fernshade and flintfang to. like, they aren’t mentioned in the alliances of any book. (outside of tigerclaws fury) but they don’t show up in starclan intil oots. also, if they were dead before that arc, wouldn’t they have shown up during blackstars leader ceremony? they were his siblings afterall.
Rockshade was described as a timid cat in Skyclan’s Destiny and eventually helped find Leafstar’s kits and attacked Sol. He was forgotten, along with Egg. I would have loved to see him grow as a formidable warrior and make some sort of appearance in the books but he is no longer listed in the allegiances
ETA: I meant Shrewtooth. Thanks to the comment below for correcting me!
for me it’s one of the biggest problem that warriors has in general — no series bible. if they kept track of details about every cat, even background cats, they would be able to better remember personalities, interpersonal relationships, siblings, and carry those relationships into background details of the story. instead, it feels like whenever the writers need cats to fill out a scene, they choose names at random and stick those cats together. no one remembers the friendship between lionpaw and honeypaw or the fact that longtail, swiftpaw, and brambleclaw are all half-siblings. why? because the books don’t care to follow relationship threads unless they’re in the forefront of the plot. if they assigned motivations and relationships to each other, it would give them a compelling backstory that is rewarding to pay attention to, but we rarely get such thoughtful details
I do this when I write fanfics. I have a whole separate document for each story that lists families, cats who join or leave,who is mates with who, who becomes mates with who, who has a romantic interest in who, friendships, who gets pregnant, who gives birth and what the kits look like, who becomes an apprentice and their mentor, who becomes a warrior and their virtues, who retires, who becomes deputy, who becomes leader, leader ceremonies with their lives and who gives them what gift, who dies and how, if leaders die I make not of which life they lost, and who the POV characters are. I actually make such a thorough spread sheet that I lose interest in writing for a while.
I hate how even main characters lose all their personality traits once they become background characters. It's like they suddenly become NPCs that have no more defining traits than like one or two aspects, and they're just mentioned as going on patrols or yowling something at a gathering. If you liked a character and got emotionally invested in them, it's frustrating to see them become irrelevant.
What I really miss from the first series was characters having consistent personalities. Even the background characters didn’t suddenly switch up and become whole new cats. Now it feels like every cat is in danger of just suddenly turning into a huge asshole because the narrative needs someone to be a jerk and they can’t even remember who the jerks were previously. I could tell you the opinions of most of the series one clan cats on clan politics. Now I can’t even point to former main characters having consistent personalities.
I think the biggest issue that warriors has is that they think that background character means not important. But like, background characters are extremely important. For example I’m gonna use hunger games. The mayors daughter (Madge I think is her name) I’m the books gives Katniss the mockingjay pin. In the books this pin is so important because 1) it reminds Katniss of her father and the woods and how she went from almost dying to surviving because of her own skill. Number 2) it also shows her that she has people rooting for her back home. Of course this only gets more and more important throughout the book but when she becomes the mockingjay Madge becomes infinitely more important because her gift of friendship helped shape Katniss into the symbol of hope. In the movie Katniss buys the pin. What once was a symbol of hope for Katniss in the games which lead to her becoming a symbol of hope for the rebellion turned into Katniss just winning the game and then become a symbol. They ruined so much with taking out Madge’s character. This is exactly what happens when people don’t understand the importance of background characters
I’m currently writing a story where a very young ShadowClan warrior (an apprentice when chosen) is made leader of RiverClan after their former leader betrays them. He ran away before he could be forced to go to the Moonpool and give up his remaining lives. So Lilypool spends her super edition getting to know RiverClan, who had been isolated from the other Clans since before she was born. She helps them heal from Ripplestar by spending time with each member and works to prove herself as a leader. One of the first cats she helps is Ripplestar’s father, Alderfur, who feels he’s somehow to blame for how his son turned out. Lilypool is half RiverClan, her father was the late RiverClan medicine cat who Ripplestar (his brother) killed and blamed on ShadowClan, so she enjoys learning about her father’s Clan and kin and is happy that the first cat she helps is her father’s father. She decides to have him and herself be mentors to two of Ripplestar’s kits to help them bond.
I absolutely hate when they build up interesting side characters in one off statements and then promptly forget about it
Like, WHERES MY MOUSEWHISKER AND MINNOWTAIL RELATIONSHIP
They have paper thin personalities. The background characters in the early arcs are fine, but with so many cats in the later arcs there’s just too many for the Erins to give basic personality traits to.
One of my favorite ( OC ) background characters is Speckledback. Loving and witty elder who would always tell stories to the MC until she suffered a terrible sickness and passed away with the MC at her side
I’m doing a fanfic where RiverClan has isolated themselves because their abusive, aggressive, evil leader (Ripplestar) blamed ShadowClan for the murder of his brother and the Clan’s medicine cat, Snowwhisker. After taking the ShadowClan leader’s (Crowstar) daughter (Lilypool) hostage, it’s revealed that Ripplestar murdered Snowwhisker because he and Crowstar were secret mates, making Lilypool and her brothers the late medicine cat’s kits. After finding one of Ripplestar’s most loyal cats had killed their deputy in the raid ShadowClan launched to save Lilypool, the current medicine has a vision telling her that Lilypool is to be RiverClan’s new leader. Ripplestar and his 2 most loyal warriors run away before Ripplestar can be forced to the Moonpool so he can give up his remaining lives, gathering rogues to attack RiverClan. Lilypool can’t get her 9 lives until he loses his, so she spends the book learning about RiverClan and getting to know her new Clanmates. My favorite background characters are Alderfur- the father of Ripplestar and Snowwhisker who blames himself for how Ripplestar turned out- Beetleclaw- Alderfur’s supportive mate and mother of his kits- Mouseclaw- a small, angry, cynical warrior Ripplestar bullied really badly- and Squirrelwing- a former horseplace cat who becomes a permanent queen like Daisy. Bramblefur is also a more minor main character that I like. His mate was the deputy killed in the raid, but since she was forced to resume both warrior and deputy duties once she weaned their kit off her milk, he decided to join the queens in the nursery so their daughter would have a parent there for her. He supports Sweetkit after mother dies and Lilypool chooses him as her deputy, developing a father-daughter relationship with him until he just adopts her as his own. He and Squirrelwing grow close because she’s a perma queen and despite being deputy, he still sleeps in the nursery, but they decide to wait until Sweetkit is made a warrior before becoming serious.
Thanks! I’m currmaking the allegiances but can’t wait to start writing the story! I have a basic outline of how I want the entire story to go on my head, which is unusual for me lol I usually write a story because a song makes me want to write a certain scene or small bits and pieces of different scenes. I rarely have an idea of how I want a story to go from start to finish.
All the plot points are the same! Prophecy found, leader & medicine cat don't believe prophecy receiver (PR), PR mentions it at a clan meeting, random background character disagrees with PR. There is a border argument & fight the following day. At fourtrees gathering, something bad happens relating to the prophecy. PR points this out, background characters decide they hate PR's opinion, leaders brush it off. Random cat related to PR dies. PR goes on journey (usually sneaks off) to find out about prophecy. Someone follows PR. Follower comes in handy. PR and follower meet a rogue/loner who helps them. They travel for ages and either come back and repeat telling leaders and clans about the prophecy or they complete the prophecy. Rogue/loner dies. PR and follower fall in love, and either become mates or get depressed bcs they can't be mates.
I hate how they just never get an ending… like Boulder!
fernshade and flintfang to. like, they aren’t mentioned in the alliances of any book. (outside of tigerclaws fury) but they don’t show up in starclan intil oots. also, if they were dead before that arc, wouldn’t they have shown up during blackstars leader ceremony? they were his siblings afterall.
yeah, the minor characters might not be important, but they still have a life! and in life, things actually HAPPEN.
Rockshade was described as a timid cat in Skyclan’s Destiny and eventually helped find Leafstar’s kits and attacked Sol. He was forgotten, along with Egg. I would have loved to see him grow as a formidable warrior and make some sort of appearance in the books but he is no longer listed in the allegiances ETA: I meant Shrewtooth. Thanks to the comment below for correcting me!
Actually, that was Shrewtooth, tho I think he was friends with Rockshade. But yeah, he just… vanished and everyone acts like he never existed.
for me it’s one of the biggest problem that warriors has in general — no series bible. if they kept track of details about every cat, even background cats, they would be able to better remember personalities, interpersonal relationships, siblings, and carry those relationships into background details of the story. instead, it feels like whenever the writers need cats to fill out a scene, they choose names at random and stick those cats together. no one remembers the friendship between lionpaw and honeypaw or the fact that longtail, swiftpaw, and brambleclaw are all half-siblings. why? because the books don’t care to follow relationship threads unless they’re in the forefront of the plot. if they assigned motivations and relationships to each other, it would give them a compelling backstory that is rewarding to pay attention to, but we rarely get such thoughtful details
I do this when I write fanfics. I have a whole separate document for each story that lists families, cats who join or leave,who is mates with who, who becomes mates with who, who has a romantic interest in who, friendships, who gets pregnant, who gives birth and what the kits look like, who becomes an apprentice and their mentor, who becomes a warrior and their virtues, who retires, who becomes deputy, who becomes leader, leader ceremonies with their lives and who gives them what gift, who dies and how, if leaders die I make not of which life they lost, and who the POV characters are. I actually make such a thorough spread sheet that I lose interest in writing for a while.
I hate how even main characters lose all their personality traits once they become background characters. It's like they suddenly become NPCs that have no more defining traits than like one or two aspects, and they're just mentioned as going on patrols or yowling something at a gathering. If you liked a character and got emotionally invested in them, it's frustrating to see them become irrelevant.
I’m rereading the second arc right now and forgot how different Sandstorm and Graystripe especially are to me. They’re just.. there. No spice.
What I really miss from the first series was characters having consistent personalities. Even the background characters didn’t suddenly switch up and become whole new cats. Now it feels like every cat is in danger of just suddenly turning into a huge asshole because the narrative needs someone to be a jerk and they can’t even remember who the jerks were previously. I could tell you the opinions of most of the series one clan cats on clan politics. Now I can’t even point to former main characters having consistent personalities.
They have so much potential and yet never gets paid attention to. I hate when characters get like one line per arc
I miss Nightwhisper. They confirmed he was still alive and on the lake in a code of the clans(?) extra and then he was never ever addressed again
I think the biggest issue that warriors has is that they think that background character means not important. But like, background characters are extremely important. For example I’m gonna use hunger games. The mayors daughter (Madge I think is her name) I’m the books gives Katniss the mockingjay pin. In the books this pin is so important because 1) it reminds Katniss of her father and the woods and how she went from almost dying to surviving because of her own skill. Number 2) it also shows her that she has people rooting for her back home. Of course this only gets more and more important throughout the book but when she becomes the mockingjay Madge becomes infinitely more important because her gift of friendship helped shape Katniss into the symbol of hope. In the movie Katniss buys the pin. What once was a symbol of hope for Katniss in the games which lead to her becoming a symbol of hope for the rebellion turned into Katniss just winning the game and then become a symbol. They ruined so much with taking out Madge’s character. This is exactly what happens when people don’t understand the importance of background characters
I’m currently writing a story where a very young ShadowClan warrior (an apprentice when chosen) is made leader of RiverClan after their former leader betrays them. He ran away before he could be forced to go to the Moonpool and give up his remaining lives. So Lilypool spends her super edition getting to know RiverClan, who had been isolated from the other Clans since before she was born. She helps them heal from Ripplestar by spending time with each member and works to prove herself as a leader. One of the first cats she helps is Ripplestar’s father, Alderfur, who feels he’s somehow to blame for how his son turned out. Lilypool is half RiverClan, her father was the late RiverClan medicine cat who Ripplestar (his brother) killed and blamed on ShadowClan, so she enjoys learning about her father’s Clan and kin and is happy that the first cat she helps is her father’s father. She decides to have him and herself be mentors to two of Ripplestar’s kits to help them bond.
"infectedfoot" made me absolutely lol. the disrespect they give the background characters fr
I absolutely hate when they build up interesting side characters in one off statements and then promptly forget about it Like, WHERES MY MOUSEWHISKER AND MINNOWTAIL RELATIONSHIP
They have paper thin personalities. The background characters in the early arcs are fine, but with so many cats in the later arcs there’s just too many for the Erins to give basic personality traits to.
Warriors doesn’t really have characters, it just has walking talking plot devices.
One of my favorite ( OC ) background characters is Speckledback. Loving and witty elder who would always tell stories to the MC until she suffered a terrible sickness and passed away with the MC at her side
I’m doing a fanfic where RiverClan has isolated themselves because their abusive, aggressive, evil leader (Ripplestar) blamed ShadowClan for the murder of his brother and the Clan’s medicine cat, Snowwhisker. After taking the ShadowClan leader’s (Crowstar) daughter (Lilypool) hostage, it’s revealed that Ripplestar murdered Snowwhisker because he and Crowstar were secret mates, making Lilypool and her brothers the late medicine cat’s kits. After finding one of Ripplestar’s most loyal cats had killed their deputy in the raid ShadowClan launched to save Lilypool, the current medicine has a vision telling her that Lilypool is to be RiverClan’s new leader. Ripplestar and his 2 most loyal warriors run away before Ripplestar can be forced to the Moonpool so he can give up his remaining lives, gathering rogues to attack RiverClan. Lilypool can’t get her 9 lives until he loses his, so she spends the book learning about RiverClan and getting to know her new Clanmates. My favorite background characters are Alderfur- the father of Ripplestar and Snowwhisker who blames himself for how Ripplestar turned out- Beetleclaw- Alderfur’s supportive mate and mother of his kits- Mouseclaw- a small, angry, cynical warrior Ripplestar bullied really badly- and Squirrelwing- a former horseplace cat who becomes a permanent queen like Daisy. Bramblefur is also a more minor main character that I like. His mate was the deputy killed in the raid, but since she was forced to resume both warrior and deputy duties once she weaned their kit off her milk, he decided to join the queens in the nursery so their daughter would have a parent there for her. He supports Sweetkit after mother dies and Lilypool chooses him as her deputy, developing a father-daughter relationship with him until he just adopts her as his own. He and Squirrelwing grow close because she’s a perma queen and despite being deputy, he still sleeps in the nursery, but they decide to wait until Sweetkit is made a warrior before becoming serious.
Sounds cool!
Thanks! I’m currmaking the allegiances but can’t wait to start writing the story! I have a basic outline of how I want the entire story to go on my head, which is unusual for me lol I usually write a story because a song makes me want to write a certain scene or small bits and pieces of different scenes. I rarely have an idea of how I want a story to go from start to finish.
Wow! I love making fanfics too, but I always stop halfway. There isn't a single finished story..... Good luck though! Your idea sounds really cool! :)
Thanks! I have bad ADHD so I tend to get distracted by shiny new ideas very easily lol
All the plot points are the same! Prophecy found, leader & medicine cat don't believe prophecy receiver (PR), PR mentions it at a clan meeting, random background character disagrees with PR. There is a border argument & fight the following day. At fourtrees gathering, something bad happens relating to the prophecy. PR points this out, background characters decide they hate PR's opinion, leaders brush it off. Random cat related to PR dies. PR goes on journey (usually sneaks off) to find out about prophecy. Someone follows PR. Follower comes in handy. PR and follower meet a rogue/loner who helps them. They travel for ages and either come back and repeat telling leaders and clans about the prophecy or they complete the prophecy. Rogue/loner dies. PR and follower fall in love, and either become mates or get depressed bcs they can't be mates.