Sunset is the sixth and final book in the second Warrior Cats series, The New Prophecy.
Tropes appearing in this book:
- Agony of the Feet: Cloudtail had a claw torn out during the battle against the badgers, and his injured paw continues to hurt him for a while.
- Almost Dead Guy: Hawkfrost taunts Brambleclaw one last time and warns him that nothing is over before he dies.
- An Arm and a Leg: Berrykit gets his tail caught in a fox trap and badly mangled, foreshadowing the danger they'll pose later on in the book. The Medic Leafpool determines that she can't save it, and amputates it, leaving a stump. The injury makes the kit's mother so afraid of life in the wild that she temporarily leaves the Clan with her kits to return to the barn where they were born.
- Avenging the Villain: Part of Hawkfrost's motivation for attempting to kill Firestar is vengeance for Tigerstar's death.
- Back from the Dead: Cinderpelt is revealed to have been reincarnated as Sorreltail's daughter Cinderkit.
- Blood from the Mouth: Hawkfrost coughs up clots of blood shortly before he dies.
- Blood Is Squicker in Water: Hawkfrost's death: he stumbles into the lake bleeding from stab wound in his throat, fulfilling the prophecy Blood will spill blood and the lake will run red.
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Broken Aesop: When Firestar has to choose between reinstating his old deputy, Graystripe, or keeping Brambleclaw, StarClan tells Leafpool that Firestar should make his decision with his head, not his heart (oh so subtly hinting at Brambleclaw), completely ignoring all the times in the series characters have been told to listen to their heart or do what they feel is right. In fact, the whole reason Firestar chose Graystripe in the first place was because he was told to follow his heart. - Cain and Abel: Brambleclaw and Hawkfrost, with the older Brambleclaw being the good half-brother who kills his evil kin.
- Caught in a Snare: The climax of the book involves Firestar getting caught in a fox trap.
- Chekhov's Boomerang: The fox traps. First, Berrykit loses half his tail in one. Then later, it turns out to be instrumental to the villain's plot, and to beating the villain.
- Continuity Nod: In one scene, Firestar says to Brambleclaw, "Remember when I had to go away for a while, when you were a new warrior?", and talks about how Graystripe said he'd wait for Firestar to return, as a reference to Firestar's Quest. Interestingly, Sunset came out over half a year before the release of Firestar's Quest, so it referenced a scene that fans didn't know about yet.
- Copycat Mockery: Hawkfrost chastises his sister Mothwing for being uncertain while lying on his behalf; he viciously mimics what she'd said at the Gathering, making his voice squeaky and high-pitched as if Mothwing were a kit.
- The Coup: Tigerstar and Hawkfrost come up with a plan for Brambleclaw and Hawkfrost to kill the Clan leaders at a Gathering and forcibly take control of all the Clans. Brambleclaw disagrees with it, and it is never attempted.
- Dark Is Evil: The villainous cats Hawkfrost and Tigerstar are dark brown tabbies.
- Death Is Dramatic: Hawkfrost gets a wooden stake driven into his throat by his brother and yanked out. He stands right back up as he's gushing blood, and then falls into the lake, causing the nearby water to turn red from his blood.
- Deus ex Machina: Brambleclaw picking up a wooden stake and twisting around just in time to impale Hawkfrost with it as he was about to deliver his killing blow seems a bit too convenient.
- Dragon-in-Chief: Hawkfrost. Tigerstar, the Big Bad, is just as strong and fearsome, but he's hindered by his being dead.
- The Dying Walk: After being stabbed by Brambleclaw, Hawkfrost - despite struggling to breathe and speak - gets up, stumbles toward Brambleclaw to call him a fool, and then, for some reason, turns around and walks toward the lake, collapsing at its shore. His blood mingles with the water to complete the prophecy "Blood will spill blood and the lake will run red".
- Ensemble Cast: This book focuses on Brambleclaw and Leafpool's points of view.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Hawkfrost's plan to take over the Clans fails because he literally cannot understand why his brother would rather earn the position of Clan leader than kill the current leader and take it.
- Evil Counterpart: Hawkfrost for Brambleclaw. Both are the sons of Tigerstar, but while Brambleclaw had to fight every step of the way to prove to his Clan that he was different from his father, Hawkfrost's parentage was a secret for a while and he had an easier path. And both are ambitious like their father, but while Brambleclaw is also loyal to his Clan and does not share his father's dark ideals, Hawkfrost devotes himself to following his father's ideals, and ultimately dies when he betrays all the Clans.
- Evil Plan: Hawkfrost has a similar plan to his father Tigerstar's original plan, to become Clan deputy and then murder the leader. He even has help from his dad's spirit. He manipulates Mudclaw into staging a coup in order to weaken WindClan, and Hawkfrost nearly succeeds in killing the ThunderClan leader Firestar.
- Evil Stole My Faith: Mothwing tells Leafpool that the reason she stopped believing in StarClan is because her brother revealed that he'd faked the omen that made the medicine cat choose her as apprentice, and that if StarClan really existed they wouldn't let him threaten/blackmail her and do evil deeds to gain power.
- The Family That Slays Together: Tigerstar and Hawkfrost. For a while it looked like Tigerstar's other son Brambleclaw was going to join them, but he decided against it.
- Family-Unfriendly Death: Hawkfrost (stabbed in the throat and bleeding out into a lake).
- The Heavy: Hawkfrost in this arc. While his dad Tigerstar is the Big Bad, Hawkfrost's schemes to take over the Clans are the main driving point, partially because his dad is dead and only appears as a Spirit Advisor.
- Icy Blue Eyes: Hawkfrost has ice-blue eyes, which suits his personality as an ambitious Manipulative Bastard.
- Immediate Sequel: Twilight ends at the end of a battle, with a bit of a cliffhanger as Brambleclaw catches sight of Stormfur and Brook, who he'd never thought he'd see again. Sunset begins with him walking over to greet them.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Hawkfrost meets his end by being stabbed with a stake from a fox trap.
- Inertial Impalement: Hawkfrost got impaled on the fox trap stake by lunging toward Brambleclaw, who was holding it.
- Jealous Romantic Witness: Not long after Squirrelflight turns down Ashfur in favor of Brambleclaw, there's a scene where Ashfur notices Squirrelflight and Brambleclaw walking together with their pelts touching, and Leafpool is shaken by the fury in Ashfur's eyes.
- Just Between You and Me: Hawkfrost does this at the end. His plan wasn't particularly complicated, but before trying the strike the killing blow, he felt the need to tell Brambleclaw that he was just testing him. And of course, after Brambleclaw impales him, he remembers something else important and says a little extra as he bleeds to death.
- Let's Just Be Friends: Squirrelflight tells this to Ashfur to end his romantic relationship with him. While she honestly wants to remain his friend, he still doesn't take that too well.
- Monster Brother, Cutie Sister: Mothwing is a pretty and kind she-cat who becomes a medicine cat, while her brother Hawkfrost is noted as looking dangerous as soon as he first appears in the books. It's later revealed that he wishes to follow in their evil father's pawsteps, and to do this he manipulates her to use her position to his advantage and plans a coup.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Brambleclaw thinks this when he accuses Leafpool of revealing the badger attack to the other medicine cats. Bonus points for realizing that he made things worse by telling Hawkfrost, who told ShadowClan in return. Because of this, he couldn't apologize to Leafpool or else he would reveal he and his brother were visiting Tigerstar.
- The New Adventures: The New Prophecy.
- Official Couple Ordeal Syndrome: Brambleclaw and Squirrelflight. They became best friends after going on a long journey together, even though initially they were always irritated by each other. Their relationship was tested when he began to follow his evil father, and associate with his half brother, who made no secret of his dream to rule all the Clans, and there was a bit of a Love Triangle when Ashfur showed interest in her as well. Their relationship was eventually mended, and StarClan sent a vision of the two as mates, walking into the sky with stars trailing behind their paws in a single path - their destiny intertwined.
- One-Word Title: Sunset.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: 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.
- The Prophecy: Before there is peace, blood will spill blood, and the lake will run red, about a character killing his half brother, who would have otherwise caused inter-Clan bloodshed.
- Purgatory and Limbo: The Dark Forest was originally treated as a purgatory for warriors that betray the Warrior Code. They would wander in a cold, starless forest alone. Later books stray from this idea.
- Reincarnation: When Leafpool asks Spottedleaf to see Cinderpelt in StarClan, Spottedleaf leads Leafpool to the ThunderClan nursery and shows her Cinderkit, revealing that Cinderpelt has been reincarnated as her own namesake.
- Romantic Runner-Up: Ashfur, when Squirrelflight passes him over in favor of Brambleclaw.
- Series Continuity Error:
- Birchpaw was a gray cat as a kit, but in Sunset and later books he's brown.
- At the end of Twilight, the elders climb down from Highledge and are joined by Brambleclaw, Thornclaw, and Sandstorm. However, at the start of Sunset, Brambleclaw sees them climbing down again, and he talks to them, as well as Stormfur and Squirrelflight (instead of Thornclaw and Sandstorm.)
- Shout-Out: After Hawkfrost dies, Brambleclaw hears Hawkfrost's voice in his mind, saying, "We will meet again, my brother. This is not over yet." This is a reference
to the line "One day we will meet again, my brother. But not yet, not yet." from Gladiator. - Smart People Speak the Queen's English: The original audiobooks of Starlight, Twilight, and Sunset are read by Nanette Savard, an American actress. The narration and most of the characters are read with an American accent - except, for some reason, the medicine cats, who are read with a British accent.
- Switching P.O.V.: Brambleclaw and Leafpool.
- Take Up My Sword: This is what Tigerstar intends for Brambleclaw and Hawkfrost, as well as Tawnypelt for a short time.
- Temporal Theme Naming: Most of the The New Prophecy books, including Sunset, are named after a time.
- Unexplained Accent: In the original audiobook, the narrator gives medicine cats a British accent, possibly due to Smart People Speak the Queen's English, despite all the other characters and the narration being read with an American accent. Medicine cats are just normal cats - born and lived with their Clanmates all their lives - and just chose a different job, so where did the accent come from? Are they born with it and for some reason all cats with this accent take the medicine cat's job? Or does healing cats suddenly give you a different accent somehow?
- Villain Opening Scene: The prologue shows Tigerstar in the Dark Forest, planning his revenge on the living Clan cats.
- We Will Meet Again: After Brambleclaw kills Hawkfrost, he hears Hawkfrost's voice warning him that they will meet again.
- Within Arm's Reach: Hawkfrost tries to kill Firestar by strangling him in a fox trap, and he pins down and tries to kill Brambleclaw as well when Brambleclaw tries to stop him. However, Brambleclaw notices the stake of the fox trap, grabs it, and uses it to stab Hawkfrost.
- You Fool!: At the climax of the book, Hawkfrost informs Brambleclaw that he is a fool... and stupid.
