Recap / Warrior Cats: The Ultimate Guide

The Ultimate Guide is the fifth released Warriors "Field Guide", a side book with additional information about the world.

Similar to the style of Warrior Cats: Cats of the Clans, this book features portraits of major characters as well as a description of their life and personality, as well as a couple bonus scenes (Tigerclaw and Brambleclaw's nine-lives ceremonies). The original edition of the book covers information from the first 10 years of the series (the first four full arcs, as well as the first three books of Dawn of the Clans) and contains illustrations by the original artist, Wayne McLoughlin.

An updated edition of the book was created for the 20th anniversary of the series, with additional characters, updated entries, and at least one new short story, as well as art by the second artist of the books, Owen Richardson.

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The book essentially consists of a recap of the lives of the most major characters with a portrait of them. It also contains additional stories:

Bramblestar's Nine Lives: The Return of Heroes: After the battle against the Dark Forest, where Firestar lost his final life, Brambleclaw and Jayfeather go to the Moonpool for Brambleclaw to receive his nine lives. He receives them from Firestar (a life with courage to make the hardest decisions), his mother Goldenflower (the love of a mother, which he recognizes from having been a father to Jayfeather, Lionblaze, and Hollyleaf), Bluestar (clear judgement of character), Mousefur (a life for listening to elders), Lionheart (the greatest pride in his Clan), Ferncloud (understanding that it's not only warriors who protect a Clan), Cinderpelt (offering second chances), Feathertail (exploring beyond the borders of his Clan), and Ravenpaw (speaking out against injustice and pursuing the truth). StarClan calls him by his new leader name, Bramblestar, and he promises to serve as the best leader he can. Firestar promises to always be with him.

Tigerstar's Nine Lives: StarClan Makes Its Choice: Runningnose - who seems hesitant about Tigerclaw - brings him to the Moonstone. The first cat is an elder from Yellowfang's Secret named Littlebird, who gives him a life for compassion; the second is Badgerfang (a kit who died under Brokenstar's rule), who gives him a life for training young cats wisely. The third is his father, Pinestar, and Tigerclaw reluctantly takes his life, which is for being aware of what goes beyond Clan borders. The fourth is an ancient, unknown cat named Whitetail, who gives him a life for understanding that size isn't everything, and she tells him "Beware the small cats" before walking away. The fifth is a ShadowClan leader, Sedgestar, who lived during SkyClan's time, and who gives him a life for pride in ShadowClan. The next three are cats from Code of the Clans: Flowerstar, who was chosen after the previous leader died without choosing a new deputy (a life for placing all his faith in StarClan); Redscar, the medicine cat who had chosen her (a life for trusting his own senses); and Mossheart, a medicine cat who had helped create the law that states that warriors do not need to kill (a life for mercy). The final life is from Cedarstar of ShadowClan (a life for farsightedness). Throughout the whole thing, he dismisses any gifts that seem weak to him, and asks at the end where his lives for courage and strength are; Cedarstar explains that the lives are for traits he lacks. They call him by his new name, Tigerstar. Afterward, Runningnose tells him to heed what their ancestors have told him, but Tigerster reminds Runningnose that the medicine cat must serve him, and they go home so he can lead his new Clan.

The 2023 edition lists the warrior code as it stood as of the changes in the eighth arc, A Starless Clan, as well as two additional stories:

Bramblestar Speaks: The New Code: Bramblestar discusses how the Clans forget that the code was created by normal cats like them, and that it can change, pointing out that a lot of the suffering his impostor caused in The Broken Code could have been avoided if they'd had a rule to depose leaders, and that cross-Clan relationships is a thing that has always happened despite there being a rule against it. He hopes that the Clans will be better for the new rules they have added.

Firestar and Graystripe: The View from StarClan: Firestar and Graystripe, in StarClan, discuss how every cat has a story, and reminisce about the old days. Graystripe recalls a scene from Firestar's early leadership in which Firestar criticized the Clan for having an empty fresh-kill pile, Graystripe invites him hunting together, only for Firestar to fall into the ravine when leaping after a sparrow. In StarClan, Firestar argues that he doesn't remember a Clan meeting like that, and instead remembers him bringing Graystripe hunting after Graystripe almost got into a fight with Dustpelt about snoring, and then falling into the ravine after being chased by a fox. Graystripe continues the story, Firestar continues to argue the details, and then Thunderstar comes along and sets the record straight: Firestar did annoy his Clanmates at the meeting, Graystripe made it worse, it was a squirrel and not a fox that startled Firestar, he didn't get knocked out, and they both contributed to the idea to use a branch to get him out. They agree, at least, that they work best when together.

That reminds them of Dovewing and Ivypool, and we see a scene from shortly after Dovewing joined ShadowClan. Dovewing overhears some of her new Clanmates discussing how she doesn't really belong with them, and decides she needs to talk to her sister. She confesses how out-of-place she feels in her new Clan, and asks Ivypool if they're still sisters; Ivypool confirms that they are, and Dovewing feels better.

They also remember other ThunderClan cats who worked well together: the next scene is Alderheart during the events of The Broken Code, taking refuge in ShadowClan. Whitewing arrives, explaining that Cherryfall is sick and reminding them that Flipclaw, who the impostor had chosen as medicine cat, had no actual medicine training. Whitewing manages to bring Cherryfall out into the forest, where Alderheart examines her and gives instructions on her treatment, while Twigbranch distracts a nearby patrol. They agree that Twigbranch and Alderheart always put their Clan's needs above their own, but that that's not true for all cats... they've heard of one particular cat, for instance, who's been known to always try to get a little bit more.

The final scene is Skystar's point of view during the early Clan days, some time after Shadowstar's death but while the other founders still lead their Clans. At the end of a Gathering, dogs show up, and Skystar fights to save Thunderstar's daughter Feather Ear, who had gotten trapped by them. Skystar is greeted by Gray Wing, Jagged Peak, Quiet Rain, and Shadowstar in StarClan, and they inform him that he's just lost his ninth life. He's frantic and worried about his mate, Star Flower, who was in the fight too, but they can't send him back. They show him a pool of water, and he sees Thunderstar and Star Flower work together to drive a dog away, and he's relieved.

Firestar and Graystripe agree while Skystar's done bad things, he's also done good, and that StarClan doesn't punish the living. They purr as they agree that StarClan is only so much more clever because they have so many stories to learn from.

Tropes appearing in this book:

• Afterlife Welcome: In the 2023 edition, the new story includes Skystar losing his ninth life; he is greeted in StarClan by his mother Quiet Rain, brothers Gray Wing and Jagged Peak, and former Tribemate Shadowstar.
• Character Shilling: The original edition characterizes Ashfur and Hollyleaf as good and noble cats in tragic circumstances they couldn't help, playing down their crimes and motivations for committing them.
  • Ashfur is described as a "good mentor" to Lionblaze, which is debatable since they didn't get along at all - they even fought each other with unsheathed claws once - and he also possibly taught Lionblaze some moves incorrectly (at least Lionblaze thought so and accused him of it). Ashfur's attempted murders of the father and three kits of the she-cat who rejected him is handwaved as being caused by "the love for Squirrelflight that soured so cruelly" and "[his] greatest fault had been loving too much", and it suggests that he might've even been deputy and leader if Squirrelflight had loved him back and he hadn't gone down his bitter path. The reprint removes the entire section about how he was a great warrior and how things only went wrong because Squirrelflight didn't return his feelings which set him on a tragic path, and rephrases the "greatest fault was too love too much" as some of StarClan believing that, but him still continuing his path of vengeance all along.
  • Hollyleaf's murder of Ashfur was described as an accident where she didn't mean to fatally wound him, he fell into the stream himself, her self-imposed exile from the Clan was due to guilt, and her motivations were basically fear and being overwhelmed by the secret. In the book where it actually happened, her brother Jayfeather saw in her memories that she intentionally tried to kill Ashfur, she even stated that she threw his body in the stream to hide it, she ran from the Clan because they wouldn't view the murder as her doing "the right thing", and her motivations were more along the lines of Knight Templar/Black-and-White Insanity. The reprint, at least, replaces the "she didn't mean to kill him" line with "she tracked him like prey to the WindClan border".
• De-aged in Death: In the story where Bramblestar gets his nine lives, he doesn't recognize Mousefur at first because she's so much younger (she had died as an elder), and she asks if he thought she'd always be old and patch-furred even in StarClan.
• Hopeless Suitor: It mentions that Leopardstar loved Tigerstar; however, Tigerstar did not return her affections.
• Re-Cut: An updated edition was created for the 20th anniversary to reflect plot developments from the previous decade, with additional characters and new art.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Brokenstar, a villain, is listed as having dark red eyes on his page in the reprint.
• Retcon: The original Ultimate Guide was the first book to mention or depict any content taking place after Omen of the Stars; it was released before Bramblestar's Storm and Dovewing's Silence, and it described Dovewing growing closer to Bumblestripe and having made her choice for who would be her mate, essentially confirming that he was the cat she chose. In later books, of course, she rekindled her relationship with Tigerheart, and so the reprinted edition edits this to say "she thought she had made her choice" and that she eventually realized that she and Bumblestripe were better as friends.
• Rouge Angles of Satin:
  • ShadowClan is called "Shadow Clan" (with a space in it) on Runningnose and Littlecloud's page (easier to see in the original edition where both words are on the same line).
  • Crowfeather's page calls Feathertail a WindClan cat in the original edition; it's corrected in the reprint.
  • In the reprint, Scourge's page includes a quote from The Rise of Scourge; however, it's misspelled as "He Rise of Scourge".
• Series Continuity Error: Plenty of them:
  • The 2023 edition contains pelt and eye colors for each character - however, rather than taking it from their actual descriptions in the books, they appear to have been color-selected from the artwork, which features dynamic, often colorful lighting that tends to obscure their pelt colors. As a result, a large percentage of them are incorrect; for instance, Bluestar is labeled as white with green eyes despite actually being blue-gray with bright blue eyes, and Dovewing - a gray cat whose eye color was a giant meme in the fandom and caused a wiki edit war before officially becoming green in canon - is now pale brown with gray eyes.
  • In the original edition, Bluestar's page says that Mistyfoot and Stonefur found her on the riverbank just before she died. In A Dangerous Path, they'd helped pull her out of the river; the 2023 version corrects this.
  • On Graystripe and Feathertail's pages it says that Graystripe brought his kits to RiverClan after ThunderClan failed to treat the kits with kindness. This did not happen in Forest of Secrets; Graystripe just didn't want there to be bloodshed over the kits and agreed that they belonged with their mother's Clan, and he joined them because they were all that he had left of Silverstream - and besides, he knew that a lot of ThunderClan cats didn't trust him anymore.
  • In the original edition, Cinderpelt's page mentions that the fire-and-tiger sign was seen in blades of burning grass. In Midnight, it was burning bracken (a type of fern); the 2023 reprint corrects this.
  • It mentions that that Leafpool "watched with her own eyes as Brambleclaw killed his half brother, Hawkfrost, to save Firestar." In Sunset, she did not watch; she arrived afterward, didn't see Hawkfrost at first, and initially thought that Brambleclaw had killed Firestar until Firestar stirred and told her what had happened.
  • Brambleclaw's page says that he was the first cat chosen by StarClan to go on the quest to find Midnight. He was actually the last, since Oakheart, Nightstar, and Deadfoot revealed their choices first in Midnight. Brambleclaw was the first one to get the saltwater sign, however.
  • The original edition says Cinderheart became a warrior apprentice alongside her "brothers". She actually had two sisters and one brother in the same litter; the 2023 reprint corrects this to "littermates".
  • The original edition, on Sagewhisker's page, says she served under Raggedstar in addition to Cedarstar. In Yellowfang's Secret, she had died before Cedarstar, so she never served under Raggedstar. The reprint corrected it and pointed out that she never had to witness Raggedstar's mistakes. It does not, however, correct further mentions of "Raggedstar" on the page, when he would have been Raggedpelt at the time she was alive (it mentions Brokenkit in the same paragraph, so it seems it's trying to use the names they had at the time).
  • It claims that Brokenstar was "unflinchingly loyal to his Clanmates and the warrior code". This is contradicted by the last half of the sentence - which mentions how he killed his own father to become leader - and by his own actions, such as getting into a fight at a Gathering as an apprentice.
  • Runningnose, Brokenstar, and Nightstar's pages claim that while Brokenstar was leader of ShadowClan, he tried to take over ThunderClan and was captured by ThunderClan cats at that point, and that Nightpelt became leader after his capture. In Into the Wild, Brokenstar actually was driven out of ShadowClan by his own Clanmates with the help of ThunderClan after stealing ThunderClan kits, then Nightstar became leader, and Brokenstar lived as a rogue for moons before he tried attacking ThunderClan with other rogues in Fire and Ice. The reprint corrected this on Nightstar's page, though not Runningnose and Brokenstar's.
  • It mentions that when Nightstar died, "[Tigerclaw] was the natural successor instead of the elderly deputy, Cinderfur." In Tigerclaw's Fury, Cinderfur had died just before Tigerclaw was welcomed to the ShadowClan camp, and Nightstar was still alive at that point. The 2023 edition corrected this, specifying "when Nightstar died with no deputy to replace him, Tigerclaw was the natural successor".
  • It mentions that Blackstar willingly allowed Tawnypelt to go on the journey to find Midnight. He actually did not know she had left; in Midnight, he says that he'd assumed that her disappearance meant that she'd gone back to ThunderClan to be with her brother. The reprint removed that and instead said that when she returned, it took him a while to agree to make the Great Journey.
  • Some of the ShadowClan elders that Tigerclaw sees in StarClan during his nine-lives ceremony are Tallpoppy and Darkflower. Both of these she-cats are still alive in the allegiances of A Dangerous Path (he became leader toward the end of Rising Storm), and Tallpoppy even survives until the end of Omen of the Stars. The reprint replaces them with other elders: Poolcloud, Archeye, Hollyflower, Crowtail, Featherstorm, and Brightflower.
  • The book claims that when the Clans first came to the lake, RiverClan first settled on the island, and moved to the land where the streams meet after the tree fell on Mudclaw and the island was claimed as a Gathering place. This is incorrect; in Starlight Mistyfoot identified the stream area as ideal for the camp right away, and even though Hawkfrost explored the island and said that it would be perfect for the Clan, Leopardstar decided that RiverClan would make camp by the streams because it would be easier for the kits and elders to access. This line is removed from the reprint, only keeping the part about their camp being by the stream.
  • It says that "When Shellheart retired from Clan deputy, the broken jaws of a pike on the fresh-kill pile predicted that Crookedjaw should take his place, despite being so young. Mapleshade took the credit for the fish, and that night...." It was a squirrel in Crookedstar's Promise, not a pike. The reprint corrects this.
  • It claims on a few pages that when Tigerstar had control of TigerClan and was persecuting half-Clan cats, that Mistyfoot fled to ThunderClan and that Stonefur was captured and killed (this implies that it was either while he was fleeing, or afterward). It says that Featherpaw and Stormpaw were imprisoned with Stonefur in a hole, and then when they were rescued by Firestar, Graystripe, and Ravenpaw, that they joined their Clanmate Mistyfoot in ThunderClan. In The Darkest Hour, Mistyfoot had been imprisoned along with them right away, and she escaped with them rather than before them. These mentions are corrected in the reprint.
  • In the original version, it says Sasha tried raising her kits in abandoned Twoleg dens. She never did this in her manga trilogy; she raised them in the forest. This line was removed from the reprint.
  • Hawkfrost's page ends by saying that he killed Hollyleaf and was "pursued back to the shadows by a fearsome patrol of living warriors". This is incorrect; in that scene in The Last Hope he just crept away into the bushes on his own, without pursuers. Since most pages end with describing a cat's death, this also implies that he survived the Great Battle. The reprint replaces that mention with a line specifying that Brambleclaw killed him in both body and spirit.
  • The original version mentions how after Mothwing confided in Leafpool about her lack of faith in StarClan, Leafpool began meeting with Willowshine in dreams, which she did do in Sunset to mentor Willowpaw about StarClan. The reprint, for some reason, replaces this with her meeting with Mudfur in dreams, even though it mentions further down on the page that she mentored Willowshine about StarClan in dreams.
  • It claims that when Stoneteller thought that Stormfur was the promised cat to beat Sharptooth, Sharptooth attacked, and Stormfur's battle tactics failed to beat the mountain lion, so Stoneteller banished the Clan cats and Brook from the cave, and later they returned with the exiled cave-guards and beat Sharptooth. This mixes up a few events: in Moonrise, Stormfur was kept prisoner and the Tribe made the other Clan cats leave. Sharptooth attacked, and Stormfur escaped with the Clan cats (who had come back for him) while the Tribe was too shocked to do anything. Brook remained behind - the Clan cats met the exiled cave-guards afterward and Talon asked about Brook. The part about Stormfur's battle tactics failing, and Stormfur and Brook being banished, actually happened later, when Stripes and his rogues were causing trouble for the Tribe, as revealed in Outcast. The reprint mostly corrects this, saying that Stormfur's companions helped him escape, but does mention them returning with Brook.
  • The original edition includes Mapleshade in the RiverClan section, and while the reprint moves her to Cats Outside the Clans, the sidebar with her info says her allegiance is to RiverClan. She was never a RiverClan warrior; she was a ThunderClan warrior turned rogue that wanted to torment her ex-mate's RiverClan bloodline.
  • The reprint mixes up Tree and Mothwing's images - we know which cats they're *supposed* to be due to their listing on the official site (in addition to the angry-looking cat being more suited to young Tree in his novella - where the image first appeared - and the softer-looking, more neutrally serious one fitting Mothwing's character better.)
• Sympathetic P.O.V.: The Ultimate Guide is narrated in third person, but the information given is noticeably slanted towards whoever's life it's recounting. For example, in the original version, Ashfur's omits his betrayal of ThunderClan to Hawkfrost, which nearly killed Firestar (as Ashfur hoped it would) in favor of saying that he "was not a friend of Firestar", and describes him as a "good mentor" when he allegedly actively sabotaged Lionblaze's training. However, this could also be the result of the individual authors' opinions - the different authors do not agree on his characterization.
• Traced Artwork:
  • Some of Wayne McLoughlin's art in the original edition is traced from photos copyrighted by Dorling Kindersley that appeared in various editions of their Eyewitness Cat book.
  • In the 2023 reprint:
    • At least one image (the one mislabeled as Mothwing, which is actually Tree as the image was originally labeled as Tree on the official site) is traced from a public domain image.
    • Several images are edits of Owen Richardson's existing art: Raggedstar is a flipped Graystripe from Graystripe's Vow, Brightheart is an edited Daisy from Daisy's Kin, Crookedstar is Sol from Eclipse, and Scourge uses the same base as Tall Shadow from The First Battle.