Exile from ShadowClan is a standalone Warrior Cats manga, taking place during the events of Yellowfang's Secret and Into the Wild.
Nightpelt of ShadowClan reflects on his current role in the Clan, and how he had to retire early due to breathing issues. He doesn't mind taking care of the elders, though - especially since Brokenstar focuses most of the Clan's attention on fighting. Then, one day, Brokenstar decides that the best way for the elders to "contribute" to the Clan is to make them leave the camp.
Nightpelt and the other elders head out into the forest and set up a den for themselves. Nightpelt wants to do his best to help the elders, but can't help but feel worthless with his breathing problems, as much as the others convince him that it doesn't matter. One day, Featherstorm arrives, with the news that her kit Mosskit has been killed, and she falls into a depression for a couple of moons.
Leaf-bare arrives, and Nightpelt sees a huge ShadowClan raiding party - including the kits - going to attack WindClan. After the battle, Ashfur (no, not the ThunderClan one) - arrives, now an elder after being exiled, and reports that the kits are safe at least. Unfortunately, the bitter season also brings a fox, which ends up killing Poolcloud. The elders grieve, and Nightpelt realizes they're looking up to him as their leader.
While hunting in newleaf, Nightpelt encounters two of the kits, Volepaw and Littlepaw. They're on their way to the Carrionplace to fight against rats as part of their training, and Nightpelt, concerned for their safety, joins them. Brokenstar and Clawface - the kits' mentors - refuse to help at first, but finally Nightpelt rushes in to save the kits, and Clawface helps. The mentors and apprentices (Volepaw badly wounded) return to the ShadowClan camp, but that night, Clawface and the medicine cat Runningnose bring Volepaw to the elders' camp. They intend to tell the Clan that Volepaw is dead: Brokenstar has refused to let Runningnose heal him, and they worry that Yellowfang would challenge Brokenstar over it and fear what would happen to her.
One day, Nightpelt and Yellowfang witness yet another battle between WindClan and ShadowClan, and Yellowfang vows to do something to stop it. Meanwhile, Volepaw's been improving physically, but like Nightpelt himself used to, Volepaw feels useless, certain he can never be a warrior. Nightpelt starts to train him, and while they're out, they encounter a distraught Brightflower who explains that her kits have been killed - and that Yellowfang seems to be their murderer.
Nightpelt visits the ShadowClan camp, and Runningnose reports that Brokenstar's brought the Clan to drive out WindClan for good - and just then they return, successful in their mission. Nightpelt hopes that this means that Brokenstar's violence will finally end, but Clawface and Blackfoot seem to think that they still need more territory, and Nightpelt has nightmares of Brokenstar continuing the fighting, and many, many cats dying.
Nightpelt feels that it's up to him and his Clanmates to do something, but many are doubtful that they should drive out, dethrone or kill Brokenstar. A few, including Cinderfur, suggest talking to their leader, but they're not successful. A couple of days later, Nightpelt finds his brother Clawface bringing ThunderClan kits to the ShadowClan camp. He knows Brokenstar has gone too far, and tries to convince the others again... and that's when Yellowfang arrives, telling them that she wasn't the one that killed Brightflower's kits, and that they can help a ThunderClan patrol rescue the kidnapped kits.
They meet with the ThunderClan patrol, Nightpelt helps bring Yellowfang into camp to make all the warriors come out of their dens, and the battle begins. Eventually, it's just Brokenstar and Yellowfang facing each other, and Brokenstar declares that Yellowfang is harder to kill than his father - and that some cat would have killed Brightflower's kits if he hadn't. That's when the rest of ShadowClan turns against him, and Brokenstar, realizing that he has lost, flees.
Nightpelt starts organizing the shaken Clan. The following day, the elders and Volepaw return to the ShadowClan camp, much to the joy of their Clanmates. He watches the repairs of the camp, feeling good about being home again, and Cinderfur and Runningnose tell him that they've talked to their Clanmates, and everyone's agreed that Nightpelt should be the new leader. Nightpelt is surprised and unsure, but agrees - as long as Cinderfur becomes his deputy.
When he goes to the Moonstone, Nightpelt is met by Raggedstar. Raggedstar apologizes and tells him that he will not give him nine lives: that although he is the cat the Clan needs right now, Brokenstar still is technically ShadowClan's leader, and that it's not up to StarClan to choose the living cats' leaders or take away Brokenstar's lives. He and Runningnose begin to travel home, and Runningnose says that the Clan will fall apart without Nightpelt. Although Nightpelt did not receive his nine lives, he vows to hold ShadowClan together, and hopes that one day, when Brokenstar is gone, they'll get a true, good leader.
Tropes appearing in this volume:
- Abandoned Area: Nightpelt wanders through the empty WindClan territory, scarcely able to believe that a Clan had been driven out, and hoping this means Brokenstar will be done with the constant battles.
- All There in the Manual: Volepaw's warrior name doesn't appear in this graphic novel, but the official Warriors website's family tree revealed it to be Volewhisper.
- The silver cat who accidentally bumps into Poolcloud while he is training, later steals the elders' food and later is driven out alongside Blackfoot is never named in the graphic novel itself, but concept art reveals that this cat is Boulder, who eventually helped Tigerstar bring Scourge to the forest.
- Concept art also reveals that the ginger cat training with him who later smirks smugly when Brokenstar refuses Poolcloud a medicine cat and is later driven out alongside Blackfoot and Boulder is in fact Russetfur, who will later become deputy of ShadowClan under Blackstar.
- Big Ball of Violence: A battle with WindClan near the Thunderpath is depicted this way. Though it doesn't make the gravity of the situation any less heavy than it is.
- Bittersweet Ending: Brokenstar has been driven out of ShadowClan, and said Clan's peace and freedom has been won. All of ShadowClan want to elect Nightpelt as the new leader. But a visit from the Moonstone has Nightpelt be told by a regretful Raggedstar that as unfair as it may sound, circumstances say Brokenstar is technically still the official leader of ShadowClan. Therefore, Nightpelt cannot receive nine lives. Regardless, Nightpelt promises to keep ShadowClan together, in hopes that someday, Brokenstar will be gone and the Clan will have a worthy leader.
- Cain and Abel: Nightpelt finds himself on opposite sides from his littermate Clawface: while Nightpelt is physically weaker and has been exiled from the Clan, Clawface is an eager supporter of Brokenstar and is even willing to steal prey from his brother that was meant for the elders. They eventually fight each other in the battle in the ShadowClan camp.
- Career-Ending Injury: Volepaw's leg injury is believed to be this, but Nightpelt is determined that he'll be a warrior one day, regardless. Nightpelt also mentions that his breathing problems, though not caused by an injury, forced him to retire early.
- Child Soldiers: Brokenstar apprentices the kits at only three moons of age, rather than the six moons they're supposed to be - and sends them to battle.
- The Coup: The elders and ThunderClan work together to drive Brokenstar and his closest followers out of the Clan.
- Covered with Scars: The majority of the ShadowClan cats have multiple scars, showing how rough life is under Brokenstar's rule.
- Crying Critters: The cats cry when they grieve their Clanmates' deaths, and Volepaw also cries when his leg is badly injured.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Explored. For being a Clan that thrives on shadows and cunning, Nightpelt's comments on how far his Clan has fallen indicates ShadowClan isn't so much an evil Clan so much as it has the bad luck of having an evil leader or two (Brokenstar being the main example in this story). If anything, Nightpelt and the exiled elders represent that ShadowClan is more than capable of being a decent Clan that cares for everyone.
- A Day in the Limelight: Nightpelt's only POV.
- Death Faked for You: Runningnose and Clawface sneak Volepaw out of the camp and claim to the Clan that he's dead, since Brokenstar refuses to allow the Clan to give the badly injured apprentice healing herbs, and they think Yellowfang will fight Brokenstar over it (and presumably be killed for it).
- Death of a Child: Featherstorm's kit Mosspaw - who was too young to be apprenticed as per the warrior code - is killed in a training accident, and Brightflower's kits Mintkit and Marigoldkit were killed by Brokenstar.
- Dramatic Irony: The story ends with Nightpelt vowing that although he can't be given nine lives on the technicality that Brokenstar is still the official leader, he will lead and protect ShadowClan until it finds itself a new and worthy leader. Unknown to him at the time, he will become ShadowClan's rightful leader someday, though sadly won't get his nine lives.
- Dramatically Missing the Point:
- Upon witnessing that Brokenstar is making the apprentices fight rats in order to make them ready for battle, Nightpelt soberly remarks that in spite of being his mentor, he failed to teach Brokenstar anything. Brokenstar agrees, if only to telegraph he thinks Nightpelt failed to teach him how to fight. It certainly indicates that he's incapable of realizing what Nightpelt is trying to tell him: that there should be more to being a Warrior than fighting and warfare.
- Later, Volepaw bemoans his injured leg, feeling that he's just as useless as the elders now. In response, Nightpelt tries to help him realize that his fighting the rats wasn't right and that Brokenstar was in the wrong for making them do so. To this, Volepaw spits back that Brokenstar is right and it's all about strength.
- Ear Notch: Several ShadowClan cats, including Nightpelt himself, have these.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Thanks to Brokenstar's orders, Nightpelt and the elders are forced from their home and have to fend for themselves. They go through many hardships, such as surviving leafbare, protecting themselves from predators, having limited access to medicine cats, and being robbed of their prey by ShadowClan warriors. Once they overthrow Brokenstar, Nightpelt and the elders reunite with the Clan. Though it's also downplayed in the sense they have to help ShadowClan recuperate from the shock of war and learning their leader was a traitor.
- Everybody Has Standards: Thus far, ShadowClan has blindly followed Brokenstar's orders without question, believing that everything that comes out his mouth is truly StarClan's will, even the things that break the warrior code. But once they learn that Brokenstar killed their beloved previous leader and murdered Brightflower's kits, they quickly turn on him. This is the straw that breaks the camel's back and helps ShadowClan realize they've been lead astray by a monster.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: When he confesses that he indeed killed Brightflower's kits, Brokenstar claims it was because they were weak in his eyes. As far as he figured, if he didn't do it, anyone else in ShadowClan would've done the same. If ShadowClan turning on him is any indication, he figured wrong.
- Facial Markings: Archeye has stripes above his eyebrows - one of which is arched higher than the other, giving him his name.
- Faking the Dead: Volepaw's death is faked.
- Finishing Each Other's Sentences: Runningnose and Cinderfur get excited enough to do this briefly while telling Nightpelt he should be the next Clan leader.Cinderfur: We've been talking —
Runningnose: — to the whole camp —
Cinderfur: — to the whole camp, yes, and here's what we've decided.
Runningnose: We want you to lead ShadowClan. - Forced from Their Home: The ShadowClan elders; Brokenstar kicks them out of the camp, claiming that they shouldn't take up space and resources that the warriors could use. While they're not exactly exiled - they still live on the fringes of ShadowClan territory and are technically still considered part of the Clan, and occasionally interact with their Clanmates - they're not welcome in camp, have to fend for themselves, and even get their food stolen by some of Brokenstar's warriors.
- Freudian Slip: During the heat of battle, Brokenstar lets it slip that he killed his own father when commenting on how Yellowfang is harder to kill than Raggedstar.
- Good Cannot Comprehend Evil: While piecing together how Brightflower's kits actually died, Nightpelt realizes it's all too coincidental that they happened to die in a way that framed Yellowfang and benefited Brokenstar. The only reason Nightpelt doesn't immediately piece together that Brokenstar himself killed the kits is because he can't accept that any cat in their right mind would ever kill kits. Later, when it turns out that's exactly what happened, Nightpelt is clearly dispirited that Brokenstar would stoop so low.
- Heroic BSoD: Featherstorm goes through one for a while after her son Mosspaw's death.
- Hiss Before Fleeing: Brokenstar hisses and then says "this isn't over" before fleeing.
- Hourglass Plot: The manga begins with Nightpelt and the other elders being publicly exiled by Brokenstar for being "useless". Throughout the story, Nightpelt and the elders focus on caring for themselves and each other despite their respective set backs, becoming an actual Clan in the process. All the while, Brokenstar's army wastes away from neglecting to hunt for food. Towards the end, Brokenstar is driven out of ShadowClan, due in no small part to the elders helping to stage the coup.
- Howl of Sorrow: After Brightflower's kits are killed, Nightpelt first finds her when he hears a loud, constant wailing through the forest.
- I Will Show You X!: When Brokenstar publicly declares to Yellowfang he will make her pay for her defiance, she retorts "You want consequences? I'll show you consequences!"
- Insult Backfire: When meeting with Brokenstar over the kits-turned-apprentices fighting rats, Nightpelt remarks that despite his best efforts to be his former pupil's mentor, he failed to teach the tyrant anything. To this, Brokenstar agrees, low-key throwing the insult back in Nightpelt's face.
- Irony: Brokenstar and the majority of ShadowClan exiled and looked down on the Elders for being "weak and useless", while they themselves can still train to fight. But as the story progresses, Nightpelt and the exiled elders learn to work together as a team who take in the war-injured warriors, care for each other, and keep the den in peak condition. Meanwhile, ShadowClan becomes a shadow of its former self, neglecting to hunt to the point of starvation, losing their kits from warfare, going by an every-cat-for-themselves mindset, and stooping to shamelessly stealing Nightpelt's food. Towards the end, Nightpelt comes to the conclusion that he, the elders and their new allies are more what ShadowClan should be, while ShadowClan itself has become more like a band of rogues who are "warriors" only in title.
- It's All My Fault: Nightpelt blames himself for Poolcloud's death, since he didn't get to the camp and back faster.
- Jerkass: When Nightpelt is trying to get a medicine cat to help a greatly injured Poolcloud, Brokenstar forbids it. When he silences the cats who speak out on this cruel act, one ginger cat (revealed by concept art to be Russetfur) smirks smugly.
- Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: From Nightpelt's viewpoint, Brokenstar started out as having a leader trying to avenge his father and make WindClan pay, though his actions grow crueler and crueler. When it's revealed Brokenstar killed his own father, everything he's done to "retaliate" against WindClan all amounts to him trying to justify being a tyrant and a conquerer.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Played with, as even Nightpelt admits his words come across as callous. When talking with Clawface about Brokenstar's intentions to continually go to war with WindClan to avenge his father, Nightpelt voices that Raggedstar died in combat. It was war after all, what did they think would happen?
- Laser-Guided Karma: Brokenstar made it a point to essentially exile the elders so callously for inconveniencing the Clan, leaving them with little to defend themselves with except their experience and an occasional visit from the medicine cats (and later, he even denies them the latter). As such, Brokenstar's fate is to be driven from ShadowClan, left to fend for himself, the coup being due in part to the very elders he threw under the bus.
- The Mutiny: ShadowClan fights back against and deposes their tyrant leader Brokenstar, with the help of ThunderClan.
- Nightmare Sequence: After hearing from Clawface and another warrior that they wholly agree with Brokenstar's justification that they need to drive out the other two Clans, Nightpelt has an unsettling dream concerning what might come of this. He dreams of cat fighting cat to the death, the woods becoming a blood-drenched war zone as Brokenstar declares ShadowClan will take over the forest. This is what helps Nightpelt realize this is not StarClan's will.
- One-Steve Limit: Averted in the Warriors series in general with one of the characters here, to the potential confusion of fans: there are two cats named Ashfur in the Warriors series. The one that appears here is the original: a ShadowClan cat who appeared in Into the Wild but wasn't in the Allegiances of the book, and was forgotten for every other book including Yellowfang's Secret. However, when fans hear the name, they will almost certainly think of the ThunderClan tom who becomes a major character later on, especially in the The Broken Code (where he's the Big Bad), which had its final book release just half a year before this one.
- Patricide: Brokenstar killed his father in order to become leader - as deputy, he was Raggedstar's successor.
- Perspective Flip: We see some scenes in Nightpelt's POV in this book that were from other cats' points of view in other books, such as the exile of the elders, which was originally from Yellowfang's POV in her book, and the battle against Brokenstar from Firepaw's POV in Into the Wild.
- Pet the Dog: Although Clawface is one of Brokenstar's most loyal followers and is a Social Darwinist willing to steal from his own brother, he does have some moments of decency, such as when he helps save Volepaw's life, and when he lets Nightpelt have a dead rabbit on the whim of celebration.
- Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: While fighting the fox, Nightpelt thinks in three separate panels that they have to "Just... drive it... away." Also when Yellowfang and Nightpelt return to the elders' camp to help Poolcloud and Nightpelt's breath slows him down to the point he tells her to go without him. "Go. Help. Poolcloud."
- Rapid-Fire "No!": Nightpelt does this a couple times: he thinks "No no no!" when he sees Poolcloud frozen in fear in front of the fox, and then "No no no no..." when he has breathing issues on the way to fetch help for her.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: After Brokenstar confesses he killed Raggedstar and murdered Brightflower's kits, the other ShadowClan cats call him out on how sorely disappointed they are in him. They thought he was a rightful leader whose will matched StarClan's. But now they see he's a monstrous and tyranical traitor who has perverted the warrior code.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: The rats at the Carrionplace have red eyes.
- Red Filter of Doom: The scene at the Carrionplace is during late sunset, and the scene is washed in red tones, which emphasizes the danger as the two young cats face off against rats that have killed experienced warriors.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Clawface tells Nightpelt, when his brother tells him to take the ThunderClan kits back, that he doesn't do anything, that the elders do nothing but bring the Clan down, and are only allowed to live in ShadowClan territory "out of the goodness of Brokenstar's heart". This, along with him not sending the kits back, causes Nightpelt to decide to lead the rebellion against Brokenstar himself.
- Retcon: Volepaw originally died as an apprentice, as mentioned in Secrets of the Clans in 2007 and again in Yellowfang's Secret in 2012 and Blackfoot's Reckoning in 2021. Fifteen years after the original mention, this graphic novel retcons his death as being faked, and he returns to the Clan.
- Scene Cover: Although it doesn't match a panel exactly, the cover comes from the scene where the elders leave the Clan.
- Series Continuity Error:
- In Into the Wild, the injured ThunderClan kit that needed treatment had a wounded ear. In this book, it's his leg that's wounded.
- In Into the Wild, the battle against Brokenstar took place during a storm. It's perfectly sunny when it happens in this graphic novel.
- Dawncloud joins the exiled elders in leaf-bare, and seemingly already has her warrior name, while Yellowfang is still in ShadowClan. In Yellowfang's Secret, Dawncloud was still an apprentice named Dawnpaw, and still lived in the camp, not with the exiled elders, when Yellowfang was exiled. This also leads to a mistake in this story, when Volepaw expresses excitement over becoming a warrior first, even though Dawncloud, having been cast out, should already be a warrior.
- In Into the Wild, Brightflower is in camp when Brokenstar admits he killed her kits, and wails in anguish. In this graphic novel, she is in the elders camp, and doesn't return until Brokenstar and his followers are driven out.
- In Into the Wild, Brightflower is stated to be black-and-white, while in this story, and in Yellowfang's Secret, she is an orange tabby. This could be Early-Installment Weirdness though.
- Mosskit is stated to have been made an apprentice when he was four moons old. In Yellowfang's Secret, he was three moons old, and didn't make it to his fourth moon before he died in training.
- In Yellowfang's Secret, Yellowfang leaves Runningnose to help the elders finish settling in, and returns to the ShadowClan camp in time to witness Mosspaw's accidental death in training the same day, and Brokenstar makes the other kits apprentices and exiles Featherstorm that same day. In this graphic novel, Yellowfang and Runningnose leave the elders' camp together, and Featherstorm joins the elders several days later.
- Skewed Priorities: Heavily deconstructed. Nightpelt lampshades this twice over. First, he remarks how ShadowClan is so busy focusing on fighting that they neglect to carry on normal Clan duties, like hunting for food and keeping the den in tip top shape, ultimately leading to starvation and their den falling apart. Later, when Clawface makes it a point to kidnap ThunderClan kits, Nightpelt points out that they wouldn't need to replenish their kits if they focused on keeping their own clan's kits safe rather than sending them to die in battle.
- Social Darwinist: Brokenstar and his followers believe that only the strong warriors deserve the safety of the camp and priority of food, and kick the elders out because they can no longer contribute.
- Speak in Unison: When Nightpelt asks Clawface and Blackfoot if they really think that Yellowfang killed the kits, they glance at each other, and then say "of course we do" together.
- Stargazing Scene: There's a moment where Nightpelt goes out at night and gazes up at the stars, asking StarClan if Brokenstar's violence will ever end.
- Strong Family Resemblance:
- Nightpelt and his littermate Clawface share the same head shape compared to the other cats of their Clan.
- It's easy to tell who Yellowfang's mother Brightflower is, even before she gets named onscreen, because they have similar facial features.
- Brokenstar and his father and grandmother, Raggedstar and Featherstorm, all look fairly similar as well: they're all brown tabbies with the same head shape, and Brokenstar has his father's "mustache" and the same tuft of fur on his head as his grandmother.
- Storming the Castle: ShadowClan eventually attacks WindClan's camp and is successful in driving them off.
- War Hawk: Brokenstar wants to do nothing but fight, going so far as to not even bother teaching the apprentices how to hunt.
- Wingding Eyes: Some of the dead prey animals have X's for eyes.
- Would Hurt a Child: Brokenstar and Clawface. They don't care when Littlepaw and Volepaw are injured by rats, Brokenstar admits that he killed Brightflower's kits, and Clawface threatens the ThunderClan kits and injures one of them.
- The Wrongful Heir to the Throne: Brokenstar was the rightful leader of ShadowClan, since he was the deputy appointed by the previous leader, and deputy always succeeds the leader. Unfortunately, he's a tyrant and a murderer. Regardless, *even after* all of his crimes, and despite admitting that Nightpelt is the leader the Clan needs, StarClan refuses to strip Brokenstar of his extra lives since he's still technically the rightful leader.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are:
- Part of Nightpelt's arc is understanding that despite his chronic coughing, there's plenty of things he can still do, like being a good leader.
- Later, Nightpelt helps Volepaw realize that despite his crippled leg, he can still be a warrior. At one point, when Volepaw agrees that Brokenstar would view him as "useless", Nightpelt comforts that on the contrary, he can still be of use.
- You Did Everything You Could: When Nightpelt blames himself for Poolcloud's death for not being faster, Yellowfang points out that he's been doing an excellent job of caring for the elders and that it was very likely Poolcloud would have died even if they had gotten there more quickly.
- You Dirty Rat!: There's rats at the Carrionplace, and Brokenstar and Clawface bring their apprentices there to train, which Nightpelt can't believe due to how dangerous they are, and the fact that one of their former deputies died due to the rats there.
- You Fool!: Clawface calls Nightpelt a fool when they fight at the end.
