[a realistic full-body design of Midnight the badger]

Communication and intelligence of another (non-cat) animals in Warriors — Deep analysis 2 by Victoria Pegacorn

Victoria Pegacorn continues to analyze language in the Warriors universe.

[a realistic full-body design of Midnight the badger]
Art by slugswarriorsdesigns (tumblr)
[a realistic full-body design of Midnight the badger]

Other animals in “Warrior Cats” are most likely intelligent too, no less than cats.

The badger named Midnight knew many languages of different animals. When the cats encountered two young foxes, they only heard growling and other fox-like sounds from them. The cats heard the foxes in a way humans would, not understanding their speech. However, Midnight fluently and comprehensively spoke with the foxes in their language, and they explained to her that it’s their territory and they wanted the cats to leave. This implies that foxes are fully capable of meaningful communication. Yet, the cats considered them dumb.

The communication of dogs puzzled me a bit. At least the pack in “Dangerous Path” communicated at a somewhat primitive level. Mostly, they spoke in such a manner: “Pack, pack, kill, kill!”, “Pack, to freedom! Way for the pack!” What’s most intriguing is that Brightheart understood their speech, as she repeated the words of the pack to her clanmates after a dog attack.
Most likely, dogs in general can communicate fully, but the dogs of this particular pack were so malicious that they loved repeating the same intimidating phrase. Perhaps this breed of dogs was bred for this very purpose and was somewhat mentally limited.
Also, only the leader speaks in the pack, and these words, at first glance not very intellectual, are just commands for the pack. Agree, commanding people in many professions with their speech also don’t demonstrate the full potential of human speech. Though in the prologue to “Dangerous Path”, the leader thinks comprehensively to himself. You still wouldn’t call him underdeveloped. And the books didn’t give much time to the pack’s story, so judging the dogs’ capacities based on these excerpts is unreasonable.

Now, the most complex question. How did Brightheart understand the words of the pack leader, given that cats don’t know dog language? And Cinderpelt understood the words of the pack in her dream-vision. Did the dogs speak in cat language?

There were instances when other animal species spoke in the cat language, as did Midnight and Rat Leader. But how do animals learn foreign languages? They don’t have textbooks and dictionaries with alien phrases and words. And animals anatomically and biologically differ from each other; it’s even more challenging for them to understand each other than for people from different countries. In a previous issue of this column, I put forth a theory on how cats understand emotions and perceive humans. Other species perceive humans differently, perhaps they express emotions differently too. Different species have different brains and nervous systems -> they communicate differently.

Midnight was a spirit and was endowed with some superpower. She most likely belonged to other heavens or supernatural forces, as the Star Tribe had no power over her. The Starclan themselves didn’t know about the prophecy given by Midnight; otherwise, they would’ve told the chosen ones themselves without sending them to the edge of the continent. The book universe has many hints that besides the Starclan and the Tribe of Endless Hunting, there are other heavens, and Midnight knows many other cat tribes worldwide. Other animals probably have their heavens or supernatural spirits. So, Midnight’s knowledge, including of different languages, is explainable considering her abilities. But I also don’t rule out that during her mortal life, Midnight could’ve learned foreign languages, maybe she was a highly gifted badger.

We hardly know anything about Rat Leader. We meet him in “Firestar’s Quest.” He was the leader of a rat pack that destroyed the Skyclan, and when Firestar came to revive this tribe, the leader tried to stop him. In the midst of the battle between the cats and the rats, Rat Leader spoke to Firestar and his companions in cat language. He spoke poorly, but his speech was understandable. How and where he learned to speak like a cat is a mystery, and I’m deeply intrigued. Firestar killed the leader like a regular rat made of flesh and blood, so he probably wasn’t a spirit like Midnight. But how a regular rat learned cat language, I have no clue. Though, he might’ve been something more than mortal, something akin to the cats of the Dark Forest (they too could be killed and hurt in the real world). I’ll likely made separate analysis of Rat Leader; he’s a quite intriguing and undeservedly forgotten character.

So let’s return to the pack leader. He likely didn’t speak in cat language, especially at that moment. Even if the leader was something more than mortal or some cat told him how to say “Pack, pack, kill, kill!” in cat language or even learned the cat language from some dog deities – all this seems improbable, especially since he addressed the pack, giving his brethren a command; he wasn’t addressing the cats at all. I’m 99% sure that the dog didn’t know cat language, considering his character and death.

So, at this point, I will finish this analysis. I would have analyzed other animals’ communication and intelligence, if only we had more information and moments with them in books. I maybe can analyze lower species as prey, but I feel like I haven’t got much to say about it.
So why did Brightpaw understand the words of the pack leader? But this topic has nothing to do with non-cat animals’ mind, so I will explain how it happened in the next article.

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10 comments

  • really cool article! when i read the dangerous path i was really confused about how brightheart understood the dogs, so it makes sense that they are capable of complex thought and learning other languages too 🙂

    though at the same time, does this apply to rodents, birds, and other prey animals too? if so, the clans might really need to reconsider their dietary choices, because if they continue to hunt and eat them they are just asking for the prey animals to revolt 😛

    • I think that prey is not that intelligent. Cats, foxes, badgers and dogs are approximately similar. All of them are predators, have similar sizes and role in animal supply chain and take similar places in animal hierarchy. That’s why they are all have pretty similar intelligence but a bit different ways of thinking and communicating.

      Prey… Maybe it has its own hidden ‘world’ but it is not that intelligent to have its own creativity and even remotely understand other species. They are just narrow minded and act basically relying on their instincts. Like, cats hunted them for years and they didn’t do anything. The only really intelligent prey member that we know is rat leader, whom I discussed in this article. Other rats in his flock just obeyed him and were just ordinary but aggressive prey. When the rat leader was killed, they just couldn’t do anything with cats on their own, so they just ran away from cats

  • Share your opinions due to this theme, I’m very curious to hear what you think or what you would add to my statements😊. In part 1 of deep analysis some people in comments really brought new ideas to my mind and even added refreshing facts to my theory. It’s very interesting to discuss together such deep and complicated things. 🤗

    And What do you think about how did Brightheart understand meaning of dog’s words? I have already submitted article with my theory due to this phenomenon, but I’m interested in your speculations)

  • Stripepaw 🐯🐾 is looking for a mentor (she/her 🌸) platonic mate to the radical Reedpaw and BlogSis to the marvellous Nightpaw, Lynxpaw and Frostedpaw! 🌻 says:

    Great article! Your articles are all really deep and interesting, thank you so much for making them. 😃

  • Wow, that’s an amazing article! Yes, I do wonder how Brightheart could understand the pack leader- Can’t wait to read part 3!

  • I agree with everything! Even though everything never crossed my mind while reading, this article makes me think a lot more about Warriors than I used to. (Talking about that, I should probably re-read the series.)
    After reading this, some things definitely started revolving around my head. You’re right; how did Midnight and the Rat Leader learn cat? And for Midnight, fox? And the situation with Brightheart and Cinderpelt? In Brightheart’s graphic novel, she is seen several times being chased by the dogs in her dreams, which are shouting, “Pack, pack, kill, kill.”
    Midnight, you’re right, may have more knowledge than the cats and any other animal because she’s a ghost. But what about Rock? I feel that if you had one: a badger friend and two: enough knowledge to learn other languages you would be boasting about it left and right (although now I realise he was alive/dead long enough to see many things, he may not want to boast).
    For my next addition, I have a theory for the Rat Leader. Maybe he was a ghost, like you said, and his spirit was killed, like Tigerstar’s was. But that doesn’t tell us how he actually learned cat. So maybe in his living life he had a huge association with cats?
    And lastly, the Pack Leader. He definitely spoke in dog in The Darkest Hour prologue, or else the rest of the pack wouldn’t have known what to do. So maybe it wasn’t him, it was Brightheart. Now, I don’t know much about cat brains and how they work (but I am very open to new facts!) but maybe, somehow, she understood the dogs in the moment of trauma. Think about it. Her best friend was killed, Bluestar treated her as if she was a speck of dirt, and a bunch of dogs were racing towards her. Somehow (possibly StarClan, because she was always destined to be attacked) the dog words formed and translated into cat inside her head. (I also have no idea if it could happen, but come on, it’s Warriors.) As for Cinderpelt, didn’t you say she was having an omen? StarClan could have translated the words for her, helping her so she wasn’t lost. Or maybe standing in Brightheart’s point of view triggered what may have happened to the orange-and-white kitten.
    I loved these series of articles! I find them really interesting, especially me being the cat fanatic I am. The words kept me hooked into the very end. I can’t wait for how you think Brightheart understood the pack’s words. Great article! I’d love to talk more about these unnatural phenomenons in Warriors.

    • Thank you for such interesting response 🤗❤️
      You really came so close to how I think Brightheart understood the dogs’ words. Very close.
      And about Rat leader… Today I saw that Moonkitti made a talking video about him! I didn’t have opportunity to watch it yet, but I’m so intrigued 🙂

  • From a purely scientific standpoint, even though most animals are capable of thinking on a level equal to humans, few have languages that are supple enough to get these advanced thoughts across. In this way, the way the dogs spoke makes sense. This would also explain why prey hasn’t been able to organize something as complex as a rebellion like eggsnake suggested. Also battle commands, especially in historical armies like Rome, the orders tend to be one or two words, like Pegacorn said.

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