The Setting of the Warriors Series by Rainshine

Rainshine theorizes on where the lake territories are.

Art by mapleofwinter

The Warriors series is situated in an imaginary world, with forests and mountains and twolegs. The Old Forest was said to be set in New Forest, in England. The newer series, starting with The New Prophecy, introduce a world beside mountains. I will be trying finding a place on earth that fits the canon setting.

The requirements are:
A small river beside a forest, open grassy field, and a city/town to the east.
Mountains to the west.
Saltwater to the west, beyond the mountains.
A small lake northwest of the ‘Old Forest’, and north of the salt water.
A large city north of the lake.

The first thing to find is mountains because those are easiest to find. I will also only be stating mountain ranges with a body of salt water to the west. Here they are:
The Western Ghats mountains, in India.
The Scandinavians, in northern Europe.
The Pyrenees, bordering France and Spain.
Atlas mountains, in northwestern Africa.
Taurus mountains, in southern Turkey.
The Caucasus mountains, beside the Black Sea.
The Alps.
The Rockies in western North America.
The Coast mountains, stretching from Alaska to Washington.
Sierra Nevada mountains in the US.
The Sierra Madre mountains in Mexico.
And lastly, the Andes in South America.

Another thing to consider is the seasons. There are four, winter, spring, summer and fall, so this means that it isn’t near the equator. The weather isn’t very cold either, so it shouldn’t be too far north or too far south. This doesn’t mean that there can’t be glaciers, even though I’m pretty sure the books never state that there are any. Winter for them is called the Time of Frozen Water after all, and that means that there are probably glaciers. The remaining mountain ranges are:
The Pyrenees, bordering France and Spain.
Atlas mountains, in northwestern Africa.
Taurus mountains, in southern Turkey.
The Caucasus mountains, beside the Black Sea.
The Alps, in Europe.
The Rockies in western North America.
The Coast Mountains, mostly in Canada.

We also need a large city, large enough to contain multiple skyscrapers and trains, north of the mountains. There should also be civilization large enough to hold cars east of the mountains, and maybe even a few hills for Mothermouth and the Moonstone? A lake to the west of the mountains, and a river to the east that goes through a forest beside a town or city should also be included in the last cut.

The Pyrenees on the border of France and Spain don’t really have anything to the northwest other than ocean, so they are cut from the possibilities.

The Atlas mountains are situated on the edge of the Sahara Desert. There aren’t many civilizations there, and the weather, climate and biome do not fit the setting in the stories either.

The Taurus mountains in Turkey have mostly the same issues as the Atlas mountains. The northwestern side is very bare and doesn’t fit well with the story.

The Caucasus mountains go east to west, and since in both the Great Journey (the new Prophecy) and when they follow the Sun Trail (Dawn of the Clans) they travel towards the sun – whether it’s setting or rising, they’re always going east or west – and they always across the mountains horizontally. Also, there are no major cities close enough.

The Alps in Europe would have been the ideal location, for the most part, they go east to west – but on the western end, the slope downwards, heading south. Now the cats can cross it and head for the sea by Marseille. The only problem now is Tigerheart’s Shadow. As in, the book. The skyscrapers in France aren’t the tallest, nor are there many of them, especially not in southern France. But, minus that last bit, the area around the Alps would be really close to the setting in the warriors series.

The Rocky mountains stretch almost the entire way through North America. Although it holds many possible just because of it’s sheer length, it’s just not close enough to the Pacific Ocean, and the Great Journey would have probably killed more cats.

Lastly, we have the Coastal mountains. The mountain range goes north to south and the Pacific Ocean lies to the west. And when it reaches south to the US, in the state of Washington (as a Canadian I don’t understand why Washington D.C. isn’t in Washington. But hey we couldn’t have burnt the White House during the Battle of 1812 if Washington D.C. was out here in the west. Anywayyyy), up by the north-western part is the perfect place! Vancouver and company are to the north AND there’s a railway leading towards it! (the big city is towards the north because Dovewing and Tigerheart left from the ThunderClan and ShadowClan border, and that’s north) and there are many many lakes in the area (did you know Canada has more lakes than the rest of the world combined? And it’s not like you’ll fall into one with every step because Canada is also the second-largest country in the world. Anywayyyy) and there are small cities and towns everywhere. And you’re bound to find a city/town close to a river – the rivers are everywhere.

Although my final conclusion on the fact that the Coastal mountains would be the best fit, I do recognize that it isn’t at all perfect. The mountains are supposed to be dry and barren, and there’s supposed to be a city that the cats can take as an alternate route for the mountains. They never mention glaciers in the series, but since there is a waterfall in the mountains, there is a good chance that there are also glaciers. The wildlife best suits the Alps, since it is mostly European (I wish there were elks and moose and more bears but sadly, no). There are probably a couple more things that I’m missing, too.

But that’s it! Not the best article, kinda long, unprofessional, edited with Grammarly but it was kinda fun! Also, I like the fact that it’s kinda Canadian 😉 . If you read it, thanks for reading! If you skimmed through it, that was really smart of you. Have a good day!

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23 comments

Leave a Reply to Rainshine 🌸 Rainie Cancel reply

  • This was a great article, however, I believe that it is confirmed that the INSPIRATION for the Great Lakes wasn’t really anywhere but it was definitely in Europe somewhere because it was confirmed that the INSPIRATION for the original forest territory was some forest in Britain or something.

  • Huh, interesting. I think the lake territories are supposed to be a fictional place in England, but it’s interesting to try and figure out where they would be in the real world. I did a bit of research a while ago, and came to the conclusion that the Blazing Star from Dawn of the Clans is an actual flower, and it only grows in North America. But a lot of the other wildlife is also from England (besides Sharptooth and the raccoons in Hawkwing’s Journey, though we might assume at least the raccoons were brought in by Twolegs or something, as none of SkyClan or the other cats really knew about them), and in Tigerheart’s Shadow there were green crosswalk lights in the city, which I think is more of a European thing (feel free to correct me if I’m wrong on this; I’m from the USA; I have been to some parts of Canada and done very minimal research on Canadian crosswalk lights, but I might very well be wrong).

  • As someone whose been to Canada, I definitely see it there!
    But I’d have to say it COULD potentially be in the Sierras, on the Southern end, towards San Bernadino.

  • Nice article, I’ve always wondered about this topic. Though I don’t see how there are glaciers? I always, for some reason, pictured all of it taking place in California. I don’t know why. I don’t even live there! Nicely done

  • Interesting article 😆! I always wonder where do the warrior cats live too 😸! Though the most possible location of the Old Forest is in England, and the possible locations you suggested for the Lake Territory are in the U.S. and the inner part of Europe, they might still be true as the books are fictional, and it’s not a surprise if the Erins mix all these locations together to create a new area for the cats 😺. Btw, winter is called “leaf-bare” in Warriors 😉.

  • I’ve never really thought about it! I kinda just really pictured everything in my head, but you really got into detail!
    Great Job!

  • Great article! 😀 This was so interesting!
    But if the first arc is set in New Forest, England, how would they have gotten to America? 😛

  • I really love this article! Was actually going to write something like this myself, but no need since you’ve already smashed it. Being a European, I would’ve loved it to be in Europe, but considering that the tribe cats were plagued by a mountain lion, I think Canada or America is more likely. Congrats again! Really well researched and just a really interesting read. xx

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