The prologue starts with the medicine cats going to the Moonstone at half moon. Featherpaw of ThunderClan is about to be officially initiated as Goosefeather's apprentice, and he dreams of StarClan for the first time. Initially he's excited when a ShadowClan ancestor named Molepelt visits him to share a message, but Molepelt warns that it's bad news: "A dark force is on its way, with the power to pierce deep into the heart of ThunderClan. And it will be brought by a ShadowClan medicine cat." He fears that the Clans are going to be punished for something that happened during Molepelt's time (which, as readers of Firestar's Quest will know, is SkyClan being driven out). Molepelt's former apprentice, Hollowbelly, arrives and advises Featherpaw to not be alarmed becuase it is uncertain. After they leave, he's more confused than alarmed - what threat could a ShadowClan medicine cat be?
The main story opens with Yellowkit and her littermates, Nutkit and Rowankit, playing. They get teased by the older kits, Raggedkit and Scorchkit, and Nutkit retorts that they're kittypets - there are rumors that their father was a kittypet rather than a Clan cat. The two are made apprentices the next day, though Yellowkit is distracted from the ceremony since she swears there is a thorn in her paw. She waits her turn to have Sagewhisker look at it - Lizardstripe is there for a thorn in her paw as well - but by the time Lizardstripe is done, it's not hurting Yellowkit anymore. That night, she and Nutkit awaken with bellyache. He'd eaten crowfood, but Yellowkit hadn't - not that their mother or the medicine cat believe her. The rest of her days as a kit pass uneventfully, and finally she and her littermates are apprenticed. The very day Yellowpaw patrols the territory, her grandmother Silverflame dies of sickness, and it is her first experience with death.
Winter gives way to spring. Due to Deerleap's strict training regimen, Yellowpaw has grown into a skilled apprentice. Her first battle is against WindClan, and after the battle, Raggedpaw is named a warrior since he'd saved Yellowpaw from a warrior too strong for her. Raggedpelt is taunted and called a kittypet at a Gathering, and because of that, Yellowpaw tries to learn who his father is. The two of them go into the Twolegplace, where a she-cat tells them that a forest cat had been hanging around for a while and that Hal knew her better than any of them. They see Hal briefly - enough to know that he's identical to Raggedpelt and for him to snarl that he has no son - and leave. Two moons later, Yellowpaw and her littermates are nearly warriors, but they must travel to the Moonstone before their final assessment, as all Clan cats must do once in their apprenticeship. Yellowpaw touches her nose to the Moonstone, and sees her future: she hears her warrior name, has the impression of giving birth to and suckling kits, and after that the visions blur faster and more confusing, filling Yellowpaw with feelings of pain and anger and confusion, until Deerleap finally drags her away from the stone. Deerleap tells her that only medicine cats can share what they have seen at the Moonstone, so Yellowpaw must keep the knowledge of her future to herself and use it wisely.
Yellowpaw receives her warrior name, Yellowfang, shortly afterward. One day, a patrol she is on discovers a squirrel killed by a Twolegplace cat; ShadowClan sends a patrol to warn off any tresspassers they meet, and they end up fighting a group of Twolegplace cats. Yellowfang is exhausted and aching all over after the battle. She visits Sagewhisker, who points out that Yellowfang doesn't have any scratches; instead, she is feeling the pain of the other cats in the battle. Three days later, two of the Twolegplace cats - a she-cat named Red and a tom named Boulder - arrive, wishing to join the Clan. They'd been impressed not only with the Clan cats' strength, but also with their mercy. Three moons later, they witness their first warrior ceremony as Foxheart and Wolfstep receive their warrior names, and they're pretty settled into Clan life, but Raggedpelt still doesn't trust them as they were from Twolegplace. The other Twolegplace cats apparently don't know the whole scoop either - after Newtspeck mentions Red (now Russetpaw) and Boulder to one of them, they attack the ShadowClan camp, believing that ShadowClan is holding the two prisoner. During the battle, Raggedpelt confronts Featherstorm and Hal about his parentage, and they confirm that Hal is indeed his father. Hal taunts him that he has kittypet blood, and Raggedpelt, furious, kills him. Russetpaw and Boulder finally return from the patrol and explain that they're not being held prisoner, and the Twolegplace cats realize what a mistake they have made. Russetpaw grieves for Hal, explaining that he was her father.
Yellowfang continues to feel other cats' pain and sickness. She tries to help as much as she can, partly because she's sympathetic to what they're going through and partly to help stop it so she doesn't keep feeling it. She's resentful for Sagewhisker treating her like her own apprentice. Her helping sick/injured cats has not gone unnoticed by her Clanmates, either, as she gets teased for being a medicine cat. One morning she asks to be put on a hunting patrol so she can prove that she's still a warrior, and they end up getting into a fight with some trespassing WindClan cats. The pain from the other battling cats is so great she cannot move, and she ends up receiving injuries of her own. Sagewhisker believes that the reason she didn't fight was because she can't bear to inflict pain on others, and tells Yellowfang that it's her destiny to be a medicine cat.
Several days later, after Sagewhisker continues to argue that she needs an apprentice and Yellowfang is perfect for the job, Yellowfang wearily agrees. Though she has an important position and her parents are pleased, being a medicine cat apprentice isn't what Yellowfang expected: her sister Rowanberry, as well as Raggedpelt, don't seem to realize she's the same cat, she's back on apprentice duties (much to Foxheart's delight), and Sagewhisker seems to expect her to know everything immediately. At the next half moon, she officially becomes Sagewhisker's apprentice at the Moonstone. She sees Silverflame in a dream, and Silverflame promises to watch over and guide her. The next Gathering is skipped due to clouds covering the moon, but at the one after that, her apprenticeship is announced. Cedarstar also surprises ShadowClan by announcing Stonetooth's retirement; his next deputy is Raggedpelt. Not long afterward, Raggedpelt comes to talk to Yellowfang. They still have feelings for each other, and decide to meet in secret.
Newleaf turns to greenleaf, and greenleaf turns to leaf-fall. Yellowfang and Raggedpelt have kept their promise through the passing moons. Raggedpelt's apprentice Cloudpaw is badly injured when a group of rogues attacks a patrol, and Yellowfang works desperately to save his life, even when Sagewhisker has given up. Her efforts pay off and he survives. Cedarstar promises to make him a warrior as soon as he's better (as he'd been ready for his final assessment), and Sagewhisker tells Yellowfang she's ready to become a full medicine cat. Yellowfang tells Raggedpelt (who doesn't take it too well) and the ceremony is that night at the half-moon meeting at the Moonstone. Silverflame appears again to Yellowfang. Yellowfang sees three kits in a reflection in water, and Silverflame tells her to trust her instincts. Confused, Yellowfang wakes up. The other medicine cats are talking about how their StarClan mentors give them great guidance, and Yellowfang is puzzled as to why Silverflame is treating her differently.
At the next Gathering, Yellowfang learns that she's expecting kits. She wonders if she'll be allowed to remain a medicine cat if the others find out. She has a dream that night where a StarClan cat tells her, "There is a cat coming, a cat who should never be born, whose life will bring fire and blood to the forest, yet StarClan is powerless to stop him!" He adds that "the courage of a mother to know her destiny" is the only thing that can stop this cat. Yellowfang is horrified that it could be one of her kits, and she vows to do her best with them. A few moons later, Sagewhisker speaks to her and tells her she knows about the kits. She's a little angry Yellowfang had broken her vows, but more importantly, she knows she's going to StarClan before long, and the Clan needs a medicine cat, so Yellowfang must make her choice. If she's giving up her kits, Sagewhisker advises, she'd better tell Raggedpelt so at least they have one parent. Raggedpelt very reluctantly agrees to her giving up her kits - on the condition that they don't know who their mother is. Knowing his own experiences, he says that it's better for them to not know who their mother is than to have one who they know abandoned them.
Yellowfang gives birth to her kits. Two of them are stillborn, but one survives: a tom who looks like his father, Raggedpelt, except for a bend in his tail. Yellowfang and Raggedpelt bring him to Lizardstripe, and Yellowfang names him Brokenkit - Lizardstripe believes it's for the bend in his tail, but it's really for Yellowfang's emotions as she gives him up. The next time Yellowfang is at the Moonstone, she speaks to Silverflame. The old she-cat tells her that Yellowfang having kits was going to happen and warning her about it ahead of time wouldn't have changed anything. She advises Yellowfang to be a friend to Brokenkit, if she cannot be a mother to him, and to be a force for good in his life. Yellowfang sees her two daughters, and runs toward them, but wakes up before she reaches them. A few days later, Yellowfang comes upon Brokenkit being bullied by his adopted littermates. He's sad that nobody in the Clan seems to like him, and Yellowfang has him help her out, which he seems to enjoy, though in later moons the other kits bully him again for visiting the medicine cats, and he stops coming.
Not long before Brokenkit is ready to become an apprentice, one day Sagewhisker evidently has a heart attack, judging by the pain Yellowfang feels in the same instant. She goes to StarClan, and Yellowfang is now the main ShadowClan medicine cat. Brokenpaw is apprenticed to Nightpelt, though both cats are unhappy with it - Brokenpaw is impatient with Nightpelt's asthma, and Nightpelt is irritated that he cannot control his apprentice. Several moons into Brokenpaw's apprenticeship, Cedarstar dies of a sudden sickness one night. Raggedpelt goes to the Moonstone with Yellowfang to receive his nine lives; when the nine cats gather around Raggedpelt, Yellowfang recognizes Cedarstar, Lizardfang, and Sagewhisker, but the other cats are unknown to her. During the ceremony, Molepelt calls her over and tells her that "the time has nearly come" and "beware the cat with blood on his paws", and tells her that she knows the truth in her heart and she should not be blind to it much longer. She springs at him and he vanishes. Yellowfang arrives back in time to see Raggedstar receive his last life from Dawnstar, who appears in Firestar's Quest as the leader of ShadowClan at the time that SkyClan was driven out. Raggedstar and Yellowfang head home, and he chooses his deputy: Foxheart. When Brokenpaw nears the end of his apprenticeship, Raggedstar names him a warrior with the name of Brokentail, though several cats are unhappy because it's a moon early and he hasn't passed his final assessments yet. Yellowfang thinks she sees blood on his legs, but it's just marshy water, and, irritated, she tries to put Molepelt and his prophecy out of her mind.
A couple of moons later, during newleaf, a patrol gets in a fight with some rats. The Clan decides to raid the Carrionplace once more. Nightpelt, however, decides to retire early, as his breathing problems make it difficult to carry out warrior duties. They attack (Brokentail shouting "Prepare to Die" at the start). They win, but Foxheart is killed in the attack. Yellowfang hadn't particularly liked her, but she still feels sorry for her. Raggedstar names Cloudpelt as his deputy, and Brokentail is visibly angry. He argues that since the raid worked he should have been made deputy, but Raggedstar hisses that he can't show favoritism, but that Brokentail would be next in line for the job should anything happen to Cloudpelt. One day, Yellowfang comes upon her sister's kit, Stumpypaw (Brokentail's apprentice), hanging onto a limb by his teeth. He tells her that he was talking during training and that this was his punishment; Brokentail said he needed to learn to keep his mouth shut. Yellowfang is shocked and confronts Brokentail, who just tells her to keep out of it, and then she reports it to Cloudpelt, who says he can't do anything since Stumpypaw wasn't hurt. Yellowfang decides on the same day to make Runningpaw a full medicine cat.
Later that year, in early leaf-fall, Brokentail brings a rabbit into camp, claiming WindClan killed it. Yellowfang examines it and comes to the conclusion that it had strayed from WindClan territory to ShadowClan territory and that Brokentail had killed it himself. She tells Raggedstar but he refuses to hear a word against his son. A ShadowClan patrol goes to attack a WindClan patrol, but they are badly beaten, and Cloudpelt is gravely wounded. Brokentail tells her not to waste her time because he's going to die anyway and he announces that he is going to be the next leader of the Clan. Despite Yellowfang's best efforts, Cloudpelt dies that night. As expected, Raggedstar names Brokentail as the next deputy. Yellowfang finds that she has no pride in her son now; instead, she remembers Molepelt's warning of blood and fire and she is afraid for the future.
Yellowfang was right to be afraid. Not a moon later, the Clan is hungry as leaf-bare sets in. Brokentail, however, organizes far more battle training sessions than hunting patrols. The training sessions are fierce enough that Yellowfang often has to treat injuries. When she travels to the Moonstone, she dreams of kits fighting in a battle and dying. Afterward, Silverflame visits her and says that terrible times are coming, but there's nothing StarClan can do. She invites Yellowfang to stay for a while and rest, and tries to comfort her. Yellowfang's daughters join in as well. When Yellowfang returns, she goes to tell Raggedstar about the dream - and finds that he has had the same one. Their discussion is interrupted by Brokentail shouting at his Clanmates during battle training somewhere in the forest. Raggedstar realizes that he has made a terrible mistake, and that Brokentail only wants to lead ShadowClan into battle. He goes and interrupts the training session, telling Brokentail not to be so hard on everyone, while Fernshade tells Yellowfang that she's about to have kits, and that while she's a bit old to be having her first litter, it'll be good for the Clan to have some young blood. Frogtail tries to eat his fresh-kill before the elders and kits when Yellowfang arrives back in camp, and both Brokentail and Raggedstar tell him it's against the warrior code. Yellowfang is relieved that they're in agreement at least for now. That night, Brokentail rushes into camp, announcing that WindClan has attacked his patrol and Raggedstar has been killed. He keeps vigil for his father that night and travels to the Moonstone the next day, though he seems strangely reluctant to become leader. He receives his lives from Cedarstar, Stonetooth, Dawnstar, Lizardfang, one of Brokenstar's deceased sisters, three cats Yellowfang doesn't know, and Sagewhisker. Each life seems to have the same theme - compassion, judgement, truth, love of kin, honor, duty, etc. - and each seems to be given with a warning. Yellowfang also notices that StarClan seems almost reluctant to give Brokentail his lives.
Yellowfang and Brokenstar return to camp. The first thing the new leader does is call a Clan meeting for the entire Clan - even the kits. He announces that warriors will only train for battle now ("Hunting is of little importance, and cats will have to find food where they can.") He appoints Blackfoot as deputy, though he hasn't had an apprentice (not that there have been kits old enough to be apprenticed recently), and names Mosskit as his own apprentice, even though he's only three moons old. Later that moon, Brokenstar decides that the elders should leave the camp. Yellowfang finds a place for them to stay and promises to look after them, and as she heads back to camp she sees Brokenstar training the kits and Mosspaw. He orders Brownkit and Wetkit to try the double attack they'd been practicing on Mosspaw, and they hit him wrong and kill him. They go back to camp and break the news to the Clan. The kits are horrified at what they've done, but Brokenstar tells them that they were brave and as a reward they're going to be apprenticed, so he names all the kits (except the newest arrival) apprentices.
Three moons later, another apprentice has died - Volepaw had an infected rat bite; Brokenstar now includes rat fights in every cat's training. Yellowfang is afraid more will come and she fears for her newborn siblings: Brightflower has had a she-cat, Marigoldkit, and a tom, Mintkit. Brokenstar and several ShadowClan cats return from a battle against WindClan, and it turns out that three-moon-old Badgerpaw has been killed. Yellowfang confronts Brokenstar and threatens to have StarClan take away his nine lives, but he just scoffs at her and tells her he has made the Clan great. The other cats don't seem to really be grieving over Badgerpaw; in fact, Littlepaw is awed because "he's a true warrior now!" Yellowfang can't believe what Brokenstar has turned the Clan into, and she goes to sleep and confronts Cedarstar. He says it was the warrior code for Brokenstar to become leader - deputy succeeds leader - and that they cannot do anything now.
Half a moon later, the worst happens. Brightflower's new kits are missing. As the cats search the forest, Yellowfang hears a fox bark, then smells blood. She comes upon the bodies of the two kits. Brokenstar and Brightflower come along and find her there, and Brokenstar insists there's no fox scent. They go back to camp, where Brokenstar turns the Clan against Yellowfang by telling them there was no fox scent, and asking why Yellowfang might kill the kits. He banishes her from the Clan. She heads toward Fourtrees and collapses there, miserable and hungry, beyond caring about anything, but unable to sleep. The next day she decides to head away from Fourtrees because cats pass by there often, so she heads toward ThunderClan territory and collapses, drifting in and out of consciousness for a couple days. The weather is nice enough on one of those days that she gets a little energy back and decides to get out of ThunderClan territory, but she's confronted by a bright orange apprentice and knows she'll have to fight her way out. The scene plays out exactly as it does in Into the Wild - Firepaw defeats her, then goes to catch her some food. Yellowfang doesn't know what will happen to her next, but she's more at peace than she's been in a long time, and she vows one day to rid the forest of Brokenstar.
In the manga at the end, Yellowfang, asleep in her nest in ThunderClan, dreams of the day she killed Brokentail. Cinderpaw eagerly asks if she can try an idea to treat Smallear's paw, and Yellowfang agrees. As she walks off with herbs, Fireheart comes up and comments that she seems to be doing well as a medicine cat. He asks how long until she receives her full name (Yellowfang replies "there's plenty of time") and comments that she's waited long enough. The truth is that Yellowfang is afraid to speak to StarClan - what will they say about her killing Brokenstar? Will they make her not be a medicine cat anymore? Cinderpaw comes back and asks if she's ready for her full name. Yellowfang agrees that Cinderpaw has learned everything, but she explains that she's done something terrible and is afraid StarClan won't let her have her medicine cat name. Cinderpaw tells Yellowfang just to trust StarClan and herself - she doesn't believe Yellowfang would have done anything to cause the Clan harm. She agrees to go to the Moonstone. Yellowfang gives her the name Cinderpelt, and they fall asleep. Molepelt comes to Yellowfang. Wary, she asks if he's come to gloat, but he says that he's come to apologize about Brokentail. Brokentail chose his own path of bloodshed, and Yellowfang couldn't have done anything about it - yet she suffered most because she gave birth to him. As he leaves, she realizes what he's saying. Sagewhisker visits her next, and says that she would never have made Yellowfang a medicine cat if she knew what Yellowfang would have to go through. Yellowfang asks if StarClan will let Cinderpelt become a full medicine cat, and Sagewhisker says yes. Yellowfang asks, "What about Brokentail?" Sagewhisker replies that he brought his own death upon himself and that Yellowfang has proven herself loyal to ThunderClan. Yellowfang wakes up and Cinderpelt happily greets her and says she saw StarClan. The two head home.
Tropes appearing in this book:
- Ambition Is Evil: "Ambition" is generally used with negative connotations in this book; it's used to describe Lizardstripe and Foxheart, who are both antagonistic to Yellowfang. Later Yellowfang thinks that Brokentail is ambitious after he tells her to let Cloudpelt die so that he can become deputy, and tries to tell herself that he didn't mean for Cloudpelt to be injured and that ambition is a good thing in a warrior, but by the end of the book swears vengeance for the cats Brokentail destroyed with his ambition.
- Agonizing Stomach Wound: This happens to Cloudpaw when the patrol is ambushed by rogues. Sagewhisker thinks it'll be kinder to let StarClan take him, but Yellowfang refuses to give up, and he survives.
- Attack the Tail: During her fight with Firepaw, Yellowfang sinks her teeth into his tail.
- Back Story: The book serves as Yellowfang's backstory.
- Bad Omen Anecdote: Yellowfang tells Nightpelt that Hawkheart once had a patient with similar symptoms. Nightpelt asked what happened to him, and Yellowfang admitted that the cat had to retire early.
- Best Friend: Yellowfang's sister Rowanberry referred to Yellowfang as her best friend, and feared that Yellowfang becoming a medicine cat meant they wouldn't be as close anymore.
- Bitch Alert: Foxheart and Lizardstripe of Shadowclan. The former is constantly rude and mocking towards Yellowfang while the latter occasionally joins the former as well as being cross with having to be a queen and mistreating Brokenkit.
- Borrowed Catchphrase: Yellowfang borrowed this phrase from her mentor Deerleap: "Look, listen, scent!"
- Career Versus Man: Yellowfang must choose between becoming a medicine cat and being mates with Raggedpelt. At first she breaks her vows by remaining his mate, but once she realizes she's expecting kits, she knows she must give them up and focus on her career.
- Child Hater: Lizardstripe appears to not like having any kits, showing dismay at Hollyflower for missing her kits at one point. She even directly says to Raggedstar and Yellowfang that she wished that she hadn't had her own kits.
- Child of Forbidden Love:
- Raggedpelt and Scorchwind's mother is Featherstorm, a ShadowClan warrior, and their father is a kittypet named Hal.
- Brokentail is the result of a romance between Raggedpelt and Yellowfang. The latter is a medicine cat and therefore is forbidden to take a mate.
- Children Are Innocent: Subverted with Brokenkit. You can see the seeds of Brokenstar's evil right from his kithood.
- Child Soldiers: Brokenstar breaks a law in the warrior code by training the Clan's kits to fight starting when they're barely weaned from their mothers; as a result, many of them die.
- Combat Medic: Yellowfang is a warrior for a while before becoming a medicine cat.
- Continuity Snarl:
- In Secrets of the Clans, Raggedstar is the leader when his son, Brokenstar, is born. However, in Yellowfang's Secret, he is deputy. (Although in the scene in Yellowfang's Secret where she gives Brokenkit to Lizardstripe, there's a few accidental mentions of his leader name; the scene appears to have been copy-pasted from Secrets of the Clans and edited.)
- On page 66 of the book when Foxpaw and Wolfpaw are new apprentices, Brightflower is Foxpaw's mentor and Blizzardwing is Wolfpaw's. Later in the book, such as when they become warriors, their mentors are switched.
- One of Featherstorm's kits changes from Molekit on the page he was introduced, to Mosskit later in the book.
- Stonetooth gives Brokenstar one of his nine lives... and then dies a few moons afterward.
- Covered in Mud: Foxpaw disguises her bright ginger pelt by splashing muddy water over her fur.
- Cultural Rebel: Boulder asks to keep his own name instead of taking a Clan name. Yellowfang is surprised that he doesn't seem to think anything's wrong with doing so, and even more surprised that Cedarstar allows it.
- A Day in the Limelight: Yellowfang's only POV.
- Death of a Child: Mosspaw, Volepaw, and Badgerpaw die at the age of three moons because they were too young to fight. Mintkit and Marigoldkit, only a quarter moon old, are also found dead, their deaths blamed on Yellowfang.
- Deceptive Disciple: Brokentail appeared to be a loyal warrior and deputy, but secretly killed and usurped his own father to take over the Clan.
- Dies Wide Open: Cedarstar, Raggedstar, Mosspaw, and Badgerpaw all die with their eyes open.
- Doctor's Orders: How Yellowfang gets Raggedpelt to accept treatment at one point. "I'm a medicine cat now. You have to listen to me, and you will have a drink."
- A Dog Named "Cat": One of the Twolegplace cats is named Jay.
- Doomed by Canon: In the prequels, we never heard in the main series about several of the characters, and of course the leaders have to be replaced by the ones we know later, so they have to die.
- The Empath: Yellowfang is revealed to be able to feel other cats' pain, which is a huge hindrance in battle, but very useful for a medicine cat, which is why she changes careers.
- Everyone Can See It: Yellowfang and Raggedpelt. First one of the elders tells her not to go rushing into choosing a mate, and then Rowanberry teases her about having an argument with her mate and says that everyone in the Clan knows there's something going on between them.
- Facial Markings: Archeye is named for the thick black stripe over one of his eyes.
- First Snow: It snows for the first time in Yellowfang's life on the day she's apprenticed.
- Foregone Conclusion: We knew from the very first book that Yellowfang was a warrior who became a medicine cat, and from the first series in general that she had a forbidden relationship with Raggedstar that resulted in Brokenstar.
- Freudian Excuse: Brokenstar was abused by his foster mother, Lizardstripe.
- Gender Bender:
- This book returns Foxheart to being a she-cat, which she originally was in Secrets of the Clans, after being a tom in Bluestar's Prophecy.
- Crowtail is a she-cat in the Allegiances and most scenes, but is mentioned as a tom at one point. ("Crowtail's leading a border patrol. You can join him with Hollyflower and Newtspeck.")
- Grade Skipper: Several cats protest Brokenpaw becoming a warrior, since he's been an apprentice for only five moons and hasn't completed his final assessments.
- Gray Rain of Depression: When Brightflower's kits are found dead, the sky is gray and looking rainy, and then once Yellowfang is exiled and collapses exhausted outside ShadowClan's territory it actually does begin to rain.
- Greater Need Than Mine:
- Silverflame declines food, saying that the younger cats need it more than she does.
- Raggedpelt refuses treatment from Yellowfang at first after the rat battle until she orders him to have a drink.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Foxheart is jealous that Raggedpelt likes Yellowfang.
- Have You Come to Gloat?: Yellowfang asks Molepelt this after she kills Brokenstar, since she had been feeling very guilty about it. To her surprise, he says he would never gloat. ShadowClan was his Clan too.
- Hypocrite: After Foxheart's death, Raggedstar makes Cloudpelt the new deputy, despite Brokentail's anger. When his son confronts him, he claims he cannot show favoritism and that Brokentail hasn't had an apprentice yet. While the latter is true, Cloudpelt was Raggedstar's own apprentice, and he also promises Brokentail, despite the above points, that if anything happens to Cloudpelt he'd be deputy next.
- I Have No Son!: Yellowfang and Raggedpelt encounter the father of the latter and Scorchwind: a kittypet named Hal. When they tell them this, he rejects anything having to do with mating with a wild cat. Raggedpelt, in turn, tells Yellowfang that as far as he's concerned, he has no father.
- I Just Want to Be Normal: When Sagewhisker points out to Yellowfang that she's feeling other cats' pain, Yellowfang's reaction is to protest that she doesn't want to be different, she just wants to be a warrior.
- I Surrender, Suckers: Brackenfoot tricks Raggedpaw with this during training.
- It's All My Fault:
- Raggedpelt blames himself when they lose the battle against the rats, because it was his idea.
- Yellowfang feels guilt for not being able to save Mintkit and Marigoldkit.
- I Was Having Such a Nice Dream: Yellowkit dreams of catching a juicy mouse and is just about to take a bite when she's awakened by Foxkit and Wolfkit crashing into her while wrestling.
- Kid Hero: Yellowfang is a kit - the feline equivalent of a child - at the start of this book.
- Kids Are Cruel: Brokenstar had been revealed to be picked on by Runningnose and his siblings (who enjoyed taunting him about his mysterious mother) and they called him "badger-stinky". They keep this up until Yellowfang finally yells at these kits to stop picking on him. They try it again (except Runningnose, who learned his lesson), but they end up being pushed back by Brokenkit.
- Killed Off for Real: When Brokentail reports that WindClan killed Raggedstar, Yellowfang thinks at first that perhaps he'd mistaken losing a life for true death, but then she realizes that Raggedstar's wounds were bad enough to make him lose all of his lives at once.
- Luke, You Are My Father: Hal is told that he's Raggedpelt's father, but refuses to accept it.
- Make an Example of Them: Brokentail suggests they do this to the rats to warn them away from ShadowClan.
- Meaningful Name: Badgerkit is named for the way his face is striped like a badger's.
- Meaningful Rename: Several cats earn their warrior names. Yellowfang specifically chose Runningnose's medicine cat name as a reminder that medicine cats cannot cure everything but must have faith to try.
- Monster Is a Mommy: Yellowfang finds Raggedpelt facing off against a badger. Then she realizes that, unbeknownst to Raggedpelt, the badger is a mother, and he's between her and her cubs. Yellowfang feels pity for the badger but reminds herself that she has to protect her Clanmate.
- My Secret Pregnancy: Yellowfang hid her pregnancy from the rest of her Clan, but not from the father, Raggedpelt, since she was a medicine cat and not allowed to have kits.
- Named After the Injury: Everyone assumes that Brokenkit got his name from the broken bend in his tail. (In reality, Yellowfang chose it for the feelings she had while giving him up.)
- Nepotism: Several cats think that Raggedstar chose Foxheart as his deputy because of how close the two of them are (presumed by many to be mates). His second deputy, Cloudpelt, was his apprentice, and his third is his own son Brokentail.
- Nightmare Sequence: In a nightmare, Yellowfang is forced to watch kits inflict damage upon each other that is far beyond what even an adult cat could. Some kits are so young that they haven't even opened their eyes yet.
- Non-Indicative Name: Only StarClan knows why Brightflower would give her gray kit with orange eyes the name Yellowkit.
- Not Good with Rejection: Raggedpelt. When Yellowfang (the she-cat he loves) decides to be a medicine cat, he gets angry and refuses to talk with her, and it causes him to demean and insult her a lot.
- Not His Blood:
- After the battle with the rats, Yellowfang notices that Brokentail's covered in blood, but determines that it all belonged to the rats.
- Yellowfang, upon finding her tiny siblings' bodies, curls around them and licks them, hoping that they'll live. When they return to camp, Runningnose thinks Yellowfang is hurt until she explains that it's the kits' blood.
- Offing the Offspring: Hinted at by Sagewhisker as an option ("if the kits... are going to live...") when they're discussing the fact that Yellowfang is pregnant. Yellowfang is horrified at the thought of killing her own kits.
- Origins Episode: This book serves as Yellowfang's, and Brokenstar's to an extent.
- Patricide: Raggedstar killed his own dad, a kittypet named Hal.
- Perspective Flip:
- Since Bluestar's Prophecy, Crookedstar's Promise, Yellowfang's Secret, and Tallstar's Revenge all take place during roughly the same time frame, there are several scenes seen from a different point of view in each book.
- The book ends with a scene from Into the Wild, which we now see from Yellowfang's point of view rather than Firepaw's.
- Pets Versus Strays: There's conflict between the Clan cats and kittypets. As an interesting inversion of usual kittypet characters, Hal looks down on Clan cats and pretends he would have never mated with one.
- Prepare to Die: Brokentail shouts "Prepare to die!" at a bunch of rats when the ShadowClan cats attack them.
- Prequel: Bluestar's Prophecy, Crookedstar's Promise, Yellowfang's Secret, and Tallstar's Revenge all take place about two generations before the original series.
- Pride: Nettlespot is so determined to prove that she can care for her remaining kit that she refuses to ask for food, even though she desperately needs it. Yellowfang even thinks "Pride won't fill her belly."
- Rage Against the Heavens: Yellowfang challenges StarClan for allowing Brokenstar to become leader and lead the Clan into ruin; she eventually refuses to even go to the Moonstone at the half moon.
- Sadist Teacher: Brokentail, who punishes his apprentice by making him hang from a branch by his teeth. His crime? He was talking too much during training. Later, he trains kits far too young who accidentally kill their former denmate, another kit.
- Scary Stinging Swarm: Nightpelt remembers a time when he was an apprentice out with Flintpaw and Clawpaw: Flintpaw accidentally ran into a wasp nest, resulting in the three of them getting badly stung.
- Secret Relationship: Featherstorm/Hal, and Raggedstar/Yellowfang.
- Series Continuity Error:
- Sparrowpelt of ThunderClan is listed in the Allegiances with his elder's name, Halftail. He does not receive this name until the very end of Bluestar's Prophecy, so he certainly shouldn't have it already at the start of this book, which starts before Bluestar's Prophecy.
- Patchpaw and Leopardpaw are listed as apprentices, even though Moonflower's kits aren't born yet, and in Bluestar's Prophecy they had been apprenticed a little while after Bluekit and Snowkit were born.
- In Into the Wild, Ashfur is a ShadowClan elder that helps rebel against Brokenstar. He does not appear in this book.
- One of the kits being told stories in Cats of the Clans is Blossomkit, an aspiring medicine cat who was killed by Brokenstar in training. She does not appear in this book.
- In Into the Wild, Dawncloud is an older ShadowClan queen who helps rebel against Brokenstar, and is an old friend of Yellowfang, and has lost two of her kits due to Brokenstar's actions against WindClan. In this book, she's still an apprentice named Dawnpaw when Yellowfang is exiled, too young to have kits (especially due to being apprenticed early), and doesn't side with Yellowfang when she is accused of murdering Brightflower's kits.
- In Into the Wild, Brightflower was a black-and-white she-cat. In Yellowfang's Secret, she is an orange tabby she-cat with a broad, flattened face.
- Back in The Darkest Hour, Boulder was a member of BloodClan, and Scourge actually recognizes Boulder when he brings Tigerstar. Boulder joins ShadowClan early in this book. However, Pinestar is still leader of ThunderClan, so Tigerpaw isn't an apprentice yet (he is a kit when Pinestar leaves). Therefore, Tigerpaw couldn't have attacked Scourge yet, and Scourge can't have formed BloodClan yet.
- Mudpaw is directly apprenticed to Brambleberry in this book. In Crookedstar's Promise, he was a full-grown warrior before becoming a medicine cat.
- A WindClan patrol including Talltail and Shrewpaw attacks ShadowClan's patrol while Yellowfang is a young warrior. In Tallstar's Revenge, Talltail and Shrewclaw became warriors at the same time. Also,in Yellowfang's Secret, Barkpaw of WindClan doesn't become an apprentice until after Yellowfang's son Brokenpaw is an apprentice, but in Tallstar's Revenge Barkface is Shrewclaw's littermate and older than Yellowfang.
- In Yellowfang's Secret, Shrewpaw's mentor is Redclaw. In Tallstar's Revenge, it's Hareflight.
- In Bluestar's Prophecy, when Brokenpaw got into a fight at the Gathering, the other two apprentices were from RiverClan. In this book, they're from WindClan.
- Toward the end of the book, Clawface is described as a gray tom. In Into the Wild, he was brown, and his fur color was actually plot-relevant, as they checked the fur under Spottedleaf's claws. They found Clawface's brown fur, so they knew that Spottedleaf was not attacked by Yellowfang, a gray cat.
- In this book, it is early newleaf toward the end of the book when Firepaw finds Yellowfang. However, in Into the Wild it is late greenleaf, nearly leaf-fall, when this scene takes place.
- She Is Not My Girlfriend: Yellowfang and Raggedstar act like this. At first.
- Simultaneous Arcs: The four "prequel" Super Editions feature roughly the same timeframe from four different points of view. There are several direct scenes that the books share, sometimes featuring the characters talking to (or at least noticing) one of the others.
- Slashed Throat:
- How the rats kill Foxheart.
- This is also how the next deputy Cloudpelt dies, in a border skirmish with WindClan.
- So Proud of You: Yellowpaw's parents praise her when she catches the biggest rat in the Carrionplace raid. Deerleap also tells Yellowpaw how proud she is during their trip to the Moonstone, and Yellowpaw knows she really means it because she rarely gives out praise.
- Stern Teacher: Yellowpaw's warrior mentor Deerleap is pretty strict: she makes her get up earlier and catch more prey than the others, and her praise has to be earned. While Yellowpaw wishes she had it as easy as her denmates, she ultimately feels that the training has made her the best warrior she can be.
- Stopped Caring: After her exile, Yellowfang doesn't care whether she lives or dies.
- Strike Me Down: Yellowfang tries to convince Firepaw to kill her, because she is shamed by being defeated and feels she doesn't have much to live for at this point.
- Strong Family Resemblance:
- Yellowfang has the same face shape and eyes as her mother Brightflower.
- Hal and his son Raggedpelt are nearly identical.
- Swarm of Rats: ShadowClan faces off against swarms of rats (one of their primary food sources) twice. The second time, Foxheart is killed by two rats who jump on her as if they were trained.
- Tactical Withdrawal: Raggedstar leads a patrol to attack WindClan after Brokentail claims to have found a rabbit caught by them, but they are outmatched by the WindClan cats and Raggedstar calls a retreat.
- Too Desperate to Be Picky: During Brokenstar's time as leader of ShadowClan, his warriors spent all their energy battling rather than hunting, so cats resorted to eating the rotting crowfood left in the Carrionplace.
- Tyrant Takes the Helm: Brokenstar, who murdered his father Raggedstar to be ShadowClan's leader, and that's where things go downhill for the Clan really fast. He banishes all the elders from the safety of the camp, forces kits to become apprentices at three moons instead of six (and makes them warriors at five moons instead of twelve), and makes his Clan eat rotten food instead of fresh meat to focus on battles. He even lets Brightflower's kits die and shifts the blame onto Yellowfang, banishing her from the Clan.
- Unfortunate Names: Foxheart—"fox-heart" is a feline term meaning treacherous and cowardly, and Runningnose (for his cold that he cannot cure).
- Used to Be a Sweet Kid: The violent and bloodthirsty Brokenstar was adorable as a kit. "Look! I'm a tree!"
- Vagueness Is Coming: Many prophecies in the series vaguely foretell destruction and danger without actually managing to tell the Clans what exactly is coming. This includes the one in this book: "A poison will spring from the heart of ShadowClan, and spread to the other Clans. A storm of blood and fire will sweep the forest."
- War Hawk: Raggedstar eventually realizes that Brokentail wants to do nothing but lead ShadowClan into battle.
- Wise Beyond Their Years: Yellowfang thinks this of her daughter, who died as a kit, when she gives Brokenstar one of his nine lives.
- Wrong Line of Work: Yellowfang became a warrior at first, but when her ability to feel others' pain constantly hindered her in battle, it became clear that it would be difficult for her to be a warrior, but her ability would be very useful for a potential medicine cat.
- You Can't Fight Fate: Silverflame tells Yellowfang that knowing something is going to happen doesn't mean they have the power to change it.
- You Dirty Rat!: The rats at the Carrionplace cause a lot of trouble for ShadowClan.
- You Fool!:
- In the prologue, Molepelt calls Hollowbelly a fool for thinking that the medicine cat code will save the Clans.
- On the very first day he's apprenticed, Brokenpaw refers to his mentor Nightpelt as a "coughing old fool".
