Hypocrite examples in Warrior Cats.
- Tigerstar is probably the biggest hypocrite in the entire series.
- He absolutely hates traitors, insisting they cannot be tolerated and deserve to die, and yet he chooses to betray his own Clan for power.
- He despises kittypets (house cats) and thinks of them as inferior to Clan cats...yet he mates with one and sires her kits.
- Tigerstar claims that he wants what's best for the Clans and often berates and condemns those who break the Warrior Code, but he bends, breaks and twists it himself many times in his efforts to fulfill his ambitions, which at the end of the day are totally self-serving.
- He sometimes claims that Firestar is a manipulative, devious, and treacherous liar who wants to rule the forest when it's actually Tigerstar himself who's like that.
- Hollyleaf in two instances:
- She believes murder is wrong...yet she murdered Ashfur in cold blood...and after that, she got over it.
- In Dark River, she scolds Lionblaze for being friends with a cat from WindClan (Heathertail), to the point of actually saying that he's betrayed ThunderClan. But Jayfeather reminds her that she's friends with Willowshine from RiverClan and reminds her of her punishment of helping RiverClan behind Firestar's back, to which she defends herself by saying that it was different.
- 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.
- Clear Sky repeatedly insists that his tyrannical actions are motivated by a desire to prevent any cat from starving. Yet, when he holds Jackdaw's Cry prisoner, he deliberately starves him just because he can.
- Ashfur is one of the biggest villainous hypocrites:
- He claims over and over again that he loves Squirrelflight and she belongs with him because he can "make her happy," but this naturally falls flat because of Ashfur's varied but appalling responses every time she turns him down; trying to guilt-trip her, losing his temper with her, and worst of all, physically assaulting her and trying to hurt and/or kill her loved ones. These actions show that, despite his claims to the contrary, all he cares about is "owning" Squirrelflight.
- He claims Hawkfrost is untrustworthy, but then he conspires with him to kill Firestar as revenge on his daughter, Squirrelflight, for rejecting him.
- Throughout The Broken Code arc, he goes on and on about the Warrior Code and punishing those who break it, but he breaks the code himself several times such as when he insists upon eating before the elders (one of those elders being his foster brother Cloudtail), and later appoints Berrynose and Bristlefrost, both of who have never had an apprentice, as deputy.
- Even the moral and well-intentioned Squirrelflight is actually a pretty big hypocrite:
- Often as an apprentice and occasionally as an adult, she argues about, questions or disobeys orders, doesn't listen to older/higher-ranking cats, and goes behind other cats' backs. This is usually a Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right! thing, but the problem is she tends to react badly whenever other cats do the exact same things whatever the reason. Notably, on two occasions, she rather harshly berates Brambleclaw, and, on one occasion, Hollypaw and Twigpaw for doing things similar to, or exactly the same as she does.
- In the second half of The New Prophecy arc, Squirrelflight distrusts Hawkfrost mainly for being Tigerstar's son, breaks up with her Love Interest Brambleclaw for befriending him, and loses her temper with Brambleclaw on several occasions for not understanding why she distrusts Hawkfrost. This is hypocritical on three levels: 1: Brambleclaw, who she's in love with, is Tigerstar's son as well; 2: Squirrelflight has nothing to say about her sister's friendship with Mothwing, Brambleclaw's half-sister, and 3: she isn't making any effort to understand why Brambleclaw wants to be friends with Hawkfrost, who is his brother, even though Squirrelflight has a very close bond with her own sister, Leafpool. Leafpool actually points this out to her, and Squirrelflight's reaction is to say that's completely different, though she doesn't say why.
- In Squirrelflight's Hope, Squirrelflight firmly insists that she's not fond of the Sisters and just respects them, but the rather passionate way she defends them and the "surge of fondness" she later feels for Snow, one of the Sisters, makes that statement ring hollow. In the same book, she promises Bramblestar that she will support him against the Sisters, but then breaks that promise by helping the Sisters instead to protect Moonlight's kits. Squirrelflight herself subtly realizes that she's a hypocrite but feels the Clans are in the wrong and thus 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 choose to execute him, sneaks away to help him escape (to protect Bramblestar's body).
- In Dawn, Squirrelflight was perfectly fine with Crowfeather being allowed to choose his own warrior name, and in Dark River, she was okay with Millie keeping her original name. But in River, she is absolutely livid when Flamepaw rejects his warrior name and refuses to allow him to choose his own name on the grounds that it's against the warrior code.
- Even StarClan, considered wise and purely noble ancestor guides, show severe double standards, especially about who they let into their ranks.
- In Squirrelflight's Hope, they criticize and very nearly reject Squirrelflight and Leafpool for lying about the latter's kits, even though two StarClan cats (Yellowfang and later Feathertail) actually encouraged the two sisters to do it.
- In A Light in the Mist, they reveal they denied Juniperclaw StarClan because he broke the code by trying to commit murder, and in their eyes him saving lives and being sorry at his death wasn't enough to redeem him. The hypocrisy here is that they have let in cats like Mudclaw and Quick Water for doing very similar things (trying to commit murder and then being sorry for it at their deaths). The StarClan cats also criticize and condemn Juniperclaw and the Dark Forest cats who want to redeem themselves, saying redemption isn't possible, when atoners like Needletail and Skystar are in their ranks.
- Hawkfrost - one of Tigerstar's sons - is also a hypocrite, though not as much as his old man.
- He often claims that everything he does is for the sake of his Clan, but it's pretty clear to most cats - and the reader - that he's more concerned about fulfilling his ambitions.
- In Sunset, he makes it clear that he hates being judged by his heritage, being a son of the infamous Tigerstar. But later, he bullies and condemns Brook Where Small Fish Swim for her Tribe background.
- Brambleclaw in the case of Squirrelflight and the Three. He's heartbroken upon learning that Squirrelflight lied to him about the Three being his biological children, chastises her 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. He's somewhat hypocritical about it since he's also kept a secret from Squirrelflight: he trained in the Dark Forest with Tigerstar and Hawkfrost. Yet it also crosses into Hypocrite Has a Point, as Brambleclaw's reaction to Squirrelflight's deception is understandable and justified. While Squirrelflight did have good intentions, agreeing to adopt her sister's kittens without his knowledge or consent and then lying to him while planning never to tell him the truth 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 devastating for Brambleclaw. While Squirrelflight still believes 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 to the point of making her his deputy, she did not expect him ever to do so.
- Onestar, especially after he Took a Level in Jerkass:
- Early on in the Warriors series, ShadowClan launches an attack on the WindClan camp during the night, and Onewhisker is rightfully angry about it. Come Eclipse, however, and Onestar launches an attack on the ThunderClan camp during the night.
- At the start of Crowfeather's Trial, Onestar tells Crowfeather to forgive Breezepelt, calling him out for letting his anger and bias cloud his judgment. While he's not exactly wrong here, it has to come from Onestar, of all characters. He's just as guilty for doing the same thing, letting his complicated feelings about ThunderClan and Firestar turn him into a distrustful and antagonistic leader who makes poor calls to spite the other Clan.
- In Onestar's Confession, Bramblestar tells Onestar the truth about the missing Clan, SkyClan. Onestar is angry at Bramblestar for keeping secrets, even though he kept his ties to Darktail a secret. He even acknowledges that he's being a hypocrite...but he's too angry to care.
- Bramblestar's imposter in Veil of Shadows recommends that the other Clan leaders banish cats who have previously broken the warrior code, even when things have already been forgiven since then. Mistystar quickly banishes Mothwing from RiverClan because the latter was a half-Clan kitten of Tigerstar I. This is despite Mistystar herself being half-Clan (ThunderClan on her mother's side and RiverClan on her father's side) and following the orders of a (possessed) son of Tigerstar I.
- Gray Wing from The Sun Trail gets one early in the book. He warns Jagged Peak about looking where he's stepping in the mountains, but he does the same thing not long after. To his credit, he realizes that he's being a hypocrite and resolves to not be more hypocritical in the future.
