Nightheart : A Paw In Two Worlds By Lilytail

Lilytail takes a look at Nightheart. Spoilers for A Starless Clan!

*WARNING! SPOILERS FOR ALL SERIES!*
Hi I’m Lilytail and this is my first article! In The Starless Clan 1# River, Flamepaw is burdened by Firestar’s legacy. But what if he knew it wasn’t the only legacy he had to think of?
Tigerstar 1 was the most ferocious villain in all the clans. He first killed Redtail in a battle for sunningrocks and blamed Oakheart in an attempt to become deputy. But Bluestar chose Lionheart, to everycat’s surprise. Before Tigerclaw could come up with another plan, Shadowclan cats attacked and killed Lionheart for him.
Once he was deputy, Tigerclaw put another one of his evil schemes to action. He tried to kill Bluestar on the thunderpath, but Fireheart’s apprentice, Cinderpaw, was caught instead. The monster broke her leg beyond repair, and she was forced to train as a medicine cat instead of a warrior, as she dreamed.
Then, Tigerclaw led the exiled followers of Brokenstar to the camp so that he could kill Bluestar and blame the rouges, but Fireheart caught him, and he was exiled.
But somehow, Tigerclaw managed to grasp leadership in Shadowclan. Now Tigerstar, he led a pack of dogs to Thunderclan territory. And though Thunderclan pulled off a desperate victory, Bluestar died, making Fireheart leader.
Later, Tigerstar formed an allience with Leopardstar and Riverclan, creating Tigerclan. He then imprisoned Mistyfoot, Stonefur, Featherpaw and Stormpaw because of their half-clan blood and brought Bloodclan to the forest, which happened to be his worst mistake.
But even after Scourge, the leader of Bloodclan, managed to end the evil warrior, his plans were not over. He fought for the Dark Forest, until Firestar managed to destroy his reign of treachery.
But his blood still lingers in the clans. Before he was exiled, Tigerstar mated with Goldenflower and had two kits; Bramblekit and Tawnykit. Once the two were apprenticed, Tawnypaw left Thunderclan and joined Shadowclan.
But Bramblepaw, now Brambleclaw, mated with Squirrelflight, Firestar’s kit. Squirrrelflight pretended to have kits with Brambleclaw, though Jayfeather, Hollyleaf, and Lionblaze were actually Leafpool’s kits. Brambleclaw was furious, but after he became leader as Bramblestar, they had real kits.
Squirrelflight gave birth to four kits; Juniperkit, Sparkkit, Alderkit and Marigoldkit. Sadly, Juniperkit and Marigoldkit died, but Sparkkit became a warrior as Sparkpelt, and Alderkit became a medicine cat as Alderheart.
Sparkpelt later mated with Larksong, and had his kits when Thunderclan was overrun with a mysterious disease. But when Larksong died of the disease, and Flickerkit was stillborn, Sparkpelt was so distraught from grief that she couldn’t properly take care of her kits. But she named them Finchkit and Flamekit.
Flamepaw had been overshadowed by Firestar’s legacy ever since. And it didn’t help that he failed his first warrior assessment, or that Squirrelflight failed him again though he was qualified to pass. And when Bramblestar gave him his warrior name as Flameheart, he refused.
Bramblestar instead named him Nightheart, which seems like a metaphor, somehow. Like he had the chance to be the shining flame in the dark but chose to be the night. And, he has an equal amount of Tigerstar’s blood as he has Firestar’s, since Larksong’s mother is Lilyheart, who’s mother is Sorreltail, who’s mother is Willowpelt, who’s sister is Leopardfoot, who’s kit is Tigerstar 1.
So, I think the Author is hinting that Nightheart will walk the blackened paths of the Dark Forest. Though none of Tigerstar’s “evil” kin survives, aren’t there other evil cats left?
In River, Mistystar suddenly collapses and dies. Doesn’t that seem odd? And Mistystar’s father is Oakheart, who’s father is Shellheart, who’s mother is Willownose, who’s mother is Reedshine, who’s mate is Appledusk. And who else is mates with Appledusk? Mapleshade!
If I’m correct, Mapleshade was in charge of the Great battle, and by far the most powerful cat in the Dark forest. I don’t remember when, but It’s mentioned that even Tigerstar was afraid of her! That is a very rare sight.
And back to River, Reedwhisker mysteriously disappeared, and was later found dead in a ravine. Being Mistystar’s kit, He’s directly releated to Appledusk, and therefore, one of Mapleshade’s targets. There’s also a theory that Reedwhisker was Duskfur’s mate, and if it’s correct, then Curlfeather, who also just happened to die shortly after Reedwhisker, is also Mapleshade’s target, because Duskfur was her mother. And it would make sense, since all of this stuff seems pretty hard for Frostpaw and she’d too be Appledusk’s kin.
And the first thing anyone would think of when they read the title A starless clan is a clan without Starclan. So, the obvious assumption would be; Starclan disappears. But, that already happened in the Broken code, didn’t it? And it says A Starless CLAN, singular. And wasn’t there a clan that didn’t believe in Starclan at all?
Rouges, Loners and Kittypets don’t go to Starclan when they die, but they do become spirits. And Bloodclan, which was supposed to be some of the most dangerous cats around, was pretty minor. Like, they came for a showdown once, and held a few small attacks, and then disappeared.
I don’t think Scourge is done. Nearly all of Bloodclan is dead, which is enough for Scourge to reconstruct his army and destroy the clans. And what would be worse? If Scourge teamed up with Mapleshade, the clans would be DOOMED.
Nightheart seems to notice things in the Warrior code that other cats don’t acknowledge. And when the threat of The Starless Clan is revealed, will he stand against it? Or will he be the first to join them?