumps into a cold stream to wash mouse bile off his paws after using it to help clear the elders' ticks. Graypaw and Ravenpaw show up and stare at him like he's crazy, so he says, "Mouse bile. Don't ask."
• Dramatic Necklace Removal: More like dramatic collar removal. Longtail tearing off his Twoleg collar serves as a signal that he is no longer a kittypet.
• Dreaming of Things to Come: Before he joined the Clans, he had a recurring dream where he was stalking a mouse.
• Elemental Motifs: The ever-heroic and warm-hearted Firestar was, of course, heavily connected to fire. His prophecy called him the Fire that would save ThunderClan, and with his bright orange pelt, he even looked like fire. Similarly, in an omen sent in the New Prophecy series, he and his kin were represented by fire.
• Enemy Mine:
  • In Into the Wild, he temporarily puts his rivalry with Sandstorm and Dustpelt on hold due to the threat of Brokenstar.
  • In The Darkest Hour, he teams up with the other Clan cats, including former foes Leopardstar and Blackstar, to defeat Scourge and BloodClan.
• Enthusiastic Newbie Teacher: In Fire and Ice Tigerclaw questions Fireheart and Graystripe becoming mentors right after becoming warriors due to their youth and relative inexperience, and Fireheart himself isn't sure if he's ready since it can be hard to keep his excitable apprentice Cinderpaw in check. He even jokes to Graystripe after the first day that he kept forgetting that he was the mentor.
• Epiphany Therapy: When Firestar fears that Scourge will crush the clans, he laments that there were always four clans in the forest, but Scourge is trying to change that. Then StarClan tell him that there were never four clans, there were always five. Cue Firestar realizing that StarClan is always with him, and that while he has StarClan's support and the gift of nine lives, Scourge does not.
• Famed In-Story: Even before he became a Clan leader, he was well-known among the Clans for his heroic, if sometimes mouse-brained, deeds. After becoming ThunderClan's leader, he is regarded as one of the greatest cats the forest has ever seen.
• Fiery Lion: He is an orange cat who was prophesied to be the "fire" that would save ThunderClan and receives a sign from his warrior ancestors in which his reflection is replaced with that of a lion with a mane that is described as "blazing".
• Fiery Red Head: Despite his pelt being his most notable physical feature, this is mostly averted, especially in later series where he's calm and collected most of the time.
• Freudian Trio: In the first series, he was the Id to Graystripe's Ego and Sandstorm's Superego.
• From Hero to Mentor: He was the mentor to second arc protagonist Bramblestar. Though it's sort of a variant since this takes place in the first series while Firestar is still the protagonist, and the training is complete by the time the second series rolls around.
• From Zero to Hero: He starts off as a normal, young house cat named Rusty. By the end of the first arc, he's saved all four Clans several times, and has become the first kittypet-born leader in the Clans' history.
• Generation Xerox:
  • He becomes Clan leader just like his mentor Bluestar.
  • Like his father Jake, he goes exploring in the forest.
• Ghost Reunion Ending: When Graystripe and Sandstorm are retiring near the end of Bramblestar's Storm, Bramblestar briefly sees the spirits of Firestar and Dustpelt with their old denmates. Once he blinks, they're both gone, and Bramblestar reflects that the four older cats were all in the same generation.
• The Good King: Despite making some unpopular decisions here and there, the characters generally regard him as one of the greatest leaders to ever live.
• Grade Skipper: Warriors usually train as apprentices for around 6 moons. When Firestar and his best friend Graystripe become warriors they were only apprentices for a little over two moons (making them only 7-8 moons old instead of the standard 12-13 moons).
• Happily Married: Mates with Sandstorm.
• The Hero: He's the hero of the "Fire alone can save our Clan" prophecy, and the main character of the entire series.
• The Hero Dies: In The Last Hope, he loses his last life defeating Tigerstar and joins the ranks of StarClan.
• Heroic Fire Rescue: In Rising Storm he saves Bramblekit from the burning ThunderClan camp.
• Heroic Sacrifice: In Dawn, he gives one of his lives to save a ShadowClan kit from a falling tree.
• Heroic Second Wind: He dies fighting Scourge and the Rat King, but has an epiphany and gets up to continue the fight both times.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Graystripe. He even has a bit of a Heroic BSoD after he thinks Graystripe is dead.
• High-Pressure Blood: In Fading Echoes, he's slipping in a pool of his own blood as it's still gushing out of him.
• Hot-Blooded: In the first arc, he's extremely passionate about his Clan and the warrior code, particularly when arguing with Cloudpaw (Cloudtail). Later on, he becomes calmer about expressing his beliefs.
• Identical Grandson: His granddaughter Sparkpelt is said to look exactly like him, just as a she-cat.
• Idiot Hero: In the first arc, where he wasn't that smart and kept falling for the tricks of Tigerstar and Brokenstar. With time, he grew out of it, and it is completely gone by The New Prophecy.
• Incurable Cough of Death: He loses one of his nine lives like that.
• Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Not once in the series does someone manage to sway him from doing what is right.
• Intergenerational Friendship: With Yellowfang, whom he cares for for moons, and who eventually comes to see him as a surrogate son.
• Invincible Hero: He wins almost every fight he's in, including ones that he logically should have lost.^note For example, he defeats the physically superior warrior Tigerclaw in Forest of Secrets because Tigerclaw slips in some blood. As well, ThunderClan wins every single battle it fights under his leadership.
• I Owe You My Life: After Graystripe saves him at Sunningrocks in A Dangerous Path, he says this, giving this as a reason why Graystripe should be allowed to rejoin ThunderClan.
• I Surrender, Suckers: One of his favorite battle techniques is to go limp as if beaten and then unleash a powerful attack when his foes let their guard down. He even gets surprised when his foes keep falling for it.
• It's All My Fault: He says this exact phrase in Midnight when Brambleclaw and Squirrelflight don't return to the camp. He feels that if he hadn't told Squirrelflight she wouldn't be fit as a warrior, they wouldn't have run away. He even says that he'd never forgive himself if something happened to her.
• I Will Wait for You: For Graystripe, during The New Prophecy. Even though it's likely that Graystripe is dead, or at least, will never meet with the Clans again, Firestar is firmly convinced that Graystripe will come back and wants to wait for him.
• Jaw Drop: In Firestar's Quest, his jaw drops open when he realizes that Smudge's home is the former SkyClan camp.
• Keeping the Enemy Close: In The Darkest Hour, Firestar thinks that Darkstripe will be less of a threat in ThunderClan - where Firestar can keep an eye on him - than he would be if he left to join Tigerstar. This doesn't last long, however: just a few days later, Darkstripe attempts to poison a kit that saw him scheming with Tigerstar's deputy, Blackfoot.
• Kid Hero All Grown-Up: From a kit in the first book to the leader of the clan.
• Kirk Summation: Before their battle in The Last Hope, he spends three pages telling Tigerstar why darkness will never defeat light.
• The Leader: He is named ThunderClan's leader in The Darkest Hour.
• Light Is Good: He's a bright orange tabby with a flame colored pelt and was the original The Hero of the series.
• Love Revelation Epiphany: He starts falling for Sandstorm after Cinderpaw tells him everybody can see that Sandstorm is very much into him.
• Magnetic Hero: His good-hearted nature turns almost everyone to his side eventually. Yellowfang's Secret even shows that he snapped Yellowfang out of her depression just by talking with her for a few minutes.
• Martial Pacifist: He practices peace, but if someone like Tigerstar or Scourge threatens the Clans, he's willing to fight them.
• Meaningful Name: His name refers to the fact that he's the fire chosen to save ThunderClan.
• Meaningful Rename: His name is changed from "Rusty" to "Firepaw" to signify that he has joined ThunderClan, and then recieves a warrior name and leader name as he rises through the Clan ranks.
• The Mentor: He was Cinderpelt's mentor before her accident. He also mentored both Cloudtail and Bramblestar, and although he wasn't Brackenfur's official mentor, he took care of a lot of his warrior training because the younger cat's actual mentor Graystripe was spending a lot of time sneaking out of camp to visit his secret mate, Silverstream.
• Mutual Kill: In The Last Hope, he makes Tigerstar Deader than Dead, but dies of his wounds immediately afterward.
• Naïve Newcomer: To ThunderClan, at first.
• Names to Trust Immediately
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: When Bluestar is descending into paranoia and insanity from Tigerclaw’s betrayals, Fireheart tries to cover it up as much as possible for the sake of keeping ThunderClan stable. This ends up causing some issues.
  • Even after becoming deputy, he doesn't tell the other Clans that Tigerclaw was kicked out of ThunderClan because he tried to kill Bluestar, not wanting ThunderClan to look weak. If he did, ShadowClan might not have been so eager to accept him as their new leader after losing Nightstar.
  • As a result of Tigerclaw betraying her, Bluestar starts believing that all of ThunderClan are traitors and refuses to make any of the senior apprentices into warriors except Cloudpaw. Fireheart does not explain this to them, which results in Brightpaw and Swiftpaw going after the dog pack and trying to prove their bravery so they’ll finally become warriors. The dog pack ends up killing Swiftpaw and mauling Brightpaw so horribly that she loses an ear and eye.
• The Nicknamer: Only in the first book, where he gives his Clanmates nicknames such as "Graywhatsit" and "Dirtstripe".
• No Sense of Humor: Dustpelt had accused him of this. As an apprentice, he says that Firestar doesn't know what fun was such as catching the best prey or staying the most serious at a Gathering.
• The Oathbreaker: In Forest of Secrets, he promises not to tell anyone about Stonefur and Mistyfoot originally coming from ThunderClan. He immediately goes back to Bluestar and blurts out the secret for absolutely no reason other than because the plot required it, and then tells Stonefur and Mistyfoot themselves in A Dangerous Path.
• Oblivious to Love: Cinderpelt has to point out that Sandstorm likes him before he gets it. Speaking of which, he also fails to notice Cinderpelt's own crush on him.
• Official Couple: With Sandstorm.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
  • Even though they've only known him for a couple of moons, everyone knows something is wrong the second he goes crazy and tries to murder Clawface in Into the Wild.
  • In Sunset, Mousefur and Dustpelt call a Clan meeting about how the Clan's becoming "mixed" with the inclusion of Daisy and her kits. Leafpool's surprised about how Firestar abruptly ends the meeting since he normally doesn't snap at cats like that, and realizes that it must feel personal to him since he was born a kittypet.
• Pale Females, Dark Males: His ginger fur is darker than Sandstorm's.
• A Pet into the Wild: The series starts out with a kittypet kitten named Rusty who finds his life as a pet bland and has dreams of being a stray cat. (Appropriately, the first book is named Into the Wild.) One day he ventures away from home and comes across three cats from ThunderClan. Due to Bluestar recognizing Rusty as being the cat who will likely fulfill a recent prophecy she has seen, she allows Rusty to join the Clan and renames him "Firepaw". Firepaw is renamed "Fireheart" once he finishes his warrior training and ultimately becomes "Firestar" when he becomes the new leader of ThunderClan.
• Playing Possum: When an enemy manages to grab onto him, he usually responds by going limp, making them relax their hold, before kicking some ass.
• The Power of Friendship: His number one tactic when meeting new cats. His devotion to it gets characters like Yellowfang and Longtail to risk their lives for him. Although it fails, he even tries it on Tigerstar, Brokenstar, and Scourge.
• Precocious Crush: He was barely an apprentice when he fell for Spottedleaf, who was already an adult and had been working as a medicine cat for a while. Spottedleaf was 4 years old when she died while Firepaw wasn't even 1 at the time.
• Pre-Mortem One-Liner: To Tigerstar in The Last Hope.
  Firestar: "You lived like a rogue. You can die like a rogue."
• Reasonable Authority Figure: After he becomes the leader.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The blue to Graystripe's red. Firestar is the responsible Clan member/leader who juggles his Clan's best interests with his compassion for the other Clans, and his best friend Graystripe is a jokester and occasionally hot-headed.
• Rescue Romance: Sandstorm started fall in love with him after he saved her from falling off a cliff.
• The Runaway: He ran away from his Twolegs to join ThunderClan.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: His general relationship with the warrior code. As Sandstorm says, he does follow the warrior code, thinking over how it's supposed to work. And when it doesn't, he challenges it and does something different. Like when he was supposed to obey Bluestar's demands to attack WindClan, he instead arranges for a peaceful conversation without blood.
• Secret-Keeper: In the first series, he keeps several secrets - that Ravenpaw is alive, that Bluestar had kits with Oakheart, that Brokenstar is Yellowfang's son, Graystripe's forbidden relationship.
• Separated at Birth: He was born as a house cat, so he and his siblings were split up and all given to new owners when they were still kits. After living in the forest Clans for a few moons, he is patrolling the edge of his territory one day and spots his sister. She doesn't recognize him at first, but they quickly become friends again and he continues to visit her for the rest of The Prophecies Begin.
• Signature Move: His Playing Possum tactic. When he's fighting Scourge in The Darkest Hour, he even thinks back to how many times he's used this awesome move.
• Significant Green-Eyed Redhead: Red fur, green eyes, main character status, becomes legendary hero. What more could you want?
• Small Name, Big Ego: All the other Clans seem to believe he is this due to his tendencies to try and talk things out instead of fighting and the fact that he's helped each Clan in the past; the other leaders consider him arrogant.
• Sneaky Departure:
  • In Into the Wild Firepaw, Ravenpaw, and Graypaw sneak away to chase after Yellowfang, and so that Firepaw can fake Ravenpaw's death.
  • At the beginning of Forest of Secrets, Fireheart and Graystripe sneak away after a Gathering to meet with Ravenpaw so that they can find proof that Tigerclaw murdered Redtail. They later sneak away from ThunderClan territory into RiverClan to find more proof, and eventually to deliver food to the starving Clan.
• Spanner in the Works: He completely ruins Tigerclaw's plans by running into the cave where Tigerclaw was during a battle and beating Tigerclaw up.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Has flame-colored, ginger fur with green eyes like his father, Jake and daughter, Squirrelflight. Squirrelflight's daughter, Sparkpelt, was stated to look exactly like him.
• Sympathy for the Devil: When Tigerstar is killed, Firestar reflects on the fact that normally he'd be relieved or happy that this dangerous cat is gone, but all he feels staring down at Tigerstar's body is grief. Tigerstar had been gifted with strength, intelligence, and charisma, and he could have become a legend as one of the greatest warriors in history had he not chosen to follow a dark path.
• Talking Is a Free Action: In The Last Hope, he stands around talking with Tigerstar for a few pages before they fight.
• Thou Shall Not Kill: It's one of his general philosophies. However, he breaks it in Into the Wild when he tries to murder Clawface. As well, he has no other option but killing Scourge in The Darkest Hour, and in The Last Hope, he kills Tigerstar because he had to fight like a rogue if he wanted to protect his Clan.
• Underestimating Badassery: When he first joined ThunderClan, the other cats just thought he was a timid kittypet. He then managed to beat up a seasoned apprentice despite having no fighting experience.
• Unstoppable Rage: In Into the Wild, he goes crazy and tries to murder Clawface as vengeance for Spottedleaf's death. Fortunately, Whitestorm snaps him out of it before he can go too far.
• Was Too Hard on Him: In Midnight he is upset that his daughter Squirrelpaw ran away because of what he said. When he realizes that he told her she wouldn't be a warrior if she kept meeting with Brambleclaw (who's from the same Clan but he's keeping them away for a slight reason), he blames himself.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: At one point, he mistook Tigerclaw and Brokenstar's evil plotting for Tigerclaw using The Power of Friendship on Brokenstar.
• Young and in Charge: Is made a deputy at a very young age (if his training had taken the normal six moons instead of two, he would have only been a warrior for two moons at that point) and becomes leader only six moons later.

Brambleclaw

Brambleclaw (Formerly Bramblestar)

"I don't think I'll ever be free of him. Even now that he's dead, no cat will ever forget that I'm his son."

"Guide my steps wisely, warriors of the past, and warriors of now."^{Image source}Brambleclaw in The Ultimate Guide

One of the protagonists of the second series of books, Brambleclaw is the son of Tigerstar, something which causes him a great deal of angst. He is determined to continually prove himself a loyal and virtuous warrior. He was chosen by StarClan to be one of the cats to journey to Midnight and find a new home for the Clans, and currently holds the position of deputy of ThunderClan. Trained in The Place Of No Stars during the events of Warrior Cats: The New Prophecy. Succeeds Firestar as ThunderClan leader in The Last Hope, and stars in his own Super Edition, Bramblestar's Storm.

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• Abdicate the Throne: As of Shadow he announces his desire to step down as leader and retire to the elders den because he is still haunted by his experience in the Dark Forest that took place during The Broken Code and knows that he can't go on continuing being a good leader for his Clan anymore. In Thunder he officially steps down, letting Squirrelflight take over.
• Abusive Dad: Played with. Bramblestar's father, Tigerstar, is a questionable parent to say the least. While Tigerstar does love Brambleclaw in his own way, he is perfectly willing to lie to him, manipulate him, hurt him, and even kill him if he thinks he has to. In The Darkest Hour, Bramblepaw rejects his father, who furiously threatens to kill him in response and undoubtedly would have had Scourge not killed Tigerstar. In the second half of The New Prophecy, while Brambleclaw trains with him and Hawkfrost in the Dark Forest, Tigerstar constantly tries to emotionally manipulate Brambleclaw and even physically assaults him at one point just for getting distracted. Also in The Last Hope, Tigerstar praises Brambleclaw for slaying Hawkfrost (which makes Brambleclaw uncomfortable), but then implies he intends to kill him after he's finished with Firestar.
• Acid Reflux Nightmare: He originally thinks his prophecy dream was one of these.
• A Day in the Limelight: He's in the spotlight again in the seventh Super Edition, Bramblestar's Storm.
• Ambition Is Evil: Averted. It's the one thing that makes him different from Hawkfrost. While Hawkfrost has ambition for himself, Brambleclaw only had ambition to serve his Clan.
• Amicable Exes: With Squirrelflight, during Bramblestar's Storm. Then they realize how dumb they're being and that they still love each other, and get back together.
• Anti-Hero: He's more Jerkish and battle-hungry than your average hero, and has some serious temptation issues, but he's a good guy.
• The Apprentice: To Firestar.
• Ascended Extra: While a minor character in the first arc, he became the main character of the second arc, The New Prophecy.
• Awesome Moment of Crowning: In The Last Hope, he is unofficially declared leader by ThunderClan. The Ultimate Guide shows his nine lives ceremony.
• Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Squirrelflight and Brambleclaw are almost the poster couple for this pairing. They fight constantly, both as banter and for real, but they're crazy about each other.
• Back from the Dead: Being leader, this is what should have happened. Instead, after losing his first life, his body is taken over by someone else, forcing Bramblestar to be a ghost. In The Place of No Stars, Bramblestar manages to regain his body.
• Battle Couple: With the current deputy, Squrrielflight.
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: With Squirrelflight, especially during Twilight.
• Berserk Button: Never mention Tigerstar's (his father's) name in front of him.
• Be Yourself: In Bramblestar's Storm, he worries that he won't be as good as Firestar as leader of ThunderClan. He eventually learns to become his own leader while honoring Firestar's memory.
• Big Good: The Last Hope ends with him becoming the leader of ThunderClan, the main Clan of the series.
• Brain Washed And Crazy: In The Place of No Stars, Bramblestar's spirit is trapped in the Dark Forest by Ashfur, who sadistically mind-controls him into a blank-eyed slave. Under Ashfur's influence, Bramblestar is forced to attack his beloved mate Squirrelflight for rejecting Ashfur. Although Bramblestar is able to resist Ashfur's control, its not enough to break free completely, and its only thanks to Shadowsight's intervention, that he and Squirrelflight are able to escape.
• Cain and Abel: The Abel to Hawkfrost's Cain.
• Calling the Old Man Out: During The Darkest Hour.
• The Chains of Commanding: His super edition deals mainly with Bramblestar struggling to lead his Clan.
• The Chosen One: He was one of the four warriors chosen by StarClan to lead the Clans to their new home.
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character: He is very different from Firestar, being bolder and more assertive. He also doubts himself much more, fearing that he's destined to be like his evil father.
• Death of a Child: His son Juniperkit is stillborn and his daughter Dandelionkit dies of illness.
• Death of Personality: He temporarily goes through this in ‘’The Broken Code’’ by having Ashfur’s ghost taking over his body, while he is stuck as a ghost.
• Demonic Possession: After his revival in Lost Stars by an unknown cat. It's an odd variant in which Bramblestar himself isn't possessed, rather it's his body, as Bramblestar is dead and walking the earth as a ghost.
• Depending on the Artist: He usually has amber eyes, but he was mistakenly shown with green eyes on the cover of Midnight.
• Determinator: Despite others' misgivings about him, he will never give up trying to prove that he's a loyal ThunderClan cat.
• Divided We Fall: He says this in Dovewing's Silence after the distrust towards the Dark Forest trainees goes too far. That involved getting them to attack an injured fox, which prompts Bramblestar to tell everyone that the time of mistrust must end.
• Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Hates it.
• Doting Grandparent: Bramblestar loves and cherishes his grandchildren, both adopted and biological. When Bramblestar is apprenticing Lionblaze's kits, he looks on with pride. In "Squirrelflight's Hope", when Sparkpelt is too depressed to look after Finchkit or Flamekit, Bramblestar takes it upon himself to watch over them and play with them so Daisy and Sorrelstripe can have a break. Squirrelflight internally narrates that Bramblestar seemed to love the kits more than she did! Moreover, after Flamepaw rejects his warrior name, Bramblestar, in contrast to many, does not shame Flamepaw and instead offers a compromise for his name.
  Squirrelflight: "Pleasure fluttered faintly in her chest as she pictured Bramblestar giving them badger rides around the nursery. “I think Bramblestar loves them even more than I do.”"
• The Fettered: What sets Brambleclaw apart from his father Tigerstar and brother Hawkfrost is that while he's ambitious, he's also determined to obey the warrior code and remain loyal to his Clan, no matter the cost. He has all his father's determination, but none of his wanton cruelty or selfishness.
• Fatal Flaw: Bramblestar sometimes worries a little too much about what other cats think of him.
• Fire-Forged Friends: Squirrelflight and Brambleclaw didn't really get along at first, but after Squirrelpaw joins in on the quest in The New Prophecy Brambleclaw starts to see more to her than the nuisance he thought she was and the two of them become pretty close and eventually mates.
  • This also applies to the rest of the party from this journey: Crowfeather, Stormfur and Feathertail. The journey they were on helps them to become close friends for many seasons to come. Brambleclaw and Tawnypelt are littermates, so they were already close to begin with.
• Fighting from the Inside: When Ashfur mind-controls him into attacking Squirrelflight, Bramblestar tries his best to resist; at one point, Ashfur even shouts at Bramblestar out of apparent frustration of how hard it is to control him. However, its not enough to throw Ashfur off completely until he is distracted by Shadowsight.
• Forgiveness: After spending most of Omen of the Stars with a huge stick up his ass, he forgives Squirrelflight in The Last Hope.
• Freudian Excuse: A non-villainous example. From kithood, Bramblestar has been disliked/hated and distrusted by others just for being the son of an evil traitor. He grew up under a mentor who had to keep himself from flinching every time he looked at him, which definitely gave Bramblestar issues with his image. As a result, as a warrior, Brambleclaw struggled worrying about whether cats only think of his evil father when they saw him. Even after becoming a leader, he is still concerned about what other cats think of him, which can make him lash out if he's unsure of what to do.
• Freudian Trio: In The New Prophecy he and Stormfur were the Ego to Squirrelflight and Crowfeather's Id and Leafpool, Feathertail, and Tawnypelt's Superego.
• From Zero to Hero: In the second arc, he was an ordinary young cat who (along with five other cats) went on a quest to learn what the Clans must do when humans destroy their home. They end up saving all the Clans during this (as well as the Tribe on the way), and Bramblestar eventually ends up as Clan leader.
• Generation Xerox: In appearance, and in ambition, he greatly resembles his father Tigerstar. But that's as far as the similarities go.
• Giver of Lame Names: The names he gives some of his warriors are...unusual, to say the least. Twigbranch has to be the worst offender, though his intention of honoring her growth was sweet. But then there's also Snaptooth, Stemleaf, and Sorrelstripe (who isn't a tabby).
• Good Parents: He loves and cares for his kits Lionblaze, Jayfeather, and Hollyleaf very much, and they all think that he is a great father. This makes the revelation that they aren't his kits hit him even harder, as he had invested so much of his life into them, though he still loves them very much. He's certainly a better father than their real father, Crowfeather. Continues to be an incredible dad in the fifth series to his biological kits, Alderheart and Sparkpelt. In fact, Bramblestar is arguably the best dad in the series.
• Grand Theft Me: In The Broken Code, Ashfur's spirit tricks Shadowpaw into giving Bramblestar a "treatment" to his illness that actually results in him losing a life. While Bramblestar is dead, Ashfur jumps into his body and takes over, pretending to be him and causing chaos in the Clans.
• Happily Married: Mates with Squirrelflight in the third series. They broke up in the fourth, but they get back together again in Bramblestar's Storm.
• The Hero: Of The New Prophecy.
• Heroic BSoD:
  • Brambleclaw goes through a brief, but pretty heartbreaking one when he learns that Squirrelflight lied to them that the Three were his biological children. It's made worse by the conclusion that she did it out of a lack of trust, which is a huge issue for a cat like Brambleclaw.
  • In River it is heavily implied Bramblestar is going through a possibly even worse one. He's still traumatized by his time trapped in the Dark Forest and being forced to attack his beloved mate, Squirrelflight. This, combined with his Clanmates still being scared of him because of what Ashfur did with his body, has severely shaken Bramblestar's hard-earned confidence in his leadership.
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Often portrayed as this with Squirrelflight in fanworks, and canon does hint at it; Bramblestar's Large and in Charge, while a throw-away line in Starlight mentions that Squirrelflight has short legs.
• Horrible Judge of Character: Trusting Hawkfrost and Tigerstar was not the wisest move he could have made. Though it could be argued that he wanted to believe Tigerstar was redeemed and that Hawkfrost didn't have to be evil.
• I Am Not My Father: He is nothing like the villainous Tigerstar. Though, as he notes in the above quote, he'll have to fight the perception that he is for his entire life.
• Inferiority Superiority Complex: It's vaguely implied he has one; Bramblestar can sometimes be prideful, confident, defensive, and somewhat condescending, but other times he is doubtful, conflicted, indecisive, and tends to worry a lot about what other cats think of him.
• Internal Reveal: He learns about SkyClan in Bramblestar's Storm. By the time this book came out, we've known about SkyClan for seven years.
• I Want Grandkids: Though, in a somewhat darker twist, he wants Lionblaze and Cinderheart to hurry up and have some because the Clan doesn't have any. When they actually do, he realizes that this makes him feel old.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Bramblestar can sometimes be a bit of a prideful, stubborn, bossy, and even angry jerk, but he can still make good points:
  • In A Dangerous Path, he yells at Firestar, accusing him of believing that he will turn out like Tigerstar, then runs off. While it was a bit harsh, it is understandable and justified, because, as Firestar himself privately, and later outright admits, it is completely accurate. Ever since Bramblepaw was a tiny kit in the nursery, Firestar has been uneasy around him because he looks exactly like a miniature version of his father.
  • His initial opinion of Squirrelpaw being an impulsive and annoying nuisance is (mostly) accurate; the apprentice tends to be extremely (and needlessly) rude when interacting with other cats and she often jumps into things without thinking of the potential consequences.
  • In his argument with Squirrelpaw about rescuing Leafpaw from humans in Dawn, he insists that they need to wait for backup. While calling Squirrelpaw 'mad' was a bit harsh, Brambleclaw's statement that he and Squirrelpaw don't stand a chance against a group of humans is completely accurate; in the end, it's only thanks to help of Graystripe, Thornclaw, Rainwhisker and Sorreltail that they are able to rescue the trapped cats.
  • In the second half of The New Prophecy, Brambleclaw refuses to listen to Squirrelfight's warnings about his half-brother, Hawkfrost's bloodthirsty ambitions. However, while he is ultimately proven wrong about Hawkfrost being good, Brambleclaw does make three pretty good points; 1: Squirrelflight has no actual proof that Hawkfrost is untrustworthy (she's mostly just basing her suspicion on her own instincts and her sister, Leafpool's negative opinion of Hawkfrost), 2: Brambleclaw has a right to get to know his half-brother (something Squirrelflight refuses to acknowlege or sympathize with until Sunset), and 3: Squirrelflight is being needlessly rude to him and Hawkfrost when they are trying to be friendly.
  • Doubles as Hypocrite Has a Point. Brambleclaw's reaction to learning that Squirrelflight lied to him about the Three being his biological children? He is absolutely heartbroken, chastises Squirrelflight for not trusting him with the secret, breaks up with her for about two years, and is cold, dismissive, and occasionally outright hostile toward her whenever they interact before eventually forgiving and getting back with her. True, Brambleclaw was being a Jerk and somewhat hypocritical because he's also kept a secret from Squirrelflight; that he trained in the Dark Forest with Tigerstar and Hawkfrost. But ultimately Brambleclaw's reaction to Squirrelflight's deception is understandable and justified: no matter how pure Squirrelflight's intentions were, agreeing to adopt her sister's kits, something that would impact her mate's entire life, without his knowledge or consent, and then lying to him that they were his biological children for a whole feline generation while planning to never tell him the truth at all, was a massive violation of Brambleclaw's trust in her. Furthermore, when Brambleclaw asks if she did it out of a lack of trust, Squirrelflight allows him to believe it, which only makes things worse; trust is a big issue for Brambleclaw because he was distrusted for most of his early life because of his evil father. So, the revelation that his mate, the cat he loves and trusts the most, apparently still doesn't trust him even after everything he did to prove himself is very devastating for Brambleclaw. While Squirrelflight still believes to this day that her decision was ultimately the right one, she knows how incredibly deceitful her actions were, to the point that even though Bramblestar eventually forgave her, she apparently did not expect him to ever do so.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Especially in the second half of The New Prophecy, before he comes to terms with who he is. After the revelation that he's not the father of the kits he thought were his, his jerkass tendencies come out and he doesn't forgive Squirrelflight until The Last Hope. Aside from that, he's a pretty nice guy.
• Keet: During Firestar's Quest, where he was super energetic and excited after being made a warrior. He still has some of these tendencies later; after becoming deputy he's pretty much bouncing with excitement and cannot wait to tell every cat he knows. Even after becoming leader, he practically runs over to see how Alderpaw and Sparkpaw's first day as apprentices went.
• Large and in Charge: Grows up to become one of the largest cats in the series, and eventually becomes the leader of ThunderClan.
• The Leader:
  • In The New Prophecy, during the journey to the Sun Drown Place, his companions recognize his natural talent and he becomes the leader of the group.
  • Becomes Bramblestar at the end of The Last Hope, and spends Bramblestar's Storm leading ThunderClan.
• Meaningful Name: His warrior name, Brambleclaw, was chosen in honor of his father, Tigerclaw.
• The Mentor: To Berrynose.
• Momma's Boy: Since his father Tigerstar left ThunderClan when he was little, he is very close to his mother, Goldenflower. She ends up giving him one of his nine lives at his leader ceremony.
• My God, What Have I Done?:
  • He feels guilty in Sunset for accusing Leafpool of telling the other medicine cats about the badger attack. What added more was that it wasn't Leafpool's fault for causing the fight with ShadowClan; it was Hawkfrost.
  • He blames himself for Squirrelflight's near-death experience in Squirrelflight's Hope, because he didn't listen to her about the Sisters.
• No Accounting for Taste: He and Squirrelflight love each other, but they have communication issues, which creates a lot of serious fights and friction.
• Not Actually His Child: Happens when Hollyleaf reveals, to every cat attending the Gathering, that he's not her father and Squirrelflight isn't her mother, but that she and her siblings are instead the children of Leafpool, Squirrelflight's sister and the Clan's medicine cat, and Crowfeather, a warrior from a different Clan who had a legitimate son of his own. Naturally, he took the news pretty hard, but eventually got over it when he decided that, as their foster father, he still loved and was proud of Hollyleaf, Lionblaze and Jayfeather, and that their blood relation didn't matter.
• "Not So Different" Remark: In The Darkest Hour, Firestar realizes that he's a lot like Brambleclaw, as they both have to fight twice as hard to prove to everyone else that their blood doesn't define them.
• Number Two: Serves as ThunderClan's deputy in Sunset, Power of Three, and Omen of the Stars.
• Outliving One's Offspring: Outlives two of his biological kits, Juniperkit and Dandelionkit. Juniperkit died right after birth and Dandelionkit was never strong and died only two moons later.
• One-Man Army: 'Severely downplayed; Bramblestar is a very good fighter, but he's usually just fought other cats one on one. However, in The Place of No Stars, he takes on the imposter's army and sends several of them flying with swipes of his forepaws, which is very impressive.
• Papa Wolf: He's pretty protective over his kits. Even after he finds out that Hollyleaf, Lionblaze, and Jayfeather are not his kits at all.
• Parental Favoritism: Even though they're on different sides, it's implied that he's Tigerstar's favorite child.
• Parental Substitute: He acts as a father to Lionblaze, Jayfeather, and Hollyleaf, but he's not their dad, which none of them learn until late in the Power of Three series.
• Poor Communication Kills: The Achilles' Heel in his and Squirrelflight's relationship. If Brambleclaw had explained to Squirrelflight why he wanted to be friends with Hawkfrost, or if she'd asked instead of jumping to conclusions, their quarrel in the second half of The New Prophecy would never have happened; if Squirrelflight had simply trusted him with the secret of the Three not being their biological children, their break-up in Omen of the Stars would never have happened; if she hadn't assumed Bramblestar not wanting more kits as much as she does in Squirrelflight's Hope means he doesn't love her, their fight there wouldn't have happened...
• Raised by Rival: Firestar takes him on as his apprentice following Tigerstar's exile from the Clan and ensuing takeover of ShadowClan. Despite caring deeply about Bramblepaw, Firestar struggles to separate the innocent apprentice from his evil, look-alike father, something Bramblepaw notices and resents.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: He's this for the most part when he becomes deputy and then leader.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: He goes batshit crazy on Hawkfrost for killing his adopted daughter in The Last Hope.
• Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: He's the savvy guy to Squirrelflight's energetic girl. He tries to be stern and strict, while she always jumps into things headfirst.
• Secret-Keeper: He is one of the few living cats who knows that Ashfur's death wasn't an accident.
• Sneaky Departure: The New Prophecy begins with Brambleclaw and a cat from each Clan getting an omen telling them that they need to go on a journey far away from the Clans. Since they can't let their Clanmates in on this, they have to sneak away from the Clans and meet up together for the journey.
• So Proud of You:
  • In The Last Hope, he told Hollyleaf, Lionblaze, and Jayfeather that he was proud to be their father.
  • Is on the receiving end of this from Tigerstar. He doesn't take it well.
• Stalker without a Crush: His ghost stalks Rootpaw, the only cat who can see Bramblestar, during Silent Thaw so he can beg for his help.
• Strong Family Resemblance: He looks exactly like Tigerstar, minus the scarred nose and nicked ear.
• The Power of Love: In The Place of No Stars, while trapped in his spirit form, Bramblestar manages to resist (but not break free of) Ashfur's mind-control because of his love for Squirrelflight. Just hearing her voice briefly snaps him out of his trance twice; first when he hears her for the first time in moons, and second when she pleads with him as he is forced to attack her.
• Tough Act to Follow: In-Universe example; Bramblestar's Storm deals with him struggling to live up to the enormous legacy Firestar left.
• Turn Out Like His Father: Many characters express fear that he will grow up to be a villain like his father, Tigerstar. He manages to prove them wrong with his heroic nature.
• Trapped on the Astral Plane: After Bramblestar loses a life, he is unable to return to his body since some unknown being has begun to possess it, leaving his spirit stuck and running desperately around the territories, visible only to Rootpaw.
• Unexpected Successor:
  • A lot of ThunderClan was surprised when he became the deputy.
  • Also a meta example: Word of God once said that the next leader "might be unexpected". Fans took this as "Brambleclaw won't be leader" - since he's deputy, he would be the cat everyone expects to succeed Firestar. (It actually was valid at the time; Vicky Holmes had intended for Squirrelflight to become leader, but didn't end up getting her way.) The popular "Brambleclaw won't be leader" interpretation became so ingrained in fans' way of thinking that everyone was actually pretty surprised when he became leader after all.
• We Used to Be Friends: With Ashfur. When they both fall in love with Squirrelflight, Brambleclaw and Ashfur's friendship quickly detiorates into a rivalry for her affections. At one point, after arguing with Brambleclaw, Squirrelflight goes to sit with Ashfur, and Brambleclaw stops trying to reconcile with her because he doesn't want to give the grey tom "the satisfaction of watching them fight." After Squirrelflight chooses Brambleclaw, Ashfur takes it very personally and ends his friendship with the dark brown tabby. The Broken Code makes it apparent that Ashfur and Bramblestar hate each other, with Ashfur mocking Bramblestar to Shadowsight, and Bramblestar later outright says that Ashfur's hatred and jealousy of him has twisted Ashfur into the monster he is now. After regaining his body, Bramblestar furiously snarls at his former friend turned enemy, and it is only at Rootspring and Squirrelflight's urging that he wisely decides to escape to fight another day.
• What the Hell, Hero?: In A Dangerous Path, he yells at Firestar for believing that he would turn out like Tigerstar, then runs off.
• What You Are in the Dark: At the end of Sunset, Hawkfrost sets it up so that Brambleclaw will be able to kill a helpless Firestar and become ThunderClan's leader. He declines and kills Hawkfrost to save Firestar.
• Workaholic: Refused to stop working during Bramblestar's Storm until Squirrelflight specifically told him that he was going to collapse if he didn't.
• Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: A large part of his relationship with his father Tigerstar, especially in The Last Hope when Tigerstar congratulates him because he killed Hawkfrost.

Squirrelstar

Squirrelstar (Squirrelflight)

"And I'm sick of you flapping your wings like an injured sparrow, feeling oh so sorry for yourself. You're not the only cat suffering. Your pain isn't the hardest to bear."

"All cats deserve to find happiness as a mate, and as a mother."^{Image source}Squirrelflight in The Ultimate Guide

Another second series protagonist, and Firestar's daughter. Originally a hot-headed young cat, she has matured into a capable and strong warrior. She goes on the journey with the four chosen cats in the second series, despite not being chosen herself, and during that time develops into Brambleclaw's Love Interest. In The Last Hope, she is named the deputy of ThunderClan under Bramblestar and reigns briefly as ThunderClan's acting leader for ThunderClan after the imposter is deposed of, and later returns to her deputy position.

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• Action Girl: As with most female characters.
• Adventures in Comaland: In Squirrelflight's Hope, she and her sister Leafpool are caught in a rockslide, and find themselves in StarClan's forest while their lives hang in the balance. It appears to be a dreamlike state, especially when Squirrelflight thinks about how she could wake up in the medicine cat den at any moment.
• Agonizing Stomach Wound: She is badly injured this way during the eclipse battle, and it's not clear at first if she will survive, but she pulls through.
• Amicable Exes: With Bramblestar, during Bramblestar's Storm. Then they realize how dumb they're being and that they still love each other, and get back together.
• The Apprentice: To Dustpelt.
• Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Squirrelflight and Brambleclaw are almost the poster couple for this pairing. They fight constantly, both as banter and for real, but they're crazy about each other.
• Battle Couple: She's this with the current leader, Bramblestar.
• Berserk Button: Messing with, insulting, or accusing her sister. Ashfur, Lionblaze, and Brambleclaw learned the hard way of what happens if someone is being mean to Leafpool.
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: With Brambleclaw, especially in Twilight.
• Betty and Veronica: In Bramblestar's Storm she serves as the Betty, since she's matured into a reliable, level-headed warrior, to Jessy's Veronica, an abrasive kittypet Bramblestar rescued from drowning.
• Big Brother Instinct: A female example, as Squirrelflight is very protective of Leafpool, will tell anyone off for verbally ganging up on her, and even helps her raise her kits by acting as their mother.
• Birds of a Feather: Faced with a choice between Ashfur (a patient, cautious cat) and Brambleclaw (someone as bold and stubborn as she is), Squirrelflight chooses the latter.
  Squirrelflight needed someone to match her fire, not contain it, and that cat was always going to be Brambleclaw.
• Broken Bird: She is this in The Broken Code, but manages to get out of it when Ashfur is killed permanently and she escapes the Dark Forest after being trapped there.
• Brutal Honesty: When she's not being the Secret-Keeper.
• Character Development: She noticeably matures during the journey to the sun-drown-place, though she retains her fieriness.
• The Chief's Daughter: She is a daughter of Firestar, leader of ThunderClan.
• Continuity Nod: Her one white paw is probably this, as a reference to her grandfather Jake being the father of Scourge as well as Firestar.
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character: She is feisty and disobedient just for the sake of it, unlike her much more serious father, despite their similar physical appearance.
• Deadpan Snarker: Like her mother before her. Squirrelflight is probably even more sharp-tongued, always ready with a sassy comeback, especially as an apprentice. She reigns it in when she gets older, but is still quick-witted and willing to fire one off.
• Divided We Fall: In Darkness Within she gives a speech to ThunderClan about how they shouldn't be fighting each other, because they're connected by their love for ThunderClan, while the real enemy is Ashfur.
• Did Not Think This Through:
  • In her youth, Squirrelflight is very impulsive, with a tendency to speak and act without thinking, which often gets her into trouble. Although her impulsiveness mellows as she grows up, it never fully goes away.
  • In Squirrelflight's Hope, when Squirrelflight comes up with the idea for SkyClan to move to new territory, she rather impulsively suggests it to the Clan leaders without fully thinking it through or even talking to Bramblestar about it first. Though completely well-intentioned, it inadvertently causes an argument with her mate. The very next day, she goes behind Bramblestar's back to explore the new territory with Leafstar and even asks her daughter, Sparkpelt, to basically lie to him. She believes that this will convince her mate that she's right, but she never really stops to think about what might happen if her plan doesn't work, and its not until The Sisters take her and Leafstar captive that she realizes that going behind her mate's back will only make him more angry and asking Sparkpelt to lie to him puts her in a difficult position. It can easily be pointed out that Squirrelflight's plan does work in the end, but her methods of trying to see it through are questionable to say the least and the fact that she never seriously considered the possibility that her plan might not work is still notable.
  • In The Broken Code, her desire and determination to protect her mate's body is admirable and understandable, but she never seems to think about what doing so means for everyone else. The increasingly desperate lengths she goes to do so—from extracting a promise from Bristlefrost to protect him, to stalling for time, to actually planning to help the impostor escape—just gives the impostor more time to amass power and create conflict in the Clans.
• Death of a Child: Her son Juniperkit is stillborn and her daughter Dandelionkit dies of illness.
• Dragged Off to Hell: Though not a villain, this happens to her at the end of Darkness Within, when Ashfur drags her through the Moonpool into the Dark Forest. She manages to escape at the end of The Place of No Stars with her mate.
• Doting Grandparent: When Sparkpelt's kits are born in Squirrelflight's Hope, Squirrelflight adores them and loves looking after them.
• Ear Notch: She gained a torn ear tip in the badger battle during Twilight.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: She had to suffer a lot before becoming deputy and being forgiven by Brambleclaw, Lionblaze, Jayfeather, and Hollyleaf in The Last Hope. She gets even more of a happy ending in Bramblestar's Storm, becoming mates with Bramblestar again and being the mother to his kits. And then the seventh arc happened.
• The Exile: In The Silent Thaw the imposter doesn't just demote her as deputy, but he also exiles her from the Clan.
• Faking the Dead: During Veil of Shadows, she fakes her death so that the false Bramblestar will stop searching for her, leaving her free to work with the rebels without fear of him discovering them.
• Fatal Flaw: Squirrelflight's short-sighted willingness to do anything for her loved ones usually causes more problems than it solves. It's best shown in:
  • Power of Three, where her deception about the parentage of Leafpool's kits results in Hollyleaf's Heroic BSoD, Ashfur's death and Bramblestar breaking up with her.
  • The Broken Code where all her stalling for time to protect Bramblestar's body does is help the impostor, and she actually would have helped him escape with no thoughts as to the long-term consequences if Rootspring and Bristlefrost hadn't stopped her.
• Fire-Forged Friends: She and Brambleclaw didn't really get along at first, but after Squirrelpaw joins in on the quest in The New Prophecy Brambleclaw starts to see more to her than the nuisance he thought she was and the two of them become pretty close and eventually mates.
  • This also applies to the rest of the party from this journey: Crowfeather, Tawnypelt, Stormfur and Feathertail. The journey they were on helps them to become close friends for many seasons to come.
• Fiery Redhead: Much much moreso than either of her parents. As an apprentice and young warrior, she's constantly full of energy. She mellows out a little as she ages.
• Fire/Water Juxtaposition: In Cats of the Clans she is compared to a burning fire and Leafpool to a calm pool of water.
• Forced to Watch: Ashfur tries to burn Jayfeather, Lionblaze, and Hollyleaf alive and force their (adoptive) mother to watch as "vengeance" for her choosing another mate instead of him two years ago. Her quick thinking gets them out of it, but at the cost of her adopted kits' love.
  • This also happens in The Broken Code, where Ashfur promises her that he's going to destroy everything she loves if she doesn't agree to be his mate. Squirrelflight is having none of it this time though, and calls his bluff. Though by A Light in the Mist, after Squirrelflight escapes the Dark Forest, Ashfur seems serious about destroying everything just so Squirrelflight can bear witness to his wrath.
• Freudian Trio: In The New Prophecy she and Crowfeather were the Id to Brambleclaw and Stormfur's Ego and Leafpool, Feathertail, and Tawnypelt's Superego.
• From Zero to Hero: In the second arc, she was an ordinary young cat who (along with five other cats) went on a quest to learn what the Clans must do when humans destroy their home. They end up saving all the Clans during this (as well as the Tribe on the way), and Squirrelflight eventually ends up as ThunderClan deputy.
• Genki Girl: In the second series. As said, she mellows out.
• Green-Eyed Monster:
  • Part of the reason Squirrelflight breaks up with Brambleclaw in Starlight is because due to the amount of time he spends with his half-brother, Hawkfrost, she believes he cares more about Hawkfrost than about her. As Brambleclaw explains, this doesn't mean he doesn't love her, but Squirrelflight refuses to listen.
  • She expresses jealousy over Bramblestar's closeness with Jessy during Bramblestar's Storm; when he asks her about it, she hastily responds that it's not her place and that Jessy can stay if she wants, but is still clearly upset at the thought.
• Greater Need Than Mine: Leafpool offers her some herbs in Twilight, but she replies that other cats need them more.
• Happily Married: Mates with Brambleclaw in the third series. They break up in the fourth, but become mates again in Bramblestar's Storm.
• Help, I'm Stuck!: Played for laughs twice in Midnight. The first time, Brambleclaw finds her tangled in a bramble bush and she explains that she thought there was room to go underneath it, and he points out helpfully that there isn't. The second time, she gets stuck under a wire fence, and while the toms start arguing with each other about what to do, the she-cats Tawnypelt and Feathertail actually help her get out.
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Often portrayed as this with Bramblestar in fanworks, and canon does hint at it; Bramblestar's Large and in Charge, while a throw-away line in Starlight mentions that Squirrelflight has short legs.
• Hypocrite: A lot.
  • In Midnight, Squirrelpaw berates Brambleclaw for questioning orders and later for sneaking off without telling anyone, even though at this point in her life she is almost constantly doing the exact same thing to practically everyone. When her mentor, Dustpelt, points this out, Squirrelpaw disregards it. Arguably this can be excused as she's very young at the time.
  • During the latter half of The New Prophecy, she is very biased against Hawkfrost mainly for being Tigerstar's son and partly for being arrogant and bossy, which is hypocritical on three levels—1: Brambleclaw, who she's in love with, is Tigerstar's son as well, 2: she gets angry whenever someone expresses bias against him for that, and 3: Squirrelflight is rather arrogant and bossy herself. Her own sister actually points these first two facts out to her, and Squirrelpaw's reaction is to say that's completely different.
  • She breaks up with Brambleclaw because she's angry about him wanting to get to know his half-brother, yet she has nothing to say about her sister's friendship with Mothwing, Brambleclaw's half-sister.
  • In Dark River, Squirrelflight berates Hollypaw for sneaking off and for not listening to the older cats and leaving the decision-making to them, even though that is something Squirrelflight often did in her youth, and still occasionally does in her adulthood.
  • In Bramblestar's Storm, she claims that she will never trust anyone who trained in the Dark Forest, even though several ThunderClan cats did just that and she has given them a second chance.
  • In Squirrelflight's Hope, Squirrelflight firmly insists that she's not fond of The Sisters and just respects them, but rather impassioned way she defends the and the "surge of fondness" she later feels for Snow, one of the Sisters, makes that statement ring hollow.
    • In the same book, Squirrelflight promises Bramblestar that she will support him against the Sisters, but then breaks that promise by helping the Sisters instead so as to protect Moonlight's kits. Squirrelflight herself subtly realizes that she's being a hypocrite, but feels the Clans are in the wrong and that she has no choice.
  • In Darkness Within, she claims she'll go along with what the other leaders decide to do with the impostor, but when they decide to execute him, sneaks away to help him escape (so as to protect Bramblestar's body).
  • In River, she is absolutely livid about Flamepaw rejecting his warrior name and refuses to allow him to choose his own name on the grounds that it's against the warrior code, even though she was perfectly fine with Crowfeather getting to choose his own name, and Millie being allowed to keep her original name.
  • In Sky, she gets angry with Nightheart and threatens to punish him just because he disobeyed an order she gave him, even though Squirrelflight has recently been going against Bramblestar's orders.
  • In Shadow, Squirrelflight gently reprimands Nightheart for not communicating his issues with his Clanmates more. While she does have a point and is being more sympathetic to him than, it's rather rich coming from someone whose relationship with her mate has been plagued by Poor Communication Kills and has never learned from it.
• It's All About Me: Usually averted or subverted: Squirrelflight is, at her core, a very selfless individual who is determined to what's right (or more accurately what she believes to be right), no matter the cost. However, there are a few occasions were she has acted selfishly and she in fact has shades of this in her relationship with Bramblestar. Squirrelflight nearly always thinks her way of doing things is the only way and she rarely tries to compromise with Bramblestar, instead pushing for her ideas to be followed through. Whenever Bramblestar disagrees with her or doesn't listen to her, Squirrelflight's usual response to lash out at him, shun him, or go behind his back. It's best shown in:
  • The second half of The New Prophecy, where Squirrelflight very quickly distances herself from Brambleclaw, rejects him, and repeatedly lashes out at him verbally just because he won't agree with her that Hawkfrost is untrustworthy, even though she doesn't have any concrete proof for her suspicions. Even after she and Brambleclaw reconcile, Squirrelflight never apologizes or takes responsibility for her rash and harsh behavior.
  • Squirrelflight's Hope; while she is much more sympathetic and less Jerkish in this book, Squirrelflight's response to Bramblestar admitting he wants to have another litter of kits less than her, is to question his love for her. However, she does later privately admit she was wrong to do this.
• I Am Not My Father: She faces problems similar to Brambleclaw, but with a different flavor. While he has to fight the belief that he's just like his evil father, she deals with the stress of cats expecting her to be just as wise and peaceful as her legendary father is.
• I Am Not Your Father: In Long Shadows, Squirrelflight runs out of options while facing Ashfur, forcing her to admit that Jayfeather, Lionblaze, and Hollyleaf are not her kits.
• I Did What I Had to Do: How she feels about lying to the Clan about Jayfeather's, Lionblaze's, and Hollyleaf's parentage.
• I Was Having Such An Important Dream: In Dawn, she is talking to a spirit-cat in her dream, and is about to be told how she can save her sister, when Shrewpaw wakes her up.
• Insult of Endearment: Is very fond of calling Brambleclaw "mousebrain".
• Jerkass Has a Point: Especially in the second half of The New Prophecy. When Brambleclaw befriends his half-brother Hawkfrost, Squirrelflight, who believes the latter to be untrustworthy, behaves like a real Jerk when trying to 'warn' Brambleclaw, even though she has no hard evidence for her suspicions. She frequently yells at Brambleclaw, insults him, and even, on two separate occasions, outright accuses of him of being disloyal in front of their Clanmates, and somewhat quickly breaks up with him, accusing him of valuing her less than Hawkfrost. But ultimately, Squirrelflight is proven to be right about Hawkfrost, who exposes himself as an ambitious, murderous Manipulative Bastard.
• The Leader:
  • Though not an official Clan leader, she becomes acting leader of ThunderClan at the end of Veil of Shadows while Bramblestar's body is possessed.
  • After Bramblestar steps down from leadership and becomes Brambleclaw once more, Squirrelflight takes over as ThunderClan's new leader.
• Lack of Empathy: Very downplayed: Squirrelflight is more than capable of compassion and has many moments of being very kind to other cats. However, she does have a tendency to be rather insensitive, if not outright uncaring, towards the feelings and opinions of cats who disagree with her. This is most notably shown in her attitude towards Brambleclaw during their quarrel over Hawkfrost; even though Squirrelflight of all cats should understand a desire to have a strong bond with one's sibling considering the exceptionally strong bond she has with her own sister, she is outright unsympathetic towards Brambleclaw's desire to get to know his half-brother, Hawkfrost. This can also be seen through her treatment of her grandson, Nightheart. Even though Squirrelflight of all cats should understand the pressure of cats expecting one to be like their relatives, the trouble with impulsiveness, the willingness to break rules and disobey orders to do what they believe to be right, and frustration with constantly being given apprentice tasks, she is rather uncaring towards Nightheart's emotional plight and refuses to hear him out when he tries to explain his reasons for disobeying her orders.
• Leeroy Jenkins: A played with gender inverted example. Often as an apprentice and occasionally as an adult, Squirrelflight sneaks off and/or rushes into things without asking how other cats feel about it. She usually has good intentions and often gets results, but this habit still has consequences, most notably often getting her into trouble with her loved ones, who believe it to be dangerous.
• Let's Just Be Friends: She tells this to Ashfur to end her romantic relationship with him. While she honestly wants to remain his friend, he still doesn't take that too well.
• Like Father, Like Son:
  • In The Last Hope, she becomes the deputy, which her father was at one point.
  • Also like her father, she has a Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right! attitude towards the warrior code, with the key difference being that Firestar was more diplomatic and careful about how he went about it.
• Lying to Protect Your Feelings: Vicky Holmes stated in a Facebook page that this is the real reason Squirrelflight lied to Bramblestar about Jayfeather, Lionblaze, and Hollyleaf being his biological children (though she seems to contradict this in the 2011 Erin Hunter chat).
  Kharina Cordeo: Exactly why didn't Squirrelflight tell Bramblestar about Hollyleaf, Lionblaze, and Jayfeather not really being theirs? Was it because she didn't trust him or because she wanted to protect him from being torn between his loyalty to the Clan or his loyalty to her?
  Vicky Holmes: Squirrelflight wanted Bramblestar to love the kits as if they were his own, so she wanted to protect him from the difficult truth.
• Master Actor: In Darkness Within, Shadowsight is sickened by Squirrelflight's apparent delight to speak to the imposter, and he has to remind himself that she's acting in order to get the imposter to reveal himself.
• Meaningful Name: She was named after her squirrel-like bushy tail.
• The Mentor: To Foxleap, Rosepetal and Stormcloud.
• My Biological Clock Is Ticking: In Squirrelflight's Hope, she ends up worrying about her age. Squirrelflight wants to have another litter while she still can, but her mate Bramblestar disagrees.
• Never My Fault: Usually subverted; Squirrelflight is willing to take responsibility for her actions and mistakes (though whether or not she learns from them is a different matter). However, there are a few instances where she fails (or outright refuses) to find fault in her herself. The most notable example is the second half of The New Prophecy, in which Squirrelflight makes it clear that she holds Brambleclaw solely responsible for their falling out, even though it was her decision to break up with him and she was technically the one who started their quarrel in the first place by taking Brambleclaw's desire to be friends with his half-brother Hawkfrost too personally and behaving so rashly and harshly about it even though (at the time) she had no hard evidence for her accusations of Hawkfrost being untrustworthy. Throughout their quarrel, Squirrelflight refuses to take any responsibility for any of the rude/hurtful things she says to Brambleclaw, instead choosing to blame him for "unfairly refusing to listen her." What makes it worse is that even after she and Brambleclaw reconcile, Squirrelflight never apologizes for her behavior, essentially letting him take all the blame by being the only one to apologize.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: In Veil of Shadows, she makes Bristlefrost promise to protect Bramblestar's body. This means that when a group of rebels try to assassinate the impostor, Bristlefrost is forced to foil it. Not only does this lead to Bristlefrost losing the trust of the rebels, it directly causes the deaths of Stemleaf, Dappletuft, and Conefoot, and indirectly causes the deaths of everyone who dies in the book's climax. Thanks, Squirrelflight!
• No Accounting for Taste: She and Bramblestar love each other, but they have communication issues, which creates a lot of serious fights and friction.
• Not Helping Your Case: Squirrelflight's frustration with Brambleclaw refusing to take her suspicions of Hawkfrost seriously is understandable, but she herself doesn't help matters by behaving in a very rash, harsh and insolent manner, which only ends up pushing Brambleclaw away and further into Hawkfrost's influence. Her rude and irrational reactions to his accusation of her distrusting Hawkfrost just because of his parentage, and later to him asking a simple question about Onewhisker are prime examples.
• Number Two: Bramblestar names her deputy at the end of The Last Hope.
• Omniscient Morality License: No matter what reckless action Squirrelflight takes, no matter how badly she puts her friends or family in danger, the narrative always ends up proving her right.
• One True Love: Word of God has it that she's Bramblestar's. In-Universe, StarClan consider her to be his as well.
• Outliving One's Offspring: Outlives her kits, Juniperkit and Dandelionkit. Juniperkit died right after birth and Dandelionkit was never strong and died only two moons later.
• Parental Substitute: She took in Hollyleaf, Lionblaze and Jayfeather after Leafpool gives birth to them and acts like their mother because their real mother isn't able to.
• Please Wake Up: Begs this of Bramblestar in the prologue of The Place of No Stars, after Ashfur finally ditches his body.
• Polar Opposite Twins: With Leafpool. Squirrelflight is sharp-tongued and energetic, and becomes a warrior, while Leafpool is calm and more reasonable, and becomes a medicine cat.
• Poor Communication Kills: The Achilles' Heel in her and Bramblestar's relationship. If Brambleclaw had explained to Squirrelflight why he wanted to be friends with Hawkfrost, or if she'd asked instead of jumping to conclusions, their quarrel in the second half of The New Prophecy would never have happened; if Squirrelflight had simply trusted him with the secret of the Three not being their biological children, their break-up in Omen of the Stars would never have happened; if she hadn't assumed Bramblestar not wanting more kits as much as she does in Squirrelflight's Hope means he doesn't love her, their fight there wouldn't have happened...
• Pregnant Badass: In the exclusive scene of "The Apprentice's Quest," set during her pregnancy, she manages to help Bramblestar drive off a fox while heavily pregnant.
• Rebellious Princess: Technically, as Clan Leader's daughter.
• Red Herring: The ending of Long Shadows implies that she killed Ashfur, due to her fur being covered in mud. It turns out she was just being clumsy, and by doing so she distracted the reader from the true killer: Hollyleaf.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Red to Leafpool's Blue.
• Refusing Paradise: In Squirrelflight's Hope, she is caught between life and death while badly injured, and it becomes clear that she can choose whether to stay in StarClan, or return to life. Despite her late mother trying to convince Squirrelflight to stay, she is insistent upon returning to life so that she can be with her mate.
• Royal Brat: Brambleclaw considers her one, at first.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: A strength and flaw in one. Squirrelflight can and will disobey orders and go behind her leader's back if she thinks she's doing the right thing; the problem is, she tends to both jump the gun and keep what she's doing secret from others. This often strains if not harms her personal relationships and causes as much damage as it solves, and that's if she was doing the right thing at all. Of particular note is how she would have gone behind all the Clans' backs and rescued the impostor from execution in Darkness Within, irrespective of the very probable long-term damage this would have caused, if Bristlefrost and Rootspring hadn't stopped her.
• Secret-Keeper:
  • In Midnight, she keeps Brambleclaw's prophecy a secret from ThunderClan in exchange for going with him on the journey.
  • Sunrise reveals that she knew that Leafpool had Crowfeather's kits, and she raised them as her own.
• Secretly Selfish:
  • Somewhat so in Squirrelflight's Hope; when Squirrelflight goes behind Bramblestar's back to talk to Leafstar and explore new territory for SkyClan with her, she insists that she's doing it because it will help all the Clans, but the reader can clearly see in her thoughts that she's doing it at least partly, if not mostly, because she wants to force Bramblestar to admit that her plan for SkyClan to move is the "perfect solution" to the Clans' problems.
  • In Veil of Shadows and Darkness Within, she pleads with Bristlefrost and later all the Clans to keep the impostor alive, under the claim that ThunderClan needs its real leader back. More than one cat sees through this and notes that Squirrelflight really just wants to keep her mate's body safe.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: At one point in The Place of No Stars, Ashfur is in the middle of telling Squirrelflight about how powerful he supposedly is and how Bramblestar's lost to her forever, and she just goes "Oh, shut up! I'm not listening to your rambling anymore."
• Sibling Yin-Yang: With her sister Leafpool. Squirrelflight was once compared to fire and Leafpool to water.
• Sneaky Departure:
  • The New Prophecy begins with a cat from each Clan getting an omen telling them that they need to go on a journey far away from the Clans. Since they can't let their Clanmates in on this, they have to sneak away from the Clans and meet up together for the journey. As an apprentice not part of the prophecy, she first sneak follows Brambleclaw to the meeting and then decides to go with the group.
  • In Squirrelflight's Hope, Squirrelflight sneaks out of the ThunderClan camp to convince Leafstar to move SkyClan to new territory. Near the end of the book, she sneaks out again, this time with Leafpool, to help Moonlight give birth to her kits.
• Speak in Unison: In Twilight, she and Tawnypelt both volunteer to fight Jacques and Susan at the same time.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Has flame-colored fur with green eyes like her father, Firestar and daughter, Sparkpelt.
• Tagalong Kid: In The New Prophecy, she's an addition to Brambleclaw's crew that is both young and a tag-along.
• The Runaway: In Midnight, she ran away from ThunderClan so that she could join Brambleclaw on his journey to the Sun-Drown Place.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Tomboy to Leafpool's Girly Girl.
• Tsundere: In Warrior Cats: The New Prophecy, anyway. She matures by The Power of Three.
• Twin Telepathy: She and Leafpool are able to sense what the other is feeling.
• Undying Loyalty: Nothing will ever stop Squirrelflight from being loyal to her sister Leafpool, or to ThunderClan.
• The Unchosen One: She was not chosen by StarClan to go on the journey to find Midnight. Despite this, she still fights alongside the journeying cats.
• Vibrant Orange: She is an extroverted ginger she-cat who was very excitable and loudmouthed as a young cat. Another character even compared her to fire, while her calmer and quieter sister Leafpool was compared to water. Squirrelflight mellowed out a bit with age, but always retained her impulsive nature.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: The extremist part is arguable. Squirrelflight usually acts with the best of intentions, but her methods of trying to do the right thing are sometimes questionable, like keeping secrets, sneaking behind people's backs, or telling outright lies.
• What the Hell, Hero?:
  • Snaps at Brambleclaw for accusing Leafpool of causing ThunderClan to be attacked. She does the same later in The Last Hope to Lionblaze for picking on Leafpool.
  • She also gives one to Jayfeather in Fading Echoes for his continued blaming of her and her sister.
• Workaholic: Devotes herself to being the best possible ThunderClan deputy possible, and even tries to work while sick (or rather, while having pregnancy nausea.) In light of this, her calling Bramblestar out on his Workaholic tendencies becomes somewhat amusing.
• You Have to Believe Me!: This is more or less Squirrelflight's stance when trying to warn Brambleclaw about Hawkfrost's untrustworthiness; she always does so in a very loud, rude, hostile, and somewhat judgmental manner and never provides any hard evidence other than Hawkfrost being arrogant, ambitious and bossy, and citing Leafpool's negative opinion of him.

Bluestar

Bluestar (Bluefur)

"The strength and fellowship of the Clan will always be with you, even when you hunt alone."

"I was promised long ago that fire would save the Clan. It has never needed saving as much as it does now."

^{Click here} to see her as she appears on the cover of Bluestar's Prophecy^{Image source}The Ultimate Guide

The leader of ThunderClan during most of the first series, and Firestar's mentor. She is highly respected as a wise and powerful leader, even by cats of other Clans. She is tough but fair, and fierce in battle. Her only real problem is her unwavering trust in Tigerclaw, whose betrayal shocks her so deeply that she becomes paranoid and insane, and turns her back on StarClan. She gets better... just before her death. Currently resides in StarClan, but refuses to stop meddling with the affairs of the Clans.

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• Action Girl: She can hold her own in a fight, and is one of the stronger members of ThunderClan. The best example would be the end of A Dangerous Path, where she takes on the dog pack leader.
• A Day in the Limelight: She stars in the Super Edition Bluestar's Prophecy, which elaborates on her backstory that was revealed in Forest of Secrets.
• All for Nothing: During the last moons of her life, she wonders if she gave up her kits and became leader just to be condemned by StarClan to a life of suffering, after Tigerclaw betrays her, a forest fire destroys ThunderClan's camp, two young ThunderClan cats are killed, another is horribly mutilated, and her murderous ex-deputy trains a pack of dogs to destroy her Clan. She regains her faith when she sees Fireheart helping the rest of ThunderClan take shelter, and sacrifices her last life to help him save her Clan from the dogs.
• Almost Dead Guy: In A Dangerous Path, she survives just long enough to be forgiven by Mistyfoot and Stonefur, the kits she gave up, and say goodbye to Fireheart.
• Ambition Is Evil: Inverted. Sunstar chose to make her his deputy because her ambitions were not born out of a desire for power or personal glory, but to selflessly strengthen and serve her Clan.
  Sunstar: [You have ambition] only to serve your Clan. That is why I chose you. You have suffered much and lost much, and yet you still serve your Clanmates, putting their needs before yours, willing to sacrifice all for the sake of your Clan.
• Angsty Surviving Twin: Her sister Snowfur's death is the second major loss she suffers, after her mother's death when they were apprentices.
• The Apprentice: Stonepelt was her first mentor, but he had to retire due to a Career-Ending Injury. Her second was Sunfall, and she would eventually serve under him as deputy when he became leader.
• Authority Equals Asskicking: A badass fighter in the Original Series, despite not being anything amazing in Bluestar's Prophecy.
• Awesome Moment of Crowning: Her leadership ceremony, especially after reading an entire book about all the crap she had to get through to become leader in the first place.
• Back from the Dead: She has nine lives because she is leader, meaning she can come back from the dead eight times. However, we only see Bluestar lose three of her lives, including her final one.
• Because Destiny Says So: She gets hit pretty hard by this: allow a bloodthirsty, needlessly violent cat to become leader and destroy your Clan... or abandon your newborn kits in order to become leader yourself and prevent that tragedy?
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: With Oakheart, when she was younger.
• Big Good: In the first series.
• Big "NO!": Gives off a no with eight Os in Bluestar's Prophecy, when her mom dies.
• Break the Cutie: Her mother died in a raid on WindClan when she was an apprentice. As a young warrior, her sister was hit and killed by a car, and then she had to make the difficult choice to give up her kits to RiverClan (one of which died during the journey) in order to become her Clan's deputy and prevent the bloodthirsty Thistleclaw from becoming leader.
• Broken Bird: Heavily implied. Practically confirmed by Bluestar's Prophecy.
• The Chains of Commanding: They weigh pretty heavily on her. They even break her after Tigerstar's betrayal.
• Character Focus: Forest of Secrets and A Dangerous Path focus pretty heavily on her.
• The Comically Serious: Many times during Bluestar's Prophecy, particularly when she's interacting with Oakheart. Or Rosetail.
• Cool Aunt: To her nephew, Whitestorm. She became a Parental Substitute to him after her sister's death.
• Cool Teacher: She was thought of an awesome mentor by her apprentice, Firestar.
• Crisis of Faith: In A Dangerous Path Bluestar spends the book losing her faith in StarClan and becoming paranoid that her Clanmates are all traitors, but in the end she regains her faith.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Her mother died when Bluestar was only an apprentice, and her father never really paid much attention to her and her sister. Her sister died as a young mother, and Bluestar felt guilty for her death because she'd convinced Snowfur to leave the camp for a little while. She had kits with a RiverClan cat (a forbidden relationship), but had to give them up in order to become deputy instead of Thistleclaw, and one died.
• Dark Secret: She had a brief affair with Oakheart when she was younger. She had to bury this to become leader, leading to another one of her secrets, that two of her kits (which she claimed were killed by a fox), were actually still alive in RiverClan.
• Distracted by the Sexy: You wouldn't think this would happen to her, but she was once distracted by Oakheart's eyes, much to her embarrassment.
• Dreaming of Things to Come: One of the perks of being Clan Leader. For example, in Into the Wild, she has a dream about a ShadowClan attack before it happens.
• Dying as Yourself: After spending a good season or two with clouded judgement and extreme paranoia, she realizes the truth in the end and becomes her usual self right before her death.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Most of her family died by the time she became leader, as well as having a father who neglected her and a forbidden relationship with Oakheart, leading her to give her kits to RiverClan. She's forced to watch them grow from afar with no memory of her as their mother. She becomes leader, and all is well until her first two deputies and her mate die, and she appoints Tigerclaw. After being betrayed by Tigerclaw, she becomes insane and paranoid. However, she dies happily with her mental state restored, shares tongues and gets closure with her kits, and knowing that Fireheart will succeed her as a great leader for the moons to come.
• Establishing Character Moment: In Into the Wild she describes Clan life to Rusty, and the joys of participating in it...but also warns him that a warrior's path is not an easy one, and that Rusty will be expected to follow Clan rules. This foreshadows her position as Rusty's mentor.
• Famed In-Story: According to Secrets of the Clans, she is remembered as one of the Great Leaders. She certainly earned it.
• Family Eye Resemblance: Blue, like her sister Snowfur, her father Stormtail and all three of her kits.
• Family Theme Naming: Bluefur and her sister, Snowfur.
• Family Versus Career: After she gets pregnant she realizes that having to raise the children will make her look like a less fitting candidate to be the Clan deputy than her rival, Thistleclaw. A bit unusual in that she decides to go for the career path instead of family, by giving away her children and making it look like they died in an accident.
• Final Speech: She speaks to Firestar for about four pages before she dies.
• Fire/Water Juxtaposition: In Bluestar's Prophecy, the eponymous message she receives from StarClan compares her to fire, but warns that even the greatest flames can be extinguished by water. She eventually dies from drowning, but survives just long enough to say goodbye to Fireheart and her RiverClan children.
• Go Mad from the Revelation: She did not take Tigerstar's betrayal well.
• Healthy in Heaven: At the time of her death, Bluestar is old, frail, and slipping into senility due to grief and tragedy, though still strong enough to save Fireheart from a pack of dogs. When Firestar sees her next in StarClan, she is young, healthy, strong and clear-minded, as she was at the apex of her leadership.
• Heroic BSoD: She suffers a particularly nasty one after Tigerclaw's betrayal. It takes her two entire books to get over it completely... just in time for a Heroic Sacrifice.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Dies luring the dog pack that had been threatening her Clan off a cliff and into the river.
• Hidden Depths: She was formerly involved in a relationship with Oakheart of RiverClan. Didn't see that coming.
• The High Queen: About as close to this trope as a warrior can come, considering they have no royalty or concept of riches. Bluestar looks and behaves very regally, and leads her Clan with dignity and wisdom. Until her Sanity Slippage, that is.
• Icy Blue Eyes: A non-villain example. She's a stern leader figure whose glare can shut up most cats. One line even mentions "Her eyes were chips of blue ice". This gets more pronounced when she undergoes a Sanity Slippage, becoming violent and paranoid even towards her Clanmates.
• I Did What I Had to Do: Deconstructed. Although she does give up her kits to RiverClan in order to become her Clan's leader, she is plagued by guilt for a long time afterwards over Mosskit not surviving the journey to RiverClan, wondering if she really did make the right choice.
• If You Kill Him, You Will Be Just Like Him!: When the other Clans demand to know why ThunderClan is sheltering the evil Brokenstar, Bluestar explains that killing a blind, defeated cat (or leaving him to die in the forest) would make them just as bad as Brokenstar himself was.
• Incurable Cough of Death: She loses one of her nine lives like that.
• Iron Lady: Partially subverted, due to the fact that Warriors hold no stereotypes or prejudices about gender, but she still is very calm and collected when it comes to her style of leadership and rarely falters. (Until her Sanity Slippage, that is.) She also is very strong considering what she sacrificed to be leader.
• It Sucks to Be the Chosen One: StarClan made her the subject of a prophecy that foretold her becoming leader of ThunderClan. She was a young mother with three kits at the time that her Clan's deputy was about to retire, and Thistleclaw was about to be promoted over her. Knowing that he would lead the Clan into endless battles and bloodshed if he did, Bluefur made the difficult choice to secretly give her kits to their father's Clan so she could become deputy herself. One of the kits would end up freezing to death on the snowbound journey, and Bluefur would carry the guilt from that for the rest of her life.
• Kick the Dog: When Brightpaw is savaged by dogs and is close to death, Bluestar gives her the warrior name "Lostface" to take to StarClan, as a symbol of her belief that StarClan has declared war on ThunderClan by (supposedly) sending the dog pack.
  Cloudtail: Lostface! I hate that name. What right does Bluestar have to remind her of what happened every time a cat speaks to her?
• The Leader: A levelheaded example who leads ThunderClan for over three years.
• Like a Son to Me: In Cats of the Clans, Mosskit wonders if she saw Fireheart as a replacement for her own kits that she gave up.
• Love Across Battlelines: With Oakheart as they are from two different Clans.
• Loved I Not Honour More: Unlike every other example of Star-Crossed Lovers in this series, Bluefur decides to put her duty to her Clan before her feelings for Oakheart, though she does agonize about it for a while.
• Luke, I Am Your Father: Subverted. She has plenty of opportunities to tell Stonefur and Mistyfoot that she's their mother, but she chooses not to. Firestar ends up telling them for her in A Dangerous Path.
• Make It Look Like an Accident: A non-villainous example. When she has to give up her kits to become ThunderClan's deputy and prevent Thistleclaw from taking the position, she takes them to RiverClan in the middle of the night and claws a hole in the nursery wall to make it look like a fox or a badger stole them.
• Meaningful Name: She was named after her pelt color.
• The Mentor: She is this to Firestar, and also to her other apprentices, Frostfur and Runningwind.
• Mentor Occupational Hazard: Given the Anyone Can Die feeling of the series, and the way Clan leaders are made, it should have come as no surprise that she had to go at some point. She dies saving her Clan from the dog pack.
• Morton's Fork: She had to choose between giving up her kits to another Clan or allowing Thistleclaw to become leader and take ThunderClan into an era of endless war. There was no right decision.
• Nay-Theist: After being betrayed by Tigerclaw, seeing her home destroyed in a fire and a bunch of cats dying, Bluestar goes insane and decides that StarClan is worthless and declares war on them, and also becomes the cat version of a misanthrope. She snaps out of it just in time to save Fireheart before dying.
• One-Night-Stand Pregnancy: She and Oakheart only have one romantic night together, towards the end of which they build a nest. Not long after, Bluefur is expecting Stonekit, Mistykit, and Mosskit...
• Parental Substitute: To her nephew Whitestorm, after his mother's death.
• Please Wake Up:
  • She does this when her mother Moonflower is killed by Hawkheart in the attack on the WindClan camp. The sequence is made even more heartbreaking when she must relay the news to her sister Snowpaw.
  • She also does this to her daughter Mosskit in Bluestar's Prophecy after she freezes to death.
• Oblivious to Love: It takes three different cats to get her to admit that Thrushpelt has feelings for her, despite the fact that he was frequently staring at her, inviting her on patrols, and cracking jokes that only seem to irk her. Not to mention the fact that she didn't even realize her own not-so-subtle attraction to Oakheart until he confessed his love to her.
• Outliving One's Offspring: When taking her kits to RiverClan in the middle of a harsh blizzard, Mosskit doesn't survive the journey due to a combination of cold and hunger. Bluefur feels incredibly guilty over this, unsure if she made the right decision and wondering if Mosskit is watching her from StarClan, hating her.
• Rage Against the Heavens: After Tigerclaw's betrayal, she declares war on StarClan and claims that all the bad things that happen to ThunderClan (like Snowkit's death) are signs of StarClan's evil.
• Rapid-Fire "Shut Up!": At one point in Bluestar's Prophecy, she has a moment where she thinks "Shut up! Shut up!" when Sunfall starts to confront her about her antisocial, suicidally reckless behavior.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: She was sometimes this. She almost always made the best decision, once asking Firepaw to track down Yellowfang who Tigerclaw was definitely going to kill thinking she had stolen Frostfur's kits and killed Spottedleaf with no real proof.
• Right for the Wrong Reasons: When she's raging against StarClan for making her the subject of a prophecy that forced her to give up her kits and turning her into the leader of a Clan she believes is full of traitors, she makes Cloudpaw a warrior not because he's ready to be one (he is), but because he doesn't believe in StarClan.
• Sanity Slippage: After Tigerclaw's betrayal, she starts seeing traitors everywhere in her Clan and goes through a horrible mental breakdown. She recovers before she dies, though.
• Scatterbrained Senior: Played for Drama. During her last life she turned into this mainly due to Sanity Slippage caused by her deputy Tigerclaw betraying her. Bluestar couldn't focus and would get the past mixed up with the present, amongst other issues. Word of God is that she suffered from dementia. Bluestar wasn't even that old when she started becoming scatterbrained; she wasn't even seven years old.
• Secret Relationship: Bluestar used to be together with Oakheart, a member of RiverClan.
• Seriously Scruffy: While suffering from Sanity Slippage over Tigerclaw's betrayal, Bluestar stops regularly grooming herself, and her pelt becomes matted and unwashed.
• Silly Reason for War: Played for drama in A Dangerous Path. During her Sanity Slippage, when her warriors find rabbit scraps on their territory, she assumes them to be evidence of WindClan stealing prey and nearly declares war on them, despite Fireheart pointing out that the culprits were probably a dog pack.
• So Proud of You: When she reveals to Mistyfoot and Stonefur that she's their actual mother, she praises them for being strong warriors. It...doesn't go over well, due to inopportune timing^note they were in the middle of a fight between RiverClan and ThunderClan and the fact that they've always believed Graypool, who raised them, to be their mother.
• Spirit Advisor: Still watches over Firestar and his kin after her death, though not to the extent that Spottedleaf does.
• Star-Crossed Lovers: Was involved in a forbidden relationship with Oakheart when she was younger.
• Stopped Caring: She does this in the later part of the first series, convinced that her Clan is full of traitors and that StarClan is at war with her Clan.
• Strong Family Resemblance: She has gray fur like her mother, father and her own three kits. When Fireheart sees her walking next to an adult Mistyfoot and Stonefur, the resemblance between them leads him to correctly deduce that they're related. Snowfur also notices and comments that Bluefur was lucky her kits all looked like her and not Oakheart, or some cat might have suspected her of being with him.
• Supporting Leader: An extremely important character, but never the main, until her prequel novel.
• Taking You with Me: In A Dangerous Path, the Pack Leader does this to her, dragging her with him off a cliff.
• Together in Death: Word of God has it that she and Oakheart are still mates in StarClan, there just wasn't any place to point it out in the books.
• Too Unhappy to Be Hungry: In Rising Storm, the first sign that she's losing her mental strength is her picking halfheartedly at fresh-kill instead of eating it.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: In A Dangerous Path, while paranoid that every member of her Clan are traitors, she refuses to promote the senior apprentices to warriors, even though they're ready. Wanting to be warriors, Brightpaw and Swiftpaw come up with a plan to find the missing dog pack so they can prove how brave they are, but one of them gets killed and the other horribly mutilated, losing one ear and one eye.
• There Should Be a Law: Played for laughs when, as an apprentice, she suggests that there should be something in the warrior code allowing you to put thistles in your denmate's nest.
• Tsundere: Specifically in Bluestar's Prophecy. She was seen as harsh towards her mate Oakheart. She would lose all her patience with him and was quite snappy, especially when she was in denial about her feelings for him since she couldn't be mates with a cat from another Clan. Despite this, Bluestar genuinely loved Oakheart and since their parting, he was the only cat she ever truly loved.
• Tricked to Death: Tigerclaw attempts this by sending a message that he wants Bluestar to meet him in a spot where he claims ShadowClan was scented on their territory, and setting his scent marker close to the edge of a road so that she'd run out onto it. Cinderpaw was caught instead, but thankfully didn't die.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: Desperately tried to make her unpleasable father Stormtail proud, until she realized that she didn't need his approval and decided to focus on being the best warrior she could be, for her Clan.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: With water in Bluestar's Prophecy. The prophecy about her in that book even said the only thing that could destroy her was water.
• You Never Asked: In The Last Hope, she had already figured out that Firestar was the fourth cat with the power of the stars, but nobody ever asked her who it was.

Graystripe

Graystripe

"No cat ever had such a friend as you. I'd give my life for you, you know that."

"A warrior stands and fights."^{Image source}Graystripe (left) in The Ultimate Guide

Firestar's best friend, and former deputy of ThunderClan. Graystripe is a good-natured, easy-going cat who gets along well with everyone. Gets his own big source of drama when he falls in love with the RiverClan warrior Silverstream, and fathers two kits with her. He temporarily joins RiverClan in order to be with them, but his conflicting loyalties eventually lead to his rejoining ThunderClan.

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• Almost Dead Guy: After the fight in the Dark Forest in A Light in the Mist Graystripe returns to the living world just long enough to give a calm, peaceful farewell to everyone before he passes.
• Agonizing Stomach Wound: This is the type of wound he dies from.
• The Apprentice: To Lionheart.
• Best Friend: He is Firestar's best friend, and even as an elder when Firestar is long dead he refers to him as such.
• Beware the Silly Ones: He sometimes comes across as this. He's Firestar's fat, fluffy friend, with a tendency to swoon over pretty she-cats, a habit of being a helicopter parent (to the point of one exasperated queen sarcastically inquiring about whether he was pregnant too), and an inability to lie convincingly. He's also a loving father and a loyal warrior who will end you without a moment's hesitation if you cross him or anyone he cares about.
• Big Damn Heroes:
  • He saves Firestar multiple times throughout the series. These rescues include saving him from Clawface in Fire and Ice, and Darkstripe in The Darkest Hour.
  • In Forest of Secrets he saves a kit from drowning.
• Big Eater: Other cats occasionally poke fun at him for eating so much.
• Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: A variation of ginger/black/gray: in the first series the best-friends trio consists of Fireheart the ginger cat, Ravenpaw the black cat, and Graystripe the gray cat.
• Blood from the Mouth: Non-fatal example: At one point in Forest of Secrets, he has blood bubbling from his mouth.
• Break the Cutie: His first mate Silverstream dies giving birth to his first two children, and he's shunned by his Clan afterwards when they find out he had a relationship with a cat from another Clan. His oldest daughter Feathertail dies in the 2nd book of the 2nd series; his oldest son Stormfur leaves the Clans forever to live in the mountains. Later, he is taken away from the forest entirely, and it's only thanks to luck that he even manages to find the Clans again. When he finally returns, he is demoted to warrior, after having been deputy. Finally, one of his daughters, Briarlight, is permanently crippled as an apprentice.
• Broken Pedestal: At one point, he idolized Clawface, but then Clawface killed Spottedleaf and steals Frostfur's kits.
• Cabin Fever: During his kittypet days, he longed to escape.
• Cain and Abel: He's the Abel to his traitorous half-brother Darkstripe's Cain, being loyal to Firestar and a hero respected by the Clans.
• Call-Back:
  • In Long Shadows, he references Forest of Secrets by telling Jayfeather and Leafpool that if during Millie's kitting they have to make a choice about who to save, he wants them to save Millie instead of the kits. This calls back to Silverstream's traumatic death during her kitting.
  • In Forest of Secrets, he tells Fireheart that he would die for him. Many years later in The Last Hope, when mourning Firestar, he says that he would have given his life instead.
• Childhood Friends: With Firestar and Ravenpaw.
• Cool Old Guy: In The Broken Code, Bristlefrost considers him wise and wonders about the powerful warrior he once had been, despite his retirement. Rootspring also thinks similarly in The Place of No Stars. After Lionblaze abdicates his leadership, Graystripe becomes temporary leader in light of Squirrelflight and Bramblestar's absences.
• Crash-Into Hello: His first conversation with Firestar happens because he accidentally smacks into him.
• The Creon: He ended up as The Creon to Firestar because he had to temporarily rule in his place, and the power he briefly held over his friends and family terrified him. Afterward, being deputy was enough responsibility for his taste.
• A Day in the Limelight: In his three issue manga series about how he met his new mate and returned to the Clans.
  • He gets another one in his super edition titled Graystripe's Vow.
• A Death in the Limelight: In A Light in the Mist, he joins in on the action by going to the Dark Forest to help in the final battle against Ashfur despite being an elder. He receives wounds that kill him and has an emotional send-off.
• Defeat Means Friendship: In Into the Wild a fight between Graypaw and then-housecat Rusty marks the beginning of their long-lasting friendship (and Rusty's invitation to join ThunderClan) when Rusty defeats the better-trained Graypaw.
• Demoted to Extra: During Warrior Cats: The New Prophecy and the arcs after that he becomes much less important.
• Distressed Dude: Kidnapped by Twolegs in Dawn and stuck with them for much of The Lost Warrior.
• Doting Grandparent: In Graystripe's Vow, it's shown that he misses his grandson Stemleaf and wishes he had lived longer, considering him to have died too young. When he meets Stormfur's kits, he becomes overjoyed upon meeting them, reflecting to himself that he was proud to have kin in the Tribe.
• Enthusiastic Newbie Teacher: In Fire and Ice Tigerclaw questions Fireheart and Graystripe becoming mentors right after becoming warriors due to their youth and relative inexperience.
• Establishing Character Moment: Him being a friendly, comedic sort is established in Into the Wild, when he compliments Rusty for putting up a good fight and accepts his apology for trespassing. Since Rusty is a kittypet, this shows that Graystripe is unusually open-minded.
• Everybody Knew Already: He joined RiverClan to be with and look after his kits, but everyone knew he would return to ThunderClan eventually by the way he would gaze sadly at the trees from across the river and from all the stories he would tell his kits about what he and Firestar got up to as apprentices.
• The Exile: He gets exiled from RiverClan because he saves Firestar's life and wouldn't fight him. This also happens in Veil of Shadows, where the impostor exiles Graystripe after he tells him off for his poor leadership and outing him as a fake of the real Bramblestar.
• Famed In-Story: Even cats that were born after he was kidnapped by twolegs know about the former deputy of ThunderClan. Later, he becomes famed for his and Millie's long journey home as well.
• Field Promotion: He gets appointed as the new deputy during the battle against BloodClan.
• Freudian Trio: In the first series, he was the Ego to Firestar's Id and Sandstorm's Superego.
• Generation Xerox: He becomes Clan deputy just like his mentor Lionheart.
• Good Parents: Graystripe is a wonderful father who deeply loves his children. When Featherkit and Stormkit are born, he spends a lot of time in the nursery looking after them, and ends up joining RiverClan himself to take care of them.
• Grade Skipper: Warriors usually train as apprentices for around 6 moons. When Graystripe and his best friend Firestar become warriors they were only apprentices for a little over two moons (making them only 7-8 moons old instead of the standard 12-13 moons).
• Has a Type: Based on his relationships with Silverstream and Millie, he seems to prefer gray she-cats.
• Heroic Rematch: His first fight with Duke in The Lost Warrior ends with Graystripe running away with his tail between his legs. He defeats Duke the second time around, much to Millie's admiration.
• Heroic Sacrifice: In Dawn, rather than escape from the Twolegs that have captured his friends, he rescues Brightheart. However, despite thinking he would die, he lives and eventually returns to ThunderClan.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Firestar. The two have always been best friends, and will always rely on each other.
• Ironic Echo: When Sandpaw and Dustpaw get to go the Gathering but Graypaw doesn't, Sandpaw tells him to have a "nice quiet evening". Later, when Graypaw gets to go but Sandpaw doesn't, he mentions that he told her to have a "nice quiet evening".
• I Will Wait for You: Not a romantic example, but he does this with his best friend Firestar in Firestar's Quest. Firestar goes away on a quest that leads him far out of the forest, leaving the Clan in Graystripe's care. Graystripe promises "I'll wait for you as long as it takes."
• The Knights Who Say "Squee!": As an apprentice, he obsessed over Stonefur and Clawface, who he considered "the best warriors".
• The Lancer: Light-hearted where Firestar is serious, usually. Early on, he was also knowledgeable about ThunderClan where Firepaw was ignorant.
• The Leader:
  • He becomes temporary leader when Firestar leaves to rebuild SkyClan.
  • He also becomes temporary leader in The Place of No Stars, after returning to the Clan from his journey to the old forest.
• Legendary in the Sequel: In the first arc, only RiverClan cared about him, and that was because he accidentally killed one of their warriors before hooking up with their leader's daughter. In Power of Three, his return gets all of the Clans cheering for him.
• Lookalike Lovers: Both of his mates were gray-furred cats, like him.
• Look Both Ways: He gets hit by a car in Warrior's Return, but he's okay after a little while.
• Love Across Battlelines: His romance with Silverstream. Inter-Clan romances are banned specifically because they lead to the conflict of loyalty to Clan vs. loyalty to mate in a battle.
• Love at First Sight: As soon as he saw Silverstream after she rescued him, he fell in love with her.
• Mandatory Unretirement: In The Place of No Stars, Graystripe becomes acting leader of ThunderClan by suggestion of Bristlefrost, due to Lionblaze's (the current acting leader at the time) short temper and impulsive decisions. Graystripe himself is surprised, because he is an elder, but humbly accepts the position to try and organize ThunderClan.
• Meaningful Name: He was named after the darker gray stripe running down his back.
• The Mentor: He was mentor to Brackenfur, though he neglected him quite a bit due to meeting with Silverstream, leading Firestar to sort of take over.
• Mortal Wound Reveal: An enraged Ashfur attacks and mauls him in the final battle of A Light in the Mist, but Graystripe is still able to fight and seems like he's going to be okay...only to collapse and expire shortly afterwards.
• My Greatest Failure: Silverstream's death, which forever haunts him. In Eclipse, before Millie kits, he tells Jayfeather and Leafpool that if for some reason they have to choose between saving Millie and saving the kits, to save Millie. Thankfully, all of the kits are born healthy.
• Number Two: Served as ThunderClan's deputy for half of The New Prophecy.
• Old Master: Despite his age, Graystripe is still a formidable fighter.
• Old Windbag: In Graystripe's Vow, some of the young ThunderClan cats view him as this, especially when he starts talking about how Firestar would never allow them to behave like that.
• Oral Fixation: He is briefly seen chewing on a piece of hay for no apparent reason in Warrior's Refuge.
• Outliving One's Offspring: His daughter, Feathertail, died in the Tribe of Rushing Water back in the second series. In River of Fire one of his other daughters, Briarlight, dies from sickness.
• Pale Females, Dark Males: Graystripe is a dark gray while Millie is a light shade of gray.
• Papa Wolf: Don't mess with his kits.
• Plucky Comic Relief: Sometimes this in the first series, as he's rather less serious than main character Firestar. Once his best friend is no longer the main character this trait fades away.
• Put on a Bus: In Dawn, though he returns in The Sight.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The red to Firestar's blue. Graystripe is a jokester and occasionally hot-headed, and his best friend Firestar is the responsible Clan member/leader who juggles his Clan's best interests with his compassion for the other Clans.
• Rescue Romance: With Silverstream. He fell in love with her after she saved him from drowning.
• Scratchy-Voiced Senior: In Veil of Shadows, "scratchy" is the exact word used to describe his voice.
• Secret Relationship: With Silverstream in the first series, as they are from different Clans.
• Shoo Out the Clowns:
  • At end of Forest of Secrets, he joins RiverClan just as things start to get even darker.
  • He also gets kidnapped halfway through Dawn, showing just how bad things are getting.
• Skyward Scream: Wails in agonized sorrow when Silverstream dies giving birth to Stormkit and Featherkit.
• Sneaky Departure:
  • In Into the Wild Firepaw, Ravenpaw, and Graypaw sneak away to chase after her, and so that Firepaw can fake Ravenpaw's death.
  • In Fire and Ice and Forest of Secrets, he constantly sneaks out of ThunderClan camp so that he can meet with his love interest Silverstream. This is necessary, as they are in a forbidden relationship.
  • At the beginning of Forest of Secrets, Fireheart and Graystripe sneak away after a Gathering to meet with Ravenpaw so that they can find proof that Tigerclaw murdered Redtail. They later sneak away from ThunderClan territory into RiverClan to find more proof, and eventually to deliver food to the starving Clan.
• Star-Crossed Lovers: With Silverstream.
• Stranger in a Familiar Land: Once when returning to ThunderClan after having left to raise his kits in RiverClan, and later when he finds the Clan after having been captured by Twolegs and believed to be dead for over a year.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Is dark gray like his son Stormfur.
• Survivor Guilt: In The Last Hope, where he says that he should have died instead of Firestar.
• Talking Is a Free Action: Subverted and mocked in The Last Hope. He tries to strike up a conversation with Whitestorm in the final battle, only for his old friend to point out that they're in the middle of a battle, not a reunion.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Delivers one to the impostor in Veil of Shadows when he is exiling Sparkpelt. Graystripe condemns him for his poor leadership, expecting blind obedience from the Clan and even remarks that "Bramblestar" wasn't acting like this before he lost a life. After the impostor claws Graystripe for his comments, Graystripe, undaunted, outs the impostor as a fraud, which ends up in Graystripe being exiled from the Clan.
• Together in Death: At the end of A Light in the Mist, he mentions that he doesn't mind dying because he'll be with loved ones again that he had lost, and he promises that when his remaining kits pass on he'll see them again when they join him.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Temporarily in Fire and Ice. Graystripe attacks Fireheart because Fireheart disapproved of his relationship with Silverstream.
• Unsuccessful Pet Adoption: His brief stint as a kittypet after being captured by Twolegs in The New Prophecy arc shows that he was absolutely miserable living the house cat life. He was constantly climbing furniture and tearing things up, seizing every opportunity to escape, and can't find himself bonding with his housefolk (though he does let them pet him and is more tolerant of the children in the family).
• Welcome Back, Traitor: He leaves ThunderClan in the first series so that he can raise his kits in their mother's Clan, RiverClan. Once he's exiled from RiverClan for saving his best friend, Fireheart, during a battle, he rejoins ThunderClan. The Clan has divided opinions on him upon his return; half view him as a traitor for joining another Clan (something that is almost never done), while half are welcoming and happy to see him back.
• Worf Had the Flu: In The Lost Warrior, he gets defeated easily by Duke, but only because he had been stuck inside for two months and was out of practice.
• You Can't Go Home Again: He escapes the Twolegs and finds the forest again... only to realize that there is no forest left; it's been destroyed by Twolegs. He does find the Clan's new home eventually.

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Leaders

Thunder

Thunderstar (Thunder)

"I believe we can choose our territories and lay down borders fairly, in peace." ^{Image source}The Ultimate Guide

"Unite or die! If we are to survive, we must act together. This dispute must be ended with words, not deeds."

ThunderClan's legendary founder. For more information on him, see Warrior Cats: Dawn of the Clans.

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• Famed In-Story: It's fairly obvious, because he started ThunderClan. Secrets of the Clans also mentions that he is regarded as one of the Great Leaders.
• Founder of the Kingdom: He started ThunderClan.
• The Leader: ThunderClan's first ever leader.
• Leader Wannabe: Like the other Clan founders, he tried claiming that he should rule the whole forest.
• Nice Guy: In the Long Shadows prologue, he tries to avoid bickering with his fellow founders, and acts civilly.
• Theme Naming: Together with Lightningtail, we get Thunder and Lightning.

Owlstar

Owlstar (Owleyes)

"Eventually this bold apprentice became a great leader known as Owlstar. In the hunt, he was as silent and deadly as the tawny owl."

ThunderClan's second leader. At a young age, he snuck out of camp and learned the ways of the owl, which he incorporated into his own fighting style. He's also listed as Owl Eyes in the Warrior Cats: Dawn of the Clans page.

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• Animal Motifs: He has an owl theme.
• Famed In-Story: According to Secrets of the Clans, he is remembered as one of the Great Leaders.
• Meaningful Name: He's named for his eyes, which are like an owl's.
• Mega Manning: He copied his skills off of the owls that he observed at night.
• The Leader: He was ThunderClan's second leader.
• The Owl-Knowing One: Thanks to an owl, he knew how to use its shadow as cover from prey before striking.

Morningstar

Morningstar

"I don't want my Clan to fight. Instead, we should share what prey there is among all the Clans, and help one another through leaf-bare until our hunting grounds are full again. If we join together as one, we will all survive."

The leader of ThunderClan in the Battles of the Clans story "The Leader Who Sought Peace".

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• The Cameo: He appears in Pinestar's Choice to give Pinestar a life for compassion for weaker cats.
• Greater Need Than Mine: In his story, he (along with the elders) give up his prey to the nursing queens, because he believes the queens need it more.
• Ironic Name: He disliked battle to the point of making his Clan into Extreme Doormats, but shares his name with a particularly brutal kind of medieval weapon.
• It's All My Fault: When he learns of his deputy's death, he says that he killed her, blaming himself for not being able to feed his Clan.
• The Leader: He was one of ThunderClan's past leaders.
• Outliving One's Offspring: His mate died in battle while pregnant with his kits, which is part of the reason he doesn't want to fight.
• Suicidal Pacifism: He refused to fight, afraid to see his warriors injured - even announcing publicly at a Gathering that they were too weak for him to sanction a fight and politely asking the other Clans to stop hunting in ThunderClan territory. Of course, this was an open invitation to the other Clans to continue hunting there, since they would not be driven off. Eventually the spirit of his mate visits him and explains to him that they need to fight battles, and he agrees.

Redstar

Redstar

"Clanmates, we won!"

"StarClan gave each Clan the skills they need to survive in their own territory."^{Image source}Redstar in [1]

The leader of ThunderClan when SkyClan was driven out.

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• The Chains of Commanding: He chose not to help SkyClan for fear that his own Clan might be negatively affected. He regretted this decision for the rest of his life.
• The Leader: He was ThunderClan's leader some 20 years before Firestar came to the forest.
• Must Make Amends: At the end of Firestar's Quest, when SkyClan is restored, he shows up in the afterlife along with his contemporaries to apologize to Cloudstar for what they've done to his Clan, and to give the restored Clan's first leader, Leafstar, a life each.
• My Greatest Failure: Not helping SkyClan when they needed it most, depriving the forest of its fifth Clan.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: While he did agree to drive out SkyClan, he did it to protect his own Clan. He also took in the members of SkyClan who were unable to leave.
• Wouldn't Hurt a Child: Took in Birdflight and her kits, because the kits were too young to make a long journey with SkyClan. His medicine cat even said that Redstar wouldn't condemn helpless kits to die.

Oakstar

Oakstar

"Have you forgotten Appledusk murdered my son and Flowerpaw? Of all cats, why did you have to choose him? You cannot possibly expect my forgiveness. You have betrayed the warrior code and lied to your Clanmates. We will not raise these kits within the walls of our camp, nor the boundaries of our territory. Take them and leave. You are no longer a warrior of ThunderClan."

The leader of ThunderClan when Mapleshade was alive. He was the father of Pinestar and grandfather of Tigerstar.

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• Badass Family: His son, grandson, great-grandson, and great-great-grandson all became leaders like him.
• Family Eye Resemblance: He has amber eyes, like his descendants Tigerstar, Bramblestar, Mothwing, Tigerheart, Strikestone, Alderheart, Pouncestep, Lightleap and Shadowsight.
• Get Out!: After he found out that Mapleshade's kits were the result of a forbidden relationship with Appledusk of RiverClan, he exiled her and her three kits from ThunderClan.
• Good Parents: He loved his children very much and was devastated when Birchface died.
• Happily Married: To Sweetbriar, Pinestar's mother.
• Hypocrite: It's a part of the Warrior Code to protect your territory and not cross boundaries without reason. Yet, Oakstar ordered his warriors to encroach on kittypets' territories and attack them in their own yards.
• I Want Grandkids: After he lost his son Birchface, he was very pleased when Mapleshade bore three kits and Frecklewish told him they were Birchface's. He wasn't so happy when he found out the truth—that they weren't Birchface's kits, but Appledusk's, who killed Birchface and Flowerpaw.
• Jerkass: While Oakstar wasn't quite as bad as his descendant Tigerstar, he did some pretty nasty things in his life, including attacking kittypets in their own yards and kicking Mapleshade and her three kits out of ThunderClan.
• The Leader: He was the leader of ThunderClan when Mapleshade was alive.
• Misplaced Retribution: When he finds out that Mapleshade's kits are the children of Appledusk, who killed his son, he sentences them to exile along with their mother, even though they did nothing wrong.
• Outliving One's Offspring: His son, Birchface, was killed by Appledusk. His daughter, Frecklewish, died a few moons later after a snake spat venom in her eyes.
• So Proud of You: When his son Pinepaw becomes an apprentice, Oakstar says that his son will be the best warrior ThunderClan has ever seen.
• Strong Family Resemblance: He has a dark brown pelt, like his son Birchface, grandson Tigerstar, great-grandsons Bramblestar and Hawkfrost, great-great-grandson Tigerheart, great-great-great-grandson Strikestone, and great-great-great-granddaughter Lightleap.
• Theme Naming: Oakstar and his sons Pinestar and Birchface are all named after types of trees.
• This Is Unforgivable!: His reaction when he learned that Mapleshade had kits with Appledusk, the cat who killed his son.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: After he exiled Mapleshade and her kits from ThunderClan, she tried to bring them to RiverClan, but they drowned while trying to cross the river. Combined with Appledusk blaming her for their deaths and taking a new mate, this pushed her over the Despair Event Horizon and began her Start of Darkness toward becoming the most feared cat in the Dark Forest.

Doestar

Doestar (Doefeather)

"Ah, no, Deerpaw was here just now. Did you see her?"

The leader of ThunderClan after Oakstar, and before Pinestar.

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• The Leader: Of ThunderClan, between Oakstar and his son Pinestar.
• The Mentor: To Daisytoe, the mother of Moonflower and Goosefeather.
• Number Two: To Oakstar, before becoming leader herself.
• Theme Naming: Doestar had a sister named Deerpaw, who died as an apprentice.

Pinestar

Pinestar (Pineheart)

"WindClan? They'll forgive us for the attack, then hate us for some other reason. The four Clans will be enemies until the end. And yet we all want the same things: prey to hunt, a safe territory to raise our kits, and peace to share dreams with our ancestors. Why must we hate one another over such simple desires?"

"With this life I give you compassion. Judge as much with your heart as with your mind."^{Image source}Pinestar in The Ultimate Guide

The leader of ThunderClan at the beginning of Bluestar's Prophecy. Fathers Tigerstar, and is succeeded by Sunstar.

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• A Day in the Limelight: He was the main character of one of the Wave 4 novellas, Pinestar's Choice.
• Abdicate the Throne: Pinestar left the Clan to become a kittypet near the end of his life, letting Sunstar become leader in his place.
• Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: He thinks this about his mother after just becoming an apprentice when she smothers him with attention.
• The Apprentice: To Mistpelt.
• Broken Ace: Becomes disillusioned with Clan life and eventually gives up his leadership of ThunderClan to become a kittypet.
• Bus Crash: After leaving ThunderClan to become a kittypet, he is revealed to have died when he gives Bluestar one of her lives.
• Disappeared Dad: He's this to Tigerstar and his sisters, left the Clan to become a kittypet, and this is a major part of why Tigerstar's evil.
• Diving Save: He dives to try to get Shanty out of the way of an oncoming car. He loses a life and upon awakening realizes that he'd been too slow.
• Freudian Excuse: Part of Tigerstar's. Pinestar leaving the forest to become a kittypet is part of the reason Tigerstar hates kittypets so much.
• From Stray to Pet: He left the Clan to live out the rest of his final life as a kittypet.
• Knight in Sour Armor: As his character quote shows, he's become rather disillusioned with Clan life, but still wants to help his Clan as best he can.
• The Leader: He led ThunderClan during Bluestar's kithood and apprenticeship.
• May–December Romance: With Leopardfoot, who is born long after he's already a leader.
• Meaningful Rename: Pinestar's Choice ends with him dropping his Clan name now that he's become a kittypet and asking Jake to call him Pine, and Jake welcoming him home with the new name.
• Number Two: He was Doestar's deputy and successor.
• Offing the Offspring: In Pinestar's Choice he hears StarClan telling him to kill Tigerkit, because the kit has the power to destroy the Clan; he refuses to do it.
• One-Steve Limit: Averted. He takes the name Pine after becoming a kittypet. This is shared with a loner in Sasha's manga trilogy and with a rogue in Dawn of the Clans, before he formally joins the Clans and changes his name to sound more like them.
• Outliving One's Offspring: His two daughters were born sickly and died as kits, less than a moon after their birth.
• Passing the Torch: Halfway through Bluestar's Prophecy, he runs off to be a kittypet and passes leadership of the Clan to Sunfall.
• Please Wake Up: He does this to Shanty after her death in Pinestar's Choice.
• Posthumous Sibling: Pinestar's Choice reveals that he was born after the deaths of his brother Birchface and sister Frecklewish.
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: In the Code of the Clans story Hunting Fish!, he tells Dappletail and White-eye, "We're from ThunderClan. We. Don't. Eat. Fish."
• Replacement Goldfish: He ultimately becomes this to the Twolegs who adopt him, as he is adopted by the couple who owned his friend Shanty, who died shortly before when she was hit by a car. He believes he could fill part of the gap that her death left.
• Theme Naming: Pinestar, his father Oakstar, and his brother Birchface are named after trees.
• Together in Death: Despite leaving the Clans to become a kittypet, he is welcomed into StarClan and reunited with his loved ones after he dies. Bluefur sees him at her leader ceremony, and he gives her a life and the gift of compassion.

Sunstar

Sunstar (Sunfall)

"We thought we were doing as StarClan wanted. We may have been right. We may have been wrong. But fighting for our Clan is part of the warrior code. Whatever doubts we may have, we must not doubt the warrior code. The forest and our Clanmates may change around us, but the warrior code remains the same."

^{Image source}Sunstar's character illustration in Bluestar's Prophecy (China/Taiwan)

Bluestar's leader for much of her life. He's a level-headed and respectful leader, and acted as a bit of a father figure to Bluestar, whose father didn't pay much attention to her.

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• Back for the Finale: Shows up again in The Last Hope.
• Brutal Honesty: When scolding Bluepaw for not doing her best as an apprentice, he lays out that she's being rude and irritable toward her Clanmates, barely trying in her assessments, and not trying to provide for her Clan, especially since it's leaf-bare and the efforts of every cat are needed to help the Clan survive. It is a somewhat harsh thing to say to an apprentice acting that way because she lost her mother a few moons ago, but it seems to have been necessary, as Bluepaw starts trying harder after that and focusing on her grief less.
• Cannot Spit It Out: It's hinted that he was in love with Bluestar's mother Moonflower, but could never find the courage to tell her.
• Cool Old Guy: Is, well, really old later in Bluestar's Prophecy.
• Famed In-Story: According to Secrets of the Clans, he is remembered as one of the Great Leaders.
• The Good King: You could hardly find a virtue mentioned on this trope's page that doesn't apply to Sunstar. Notably, he's kind, understanding, and values all the cats in his Clan.
• The Leader: He led ThunderClan for a long time, and is known as one of the Great Leaders.
• The Mentor: He was Bluestar's mentor for most of her apprenticeship.
• New Era Speech: Believe it or not, he gives one of these in Bluestar's Prophecy, despite being a good guy.
• Number Two: He spends half of Bluestar's Prophecy as the Clan deputy.
• Sibling Team: With his brother Featherwhisker, who serves the Clan as medicine cat while Sunstar is its leader.
• Stern Teacher: To Bluestar when she was an apprentice. He called her out when she was screwing up or not doing her best, but otherwise was a fair and competent mentor to her.
• Theme Naming: It doesn't seem a coincidence that two of the most important cats in Bluestar's life, her mentor/leader and her mother, are named Sunstar and Moonflower.
• To Win Without Fighting: In Bluestar's Prophecy, he decides to take back Sunningrocks from RiverClan by walking into their camp with a patrol and announcing that Sunningrocks is ThunderClan's territory now, and that any RiverClan blood spilled in an attempt to re-claim it will be on their leader Hailstar's paws. As Sunstar had planned, every Clan knows how strong ThunderClan is at that point, and RiverClan doesn't make an attempt to re-claim it after that.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Calls out Bluepaw for being a whiny Jerkass in Bluestar's Prophecy.

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Deputies

Lightningtail

Lightningtail

"If we agree to their demands, these rogues will think we're weak, and they'll keep pushing us around!"

ThunderClan's first ever deputy. However, he did not succeed Thunder as leader. Instead, Thunder was succeeded by Owleyes, who became Owlstar. Also see him under 'Lightning Tail' here.

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• Number Two: He was ThunderClan's first deputy.
• Theme Naming: Together with Thunder, we get Thunder and Lightning.

Leafstorm

Leafstorm

"All I see is a leader who's too scared to go into battle!"

The deputy of ThunderClan under Morningstar.

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• Commander Contrarian: Disagreed with Morningstar's choice to not fight WindClan over them stealing prey.
• Incurable Cough of Death: Died of greencough, because she didn't eat and as a result, didn't have enough strength.
• Number Two: To Morningstar.

Seedpelt

Seedpelt

"It's not often I find the leader and deputy forming their own patrol. Rich pickings for rival Clans wanting a fight, I'd have thought."

The deputy of ThunderClan under Redstar, at the time SkyClan was driven out.

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• Number Two: To Redstar.
• One-Steve Limit: Averted, there's a warrior named Seedpelt in Mapleshade's Vengeance, and an elder named Seedpelt (with a different gender and pelt color) in Pinestar's Choice. Though it's unclear if the description was simply mixed up.

Beetail

Beetail

"Indeed. And these kits... their father...?"

The deputy of ThunderClan under Oakstar at the time of Mapleshade's exile.

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• Meaningful Name: He's brown with black stripes, like a bee. He also is mentioned to have a long tail.
• Number Two: To Oakstar.
• Small Role, Big Impact: Post death. His speaking to Goosekit, when found out by the leader and medicine cat, is what causes them to make him a medicine cat apprentice early.
• Spirit Advisor: A variation. He's the one who tells Goosekit where Swiftpaw is, which saves her after he tells the warriors.

Mumblefoot

Mumblefoot

An elder during Bluestar's time who was Pinestar's first deputy. For more information, see Warrior Cats Other Thunderclanners.

Tawnyspots

Tawnyspots

"What sort of warriors would we be to pull off such a fox-hearted trick?"

Sunstar's first deputy. He was forced to retire to due a disease.

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• Back for the Finale: Shows up again in The Last Hope.
• Career-Ending Injury: More like career ending disease. He was forced to leave the deputy position after contracting some sort of illness. The fact that it was described as a "lump in his stomach" suggests it may have been cancer.
• Everyone Has Standards: In Bluestar's Prophecy, he objects to his Clanmates' plan of destroying WindClan's medicine supplies.
• Incurable Cough of Death: Whatever his illness was, it involved him coughing frequently.
• Meaningful Name: He is named after the pale brown spots he had on his belly after birth.
• The Mentor: He was this to Thistleclaw's sister, Rosetail.
• Number Two: He was Sunstar's first deputy, so he served as the second-in-command of ThunderClan.
• Retcon: In Bluestar's Prophecy, he's stated to be an older warrior, while Thrushpelt is the newest warrior when Bluestar is a kit, and Dappletail is an apprentice at the time. In Goosefeather's Curse, Tawnyspots, Thrushpelt and Dappletail are littermates, the kits of Rainfur and Windflight.
• Small Role, Big Impact: He was part of the reason Bluestar (then Bluefur) had to give up her kits. While serving as deputy, Tawnyspots fell ill with a disease that forced him to retire, and Thistleclaw was eyeing his position. Bluefur knew she couldn't let that happen because he was a Blood Knight who would destroy the Clan if he were to eventually become leader, but she was a nursing mother at that time and wouldn't have been considered for the position if she had kits. She ended up giving them to RiverClan so she could become deputy over him, for the good of ThunderClan.
• Soap Opera Disease: He gets an unspecified illness that forces him to retire.

Redtail

Redtail

"With this life I give you justice. Use it well as you judge the actions of others."

"Thank you. You revealed the truth when no other cat could."^{Image source}Redtail on the cover of Redtail's Debt

Bluestar's deputy at the beginning of Into The Wild. He's the father of Sandstorm.

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• The Apprentice: To Halftail.
• Artistic License – Biology: Redtail's a male tortoiseshell cat. Tortoiseshell cats are almost always female, due to the X and Y genes also determining coat color. However, on rare occasions male cats are born with Klinefelter's syndrome, giving them an XXY gene, which allows for them to have a tortoiseshell (or calico) coat. The thing is, cats born with said syndrome are sterile and unable to have offspring. Despite this, Redtail was at one point stated to have fathered at least one kit, Sandstorm, which would be an impossibility in Real Life. However, this appears to have since been contradicted.
• Back for the Finale:
  • Shows up in The Darkest Hour to give Firestar one of his lives, after being offscreen in StarClan since Into The Wild.
  • Shows up again in The Last Hope, having been absent since The Darkest Hour.
  • And having been absent once again since The Last Hope, he shows up in A Light in the Mist.
• The Cameo: Appears in The Last Hope to lead a newly deceased Firestar into StarClan.
• A Day in the Limelight: He's the star of one of the 2019 novellas, titled Redtail's Debt.
• A Death in the Limelight: His novella ends just after Redtail dies.
• Dropped a Bridge on Him: Although, he fared better than Oakheart who actually got something dropped on him.
• Dude Looks Like a Lady: As mentioned above, he's a tom with a tortoiseshell coat, which usually only occurs in she-cats.
• I Owe You My Life: Tigerstar saves his life when he was an apprentice and backs him up in front of their leader. When Redpaw thanks Tigerclaw and says that he owes him one, Tigerclaw tells Redpaw that he owes him more than one. He owes him his life.
• It's All My Fault: He both says and thinks this as an apprentice after he freezes when a hawk swoops down instead of running away with the other cats. He believed that it was his fault ThunderClan lost the fight against RiverClan because the rest of the cats weren't able to get to the RiverClan camp on time as they had to help him instead.
• The Lancer: To Bluestar. Apparently. It's rather hard to prove, as he was killed before the audience had a chance to meet him in Into the Wild, and Bluestar's Prophecy places a Time Skip over his time as a warrior and deputy. Redtail's Debt, too, shows him save Bluestar's life during the first few days since he became a warrior, but afterward skips over most of his life to focus on the last days of his deputyship.
• Meaningful Name: He was named after his bushy tail which is as red as fox fur.
• The Mentor: To Mousefur and Dustpelt, until his death.
• Number Two: In between Bluestar's Prophecy and Into The Wild, he was deputy of ThunderClan.
• Plot-Triggering Death: Firestar spends three books trying to prove that Redtail was killed by Tigerclaw.
• Posthumous Character: He died at the beginning of Into the Wild but is surprisingly important as Firestar tries to prove that Tigerstar killed him for three books.
• Sensing You Are Outmatched: In the prologue of Into the Wild he orders the ThunderClan patrol to retreat from the battle at Sunningrocks when he realizes that there are just too many RiverClan warriors and that his cats are losing. He does this too, in Redtail's Debt during a battle with WindClan after Bluestar is seriously injured.
• Slashed Throat: This is how Tigerclaw kills him.
• Small Role, Big Impact: He dies early on in the series, but the circumstances of his death are a driving factor in the first few books.
• The So-Called Coward: In Redtail's Debt Tigerclaw repeatedly calls Redtail a coward for not wanting to fight, and later Ravenpaw does the same. Redtail is as loyal to his Clan as any cat and unafraid to fight; he just knows that there are ways to solve things without bloodshed.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Not only does he die off-screen before Firestar has a chance to meet him, he barely even appears in Bluestar's Prophecy, due to the Time Skip.
• Young and in Charge: Sort of. He was only deputy, but, assuming that Bluestar never had a deputy before him, he was only seven seasons old when he became her deputy, only a season older than Firestar was when he became deputy.

Lionheart

Lionheart

"You cannot live with a paw in each world."^{Image source}Lionheart in the manga bonus of Bluestar's Prophecy

"No! I will not lie for you! You might not want to be our leader anymore, but you could at least be brave enough to tell the Clan yourself. They deserve to know the truth.."

A senior warrior and Graystripe's mentor. Dies in the first book, Into the Wild.

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• Accidental Murder: During a battle at Sunningrocks in Leopardstar's Honor Lionheart accidentally kills Whitefang and is noted as looking shocked afterwards.
• The Apprentice: To Swiftbreeze.
• Back for the Finale: Shows up in The Last Hope after not having an appearance since The Fourth Apprentice.
• Bond One-Liner: Quips "I haven't chased prey like this in a long time" as he smashes the heads of two Dark Forest warriors together in The Last Hope.
• The Cameo: Several in The Last Hope, most notably leading a newly deceased Firestar into StarClan.
• Catchphrase: "Surprise is the warrior's greatest weapon." (According to Firestar.)
• Cheerful Child: Acts happy and upbeat in Bluestar's Prophecy. Bluestar ends up extremely annoyed, because she was busy trying to angst.
  "He'd caught two mice, never seen battle, and acted like being a ThunderClan apprentice was the best thing in the world."
• Cool Old Guy: By the time of Into the Wild, he was nearly an elder.
• A Day in the Limelight: He's the point of view character of Pinestar's Secret (a short story in Code of the Clans) and The Runaway (a short story in Battles of the Clans).
• Incorruptible Pure Pureness
• It's All My Fault: In The Fourth Apprentice, he guiltily says that if he should have meddled with the affairs of the Clans, he could have stopped Hollyleaf's descent into insanity.
• The Mentor: Graystripe's and Firestar's mentor.
• Meaningful Name: His name refers to his thick golden fur. He's also "lion-hearted," that is, a brave warrior.
• Mentor Occupational Hazard: Dies of his wounds after ShadowClan invades the ThunderClan camp in the first book, Into the Wild.
• Mr. Exposition: His main role in Into the Wild was to give Firestar information about the Clans.
• Names to Trust Immediately: He's a pure hero, right down to the end.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: In The Fourth Apprentice, he convinces the other StarClan cats to meddle with the affairs of the Clans more, because they could potentially save them. Starting with Night Whispers, StarClan's meddling drives the Clans apart, and is as much a threat to the Clans as the Dark Forest.
• Number Two: Bluestar appoints him deputy after Redtail dies.
• Old Master: Is treated this way by the writing, despite being roughly the same age as Tigerstar, probably because he is so noble and kind, in addition to being a great warrior.
• Opposed Mentors: He and Tigerstar both served as mentors to Firestar until Bluestar decided to take him as her apprentice.
• The Runaway: Battles of the Clans has a story where it's explained that he once ran away from ThunderClan during a battle. After his Clanmates come back for him, he learns that knowing when a battle is hopeless is just as important as winning a battle.
• Sacrificial Lion: In Into the Wild, his death showed that no cat was safe, and led to Tigerstar's promotion to Clan deputy.
• Secret-Keeper: When he was an apprentice, he spotted Pinestar visiting a Twoleg nest. Pinestar asks him to keep it secret, and Lionpaw wonders whether Pinestar will name him Liontrust or Lionloyal because of this.
• Short-Lived Leadership: Though not technically a leader, he had the shortest time as deputy, being promoted after Redtail died and then being killed off in a battle just a few moons later during the same book.
• Small Role, Big Impact: In Omen of the Stars. In The Fourth Apprentice, he convinces the other StarClan cats to do more meddling. Unfortunately, this leads to StarClan driving a major rift between the Clans, one of the driving plots of the arc.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Convincing StarClan to meddle more in The Fourth Apprentice led to them driving a huge rift between the Clans that nearly tore everything apart.

Tigerclaw

Tigerclaw

The traitorous deputy of ThunderClan, and Firestar's nemesis. For more information, see Warrior Cats ShadowClan.

Whitestorm

Whitestorm

"I am no medicine cat. I cannot read the stars like Yellowfang or Cinderpelt. But I have always trusted my warrior ancestors to do what is right."

"I've been proud to serve as your deputy."^{Image source}Whitestorm in the manga bonus of Bluestar's Prophecy

Bluestar's nephew, and one of the more well-respected warriors in ThunderClan, he remained a good friend to both her and Firestar. He also served as Firestar's first deputy. He is killed by Bone in The Darkest Hour, but he still watches over the Clans from StarClan.

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• Almost Dead Guy: As he dies, he says that Firestar should name Graystripe deputy.
• The Apprentice: To Patchpelt.
• Back for the Finale: He shows up in The Last Hope after being absent for a while.
• The Cameo: He has several of them in The Last Hope.
• Cool Old Guy: Was already quite old at the time of Into the Wild.
• Foil: To Tigerstar. Both are roughly the same age and are considered ThunderClan's most experienced senior warriors. But Tigerstar's ambition drives him to commit many heinous crimes in order to become leader, while Whitestorm is a wise and gentle Humble Hero not concerned in the least with personal glory, who is only dedicated to serving his Clan.
• Happily Adopted: When he was a kit, his mother, Snowfur, was killed in a car accident. He was looked after by his aunt Bluefur, and nursed by Robinwing, another nursery queen.
• Humble Hero: He is primarily concerned with the welfare of ThunderClan as a whole, not his own personal ambition. He is actually surprised when Firestar chooses him as deputy, even though he is the most logical choice, being ThunderClan's oldest and most experienced warrior.
• I Coulda Been a Contender!: He has experience, wisdom, and leadership abilities that would have made him a great leader. But he is passed over twice for the position, and when he does become deputy, he dies not long after in battle.
• It Has Been an Honor: Before going to battle against BloodClan, he tells Firestar that he was honored to have been ThunderClan's deputy.
• It's All My Fault: How he feels about Bluestar's death in The Darkest Hour, because he didn't stop her from running to Sunningrocks to save Fireheart from the dogs. It hits particularly hard with The Reveal in a later book that Bluestar is his aunt.
• Meaningful Name: He was named after his white fur.
• The Mentor: To Sandstorm and Brightheart, and although he is not Firestar's official mentor, he often gives him advice in times of need.
• Number Two: When he was deputy in The Darkest Hour.
• Old Master: Is characterized this way in the first series, but later when firm timelines for the first series characters were established, he turned out to be younger than Tigerstar, who is never mentioned to be old.
• Only-Child Syndrome: Notably, he's one of the only characters in the series to be born with no siblings at all, when Clan queens usually have three to four kits in a litter.
• Out of Focus: Despite being a major character in the first series, he doesn't get his own page in Cats of the Clans, only receiving a brief mention on Scourge and Bone's page.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Like his mother Snowfur, he has pure white fur.

The Wrongfully Appointed Deputy (SPOILERS)

Berrynose

A warrior introduced in The New Prophecy. He was temporarily named deputy after Squirrelflight's exile in spite of never tutoring any apprentices, before becoming exiled himself. For more information, see Warrior Cats Thunderclan Warriors And Apprentices.

The Other Wrongfully Appointed Deputy (SPOILERS)

Bristlefrost

A warrior introduced in A Vision of Shadows, and a protagonist of The Broken Code. Following Berrynose's exile, she was named deputy by the imposter despite never being a mentor. When Squirrelflight returned to lead ThunderClan, she stepped down from her position. For more information, see Warrior Cats Thunderclan Warriors And Apprentices.

Lionblaze (SPOILERS)

One of the titular Three of The Power of Three, he is named deputy after Bristlefrost steps down. He temporarily becomes leader after Squirrelflight is abducted before returning to his deputy position once Graystripe takes the lead. For more information, see Warrior Cats The Three And Their Allies.

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