Warriors: The Prophecies Begin, originally known as Warriors, is the first story arc in the Warriors juvenile fantasy novel series about feral cats. The arc comprises six novels which were published from 2003 to 2004: Into the Wild, Fire and Ice, Forest of Secrets, Rising Storm, A Dangerous Path, and The Darkest Hour. The novels are published by HarperCollins under the pseudonym Erin Hunter, which refers to authors Kate Cary and Cherith Baldry and plot developer/editor Victoria Holmes. The sub-series details the adventures of the housecat Rusty, who joins ThunderClan, one of four Clans of feral cats living in a forest which adjoins the human town in which he originally lives. The arc's major themes deal with forbidden love, the concept of nature versus nurture, and characters being a mix of good and evil. Though the novels have appeared on the New York Times Bestseller List and have been nominated for several awards, none of the novels in the Warriors sub-series have won a significant literary award.
Development Although the original plan was for a stand-alone novel, enough material was created for several books, and the publisher decided upon a six-volume series. Holmes then enlisted the help of another author, Kate Cary, for whom Holmes had previously edited and knew as a cat-lover. Into the Wild was thus written by Kate Cary in about three months under the pseudonym "Erin Hunter". Holmes then began to work behind the scenes, editing and supervising details. HarperCollins requested Holmes to produce a book every three months. Upon hearing this, Holmes invited Cherith Baldry into the team in order to keep up with the schedule. Holmes says she chose Baldry because "her natural writing style was quite close to mine and Kate's, so I knew that Cherith's voice would fit". Afterwards, Holmes began to like the idea of using cats, since she realized how thoughtful they can be in leading private lives without any humans realizing. The series is considered to be fantasy, and has also been labelled an "animal adventure".
With two authors at the time, Holmes decided to publish the books under a pseudonym; having two authors would place the books at different places at libraries, confusing and possibly scaring off potential readers. The last name Hunter was chosen because it put the books next to the Redwall series, which has a similar genre.
Warriors uses a lexicon with different names for certain foreign objects. A Children's Literature review noted the words "kittypet" and "twoleg" which mean housecat and humans respectively. In the book, instead of using "said", Cary uses the word "mewed". For the names, Kate Cary says that she takes in inspiration for the names from "sight, sounds and scents the cats would experience". At the same time, more names become available as the cats' world becomes more diverse.
Publication history Into the Wild was first published as a hardcover book by HarperCollins on 9 January 2003 in Canada. The book was released on 21 January 2003 in the United States, and in February 2003 in the United Kingdom. Into the Wild was released in paperback form in the US on 6 January 2004. On 4 September 2007, the book was released as an eBook, and on Amazon's Kindle. The book was one of the first to be in HarperCollins' "Browse Inside" program where twenty percent of the novel is available online. For a limited time, the complete novel was also available online. The paperback version sold 150,637 copies in 2008.
Fire and Ice was first published in hardcover by HarperCollins in the US on 27 March 2003. The paperback version was released on 1 June 2004, and an e-book version was released on 9 September 2007. An English Kindle edition is also available. The novel was published in Canada on 20 May 2004, and was released in the United Kingdom in June 2003.
Forest of Secrets was first released in the US as a hardcover on 14 October 2003. It was then released as a paperback on 5 October 2004 and as an e-book on 4 September 2007. Forest of Secrets has also been published in the UK as a hardcover and paperback and in Canada as a paperback.
Rising Storm was first published as a hardcover in the US on 6 January 2004. The book was later published as a paperback on 15 February 2005 and as an e-book on 4 September 2007. In the UK, the book was first released on 2 October 2006 as a paperback. The Canadian version released early on 8 January 2004.
A Dangerous Path was first published in the US as a hardcover on 1 June 2004. It was then published as a paperback on 24 May 2005 and an e-book on 13 October 2009. A Dangerous Path was also published in the UK as a paperback on 2 April 2007 and in Canada as a hardcover on 20 May 2004.
The Darkest Hour was first released in the US on 5 October 2004, as a hardcover. It was later released as a paperback on 4 October 2005, and as an e-book on 4 September 2007.
Setting and characters
In the Warriors universe, there are four Clans of feral cats that live in a forest: ThunderClan, RiverClan, WindClan, and ShadowClan. Each Clan is adapted to its own types of prey and members usually possess (or are taught) special skills which suit the territory's terrain. The authors based the forest on the New Forest in southern England. In addition to the New Forest, Loch Lomond, the Scottish Highlands, and the Forest of Dean inspired the fictional locales in the novel. BloodClan is a group of stray city cats introduced in The Darkest Hour. This group of cats is not considered to be a true Clan because they do not believe in the warriors' spiritual ancestors, StarClan, or the warrior code, a set of rules followed by all Clan cats. BloodClan cats are thus seen as a group of rogues (non-Clan cats who do not respect the Clan cats' rules).
StarClan is a group of all of the Clans' deceased ancestors who gives guidance to the Clans. After death, most Clan cats join StarClan. StarClan is said to be represented by Silverpelt (the Milky Way), and each individual star represents the spirit of a single dead warrior. Their guidance to the Clans is often given through dreams and other signs and omens. Often, this occurs when medicine cats go every half-moon to the Moonstone, a large piece of quartz in an abandoned mine, to communicate with StarClan. In an author chat, Hunter said that StarClan can "just get glimpses of" the future, which they occasionally pass on.
Synopsis Warriors: The Prophecies Begin follows a pet cat named Rusty who dreams about the forest that lies beyond the neighbourhood he lives in. One day, he ventures into the forest and is invited to join ThunderClan, one of four groups of wild cats in the forest. He accepts the invitation and receives the apprentice name Firepaw. Later, Firepaw receives his warrior name, Fireheart, and discovers that Tigerclaw, the deputy of ThunderClan, wishes to kill ThunderClan's leader Bluestar in order to succeed her and become leader himself. Eventually, Fireheart becomes deputy of the Clan after Tigerclaw tries to kill Bluestar, fails, and is banished from ThunderClan. Bluestar later dies, sacrificing her life to protect the Clan from dogs sent by Tigerclaw, now Tigerstar, who became the leader of ShadowClan after his banishment. Fireheart then becomes the leader, receiving nine lives and the name Firestar. Tigerstar then attempts to take over all four Clans, telling them that the leaders will rule together. Leopardstar, leader of RiverClan, agrees, but Firestar and Tallstar, leader of WindClan, refuse. Tigerstar tries to use BloodClan, a vicious group of city cats, to take over the Clans, but BloodClan leader Scourge kills Tigerstar (taking all nine of Tigerstar's lives at once by slicing him from neck to tail) and decides to take over the forest for himself. The four Clans unite and fight BloodClan. Firestar loses the first of his nine lives in battle against Scourge, but he kills Scourge after returning to life, defeating BloodClan, and saving the forest.
Into the Wild
ThunderClan's medicine cat, Spottedleaf, receives a prophecy from the spirits of their ancestors, StarClan, stating that "Fire alone can save our Clan." Rusty, a house cat, runs into a ThunderClan apprentice, Graypaw, in his backyard. Bluestar and Lionheart, Graypaw's mentor, watch Rusty's reaction: he does not run away, but instead fights back against Graypaw. This leads them to invite Rusty to join ThunderClan. Though Rusty accepts, he is not welcomed by most of the Clan on account of his past life as a housecat. Rusty loses his collar after a fight, and Bluestar gives Rusty a new name: Firepaw. He forms a strong bond with fellow apprentices Graypaw and Ravenpaw, but discovers that Tigerclaw, an ambitious member of the Clan, murdered the previous deputy in an attempt to become Clan leader. Tigerclaw realizes that his apprentice, Ravenpaw, watched the murder and might spill the secret, so he plans to kill Ravenpaw. To prevent this from happening, Firepaw and Graypaw lead Ravenpaw to a barn outside Clan territory where he is safe and has company, living with a loner named Barley. Tigerclaw realizes Firepaw knows his secret, but is still trusted by the Clan. A few days later, Frostfur's kits are stolen by the ShadowClan leader and his warriors. Firepaw leads a rescue party to search for the lost kits in ShadowClan territory and emerges victorious. As the kits were reclaimed because of Firepaw, Bluestar gives Firepaw his warrior name, Fireheart, along with making Graypaw a warrior, giving him the name Graystripe.
Fire and Ice
Fire and Ice begins with Fireheart and Graystripe performing a traditional silent vigil after their promotion to warrior status in Into the Wild. Fireheart and Graystripe are then tasked with locating WindClan, which had been driven out of their territory. They find the cats under a tangle of Thunderpaths (roads), and succeed in bringing them home. During a hunting patrol, Graystripe almost drowns after chasing a vole onto thin ice and falling in the river separating RiverClan and ThunderClan. He is rescued by Silverstream, a RiverClan warrior, with whom he falls in love. This inter-clan love is against the warrior code, a code of honor that all warriors must follow. Fireheart discovers their relationship, and unsuccessfully attempts to discourage them from seeing each other.
Tigerclaw sets a trap for Bluestar by the Thunderpath, intending to kill her, and thus bringing him closer to becoming leader. Instead, apprentice Cinderpaw gets hit by a monster (cars) and becomes crippled with a permanent limp. This prevents her from becoming a warrior, so she trains under Yellowfang to become a medicine cat.
Fireheart is reunited with his sister, Princess, a kittypet living in a Twolegplace (a human town). Princess gives Fireheart her oldest kit, Cloudkit, to take into the Clan as a new apprentice. Although Fireheart agrees to accept the kit, his Clanmates, with the exception of Frostfur and Graystripe, are reluctant to accept him because of his kittypet blood.
Forest of Secrets
Fireheart is determined to uncover the truth about the Clan deputy, Tigerclaw, whom he believes is untrustworthy. To do this, he must risk losing the trust of his leader, Bluestar, as she might suspect Fireheart himself as a traitor.
Meanwhile, Fireheart's best friend, Graystripe, risks the trust of his entire Clan as he continues having a forbidden love affair with Silverstream, who is from RiverClan. Silverstream eventually dies while giving birth to Graystripe's kits when they come early. ThunderClan then learns about his forbidden love with Silverstream and feel that they cannot trust Graystripe anymore.