[image description: a scarred fluffy black cat with yellow eyes and a flower crown lays on snowy ground]

What if Yellowfang Was Never Born? by Brackenpelt

Brackenpelt ponders what Warriors would’ve been like without one of the series’ earliest introduced medicine cats, Yellowfang. Spoilers for Yellowfang’s Secret!

Art by Alder-Leaf

Everyone who has read “Yellowfang’s Secret” knows that Yellowfang, along with her sister, Rowanberry, and her brother, Nutwhisker, were born to Brightflower and Brackenfoot. But what would have happened if Brightflower and Brackenfoot decided not to have kits together? What effect would that have on the plot later on?

Let’s say that the events in “Yellowfang’s Secret” and The Prophecies Begin still happened, except for the events that revolved around or were caused by Yellowfang. For example, in “Yellowfang’s Secret”, the trip into Twolegplace with Raggedpelt wouldn’t have happened, because it was Yellowpaw who convinced Raggedpelt to try and find his father and venture into Twolegplace.
For the first half of “Yellowfang’s Secret”, not much of what she does has a big impact later on. It’s not until she becomes a medicine cat apprentice when her actions start to have an effect on the rest of the book and later books.

To start off, Sagewhisker (the ShadowClan medicine cat during “Yellowfang’s Secret”) wouldn’t have taken Yellowfang as an apprentice, because, well, she wouldn’t have existed! No other cat in ShadowClan seemed interested in becoming a medicine cat, either, so let’s say that Sagewhisker never took an apprentice. When Sagewhisker died, there would be no one to become a medicine cat, so ShadowClan would probably go into a state of panic until someone could become a medicine cat. They would probably have to resort to having the medicine cat from another Clan train an apprentice, similar to Leafpool coming from ThunderClan to mentor Puddleshine in Vision of Shadows.

My next points are a rather big deal- If Yellowfang was never born, Brokenstar wouldn’t exist, either. If Brokenstar was never born, I’m sure that no kits would have died so young, and there would be no under aged apprentices. The next point is something I’m sure many people will love- If Brokenstar wasn’t around, he wouldn’t have been there to order a patrol into ThunderClan to steal kits, and Clawface wouldn’t have killed Spottedleaf.

So if Spottedleaf hadn’t died, what would have happened next? Would Spottedleaf break the medicine cat code to be mates with Firestar? Who would she apprentice to be the next ThunderClan medicine cat? What if Cinderpelt still had her accident and was forced to become Spottedleaf’s apprentice? Her personality could be way different from the Cinderpelt we know and love. After all, it is mentioned a few times that her calm, wise personality was influenced by Yellowfang.

Going back to ShadowClan, if Yellowfang wasn’t born, and Brokenstar was never alive, who would be the next leader after Raggedstar? The whole plot could change depending on who Raggedstar chose to be the next leader of ShadowClan. Would the next leader be strong and noble, or would they be weak and cruel? Would any of the kits who died during Brokenstar’s reign have a greater effect on the plot if they had survived?

Because Brokenstar had a huge effect on the series, I would like you to consider these final questions: What if Yellowfang died giving birth, but Brokenstar still lived long enough to become leader? How would he be stopped? After all, Yellowfang ended Brokenstar’s cruel reign by blinding and poisoning him, but what if Yellowfang wasn’t around to stop him?

These were some of the most important events that could have occurred in the series, but I’m sure someone out there will think of some crazy domino effect with Yellowfang linked to the battle against the Dark Forest or something like that. I hope you all have a nice day, and may StarClan light your path!

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