Animatewarriorcats - Blog Posts

Riverstar! I listened to his super edition recently and actually liked it quite a lot. I know there have been a lot of critiques of it as having undermined his character in the Dawn of the Clans but idk I thought it was humanizing and kind of funny to see him swimming around in the dark pretending to be wise haha. As a founder he was the one that received the least characterization, and knowing he came from the park cats it was always a story I wanted to see more of. I like the idea that he is so spontaneous that he mostly repeats back what cats share with him and then they think he is special because of it, but doesn't actually have a lot of clairvoyance beyond a normal cat.

I gave him a bit of mane hair, similar to tree to try to capture a yoga teacher vibe in combination with his face stripes mimicking facial hair ha. His body type is based off of a Norwegian forest cat, and I think for the 'breeds' I'll be modeling Riverclan from will be Norwegians, Turkish Van, Bengals in the case of leopardstar ha, Bobtails/Manx, and wild fishing cats. This isn't because I think clans are purebreds, but characteristics of these breeds lend them toward water. I specifically am excluding Maine Coons however, because their size is their breed trait and in my mind that's the Sisters haha.

Dovewing! I wanted to give her a 2.0 because I wasn't feeling satisfied with the execution of her innitial design, so this is more like a second pass than a second actual redesign. Dovewing is the daughter of Whitewing and Birchfall, sister to Ivypool, mate of Tigerstar II and mom of Shadowsight, Lightleap, Pouncestep, Rowankit, and Birchfeather. I've come to appreciate her over time, I think my appreciation of her suffered because of the pacing and development in the Omen of the Stars Arc, which no character should be held to that standard forever haha. I think she is actually a pretty wise cat, and at the same time deserves to live her girl life.

Lightleap! She is the Daughter of Dovewing and Tigerstar, sister to Pouncestep and Shadowsight, mentored by Stonewing. She is born in the City where the Guardian cats live and they travel back to the clans as kits. She is a spitfire, and I love that for her. She wants to be important and has one braincell. Himbo but girl. honestly, slay. I wasn't sure I was going to like her as much as I do, but I'm a lightleap fan. Tries to step up in the Broken Code arc to defend the clans in the Dark Forest, but loses her nerve and Shadowsight takes her place. After that she tries to prove herself several times, to both her peers and her clan. She also is Sunbeam's best friend, but lets her ego get in the way before falling for Sunbeams crush, which ultimately leads to them becoming distant. She protects Frostpaw in the climax of the arc, finally coming through on her desire to make a difference in the clans. I forgive her for being an idiot, she's trying her best.

Sunbeam! I love her, she is my Starless Clan MVP. She is the daughter of Berryheart and Sparrowtail, sister to Hollowspring and Spireclaw. She is mentored by Snaketooth and is an allegiances only warrior in the Broken code arc. As a protagonist, she is very relatable and kind, despite her mother's efforts to inspire xenophobia, and generally sees the good in other people. She doesn't like being treated like she is helpless, and feels frustrated when members of her clan feel pity for her loss of friendship with Lightleap and romantic relationship with Blazefire. She recognizes that though She and Nightheart have good rapport his choice to join Shadowclan to the conceived notion of her clan that they have a deeper relationship was premature, and though she helps him genuinely and feels fond of him over time, those feelings are developed as he tries to prove himself to shadowclan and not before. Once he fails his third trial on purpose she is hurt that he would choose his clan over her, but realizes that her ties to her clan aren't strong enough to make her want to stay when the cat she fell in love with is gone, and the crush she had on Blazefire doesn't compare to the connection she has with Nightheart, so her choice to follow him to Thunderclan feels well paced even though I was skeptical before reading the books. She then has to join Thunderclan without Nightheart, as he disappears on a quest for Starclan the day after she moves, and she gets to see the dynamic of switching clans from the outsider perspective. She develops a bond with Ivypool the new Deputy, and Bayshine Nighthearts' BFF. When Nightheart returns it is to the gathering where she stands up to her mother and claims she Joined Thunderclan not for her mate, but because it is where she feels like she belongs.

She is devastated when Berryheart is killed, and buries her body in it's designated lonely grave by the lake before attending her funeral in Shadowclan. Despite the lengths to which her mother goes Sunbeam still sees the good in her and mourns her deeply. As a character she is very steady in her ability to see the positive in any cat or situation, and despite the way others may treat her as fragile she doesn't grow hard or try to be brave out of insecurity, but continues to be fair and kind without needing to prove herself through being brazen or rude. I really liked reading her perspectives, and she reminds me a lot of my best friend for the strong ties she has to her family which are balanced with her perseverance in maintaining her own identity and beliefs.

I made her a cryptid tortishell despite that being genetically impossible (unless berryheart is also a cryptid tortie which. idk maybe it's under the white) because she has a ginger son. She is now the mentor to Moonpaw and continues to be a source of steady strength in the Changing Skies arc.

Hopwhisker! She is the daughter of Yarrowleaf and Nettle, the Kin cat turned rogue who returned in the back half of A Vision of Shadows to try to steal back his kits. She is mentored by Whorlpelt. She is pretty much Allegiances only in all of Broken Code, but in the Starless Clan arc she gets a few appearances on patrols and such. She is mentioned by Sunbeam to have dared Lightleap to go into Riverclan territory alone, for which Lightleap was punished by Tigerstar to do apprentice duties for a moon. She is on a patrol with Sunbeam and Lightleap when she cuts her foot on twoleg trash near the boarder with Riverclan, and they decide to ask Mothwing for help because she is closer but the medicine cat won't let them enter camp. She is a decent fighter, and holds her own during the coup Berryheart leads with Riverclan against Shadowclan, notably being one of the few cats still battle ready at the end of the fight.

Okay so it's April fools but this is not a joke. I think I may have inserted my childhood cat into warriors canon.

Back a couple years ago when there was the open submission on the official warriorcats instagram I made a comment about my childhood cat molly. I didn't think anything of it at the time and figured it would just get lost in the stack of one thousand comments forever. then a couple weeks later came the official poll with the story teams choices of kittypet name options, and lo and behold there was Mollypaw, at the bottom of the list. I picked her name and saw it was in the lower percentile of choices and figured that would be that. THEN came the official release of Thunder and in the park cats was Molly! Mentioned right alongside the other submission cats Waffle and Wasp. I cannot prove it, and don't know how I would contact Kate to even ask, but I am pretty sure that Molly has been immortalized in warriorcats forever. So I figured I should give her the design she deserves! This is a bit more complex than my average because I just can't help it and also can't imagine anyone will animate her ever except for me. Also the book describes her with amber eyes but I retconned them to her beautiful green as they should be.

just for those who can't log in to instagram to see the comment section here's the screenshot from the mentioned posts:

Here is a collage of pictures I dug up to reference with some of my dumb baby face as well! Rest in peace forever Molly, 1995-2010.

Whorlpelt! He is Grassheart and Stonewing's son, sibling to Snaketooth and Flowerstem. He is an average kit and apprentice, born shortly before the Kin take over Shadowclan and apprenticed on Rowanstar's last day before the takeover. It's not revealed who his first mentor is, but it becomes Juniperclaw when Tigerheart returns from the city. I think Whorlpelt is a very interesting guy, because he tends to be opinionated for a background cat, eventually strongly opposing clan swappers in the Starless Clan arc despite having been an apprentice in the same den as Fringewhisker who is the cat he's trying to get to leave Shadowclan. Maybe it's because of the time spent in Skyclan not despite it, or the fact that Juniperclaw was his mentor, but I think it's just kind of fun. He has things to say and most of the time is blunt and direct about his thoughts and loyalties.

Strikestone! He is Dawnpelt's and Crowfrost's second son, and brother to Juniperclaw and Sleekwhisker. He is among the influx of apprentices in the Vision of Shadows arc, but is a bit more compliant than his siblings, even though he is equally offended when his dad says the clan needs smarter apprentices, and agrees with his siblings feelings that the clan would be stronger with new blood and ideas. He stays in Shadowclan when they leave early with Needletail to join the kin, and works hard to hunt and gather while the clan suffers with Yellowcough. He is named Strikestone by Rowanstar, alongside Yarrowleaf. When the kin take over and things start to get rough, Dawnpelt convinces him to escape to Thunderclan with his brother, and they arrive safely because she sent them ahead while she tried to convince violetpaw, and are devastated when she disappears.

Strikestone has a close relationship with his brother Juniperclaw, and is very proud of him when he becomes Deputy. He is equally devastated to find out his brother tries to poison cats, and calls him a rogue. He has a good relationship with Tigerstar, and is desperate to see if Starclan can help his uncle when he returns from the City dead, and is among the cats to see him named leader and revived. He plays with his cousins Shadowkit, Pouncekit, and Lightkit, and overall values the ties he has with family, perhaps partly because of the family he loses along the way.

He is mentored by Wasptail, Mentors Blazefire, battles the Sisters and loses hearing in his damaged ear, and is killed in the battle against the impostor vs all the clans.

Juniperclaw! He is Dawnpelt's and Crowfrost's son, sibling to Sleekwhisker and Strikestone. He is part of the unruly apprentices in the Vision of Shadows arc, and leaves with Sleekpaw and Needlepaw to join the Kin early. He does a lot of stuff in the arc, but rejoins Shadowclan and then Skyclan, and notably becomes Tigerstar's Deputy when the leader returns and sepparates Shadowclan out again. Juniper is really excited to see Sleekwhisker when she returns with Yarrowleaf, and helps the two she cats when they are rejected by Leafstar by keeping them hidden in the old Shadowclan camp and hunting for them. He helps plan the attacks on Skyclan to try to drive them out and get revenge, and is later revealed to have poisoned the clan's fresh kill with death berry seeds nearly killing cats. He is removed from his position and put under guard, but escapes to find Shadowkit when he goes missing and the clan is distracted. he gives his life to save Shadowkit. He is characterized in my mind as an extremist with a heart of gold, and its no wonder the fandom likes him so much.

he later is part of the cats overshadowed by Ashfur, and once the imposter is defeated he tries to ascend to Starclan but is rejected. as a compromise he offers to guard the bridge between the afterlives, to prevent another cat from taking advantage of it in the same way again.

Spire! Another cat from Tigerheart's shadow. He belongs to the group of city cats that are introduced by Dovewing as the guardian cats, and are referred to as such by Tigerheart and Dovewing the whole book alone until Fierce calls the group such after establishing their right to territory the way Tigerheart taught her at the end. Spire is an old wise member of the group, not exactly a leader but clearly among the most knowledgeable and respected in the group. He has a skill in drawing pictures with his paws, and has a lot of daytime visions that make most cats think he's detached from reality especially if they've just met him. He saw Dovewing and Tigerheart coming to the city cats in a vision, and saw himself leaving with them in a vision. He both sees how he will die protecting a kit in a vision and the river in which they must cross where it will happen, but doesn't communicate that well to the group before it happens, so that when they cross a drawbridge that starts to raise for a boat to pass the cats are unprepared and Pouncekit starts to slip from the edge. Spire leaps into the gap and saves the kit, but is unable to save himself, falling to his death in the water below. Tigerheart is so moved by the sacrifice that he re-names Spire to Spiresight in an impromptu ceremony on their return journey.

Spiresight is connected to Shadowpaw in the next arc, appearing to him a few times as an earthly spirit. This is a little confusing because he had previously appeared to Tigerheart in Starclan to help convince him to gain his nine lives to lead Shadowclan, and so had successfully ascended before the broken code begins. This raises the question of how if starclan was cut off from the living cats this city cat was capable of reaching the living world, but maybe it has to do with the canonical multiple resting places for spirits in the warriors books? In the same way the Tribe of Endless hunting is separate from Starclan maybe there is a city guardian cat spirit residence that he visited for a back door to the living world IDK. Regardless, he is the cat that helps Shadowpaw stay alive when the impostor tries to kill him for knowing his secret, and then becomes part of the 'overshadowed' army that Ashfur controls in the Dark Forest. He returns to Starclan at the end of the arc.

Weaselkit! The ill fated child of Pinenose, only appears on page as a dead body during the battle with the Dark Forest in Omen of the Stars. At least, the kit is probably Pinenose's kit as Pine is the one who cries over her dead body, but Pinenose was never previously listed as a queen in the allegiances, and was only named a warrior in the previous book. Given the pacing of Oots It's possible that this was just a throw-away detail but Ivytail was a queen in the first half of the arc, and never has a confirmed litter despite interacting with Flametail during his point of view chapters close to kitting. Regardless, fandom largely considers Pinenose to be the mother, and so that is how I designed little Weaselkit. I also arbitrarily decided that Starlingwing would be the father, as I wanted to make the kit red to be weasel like, and Pine and Starling were made warriors at the same time and would be close socially for it to be possible. Spikefur, Pinenose's confirmed mate, was not even introduced as an apprentice at this time so he was not considered.

Dawnpelt! She is a fave. Dawnpelt is the daughter of Rowanclaw and Tawnypelt, she was mentored by Ivytail, and temporarily by Spiderleg when Blackstar was having his faith crisis with Sol. She is the mentor to Beenose and Voletshine. in the Power of Three she is mostly just a cute kit and then 'paw, and she helps do the whole fake starclan sign thing with the three and Flamepaw. She is significant in the Omen of the Stars after Flametail dies in that she becomes convinced Jayfeather killed her brother and wants to see her cousin punished. When Flametail exonerates Jay the topic is just kind of dropped.

She takes Crowfrost as a mate and has Juniperkit Strikekit and Sleekkit in the Vision of Shadows arc. When Rowanstar is exiled Dawnpelt tries to convince her son Strikestone to come with them but instead Dawn stays behind with her kits in Shadowclan because Sleekwhisker says after Crowfrost's death She's all the kin they have left. When Darktail and the Kin are obviously bad she starts to organize Shadowclan member's escapes including Juniperclaw and Strikestone the day before the battle against Riverclan, and she tries to convince Violetpaw but she refuses. It's because of their conversation that Darktail catches Dawnpelt before she can leave unnoticed. She is murdered in the lake by Darktail alone and is considered missing, until she gives her brother Tigerstar a life for Hope.

Redwillow! First listed in the eclipse allegiances with Whitewater as his mentor. He has some appearances in the first few omen of the stars books, but mostly is a generic background character. By Night Whispers however he is in my opinion characterized as a seasoned warrior, even though he is very new to the books. He is put in charge of leading a boarder patrol, and is seen after the battle of the border covered in wounds. Later in the book however he is part of the group that plays on the frozen lake, skidding across the surface on his belly. I love this segment because he is mentioned alongside senior warriors Crowfrost and Ratscar who yowl in amusement at his antics.

There is some of what I'm going to call fan interpretation of Redwillow that he is a loner in Shadowclan, but in the books his moderate regard by his own leader and senior warriors suggests to me instead that he was well liked, and integrated into the clan, even though it's never established who his kin is. That's why to me he becomes an example later on of a cat who's ambition is used to radicalize him to the Dark Forest. He doesn't start out a traitor to Shadowclan, on the contrary Redwillow spends his time in the dark forest close to his living clanmates. It isn't until the Forgotten Warrior that Ivypool points out Redwillow specifically multiple times when she's looking for cats that may have loyalties outside their clans. He never says anything to that point, rather his body language and exchanged glances are what makes her think so. Within the Last hope he makes several remarks in the Dark Forest about becoming the best warrior he can be, and that training in the Dark Forest makes training with Shadowclan feel like working with kittypets. Ivypool confronts him in a conversation with Hollowflight asking if he would let his weaker Clanmates die and he says "O-of course not" just that they had a lot to learn from the Dark Forest Warriors. Even with that I remember finding his final moments in the Last Hope a departure from his character, where he declares the Dark Forest his new clan, and that Blackstar's time is over.

Idk I just wanted more out of the radicalization of the clan cats while it was happening. I guess as someone who grew up with the internet I'm not a stranger to what anarchy and rebellion look like behind closed doors and personally felt that the concept of being isolated in a toxic in group extremely interesting, I found the the non-committal conversations of the dark forest trainees to be much more innocent than the showy posturing of competitive vitriol I've known such spaces to inspire. The fact that Redwillow and Breezepelt at the end of the battle were the only two warriors we know by name that sided with the Dark Forest to the end seems like such an underestimate to me. All I'm saying is that while I do love Redwillow for being an example of this, Clan cat rebellion to the Dark Forest could have been much more catastrophic than it was, and especially for the amount of plot and hype that it was given in universe. Add to all that the possible reading of Redwillow as a transmasc character that is radicalized into toxic masculinity and I want it to be known that i do love this character, but that most of that love comes from meta analysis and not from the text itself. He shouldn't have died twice in the Broken Code because truthfully he just didn't deserve it.

Shrewfoot! First appeared in the allegiances in Eclipse, her Mentor was listed as Ratscar. She has a little bit of characterization in Night whispers, during Flametails chapters, where she asks flametail to check her paw which is sprained. He goes to get her some poppy seed and Littlecloud intervenes and tells him how to wrap it in comfrey instead, since Shrewfoot sleeps too heavily on poppy seed. This is the first time I think I've seen something like a medication sensitivity in warriorcats, and think it would be pretty cool if investigated further. I think it's probably just that, but there is a possibility that Shrewfoot had some medical peculiarities that under certain circumstances were a limitation, and I wish (as a nerd) that there was more instances of either sensitivity or resistance covered in the training of medicine cats, and how often that may cause difficult illness or complicated recovery strategies. Perhaps it is why as such a young warrior she didn't survive the Great Battle, not as a primariy trauma but a battle and failure with illness due to drug resistance. But that is just speculation and I digress!

She is seen in the background of a few scenes in Night Whispers and doesn't appear on page again until the Last Hope. She is among the cats named as having perished in the battle with the Dark Forest, yet accidentally appears alive talking to Tigerheart in Dovewing's silence. The only speaking lines she has that are memorable happen in battles of the clans in a scene where Tigerheart is teaching shadowclan apprentices how to ambush patrols for battle. She's not a confirmed member of starclan in that we have seen her on page there but we can presume so since she fought on the side of the clans and was never seen in the dark forest.

Kinkfur! She Is Needletail's other Grandma, but you wouldn't realize that from reading the books haha. She is first named in the allegiances of Eclipse, as a warrior. In the Omen of the Stars she has a litter of kits, Mistcloud, Sparrowtail, and Dewkit, who attempt to play with Ivypool when she is captured and held in Shadowclan during Night Whispers. In the last battle she helps Littlecloud take care of the wounded during the battle. Her lengthiest appearances happen in Thunder and Shadow, and while she has a bit of the 'stock shadowclan' rude and proud attitude she also tends to be a bit softer and more trusting than other cats, choosing to believe and trust Violetpaw to be loyal because she was unwilling to betray the Kin. She falls ill with Yellowcough and perishes, prompting the medicine cats to defy Onestar and gather the lungwort anyway at their next gathering. Crowfrost remembers her at her vigil as having been "loyal to Shadowclan for many moons, and she was loyal and kind to the end." Other fun facts, as of writing this she is the only Shadowclan cat who's name begins with K.

Bluebellkit! She is not even an allegiances only cat, as the book she was born in doesn't list her yet, and she presumably passes away before the Vision of Shadows arc. She is only named on Kate Carey's blog, which is also where she is described as a white green eyed cat, and where we are told she is in Starclan. To me she more strongly fits into the unnamed kits category that Su Susanne ran for a long time, but this was information from Kate so it's secondary canon if anything. She did exist, but canonically all we know is she is female and Sister to Yarrowleaf and Beenose.

Needletail! I've always had this idea that Needletail needed to have a long needle like tail. Beyond that though I just generally wanted to capture the rebellious spirit she had, while maybe giving her a pixie cut and lesbian eyebrows. Canonically I know that she was not a 6 on the Kinsey scale but I can always believe it in my heart that she was gay for Sleekwhisker and or Raven.

She is Berryheart and Sparrowtail's first kit, but never had a strong connection to them anyway so I based her look and coloring more on her grandparents Snowbird and Scorchfur. Yes I'm aware that pedigree warriorcats is silly but let me live in my chinchilla Needletail fantasy. I'm still a little surprised we never got a Needletail POV, even in a novella. In my mind she sounds like Moonkitti, (I hope that's a compliment haha).