Thornclaw: More Than Just a Patrol Guy by Flamecloud

Flamecloud discusses Thornclaw’s character.

Warning: contains spoilers for events in the Warriors series up through The Broken Code arc, as well as minor spoilers for River.

When you think of Thornclaw, what is the first thing that comes to mind?

If you thought “patrols,” you’re probably not alone. Thornclaw’s main claim to fame is being Thunderclan’s go-to patrol guy. However, he’s much, much more complicated than that simple summarization. While he has participated in 56+ patrols throughout the books (yes, I went through his wiki and counted), the rest of his life is largely cast into the shadows of more important cats. Please fasten your seatbelts, folks, as we shall illuminate a few of his secrets.

Say “aye” if, when I asked what you most associate Thornclaw with, you thought, “traumatic childhood.”

*crickets chirp*

Yeah, that’s what I thought.

If you look at the events timeline on the Warrior’s wiki, you can see that Thornclaw and his siblings were born during the newleaf of year 1. Thornkit has a happy childhood during that season.

The next season is worse.

Shadowclan invades Thunderclan camp. The deputy, Blackfoot, heads for the nursery.

“…[Blackfoot was] dragging a Thunderclan away from the nursery…[he] made quick work of killing the elder, who had been guarding the kits, and began to reach into the bramble nest… the kits were squealing and mewling, undefended.” (Into the Wild, page 195)

As the quote describes, Blackfoot killed Rosetail while she tried to defend the nursery. Depending on how far he dragged her, Thornkit might have watched it happen. Then, the murderer returns and begins snatching kits out of their nests.

Luckily, Yellowfang comes to their rescue. She manages to fight off Blackfoot and protects the kits for the duration of the battle. As far as we know, none of them were injured during the battle.

Still, that doesn’t speak to the mental damage that might have been done. At this point in time, Thornkit and his siblings were probably around 3 moons old. Throughout the encounter with Blackfoot, the kits are terrified and defenseless. It’s got to be traumatic.

To make matters worse, Rosetail is not the only casualty of that battle. The other is Lionheart, the father of Thornkit.

Unfortunately, I can’t tell you much about how Thornkit felt about that. Lionheart’s being the father of Frostfur’s kits is one of those things that was added in later, after the books were written. As such, Thornkit’s grief is not shown, but presumably, he did feel grief.

Skip forward a bit, and we see this situation repeated.

This time, it was Clawface, not Blackfoot. He snuck into the camp unseen, and snatched Thornkit and his siblings. As he attempted to leave camp, Spottedleaf got in his way, and he killed her. Once again, Thornkit might have watched it happen.

Clawface takes the kits back to Shadowclan, where they are stored inside a hole in the ground. When Thunderclan recovers them, they don’t have any serious injuries, but it’s noted that most of them have a few scratches, and either Thornkit or Brackenkit (“a tabby kit”) has a wounded ear.

Again, this was probably traumatic. Thornclaw wasn’t even an apprentice yet, and he’d already survived two kidnapping attempts and seen two clanmates die.

Like with Lionheart’s death, we never actually get to see exactly how Thornclaw felt about his life at this point. However, if you’ll put up with some speculation, I have some thoughts on where his mind may have wandered.

Most small children idolize the adults in their lives. Adults are in charge, are there to keep them safe, are never afraid, and always know what to do. That’s an illusion that Thornclaw probably lost the moment Shadowclan invaded Thunderclan. The adults in his life were not invincible, and they weren’t able to keep him safe.

Likewise, Thornclaw had no power in his situation. He hadn’t been able to keep himself safe. If Shadowclan had wanted him dead, there would have been nothing he could do about it.

Please keep those ideas in mind as we continue on through Thornclaw’s life.

In Fire and Ice, Bluestar makes two of Frostfur’s kits into apprentices. Two, as in, half of the litter. Brackenpaw and Cinderpaw are apprenticed to Graystripe and Fireheart, despite being under six moons old. Thornkit and Brightkit remain in the nursery.

This is a moment I believe had a profound effect on the rest of Thornclaw’s life, but for now, let’s just think about how this would have felt in the moment. Being an apprentice is every kit’s dream, and here it is, being dangled in front of Thornkit’s face, just out of reach.

I wonder how Frostfur explained it to Thornkit and Brightkit. “Sorry dears, Bluestar just thinks Brackenkit and Cinderkit are better than you.” What other reason does Bluestar have to split the litter? It doesn’t make sense to me, and it probably didn’t make sense to Thornkit either. As far as he’s concerned, the leader of Thunderclan just picked two of his siblings over him.

Of course, for Cinderpaw at least, this wasn’t a good thing. She falls into a trap meant for Bluestar and receives a permanent injury that results in her becoming a medicine cat.

Again, we get no commentary on this from Thornkit, but as before, I have some guesses. Once again, we see something bad happening in Thornkit’s life, something he wasn’t able to stop because he had no power.

Meanwhile, while Thornkit’s stuck in the nursery, Brackenpaw has already become a hero. When Brokenstar lures many of Thunderclan’s warriors away from camp using bones, tricking them into thinking Shadowclan had trespassed, Brackenpaw stops the patrol from wrongly attacking Shadowclan, preventing an unnecessary battle.

In the next book, we finally see Thornkit become Thornpaw, alongside his sister, Brightpaw, becoming apprentices. Thornpaw seems to be a very normal, dedicated, happy-go-lucky ‘paw.

One thing that stood out to me as I reviewed this little happy period was that, while he interacts several times with Brightpaw, he’s not seen with Brackenpaw or Cinderpaw as much. Perhaps being apprenticed at different times puts a divide between the two halves of the litter.

By the time Forest of Secrets ends, Brackenpaw is now Brackenfur, and Thornpaw is still at the beginning of his training. Arguably, he is even farther behind his brother than he was before.

Anyway, time passes. Tigerclaw gets exiled, Brokenstar gets poisoned, Graystripe joins Riverclan, and Cinderpelt receives her full medicine cat name. Thornpaw is still Thornpaw.

On to Rising Storm. Thornpaw is out on patrol with Mousefur and Runningwind when Tigerclaw attacks with rogues. Runningwind is killed. Another tragedy witnessed, another failed to be prevented.

Next, in A Dangerous Path, Fireheart decides Thornpaw is ready to become a warrior. It has been two whole books since Brackenfur received his full name. However, Bluestar doesn’t trust any of the apprentices, save for Cloudpaw. Thus, Cloudpaw receives his warrior name, and Thornpaw is set aside again.

Let’s go over some things. Cloudpaw was frequently disrespectful and irresponsible. He got himself captured by Twolegs. He was, overall, a very challenging apprentice.

Meanwhile, Thornpaw was friendly and listened well. He went on patrols and did his duty. He was older than Cloudpaw, and again, he didn’t become a warrior.

However, he remained his responsible, dependable self. When Swiftpaw and Brightpaw go to fight the dogs, he does not go with them. He stays in camp while Swiftpaw dies and Brightpaw is seriously injured. Bluestar names his sister after the scars she acquired. Yet another point where Thornpaw probably felt helpless.

Finally, in The Darkest Hour, Thornpaw becomes Thornclaw. On the timeline, this falls during the leaf-bare of Year 3. Thornclaw is around two years old now, and it has been three whole books since Brackenfur received his warrior name, around ¾ of a year, by the timeline.

Well, my friends, we’ve finally reached the end of Thornclaw’s childhood. At this point, what do you think? Is it a little more exciting than you remember? Are you ready to see where these threads lead?

In Firestar’s quest, Thornclaw receives his first apprentice, Sootpaw, after Longtail is injured. At this point, Brackenfur has already trained Tawnypelt.

In this same book, Firestar also states that Thornclaw leads most of Thunderclan’s patrols. This is where it all started. Thornclaw has been a warrior for around six months, but is already shouldering his way into the heart of the clan. He has officially evolved into a patrol guy.

As I mentioned earlier, Thornclaw goes on at least 56 patrols throughout the books. These are only the ones that are mentioned on his wiki. There might be dozens of patrols we’ll never know about. A good 75% of the time he’s mentioned, he’s on patrol. This spans the entirety of his adult life.

Around this time, in Graystripe’s Vow, it is shown that Thornclaw has started digging his claws into the politics of Thunderclan. Previously, as an apprentice, he was consistently mild-mannered and reliable, never sticking a toe out of line. That abruptly comes to a stop once he settles in as a warrior.

Of course, Thornclaw is still the dedicated warrior Thunderclan needs. But now, he’s not afraid to raise his voice. Throughout Graystripe’s Vow, he joins Mousefur (his former mentor) and Ashfur in criticizing Graystripe’s leadership, constantly hounding the deputy turned leader.

Like his patrolling, this new political involvement will continue for the rest of his life. Thornclaw generally isn’t at the heart of conflicts, but he frequently comments on them. He tends to be a bit harsh, wary of outsiders, and a defender of the warrior code. He’s not always the nicest cat, but he never backs down.

What does this tell us about Thornclaw?

Well, for one thing, he quickly established himself as an important warrior. This shows both ambition and a strict dedication to his clan. Additionally, his political views seem to indicate that he remembers Bluestar’s failures, and he’s going to make sure they aren’t repeated.

Now, let us move on to TNP.

One thing that stands out about TNP is that the young warriors from TPB have started to settle down and have families, producing a new generation of kits. By the end of the arc, both Brightheart and Brackenfur have children.

I don’t think, when they critique ThornxBlossom, that people realize how slim Thornclaw’s dating options are. His entire age group paired off during the first two arcs, save for Ashfur and Cinderpelt (who’s his sister and a medicine cat). That’s not necessarily to defend ThornxBlossom (it’s still very creepy), but it does give some perspective on how Thornclaw might have been feeling during The New Prophecy.

Perhaps he was content with his ambitions, and that’s why he didn’t pursue a mate. However, it does seem like, even if he had no interest in romance, it would have felt strange to watch all of his friends and family members find mates and have kits without him. Perhaps, once again, he would have felt like he was falling behind.

Regardless, Thornclaw goes through TNP the same way he went through TPB. He’s a dedicated, hard-working warrior who goes on many patrols. And, of course, his life is still full of tragedy.

In Dawn, his second apprentice, Shrewpaw, is hit by a car while trying to catch a pheasant to feed the clan. Thornclaw states that “Shrewpaw did not notice the monster because the pheasant he was chasing would have fed half the Clan, for he was only concentrated on helping his Clan.”

That is a very Thornclaw way to respond to tragedy. He is shown to be sad, but his grief isn’t focused on much. I do wonder, though, if he felt at all responsible for Shrewpaw’s death. It wasn’t his fault, obviously, but did he ever feel like he should have prevented it from happening? Did it make him feel like he’d failed as a mentor?

Next comes the Great Journey. Thornclaw’s now elderly mother, Frostfur, opts to stay behind in the old territory, and presumably dies there. Once again, we don’t get to see Thornclaw’s thoughts on this, but we can certainly speculate.

Perhaps he felt abandoned by her. Perhaps he felt as though he ought to stay behind to protect her, but couldn’t bring himself to abandon his beloved Thunderclan. Perhaps he’d grown up and away from her, and felt only numbness.

Time passes, and we have arrived at the badger raid. Thornclaw fights bravely and fiercely to defend his clan, and is severely injured in the process. Unfortunately, while he survives, his former apprentice, Sootfur, is not so lucky.

Sootfur was fairly young, less than three years old. Thornclaw is shown to grieve for his once-apprentice, a grief probably amplified by the fact that this is his second apprentice to die prematurely. I wonder if it ever crossed his mind that maybe something about their training let them down.

Additionally, Thornclaw loses his sister, Cinderpelt, in that same battle. She dies trying to protect Brackenfur and Sorreltail’s kits, Thornclaw’s nieces and nephew. Of course, the books offer no commentary from him. Based on how little they interact, I would guess that Thornclaw and Cinderpelt aren’t too terribly close. Still, it must have hurt.

Thornclaw’s significance in PotT is relatively small. He goes on many more patrols, successfully trains his third apprentice, Poppypaw, and almost dies of greencough.

When Thornclaw’s friend Ashfur dies, Thornclaw is very upset. He almost goes and attacks Windclan in revenge before he is stopped. This is an uncharacteristic move, considering that Thornclaw has generally been a fairly level-headed cat. Additionally, while he challenged his leaders, he rarely did things that could put Thunderclan at risk. Clearly, Ashfur’s death impacted him greatly.

It’s cleary why Thornclaw and Ashfur were friends. They had similar political views and frequently sided together when it came to things like questioning Graystripe. Additionally, they’re around the same age, and neither had any surviving parents at that point in time. They’re also two of the few single cats of their generation.

Omen of the Stars does not get off to a good start for Thornclaw. His fourth apprentice, Briarpaw, is severely injured by a falling tree, rendering her unable to use her hind legs. Again, he is upset, but his grief is not a focus. She is the final apprentice he is ever given and the third to suffer from a catastrophic event.

While Lionblaze suspects him of training in the Dark Forest throughout OotS, there is no confirmation of it until the Last Hope, when he overhears Thornclaw and Blossomfall discussing it. This is also the first time that a romance between Thornclaw and the much younger warrior is hinted at.

Out of all the Dark Forest trainees, Thornclaw really stands out as different. The average trainee is a young warrior or an apprentice, who is swept in with sweet promises that abuse the young cat’s inner insecurities. All of them were desperate to prove themselves, and were swept up in the villain’s lies.

Thornclaw was much older than most of the other trainees. He was a well-established senior warrior who was alive during the reigns of Brokenstar, Tigerstar, and Hawkfrost. Unlike the other cats, he saw their crimes in the flesh, instead of through the elder’s tales. In summary, he should have known better than to trust them.

And yet, he still trained in the Dark Forest.

Why?

What reason would a respectable, honorable warrior of Thunderclan have to trust the very cats who made his childhood a living nightmare?

Well, here are some thoughts.

From the very beginning, Thornclaw has been trying to catch up. He was apprenticed late, while his kin pressed forward without him. Even once he was ready to become a warrior, Cloudtail was chosen instead. Thornclaw had none of that. Thornclaw had to wait.

Then, once he was finally a warrior, he made it count. He became politically active, he trained apprentices, and he went on patrol after patrol.

Do you think he went on all of those patrols for fun? Was his goal in life to become a patrol guy? I highly doubt it. I think he wanted to prove himself. Likely, he had his eyes set on a leadership position.

By the Last Hope, Thornclaw is between 7 and 8 years old. He is arguably in the exact same spot he was in 6 years ago. Despite all of his efforts, he’d never been considered for deputy.

I think he thought back to those traumatic childhood events and remembered how helpless he was. He remembered which cats had been in control.

So, when those same cats reached out to him, he said yes.

He knew that they weren’t good cats. Still, Thornclaw wanted to learn from them. In the end, he wasn’t so different from the other trainees. He was frustrated with where he was in life. He was tired of living in other cats’ shadows. He wanted, above everything else, to prove himself and help his clan. In another world, Thornclaw could have made quite the antagonist.

This is also when Thornclaw gets to know Blossomfall. The two aren’t officially noted to be mates until AVoS, but they probably grew close while training in the Dark Forest. I can guess what brought them together. Brackenfur, unintentionally, was Thornclaw’s version of Briarlight. The two of them might have bonded over their shared frustrations, despite the vast age difference that makes the relationship quite questionable.

I’m not quite sure how Thornclaw’s relationships with his siblings evolved as he grew older. He doesn’t really have any notable interactions with them. Still, it’s safe to say that after The Last Hope, things were rough between them. Aiding the Dark Forest would have seemed like a betrayal to Brightheart and Brackenfur, especially since their lives were so heavily impacted by cats like Brokenstar and Tigerstar.

However, to make matters worse, Brackenfur lost his mate, Sorreltail, in that battle. Brackenfur’s a pretty easy-going fellow, but even so, he probably hates Thornclaw at least a little for his involvement.

In A Vision of Shadows, Thornclaw and Blossomfall become parents. Thornclaw is thrilled with this, and he visits with his kits many times. Perhaps he’s caught up a little more with his siblings, perhaps he’s glad to be a father. Throughout the arc, he continues to go on patrol and seems to be fitting back into the clan as everyone moves past the battle with the Dark Forest. Briarlight passes away, leaving Poppyfrost as Thornclaw’s only surviving apprentice.

Come the Broken Code, both Brackenfur and Brightheart have retired. Thornclaw, however, won’t follow them until the next arc. Maybe he’s still in good shape, or he’s still hoping to become deputy, or perhaps things are still awkward with Brackenfur and he doesn’t want to share a den with him. Maybe Thornclaw just wants the last word, to prove that while Brackenfur and Cinderpelt may have gotten a head start, he’s the one who will last the longest.

In The Silent Thaw, Thornclaw constantly disagrees with the Imposter’s actions, protesting the appointment of Bristlefrost, the Imposter’s eating first, forcing the codebreakers to swear to exile, and exiling Squirrelflight. It seems for all the world like he’s set to be one of the rebels. However, in the next book, he oddly supports the Imposter and thinks punishing codebreakers is the way to get Starclan back.

I find this very interesting, because while Thornclaw’s views and actions are sometimes questionable, they are generally consistent. He’s not one to back down on things. And yet, strangely, he completely changed his mind.

I have two ideas on this. One, was Thornclaw frightened? He would have seen that “Bramblestar” was willing to exile his own kin for minor infractions, and that the Imposter was a dangerous cat. Maybe the Imposter threatened him, hoping to get an influential senior warrior on his side.

Or, maybe Thornclaw was hoping to gain power. He’s already seen “Brambleclaw” make questionable promotions, giving power to much younger and less responsible cats. Perhaps he hoped that, if he made himself available, the Imposter would turn to him. Besides, the Imposter’s actions aligned with Thornclaw’s political views, although they were much more extreme.

In the same book, Thornclaw’s son, Stemleaf, is killed trying to assassinate “Bramblestar.” Again, we don’t get to see commentary from Thornclaw, although the way he acts in the following book hints at a grieving father.

Because, in the next book, after dedicating most of his life to keeping Thunderclan running, Thornclaw leaves the clan.

The debate with Lionblaze that prompts the wander completely sums up everything I’ve been trying to show you about Thornclaw’s character.

“…the only reason you’re the one making decisions is because you’re Squirrelflight’s kin.” (Thornclaw to Lionblaze, Graystripe’s Vow, page 32.)

He argues with Lionblaze and later Squirrelflight, blaming them for the state of Thunderclan, distrusting their leadership, and claiming that the only reason they have their positions is because of their relationship to Firestar. During the argument, it’s clear that Thornclaw thinks that he should be the deputy of Thunderclan.

The conversation is greatly mishandled. As deputy, Lionblaze escalating the situation is especially unforgivable, but Thornclaw is still a senior warrior who ought to know better.

Part of this is Thornclaw projecting blame for Stemleaf’s death onto other cats. That may be part of what makes him so angry about not being deputy. Once again, he didn’t have the control he needed to keep the cats he loved safe. The distrust of leadership may also call back not just to the Imposter, but to Bluestar’s failures.

The most interesting thing about the argument is that Thornclaw does have a point. Thunderclan experienced some serious nepotism, starting when Bluestar made Firestar deputy. Let’s think about it for a moment, before we get back to this specific argument.

-Firestar was Bluestar’s apprentice.

-Graystripe was Firestar’s best friend.

-Brambleclaw was Firestar’s apprentice.

-Squirrelflight was Bramblestar’s mate and Firestar’s daughter.

-Lionblaze was Squirrelflight’s adopted son/nephew, and Firestar’s grandson.

Additionally, all of the medicine cats since Spottedleaf have had a connection to Firestar.

While many of these cats did well in their positions, it’s easy to understand why Thornclaw was frustrated. Regardless of their actual ability to lead, none of them were the most qualified option. They were clearly chosen because of their connections. Meanwhile, Thornclaw has been working his tail off to prove himself since he was an apprentice, and what has he gotten out of the deal? Absolutely nothing.

That, plus the recent death of his son, was enough for Thornclaw. He got tired, he got frustrated, and he left.

We don’t know what he did with his time, but I suspect he needed some time to think. He would have thought about Thunderclan, about his actions, about his lack of success. He would have thought about his dead son and what he’d died for.

In the end, Thornclaw came back to Thunderclan, and shortly after, retired to the elder’s den.

For someone who’d spent so much time patrolling, Thornclaw’s absence from the patrols is never commented on. I wonder if his retirement was him finding peace with where his life had taken him, or if it was a surrender, a realization that he was old and that his dreams were never going to happen.

While I’d like to think it’s the first, based on what I know about Thornclaw, I suspect it’s the second. Warriors isn’t kind to the ambitions of characters who weren’t born into a prophecy.

Thornclaw is alive as of River. He’s now over 12 years old. He’s still participating in political commentary, discussing the changes to the Warrior Code with his siblings in the elder’s den. Interestingly enough, his son, Shellfur, has a mate from another clan, despite Thornclaw’s dislike of that change. Wouldn’t it be interesting to know how Thornclaw feels about that? Maybe the next book will tell us, maybe not.

You’ve reached the end, both of the article and of Thornclaw’s time as a patrol guy. Despite his best efforts, despite his ambitions, Thornclaw will fade into obscurity as, once again, other cats are chosen first. Hopefully, you, at least, have realized that he was more than just a patrol guy.