What Happened To Bristlefrost after ALITM by Silverstar29

Silverstar29 wonders what happened to Bristlefrost.

(This theory is not entirely mine. It is inspired by Bright Guardian Akira’s video “The Confusing Bristlefrost situation” that I suggest you check out some time)

What happens to cats after they fade isn’t a new question by any means, but it has been answered. Kate said on her blog that she’s going to let the fans decide since it’s a touchy subject yet has also said that she only believes Starclan exists because the clans believe in it and that most kittypets just fade away. Similarly, Vickey said on her facebook that Starclan cats that fade are gone forever. So, does that mean that characters like Spottedleaf, Snowtuft, and Bristlefrost are gone forever? Yes…and also no.

I do believe that once a cat fades in the warriors universe, they are gone from the warriors universe forever. But that doesn’t need to mean that they stop existing, simply cease to be like before they are born. We know that doesn’t happen because of what Yellowfang tells Jayfeather in Fading Echoes. “All cats fade and disappear eventually. They’ve earned their peace”. If those fading cats are going to feel peace once they’ve disappeared, they still exist. If they didn’t, then there would be no “they” to experience “their peace”.

What I’m getting at is that, though the rules of the world that warriors take place in dictate that those characters disappear from that world, who’s to say they don’t go to a different world where the rules are completely different? Ergo, cats who fade don’t just stop existing, they just fade into another reality that allows them to exist.

To put it in more familiar terms, they go to a heaven style world, one that doesn’t follow earth’s rules and physics. Time moves differently or doesn’t even move at all, and death means something entirely different, or doesn’t exist in that world at all. It’s a different place than Starclan’s hunting grounds, because while that’s not on earth per say it is in the same reality that follows the rules of warriors. Cats die, go to Starclan, and then fade.

Look at Bristlefrost’s death. While she’s drowning, she sees a series of events, her and Rootspring hunting together, sharing a nest, and even having kits. Now none of these things happened in the books, or in the world the books take place in, but we know that these “memories” she’s having are real. When Rootspring searches for Bristlefrost he is unable to find her spirit but does find what she saw as she was dying. You could argue that he was reading her thoughts, but how could Bristlefrost’s thoughts exist if she didn’t.

What if Rootspring found Bristlefrost when he searched for her? What if he got a glimpse of her heaven, just like she got a glimpse of her heaven while she was dying? That would mean that, while yes Bristlefrost wouldn’t exist in the world in the books, she would still exist enough to experience her peace.

I suppose it’s just like Kate said. We all have a different idea of what happens after a cat’s second death. But what I think happened to Bristlefrost after she faded is complicatedly simple. I believe she found her peace.