Tools and Tricks to find the Imposter! Part 1 by Purple Dusk

Purple Dusk shares some methods to figure out who the imposter is.

Art by thewisestdino

In Thunderclan, there lurks a mystery. An imposter is wearing the face of the great leader Bramblestar. This cruel tom is leaving disorder and confusion in his wake. However, no one knows his true name or where he comes from…

Numerous are scrambling to discover the answers to these questions. While I do not know the definite answer myself, I can provide those outside the books tools to uncover the imposter. The main tools to discover the imposter’s identity are his personality, connection to the codebreakers, rewriting the code, and interaction to those living.

The rankings will range from -1 to 3 in each question for each section. -1 is a big fat no while 1 is maybe and 3 is oh yes. There will be four sections and a winner of each. All points will be added up to discover who is most likely to be imposter. However, we must keep in mind whole test: personality, context, and record, to determine the imposter’s true name.

We know few facts about the imposter. For starters, he IS an evil tom and a spirit. We are lucky to have a detailed description of his personality. He has context on Squrrilflight’s time, but not after the Dark Forest Battle. He shows basis towards Squirrelflight and an ace card I will show later. Finally, the hypocritic knows the Warrior code and enjoys twisting it.

On to the suspects! Introducing Ashfur, Hawkfrost, Brokenstar, Tigerstar, Sol, Darktail, Mudclaw, and Scourge! We also have a ninth suspect called, drumroll please… Nemo! A.K.A., No cat we met before! In all seriousness, Nemo will not be partaking in this test, due to the lack of knowledge on him. He would automatically get all negatives, leading to a false conclusion. (And would make this whole article useless…)

Let’s discover the suspects! Ashfur is here for fan service and great hate towards Squirreflight. Hawkfrost, Brokenstar, and Tigerstar are on the list for being dead twice. These three came back from beyond once to haunt the living, they have enough determination to do so again. Sol promised he would try everything to destroy the clans, especially through destroying its heart, the code. Darktail is the latest Warrior cat villain, dying three books in. Could Harper Collins be attempting to use some potential Darktail still possesses? Mudclaw, the angry tom from Windclan has a grudge against Bramblestar. Scourge, the end game villain of Prophecies Begin. Is he attempting to be the end game villain of the series?

The First Section of the Test! The Personality Section!
The imposter’s personality is one of the few consistent parts of him and something we can track. The imposter is Cruel, Cunning, Tyrannical, Hypocritical, Manipulative, and Abusive. The highest points to be won are 18 points, while the lowest is -6. Do our suspects match up?

Starting with Ashfur, his personality page is… non-existent?!? No one thought to update his Wiki page? More work for me. Ashfur is a so so on the cruel chart, so he gets a 1. He is not cunning or tyrannical. 0 He confuses cats into think he is hypocritical, but he is not. Just no one understands his flawed logic. 0 Manipulative and abusive? A 1 for each. (Author’s Note Depends on who you ask. Some say yes, while others claim no. The only thing I would say for certain is his personality changed between the Original Series and the rest of the Warrior Cats series. No wonder the folks on Warriors Wiki have not written his personality page yet.) 3 points on personality.

Hawkfrost made me realize there is something more to the imposter. Hawkfrost can be cruel and hypocritical. 2 points each. He is VERY clever and manipulative (did anyone forget he brought most of the trainees into Dark Forest?) 3 points each. Hawkfrost never became leader, so we don’t know how tyrannical he could be. 1 point. However, Hawkfrost is on record for being abusive (Mothwing) so 3 points. 14 points on personality.

Brokenstar loves showing off his personality. He is VERY cruel and tyrannical. Two points each for manipulative and cunning. Brokenstar is the most abusive and hypocritical cat I can find. 16 points for the worst leader ever.

Tigerstar is the last cat to die twice. He is certainly cruel and tyrannical. 4 points. In Dark Forest, he shows his manipulative and abusive side. 3 and 2. However, Tigerstar is most well-known for his hypocritice and cunning. 3 points each. 15 points for the terrible tiger.

Sol is the laziest cat who lives in the woods. In order to survive, he became the most manipulative cat we know. I wish I could give more then 3 points. He shows his cunning nature through the takeover of Shadowclan, with his abusive and tyrannical behavior following after. 3, 3, and 2. Liar pelt on fire makes a bright hypocritic… and a good code twister. 3 points. 14 points.

Darktail is the long-lost son of Onestar and leader of the Kin. In his first appearance, he shows off his cruelty, cleverness, and tyrannical behievor. 2,3, &3. However, he is no hypocritic, just a liar. He sticks to his promises. 1 point. But he IS manipulative, 3 points. Don’t know about abuse. 1. For personality, 13 points.

As the author is writing this, Mudclaw also has no personality page on the Wiki. So I had to do extra work. Mudclaw was a proud warrior of Windclan, meant for leadership. However, he got rejected due to being battle hungry. Personality? Rash, quickly defensive, proud warrior who loves his clan. There is no hypocritic or code twister because he died thinking he was following the code! Windclan would have fallen because he would have been too proud of his clan, not due to his own personal desires. Clever? 2 points. Cruel? -1. Tyrant or abusive? No sight of it. His personality matching to the imposter’s is -2 points.

Scourge was the leader/founder of Bloodclan. He was very cruel and cunning. 3 points each. For the fearful state of Bloodclan, he was a tyrant. 3 He was manipulative. 2. However, we do not know if he was hypocritical. A 0 for keeping word with Lionclan. 11 points.

We have our results for the personality test! Mudclaw is the lowest (-2), followed by Ashfur(3). The winner is Brokenstar (16), tied for second are Hawkfrost and Tigerstar (14). This leaves Sol (13) and Scouge (11) in the middle. This tool is to make you check all known sources.

Now for the second section! Connection to the codebreakers!
The list of codebreakers was one of the first acts Fakestar did. Who is on the list? Squirrelflight, Lionblaze, Jayfeather, Twigbranch, Tree, Crowfeather, and Mothwing. The imposter is most likely attempting to settle a grudge against these cats. Only 1 point for knowing a cat and a 0 for no. Let’s see who is connected to who.

The ranking will be slightly different as either you know someone or you don’t.

Ashfur has 3 points for Squirrelflight, Lionblaze and Jayfeather. He does not know Twigbranch, Dovewing or Tree. No real interaction with Crowfeather or Mothwing.

Hawkfrost knows Squirrelflight, Lionblaze, Jayfeather, Dovewing. 4 points. Mothwing is his littermate. Twigbranch and Tree were born later. Crowfeather is unknown. 5 points.

Brokenstar fought with both Lionblaze and Jayfeather. Also knows Dovewing. However, he has interacted with no one else. 3 points.

Tigerstar also fought Lionblaze, Jayfeather, Dovewing. 3 points for the Three. Squirrelflight is his most hated enemy’s daughter. Mothwing is his own daughter. 5 points.

Sol really knows Lionblaze and Jayfeather. Dovewing, along with Ivypool, stopped him from using Windclan to destroy Thunderclan. While Sol probably met Crowfeather and Squirrelflight, I don’t think he has a grudge against them. In canon, he never met Mothwing, Twigbranch, or Tree. I say 3 points for the Three and two half points for Crowfeather and Squirrelflight.

Darktail is limited to just a few cats. His only real connection is to Twigbranch. One cannot argue for Tree as he first showed up in a bonus scene and did not appear in the main series till after Darktail is dead. No point for Tree. All in all, 1 point.

Mudclaw is interesting. He mentored Crowfeather. If and only if he is mad at Crowfeather for breaking the code, this angry can extend towards Crowfeather’s kits and Squirrelflight. 4 points. Mothwing perhaps for Hawkfrost’s failure and betraying him? Wiki page waiting to be updated.

This leaves Scourge. Unfortunately, he is only connected to Squirrelflight, being her half-uncle. However, no cat knows of this in the books, making the note false. 0 points.

That is all the suspects. Scourge has the least points, 0. Darktail follows with 1 point. Then Ashfur (3), Brokenstar (3), and Sol (4). Mudclaw is filled with maybes and theories, so I do not trust the numbers (4?). Hawkfrost and Tigerstar are tied with 5 points.

The key to a tiebreaker is Bramblestar himself. Only one cat could be the Imposter, one who has a serious, personal grudge against the true leader of Thunderclan. One who has experience and fought with him. For all the Imposter’s talk about Squirrelflight, Fakestar’s actions have more with attacking Bramblestar and dismantling everything he has done.

Four cats have close connection and history with Bramblestar: Ashfur, Hawkfrost, Mudclaw, and Tigerstar. However, both Ashfur and Tigerstar have gone out of their way to state they do NOT hate Bramblestar, just really annoyed with him. When questioned in the fire scene, Ashfur stated Squirrelflight was the problem, not Brambleclaw. Tigerstar always seem proud of Brambleclaw, though he was willing to kill his own son to achieve victory. Mudclaw, however, saw Brambleclaw as an obstacle preventing his rightful leadership. Mudclaw’s hate towards Brambleclaw does not appear to be personal, rather towards a threat to his clan and leadership.

Hawkfrost on the other paw, does indeed hate Bramblestar with a chilling passion. His first words after his death dripped with hate from Brambleclaw’s betrayal. He greatly disliked and mocked his half-brother, believing Bramblstar took away all his chance at greatness. The only cat out of the four to bear a passionate hate of Bramblestar similar to the Imposter’s is Hawkfrost. Therefore, Hawkfrost wins this round by knowing and hating the most cats. (6 points)

This tool teaches you to look for all the numbers, even when you are tired and really don’t feel like it. Otherwise, you would miss out on some very interesting connections. Connections which could help you solve your problems.

Even with the numbers and tiebreaker in, a problem can quickly be seen. None of the suspects have a full 7 points according to the codebreakers list. Are the codebreakers a ploy to distract us? Perhaps, but I have a different question. Are we looking at this the right way? Instead of what the imposter has in common with the codebreakers, what do the codebreakers have in common with each other? I found one point.

They are all Half-clan.

There are two definitions of Half-clan. First, having one clan parent. The second is being born outside of the clan, but joining after maturity. You may have the skills and name, but you don’t have the right blood.

Lionblaze and Jayfeather are Half-clan by birth, Crowfeather being their father. As such, he is responsible for their Half-Clan status. Squrrielflight protected the Three and is Half-clan herself thanks to Firestar. Therefore, Crowfeather and Squirrelflight must both be punished as accomplices in the crime of making Jay and Lion Half-Clan.

Tree and Twigbranch fall into the second definition of Half-Clan. Mothwing fits both definitions of Half-clan and was punished for being Half-clan before her father’s name was revealed. Dovewing, (along with Twigbranch) switched clans! Funny thing through, their kits and mates are not affected (outside of Crowfeather and his sons).

While we all know the real reason why the imposter wants Tree gone, what could the imposter be doing with these Half-clan cats? Two things could be going on with the cats on the codebreaker list. Either the imposter has a basis towards Half-clan cats or he is being manipulative.

If the imposter hates Half-clan cats, there are two main suspects who match the basis. Tigerstar, as seen with the whole Tigerclan incident, and Hawkfrost, hate and fear mixed together. Chance they both happen to know most of the cats on the list? Who knows.

The manipulative angle could be used to strengthen his personality. Even good cats who love their clan and follow the code could be influenced to hate Half-clan cats. Those Half-clan cats are outsiders who have little connection to the clan, making it easy to disregard or destroy their new clan as unwary mice. Not to mention, ALL these cats listed as codebreakers are heavily disliked in their clan. The clans could be tricked into focusing on those particular codebreakers and ignore the real outside threat sneaking in. And there is the possibility the imposter falls into both ideas.

This tool is to make you check all angles of the box so you know it is a box, not a pyramid. Stay tuned for more tools coming your way! Hopefully, you all have much to think about.

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