Warriors: The Present and The Future by Sparrowfall

Sparrowfall discusses the current state of Warriors and what its future could look like.

Greetings, everyone. This will be my first article and it’s just surrounding some thoughts I have had.

I have been a fan of warriors since I was, what, seven? Eight? And now I’m interviewing to get a job! I’ve read this series through its highs and lows, I’ve cried and been bored, I’ve speculated and written stories, and I’ve just had fun observing the community.

THE PRESENT:

As of late, I have seen many people express disappointment that the series is continuing on and on and on– why? Because the same ideas seem to be repeated, over and over and over again. Not only that, but a lot of fans continue to be angry with the cover art, believing it to be getting even worse as time moves on.

While I do not see any issues with the covers myself, I’ve seen enough complaints to theorize about it– with how many books are pumped out and how detailed the covers tend to be, I believe that perhaps there’s been a time limit that does not provide enough time. Of course, this could be wrong!

Furthermore, some people seem to believe the quality of the books to be falling behind. Again, I cannot see how, but perhaps I am just blinded by my love for this series. But it has made me wonder; are the Erins also possibly being rushed to write this series? While the wait between each book is agonizingly slow for me, if it has to be slower for better quality, I will wait it out.

Warriors as a series has been going on for 21 years. It has gone through many eras– a housecat becoming wild, a journey to a new home, cats with powers, apocalypse, cult invasion, possession… Honestly, it’s still kind of funny to me that we went from a book with a housecat experiencing freedom, being kind and compassionate and fierce, to books with the return of dead people, or the cult that took over shadowclan, or the possession of a leader.

Moving on from that ramble, I’d like to touch on ASC; I’ve enjoyed this arc the most out of the more recent ones! It reminds me heavily of TPB, with the power-hungry antagonist, the determined apprentice protagonist, and overall the bloodshed of innocent cats. When the dogs went after Curlfeather, I had been reminded of Brindleface, Swiftpaw, and Brightheart. When Frostpaw made Whistlepaw promise to make the clans believe she was dead, it reminded me of firepaw and graypaw promising to tell the clan that Ravenpaw was dead.

But at the same time, it is sad. ASC is not TPB, but it feels as though it’s trying so hard to mimic it’s elder brother. So, moving on, here are some ideas I have had for the future of warriors;

THE FUTURE

What can be done in the future of warriors? As said before, here are my ideas.

One: What-if books. While what-if stories are typically the doing of fans, I think it would be fun to see it from the Erins’ perspectives. What if Rusty became Tigerclaw’s apprentice, and Ravenpaw was Bluestar’s apprentice instead? What if Ravenpaw hadn’t witnessed Redtail’s murder, and what if he had stayed in Thunderclan? What if Yellowfang stayed a warrior, what if Raggedstar didn’t make Brokentail the deputy? What if Firestar was around when the Kin arrived?

Two: A spin-off side book about Warriorclan. Would they ever change their name to sound like a real clan? Would they end up with their own starclan? Would Starclan be willing to accept them as a clan if they decided to be full-time clan cats instead of part-time?

Three: Tale of a fallen hero– someone who has helped so much and never gotten the appreciation they deserve. Perhaps it can be a cat who’s been long dead, but tell us their story.

Four: Tale of the lost– despite what it may sound like, this is moreso meant to be the story of a cat who has lost everything. Their mates, their kits, their siblings, their mother… The first cat that comes to mind for this is Brackenfur. Whilst a bunch of his kits are still alive, he has still lost so, so, much. He deserves his own story.

Five: The medicine cat code redone. While there doesn’t seem to be an official medicine cat code aside from “No mates, no kits,” it may be nice to A) have one and B) remove the no mates and kits rule. We have seen cats like Leafpool be able to handle having kits. “Oh, but she didn’t nurse them!” But she had two as apprentices! Jayfeather, and, briefly, Hollyleaf. And she handled it well.

Six: Major timeskip. No known descendants of Firestar– Also, PLEASE make it so more rogues and cats from other clans joined Thunderclan. It’s becoming a family wreath at this point. I’d want this to focus on prey and territory, like it somewhat did in the original series– Seeing more cats argue over prey and territory, even battles over it, would be a fun throwback and I’d enjoy reading it a lot, I think.

Seven: Prophecies. ERINS! BRING BACK PROPHECIES, AND MY LIFE IS YOURS! That is all I have to say on that matter.

Eight: Return of Midnight– or maybe her kid. We haven’t seen the wise badger for a long time, and I’ve begun to miss her. I’d like if we saw her or her kid return someday to help the clans once more.

Nine: The afterlife for cats outside the clans– We know that the cats tend to wander the earth, but I think it’d be nice if they actually got to join Starclan if they so desired. Just because they didn’t believe it in life doesn’t mean they should be turned away– It could show that Starclan cares for every cat, not just clan cats.
Ten: Stop having Starclan interfere with clan affairs. In the original series, Starclan says that they do not interfere, because what the clan does is up to them. That is, at least, what is said if my memory serves correctly. I’d like to see this return.

Anyways, that is all I have as of today! I hope it is satisfactory, and I hope this was a good read. Farewell!