Darkmist discusses inconsistencies in Bluestar’s Prophecy.
Let’s face it. One of the very few moments in Warriors history where the Erins dropped the ball was when they tried to confirm and organize the group of cats introduced as warriors and apprentices in the Original Arc into littermates with parents. Their worst blunder was giving Willowpelt three mates (a dying elder (Tawnyspots) then her own brother (Patchpelt) and then finally good old Whitestorm… but even then they had to go and say that Whitestorm already had kits with Brindleface!). They also made Smallear, Halftail and Speckletail all older than One-eye, despite naming her “the oldest cat in ThunderClan” in the Prophecies Begin.
And this annoyed me greatly because it wasn’t a difficult task. It just required some logical thinking. So then I thought, why don’t I give it a try? And so I did:
At the beginning of Bluestar’s Prophecy One-eye (then White-eye) and Smallear are the two most junior warriors. And White-eye is OLDER than Smallear.
At the beginning of Bluestar’s Prophecy One-eye (then White-eye) and Smallear are the two most junior warriors. And White-eye is OLDER than Smallear.
The oldest apprentices are Sparrowpaw (soon to become Sparrowpelt and then Halftail) and Leopardpaw (Leopardfoot) who are siblings. Their parents were Stonepelt and his mate who is dead now. The other apprentices are Patchpaw (Patchpelt), Dapplepaw (Dappletail) and Thrushpaw (Thrushpelt) who are all siblings. They were Adderfang and Swiftbreeze’s first litter.
In the Nursery, there is one litter older than Bluekit and Snowkit: Thistlekit (Thistleclaw), Specklekit (Speckletail) and Rosekit (Rosetail). Their parents are Windflight and Poppydawn. For some reason I really like the idea of Speckletail being Thistleclaw’s sister.
And of course the next litter is Bluekit and Snowkit (by Moonflower and Stormtail).
So already we’ve solved a number of issues. One-eye now has properly been reinstated as the “Oldest Cat in ThunderClan,” and Smallear, Halftail, Patchpelt, Dappletail and Speckletail all now have realistic ages proportionate to Bluestar as shown in the first arc.
The next litter to be born is Lionkit (Lionheart) and Goldenkit (Goldenflower). Their parents are not (of course) Speckletail and Smallear, because Speckletail is only becoming an apprentices around now (Specklepaw). I think they could be Poppydawn’s second litter.
The next litter would come quite a number of moons after that: Tigerkit (Tigerstar), Mistkit and Nightkit, Leopardfoot’s traumatic litter with Pinestar.
And soon after that, Snowfur would give birth to Thistleclaw’s kit Whitekit (Whitestorm).
The next litter is Fuzzypelt and Robinwing’s first and only litter: Frostkit (Frostfur) and Brindlekit (Brindleface) as in the books.
The next litter is Adderfang and Swiftbreeze’s second and I’ve added a fourth cat to this litter. It’s: Redkit, Willowkit, Spottedkit and Darkkit who go on to become Redtail, Willowpelt, Spottedleaf and Darkstripe. Darkstripe was always portrayed as a semi-senior warrior in the first arc (he took over Dustpaw’s training in Into the Wild) and so it makes sense to me to add him to this litter rather than to make him Willowpelt’s son.
The next litter is White-eye and Smallear’s litter (it makes way more sense for these two to be mates rather than One-eye and Halftail): Runningkit and Mousekit (Runningwind and Mousefur).
And the next one after that is Longkit (Longtail), born to Halftail and Dappletail (not Patchpelt and Robinwing) and he could have had those tragically-lost siblings which Dappletail talked about that one time.
The next one is Dustkit and Ravenkit (Dustpelt and Ravenpaw), born to Patchpelt and Speckletail (see how this makes more sense???). And I personally think that it should’ve been around this time that Bluestar gave birth to Stonekit, Mistykit and Mosskit. This would make it more realistic for Mistyfoot to stay a warrior and then go on to lead RiverClan for as long as she has; by making her around the same age as Firestar, Dustpelt, Sandstorm and Greystripe.
But the problem that arises here is that most people assume that Bluestar was already leader by the time Dustpelt and co were born. However it still works if you think about it like this. At this point, Sunstar is still leader and he is dying on his last life. Bluefur needs to become deputy not just to become deputy, but because whoever Sunstar chooses will undoubtedly succeed him in the next few days. Bluefur makes the decision to give up her kits (pretending to her fellow Queens Speckletail (with Dustkit and Ravenkit), Brindleface (pregnant with Sandstorm) and Willowpelt (pregnant with Greystripe) that a fox took them) and then goes to Sunstar’s den. She finds Thistleclaw there, who is about to take Sunstar’s last life and then lie to the Clan saying Sunstar named him deputy before he died. Bluefur angrily attacks Thistleclaw and they engage in a fierce fight in front of the whole Clan which Bluefur eventually wins. Then Sunstar in his last proclamation reveals Thistleclaw’s treachery to the whole Clan and names Bluefur his deputy. The next day he dies and Bluefur becomes Bluestar.
In the next few days Sandstorm is born to Redtail and Brindleface and Greystripe (along with a sister Waterkit who never made it) are born to Willowpelt and WHITESTORM. Whitestorm is the perfect father for Greystripe and it makes more sense for him and Willowpelt to have been mates all along.
Six moons later, Rusty joins ThunderClan. And the slight problem here is that Bluestar is then actually a relatively new leader when Rusty joins ThunderClan however she is portrayed in the first arc as a battle-hardened and long-standing leader. But to me, this could just be the front Bluestar puts up. And to Rusty this would make it seem that she’s been the leader for ages, even though she’s only been leader for about seven or eight moons (which is actually long enough for her to establish herself). That’s how I think it should have happened. I know many will disagree.
Back to litters. As Rusty arrives in ThunderClan there are actually only two Queens (not four): Dappletail who is nursing her second kit with Halftail: Swiftkit (Swiftpaw) and Frostfur, who is expecting a litter with Lionheart. She later gives birth to Brackenkit, Cinderkit, Thornkit and Brightkit.
Also, when Rusty arrives in ThunderClan, there are only two elders: One-eye and Smallear. Halftail (still Sparrowpelt), Patchpelt and Dappletail are all still warriors (well Dappletail is a Queen). Sparrowpelt will retire and adopt his affectionate nickname (Halftail) when his last kit Swiftkit is made an apprentice. Patchpelt will actually die as a warrior in the fire, saving his old friend Halftail, and after that Dappletail will retire.
Anyway back to litters!
After Frostfur’s litter (Brackenfur, Cinderpelt, Thornclaw and Brightheart) comes Brindleface’s second litter (and Sandstorm’s half siblings) with Runningwind (not Whitestorm). I always thought they made Runningwind too handsome and dashing not to have a mate, and so I believe that after Redtail’s death he helped Brindleface through her grief and then became her second mate, and the father of Ashkit and Fernkit (Ashfur and Ferncloud). I also believe the third kit they had (which died) was called Redkit in memory of Redtail. Redkit was the kit that Cloudkit (Cloudtail) replaced.
The next litter was Speckletail’s last (with Patchpelt) – Snowkit who grows up after his father’s death in the fire. He is of course then snatched by an eagle.
The next litter came from Goldenflower (who only goes into the Nursery in Rising Storm, meaning we would’ve got to have seen her as the fierce warrior she really is for some time) and the now-banished Tigerclaw – Bramblekit and Tawnykit (Bramblestar and Tawnypelt).
And the final litter of the first arc is as it should be: Sootkit, Rainkit and Sorrelkit the second litter of Willowpelt and Whitestorm and Greystripe’s younger siblings.
This re-organization fixes a number of problems: it makes all the cats’ ages seem realistic and work together; it cuts out all the ridiculous mate-switching that the Erins confirmed had occurred; it makes the number of Elders more realistic (there were five in Into the Wild, a number I have never seen repeated by any Clan later in the books) and also the number of Queens at one time. It also means we get to see the Queens (Frostfur, Brindleface, Goldenflower and Speckletail) as warriors, something the Erins only realized they could do in the last few books and by that time, Brindleface was dead and Speckletail was basically an elder. Anyway, I just also want to put it out there that I love the Warriors books with all my heart and (most of them) I wouldn’t change for the world. I am in no way trying to combat or challenge Erin Hunter canon, I am just putting out there my way of imagining how things played out. Thanks for reading!
I’m pretty sure Speckletail, Thistleclaw and Rosetail came after Bluestar and Snowfur
Speckletail was a Warrior when she was born, so no. But Thistleclaw and Rosetail came a moon after, so yes.
Speckletail came before
Blue kit and snow kit are older than thistle kit, SWEETkit, and rose kit. PARCHKIT AND LEOPAREDKIT are siblings.
not parch
Patch*
I don’t like seeing it as thistleclaw’s kit. First time you see Whitestorm and Thistleclaw you think they are no way related. Whitestorm is better than thistleclaw
Really liked it, you should do more for other SE’s!
Thistleclaw, Speckletail and Rosetail came after Blue and Snow. But still, nice article!
wasnt smallear alive in goosefeather’s curse? back then doestar was still leader so smallear should be older
also smallear is white eye’s mentor